11::>n _""""" ___,.Meehan Hohoyroa Sunday, March 1, 1992 • Guests of Honor Tomach Torah Award Mr. and Mrs. Gustave Jacobs Rabbi and Mrs. Hesby Chapler Yissocher and Zevnlun Honorees Mr. and Mrs. Jack Berg Mr. and Mrs. Yitzchok Mashitz Mr. and Mrs. Chaim Rausman Divrei Brocha Special Address Guest Speaker Rabbi Nossen Horowitz Rabbi Ezriel Tauber Rabbi Noach I. Oelbaum Rav of Kehilas Bais Yisroe~ Founder of Rav D'Khal Nach/as Yitzchok, Monsey Mechon Hahoyroa Kew Garden Hills Mechon Hahoyroa, A Unique and Invaluable Community Resource 16 Years in Existence with the most fruitful results. I'll 40 ko/lel fellows studying from early morning to late 111 Resolution of marital and personal issues in at night. accordance with Even Haezer. e 14 qualified Dayanim with many years experience. e Divorce proceeding administered by expert Dayani. e 26 Avreichim on the same curriculum with shimush. !Iii Deeds, contracts, wills, prenuptial agreements, «it Completion of the entire Shulchan Aruch, starting pruzbe~ heter iska. All prepared halachically am from Choshen Mishpat and Even Haezer. legally. e A Ba is Hoyroa open to the public for all your e Bimonthly publication of halachic decisions in Halachic questions. Hebrew and English. e A daily Rais Din active in Boro Park and Monsey. e Shiu rim for baa lei batim on daily business ma tu I'll Dayanim, to insure impartiality, receive no 111 Haskomas and chizuk from all Gedolei Yisroel P• recompense. and present. !II Daily shailos from rabbonim and baalei batim on the most difficult subjects. Don't Jet this stop! Help us, Call now to place an ad in our journal and make reservation to our Dinner. Send a generous tax deductible donation now so that this Torah learning will continue. YOUR SUPPORT IS VITAL FOR OUR EXISTENCE Kolle! Mechon Hahoyroa ..J>. J) .. r.lnv 78?. lvlor>.<Pu.NY JOQ•;? • .TPl• it JQJ;l\ A'.>.5-951\~.• P•v'it {QJALA?h-3/llQ ..... WISH SERVER fill;Mi}JNING DISTINCTJVEI,Y JEWISH THE JEWISH OBSERVER (ISSN) 0021-6615 is published monthly except July and August by 4 The Jewish Home Under Siege the Agudath Israel of America, 84 William Street, Rabbi Shimon Schwab New York, N.Y. 10038. Second class postage paid in New York, N.Y. 8 Fighting Assimilation-From Within Subscription $22.00 per year; two years, $36.00; RabbiYissocharF'rand three years, $48.00. Outside of the United States (US funds drawn on a US bank only) $10.00 12 The Majesty of Tzenius- surcharge per year. Single copy $3.00; foreign Where Spirituality and Nobility Meet $4.00. Send address changes to The Jewish Rabbi Yitzchok Kirzner Observer, 84 William Street, N.Y., N.Y. 10038. Tel: (212) 797-9000. 15 P.S. Some Thoughts on "Selling" Tzenius Printed in the U.S.A. 19 RABBI NISSON WOLPIN, EDITOR Technological Aids to Limud HaTorah-Data or Text? EDITORIAL BOARD Yaakov Rosenes DR. ERNST L BODENHEIMER Chairman 23 RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS Labor Acts Out its Internal Contradictions JOSEPH FRIEDENSON Yonason Rosenblum RABBI NOSSON SCHERMAN MANAGEMENT BOARO NAFTOLI HIRSCH ISAAC KIRZNEA New Works on Halacha-Books in Review RABBI SHLOMO LESIN ThE HAf.AcHar OF TI!E BEN IsH HAI/THE SHABBOS KrrcHEN/THE NACHUM STEIN NEW PRACTICAL GUIDE TO KAsttRlITH/MEAT AND DAIRY/SETTING RABBI YOSEF C. GOLDING As!DE ThuMar AND MA'ASRar/MOURNING IN HAf.AcHA(nME OF Business Manager DEATI! IN JEWISH LAw /SANCITIY AND SCIENCE/IN TI!E MARKETPLACE Published by Agudath Israel of America 30 RABBI MOSHE SHERER Second Looks at the Jewish Scene PRESIOENT TORAH LEADERSHIP: A NATIONAL REsoURCE OR Pusuc PROPERTY? THE JEWISH OBSERVER does not assume responsibility for the Kashrus Shia Markowitz of any product, publication, or service advertised in its pages Letters to the Editor © Copyright 1992 43 Poetry: Invisible Ledgers, Libby Lazewnik FEBRUARY 1992 VOLUME XXV I NO. 1 44 Index to Volume XXIV: SUBJECTS AND AUTHORS Rabbi Shimon Schwab The Jewish Home Under Siege Fighting Off The Forces ofCultural Assimilation AN IUSTORICAL PERSPECTIVE propagated the slogan: "We have no are also aware that Soviet oppressors share in the G-d oflsrael" r·n. with full included quite a few Misyavnim-the nvaslve influences threaten the cooperation of the Greeks. so-called Yevesektsia, who out-did sancti1y of our community. We Ultimately, of course, the oppres­ their non-Jewish Communist com­ I may take comfort In that, as a sion of Malchus Yavan harsha'a col­ rades in their merciless suppression community, we number some six mil­ lapsed together with its Hellenist col­ of religion and belief. And we also are lion Jews in the United States. Less laborators, and the Jews were treated Witness. in our day, to the total bank­ than 7% of them, however, consider to a glorious display of Divine ruptcy of the system that they initi­ themselves Orthodox. As such, then, miracles. which spelled a decisive vic­ ated. At the same time, we see how we Torah Jews are a group under tory oflight over darkness-a victory the grandchildren of those Misyavnim siege, with the vast majori1y of our without which KlaI Yisroel would no of seven1y years ago are coming back brethren estranged from our heri­ longer exist rn. in droves to the chadorim. to the beis tage, undergoing a spiritual Holo­ hamidrash. in keeping with the caust of catastrophic proportions. A CONTEMPORARY prophecy: "And the sons will return Let us bear in mind that this is not COUNTERPART to their boundaries." However. let us happening under some atheistic dic­ beware of a gross mistake. The athe­ tatorship, but right here in the United e have, in our time, experi­ istic power structure of Communism States, Within the framework of a be­ enced seventy years of a has not collapsed. Only in the former nign democracy with full religious W similar, almost-fatal gezei­ USSR can one behold the miracle of freedom for all. Nothing should play ras hashmadin the former USSR. We yispordu kol po'alei aven-the dlsin- heavier on our minds than the con­ r····-------·------···--------···--------·-----------·--~·------·----- 1 cern over how to save our lost broth­ 1 The Greeks were not always characterized as evil. In 1he time of Alexander 1he 'I ers and sisters from oblivion, and I Great when Shimon Ha:JZaddikwas 1he leader of1he Jews in Israel, Greece was living . bring them back into the fold. i upto1heberachabestowedbyNoachonitsprogenltor,Yefes:"Yajl:Elokimlayefes... May \ ! G-d extend Yefes' (boundaries] but He will dwell in 1he tents of Sheim" (Berelshis9.27). I The classical case of thoroughly as­ Hashem i During this glortous era, granted 1he Greeks special wisdom, imbuing 1hem 1 similated Jews are the Misyavnim of .. wl1h a keen sense of beauty and es1hetics, openlng 1heirminds, as it were, to acquire \ the time of the Chanuka miracle-the Scientific insights into nature. The ancient Greeks developed important discoveries in Hellinists, who worked hand in hand 1 ma1hematics, astronomy. medicine, and government. and Ghazal considered it befit· '\ With Yavan (ancient Greece). helping I ting 1hat 1he beauty of1he Greek language dwell in 1he "Tents ofSheim" -a reterence to them carry out their evil designs. 1 I 1he Makom Hamikdash. But 1hen came a transition pertod when 1he glortous Greek ·1 I empire gradually turned into Malchus Yavan harsha'a. as 1heir preoccupation wl1h Jewish collaborators were highly in­ ' 1he pursuit of this-world's pleasures eventually brought 1hem to 1he worship of.1he i fluential, politically and socially. and anlmal aspects of 1he human body. The long-term result was a cultural atmosphere I I 1hat fostered artistic projections of fantasies of 1he yettzer hara-a fascination wl1h 1 The above article i.s based on excerpts from an ad­ I physical lust in all its various aberrations. TI:lls was followed, histortcally, by 1he cruel , dress by Rabbi Shimon Schwab,N"vW, Rav of I persecution of1he kedusha (sanctity) of1he Jewish way of life, beginning wl1h 1he pro-1 K'hal Adath Jeshurun of Washington Heights, ! hibition of Shabbos observance, Rosh Chodeshand mi/a. subsequently developing into N.Y .. delivered at the 69th National Convention of I a gezeiras hashmad--aimed at totally alienating 1he Jews from Torah and mitzOOs. Ag'udath Israel of America. '~~~-~--~~--~~~-~~-~--~~~--~~~~~~ 4 The Jewish Observer. February 1992 tegration of the perpetra­ again, the dead horses of tors of evil. But tn China. Reform and Conserva­ for instance, with its tism, let us take a close, population of one billion candid look at ourselves. souls, Communism is still This must also take prece­ very much alive. The dence over our protesta­ malchus harsha'a there is tions against the outra­ still tn full control. 2 geous proclamations of Hakadosh Baruch Hu the more militant "cen­ endows us with the ability trist" leaders, who in any to thtnk. and so we come case seem to be deaf to to recognize that just as our cries of protest. we are witnesstng the total The halacha states that defeat of the former an avuka-a torch, which Misyavnim in Russia, the is a combtnation of many same will happen eventually to wicks, like the candle we the Misyavntm in whose midst we use for havadala---is unfit are now livtng. We are only mispaUel for the pre-Pesach search with our entire heart that the down­ for chametz: a sing! e fall ofour Misyavntmshall come mer­ flame, coming from one cifully, peacefully, without any evil wick, is more suitable for befalltng them; rather, we hope for a a close search. Similarly, our own complete reversal of their stance, ini­ spiritual inventory to determine tiated by our modern-day chaltu­ If we but whether we are truly worthy of the zim-- the steadily developtng army of nisstm and yeshu' os for which we are baalei teshuva-who are findtng their courage, the commitment mispaUe!callsfor a private self-exami­ way back to the Ribbono Shel QI.am to emes and love of Torah, nation.