GRODZENSKI, CHAIM OZER
(Spiritual leader of Lithuanian Jewry, 1863-1940). Autograph Letter Signed, written in ...

GRODZENSKI, CHAIM OZER
(Spiritual leader of Lithuanian Jewry, 1863-1940). Autograph Letter Signed, written in Hebrew on letterhead to Rabbi Dr. Yitzhak Unna of Mannheim (1872-1948).


Written at at time in which Nazi law in Germany had created intense difficulties for religious life, this is an historically important response to Rabbi Unna’s earlier plea to R. Chaim Ozer, seeking Halachic leniency that would permit electroshock-stunning of animals prior to Shechitah.
One page. Folio.
Vilna: Friday, Parshath Terumah [4th February] 1938
Immediately following their rise to power, the Nazi government forbade Kosher slaughter (Shechitah) throughout Germany. Several prominent German rabbis (including Rabbis Unna and Yechiel Ya'akov Weinberg) proposed a solution in which the animal would undergo electroshock prior to its ritual slaughter. This proposal was rejected as halachically unacceptable by R. Chaim Ozer Grodzenski of Vilna, the widely acknowledged "Posek Hador" (halachic decisor of the generation). However due to concern over food scarcity among the Jews in Germany Rabbi Unna persisted to plead for a lenient ruling over the proposal of nitrogen stunning (“Chenkin”) prior to Shechitah. Indeed Unna wrote a sharp letter (published posthumously in his Sho’alim Vedorshin pp. 36-7) bitterly complaining that a lenient decision was ruled out solely due to R. Chaim Ozer’s opposition. The present letter is R. Chaim Ozer’s response. He commences: “Whose heart is not distressed due to the the terrible situation of the Jews in Germany where Shechitah has been prohibited… However you are mistaken in placing the blame on my neck. There are absolutely no Halachic authorities who will permit stunning. Over forty years ago when Shechitah was banned in Switzerland, none of the senior Gedolei HaDor at the time would permit stunning. The new proposal to permit anesthetic stunning utilizing nitrogen, is based upon tests performed by Rabbi Zuber in Stockholm and is still being investigated by Rabbi Dr. Ze’ev Tzvi Klein of Berlin. In any event, I am told by Rabbi Klein that the German government will not permit [Shechitah even with] nitrogen stunning… It is true as you say, this question entails great responsibility. Thus, as one who has the yoke…upon himself, I take on this enormous responsibility.” For more on this issue see the responsa of R. Chaim Ozer published in Achiezer Vol. 4 (1986) pp. 28-29 (this letter unpublished). See also Y.Y. Weinberg, Seridei Esh Vol. 1 (1977) pp. 9-172; M. B. Shapiro, Between the Yeshiva World and Modern Orthodoxy: The Life and Works of Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Weinberg (1999) pp. 119-29; Y.Y. Zuber, Gefen Yisrael (2019) pp. 107-175.
Immediately following their rise to power, the Nazi government forbade Kosher slaughter (Shechitah) throughout Germany. Several prominent German rabbis (including Rabbis Unna and Yechiel Ya'akov Weinberg) proposed a solution in which the animal would undergo electroshock prior to its ritual slaughter. This proposal was rejected as halachically unacceptable by R. Chaim Ozer Grodzenski of Vilna, the widely acknowledged "Posek Hador" (halachic decisor of the generation). However due to concern over food scarcity among the Jews in Germany Rabbi Unna persisted to plead for a lenient ruling over the proposal of nitrogen stunning (“Chenkin”) prior to Shechitah. Indeed Unna wrote a sharp letter (published posthumously in his Sho’alim Vedorshin pp. 36-7) bitterly complaining that a lenient decision was ruled out solely due to R. Chaim Ozer’s opposition. The present letter is R. Chaim Ozer’s response. He commences: “Whose heart is not distressed due to the the terrible situation of the Jews in Germany where Shechitah has been prohibited… However you are mistaken in placing the blame on my neck. There are absolutely no Halachic authorities who will permit stunning. Over forty years ago when Shechitah was banned in Switzerland, none of the senior Gedolei HaDor at the time would permit stunning. The new proposal to permit anesthetic stunning utilizing nitrogen, is based upon tests performed by Rabbi Zuber in Stockholm and is still being investigated by Rabbi Dr. Ze’ev Tzvi Klein of Berlin. In any event, I am told by Rabbi Klein that the German government will not permit [Shechitah even with] nitrogen stunning… It is true as you say, this question entails great responsibility. Thus, as one who has the yoke…upon himself, I take on this enormous responsibility.” For more on this issue see the responsa of R. Chaim Ozer published in Achiezer Vol. 4 (1986) pp. 28-29 (this letter unpublished). See also Y.Y. Weinberg, Seridei Esh Vol. 1 (1977) pp. 9-172; M. B. Shapiro, Between the Yeshiva World and Modern Orthodoxy: The Life and Works of Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Weinberg (1999) pp. 119-29; Y.Y. Zuber, Gefen Yisrael (2019) pp. 107-175.