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The Jewish Bserver $1VAN, 5742/ MAY 1982 VOLUME XVl,•NUMSER 3 THE $1.50 Questions of Identity.and Success Questions of Compatibility of Halacha and Psychotherapy Questions of Grounding El Al on Shabbos Questions of The Virtues of English Translations of Hebrew Classics Questions from the readers . and some answers This year, the 12 of Sivan marks A special commission was then seventy years since the founding established to prepare a constitution conference of Agudath Israel in the for Agudath Israel. A year later, a draft Polish city of Kattowicz. Torah giants was completed which included the and communal leaders from all over statement of purpose (printed below). Europe gathered to create an We call special attention to Clause organization that would define the number 5, the dissemination of Torah Jewish People in accordance with the literature, which is the primary concept that "Israel's collective body is purpose for publication of The animated and sustained by its Torah Jewish Observer, Agudath Israel of as the organizing soul." (Moreinu America's journal of Torah thought Yaakov Rosenheim) and opinion. First Draft Constitution of Agudath Israel The primary goal of Agudath Israel is to solve the various problems that confront Kial Yisroel in its day-to­ day existence in the spirit of Torah and mitzvos. Toward that end Agudath Israel will endeavor: 1. To assemble, organize, and unite the scattered communities of religious Jewry, especially those of the East and West, into one association; 2. To strengthen in great measure Torah study and education of our youth, wherever they are in need of encouragement and help; 3. To improve the material conditions of the masses of our people wherever they are under oppression; 4. To organize and support emergency relief institutions; 5. To develop and publish newspapers and books in the spirit of Judaism; 6. To be the organ of defense for authentic Judaism and for our sacred Torah and its adherents, in face of external threats. THE JEWISH BSERVER THE JEWISH OBSERVER (ISSN 0021-6615) is published monthly, except July and August, by the Agudath Israel of America, S Beekman Street, New York, N.Y. 10038. Second class postage paid at New York, N, Y. Subscription in this issue ... $12.00 per year; two years, S21.00; three years, $28.00; out~ side of the United States, $13.00 Of Identity and Success, Rabbi Chaim Dov Keller ............. 4 per year. Single copy, $1.50 Halacha and Psychotherapy: Conflict or Compatibility?, Printed in the U.S.A. Meir Wikler . ........................................ 8 English Translations-From Trepidation to Joy, RABBI NissoN Wotr1N Rabbi Mendel Weinbach ............................... 12 Editor Taking Flight With Shabbos, Ezriel Toshavi ................ 16 Editorial Board Hakham Yitzhak Hai Tayeb, Nechama Consuelo Nahmoud ..... 20 DR. ERNST BODENHEIMER Chairman Books For Our Youth, a review . .......................... 29 RABBI NATHAN BULMAN Postscripts RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS JOSEPH fRIEDENSON Assignment: Covering Page One, Nissan Wolpin ........ 33 RAaa1 Mosttr SHERER "Volozhin"-USA ................................. 34 Letters to the Editor ................................... 35 Tttr Jrw1stt OBSERVER does not assume responsibility for the Kashrus of any product or ser­ vice advertised in its pages. MAY, 1982, VOL. XVI, NO. 3 SIVAN, 5742 Of Identity and Success The Ben Torah Looks at Himself and His Future The following article by RABBI CHAIM DOV KELLER, Rosh Yeshiva of T elshe-Chicago, is drawn mainly from an address to senior yeshiva students.* While his main thrust is aimed at the talmidim, it also offers food for thought for the reader who may consider himself many years beyond his student days. Defining the Problem Complex problems do not lend themselves to quick and easy solutions. Sometimes the closest we can come to solving a dilemma is to examine the difficult situation and try to clarify it. This is also worthwhile, for any talmudic scholar knows, it is better to leave yourself with a good question requiring more study (P'l-' l'i~) than to attempt a weak answer. This is because ii:lit:?li '~ii c::in n?xtv "The question of a wise man pro­ vides half the answer," whereas a poor answer can be completely false-leaving you with less than nothing. With this in mind, let us examine an extremely com­ plex situation-namely, how a ben Torah looks at himself and his future. This is "extremely complex" for, as is commonly recognized, one of the most vexing problems of modern man-and the hen Torah is no exception-is what is commonly called the "identity crisis": In an open and rapidly changing society, how does one define himself?- Who am I?-Which is the real me? That alone is complex enough. But when one tries to define and identify oneself in .·.;" terms of the future, that is an extremely complex situation. Appreciate Yourself One of the causes of some of the most disturbing problems that confront the ben Torah during his forma­ tive years, in the yeshiva-years that should be among the best of his life-is a lack of appreciation of his own talents. Reb Naftoli Amsterdam once complained lo his Rebbi. Reh Yisroel Salanter: .. If I would only have the head of the Shagas Aryeh, the heart of the Yesod Veshoresh Ho'avodah and the Rebbi's midos!" To this Reh Yisroel is said to have replied, .. No, Naftali. With your head and your heart and your midas." If the Ribbono Shel Olam has given each of us unique powers of intellect, emotions, and qualities of sou], then it is with these that we are to serve Him. It is with these, our own characteristics, that we must find fulfillment ~at the Zeirei Agudath Israel's fourth annual Torah Assembly, held on April 18, 1982, in Brooklyn. 4 The Jewish Obseroer I May, 1982 and simcha in learning Torah, in serving Hashem and in is not the gad/us to which he had aspired, he feels himself raising kavod Shomayim in this world. a failure. As a result, he does not achieve a fraction of The same yeitzer hara (evil inclination) that can lead one that which he could achieve. person to gaavo, an inflated sense of self importance, can I once told my Rebbi, the late Telshe Rosh Yeshiva, lead another into depression over the fact that he is not Rabbi Elya Meir?"~!. that I had a tremendous desire to as "smart" or as "talented" as his chaver, or that he cannot learn and to grow into a "Chazon !sh" or a "Chafetz say a s'vora or a chiddush (original explanation) as well as Chaim." He replied: "The Chafetz Chaim didn't learn in his benchmate. order to become a Chafetz Chaim, and the Chazon !sh didn't learn in order to become a Chazon !sh." He "Gadlus" -in Only One Mold obviously did not mean that a hen Torah should not In yeshiva, the constant stress is on gad/us-greatness emulate the role models of gedolim, or that these giants, in Torah. This is as it should be. For-after all--from in their time, did not aim for greatness. One surely whence will come those Gedolei Torah who will lead Kial should strive to follow the ways of gedolim, to emulate Yisroel, if not from theyeshivos. Yet this emphasis is not their complete commitment to Torah and avodas Hashem, without its hazards, for it can lead some to the false which is the hallmark of gad/us. What he did mean was assumption that only greatness in a specific mold is that they had not attained their greatness by setting up greatness. Anything else is failure. pre-conceived notions of a particular caliber of great­ This mindset can engender two different types of ness they had wished to achieve. They used their talents problems. Some bnei Torah, as a result of this misconcep­ to the fullest and learned Torah lishma, and as a result tion, lose their ambition very early in their Torah devel­ they achieved whatever they succeeded in achieving. opment when they become convinced that they will The answer, then, is not to stop dreaming dreams of never make it as "great" talrnidei chachomim. Others, how­ gad/us. Without striving for gad/us there will be no gad/us. ever, spurred on by visions of Torah grandeur they But the dreams must be tempered with realism ... an believe to be their destiny, are oblivious of the disillu­ elimination of artificial, and thus unrealistic, standards sionment that may lie in store for them. They are totally of what constitutes hatzlacha in avodas Hashem and Torah unprepared for the frustrations and depression the hen ... a realization that there is more than one definition of Torah can suffer when the future does not bring with it a hatzlacha, and that one should have "a contingency fulfillment of their great expectations, when they dream." This grows from the understanding that each awaken from their youthful dreams to a harsh reality person's hatzlacha must be in accordance with his own that they had never anticipated. kochos hanefesh-his own unique talents, his own The situation the hen Torah finds himself in, after strengths and weaknesses. eight, ten, or more years in a yeshiva gedola and KoUel, may have no similarity to that ideal state that he had Sornone once asked Rabbi Meir Shapiro, the founder of envisioned for himself as a young bachur in the yeshiva Yeshivas Chachmai Lublin, "Why are you building a or when he first entered the Kolle!. He may have great yeshiva for 500 bachurirn? Where U)ill you find so many potential, with room for his own aliya in Tor ah, and an cities to provide a position for 5 00 rabbonim?" He answered, opportunity to learn with others and be mashpiah on "Who says all 500 will become rabbonim? /'II make two them (influence others for their betterment).
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