The Offer From London

In early 1934, Dayan Shmuel Yitzchak Hillman retired from the London Beis Din, where he had been Chief Dayan, and Chief Rav Joseph Hertz wanted a leading halachic authority to replace him. The leaders of the United Synagogue, though not religious themselves, also wanted someone acceptable to the right-wing Orthodox community, which had grown vocal about the beis din's lax standards, especially in shechitah. They first approached Rav Avigdor Schonfeld, who declined. When Rav Yechezkel's name came up, the other options faded. He stood far to the right of Rav Hertz and spoke hardly any English, but his reputation was unmatched.

The official offer came in June 1934. Rav Yechezkel hesitated when a butcher, pretending to ask about a chicken, quietly told him of serious kashrus violations under the beis din's authority. For decades, butchers licensed by the beis din had been selling hindquarter meat in plain view that had not been menukar (porged, meaning cleared of the gid hanasheh and forbidden fats). The customer had to ask for this himself, and many did not, either from ignorance or because properly cleaned meat looked less appealing.

Rav Yechezkel demanded that the beis din forbid its certified butchers to sell hindquarter meat at all. Rav Hertz offered instead to certify only butchers who agreed to do the cleaning. Doubting that this would be enforced, Rav Yechezkel turned the position down. The United Synagogue then approached Rav Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg, head of the Hildesheimer Seminary in Berlin, but the seminary pressed him to stay, and he withdrew.

Then Rav Hertz came back to Rav Yechezkel with a second offer. In the meantime Rav Yechezkel had visited his father in Eastern Europe and met Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzenski. A letter from Rav Chaim Ozer, dated Rosh Chodesh Nissan (4 April) 1935, advised him that if there was hope that the breaches would be repaired, especially in kashrus, he should accept. Rav Hertz had also sent the Shechita Board a letter on the subject, and this time it was read and acted upon. Rav Yechezkel accepted, and he was officially appointed Chief Dayan on 20 June 1935.