Excited Zionist youths today broke up a meeting here at which the so-called Rabbi Mortenfeld was to have been a speaker. Mortenfeld, describing himself as a Breslau rabbi and head of a Palestine yeshiva, recently made his appearance in the Austrian provinces circularzing an appeal to Austrian Jews to discontinue the boycott of Nazi goods.
Mortenfeld was nearly lynched by the youths who burst into shouts of “Hitler agent ! Nazi rabbi!” when he appeared at the meeting, which was a synagogue service for a group of emigrants to Palestine. Mortenfeld’s intended sermon was cancelled.
Mortenfeld, investigation previous to the incident revealed, never possessed the right to call himself a rabbi and actually had only been a minor functionary in a Breslau synagogue after a multicolored, suspicious career. His assertion that he was head of the Safad, Palestine, yeshiva was repudiated by the institution. Mortenfeld, however, possesses credentials authorizing him to collect funds for the yeshiva, but, it was learned, never accounted for his collections or surrendered his credentials.
His previous appearances in Austria resulted in a flurry of excitement and aroused much indignation among the Jewish population.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
