The third of Elul is a significant date in the history of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.
On the third of Elul in the year 5670 (1919), Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook came for the first time to Jerusalem after being chosen chief rabbi of the Holy City. (At the time he had not yet agreed to accept the offer. He did so a few months later.)
Sixteen years later, on the 3rd of Elul 5695 (1935), Chief Rabbi A.Y. HaKohen Kook departed from this world.
It is perhaps because of the significance of that date that the installation of the new chief rabbis of Israel, Rabbi Shelomo Moshe Amar and Rabbi Yona Yehiel Metzger, was held last week, on the third of Elul (August 21, 2003).
The ceremony at which the new chief rabbis were wrapped in new tallitot, took place in Jerusalem’s Great Synagogues. It was a very impressive event that will be long remembered by all who were privileged to attend.
On the occasion of that event, the Chief Rabbinate published a richly illustrated booklet with the title Aseh Lekha Rav (“Appoint a Teacher for Yourself ” Avot 1:16). It opens with greetings and good wishes to the new chief rabbis by President Moshe Katsav and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (both the president and the Prime Minister attended and participated in the installation ceremony at which they also addressed the audience.)
The booklet features the biographies of the new chief rabbis and interviews with them, a Halakhic decision by each of them, articles about the establishment of the Chief Rabbinate, an essay about the functions of the Chief Rabbinate by Oded Viner, director general of the Chief Rabbinate, and an interview with the oldest member of the Council, of the Chief Rabbinate, Rabbi She’ar Yashuv HaKohen, the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Haifa.
In his interview the chief rabbi of Haifa refers to the recent political changes following the last elections in Israel that led to the inclusion of the Shinui party in the government. This totally secular, anti-religious party, seeks to eliminate all influence of Judaism in the public life of the state, aims at the dissolution of the municipal Religious councils across the country, and advocates the introduction of changes into the structure of the Chief Rabbinate.
“The Chief Rabbis and the Chief Rabbinate’s Council must lead the fight against these tendencies,” Rabbi HaKohen said, “and they will be supported in this struggle by rabbis from outside Israel.”
“One of our major challenges is to invest great efforts in order to attract the masses in Torah and Jewish observance,” Rabbi HaKohen stressed. “A large part of our people disappointed with the ideals of socialism and secular Zionism, are looking for a new contents of life. We have to learn how to approach them and transmit to them the message of Judaism.”
Rabbi Shear Yashuv HaKohen is optimistic. When he began officiating in Haifa, there was only one synagogue in the Ahuza neighborhood. Today there are seven synagogues in that area. The worshippers include many people who grew up without religious education. This increase in synagogues should be happening in every part of the country.
Rabbi Hakohen is convinced that the new chief rabbis will add glory to Torah and Judaism. “I would like to ask them to regard the institutions of Torah- The Yeshivot, the Talmudei Torah and the various Kollelim– as the basis of our existences, to support them and to fight for them.” Rabbi HaKohen said. “When my teacher and master, the late Rabbi Isaac Herzog, became Chief Rabbi, that is what he did. He was elected Nassi (president) of Vaad HaYeshivot and he raised funds for the Yeshivot, thereby strengthening the Torah movement and hi own position in the Torah world. If the new chief rabbis will do so, the Torah world will support them and their success will be assured.”
Toward the end of the interview Rabbi HaKohen mentioned again the great challenge of attracting the masses to Torah and observance, an effort that must be pursued “with patience and kindness but also with vigor and of course, without violating the Halakha.”
(To be continued)
The Jewish Press, Friday Sept. 12, 2003
(Continued from last week)
“The Chief Rabbinate is not above the people, it is part of the people. We love every person, every child of Israel without exception. We want to impart to our people the way of life we were taught at Sinai,” declared Rabbi Shelomo Moshe Amar, the new Rishon LeZion in the interview published in the booklet, Asseh Lekha Rav, which we mentioned in our last article.
Speaking of the special efforts to be made in order to attract those who are still estranged from Judaism, Rabbi Amar said, “Hundreds and thousands, thanks to the L-rd, now do Teshuva. This is a new phenomenon. We are witnessing a great change in the observation of Kashrut. There is indeed, a revolution in this field. More and more people are looking for the Kashrut certification upon entering a restaurant. there is a great religious awakening afoot and is the proper time to bring the word of the L-rd to our people.”
Rabbi Amar was born in Casablanca, Morocco, in 1948 and attended an Otzar HaTorah school in his hometown. After coming to Israel with his parents in 1962 he continued his studies at the Tiferet Tziyyon school in Bnei Bark and later at a Yeshiva in Shelomi, in northern Israel.
In 1969, at the age of 21, he held his first rabbinic position. The rabbi of Shelomi had to leave town for an extended period, and the leaders of the community asked young Amar, whose dedication to the study of Torah was known to all, to take the rabbi’s place.
During that period, Rabbi Amar began his study for Dayyanut which would permit him to serve as judge in a rabbinical court. His teacher was Rabbi Yaakov Nissan Rosenthal, author of Mishnat Yaakov and head of the Yeshiva in Haifa of that city’s rabbinical court. (Now well advanced in years, Rabbi Rosenthal participated at the recent installation of the new chief rabbis.)
In 1970 Rabbi Amar was appointed director of the Kashrut division of Nahariya. His duties included the Kashrut supervision of food produced in the city.
Later he was chosen rabbi of the agricultural cooperative of Megadim on the Carmel Coast where he was largely occupied with Halakhic problems relating to agriculture and an agricultural society.
In 1982, having successfully completed all the relevant studies for Dayyanut, Rabbi Amar, whose rabbinical diplomas and authorizations had been signed, inter alia, by Chief Rabbis Herzog and Yitzchok Nissim, was appointed Dayyan. For the next 20 years he served as Dayan, first in the rabbinical district court of Be’er Sheva and later in the rabbinical district court of Petach Tikva.
In 2002 he was chosen, almost unanimously as chief rabbi of Tel Aviv-Jaffa. Due to his efforts, the services supplying the religious needs of the city’s population were greatly improved, as did the cooperation with various departments of the municipality.
Several months ago he was chosen by a great majority of the elective body as Rishon Letzion and chief rabbi.
Rabbi Amar underwent special training in the Israeli Defense Forces in the procedure of rescuing soldiers from life threatening situations and has lectured extensively in the army on the identification of dead soldiers. Rabbi Amar has given similar lectures to the volunteers of “Zaka” (Disaster victims Identification) impressing upon his listeners Judaism’s strict code of respectful treatment of the dead while going about the identification process.
Rabbi Amar visited Ethiopia to acquaint himself personally with the problems of the Falashamora (Falashas who had been forced to convert to Chrisitiantiy).
In rendering Halakhic decisions Rabbi Amar has consulted, whenever necessary, such as in problems arising from new inventions, with scientists and experts in various fields. A large part of his Halakhic decisions has been published in his responsa, Shema Shelomo (4 volumes) and Kerem Shelomo (2 volumes).
Rabbi Amar is credited with having helped thousands of couples with marital problems. He has also invested great efforts to enable Agunot to remarry. In one instance he got in touch with underworld figures to learn about the fate of a man who had disappeared. On the basis of the information he gathered, he permitted the man’s widow to remarry. Following the attack on New York’s Twin Towers, Rabbi Amar assisted New York rabbis in their efforts to enable Agunot to remarry.
Rabbi Amar’s articles, decisions, and books are studied in various rabbinic institutions in Israel and abroad. He himself is prominently associated with the Israeli “Machon LeMitzvot HaTeluyot BaAaretz” (Institute for the Study of Commandments Dependent on the Land of Israel.) His views guide many rabbis in their Halakhic decisions. Rabbi Amar is, to quote his biography published in Aseh Lekha Rav, one of the important Poskim of Sephardic Jewry in the last generations.
(To be continued)
The Jewish Press, Friday, Sept. 19, 2003
(Continued from last week(
Rabbi Yonah Yehiel Metzger, the newly elected Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, has plans to strengthen the Chief Rabbinate’s influence on life in the Land of Israel as well as on Jews in the Diaspora. These plans include steps to bring about a closer cooperation between the Chief Rabbinate and rabbis abroad.
“I want to set up an advisory body to which rabbis from all over the world could turn via fax, telephone and other means for advice and assistance with problems they face, especially in the field of Halakha,” Rabbi Metzger said in an interview which appeared in “Asseh Lekha Rav”, the booklet that was published on the occasion of the installation of the new chief rabbis.
“This advisory body would consist of well known rabbinic scholars each of whom would be an expert in one of the four parts of the Shulkhan Arukh. They would respond to any enquiries within 25 hours. For more complex problems they would consult the country’s Halakhic authorities and convey their opinion to the enquirer.”
“The preparations for setting up such a body are in full swing and I hope to announce its formation within a short time, “Rabbi Metzger declared.
Rabbi Yonah Y. Metzger was born in 1953 in Haifa, to parents who had escaped from Poland after the German invasion of that country.
At the age of 18 he enrolled in Yeshiva Kerem BeYavneh, Israel’s first Hesder Yeshiva, where students combine Torah studies with military services.
Kerem BeYavneh’s Rosh Yeshiva, the late Rabbi Chaim Yaakov Goldwicht, a student of the Hazon Ish was very fond of the talented and highly dedicated Yonah Metzger. He foretold him a great future in the rabbinate and followed with great interest his career over the years encouraging in his studies and in his work.
Rabbi Metzger was a member of a fighting unit in the Israel Defense Forces eventually attaining the rank of captain. During the Yom Keippur war, he served as a tankist on the Golan Heights. He also served in the military rabbinate.
In 1977 he married a great-granddaughter of the late Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, the rabbi of Jerusalem’s Eidah Chareidit. The young couple made its home near Yeshiva Kerem BeYavneh where he continued hisvi, the studies with great diligence at the Yeshiva’s Kollel. While studying at the Kollel, he gave lectures at the neighboring Givat Washington’s Teachers’ College and at other locations.
He was ordained as rabbi by the Rishon LeZion Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and by the late Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren.
After ten years of intensive study at Yeshivat Kerem BeYavneh and its Kollel, Rabbi Metzger was offered the position of Rabbi at Tiferet Zevi, northern Tel Aviv”s main congregation where well known rabbis had served before him.
In his new post, Rabbi Metzger developed extensive activities to strengthen religious observance and spread the study of Torah. In recognition of his endeavors, the Religious Council of Tel Aviv decided to appoint him as rabbi of North Tel Aviv.
According to the biography in Ase Lecha Rav, Rabbi Metzger delivered Torah lectures his 23 years of service in the Tiferetz Zvi Synagogue. The lectures took place in his synagogue as well as in other locations: in Emek HaMishpat, the Beth HaMidrash for rabbis and Dayyanim which he had established and which he headed, in secondary schools, youth movements army camps and various study circles.
He has also been prominently associated with charitable institutions and aid organizations.
It was during that period of time that he received additional certification — which would enable him to serve as a rabbi of a whole city from the then chief rabbi, Rabbi Avraham Shapira and Rishon Letzion Rabbi Mordechai ELiyahu and was also chosen as member of the Council of the Chief Rabbinate.
To be continued
The Jewish Press, Friday. Sept. 26, 2003
Conclusion
Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger is the author of MiYam HaHalakha, four volumes of responsa. Halakhic questions were submitted to him not only by residents of Tel Aviv, where he served as rabbi, but also by people from other parts of the country who know of his wide knowledge as a result of the Torah talks he regularly gave on Israel Radio.
Rabbi Metzger points out that he worked hard to clarify and decide the problems in accordance with the views of our teachers, the early and later authorities, and that before he issued his decisions he discussed them with prominent rabbis and Poskim. In the introduction to the first volume he writes, inter alia, that despite his busy schedule since he entered the rabbinate, there has never been a day when he did not study the Torah.
The responsa volumes carry letters of approbation by Chief Rabbi Avraham Shapira, the Rish LeZion, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and the Rishon LeZion Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu; Rabbi Eliezer Waldenberg, author of Tzitz Eliezer, the late Chief rabbis of Jerusalem, Rabbi Shalom Messas, and Rabbi Yitzhak Kolitz; Rabbi Metzger’s teacher and master, the late Rabbi Chaim Yaakov Goldwicht, Rosh Yeshiva of Keren BeYavne, who not only praised Rabbi Metzger’s great dedication to the study of Torah but noted his fine human qualities, and other rabbis.
After the Gulf War, Rabbi Metzger published Sufah Bamidbar, which contains his Halakhic decisions on problems that arose during the war as well as talks he gave during that period.
Other publications of his include the richly illustrated and very popular BeMa’agalei HaHayyim (“The Jewish Life Cycle”) which was written in cooperation with Nachum Langental. The works consists of two volumes. One volume features prayers, thoughts, customs and laws relating to the special days in the Jewish years (Sabbath, festivals, fast days, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Independence Day). The other volume is devoted to important events in the life of the individual Jew (circumcision, Pidyon Haben, Bar Mitzva, marriage and more). BeMa’agalei HaHayyim was twice awarded the President’s Prize.
During his many years in the Tel Aviv rabbinate Rabbi Metzger enjoyed the support of the leading rabbis of all communities and circles, first and foremost the great Halakhic authorities, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the Rishon Letzion Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and the Rishon Lezion Rabbi Mordecai Eliyahu. These rabbinical leaders backed his candidacy of the office of chief rabbi.
At the end of the interview printed in Asseh Lekha Rav, Rabbi Metzger was asked what message he wanted to convey to the Jewish of Israel on assuming his new post.
“My message is not necessarily connected with my new post, but is important nonetheless and should be made public,” Rabbi Metzger responded. “We live in a period that is not easy — and this is an understatement. We are inundated with problems and troubles from all sides. There are problems of security as well as economic, social and political problems. Wherever we look there are problems. However, G-d forbid that these problems instill in us fear. on the contrary, we must hope and believe whole heartedly that the situation will improve and that everything will turn out for the best in the end. We have a Father in Heaven who loves us and wants to do good to us. All the problems could disappear in no time if we are worthy of it. We have to draw nearer to our Father in Heaven in the way we live. We must see to it that many devote time to the study of the Torah and walk in the Torah’s path. Thus we will hasten the steps of the Messiah, speedily in our days. Amen.”
The Jewish Press, Friday, October 3, 2003