The Jewish Observer, 84 Postscript William St., N.Y., N.Y
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Jewish history may be lying around in your basement. Don't let it be lost to the world. he Orthodox Jewish Archives, which was struck by a damaging fire last year, has completed renovation of its physical facilities, and has embarked on a worldwide search Tto rebuild and expand its holdings. The destruction of archival material in the blaze was, fortunately, not as extensive as originally thought. Through advanced restoration techniques, many items written off as hopelessly damaged were able to be saved. But the effort cannot stop with salvage and recovery. It is time for a greater undertaking. Thousands of documents and photos are languishing in tnmks, attics and forgotten drawers in private homes and basements. Now is the time to retrieve this precious material before it becomes dust instead of history. Your help-the public's help-is needed in this effort. Do you have any relevant old photos, documents, or records? THE CATEGORIES OF ITEMS REQUESTED: • Documentation of Orthodox Jewish rescue work dur • Doeuments and photos pertaining to Orthodox activ- ing.the Holocaust. ism in the social service and civic action fields. • · Ph6tos depicting life in the shtetl, the Orthodox com· • Photos of Gedolei Yisroel past and present. munities of the cities, the yeshiva world, and ChMSidic • Sets of Orthodox journals and periodicals . .centers of Europe before the Holoeaust. • Documents and photos relating to .the religious Yishuv •- DOcuin'ettts 1 records, letters; journals and newspapers in Eretz Yisroel, its institutions and struggles for that portray Torah life in Europe as it was: and cast Jewish life. light on the issues and problems facing Jews at the time. • Documents and photos pertaining to world-wide Agudath Israel history, all Knessios Gedolos, and the • -Documetltsi -records-, corresPonden~; newsclippings~ development of the American Agudah movement since journals, memorabilia, and photos depicting Orthodox 1922. life in the U.S. from colonial times to the present. (If you ate hesitant to part with cherished items, ·a.rrange~ • Documents and photos pertaining to the development rrumts ca:n. be made 1:° reproduce certai.n kinds of dlJcuments of yeshivas throughout the country. and photos,·Jeavinu ~he original in your posse:;si.on.) The previous Archives facility, gutted by a fire from within, was modeled according to accepted archival procedures. The new Orthodox Jewish Archives, now rebuilt, has been safeguarded with maximum state-of-the-art protection above and beyond standard archival design. AS A COMMUNITY, WE MUST PRESERVE THIS LEGACY THAT WILL OTHERWISE BE LOST TO FUTURE GENERATIONS. If you have any items in the above categories in your possession, or know where they can be obtained, please write or phone: ORTHODOX JEWISH ARCHIVES Agudath Israel of America 84 William Street, New York, N.Y. 10038, 212-797-9000 4 Combatting Abortion Distortion Chaim Dovid Zwiebel The Legacy and Legend of Rabbi Meir Chodosh ~ 0 ::11 11 TME JEWISH OBSERVER (ISSN) 0021-6615 Is published monthly except July and August, Without Noise, Rabbi Hillel Goldberg by the Agudath Israel of America, 84 Wiiiiam Street, New York, NY 10038. Second class postage 13 paid In New York, N.Y. and at additional malling A Talmid Remembers, Menahem Goldbaum office. Subscription $18.00 per year; two years, $30.00; three years, $40.00. Outside of the United States (US funds drawn on a US bank only) $10 sur 15 charge per year. Single copy $2.50; foreign $3.00. Send address changes to The Jewish Observer, 84 PostScript William St., N.Y., N.Y. 10038. Tel. (212) 797-9000. Biographical Afterthoughts, Brocha Isaacs Printed In the U.S.A. RABBI NISSON WOLPIN, EOITOR 17 EOITORfAL BOARO Eyam DR. ERNST BODENHEIMER The Final Chairman Mordechai Kuber RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS JOSEPH FRIEDENSON 25 RABBI NOSSON SCHERMAN Spending Shabbos in a Modern·Hotel MANAGEMENT SOAllD Dr. Elliot Udell NAFTOLI HIRSCH ISAAC KIRZNER RABBI SHLOMO LESIN 33 NACHUM STEIN Books in Review RABBI YOSEF C. GOLDING Business Manager JEWISH HISTORY: Am Olam, The Eternal Nation/The lggeres ofRavSherira Gaon/Chassidic Rebbes/The Legacy of Slobodka/ Published by Agudath Israel of America The Chazon !sh/Daughters of Destiny RABBI MOSHE SHERER HOLOCAUST LITERATURE: Thy Brother's Blood/Slingshot of PRESfOENT Hell/Exodus From Hungruy/Facing the Holocaust in Budapest THE JEWISH OBSERVER does not assume responsibility for the Kashrus of any product or service advertised In Its pages. 39 Seconds Looks at the Jewish Scene © Copyright 1989 Women at the Wall MAY 1989 42 VOLUME XXll/NUMBER 4 Letters to the Editor Agudath Israel Goes It Alone, Again THE LOPSIDED LINEUP the national media and Issued Jewish Labor Committee avalanches of press releases setting NA'MAT ost readers of The Jewish forth their positions. They have co National Council of Jewish Women Observer are no doubt sponsored major public demonstra National Federation of Temple aware that the United tions and mobilized their grassroots Sisterhoods M National Jewish Community Relations constituencies to express their States Supreme Court is currently Advisory Council In the process of reconsidertng Roe views. Most Impressively of all. they Hadassah v. Wade. Its 1973 decision guaran have communicated directly with Jewish Labor Committee teeing a woman's rtght to abortion the Supreme Court by signing on, Jewish War Veterans of the U.SA durtng approximately the first two in unprecedented numbers. to aml Union of Orthodox Jewish trtmesters of pregnancy. Some read cus curiae (friend of the court) Congregations of Amertca ers may not be aware. though. of the brtefs urging the Court to adopt United Synagogue of Amertca extent to which Jewish organiza their points of view. Women's Amertcan ORT tions have gotten involved In the And what were the points of view Union of Amertcan Hebrew frenzied debate over legalized abor advocated by these Jewish groups? Congregations tion. In fact. such involvement has It was nearly unanimous: All but one Women's League for Conservative Judaism been substantial. expressed complete support for Roe In recent weeks and months. since v. Wade. urging that abortion con It was nearly unanimous, but not the Supreme Court signaled its in tinue to be protected as a fundamen quite. For there was one Jewish tention to reconsider Roe. Jewish tal constitutional rtght. The impos organization on the other side of the groups have placed full-page ads in ing lineup of pro-Roe Jewish organizations included: •The National Jewish Community Relations Chaim Dovl4 Zwiebel. Esq.. Agudath Israel of Amertcan Jewish Committee Advisory Council is an umbrella group whose America's Director of Government Affairs and members include 13 national Jewish organiza General Counsel, was last represented In these Amertcan Jewish Congress tions and 113 local Jewish community agencies pages by his "Using Secular Government to Anti-Defamation League of B'nai Brtth around the country. Seven of the 13 national Promote Religious Interests: What are the B'nai Brtth organtztton members signed on independently Boundaries?" (February 1987). He is the author B'nai Brtth Women to the pro-Roe amicus curtae brief; the other six. of Agudath Israel of America's Supreme Court whose names are indented in the text above brief in the case of Webster v. Reproductive Federation ofReconstructiontst beneath NJCRAC's name, joined tn the brief Health Servf.ces. discussed in this article. Congregations and Havurot under the NJCRAC banner. 4 The Jewish Observer. May 1989 Chaim Dovid Zwiebel At a time when Jewish unity is experiencing such severe strain, why was it necessary for Agudatb Israel publicly to break ranks with all the other Jewish groups? Why do Jewish organizations consider abortion to be such an important issue? friend of the court ledger, urging a "fundamental" constitutional Eighth Circuit, citing Roe v. Wade that Roe v. Wade be overruled and right. Under applicable principles of and several subsequent Supreme that abortion on demand no longer constitutional jurisprudence, a Court decisions that followed Roe's be deemed a fundamental constitu "fundamental" right is protected lead, struck down these provisions tional right. That organization was against governmental abridgment as an unconstitutional Infringe Agudath Israel of America. unless the government can show a ment of a woman's fundamental The divergence between Agudath countervailing "compelling state right to abortion. Israel's position and that of the Interest." In accepting Missouri's appeal other JeWish groups did not go The Court in Roe postulated that from the Eighth Circuifs ruling, the unnoticed by the news media Espe although states do have an interest Supreme Court requested that the cially intriguing from the media's in protecting human fetal life, that parties address two broad themes: perspective was the surprising Interest is not "compelling" until the whether the Missouri law was con existence of what one reporter fetus is "viable" (i.e.. able to survive sistent With Roev. Wade; and, even referred to as "policy disagree Independently outside the mother's if not, whether the entire framework ments" over abortion even among womb: this occurs approximately at of Roe v. Wade should be "recon the Orthodox, as evidenced by the the end of the second trimester of sidered and discarded." The Court fact that a major Orthodox organ pregnancy). ACcordlngly. ruled the appears to be closely divided on ization had joined the pro-Roe Court, states may not Impede the those Issues: legal experts predict forces (as a member of the National exercise of a woman's "fundamen that the case is likely to be decided, JeWish Community Relations Advi tal" right to abort her pre-viable one way or the other, by a vote of sory Council), at the same time that fetus, irrespective of her motivation 5-4. A decision is expected in late Agudath Israel had come out In seeking to terminate the preg June or early July.