Large, Special Archive of the Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman

Large, Special Archive of the Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman
The archive divides into three:
First section: Halachic responses, halachic rulings, novellae, Divrei Torah, Derashot - about 400 documents.
A partial list: response regarding "Melacha She'eina Tzricha Le'Gufa" * comment regarding Chabala * regarding "Dina De'Malchuta Dina" * Psulei Edut (6 leaves) * Gittin * Nezikin - Shabbat Teshuva * rules for marriage registry * saving the lives of many * Hilchot Melicha * plastic surgery * lesson given at "Shevet Mechokek" Kollel about the giving of a Gett (5 pages) * Novellae of the Shabbat tractate * letter to Rabbi Herzog about "Makin Oto ad Sh'Tetze Nafsho" * sermon about the importance of Halacha Yomit * letter about a Jew who wants to marry a non-Jewess and convert her to Judaism * using a microphone eon Sabbath * a response on the law of a Jewish slave (3 leaves) * doubts regarding Psulei Kahal * Divrei Torah on Ruth (3 leaves) * the Land of Israel, the unity of the nation and Atchalta De'Ge'ulah * supporting the project of "Otzar Ha'Poskim" * discussion regarding the Rambam on Kidush Ha'Shem * the conversion to Judaism of a child * mixing powdered milk into bread at the request of physicians and the government (4 leaves) * the value and holiness of Jerusalem * complicated halachic problems regarding Kibbutz Galuyot * responses and long discussions regarding conversion to Judaism today * conversion to Judaism of an adopted child * short words of comforts to the sons of the Rebbe of Sochatchov-Jerusalem * interesting, historical protocol of the Chief Rabbis about the lands of the Jewish National Fund * suggestion regarding genealogy (of Jews of Indian descent).
In addition, there is a leaf with Divrei Torah on the Kidushin tractate on which Rabbi Unterman wrote: "I remember in my youth that the head of the Yeshiva sermonized …" (he is referring to Rabbi Shimon Shkop who Rabbi Unterman was one of his disciples). There is also a leaf on the matter of an Agunah in which he mentions Rabbi Simcha Zelig of Brisk and writes that he studied Torah with him in his youth.
About 150 handwritten leaves, dozens of stencil leaves with many handwritten corrections and additions and additional leaves and documents.

Second section: letters sent by Rabbi Unterman to Rabbis, Dayanim and Torah scholars all around the world and to important people - about 300 documents.
Partial list: letter to Rabbi Yisrael Meir Levitan (author of "Ishei Yisrael". 2 letters) * early letter from Liverpool 1939 about several family names in the context of Gittin matters (written on both sides of the page) * letter to Rabbi Yitzchak Yedidya Frankel about grape juice made in Romaina * polemic letter to the chief secretary of the regional Batei Din in Haifa about Rabbi M. who cannot be trusted since he is suspected of being a conservative Jew * response to Rabbi Chaim David Auerbach (2 leaves) * letter of recommendation to Rabbi Binyamin Ze'ev Benedict * greeting letter to Rabbi Raphael Eliyahu Eliezer Mishkovsky * letter to the leaders of the "Nidchei Yisrael" community * letter to Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu Hankin * letter of recommendation to the Israel Cancer Association * polemic letter to Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Yitzchak Nissim * letter to Rabbi Mordechai Ya'akov Galinkin about Kashrut and the Osem company * letter to Chevra Kadisha of Jerusalem * letter to the citizens of Tel Aviv about the import of meat * response regarding the question whether a Jew can play at a prayer of Christians * letter to the rabbis of Israel (on the matter of the Dayanim) * letter to the mayor of Jerusalem Teddy Kollek * letter to Rabbi Dov Eliezrov * polemic letter to Rabbi Yitzchak Isaac Ha'Levi Herzog * polemic letter to Dr. Chaim Adler * interesting letter to Rabbi Salman Chugi Abudy * letter to the rabbis of Argentine about an Agunah * letter about using a hearing aid on Sabbath (Pesak of the Chazon Ish) * polemic letter to Rabbi Reuben Katz * certificate granting Rabbi Avraham Kilav permission to arrange a marriage.
In addition, letters to important people: letter to President Zalman Shazar * letter to the Minister of Religious Services Zerach Varhaftig * letter to Shimon Peres about the use of microphone of Sabbath * response of Rabbi Unterman to the Bengali Company (2 handwritten pages).
Among others, letters of various matters of the Chief Rabbinate, greeting letters and letters of condolence. Many letters of recommendation to charity and other institutions and for different rabbis around the world. Various polemic letters. Personal letters, Hechsher certificates and more.
50 handwritten letters. Dozens of additional letters with handwritten additions and his full signature or his signature in initials.

Third section: letters by the most prominent rabbis on Divrei Torah, matters of the moment, greetings, letters from famous people around the world - about 250 documents.
Long letters with Divrei Torah: the laws of Agunot after the Holocaust by Rabbi Shlomo Ha'Levi Av Beit Din of Lodz (7 handwritten letters) * letter by "The Union of Rabbis - Russia Refugees" signed by Rabbi Shmuel Kipnis and Rabbo Yosef Stern (on eof the rabbis of Hungary, the great-grandson of the Chatam Sofer who published his books with his glosses), Rabbi Yisrael Waltz (Av Beit Din of Budapest) and Rabbi Yitzchak Weinstein * two letters signed by the rabbis of Tiberius Rabbi David Mintzberg, Rabbi Avraham Weinberg and Rabbi Simhca Bonem Werner 8 letter by Rabbi Tzadok Tuvia Av Beit Din of Amsterdam (1954) * letter by the Rishon Le'Zion Rabbi Yutzchak Nissim * 2 letters (one long one with Divrei Torah) by Rabbi Mordechai Yaffe Shlizinger * Long letter with Divrei Torah by Rabbi Raphael Ha'Cohen Kook (Chief Rabbi and Av Beit Din of Tiberius) * Letter by Rabbi Ezra Hadaya (Dayan and Av Beit Din of Haifa) * Letter by Rabbi Hillel Goldberg (the Shamash of the Chafetz Chaim) * 2 letters by Rabbi Menachem Gutman Av Beit Din of Jassy * letter asking for a recommendation by the managers of the "Meah She'arim" Yeshiva, with the handwritten recommendation by Rabbi Unterman on the reverse side of the page * letter by Rabbi Shlomo Yaloz, a prominent rabbi in Tiberius (2 letters, a long halachic response) * letter by an unknown Hassidic rabbi (signed Rabbi Shalom…) * long, handwritten letter of Divrei Torah by Rabbi Yehoshua Menachem Ehrenberg (Av Beit Din of Tel Aviv, Chief Rabbi at the Cyprus Internment Camps) * letter by Rabbi Ya'akov Rosenthal (Av beit Din of Haifa and head of the Hagra Yeshiva) * long letter by the author Avrahm Korman with a revolutionary suggestion regarding kosher meat * letter by Rabbi Avraham Nesher Adler (bureau chief of the Chief Rabbinate and head of the Kashrut department, assisted Rabbi Kook and Rabbi Frank in the establishment of the Chief Rabbinate, author of "Kanfei Nesharim") * letter by Rabbi Baruch Rakover (Av Beit Din of Haifa, scholar and interpreter of the Hagra commentary on the Shulchan Aruch) * letter by Rabbi Shmuel Akiva Yaffe Shlezinger, the rabbi of Strasbourg * letter by Rabbi Zvi Gutman Av Beit Din of Bucharest * letter by Rabbi Naftali Hirtz Baumel (author of "Imrei Shefer") * letter by Rabbi Shabtai Shmueli * letter by Rabbi Meir Berlin 8 letter by the Zionist federation with the Rabbi's handwritten response about the publishing of the miracle of the Six-Day-War * question by the general secretary of the Chief Rabbinate regarding pest-control of locusts on Sabbath (1959) * letter by the Ministry of Aliyah in response to his letter, in which he objected to the immigration of a Baptist Christian sect.
Added are several leaves of handwritten Divrei Torah sent to Rabbi Unterman by an unknown sender (these leaves are from Rabbi Unterman's youth). Dozens of greeting letters on the occasion of his becoming the Chief Rabbi of Israel.
Some of the letters are handwritten and some are only with a handwritten signature.
On many of the letters, Rabbi Unterman added his handwritten response on the margins of the letter or on its reverse side.
Additional handwritten leaves in English and Yiddish.

Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman
Isser Yehuda Unterman (1886–1976) was the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1964 until 1972. Born in Brest-Litovsk in modern Belarus, Unterman was educated at the Etz Chaim Yeshiva in Maltsch. There, he became a pupil of its Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Shimon Shkop. Returning to Lithuania to complete his studies, Unterman was ordained as a rabbi by Rabbi Refael Shapiro and opened his own yeshiva in the town of Vishnyeva around 1910. Unterman served a variety of roles in the Lithuanian Jewish community until 1924, when he was selected to become the head rabbi of Liverpool. Unterman served in Liverpool for 22 years, becoming an important figure in the English Zionistmovement and working to relieve the suffering of refugees in England during the Second World War.
In 1946, Unterman became the Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, a position he held for twenty years before being appointed Chief Rabbi of Israel. As Chief Rabbi, Unterman worked to reform the rabbinic court system and reach out to secular Israelis. He also wrote opinions on a variety of religious issues relevant to the young Jewish state, such as religious conversion and marriage law, laws applicable in the Land of Israel, the recruitment of girls to the IDF, organ transplantation, and many more. Rabbi Unterman supported saying the Hallel prayer on Israel's Independence Day without its blessing; however, on Jerusalem Liberation Day, he ruled that the Hallel should be said with its blessing.
More than anything, Rabbi Unterman was a righteous person. The kabbalist, Rabbi Yehuda Zerachya Segal of Tel Aviv said of him: "I have asked [in Heaven] who is Tzadik Ha'Dor (the most righteous person of the generation)… and was answered: Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman. I was surprised by the answer and was told that he is Tzadik Ha'Dor because he does not succumb to temptation. This is how things are examined in Heaven". Nothing else has to be added.
Rabbi Unterman was the Mesader Kiddushin at the second wedding of the Rebbe of Belz.
This archive and the many documents it contains shed light on the history, activity and halachic and practical influence of Rabbi Unterman.
The archive contains many important halachic rulings regarding a variety of issues, some of them extremely rare.
A total of about 1000 documents and paper items.
Varying sizes and conditions. General Condition: Very Good.