The Jewish Observer

Tamuz 5764 • June 2004 U.S.A. $3.50/Foreign $4.50 • VOL XXXVII/NO. 6 CLICK HERE FOR TABLE OF CONTENTS THEJJewishewish Tamuz 5764 • June 2004 OOBSERBSERVERVER U.S.A.$3.50/Foreign $4.50 • VOL XXXVII/NO. 6 THE JEWISH OBSERVER (ISSN) 0021- 6615 is published monthly except July and August by the Agudath Israel of This is the full Table of Contents of the print edition of the America, 42 Broadway, New York, NY10004. Periodicals postage paid in Jewish Observer. The web edition contains only a selection of New York, NY. Subscription $24.00 per articles (indicated in COLOR). Click on the title to go to the year; two years, $44.00; three years, $60.00. Outside of the United States beginning of that article. Navigate using your browser’s menu (US funds drawn on a US bank only) $12.00 surcharge per year. Single and other options. 25 copy $3.50; foreign $4.50. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Jewish Observer, 42 Broadway, NY, NY 10004. Tel: 212-797-9000, Fax: IKVESA DE’MESHICHA - HEARING THE FOOTSTEPS... 646-254-1600. Printed in the U.S.A. 6 Learning the Lessons… or Living Them Again, RABBI NISSON WOLPIN, EDITOR Rabbi Nisson Wolpin EDITORIAL BOARD RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS Chairman 11 “Don’t Take Our School Away,” Mayaan Jaffe RABBI ABBA BRUDNY 14 Rabbi Avrohom Kalmanowitz l”xz, 40 Years After His Passing, JOSEPH FRIEDENSON RABBI YISROEL MEIR KIRZNER Rabbi Avrohom Birnbaum RABBI NOSSON SCHERMAN PROF. AARON TWERSKI THE GENERATION AFTER CHURBAN EUROPE – PLUS ONE DR. ERNST L. BODENHEIMER Z”L RABBI MOSHE SHERER Z”L 23 “Aneinu… For We Are in Great Distress” – Today, Founders Rabbi Elkanah Schwartz MANAGEMENT BOARD AVI FISHOF, NAFTOLI HIRSCH 25 The Mystery of 1964, Rabbi Yaakov Salomon ISAAC KIRZNER, RABBI SHLOMO LESIN NACHUM STEIN 29 The Survivor, Mrs. Naomi Lobl RABBI YOSEF C. GOLDING 30 Avoda Mitoch Atzvus –Serving Hashem Amidst Sadness, Managing Editor Rabbi Yaakov Shlomo Weinberg Published by Agudath Israel of America BOOKS IN REVIEW U.S. TRADE DISTRIBUTOR ISRAELI REPRESENTATIVE Feldheim Publishers Intnl. Media Placement 200 Airport Executive Park POB 7195 / 97 Jaffa Road 36 Rabbi Solomon Schonfeld:“Hero” – Or “A Life Fully Lived”? Nanuet, NY 10954 Jerusalem 94340, ISRAEL by Rabbi Moshe Eisemann – on Dr. David Kranzler’s Holocaust Hero BRITISH REPRESENTATIVE BELGIAN REPRESENTATIVE M.T. Bibelman Mr. E. Apter 38 The “Cantonist” Epoch in Tsarist Russia, by Rabbi Hillel Grosvenor Works Lange Kievitstr. 29 Goldberg – on Dr. Larry Domnitz’s The Jewish Children’s Army of the Tsar Mount Pleasant Hill 2018 Antwerp London E5 9NE, ENGLAND BELGIUM 40 The Depth and Beauty of Yerushalayim, by Rabbi Boruch Leff – on FRENCH REPRESENTATIVE SOUTH AFRICAN Rabbi Moshe Eisemann’s Harp Strings and Heart Strings Rabbi Bamberger REPRESENTATIVE 21 Boulevard Paixhans Mr. V. Taback 57000 Metz PO Box 51552, FRANCE Raedene, Johannesburg ON THE AGENDA 2124 SOUTH AFRICA SWISS REPRESENTATIVE Mr. S. Feldinger 46 A Torah,Not a Template, Rabbi Avi Shafran Leimanstrasse 36 4051 Basel, SWITZERLAND Statement of Policy THE JEWISH OBSERVER does not assume responsibility for the The Jewish Observer has devoted a great deal of trolled to every possible degree, our gedolim rec- Kashrus of any product, space to the perils of the Internet and to the need ognize that many people and businesses require publication, or service advertised for everyone to be extremely vigilant in its use. its use, and therefore it has not been banned. This in its pages We have echoed the pleas of our gedolim that it is why we accept advertisements listing website should not be in use, unless it is an unavoidable addresses, but in no way does this imply that the © Copyright 2004 necessity, and then only with all suitable safeguards. gedolim or The Jewish Observer condone casual While its dangers must be recognized and con- use of the Internet. June 2004 VOLUME XXXVII/NO. 6 SUBSCRIBE TO THE JEWISH OBSERVER! CLICK HERE. IKVESA DEMESHICHA / HEARING THE FOOTSTEPS Nisson Wolpin NON-TRANQUIL TIMES tors of hideous crimes rarely even get a intervention of America, under the slap on the wrist. Moreover, anti- (unpopular) leadership of President n times of crisis, we tend to fall back Semitism has become common in many Richard Nixon, did Israel receive a on our old, faithful support systems European countries, once again. timely shipment of arms to help it over- I– or safety nets, if you will. A drop On yet a different level, sense of shame come the invading forces. Yes,Israel did in income? There are savings in the bank. and decency in America has eroded to win the military battle, but where did this Evicted from your apartment? Parents, the point of nonexistence. Some states leave us? relatives or close friends will open are considering recognizing1 same- After the victory, oil prices in America their doors for you. The SUV is out of gender marriages, legitimizing that reached unprecedented levels, and part- commission? Take the sedan. Or a cab. which the Torah terms repulsive. ly as a result, the cost of sugar, coffee and Or a bus. Leading firms’ CEOs as well as elected other imported goods spiraled upward. The same is true on the national level, and appointed officials have been con- Jews in general and Israelis in particular as well as in the international arena. victed of insider trading, embezzlement, were no one’s hero. In fact, the slogan on Dedicated allies, loyal trade partners, like- and fraud, leading to a society where some streets was: “Don’t burn oil, burn minded coalition members, alternative “almost anything goes.” Jews.” The sense of desperation was an suppliers of vital materials. Someone is Is there a lesson for us to learn, a mes- unspoken “Where do we go from here?” usually there to step in or bail you out sage the Creator is sending to us through At the national convention of in your desperate situation. the flow of events? Agudath Israel of America that Usually…. Hopefully…. Most of the November, the late Rosh Hayeshiva, time, anyway. THROUGH THE LENS Rabbi Moshe Feinstein l”xz, addressed The current era hardly consists of OF A DIFFERENT CRISIS the situation: tranquil times. On the international This is a time of crisis for Israel, but scene, no country is truly secure from ust over 30 years ago, we were going we must not lose faith. The Torah terrorist activity. Specifically, America through a similarly confusing, instructs us, “Be wholehearted with stands almost alone in its intervention Jthreatening down-spin, during and Hashem your G-d”(Devarim 18,13), and in Iraq. The nation itself is torn by uncer- in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War. Rashi comments that we should not tainty regarding foreign policy as well as On that fateful Day of Atonement in speculate as to the future, but rather, we domestic priorities. The economy is 1973/5734, Arab armies had sprung a must realize that we are in good hands. unstable. The price of oil has reached multi-pronged surprise attack on Israel. Wars do not follow natural guide- unprecedented heights. Part of the Israeli leadership panicked, lines. They are fully miraculous events Similarly, Israel is isolated in the world and the invincible hero, General Moshe and are directly manipulated by the community and is roundly condemned Dayan, exclaimed,“We are on the brink Hand of G-d. I shall cite just two his- for any pre-emptive strike against ded- of the Third Churban!” Only through the torical events that bear this out: Under icated murderers, while Arab perpetra- 1 Massachusetts already has. natural conditions, Bar Kochba, whose 6 The Jewish Observer, June 2004 forces were stronger than the Roman THE MISHNA’S LESSONS “my might and the power of my army, should have been victorious over FOR THE WAR’S AFTERMATH hand” are nonexistent.3 the Romans. He erred, however, when Not having absorbed the message of he asked Hashem not to interfere eb Moshe pointed out that peo- those earlier events, the Master of the with the course of the battle by help- ple generally feel reasonably World has “kept us after school,” so to ing either him or the enemy. For this Rsecure when the social, political speak, to continue teaching us our les- he was punished, and vanquished and economic support systems of their son, with even greater emphasis than in (Gittin 57a and Midrash Rabba Eicha lives are in place. But should each of these the past. 2:4). One cannot say,“I’ll do it alone,” props be knocked away from them, they but rather one must be fully aware that come to the realization that “We have no MESSAGES FROM HISTORY “Hashem is the Master of war” and one to rely upon but our Father in – REPEATED AGAIN directs all warfare without even the Heaven.” Indeed, he declared, what we guise of a natural order. had been experiencing was a living n the thirty-plus years since the Rosh By contrast, Yehonasan, with only embodiment of that Mishna’s lesson. Yeshiva’s distillation of the lessons of his weapons carrier to assist him, took Reb Moshe then referred to the Ithat war, we still have not absorbed on the Philistine Army, saying,“There usual setting of absorbing a lesson – the the message, and the very same lessons is nothing preventing Hashem from classroom. Once the teacher has clari- are as timely as ever. Today’s society in delivering the enemy, whether to many fied the relevant concept, and the proofs general, and the Jewish community in or to few”– and, indeed, they were vic- have been enumerated, the conclusions particular, are being haunted by the very torious (Shmuel I, 14,6).

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