" RAnnrY()SEF GAVJ\lEL B!\CllHOFER A. Neglected Chessed d Confo.-ting the . ,. Berea11ed liVho Are Not Aveilim DR. MEIR WrnER Notes of Cheer Putting the «Music>' into ]e1vish Music ~ DO\ml N. GOLDING E I E COMMERCIAL QUALITY • INSTITUTIONAL & RESIDENTIAL • WOOD • STEEL • PLASTIC • SWINGS • SLIDES • PICNIC TABLES • SCHOOL & CAMP EQUIPMENT • BASKETBALL SYSTEMS • RUBBER FLOORING • ETC. • Equipment meets or exceeds all ASTM and CPSC safety guidelines • Site planning and design services EARLY CHILDHOOD CENTER #2 - Bronx, NY with state-of-the-art Auto CAD PRIMARY SCHOOL 171 - Crotona Park • Stainless steel fabrication for JEWISH FOUNDATION SCHOOL - Staten Island ultimate rust resistance FREE WILL DAY CARE - Bedford Stuyvesant K.J. UNION FREE SCHOOL DISTRICT - Monroe CANARSIE BEACH PARK - Canarsie PASSAIC YESHIVA KETANA - Passaic, NJ better 5302 New Utrecht Avenue• Brooklyn, NY 11219 health Phone: 718-436-480 l Sivan 5757 • May 1997 U.S.A.$3.50/Foreign $4.50 ·VOL XXX/NO. 4 THE JEWISH OBSERVER (ISSN) 0021-6615 is published monthly except July and August by the Agudath Israel 0 of America, 84 William Street, New York, N.Y. 10038. Second class postage paid in New York, N.Y. Subscription $24.00 per year; two years, $44.00; three years, $60.00. Qutside of fhe Untted States (US funds drawn on a US bank only) 14 $12.00 surcharge per year. Single copy $3.50; foreign $4.50. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Jewish Observer, 84 William Street, N.Y., N.Y. 10038. T<J: 212-797-9000, Fax: s 212-269-2843. 75 Years of Agudath Israel in America: A Scrapbook Printed in the U.S.A. 10 RABBI NISSON WOLPIN, eorroR A Layman's Guide to a Din Torah EDITORIAL BOARD Yoseph M. Broun(eld DA. ERNST L. BODENHEIMER Chalrman 14 RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS Numbers Speak Louder Than Words JOSEPH FRIEDENSON Chonon Gordon and Richard M. Horowitz RABBI NOSSON SCHERMAN 17 MANAGEMENT BOARD AVI FISHOF Der Aufstieg: Dr. Nathan Birnbaum .,..:n,Ascent and Agudah NAFTOLI HIRSCH Rabbi Yose( Gavriel Bechho(er ISAAC KIRZNEA RABBI SHLOMO LESIN 2S NACHUM STEIN A Neglected Chessed: Comforting the Bereaved Who are Not Aveilim RABBI YOSEF C. GOLDING Meir Wik/er Busl11ess Manager 19 Published by Agudath Israel of America Putting the "Music" into Jewish Music RABBI MOSHE SHERER David N. Golding PRESlDENT 35' U.S. TRADE DISTRIBUTOR ISRAEU DISTRIBUTOR First Fruits, Eliyahu Mayer Feldheim Publishers Nechemia Rosenberg 200 Airport Executive Park Kiryat Telshe Stone. 108A D.N. Harei Yehucla. ISRAEL Spr'ing Valley. N.Y. 10977 V'YESH 0MRIM ... AND THERE ARE THOSE THAT SAY EUROPEAN REPRESENTATIVE AUSTRAUAN DISTRIBUTOR M. T. Bi be Iman Gold's Book & Gill Co. J 9 Lehavdil, Aviva Minsk Grosvenor Works 36 William Street Moull! Pleasant Htll Balaclava 3183. Vic .. 4 I Toras Emes: A True Siyum? London ES 9NE. ENGLAND AUSTRALIA 41 THE JEWISH OBSERVER does not SECOND LOOKS assume responsibility for the Kashrus A New Jewish School Network in Israel of any product, publication, or service Adam Winston advertised in its pages ©Copyright 1997 4S BOOKS IN REVIEW MAY 1997 reviewed by Robbi Nesanel Kasnett VOLUME XXX/NO. 4 LANDSCAPE OF THE SPIRIT: THE CITIES OF ERETZ YtSROEL IN jEWISH THOUGHT THE FUTURE FESTIVAL: LAws, TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS OF THE THREE WEEKS so LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 75 years of advocacy, representation, and service. A scrapbook of special moments, events .. and milestones The Jewish Observer, May 1997 The Jewish Observer, May 1997 At Empire, we don't just sharpen our knives. We sharpen our n1inds. imud HaTorah is an essential part of our daily routine. The Empire Bais Medrash resounds with a ilill"\ ?1p nearly around the clock, Lwhether it's shiurim in Daf Yomi, a masechta b'iyun, Shmiras Haloshon or a review in Hilchos Shechita. What does all of this have to do with kosher chicken? Everything. TOUGH KASHRUS, TENDER POULTRY TOLL-FREE CONSUMER HOTLINE: (800) EMPIRE-4 Yoseph M. Braunfeld A Layman's Guide to a Din Torah WHY NOT LITIGATE? sidewalk instead of on the street, there­ by causing extensive damage to the thousand-dollar fur coat she was car­ • he following lines will zel Tov! You are finally going rying. You will be hearing from her o move into your new home lawyer. No problem, you assume. Like Thopefully allay the fear M uilt exactly to your specifi­ any good American, you will let the of the unknown and cations. You contract with Boneh-Yofeh courts decide. Builders, a reputable Jewish firm. When familiarize potential you are about to move in, you notice *** litigants with the beis din that the wiring is not as extensive as you specified. The contractor tells you it is hen you remember that there is system. These guidelines and will not incur the extra expense to a problem. You've read about it in pertain to the courts in rewire. No problem, you assume. Like Tpast issues of The Jewish Observ­ any good American, you will let the er. You've heard it expounded at public the United States as well courts decide. addresses. Very likely, you've come as abroad. The din Torah across it when learning Chumash or our daughter's wedding last night Gemora. Nonetheless, it is worth repeat­ legal process is actually was an exhausting effort, but - ing: The Torah explicitly prohibits the quite simple and is Ywho can deny it? - well worth it. primary usage of secular courts to You now take her wedding dress to the adjudicate disputesbetween Jews.' accessible to any local Shomer Shabbos dry cleaner. He So what can you do? The Torah pre­ knowledgeable person. tells you he really doesn't like to do these scribes its own court system - beis din. dresses, but since you are a good cus­ Each beis din consists of several judges tomer, he will give it his best. Sure qualified by their Torah expertise. The enough, when you pick it up, some number of sitting judges in batei din After all, if the legal• system with which ornamentation is ruined. You immedi­ vary. We will concern ourselves here with I am somewhat familiar is too compli­ ately blame him for ruining your expen­ a three judge panel, the number nor­ cated for me, why do I want to start with sive investment which you planned to mally required for civil cases. a totally unfamiliar system? I can just hire use for your other five daughters. He says a lawyer who will professionally litigate. he warned you that it was your risk. No ALLAYING FEARS OF THE UNFAMILIAR The following lines will hopefully problem, you assume. Like any good allay the fear of the unknown and famil­ American, you will let the courts decide. est one think that a beis din is just iarize potential litigants with the system. an alternative legal system, a pasuk These guidelines pertain to the courts our ten-year-old crashes his bicy­ Lin Tehillim informs us that in the United States as well as abroad. cle into the non-observant lady Hashem Himself participates in every Originating a case or consenting to Ywho lives at the other end of the beis din decision'. The problem arises dispute in a secular court is prohibited. block. Before you can placate her that from the fact that the intricate structure In case of an irreconcilable dispute, the it was only an accident, she berates you of the American legal system combined Torah ideally prefers a compromise to for allowing your child to ride on the with ignorance about the beis din dis­ a strict ruling. Nevertheless, if a Jew courages people from going to a beis din. vociferously believes that he (or she - Yoseph M. Braunfeld learned in the Kolle! of Yeshi­ women are equally recognized as plain­ va Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch and currently is I "And these are the laws that you should put before a practicing accountant . The author acknowledges them- before the Jewish courts, and not before the tiffs or defendants) was wronged, he may valuable insights provided by the Dayanim Chaim gentile courts" (Gittin 88b). recover his loss without undue con­ Kohn (Monsey and Manhattan) and Yaakov 2 Tehillim 82,l. See Malbim and other commenta­ straint. The din Torah legal process is Forscheimer (Lakewood), and Rabbi Moshe Heine­ tors. man (Baltimore). actually quite simple and is accessible to ---------------------- 10 The )ew;sh Observer, May 1997 any knowledgeable person. If the disputants do not come togeth­ >What constitutes a beis din? er to the beis din, the plaintiff (tove'a) Hashem directed Moshe Rabbeinu to • will ask the beis din to send a summons implement a "semicha" system begin­ atei din realize that (hazmana) to the defendant ( nitva). The ning with his disciple Yehoshua, where­ there are widely­ defendant has the option of requesting by those demonstrating their proficiency B a different beis din. If, however, he fails would be allowed to judge. After this accepted customs which to respond, the beis din may send two continuous chain was broken subse­ more summonses. If there is still no quent to the destruction of the Second are assumed by all the response, the beis din will either issue a Beis Hamikdash, our leaders decreed people of a community. seruv, which is a public announcement that anyone properly versed in halacha stating that the defendant is not would have limited authority to judge. These customs would responding to beis din's order to appear, Throughout our history, cities with a sig­ retain the status of or will allow the plaintiff to pursue his nificant Jewish population have orga­ case in a secular court.