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Article: The evolution of American orthodox relief and rescue efforts during the Holocaust: two documents.
- Article from:
- Journal of Ecumenical Studies
- Article date:
- September 22, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Journal of Ecumenical Studies. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The "Emergency Committee for War-Torn Yeshivoth" or the Vaad ha-Hatzala, was established by the Agudat ha-Rabbanim (Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada) in the Fall of 1939 in the wake of the escape to Lithuania of hundreds of rabbis and yeshiva students from the elite Talmudic academies (yeshivot) of Eastern Poland, following its occupation by the Soviets. The Vaad soon emerged as the major relief and rescue organization of Orthodox Jewry in the United States during the Holocaust. The two documents that follow show its evolution from a minor rescue agency with a limited and particularistic agenda to a full-fledged relief and rescue organization that ...