board: Tomasini,¹⁵⁴³ Rabbi Kahane,¹⁵⁴⁴ etc., and numbered 14/32. In 1933 (24/III)
the rabbi was officially confirmed as rabbi of the town of S[kępe] by the Polish
authorities, signed by the minister of education, Janusz Jędrzejewicz,¹⁵⁴⁵ and
numbered V-758/33. In 1935, in recognition of his devoted social work for
the good of the Jewish population of S[kępe] in all areas of human life, both
spiritual and material, the said Jewish population helped to purchase for the
rabbi, shlit”a, a house with a large plot at Dobrzyńska Street 4 from the Jew
D. St., which was registered in the rabbi’s name on 6 August (6 sierpień¹⁵⁴⁶ 1935)
under the number 678 by the notary K.H. in L[ipno].”¹⁵⁴⁷
Noteworthy is the smichat hachamim which the gaon Rabbi Avrom Yitzhak
Ha-Kohen Kook, head of the rabbinical court of the kehillah of Jerusalem
and chief rabbi of Eretz Israel, sent the rabbi of S[kępe], shlit”a, following
several exchanges of letters and novel interpretations of Torah, in recognition
of the profundity and greatness of his Torah erudition. It is transcribed
hereafter, letter for letter, from the original [37] in the kehillah archives:
“hWith the help of God, blessed be He, 23 Tevet [5]693,¹⁵⁴⁸ Jerusalem, may
it be speedily rebuilt in our days. All concerned are hereby informed that
the eminent rabbi Y[osef] G[elernter], shlit”a, has taken up the post of rabbi
and teacher, a wise man among those engaged in the study of Torah. On the
basis of the holy texts sent to me, I see that he is knowledgeable in matters
of Gemara, Talmudic considerations and halachic decisions, and a fighter on
behalf of the Torah, one of the great rabbis who reach to the depths of Jewish
law with a strong arm and live in accordance with their teaching. I hereby
strengthen his hands with ordination: he may teach, he may teach, he may
judge, he may judge, and with God’s help strengthen his people, teaching God’s
gift always with measured words, and enrich the holy community which has
chosen a great rabbi as its leader, head of its rabbinical court and its teacher.
1543 Perhaps Marian Tomasini (1878–1959), teacher, lawyer in the Warsaw municipality in the interwar period; see bazhum.muzhp.pl, “Palestra” 1959, 3/11(23), pp. 114–115.
1544 Probably Rabbi Shlomo David Kahane (1869–1953), member of the Warsaw rabbinate and of the presidium of the Union of Rabbis; he successfully fled to Palestine in May 1940.
1545 Janusz Jędrzejewicz (1885–1951), minister of religious denominations and public education in the years 1931–1934.
1546 (Polish) August.
1547 Karol Hecht.
1548 21 January 1933.
