Sharp Letter from Rebbe Rayatz of Lubavitch – Scathing Criticism on Agudath Yisrael and the German Jews Heading it ...

Sharp Letter from Rebbe Rayatz of Lubavitch – Scathing Criticism on Agudath Yisrael and the German Jews Heading it – 1923
Letter containing sharp censure on Agudath Yisrael and the German Jews standing at its helm, from Rebbe Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn of Lubavitch. [Rostov], Cheshvan 1923.
Written by a scribe, with one line handwritten and signed by Rebbe Rayatz. Addressed to R. Shlomo Zalman Havlin of Jerusalem.
The body of the letter contains the Rebbe's lengthy condemnation of the Agudath Yisrael organization, "…which has emerged in the last two years and has wreaked havoc contrary to the Torah". The Rebbe adds that he is stating "contrary to the Torah" in the literal sense of the term.
Further in the letter, the Rebbe caustically attacks the political leaders of German Jewry, who served as heads of Agudath Yisrael in those days, with the following unsparing words of admonishment:
"…these German Jews, who believe that they are allowed everything… whilst in truth, what they are doing constitutes a desecration of G-d's name, especially since by means of various deceptions, they have ensnared some faithful and G-d fearing Jews, to implement their scheme of causing secular studies to supersede the holiness of the Torah, something which is deeply enrooted in the hearts of German Torah scholars, whose knowledge has consumed their Torah and fear of G-d, and who have lost their ability to comprehend matters of Torah and worship of G-d, and all the more so to therein experience vitality".
Rebbe Rayatz then reviews the history of German Jewry. He condemns the generation following R. Shimshon Rafael Hirsch, while simultaneously commending the latter for his activities and efforts to save German Jewry. He explains that R. Shimshon Rafael's tactic for rescuing the Jews from assimilation and from the lure of Mendelsohn and his party was to draw them to institutions offering a combination of Torah and secular studies, hoping that they would progressively become more G-d fearing and knowledgeable in Torah. Unfortunately, the situation was perpetuated in the next generation, and those educated in this fashion, with very minimal Torah knowledge, became the leaders and rabbis of the German communities.
He decries the fact that people who do not know what Torah is and are far from it, are the ones leading the organization whose motto is "to resolve in the Torah spirit…". He expresses his great surprise at G-d fearing Jewry in Eretz Israel "how did they not fear the serpent wrapped round the standard of the Agudath Yisrael in its current format…".
The letter concludes with a line handwritten by Rebbe Rayatz, with his signature: "And I am hereby his close friend, who seeks his wellbeing, blesses him and inquires of the wellbeing of the students and blesses them, Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn".
The letter was published in its entirety in HaMashpia, Jerusalem, 1982, pp. 285-287. It was copied from there to Igrot Kodesh of the Rayatz, vol. I, pp. 284-285, with the omission of the main part of the letter containing the Rebbe's denunciation of Agudath Yisrael, leaving only the opening and concluding passages.
[1] double leaf (4 written pages). 21 cm. Good condition. Many stains. Folding marks.