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~a£...)~ fit[, / 1969 Coney Island Avenue I Brooklyn, N.Y. 11223 I (718) 339-1700 THE JEWISH OBSERVER {ISSN) 0021-6615 is published monthly ex ceptJuly and August, by the Agudath Israel of America, 84 William Street, New York. NY 10038. Second class postage paid at New York. NY Subscrip tion $18.00peryear: two years. $30.00: three years, $40.00. Outside of the 6 United States (US funds only) $10 sur charge per year. Single copy: $2.50; The Sweet Golus foreign: $3.00. Send address changes Rabbi Chaim Dov Keller to The Jewish Observer, 84 William St., N.Y.• N.Y. 10038. TuL (212) 797-9000. Printed in the U.S.A. 13 An Open Response to Professor Twerski RABBI NISSON WOLPIN. Edftoc Dr. Norman Lamm Editorial Board DR. ERNST BODENHEIMER 17 Chairman A Rejoinder RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS Prof Aaron 1lverski JOSEPH FRIEDENSON RABBI NOSSON SCHERMAN RABBI MOSHE SHERER 30 "Mamme Loshon" Is Precious, Management Board NAFTOLI HIRSCH But Is It Talking Tu Us? ISAAC KIRZNER Rabbi Yaakov Bender RABBI SHLOMO LESIN NACHUM STEIN 39 RABBI YOSEF C. GOLDING Fire and Ice: Another Wartime Story Business Manager Rabbi Avi Shafran THE JEWISH OBSERVER does not assume responsibility for the Kashrus 43 of any product or service advertised in its pages. Books in Review New ltanslations of Basic Seforim ©Copyright I988 Halachic Manuals The World of Pamphlets
TAMMUZ 5748 I JUNE 1988 VOL. XX!, NO. 5 51 Letters to the Editor The Three Weeks, climaxed by Tisha B'Av, are an experience in mourning for our alienation from G-d, reminding us of what should be obvious-that the Jew is in Golus. In keeping with this period, THE JEWISH OBSERVER invites the readers to increase their Golus awareness with the following essay by Rabbi Chaim Dov Keller THE SWEET
HISTORY LESSONS he who does not learn from history descendants. It also provides us FOR FUTURE CONDUCT will have to relive history. When we with a formula for coping with our speak of the Jewish people. we must present-day golus among Eisav's nfortunately-or perhaps paraphrase that statement: The Jew children. If we fail to learn from it, fortunately-we must stress will relive history and therefore he we will have to relive that Parshas Uthat which should be ob must learn from history. The Ram Hagalus at very great risk. vious; that the Jew is in Golus. For ban in his commentary lo Parshas Even in actions where our Sages what maybe obvious to the Jew who Lech Lec/w teaches us. Maasei were critical of the Avos' conduct. went through the Churban in Eu avos siman lebanim. Thal which they nonetheless followed their ex rope may not be obvious to the happened lo our Patriarchs-Avra ample: The Midrash tells us that American-born Jew, not even the ham, Yitzchak and Yaakov--is a because Yaakov Avinu referred to American-born ben Torah. He was portent of what will happen lo their Eisav eight times as "Adoni-my born here, he feels comfortable here. children. the Jewish People. master," eight kings arose from the Indeed, G-d has been good to us The Avos Hakedoshim in their children of Eisav before Yaakov's here. Jews on the whole are getting personal lives laid the foundations children had even one king.' ahead, and Orthodox Jews in par and set the pattern for all subse Yet when Rebbe Yehuda Hanassi ticular are succeeding spiritually as quent Jewish history. This is what saw that his scribe. Rabbi Efes, had well as materially. So the Jew is a we mean when we say the Jew will addressed a letter: "From Yehuda member of an ethnic minority. relive history. The corollary to this the Prince, lo my master. the Em America is made up of many minor rule is that we must learn from how peror Antoninus," he told him to rip ities. We have rights like the rest of the Avos dealt with those history up the letter and to write instead: them. If we are indeed in golus. it"s making situations in which they "From Yehuda your servani to my a sweet golus. found themselves. The Ramban (see master, the Emperor Antoninus." There is an oft-quoted saying that commentary to Bereishis 32,4 and When Rabbi Efes asked him why he 33,15) teaches us that Yaakov"s lowered himself and his prestige as Rabbi Chaim Dov Keller, Hosh Haye-shiva of tht' Telshe Yeshiva in Chicago, is a frequent t'ontrib preparation for and his meeting Nassi, Rebbe answered. "Am I better utor to these pages. He originally presented lhe with Eisav is the Parshas Hagalus, than my father Yaakov who, when therne of this article as part of a syrnposhun at the 60th National Convention of Agudath Israel indicating what would happen to us he addressed Eisav, referred to of America. in future encounters with Eisav's himself as avdecha Yaakov--your
6 The Jewish Observer, June 1988 Can we live a miracle GOLUS as if it were natural?
servant Yaakov?"* paration for his confrontation with camp will survive"-we 11ere in Rabbi Yosef Leib Bloch J''>l, the Eisav. divided his people into two America were that remainder. If Telzer Rav and Rosh Hayeshiva, camps: "Im yavo Eisav el hama · today Jews in other parts of the explained that Yaakov was found chaneh ha'achas vehikahu ve· world are suffering privation and wanting for not having attained a ha ya hamachaneh hanishar Ii· persecution, then we here in Amer level of spirituality that would have jleita. And he said, if Eisav will come ica and in Eretz Yisroel are the made it unnecessary to humble upon one camp and smite it, then machaneh hanishar-the other himself before Eisav; yet the actual the remaining camp will survive" camp. state in which he found himselfleft (Bereishis 32, 9). But we do have one thing in com· him no choice but to refer to Eisav Says the Ramban, this is also an man with "the othercamp"-and we as "my master'-and this became indication of what will happen: In make a grave error in not realizing the model for future generations. future generations. the children of it-that we here are just as much Eisav could never completely des· in golus as are our brethren in troy us. They may persecute us, even Russia. in Iran and in Arab lands. PATRIARCHAL SURVIVAL TACTICS torture us. in some of their coun Except that theysufferfrom the first tries. A ruler in one land will make half of the passuk-"If Eisav will decrees against our possessions or come upon one camp and smite it''- he Jewish People throughout against our persons, while another and we are the beneficiaries of the the millennia here survived government in a different pari of the second half-"then the remaining T because whenever they were world will have mercy on the refu· camps will survive." And we have no persecuted and driven from one gees, and protect them. guarantee that the roles cannot i"n country, they found refuge in It does not take too much imag be reversed. another country. This pattern was ination to realize that our genera directly established by the ma 'aseh tion is living witness to this recur Avos of Yaakov Avinu.. who, in pre- A LESSON FROM LAVAN ring pattern of Jewish history: "If Eisav will come upon one camp and e must be keenly aware of * The writer wishes to note that in the original smite it"-ifHitlerbrought about an this golus status, even presentation. at the Agudath Israel Convention. almost total annihilation of Euro· the Midrash was inadvertently misquoted. The Wwhen we are blessed to be abow is tht' C'orrect form oft he Midrash. pean Jewry-"then the remaining among the survivors, as the Vilna
The Jewish Observer, June 1988 7 Gaon points out in his commentary change in Lavan's face. Lavan If we are fortunate enough to live to the Pesach Haggadah: pursues him. And then, in the final in a malchus she! chessed, it is In "Vehi She'amda," where we moment of truth. Lavan reveals his because we are beneficiaries of that recount how G-d is keeping His oath true intentions: "It is within my second half of the passuk, "And the guaranteeing the survival of Avra power to do evil with you and the remaining camp will be a refuge.'' ham and his offspring, we say, "For G-d of your father appeared to me The danger is that we look at this it was not only one who rose against last night and told me do not speak awesome miracle of our existence, us, but in every generation they with Yaakov good or bad" (Bereishis and we consider it to be natural. We arise (present tense!) against us to 31,29). Lavan, the loving uncle, think that we exist in golus because destroy us, and the Holy-One father-in-law, grandfather, and bus we get along so well with non-Jews, Blessed-Be-He saves us (present iness partner, has revealed himself. because we're so clever, so resource~ tense!) from their hands.'' But what Don't delude yourself, Lavan ful, so industrious, so ambitious ... if we don't realize this? What if we bekeish la'akor es hakol-Lavan because the Jew. no matter how you live under a malchus shel ches sought to destroy everyihing! throw him up in the air, is going sed-a benevolent government to land on his feet. But it just is not and we don't see those that are out EXISTENCE BY MIRACLE so. to destroy us? That, says the Vilna Gaon. is the connection with the ver two hundred years ago, ON THE BACK OF THE FISH next paragraph: "Go out and learn Rabbi Yaakov Emden wrote: what did Lavan want to do to our O"The existence of the Jewish mong those wonderful Agga father Yaakov? Pharaoh leveled his people among the nations of the dos in Perek Hasefina, decree only against the males, whe world is a greater miracle than that A Rabba Bar Bar-Chana re reas Lavan sought to destroy every of the exodus from Egypt.'' lates: "We were traveling on a ship one." That is, even though we do not This same observation was made and we saw a hugefish. Sand had consciously sense them. G-d is by the Chovos Halevovos2 hun collected on its back and a mea constantly performing great mira dreds of years before. "If a person dow ef grass had grown there. We cles for us. If it is not obvious to us wants to see miracles in his times had thought that it was dry land, and we are overly secure. it is time similar to those performed by the so we landed on it We lit a fire, to leave our comfortable illusions Ribbono Shel Olam at Yetzias baked and cooked our food there. and learn from Lavan Hoarami. Mitzrayim and Ma'mad Har Sinai, And when its back got hot thefish At first glance we can't see what let him look with a truthful eye at tumed over. ... Had our boat not Lavan intended to do to Yaakov, yet how the Jewish people survive been nearby, we surely would have the Torah tells us that Arami oveid among the nations of the world drowned" (Babba Basra 73b). avi-he sought to uproot the entire since they have gone into golus, and This, like all the other Aggados Jewish People: how their needs are being met. We there, is obviously an allegory. Yaakov is living with his uncle, flourish even though we differ Rabba Bar Bar-Chana is teaching us Lavan, married to his two daugh essentially from our host nations. that there are times in our golus ters. (Some say that even Bilhah and Our inner values and outer behavior when we mistake the back of a fish Zilpah were also Lavan's daughters, are different from theirs, and they for a beautiful. grassy island of by concubines-see Targum Yono know it." These are factors that refuge. It appears to us as dry land, son ben Uziel.) Yaakov's children normally arouse hatred between and we forget that we are in the are Lavan's grandchildren. He is groups, and yet we still to live among middle of a stormy sea of golus. We making vast sums of money for them. Moreover, they know that the decide to enjoy ourselves. We light Lavan, and along the way, becoming Jew is 'making it,' sometimes even our fires, we bake, we cook, we drink independently wealthy and building doing better than them. "Their "lechayim,'' and we live it up as if his own family. Yaakov does not middle-and lower-classes often work we were here to stay. and as if have the slightest inkling that there harder than ours do. And yet we nothing is going to bother that fish. is a problem. And then he begins exist among them-as the Ribbono We make the mistake of thinking to hear rumblings: "And he heard Shel Olam had promised us: 'Even that this state of existence in golus the words of the sons of Lavan when they are in the lands of their is natural and permanent. The saying, Yaakov has taken all that enemies I have not despised them wonderful illusion lasts until we belongs to our father, and from our and I have not rejected them to make those fires a bit too hot and father's possessions he has destroy them, to nullify my covenant the fish turns over! And if the ship acquired all this honor.' And Yaakov with them, I am Hashem their G-d' of Torah-our only real guarantee saw the face of Lavan that it was (Vayikra 26,4).'' of survival-is not nearby, we run not with him as it had been yester Do you think we are not in golus? the risk of sinking to the depths of day and the day before" (Bereishis Mir zennen shoin ein moll in golus! that sea of golus. 31,1-2). Yaakov steals away, not yet We are in golus-but the Ribbono People talk about the unprece realizing the full import of that Shel Olam is with us. dented situation ofJews in America.
8 The Jewish Observer, June 1988 Over two hundred years ago, Rabbi Yaakov Emden wrote in a widely quoted essay: "The existence of the Jewish people among the nations of the world is a greater miracle than that of the exodus from Egypt."
Nonsense! Nothing is unprece· saying the opposite: that Jews in This is our tachlis-our mission dented in the history of the Jewish golus are living a miracle and one as a people. We have no other tachlis. people. We are always reliving his· dare not confuse that miracle with As the passuk says: "I have created tory: teva-nature. We cannot apply pol· this people to declare My praises" The so-called "Golden Age" of the itical or sociological laws to a mir· (Yishayahu 43,2I ). In fact, the Jews of Spain lasted for over a acle. Schools of higher learning and whole purpose of the creation is. as century. The Jewish people in Spain advanced think-tanks cannot teach Chazal tell us, for K'vod Hashem. were under the impression that us anything that can realistically If this is our purpose, can we shirk Spain was their island of tranquil· apply to the categories of Jewish our responsibilities? Must we not ity-they had produced philo· history. proclaim the Sheim Hashem? sophers. doctors, merchants. poets, In order to understand Jewish Should we not teach Torah to our and ministers. But then things history, you must understand fellow Jews, and teach the world by began to change. In 1492, even Torah: As Rabbi Shimon Schwab our example how a human being though Don Yitzchak Abarbanel has said (see JO. Feb.'88). ''The Jew was meant to live? Our mission is was the Finance Minister and one in golus has to take along the to show the world by our service to of the closest advisors to Ferdinand Chumash." Consulting the Chu· G·d that there is a Creator, and and Isabella the Jews were thrown mash, we find that there are no demonstrate by our conduct how into a turmoil-not by the discovery simple guidelines to golus conduct. His creatures should live. If in this of America, but by Gerush Sefamd, On one level. we are bidden to we maintain a high profile. then we the expulsion of the entire Jewish maintain an extremely high profile. are fulfilling the purpose of our community from Spain. and on the other. we are com· golus among the nations of the The Jews of Germany, beginning manded to keep out of sight world. (See Smag, Mitzvas Asei 84.) from the Emancipation in the early possibly both at the same time. nineteenth century. labored under We are the children of Avraham. the same kind of illusion. In the First Yitzchak and Yaakov. The hallmark . .. HIDDEN FROM SIGHT World War, they fought loyally by the of the Avos was "Vayikm b'Sheim side of their non-Jewish compatri· Hashem"- they proclaimed the n the other hand, we are also ots for the glory of the Kaiser. In the Name of Hashem for the world bidden to hide ourselves as Weimar Republic, which followed, publicly declaring the Divine signif· Omuch as possible. The Torah they enjoyed civil rights and rose to icance of that Name (Bereishis records: 'We !the Jews] circled Mt. positions of influence and power, 12,8-see Ramban). Before Avra· Seir for many days and G·d said, producing some of Germany's grea· ham came upon the scene, Hashem You have gone around this moun· test scholars and scientists. poets was known as G·d of Heaven. After tain enough-tum to the north'" and musicians. There were those he proclaimed His Name, He was (Devartm 31,3). On the simple level, who said: "Berlin ist Jerusalem." known as the G·d of Heaven and this was a message to proceed Until an insignificant corporal, with Earth (Bereishis 24, 7 see Rashi). toward their goal, Eretz Yisroel. The the same master plan as Lavan's for Yitzchak continued this mission Kli Yakar, however, draws from a a final solution, appeared on the (Bereishis 26.28). And Yaakov pro· Midmsh and says that this passage scene. And thefish tu med over! claimed the Divine Name by dwel· "plumbs to the depths." It explores ling in the tents of Torah and the depths of the tehom. which is learning with all who sought G-d's a reference to Golus Edom.3 This HIGH PROFILE . .. teachings (see Sfomo to Bereishis passuk is an allusion to the Jewish 36,51 ). The Ramban explains that condition at that time, and for all et us not be misunderstood. Yaakov's form of proclaiming G·d's generations. The message here is not: "It Name was by bringing into the world We are traveling around Mt. Seir, L can happen here unless we a family whose very existence bore the territory of Eisav, not yet having watch out for the Neo-nazis and the testimony to the true emuna among attained our final goal. Nor will we Aryan Nation." In effect we are the nations of the world. attain that goal until Moshiach
The Jewish Observer, June 1988 9 On one level, the Jew in golus is bidden to maintain an extremely high profile, and on the other, we are commanded to keep out of sight-possibly both at the same time. comes. But. says the Torah. while Him "the G-d of the Heaven and the take the opposite. To give just a few you are going around among the Earth." In this. we must maintain examples. on the ERA, abortion. "gay descendants of Eisav-that is. dur a high profile. But when it comes rights," government aid to private ing Eisav's period of ascendancy in to our material success. we should schools, or any issue dealing with this world-hide yourselves. ([m try to keep out of sight. We should the so-called separation of church plicit in the word tzafon-literally. proclaim for the world, "Hashem hu and state. the Catholic Church and north-is hatzpinti atzmechem. haElokim." not show them how the fundamentalist Christians have hide yourselves.) The Kli Yakar ex much we O\Vll. We seem to have taken stands that are closer to the plains: "If a Jew find some sort of fardrayt di yoitzrois-reversed the Torah position than the so-called success in this world. he should agenda. When it comes to proclaim "Jewish position" is. I believe that conceal it. Don't show it to Eisav ing the Name of Heaven in the world, it is our sacred duty to proclaim the because no~one hates the Jews as not only are Jews as a whole not Name of G-d not only for its own do the children of Eisav. In their manning the ramparts. but unfor sake. but also to remove the Chillul eyes. everything we possess was tunately there are all too many in Hashem resulting from the percep stolen from them when Yaakov took the forefront of what is perceived as tion that the Catholic Church and the brachos from Eisav. Therefore. a battle to secularize America. How the Moral Majority have become the 'hatzpinu atzmechem-hide your ever. when it comes to conspicuous guardians of America's morality, selves.' consumption-letting the non-Jews against the Jews. Says the Kli Yakar. "This is the know to what extent we've made it exact opposite of what Jews are and how we can spend it-we can't doing today. If the Jew achieves a be beat. DISPELLING THE GROTESQUE CARICATURE little success. he has to flaunt it. When typically Jewish-sounding Somebody who has a hundred gold names are broadcast throughout coins, clothes himself and his family the land in connection with insider e must also do whatever and lives in a house in the manner stock trading, using controlled sub possible to dispel the gro of a person who has thousands, and stances, and child abuse, there is W:tesque caricature of the this arouses the hatred of the obviously too high a Jewish profile. Jew that is projected by so-called gentiles. In this. they are transgress When pornography and images of Jewish weddings and bar mitzvas. ing the passuk's command: 'Hatz violence are propagated by an elite It's not enough to have a wedding pinu atzmechem!'" (The Kli Yakar of east and west coast Jewish attended by thousands of people. wrote these words during the late authors, publishers. movie and One must engage a public relations sixteenth century!) media moguls, whose first amend outfit to handle the press and call Those who ignore this passuk ment rights are defended by a highly in the T.V .. who then make it into (and unfortunately this has become visible corps of Jewish ACLU types. a media event. which someone inordinately common) do so at great then we are too obvious. obviously feels is a Kiddush risk. ... It is no secret that this has There is little you and I can do Hashem. But that is not the end. been one of the main sources of the about this. But if by our apathy and The paper has to dutifully conduct anti-Semitism from which the Jew inaction we allow the American Jew interviews with the caterer who ish People has suffered throughout ish establishment to speak in the reveals how many thousands of the years of golus. name of the entire Jewish People, chickens and how many tons of ultimately we will have to give an chopped liver and gallons of dress accounting. For the situation has so ing he'll be using. A CONFUSED AGENDA evolved that should we want to know When this happens. or when The what position to take on almost any New York Times runs a prominently his, then, is our agenda: given issue of public policy dealing featured story on the Queen Eliza When it comes to proclaiming with religion. morality, and related beth II being chartered for a bar T the Name of Hashem, we affairs, we can almost unerringly say mitzva celebration. we are heating should be seen and heard. Our that. whatever position is taken by up the fire on the back of the fish. pronouncements and actions the secular-Reform Jewish estab Gedolei Torah have for the past should be instrumental in making lishment and the ACLU, we should several years been raising their
10 The Jewish Observer, June 1988 voices against the excesses in this property in the city square. they've Czar were once forced to do. We must area-it would seem to little avail. accomplished great things for Yid· pick our issues carefully, work for But the time has come for intelligent dishkeiL even if they have to defend them discreetly, and if necessary, and dedicated Jews to realize not their position by declaring that the defend them with vigor and dignity. only the adverse effects that extrav· menorah "is not a religious symbol.'' On the positive side. I believe that agance has on the individual and We thus witness the ultimate absur· Agudath Israel has led a dignified, on the family. but of the real and dity of arousing the hatred and low-key revolution in championing present danger that it presents to derision of the gentile world and. at the rights of the Orthodox Jewish Kial Yisroel in golus. And we must the same time. removing the Sheim community, without being shrill or realize that ifs not only weddings Hashem from the very Jewish sym· compromising Jewish values in the and simchos, but our entire lifestyle bol that we are trying to publicize. process. that stings the eyes of our neigh· I personally believe that there bors. One has only to pick up a should not be a nativity scene in the DIGNITY, NOT PRIDE Jewish publication and look at the public square. but that we should ads to realize to what appalling not fight against it. I also believe that nally, let us realize that there extremes the ostentatious display of there should not be lehavdil a 1s a difference between Jewish our material success has reached. Chanukah menorah on public prop· F:dignity within humility and This tendency has been aggra· erty and we certainly should not go the pride of Eisav. When Eisav of· vated by the insidious assimilation to court lo fight for it. fered to accompany Yaakov on his of an objectionable character trait journey. Yaakov said, "Let my mas· of our host society. Unfortunately, CHOOSING THE ISSUES ter go before his servant and I will even the most committed Jew, who NO FOOL-PROOF FORMULA conduct myself slowly and quietly. would never dream of outright as· at my pace. in keeping with the similation, cannot help but absorb here can be no specific for· work which is before me and in certain attitudes from the very air mula for choosing issues on keeping with the pace of my child· of the society in which he lives. On which to take a stand. There T ren, until I come to my master, to the whole, Americans are the world's must be a case-by-case evaluation. Seir'' (Bereishis 33.14). nice guys. But they do have certain The general guidelines, though, Yaakov Avinu, even while he midas ra 'os (pernicious traits). no suggest that we agitate for issues ostensibly humbled himself before different from all other nations of of significance for the interests of Eisav, revealed the inner secret of the world. One of them, perhaps the Kial Yisroel, on which we have the Jew's formula not only for main one, is a lack of tznius. By this sound legal and moral rights, and survivd!, but for ultimate ascen· we mean not only improper in dress. which will not unduly arouse the dancy. I cannot go with you. said we mean an inordinate preoccupa enmity of our neighbors. l use the Yaakovto Eisav. I have to go my own tion with hype and P.R., and an ap· term "unduly" advisedly. For almost way at my own pace, modestly and palling lack of personal modesty and anything we do or say in defense of quietly, without noise andfanfare, humility. Publicity in all forms and our rights is bound to arouse some in keeping with the tasks that I varieties becomes an end unto itself. negative reaction in some quarters. have to accomplish in this world, And we absorb all this by social But we should not become so drunk and in a manner which befit.s the osmosis. with the successes that we have had chinuch <:if my children, until that Even our actions on behalf of in this area. that we go to the day will come-and surely it will Torah are affected. Chazal tells us legislatures or the courts on every come-"when we come to Seir." that the first Luchos (Tablets of trivial issue. In any case. quiet As Rashi explains, Yaakov had no Law), which were given in a public, hishtadlus should be pursued intention at that time of going to awe-inspiring fashion, did not last. before strident public positions are Eisav's country. But Yaakov did not The second Luchos were given broadcast over the media and in lie. When will he come to Seir? With quietly, and they did last. The print. the advent of Moshiach, as the message should be obvious. Yet even This does not mean to say that Prophet Ovadia said, "The savior will some of our most dedicated Jews when we see a non-Jew walking ascend the Mountain of Zion to and even our most sacred institu down the street. we must step off judge the Mountain of Eisav. And tions-have been making the mis· the sidewalk for him. Nor does it take of acting as though the on that day we shall see the King· mean that we should go to the City dom ofG-d" (Ovadia 1.12).• medium were the message. Getting Council or the State Legislature or your name or your institution's Washington, hat in hand, bowing name in 1. "And these art" the kings that n1!ed in the land The New York Times-or obsequiously. humbly petitioning of Edom before:- a king ruled over the children any other paper, for that matter for the favor of "Your Honor. The of Israel .. (Bereishis 36,31 ). is an accomplishment in itself. Mayor," 'Your Excellency, The Gov· 2. In Shaar Habechira. Chapter 5. 3. "Tehom"' is the fourth golus-that of Eisav. There are those who think that ernor," and "Your Majesty. The which is alluded to the beginning of Sejer if they put up a menorah on public President," as the subjects of the Bereishis.
The Jewish Observer, June 1988 11 HELP RESIDRE THE HISIDRY THAT WENT UP IN FLAMES This is not an appeal for money.
The Orthodox Jewish Archives founded by Agudath Israel of America has suffered tragic, irreplaceable losses as a result of a fire that swept through its repository on Friday, May 6. • Thousands of documents and photos have been lost • But many thousands more are languishing in trunks, attics, and forgotten drawers in private homes and basements. Your help-the public's help-is needed to recreate this resource. Do you have any valuable materials?
Included among the precious items lost were:
wDocumentation of Orthodox Jewish • Documents and photos pertaining to the rescue work during the Holocaust that helped development of yeshivos throughout the right the historical record about the few who country. did take action. •Documents and photos 'perta:inirig to Or thodox activism in the social service and civic •Rare old photos depicting life in the action fields, shtetls, the Orthodox communities of the cities. the yeshiva _world. and Chassidic •Photos _of Gedolei Yisroe1 past and centers of Europe before the Holocaust. present. •Sets of Orthodox journals and period •Documents. letters, journals and news icals. papers that portray Torah life in Europe as a Documents and -photos relating to -the it was. and ,cast light on the lssties and religious Yishuv in Eretz Yisroel, its problems facing Jews at the time. institutions. and struggles for Jewish life. •Documents. correspondence. newsdip •Documents and photos pertaining to pings, journals, and photos depicting, Or world-wide Agudalh lsrael histcirjr, an KneSSios thodox life in the U.S. from colonial times to Gedolos. and the development of the Amen can the present. Agudah movement since 1922.
The destroyed Archives facility. gutted by a fire from within, was modeled according to accepted archival procedures. The new Orthodox Jewish Archives which will now be rebuilt will iy.,h be safeguarded with maximum state-of-the-art prote('tion. above and beyond standard archival design.
AS A COMMUNITY, WE MUST PRESERVE THIS LEGACY THAT WILL OTHERWISE BE LOST TO FUTURE GENERATIONS.
lfyou have any items in the above categories in your possession, or know where they can be obtained, please write or phone:
fkl ORTHODOX JEWISH ARCHIVES L::l.J AGUDATH ISRAEL OF AMERICA 84 WILLIAM STREET. NEW YORK. NEW YORK 10038. 212-797-9000 In the April 1988 issue of The Jewish Observer, Professor Aaron Twerski wrote "An Open Letter to Dr. Norman Lamm," president of Yeshiva University, in response to a New York Times article on a "major public address" delivered by Dr. Lamm in Manhattan's Fifth Avenue Synagogue. In his "open letter," Twerski faulted Dr. Lamm for attacking "Right Wing" Orthodoxy and for giving the appearance of dealing with Conservative and Reform leaders with deference and dignity. In the pages that follow, Dr. Lamm responds to Professor Twerski's letter, and Professor Twerski, in tum, replies. AN OPEN REPLY TO PROFESSOR AARON TWERSKI
ear Professor Twerski: First. a word about nomenclature. with those of my own rebbe, Rabbi In the April 1988 issue of The words "ultra-Orthodox" and J.D. Soloveitchik N"t>>'.11'1. If so, may D The Jewish Observer you "fundamentalist" were not and are I inform you that some thirty years take me to task for a lecture I gave not part of my vocabulary. Indeed. ago I wrote what was probably the on March 22, reported in The New in the lecture 1explicitly rejected the longest and most widely dissemi York Times the following day. While use of such pejorative epithets. I nated defense of mechitza and I would have preferred the courtesy referred to "the Right" (which I critique of Conservatism. I spoke of your checking the report with me, consider a relative term) and Hare about it across the country, and I do appreciate the respectful and dim. Moreover, the only mention I risked my own rabbinic position on relatively moderate tone of your made of Hassidism was to bemoan its account. And my views have not polemic. And I am grateful to the the absence of adequate Hassidic changed. editors of JO for the opportunity to enthusiasm in my own "Centrist" Third, regarding the attitude to set the record straight and correct community. secular culture. your response is the erroneous inferences and unfor Second, I fail to understand why disappointing. It is insulting to tunate misinterpretations, many of you brought up the matter of ascribe to me the view that those which are reflected in your "open mechitza. other than to question who do not subscribe to Torah letter" to me. whether my views are at variance Umadda are "know nothings and
The Jewish Obseroer. June 1988 13 groups. and you offer your opinion When I recognize heterodox groups as that this would hardly pacify Con "valid" I mean that not only do I treat their servative and Reform leadership. Now, in a footnote on the same leaders humanly as individuals, but I relate page (7) you make reference to an to them as leaders of religious groups within address reprinted in Moment Mag the Jewish community who must and azine. In that veiy ariicle I made it abundantly clear what I mean by should be worked with respectfully. these three terms. I defined them carefully (if idiosyncratically), spe cifically to avoid the kind of obfus country bumpkins." Has mi Yisrael such that the centrality of cation to which they have now fallen le'hazkir! Most of my rebbeim, Torah is displaced by nationalism, victim. So I shall tiy again. whom I adored and revered, lacked save to ask if anyone has remem "Valid" derives from the Latin secular education and yet were the bered the name of Rav Kook, z"l. validus, "strong." It refers to an paragons of wisdom. Would you But I shall forego other such objective fact. irrespective of my accuse the advocates of Torah im inaccuracies and ignore all the approval or disapproval. "Legiti Derech Eretz of such contempt for rhetorical barbs that are ultimately mate" comes from the Latin lex, East European Jewry which Inconsequential, and concentrate "law," and hence, where Jewish opposed them? on the main thrust of your ariicle matters are concerned, falls within Your assertion that because which entirely misconceives my the province of Halakhah. "right-wing" Jewry is "setting the point of view. agenda in so many areas," it some When I recognize heterodox groups as "valid" I mean that not how proves the high level of open ness to the environing culture, is "SPIRITUAL DIGNITY"-YES; only do I treat their leaders humanly "LEGITIMACY"-NO as individuals-presumably we do incomprehensible. One does not not disagree on that-but I relate to need an education of any kind in them as leaders of religious groups order to advance his or his group's n my lecture, I advocated within the Jewish community who agenda successfully; all he needs is acknowledging non-Orthodox must and should be worked with political Insight, will, and muscle. I groups as "valid" and stated that respectfully. This de facto recogni Mah inyan shmitta eitzel Har "if they are sincere in their convic tions they possess spiritual dignity," tion Is not qualitatively different Sinai? It should be understood that from the way we deal with secular Torah Umadda sees itself as a but that we can never accord them groups, except that they happen to vision that issues from Torah itself, halakhic "legitimacy." In your letter, head groups which identify them and is not reducible to technology you ask what I mean by "valid selves as religious. The Torah refers or vocation or political effectiveness. groupings," whether it means that I shall not react to your insinua they are to be dealt with the way we to pagan priests as Kohanim. That is the fact, although we do not go tion that all Zionists define Am relate to leaders of secular Jewish to them for a brakhah. Our Risho nim spoke of chakhmei ha-Kara'im ("Karaite rabbis"), yet no "Ortho EXPERIENCED FUND RAISER dox" Jews ever asked them a sh'elah. Should we deny the same WITH ORTHODOX VALUES appellation-leaders of Jewish reli gious groups-to those who are REQUIRED BY RENOWNED YESHIVA indeed heads of religious Jewish LOCATED IN LARGE JEWISH COMMUNITY groups who, it so happens, are far more numerous than we are? Candidate should be of respectable disposition, pleasant, able to deal with Neither of us is happy with ourcon a cross section of the Jewish community, Public Relations oriented with temporaiy non-Orthodox groups. excellent inoor-personal skills. He will assume the existing fund-raising But you prefer to withhold the ack nowledgment of such facts, while I responsibilities and seek out new sources. The right applicant will be of cannot see the point of denying the fered excellent renumeration package with advancement opportunities. facts which I cannot wish away. It has nothing to do with "pacifying" CV with full particulars should be mailed to; anyone. I suppose that if I had to JEWISH OBSERVER, Box 222, 84 William St., NYC 10038 do it all over again, I would have All replies will be treated with the stricrest confidence. chosen a less equivocal and ambig uous word than "valid." Which brings me to the legitimacy
14 The Jewish Observer, June 1988 issue. It was clear in my article, and you quoted the passage in your footnote that no Orthodox Jew can PINCHAS MANDEL legitimate groups which are clearly Over 35 Years Experience in Kvura in Eretz Yisrael anti-halakhic including those which are so elastic in their seman· •Dedicated to Kavod Haniftar with personal tics as to make most of their wrtting responsibility throughout service on Halakhah meaningless and bef· •Highly recommended by Gedolai Hador uddling. There are, I gather, no -Here and in Eretz Yisrael- differences between us on this 1569 - 47th Street, Brooklyn, New York 11219 point-the most important of all. With regard to "spiritual dignity," Day & Night Phone (718) 855-5121 you ask whether the "spiritual Honesty - Integrity - Reliability dignity" that 1 confer upon Conser· Cl ·l FSE [) ~I If L E.flv1ES ,1~ undt'r~wod ,1nd pract1cpd by one ilctivp in the industry more than half a century vatives and Reform is such that I Taharas Haniftar Should Never Be Commercialized would not give it as well to a devout Jesuit priest or to a Tibetan monk. But of course! (See Rambam Hil· :'M'"llt'l"1 min ,.,.,,,.,; chos Shmitta VeYovel 13,13.) 1 MEETING 'THE 'CHALLENGE OF TORAH EXCELtENCE simply say that if they are religiously AND LEADERSHIP FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW sincere-a tautology perhaps, but one that is necessary in light of the THE CAROLINE AND JOSEPH S. GRUSS fact that so very much of the Or· thodox Right takes it for granted KOLLEL ElYON that such spirit dignity is non· (POST-GRADUATE KOLLEL PROGRAM) existent in the Reform-Conservative RABBI ISAAC ELCHANAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY camp, and that their sole purpose Is to undermine Torah. That they TlM?K vni' il'::l, n::l'W' are undermining Torah I of course AS IT BEGINS ITS SECOND CENTURY OF CONTINUOUS AND UNSURPASSED agree, but that they are all insincere TORAH LEARNING AND LEADERSHIP or all have as their overriding ambition to destroy Torah-with that I disagree. Not everyone in this Nn,,,iac? i'J::li i1vt'lb age of opportunism is devious even C'l"i!b min 'l::l? i1ln'l m""D nilbiti'1 if in error. That is why it is necessary for me to say so. And I might add lZl"VI 111"11.lll ''11'111 ?1KlZI 'lOi• "1 11:)"11 T!'?llM ?'n:i::i '7::ipn;i'7 that insincere people in our own camp do not possess spiritual )l.lll.l , pn?ic pn:r u::ii n:i•IO' '"lilt' oiil l'l"ll "" nmil.ln in111ic dignity. TIKl1 Cl'"lll ,m:i•IO'::i111 o...,n.:iil.ln )l.l i:i .i!lio:ii MT ;;i:i ioiiui I therefore categorically reject .:iici•ni :ninn m1lll.l:t n1'711? icin op111m ontill.l '7:iw ,niic!ln'n your conclusion that my ascription Kliil.l ,,, ...,,l.l, •i1ll'111 "l'ltl ,o"•tii ni•n? iic:r ouitii of spiritual dignity to deserving K:tl.l' ,,,ti•'>:i :ii '7•n .mw:b mni111 •ti '7::i .onm it::in m1111Min deviationist Jews "implies granting nii:in:i :ivnl.l•ui ol 0111 :i'nili ,it :iiol.l? im•:i o•Mnti MT oipti rabbinic legitimacy" to them. The conclusion does not follow from the ':>ui :iiin:i miic:il.l O"':>iw o•'nil Cl'l.l::>n ..,..ti;n '7w f'l:l'i' premises. Acknowledging integrity ,o'liinicm o•i1uiMi:i ii•n1::ii is not the same as giving Semikhah. .oiil lZl"'i 111"11 71•'711:i ':>'n:i:i ':>ic nn!l'7 0•111j:>:inti O'l"llYl.l:i PLURALISM-A SACRED COW 7in'7M pn:r ii:ii n:i•IO' 2540 Amsterdam Ave., New York, N.Y. 10033 he Times report was clear (212) 960-5344 that my objection on the "Who )l'l:I 7i:iM :ii:i ??i:in 111Ki'7 lK T:is A Jew" issue was to its (212) 475-8595 treatment in the political-legislative arena. For your information, in 1970 RABBI ISAAC ELCHANAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY I wrote what 1 believe was the first rationale for our point of view, and pn?ac j'M!' il'::li n::i'VJ' it was distributed in the thousands
The Jewish Observer, June 1988 15 isolation in the world, a time to seek That they [the Reform-Conservative camp] out reasons and sources to justify kiruv instead of richuk and inclu are undermining Thrah I of course agree, but sion instead of rejection to the that they are all insincere or all have as maximum degree possible?-to recall the peshat of RaMaH (to their overriding ambition to destroy Sanhedrin, 52) that ve'ahavta Thrah-with that I disagree. le'reiakha kamokha refers not only to re'im (friends) but also ra 'im (evil doers)? by the Lubavitch movement. I have a comfortable distance, but went not changed my mind one whit into the lions' den, and confronted A DISPUTE LESHEM SHAMAYIM about what I said there and what them with a point of view that they is now the standard view of all fully understood. But they would not am saddened that the Times Orthodox groups. My only objection even have considered it worthy of report, because of its terseness now is to the political fixation on their contempt if I had shouted at and infelicitous choice of names, the issue as the single greatest them, stamped my foot. and called I caused so much distress and anger priority on the agenda of Israeli them all "shkotzim." Is there any in Agudah circles. But I plead with public debate, and on the self thing wrong with what you so these circles not to be hypersensi defeating endeavor to push the contemptuously call "the silk lan tive to criticism or differences of issue in the Knesset at a time when guage of diplomacy" if it proves opinion. There have always been a it has incurred disastrous defeats effective? Or must I prove my bona multiplicity of approaches and, for us, both in Israel and in the fides by outshouting everyone else? provided our intentions are genuine Diaspora, for what is relatively a I admire your brave assertion that, and our attitudes respectful, such minor gain in the practical sense. "Torah practiced with integrity and diversity should be encouraged. On Why, you ask. do I not speak up conviction need not be diluted to the Mishnah in Avot (5:17) that clearly on the substantive issue and win over others." Of course I agree! every controversy le'shem Sha come against religious pluralism? But who is to say that it is rejec mayim will endure, Rabbenu Yonah But I did-in the CLAL lecture tionism only that is endowed with comments happily, "such disputes (reported in Moment) which you "integrity and conviction," whereas will lastjorever-today on one issue, inclusivism is a "dilution"? I do not cited. in the presence of several tomorrow on another-enduring for hundred leaders of the Reform, regard Jewish laymen or clergy as all time. And the reward will be long Conservative, and Reconstruction outside the purview of Kial Yisrael life and many years," to continue ist Movements, and even some Left so that we may not recognize their such differences. This is tolerance Orthodox individuals. I referred to existence or cooperate with them on in the authentic Torah spirit. The pluralism as a "sacred cow," and matters pertaining to our mutual Agudah has never been overly bash explained why I cannot accept it welfare. The Chazon Ish, in two ful in criticizing others. It should be within the religious community. I separate passages, decides halakhi willing to accept the right of others declared it as a disguised and cally that moridin v'ein maalin is to propose constructive differences. discredited ethical or religious inoperative today: because we are in Let criticism be welcome-it is the relativism which leads to spiritual a state of hester panim, and because way of life. nihilism. "If everything is kosher," we are ke'lifnei tokhachah. Is not You close with the words, "Dr. I said (and wrote), "nothing is this post-Holocaust period, where Lamm, are you there with us?" Yes, kosher." I did not criticize it from we again are painfully aware of our Professor Twerski, I am there with you (and possibly before you), M E M OF THE M I K E H u s u v together with all Orthodox, G-d IS HONORED TO INVITE YOU TO AN INSPIRING EXIBIT fearing, Torah-studying and Israel 1368 44th Street, B'klyn, NY 11219 (718) 851-4748 loving Jews, whether Centrist or Rightist, whether of one orientation M!KVAOT or another. And I shall be there with Throughout .--~ The Ages you and with all my Agudah friends, FOR YOUNG Around _ •\W . . The World BOOTH even when I disagree with you, with ANOOlD FroinAdamTo CklrOwn Days #465 ahava and kavod, whether recipro From YerashalOYimToThe FOU(CCrne .. Of The Eatlh cated or not. A New and l1'I09t dedlw ..y to inlroduce ~ My hand is outstretched. Will you and fw:l!x to h bro9der JeMah Corrwmrity Wortdwfde. grasp it? Rable Pfnchu Ben Y•yir Hys: Cordially yours, P U R I T Y leads to ... S A N C T I T Y NORMAN LAMM•
16 The Jewish Observer, June 1988 Projessor Aaron Twerski
A REJOINDER
You have made it clear that you are deeply
ear Dr. Lamm: V"1Y.l~ offended by both the that the Times generally has por I am delighted that you terminology and the trayed. Your own view is diametri D have taken the time to false image that the cally opposed. You have made it clear respond to my open letter to you. It that you are deeply offended by both was written to elicit a response and Times created .... Yet, the terminology and the false a clarification of your views. How you sat idly by and did images that the Times created.... ever. your letter leaves me with nothing to set the Yet. you sat idly by and did gnawing and troubling concerns. l nothing to set the record straight. record straight. hope that you will not misinterpret 2. The Times, you say, reported the sharpness of my comments as the "valid groupings and spiritual a personal attack. Indeed, only by dignity" remarks out of context. In honestly confronting the issues can You criticize me for not "checking order to understand them. you refer we come to grips with the rather the (news) report" with you, to me to your CLAL lecture of March serious repercussions that followed determine what you really said. 1986. As to "valid groupings," that upon The New York Times article Chaval!Whydid you not "check the is to be understood by your "idio reporting your Fifth Avenue speech. news report with you"? You spoke syncratic" definition of the term to By now it is clear that in my open to an audience of four hundred. But mean that they are "strong." And for letter to you I faithfully ascribed to for the world, and posterity, "your that we are referred to Latin for an you the views that you truly words" will be those that were appropriate definition. In any event. embrace. It is also clear that. from reported by the Times. rt is to those it means nothing more than recog beginning to end. The New York words that you and I had to respond. nizing that there is a group out Times article was a misrepresenta there with power and strength. As tion of the tmth. In fact. it would RESPONDING TO THE TIMES to "spiritual dignity," you quite be accurate to describe it as a agree with my characterization that caricature of the views that you so the "spiritual dignity" you would dearly hold. Let me briefly recapitulate: confer upon them is comparable to 1. The Times attributed to you to that conferred on a Tibetan Monk. Professor Twerski, a musmach of Yeshiva Ner such terms as "ultra-Orthodox" and But. not chas veshalom, that of a lsrael·Ballimore. also studied in Beth Medrash "fundamentalist" as references to rabbinic leader. Elyon in Monsey. A leading national authority on products liability and conflict of laws, he is the "Right." It further intimated What was published in The New currently a professor of law in Brooklyn Law that the "Right" was not open to York Times was thus taken out of School. formerly acting dean of Hofstra Law secular culture. This image of the context. They are neither "valid" in School. and has been a Visiting professor at Cornell, University of Michigan (al Ann Arbor), Orthodox "Right" as fundamental the sense that the word is used by and Boston University. ist, Bible-belt know- nothings is one the overwhelming majority of those
The Jewish Obseroer, June 1988 17 who speak the English language Roshei Yeshiva and talmidim in and who are not conversant in Latin -- your own insti tu tion reacted in deep (see footnote below for entry from If the problem of anger to the Times rendering. And American Heritage Dictionary)'. nor yes, Alexander Schindler apparently does their spiritual dignity slander and deep understood it to mean that a Con removed as it is from Mesora and offense were an isolated servative or Reform rabbi was finally halacha-have Torah meaning. one, volt noch gevain being acknowledged as a rabbi by They are usurpers and falsifiers of the prestigious president of Yeshiva the title "Rav" as used for tzu derleiden. But your University.3 No, he did not have generations. speech was not made in Jesuit priest dignity-he had Clearly, no one but an omniscient a vacuum, and your rabbinical spiritual dignity. Maybe G-d could so have read The New not "Yoreh-Yoreh. Yodin-Yodin," York Times report of your speech. words thus assume but close enough so that no one It was a gross misrepresentation of impact beyond your would ever know the difference. your views.... And throughout this all, you did Yet you sat idly by and did not lift avowed intent. not lift your pen to write a letter to your pen to place your views in their the editor of The New York Times true light. or to any other medium of com not intimately familiar with your 3. You say that the Times report munication to reveal the truth. views. I question whether anyone on your objection to the 'Who is a Was it necessary for Aaron would read it but to say that you Jew" issue was clear. But that Twerski to do it? I wonder: had the were taking issue with the "Mihu simply is not so. May I suggest that Times mlscharacterized your words Yehudi" question In a manner you take the relevant paragraph' to portray Yeshiva University in an diametrically opposed to your true and place it before people who are unfavorable light, would you not position. have written somewhere to set the Yet you permitted the matter to I. val-id (val-id) adj. 1. Well-grounded; a valid record straight? In short, is it proper objection. 2. Producing the desired results: rest without correcting this that the lie will have been told to efficacious: valid methods. 3. Legally sound and misconception. effective: incontestable: valid title. 4. Logic, a. millions and the truth limited to the Containing premises from which the conclusion 4. Whatever is to be said for the readers of The Jewish Observer'? may logically be derived: a valid argument b. Times article itself and your initial Correctly inferred or deduced from a premise: a valid conclusion. 5. Archaic. Of sound health: reading of it, there is another NOT IN A VACUUM robust. !Fr. valide
18 The Jewish Observer, June 1988 tials with the left as a non· judgmental leader of Kial Yisroel. If the problem I describe were an THE Yl'I"I'Y LEIBEL HELP-LINE isolated one, volt noch gevain tzu A Free Service of the derleiden. But your Fifth Avenue speech was not made in a vacuum. Yitty Leibel Chesed Fund and your words thus assume impact beyond your avowed intent. For the • Marital problems? • Fear of break-down? last five years, the attack from the • Overpowering stress? • Parent-child friction? Conservative and Reform move· ments against "Right"·wing Ortho· Do you have problems like these and are afraid or ashamed to talk to doxy has been unrelenting and anyone? ... Do you want a trained, wise, warm professional who will talk to vicious. . . . They have sought to portray the "Right" as fundamental· you on the phone? ists, as divisive separationists, as Some of the Torah community's highly skilled psychologists, social workers, bigots. as Khoumeinis, who have no and therapists are ready to help. Your consultation will be treated with the claim on histortcal Jewish truths.... utmost discretion. You may remain anonymous if you prefer. They under· They are waving the "unity" banner stand. They're trained. They have Ahavas Yisrael. as a means for legitimating devia· Hours: tionist groups, which happen to be Monday through Friday 8:00-12:00 a.m. responsible for more divisiveness Sunday through Thursday 9:00-11:00 p.m. and disunity than has ever before Sunday morning 9:00-12:00 noon threatened Klal Yisroel-what with Reform recognition of patrilineal Dial (718) HELP-NOW (435-7669) descent as a basis of Jewishness, This project has been approved by leading Torah authorities. For information only call (718) 435-7706. and countless mamzeirim resulting from second marrtages that take place with Reform blessings, with· out benefit of a halachic divorce .... They have attempted to project "pluralism" in the manner that you CENTRAL TORAH LIBRARY personally find so unacceptable, as Agudath Israel of Boro Park the true tradition of Judaism.... 451114th Avenue They have sought with considerable success to have Jewish Federations Brooklyn, New York 11219 throughout the length and breadth of this great countiy implement this You are invited to avail yourselves pluralism in a wide array of educa of our collection of 12,000 Seforim. tional activities. There are special Yiddish and English sections JOINING THE CLAL CHORUS and duplicating facilities on the premises. iving inspiration and direc LIBRARY HOURS: tion to this endeavor is a Sundays 2-5 p.m. Gleading self-proclaimed "Centrist" Orthodox spokesman, Mondays & Wednesdays 6:30-8:30 p.m. Yitzchak Greenberg, a member in LIBRARY HALL - 3rd FWOR good standing of a "Centrist" 45ll 14th Avenue Orthodox rabbinic organization. His influence, especially through his Brooklyn, New York 11219 organization, CLAL (the National ADMISSION FREE Jewish Center for Leaming and .. Leadership), has been devastating For additional information, please call and destructive. You are keenly (718) 854-4500 during library hours. aware of the CLAL agenda. Indeed, you lent your name and your per· Rabbi Israel Lefkowitz Rabbi David Grossman sonal participation to a major CLAL Chairman of the Board President conference with the speech that you refer to in your letter.
The Jewish Observer, June 1988 19 There is no question whatsoever Orthodox rabbis-Rabbi Yoseif Dov that CLAL's views on pluralism and How one can be Soloveitchik prominent among other matter central to emunas them-have always opposed inter Yisroel are sacrilege; indeed. the "personally observant" faith dialogue, mainly for courting word is simply kefim (heresy). For while identifying with a confusion and trouble. Greenberg's example. Greenberg likens the dif religious movement paper exceeds these conventional ferences between Orthodoxy and objections by actually flirting with other groups to the disputes that denies Ikrei apostasy. Indeed, he says. "In con between "Hillel and Shammai. Hayahadus: clud[ingJ ... that Christianity was (about whom the Talmud says: 'Both 7brah MeSinai? an alien growth . . . the rabbis are the words of a living G-d') and perhaps erred.... The rabbis Hasidim and Mitnagdim" (-Green confused a 'failed' messiah (which berg). In line with this approach, having been added to a chorus that is what Jesus was) and a false Greenberg calls for an interchange has been heard nationwide and messiah .... A failed messiah is one of pulpits between Orthodox. Con which is deeply and essentially who has the right values but did not servative and Reform rabbis "to hurtful to the Torah community attain the final goal ... [similar to[ clarify ideology and values of their "Right" and "Centrist" equally. Bar Kochba.... " (We quote below movement to a new constituency." There are Orthodox rabbis of "tra more fully from his statement on (See the footnote below' for a fuller ditional" (no mechitza) synagogues Christianity'.) quotation on this view from CLAL in outlying communities who have literature.) reproduced and distributed the NOT YOUR VIEWS, Thus, the Conservative and Times article as a vindication of BUT YOUR IMPRIMATUR Reform leadership has been writing their "accommodationist" attitudes the music of"pluralism"; Greenberg and pluralistic programs. n this connection I want to make has furnished the orchestration; CLAL has even gone further. In a something absolutely clear. I do and, sadly. you wrote the lyrics. In paper on "The Relationship of I not attrtbute the views of Yitz short. if I take you to task for Judaism and Chlistianity: Toward Greenberg to you. From everything permitting the misinformation to a New Organic Model." published I have read by you and know about continue to linger, it is because your and widely distributed by CLAL. you, I would venture to say that if voice is now being perceived as Rabbi Greenberg demonstrates why cine were to put a gun to your head and say: "Utter these words or else 4. In a NationaJ Conference of Ci.AL-The 5. Christianity triumphed among the Gentiles. National Jewish Center for Leaming and Lead No Jew would fall for that fairy tale of a virgin I shoot." you would say, "Go ahead ership-held in June, 1987--theAm Echad (One mother. If you were pregnant from someone else. and shoot." You would agree that People) Department-proposed the following: what would you tell your husband? This is they are the stuff of "yehoreig ve'al MODELS OF COMMUNAL COOPERATION fundamentally how medieval Jews handled Christianity.... So. if a few Jews followed Jesus, ya'avor.... "Yet in some ways you CIAL encourages rabbis, rabbinic organiza it proved nothing. The rabbis concluded that do carry responsibility for his state tions and communal groups to conduct a wide Christianity was an alien growth, developed by ments. array of programs designed to promote Jewish those who followed a false messiah. unity through greater understanding among the At Fifth Avenue you spoke in the movements.. The rabbis perhaps erred here.... Out of defensiveness. the rdbbis confused a "failed" name of "We Centrists." The 1) Seminar on Jewish Unity messiah (which is what Jesus was) and a false intellectual and religious leader of ... CLAL can assist in the development of messiah. . . A failed messiah is one who has Innovative study programs exploring the issue the right values, upholds the covenant. but who a group has not only the light. but of religious diversity. and currently offers two did not attain the final goal ... {similar to] Bar the duty, to speak for the entire four-part seminar models utilizing CIAL scho Kochba, the great Jewish freedom fighter who movement. (In passing, I would like lars and local rabbis. led a revolt against Rome that temporary drove The first format includes sessions on the dawn Rome out of Jerusalem.... He was hailed by to add that I'd have preferred that of modernity. the four major movements [i.e. Rabbi Akiva and many great rabbis as the the term "Centrist" would never Orthodox. Conservative, Reform, and Recon messiah .. struction]. The second format studies have seen the light of day. If you are historical cases of communities in conflict. i.e., Calling Jesusa failed messiah is in itself a tern1 at the center of normative Judaism, Hillel and Shamrnai and Hasidim and Mitnag of irony. In the Jewish tradition. failure is a most just exactly who occupies the Left? dim. The focus is to understand howotherJewish ambiguous term. Abraham was a "failure"'. communities dealt with powerful ideological Moses was a "failure...... Jeremiah was a .. failure ...... Ober man hot nisht bei mir conflicts in order to locate the threads of ... All these "failures·· are at the heart of divine gefregt) comnionalityand unity. within diversity. that can and Jewish achievements.. You created the term "Centrist" serve as models for the contemporary Jewish The unfinished agenda of the Jewish-Christian scene. [In other words, Conserva.tive versus or at least bear the responsibility for dialogue is the recognition of the profound Orthodox, which is in effect Kefira versus interrelationship between both. Each faith popularizing it-and I am afraid Emuna, is comparable to Shammai versus community experiencing the love of G-d and the Hillel!-A.T.) that it is here to stay for awhile. Isn't chosenness of G-d was temped into saying: I am it time that a stand be taken as to 2} Rabbinic Pulpit Exchange the only one chosen. There was a human failure Local rabbis visit congregations of other to see that there is enough love in G-d to choose who may speak for the "Centrists"? denominations. Jn this model, rabbis speak from again and again and again. Both faiths in Should one who preaches vile kefira the pulpit Jn an effort to clarify ideology and renewal may yet apply this insight not just to values of their movement to a new each other but to religions not yet worked into be allowed to travel throughout the constituency.. this dfalogue. (italics mine-A.T.) United States as a consultant to over
20 The Jewish Observer. June 1988 three score Jewish Federations preaching "pluralism" and heresy in THE LUACH the name of Orthodox "Centrtsm," and remain unchallenged by the prime spokesman for "Centrism"? FOR MISHNA Isn't it essential that someone declare that "the field" begins and HALACHA YOMIS ends with unquestioning emuna, launches a new Seder Moed. and that denial of Ikrim (basic tenets of faith) does not render SECLUDED It is not late to join Seder Moed. someone into the "left-wing," but With a little effort you can fall in line 6 OCEANFRONT totally out of the ballpark? with the many thousands who follow By the same token, shouldn't the VILLA ON the Luach for regular daily learning of head of the world's leading TROPICAL ISLAND "Centrist" rabbinical seminary Mishna-Halacha Yomis. • 3 Bedrooms reject all vestiges of pluralism, once Regular learning is the key to success in and for all? The position you artic • Private Pool learning Torah. • Fully Stocked Pantry with ulated at Yitz Greenberg's CLAL Let us send you the Luach free. conference dedicated to pluralism Kosher Groceries write or call: two years ago was not a ringing • Fulltime Staff of Two rejection of pluralism, as you set Rabbi Elias Karp • Car with driver 1880 47th St. forth in your response. The image IDEAL FOR FRUM COUPLE Brooklyn, NY 11204 of Daniel in the lion's den is belled OR FAMILY (718) 851-0770 not only by your active role in the Call For Free Brochure (718) 336·2760 In Memory of Rabbi and Mrs. Charles M. Batt 6. As the JO is going to press. the most recent Hartford, Connecticut issue of the National Jewish Law Review has come to my hand. lt contains an article by Rabbi Emanuel Rackman (a member of good standing in the "Centrist" Rabbinical Council of America) entitled. "The Cast> of the Sotah Iindiscreet wife] sinl'e 1928 in Jewlsh Law: Ordeal or Psychodra1na" {3 National Jewish Law Review at pp.49-64, 1988). Once more! am constrained to question whether he too ls a legitimatP spokesman for Centrist FREEDA® Orthodoxy or whether you would re_ject him as unsuitable for that role. The thesls ofHackrnan·s article is that the mai sotah~the mixture of water in which the ink from the oath of the sotah, Including the name VITAMINS of Hashem, was dissolved-did not have the THE BEST IN THE VITAMIN WORLD miraculous power to k!ll the guilty sotah. Instead. he argues that it was all a psychodrama used :J6 E. 4lst St., Ncn/ York, NV 10017 (212) 685·-1980 either to cause her to confess or to reconcile her with her suspicious husband. Rackman claims ()ver 250 Vitamins, Minerals and Amino Acids to cover a!l that a significant group of the rabbis In the Talmud held this view but "were not free to your vitamin needs. Our vitamins are made on the premises verbalize why they did not accept lhe supernat under strict pharmaceutical and kashrus standards. ural approach for they feared that public Freeda Vitamins are parve and vegetarian and are under the criticism of the supernatural approach would Rabb!nical Supervision of the Orthodox Union and Rabbi have vitiated the sotah ceremony as they Mordechai Kohn from New Square, NY. perceived it." In other words, the Torah pres cribed a psychological hoax and the Talmudists • No sugar • No sulfates • No coal tar dyes engaged in a conspiracy of silence not to let the •No staech•No salt filler •No animal stearates ---=___. ..,__ cat out of the bag. Rackman's article is contrary to everything ·~<; recorded in the Talmud on the topic: in other --· . FREE FREEDA BROCHURES: ___:_':;_"._:__ words, simply blatant /efim. In another note in ~~'ll this letter I have set forth Rackman's warm and fulsome embrace of both you and your Fifth :::J iV\ulti-Vitamin~ ~ C<1kium :: New & Exciting Products Avenue speech. He said that he "has always :J Minerals C Digestive Aicis =Nutrition for Children known" that you and he "shared the same :::J Full complete brochure' ~J Vitamin C ='Nutrition tor VVomcn Ideology" and differed merely whether "our cause :::J Free coupon for a $2.00 ::J B-Co1np!ex ~1 Nutrition ior Senior~ should be called centrist or modern." discount on Freeda vitamins. I believe that Rackman Is dead wrong: that you are repulsed by his Views, as expressed Jn the Law Revtew and on numerous other occasions. ~Please check the spaces which are of interest to Isn't il time that you deny him the right to ADDRESSc characterize his Torah Weltanschauung as you, and wewi11 send you yours, and to present himself as a spokesman p.:imphlets, no charge. CITY:----·---- STATE: ____ ZIP~-- for Modern Orthodoxy-or Centrism, as you prefer to call it?
The Jewish Observer. June 1988 21 CI.AL conference, but also by the Shmitta VeYovel 13.13. And here l sue-he is sanctified to be holy of position that you staked out-half am at an absolute loss to under holies and the L-rd is his portion. way between rejection and embrace stand you. The Rambam in that ..." (Original language of the ment of your own home-made brew famous, oft-cited passage compares Rambam appears below.7) of pluralism. Permit me to explain: honest searchers of truth to the Of course, "kol bo'ei olam-all Tribe of Levi. as being Chall who come into the world"-even in A PLURALISM OF "SANCTITY" Hashem-G-d's chosen ranks. For Tibet-have this potential for spir· the sake of the reader, permit me t was at that CI.AL conference itual greatness. But is one supposed that you publicly granted the to assume that the Rambam also Conservative and Reform "valid means that an idolatrous monk, or I a "rabbi" who denies Torah MiSinai, ity" (in accordance with the word's If you are to deal with is walking "upright as G-d created Latin root validus, of course). And the Conservative and him"? The Rambam makes some it was there that you bestowed "spiritual dignity'' upon them. with Reform rabbinate as the unforgiving judgments against out the qualifying explanation that those who reject the Seven Noahide functional equivalent of Laws: and he is no less harsh with appears in your letter to me in this issue of The Jewish Observer-an secular Jewish groups, meisisim umeidichim-Jews who explanation that would not have as you suggest, and no disavow the Thirteen Principles of Faith, and knowingly lead others endeared you to Alexander Schind more, than it will have ler (Reform) or Wolfe Kelman (Con similarly astray (see Moreh Nevu servative), as the unexpanded ver to be spelled out with chim, Section III, Ch.41). You surely don't mean to suggest that the sion did. excruciating clarity. Rambam confers "spiritual dignity" And now, in your letter to me, you confuse things further. In the very on pagans and on Conservative and Reform rabbis! (See Rambam·s same paragraph where you respond to quote the Rambam: "Not only the commentary on Mishnayos Chelek to my challenge, whether you confer Tribe of Levi, but every man, from excerpted belows). Nor could one the same "spiritual dignity" upon all who come into the world, who is Conservative and Reform rabbis as so inspired and understands on his ever study the Rambam in its entirety and conclude that he is you do on a devout Jesuit priest or own to separate himself and stand describing any "rabbi" who is mar Tibetan monk, you make an before G-d to serve Him ... to know beh mamzeirim beYisroel as ";n ,,n extremely troubling reference. You G-d, and to walk upright as G-d reply: "But of course!" and refer the created him, and renounces the O'\!rtp 't'1'P w1pn)-sanctified to be holy of holies." To read such inter reader to Rambam, Hilchos many concerns that people pur- pretation into the Rambam is nothing less than ziuf haTorah (falsification of Torah)!
AN URGENT REMINDER 'NJ. 'J))) \IJ'Nl \IJ'N ?:> N7N 1J';:!J 'l'J \)J.'tl N'Jl . 7 ?1:::in'J 1),!1J:l U'Jill 1J1lN 1n1; ilJ1) "WJN 0?1yn FROM i7;n 'n nN ny;'J 1;::n.v':n 1n;v'.J '1 'l!:l7 -rln}.17 'Jl)J 11Nl~ ';;yr.i j::r1!)l 0'P'7l~.n lil\IJ),!'ll l))J F'tl' 11t '""!11 01N11 ')J. )'tlp::l l't!N 0'::ll11 TIU,J.'tln11 CHEVRA DOR YESHORIM o)iy'.:J )n'.:Jn)i ip;n '-r 11'11'' O'W1p w-rp w1pn) 1'.:J P'~Vtl11 "l'.l1 r'11)1'.l i'.:J 11'.:!P1 O')J)))I ,r.:i;iy')1 YOUNG PEOPLE OF MARRIAGEABLE AGE MUST BE TESTED .0'1'J'J 0')11'.:!'J 11'.:!t'tl 1t.:l;) 8. The Rambam discusses three classes of in order to prevent the scourge of Tay-Sachs disease from striking the next thinkers who differ in their interpretation of the generation, in accordance with the directives of the Gedo lei Hadar. words of ChazaL In his second category. he describes people that " ... call these (rabbinical SCHOOLS and YESHIVOS: assertions) foolish. and deprecate them and slander that which should not be slandered. From Please call 718-384-2332 if you are time to time, they deride the words of the Sages interested in having testing done for students. and imagine that they are more intelligent and have more penetrating minds than the Sages.. Genetic counseling is also available. " ... those who stumble into this type of belief consider themselves to be intellectuals and wise Call for an appointment: philosophers but how far removed they are from (718) 384-6060 or (914) 783·1370 humanlty when they are compared to true phllosophers. These (thinkers) are even more Confidentiality assured. stupid than the first class, and more foolish. It is an accursed class because they oppose men of great worth whose wisdom has already been CHEVRA DOR YESHORIM, INC. established before scholars." See Maimonides, Commentary on the Mishna, 198 Keap Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211 Tractate Sanhedrin (translation by Dr. Fred Rosner).
22 The Jewish Observer, June 1988 What is one to say, then, to your would grant Reform and Conserva· there is a good bit wrong with reference to the Rambam? At this tive rabbis more validity and dignity confusing ambiguity, especially point. I can only repeat the final line then your response to us would when one of the gravest problems of my previous letter: "Dr. Lamm, are indicate. The suggestion serves only befalling our people today is lack of you there with us?" to send further mixed signals about clartty on fundamentals of emuna. "legitimacy," which I find so NATIONAL BETH DIN dismaying. UNITY, WHERE IT COUNTS A FANTASY The problem that I and others like me confront in attempting to n your quest for unity for Klal oming back to your CLAL understand your position is that we Yisroel, there is another unity address, it contained a deeply find it incomprehensible that you do I with which you must concern distressing and confusing not understand the national cur yourself, and that is the unity of C Shomrei Torah. proposal, which served to further rents in which both your words and Nothing, in my put the question mark on your claim your silence find themselves. In that opinion, would more lead to a full to opposition to pluralism: that a context, you are not making yourself and formal schism between the national Beth Din (rabbinical court) understood at all. Yes, there is "Right" and the "Centrists" than be formulated to deal with the issues nothing wrong with diplomacy, but continuing to needlessly violate the of gittin and kedushin in a format that will be accepted by all Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist. As part of BETH that, you boldly propose that "rabbis who are expert and personally obser· vant, no matter what groups they MEDRASH formally belong to, may be autho· rlzed to serve." l fail to understand how one can be "personally observant" while EEYUN identifying with a religious move ment that denies Ikrei Hayahadus: Torah MeSinai! We all know that HATALMUD not only Reform, but the Conserva Monsey, New York tives also reject the binding char acter of codified halacha. Hence Harav Hagaon Reb Abba Berman, Shlita - Rosh Hayeshiva your proposal was unacceptable, and will remain unacceptable. Rabbi Harav Chaim z. Mallnowitz - Rosh Kolle/ Harav Nochum Frankel - Menahel Ruchni Moshe Feinstein '"" made it clear Rabbi Yehuda Kahn - Executive Director beyond doubt in a responsum in Announces the opening of a Igros Moshe that a rabbi who is connected with a Conservative syn agogue cannot be counted among Mesivta-High School Division the members of a Beth Din for geirus (conversion) because of his affilia· Horov Shmuel Rotkin, Shlito, (Yeshivas Itri, Queens), tion. Do you think for a moment will be the 9th Grode Magid Shiur. that he, or any halacha authorities, • Close Interaction with would have decided differently Qualified elementary graduates wf-io regarding a Beth Din for gittin? Do aspire to become true bnoi Torah are Distinguished Beth Medrash you think that there is any basis for invited to inquire obou1 l
The Jewish Observer, June 1988 23 sensibilities of the yeshiva com answer would be negative, he would How does one determine effective munity-by such statements as not issue a tentative psak Such is ness in reaching our brothers that proposing the establishment of a the way of responsible Torah are so distant from us? By gaining Beth Din. which would include leadership.) coverage in the Times-even when those who have formal affiliations the story distorts your views? By with the Conservative or Reform winning kudos from Schindler? movement. Does that really accomplish kiruv of I might relate to you that when "Centrism" is a term the hearts of rechokim or does it Agudath Israel's Commission on that places your group perhaps tell them that they're okay Legislation and Civic Action under the way they are? took to formulate the New York Get in the center. In the People today are in desperate need Bill, I met with outstanding consti center of what? of clear guidance, and they respond tutional lawyers (e.g. Nathan Lewin) Avoiding excessive zeal to it when they get it: and we and a host of rabbinic leaders. The endeavor to give it to them-without dictate from the leading Roshei to the right, in which name calling, without apology. Are Yeshiva was to arrive at legislation area? Embracing what our efforts effective? Witness the that would have the heskem of all degree of deviation to innovative publishing of original Torah authorities within the Torah Torah thought, and the translation community. That was done. The the left? of classic Torah literature, in the entire spectrum, from the Satmar vernacular. Rabbi Emanuel Rack Dayan to Rabbi Soloveitchik, was man. an avowed spokesman for contacted. The directions were clear. Modem Orthodoxy, gives the credit On matters that effect kedushas UNHYPHENATED TORAH ACTION for pioneering such ventures to Yisroel, no action can and should ArtScroll-Mesorah Publications' 0 - be undertaken if there was valid have only a few remarks with among others, we are quick to add. halachic objection from any quarter. regard to your true views as "Black-hat" outfits, for sure.... And (Similarly. Rav Chaim Ozer Grod I expressed in your response to take note of how "Right-wingers" zenski J"" of pre-war Vilna, undis me. You defend your approach of have also been blazing trails in high putedly the Rabban Shel Kol Bnei using "the silken language of diplo tech communication to bring Hagola, dealt with a proposal for a macy" because "it proves effec recorded Oaf Yomi classes and lenient approach toward a specific tive"- moreso than our approach, numerous Torah lectures to the kashrus problem for starving Jews. which you characterize as "worthy telephones of thousands of sub but would not concur on such a of their contempt if I [i.e. Dr. Lammi scribers across the map . . . in ruling without the consensus of had shouted at them [Reform and bringing Torah to Russian Jews in other gedolei poskim. As long as he Conservative leaders!. stamped my America and abroad ... in helping suspected in advance that the foot. and called them 'shkotzim'" Jewish Icy League collegiates dis cover the Judaism they never knew ... in operating a massive program HAGA ON HORAV MOSHE FEINSTEIN ZT"L'S of rescue, shelter and religious education of young refugees from PSOKIM ON THE THREE WEEKS AND TISHA B'AV Iran ... in initiating the remarkable Including Previously Unpublished Responsa Hatzoloh volunteer ambulance pro Now in the Newly Expanded Edition of the gram.... Yes, "Right- wing" yeshiva Hashkafa Sefer r10URNING graduates and hassidim are in the 0 V E R leadership of all of these endeavors. by: Rabbi Yosef Yisroel Grossman Rav-n"il,J Sais Yehuda, Monsey, N.Y. Menahel-Beth Jacob-Beth Miriam, Bronx, N.Y. 1 O. ''Thirty years ago, I wrote: 'In the area of CHURDAN English publications ... Orthodox Judaism must meet new challenges. Its halachic and scholarly CONTAINS ALSO journals ... have a limited Circle of readers, while • A Haskomo from, and pinx 01tJJ1p~Addendum most American Jews have only the vaguest dedicated to !lin ltKlli r,~xiwi iJ n:i,un., :i"i notions of the nature of Orthodoxy and its 7"i'iYT pc~iSl''i1i ,,r,:i yn:ii-i :li'ln. spiritual and Intellectual vitality.' • A Kinoh on the 6,000,000 tl'W'1"ti' by Rav Shimon "Now, it can be said that Orthodox Judaism Schwab X"U'1nv in Hebrew and English. $4.50 is coping with that challenge very effectively, and much of the credit is due to those who conceived and are executing the program of the ArtScroll Available at your local Jewish bookstore or order from: Series.... The translations of the ArtScroll Series are felicitous, the expositions abundantly clear FELDHEIM PUBLISHERS and the art work truly sophisticated. All in all. 200 Airport Executive Park. Spring Valley, NY 10977 the series is a historic contribution to the 914-356-2282 / 212-219-2215 • Visa & MasterCard accepted advancement of Torah study in English speaking Out-of-State Call Toll Free 800-237-7149 countries.''~Focus, by Rabbi Emanuel Hackman The Jewish Week, Inc., N.Y.C., March 4, 1988.
24 The Jewish Obseroer. June 1988 By the same token, your dismissal point of view of the Torah, we find nal January 18, 1954). of "Right-wing" Orthodoxy's ac the difference between Orthodox If you are to deal with the Con complishments in other areas as a and Reform Judaism much greater servative and Reform rabbinate as matter of political push is surpris than that which separates the the functional equivalent of secular ingly simplistic. Besides lobbying Pharisees from the Sadducees in the Jewish groups, as you suggest, and for legislation to protect the kosher days of the Second Commonwealth, no more, then it will have to be consumer. and the unfortunate and between the Karaites and the spelled out with excruciating clarity. aguna, we wrote the laws in a way traditionalists in the Geonic era. The analogies that you draw are that stand up well under the courts' Has Jewish history ever recorded an simply historically inappropriate to unforgiving eye. And yes. Agudath instance of a joint Community our present day dilemmas and Israel was alone among Jewish Council or a joint Rabbinical Coun dangerously confusing to the grop groups to challenge Mayor Koch's cil which consisted of Karaites and ing masses, especially at a time Executive Order 50, and led the Torah-true Jews?" (translated from when the Torah's authenticity is successful battle to stop the Gay an article in Der Tog-Morgen Jour- being questioned by so many. Rights order in the courts. These are the areas where one would expect exponents of Torah Umadda to be in the forefront, but somehow the fires of conviction which inspires all this creativity and spawns these innovative, effective projects-burn strongest where an allegiance to Torah is not splintered or diluted (or "enriched") by a broader ideological framework.
WISE IN OTHER WAYS
n your letter to me, you note that the Torah refers to pagan priests I as kohanim, and that Rishonim speak of chakhmei ha-kara 'im, and that those titles were not intended to, and did not, confer halachic status upon them. Come now. Those titles referred to "position," but did not bestow honors by any means. Nobody ever confused pagan priest hood with halachlc legitimacy. They Tochnit Bais Yaakov - T.B.Y. were of different religions. And the Bayit Vegan, P.O.B. 16400, Jerusalem., Israel rabbinic split with the Karaim could not have been more complete. No A new seminary~gramfor the one to my knowledge ever accorded Bais Yaak-Ov high school graduate. them "spiritual dignity." Nor should anyone today confer "spiritual dig • Intensive pragrami of nity" on those who by definition are Limudei Kod.esh For more information calk leading vast numbers of Jews away • Outst.anding meclw.nchim 718'846·4695 or from Torah and mitzvos. • Tiyulim '/'.18-441·9495 It is well-known that "Right-wing" * Warm ahnosphere or Rnbbi Hillel Mandel rabbinical leadership has not • Thacher training program 718·805-111)1 always been in full agreement with with certificates the views of the leading mentor of • College aceredita.tion or contact P.O.R 16406, Modern Orthodoxy, Rabbi Yoseif • Emph The Jewish Observer, June 1988 25 WEARE NOT ENGAGED IN prescribe a Golden Mean of Moder one hand. I want to grasp both. rf "MORIDIN" ation? Yes. But that refers to the other hand is simultaneously to midos-character traits. such as be used to send mixed and incom our reference to the Chazon anger as opposed to indifference, prehensible signals to those whose Ish is puzzling, as well. The frugality in contrast to squander goals are so foreign to us, our Y Chazon Ish's view that ing-areas where one should avoid relationship will ultimately shatter moridin v'ein maalin is inapplica the extremes. By contrast. commit on the shoals of disappointment ble today is, in truth. irrelevant to ment to emuna and bitachon and bitterness. The Times article our discussion. We do not and never faith and trust in G-d-must not be caused pain not only in Agudah have even remotely suggested a tepid or moderate. rt must be full circles. It caused pain over the broad moridin plan of action. But there is hearted, even "extreme,'' says the range of Orthodox communities. It a vast difference between ein Chazon !sh. caused pain in your own yeshiva. It moridin (do not lower into a pit) and As we said before, "Centrism" is was a symptom not merely of dis· mechabdin (bestow honor). And in a term that places your group in the agreement but of a lack of forth an age when extraordinary pres center. In the center of what? Avoid· rightness on matters that go to the sures towards the legitimation of ing excessive zeal-to the right in very heart of the kiyum of Kial "three co-equal branches of Juda· which area? Embracing what Yisroel. ism" exists, the ein moridin concept degree of deviation to the left? But it is a time for rejoicing when has no meaning whatsoever. But ein brothers speak openly to each other. mechabdin most certainly does. I believe we have made a significant Indeed, the Chazon !sh speaks 'YES, BUT ... " start. And I take your offer seriously: very clearly on this. In a letter to Both of my hands are outstretched Rabbi Avrohom Wolf, the late n the closing line of your letter for yours to grasp.... founder of Beth Jacob of Bnei Brak, to me. you ask: "My hand is he calls for "education toward I outstretched. Will you grasp it?" Cordially yours, extremism." Doesn't the Rambam Of course the answer is yes. But, not AARON TwERSKYB EMERGENCY APPEAL A distinguished "Tai mid Chochom" who is a Rosh Cf(J) DMi"H ~.o.f91 O~Ml"M P"M Hakollel for advanced Balei Teshuva and has UJ [ >1!o SHEET t~OOUYN.NY 11l1• dedicated his life to helping people both spiritually ------"';,·J.j') ,~£1LiL»~ 1 and financially, is now in dire need and under ;i_~,c1 ~fe-v1C1 vi~ ?!·~'9Jt ,)/J.J' ';>1111J' extreme pressure of debts that are affecting his f~j) .)42 r•&·.U;i p 1 a!O~ :'Ill"" ',r;,li e1:vul( ·11'=> 't'I(' .)/~ health. rr;., fk,, .?~·r1 t'C,ft . -1$)u R 1nz<7_ JH'l'2/ f£> :'121"'7 n!ri?,:( ?'":,))[ rf,11 -rN.t£ f'ir/D,,;,t 1'/r.:> ''7-'!n We therefore appeal to all lovers of Torah and >) p.v.61 ,)J{l'I !1iC W(( tr;r{., ?hM!lr•Y .,?f{b-.;, ·rl;> r&t '.ft'/? Gtr Chesed to help generously by alleviating the plight 0 ) ' t'd fif v"W:.? Jj;_k ' r£~ ../\,.;-, ',i/$ '"'~1~11 '1'///; j./·~r of this "Talmid Chochom'.' ::i ... 152 tlsr .., pk b P1 1Yn ""~,[ 12[ C. ,;ad fr1,, ;i3[A1J I ' -1?[,1/1 t·P" l,;lfk';>. :'11'c,,., n''N.t? -:-w /.J;i 1:,e_£_ O!·•~r .. ,~~, ALL TAX-DEDUCTIBLE CHECKS MAY BE MADE OUT TO THE I , I u,bt 1Kf Myn? V'a.J :11 Jfh; /l 11fo.! fi r;r[ M11 ,.,..;.,nl 'I I EMERGENCY AID FUND ~~~~~~~~~~~...DP.~.~ AND MAILED TO , , r 4 RABBI Y. M. SCHORR 1~[:w 1;µ '-fJ>U 'f,J; ..., ,/Jj'I Jr{ 1f{rJL :'1~;2 ri> ,,,,4[12[ 593 E. 8th St. B'klyn, N.Y. 11218 I ~~ •1Un "hf? ,~ ,.,,JJr , Nlr-'?r,,, 26 The Jewish Observer, June 1988 Build Torah • ID Eretz Yisroel Thousands of Avreichim, Baalei Batim and Baalei Teshuva would love to call up the "Oaf Hayomi," Dial-a-Shiur and Mishnah Yomi just like you do - but they cannot because Kol Hadaf stations are still only located in Jerusalem and Haifa. Kol Hadaf has acquired the approval of Bezeq (Israel's Telephone Co.) for the acquisition of 232 telephone lines for three new telephone stations, as follows: 172 lines in Gush Dan (03) Tel Auru, Bnm Brak, Ramal Gan- cost including equipment= $111,150 30 lines in Rechovot (08) cost including equipment= $19,500 30 lines in Petach Tikva (03-9) cost including equipment= $19,500 Each new line with its equipment costs $650 Programs will be in Hebrew, English and Yiddish. 11111111111111111!!1111111!!!!!!111111111111111111111111111'''''''' ·1 Partner h Becot'lle a henins 'Tora in Strenst isroel in Eretz y . for English speakers. tete tines · rnent. ·11 buY 10 cornP 1· e with eqUtP $6,500 w1 cornrlete in . 0 will buY .0 Yahrze1t. $65 . d d1cate a to: $120 will e t'ble contribution now "' k 10977. ax deduc 1 New ~or our generous t S r\ng \/ a\\eY' Send Y B 1236, P 'II o\ ttada{, PO oA 145 " be directed to: . -383927 /30'1' I ~~:~'.?i;;1i1ffiffiliiiJ~JliJ~~ll , Beautiful framed certificates available for On your next trip to Israel, Dial-in to Kol Hadaf. donors. DAF HAYOMI Yiddish - 02-243121, 04-672006 MISHNAYOMI Hebrew - 02-241112, 04-672111 02-247789, 04-672121 English - 02-247788 (Yiddish and Hebrew) "/ am so pleased to hear that MIFAL HASHA5 is MIFAL HASHAS i< an celebrating its fifth year of "Undoubled/J•. the "Given the severe finat. outstanding projed. From Torah greatnes; Its K!auzenberger Rebhe pressures that threaten , ds beginning w#h Mesechta significance during these K"o"'1u is a desamdent etistence of MIFAL HA\, from the,,.,,.,,., For B~ d demonsiratlJ'i the limes of ~imilation i5 et •en non. I urge aU those wlxi en .. /rue Brocho · that i1 The mare compelling Hm1' great the Ta/mud states that t/xJse themsek•es to Torah to; Torah itself .. that ii s/xJuld is the special prid/ege for the of the nm>"l non l/'ere form; in seeking the m farever he at our side Mt!)' supporters of this program called such beauise they to ensure the amtinuity MIFAL HASHAS he blessed Mt!)• they be foreiY!r restored the crown of Torah. this rtWSI significant uith success!" blessed .. SO bas he done ... ll'ilh MIFAL undertaking " HASHAI .. Pautler of Mifal Hasbas -- GERER REBBE - HAGAON R. - HAGAON R. EWlJJR - HAGAON R' YOSFE SHAIJ, - KlAH'lENBURGER REBBE PINCHAY MENACH£H ALTFR MENACHEM SHACH x"W7w - HAGAON R. YMKOV !Al'vTJAl' EDU')J-1/V K"D'l'7w J<"O"?tu J<"WM ,..,, 'Bkmi are the i!J'lf; "fl is our duty to git~ due "Only failing health keq;s 'JI is the re:,ponsibi/ity of us "M/FAL HASHAS, under ti that hm~ seen this" recognition to the me au'!)' from joining the aU to resped, honor, & leadership of the - R' SHIMON .){,WAB K"U"?w Kiausenberger Rebhe MIFAL HASHAS supporters at support the MIFAL HASHAS Kiausenberger Rebbe tkning a recenl l'isiJ K"o"'1v for the uxmderful the Annual Dinner.. Your partidpanis That is /rue 1<"0"'1v bas bestowed a al a te Your overwhelming response to the First Annual, Dinner was '!Jh MIFAL HASHA\ 'Pial' me al the nght side ·zds are mastering all of M!FAL llASHA5, deueioped "We mu~ gk•e thank to the ~ including t/xJ.w by the gaon and tzaddJk Kiausenherger Rebbe fav rare{)' learned in Klausenberger Rebhe K"U'?tv who rejuvenales 1<. 'include me in the call of Mt!Y all the l<"U''1v, whose holy "/ am truly c111 'ious tha! the ideals of previous >ant< and their mission is to develop true tixAw Torah gianis who ;ou merited Ux prk•ikge to generalions through MIFAL onding supporters Talmudei Chochomim and encourage American inditde thi< spedacuiar HASHA> Mt!Y Hashem grant ~ •1'/uns) in particular. S!Jt1s Masters AU suppartem panidpa!ion U'ith their program of Torah him the opportunily to sed uilh the means to should he blessed uilh all wlleagw.' in Eret:: Yisrod enhancenuwtr· amlinue leading Kkk ie their oulslanding ul:Jo learn in the MIFAL fix Torah blessinl}'. " -· HAGA01\' R. }:+JKOi' Yisroe/ in prolifera!ion - HAGAON R' SHLOMO Z1lM4A' HASHA> program. " KAMLVf.17l0'7"YT of Torah and Kedusha " Nf/7.ER Rf.'BBE X"1"'71v AUERBACH X"U"?\u - HAGAON R' MQ'J1!E FEJ,V~TE!l\' f.'{ll!tlking to the Klmc1:111MJ,1:r - HAGAON R' A\!ROHOM PA!tf .,,,, Rebbe K"U+;rw) K"U+;rv, ------1 YJSSOCHER/ZEVULUN PARINERSH!P AGREEMENT , .. .,, l I uvuld like to become apanner in the wonderful uvrkofMifal Hashas r contributing I I o $150 per month as a Shutaf HaTorab• D $JOO per month as a Parnes HaTorab I D $ 50 per month as a Tomecb Torah I D $ 36 per month as a Mokir Torah I o $ 18 per month a.' a 0Jai Supponer I "Cekbra!ion of M!FAL ''MIFAL HASHA\' i< the $ otlx~ I I HASHAs:~ miWones i~ an cr011ning gimy of our I inlmza!ional lime of generalion Acmmpli rbute and a chizuk to the 2,000 talmudim of Mifal Hashas. In the May issue of The Jewish Observer, Dr. Bernard Fryshman presented a case for using Yiddish in teaching the children in our yeshivas ketanos: "A Little 'Mamme Lashon' About ... Yiddish." There is another side to the coin, as presented by Rabbi Yaakov Bender, principal of Yeshiva Darkei Torah, in Far Rockaway, NY: ''Mamme Loshon'' Is Precious1 o teach-or not to teach-in Yiddish in our yeshivos has T been a burning subject for the past few years. It is an issue laden with emotion. nostalgia. and com mitment to traditional values. After all. what could be more heart warming than to witness young Yiddishe kinderlach swaying to and fro. repeating pesukim in the same vernacular that was employed by the Vilna Gaon. the Sanzer Rav. and the Chofetz Chaim? Over the years. throughout our wanderings. \_\\ our distinct language has always •?. been one of our main tools for .. . . .,_,. banding us together, keeping our • • . ~ '9 .. selves separate from alien nations •••• ~·'1:-i •! j•"'l and their cultures. Why should • • v . .,;:>. .,'\). • • • -,;:>"\ •• ~ today's schools in America be "1"'1 • • • ?....,,? ... different? ''"'\ • • • • • '0- ·: ·."" ..,... ,.,,. • • • "°()" Before challenging the relevance '\ ,...... ~,. ·:. of this sentiment to our present-day .,.,,_. \'~· "\ ·. .,~ • • • .·· • • • .. · :v").">: ·, situation. we should make it clear "\ "\ . ,~· • .,_{\... '9 that our discussion focuses on the ., ' .,~ ...... ,").., classical Lithuanian-type of cheder/ "" -\~ • ,":'\~·. ••• ,"O."?: .· .....,,\ "\'". . . .,,,, yeshiva ketana as it currently 1" .,~ ~-·· •• ~.,· ·. . -o\\. ,,. •• • ••'O., ·:-i~-:?. exists in America, where 90% of the •''°'- ..:t... . . 30 The Jewish Observer. June 1988 Rabbi Yaakov Bender But Is It Talking To Us? speak Yiddish long before entering among chavrusos on the Mes!fta studies. These Rabbeim attribute school. and have every reason to and Beis Medrash level is in this success to the fact that the continue doing so. English. children are translating into Eng How do children fare in yeshivas lish in the summer camps. On the HOW LANGUAGE AFFECTS where the primary language of other hand, children who transfer THE SITUATION instruction is Yiddish? I have from an English-translating yeshiva spoken to principals and rebbeim to a cheder where Yiddish is used ince the topic is an emotional from schools throughout the Met have an extremely difficult time one, the reader might tend to ropolitan area, and one can safely adjusting-in the lower grades. Sreinforce cherished pre generalize that the lower third of the judgments on the issue before class-and to some degree, even the examining any argument that may lower half-struggles to keep up WHICH GOALS ARE PRIMARY? challenge his long-held views. There with the studies. In some yeshivas, are, however, some conditions that a change in language of instruction ere there only a methodol prevail which one may not be aware was made from Yiddish to English: ogy for all the children to of-conditions that just could make a majority of these struggling stu W:learn in the "Mamme a difference in the way one would dents emerged as solid, or even Lashon" that has been used all these decide. excellent, talmidim. Not only did the hundreds of years, without any There are a number of traditional academic standing of these children downside, then-beyond doubt-it yeshivas ketanos that teach their dramatically improve, but also, all would be the preferred approach. children Chumash by translating classes were able to improve appre However, as mechanchim, educa the words into Yiddish. Yet most of ciably in chomer hanilmad, the tors, and parents, we must first these elementary schools switch to amount covered. determine: What are our goals in English for Mishnayos, or at the Change of language has had educating our children? Which very latest. for Gemora. In fact, salutary results in other settings as goals are primary and which are shiurim in most of the Mesivtos well. Mechanchim throughout the secondary? How can we give our throughout the New York metropol country who also teach in summer children the best possible educa itan area are conducted in English. camps bear witness that many tion, to which they are entitled? And those few that do translate into children who have a difficult lime Once we successfully answer these Yiddish still resort to English for with their limudim (studies) in questions, then-and only then discussion. Furthermore, nearly all traditional yeshivas that use Yid can we see just exactly how Yiddish of the conversational learning dish, do very well in their summer fits into the picture. The Jewish Observer, June 1988 31 We put little children through a most difficult routine, translating the unknown into the incomprehensible, rather than making learning understandable and enjoyable for them. AB a parallel to this, the Shulchan goals and see to it that they are met. repeatedly. he will surely develop a Amch discusses in detail the qual Then we can proceed to enhance the lack of self-confidence and self ifications of an ideal shaliach education of our children with all esteem, a condition inimical to tzibbur. to lead the tefillos (i.e., the desirable nuances and trim successful learning. married. with a family. a talmid mings. AB a rule, children enter school chacham. bearded. etc.). Obviously. All would agree that the primary fired with zeal. itching with curios the major prerequisite is that he purpose of the yeshiva is to teach ity. Is it comprehensible that we take daven with a pleasant voice and our children Torah. In greater detail. these bundles of enthusiasm, and that he be a memtzah l'kahaL that our objectives are to give the child start teaching them in a language the congregation be pleased with ren a geshmak in learning (what a that is, literally, foreign to them? To him. These two points are so crucial lovely Yiddish expression!), to imbue be sure. the stronger half of the class in making him into a chazan that them with a will to learn. to kindle can learn in Yiddish. But what about they hardly bear mention. If he has within them the desire to shteig and those who cannot and are "tumed them. then we investigate further to grow. and. most of all. to do our best off' at a young and tender age ensure that he also has the other that they know and understand because they encounter frustration qualifications. In teaching, too, we Torah. If a child consistently finds and failure? They must struggle must first determine our primary the challenges too great. and fails constantly just to keep their heads above water. And even the children who do handle the Yiddish often do not understand much of what they are learning. We put little children through a most difficult routine, translating the unknown into the incomprehensible. rather than making learning understandable and enjoyable for them. Many of Miriam Adahan, the renowned author of EMETT: these same children have no prob a step-by-step guide to Emotional Maturity Established lem keeping pace and succeeding with their secular studies. Is it truly Through Torah, has written a valuable childrearing guide to essential that we make them mis help parents cope with daily trials and tribulations and erable for three years-at which create a peaceful home point the curriculum switches to atmosphere. With guidelines English for Mishnayos. which after for effective disciplining based all has comprehension, not transla tion of the text, as the bottom-line on Torah sources. R\ISING criterion for success? CtllLDREN A Gefen-Feldheim book, THE CRUCIAL ROLE Jerusalem. T9(6RE OF COMPREHENSION hardcover $14.95 A JEWISH GUIDE ndeed. havana. a clear under TO CHILDREARING standing of the subject matter, Available at your local I is crucial for our children to Jewish book store. grow in their limudim It is critical that they understand what they are FELDHEIM BOOKS being taught. that they tum over 200 Airport Executive Park and examine the concepts in their Spring Valley, NY 10977 heads. Most children in America (914) 356-2282 today think in English. They do not think in Yiddish. For a child to be 32 The Jewish Observer. June 1988 taught successfully by rote in Yid verse with their Rebbeim and exclusively in Yiddish. Then he will dish, we are asking him to first take Menahalim, and even with the think in Yiddish and comprehend unfamiliar words and phrases, say secretaries-in Yiddish. (Unfortu his translations rendered into Yid them in Yiddish, mentally translate nately, not all Rabbeim are fluently dish, and Torah learning will not be them into English, and then try to conversant in colloquial Yiddish.) sacrificed. But, realistically speak comprehend them. The child must be in a total Yiddish ing. this approach is not going to Why do people demand that we speaking environment. In some happen in our yeshivas. teach six-, seven-, and eight-year· Chassidic yeshivas, parents of If Yiddish is going to be taught olds in Yiddish, and yet accept that entering kindergartners are told in the classrooms of our yeshivas, ten-and twelve-year-olds may learn that all conversation among the as currently structured, without in English? Obviously, the feeling is children. even during recess, is affecting comprehension, then it that the children are not familiar enough with Yiddish to learn Gemora and Tosafos in that KATZ FAMILY HEBREW ACADEMY medium. ls it not absurd to teach OF CLEVELAND smaller children in a language that LAKE HOUSE publishes over 50 Educational Items is foreign to them? ~-~HOlEL.~--~ for Hebrew Day Schools We do not maintain that Yiddish We are open Passover thm Succos per se is burdensome or that our Enjoy a traditional children are incapable of learning atmosphere amidst another language, but we must over 200 lovely realize that Torah itself is a new and rolling acres ... with "foreign·· subject to the beginner delicious ~!att Rosher school child. who must work hard meals and excellent accommodations. Cholov to master it. We are throwing in an Yisroel & Glatt meals. additional factor of difficulty with indoor pool~Sauna~Whirlpool-separate out sufficient justification. swimming. a Kosher L'Mehadrin house. Over the years, I have heard many a hotel as warm and friendly and as suggestions as to how yeshivas reliable in Kashruth as your own home. should teach Yiddish. We must Write or call for brochure & rates. Catalog sent upon request understand that most of the LAKE HOUSE HOfEL Send $1.00 for handling to: methods have been tried-unfortu Woodridge, NY 12789 HEBREW ACADEMY PUBLICATIONS DEPT. nately, without appreciable success, (914) 434-7801 or (212) 740-8686 NOW f'>OOK!NG GROUP PACKAGES even though many menahalim 1860 South Taylor Rd,, Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44118 (principals) will be reluctant to admit it. If teaching of Yiddish had worked. why would we change to English in the fourth and fifth grades? I recently had occasion to speak to a prominent mashgiach of a Yeshiva Gedola, who told me that he had asked three menahalim of renowned Torah institutions in Brooklyn as to why they insisted on teaching in Yiddish. All of them answered, that while they fully sympathized with the requests to change to English, no one was willing to be the first one to do so. "Get someone else to be first, and I'll be second." MAKING YIDDISH WORK he only possible way that Yiddish can succeed in the T schools is if the children speak Yiddish at home, and con- The Jewish Obseroer, June 1988 33 must be accompanied by a literal menahel has reported major im translation of the passuk into provements in terms of curriculum An American Jewish English, which has been done with covered and comprehension. some success in several yeshivas. • Rabbi Avrohom Fishman, mena professor finds an While the gains are obvious-both hel of Mosdos Ohr Torah, which has abandoned infant in a knowledge of Yiddish and compre a large proportion of the children of Chinese railway hension of subject matter-there is the Bnei Torah in Cleveland, con an inevitable loss in the amount of sulted with numerous Gedolim station. This event was material that is covered. Before about learning in Yiddish. Notably, to change his life embarking on such a program, a Rabbi Mordechai Gifter N""''"'· Rosh forever! school must come to terms with a Hayeshiva of Telshe in Wickliffe, basic question: Is it worth learning urged him to teach in English. Rab in Yiddish at the expense of more bi Yaakov Kamenetzky, '""· con and better Yedias HaTorah curred, commenting rather strongly greater knowledge of Torah? that teaching bilingually in Yiddish and English was "shtuss v'hevel WHAT YIDDISH-SPEAKING (foolishness and nonsense). Vi a GEDOLIM THOUGHT kindt tracht azoy daif er teitchen (as a child thinks, so should he translate)." any Gedolei Yisroel of the When Rabbi Fishman asked Reb previous generation were emphatic in their opinion Moshe Feinstein ''"" he responded, M "Es is nischt k'dai tzu Lemen in that children should be taught in Yiddish afilu otb men vet Lemen their own mother-tongue, as illus ein posuk veiniger (it is not worth trated by a few cases in point: while to learn in Yiddish if it is at • When Rabbi YaakovKamenetzky, the expense of even one passuk)." '""· was approached by a mecha • In a letter, Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer neches from Lakewood, in reference Dessler '"" advises that in spite of to teaching boys in Yiddish, the the value of the kedusha associated Rosh Hayeshiva responded that with traditional methods of teach children who come from English ing, the deciding consideration in by Hardcover $14.95 speaking homes should learn in Avraham Schwartzbaum Paperback $11.95 setting up an educational system English, and that in their case, time must be whether the children This heartwarming, true lost in learning in Yiddish consti matriculate to further study, or drop story describes the providen tutes bitul Torah Reb Yaakov added out from lack of interest or accomp tial chain of events that lead that he firmly believes that they lishment (Michtav MeEliyahu III the Schwartzbaums from should learn in English, "ober, ich p.362-4). the discovery of a Chinese bin an alter Yid. Zei vellen zich To reach their countrymen (who infant to the discovery of ntscht tzu herren tzu mir (but, I am were not literate in Hebrew), the their Jewish heritage. an old Jew-they will not listen to Rambam wrote some of his classical me)." "By reading The Bamboo Cradle, works (Moreh Nevuchim Pirush le which keeps the reader spellbound • In a meeting with the faculty Mishnayos) in Arabic, and Rabbi S. from start to finish, we are members of Mesifta Tifereth Jerus R. Hirsch in his time wrote his strengthened in the knowledge Iha/ alem, eighteen years ago, Rabbi masterworks in German. Shall we Hashem is the guiding light Who Moshe Feinstein'"" told them that not remove obstacles of language, lifts us from the darkness of night lo instruction should be in the lan instead of erecting them, to engage the brightness of day." guage that the children are familiar the hearts and minds our children? Ruchoma Shain with, English. As for meeting the Author of "All for the Boss" parental desire for Yiddish, he suggested using occasional Yiddish SOME MORE CONSIDERATIONS 6FELDHEIM expressions in the translations. • A yeshiva run al taharas hako n Eretz Yisroel today, the over J5 PUBLISHERS desh (purity and sanctity), in a large whelming majority of non 200 Airport Executive Park, Eastern seaboard city, was founded Chassidic chadorim and many Spfing Valley, NY 10977 I 914-356-2282 I Visa & MasterCard accepted on the premise that instruction Chassidic chadorim outside of Out-of-State Toll free 800-237-7149 would be in Yiddish. After consul inner Jerusalem, are teaching in Send for your free copy of our lvrit a radical departure from a new illustrated catalog tations with a Gadol Hadar, the school switched to English. The generation ago. At first they also 34 The Jewish Observer, June 1988 tried to continue teaching in Yid dish, as they had in the past, but JUST RELEASED! too often failed in the attempt. One should bear in mind that there was A beautiful cassette containing some powerful inspirational strong ideological opposition to stories told by a master storyteller that are sure to inspire your Ivrit quite aside from the value of children with an appreciation for good character - m:nu mir.i. Yiddish, yet these same schools adjusted the language of instruction Some of the topics on this tape are: to reality. On a recent trip to Eretz ... tn;~ .,,,,, a,;~ :irnx ... 1'1:>::1 1l'i; n!lflN' ... ,,",, x; Yisroel. I encountered few Chareid ishe children who were at all famil ... n,, ;o~ ''fl 'TlNI:> ,,Nil ... m::it .,::i; a'TN ;::i nx ,., ''fl iar with Yiddish. There are some ... in•t.>N nx n•::i'n n::i,fl ... a•;,n ,,i''!l chadorim that still teach in Yiddish. but the majority of the children in AVAILABLE WHERE these chadorim speak Yiddish flu CASSETTES ARE SOLO ently at home. The vast majority of children in comparable schools in the States do not. A case in point: In Petach Tikva, a cheder was founded al taharas hako desh by a group of Ponovezher Yunge leit. No decision, major or minor, was made without consulting the Steipler Rav '"~n. Injact. when the Steipler was niftar (passed away}, the school was renamed Birkas Yaakov, in his memory. ... The Steipler had insisted that the children be taught in lvri t, since the children camefrom Ivrit-speaking homes. Comprehension was the prime concern. A child who mastered Yiddish and has the skills to understand a lecture given in Yiddish by a Gadol is no doubt at an advantage over those who do not know the lan are pleased to announce that guage. Can this be a good enough REGISTRATION is in progress for the reason to sacrifice the primary years of maximum learning absorption; AMERICAN especially in view of the fact that the vast majority of our Roshei Yeshiva today are American-educated and INTENSIVE SEMINARY will adjust language to their talmi dim? Additionally. many Sefardi and the regular HALF-DAY SEMINARY. and Iranian bachurim. who never spoke a word of Yiddish in their These programs are located in lives. enter Ashkenazi Yeshivas Brooklyn, New York Gedolos and adapt very quickly to the Yiddish shiur of the European and are under the direction and leadership of the Menaheles bred Rosh HaYeshiva; this also holds true for many baalei teshuva. Rebetzin Malka Paretzky It is obvious. then. that our children Graduates of high schools and those returning from Eretz Yisroel can indeed cope with the rigors of are invited to inquire. Applicants entering the second year adapting to Yiddish. but only when Seminary class are offered a program which takes into account they are older and have already their first year studies in Eretz Yisroel and avoids repetition. begun to taste the sweet savor of Torah learning. thus having gained Details of the Intensive and the Half-day seminaries. Dormitory the self-confidence of subject mas Facilities. and registration information available by letter or phone: tery and drive to learn more. Dare 4622-14th Avenue. Brooklyn, NV 11219 (718) 633-8557. we risk-for any reason- a child The Jewish Observer. June 1988 35 never gaining that self-confidence? normal colloquial Yiddish, which Lashon." So much warmth. so much We must always remember our will be much more practical for Yiras Shomayim, passed between objectives. Nothing will help make understanding a Yiddish Torah the Rebbe and us during those a better student than demonstrat address than relying on skills hours. I always thought that some ing to him that he can be successful, gained from cumbersome transla day my own children-and then our which is a primary objective in our tions, employing archaic terms talmidim-would benefit from the children's earlier years' education. rarely used in daily conversation or same experience. As for those parents who want even in Talmudic shiwim. But I must face it. My sweet their children to learn Yiddish, no Our yeshivos could play a produc memories must not become the matter what, perhaps it is incum tive role on this level by introducing burden of my children. With great bent upon them to teach and talk a few Yiddish words or expressions reluctance. and a measure of sorrow, in that language to their children every week, teaching the children a I have come to recognize the neces at home, and not "dump" on the hundred or so such expressions sity of changing our policy toward schools. If that is too difficult or every year. amounting to an apprec Yiddish in our yeshivos ketanos. It impractical, then I would suggest iable vocabulary by the end of seems that we must resort to the that just as ambitious, caring par elementary education. harsher English tongue, replete ents enroll themselves and their with phrases gleaned from the children in classes for art, calli civilization around us. to convey the graphy, cooking, and piano for the THE BURDEN OF lessons I learned in 206 Wilson sake of enrichment, so, too, should SWEET MEMORIES Street to the new generation. Yet, as parents who truly desire that their long as the corridors between the children learn Yiddish, also organize remember with particular fond classrooms ring with vibrant for themselves and their children ness my days-my years-in 206 sounds of accomplished Torah courses in Yiddish, taught by Ba'a ! Wilson Street, home of Yeshiva learning, comprehended and loved, lei Ruach. in a yeshiva-type atmos Torah Vodaath in Williamsburg, then the common goal we share with phere. If spoken Yiddish is truly where as a child, my classmates and earlier generations-preserving our Important to them, then they can I shuckled to the melodies of sacred heritage-ultimately will be converse with their children in "Chumash geteitched oif Mamme realized.• In response to numerous inquiries, we are pleased to announce to the Olam Hatorah the availability of the following: 17MY, 4TM9 '.J 11 p1~t i)D1n )"i)n 1in'.J ,0'11!)::>n 01' ,n)'Vn 'VN1 ,n1YtJ'V ,no!) 0'11!) ,n::>1)n ,n1::>10-n::i'V Most of these Seforim are now in expanded editions. They may be obtained as a set or as single volumes. For information contact: In Eretz Yisroei: Rabbi Shmuel Wolman Rabbi Yeshaya Thau Rabbi Abron Lasker 718-377-0777 718·376-1265 02-532·257 The o>Jl1:J1 nnlN pn~> inn ,no is temporarily out of print. 36 The Jewish Obseroer. June 1988 JOSEPH LOEBENSTEIN 2180 Oak Road Vineland, New Jersey 08360 Dear Friends, It is remarkable how things have changed over the years! A generation ago, the Gedolei Yisroel called for recruitment; today the call is for classrooms. A generation ago, Chinuch Atzmai needed financial support to help fund recruitment. With more fundlng, representatives could knock on more doors, and convince more parents to regiSter their children in a Torah School, instead of one of Israel's public schools. It was, after all, a matter of spiritual life or death. This has now changed radically. Today, there is a new awareness sweeping across the length and breadth of Israel. llecruitment isn't necessary! From Kl:ryat Shmone in the Upper Galil, all the way to Yerocham in the Negev, parents are rejecting the prospect of raising their children to a Jewishness Without Torah. Parents who are chozrim beteshuva-newly observant- even parents who are not yet observant-are looking With dismey at the product of Israel's public schools. Many of them are begging ex:Lsting Chinuch Atzmai schools to accommodate their children. Others are pleading for additional classrooms, or for new schools where there are none. The time is unusually ripe for opening our treasure houses of Torah for all these children, who are actively seeking a chance to pick up where their grandparents left off, and to become part of the Am HaTorah. Yflt, Chinuch Atzmai's expansion is crippled because of an appalling shortage of funds. The government is cutting back on its subsidies. And-traglca!Jy-world Jewry has not been forthcoming in its generosity to pick up the slack. Would the Chazon Ish and Reb Aharon Kotler have dreamt that Jewish children would come knocking on Chinuch Atzmai's doors and we would &zy that we have no room for them? But this is not the end of it all. At the same time, Hashem Yisborach has showered us With unprecedented blessings. When before, in the history of our people, have so many of us been so eminently successful in our businesses and professions? Doesn't this mean that this iS a rare opportunity to reverse the downhill slide of the spirituality of our People? In fact, isn't this really more than an opportunity, but a challenge, or (dare I say it) a pressing obligation? I, personally, was deeply moved by the words of Hagoan Rav Avrohom Pam, Shlita, on the topic, as published in the pages of The Jewish Observer last January. And I am convinced that there are others who share With me the unusual urgency of this rare hour in our history-an hour that may not repeat itself in our lifetime. It iS for this reason that I publish this letter, to call your attention to this once-in-a lifetime opportunity to change the course of history ... in the hope and expectation that the Rosh Hayeshiva's wo:rds grabbedyoujust as they grabbed me. Won't you demonstrate your understandlng of this historic opportunity by joining me in doing something tangible and meaningful for the children oftodey, for the future of our People? With Torah Greetings, Joseph Loebenstein of City· ------State Zip · ---- Tei.#· ·-~-- i"t7'.l Dear Friends, Unfortunately, all of us are flooded with news about many varieties of tragedy. This is a story that would have been different, that would have been heartwarming, that we would have wanted to hold up as an example for others: Two young people married. Both were from large struggling families. They didn't wanttheir parents to go into debt for them, so the young chosson learned to be a sofer,and they moved to an out-of-the-way town in Israel where apartments are cheap. Yes, they were lonely. But they were self-supporting, and they were not a burden on their parents or anyone else. A beautiful story. If only there were more like it. But then, tragedy struck. The first baby came and the mother fell ill. She requires private medical treatment for an extended period of time and -- her doctors feel -- she requires the emotional support of a warm, concerned family. In other words they will be forced to move to Jerusalem. Clearly tens of thousands of dollars will be required to save this family. The financial burden only compounds an already desperate situation. The distinguished rabbis of their former home - Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Grossman of Migdal Ohr and Rabbi Nachman Bulman of Kiryat Nachliel - have testified to the caliber of the people and their need. Has the dream exploded? Not really. If we provide our generous support NOW then with Hash em's help and with the warm care of doctors and family, the young mother will recover. She and her devoted husband will be able to raise their young family through their own labor, and they will be able to help others, as well. Please, join in making this happen by contributing very generously to this worthy cause. Very Truly Yours, ~~.w 1nP-5'61 G/' Rabbi Yaakov Pollak ~abbi Moshe Stern Rav of Shomrei Emunah Debreciner Rav qt.!f_p. G" "[;;, ( c!1/1 ab · Nasson Scherman Rabbi Tirnauer General Editor, Art5crofl Series Rav of Cong. Shomrei Shabbos Checks can be made out to: CONG. YESHIVA BETH SHEARIM and sent to: Moshe Leib & Tzirel Stem 1654-SBth Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. 11204 Avi Shafran FIRE AND ICE: Another Wartime Story It wasn't the most exciting or terrifying tale of the war years I had ever heard. It wasn't the saddest and it wasn't the most shocking. But it was, I think, the most moving one. It Was Only a Tape Recording to the air, in a sense to himself. 1 suspicion that there may be pre imagined the audience dissipating cious little to be gained from yet t was only a tape recording, but into nothingness before the speak another description of a displace somehow the feel, the atmos er's clouding eyes. as he saw in its ment. another selektion, another I phere of the gathering, came stead only the snow and ice, the barbarism, even another survival. through. endless forests and chilling vast But, like so many feelings, this one The speaker began as just that, ness, of the Siberian taiga. misleads, and perniciously. We a speaker, carefully choosing his There are so many, so terribly never can stop listening and never words and duly reciting them. Soon many, war stories. Every survivor, by will. AJ; long as a survivor is left to enough, though, he subtly shifted very definition, is one. And of course talk, the rest of us will be-cannot gears, and began to speak spontane not one of them is redundant; no but be-sponges for their words. ously, to no audience in particular, life is ever the same as another, and Connection with the meaning of the no one less significant than the past is, after all, the very essence of Rabbi Shafran, who is a Rebbe in the high next. the Jewish faith and the Jewish school of the New England Academy of Turah in Providence, R.L, is a frequent contributor to The Sometimes a feeling insinuates people; we cannot help but eternally Je1vish Observer and other periodicals. its way into our conciousnesses, a thirst for its every bequeathal. The Jewish Observer, June 1988 39 It was ironic: though they ceased been fleeing his Polish shtetl with wandering refugees, of their even to exist for the speaker, the people the German advance in 1939, of tual crossing over Into Russian in the audience, I had been told, were watching as his uncle was caught occupied Poland. captivated by him. Weeks later and trying to escape a roundup of Jews But the part of the narrative that hundreds of miles away, in the and shot on the spot, of being grabbed my somnolent neshama casual comfort of my living room, so packed with his Jewish townsfolk, and shook it violently awake came was I. by the Germans, into a shul which later. It wasn't the most exciting or He had already spoken of unimag was then set afire, of their mirac terrifying tale of the war years I had inable, surreal episodes, of the ulous deliverance, of the long treks, ever heard. It wasn't the saddest and fourteen year old boy he had once of the dedication to mitzvos by it wasn't the most shocking. But it was, I think, the most moving one, and one, unquestionably, with FAMOUS FE IVEL much to offer: KIRSHENBAUM "The Nights Were Terribly Cold ... Ph.D. Sometimes Dropping to -40" • Registered Investment Adviser n 1939 I was part of the Bialystok yeshiva, Beis Yosef ofNovaradok, MONEY MANAGEMENT I which had temporarily relo AND cated, like many Polish yeshivos at FINANCIAL ADVISING the time, to Vilna. The yeshiva finally Cholov Yisroel • Shomer Shabbos settled in Birzh, deep in the heart Under the Supervision of Fee only, of Lithuania, and we learned b'has K'hal Adath Jeshurun modo rabbo, with great dedication, Open for Breakfast No sales until 1941, when Russia occupied Luncheon and Dinner or commissions. the country. Catertng • Parties • Meetings Everyone was required to accept Soviet citizenship, but no one in the 222 West 72nd Street yeshiva would, so those of us unable (212) 595-8487 (914) 352-1919 to secure visas to other countries were exiled to Siberia. We were loaded onto rail catile wagons, nine of us, Rabbi Yehuda ARE YOU MOVING? Leib Nekritz '"" (the son-in-law of IS YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS PRINTED the Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Avrohom Yoffen '"" ), and his family. We INCORRECTLY ON THE JO MAILING LABEL? arrived by train in Novosibirsk, and We need your help to ensure proper delivery of the JO to your home. Please from there were transported by attach current mailing label in the space below, or print clearly your address barge to Parabek. Near there, we and computer processing numbers that are printed above your name on the were all assigned to a kolchoz, or address label. collective farm. Ifwe worked, we would receive our ADDRESS CHANGE FORM rations; if not, we starved. (Affix label here) I remember that our first winter was our hardest, as we did not have the proper clothing for working in the taiga. and didn't really know what to expect. Most of us had to fell trees in the Name ______forest I was the youngest and was Address ______assigned to a granary on a farm a few miles from our kolchoz. The City, State, Zip ______nights were terribly cold, the tem perature often dropping to forty Date Effective------degrees below zero, though I had a Please a!!O\v 6-8 weE'ks for all changes to be reflected on your mailing label. V\IE VV!ll NOT BE small stove by which I kept a little RESPONSIBLE FOR BACK ISSUES MISSED unle~s you notify us 8 weeks prior to your mOVf'. warm. The chief of the kolchoz 40 The Jewish Observer, June 1988 Not far from the farm, Ifellfrom the sled into Sholom Bayis Insurance?!!! the deep snow and the horse continued without Not quite. But the next me. I tried to shout to the animal to stop, best thing is ... to no avail. BA YIS NE'EMAN B'YISROEL would make surprise checks on me broke and I started to feel a little Practical Steps to Success in Marriage to see if l had fallen asleep, and l better. Then suddenly, as l lay in my by Or. Meir Wik/er would recite Tehillim to stay awake. bed, I saw a chaverfrom the kolchoz, One night l was so cold that I Herschel Tishivitzer. before me, half couldn't shake the chills and when frozen and staring at me. His feet I realized how hot my head felt, I were wrapped in layers and layers knew that I had a high fever. l had of rags-the best one could manage a horse and sled at my disposal, so to try to cope with the Arctic cold, l managed to hitch them together without proper boots. I couldn't and mount the sled in order to believe my eyes-Herschel had actu return to the kolchoz. It was very ally walked the frigid miles from the difficult for me in feverish state, but kolchoz! I succeeded. Not far from the farm. "Herschel," I cried, "what are you though, l fell from the sled into the doing here?" deep snow and the horse continued His answer I'll never forget. on without me. I tried to shout to "Yesterday," he said, "someone the animal to stop, to no avail. l came from Parabek, and told us remember crying and saying Tehil 'Simcha umar,' that Simcha was lim, for l knew that remaining where dead, and I volunteered to bury you." I was, or even trying to walk to the The mesiras nefesh, such mesi kolchoz, would have meant certain ras nejesh ... had the rumor been death from exposure. l forced myself true, there was no way he could have to get up and, with what little helped me. He had immediately strength l had left, began running made the perilous journey-just to Hardcovpr $12.95 after the runaway horse and sled. see my funeral! The mesiras nefesh Paperback $9.95 Suddenly, as I was running, I for a chaver . .. such an example! ... Contains chapters on: How to realized that ahead in the distance prepare for and what to expect the horse had halted. l ran even Just A Short Conversation. Really from marriage; Guidelines for faster, and reached the sled. I col dating and courtship; The first lapsed onto it and we continued year of marriage; How to toward the kolchoz. cut the power to the tape deck recognize the need for help, and and waited for the shiver to much more ... "No Number of Blankets I subside. . .. It should be read by all young Could Warm Me" In the midst of Siberian exile, I men and women prior to marriage ... contemplated, in a situation as Hagaon HaRav hopeless and demoralizing as I Chaim P. Scheinberg shlila ying in the sled, looking up at could imagine. In such circumstan the starry sky, l was mispallel ces, such dazzling friendship, such ... A very important and urgently with all my diminishing overwhelming chessed need Saifer ... L The Bostoner Rebbe might to Hashem to enable me to I felt like I had shrunk to the size Rabbi Levi L. Horowitz shlita reach the relative safety of the of a clod of earth. Would I have even kolchoz. He answered my tefillos considered such a journey, felt such and l reached my Siberian home, responsibility to a fellow Jew? In 6 FELDHEIM though l was shaking uncontrolla such a place, at such a time? Or Jfl PUBLISHERS bly from my fever; no number of would I have justified inaction with 200 Airport Executive Park, blankets could warm me. The next the ample justifications available? Spring Valley, NY 10977 I 914-356-2282 day I was transported to Parabek, Would I have even been able to Visa & MasterCard arrepted Out-of-State Toll free 800-237-7149 which had a hospital. maintain my humanity in the face Send for your free copy of our My first two days in the hospital of so doubtful a future. not to new illustrated catalog are a blur, but the third day my fever mention my faith in Hashem, my The Jewish Observer, June 1988 41 very Jewishness ... ? I tuned the power back on and children to be bnei Torah who were I was no longer even the size of listened as the narrator concluded continuing to frustrate the plans of a clod of earth. his story, as he described how our enemies by raising Yiddishe A wholly remarkable story. I forced Herschel Tishivitzer, among others, families of their own. myself to think. None of the violence, baruch Hashem, had eventually And l wondered-actually, I still the tragedy. the horrors. the evil of made his way to America and settled do-if the slice of Simcha Ruzhan· so many tales of the war years. Just in New York under his family name, er's life which had so affected me. a short conversation, really. Yet I had Nude!. And how he, the narrator had done so only because of its come to understand so much from himself, had ended up in Baltimore, radiant, blindingly beautiful mes the story of Herschel Tishivitzer's where he married the virtuous sage-or if perhaps some part was selfless, unhesitating concern for daughter of a respected rav, Rabbi played by the fact that he too, had little Simcha Ruzhaner, as the Noach Kahn, J"'1. And how he had taken on a shortened form of his narrator had been called in those become a rav himself (changing family name, Shafranowitz, and had days, when he was a teenager. I had many lives for the better, I know, named his second child Avrohom come to understand what it means though he didn't say so). and how Yitzchok, though everybody calls me to be part of a holy people. his rebbetzin had raised their Avi. • LIVING HALACHAH NEW RELEASES HALICHOS BAS YISRAEL, Volume 2 SHIDDUCHIM AND ZIVUGIM A Woman's Guide to Jewish Observance The Torah Perspective on Finding Your Mate by Rabbi Yitzchak Yaacov Fuchs by Rabbi Yehudah Lebovits Translated by Rabbi Moshe Dombey The first book in English to present the insights of our Sages The second and final volume of the English edition of into the most significant life decision a person may ever make: I-Ialichos Bas Yisrael. Includes a detailed summary of the finding and evaluating a prospective mate. An invaluable lav.·s of candlelighting, kiddush, and havdalah, as well as a guide. 176 pp SJ0.95 review of each of the Jevvish holidays as their observance pertains specifically to women. 288 pp $12.95 THE RABBI AND THE PRIEST by Y.B. Arrarat THE JEWISH LAW OF INHERITANCE The lives of two brothers, separated in childhood, go along by Dayan Dr. Isadore Grunfeld surprisingly different paths in this novel of 19th century The only scholarly analysis in English of the Jewish laws of Russia. Set in the turbulent period of Czar Nicholas, with inheritance. Includes a most useful general model of a Will revolution, Cossack rebellion, and pogroms. 224 pp $12.95 form which reconciles the requirements of civil law and Jewish religious law. 130 pp $11.95 LAND OF OUR HERITAGE by Dovid Rossoff THE PATH OF THE RIGHfEOUS GENTILE The eternal meaning of Eretz Yisrael in the Torah tradition. An Introduction to the Seven Laws of the Stories of tzaddikim and the difficulties they encountered in Children Noah journeying to Eretz Yisrael, ancient maps and satellite of photographs. A beautiful book for learning about the holiness by Chaim Clorfene and Rabbi Yakov Rogalsky of Eretz Yisrael and its sources in the Torah. 224 pp $14.95 A new practical guide to Judaism's teachings concerning the religious obligations of the gentile. Also suitable for the non- Jewish reader. lSOpp $10.95 PUBLISHED BY TARGUM PRESS, 22700 W. Eleven Mile Rd., Southfield, Mich. 48034 DISTRIBUTED BY FELDHEIM BOOKS, 200 Airport Executive Park, Spring Valley, N.Y. 10977. 914-356-2282 Visa & Master Card accepted. Out-of-state Toll Free 800-237-7149 TAR BUM 42 The Jewish Observer, June 1988 BOOKS NEWTRANSJ.A110NS Rabbi M. Rabinowitz, ed. by Rabbi Another major publishing effort is OF BASIC SEFORIM N. Kempler, 1988, $17.95 he, $14.95 the Hebrew and English edition of sc). These maintain the same stand the Sefer Hachinuch, whose earlier casual visit to any sefortm ards of excellence and extreme volumes were previously reviewed store demonstrates that we usefulness that the first volumes and of which volume four has now A. can rejoice in an unending set, by their combination of clear appeared (Fe!dheim, Jerusalem, flow of Torah literature of all kinds, translation. basic exposition, and 1987, $17.95). It covers Bamidbar for all purposes, and for all ages. advanced lomdus. As in previous and part of Devartm, with a fifth Certain trends can be discerned, volumes, the introductions are of volume scheduled to complete the and particularly notable is the effort particular value. project. The Sefer Hachinuch occu to provide the serious student with Feldheim Publishers are pushing pies a special place among works on the classical works he needs. ahead with their pioneering edition Torah hashkafa: focussing on each There are the Judaica Nach series of the Mishnah Berurah with Eng of the 613 mitzvos in turn, it covers and the Artscroll works on Tanach, lish translation; having completed the entire range of Jewish living in the area of Torah Shebichtav, the the publication of volume Ill with its emphasis on self Scriptures. In the field of Torah (Hilchos Shabbos in four volumes), sanctification and service of G-d. Sheb'al Peh-the Oral Law-there they have now turned to what the The text of this edition has been is the Artscroll Mishnayos series, of editor calls "the laws of daily con critically revised and the translation which we have reviewed earlier duct," beginning with a volume is clear and readable. Particularly volumes; the latest ones to appear covering simonim 157-201 (laws valuable are the footnotes which are Sanhedrin (Rabbi Matis dealing with the washing of hands, clarify difficult points (e.g. mitzva Roberts, ed. by Rabbi Y. Danziger, the meal, and the blessings 437, concerning the seven names of 1987 $17.95 he, $14.95 sc) Makos involved). Particular attention G-d, and mitzva 410, concerning the and Shavuos (Rabbi A Y. Rosen should be given to the excellent saving power of the altar). berg, ed. by Rabbi G. Finkel and footnotes provided by the editor, We had occasion to comment Rabbi Y. Danziger, 1987 $17.95 he, Rabbi Ariel Orenstein (Pisgah previously on the "Master a $14.95 sc), and Avodah Zarah and Foundation, Jerusalem, 1987, Masekhta" series developed by Horios (Rabbi Y. Danziger and $16.95). Rabbi Nachman Cohen, through The Jewish Observer, June 1988 43 his Torah Lishmah Institute. This would be out of place in a volume series aims to aid the student by devoted to "straight learning" rather YOU'RE READY TO LEAVE providing him with an outline of the than kabbalistic concerns. On the NEW YORK CITY ... Talmudic discussions. aided by other hand, the treatment of the --•BUT--• charts and background material. Aggadah in this Masechta will be There has now appeared the third of the greatest value to the student, • You want to continue to have a choice of Masechta, Sanhedrin, and the use particularly since Rabbi Cohen schools which offer a high quality of Orthodox fulness of this volume has been provides background data that are and secular education. greatly enhanced by the inclusion essential to an understanding of the • You want your family to experience a close of the Hebrew text of the Gemora topics. Further volumes are in knit, warm community dedicated to Torah, (Torah Lishmah Institute. Yonkers preparation and will surely also Avodah and Gemillus Chassodim. NY. 1987, $27.95). The student will prove most useful study-tools. • You want to be close to your job or business inevitably be struck by the clarity Moznaim Publishers have under in Midtown or lower Manhattan . of the presentation and the wealth taken to publish Rabbi Eli Touger's • You want excellent home value with the of information drawn from the Mishneh Torah series, of which the lowest real estate taxes in Bergen County .. Rishonim and Acharonim There first volume was previously re --THEN__ _ are also very useful introductory viewed. Two new volumes-Hilchos chapters on the legal system as Teshuva ( 1987. $13.95) and Hilchos K'hal Adath Jeshurun of Paramus, under the presented in Sanhedrin, and on Chometz Umatzah (1988. $13.95 ) leadership of Rabbi Yechezkel Zweig, may be a related issues. Perhaps a question follow the pattern of the series: clear solution you should consider. can be raised about the brief section translation and a concise commen on "meta-legal perspectives"-it is tary. pointing out the sources of the call (201) 262-0797 too short to be intelligible to the Rambam as well as any problems or (201) 265-6721 layman and is likely to leave him raised by his statements and the puzzled. and a larger treatment solutions provided in later rabbinic works. A wealth of ideas is here presented to the student, and par ticularly Hllchos Teshuva. with the commentary. can well serve as a fundamental hashkaja text. As the commentary is necessarily concise. We monitor for you the reader must read attentively if • Mislabeled Products • Pareve I Dairy he does not want to miss fine points (e.g. in explaining the Rambam's • Unauthorized Symbols definition of an apikores, Rabbi • Supervision Changes Touger briefly alludes, without • New Products elaboration, to the alternative inter 6Problems pretation of an apikores as one who denigrates the rabbis). Hilchos 1. Do you know when a product bears an unauthorized symbol? Chometz Umatzah also includes 2. Who will tell you when a product is mislabeled? the Rambam's text of the Hag 3. When supervision changes or is removed will you be notified? gadah and points out the minor 4. Do you know which kosher products contain dairy ingredients and are not and variant readings, a valuable listed as dairy? contribution to one's preparation 5. Would you like to know which products are kosher without symbols? for the Seder. 6. How can you keep your kosher kitchen up-to-date when the status of kosher products and establishments constantly changes? HALACIUC MANUALS PLEASE MAIL 1D nother trend in Torah liter Kashrus, Subscription Service Dept. POB 17305, Milwaukee, WI 53217 ature is the outpouring of Please enter my subscription os JoUows halachic texts-specifically D $12-1 yr Ll $22·2 Y" D $30-3 yrs A [] New 0 Renewal D Gift works that deal with particular A/so. please send o set of bock issues 0 JOmos1recent@$10 areas. Outstanding among them is ::::J25~@S25 The Jewish Law of Inheritance, Name Problems and Solutions In Making a Jewish Will (Targum Press. Cit Staw Southfield, Michigan, 1987. $11.95 ). Subscribe now and receive five 40~page Please allow ~pro 8 weeks fo' firs/ issue ro On"iue bimonthly issues of KASHRVS Magazine. the last work of Dayan Grunjeld J"'1. It is not generally known. but 44 The Jewish Obseroer, June 1988 the drafting of a will to assign one's Cohen (Brooklyn, 1987, $10.00). estate to someone other than those The author refers to the responsum designated by the Torah as heirs, of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein but also HOTLINE raises serious halachic questions. suggests that, "the best approach to TO JERUSALEM Rabbi Moshe Feinstein '"" upheld take in the matter is that of writing In time of illness. surgery or the validity of ordinary wills in a special document" similar in crisis. special prayers will be Jewish law; as did, even more out halachic principle to that devised by recited at the Western Wall and spokenly, Rabbi H.B. Padwa (head of Dayan Grunfeld. There is, however, at our Yeshiva in Jerusalem. the Beis Din of the Union of considerable difference between the Orthodox Jewish Congregations of two volumes. Dayan Grunfeld's book CALL 24 HOURS Great Britain), Insofar as English is indispensable for its clear expla (718) 871-4111 law is concerned. However, a nation of the Torah's law and its A FREE PUBLIC SERVICE OF number of noted poskim have ruled basic treatment in the responsa The American Rabbi Meir differently. It would certainly appear literature. In contrast. Rabbi Baal Haness Charity that there ls an advantage to draw Cohen's work (whose text is both in ing up wills in a way that would be Hebrew and English) focusses in KOLEL AMERICA consistent with the Torah's provi detail on the practical procedure to sions. according to all opinions. be followed (thus e.g. he deals with Hence the importance of Dayan the special problems of a wife's will); Grunfeld's book. The author states and his book comes complete with that when a will is in accordance the requisite forms, which only need with the law of the land, if such a filling in according to the author's will distributes an estate in a dif instructions. ferent way than indicated by the Some major works on halachic Torah, it Is an actual violation of topics are translations. Thus there Torah law and the beneficiaries of appeared recently the second the will receive money that does not volume of the translation of Hali belong to them. chos Bas Yisroel, A Woman's Guide He therefore undertook In this work clearly to set out the provisions of the Torah's law of inheritance, to demonstrate that, In this area. halacha does not consider the law of the land valid law for us; and to suggest a way in which a testator can distribute his estate at his discretion without transgressing Torah law. The book masterfully traces this subject through Jewish history and the voluminous responsa literature; and he con cludes by offering the text of a "gift document" (in Hebrew and English) which can be used in conjunction with a will to validate the latter's provisions. Three noted rabbinic scholars-Rabbi l.J. Weiss, Rabbi E. Schlesinger and Dayan Grossnass assisted in the preparation of this volume. The urgency of the sub ject is highlighted by the fact that the very year that saw the publica tion of Dayan Grunfeld's work (originally completed In 1975) also saw the appearance of another work on this topic, Kuntres Midor Ledor, 441713th Avenue Out of Town: Laws of the Torah relating to the (718) 972-6600 1-(800) 34FLOOR writing of a will and the distribution of one's estate. by Rabbi Feivel The Jewish Obseroer, June 1988 45 to Jewish Observance, by Rabbi have been worthwhile to include 11..,,:iN n:iv11 Yitzchak Yaakov Fuchs. translated here the statement of the Prisha by Rabbi M. Dombey (Targum Press, that the naming of a daughter LOST& FOUND Southfield. Michigan. 1987, $12.95 ). corresponds to the mila of a boy. A To announce an object found The bulk of this volume is taken up glossary and a very complete index Please Call: (718) 436-4999 by the laws of Shabbos and Yomim add further value to this important To find out if your object was Tovim with particular reference to work. found Please Call: 718 438-0592 women. and there is also a chapter Another welcome translation on miscellaneous mitzvos and bless from the Hebrew is The Sanctity of APublic Sm··- u• • u• ...... "_"v"• Producers of Dial-A-Dal ings. The treatment is outstanding Speech (Chevra Shemiras Hala Dlal-A-Shlur. Mlshnah-On·The-Phone in its comprehensiveness (it should shon, Lakewood, 1986, $6.95), a & Sponsors of Chevra Mlshnayos Bal-Peh be noted that Rabbi Fuchs added compendium of the laws of lashon new material to this edition for the hara compiled by Rabbis Y. K. benefit of those living outside Eretz Krohn and Y. M. Shain, adapted into Yisroel); and the concise statements English by Rabbi H. Danziger. The CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST of the text are explained in the laws of shemiras halashon are footnotes in detail and by reference many and complex. While the orig DR. BENZION to the rabbinic sources. down to the inal Hebrew work made their study latest responsa collections, so that much easier. the present volume SOROfZKIN it is indeed hard to think of any should remove any last obstacle to N.Y. STATE LICENSED additional material that could have familiarizing oneself with the basics been included. The only instance of the law. Furthermore. the last ADULTS that came to the reviewer's mind chapter, suggestions for improve AND was in connection with footnote 93, ment, focusses on the deeper rea CHILDREN on page 31, which talks about the sons for our weaknesses in this area Kiddush tendered upon the naming and on remedies for coping with (718) 266-7151 of a daughter-it would perhaps them. This is truly an essential work. THE WORLD OF PAMPHLETS I AM VERY SICK! long similar lines, Rabbi Moshe Goldberger has 1 ssued a booklet, To Say or i1'' N I will recuperate. Not to Say, a concise review digest of the laws of proper speech (Eichler Publications, Brooklyn, 1986, $4.95 ). We have previously reviewed B"H, my family did not fall apart because the girls from some other pamphlets by the same Maayanot rerushalayim Seminary took care of my 8 little author, and noted his ability to children, including my blind 3 year old. They dressed them, condense complex ideas and laws in brought ready cooked meals from the Seminary, helped them a manner that makes it very easy to absorb and remember them. with homework, did the laundry, etc. They even cleaned the Some recent pamphlets of his: house for Pesach. Their presence is invaluable when I am in Prescription for Health: Tehillim Therapy (1986) seeks to show how the hospital for the regular treatments. to pray for health based on a study And mine is one of the many families being helped by of a number of chapters from Tehil Maayanot. lim; The Wine Connection, A Guide to Self-Discipline (1986). based on Your donation keeps my family together. -Mrs.D. the laws of Nazir and outlining a practical training program for self control; and How to Achieve Wealth the Torah Way, With Birkas Maayanot Yerushalayim Seminary for Girls Hamazon (1987), which provides a Bir A PROGRAM COMBINING JEWISH STUDIES WITH CHESSED ACTIVITIES. word-by-word commentary on kas Hamazon and its meaning, as 19 Shaare Torah, POB 16347, Bayit Vegan, Jerusalem well as a deeper understanding of wealth and our striving for it. 46 The Jewish Obseroer, June 1988 Of special interest is Rabbi Gold· shown by the fact that it has been berger's most recent publication, distributed in tens of thousands of (K)not(s) on Shabbos (Yeshiva copies not only in Hebrew. Yiddish, Rabbi Aryeh Schechter Fund, Box 82, Staten Island, 1988, and English, but also in French, $3.00), which presents the complex Rumanian, Spanish, Hungarian. rules about making knots, tying and Persian, with German and SOFER S"TAM shoelaces, etc. on Shabbos. While Portuguese editions about to 1235 49th Street the public may have some vague appear. It can be obtained free from Brooklyn, NY 11219 general conceptions (and miscon the publishers (27 Maple Terrace, ceptions) on the subject. few are Monsey, NY 10952). (718) 972-4003 really familiar with it-yet it involves On the subject of Shabbos, an We make "house calls" an av melacha, one of the thirty interesting publication, with a novel nine types of activity forbidden on approach, is Laws ofCooking on the Shabbos. The fine illustrations by Sabbath and Festivals, by Ehud Aaron Hahakien greatly help to Rosenberg (Haladrot Meirot Pub· grasp the intricacies of the topic. As lications. Tel Aviv, 1986, $4.95, an appendix, the author has distributed by Feldheim Publi included some relevant extracts cations). This is a practical guide from Igros Moshe. as well as a (based on Shemiras Shabbos responsum by Rabbi Moshe Fein Kahilchoso by Rabbi Neuwirth). stein '"" concerning the printing which presents the complicated of halachic decisions without giving dinim involved by means of pic the reasons for them, and the tures. diagrams, and charts. Even translation of Torah works into the most complex points become 4916 !:\th Ave .. B'klyn, N.Y. 11219 English. remarkably simple when explained (718) 854-2911 Two valuable pamphlets have step by step in a series of pictures. been published by Rabbi Chayim Just to make sure that the reader Krauss, (Brooklyn, 1947): Kuntres Hahalachos and Kuntres Hashivah Nekiim U'Bedikos Yom Haveses, with approbations by the Satmar Dayan, Rabbi J. Roth. The dinim involved in these aspects of Family Yeshivas Brisk of Chicago is accepting Purity are presented lucidly and in fullest detail. in the form of concise applications from married Bnai torah for its statements; for each of them the sources are given. so that the subject Kolle! for Elul 5748. Our Kolle! is under the can be pursued further. It is to be hoped that the series of which personal guidance of the Rosh Yeshiva another pamphlet has previously been reviewed will be continued, so Horav Aharon Soloveichik. Shlita as to cover the entire field of Taha ras Hamishpacha. An older pam and offers excellent benefits. phlet on its laws, The Code of Jewish Family Purity, by Rabbi E. Blasz, originally published in Hun For further information contact Rabbi garian, has now appeared in its twelfth edition (Committee for Jew Yitzchok Giffin or Rabbi Eliyahu Soloveichik ish Family Purity, Monsey. 1987). Designed to spread the knowledge at (312) 275-5166 or write to: and observance of the laws involved, this booklet provides in simple and YESHIVAS BRISK clear language the basic laws. including guidance on proper 2965 W. Peterson Ave. record keeping and the calculations involved. It does not give sources Chicago, Illinois 60659 and, for more complex issues. urges the reader to consult competent rabbinic advice. Its usefulness is The Jewish Obseroer, June 1988 47 ...--1':",EW6FR='·'-- I FELDHEIM I .... \. lfl ~ has mastered the subject, the Practical Guide to the Laws ofYom - author provides review question to Tov and Chol Hamoed (distributed test his knowledge (and, to make by Feldheim. 1985. $8.95). This is For Shira, it became sure. also gives the correct answers). a larger work and represents a major This is an altogether admirable undertaking. dealing with all the a summer full of book that should serve as a model ramifications of a subject on which surprises. for the preparation of such works there is a great deal of confusion and on other halachic topics. and as a ignorance. What differences are For the reader it will guide to teachers on effective teach there. exactly. between Shabbos and ing of halachos. To add to the Yorn Tov as far as the thirty-nine be a summer full of usefulness of the book. the author types of work are concerned? The surprisingly good provides a chapter on heating author not only provides detailed Installations and their use on Shab guidance but also lengthy footnotes reading ... bos. and a concise statement of the in Hebrew to point out the sources laws of cooking on Yorn Tov. and to discuss points of controversy. Another very useful booklet is the Topics too long for a footnote are new. revised and enlarged edition of dealt with in a Hebrew appendix. Rabbi S. Wagschal's Care of Child There is no index but a very detailed ren on Shabbos and Yom Tov table of contents. and dinirn are (distributed by Feldheim. NY. 1985, easily located. $4.95 ). There are many aspects to The Radiance of Shabbos. by this topic. from the preparation and Rabbi Sirncha Bunirn Cohen warming of food to the cleaning and (Mesorah Publications. Brooklyn. dressing of the child. from the 1986. $11.95 he. $8.95 sc), is like problems raised by toys to the wise a larger work. It is dedicated treatment of illnesses. The author to the positive obligations connect has also added chapters on children ed with Shabbos and Yorn Tov: and the dietary laws and on the candle-lighting. Kiddush and Hav education of children. character dalah, and the festive meals. These training and the beginning of obligations are well-known. but not rnitzva observance. Comprehensive so the many details connected with references to the sources. and a full them. The author deals with such index round off this valuable work. specifics as candle-lighting in a Rabbi Wagschal has also pub hotel. how to distribute Kiddush Hardcover $12.95 lished a new. revised edition of his wine. and drinking wine at Seudah Paperback $9.95 Shira Gordon, who is almost Bas Mitzvah, must B "H SINGLE & DOUBLE leave old friends behind BREASTED MEN'S SUITS when her family moves. SEEWALD'S ALL MAKES SILBIGER'S A new neighborhood &MODELS means having to make new friends; and along the way • Slacl 48 The Jewish Observer. June 1988 Shlishis (this reviewer missed, how interest are some rabbinic responsa Eli Teitelbaum (Vaad Mishmereth ever, any mention of Zemiros, or on the subject, which round off this Stam, Brooklyn, 1981) is an illus discussion of SholomAleichem and interesting work. trated guide, written in a lively style, the blessing of the children). Four The Complete Mezuzah Guide, by intertwining the halachic specifica relevant responsa of Rabbi Moshe Rabbi Moshe Elefant and Rabbi tions and aggadic explanations for Feinstein '."'>l are included and the Eliezer Wetnbaum (Brooklyn, 1988, each of the letters. A review quiz and author has also added a number of $6.50) is a comprehensive guide to a defective mezuza, whose mistakes detailed halachic discussions, in all aspects of the subject; where, the reader is asked to find, complete Hebrew, of points touched on in this how, and when to affix a mezuza, this useful pamphlet. work; they are in addition to the and the many ramifications and How to Remember What You Hebrew footnotes, which provide questions connected with this Learn, by Rabbi Reuven Biala sources and explanations for the mitzva, such as those that are (Monsey, 1986) is another instance various dinim stated. The language raised, for instance, by partnership of the value of pamphlets that is clear, and an excellent index is with a non-Jew. Footnotes, in address themselves to specific provided. Hebrew, provide sources and expla needs. Rabbi Biala has made a Kiddush L'vono, by Rabbi Chaim nations, and a set of diagrams specialty out of time management Uri Lipschitz (Moznaim Publica graphically illustrate the provisions and effective studying habits, and tions, Brooklyn, 1987, $7.00) is a discussed in the various chapters. the present pamphlet applies the most attractively designed booklet The authors state all the pertinent principles involved to Torah study. devoted to the monthly blessing of measurements in cubits and hand On hand of specific examples from the moon. It discusses the laws and breadths; a future edition should Limudei Kodesh. the author points customs connected with it. and provide some guidance as to these out basic rules for organizing in provides the text as well as a com measurements in feet and inches. one's mind material to be remem mentary to it, but goes beyond this Mezuzos as well as Sifrei Tomh bered. There are unfortunately all to explain the Jewish calendar, the and Tefillin require, of course, the too many people who are hampered concept of molad, as well as the most stringent attention to the way by poor power of concentration and philosophical and aggadic aspects they are written. The Shape and memory. This booklet should be a of Kiddush L'vono. Of particular Forms of the Aleph Beth, by Rabbi great boon to them.• Subscribe, Renew or Give The Jewish Observer now and save. U.S.A. ONLY OUTSIDE U.S.A. THE OOne Year/$18.00 (for ten issues) 0$28 []Two Years/$30.00 (a $50 value) 0$50 JEWISH []Three Years/$40.00 (a $75 value) 0$70 U.S. FUNDS-DRAWN ON A U.S. BANK ONLY OBSERVER Suite 1200, 84 William Street, New York, NY 10038 Send magazine to: •Analyzes. •Reports. Name •Evaluates •Reviews. I Address ______•Comments. •Reflects. I City ______State____ Zip. _____ •Inspires. •Projects. I I DEnclose gift card OMasterCard [JVisa I Acct. No. o~:~T~~r-"'=1"'=[=r----i~r~:J: .... ___ LITJ~I] Wedo more I Expiration date DD (month) DD (year) DD I thanjust observe. I Signature I The Jewish Observer, June 1988 49 Community National Bank the 50 + Club to bring you big savings on every banking product or service you use. In fact, when you join The 50 + Club, just takes pride in introducing about every kind of banking costs you less-or nothing at all: • FREE American Express~) Travelers' Cheques (through December 31, 1988) • FREE N.O.W. Checking with no monthly charges (minimum opening deposit, $100). Annual rate, 5.50o/o; effective yield 5.65%. * • FREE Higher Rate Money Market N.O.W. Checking with no monthly charges (minimum opening deposit, $10,000). Annual rate, 6.607a; effective yield, 6.82% • FREE preprinted checks • FREE stop·payment order on any check you write • FREE Money Orders • FREE Cashier's Checks It's for people who've • FREE Regular Savings with no monthly charges (minimum opening deposit, $ l 00). Annual rate, 5.50%; effective yield, lived long enough to 5.653 • FREE direct deposit of Social Security or pension checks understand real value. • FREE automatic deposit of earned interest on your CNS Savings Certificate •PREFERRED LOAN RATE-1 % LOWER THAN CURRENT RATE-on any consumer installment loan • 10'7o DISCO S \21 l31h Avl:'nue TEFILLAAS PART OF AsamemberoftheAgudah'sVaad Hatzoloh Commission, I am well Brooklyn, NY 11219 "TALKING" FOR RUSSIAN JEWS 17181 851-0600 aware of its good work being done in a clandestine manner on behalf .. To the Editor: of the baalei teshuva in Russia. - The article "Talking to the Rus· However, as heroic as this undertak· sians" (JO Feb. 88) states the fol· ing may be, the people involved and Ruchama Seidman fund, lowing: "This is not to say that every the people served are limited in Ph.D. form of public expression has been number. It is regrettable that the ruled out. Seventeen years ago. N.Y.S. Licensed Psychologist movement by the masses for the when the Soviet Jewry movement masses has remained in the hands (718) 252-3440 took to the streets in a most dra· of the secular leadership. matic, media-grabbing way, we abstained. But we did organize and .. You close the article by saying, Let those who chose to remain at 4807-!Sth Ave. participate in a mass public tefilla DIAL (718) 436-STAM assembly that was convened on home out of conviction... reinforce January 10, 1971." their own abstention as a conscious The implication that it took a choice.... " I am proud to say that secular demonstration seventeen my shul chose to say Tehillirn the years ago for the Agudah consti· Sunday morning of the mass rally tuency to mobilize a Yorn Tefilla for in Washington. I would have felt our Soviet brethren is unfortunate. reinforced doing so had I seen encouragement from the Agudath fl')~1 ,,,~ I don't believe that the plight of Israel leadership to make that "con· Soviet Jewry has been that good in mJ'lr.l1 mmr.i ,)'J'~n ,n1m "~" the past seventeen years that such scious choice." Beautiful Selection of Megi!los (RABBI) YOEL SCHONFELD a Yorn Tefilla was and is no longer Congregation Beth Yehuda RECOMMENDED BY necessary. Staten Island. NY THE VAAD MISHMERES STAM SAME DAY SERVICE . The Outstanding All-Inclusive Yeshiva and Kollel DIGEST OF MEFORSHIM ,t,,p? 1n:i ,"Dip? MATANA YESHIVAS ';>"~! iJJ07l< 71<1!'.JTV l";]i;Jr.l BAIS YISROEL i\l'ai/;ib/e at GALLERY LEKUTEI 4906 18th Ave. Bayit V0gan, Jcrusak~m Israel clo Yitzchok Rosenberg Brooklyn, N.Y. (718) 851·4448 Under the dyna:mic leadership ofthe 10 \Vest 47th Street, Room 503 exceptional Rosh Hayeshiva i\ew York, NY 10036 Jewish books, .Judaic°" Talel9im l212) 719-1717 Mezuzos, personalized Tali' bags HARAV HAGAON Tejilinbag;, Yarmulkasandchalah DONIEL LEHRFIELD 20 Volumes on Turah, Perek, c?vers, records and tapes, lucite, Med rash, Megilos and Tulmud. silver, semi~preciousstones and gold Is riow conduCting special Bechinos jewelry•. for admission of serious t,almidi-Jn Proceeds of sales distributed for the New 5749/1988·89 Zeman an1ong Yeshivos and used for reprinting of volun1es out-of-print For all information, please phonl' Harav S. Shlomo Nuhnan, President PRICE: $8.00 PER VOLUME ALLATSUPER (212) 533-4993 DISCOUNT PRICES! The Jewish Observer, June 1988 51 decided to leave Eretz Yisroel for MAGAZINESParamount Subscriptions TO WHOM THE SATMAR RAV ~!so carries kWi!;ii Paper~ & M.-gaiine> REFERRED A "KVITTEL" America, Reb Osher Zelig asked him, • 1,000toLhoose from "Now that you're leaving, to whom • New subscriptions and renew;ils at large DISCOUNTS To the Editor: can I give a kvittel (that he pray on CALL CH AVA NOW my behalf)?" 1718) 851 9698 On the very day that I read Eliyahu ASK ABOUT OUR SUPER SPECIAL PRICES Replied the Rav, "Go into one of FOR RECEPTION ROOMS&· BUSINESS Mayer's inspiring account of how SHOMH Sli.l8$0'> the shtieblach, where people come davening next to a man with a in to daven. When you see a man concentration camp tattoo on his rolling up his sleeve to put on The World Famous Grunwald arm aroused deeper kavonos within tefillin-he doesn't have to have a SHAS him, I heard a striking story about beard-and there are concentration - Reb Osher Zelig Margolis who was camp numbers on his arm, to him Now <1v<1i!<1ble 1n !00% genuine very close to the late Satmar Rav, leather binding you can give a kvitteL" 't::J"1::: Rabbi Yoe! Teitelbaum J""· when in The perfect gift for the Chason RABBI Dovm COHEN ' " Eretz Yisroel in 1946. When the Rav Congregation Gvul Yaavetz !9 Volumes Brooklyn, NY 1,~ Encyclopedia Talmudls ~' '··.,,;;: just arrived Dealers contac1: M.S. Spiegel 5308 New Utrecht Ave .. (718) 972-7017 An Historic First: Agudath Israel to Open Washington Office for Gov't Affairs Send For to obtain a man of Rabbi Kasnett's Tape on Tehillim 121: caliber to serve as the director of our How to Protect Yourself permanent office in the nation's capital. He is an extraordinary individual who $5.00 with card. combines legal training and a pleasant Yeshiva Fund, Box 82 personality with a keen intellect and total commitment to Torah scholarship Staten Island, N.Y. 10309 and Torah values.'' "The office in Washington," said Rabbi n historic first for Orthodox Jews Sherer, "will serve as our eyes and ears, A in the United States, signifying alerting us to developments affecting their emergence as one of the fastest Jews at the earliest stages of the govern growing groups in American Jewish life, mental process. It will help us commun was heralded by Agudath Israel of icate responsibly the sensitivities of the FROM FACTORY America, as it announced the completion broad coalition constituency of Agudath REPRESENTATIVE of plans to open a full time office for Israel to an increasing number of public SAVE!!! government affairs in the nation's officials, and will serve as a conduit of capital. their thoughts back to us. Heading the Agudath Israel Washing "The Washington bureau will be of ton bureau will be Rabbi Nesanel (Ste great significance to Torah institutions phen) Kasnett, a multi-talented individ in this countiy, whose governmental ,. .,,, ual who brings to his new position both interestsAgudath Israel represents from Jewish scholarship and legal training. kindergarten to Kolle!.'' nr.i71!1 n1<1~17 77~nn~'1 ;m77 NJ Himself a native of the nation's capital, Rabbi Kasnett's appointment brings 'TJ>n 'TY::! Rabbi Kasnett is a graduate of Dart~ to three the number of full time attorney mouth College and the Cardozo School advocates on the Agudath Israel execu M'JlM, ~N!>i of Law, who studied at Yeshiva Bais tive staff. '") ~ni n:>i:i 1:i HaTalmud in Jerusalem and spent years David Zwiebel serves as Director of of advanced Talmudic study at the Kollel Government Affairs and General Coun O'r.11!1 >r.inl 1'l:il!I of the MirrerYeshi"va in New York, sel for the organization, and Mordechai Commenting on Agudath Israel's Avigdor is Associate General Counsel decision to open the Washington office, and Executive Director of Agudath Rabbi Moshe Sherer, national president Israel's Commision on Legislation and Send For 6 Tapes on of the movement. observed: "Through a Civic Action. First Blatt of Makos. full time Washington bureau and repre The new director of the Washington sentative, drawing on our experience of office, in addition to his legal training l.eam to Enjoy Gemara Study close to half a centuiy on the Washington and Jewish scholarship, is a published Yeshiva Fund, Box 82 scene, we will now be able more effec author, whose writings include A Future tively to present our unique approach and A Hope (1987) and the soon-to-be Slaten Island, N.Y. 10309 to governmental and public issues as released Ancient Mountains, Timeless they affect the religious community. We Hills, both works on Chumash and are especially gratified that we were able Jewish thought. • 52 The Jewish Obseroer, June 1988 Yes! You can dance /6.$)1<6 /<' /6p /6N at two weddings! ! nljlnn •11.5 f.11< The Gitty Perkowski Simcha Fund of Yad Eliezer While you're celebrating here, you can do one more thing to make your wedding the most beautiful, as \Vell as 1neaningful day of your life! Help Yad Eliezer make a wedding in Israel for a Choson and Kallah who are unable to get married without your generosity! $500. 00 makes the wedding! What a great guarantee that all your anniversaries be golden ones! ENDORSED BY GEDO LEI HADOR WORLDWIDE! Help YAD ELIEZER make tl1e difference between surrender and sunivall!! -·::,,\JU- COORDINATORS Rabbi and Mrs. Yaakov Weisel Mr. and Mrs. Zolly Tropper Kiryat Sanz, ,Jerusalem 1102 E. 26th St. Tel. 812060 Brooklyn, N.Y. 11210 (718) 258-1580 Rabbi and Mrs. Zevi Trenk 1586 E. 9th St. Brooklyn, N.Y. 11230 Rabbi and Mrs. Yehndah Rupp Mordeehai Gelber Paid f1)f by a supporter ofYad Eliczcr ••. t1'7i'3J'iY 1'MX .,~, ~ii' A CRY THAT CAN NOT BE IGNORED!!! Dear Brothers and s·tsters, "Avroho " Ch m was always a I d abura in Gemo 1· . ea er: National M' h B rra ... irst •n l d . is nayos cha . asYisroel-bothw om os1nhisYeshiva "B h mp in Israel ... top of h' ere seventh ··· roe a;, rs made in heaven. generation Yerushalmi f . . was recognized as the ideal am1l1es! Surely th' is Was a marriage And so it was for five years. Then, this past R.osh H family and col/a d ashona - TISMACH - "A h pse ~ .. lea · ., vro om" d orphans, the youngest onlyv~ng Bkrocha" a 26 year old wido:: e dkiddush for his young wee s old. ' an three child . ~~~e~d· f ~h~ A k · mg 0 the Ged J • s on1m is setfin o ei Torah listed b I look forward to. ~h':; :t~~s~fund so this Young lam~/;:;I~ ~ommittee of Rabbonim and continue life in a dignified t ave a place to live, a steady so ave mo:e than memories to ~ secure manner urce of income so th You surely w'I/ · ' ey can 1 want to sha · and give them a r rem this Mitzva of dr . ay of hope and co f Ying the tears of th. b m on. " eteaved family M a keoutag , all enerous check to C orphans bestow u ong. BaisAaron/Or h Pon you and yours the best blessi~g:!ns fund, and may the father of Mr. Mendel Beer COMM1nn: RabbiShmue/ Dishon Rabbi Yitzchok Kap/in k' Rabbi Avrohom K Rabbi Yehuda 0 'b s ' amenetsky e1, a.um Rabbi Nosson sc h errnan Rabbi Meir Piichik Rabbi Michoef Wo/pin Rabbi Nisson Wo/pin WE URGE YOU TO RESPOND GENEROUSLY TO THE ABOVE APPEAL. IN REWARD FOR YOUR COMPASSION, MAY HASHEM YISBORACH BLESS YOU WITH HEAL TH & HAPPINESS. RABBINICAL ENDORSEMENT: Bais Din Tzedek of the Aida HaCharedis, Jerw.alem Ho Rav Pinchos Schein berg, Rosh Yeshiva, Torah Ohr,Jeru>alem HoRav Avraham Y. Bick, Cong. Eirz Chaim Ho Rav Moshe D. Steinwurzel, Rosh Yi.>shiva, Bobov HoRav Yosef Sholom Elyashuv, Jeru~alem HoRav Moshe Stern, oebricin HoRav Naftali Halberstam, Bobov HoRav Moshe Wolfson, Cong. Emunas Yisroel HoRav Zvi Markowitz, Rosh Yeshvia, Seo/in Jerusalem HoRav Chaim B. Wolpin, Rosh Yeshiva, S1olin HoRav Avrohom Pam, Rosh Yeshiva, Torah \.bdaas PLEASE MAIL YOUR GENEROUS CONTRIBUTION TO: RABBI MOSHE D. STEINWURZEL 1264 - 56th STREET, BROOKLYN, N.Y. 11219 Checks made out to Cong. Bais Aaron/Oprhans Fund, are tax-deductible This newest addition to TCN Torah programming will n•"N begin, October 12, 1988 .;.,,.,,, 11wn n•., and will feature an in-depth study of Gemora, taught in Yiddish, beginning with rn:ru n::>oc. The shiur, will aim to cover approximately an 'Tlt.lYa day, six times a week with Fridays shiur repeated on p·tt1~1n. The Gemora and Rashi will be covered and the shiur will include any relevant Rishonim and Achronim as well as Halacha. Harav Michel Silber, world reknowned Magid Shiur heard regularly on Dial-A-Dal and Dial-A-Shiur, will lend his lecturing talent to this most promising program. Available in English or Yiddish, beginning every hour-on-the-hour. The shiurim are given by a group of expert Maggidei Shiur. The program, which follows the DafYomi schedule, has gained the enthusiastic support of thousands of listeners around the world. It provides an almost unprecedented opportunity to study and know even the less familiar mesechtos in Shas and has made Torah conveniently available to the Jewish masses. A comprehensive study of the ro\!Jt.l ,,,o n'll\!J, especially geared to students of 7th grade and up, as well as adults. The shiur, taught in English, begins every half hour and changes every second day. The Magid Shiur is the noted author and lecturer Rabbi Nosson Scherman, editor of Art Scroll Publications. An excellent opportunity to study the entire n>'llr.> '1'W nw\!1 and acquaint yourself even with the less familiar mesechtos. Every day, a 2 hour program including five lectures comes to you over your telephone. Talented, expert, interesting teachers from America and Israel bring you a variety of fascinating Torah subjects, in Yiddish and English. let your fingertips dial the broad world of Torah into your home or office any time of the day or night. 26 different segments are available to you as follows: ------·-- YIDDISH PROGRAMMING On The HOl.lf 20 Min. Ahet The Hour On The H•lf Hour On The Hour 40------Min. Ahet The Hollf ·--·--··---·· ---··- -·----- ,., n1,1wn lJ RETURN TO: BASIC COSTS f Torah Communications Netw0tk, 1618-43 Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11204 {718) 436-4999 $6 per month plus a one-time registration fee of $36. I Subscription to a second progr<>m is only $18 (half price I Name ----Tel.------registration) and $6 per month I Address ------·------ PLEASE NOTE: In long Island, Elizabeth, Edison, Passaic and ! Slate _____ Teaneck N.J. Dial-A-Oaf in English is heard on even hours and the I' Cit Y ------Dial-A-Shiur English program on odd hours. The monthly fee is $12. I I'm enclosing the $36 regis,ration fee and $18 for the first three months. Please enroll me in: Mishnah-On-The-Phone is not av<1ilable locally in these areas. ' o Dial-A-Oaf (Yiddish) o Dial-A-Oaf (English) o Mishnah-On-The-Phone D Dia!-A-Shiur o Shiur Yomi With our 11no-points, no-application-fee" Home Equity Line of Credit. 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