Dear Rabbi Weiss:

Permit me to reply to your letter of 6.21, and those of Rabbi Lamm of 6.9 and 6.23, together.

By virtue of my position I am constrained in giving you the fullness of reply which your questions deserve.

The Director General of our Ministry, Dr. S. Z. Kahane, informed me, upon reading your letters, that press reports and releases by the various quarters cannot be taken very seriously, as you will convince yourself by comparing their conflicting statements on the same issues. It were too early yet to arrive at any conclusions and to see already a line of policy that will be pursued by the authorities. It seems generally agreed to consider the Benei Yisrael as Jews in every respect. There are some Halakhic problems involved; their solutions will be a great deal facilitated if a qualified and suitable rabbi could be found for them. The Ministry for Religious Affairs is ready to assist this rabbi. It sees in Rabbi Aaron Shweika the right man. Our Ministry would like to hear from you about the financing aspect for sending him to Bombay.

I cannot tell you what brought on Rabbi Nissim’s change of heart. Later to-day I have an appointment with him together with Rabbi [redacted]. If I can gather further information I shall add it later.

Professor Tartakower is in close correspondence with Mr. Benjamin and the Vice President of the UOJCL (of Magen Hassidim Synagogue, not Mr. S.D. Jhirad but Saul Panaker). He told me that also Mr. Benjamin is agreeable to Rabbi Nissim’s proposition to have an orthodox rabbi in Bombay, subject to his Board’s consent. I asked him about financial participation on part of the WJC. He pointed out that their main interest in this affair is the safeguarding of the Benei Yisrael’s rights and combatting discrimination. He does not exclude such possibility though; you were to contact the World Executive in New York and to come with them to an agreement. Our Ministry cannot allocate any funds for the maintenance of a rabbi in Bombay.

The responsum by Rabbi Shmuel Rozovsky was shown to me by Rabbi M.J.E. Ittamar (Wohlgelernter). He probably will make a copy for you upon request (Chief Rabbinate, Hekhal Shelomoh). The responsum had been requested once by Rabbi Nissim. I have studied again the Pesak of the late Rabbi Herzog in “Hekhal Yitschak); if you have no copy of the Sefer, I will try to provide you with one, it is of utmost importance for you to study the full text. I doubt whether we may expect an early authentic decision by the Rabbinical Supreme Court or Council.

Although Rabbi Nissim has requested a rabbi for Bombay, he has no candidate. Rabbi [redacted] is actually your and our suggestion. I think that from all aspects he is the most competent personality. He is ready to leave immediately. The W.J.C. promised assistance in securing the necessary entrance papers. Rabbi [redacted] holds an Israeli and an Uruguay passport. He demands monthly six hundred dollars personally, to be divided between his family in Jerusalem and himself in Bombay, and ample funds for office and administrative expenses. His address: [redacted], Kiriath Hayovel, Jerusalem.

The first batch of 50 tefillin will go out within a few days. We haven’t heard yet from Mr. Bernstein.

If this will bring our troubles to a successful termination, I welcome, among others, the fine cooperation between us, and we in Israel will know to appreciate the substantial spiritual and material contribution of your, or rather our, UOJCA.

With best personal regards and greetings from Zion,

Very truly yours,

Zev Gotthold, Director

Department for Contact with the Diaspora

Copy to Rabbi N. Lamm

Enclosure: Clippings for Confusion

“ : Rabbi Shweika’s biography and picture

P.S. Rabbi Nissim has wholeheartedly accepted Rabbi [redacted] and endorsed his full authority to act as rabbi recognized by the Israel Chief Rabbinate, with the special mandate to solve all problems of personal status. Nu, Mazzal Tov…if you foot the bill.