THE MEMORIAL BOOK OF PÁPA JEWRY - JewishGen

MOSHE ARYE ROTH
Eperjes rabbi M. A. Roth was elected to occupy the rabbinical seat that had become
vacant. A highly educated rabbi, blessed with a noble, charitable heart, a wide intellectual horizon
and experience, he instinctively realized the need for a school where Jewish students could
deepen their religious and secular education after the elementary level. So, in addition to
maintaining the yeshiva, he set up a school called Etz Chayim in 1893, where boys learnt Talmud
in the morning and secular subjects in the afternoon, according to a prescribed curriculum. At the
end of the academic year, the students took private examinations at the public junior high school.
Chief Rabbi Moshe Arye Roth
Beyond his intensive and blessed local activities, he earned himself nationwide fame by
joining the Zionist movement. He appeared at the Zionist Congress, where Herzl showed great
sympathy towards him, as is noted in Herzl’s memoirs. This led to a series of attacks on him, and
on his return home he explained his views and did all he could to dispel misunderstandings in a
book on the Zionist idea from an orthodox angle. In this book, published under the title "Der
Zionismus vom Standpunkte der jüdischen Ortodoxie", he opposed those who refused cooperation
with the allegedly non-religious elements, referring to the most highly respected rabbinical
authorities abroad in his support. He wrote about his impressions of the Congress, where he had
met brothers from all corners of the diaspora. He spoke with enthusiasm especially about those
elements of non-religious background who found their way back to Judaism through the
movement of Jewish "renaissance". "I had the most intense feeling of joy and jubilation
resonating in me when one of the delegates first spoke to me in Hebrew in the Congress hall,
giving me the opportunity to answer him in Hebrew. Nevertheless, I was filled with pain realizing
the scattered condition of Jewry, when the delegates had to speak different languages. The bond
of a national tongue uniting nations had been lost for us. When we meet our brothers, we do not
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