GRODZENSKI, CHAIM OZER

Presented with the lack of kosher meat brought about by the Nazis' prohibition of shechitah, several prominent German rabbis (including R. Yechiel Ya'akov Weinberg of the Hildesheimer Seminary in Berlin) proposed as a solution that the animal first be stunned by a process of electroshock prior to its ritual slaughter. This proposal was rejected as halachically unacceptable by R. Chaim Ozer Grodzenski, the acknowledged "posek ha-dor" [halachic decisor of the generation]. In the response to Rabbi Dr. Klein, R. Chaim Ozer refers to the enclosed "Giluy Da'ath." When pressed by Rabbi Klein to provide a halachically acceptable alternative to electroshock, R. Chaim Ozer offers that it would be preferable that the stunning be accomplished by injecting a drug, rather than administering a general anesthetic in the form of some gas (Stockstoff). In closing, R. Chaim Ozer asks that Rabbi Dr. Klein forward to their mutual friend Rabbi Munk blessings for a refu'ah shelemah. Rabbi Ezra Munk (1867-1940) of the Adass Yisroel Congregation of Berlin, championed the cause of Shechitah, soliciting expert opinions from non-Jewish authorities in the fields of physiology, veterinary science and medicine. See E. Munk and H. Seidman, "Ezra Munk" in: L. Jung, Guardians of Our Heritage (1958), pp. 559-560. Concerning R. Chaim Ozer's role in the Va'ad ha-Yeshivoth (Council of Yeshivoth) formed in 1924, see J.L. Kagan and H.B. Perlman, "Hayyim Ozer Grodzenski (1863-1940)" in: L. Jung, Jewish Leaders (1964), pp. 448-450. R. Ze'ev Tzvi Klein served at different times in his career, as rabbi of Kronstadt, Eisenstadt, Berlin and finally Buenos Aires. He authored a work "Chochmah im Nachalah." See N.Z. Friedmann, Otzar Harabanim, p. 118, no. 5564