Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah

Not to be confused with Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah.

Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah^[2] (Hebrew: מועצת גדולי התורה, "Council of great Torah [Sages]") is the supreme rabbinical policy-making council of the Agudat Yisrael and Degel HaTorah movements in Israel; and of Agudath Israel of America in the United States. Members are usually prestigious Roshei Yeshiva (heads of yeshivas) or Hasidic rebbes, who are also usually regarded by many Haredi Jews to be the Gedolim ("great/est") sages of Torah Judaism. Before the Holocaust, it was the supreme authority for the World Agudath Israel in Europe.

Moetzes Agudas Yisroel meeting, February 2013, with 12 of 13 members present; from l-r: Vizhnitz-Merkaz Rebbe; Boyaner Rebbe; Modzitzer Rebbe; Slonimer Rebbe; Sanzer Rebbe; Belzer Rebbe; Erlauer Rebbe; Gerrer Rebbe; Vizhnitzer Rebbe; Sadigura Rebbe; Biala Rebbe; Bostoner Rebbe (not in photo: Serit-Vizhnitzer Rebbe)^[1]

Name

The component words of the name are transliterated in a variety of ways. This is frequently done as Moetzet,^[3][4] and less frequently as Gedolai^[5][6][7] and ha-Torah^[5][7] or ha Torah.^[6] The phrase is regularly shortened to Moetzes or The Moetzah.

History

Europe

Prior to World War II, only one such body existed, the World Agudath Israel.^[8] The Council of Torah Sages was established following the establishment of Agudath Israel in Katowice in 1912.^[9] It was decided at the time that two councils would be set up for the movement: a council of homeowners, and a council of rabbis,^[10] composed of leading rabbis from around the world.^[11]

United States

The Moetzes of Agudath Israel of America serve as religious decisors, leadership, and political and policy liaisons with state and federal government agencies on behalf of many American Haredi Jews.^[2][12][13] The council, consisting primarily of rosh yeshivas and Hasidic rebbes, directs Agudath's policies and leadership. Formerly known as the Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah, the body was founded in 1948.^[14] It sets all major policies, and guides the organization according to its precepts of Da'as Torah.

Israel

Main article: Agudat Yisrael

The first Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of "Degel HaTorah", March 1989, home of Rabbi Schach. Sitting alongside Rabbi Steinman

The Moetzes of Agudat Yisrael likewise constituted the Israeli Ashkenazic Haredi community's religious policy leadership, and exercises strong control over political matters for strongly observant Israelis, such as joining government coalitions.^[15][16]

Prior to Degel HaTorah's late 1980s break from Agudat Israel (because of the dominance of the Polish Hasidic groups), there was only one Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah in Israel.^[17] With the breakaway of the Lithuanian/"yeshivish" faction (led by Rabbi Rabbi Elazar Shach), two separate, at times complementary, councils were created.

The Haredi Sephardi Jews of Israel had also at one time followed the leadership of the Moetzet of Agudat Yisrael when it was still a body that generally spoke for most of Israel's Haredim. Eventually, however, the Haredi Sephardim broke with their Ashkenazi counterparts (again because of the dominance of the Polish Hasidic groups), and established the Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah ("Council of [wise] Torah Sages"), which in turn became the source for the formulation and expression of the policies and agenda of the Shas political party in the Israeli Knesset.^[18] Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef became the main leadership figure of this council.

Members – Europe

In Katowice (Kattowitz), German Empire in 1912 appointed to the council were Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter (1866–1948) Rebbe of Ger (Chairman), Rabbi Sholom Dovber Schneerson Rebbe of Chabad, Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik, Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Halevy, Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk, Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, Rabbi Itzela of Ponevezh, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Breuer, Rabbi Ze'ev Feilchenfeld of Posen, Rabbi David Zvi Hoffmann, Rabbi Kopel Reich of Budapest.^[19]

At the great congress in Vienna in 1923, the Council included: the Chofetz Chaim, the Gerrer Rebbe, Rabbi Yisroel Friedman the Chortkov Rebbe, Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, Rabbi Meir Arik, Rabbi Yitzchak Zelig Morgenstern the Admor of Sokolov, Rabbi Mordechai Yosef Elazar Leiner the Admor of Radzin, Rabbi Meir Dan Plotzky, Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein, Rabbi Meir Shapira of Lublin, Rabbi Avraham Mendel Steinberg of Brod, Rabbi Kalman Weber of Piestany, and Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Breuer.^[20]

In 1937, the members of the Council were: Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter, Rabbi Yitzchak Menachem Mendel Danziger of Aleksander, Rabbi Dovid Bornsztain of Sochatchov, Rabbi Avraham Yaakov Friedman of Sadigura, Rabbi Mordechai Shalom Yosef Friedman of Przemysl, Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman, Rabbi Aharon Levin, Rabbi Aharon Kotler, Rabbi Ben Zion Yoezer (Rabbi of Turda and President of the Federation of the Association of Ultra-Orthodox Communities in Romania), Rabbi Dov Ber Av Beit Din of Ozarkov, Rabbi Moshe Blum Av Beit Din of Zamosc, Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin, Rabbi Yehuda Leib Tsirelson, Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky, Rabbi Menachem Ziemba, Rabbi Mordechai Rotenberg, Rabbi of Antwerp, Rabbi Akiva Sofer, and Rabbi Shmuel Dovid Ungar. The council's president was Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski.

Members – Israel

Past members

• Yehuda Ades, rosh yeshiva of Kol Yaakov [retired]
• Pinchas Menachem Alter, Rebbe of Ger (Chairman) [died 1996]
• Simcha Bunim Alter, Rebbe of Ger (Chairman) [died 1992]
• Yisrael Alter, Rebbe of Ger (Chairman) [died 1977]
• Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, Rosh Yeshiva of Kol Torah [died 1995]
• Gershon Edelstein, rosh yeshiva of the Ponevezh Yeshiva (Chairman) [died 2023]
• Yosef Shalom Eliashiv, prominent Posek (Co-Chairman) [died 2012]
• Baruch Mordechai Ezrachi, rosh yeshiva of Ateres Yisrael [died 2023]
• Aryeh Finkel, Rosh Yeshiva of Mir-Brachfeld [died 2016]
• Nosson Tzvi Finkel, Rosh Yeshiva of Mir [died 2011]
• Avraham Yaakov Friedman, 3rd Rebbe of Sadigura [died 1961]
• Avraham Yaakov Friedman, 5th Rebbe of Sadigura [died 2013]
• Yisroel Moshe Friedman, Rebbe of Sadigura [died 2020]
• Moshe Yehoshua Hager (Chairman 1980–2012) [died 2012]
• Levi Yitzchak Horowitz, Rebbe of Boston [died 2009]
• Chaim Kanievsky, (Chairman) [died 2022]
• Nissim Karelitz [died 2019]
• Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz [died 2011]
• Isser Zalman Meltzer (Chairman) [died 1953]
• Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg [died 2012]
• Yitzchok Scheiner, rosh yeshiva of the Yeshiva Kamenitz [died 2021]
• Boruch Shimon Schneerson ^[he] [died 2001]
• Elazar Menachem Shach [died 2001]
• Yitzchak Isaac Sher [died 1952]
• Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman [died 2017]
• Yochanan Sofer, Rebbe of Erlau [died 2016]
• Zalman Sorotzkin (Chairman) [died 1966]
• Yisroel Don Taub [died 2006]
• Avrohom Yehoshua Heschel Twerski [died 1987]
• Dov Yaffe, of Kfar Chasidim [died 2017]
• Binyamin Zilber [died 2008]
• Baruch Weisbecker, rosh yeshiva of Beit Matityau Yeshiva in Bnei Brak [died 2024]
• Ben Zion Rabinovich, Rebbe of Biala (Hasidic dynasty) [died 2024]

Current members (Agudat Yisrael)

• Yaakov Aryeh Alter, Rebbe of Ger (Hasidic dynasty)
• Shmuel Barzovski, Rebbe of Slonim (Hasidic dynasty)
• Nachum Dov Brayer, Rebbe of Boyan (Hasidic dynasty)
• Eliezer Hager, Rebbe of Seret-Vizhnitz (Hasidic dynasty)
• Yisroel_Hager_(the_second), Rebbe of Vizhnitz (Hasidic dynasty)
• Menachem Mendel Hager, Rebbe of Vizhnitz-Merkaz (Hasidic dynasty)
• Zvi Elimelech Halberstam, Rebbe of Klausenburg (Hasidic dynasty)
• Mayer Alter Horowitz, Rebbe of Boston (Hasidic dynasty)
• Yissachar Dov Rokeach, Rebbe of Belz (Hasidic dynasty)
• Chaim Shaul Taub, Rebbe of Modzitz (Hasidic dynasty)

Current members (Degel HaTorah)

• Meir Tzvi Bergman, rosh yeshiva of the Yeshiva Rashbi
• Dov Lando, rosh yeshiva of Slabodka yeshiva
• Dovid Cohen, rosh yeshiva of Chevron Yeshiva
• Moshe Hillel Hirsch, rosh yeshiva of Slabodka yeshiva
• Berel Povarsky, rosh yeshiva of the Ponevezh Yeshiva
• Moshe Yehuda Shlesinger, rosh yeshiva of Kol Torah
• Yitzchak Zilberstein, Rav of Ramat Elchanan

New members (2020)^[21]

• Tzvi Drebkin, rosh yeshiva of the Grodno Yeshiva in Be'er Ya'akov
• Yitzchok Hecker, rosh yeshiva of the Grodno Yeshiva in Be'er Ya'akov
• Aviezer Piltz, rosh yeshiva of Tifrach
• Avrohom Yitzchok Hakohein Kook, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Maor Hatalmud in Rehovot
• Aryeh Levy, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva S'char Sochir
• Shraga Shteinman, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Orchos Torah
• Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Mir Yerushalayim

Members – United States

Past members

• Simcha Bunim Ehrenfeld
• Yitzchok Feigelstock
• Dovid Feinstein
• Moshe Feinstein (Chairman)
• Mordechai Shlomo Friedman of Boyan
• Mordechai Gifter
• Refael Reuvain Grozovsky
• Avrohom Yehoshua Heschel [he] of Kapischnitz
• Shlomo Heiman (Chairman)
• Levi Yitzchak Horowitz
• Moshe Horowitz (Bostoner Rebbe of New York)
• Yitzchak Hutner
• Yaakov Kamenetsky
• Chaim Mordechai Katz
• Aharon Kotler (Chairman)
• Shneur Kotler
• Avrohom Chaim Levine^[22]
• Avraham Yaakov Pam
• Nochum Mordechai Perlow of Novominsk
• Yaakov Perlow (Chairman) ^[23]
• Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman
• Gedalia Schorr
• Eliezer Silver (Chairman)^[24]
• Joseph B. Soloveitchik^[24]
• Baruch Sorotzkin
• Yisroel Spira of Bluzhev
• Elya Svei
• Mendel Zaks^[24]
• Aaron Schechter

Current members

• Elya Brudny
• Hillel David
• Aharon Feldman
• Yosef Chaim Frankel (Vyelipol [he] Rebbe)
• Aharon Dovid Goldberg
• Yaakov Horowitz (Rosh Yeshivas Beis Meir)
• Shmuel Kamenetsky
• Aryeh Malkiel Kotler
• Shlomo Eliyahu Miller
• Yerucham Olshin
• Yosef Harari Raful^[25]
• Yitzchok Sorotzkin
• Shimon Yehuda Svei

References

1. HaMevaser Daily, Issue# 1244, February 8th, 2013, pg 1, "Gathering of Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudath Israel"
2. Schloss, Chaim (2004) [2002]. 2000 Years of Jewish History (Fourth Revised ed.). Jerusalem, Israel: Feldheim Publishers. p. 294. ISBN 1-58330-214-X. Retrieved July 6, 2010. The final resolution declared that Agudas Yisrael would serve to resolve all difficulties facing Jews and Judaism on the basis of Torah, without any political considerations. The Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, the rabbinic council, would be the supreme governing body and final authority in all decisions.
3. Elazar, Daniel J. (1989). People and Polity: The Organizational Dynamic of World Jewry. Wayne State University Press. p. 129. ISBN 9780814318447. Retrieved July 8, 2010. The chief posekim of the ultra-Orthodox are organized in the Moetzet Gedolei haTorah (Council of Torah Greats).
4. Baumel, Simeon D. (2006). Sacred Speakers: Language and Culture among the Haredim in Israel. Berghahn Books. p. 34. ISBN 1-84545-062-0. Retrieved July 8, 2010. Following the tradition begun by his father, R. Israel Alter was active in developing and leading the Moetzet Gedolei Hatorah (Council of Torah Sages) of Agudat Yisrael, which was the guiding force and deciding board behind the decision of the Haredi Agudat Yisrael political party in Israel.
5. Kranzler, David; Landesman, Dovid (1998). Rav Breuer: His Life and Legacy. Jerusalem, Israel: The Rabbi Dr. Joseph Breuer Foundation. p. 37. ISBN 9781583301630. Retrieved July 8, 2010. R. Eliyahu Meir Bloch – one of the members of the Moetzes Gedolai ha-Torah with whom Rav Breuer maintained a close relationship – also decried the failure to offer instruction in Tanach... .
6. Tikkun. Vol. 6. 1991. p. 62. Retrieved July 8, 2010. Agudath demanded insularity and an authoritarian organization. The Agudath founded the Moetzes Gedolai Ha Torah (the Council of Torah sages), a group of renowned rabbis, the interpret the problematic areas of modern life according to Torah law.
7. Sherman, Moshe D. (1996). Orthodox Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary and Sourcebook. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. p. 123. ISBN 0-313-24316-6. Retrieved July 8, 2010. Kotler emerged as one of the most significant Orthodox rabbinic leaders of the time, not only in America, where he was Chairman of Agudath Israel's Moetzet Gedolai ha-Torah (Council of Torah Sages), but in Israel as well.
8. Amsel, Meir (1986). Encyclopedia Hamaor: Perpetual Memoirs and Responsa in 4 Divisions. Congregation and Yeshiva Hamaor. p. 278. Retrieved July 8, 2010. He was one of the founders of Agudas Israel in Czechoslovakia, and after the Holocaust, of Agudas Israel of Central Europe, and was one of the leaders of the Moetzes Chachmei Hatorah in the area.
9. "The General Assembly of the Agudath Israel Committee", Hatzfira, October 29, 1912
10. "Agudat Yisrael assembly in Katowice", Moria, June 14, 1912
11. Asher Reichel, "Igrot Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac HaLevi", Mossad Harav Kook, p. 66, on the HebrewBooks site
12. Hutner, Isaac (2007). Katz, Steven T. (ed.). Wrestling with God: Jewish Theological Responses during and after the Holocaust. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. p. 557. ISBN 978-0-19-530014-7. Retrieved July 8, 2010. Yeshiva and day school principals from across the nation posed the above question to Rabbi Yitzchok [Isaac] Hutner, head of the Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin-Aryeh and a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah (Council of Torah Sages) of Agudat Israel or [sic] America.
13. Agudath Israel of America, ed. (May 2003). Daring to Dream (pamphlet). New York, NY: Agudath Israel of America. p. unnumbered. Retrieved July 8, 2010. Through the years, Agudath Israel has been guided by its Torah leadership, mainly through the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah (Council of Torah Sages), comprised of many of the country's leading rabbinic authorities. Aside from the focus put on their decisions and policy statements, regarding most every major issue confronting American Orthodoxy...
14. The Struggle and the Splendor: A Pictorial Overview of Agudath Israel of America. Agudath Israel of America. 1982. pp. 23–24.
15. Goldberg, David H.; Reich, Bernard (January 2009). Fatton Jr., Robert (ed.). Religion, State, and Society: Jefferson's Wall of Separation in Comparative Perspective. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan / St.Martin's Press. p. 224. ISBN 978-0-230-61230-3. Retrieved July 8, 2010. Established in 1912 in Kattowitz (Katowice), Poland, Augda was to be a Torah movement directed by Moetzet Gedolei Hatorah (Council of Torah Sages), a group of rabbinical scholars who represent the various factions of the Aguda movement and are chosen for their scholarly merit and prestige in the realm of Orthodox Jewry. Moetzet Gedolei Hatorah continues to be the supreme decision-making body for Aguda adherents, and its decisions are sovereign in all questions affecting the membership, including religious and political matters such as joining or remaining in the government coalition.
16. Baumel, Simeon D. (2006). Sacred Speakers: Language and Culture among the Haredim in Israel. Berghahn Books. p. 34. ISBN 1-84545-062-0. Retrieved July 8, 2010. Following the tradition begun by his father, R. Israel Alter was active in developing and leading the Moetzet Gedolei Hatorah (Council of Torah Sages) of Agudat Yisrael, which was the guiding force and deciding board behind the decision of the Haredi Agudat Yisrael political party in Israel.
17. Baumel, Simeon D. (2006). Sacred Speakers: Language and Culture among the Haredim in Israel. Berghahn Books. p. 41. ISBN 1-84545-062-0. Retrieved July 8, 2010. Unlike the dynastic succession of Hassidic courts, which usually allowed for one central rabbinical authority per sect at any given time, the Mitnagdic world often had several Gedolim (Great Torah Scholars) to turn to in one generation. From the 1970s until the late 1990s, R. Shakh functioned as the major authority in terms of various issues, and his political machinations were instrumental in creating a new form of Mitnagdic separatism. Having broken away from the heavily Hassidic Moetzet Gedolei Hatorah in the latter 1980s, Shakh founded a new Haredi political party, (Degel Hatorah), started a new Haredi newspaper, Yated Ne'eman, and created the She'erit Yisrael kashrut authority.
18. Bick, E (Winter 2007). "A Clash of Authority: Lay Leaders and Rabbis in the National Religious Party". Israel Affairs. 13 (2): 401–417. doi:10.1080/13537120701205024. S2CID 145523340. Retrieved July 8, 2010. In Shas there is a single hierarchy, with Rabbi Ovadia Yosef the unchallenged leader of the party. He sits at the head of the party's Council of Torah Sages (Moetzet Chachmei Hatorah), which is subordinate to his authority.
19. "Agudath Israel assembly in Katowice", Moria, June 18, 1912
20. See "In Agudath Israel", Doar Hayom, May 5, 1929
21. News. "Moetzes of Degel Hatorah Meets, Adds New Members". Matzav.com. Retrieved 5 December 2020. {{cite news}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
22. Devorah Klein (Jul 29, 2015). "Midwest Agudath Israel council annual conference". Hamodia.
23. "Site is undergoing maintenance".
24. Hapardes, September 1941, p. 16
25. https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PiFXXqM4giI/UnP4MR_pIaI/AAAAAAAAA98/PfaNxQansJQ/s1600/Moetzes+tpv.jpg ^{[bare URL image file]}