Rabbinical Ordination from Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook – Jerusalem, 1927

Rabbinical Ordination from Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook – Jerusalem, 1927

Lengthy letter (20 lines) handwritten and signed by R. Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook, Chief Rabbi of Eretz Israel. Jerusalem, Iyar 1927.

Rabbinical ordination for R. Tzvi Yehudah Meltzer, son of "my dear friend, the great Gaon, glory of the generation, R. Isser Zalman Meltzer, head rabbi of the Beit Din of Slutsk… and head dean of the Etz Chaim yeshiva here in the holy city". R. Kook writes of him: "'A wise son brings joy to his father'. I have known of him ever since I met him that he has absorbed much of the Talmud, halachic authorities, rishonim and acharonim, and gained the fragrance of the Torah of the contemporary Geonim in the great yeshivas by attending to Torah scholars… In halachic depth he is like one of the greats who are worthy of resolving disputes and crowned as a rabbi, to judge and issue rulings among the Jewish people… 'Yoreh Yoreh' and 'Yadin Yadin' in accordance with Torah law, and I am sure that he will constantly rise in levels of holiness… among the great rabbis of the Jewish people in our generation…". R. Kook goes on to write of the community that will take R. Tzvi Yehudah on as its rabbi: "Blessed shall be the community that chooses him as chief, leader, rabbi, head of Beit Din, posek and judge in every matter of law, and may G-d be with them… May they be blessed on his behalf with all good things, and may there be peace at their wall, serenity in their palaces…".

R. Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook (1865-1935) was a friend of R. Isser Zalman Meltzer (1870-1954) ever since they were fellow students in Volozhin. During their Jerusalem period, when R. Isser Zalman Meltzer headed the Etz Chaim yeshiva (where most of the students opposed R. Kook's appointment to the Jerusalem rabbinate), R. Isser Zalman respected R. Kook highly and protested various acts of R. Kook's opponents, calling for "honor of the Torah".

The recipient of the ordination, R. Tzvi Yehudah Meltzer (1899-1969), son of R. Isser Zalman Meltzer and son-in-law of R. Tzvi Steinman, first Rabbi of Rehovot. Studied in the Mir, Slutsk and Novardok yeshivas, and served as mashgiach in the Kletsk yeshiva (of his brother-in-law R. Aharon Kotler). He immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1925 along with his father, where he began to disseminate Torah. In 1936 he was appointed Rabbi of Pardes Hanna, where he established the Kletsk yeshiva and Midrashiat Noam. In 1947 he was appointed Rabbi of Rehovot, succeeding his father-in-law R. Tzvi Steinman, and established the Kletsk yeshiva (later renamed Yeshivat HaDarom). In 1951 he retired from his position as Rabbi of the city, appointing R. Elimelech Bar Shaul as his successor, while he continued to serve as head of the city's Beit Din and dean of Yeshivat HaDarom.

[1] leaf. Official stationery. 28.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains. Folding marks and minor tears. Repaired with tape to verso.