Original Resolution of the Special Assembly of Rabbanim Regarding the Formation of a Beis Din to Free Holocaust Agunos. Budapest, 1945.
Historic document!
“The Assembly rules that the Bureau shall form a Central Beis Din of Five Rabbanim for the express purpose of freeing agunim and agunos. All questions regarding agunim and agunos shall be referred to them, and only they shall have the authority to free agunim and agunos from their shackles, based on the fundamental policies accepted during this Assembly.”
Original official protocol signed by Rabbanim who participated in the historic assembly on 17 Elul, 1945, in the Central Bureau for Orthodox Congregations in Hungary:
1. Resolution to form Special Beis Din.
2. Resolution of Assembly Rabbanim to adopt the fundamental responsa of the Posek Hador Hagaon Harav Chaim Mordechai Roller regarding freeing agunim and agunos as the basis of the heter.
3. 10 paragraphs regarding foundations of the heter.
4. Review of Rabbinical assemblies in Hungary and Romania, among them an assembly in Bucharest that was attended by the Admor Imrei Chaim of Vizhnitz and Harav Chaim Mordechai Roller, Av Beis Din of Neimetz.
The resolutions were signed by the following Rabbanim:
Hagaon Harav Yisrael Weltz of Budapest, Harav Shalom Moshe Halevi Unger of Nitra, Harav Yehoshua Greenwald of Chust, Harav Yaakov Segal Lebovitz of Kapisch, the Stropkover Rebbe Harav Yechezkel Shraga Lifcshitz, Harav Aharon Tzvi Weitzner of Przemys, ; Harav Alexander Asher Babad of Tartikov, Harav Yitzchak Tzvi Penta of Miklash, Harav Gavriel Yuda Illowitz of Shamshan, Harav Refael Zilber of Freiman, and Director of the Central Bureau Harav Shmuel Zanvil Kahana-Frankel.
Budapest, August 26, 1945. 2 typewritten pages on Central Bureau stationery. Fair condition.
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Holocaust Agunos
&
Special Beis Din to Free Agunos
The fervent desire of Holocaust survivors to rise from the ashes of the inferno and rebuild their shattered lives was one of the most moving and inspirational miracles of post-Holocaust Jewry. Simultaneously, it provoked many complex, tragic questions unprecedented throughout Jewish history.
The handful of esteemed Rabbanim who remained after the war swiftly acknowledged the grave responsibility and dire need to free thousands of agunim and agunos who lacked indisputable testimony regarding the deaths of their spouses. These Rabbanim threw themselves, heart and soul, into this heartbreaking task. They marked it as their first priority to free these war-torn survivors, even while they themselves bitterly mourned the bitter loss of their beloved families and congregations.
Rabbanim scattered throughout Hungary, Romania and DP camps across Germany formed special Batei Din which established specific policies and ruled exclusively on these distressing cases.
The premier halachic authority on Holocaust agunim and agunos was the revered Gaon of Neimetz and Posek Hador, Harav Chaim Mordechai Roller, author of Shu”t Beer Chaim Mordechai, who had garnered substantial experience freeing agunos in the post-World War One era.
“This Gaon was apparently sent from the heavens to rescue Klal Yisrael, and he remained to illuminate the land with his heterim. Without him, there was no one willing to accept the responsibility of freeing thousands of agunim and agunos, which was an unprecedented need” (Harav Refael Blum, Av Beis Din of Kashoy, Tal Hashamayim p. 23).
This original document from the Special Beis Din to Free Agunos in Hungary offers an eye-opening glimpse to the halachic foundations and rationale used to free Holocaust agunos.
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