Rabbi Eliezer Levin, ?"YT: Mussar Personified RABBI YOSEF C
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il1lj:' .N1'lN1N1' invites you to join us in paying tribute to the memory of ,,,.. SAMUEL AND RENEE REICHMANN n·y Through their renowned benevolence and generosity they have nobly benefited the Torah community at large and have strengthened and sustained Yeshiva Yesodei Hatorah here in Toronto. Their legendary accomplishments have earned the respect and gratitude of all those whose lives they have touched. Special Honorees Rabbi Menachem Adler Mr. & Mrs. Menachem Wagner AVODASHAKODfSHAWARD MESORES A VOS AW ARD RESERVE YOUR AD IN OUR TRIBUTE DINNER JOURNAL Tribute Dinner to be held June 3, 1992 Diamond Page $50,000 Platinum Page $36, 000 Gold Page $25,000 Silver Page $18,000 Bronze Page $10,000 Parchment $ 5,000 Tribute Page $3,600 Half Page $500 Memoriam Page '$2,500 Quarter Page $250 Chai Page $1,800 Greeting $180 Full Page $1,000 Advertising Deadline is May 1. 1992 Mall or fax ad copy to: REICHMANN ENDOWMENT FUND FOR YYH 77 Glen Rush Boulevard, Toronto, Ontario M5N 2T8 (416) 787-1101 or Fax (416) 787-9044 GRATITUDE TO THE PAST + CONFIDENCE IN THE FUTURE THEIEWISH ()BSERVER THE JEWISH OBSERVER (ISSN) 0021 -6615 is published monthly except July and August by theAgudath Israel of America, 84 William Street, New York, N.Y. 10038. Second class postage paid in New York, N.Y. LESSONS IN AN ERA OF RAPID CHANGE 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) $1 O.00 6 surcharge per year. Single copy $3.00; foreign $4.00. Send address changes to The Jewish Implications of a Year of Earth-Shaking Events, Observer, 84 William Street, N.Y., N.Y.10038. BASED ON AN ADDRESS BY RABBI ELYA SVEI, N"1''?1!1 Tel: (212) 797-9000. Printed in the U.S.A. 9 RABBI NISSON WOLPIN, EDITOR Cataclysmic Events as a Message For Our Time, EDITORIAL BOARD BASED ON AN ADDRESS BY RABBI YAAKOV WEINBERG, N"1''°'1:1 DA. ERNST BODENHEIMER Chairman RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS 11 JOSEPH FRIEDENSON Discovering Jews and Judaism RABBI NOSSON SCHERMAN in the Former Soviet Republics MANAGEMENT SOARD Meshullam Klarberg NAFTOLI HIRSCH ISAAC KIRZNER RABBI SHLOMO LESIN NACHUM STEIN 21 Rabbi Eliezer Levin, ?"YT: Mussar Personified RABBI YOSEF C. GOLDING Rabbi Berel Wein Business Manager Published by Agudath Israel of America 27 "Torah Umadda"-the Book and its Ideology: a Critique RABBI MOSHE SHERER Rabbi Yonason Rosenblum PRESIDENT THE JEWISH OBSERVER does not assume responsibility for the Kashrus 42 of any product, publication, or service Letters to the Editor advertised in its pages ©Copyright 1992 MARCH 1992 VOLUME XXV I NO. 2 ADULT TORAH EDUCA TION: Daf Yomi Commis sion/Torah Projects Special Membership Division/Reshet Shiurei Torah ADVOCACY: Opportunities Office of Government Affairs/Yeshiva Menahalim Executive Committee/Commission on Special Education, FIRST-TIME Developmental Disabilities and Foster Care/Agudath MEMBERS Israel Washington Office/ Receive a one-year, Commission on Legislation and Civic Action-Regional free introducto:ry Offices: California/ subscription Illinois/Maryland/ to one of Massachusetts/New Agudath Jersey/New York/Ohio Israel's maga OUTREACH: Chizuk - "The zines of Jewish Torah Link" /Jewish Education Program UEP)/ thought and JEP-long lsland/JEP opinion. 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Please send' me my free, one-year introductory subscription to: (check one) Agudath Israel Planned Charitable Giving/ 0 The Jewish Observer or 0 V1Nn ))W>1'N 1'N1 {for non...::urrent subscribers only) Lessons in anEra ofRapid Change t is a year since the Gulf War and all its attendant threats and I miracles came to a close. During all those months that we experi enced the tensions ofconcern and subsequent relief-prior to the war, in its duration, and at its ultimate resolution-our rabbis, teachers, and mentors called on us to respond to the events as they unfolded. The public proclamations (Kol Korei) ofthe Moetzes Gedolei Ha Torah (Council ofTorah Sages) ofAgudath Israel of America, as well as a number ofaccompanying articles, were featured in these pages. ow that a year has passed, and we were witness to a number of N other extraordinary events that took place in the interim, we are publishing two essays based on free translations ofaddresses that examine these events from a Torah perspective, delivered at the recent National Convention ofAgudath Israel ofAmerica: by Rabbi Elga Svei (Rosh Hayeshiva-Yeshiva ofPhiladelphia) and Rabbi Yaakov Weinberg (Rosh Hayeshiva-Ner Israel, Baltimore), to bring these extraordinary events into perspective and to help guide us to respond to them as we should. hese are followed by a first-person report ofnoteworthy changes Tin two cities in the former Soviet Union, by Meshullam Klarberg, ofMelbourne, Australia. :l :i;-,K:l :11,t"I.:\ ,,,i), i\:l!JYi;J iiX'1:1 ;ixi'ii' A FERVENT CALL TO ALL JEWS A CALI- FROM THf MOHZES GH:IOUI HATbRAH Of AMfR!C/\ """m""'"·°''"~,~·~"'""~"'""~'""'W>">"'>O= ·~~• "'"'""""'~""""'~""~~"'m"""""""'"~" ""'""'~'""""""''""'~~~-'""-''"-''~"~'"'" ==->>--'•<»·~·,.,,""w"'""-"r"""""""""""'~"" -""""~'~·~'~"""""'""""'~"·-,.~ ,,Q_,.,,,_,._,_~,_....... ,_,,,_,,.,.,~~" ""-'"l... ,,.~~ ... ,,~..,.-,,,.,., mm.,..,"'""''~ ---~--rn~~~"' .,,,~,~-.~-~· ,..~~'""~~-~ ...,..,,,...,,,~-·""''"~~ ~-'="""-~"" ,,_, ., .,.,, ~ ~-~ ""'-'~""""-"'''"-"'~'"''"·"~-'-••"' """"""'""""'""" ....,,,.,~-=-·~""'~~·,~"'·~ ...,,,...,_~ ~-· '~......, ""'""' ......,,,, ~ """"" ~'"' ,.,.,,.,._.. ~...,,...,,,.,,,...,,=,,•"•·'~'"~'=',,.,...... ""'~''""'""""""~"'-~"''""'--"'·-- '°"'" Y"> ,.,., w~ "~"' ~~" '""'>."'"=I "''"' TheJewtshObseroer. March 1992 .5 Lessons in an Era ofRapid Change :m~111 IMPUCATIONS OFA OF EVENl'S Changes in the World ... Mandating Changes in Ourselves EARTH-SHAKING EVENTS Hajlaga. when all of mankind Based on an address by pooled their resources to build the Tower of Babel: possessions, labor, S past year, we were witness Rabbi Elga Svei N"V'?V, and even families were turned over o revelations of G-d's Hand in Rosh Hayeshiva ofthe to the community to be shared by TIthe events that surround us. If all. This violation of all standards of earlier generations would have seen Yeshiva ofPhiladelphia, ethical conduct and basic decency that which we lived through, they presented at the recent earned G-d's wrath who brought would have burst forth with shiros destruction on this effort. ve'sishbadws--Bcmgs of praise to G-d. National Convention of Indeed, the Torah's account of the Dor Ha.Jlagadescrtbes the entire Let us step back for a moment to Agudath Israel ofAmerica. world as being of "one language better appreciate what has occurred: (so/a echad), united Uni purpose At those very places where for genera (devarim achadim)," which Chnzal tions one was not even permitted to sung out with songs of praise to G-d! tell us were aimed against Echod mention G-d's name, youngsters to We, who did have the privilege to wit the supreme Oneness that is G-d. day are studying Torah. In buildings ness these events, certainly should be Unity-achdus-is a key ele ment in the strength of kedusha, "Shemd' where uttering the was for full of praise of G-d. Just as the Jews the forces of sanctity. Thus when bidden, five minyanim (myself among were enjoined by Moshe Rabbeinu Yaakov Avinu and his children trav them) thundered a public Maariv-in with the words: "You saw.. .," referring eled to Egypt, his family is de the Moscow airport, no less! I mar to having been at Sinai and witnessed scribed as "shivim nefesh-seventy veled at this and thought: the Giving of the Law, making them soul," in the singular, so completely Ifonly the Chafetz Chaim, who had answerable to a higher level of con were they united in thought, iden declared that we should take arms to duct. we too are members ofa genera tity and purpose. When the forces of tuma (depravity and destruction) battle against the depraved Commu tion that saw outstanding events.