Yitzhak Ha Levi Herzog (1889-1959)
Second Chief Rabbi of Palestine
Herzog was born in Lomza, Poland. At the age of nine he emigrated
with his parents and the family settled in Leeds, England, where
his father received the position of a rabbi. Yitzhak was educated
by his father, who did not want to entrust his son to a center
of Talmudic studies and remained his private teacher for as long
as it was feasible.
Herzog studied in England and France and traveled throughout Great
Britain with Rabbi Jacob David Werner (the "Ridvaz"),
one of the greatest Talmudic scholars of his time. After being
tested by him for weeks, Herzog was proclaimed to be one of the
world's outstanding Talmudists.
At the same time he studied Oriental languages at the Sorbonne
in Paris, and classics and mathematics at the University of London,
where he received his doctorate. In his dissertation "The
Royal Purple and the Biblical Blue", he identified the shellfish
that provided the "techelet" or blue-purple dye for
the tallit (prayer shawl) in ancient Israel.
In 1916, Yitzhak Herzog received his first appointment as Rabbi
of Belfast, in Northern Ireland, where he served until 1919. He
became Rabbi in Dublin and in 1921 he received the title of Chief
Rabbi of Ireland. The family stayed in Dublin until 1936. He maintained
excellent relations with personalities from State and Church and
established a lifelong friendship with Eamon de Valera, the Irish
Prime Minister.
In 1936, Herzog was invited to become Chief Rabbi of Eretz Yisrael.
Chief Rabbi Kook had passed away; the process of selecting a successor
was drawn out and politically encumbered. The Chief Rabbi was
a central figure in the leadership of the Yishuv, representing
the Jewish community to Jews all over the world, as well as to
Muslims, Christians and the British Mandatory Authority. He served
in this position until 1959.
His son, former Israeli President, Chaim Herzog, wrote in his autobiography
"Living History":
My father had won, thirty-seven votes to thirty-three, and
we rushed to cable the news to my parents in Ireland. The
election marked a major advance on the part of the Orthodox
community in Palestine. It was a Statement that they were
adapting to changing circumstances. In many ways, my father's
appointment was a breakthrough, although sadly the progressiveness
he brought with him had not been maintained over the years
... My father was a truth-seeker, and it was important to
have such a man as a leader in the religious community. It
is still important."
In 1940, the "Va'ad haYeshivot" was founded to supervise
advanced Talmud academies. Herzog was its founding President and
in charge of the financial support for Yeshivot in the Yishuv.
It was also at Herzog's initiative that the Hechal Shlomo building,
housing the Chief Rabbinate, was erected in Jerusalem.
In the years before, during and after World War II, Herzog represented
the Jews of Palestine and of the whole world. After Hitler's attitude
towards the German Jews had become obvious, Herzog tirelessly
and repeatedly warned the leadership of the European Jewry about
the impending danger. He wrote impassioned letters to the Chief
Rabbi of Kovno in Lithuania, urging the community to leave as
soon as possible. His concern about European Jewry tpok him to
London in 1940, to the USA and South Africa in 1941, 1943 to Turkey
and 1944 to Cairo. In 1940 Herzog gained permission from the Soviet
Union for teachers and students of Lithuanian and Polish Yeshivot
to cross the eastern border of the USSR.
In 1946 he went on a rescue mission to redeem Jewish children from
the Catholic churches and monasteries where they had been hidden
during the war. He traveled through Europe to restore the children
to their rightful homes or to Israel. In many places, these tens
of thousands of children were not being allowed to reassume their
Jewish identity, or return to the Jewish community. Many children
were not even aware that they were Jews. Herzog's hope for the
help of Pope Pius XII was not fulfilled, but he was supported
by a Jewish committee in Switzerland, Catholic authorities and
Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and able to bring thousands
of children back to Israel.
Herzog visited Jewish underground fighters who had been interned
by the Britons in Kenya.
There was one moving story about my father's trip to see the internees.
En route, the plane landed in Jedda, in Saudi Arabia. A high dignitary
met my father and took him into the refreshment tent, prepared
for the VIPs only. And VIPs did not include Jews. When my brother
asked the dignitary why this warm and gracious welcome, he replied,
speaking of my father: "I can see he is a man of God."
Herzog was very popular and respected also by the secular community,
above all in the kibbutzim. As Chief Rabbi, he was also President
of the Supreme Religious Court of Appeals and the Rabbinical Council.
Through his publication of rabbinical decrees, he was responsible
for family law issues and a significant progress in the reconciliation
of modern life with the halachic (Jewish religious) demands. After
Independence, he was one of the major halachic authorities who
endorsed the reading of Hallel on Yom Haatzmaut.
Other References:
Biography
Techelet http://www.tekhelet.com/pdf/mendel.htm
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