(Spiritual leader of Lithuanian Jewry, 1863-1940). Autograph Letter Signed, written in Hebrew on letterhead to Rabbi Dr. Yitzhak Unna of Mannheim.

GRODZENSKI, CHAIM OZER

15th Iyar

Vilna

1933

Includes Rabbi Unna’s autograph notes below the letter.

Rabbi Dr. Yitzhak Unna (1872-1948), a scion of the distinguished Bamberger rabbinic family, was the chief rabbi of Mannheim and one of the leaders of the non-separatist form of Orthodoxy espoused by his grandfather, the Rav of Würzberg. R. Unna sought to defend Shechita from animal welfare advocates and proposed a solution in which the animal would undergo electroshock stunning prior to its ritual slaughter. This proposal was seen as halachically unacceptable by R. Chaim Ozer Grodzenski of Vilna, the widely acknowledged "Posek Hador" (halachic decisor of the generation). R. Grodzenski rejects here the suggestion of a new Halachic approach in regard to pre-stunning in which a distinction is made between poultry and livestock. He also discusses the matter of Switzerland, where kosher meat has had to be imported since the 1890’s due to a ban on slaughter without prior stunning.