THE BENJAMIN and ROSE BERGER TO-GO® Establishedtorah by Rabbi Hyman and Ann Arbesfeld • April 2018 • Yom Haatzmaut 5778
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Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • YU Center for the Jewish Future THE BENJAMIN AND ROSE BERGER TO-GO® EstablishedTORAH by Rabbi Hyman and Ann Arbesfeld • April 2018 • Yom Haatzmaut 5778 Dedicated in memory of Cantor Jerome L. Simons Israel at 70 Commemorating the 25th Seven Decades of Israel Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Joseph B. Top Seven Torah Issues Soloveitchik zt”l from the 70 Years of the The Rav on Religious Zionism State of Israel We thank the following synagogues which have pledged to be Pillars of the Torah To-Go® project Beth David Synagogue Congregation Ohab Zedek Young Israel of West Hartford, CT New York, NY Century City Los Angeles, CA Beth Jacob Congregation Congregation Beverly Hills, CA Shaarei Tefillah Young Israel of Newton Centre, MA New Hyde Park Bnai Israel – Ohev Zedek New Hyde Park, NY Philadelphia, PA Green Road Synagogue Beachwood, OH Young Israel of Congregation Scarsdale Ahavas Achim The Jewish Center Scarsdale, NY Highland Park, NJ New York, NY Young Israel of Congregation Benai Asher Jewish Center of Toco Hills The Sephardic Synagogue Brighton Beach Atlanta, GA of Long Beach Brooklyn, NY Long Beach, NY Young Israel of Koenig Family Foundation Congregation Brooklyn, NY West Hartford Beth Sholom West Hartford, CT Young Israel of Providence, RI Young Israel of Lawrence-Cedarhurst Cedarhurst, NY West Hempstead West Hempstead, NY Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, President, Yeshiva University Rabbi Yaakov Glasser, David Mitzner Dean, Center for the Jewish Future Rabbi Menachem Penner, Max and Marion Grill Dean, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary Rabbi Robert Shur, Series Editor Rabbi Joshua Flug, General Editor Rabbi Michael Dubitsky, Content Editor Andrea Kahn, Copy Editor Copyright © 2018 All rights reserved by Yeshiva University Yeshiva University Center for the Jewish Future 500 West 185th Street, Suite 419, New York, NY 10033 • [email protected] • 212.960.0074 This publication contains words of Torah. Please treat it with appropriate respect. For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Paul Glasser at 212.960.5852 or [email protected]. 2 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Yom Haatzmaut 5778 Table of Contents Yom Haatzmaut 5778 Dedicated in memory of Cantor Jerome L. Simons Commemorating the 25th Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zt”l The Rav on Religious Zionism 4 Rabbi Shalom Carmy: Kol Dodi Dofek: A Primer 8 Deena Rabinovich, EdD: The Five Derashot and the Rav’s Engagement with the Zionist Project Seven Decades of The History of the Modern State of Israel from a Torah Perspective Torah Life in the State of Israel 14 Aryeh Sklar: Introduction 16 Aron White: 14th May 1948 – A Touch Of Holiness 18 Chezkie Glatt: Yerushalayim’s Unique History As The Shared Heart Of Our Nation 21 Jacob Bernstein: Chasing a Torah Revolution: Ki Mitzion Tetzei Torah 23 Shua Brick: “Prisoners of Zion” and the Responsibility of Freedom 25 Ben Keil: Operation Solomon 27 Eli Muschel: Turning Our Eyes Toward Our Father In Heaven 30 Sam Dratch: The Modern State Of Israel: To Dream With Eyes Wide Open 3 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Yom Haatzmaut 5778 Commemorating the 25th Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zt”l Rabbi Shalom Carmy The Rav on Religious Assistant Professor of Jewish Philosophy and Bible, Yeshiva College Zionism Editor of the Tradition Journal KOL DODI DOFEK: A PRIMER uring his many years as In truth, KDD is much more than not why God has brought about Honorary President of a Zionist speech. It formulates a this misfortune, but what we are to the American Mizrahi, fundamental outlook on the nature of do about it. As fundamental as this DR. Soloveitchik delivered many history and Jewish peoplehood. The principle is for Jewish theology, it addresses articulating his conception ideas are of great importance and the plays an equally important role in the of Religious Zionism. Several of his structure is also significant. practical realm. Those who passed Yiddish speeches were transcribed Our discussion will look at the the Holocaust years in the safety of and published in Yiddish, along with opening section only in passing. North America must examine their Hebrew and English translations The Rav chooses to begin with own hearts with respect to their of varying quality. Kol Dodi Dofek a discussion of the Holocaust. actions and omissions during those (KDD), delivered on Yom haAtsmaut In a word, his view is that we years. Those who are alive today (in 1956, is his most ambitious statement cannot presume to discern God’s 1956) must likewise think about their and the only one that he later prepared intentions and purposes in history, responsibilities in the face of new for print (in Hebrew). Bearing in nor does Judaism encourage us to challenges and opportunities. Later, mind how little the Rav published in speculate about such matters. The the Rav points to the tasks incumbent those years, the pains he took over halakhic imperative of suffering and on his American audience. In the KDD testify to the importance of the catastrophe is to repent. Repentance opening section he sets the stage for essay and its message. It was quickly means engaging in self-examination that part. adopted as part of the Israeli school that leads to active response. The The Holocaust is a dark, curriculum in Jewish thought. question we must ask ourselves is incomprehensible chapter in Jewish 4 Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary • The Benjamin and Rose Berger CJF Torah To-Go Series • Yom Haatzmaut 5778 history. The next section — the does not take these remarkable events question is how we (in 1956, the famous “Six Knocks” — seems to as a guide to future divine intention. Rav’s audience; today, his readers) restore a sense of divine purpose in He asserts the more modest thesis will respond. Before drawing practical history. At first blush, this section that in these events God is knocking conclusions, the Rav must deal with seems to undercut the Rav’s on our door, in the phrase he adopts the fundamentals of Jewish identity. skepticism about our ability to explain from Shir haShirim 5. The reason for this digression is that history. Some readers feel as if the The first two are political: the very the leaders of the State of Israel are not Rav, in his Zionist exuberance, had establishment of the state and its religious Jews. “We have complaints promptly forgotten everything he said victory in 1948 and consequent against certain leaders in Israel due at the outset. expansion beyond the narrow borders to their attitude to traditional values To understand why this is not so, of the 1947 Partition Plan were and religious observance.” For many we should contrast the Rav’s view improbable, “almost supernatural.” non-Zionist Orthodox Jews, including of Zionism with more militant the “Israeli” branch of the Soloveichik The third and fourth knocks address family, this justifies a reciprocal or messianic strains in Religious Jewish self-awareness. One dispels Zionist thinking. Advocates for attitude of hostility and theoretical the notion that the long and abject indifference to the state. Religious Zionism often claim that exile of the Jews was a sign of their contemporary events, properly rejection by God. He attributes this The Rav’s immediate reply to this interpreted, provide a clue to God’s view to Christian theology. Almost argument is that we, meaning plan for history. Armed with such certainly, he derived it from John Orthodox Jewry, are not free of fault. knowledge we can be certain that After all, we did not go to Israel in Henry Newman’s Essay in Aid of a redemption, messianic redemption, sufficient numbers to mold the society Grammar of Assent, which he studied is taking place. This implies optimism carefully in the early 1950’s; elsewhere in its formative years. Even today, he that history is progressing irreversibly he quotes other ideas from this book says, speaking (let us remember) to in a favorable direction. Furthermore, approvingly. The other is that the American Orthodox Jews, we do not the progress envisioned is not merely state of Israel forces Jews who had contribute financially as much as we mundane; it is unmistakable progress despairingly embraced assimilation should to building Torah institutions toward the messianic goal foretold by and self-hatred to reassess their in Israel. From a halakhic perspective, the prophets. identity as Jews. our task is our own self-examination As we have seen, the Rav is skeptical and repentance, not complaints about The last two knocks address the others. about such claims to historical physical situation of the Jew. The fifth, understanding. Whether or not the “perhaps the most important,” is the The Rav’s deeper response is to return of the Jewish people to their discovery that Jewish blood is not analyze the nature of Jewish identity land, the reestablishment of Jewish in order to properly understand hefker (ownerless property); in other sovereignty and other blessings are words, Jews are no longer expected our relationship to Jews who are irreversible, whether or not they to be passive victims. They are able to concerned with Jewish welfare, are indisputable harbingers of the fight back. The sixth is that Jews today even while they turn their backs on messianic age, is not our business to have a homeland, a place of refuge, religious commitment. Against the determine. God’s ways are not ours. a place where they will be taken in Haredi tendency to narrow Jewish Whatever the ultimate outcome, we during times of persecution. These solidarity to the community of the are obligated to respond to the reality two knocks are entirely pragmatic committed, the Rav champions a we experience here and now.