Denying reports that the Agudath Israel, extreme orthodox party, is negotiating with the Vaad Leumi, Palestine Jewish national assembly, Rabbi Joseph Zwi Duschinsky, chief rabbi of the Agudath Israel Community in Palestine, reiterated in an interview published here in the Agudist “Juedische Presse,” that the Agu###ah will stick by its century-old ###an against participation in a community which does not recognize unrestricted sovereignty of the Torah and tradition in all branches of its work.
Rabbi Duschinsky, who succeeds the late Rabbi Chaim Sonenfeld, is now in Vienna on his way back from a short stay in Carlsbad. In his interview, he also stated that the fact that certain rabbis have issued a statement against secession from the Kenesseth Israel, the Palestine Jewish community, in no way alters the stand of the Agudah. “We emphasize that we shall not abate one iota of our conception, which is to us a sacred religious behest,” he said.
Speaking about the agreement between the Poale Agudaht Israel, ###e Agudist Labor organization, and ###e Histadruth, the Palestine Federation of Jewish Workers, Rabbi Duschinsky said that the question of the accord is not actual at the moment, but that the Agudah is not adverse to a certain cooperation with other labor organizations.
“The problem of the Poale Agudah Israel,” he continued, “seems to me to lie in the fact that there is still a shortage of skilled religious workers in the Holy Land, and there can be no ground for complaint if the religious building contractors in Palestine must deal with the workers of the Histadruth so long as the Poale Agudath Israel cannot supply the necessary trained workers.”
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