Polemic Proclamation with Four Letters by the Most Prominent Rabbis of Hungary against Chevrat Yishuv Ha'Aretz - ...

Polemic Proclamation with Four Letters by the Most Prominent Rabbis of Hungary against Chevrat Yishuv Ha'Aretz - 1919 - Bibliographically Unknown - Extremely Rare
A printed proclamation with four letters against Chevrat Yishuv Ha'Aretz (the Society for Settling the Country) - a society of God-fearing Jews.
A. Letter by Rabbi Shmuel Rosenberg Av Beit Din of Unsdorf, to Rabbi Yitzchak Zvi Ha'Levi Av Beit Din of Kasho. Unsdorf, 1919.
B. Letter by Rabbi Mordechai Leib Winkler Av Beit Din of Nyirmada, to the Rebbe Rabbi Chaim Elazar Shapira Av Beit Din of Munkatsh, author of "Minchat Elazar". Nyirmada, 1919.
C. Letter by Rabbi Shimon Sofer Av Beit Din of Erlau, to Rabbi David Dov Meisels Av Beit Din of Uhely, author of "Binyan David".
D. Letter by Rabbi Ze'ev Zvi Ha'Cohen Klein Av Beit Din of Eisenstadt, to the Rebbe Rabbi Chaim Elazar Shapira Av Beit Din of Munkatsh. Eisenstadt, 1919.

The letters were printed under the title "Letters by the Geniuses, the Elders of our Country …some of whom agreed to sign their name"
On the margins of the leaf it is written: "Please hang on the walls of the synagogue and Beit Ha'Midrash".

A study of the title and the content of the letters reveals that in contrast to the first impression that the printers of the proclamation wanted to make, the objection to this society was not expressed, at least initially, by all the rabbis of Hungary.
Munkatsh was the center of objection to the movement of settling the Land of Israel and to "Agudat Yisrael". Most of the other Hungarian rabbis, especially those who were not Hassidim or who did not live in the typical Hassidic areas of the Carpathian Mountains or Transylvania, indeed objected to Zionism yet less vehemently.

The proclamation clearly implies that according to its printers' opinion, well-known rabbis of Hungary expressed support of Chevrat Yishuv Ha'Aretz, which was a Haredi society. But, the printers of the proclamation present letters that had been sent to the Rebbe of Munkatsh which explain that their senders had been misled and have now changed their minds. That is, the printers of the proclamation felt that the public received a misleading impression, due to the initial declaration of these rabbis, that the opinion of the Rebbe of Munkatsh is not the only one on the subject and by means of the proclamation they wish to state that there is only one, clear, decisive opinion of the Hungarian rabbis on the matter. Therefore, they ask that the proclamation be hanged on the walls of synagogues and Batei Midrash.

The proclamation does not note the time, place or name of the printer. The dates of the letters, however, imply that it was most likely published in 1919.
The proclamation is not listed by the Bibliography of the Hebrew Book nor does it appear in the National Library.
30x46 cm.
Condition: Good. Artistic Restoration at the center and the margins. Wrinkles and folding marks.