Bidspirit auction | BLOCH, ELIYAHU MEIR  (Rosh Yeshiva

BLOCH, ELIYAHU MEIR  (Rosh Yeshiva of the Telz Yeshivah in Cleveland, c. 1894–1955). Typed Letter Signed, written in English to Louis Broth, on personal letterhead. One page, with accompanying envelope. Cleveland, 19th October, 1953. Refusing an invitation to attend the community event entitled “A Night in Israel ” and providing, in explicit form, the reason why. Rabbi Bloch objected to the appearance of CANTOR MOISHE OYSHER at a Cleveland community fund-raising event: [The event] “is in no way in accord with the spirit and tendency of such a traditional and chaste institution as the Hebrew Academy, to invite such an immoral and indecent actor… I truly hope that in the future you will exercise more discretion in selecting entertainers, and will seek council from those who are striving with you for the growth of a truly traditional education for the children of Israel.” R. Eliyahu Meir Bloch was born and educated in Telz (Telshe), Lithuania; he was appointed to the Telz Yeshiva faculty in 1917. After fleeing Nazi-dominated Europe, in 1942 the Yeshiva was reestablished in Cleveland, Ohio, under the leadership of Rabbi Bloch and his brother-in-law, R. Chaim M. Katz. Active in the Agudath Israel since the Marienbad Conference of 1937, R. Bloch played a leading role in the American Agudah. Hebrew Academy was established in 1943 through the efforts of Rabbis Bloch and Katz in order to provide a Torah-oriented education for Cleveland's Jewish youth. The school is known today as Beis Chinuch HaRav Dessler.