Isser Yehuda Unterman ( he, איסר יהודה אונטרמן, 19 April 1886 – 26 January 1976) was the Ashkenazi

Chief Rabbi of Israel The Chief Rabbinate of Israel ( he, הָרַבָּנוּת הָרָאשִׁית לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Ha-Rabbanut Ha-Rashit Li-Yisra'el'') is recognized by law as the supreme rabbinic authority for Judaism in Israel. The Chief Rabbinate Co ...

from 1964 until 1972.Isser Yehuda Unterman (1886 - 1976) biography
referenced t
The Department for Jewish Zionist Education

Biography

Isser Yehuda Unterman was born in Brest-Litovsk, now

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

. He studied at the Etz Chaim Yeshiva in Maltsch under Rabbi

Shimon Shkop Shimon Yehuda Shkop ( he, שמעון שקופ; 1860 – October 22, 1939) was a rosh yeshiva (dean) of the Yeshiva of Telshe and then of Yeshiva Shaar HaTorah of Grodno, and a Talmid Chacham (Talmudic scholar). Early life Shkop was born in T ...

Rabbinic career

Returning to Lithuania to complete his studies, Unterman was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

as a

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

by Rabbi

Refael Shapiro Rabbi Refael Shapiro (1837–1921) was the famed Rosh Yeshiva of the Volozhin yeshiva located in the town of Volozhin, Russia, (now Valozhyn, Belarus), and a son-in-law of Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (the ''Netziv'').Yeshiva Eitz Chaim Volozh ...

, and by Rabbi Simcha Zelig Reguer, the Dayan of Brisk. He founded his own

yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are st ...

in the town of

Vishnyeva Vishnyeva ( be, Ві́шнева, Belarusian Latin alphabet, Višnieva; russian: Вишнево, ''Vishnevo''; pl, Wiszniew; lt, Vyšniavas; yi, ווישנעווע, ''Vishneve'') is an Agrotown (Belarus), agrotown in the Valozhyn District of M ...

around 1910. Unterman served a variety of roles in the

Lithuanian Jewish Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks () are Jews with roots in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, the northeastern Suwałki and Białystok regions of Poland, as well as adjacent area ...

community until 1924, when he was selected to become the head rabbi of

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

. Unterman served in Liverpool for 22 years, becoming an important figure in the English

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

movement and working to relieve the suffering of refugees in England during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

In 1946, Unterman became the Chief Rabbi of

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the ...

, 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 Religious conversion is the adoption of a set of beliefs identified with one particular religious denomination to the exclusion of others. Thus "religious conversion" would describe the abandoning of adherence to one denomination and affiliatin ...

and

marriage law Marriage law refers to the legal requirements that determine the validity of a marriage, and which vary considerably among countries. See also Marriage Act. Summary table Rights and obligations A marriage, by definition, bestows ...

. He founded two advanced Talmudical academies (

kollel A kollel ( he, כולל, , , a "gathering" or "collection" f scholars is an institute for full-time, advanced study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Like a yeshiva, a kollel features shiurim (lectures) and learning ''sedarim'' (sessions); ...

s), one in Tel Aviv and one in Jerusalem, designed to prepare select students for the rabbinate and educational positions, with an emphasis on systematic study of Talmud and practical halakhah. Rabbi Unterman died on January 26, 1976, in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

Halachic Decisions

A woman once extended her hand to Rabbi Unterman and he immediately shook it. He later explained, “Don’t think that I am lax on not touching women. I am stringent on respect for all humanity.” As rabbi of Liverpool, Rabbi Unterman had required converts to Judaism to fully accept Torah observance. But in 1972, he wrote that the rabbinic establishment needed to be more lenient with the anticipated Russian Aliyah, given the circumstances of their lives in the Soviet Union. While a convert's sincere intention to accept mitzvot is a necessary condition for conversion, the rabbi advocated a lenient approach when dealing with the conversion of non-Jewish spouses.

Writings

* ''Shevet mi-Yehudah'' (1952) - on issues in

halakhah ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical commandm ...

References

External links

) 1886 births 1976 deaths Ashkenazi Jews in Mandatory Palestine Ashkenazi rabbis in Ottoman Palestine Israeli Ashkenazi Jews 20th-century Lithuanian rabbis Chief rabbis of Israel Chief rabbis of Tel Aviv Burials at the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives Rabbis from Brest, Belarus Belarusian Orthodox Jews Israeli people of Belarusian-Jewish descent 20th-century English rabbis Clergy from Liverpool 20th-century Israeli rabbis {{Israel-rabbi-stub