Ruling Issued by the Rabbis of Bnei Brak - 12th Elul 1969 - Prohibition to Receive a Salary or Any Benefit from the ...

Ruling Issued by the Rabbis of Bnei Brak - 12th Elul 1969 - Prohibition to Receive a Salary or Any Benefit from the Religious Council

Typewritten ruling signed by ten rabbis of Bnei Brak (R. Landau, R. Wosner, the Yeshuot Moshe of Vizhnitz and others), forbidding any cooperation with the religious council (in the event it would be established) and receiving from it any benefit or salary. Bnei Brak, 12th Elul 1969.
On 12th Elul 1969, the rabbis of Bnei Brak gathered to renew the decision reached on Isru Chag Shavuot 1964 (see previous item), to firmly oppose the establishment of a religious council.
On the same occasion, they issued the present typewritten ruling, hand signed by: R. Yaakov Landau, rabbi of Bnei Brak; R. Shmuel HaLevi Wosner, rabbi of Zichron Meir; R. Avraham Tzvi Weiss, rabbi of Neveh Achiezer; R. Avraham Shlomo Katz of Riskeva, rabbi of the Yitav Lev community; R. Moshe Blau, rabbi of Pardes Katz; R. Yitzchak Shlomo Unger, dean of the Chug Chatam Sofer yeshiva; R. Yechiel Meir Weingort, rabbi of the Gerrer Chassidim; R. Natan Gestetner, rabbi of Shikun Agudath Yisrael; R. David Shemesh, rabbi of the Sephardi community in Pardes Katz; and R. Moshe Yehoshua Hager, rabbi of Kiryat Vizhnitz, later the Yeshuot Moshe Rebbe of Vizhnitz.
[1] leaf. 27.5 cm. Good condition. Stains. Folding marks and torn filing holes.

The Orthodox city of Bnei Brak was unique since it's founding for its independent rabbinate. Unlike other cities, Bnei Brak never had a religious council - the rabbis received their salaries directly from the municipality, and all kashrut and religious services in Bnei Brak were funded directly by the municipality, without the involvement of a third, governmental party such as a religious council. In other places, all religious services were under the control and supervision of the religious council, which in those days was under the Ministry of Religions, led by members of the Mizrachi movement.
Bnei Brak was also the only city in Eretz Israel were Satmar Chassidim participated in the municipal elections, with the approval of Rebbe Yoel of Satmar, fierce opponent of any cooperation with the Zionist government, and with the approval of the rabbi of Riskeva, rabbi of the Satmar community in the city. The main reason for this exception was the necessity to maintain the independence of the Bnei Brak rabbinate, and to preserve the power of R. Landau and his colleagues who upheld proper Torah observance.
In the summer of 1964, the Ministry of Religions established a religious council in Bnei Brak. Knowing that the Orthodox community would not passively accept this move, it was done in an underhanded way, on paper only. A notice from the Ministry of Religions was published in the HaTzofeh newspaper, announcing the establishment of the religious council headed by 12 members lead by R. Yaakov Landau Rabbi of the city. The notice was published without the knowledge of the new council members, and without a prior notification. This placed them in a difficult position - on the one hand R. Landau and his colleagues did not wish to cooperate with the establishment of a religious council led by the Ministry of Religions, yet on the other, if they would renounce their positions, the Ministry of Religions would appoint other members to the council instead, and they would thus lose their control over the religious services in the city.