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••• One of the best Astl wines tasted in a long while. AtllrurScb\VIJl'IZ NEW YORK DAILYN£WS •.• By larthe best was Bartenura Asti Spumante •• , In !act, it received the highest rating of any wine •.• s1 ..ley A. ll:det THE WASHINGTON POST .•• Outstanding from Italy is Bartenura's Asti Spumante, iu a delicate yet full· flavored mode •.. Nathan Chroman LOS ANGELES TIMES ... Bartenura Asti Spumante is among the best Asti Wines on the market. Rolwrt M. Porker, fr. THE WINE ADVOCATE I THEIEWISH . OBSERVER n I 1 l 1 THE JEWISH OBSERVER (ISSN) 0021-66151 ' is published monthly except July and August by , I the Agudath Israel of America, 84 William Street, I New York, N.Y. 10038. Second class postage , paid in New York, N.Y. Subscription $22.00 per year; two years, $36.00; · three years, $48.00. Outside of the United States " (US funds drawn on a US bank only) $12.00 4 surcharge per year. Single copy $3.00; foreign "T'hei Sheim Shamayim Misaheiv al Yadecha": $4.00. Send address changes to: The Jewish Observer, 84 William Street, N.Y., N.Y. 10038. Inspiring Love for Hashem Through Our Actions Tel: (212) 797-9000. BASED ON ADDRESS BY THE NOVOM!NSKER REBBE, Printed in the U.S.A. RABBI YMKOV PERLOW N"1'Yro RABBI NISSON WOLPIN, EDITOR 9 EDITORIAL SOARD DR. ERNST L. BODENHEIMER Agudath Israel of America's Statement Chalrmrm re: New NYS Get Law RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS JOSEPH FRIEDENSON RABBI NOSSON SCHERMAN 10 Electioneering in the Holy Land: MANAGEMENT BOARD AVI FISHOF Selecting a Chief Rabbi NAFTOLI HIRSCH Rabbi Yonason Rosenblum ISAAC KIAZNER RABBI SHLOMO LESIN NACHUM STEIN 17 RABBI YOSEF C. GOLDING A Healing Sun: Business Manager Shemesh Marpei and Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch Published by Rabbi Nachman Bulman Agudath Israel of America RABBI MOSHE SHERER 27 PRESIDENT "A Preacher of the Word of G-d": SOLE U.S. TRADf DISTRIBUTOR EUROPEAN REPRESENTATIVE the Rev. Isaac Leeser Feldhelm P11bUshers M.T. Blbelman 200 Airport Executive Park Grosvenor Works Lynn Berkowitz Spring Valley, N.Y. 10977 Mount Pleasant Hill London ES 9NE, ENGLAND 39 ISRAEll DISTRIBUTOR AUSTRALIAN OISTRIBUTOR Necllemla Rostnbero Gold's Book & Gift Co. Letters to the Editor Kiiyat Telshe Stone, 108A 36 William Street O.N. Harei Yehuda, ISRAEL Balaclava 3183, Vic .. AUSTRALIA 44 THE JEWISH OBSERVER does not Index to Volume XXV: Subjects and Authors assume responsibility for the Kashrus of any product, publication, or service advertised in its pages © Copyright 1993 FEBRUARY 1993 VOLUME XXVI I NO. 1 I. THE CRITERIA FOR SELF-JUDGMENT "I s our community fullfilling its '''T'hei She,im Shamayim obligation to cause the Name of Heaven to be more loved through our actions?" 1bis is not a question that one can answer with a simple ''yes" or "no," for Misahei'Y al Yadeuha'' the question relates to the entire To­ rah community as it exists today­ howwe live, how we educate our chil­ dren. what the hopes and dreams of parents and children are. and what means Jews employ to attain their goals in life. Moreover, the question is phrased Inspiring Love in a way that leaves the impression that we are not meeting the challenge. To accept that implication. and then For Hashem to be forced to explain how and why we are not meeting the challenge. is a most unfair assessment of our pre­ Through Our cious Torah community. And I might also add. that the annual conventions of Agudath Israel-gatherings to hear Actions divrei Torah and divrei mussar, where several thousand people seek to be admonished and uplifted and in­ spired to higher Torah challenges­ are in themselves a public kiddush Sheim Shamayim that reflect a yearn· Based on an address by ing for higher values. and a quest for direction in how to achieve and main­ the Novominsker tain higher standards in Yiddishkeit, how to rectify our shortcomings. how Rebbe, Rabbi Yaakov to polish our rough edges, and how to Perlow N "17'7v. at the improve our lives. But the directive t'hei Sheim recent national Shamayim misaheiv al yadecha in­ volves much more. Everyone is familiar convention ofAgudath with Rashfs commentary on the verse Vahavta l'reCacha kamocha (Vayikra Israel ofAmerica 19.18). drawn from Taras Kahanim (chapter 45), "R Akiva says. This is a klal gadolbTomh. a fundamental rule in the Torah's worldview." But, later in the same passage in Taras Kohanim, Ben Azzai states that the verse ''7..eh sefer toldos Adam'' (Bereishis 5.1) reflects an even more fundamental rule. The com The Novominsker Rebbe. a men1ber of thf' Moetzes Gedolef HaTomh {Council ()[Torah Sages) ofAf;udath Jsn1el of America as well as ofits Nesin">.. (Presidium). is Rosh Hayeshiva of Yeshivas Novominsk-Kol Yehuda. in Brooklyn. This essay was prepared for publication by Rabbi Zvi Boruch Hollander. Executive Vic:e-President of Agudath Israel oflllinois. His article, .. Checking the Creden­ tials of Tzeddaka Solicitors ... was featured in JO. Sept.'92. 4 TheJewishObserver. Februmy 1993 mentaries explain the words of Ben of Ben Azzai: the story of one's life this manner, ivhat will people say Azzai as refening to the end of the verse. m11st be a sefer Torah. about him? ~Fortunate is his father, "b'yomb'roE/okimAdambidmusE/okim This, then, is the question that ev­ wlw taught him Torah! F'ortlmate is his rabbi, who taught. him 1brah! Woe to in asa oso"-that G-d made man His ery individual must ask himself, ifhe those who do not learn Torah! He wlw image. and it is this that Ben Au.ai ar· is to properly analyze whether "the learned Torah, how pleasant are his gues takes precedence as the basic idea Name of Heaven is being more loved ways, how r~fined are his actions!" in Torah thought. the "kJal gadoL ·· through his actions": What kind of a About him the Navi says, {Yishayahu Actually. the concept that man is seferTorah am I writing with my life? 49.3) "And He said to me, You are my created in the Divine in1age is set out For when one leaves this world, the servant, Yisroel, iii whom I am glorified" /Yoma 86a). in a variety of verses that appear ear­ Gemora tells us (Avoda Zara l 7b) lier in the Torah, such as: "Na'ase/1 "gevilin nisrafim-the parchment is n assessing our image as a Torah Adam b'tzalmeinu kidemuseinu--let burned, [but still] osios porchos community, I would suggest that us make man in 011r image" b'avir-the letters remain to arise I we see a mixed, imperfect picture; (Bereishis 1,26); or: "Vayivra Elokim skyward." These letters represent the a picture with a great deal oflight but es ha'Adam b'tzalmo-and G-d eternity of our neshamos. our souls. also containing dark shadows. made man in His image" (Bereishis All the letters and words and verses First, it is a healthy sign of a ma­ 1,27). Why then would Ben Azzai, in in our own sefer Torah, which, as ture person and a mature community referring to this cbncept, cite a verse Ramban teaches us, are all combina­ to engage in self-criticism. But before four chapters later? tions of the names of Hashem all we criticize, we must first appreciate Perhaps the explanation of Ben these Divine Names should permeate the background that puts that criti· Au.ai's statement in Taras cism into proper context. Kohanim refers to a dtffer · If, indeed, we would not ent concept. Rather than Every individual must ask himself, if he is have grown into a com­ referring to the end of the munity that is so involved verse, Ben Azzai indeed is to properly analyze whether "the Name in Torah study and service referring lo the words at of Torah scholars, we the beginning of the of Heaven is being more loved through his could not engage in intro­ verse, "Zeh sefer toldos spection, assessing our­ Adam" According to the actions": What kind of a sefer Torah am I selves whether we have explanation of the perhaps not fulfilled our Ramban, the word "Sf!fer'' writing with my life? obligations regarding t'hei refers to the sefer Torah. Sheim Shamayim To Ben Azzai, the verse is misaheiv al yadecha. In· telling us that it is in the deed, the crttique would Torah that we can find toldos Adam the atmosphere, illuminating not be that much deeper, that much the reflection of human existence in only our life, but society's status as worse, that much more serious. all its complexity. well .... The klal gadol of Ben Azzai is Rather, it is specifically because of But Ben Azzai also saw in these nothing other than the recognition our growth that our responsibility is words an implicit obligation: just as that all people, all space, and all hu· that much greater. It is a result of our the Torah reflects our life, so must we manity is meant to give testimony to success as a Torah community that live a ltfe that reflects the Torah. A the truth of the eternal oneness of we can demand from ourselves that Torah consists of parchment with let­ G·d as proclaimed by His unique the Name of Heaven should be all the ters; the days and years of our lives people, Israel. To the extent that our more deeply and profoundly loved form the parchment of our sefer To­ lives are an example of kavod throughout the world by our actions. rah, while the mitzvos and the Shamayim, to that extent have we Thus, we must first appreciate the ac­ ma'asim tovim that we do, each ac­ passed the test of "t'hei Sheim complishments of our community, cording to his own capabilities, are Shnmayim misaheiv al yadecha" and in so doing, we must offer thanks the letters and words written on the and praise to the Almighty, tf we are parchment of our lives.
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