Rabbi Yitzchak Herzog’s arrival in ‘Palestine’

My father, Rabbi Yaacov Moshe (Morris J.) Rothman travelled as a 17 year old from Brooklyn, New York, to Eretz Yisrael to study for four years at the Hevron Yeshiva (then located in Jerusalem).

I have just become aware that in 1936 he was among the first of the thousands of individuals who greeted the newly elected Chef Rabbi of Palestine, Rabbi Yitzchak Halevi Herzog, upon his arrival to the Holy Land.

He wrote a letter to his parents about the event. It must have subsequently been published in a local Brooklyn publication, and a copy of it has just been sent to me by a friend who noticed my father’s name.

I quote my father’s letter below:

On the day Rabbi Herzog was expected to arrive, about 15 of the Yeshiva boys and myself decided to ride down to Ras El Ein and cooperate in welcoming him. We left Jerusalem at 11:30 am. There were in our bus, two American rabbis, one Rabbi Spector of East New York, and the other, Rabbi Margolin of Chicago. They purchased two bags of cake and cognac and these were distributed to the students who drank lechaim to the new Chief Rabbi. We were overjoyed at the prospect of greeting the one all had hoped would be elected since he is so well qualified for this honorable position.

We passed thousands of orange groves all looking very fresh and life giving. Our auto sped on, and we were imbued with the feeling that we were riding for some holy mission. We passed Tel Aviv, Petach Tikvah, Ramat Gan, Bnei Brak, and at last we came to Ras El Ein. The Chief Rabbi had landed that morning in Haifa at 9:00 am. He was met by the consuls of various countries and all were amazed at his fluency in Arabic, perfect German, excellent English and unexcelled Hebrew.

He arrived in Ras El Ein from Haifa at 2 P.M., and you should have seen the rush of the crowd to give their “sholem alechem”! All the prominent Rabbis of Palestine were there to welcome him. With spudeks, streimlach, long payas and short payas, with capotes and without, bearded and smooth shaven, of all ranks, some from Poland, others from Russia, some from Latvia, others from Roumania, Americans, Germans, a hodge-podge of excited cheering humanity pushing and elbowing their way, kissing his hand and offering their blessings. I managed to arrive first at the door to his car and helped him to descend the steps. Rabbi Herzog is about five feet four in height, has a medium-sized beard and wears spectacles, behind which his eyes sized up and examined the onrushing crowd.

Then a few of the boys carried him aloft on their shoulders, singing. His cylinder was almost blown off and with difficulty we pushed through the surging crowd till we came to the station shed where he was allowed to stand on his feet once more. Then Rabbi Uziel, Chief Rabbi of the Sephardic community of Tel-Aviv and Jaffa offered him the sincere blessings of the population of Tel-Aviv. Then Rabbi Katz (formerly of America), Chief Rabbi of Petach Tikvah, gave a fiery talk blessing him and promising to aid him in every way/ The Chief Rabbi and his wife were then led to a waiting auto and with a caravan of waiting cars and busses resumed the journey to Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem. Along the road at each stopping point were gathered thousands of people’ all waiting to catch a glimpse of their new rabbi/ Rabbi Amiel, Chief Rabbi of the Ashkenazic Community of Tel-Aviv (formerly of Belgium), gave a hearty address at the city line of Tel-Aviv.

At 5 P.M. we entered Jerusalem. The mass of people surrounding Amdusky’s Hotel on Ben Yehuda Street were held in check by over fifty British and Palestinian police. When he arrived the cheers of the crowd were heard for miles. I have never witnessed such a remarkable scene.

That evening and the next day thousands of the elite of Palestine thronged to hotel to give him sholem: consuls, government officials, members of the city board, army generals, Zionist leaders. Jerusalem is proud that it has acquired a man of merit, of ability, of outstanding character, a Doctor of Law, Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Mathematics, master of several languages, a wonderful speaker, a man unequalled in the knowledge of the Torah, Talmud, and all their commentaries, but above all a man who is a real baal yiras Shomaim, steadfast to the laws of orthodoxy, whose heart and soul cry for the education of children in Torah, in mussar, to see that kashruth should prevail, that the Sabbath is not desecrated, and to instill in the hearts of his people a love for cooperation and comradship. He, we have faith, will restore the grandeur of of Judaism as of of olden times, בע”ה