Va’adath Kevi’uth Itim LaTorah [“Committee for Establishing Torah Study Times.”]

(JERUSALEM).

Jerusalem

1943-4

These pages record the minutes of the first few meetings of a committee established in Jerusalem during World War II to strengthen Torah study throughout Jerusalem, especially among laborers and wage-earners.

The Committee for Establishing Torah Study Times (“Va’adat Kevi’ut Itim La-Torah”) was established in 1943 by several Jerusalem personages, including R. Shlomo Sobel, R. Ya’akov Meir Schechter, R. Y. Steinberger, R. M. Y. Weinstock, and others. The purpose of the committee was to increase Torah study among Jerusalem’s laymen, and their efforts included documenting every shiur and sermon being offered in Jerusalem’s synagogues, documenting attendance, assigning teachers and preachers to fill lacunae, and raising funds to promote these efforts. The committee seems not to have lasted very long, but these minutes offer an intimate view of Jerusalem’s religious community in this period.