Yeshivah Director Takes Leave of Absence in Israel When one thinks of Detroit's Yeshivath Beth Yehudah, one automatically pictures its exec- utive director, Rabbi Max J. Wohlgelernter, whose life for the past 18 years has been inex- tricably bound up in his love, work, hope and prayer for that center of Orthodox teaching. We hear often that any busi- ness, any institution or for that matter any government can sur- vine without the services of any Holiday Greetings PRIME GRILL Prime Roasts and Steaks 15138 GRAND RIVER VE. 8-9758 0 one individual. Yet, it is difficult to imagine the Yeshivah with- out Rabbi Wohlgelernter. His plans call tentatively for a one year's leave of absence in Israel, but he has intimated, and his close friends believe, that the rabbi, who is also spir- itual leader of Cong. Mogen Abraham, will remain in the Jewish state. Besides the deep yearning of all pious Jews to live in the Promised Land, there is another consideration in the instance of Rabbi Wohlgelernter's depar- ture. His new duties will provide a challenge — strangely, in building the religiosity of the Jewish state and of helping to achieve a unified and effective system of law, based on the teachings of the Talmud. Immediately on his arrival in Israel, Rabbi Wohlgelernter will assume duties as Head Assistant to the Chief Rabbis—Rabbi Is- Happy Holiday Greetings on. the Holiday DANS'S DONUT SHOP CHESTERFIELD MARKET Wholesale and Retail Fruits & Special Prices to Clubs Our Specialty 8433-12th Street TY. 7-6890 &c, Vegetables 2200 W. Davison at TO. 8-0564 0 14th \ Greetings Best Wishes for A Joyous Holiday HETTCHE MOTOR SALES Burch Associates "The Place to See the New Ford Car" Field Interviewing Service 7310 GRAND RIVER TY. 8-0885 2475 W. GRAND BLVD. e Season's Greetings I Best Wishes on Hanukah 1 1 LAVANWAY 1 American Glass Co. 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We Ship or Deliver Cars Tracer-Controlled Milling of All Kinds Free Transportation . 3550 Woodward TE 2-1002 7515 INTERVALE WE. 3-0832 8 40J Hanukah Greetings All Over the U.S.A, a aac Halevy Herzog, the Ashken- azic Chief Rabbi, and Rabbi Is- aac Nissim, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi. Why two Chief Rabbis in Is- rael? Does either have a more authoritative position? What are the duties of the Chief Rabbi- nate? These were questions Rab- bi Wohlgelernter was eager to answer. Oddly enough, the creation of the Chief Rabbinate was a Brit- ish device, inaugurated in '1921 during the Mandate period which followed the Balfour Declara- tion. Today, following approval by the Israel Parliament in 1949 to continue the office, an electoral college of rabbis and community leaders chooses the Chief Rab- bis. They are elected once ev- ery five years. Under Turkish rule, Jewish Palestine was governed by the Sephardic community, and the designation conferred on the tit- ular head of the community was "Rishon LeZion," the first of Zion. Following the advent of Zi- onism, the Jewish communities from Eastern Europe slowly made their way to Palestine, gradually becoming a greater force numerically than the Se- phardic. Thus the basis for the two Chief Rabbis. With the great influx of Ye- menite and North African Jew- ry which has been taking place in the past few years, the Se- a phardic community holds slight edge in the total popula- tion. What does this mean? Rabbi Wohlgelernter explained that it means actually nothing, that it is easier for the Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi to tend to the af- fairs of the East Europeans be- cause he is more familiar with their backgrounds, languages, hopes a n d aspirations. The same holds true for the Sephar- dic Chief Rabbi who is in con- tact with the people from the so-called "Oriental" lands. Both similarly maintain contact with Diaspora Jewry. The Chief Rabbinate is re- sponsible for many matters pertaining to the religious life of Israel's subjects, Rabbi Wohlgelernter said. First and foremost, it acts as a Supreme Court of Appeals on matters of legislation in the purview of the rabbinate. These include marriage, di- vorce, family status, inheritance and even civil matters when both parties agree to take their problems to supreme religious body. Moreover, the Chief. Rabbi- nate has a department of re- search which brings up-to-date all civil law; maintains a libra- ry whose goal is a minimum of 100,000 books on Rabbinic and Talmudic law; is composed of an executive council of all the Chief Rabbis in major cities; has a department which works exclusively on Responsa, which seeks clarification and moderni- zation of the law. The approval of community rabbis, says Rabbi Wohlgelern- ter, also - is within its jurisdic- tion, and only recently two dis- tinct groupings of rabbis were es- tablished. The one we are famil- iar with is the spiritual leader type who performs marriages and handles routine duties. The sec- ond is the Judge, who is the only one qualified to determine questions of law. There are presently 300 syna- gogues under construction in Is- rael, which will bring the total number of congregations in Is- rael to over 2,000. These are administered through the Chief Rabbinate. The office of the Chief Rab- binate, which is soon to be housed in a Supreme Religious Center now nearing completion, will maintain departments for its Councils on sabbath observ- ance, Kashrut and burial, Rabbi Wohlgelernter said. What Israel needs most is a rabbinate which will provide religious counseling, Rabbi Wohlgelernter said. The rabbi there is a scholar, which fre- quently means a disassocia- 56 — DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, December• 9, /955 tion with the rabbinate, and this is still to be provided, Rabbi Wohlgelernter conclud- ed. Undoubtedly, the latter prob- lem will be one whiCh Rabbi Wohlgelernter will seek to solve when he leaves here to assume his new duties. Making the trip with him aboard the SS Israel will be his wife and their two chil dren, Tamar, 17,- and Joshua, 6. Hanukah Greetings J-M Hardware and Sporting Goods a 16111 W. Seven Mile Rd. VE. ,6-8683 Open Sunday 'Till 3 P.M. 0 1 o Hanukah Greetings SPORTLAN D AMUSEMENT CO 0 The Season's Best from 1 0► STAR Distributors of Phonographs & Coin Operated Machines FURNITURE and APPLIANCES 15464 LIVERNOIS Block and a Half North of Fenkell a a 8600 W. VERNOR VI . 1-0310 UN. 2-1036 Open Evenings Except Tuesday and Wednesday 0 0 —=—.§1 Holiday Greetings Lippitt Jewelers & Optometrists Holiday Greetings DELAINE JEWELRY CO. Dr. Albert J. 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