Today in History: 100 Years Since the Knessiah Gedolah

YS Gold 

Klal Yisroel around the world was deeply moved a number of years ago to see video footage of the Chofetz Chaim, the Czortkover Rebbe, and other Rabbonim at the first Knessiah Gedolah in the year 1923. 

Today, the fourth of Elul, marks precisely one century since the day that video footage was taken—100 years that saw the demise of European Jewry and the incredible rebuilding in communities throughout the world. 

The Knessiah took place in Vienna, and many resolutions to strengthen Yiddishkeit were made there. 

Among them was the resolution to send a delegation to America in order to establish Agudas Yisroel in this country. The original plan called for the Chofetz Chaim and the Gerer Rebbe to personally make their way across the ocean, a plan that ultimately did not come to fruition. However, the Agudah was indeed founded in America… and the rest is history. 

Perhaps an even more consequential event that took place at the Knessiah was the introduction of a proposal by Rav Meir Shapiro of Lublin for the institution of a daily daf of Gemoro. This became known as Daf Yomi, a movement that has spread to every corner of the globe, and continues to gain traction to this very day—all thanks to this most important event that took place exactly one hundred years ago.