Large Collection of Campaign Material – Polemic Surrounding the Appointment of a Rabbi for Khal Adath Jeshurun ...

Large Collection of Campaign Material – Polemic Surrounding the Appointment of a Rabbi for Khal Adath Jeshurun, Rabbi Shimshon Refael Hirsch's Community – Frankfurt am Main, 1926-1929
Large and comprehensive collection of campaign material printed in the course of the polemic surrounding the appointment of a rabbi for R. Shimshon Refael Hirsch's community – Khal Adath Jeshurun, in the 1920s. Frankfurt am Main, 1926-1929. German (with some Hebrew).
Large collection (approx. 140 items) arranged in chronological order, providing comprehensive documentation of the polemic (see below). The collection includes open letters, leaflets, booklets, invitations to conferences, and more. All the items are printed.
The collection includes: • Announcements from the community board. • Campaign material and invitations to meetings of Das Wahl-Komitee für die Kandidatur des Herrn Rabbiner Dr. Raphael Breuer (The election committee of the candidacy of Rabbi Dr. Raphael Breuer) and from Das Aktionskomitee für die Wahl des Herrn Rabbiner Dr. Klein (The action committee for the election of Rabbi Dr. Klein). • Ballot inscribed "Rabbi Dr. Refael Breuer of Aschaffenburg". • Campaign material from various figures (some using pen names), including: R. Yosef Breuer of Frankfurt; R. Refael Breuer Rabbi of Aschaffenburg; R. Avraham Yitzchak Klein of Nuremberg; the dayan R. Gershon Posen of Frankfurt; R. Yaakov Rosenheim of Frankfurt; R. Yosef Tzvi Carlebach Rabbi of Altona; R. Yonah Bondi Rabbi of Mainz; "A true admirer of the late rabbi"; "Some community members"; "An elder who foresees the future"; "One person on behalf of hundreds of anonymous persons"; "A simple member of the people"; "A Jew from the East".
This collection was assembled in Frankfurt at the time of the polemic, by one Mr. Heidingsfeld; some of the personal invitations (to meetings or elections) bear his name. Dates inscribed by Mr. Heidingsfeld on some items.
The majority of the material can be divided into three periods: March-May 1927; August-September 1928; April-September 1929.
The earliest document in this collection is a leaflet dated 29th July 1926 (less than two weeks after the passing of the rabbi of the community, R. Shlomo Zalman Breuer) – protest against "unrespectful and totally unfitting propaganda" regarding the rabbinate publicized already during the shivah. Signed in print: "A large number of community members".
Some of the documents pertain to the appointment of R. Yosef Yonah Tzvi Horowitz of Unsdorf (who ultimately received the position of the Frankfurt rabbinate). The collection also includes five typewritten leaves – copyings of three letters from R. Horowitz to an unknown recipient (without opening and concluding lines). These letters, in which R. Horowitz presents his views on the approach of R. Shimshon Refael Hirsch's community, were written (in Unsdorf, 1926) several years before his appointment. They were presumably copied in the context of his appointment as rabbi of the Frankfurt community. The latest document in the archive is the program of R. Horowitz's appointment ceremony (on 26th September 1929), at which point the affair finally came to an end.
R. Shimshon Refael Hirsch was succeeded in his capacity as rabbi of Khal Adath Jeshurun in Frankfurt by his son-in-law, R. Shlomo Zalman Breuer. After R. Breuer's passing, in July 1926, a fierce dispute broke out regarding who should serve as his successor. At first, the son of R. Breuer – Rabbi Dr. Refael Breuer of Aschaffenburg was proposed as a suitable candidate to the rabbinate, as per his father's will, yet a group of community notables, including R. Yaakov Rosenheim, categorically opposed this appointment. After some discussion, it was decided to hold elections, and a second candidate was proposed to run alongside R. Refael Breuer – Rabbi Dr. Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen (Arnold) Klein of Nuremberg. At a certain point, R. Klein removed his candidacy, following the involvement of the elderly dayan of Frankfurt, R. Gershon Posen, who felt that the wishes of the late R. Breuer should be respected and his son should be appointed in his stead. Even after R. Klein removed his candidacy, the polemic did not subside and the opposition against R. Breuer persisted. The fierce polemic surrounding the position persisted for several years, with both sides issuing manifestos and circulars, and holding various conferences and meetings. The polemic ended in 1929 with the appointment of R. Yosef Yonah Horowitz of Unsdorf (who was not one of the original candidates for the position). For more information on the affair, see: Yehuda Ben-Avner, Polemic Surrounding the Rabbinate of Adath Jeshurun in Frankfurt am Main in the 20th Century, Sinai 106, Jerusalem 1990, pp. 72-79 (many documents from the present collection were not at his disposition at the time of writing the article; he wrote for instance that "in July 1926… Dr. Breuer passed away. The polemic surrounding the choice of successor presumably began immediately, yet no documentation to that effect was found… until March 1927", while the present archive contains a document on this matter from end of July 1926); Dr. Marc Shapiro, The Disagreement Concerning the Frankfurt Rabbinate: A Look from Within, Beloved Words (Milin Havivin) 3, New York 2007, pp. 26-33.
Approx. 140 paper items (duplicate copies of a few documents). Size varies. Overall good condition.