(First Chief Rabbi of Eretz Israel, 1865-1935). Autograph Letter Signed in Hebrew on letterhead, written to R. Yechiel Michel Tukachinsky concerning the nusach of Chabad “Ushnei Se’irim”

KOOK, ABRAHAM ISAAC HAKOHEN

Jerusalem

(1933)

Concerning the Nusach of Chabad “Ushnei Se’irim” in the Sabbath Musaf prayer.

Rabbi Tukachinsky (1872-1955), esteemed director of the Etz Chaim Yeshiva of Jerusalem, issued an annual Luach Eretz Yisrael that included all laws and customs pertaining to Holidays and prayers through the year. Until the 1933 edition there appeared in the Luach addenda by the Chabad Chassidic scholar R. Avraham Tzvi Brudno elaborating upon the Nusach of Chabad. However this customary addition was excluded from the 1933 edition. Rav Kook here writes to the editor of the Luach in no uncertain terms that not only has the omission caused much indignation within Chabad circles but that he insist this shameful non-inclusion be immediately corrected. A forceful letter testifying to the centrality that Chabad custom was to Rav Kook’s weltanschauung.