Vol. 3 No. 5 APRIL 1966 /SIVAN 5726 THE EWISH FIFTY CENTS BSERVE
The Bankruptcy of "Jewish Education" • A Shooting in Detroit • The I and Thou of Sinai Do We Still • Prayer Believe? and Jazz THE JEWISH OBSERVER
contents
articles
THE BANKRUPTCY OF "JEWISH EDUCATION," Yaakov Jacobs 3
Tim JEWISH OBSERVER is published A SHOOTING IN DETROIT, Mair Levi ...... 6 monthly. except July and August, by the Agudath Israel of America, Do WE STILL BELIEVE?, Nathan Birnbaum ...... 8 S Beekman Street, New York, N. Y. 10038. Second class THE VOICES OF TIME ...... 11 postage paid at New York, N. Y. Subscription: $5.00 per year; RABBI AvROHOM MosHE BABAD, S. B. Unsdorfer ...... 12 single copy: 50¢. Printed in the U.S.A. THE I AND THOU OF SINAI, Shubert Spero ...... 15
OPPORTUNITIES, A STORY ...... 18 Editorial Board DR. ERNST L. BODENHEIMER Chairman RABBI NATHAN BULMAN RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS ] OSEPH FRIEDENSON features RABBI MORRIS SHERER Advertising Manager EMPHASIS • • • OURS ...... 19 RABBI $YSHE HESCHEL A Woman Rabbi? Managing Editor Experience in a Suburb RABBI YAAKOV JACOBS A NEW LooK AT CHURCH AND STATE, A Review by THE JEWISH OBSERVER does not Reuben E. Gross ...... 23 assume responsibility for the Kashrus of any product or service advertised in its pages. SECOND LOOKS AT THE JEWISH SCENE ...... 25 Jazz and Prayer APRIL 1966 VOL. 3, No. 5 Y armulkas in Public Schools ....@ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ...... 28 Yaakov Jacobs The Bankruptcy of "Jewish Education" A New Flurry of Conferences Reveals Old Weakness
AMERICAN JEWRY HAS discovered Jewish education. Yehuda Hellman, Director General of COJO, the After decades of neglect by federations and community World Council of Jewish Organizations indicated that councils and after an almost constant flow of articles, the World Council intends to become the exclusive papers and surveys on assimilation, inter-marriage and spokesman for Jewish education on the world scene. the alienation of American Jewish youth, it has sud He reported that Catholic and Protestant educational denly occurred to the Establishment that there may be bodies are represented on the United Nations Economic a relationship between the two phenomenon. Since we and Social Commission (UNESCO), and that he had last reported on the subject, (The Spectrum Theory and "taken the liberty" of discussing with UN officials the Jewish Education, January, 1966) there has been a affiliation of the World Council as the Jewish repre flurry of activity in the field: The American Association sentative body. of Jewish Education held a four-day conference in New York City; the Council of Jewish Federations and A Shortage of Teachers Welfare Funds has established a Committee on Fed eration Planning for Jewish Education which will seek Dr. Alvin Schiff of Yeshiva University told the con wider support (funds) for Jewish education in the total ference that there is a need for 900 new teachers in "community planning process"; a report has been is Jewish schools in this country. Of between 100 and sued of the proceedings of the World Presidium of the 150 young people who become eligible for certification World Council on Jewish Education, and Dr. Isidor by the National Board of License, no more than 10- Margolis, former director of Mizrachi's National Coun 15% actually become career teachers. Throughout a cil for Torah Education has been appointed executive long paper on "Teacher Recruitment and Training director of the World Council. Programs," Dr. Schiff painted a bleak picture of the Moving force of the Council is Dr. Nahum Gold difficulty in interesting young people in teaching in man, who told the opening session of the conference Jewish schools, and the inadequacy of those who already that they have received a budget of $60,000 from the are teaching. In several instances, he somewhat dis Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture (N. GOLD dainfully refers to the yeshiva student as a potential MAN, PRESIDENT) which received a grant from the recruit. Jewish Conference on Material Claims Against Ger The other sources of recruitment are the yeshi many (N. GOLDMAN, PRESIDENT)' Dr. Joseph H. vot gedolot, the rabbinical seminaries which or Lookstein, acting president of Bar-Ilan University in dain between 150-200 young rabbis each year, a Israel, and Coordinator of the World Council, in his large percentage of whom go into teaching. Five opening statement acknowledged a grant of $20,000 of the larger seminaries in cooperation with Torah from the Jewish Agency for Israel, and chided the Umesorah, have recently organized teaching train Agency and the Council's constitutent bodies for not ing programs for their students. Jn addition, there being as generous as the Memorial Foundation. are the Beth Jacob teacher seminaries which sup After reporting on the organizational achievements ply about 50 teachers a year, particularly for the of the Council, Dr. Lookstein closed his remarks in a Beth Jacob movement. somewhat apologetic tone reminding the assembly that, By "simple arithmetic" Schiff concindes that "there "We are only fifteen months old. Paraphrasing the is an annual deficit of at least 500 teachers." Who fills Psalm-fifteen months in our sight are but as yesterday these gaps and is entrusted with the religious education when it is past. The Messiah of educational redemption of thousands of Jewish children? Schiff's answer is as may be slightly delayed. But we are convinced that he interesting as it is candid: will come." These positions are filled by a variety of "re-
The Jewish Observer I April, 1966 3 cruits" ... a) the American version of the lo The 1958 stndy made by the National Com yutzlah; h) the enterprising young person with mittee on Teacher Education and Welfare indi some Judaic knowledge eager to supplement bis cates the Hebrew-teacher-college graduates are income; c) public school teachers with varying rarely engaged to teach classes beyond the 4th degrees of Jewish education; d) young people grade in a yeshiva. It is the exceptional graduate with Hebrew background desiring a modest in who is equipped knowledge-wise to teach in the come while they prepare for more lucrative and upper elementary grades and in the junior and more intellectually satisfying experiences; e) senior high school levels of the Jewish day school. young girls with some Hebraic knowledge biding My own experience between 1956 and 1965 with their time before marriage; and f) yonng religious teacher placement in the day schools of greater men with intensive emotional attachments to Juda New York via the Department of Yeshivoth of the ism and equally strong traditional background, Jewish Education Committee, adequately bears who are not professionally trained to do anything this out. On the other band, the musmachim of else, and to whom teaching is a kind of "path of the various mesivtot who are employed to teach least vocational resistance." the upper grades are not adequately prepared "Why is there a shortage of trained teachers?" Schiff neitber Hebraically nor pedagogically. asks. Because, "First there is a shortage of inspired young people in the Hebrew high schools [and] second Not Ready For 4th Grade ly, there is a shortage of inspired students in the teacher training schools." Schiff admits in essence, that the graduates of the After years of conferences and ballyhoo, surveys and teachers colleges, in spite of their sound Hebraic and scholarly papers, and the proud professionalism of the pedagogical training, are essentially illiterate, and not Hebrew-speaking teachers and educators, we are now equipped, as he puts it, "knowledge-wise," to teach told that teaching and teacher training is a big bust and beyond the 4th grade. The graduates of the yeshivos, an even bigger bore; but again the salvation lies with who obviously are well-equipped to teach the higher the yeshiva bochur, who has appeared on the American grades, he dismisses as being deficient in Hebrew and Jewish scene in spite of the "Jewish educators," and in pedagogical techniques. He chooses to underplay the spite of their failure to train a new generation of teach major advance made by Torah Umesorah in establish ers, not to mention ordinary, practicing Jews. ing teacher-training programs in conjunction with vari "What is needed is the recruiting and training of ous yeshivos in New York, Baltimore and Cleveland. young scholars in the Mesivtot for teaching careers. It The disdain for the yeshiva bochur manifest by Dr. is for this very reason that the Master's degree program Schiff, comes through more clearly in a statement by Dr. in Jewish pedagogy bas been initiated by the Depart Elazar Goelman, Dean of Gratz College in Philadelphia: ment of Religious Education of the Ferkauf Graduate The proliferation of European-style yeshivot School of Education.* This program} however, serves has turned out in recent years a number of rabbis a small segment of the Mesivta population since it is or pre-rabbinical students who spi!J over in allied limited to ordained rabbis who have (our emphasis) areas. Some are religious functionaries in syna a colleg;ate undergraduate backpround." gogues and the rest of them are the non-produc To paraphrase the above paragraph, "We are pre tive "Lumpenproletariat." Basically these young pared to take advantage of the mesiras nefesh of the people are knowledgeable in Bible and Rabbinics. men who built and maintain yeshivos in this country; They also have an unequalled [by graduates of we are prepared to offer a select number of tbeii· Gratz College?-ed.] love for Judaism and abid talmidim a career in Jewish education to fill the gaps ing faith in Jewish survival. This enthusiasm created by our own failures, but . . . they'll have to should be channeled into Jewish education by at clean themselves up, get r!d of some of the naivete of tracting this human element to our schools. Nat the yeshiva bochur, and come to us with their under urally, special courses would have to be set up graduate diplomas in hand, if they want to teach in for this Yeshiva group in Hebrew language and our schools." teaching methodology. The idea of utilizing and productivizing (sic) these people is not new. It What of the graduates of the "non-denominational" teacher colleges? ... here too Schiff is most candid: has been suggested before. However, no one bas really taken steps to make this human reservoir One of the serious shortcomings of the teacher a continuous source of supply for the Jewish colleges is that they do not produce teacber teaching profession. scholars . ... Dr. Goe1man too ignores the teacher-tr2ining pro * Yeshiva University's Graduate School of Education which gran1 of Torah Umesorah. perhaps because he realizes is a non~~ectarian institution-Ed. that "the unequalled love for Judaism and abiding faith
4 The Jewish Observer I April, 1966 ''. .. the Messiah of educational redemption has not yet arrived"
in Jewish survival" may keep "this human reservoir~~ funds expended for community relations, have been from serving as a "source of supply" for the kind of amply documented in these pages (Education: The Jewish education the teacher colleges represent. Step-child of Jewish Budgeting, September, 1965). Yet, Lest there be any doubt as to the type of education it appears that the World Council on Jewish Education the learned doctors have in mind. it is quickly dispelled and the American Association of Jewish Education by the critique of Dr. Eisig Silverschlag, Dean of the (which is the American section of the World Council) Hebrew Teachers College in Boston: appear to be preparing to cure the patient with larger, It is my contention that ... we are not develop and more costly doses of the same medication which ing adequate teachers [among otl1er reasons, be has brought Jewish education to its present bankrupt cause] our curricular offering are antiquated. Two condition. examples: Too often a class in Bible in 1965 will not differ from a class in Bible in I 465: the same "Kinds of Nuts" text H umash-the same commentary Rashi with The magazine section of the New York Sunday News a dash of Ibn Ezra or a pinch of Seforno. The on April 3nd of this year featured a picture story of great proliferation of knowledge in the field of a seder for children conducted by the Union of Amer Semitics archaeology, epigraphy is ignored. ican Hebrew Congregations (Reform) which is one of Courses, in a subject like the Dead Sea Scrolls are the new constituents of the AAJE. One of the pictures non-existent. . . . shows a child-with a yarmulka on his head-with an AT THE MEETING OF THE American Association ol adult who is bareheaded, and the caption explains that Jewish Education, which now claims to represent the the man "explains the significance of the different kinds "three branches" of Jewish education, and fs the U. S. of nuts used in ceremonies of seder." How could we wing of the World Council, the delegates heard a report better illustrate the bankruptcy and illiteracy of "Jewish of a study of Jewish adolescents. The youngsters told education," and how could we better demonstrate the the interviewers that they found that their Jewish edu absurdity of lumping together such drivel with cation was boring and "takes the form of religious en lehavdil-teaching Torah to Jewish children. Rabbi tertainment. utilizing tranquilizers, and the instruction Lookstein is quite correct: "the Messiah of educational is frequently dull and vapid." The solution: "Radical redemption has not yet arrived." The learned doctors changes are needed in the Jewish school curricula," and of Jewish education have stated the problem well, they a national youth co1nmission has been created to even know the answers. The true Jewish teacher must "study" the situation and come up with realistic have an "unequalled love for Judaism and abiding faith changes. What remains unsaid is, that the young people in Jewish survival." The Jewish teacher must believe whose opinions were reported, were not students of day himself, before he can teach belief to the Yiddishe schools or yeshivas; they received their training at the neshomos who are placed in his charge. The Hebrew hands of teachers who were equipped with Hebrew and teachers colleges have not, nor can they produce such pedagogical methodology at the various non-denomina teachers. Only a Ben Torah, saturated with love for tional Hebrew-teachers-training coHcges. Torah and Torah learning can communicate Torah to If the teachers are illiterate and bored, what can be the Jewish child. The benevolence of Dr. Goldman and expected of their students? Do the educators seriously the Jewish Agency will produce more conferences and believe that a "pinch" of the Dead Sea Scrolls and scholarly papers, but they cannot produce a single Jew "Semitics archaeology, epigraphy" to replace Rashi and ish teacher adequate to his sacred task. the Seforno will save Jewish education from boredom "Jewish educators," who have yet to Jose their cyni or change the attitudes of the youngsters polled, who cism and disdain in relation to the Bert Torah, would do in the s<:me study indicated that 41 % favored mixed well to wake up to reality: a re_juvenated Torah com dating, with 10% undecided, a statistic which the di munity in America has left them behind. The phrase rector of the study agreed is "a!arming"? "Talmud Torah," which to many an American Jew In a sense, the new awareness of the failures of Jew conjures up an image of a ramshackle building popu ish education in the past, and the willingness on the lated by bored teachers and even more bored students, part of federations to seek wider support for Jewish has regained its true meaning in Jewish life. Talmud education, represents a wholesome change in American Torah k'neged kulom; Talmud Torah alone is the Jewish thinking. The pitifully small allocations by fed Messiah of educational redemption, as truly as it will erations for education in comparison to, for example, bring the redemption of all Israel.
The Jewish Observer I April, 1966 5 A Shooting in Detroit "We tend to forget, in all our talk about the alienated and uncommitted youth, that much of their unrest in our time comes not from indifjerence to meaning, but from a desperate searc h f or meanzng. . . . "
AMERICANS HAVE an unsatiable against the congregation was that believe that there can be a meaning thirst for violence and bloodshed, it had betrayed the true Jewish ful code of moral values. Lerner's and the press is most generous in tradition. His act was the act of ambivalence has significance for the feeding this need. But few care to a fanatic youth who wanted to alienated young Jew; for the secular examine the significance of these draw attention to what he be Jew who is tiring of his secularism, acts of vio!cnce. One of the few lieved to be the betrayal of what and to every Jew who still carries astute observers of America's moral he valued. Despite his frantic the flame of Sinai in his heart. The breakdown is Max Lerner, professor belief, perhaps because of it, he Talmud, centuries ago told us, in at Brandeis University and news must have felt empty and alone, commenting on the words of the paper columnist. In a column in the and he tried to give meaning and Torah, chawrus al haluchos [the New York Post (2/14/66) beaded point to his life by seeking to end words of the Decalogue J were IN SEEKING MEANING, Lerner writes as the rabbi's life and his own. SCRIBED on the tablets: "Rather follows: We tend to forget, in all our than chawrus (inscribed) read chai Several months ago in Detroit, talk about the alienated and un rus (freedom) , no man is truly free I took part in a symposium with committed youth, that much of as the man who commits himself a rabbi on the theme of the prob their unrest in our time comes to Torah and Mitzvahs." lems of adolescent youth. He not from indifference to mean~ spoke movingly, with elegance of ing, but from a desperate search phrase and considerable bite in for meaning. . . . " ... so Reformed" his thought. His stress was that Having stated the case most elo young people today, having quently, Lerner then finds himself A young Jewish humorist recent broken with the religious tradi caught in a dilemn1a: "I am con ly said something of a similar nature tion of their fathers, had no sense vinced that there is no single rem -perhaps unwittingly, perhaps not. of the past and no continuity edy. Discipline, in the sense of find When he wanted to be married he with it: they were thus, despite ing a code frame of limits for the couldn't find a rabbi who would their social zeal, the uncorn young which will be more realistic agree to marry him-since he is an mitted. than the received codes, is certain1y agnostic and his bride-to-be an That memory came back to one remedy, yet all talk of codes atheist. "But finally," he joyfully me when I read that at an inter is derided. Social reconstruction, concluded, "they were married by faith service in a Detroit syna especially to deal with the radical a Reformed Rabbi-so Reformed gogue a youth of 23, a graduate uprooting that our era is witnessing, in fact that he was a Nazi." (The student in religion, had jumped is another: yet that too requires New York Journal-American, Jan up in the middle of the service, from us more in the way of com uary 18, 1966). brandished a revolver, delivered mitment and cost than we are will Perhaps some will find this allu an emotional tirade against the ing to pay. Inner discipline, in the sion offensive, but hasn't our young congregation, pumped two bul organizing of identity, is a third Jewish brother aimed his barb at lets into Rabbi Morris Adler and remedy, but an extremely elusive the heart of the matter? If there is then shot himself. It was the one. Thus we wander between no code, if we reject the "freedom" Rabbi Adler I remembered from violence that we reject and rem of the Law, then we have rejected the symposium on youth. edies that we are unready to em all sense of discipline. The Jew who The shots were fired by a dis brace." feels free to erase the Shabbos from traught young man who had been Mr. Lerner recognizes the need the tablets can then more easily re emotionally disturbed for several for a disciplinary code, but his own move the restriction against murder. years. The irony of his case was liberal inclination-he blames it on that he was not uncommitted others: "all talk of codes is de THIS BRINGS us to a problem which but overcommitted. His charge rided"-refuses to permit him to has disturbed us for many months.
6 The Jewish Observer I April, 1966 New words and catch phrases enter the Jewish vernacular quickly and What is the relevance of Torah today in our com easily. Jewish leaders, who find puterized, missle age? ... the very same relevance that their efforts to "reform" and to "update" Judaism constantly fail to which our father A vraham discovered when he win the expected allegience of Jew stood alone -- as each of us stands alone today ish youth, are always anxious to ex -- in a pagan world that clutched its gods to its plain the continued apathy and lack bosom out of fear of existence and was unable of concern for things Jewish. The most recent efforts in that direction, to relate itself to the One G-d. A vraham found the stimulated by the involvement of relevance of existence --a relevance which became Jewish youth in social action move the essence of Jewishness -- when he destroyed ments, is to declare that we have his idols and stood erect in the presence of his failed to make Judaism "relevant" to the times. The phrase-makers Creator, prepared to take on existence with the have decreed that unless we quickly help of his G-d. make Judaism "relevant," the defec tion of Jewish youth will continue unabated. the very same relevance which our and when they are forced to make father Avraham discovered when he peace with society in order to sur· stood alone-as each of us stands vive. Shall Judaism Live? alone today-in a pagan world that Torah, in a world which thirsts clutched its gods to its bosom out for discipline, which feeds its soul Now how do we go about making of fear of existence and was unable yearnings with sensual fare, is rel Judaism relevant? In the Winter to relate itself to the One G-d. evant ... no, the word is too weaak 1965-66 issue of American Judaism, Avraham found the relevance of ex ... it is more vital than ever before a Reform publication, an editorial istence-a relevance which became in the history of man's struggle to poses the question, SHALL JUDAISM the essence of Jewishness-when he find meaning in life. It is testimony LIVE OR DIE? It will not die, the destroyed his idols and stood erect to the eternity of Torah, to the editorialist writes, because courage in the presence of his Creator, pre Wisdom of its Anthor, that its mes ous efforts are being made to make pared to take on existence with the sage for man comes through the it live. What are some of these help of his G-d. It is this relevance morass of transistors, wires and courageous efforts? At an assembly of Torah, its capacity to lift man programmed circuits which betray of the Union of American Hebrew from the shabbiness of his environ man's futile efforts to 'communi Congregations held last November, ment, from the depravity of society, cate'; that through these man-made it was voted that: that makes Judaism eternally rel obstacles to nnderstanding, the • An armistice in Viet Nam be evant. sounds of Sinai come through with called for; growing clarity. • converts be sought to Judaism Lerner quotes Livy, the historian from the unaffiliated; Searching For Meaning of Ancient Rome, who observes • there be a probing into Jewish Jewish youth today, 'liberated' "how when discipline wavered mo theology; and that from the bonds which tie them to rality first tottered and then began • sex education be introduced in eternity, are engaged in a desperate the headlong plunge, until it has religious schools. struggle and search for meaning; reached the present level when we These statements and resolutions for the fullness of life; for the ex can tolerate neither our vices nor are typical of the innocuous plati perience of love and joy. Liberated their remedies." There is yet time to tudes that are fed to the American from Torah and eternity, they have save Jewish youth from the "head public. They do not reflect authenti bartered eternity for the oblivion of long plunge" into nothingness. Those cally Jewish religious values and are narcotics and LSD. They have bart young Jews who have heard the usually a regurgitation of the secular, ered the joy of traditional Jewish sounds of Sinai, have found mean materialistic philosophies of our morality for the loss of identity of ing and relevance, and the strength time which are themselves at the promiscuity. They have snatched at to resist man's suicidal attacks on root of the social upheavals they the thrill of thumbing their noses his own identity. It becomes the are supposed to cure. at society with its codes and restric sacred task of those who hear these What is the relevance of Torah iu tions, but this thrill wears thin in sounds to transmit them to their our computerized, missile age? . the loneliness of a narcotics ward, brothers. MAIR LEVI
The Jewish Observer I April, 1966 7 Do We Still Believe? A Classic Statement of Jewish Belief in the Messiah
On rare occasions men emerge in found humanity and understanding "the heathen rebels"; it a-1so ad history whose lives mirror their of life. But he passed from one to dressed itself to the loyal Jew. He entire age, all its ideals and errors, the other, in search of truth, driven saw the most fundamental, and achievements and failures. Rarer by his inexorably logical mind and dangerous, aspects of the Jewish still are those who are chosen, at incorruptible honesty, until he found problem in the weakening of Mes the end of their pilgrimage through his way home to the simple yet sub sianic fervor among the religious life, to rise above the world and lime teachings of Jewish tradition. Jewish masses; and in the resulting to attain that ultimate wisdom which It was at the end of his road that threat of sterility, stagnation and is above time and circumstance. he came to write Gottesvolk his death. Hence the greatness of Nathan Birn great manifesto to the Jewish people. baum. The above introduction (in an Birnbaum rediscovered the teach abridged form) and the selection Birnbaum helped create the major ings of Judaism as they had been from GOTTESVOLK which follows, Jewish movements of our time: Zi cherished, defended, and died for, are from CONFESSION, published in onism, Autonomism, Yiddishism. through the ages. But his challenge 1947 by Jewish Pocket Books and He gave to all of them of his pro- was not confined to what he called the Spero Foundation.
HOW CAN WE ESCAPE FROM OUR GUILT? IT SEEMED TO All this seemed to me natural and necessary. How me, when I first posed this question, that we had, above ever, I also realized that it can only be a human being, all, to uncover the source of our failure. This I found one man, who will bring salvation unto humanity. It in the Jew's attitude towards the Messianic ideal. will be a towering personality to whom G-d gives the It was just this which had captured my attention greatest mission in world history; with unsurpassed when I had found my way back to Judaism. It seemed spiritual energy to conquer the souls of millions of men to me to be of central importance in our world-view. and of their descendants, to redeem each one individ G-d had created man as a physical being, and yet had ually and to bring them all together into the covenant imparted to him of His own spirit. He had let him fail of redeemed humanity. and fall, and yet had given him the knowledge of G-d's Yet, I realized, the achievements of this great mes existence, will, and glory. He had let him sink into sin, senger of G-d cannot but stand in relationship to the yet had held out to him the ideal of virtue, by which human struggle against sin! The blessing of salvation he might save himself. It could not be otherwise, then, will not come unmerited, it must be gained by human -there must come a time when G-d will hearken to endeavor: by the pains of sin, the struggle with it, the man's longing to be saved from the tragedy of these longing to overcome it; by hard labor-through which contradictions, from the pains of failure. The Divine the towering heights of virtue are slowly climbed. plan of world government must provide for this salva And finally, I also realized that there has to be one tion--0therwise the creation of this strange human race, people which should march at the head of the nations belonging to our world, yet possessed of a Divine spark in this hard struggle. Its selection does not mean the of immortality, would be meaningless. The Divine spark rejection of the other peoples; they can enter into the cannot remain hidden away in the half-shadow of mercy of G-d by serving Him in other forms, with other secluded obscurity but must, one day, illuminate all our symbols; the granting of the Divine Law to the Jews life. Just as the world of nature knows of cosmic up is only the means of pointing out, to them all, the royal heavals, so there will be an upheaval in the realm of road that leads to the Messianic goal. The Jewish people human affairs. The ordinary development of mankind has produced the noblest heralds of holiness, men who can only promote earthly, human values and ideals, attained an unsurpassed spirituality in their craving for but "the end of days" will pass beyond these, to grant salvation; and the man of the "end of days," who will to man a "new heart," the full clarity of a Divinely bring about the supreme, the only lasting achievement guided insight into the world, an unquestioning and of world history, will be the greatest of these men, a unquestioned holiness--0f knowledge, mercy, splendor. son of their people ...
8 The ]elvish Observer I April, 1966 Messiah or Messianic Age? ficance in their world of religious ideas? I do not believe that this development was caused by the inability of I was not surprised to note that pagan Jews, if they the people to grasp the lofty spiritual ideal of a Messiah did not reject, had crippled this glorious Messianic con to be brought by human exertions; the history of the ception. The idea of a Divinely-sent personal Messiah Jews disproves such a view. There only remains the follows quite logically from the historic sequence of explanation that the Messianic idea has not been suf Jewish messengers of the spirit; but there has been ficiently supported by tangible forms which would put in its place the fiction that the Jewish people as assure it a permanent hold on the mind and life of a whole is the Messiah. Instead of the longed-for act the people. Such forms are necessary, to sustain an of redemption, involving the resurrection of Israel, the idea which offers such a challenge, demands such ener liberal-ethical ideal of cultural progress has been set iges and sacrifices as the Messianic ideal does. up-to be realized by assimilation and apostasy, stock exchange and journalism-summed up in the phrase Paganism, in its later stages, pandered to the individ of "the special Jewish mission." ual; it thereby ruined the community and, with it, the Such views fit perfectly into the picture I have of individuals too. Judaism has disciplined the individual our modern Jewish pagans. All the more surprised and thus saved him as well as the community. The have I been to note that the pious masses, too, no discipline of Judaism is based on the eternal foundations longer have that inspiring faith in the coming of the of its Divine Law (both its Written and Oral parts). Messiah which seems to me so vital an element in the In accordance with the spirit and purpose of this Law, Jewish world-view. I have heard them daily proclaim the Sages erected "fences" around every one of its their loyalty to it, and I do not doubt their honesty provisions, to preserve the pious from unwittingly but I cannot overlook the legendary color which the transgressing them. But in the course of time it has Messianic ideal has acquired in their eyes. Above all, become evident that still more is needed if the Law is I have had to note that in their thoughts and sentiments to conquer the ages and to turn them to its service; the belief in the coming of the Messiah is no longer a "fence" has to be erected around the Law as a whole; linked to the other great teachings of Judaism; the idea the entire body of Divine teachings has to be surround of the Chosen People, and that of reward and punish ed by rules regulating the varied conditions of life ment. They have become blind to Israel's splendid of the community at large, which will prevent it from destiny: to advance with the Law, through the attain drifting away from the Jewish ideal and losing its ment of holiness, to the coming of the Messiah. They powers of self-sanctification. Moreover, such rules must have forgotten that the mission of the Chosen People be supported by practical organs of communal action, does not exhaust itself in the observance of the Divine which will enable the Law to dominate Jewish life by Law but has a threefold content; the Law is the basis shaping Jewish material existence in accordance with of Jewish selection, sanctification is the road which the the Jewish ideal. The absence of such organized com Jew has to follow, and the Messiah is the goal to be munal discipline in subservience to the great goals of attained by him. Judaism is responsible for the loss of revolutionary Our pious Jews are apt to think of the Messiah as Messianic fervor. an isolated phenomenon-to be sent by G-d in token of His mercy, without regard to the merits of the men The Role of Chassidism to whom he is sent. All to often they do not remember that they could bring about his arrival by their merits, It is true that some efforts have been made to remedy by the observance of the Law as a means to their sanc this weakness. Thus, Chassidism represents a faint, tification. In short: they believe in the Messiah, but almost unconscious recollection of the Jewish task. It not strongly enough; their faith in him does not move never posed the question of "law versus faith," as some them to reform their ways, to rise in sanctity. Thus people claim today; it gave even less justification for they have condemned themselves to the present state of such an interpretation than the prophets of old Israel. affairs, in which they are happy and satisfied if they It never was a protest against the religious discipline are merely able to live according to the Law. They of Pharisaic Judaism (which pagan Jews love to cal· have lost the revolutionary impatience and the creative umniate). Its struggle for closeness to G-d did not ambition which are required to make over a world clash with the disciplinary element in Judaism. On the according to the dictates of the spirit. It is thus that contrary. From its very outset, Chassidism represented they have become guilty. a practical attempt to strengthen communal religious Of course, this fact provokes another question. How discipline, by closely organizing the community around was it possible that the pious masses lost the true mean religious leaders, and thus releasing great popular ing of the Messianic ideal? How could the Messiah energies in the service of the Jewish ideal. shrink for them into a legendary figure, of little sigui- Chassidism succeeded in teaching the Eastern Jewish .
The Je111ish Observer I April, 1966 9 masses an enthusiastic confidence in their spiritual lead tification. The study of the Law, and the devotion to ers, a social virtue mueh more human and creative than prayer; creative labor and inspired song; dedication to the so-called independence of modern crowd-man. But our tasks and isolation from the confusion of our world the energies released by Chassidism have not been -those are the steps leading to the holiness which channelled into a powerful stream of Messianic en devotion to G-d can. alone produce. Ever more un deavors; nor, indeed, has any organized direction and selfish endeavors to serve our fellow-men in all fields personal leadership been given to the life of the people of life, will make us share in the sanctity of Divine as a whole. And what Chassidism did not succeed in, mercy. And by striving for beauty and grace, purity the other sections of traditional Judaism could not and order, we attain the sanctity of Divine glory. achieve either. These are the roads of endeavor which lie before us. Yet this sad state of affairs, the decline of Messianic !f G-d wills it so, they will be taken even now; if not, consciousness, and the absence of communal leadership our people will discover them later. But I feel bound and planning, should not be taken to indicate an in to do all I can to gain pious Jewry for them, however ability of the Jewish people to discharge its task. Such hard this may be. As for our pagan Jews of all shades a conclusion is contradicted by the Divine assurance of opinion, some groups among them may well find of the ultimate triumph of Israel, as well as by the their way back to the true Judaism-perhaps under lonely road which the Jew has walked so far, and by the impact of the historic happenings of our time and the eternal values which he has created in his struggle especially, as I hope, the revitalization of pious Jewry. with the times. The tenacity he has revealed is but the There are quite a few of those pagans who have always symptom of intense and concentrated power-held in wanted to come back to us, without knowing it them chains so far, but waiting for a time when it will break selves. I shall be happy to see them with us-but I its bonds and remake its world. The strength of the am not out to convert pagans. If they so desire, they Jewish spirit among the Eastern Jewish masses holds may cleave to their aberrations (for which, I know, out the hope that Jewry may even now, just now, I have a good deal of responsibility). All I have aimed embark upon its greatest spiritual ascent. to do in writing this frank and open essay is to take Our time calls for deeds. It demands that we rid leave from them, and to tell them on this occasion ourselves of the faintness which besets our Mesianic what I plan to do, and that they have somewhat under faith-that we make up for old sins of omission, and estimated the strength still inherent in pious Jewry. rededicate ourselves to the supreme goal of self-sanc I do not want to convert, because I know that many, tification. too many, Jews are so far from us that they will not One thing is therefore needed: if the Messianic faith even hear me-those who were born into apostasy, of the pious masses is uninspired because they do not or those who proudly chose it out of their rebellious see redemption as the Divine reward of loyalty and mood. I shall not, therefore, be touched by their re sanctity, they must be made aware of their error and action. They may sympathize; they may be silent; or sin-must be awakened to warm, creative Messianic they may vituperate me. I shall not react. I leave them fervor. And another thing is necessary: if the weakness to their own pursuits. Let them depose G-d every day of the Messianic ideal is due to the lack of suitable anew and yet without overcoming Him. Let them go communal organs for the protection and strengthening out and "seek" Him in the jungle of their stock-phrases, of our faith, then communal anarchy must be replaced or pattern Him to their own desire. Let them instigate by the spiritual leadership of the true guardians of the their petty rebellions, and try to govern the course faith. Neither comfort and the ambitions of incompetent of history, whilst they are in truth but its street-arabs. * men, nor the hostility of the pagan opponents of cre Let them play at a conventional humanity which does ative discipline, should keep pious Jewry from evolving not entirely conceal their hunger for might, or their within its midst an organized community of guardians narrowness of mind. Let them crowd the theatres, lec of the faith, for spiritual leadership and representation. ture halls, and newspaper columns, befuddling their A final demand: if pious Jewry, despite its religious own minds. Let them worry about the Jewish question, loyalty, has been subject to the persistent and evil in strike the Jewish people from the list of the nations, fluences of so-called modern forms of life, it must or cut it to their fashionable pagan pattern. Let them, resolutely cut itself off from all those forms which in short, do all that they, as lost and restless pagans, endanger the discharge of its lofty mission. . . . cannot help doing. It cannot touch me, for I have found If these demands are fulfilled, we can free ourselves my way back to pious Jewry, and I know they cannot from the threat of stagnation: the atmosphere is cre succeed: G-d will be G-d forever, and Israel dedicated ated, then, in which we can advance to a life of sane- to Him.
* This essay was written before the Holocaust-ed. * I.e., urchins--cd.
10 The Jewish Observer I April, 1966 The Chafetz Chaim combined the cannot be solved in any conventional intellectual genius with which he sense; it touches an area of knowl mastered Shas and Poskim, with THE edge which is beyond human ken. the religious genius which made it Nevertheless, man's new appreci possible for him to see and to ex ation of time as a dimension rather press the most complex ethical and than as an absolute, can in some theological truths in the simplest VOICES small measure help us to grasp terms. With the one, he gained the what appears to be a hopeless respect of scholars throughout the paradox. world who looked to him as a su We now know that when we ob preme authority in Halochoh; with OF serve something happening on a dis the other he won the hearts of the tant planet, it may actually have less learned masses of Jews who "happened" some ten years ago. On looked to him for religious guidance the other hand, from the perspective in a difficult world. TIME of yet another planet, the event may For example, he once said that not yet have "happened" at all. We the discovery of the principle of are not here concerned with the radio transmission makes it easier many complex problems that this for us to understand that which we new understanding brings with it; have always known, that one may we simply note, as the Chafetz What the Chafetz Chaim say something in one place and it Chaim did in regard to radio trans can be "heard" in a far-off place. Might Have to Say mission, that we can now gain- a The principle of the phonograph, he About Some New glimmer of understanding into the continued, contributes to our ability Almighty's freedom from the limita to grasp the notion that man's words Discoveries tions of time, and man's freedom to -each of them-are ''recorded"; choose his own path in life. that they are not lost in the vastness Yet, in spite of man's wider of the universe. The good that we knowledge of the universe, and his speak will continue to serve us for success in probing space, man's all eternity; and the evil which greatest need remains to probe . his leaves our lips will forever haunt us. own cosmos, to understand the He described in simple but graphic some small way, into the vastness reality of his own being and his terms, the horror of having to listen of the Ribono Shel Olom' s wisdom. relationship with the Master of the to a recording of every word we The Voices of Time,** a recently Universe. Scientific sophisticates still have Jet drop from our tongues, at published collection of essays on point to the vastness of the universe some future time of recoknoning. current views of time, brings to mind a new understanding of the as further indication of the insignifi It is easy to project how the universe which offers some insight cance of man, who lives on a speck Chafetz Chaim would have reacted into an age-old problem: Since the of a planet in a cosmos that appears to complex computers that store Almighty knows what will take to be many sizes too big for him. vast amounts of data which they place at any given time in the future, But it has been noted, that it is man, are prepared to spew forth at the how is it possible for man to enjoy with his G-d-given intellect, who closing of a circuit. Much that bechira (free will) and choose any has fashioned a telescope and peers modern technology has achieved, path of behavior that pleases him? through it at the cosmos; there is apart from the serious problems it Of course the problem is one that no evidence as yet that the universe has created,* gives us insight in is looking back at us. Above the hum of the computers * "Jn a benevolent, scientific disguise, the age of big-brotherism is fast appro University, predicted even greater growth and through the smoke and fury of aching with possibly disastrous conse for 'surveillance technology.' Jn addition the information explosion, the words quences only dimly recognized by rec to wire-tapping and closed-circuit televi of Rebbe in Pirkai Ovos ring truer sion, he mentioned personality testing, ognized by researchers and the public, than ever: a mental health meeting ... was told 'truth serums,' brain wave analysis, voice ... 'An ugly a11iance may be developing recording and the increasing exchange of Know what is above you: between legal-electronic survei11ance, sci information among public agencies." An eye that sees, entific research and Government dossiers, THE NEW YORK TIMES, April 15, 1966 An ear that hears, according to Dr. Orville G. Brim Jr., a is sociologist ... ** Edited by J. T. Fraser / George And every deed recorded " ... a professor of Jaw at COiumbia Braziller / New York, 1966. for eternity.
The Jewish Observer I April, 1966 11 Rabbi Avrohom Moshe Babad • i1J1J.~ p>i~ 1JT
LONDON (The Jewish Tribune)-Rabbi Avrohom Moshe Babad died in a London hospital on Thursday evening, March 31 (Nisson 10) after a brief illness. Rabbi Babad, who was Rav of the Sunderland Bet Hamid rash and honorary head of its Yeshiva, Kolle! and Day School, was known among world Jewry as one of the outstanding spokesmen and ideologists of reli gious Jewry through his many years of association with the Agudath Israel World Movement. The following appreciation of his life was written by a close friend and associate, s. B. UNSDORFER, Executive Secretary of Agudas Israel of Great Britain. Rabbi Babad
"Why do you keep on praying for the Rabbi? You're desired change in the verdict that was about to be not doing him any favor!" these were the nurse's words pronounced. Within a few hours Rabbi Babad returned at the hospital where Rabbi Babad lay dying. She saw his neshomo to its Maker to the utter grief and un his son Yosselle and others with little T ehillims in their speakable sorrow of his family, his friends, his Agudas hands praying fervently while Rabbi Babad was strug Israel and Kial Yisroel. gling for a last few breaths of life. To her, the man in Quickly and quietly, he slipped away from earthly the small cubicle at the entrance to the main ward was life leaving those who have known him a little closer just another patient for whom, sadly, neither science to stand back and marvel at some of the experiences nor the country's best medical brains had any further they witnessed around his sick-bed in his brief but answer. To her, he was a patient awaiting death and she tragic three months of severe illness and at the manner saw no reason why outsiders should interfere with the in which he had left this world. inevitable. For a man who despised publicity and shunned the Of course, she knew the patient's case, she had his headlines throughout his life he could not have chosen medical records, she knew the gravity of his illness, the a quieter ''back-door" for his exit even if he were hopelessness of his condition-but she did not know allowed to select the hour himself. Thursday night at the person! She did not know that her patient, that seven, with Pesach and all that goes with it almost seemingly helpless white-bearded semi-conscious 'old upon us, there was no opportunity to make any of the man' was our beloved Rabbi Babad only 57 years and elaborate arrangements that befitted the petirah of so three months young. She could not have known that great a man. The national Jewish press was already he was that dynamic, powerful and unflinching leader published; a quick "priority" press cable to Jerusalem, of Orthodox Jewry in Europe who had no equal in this which should have caught the week-end papers in good orphaned generation in his exquisite combination of time before the midnight deadline, was delayed by six Biblical, Talmudical and worldly scholarship. Had she teen hours for reasons which the G.P.0. and the Israeli known all, or at least some, of Rabbi Babad's many Telegraph Office are still investigating; family reasons great qualities, she might have understood why nobody, made it necessary for the levayoh to be fixed for 9: 30 neither family nor friend, wanted to face the reality Erev Shabbos Hagodol, the busiest Friday morning of that he was about to depart this world and why they the year, leaving no time to inform the wider Jewish all clung to these all-important few chapters of Tehillim. London of the hour and place. Bnt, alas, our prayers proved to be too weak to Quickly and quietly, indeed, went the man who at fovoke the mercies of Heaven and bring about the 57, stood on the threshold of his final ascent into the
12 The Jewish Observer I April, 1966 top ranks of world Jewish leadership. Few, very few, sacred place in his heart and in his life. Agudas Israel knew Rabbi Babad well, but many, very many loved was his foremost outer-communal occupation even him. There was so much in that one man, so many though it was a burden on him physically, economically wide and varied sides to his greatness, that everybody and perhaps even spiritually. His journeys from bis managed to find in him that particular quality in life home to London, or to Paris or Jerusalem were an which he himself considered most important. extreme physical strain. With long and late meetings, His family saw in him a wonderful and truly devoted irregular and hastily consumed meals, strange beds and husband and father. And not only his immediate next tiring train or sea journeys-he hated flying and avoid of kin, but the entire Margulies family saw him as their ed it whenever possible-few will engage in such ex Elder, the ideal successor to their cherished father the cursions as readily and as often as he did without Premyshlaner Rebbe. His Kehilah, the Baale Battim of some personal or financial interests or gains. The bare Sunderland, had in him a highly distinguished spiritual costs of a train ticket, with the "occasional luxury" of leader who brought much fame and credit to his com a taxi or a pullman, was all he ever accepted from munity. It is not uncommon in the history of Jewish communal funds. Often the writer of these lines stood Orthodoxy for its finest and greatest spiritual leaders to with him on the platform at King's Cross outside a have resided not in the heart of the capital but in a crowded holiday train with hardly any seats left, appeal small and far-away provincial community. Sunderland ing to him to travel First Class as, indeed, befits a Rav had the honor and privilege of having Anglo-Jewry's and leader. But he would hesitate and say: "Why shonld most versatile and popular Rav as head of their owu I deprive the areme A guda of an extra few pounds" community, and it was he who initiated its Yeshiva, and would get on the train seeking a quiet little spot Kolle! and Day School and thus placed Sunderland on for himself. the Torah map, alongside London, Manchester and Gateshead. Chassidim saw in him a devout and life-long Declines Call to Beth Din Belser Chossid, who translated his Chassidus into active work for Bels as a world movement generally and for It is well known that he was invited to join the Lon its British Mosdos Hatorah in particular. Rabbonim don Beth Din upon the retirement of Dayan Abramski. saw in him a sincere and loyal colleague. They fouud He declined the call for various reasons. But it may that in many an intricate communal or private problem well be that there were other positions which were which called for an extra measure of Daas Torah, be vacant in Anglo-Jewish Orthodoxy and which might it in London, Manchester or Leeds, the one man to have been offered to him if it weren't for his open and call in was the Sunderland Rav. His many friends and continuous association with a "political" party. Yet, admirers could almost "pick and choose" the qualities he never gave any serious thought to stopping or even of their own liking. There were those who admired his reducing his work for Agudas Israel for the sake of honesty and straightforwardness; othe" his penetrating another rabbinic appointment. His work inside Agudas and profound wisdom in all fields of schoiarship; there Israel, as indeed his efforts and achievements in bis were those who liked his sharp wit and pleasant com own Kehillah which were beginning to bear such rich pany, and others who found him tolerant and broad and beautiful fruit, were too deeply-rooted and too im minded. Certainly, nobody ever parted company with portant for him to be exchanged for any other attrac Rabbi Babad without having been pleasantly surprised tions. by the discovery of this or that new and hitherto un Yes, there was even spiritual sacrifice. It is not nn· disclosed quality. His period of illness, in and outside known that he disliked having to lose some of the favor the hospital, presented ns with a completely new side of those sections in Orthodoxy who in recent years of him: a man who accepted his severe sufferings with firmly disassociated themselves from the Aguda and its out a word of complaint or an expression of despair. ideology. It was hard for him to feel that they were For one who had never known illness before, this sud now on "opposing sides," but he remained loyal and den attack showed him to be ~:im1:i c•i10• ':>:i;>~ in the outspoken in his alliance with official Agudist policy finest traditions of our faith, irrespective of the many new "winds of change" that swirled around him and other faithful Agudists. And His Work For Agudas Israel yet, Rabbi Babad had no enemies neither on the Right nor on the Left. Whatever one may say with regard to the attachments His gentle manner and conciliatory character allowed which he felt towards others, nothing is sufficient to no room for inter-party quarrels or personal animosities describe the closeness of his relationship with Agudas that usually go hand in hand with communal work Israel. Whenever he was faced with a tense meeting a little There is not the slightest doubt in the mind of this maaseh had to have priority over the prepared agenda. writer that Agudas Israel had a rather special and even Having thus achieved a moment of relaxation and
The Jewish Observer I April, 1966 13 of tolerance and understanding within Agudas Israel From the many tributes paid to Rabbi Babad: and in most cases was rewarded with a ready response by his colleagues . . . . I have never met any one in my life who He was keen and active not only in the political field felt ;'1l'~t1m m':>l so deeply and personally as did but also in the practical field. Chinuch A tzmai was Avrohom Babad. The suffering of our people closest to his heart. From his sick-bed in the hospital meant to him a real C'l~ ,non (see Devorim 31 : 8 he sent messages to friends in the pre-Pesach days and Hagigah 5a)-a reflection of our poor spir begging them to help Chinuch A tzmai in its current itual situation. How often did I hear him sigh at financial crisis. Year after year, along with the late our people's plight. His sadness however was Gateshead Rav, Rabbi N. Shakowitzky, and in more caused not only by the awareness of the physical recent times with Rabbi Leib Gurwicz, he would dangers in the path of our people's existence but conduct campaigns for Chinuch Atzmai in Gateshead, even more so by his anxiety at the threat to our Newcastle and Sunderland. He did not falter in his people's character as 'n cy and his genuine fear firm resolve, nor did he shrink from the unpleasant of a falsification of the religious essence of our duty of making door-to-door calls. And what was nec nationhood. essary for Chinuch Atzmai, was necessary for Shemitah It has been said of Rabbi Babad that he was when its turn came and even for the Aguda Election a "master of the English phrase, pithy, balanced Fund when its call was dne. He feared nobody when and biting." But his biting phrases were not in representing an idea or a cause which he thought was dicative of any aggressiveness in him but of a soul deserving of his attention. that suffered deeply at the fate of his people, and And when all is said and written about Rabbi Babad suffered even more from the threatened estrange -the Rav, the Maggid, the friend, the leader-there ment of a great part of our people from the ideals is still left that large though lesser-known chapter of of the Torah than from the wounds inflicted from Rabbi Babad the writer and thinker. outside. . . . -DAYAN DR. I. GRUNFELD I will not hesitate to claim that in Rabbi Babad we had a rare combination of a Chafetz Chaim, a Yaakov amusement he would proceed immediately with the Rosenheim and a Yitzchok Breuer. Those who admired issues at hand without any further difficulties. This kind how in a lifelong political and communal career he of chairmanship, unconstitutional though it may have managed to avoid indulging in anything even bordering been, always proved most effective, not only at meet!ngs on Loshon Horah, personal enmity, or inter-party posi of the British Aguda but even at heated plenary sessmns tional wrestling, will be reminded of the Chafetz Chaim. of the Knessia Gedola. He never tired in his pursuit Those who had the opportunity to get to know Rabbi Babad's true loyalty to the party as a party will com pare that particular quality with that of Rosenheim, and For him, there was only one source, namely those who had bothered not merely to read but to study the Torah, from which he drew decisions for some of his essays and editorials have become conscious personal conduct and to guide his flock. of the close kinship that existed in the literary sense ~111' 111,111~1-Jf the answer to any problem, between him and Breuer. positive or negative was written in our Torah Now, one man died and all those great qualities have (including the ;JJ11J~, N,~l, 11iy )n':>w etc.) then gone with him. As if an entire department store had ,,~N':>-that was the correct answer and solut10n collapsed, burying in its rubble all its many sections to all our difficulties-1',lt 1l'N ~w. and entire stock-so, with the sudden petirah of Rabbi No need for further examinations in other Babad, an entire and complete structure in our organ spheres of thought. The Torah's decision is final izational and political set-up has disappeared. irrespective of modern criticism even at the cost of Not only his widow, son, daughter and son-in-law being considered intolerant etc. find themselves inconsolably bereft at the loss of their Men who are staunch in their Faith and loyal husband and father; not only the Sunderland Kehillah to the teachings of our Torah as the late Rabbi mourns the departure of their beloved Rav; but the Babad are few in number, and not only will whole of Klall Yisroel laments his passing. We, who Sunde;land Jewry mourn for his demise, but since the great Churban of the last war have never ,,~, 7Ni11l' 11'~ ':>~1. succeeded in properly re-manning our "Mizrach-Wall" Religious Jewry in many countries will mour.n with universally recognized and far-seeing men of spirit, for the great religious vacuum caused by his now stand in utter grief over the fresh grave of one of passing away, which will be most difficult to fill. the most promising and exalted post-war leaders. Rabbi n":i':l.:in Babad is here no longer. -RABBI R. RABINOWITZ .111~1'~11 11N ll~ 111' >r.i
14 The Jewish Observer I April, 1966 ------Shubert Spero--, The I and Thou of Sinai Z'man Matan Torosanu
"Had He brought us near Har Sinai and not given us not only upon what was given but upon how it was the Torah, 1l'1, it would have sufficed us!" Surely not given. In short we are asked to appreciate the fact that in the sense that the Jewish people could have become had He brought us near Har Sinai and not given what they were supposed to become or achieve what us the Torah, 1l'1, is would suffice to generate our they were supposed to achieve , .. without Torah! It gratitude and thanksgiving. would have sufficed us only in the sense that the ex Consider the portions from the prophets which are perience at Sinai-the theophany minus the content read as the H aftorah on the days of Shevuos. Over was of and by itself of sufficient value and importance the objections of the Mishnah that public reading from to warrant our profound thanksgiving and appreciation. the esoteric Merkavah-prophecies may prove confusing, Our official designation of the Shevuos Festival is we do read on the first day Ezekiel's dazzling vision of 1l'l1iil1 )l1~ )~1-the season of the giving of our Torah, the Divine chariot because the Almighty appeared at and this is indeed the central significance of the Reve Sinai in similar visions and this is what the people ex lation at Sinai. Here was no mystical experience for perienced at that moment. On the second day we read the sake of mystical experience. Here was no cultivation from Habakkuk who also speaks of the theophany at of ecstatic communion with the Divine for its own Sinai-G-d comes from Temen and the Holy One from sake. What was needed, what was intended and what Mount Paran--but nowhere does he mention what was was achieved at Sinai was the revelation of G-d's will, transmitted at that revelation; he confines himself the publication of the Divine plan, the "what is it that rather to the overpowering manifestations and the the Lord requires of you" in terms of actual statutes subjective experience of the spectators: and a bright and judgments, commands and ordinances anchored in ness appeareth as the light; rays hath He at His side; the conditions of human existence; specific observances and there is the hiding of His power ... When I heard, as well as general principles. As the Chasain Sofer mine inward parts trembled, my lips quivered at the interprets the phrase 1l~1l1: )7tll o;i17 "M1-a worldly voice,· rottenness entered into my bones and I tremble life has He planted within us. We are thankful to the where I stand. Almighty for giving us a way of life that is responsive Rambam makes it quite clear that the experienec at to the social and individual needs arising out of the Sinai was important not only for the content that was world around us. revealed-the Torah. But rather-the manner in which It is this content of revelation, this Torah that was the Torah was revealed provided us with the grounds received and transmitted, that was by far the most for accepting and believing what was given. important consequence of the encounter at Sinai. 'l~':n The Jews did not believe Moshe Rabeinu in con i: nn~1Vl1 ;i;'ll ri;n ,;~n. The King has brought me sequence of the signs which he performed; for he into His chambers, we will be glad and rejoice in Thee. whose belief rests on signs must still have a sus Although the King of all Kings brought us into the picion in his mind of the possibility that the sign inner chamber of mystical experience at Sinai where might have been performed by magic or wizardry. we had a glimpse of the mysterium tremendum that All the signs which Moshe performed in the wild is Divine Presence, nevertheless our chief cause of joy erness he did through necessity and not to adduce is i:-the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet evidence of his prophecy. When it was necessary with which we form words and sentences and by which to drown the Egyptians, he divided the sea and the 111;1;:> of encounter were transformed into the C'i:; plunged them into it. When we had need for food of prophecy. he brought us down manna . . . And so it was with all the other signs. Yet in spite of what has been said, there emerges through the observances of our Festival, a focusing On what ground then did they believe in Him? upon the subjective accompaniments of the Revelation; It was in consequence of their presence at Mount Sinai, when our own eyes, and not another's, beheld, and when our own ears, and not another's, SHUBERT SPERO is the Rabbi of Young Israel of Cleveland and is a frequent contributor. heard the fire and the thundering and lightenings,
The Jewish Observer I April, 1966 15 whilst he approached the thick darkness and the statements and commands were preceded by a call voice spoke to him in -our own hearing, "Moshe, which was an expression of love. But what in the call Moshe, go and say unto them thus ..." indicated love? To begin with there was the fact that the Almighty identified himself as the Lord your G-d Indeed there are some who would see this as the who took you out of the land of Egypt. He is the distinguishing element between the two festivals on our liberator, He is the one who has already shown His calendar which celebrate Torah-Shevuos and Simchas kindness and His love. He is the one to whom the Jews Torah. While the latter concentrates upon the Torah already have an obligation. As a Chassidic sage once itself, the former underscores the manner in which the put it: G-d says to man: I am the one who fished you Torah was revealed to us-the MATAN Torosanu. out of the mud. Now you come here and listen to me. If what has been said is true, then it behooves every The Maharal, however, makes another observation. thoughtful Jew to deepen his understanding of the When Moshe heard himself called by name-"Moshe, 'l'C in 1b)7b, that standing before Har Sinai. What was Moshe"-he felt himself the recipient of love. To feel so compelling about that moment that it conveyed .a oneself personally addressed is to feel oneself the object sense of conviction of G-d's reality to all who expen of concern and regard. Each Jew felt that he personally enced it? Surely it was not merely the pyrotechnics, was known by the voice that commanded, was individ the volume of the Shofar sounds, the brilliance of the ually being regarded by the ''lX of the mi~in niivy, fire the trembling of the mountain ... for these would and was being addressed in the depths of his personal not' escape the Rambain' s searching comment-the sign ity. This is denoted by the use of the singular voice might have been performed by magic or wizardry! throughout the Decalogue. Each Jew at Sinai-and the souls of all generations BUT COULD THE VOICE BE AN ILLUSION? Whence came were present-underwent a profound prophetic ex the conviction and the faith? What we must understand perience! Obviously in its essence this was something is that everyone standing at Sinai had an overwhelming ineffable which can only be experienced and not de conviction of the reality of the One addressing him scribed. Nevertheless there is still something which can because he experienced the One as a Thou, as a being be said and should be known about this event which possessed of the attributes of personhood, as a being is at once the basis of Judaism and Jewish peoplehood. exhibiting love, concern and intentionality. Face to face Surely there is something about the experience of that the Lord talked to you on the Mount out of the midst Day aside from its legacy in the Torah which we are of the fire. When I confront another human being and enjoined to remember: The day that thou stoode~t converse with him face-to-face, the reality of the person before the Lord thy G-d at Horeb when the Lord sazd I am addressing is conveyed to me not primarily by the unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will visual or auditory sensations, but by the direct intuition make them hear My words that they may learn to that over against me is a center of consciousness as fear Me all the days that they shall live on the earth alive and as responsive as I am, possessed of will and and that they may teach their children. And as the vitality. The self seems to be aware of self in some Ramban and the Netziv point out, this refers not only immediate, mysterious way. Analogously, at Sinai the to the words which were said on that day but to the Jewish people with the sensitivity given to consciousness spectacle and the awe which took place at that momei;t. were enabled by G-d to penerate the cloud and thick We thus have a special mitzvah to analyze and depict darkness and realize with an unshakable conviction that this experience and transmit it to our children. Says addressing them was an ''lX, pure subjectivity, a self, the Ramban: 1Xb n'i11l l1XTn nllb~ l1'il71Mn1, The bene indeed the ground of all selfhood. What they experi fits of this mitzvah are exceedingly great. enced was not a mysterious sound that needed to be The Jewish people standing at Sinai did not merely explained, but a transcendant Self that ought to be hear a voice proclaiming sentences which were gram obeyed. And the Lord spoke unto Moshe face to face, matically formed in the imperative, but comprehended as a man speaketh unto his friend. the propositions as orders-experienced the words as There is a final point that should be mentioned. The directed at them from someone in authority to com Midrash states that when the Lord first appeared to mand them. Was it fear then and the threat of sanctions Moshe, he called to him in the voice of Amram, his that the people felt? Undoubtedly there was fear and father. This must be understood not merely as a par trembling and awe: And they said unto Moshe ... let ticular protective device lest Moshe be overwhelmed not G-d speak with us lest we die. Undoubtedly there or frightened but as a disclosure about the very nature was this sense of overpoweringness, of becoming con of the revelatory experience in general. The voice of scious of one's creaturehood, of being Hdust and ashes" one's father strikes precisely that note that we have as against the majesty of the Shechinah. been describing-it combines love and concern on the But this was not all. Our Sages tell us: i,,;, mi~i ;,; one hand with authority and reverence on the other. . n~n 71111':> nx'iv nbiv C"11l ;,;, mi•l!X, all words, Every Jew experienced the voice of Sinai as Fatherly-
16 The Jewish Observer I April, 1966 Jewish piety must once again direct its energies towards the aspiration and longing for the immediacy of the Divine encounter. love combined with authority, compassion overlaid with C'111 cniNi C'l!l 'iN l:l'l!l c;;r.i17 i::t11 imin en' )Ill!!' cw '117 awe-l:l'~1V~1V il'~lt 1117 l7'!l1n? 111N~ l:l'MU!l1~1 1711Vll1V '~l.l c;;,,17 l:l'::ti17 01117 For indeed the voice of the Divine is always the rio l:l''"~, n'nmn inor.i1 ;;'~l7U 110 c;;' ill<~' cn''ill voice of someone we recognize. In its depth we detect .,.,,ii"::i l"lii'"iVl~ 'lii'W'"" - inri ii::ii tl"'V? intimations of our own existence. In its tones we intuit Because He gave them His Torah and spoke to them the source and fountain of all life. In its vibrations face to face, that act of love is still longed for above we sense the authority of our Creator. If we did not all endearment. And we have assurances from Him we could not respond to it at all. We are overcome by that He will appear again to explain its secret reasons, awe and reverence as is due one whom we sense is and its hidden mysteries. We entreat Him to fulfill His responsible for our existence. But side by side with word and that is what is meant by 'kiss me with the this sense of the "wholly other," which evokes the awe kisses of His mouth.' " and the trembling there is paradoxically some feeling of kinship and love. One is in the presence of a loving JEWISH PIETY MUST ONCE AGAIN direct its energies father. That portion of Divinity which is within us towards the aspiration and longing for the immediacy responds to the Presence that is without. Like reaches of the Divine encounter. Celebration of Shevuos should out to like and the awe gives way to longing and joy. awaken within us a sense of the reality of the experience 1l''~ l1il'
The Jev.1ish Observer I April, 1966 17 Chaim was there right on time-he knew that first OPPORTUNITIES impressions are important-and so were seven other young men who sat together uncomfortably in the ante room of the two-room hotel suite. He recognized sev MODERN ORTHODOX RABBI eral of them, but there were no exchanges of Sha/em wanted for small congregation, Aleichem, just polite nods which seemed to ask, "what mnst be aggressive, will consider be are you doing here?" ginner, write all details and include recent photograph, to: Cong. Beth After some anxious, fidgety waiting, Chaim's name Israel, Middletown, Wisconsin. was called and he was ushered into the bedroom. "How do you do Rabbi, I'm Max Rosenthal, this is Chaim folded his Morning-Journal and put it aside. Sam Goldstein, our treasurer, won't you sit down, we'd "I'm a beginner, all right," he thought to himself. The like to ask you some questions before we listen ..." signatures on his s'micha were just about dry; the date had been set for his wedding, and the pressure was on Chaim didn't Jet him finish, he knew it was now or for him to find a shtela. not at all, if he didn't speak up at the very start, his nerve would give out. "But it's not for me; they probably have mixed seating and want the rabbi to conduct late-Friday "I'd like to ask you some questions first," he blurted ~ervices . . . but what's a fella to do, how many out. "After all, if I'm going to be your rabbi, I want 'kosher' shtelas are there around, and for those few to know something about you and your congregation." there's so much competition." Ehrenthal and Goldstein were taken back, this was It bothered him: here he was fresh ont of the yeshiva, not the first time they had interviewed a candidate. ready to devote himself to helping to re-build Yiddish They were old hauds at it. Every few years when their keit in America, even ready to go "out-of-town" rabbi picked up to leave for greeuer pastures, they flew how many young musmachim were willing to do that? into New York-the trip was deductible-to bring -but already they were asking him to make compro home a new rabbi. But this was the first one who had mises. Already the struggle had begun. tried to interview them. "What's the matter with these Jews, do they want "Does your schul have a mechitza?" Chaim got right a rabbi or a puppet?" to the point. "Maybe if I talk to them, they'll take me on my terms ... maybe . ..." "Wait a minute now, Rabbi," it was Ehrenthal who spoke up, "you saw our ad, it said 'Modern Orthodox,' Gentlemen: you know what that means; why did you take up our In response to yonr advertisement in last Friday's time if you're not interested?" Morning-Journal, I should like to be a candidate "I take it then you don't have a mechitza?" Chaim to fill the position as rabbi of your congregation ... " was biding his time, he didn't know where to go from In a very precise manner he finished his letter with here. the details he thought they would want to have, enclosed "Look Rabbi, we're strictly Orthodox, we always the picture he had taken for the yeshiva's Chag Ha have beeu, and always will be, but we went through smicha, and sent it out air-mail special-delivery. all this years ago. The girls just won't go for this In a few days he received a letter; it was neatly mechitza business. Oh, they sit in a separate section, typed on the Schul's letterhead, with the name of the but that's as far as it goes." rabbi xxed out. He held it up to the light but he couldn't make it out; they'd done a good job in xxing him out. "But maybe if I could speak to them I eonld show them that it's the right thing to do ...." Dear Rabbi: "Rabbi, you're wasting your time and our time, there Thank you for your Jetter. We will be happy are still three men outside we have to see, and we have to consider your application to fill our pulpit. A a flight back home tonight." Goldstein bit down hard committee will be in New York City on Thursday, on his corona. June 17 at the Hotel Wilson to meet you at 4:00 P.M. Please bring along a copy of your ordination "Why, if we so much as talked about a mechitza," certificate and be prepared to deliver a brief 5- the word had a strange ring spoken with a Western minute sermon for the committee's consideration. Yiddish accent, "we'd have everybody leaving us to Sincerely yours, join the Temple. Why, even our owu wives would Max Ehrenthal, President make us leave." Congregation Beth Israel "But gentlemen, you want a rabbi, a spiritual leader,
18 The ]elvish Observer I April, 1966 someone who can help you to be better Jews; if you're That evening, the President and the Treasurer sat starting out telling him 'how things are,' he's not going comfortably in their jet, watching a first-run film, and to be much of a leader.... " the hostess was pouring their second cup of coffee. "Rabbi, it was nice of you to come here to talk to "Well Sam, we did it again, we got ourselves a rabbi." us, but there's nothing left for us to discuss." Ehrenthal "That's right Max,'' Ehrenthal smiled and nodded and Goldstein stood up and politely showed Chaim to his head. the door, and in the same motion called in the next "But y'know Max, that young kid had a lot of guts candidate. ... Maybe he would've been a good rabbi for us."
emphasis • • • ours
Under this heading we will publish from time to time Mitzvah-the celebration of a boy's coming of age selections from various sources, with little or no com for girls. This is the Bat Mitzvah." ment, which we feel will be of special interest to our Dr. Glueck-who is himself a rabbi, as well as a readers. Readers of THE JEWISH OBSERVER are invited distinguished archeologist-described Reform Juda to send us clippings which are deemed to be appropriate ism's liberal approach to religion as "the wave of the for this section. Where words appear in italic-unless future." As president of Hebrew Union College-the semi otherwise noted-the emphasis ... is ours. nary where Reform rabbis are trained-Dr. Glueck presides over an intellectual aristocracy. Judaism, tra A Womun Ruh/Ji? ditionally, puts a premium on learning. And standards at Hebrew Union College, said Dr. Glueck, are among The following appeared verbatim in the TORONTO the highest anywhere. STAR. "We offer a five-year course after the BA which A woman rabbi? leads to the degree of Master of Hebrew Letters,'' To Orthodox Jews, the thought is both fantastic he said. and repulsive. "Practically anywhere else, the same program would But not to Dr. Nelson Glueck who, as president of lead to a Ph.D., but at Hebrew Union we require much Cincinnati's Hebrew Union College, has ordained doz more than that for a doctorate." ens of rabbis. Not Sacramental Ordination "A woman rabbi is theoretically possible," says Dr. Glueck. "Rabbi" is a degree conferred by the college, not "If a girl came to me who was fully qualified in -as in Christian tradition-a sacramental ordination every way, and who successfully completed our course which confers a priestly office. of studies, I would ordain her to the rabbinate. "Essentially," said Dr. Glueck, "the rabbi is a teacher Then he added with a chuckle: "But preferably she who is equipped to act as a religious leader." should not be too attractive or one of our students Hebrew Union College has many distinctives as a would marry her and that would be the end of her Jewish institution. The New Testament-which Dr. rabbinical ambitions." Glueck calls "a great religious document" is intensely studied. Educator Glueck said that if a woman were ordained The college also has an unusual graduate program of a rabbi he felt confident she could get a Reform Jewish "ecumenical" studies which encourages a kind of in pulpit, in spite of the 4,000-year-old anti-feminist tra tellectual cross-fertilization among North America's dition in Judaism. religious communities. "One of the major breaktroughs of Reform Judaism At present, some 10 graduate students of various is this matter of equality of the sexes," said Rabbi Christian persuasions are working towards Hebrew Glueck. Union College degrees. One is a Canadian Catholic "Men and women sit together in Reform synagogues, priest aspiring to his Ph.D. in Old Testament studies. although they are segregated by Orthodox Judaism. Dr. Glueck sees Reform Judaism as standing on the We have no prayer in our services thanking G-d for verge of an even more dynamic growth than in the not making one a woman-as Orthodox Jews have. past. He calls the present crop of rabbinical students "We even have introduced a counterpart of the Bar "fabulous young men."
The Jewish Observer I April, 1966 19 "You see, Mrs. , we are not Hasidic. We are, An Experience in a Suburb however, strictly orthodox. Why not bring the boy over THE FOLLOWING APPEARED in Point of View, a publi so that we can discuss this further?" cation of the Jewish Labor Committee. We believe it We went. And we were impressed by the school, the to be a significant document which offers insight into students, and the principal. We thought the children the dilemma of the young Jew who is searching for his looked "cute" in their little Yarmulkes. Further, the proper place in Jewish life. It was written by "Sidney tuition rate was low (not a minor consideration). Lavon," which the editor tells us is the pseudonym of About three weeks later, my wife found herself light a New York advertising executive. Our comments ing candles on Friday night, my son took to wearing follow the complete text. tzizcs and I was nagged by him to come to Shul on Saturday morning. After about six weeks, I succumbed. HE young Jewish family that moves to the sub I attended Synagogue. My last experience in a Syna urbs is faced with the problem of "putting down gogue hadn't been a happy one. I remembered the old T roots." Unless they are fortunate enough to men davvining, the musty odor of the prayer-books, the know people in the town they've moved to, one of the decrepitude of the Shut, the zealous gabbaim with first things they do is join a temple or a Jewish center. their cries of "shush" and "quiet or get out.'' Finaily, I A few years ago J moved to a lovely community out remembered that I was bored to tears because I didn't side of New York City. Because I personally didn't feel understand. this need to "put down roots," and because I didn't feel the need to identify with the Jewish community, I Upon entering the Synagogue I was pleasantly sur remained aloof from any affiliation. J had all my friends prised. Young men, my contemporaries, were praying, in the City and I saw them frequently. children sitting by their side. The prayer books were After a few months in the town, and after I had heard new and they had complete English translations on the my friends discussing future Bar Mitzvah plans for their facing page. Above all, I was entranced by the beautiful children, it occurred to me that I was not preparing my old melodies, sung by the entire congregation. I soon own son for Bar Mitzvah! My own point of view on re found myself humming along. ligion was that of the agnostic. "If you can prove (in And then I saw the Rabbi! A bearded gentleman, the scientific sense) that God exists, then I'm ready to about 50, wearing a black homburg hat scrutinizing believe; if you can't prove it, then I won't count God two or three books simultaneously. After a while, he into my plans. I've done without him for over thirty stood up. He was obviously going to speak. Inwardly years, I have the respect of my friends, my employers, I smiled, thinking that he'd ramble on discussing some family, etc.; I do not need to learn Jewish Law in order obscure point of Jewish law in the language of the Jew to lead a decent and humane existence. As far as my -Yiddish! son is concerned, why burden him with meaningless His first words were startling. He spoke English! Hebrew prayers which he'll probably never use after his Beautifully! He did not ramble on, as I had expected. Bar Mitzvah?" He did not discuss some obscure point of Jewish law. At this juncture, my wife pointed out that I was, in Instead he discussed the "Jewish viewpoint on labor!" a very real sense, imposing my "humanistic" philosophy I waited impatiently for an error of fact or for a single on an innocent child. She asked me to send him to a 11011-sequir. It didn't come, and I was sold. school where he could learn "something" about being a Jew. I would at least be putting the hoy in a position In the following weeks and months I looked forward where he could, at a later date, make a choice between to the Sabbath. I stopped taking my car to Synagogue my point of view and that of the Temple. even though I had to walk a mile to get there. A whole I agreed with her. I decided to send him to the new world of learning opened for me, a world of which nearest temple in town. As luck would have it, the I hadn't been even dimly aware. I immersed myself in it nearest temple turned out to be an Orthodox Syna gladly. I read books by Jews, for Jews, of Jews. History, gogue! "O.K.," I said, "if you want him to learn some fiction, poetry and scholarly papers were all read anxi thing about our ancient faith, what better place than ously and a great spirit of "Yiddishkeit" filled our home. the Orthodox Synagogue?" I was a "baal-tshuvnicker." We called. "We have a ten-year old boy whom we'd like to register. Tell me, how orthodox arc you?" OWEVER, all during those exciting days of my "What do you mean?" discovery, I was troubled by certain remarks I "Well ... do the students wear pay-abs?" H heard: "The professors at the Jewish Theo "No. They do not. However, if the child or the par logical Seminary don't believe in God," "The Hillel ents want him to wear pay-ahs, we'd be very happy to movement dilutes true Judaism," "that book should be have him.' banned," "this film is filth," "the Reform Synagogue
20 rhe Jewish Observer I April, 1966 and Conservative slavishly ape the Christian Church,'' etc. I suppose that, like most men, I have a built-in ability to "overlook" those ideas which discomfit me. I suppose that I was unwilling to recognize that, while my new found friends were opening a "new world" for me, they were also shutting some important doors of the old Begin your life together with world. How could I count myself a liberal and a human ist and still conform to my orthodox friend's view of ELEGANCE the world - a world in which there were only Jews (orthodox) and Goyim (everyone else). When our lovely little town became involved in the issue of school integrntion (we made national head lines), our Rabbi refused to take a stand. This seemed to me most un-Je1vish. He made an ambiguous state ment which each man could interpret in his own way. The burden of it was that "we have our own Jewish problem, and I cannot waste the time of the congrega tion with issues that are not wholly Jewish. Besides, everyone knows what the Jewish point of view on this issue is." At this point I was frightfully disturbed, but I wasn't ready to admit that there was something seri ously la<:king in my synagogue.
OME time later, and with an increasing feeling of discomfiture, I attended a symposium in our Syna S gogue. The subject was "Herzog" by Saul Bellow. Four members of the Synagogue were invited to read the book and report their findings. The Rabbi was to sum up. Each of the four panelists found the book interesting, well-written, and worthwhile. Then the Rabbi rose to "sum up." He began by saying that Saul Bellow was in a class with Bernard Malamud and Philip Roth. These three people, he said, "are doing more damage to the Jewish people than they know." They are vicious and filthy aud portray an atypical Jew. He said that he couldn't find a sympathetic character in the entire book, with the possible exceptpion of a Japanese girl who appears briefly as a minor character in the book. Further, he felt that not only was the character Herzog a degenerate, but so was his wife KESUBOS who, the Rabbi claimed, defamed Jewish womanhood. hand-lettered in breathtaking full color When he was asked to name a modern Jewish writer of real merit, one be could offer as a substitute, he re Forty-Five Dollars ferred his audience to Charles Dickens, Macauley and other non-Jews. Finally he advised his audience not to buy, read or even discuss the book. If they discussed it, they might lead others to read it! For me, this became the last straw. An impecunious Rabbi in an obscure synagogue placing the works of 156 Fifth Avenue, New York, N, Y. 10010 three of America's outstanding novelists on an Index! Telephone: 989-4114 Banning them. For a liberal Jew, obviously, there needs to be an • SCROLLS PLA9UES • DIPLOMAS alternative to the synagogue. CREATIVE LETTERING (Our comments on page 22)
The Jewish Observer I April, 1966 21 My dear Mr. "Lavon": them. Would you deny this right to your Rabbi who considers himself to be the guardian of traditional Jew It has been your good fortune to enjoy an experience ish belief, and whose sacred task it is to guard you and which many of your contemporaries in Jewish suburbia his other congregants from distortions and untruths? rarely achieve. You managed to break through the Would you have more regard for your Rabbi if he kept barrier of hostility and misinformation which separates quiet in the face of what he considered injustice and many Jews from traditional Judaism. You brought your untruth? Some have chosen to do so, do you have self back to Schul; you exposed yourself to Jewishness higher regard for them? in every way possible. In your own words, you became Would you throw away the rich spiritual experience "a baal tshuvnicker," a rich and enviable achievement. of a return to Yiddishkeit which you so eloquently You were on your way home, on your way back to the describe, because you find your Rabbi is not an apt sources of Jewish vitality which offered such promise, 1itcrary critic; because you disagree with his evaluation not for your children alone, but for you as well. of Herzag? Try putting yourself in his position; he is -You tell us frankly what soured you on the "great committed to upholding the glory of the Jewish people, spirit of Yiddishkeit which filled our home." Your rab and he feels-you may disagree-that some of the bi committed a grievous sin; he stated clearly his posi recent Jewish best-sellers drag our people through the tions on the Jewish Theological Seminary, on the Hillel mud. Perhaps the writers of these books believe that movement, and those movements in Jewish life which many Jews today are in the mud; perhaps they feel they "slavishly ape the Christian Church." are simply mirroring Jewish life ... be that as it may. Mr. "Lavon"-you chose your pseudonym wisely But are you prepared to surrender your new-found since you chose to approach Yiddishkeit with a clean Yiddishkeit because you think that your Rabbi-who (white) slate-think for a moment what your Rabbi obviously has given you much spiritual nourishment-is stands accused of. Having written in a labor publica not a good book-reviewer? tion, you probably have some strong opinions of your Mr. "Lavon," it is not our intention to engage you own, on labor, capitalism, and general politics. No in polemics-we wonder how many Jewish souls are doubt there are individuals and movements in the area saved by polemics. We only ask you to reconsider what of your political interest, who have distorted the basic may have been a basty decision. There is no alternative principles which motivate your own thinking. We sus to the synagogue, to the kind of Yiddishkeit you have pect that those people or groups get your gander up at already glimpsed-go back to Schul, give it another times and you feel compelled to speak out against chance.
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22 The Jewish Observer I April, 1966 A Review A New Look at Church and State
ABOUT A YEAR AGO the Frank L. Weil Institute for properties between minorities Joyal to the orthodoxy Studies in Religion and the Humanities, founded in of its founders and heterodox majorities. Going forward memory of a late chairman of the Board of Governors to the Civil War era and the enactment of the Four of the two Reform Jewish seminaries, sponsored a teenth Amendment, he points out the relationship be series of lectures by Law Professor Mark DeWolfe tween changing concepts of the law in relation to Howe of Harvard University on the subject of religion religion and the great issues of the times. Continuing onward to the present time, he dem The Garden and the Wilderness onstrates how from a state of almost total oblivion of its utility as a means of disestablishing religion in the Mark DeWolfe Howe states, the Fourteenth Amendment has become clearly University of Chicago Press articulated only in the last quarter of a century into a weapon against public religious expression. Professor and government. This reviewer, noting the sponsorship and anticipating the usual palaver about "separation of church and state," disregarded an invitation. These lectures have now been embodied in a book The Voice of the Day School Movement entitled, The Garden and the Wilderness, whose chap The only magazine in America ter titles are: Federalism and the First Amendment; Chnrches and their Government; The Fourteenth written expressly Amendment and the Churches; Interactions between for parents of Yeshiva students Political and Religious Liberties; Race, Religion, and Education; and Equality and Neutrality in the law of THE JEWISH PARENT Church and State. Each of these topics as well as the book as a whole, gives an initially deceptive impression published by the of being rambling and disjointed with but a thread or National Association of two running through them, which appears now more strongly or weakly, or which disappears altogether. Hebrew Day School PTA's The total effect of the book when read aud laid aside An affiliate of Torah Umesorah however, is very different-more like a symphony that traces the idea of religious freedom from before the Contributors: Roshei Yeshiva, educators, parents, enactment of the First Amendment down to the most scholars, people in the field. recent Supreme Court decisions interpreting it, with Topics: Hashkafah, psychology, education, the author weaving his own original and stimulating guidance, book reviews, mental variations on the theme in the process, and concluding health, events and personalities in with an echo of the opening theme. the Day School movement, devel· The title, The Garden and the Wilderness derives opments in General Education. from a statement of Roger Williams who spoke of "separation" a century-and-a-half before Jefferson's Be informed, keep informed, "wall of separation between church and state" letter remain informed ! to the Danbury hatters. Williams wrote of the "wall of sepamtion between the garden of the church and the Only $2.00 for one year wilderness of the world" -intending something quite $5.00 for three years different than what is being preached by latter day Jeffersonian separationists-and thereby hangs the Send your check to: dominant theme of Professor Howe's song. THE JEWISH PARENT After dispelling a bit of the fog surrounding the enactment and the choice of verbiage in the First 156 FIFTH AVENUE Amendment, the author reviews some of the early NEW YORK, N. Y. 10010 nineteenth-century legal conflicts over congregational
The Jewish Observer I April, 1966 23 Howe feels that in the last decisions of the Supreme "learned, sober and distinguished inquiry into the inter Court barring prayers and Bible reading the Court went connection of the humanities with religion." Assuredly, too far and committed a grievous and mischief-laden this series lives up to that standard. error in confusing equality and neutrality. Equality of all REUBEN E. GROSS religions has been a cardinal concept in American law, but to equate religion and non-religion, belief and dis MR. GROSS is active in legislative and legal maJters of con cern to Orthodox Jett-•s. He is a graduate of the Harvard belief, as equally protected under the First Amendment Law School. is historically inaccurate. Though the author does not sharply disagree with the mandate of the Court in those cases, he fears that its theorizing about "neutrality" whieh, in effect, is indifference to religion-"may still Have you seen the interesting Orthodox serve gravely to delay and possibly to prevent adoption English-Yiddish bi-weekly published in London? of a national educational program of the dimensions which the times require," among other unfortunate SUBSCRIBE NOW TO THE consequences. "JEWISH TRIBUNE" The significance of this volnme lies in the fact that news and views from the world of Orthodox Jewry it sounds an early warning signal against the secularist ,. humanist trend of the Supreme Court, coming as it does from a highly respected and apparently scholarly Annual Sub$crip1ion: source. Though religious critics of this trend have not $5 surface mail; $8 airmail been wanting, their criticism tends to be disregarded because of presumed bias. The vulgar reactions to the prayer and Bible reading decisions have also not been too conducive to sober reflection. Hopefully, this vol Wrile for free $ample copy to: ume may stimulate some constructive thought in that Jewish Tribune area. 55 Amhurst Park London N. 16, England The sponsors of these lectures set as their objective
'?."IJ.Tn :i.1n-J1111n:i.-n:i.1 'unu i1J '"\\J.) l'J~':!n •1 D"\J. F"' N~P''J n'U'J.lll '"1n1m:i. ili1:!' •1 1n~ Only Once in 7 Years ...... you are called upon to support the heroes in Israel who observe Shmita Because of the injunction against working or harvesting the fields, the men, women and children in the two Agudist colonies, Kfar Komemiut in the Negev and Kfar Gideon in the Emek, deprived of their normal income, are sacrificing their daily bread so as to demonstrate their love for Torah. What are you doing this Shmita year? You can share in this once-in-7-years Mitzvoh by sending a generous contribution to support the Shomrei Shviis.
Mail your check, NOW, to: KEREN HASHVIIS OF AGUDATH ISRAEL I 5 Beekman St., New York, N. Y. 10038
24 The Jewish Observer I April, 1966 second looks at the jewish scene
thing, in the way we wanted Jazz and Prayer it to be-not as a gimmick (sic) but to arouse the kind of MANY HAVE QUESTIONED the sub vine. In an extreme case, a male enthusiasm contemporary re stance of America's religious revival, dancer performed in the course of ligion needs," the 48-year-old and with good cause. Yet, there is the service in a State of undress, at rabbi added. (THE NEW YORK no doubt that there is today a great a church in New York's Greenwich PosT, 4/10/66). er interest in religion, and if not a Village - a church, incidentally, The reporter goes on to explain higher respect for its practitioners, which shares its :"sanctuary" with a that the idea had been carried at least a smaller measure of hos Jewish Reform congregation. around by the cantor for a long tility and contempt. In a word, The latest rage in this frantic de time, nntil three years ago he and religion in America has become re sire to make religion modern, and the rabbi "armed with quotes from spectable. It has also become news. to avoid the stigma of beiug the Talmud broached the idea to The major weekly news magazines "square," "out," or whatever the the trustees." They convinced the each have a religious section, and latest "in" term is for being out-of board that a jazz service would "stir no significant newspaper is without step with the times, is the "progres the kids up, get them excited about a religious editor. sive-jazz service." (It should be One of the manifestations of this noted that the word progressive, as new interest in religion, is a renewed the hyphen indicates, refers to jazz, r 1 interest in prayer. In the 20's, when not the service.) Yours for radicalism and skepticism were in The "progressive-jazz" service has full bloom, prayer was looked upon run the gamut 0£ most religious in the asking as a device invented by the capital novations: It started in the most Delicious STRICTLY KOSHER Break ist and monarchistic oppressors to liberal churches,, worked its way up fast, Lunch, Dinner served to you by squelch dissent, to drain off from to "high church" and is now being most Airlines at no extra cost ..• the masses dissatisfaction with their flirted with by the Catholic Church. When arranging for your next air lot; in the classic Marxian lexicon, Of course, the end of the line is the trip be sure, request "Schreiber it was a form of "opium" for the Kosher Air Meals." Available in over Jewish congregation and this case is 50 cities. masses. Religion's new respectabil no exception. Prepared under Rabbinical super· ity has brought with it a new interest vision of the Union of Orlhodox Now jazz goes to the syna Jewish Congregations. U.S. Govern· in the meaning of prayer for modern gogue. Friday night the rafters ment Inspected. man. of Temple Emanu-el in Long ~"""'...... ~ Jn liberal religious circles it was Beach, L. I. rang with the first assumed that the old methodology jazz service ever to be held in of prayer was no longer of value, a synagogue. giving rise to experimentation in or Some of the trustees were a der to finding new techniques which bit doubtful about the idea at would give new meaning to the ex first. But if anything, Rabbi perience of prayer. . . . thought the jazz was "a little too tame." AMONG THE MOST recent entries in ... The service packed the 3- this race to find what some call year old Reform temple with a "creative prayer" is the modern record turnout by the 400- dance, introduced into the service to member congregation. . . . "I express man's yearning for the Di- think this is going to be a great
The Jewish Observer I April, 1966 25 going to the temple," and the re cern to comment on Christian tomorrow; it will "bring the kids to porter adds in parentheses, "Several modes of worship. The Talmud Temple" only so long as "progres churches have held jazz services cautions against disturbing even one sive-jazz" remains progressive; when with that result." who is engaged in worshipping an the high priests of "taste" condemn It is not within our area of con- idol, for he is groping to find the it to the oblivion of "outdom" the One G-d. Attempts to pray through "kids" will stop coming to Temple. ;.:...... :J ...... :..:.+xJ~~ ... ,..Accz~=:i the dance and progressive jazz, may But for the Jew there is a more 3: Interment In The Holy Land j; perhaps obscure what is essentially intrinsic fallacy in the search for t Possible Within 24 Hours f. an honest yearning of the lost soul creative prayer. Prayer ceased to be for contact with G-d. a living experience for many a Jew, t PINCUS MANDEL i Even assuming that these devices when the traditional modes of t'filoh + Cemetery Consultant .;. are more than gimmicks "for get were discarded; when the Siddur, I • t ting the kids to Temple," there are the repository of centuries of mean i.'-• Representing Chevra Kadisha ..r••• some serious pitfalls in store. Amer ingful Jewish spiritual experience i• Haraishis ' 7'Haklalis Perushim ·~· ican youth and the "jet-setters" (it and Divine Inspiration, was put •*•t Ashkenazim D'Jerusalem .:.x is hard to tell who is leading the aside for new prayers, written, as ~ T A study, ... Ov 1. other) are in a state bordering on someone put it, "in a not in t er 35 years experience in + hysteria, in their desire to be at the a passion." Instead of looking out •• all cemetery matters. Recem- :r, very head of the line. What was ward into the morass of "indom" S: mended by prominent Orthodox :1; "in" yesterday is "out" today; some and "outdom" for creative prayer, ~; Rabbis. All arrangements per- + one who manages to get "in" soon the Jew would do better to look into ~· formed in strictly Orthodox ::; J: Traditions. ;:; finds that it's "out" to be "in," and the richness of Jewish spiritual . . . x ·"· "in" to be "out." (The built-in ob techniques, if we must use the word. t • f solescence which forces the Amer Has not Chassidus re-discovered, J. Pincus Mandel j; ican consumer to buy a new car, from the well-spring of Torah tra ·f 111 PENN STREET:!: washing-machine, elctric shaver, et dition, the efficacy of music and ~; Brooklyn, New York 11211 t al., when he doesn't really need one, dance in bringing one closer to the ;:: Day a Nite Phones: UL 5-5121 ;f spills over into social status; and Ribono Shel Olom? The walls of •t• •• the two are not unrelated, for going every yeshiva today, even those ~..:+.-+~...:.. :+:..z..: .. x ..:..: .. : .. :..:..: .. : .. : .. : ...... t· from "out" to "in" often requires fashioned in the most frigid lit the purchase of new equipment for vakishe mold, echo with the sounds one's new status.) Out of all this of flaming n'ginoh and shake in confusion comes the sad realization rhythm with the stamping of dancing that the "progressive-jazz service" feet. of today is the obsolescent prayer of But ... the fallacy is yet deeper,
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26 The Jewish Observer I April, 1966 for .it ignores the very absurdity of even the use of such words as Yarmulkas in Public Schools "prayer" and "services" in a Jewish context. When "prayer," again we THE NEW YORK CITY BOARD of Edu observant families would not have use the word reluctantly, is under cation has reversed a ruling of its dreamed of going to school wearing stood in its classic connotation, the legal department which had banned a yarmulka. It was hard enough notion of "creative prayer" be the wearing of a yarmulka by stu taking off for Y om Tov and dodging comes a redunancy, for what can be dents in the public schools. The the barbs of hostile students and more creative than judging oneself, reversal came after widespread pro teachers-a yarmulka was simply elevating oneself-creating onself in tests by Orthodox Jewish groups, too much to bear. partnership with G-d. What we joined in this instance by the Amer Today Jewish attitudes have need desperately in Jewish life to ican Jewish Congress. changed; there is considerably less day is "creative literacy," a return The mere question of a Jewish reluctance to expose one's Jewish to the sources of the richness of child wearing a yarmulka in a public ness. Attitudes of the non-Jew have Jewish life, and a total rejection of school indicates the growing matur also changed. In New York City, the attempt to be modern, to be ity of religious Jewry. Years ago, every good politician, Jewish or "in." Samson Raphael Hirsch said when yeshivas and day schools were Gentile, carries a yarmulka in his decades ago: few, and the very concept of yeshiva pocket. A non-Jewish official who Was Abraham merely a man of education for youngsters had not yet walked into a Reform temple and his time when he burnt the idols crystalized on American soil, most was told he could remove his yar of his day? Were the martyrs of Jewish boys attended public schools. mulka, is said to have quipped that the Middle Ages men of their Yet, even those coming from more he "just didn't feel right about it." times when they preferred burn ing at the stake to the waters of baptism? Israel will only belong to the times when the times are with G-d. Yes, it's true!
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The ]elvish Observer I April, 1966 27 The yarmulka is today almost an cil of America took place in 1926. While my own knowledge of the record may American institution, and the word not be exhaustive, it is quite extensive; itself is no longer italicized in print. I have not been able to discover any But ... is all this sophistication ~ette'Za trace whatsoever of any adverse expres really 'gut far yiden'? It is difficult sion concerning Synagogue Council par ticipation outside the organs of the Union to conceive of a case where a child of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of from an observant family could just America prior to 1955. I surmise that ifiably attend a public school. Obvi Rabbi Keller's "hard core" configuration ously, however, there is some num tot'e woud correspond to the one given on Page 5 of the same issue of THE JEWISH ber of such children who are not OBSERVER, listing Agudath Israel and attending yeshivos and yet they various other organizations as among the or their parents-insist that they hard core of American Orthodoxy. Yet wear a yarmulka at school. Is there &ditM it seems that never, throughout the twen# ty-nine years from 1926 to 1955, was not the possibility that the liberal there the slightest indication of Agudist policy of New York City's Board of disapproval of orthodox Jewish partic~ Education will in some cases motiv ipation in the SCA or of call for disasso ate parents to send a child to a The UOJCA and SCA ciation from SCA. 1'he conclusion is unavoidable that public school, when they might not during this twenty-nine year period, Agu otherwise do so? Should this policy (The writer of the follo11Jing letter is dath Israel for one, far from having swing the balance in the decision of Administrator of the Union of Orthodox "rejected participation" in the Synagogue any number of families, it would Jewish Congregations of A1nerica, and Council of America "from its very in mean that that number of Jewish Editor of Jewish Life. The letter has ception," did not oppose it all. The same been abridged without the on1ission of conclusion is applicable to the other children would be deprived of their any of Mr. Bernstein's salient points.) organizations included in the "hard core" heritage of Torah learning and ex listing. In or after 1955, when such posed to the secular influences which To the Editor: opposition was newly expressed, this evi~ In Rabbi C:haim D. Ke11er's article dently was a reversal of the previous they are so inadequately prepared to appearing in the February l 966/Adar attitude on the part of all these groups ... 5726 issue of 1"HE JEWISH OBSERVER, it cope with. Since orthodox participation in the SCA Of course we must fight for these is stated: "The hard core of the Orthodox was initiated and for long years led and community and their rabbinic leaders forwarded by Agudist~oriented figures, rights-Orthodox teachers are now have from its very inception to this day, attempting to have the Board of and since Agudath Israel voiced no ob~ rejected participation in the Synagogue jections over a period of twenty-nine Education remove the restriction Council [of America1.'' Whatever Rabbi years, the inference is unavoidable that against teachers wearing yarmulkas Keller may have had in mind by use of Agudath Israel gave sanction to this the term "hard core," I believe the state~ association, which it presumably consid -but is there not the danger that ment quoted is contrary to the facts. our wall-to-wall golus will become ered Halachically permissible and prac~ Perhaps the most notable aspect of the tically desirable. increasingly more comfortable with controversy surrounding this question is The Union of Orthodox Jewish Con obvious corrosive effects on the the apparent fact that neither at the inception of the Synagogue Council of gregations of America necessarily em~ Jewish neshomoh? America nor for many years thereafter hraces devotees of every shade of ortho Add one more dilemma to the did any element of American orthodox dox Jewish opinion, non-Agudist as well Jewry, whether rabbinic or Jay, whether as Agudist. It is therefore evident that long list which confronts the Torah in this instance non-Agudist followed Jew in America. of Agudist or any other ideological cate gory, "reject" or so much as register Agudist lead in participating in a opposition to orthodox participation in mixed orthodox~Conservative-Reform as Give to this interdenominational agency. sociation ... In this connection, it is in order to The inception of the Synagogue Coun~ Keren Hasheviis note that the numerous JEWISH OBSERVER articles devoted to the Synagogue Coun YAVNE TEACHERS SEMINARY FOR WOMEN cil issue have given the incorrect im~ AFFILIATE OF TELSHE YESHIVAH pression that this issue newly arose in 1955 or thereabouts, and that the ques Co~Sponsored by The Joseph Shapiro Teachers Training Program of Torah Umesorah tion of orthodox Jewish position on par announces that entrance applications are being a.cceptecl ticipation in this agency was newly ini~ tiated, from outside the organs of the now for the year 1966-7 Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, by a spontaneous action of The Seminary has gained reno,v11 because of its hi~h level of academic a number of leading Roshey Yeshivoth. pedagogic attainment and its fine !'ltaff of expert edueators. The facts are not in acordance with this supposition, which too has been assidu For information, apply fo: ously propagated. In reality. the question REGISTRAR, YAVNE TEACHERS SEMINARY was initiated entirely within UOJCA. 28400 Euclid Avenue Wickliffe, Ohio 44092 Long before the events leading to the promulgation of the Jssur of the several
28 The Je1vish Observer I April, 1966 Roshey Yeshivoth, various peop1e active example, Mizrachi. After the first plan participate lVith them either as an ly associated with UOJCA (not including ning session, the Agt1das Harabbonim individual or as an organized com .. any of the Agudah-associated UOJCA fig refused to affiliate with the planned coun n1unal body. ures) became concerned with the ques cil, and in the words of the official his The p'sak din was signed by the great tion of the Union's participation in the tory of SCA: "Instead the recently formed est rabbinic authorities in' the United Synagogue Council. In 1955, a particular Rabbinical Council of the uoJc (later States and firmly endorsed by Gedolim development- brought the question to the the RCA) became the constituent rep of Eretz Yisroel, among them Rabbi point of deliberation by the Union's resenting the Orthodox Rabbinate." How, Zev Soloveitchik (Brisker Rav). It was participation in the Synagogue Council. in this light, can Mr. Bernstein conclude clearly a re-affirmation of a policy The Halachic basis of the question was that "In ... 1955, when ... opposition adhered to over the years which flows then - referred for determination to the [to sCA] was newly expressed, this evi most natura11y from an understanding of Rabbinical Council of America, the dently was a reversal of the previous Torah and the nature of the threat to Union's associated Rabbinic body and attitude on the part of all these groups." Torah posed by Reform and Conserv Ha1achic authority. It was only at this Rabbi Keller was then correct in stating atism. Not a single Godo! has ever time that the issue came into the area that Orthodoxy rejected the scA "from dissented from this position ~nd stated of wider public attention. And it was its very inception to this day." that an Orthodox rabbi or group may at this time that the group of eminent If an individual member of Agudah in he a partner in a mixed group. It i<> Roshey Yeshivoth were somehow prompt uoJcA supported the Union's participa ridiculous to believe that the p'sak din ed to take it up independently and there tion in scA he was acting on his own was the promulgation of a new policy upon, with notable abruptness, there behalf and in opposition to the historic over-riding a previous position. emerged the celebrated Issur. and fundamental positions of Agudath Since, as Mr. Bernstein notes, UOJCA Be it noted that it was only then, Israel which uncompromisingly opposed itself saw fit to raise the question of after twenty-nine years of at least tacit any religious alliances with groups not the propriety of its own membership in support of Synagogue Council of Amer committed to Torah. It is therefore ab SCA in 1955, he leaves unanswered the ica participation, that Agudath Israel surd to allege that since the Union "em basic question: Why after ten years, in announced its opposition to such partic braces ... non-Agudist as well as Agudist the face of a statement made and af~ ipation, and similarly some other ortho devotees it is therefore evident that non firmed by every great rabbinic authority dox organizations . . Agudists followed Agudist lead" in work without a single voice of dissent, is the SAUL BERNSTEIN ing with the scA. The suggestion that UO.TCA still a member of the Synagogue New York, N. Y. THE JEWISH OBSERVER has concealed Council of America? "Agudist ties" to SCA compounds the REPLY To MR. BERNSTEIN First Jet it be clear that we do consider absurdity. (A number of letters commenting on the Union to be part of the hard core While concerned with the historical Rabbi W einberger's, The Yeshiva of American Orthodoxy, in spite of our record, Mr. Bernstein ignores an aspect Bochur and College (March, 1966) of history which he is surely aware of, serious ideological differences with them. will appear in our next issue.) Our listing in the article referred to was having himself observed and participated in the context of Orthodox groups who in Orthodox Jewish life over several have been ignored in the pages of The decades. New York Tin1es, and, for reasons made Following the end of World War II clear in that article, uoJCA is not in that the yeshiva movement in this country MOVIMC? category. It is precisely because of our became a reality. The yeshivos produced recognition of the force for Torah that n1usmachin1 who entered the rabbinate, Be sure to notify us in is represented by UOJCA that we have often going to small communities where a mixed rabbinic group functioned, It odvance so that your copies continued to raise this issue. We have no will continue to reach you. quarrel with the United Synagogue or was not easy for a new rabbi in town the Union of American Hebrew Congre to reject membership in such a group gations for their participation in scA; though he felt intuitively that he must they belong there-the Union does not. do so-and questions were put to various Now, let us look at the historical data. Roshei Yeshivos who instructed their The Torah Mr. Bernstein states that none of the tabnidim not to join. Orthodox groups that now oppose par Jn 1956 the Jgud Harnbbonim (Rab ticipation in SCA voiced such opposition binical AUiance of America) raised the Perpetuation when that body was organized, and that question of their participation in the for twenty-nine years-until 1955-they Synagogue Council .as a group. It -was Foundation gave scA their tacit approval. He indicates in response to that question that the that he has been reading us very care, Gedolim enunciated their firm opposition has available fully on the issue of SCA but he appears to any participation by an Orthodox to have missed several paragraphs in our rabbi or a group in mixed rabbinic and Gemilus Chesed f1mds issue of September 1965 (One Voice). synagogue bodies, since this would rec for Establishement of We noted at that time that when the ognize Reform and Conservatism as leg Kosher Dining Houses Central Conference of Reform Rabbis itimate manifestations of Judaism. Jn initiated the concept of a synagogue issuing the p'sak din they stated: on college campuses body to include all Jewish groupings, We have been asked if it is pennissible the Agudas Harabbonim (Union of Or to ... be a n1e1nber of The New York For information, write: thodox Rabbis of the U.S. and Canada) Board of Rabbis, and sbnilar groups . the most logical group to represent Or in other co1nn1unities . .. /and/ if it MILTON LEVY thodoxy as the major rabbinical body, is permissible ... to be a me1nher 80 Broad Street was invited to participate. Agudath Israel, of the Synagogue Council of America not being a synagogue group per se, was ... We have ruled that it is forbidden Elizabeth, N. J. 07201 no more a candidate for SCA than, for by the law of our sacred Torah to
The Jewish Observer I April, 1966 29 agreed to between Superintendent Don cannot send their children to public ovan and the non-public schools. schools for the benefits to which they Agudath Israel are entitled. Presently, the Yeshivos in WORKING CI"OSELY WITH Torah Umeso the poverty neighborhoods are primarily on the Legislative rah, the educational agency authorized benefiting from such services as speech by the Yeshivos to represent them offii therapy, corrective - reading instruction Front cia1y in federal-aid arrangements with and library equipment. The struggle for New York City's Board of Education, justice for the Y eshivos will continue JN RECENT WEEKS Agudath Israel of Agudath Israel mounted a vigorous cam unabated. America continued its efforts to help paign to prevent the emasculation of the obtain fair treatment for the Yeshivos benefits which the non-public schools RABBI MORRIS SHERER, executive vice from funds they are entitled to under the would receive. Unfortunately, the Board president of Agudath Israel of America Education Aid Law passed last year by of Education bowed to the pressure of testified in Washington on April 27th Congress. The focal crisis erupted in the church-state-separation extremists, before the Senate Education Committee, New York City, where the Board of and in a surprising ruling on April 6th at the invitation of its chairman Senator Education rejected a plan worked out issued new directives which radica11y Wayne Morse. He sharply criticized the by School Superintendent Bernard Don narrowed down the areas of benefits handful of public education officials who oven after nine months of negotiations available to non-public schools. The Ye are sabotaging the full implementation with the public school authorities. shivas especially were dealt a hard blow, of the Federal Aid Law for students of On March 30th, Agudath Israel ad because the new regulations insisted that non-public schools. He cailed upon the dressed a hearing at the Board of Edu after 3 o'clock the non-public school Senate to extend and expand the benefits cation, calling for the immediate im children must go to public schools to of its education-aid efforts which is plementation of the benefits mandated by obtain their services. As a result of this "changing the American dream from a federal law. The Agudah spokesman decision, the 49 Yeshivos located in New nightmare of want and deprivation for pointed out that unless New York City York City's poverty areas, originally the disadvantaged into a meaningful, for every American provides ~·comparable and equitable serv slated to obtain over $1,000,000 in serv attainable goal ices" for the disadvantaged children in ices and equipment this year, wiU now child." non-public schools it would be a direct receive benefits valued at only $200,000. Rabbi Sherer also urged the Senate violation of the federal law. He lashed Committee not to be misled by "Jewish out at the American Jewish Congress ON APRIL 18TH, Agudath Israel partic groups with high-sounding names that whose spokesman appeared at the hear ipated in an emergency conference con are waging a continuing campaign of ing to urge the rejection of the proposals vened in Washington, with the participa harrassment against the full implementa ion of top officials of the U. S. Office tion of the law." (A full copy of this of Education, the New York State De Senate testimony is available by writing Employment partment of Education and leaders of to the national office of Agudath Israel.) the various denominations of non-public schools. The conference pinpointed the Rabbi Leib Gurwicz Named SHOMER SHABBOS JOBS New York City crisis, and the charge that the local education officials were European Agudah Head LOOKING FOR A JOB? violating the legislative intent of the RABBI LEIB GURWICZ, the Rosh Yeshiva Federal Education Act was fully aired. NEED OFFICE HELP? of the famed Gateshead Yeshiva in Eng The government officials at the meeting land and a renowned Torah scholar, has promised to seek means of remedying accepted the call of the European section the situation. of the world executive of Aguclath Israel Confacf: Since the end of April, the program to become its chairman, as the successor TRADITION PERSONNEL for the non-public schools began to func of the late Rabbi Avraham Babad, of tion in a limited manner, primarily due blessed memory. The news of Rabbi to the decision of the Yeshivos that they 33 West 42nd St., New York, N. Y. Gurwicz's emergence as a top·level leader in the international Agudist movement Room 625 0 Tel. 563-3994 Insurance has generated deep satisfaction in all circles. Homeowners! want to save 23'}' on your CAREER OPPORTUNITIES & 0 fo Hie health insurance expenses? Car owners! want to Agudist Comps Open June 30 insuran.ce. Jack Klausner CLU, Agency D save 15% on your insurance expenses? 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30 The Jewish Observer I April, 1966 SZe .Xca4< ec !J?Joa,,t/ q/' SPECIAL SHABBOS PROGRAM WITH PARTICIPATION OF 5:e&£e
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D CONFESSION D THE PROBLEM OF THE JEW D THE JEWISH FACE by Nathan Birnbaum by Isaac Breuer A Portrait Gallery
D THE KUZARI D TALES OF YORE D THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS by Yehudah Halevi by Marcus Lehmann A Primer of Judaism
D SOCIAL ORDER D SCIENCE AND JUDAISM D THE SPIRIT OF The Jewish View A Symposium JEWISH HISTORY
D THE BOOK OF PASSOVER , D MOVEMENTS IN D THE FAITH OF THE JEW An Anthology CONTEMPORARY JUDAISM Maimonides
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