backed the party, Jeremiah Löw of Ujhely, was the most bitter enemy of Hasidism in the country. Rebbe Tzvi Hirsch Friedmann of Olaszliszka demanded assurances that his camp would be represented in the Orthodox leadership. Friedmann also wished that they declare their unanimous opposition to the new compulsory education law, enacted on 23 June 1868, which mandated that every child be sent to a public school. He believed Jewish children should only study in a traditional Cheder, though such conditions were retained only in Unterland. Most conservatives viewed this as untenable. In addition, the Guardians issued a condemnation of the new synagogue in Košice, which was not fitting the Michalovce decree, to please the radicals. When Hildesheimer sent Krausz an angry letter, the latter responded that he himself was in full agreement with the rabbi's positions, believing a seminary must replace the old-fashioned yeshivas and that the spread of Hasidism was as much a danger as Neology; but they had to present a unified front. On 30 August 1868, Abraham Schag-Zwabner, one of the oldest and most senior rabbis in Hungary, circulated a letter in which he demanded to convene a rabbinical assembly to counter the threat of the Congress; he protested the Guardians of the Faith were never accepted by all as representatives. The latter quickly obliged. The elections for the Congress were held on 18 November; on the 24th, some 200 Orthodox rabbis met in Pesth, accompanied by many activists. Benjamin Sofer was elected president. The assembly was short and tumultuous, ending on 3 December. Hildesheimer again tried to promote the seminary. When his motion was rejected without a chance to present it properly, he and some of his supporters withdrew in protest. Another crisis erupted due to Rebbe Friedmann's insistence of opposing secular education. Eventually, the assembled decided to pursue "simultaneous education", sending children to all-Hungarian schools and in later hours to a private Cheder, rather than to support Jewish public schools. The more conservative accepted this, preferring to have gentile teachers rather than Neolog or enlightened Jewish ones, who might turn the pupils away from observance. During the assembly, the elections' results were published. Of 220 delegates, only 94 were considered conservative, and merely 80 were "certainly" Orthodox. As even Hildesheimer could not be relied upon, the Orthodox deduced that any hope to achieve a majority was lost. In spite of fearing to antagonize the authorities,