'Goodness and Mercy Shall Follow Me': A story of Zionists, scholars - review

• Published date: 15 March 2024
• Author: MARTIN LOCKSHIN
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Rabbi Frank (1873-1960), who served as chief rabbi of Jerusalem in pre-state Palestine from 1935 until his death, was that rare combination of a leading Torah scholar and strong supporter of the Zionist movement. Educated in Europe in leading yeshivot, Rabbi Frank continued his studies after moving to Palestine at the age of 20

He became very friendly with two other famous Zionist rabbis: his brother-in-law, Rabbi Aryeh Levin (1885-1969), known as the "Father of the Prisoners" because of his frequent visits to imprisoned members of the Jewish underground; and leading Zionist thinker Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935), the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel.

A trove of Jewish law writings left behind

Rabbi Frank left behind a trove of writings on Jewish Law. He was known for a sense of compassion that sometimes led to leniencies in his rulings, which lesser Torah scholars might not have permitted.

Israeli Supreme Court justice Haim Cohen (1911-2002), who had received an advanced religious education but later became avowedly secular, wrote of Rabbi Frank:

"He was a purely righteous man in all the senses of those two words. He was more compassionate, merciful, patient, and kind than any other judge or dayan [religious court judge] that I have encountered in my entire professional life."

In the ultra-Orthodox circles that Rabbi Frank also frequented, he was grudgingly respected for his erudition, even by those who found his values overly "modern."

AVRAHAM FRANK (1917-2013), his son, did not go into the rabbinate as most male members of his family. He fought in the Hagana and later in the IDF. He became the successful owner of a company called Techno-Kefitz (Techno-Spring), which manufactured springs used for peacetime purposes, but also for weapons used by the Hagana and later by the IDF.

Frank was also a gifted storyteller.

He learned some of his stories from his parents, including many about life in Jerusalem under the Turks before he was born. But most of his stories are from the time of the British Mandate. He writes about religious life in Jerusalem and about his involvement in the Hagana while maintaining good personal relationships with the other two main underground organizations, Etzel and Lechi.

The book also contains several short tributes to Frank himself, written by family members (such as Prof. Shaul Stampfer of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and other well-known Israelis (among them former Supreme Court justice Elyakim Rubenstein)...