"Deep mourning and bitter eulogy on the death of… Rabbi Yisrael Meir HaCohen of Radin author of the Chafetz Chaim, who died on Friday the 24th of Elul…" – Draft of the proclamation in the handwriting of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, the Chief Rabbi of Eretz Israel. [Jerusalem, 26th of Elul 1933].
Rabbi Kook formulated the version of the proclamation in his own language and in his own handwriting announcing the eulogy on the day of the funeral of the Chafetz Chaim and proclaiming abstention from any work during the time of the eulogy: "Today, Sunday, the 26th of Elul, the funeral and burial of the Holy Ark will take place. He will be eulogized at the sixth hour in the evening in the Meah Shearim Yeshiva by the Chief Rabbi of Eretz Israel Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook, Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer the Chief Rabbi of the Etz Chaim Yeshiva, Rabbi Yoseph Gershon Horowitz Av Beit Din and Rabbi of Meah Shearim, Rabbi Ya'akov Charlap, Rabbi Baruch Zundel Margalin. All the holy congregation is requested to abstain from all business and work from six o'clock, the time of the eulogy of that great tsaddik".
The relationship between the Chafetz Chaim and Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook was very special. In his youth, the Chafetz Chaim was hosted by Rabbi Kook's parents on his travels to distribute his books and from that time, Rabbi Kook was very careful in guarding his tongue, so much so that at the time he studied in Volozhin he was dubbed "the second Chafetz Chaim". After Rabbi Kook married the daughter of the Aderet, the Chafetz Chaim met him in the home of his father-in-law and was very impressed with him. He asked him to join the group of cohanim studying Seder Kodshim in preparation of the rebuilding of the Beit HaMikdash. Later, the Chafetz Chaim convinced Rabbi Kook to enter the rabbinate and when he heard that Rabbi Kook became Rabbi of Žeimelis, he was very happy and wrote the Aderet: “My heart rejoiced with this and Hashem should bless him that he shall rise higher and higher because he is a true Torah leader”. People say that at the time of the first Knessia HaGedola of Agudat Yisrael (which took place in Vienna in 1923), when representatives from Jerusalem disparaged Rabbi Kook, the Chafetz Chaim left the hall in protest and later would not receive those men in his residence.
The impression received by this draft of the proclamation is that Rabbi Kook initiated the eulogy on the Chafetz Chaim in the Meah Shearim Yeshiva and it was he who determined who shall eulogize. The wording of the proclamation clearly portrays his great regard for the “Man of wonders…who impacted the whole generation by the holiness of his life”, as he wrote in a special article of reverence for the Chafetz Chaim [see attached material].
One leaf, written on both sides (3 pages). 21X32 cm. Good condition, folding marks, a few stains.
We have not found documentation of the proclamation printed for this event and with this phrasing.