Friday, May 09, 2008

An 'Index of Prohibited Books' from Satmar, Rumania 1927

Thanks to HebrewBooks.org I found an interesting Hebrew periodical published in Satmar (Satu Mare) in the 1920s, edited by one Shimon Pollack, called Beis Va'ad Le-chakhomim.

It looks like this:



In the 11-12 issue from 1927 the following appears:



As you can see, books by these authors are to be stored away so they cannot be read (and these are heavy duty heretical classics, not bush-league types like 'One People, Two Worlds, 'Making of a Godol' or 'The Science of Torah'):

1. Works by R. Abraham Isaac Kook.

2. Works by R. Aaron Chorin.

3. Works by R. Samuel Glasner.

4. Works by the rebbe of Muncacz, the Minchas Elazar.

5. The 'Bi'ur' of R. Moses Mendelssohn.

6. Works by R. Naphtali Hirtz Wessely.

Chorin's Chasam Sofer-coined euphemism אח"ר (for 'Aron Choriner, Rabbiner') is supplied. It is explained that the acronym רמ"ד for Mendelssohn means 'רשע משה דעסוי,' and, oddly yet somewhat understandably, the older Wessely is counted as a disciple of Mendelssohn.

It of course must be pointed out that it is eminently better to call for books to be 'put away' rather than to destroy them.

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