FOR record the

LOCAT IO N
Philadelphia,
Blossoming the Flowers of
Pennsylvania

D O C U M EN T
Various documents
and photos

TIME

PHOTOS: YESHIVA UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES, NATIONAL LIBRARY OF ISRAEL, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

1924

The research and

writings of Rabbi In 1924, three Torah luminaries journeyed to the US to secure financial aid
Joshua Hoffman for Torah centers ravaged by the First World War. While their fundraising
and Rabbi
Aaron Rakeffet- efforts fell short of their goals, the visit of these revered figures was a
Rothkoff were landmark event that stirred the hearts of American Jews, greatly reinforcing
utilized in the
preparation of
their connections to their European counterparts and the nascent Jewish
this article community in Palestine

YEHUDA GEBERER is a historian and tour guide of Jewish historical sites in DOVI SAFIER is a business professional who enjoys researching unexplored chapters
Europe and Israel, and is the host of the Jewish History Soundbites podcast. of Jewish history, with a primary focus on the yeshivos of the interwar period.

COUSIN JUDY’S CHAT
Dear Little Friends,
“Rabbi Kook is here today. Are you
going to see him?” That is what you
are going to hear on all sides today
from all the grown-ups. But don’t you
feel out of it because you don’t know
who Rabbi Kook is. Cousin Judy will
explain all about his visit and arrange
for you to take part in his reception.
Rabbi Kook is the Chief Rabbi of
Palestine, come to visit Philadelphia,
together with two other great rabbis
from Europe — the Chief Rabbi of
Lithuania, Rabbi Shapiro; and the
head of one of the most famous
Jewish seminaries in the world —
Rabbi Epstein, dean of the Slabodka
Yeshivah.
By rights, you know, today’s your
holiday. Because the rabbis have
come here on behalf of your European
cousins. They are in America and
today in Philadelphia to help the
campaign which is now going on for
money for the Yeshivahs of Europe.
And you, my little friends, must and
can help raise it by giving your little
mite, and by seeing to it that mother
and dad and the other grown-ups give
as much as they are able to.
Don’t be afraid of the word Yeshivah. All it means is a high
school. A Yeshivah is a high school for Jewish education only.
There, you are taught the history of the Jewish nation, the
teachings of the Torah, etc. You remember I told you about the
Torah, which G-d gave to our people as the law of life and which
we, in turn, gave to the entire world. It’s very sad, don’t you
think, that so very few of us, especially the youngsters, know
anything of the teachings of our Torah, particularly when we
expect other nations of the world to observe them?
It’s just as if an American who knew all about William the
Conqueror or King Arthur would know nothing about George
Washington! Can you imagine anything more ridiculous? Our
Jewish boys and girls all know all about George Washington,
the great general, George Washington, the great leader, George
Washington, the man. Yet they know little or nothing about
Moses, the greatest lawgiver; about Joshua, the great leader of
3 Sivan 5784 | June 9, 2024
THE MOMENT
the world and a most remarkable personality;
the men who led our forefathers across the
sea from slavery to freedom. These are some
of the things that are taught in the Yeshivah.
In many countries of Europe, the Jew was and
is hated and ill-treated. The thing that keeps
him alive is the belief in the Torah, the hope
for the better world that it promised to Israel.
Haven’t you sometimes felt like crying after
a harsh scolding or a blow? You gritted your
teeth, and you didn’t cry. What was it that
kept the tears back? Your determination, of
course. It was the same way with our people,
only the hurt was so very much worse. Despite
the most terrible torture they were forced to
endure, they were able to live because they
had hope. Just think how remarkable must be
the Torah if it could, for 2000 years, save our
people from a million deaths!
And the Torah was taught in the Yeshivah.
But the war came and brought destruction
to the houses of the Torah — the Yeshivahs.
And peace came after the war and brought
poverty and sorrow to the land. The Yeshivahs
were closed. Schools need teachers: teachers
must live; they need money, and there is no
money in Europe.
So these three great leaders have come to
America to ask for our aid. Philadelphia has
promised to give $65,000. My little friends
must contribute their share as well, through their Hebrew
schools, the Young Judean clubs, or any other clubs. I know how
well you can do. Flower Day proved it. How proud I was last
Sunday to see groups of little girls, many of them not more than
eight years old, selling flowers for Palestine. But where are the
boys, I wonder? They must do their share now! Remember, your
European cousins are waiting and watching for your help.
Lovingly,
COUSIN JUDY.
(COUSIN JUDY was the pen name used by an Orthodox woman
who wrote regular English advice columns to the youth in
Philadephia’s Yiddishe Velt newspaper. While her identity
remains unknown, we have some suspicions about who she
might have been.)
M I S H PAC H A 117
 THE JOHNSON-REED IMMIGRATION
ACT of 1924 was a watershed moment in
both the history of the United States and Jewish
history of the 20th century. Over decades of largely
unrestricted immigration, nearly three million Jews
had escaped from economic hardship and
governmental repression in Eastern Europe to the
promise of the New World. This came to an end in
1924, when the US Congress curtailed further
immigration through draconian quotas. While the
Johnson-Reed Act had far-reaching consequences
for the millions of Jews in Eastern Europe hoping to
immigrate, it also unintentionally influenced the
Visiting trajectory of American Jewry itself.
Within the flourishing immigrant communities,
rabbanim there was a tacit understanding that the flow of
served as immigrants from the alte heim would never cease.
beacons of That meant a limitless supply of spiritual guidance:
religious leaders and educators arriving on
light, bridging American shores on a regular basis. This unspoken
the gap reliance on the bridge to the old country meant
that much of the American Orthodox infrastructure
between the of the early 20th century was underdeveloped.
old world and All of that came to a sudden halt with the
Immigration Act of 1924. The flow of immigration
the new. These almost instantly dried up, and American Jewry was
rabbinical forced to mature, define its identity, and find its
fundraisers own distinctive path. This took many years and was
only fully realized after the destruction of European
allowed the Jewry during the Holocaust. But the seeds were
Americans planted while Congress deliberated the legislation.
Exactly 100 years ago, three great Torah leaders
to learn from visited the United States and infused the Jewish
Torah giants community with a sense of identity and mission.
and benefit This historic sojourn paved the way for a confident,
independent, and traditional American Jewish
from their community to take a leadership role in world Jewry.
proximity World War I laid waste to the bulk of Eastern
Europe. Homes were turned into battlefields,
while also and many displaced Jews were left impoverished
giving them refugees. The Bolshevik Revolution and subsequent
Russian Civil War caused mayhem across the former
the Pale of Settlement. In Ukraine, tens of thousands of
chance to Jews were murdered in pogroms in 1918-19. There
support Torah was no economic stability; Jewish educational
institutions, community infrastructure, and religious
learning life nearly shut down entirely. Rebuilding seemed
118 M I S H PAC H A
an almost insurmountable challenge.
As World War I unfolded, American Jewry
had rallied to aid European Jewry with the
philanthropic Joint Distribution Committee. After
the war, different organizations within the Joint
were assigned to distribute funds to recipient
communities. The Central Relief Committee,
established by the Agudath Harabonim, turned to
rehabilitate the spiritual life of European Jewry
after the upheaval of the war.
The Central Relief Committee launched a much-
publicized visit of great rabbinical personalities,
who would meet the public and bring attention to
the desperate financial needs of Europe’s yeshivos.
This emergency fundraising campaign was viewed
as the only way to rescue yeshivos at this crucial
juncture.
This was not the first group of rabbis to attempt
a trip like this; however, it was certainly the highest-
profile one. Shadarim had been visiting since the
American Revolution. Some collected money for
the Yishuv in Palestine while others raised funds for
Volozhin, Mir, and Slabodka during the late 1800s.
The emissaries were treated with little respect and
often hostility by their fellow Jews, even as Eastern-
European Jews — some who had even studied in
those yeshivos — became more ubiquitous.
Perhaps the first major voyage that included
renowned rabbis was the 1913 delegation of Rav
Aharon Walkin and Rabbi Dr. Meir Hildesheimer,
who were sent to America to raise awareness of
the nascent Agudas Yisrael, recently founded in
Katowice, Poland. The group followed up with a
larger delegation in 1921, led by Rabbi Meir Dan
Plotzki, Rabbi Dr. Meir Hildesheimer and Dr. Nathan
Birnbaum.
But none of those trips matched the scope of
the Central Relief Committee (CRC) delegation
in 1924. Initially, it was announced that the
delegation would feature the who’s who of Torah
leadership at the time, including Rav Chaim Ozer,
the Chofetz Chaim, and the rebbes of Belz, Gur,
and Chortkov. Ultimately, the selected delegation
featured a different group of Torah giants: Rav
Avraham Yitzchak HaKohein Kook, Rav Avraham
Dov Ber Kahana Shapiro (the Dvar Avraham), and
Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein, rosh yeshivah of
3 Sivan 5784 | June 9, 2024

The Fundraising Slabodka.
Dinner at Hotel They headed to the United States and began
Walton
their fundraising mission in March 1924. They
would spend about eight months in the country,
visiting major Jewish cities, delivering shiurim at
the handful of yeshivos that existed at the time,
speaking at events, and meeting with a cross-
section of the American Jewish community.
While they didn’t procure enough funds to
reach their goal, they left a long-term impact
on the American Torah community. Most of
120 M I S H PAC H A
these fundraising trips were abject failures
with disappointing results. But with the end
of mass migration came a period of stability
and development within the American Jewish
community. Visiting rabbanim served as beacons of
light, bridging the gap between the old world and
the new. These rabbinical fundraisers allowed the
Americans to learn from Torah giants and benefit
from their proximity while also giving them the
chance to support Torah learning.
This fundraising mission was even more
significant than any that came before it. The
prominence of the guests — Rav Kook was the
chief rabbi of Palestine and a renowned orator and
author, the Dvar Avraham was the most respected
rabbi in Lithuania, and Rav Moshe Mordechai
Epstein was the head of the famed Slabodka
yeshivah — evoked a Jewish pride among the
masses of American Jewry. Multitudes turned out
to greet them at railroad stations, automobile
processions, hotel receptions, banquet fundraisers,
shul and yeshivah lectures, and other public forums.
Despite the fanfare, the throngs of well-
wishers, and the extensive press coverage in
both the Yiddish and general press, the CRC
failed to hit their fundraising target of one million
dollars. Only $300,000 was raised over months
of fundraising. But by other measures, the visit
was an everlasting success. It generated an
atmosphere of kavod haTorah, as a large number
of American Jews proudly and publicly identified
with these traditional rabbis who represented
Torah, its institutions, and ideals. Sadly, for some,
it was an opportunity to bring their children and
grandchildren to glimpse the “old world rabbis,”
whom they believed would soon become extinct.
A highlight of the trip occurred after Shavuos,
when the trio visited Philadelphia, home to
America’s third-largest Jewish population after
New York and Chicago. The rabbanim visited
Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where Rav Kook
delivered remarks regarding liberty, freedom, and
the shared destiny of America and the Jewish
People. They then went on an outing on the yacht
of Philadelphia mayor W. Freeland Kendrick, and
attended a massive fundraising dinner at the Hotel
Walton.
A vivid account of the day was presented later
3 Sivan 5784 | June 9, 2024
 that week in Philadelphia’s Yiddishe Velt newspaper:
The Jewish quarters of the city were decorated
with flags, American and Jewish. Throughout the
day, automobiles decorated with flags could be
seen everywhere. At 10 o’clock, everything was
ready for their arrival. The Reception Committee
had arrived at the Brith Sholom building, and there
formed the lead of the automobile parade. Long
before 11 a.m., the hour scheduled for the arrival of
the delegation, Rabbis Kook, Shapiro, and Epstein,
crowds had assembled at the North Philadelphia
station. It was a crowd curious, alert, and ready to
worship.
A little flurry was caused when the train on
which they were due pulled in and the Rabbis
could not be discovered. After five minutes,
however, they appeared, and the enthusiasm of
the throng held in abeyance had full opportunity
to give vent to itself. As they were let loose
into a veritable maelstrom of humanity, bent on
paying homage to three great Orthodox leaders,
sights unusual to American Jewish life portrayed
themselves. Men kissed the hands of the Rabbis
with the reverence paid to some divine personage.
Children were lifted up to be kissed and blessed
by the good men of Israel before the car carrying
the party was permitted to proceed on its way.
An American city was a strange setting for this
mystical homage. The American pomp and parade,
a strange background for these Orthodox men.
Scholarly looking, all three of them — with their
long flowing beards, the kindliness which they
radiated, and that absorption in an inner life which
their countenances portrayed — they belonged
somehow in the peace and quiet of the study rather
than in the midst of an American Jewish crowd,
hurrying as only American crowds can. But since the
Rabbis have been received in other American cities
previous to their visit here, the peculiar flavor of the
American greeting must by this time be familiar.
The welcome at the station over, the parade
turned to Independence Hall, where Mayor
Kendrick and Hon. B. W. Golder, chairman of the
Reception Committee, awaited them. It was more
like some triumphant procession, this automobile
parade to the shrine of the American nation. It
was Sunday. The day was quiet. Broad Street, the
path of the parade, [was] void of its usual hurrying

122 M I S H PAC H A
 throngs. All was serene. The sun smiled down benevolently,
tempering its warmth. And at the head of the procession,
led by Martin O. Levy, grand secretary of the Brith Sholom,
rode the visitors from the old world, accompanied by the
Chief Rabbi of the city, Rabbi B. L. Levinthal, and Mr. Jacob
Ginsburg, publisher of the Jewish World.
Four motorcycle police flanked on either side of the car of
the delegation formed a guard of honor providing the right of
way. A hundred automobiles or more followed in the wake of
the car of honor, with flags flying merrily in the breeze. It was
a leisurely procession which made its way down Broad Street
and [was] in thorough keeping with the spirit of the three men
who are our guests of honor for two days.
At Independence Hall it was different. Thousands of people
were gathered to catch a glimpse of the Chief Rabbi of
Palestine and his distinguished associates, the Chief Rabbi
of Lithuania and the Dean of the Slabodka Yeshivah. The
arrival was the signal for a prolonged outburst which lasted
for several minutes, and for a rush which, for the moment,
threatened to overwhelm the Rabbis. There have been larger
crowds assembled to pay tribute to some distinguished
visitors. This crowd, nevertheless, proved quite up to the mark
in enthusiasm.
It was several minutes before the Rabbis could proceed into
the hall, where the Mayor awaited them.… He received the
Rabbis in the room where the Declaration of Independence
was signed.
In a brief address, he welcomed the Rabbis. “In the name
of the 2 million citizens whom I have the honor to represent. I
take great pleasure in presenting to each of you the key to the
city. I sincerely trust that you will carry away with you a kindly
opinion. I count among my sincerest friends, to whom I owe a
great deal of my success, men like Mr. Ginsburg and others of
your people. If there is anything that I can do further, I shall be
glad to do so.”
Rabbi Kook answered for the delegation in Hebrew. Mr.
Jacob Ginsburg interpreted for the Mayor. Rabbi Kook
expressed his deepest appreciation, and that of the whole
delegation, for the cordiality of the reception accorded and
the honor paid in receiving them in the shrine of the American
nation. He expressed the hope that the freedom and equality
of all humanity, which the Liberty Bell proclaimed, might
continue to prove America’s inspiring message.
It was a short but impressive ceremony when Rabbi Kook
placed a wreath of flowers on the Liberty Bell. The flowers, he
said, were symbolic: a crown on the Liberty Bell, which in turn
was the crown of America. The flowers, he declared, would
remain fresh and blooming, providing the spirit of the Liberty

3 Sivan 5784 | June 9, 2024 M I S H PAC H A 123


Rav Kook
standing outside
the White House
Bell remained unsullied. But should the bell lose its traditional meaning, then the
wreath of flowers would turn into a wreath of thorns. Mayor Kendrick seemed
particularly pleased that the Rabbis, again with Rabbi Kook as their spokesman,
learning of his approaching fiftieth birthday, wished him every success and gave
him their blessing.
The final touch to a reception of great cordiality, and the most picturesque,
perhaps, was the tribute paid to the Rabbis by the Talmud Torah children of the
city. Children of every age, from six and upwards, fully 300 of them, keyed up
with enthusiasm, with curiosity, and just the happiness of youth, were massed
outside of Independence Hall. … Mayor Kendrick attempted to speak, but his
voice was lost in the sudden outburst of childish voices lifted in song. First it
was “My Country, ’Tis of Thee,” then the Jewish national anthem, and then other
Jewish songs.
It was their hour, and they were making the most of it. The climax came when
a little bit of a boy, who looked not more than eight, was hoisted up on the
platform to hand Rabbi Kook a bag of coins as the contribution of the Talmud
Torah children to the Yeshivah Fund, in whose interests the Rabbis were in this
city. It was not nearly as simple as that. The youngster made his presentation
in a long speech in Hebrew. It was a glib recitation, to this unwitting auditor
at least, and it seemed to please the Rabbis very much. A parade around the
entire platform, so that all might satisfy their curiosity, and the reception at
Independence Hall was over.”
124 M I S H PAC H A
STRONG SUPPORT FROM
SILENT CAL
In an unprecedented occurrence, these visibly Orthodox
rabbis regularly met with mayors of major cities in public
receptions where they were often gifted with a symbolic
key to the city. On April 15, the rabbinic delegation had
an audience with President Calvin Coolidge at the White
House. Rav Kook expressed gratitude for presidential
support of the Balfour Declaration and relief efforts
during the war. The president, in turn, promised that
the American government would assist Jews whenever
possible.
FUTURE ROLE OF
AMERICAN JEWRY
“In an exclusive interview he had with the Morgen
Journal, Rav Kook referred to American Jewry as a
hidden treasure and enumerated three qualities they had
which, if developed, could make them one of the most
important Jewries in history. These qualities were a deep
feeling for religiosity, a sense of Jewish nationalism,
and a sense of social responsibility. He attributed the
last quality to the excellent human material of which
the Jewish communities consist, as well as to the civil
liberties enjoyed by American Jews as free citizens of a
republic under a generous and democratic government.
He also noted the importance of the civic education
that American Jews receive through their unhampered
participation in their country’s political affairs. In order
for American Jews to develop their potential, Rav
Kook said, it is necessary for them to provide a proper
Jewish education for their youth. To this end, he felt
that parochial schools should be built by the Jewish
community. He felt that American Jewry would eventually
surpass Jewries in other lands of the diaspora and serve
as an example for them, and ultimately, would be able to
transfer its talents to Palestine to help rebuild the Jewish
homeland. These last remarks echoed those he made at
an OU convention in June (in Far Rockaway), where he
said that, just as in the past, there were two great centers
of Jewry – Palestine and Babylonia – so today, there are
two great centers of Jewry – Palestine and America.” —
Joshua Hoffman; Rav Kook’s Mission to America
This article is in honor of the centennial of the historic
fundraising mission of Rav Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen
Kook, Rav Avraham Dov-Ber Kahana Shapiro of Kovno,
and Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein to the United States
in 1924.
3 Sivan 5784 | June 9, 2024