(CHASSIDISM)

Important Position Paper of the Munkatcher Rebbe R. Chaim El’azar Spira (1872-1937), rabbi of Munkacs, Hungary, author of Responsa “Minchath El’azar,” was famous for his militant opposition to Zionism - to the Mizrachi Party and to the Agudath Israel Party, at whose helm stood the Rebbe of Ger, R. Abraham Mordecai Alter. A well-known statement of the Munkatcher Rebbe observed that the Holy Temple was destroyed due to a man named “Kamtza” (see Talmud, Tractate Gittin 55b), whose initials represent: “Kommunisten, Mizrachisten, TZionisten, Agudisten.” In two responses here to the Galician Rabbi Schreiber, the Munkatcher spells out in graphic detail what he finds most objectionable about the Agudah, ostensibly a charedi organization under chassidic auspices. See EJ, Vol. XIV, col. 1296. (Further details provided with the Lot)