The component words of the name are transliterated in a variety of ways. This is frequently done as Moetzet,[3][4] and less frequently as Gedolai[5][6][7] and ha-Torah[5][7] or ha Torah.[6] The phrase is regularly shortened to Moetzes or The Moetzah.
History
Europe
Prior to World War II, only one such body existed, the World Agudath Israel.[8] The Council of Torah Sages was established following the establishment of Agudath Israel in Katowice in 1912.[9] It was decided at the time that two councils would be set up for the movement: a council of homeowners, and a council of rabbis,[10] composed of leading rabbis from around the world.[11]
United States
The Moetzes of Agudath Israel of America serve as religious decisors, leadership, and political and policy liaisons with state and federal government agencies on behalf of many American Haredi Jews.[2][12][13] The council, consisting primarily of rosh yeshivas and Hasidic rebbes, directs Agudath's policies and leadership. Formerly known as the Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah, the body was founded in 1948.[14] It sets all major policies, and guides the organization according to its precepts of Da'as Torah.
The first Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of "Degel HaTorah", March 1989, home of Rabbi Schach. Sitting alongside Rabbi Steinman
The Moetzes of Agudat Yisrael likewise constituted the IsraeliAshkenazic Haredi community's religious policy leadership, and exercises strong control over political matters for strongly observant Israelis, such as joining government coalitions.[15][16]
Prior to Degel HaTorah's late 1980s break from Agudat Israel (because of the dominance of the Polish Hasidic groups), there was only one Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah in Israel.[17] With the breakaway of the Lithuanian/"yeshivish" faction (led by Rabbi Rabbi Elazar Shach), two separate, at times complementary, councils were created.
The Haredi Sephardi Jews of Israel had also at one time followed the leadership of the Moetzet of Agudat Yisrael when it was still a body that generally spoke for most of Israel's Haredim. Eventually, however, the Haredi Sephardim broke with their Ashkenazi counterparts (again because of the dominance of the Polish Hasidic groups), and established the Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah ("Council of [wise] Torah Sages"), which in turn became the source for the formulation and expression of the policies and agenda of the Shas political party in the Israeli Knesset.[18] Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef became the main leadership figure of this council.
^HaMevaser Daily, Issue# 1244, February 8th, 2013, pg 1, "Gathering of Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudath Israel"
^ abSchloss, Chaim (2004) [2002]. 2000 Years of Jewish History (Fourth Revised ed.). Jerusalem, Israel: Feldheim Publishers. p. 294. ISBN1-58330-214-X. Retrieved July 6, 2010. The final resolution declared that Agudas Yisrael would serve to resolve all difficulties facing Jews and Judaism on the basis of Torah, without any political considerations. The Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, the rabbinic council, would be the supreme governing body and final authority in all decisions.
^Baumel, Simeon D. (2006). Sacred Speakers: Language and Culture among the Haredim in Israel. Berghahn Books. p. 34. ISBN1-84545-062-0. Retrieved July 8, 2010. Following the tradition begun by his father, R. Israel Alter was active in developing and leading the Moetzet Gedolei Hatorah (Council of Torah Sages) of Agudat Yisrael, which was the guiding force and deciding board behind the decision of the Haredi Agudat Yisrael political party in Israel.
^ abKranzler, David; Landesman, Dovid (1998). Rav Breuer: His Life and Legacy. Jerusalem, Israel: The Rabbi Dr. Joseph Breuer Foundation. p. 37. ISBN9781583301630. Retrieved July 8, 2010. R. Eliyahu Meir Bloch – one of the members of the Moetzes Gedolai ha-Torah with whom Rav Breuer maintained a close relationship – also decried the failure to offer instruction in Tanach... .
^ abTikkun. Vol. 6. 1991. p. 62. Retrieved July 8, 2010. Agudath demanded insularity and an authoritarian organization. The Agudath founded the Moetzes Gedolai Ha Torah (the Council of Torah sages), a group of renowned rabbis, the interpret the problematic areas of modern life according to Torah law.
^ abSherman, Moshe D. (1996). Orthodox Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary and Sourcebook. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. p. 123. ISBN0-313-24316-6. Retrieved July 8, 2010. Kotler emerged as one of the most significant Orthodox rabbinic leaders of the time, not only in America, where he was Chairman of Agudath Israel's Moetzet Gedolai ha-Torah (Council of Torah Sages), but in Israel as well.
^Amsel, Meir (1986). Encyclopedia Hamaor: Perpetual Memoirs and Responsa in 4 Divisions. Congregation and Yeshiva Hamaor. p. 278. Retrieved July 8, 2010. He was one of the founders of Agudas Israel in Czechoslovakia, and after the Holocaust, of Agudas Israel of Central Europe, and was one of the leaders of the Moetzes Chachmei Hatorah in the area.
^Hutner, Isaac (2007). Katz, Steven T. (ed.). Wrestling with God: Jewish Theological Responses during and after the Holocaust. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. p. 557. ISBN978-0-19-530014-7. Retrieved July 8, 2010. Yeshiva and day school principals from across the nation posed the above question to Rabbi Yitzchok [Isaac] Hutner, head of the Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin-Aryeh and a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah (Council of Torah Sages) of Agudat Israel or [sic] America.
^Agudath Israel of America, ed. (May 2003). Daring to Dream(pamphlet). New York, NY: Agudath Israel of America. p. unnumbered. Retrieved July 8, 2010. Through the years, Agudath Israel has been guided by its Torah leadership, mainly through the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah (Council of Torah Sages), comprised of many of the country's leading rabbinic authorities. Aside from the focus put on their decisions and policy statements, regarding most every major issue confronting American Orthodoxy...
^Goldberg, David H.; Reich, Bernard (January 2009). Fatton Jr., Robert (ed.). Religion, State, and Society: Jefferson's Wall of Separation in Comparative Perspective. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan / St.Martin's Press. p. 224. ISBN978-0-230-61230-3. Retrieved July 8, 2010. Established in 1912 in Kattowitz (Katowice), Poland, Augda was to be a Torah movement directed by Moetzet Gedolei Hatorah (Council of Torah Sages), a group of rabbinical scholars who represent the various factions of the Aguda movement and are chosen for their scholarly merit and prestige in the realm of Orthodox Jewry. Moetzet Gedolei Hatorah continues to be the supreme decision-making body for Aguda adherents, and its decisions are sovereign in all questions affecting the membership, including religious and political matters such as joining or remaining in the government coalition.
^Baumel, Simeon D. (2006). Sacred Speakers: Language and Culture among the Haredim in Israel. Berghahn Books. p. 34. ISBN1-84545-062-0. Retrieved July 8, 2010. Following the tradition begun by his father, R. Israel Alter was active in developing and leading the Moetzet Gedolei Hatorah (Council of Torah Sages) of Agudat Yisrael, which was the guiding force and deciding board behind the decision of the Haredi Agudat Yisrael political party in Israel.
^Baumel, Simeon D. (2006). Sacred Speakers: Language and Culture among the Haredim in Israel. Berghahn Books. p. 41. ISBN1-84545-062-0. Retrieved July 8, 2010. Unlike the dynastic succession of Hassidic courts, which usually allowed for one central rabbinical authority per sect at any given time, the Mitnagdic world often had several Gedolim (Great Torah Scholars) to turn to in one generation. From the 1970s until the late 1990s, R. Shakh functioned as the major authority in terms of various issues, and his political machinations were instrumental in creating a new form of Mitnagdic separatism. Having broken away from the heavily Hassidic Moetzet Gedolei Hatorah in the latter 1980s, Shakh founded a new Haredi political party, (Degel Hatorah), started a new Haredi newspaper, Yated Ne'eman, and created the She'erit Yisrael kashrut authority.
