Neighborhood Bankers. A.rthur Stuart (right). and Joseph Henschel (o.•nler). with C:l'IH customer l'>rael l'roto~in. owner of ltindy'" Maternity.
11 "Doing business with bankers should always be such a pleasure. Here are It's particularly so with Arthur Stuart and Joseph Henschel of CNB. Not only do they provide all of the usual services, like busi Neighborhood ness checking. But they offer something more important - themselves. I can't think of any other Bankers who bankers who'd walk the streets. talk to our neighbors, come to all the council meetings, and become so thoroughly involved in the Support affairs of our community. Good Neighbor Business Loans from Community National Bank. The Good Neighborhood Neighbor Bank. When it comes to lending money, my Merchants'' neighborhood bank is no less generous. Within weeks - son1etimes even days - we can borrow thousands of dollars. And use them for anything from building up our inventory or accumulating working capital. Maybe even buying a new facility. For all these reasons, I'd say Community National Bank deserves your business. After three terrific years, they're still getting mine."
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5 The Designs of Providence THE .JEWISH OBSERVER (ISSN based on a lecture by Rabbi Avrohom Pam 0021-6615 is published monthly, except July and August. by the Rabbi Avrohom Chaim Feuer Agudath Israel of America, 5 9 Fruit For the Soul, Beekman Street.New York. N.Y. I 0038. Second class postage paid 13 Abraham Geiger, Are You There? Rabbi Avi Shafran at Nc\v York. N.Y. Subscription $I5.00 per year: two years. $27.00: 17 Hakham Abdall-h Somekh, Nehama Consuelo Nahmoud three vears. $36.00. Outside of the United States (US funds onlv) a poem by Hindy Kviat $20.00. $25.00 in So. Africa a~d 26 Musings on Match-Making, other Pacific countries. Single copy: $2.00: foreign: $2.50. Send 27 "When I Was a Mormon .•. ," Devora Bloom address changes to The Jewish Observer. 5 Beekman St .. N.Y .. N.Y. 10038. Printed in the U.S.A. 29 A Jewish Experience, Mark Ashin Second Looks at the Jewish Scene RABBI NISSON WOLPIN Edi/or 30 "Abraham and Sarah": Hosts to a Highrise Hoax
EditoriaJ Board 31 Maccabiah Madness, Hanoch Teller DR ERNST BODENHEIMER 32 The Times, Are They A-changing? L.M. Reisman Chairrnan 32 Commuting on the Right Track, Bat Sheva Menucha RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS JOSEPH FHIEDENSON RABBI NOSSON SCHERMAN 33 Books in Review: Juvenile Literature RABBI MOSHE SHERER Managcrnent Board 35 The Yeitzer Hora, a poem by Naftali Bassman NAFTOLI HIRSCH ISAAC KIRZNER RABBI SHLOMO LESIN 37 Postscript NACHUM STEIN Translations Come Full Circle Busi11ess Mlli1ager RABBI YOSEF C. GOLDING 38 Hero Worship: Distracting or Destructive?, Jesse Sha van
Shevat, 5746 40 Letters to the Editor Jan .. 1986 VOL. XIX, NO. 1 42 Index of Articles: Subjects and Authors, Volume XVIII, Nos. 1-10 RAV ELIEZER SHACH, ONE OF ISRAEL'S TORAH LEADERS. STATES, "IF WE HAD THE FUNDS WE COULD ADD 50,000 CHILDREN TO TORAH EDUCATION NEXT YEAR." Chinuch Atzmai today Zohar is different-most of the neighborhood girls run around in Every day 40,000 children from kindergarten through 8th grade Jeans and can be found in the evenings on the street corners. Zohar is attend the 350-plus schools that are Chinuch Atzmai. Created by our at home helping her mother dean the house and care for three leaders of the Last Generation. lt has truly developed into the most younger brothers and sister. Her modest dress attests to a very special powerful force for Torah Judaism that exists today. But financial con type of schooling. ditions are at a crucial stage. Many existing schools lack the most !n Bat Yam. near Tel Aviv. there are several dozen girls like Zohar. basic necessities-books, teachers. classroom space. and chairs. On Shabbos while most of the family and friends would go to the There is literally no money or room to put new children. beach, Zahar could be found in the small shu! praying. Her brothers and sister at first made fun of her for the loud dear blessings she made What about government funding? on her food and the way she spoke in a softer. quieter manner. While a large percentage of the existing budget comes from the Then one night when no one else was in the house. her 10- month government. that subsidy is far from enough to cover existing ex· old, baby brother got very sick and started throwing up. Zahar. then penses. To make matters still worse, the subsidies have been 8 1/2. quickly picked him up and bundled him into a blanket. She told drastically cut this year as part of overall austerity measures. a neighbor to tel! her mother where she was going and left for a near· by emergency dinic. Three hours later when her parents arrived at No money at all is available the clinic. they found a tired Zahar dozing in the dinic"s waiting room. for new schools Things changed quickly from then on. Zohar's parents and It costs $100,000 to begin a new school-and for several years the brothers began listening to her.Today they are all Shomrei Shabbos, entire cost must come from donations. with the children attending yeshivas instead of secular schools. Jewish souls for sale Zohar's story isn't unique Every dollar you give today is buying a day of Tor ah for a boy or A powerful spirit of T eshuva is sweeping Israel. There are gir! in Israel. Don't turn your back on the greatest opportunity for thousands of individuals and entire families in Israel who are aban Torah that Kia! Yisroel has ever had. Your money can turn the tide. doning their upbringing and seeking a life of Torah for themselves and their children. Most of them come knocking on the doors of Chinuch Atzmai. screaming .. Help us! Take my child into your Your dollars today can save school!'" Today there are thousands upon thousands of Jewish children on line wailing for a seat in a yeshiva future generations for Torah. or Beis Yaacov. You make the choice!
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based on a lecture by Rabbi Avrohom Pam N"\J)J\U prepared for publication by Rabbi Shimon Finkelman
THE VIEW FROM ETERNITY our blessing in advance of every new Hashem does, He does for the good" month. It would seem that the phrase (Berachos 60b), and not bemoan his herewasaJewwho, inspiteof "for the good'' is superfluous: cert.a.inly fate. This is not merely meritorious, bu1 having lived his entire life in a person would not request that which is in fact obligatory, as can be seen in T dire poverty, remained stead is bad for him! This, however. is pre the Torah itself: fast in his faith, and prayed with in cisely the point. We can never be sure tense concentration. Someone once that what we desire is to our ultimate When YaakovAvinujirstappeared overhead this man reciting the morn benefit: this is known only to G-d, Who before Pharaoh, the king asked him ing blessing of· 'Blessed are You ... Who "keeps watch and sees to the very end his age, and Yaakov replied, "The has provided me my every need," with of all generations" (Mussaf of Rosh years of my sojourns have been one great joy. Hashana). We therefore ask that our hundred and thirty years. Few and Asked the passerby, "Can you requests be fulfilled, but only in a man bad have been the years ofmy life, and really say that your every need has ner that will truly be for our good. they have not attained the lifespans of been provided for? You are among the Acceptance of one's lot in life does not my forefathers in the days of their poorest of the poor!" mean that one maynotendeavortoim sojourns'' (Bereishis 4 7,9). The man replied, "Can one really prove his situation. Surely a person af Says the Midrash (cited in Da'as know. on his own. what his particular flicted with suffering can - and should ZekeinimJ: Upon hearing this state needs are? if G-d has made me poor, - pray to G-d to ease his burden and al ment G-d said to him, "I saved you then obviously this condition is neces low him to fulfill his purpose under from Eisav and Lavan, and returned saryfor me to fulfill my ]furpose in life. more comfortable circumstances; Denahand Yoseifto you, yet you com Poverty is what my soul needs, and I nothing is beyond the power of tefilla. plain! By your life, your years will in have been granted this need in full In addition, one should also engage in deed not number those of your fore measure!'' acts of chessed toward this end, for G fathers, just as you have said: l~he impoverished man's philosophy d rewards people measure for measure thirty-three years will be deducted is actually a fundamental Torah princi - whoever extends kindness to others from your years corresponding to the ple and the key to a life of contentment. will surely be dealt with similarly from thirty-three words (that you uttered to G-d's decrees emanate from a vantage Above. Pharaoh}." Yitzchak had lived 180 that embraces not only the present, but This may sound selfish, but freeing years. while Yaakov passed away at extends from creation to the End of oneself from tribulation is a worthy, theageofl47. Days; only He can know what is ulti justifiable goal. On the first night of mately in our best interest. Assuming Rosh Hashana we customarily ask G-d This entire episode seems perplex this perspective we can come to accept to grant us "a good and sweet year." ing. Could Yaakov Avinu, the "chosen our lot, regardless of how severe it may Now, a "good year" does not preclude of the Patriarchs." actually have com seem. the bitterness of suffering, for Divinely plained of his lot? Furthermore, why We ask for ''a life in which G-d fulfills ordained suffering can be for one's did Yaakov say that hehad not attained our heartfelt requests for the good,'' in good. When we ask that the year be the years of his forefathers? He then ''sweet'' as well, we pray that the com could still have equalled their lon Rabbi Pam is Rosh Yeshiva of Mesivta Torah ing year's goodness be easily perceived Vodaath and a member of the Moetzes Gedolei gevity, and even outlived theml as such. HaTorah (Council ofTorah Sages) of Agudath Is Both Ramban and Rashbam ex~ rael of America. DIFFICULT TIMES plain that Yaakov looked exceedingly Rabbi Finkelman, who prepared this article old when he stood before Pharaoh - for publication, is a frequent contributor to JO s long as one endures difficult older than any other man in the Egyp most recently, an article onSuccosforthe Oct. '85 times. however. he must ac tian empire. It was this that prompted edition. A knowledge that "all that Pharaoh to inquire about Yaakov's age. The Jewish Observer/January. 1986 5 While Yaakov Avinu did not actually bemoan his lot, his words conveyed an impression of complaint - and for this his life was shortened by 33 years!
Yaakov replied that he was actually into one such place. He was appalled He had been reduced to poverty 130 years of age, which was young in at the gabbai 's seemingly haphazard overnight. comparison to the lifespans of A vra· systemfor calling people to the Torah. When the man's wife and children ham and Yitzchak, but his troubled life For thefirst aliya he selected a man sit read the telegram, they despaired: had aged him prematurely. ting on the last bench of the shul; sec what would life be like now? Asfor the Yaakov Avinu's life was an almost ond went to a gentleman two rows man himself. he stood stock-still, sim unbroken chain of trial and suffering. from thefront: then a man whose seat ply holding the telegram in his hands After fleeing his father's home to escape was adjacent to the bima.... and muttering over and over again, Eisav's wrath. he lost all his posses "Excuse me,·• the stranger said to "This (telegram) is a k'sav rabbanus, sions to Eisav's son Eliphaz, who had the gabbai when the services had this is a k'sav rabbanus .... " been dispatched to..- murder him. He ended, ''butwouldn'titmakesense to Upon hearing this strange remark, spent 22 years with the scheming use an organized systemfor distribut theJam ily wondered if the shock of the Lavan, whom he also had to flee ... the ing aliyos? It is really quite unfair and news had affected his mind. Then he abduction of Denah - and the war even insulting to call up individuals explained. against the Canaanite tribes that fol from all corners of the shul and leave ·'I became a merchant thinking that lowed the slaying of the people of theothercongregants to tvonder lVhy it was the right thing to do. This tele Shechem by Shimon and Levi, and they were overlooked!" gram is a message from Heaven in then Rachel's passing; and when he fi The gabbai could not help but laugh forming me that I erred. HaKadosh nally hoped to "settle down in tranquil at the man's ignorance. "You don't Baruch Hu wants rne to become a ity." the anguish ofYoseif sprang upon understand - I do have an organized rav. him. system. I have a file. Lvith a cardfor ev A person who willingly accepts a Di Actually, Yaakov did not complain, ery memberoj'theshul. On it I record vine judgrnent that seems difficult to but his words conveyed an impression u1hen each 1nan is required to be bear will be rewarded measure for of complaint. and for this his life was called upfor an aliya - a yahrzeit, the measure with favor from Above. This is shortened by thirty-three years. How number of times each person has implicit in a Gemora: careful one must be when speaking received an aliya and their The ministering angels said to G-d, about Heavenly judgment! dates .... But, of course, to someone "Ribbono shel Olam, it is written in who is unaware of what ha..'> taken Your Torah 'who shows no favorites BITTER - YET NOT BAD place here in previous tveeks, my and accepts no bribes' (Devarim n1ethod seems to make little sense.·· 10: 17). but You show favoritism to Is hofetz Chaim often said that a We enter the stage of history in the rael. as it is uJritten. May Iiashem turn Jew in trouble should never de· midst of a particular scene, said the His countenance to you" (Bamidbar C scribe his situation as "bad," Chofetz Chaim; can we expect to un 2,26). but rather as "bitter." Medicine. too. derstand the Divine reasoning for all G-d replied, "Should I not show fa can be bitter-tasting, but nevertheless that occurs? voritism to them? I wrote in the Torah it serves a beneficial purpose. {Devarim8.10), '\Vhenyoueatandare Two men were discussing their FAITH ASA WINDOW ON satisfied (i.e., when you have eaten financial circumstances in the pres EVENTS your fill}, you are to bless Hashem ence of the Chafetz Chaim. "It your G-d' by reciting Birkas Hamazon wouldn't hurt if things were a little here are times when events that out of gratitude. They are more better," said one of them. seem incomprehensible to den1anding with themselves and Interjected the Chafetz Chaim, T some can be understandable to bless me evenjOr only the volume of ''How do you know it wouldn •t hurt?·· us. The level of our faith and trust ha"5 an olive or an egg!'' (Berachos 20b). much to do \Vith how we interpret This dialogue presents some diffi. Similarly. one must be careful not to events. culty. There are scores of Rabbinic express wonder over severe judgments My mother,il"Y once related to me an stringencies thatKlal l'isroel has \Vill that befall others: "What did he ever do incident that was told to her by her fa ingly accepted upon itself. Why did to deserve such tzaros?" or similar re· ther, the Shedlitzer Rav.) 11 '.':lt. G-d. in responding to the angels. select marks that seem to question Divine A Jew in Shedlitz had sufficient To this particular law regarding Birkas judgment. Rather than making such rah knowledge to qualify easily as a flamazon? The answer to this can be comments, we should remain firm in rav. Instead. the man chose to be a found in Midrash Rabba (Bamidbar our faith that when Moshiach comes rnerchant and indeed tvas very suc 11. 7). v..rhich records the dialogue we and the spirit of prophecy will return, cessjUl. ~I'his man once received a tel have cited \Vith an important addition: events that puzzle us today will become egram in,forming him that a ship car G-d replied to the angels. "Should I clear. rying huge quantities of his not show favoritism to them? I wrote The Chafetz Chaim once illustrated merchandise had sunk in a storm - in My Torah 'When you eat and are this thought with a mashal: A all oj'its cargo was lost. The merchant satisfied you are to bless· - but a Jew traveler who was unfamiliar with the l.LJOuld never be able to recover from ish mansiis with hisfamily - lacking goings-on of the average shul stepped thefinancial setback he had suffered. sufficient (food) to satisfy themselves
6 The Jewish Observer/January. 1986 - and nonetheless they are gracious What concerned the woman, how the persori. he had belittled was actually to Me and bless Me. They are strict ever. u.Jas not the enormity of her loss; far greater in the eyes of G-d than he with themselves thanking me evenfor she ivorried more about the Divine ever imagined. Such a realization, com· only the volume ofan olive and an egg. judgment her friend might incur for ing after years of erroneous judgment. Therefore G-dfavors them." having departed this world without would surely afflict anyone with both The Midrash makes it clear ihat it is having repaid the debt. ... At her fear and humiliation. not the stringency alone that brings a friend'sfuneral. theaged womanfol This is a rebuke \Ve should want to Jew Divine favor; it is his willingness to lowed the coffin, exclaiming, ''[forgive avoid. 'fhe only way to do so is by accept his lot and declare in Birkas you.I I forgive you!" strengthening ourselves in our ''duties Hamazon with firm conviction, "And Would anyone have ascribed such of the heart" and by praying to merit through His great goodness we have greatness to this woman before she fulfillment of the verse, ''A pure heart never lacked." acted as she did? Rarely if at all are we create for me, Oh G-d, and a steadfast afforded such glimpses into a person's spirit rene\v within me.·• PERSPECTIVE ON true worth. What may be an outstand SPIRITUALITY ing example of a shocking experience of FORWARD ...TOWARD discovering one's error in evaluating a UNDERSTANDING THE PAST hat has been said thus far ap person is contained in a single verse in plies specifieally to the mate the Torah: e are incapable of gaining a W rial circumstances of each And Yoseif said to his brothers. "/ true understanding of events individual. In spiritual matters, ho\v am Yoseif. Does myfather still live?" W from our present limited per ever, our outlook must be of an entirely But his brothers could not answer him spective. Clarity will not be ours until different nature. One must never be for they felt disconcerted before him the End of Days, when the meaning in complacent in regard to his spiritual (Bereishis 45,3). herent in every event will become evi status; to the contrary. he must be on Regarding the words" ... they felt dis dent. An example of how a broader per the constant alert that his direction is a concerted before him,,. Rashi writes spective endows a person with greater correct one. At the same time, one must that the brothers were overwhelmed insight is the sarne incident in always judge the spiritual status of with shame. Chumash: others generously; one can never really The Midrash records (Bereishis lJntil the moment that Yoseifre know whether a person whom others Rabba 93.10): vcaled himself. the sons ofYaakov had disparage is, in fact, on a lofty spiritual AbbaKohein Bardellasaid, ''Woe to found the actions of Egypt's viceroy to plane. Just as the Divine plan for all us for fear of the Day of Judgment! be ba1Tiing. at the very least. He had ac that occurs is concealed from us. so too Woe to usfor fear of the Day ofRetribu cused them of being spies, demanded is the Heavenly evaluation of every tion! If Yoseif's brothers could not that they bring their youngest brother Jew. withstand his rebuke, even though he before him, imprisoned them. then As the Gemora relates (Pesachim was among theyoungestoj'the tribes, sent all but Shimon home with their 50a}, when Rabbi Yoseif, the son of how much more so will we be over n1oney returned and provisions for the Reb Yehoshua ben Levi.fell ill. hL' soul ivhelmed tvhen HaKadosh Baruch Iiu road .... When they returned. he invited entered the Higher Spheres. Later, tvUl rebuke each one of us .... ,. them to join hin1 for a meal at \Vhich when his spirit returned. his father Where was the rebuke that inspired they \Vere seated according to age and asked him, "What did you see?" such fear among the brothers? All maternal descent (\vithout their having Replied Rabbi Yoseif, "I saw a topsy Yoseifhad uttered were the two words revealed this information), \Vith Binva turvy world. Those of upper rank (in "Ani Yoseif- I am Yoseif." min next to Yoscif. Then, as they this world) are below there, tL'hile Yo..i;;eifs rebuke lay not in his words headed home. the chief of Yoseifs those of lower rank here are above but in what they implied. Although the household staff overtook them: having there.,. tribes did express regret over their ''discovered'' the viceroy's silver goblet Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi harsh treatment of their brother in Binyamin's sack, he brought the remarked, "My son, you saw an or (Bereishis42.21), they neverthelessre youngest of the tribes back to Yoseif derly world." mained steadfast in their unfavorable \Vho declared that the "thief' \vould There are moments when the seem judgment of Yoseifs character and no\v serve as his slave. ingly simplest of people perform an act deeds. When he finally revealed him Yoseif s actions and words left the that would befit the greatest of men, self to them and they saw how the Di· brothers with many questions, some of and only then does their true worth be vine hand had set off the chain of events which. the Midrash tells us, were ex come even minimally apparent. I recall that led to the fulfillment of Yoseifs pressed by Yehuda in the speech that an incident that illustrates this point: dreams - his becoming leader of the led to Yoseifs revelation. But when An old impoverished woman sup world's mightiest empire at that time, Yoseif said the words, "I am Yoseif," ported herself by performing house and his being an instrument of salva the reasons behind all that had trans· hold chores for others. She had tion to a world suffering from the pired became crystal-clear to them. managed to put away afew hundred ravages of famine - only then did they There were no more questions. dollars in savings over the years. understand that they had erred all So, too. said the Chafetz Chaim, \VilI One day. a friend asked that she along. They then recognized that their it be in the Time-to-Come when G· d loan her the money she had saved up. perception of their brother and their will reveal Ilimself to mankind and an The woman readily agreed. The bor subsequent dealings with him had nounces, ''lam Hashem.'' The blinders rower passed away soon after, leaving been terribly \\·rong. \Vill be lifted from our eyes and we will the woman with no way to collect her There can be no greater rebuke than fully comprehend all that transpired hard-earned savings. for someone to discover one day that throughout history. II
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On Tu B'Shvat, the New Year of the Trees, it is a time- honored custom for Jews the world-over to eat the fruits of Eretz Yisroel. What is the significance of this tradition and what are its metaphysical roots?
FRUIT FOR THE SOUL
THE BODY AS A TOOL OF THE SOUL
"F ood makes the man." "What you eat today, walks and talks tomorrow." These are the popular slogans of nutritionists who be lieve that diet exerts a decisive in fluence over a person's physical well being. One need not be a health-food faddist to accept that food additives can take their toll on the consumer's health, and that many a hyperactive youngster is simply responding to the matter on mind. He observes that the goal to eliminate - or at least minimize high level of blood sugar in his veins, or Torah prohibits the consumption of - the animalistic influences inherent the chocolate snack he had at recess. beasts of prey because their flesh exerts in consuming meat. This depends on As we know, wine can turn man into a a corruptive influence over the human the type of meat he is eating. For exam beast. And the right foods can make a personality and arouses cruel passions ple, blood - which "bears in itself the person healthier, more alert, and more in the human breast. animal's whole physical being, resistant to illness and disease. Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch de representing the body in flow" - is to Thus, it should not surprise us that velops this idea further in Horeb (Chap be avoided in almost any form. By con the Torah teaches that foods affect peo ter 68). He explains that the body is trast, that fat of cattle known as cheilev ple not only physically but emotionally designed to serve as the instrument of is "nourished by inactivity," and dulls and spiritually as well. Ramban in his the soul. to implementits goals of holi the sensitivity of the soul, making it un commentary to Vayikra (11:13 and ness and morality. When a Jew does suitable for food .... Cheilev of wild 17: 11) takes note of the influence of consume them, they render him insen beasts, however, does not possess this sitive to noble and lofty aspirations. dulling influence and is permitted. In his essay, S.R. Hirsch classifies This theme of the interfacing of the Rabbi Feuer is Rav of Congregation Ohr Chaim in Miami Beach. producer of the Mishna foods according to their source, which dietetics of the body with the dietetics Yomlt Torah Tapes, and author of the ArtScroll in turn determines how they affect the of the soul is developed further by Dr. I. Tehilltm translation and commentary. person who eats them. It is the Jew's Grunfeld in his classic work, The Jew-
The Jewish Observer/January. 1986 9 The body is the intermediary between the inner soul and the outside world. It matters greatly whether this intermediary is a willing and pliable servant or not.
ish fJietary Laws. He cites the words of THE GARDEN OF PRINCES the thirteenth-century Kabbalist, Rabbi Menachem Recanati {Taamei Hamitzvos) who explains: The body is ven within the Holy Land not all the intermediary between the inner locations are alike; there is one soul and the outside world, It matters E district in particular where the greatly whether this intermediary is a fruits' potential for kedusha is unsur willing and pliable servant or not. Just passed: Teverya (Tiberias). as the craftsman must have the finest Just as the baby in its mother's tools in order to produce precision womb absorbs its nourishment work, so must the human soul be through its navel. so does every corner housed in a pure body to succeed in its of Eretz Yisroel absorb kedusha from task. Forbidden foods contaminate the the province of the Tribe of Naftali.On soul so that holiness will not flo\v within the western shore of Lake Kinneret the body. stretches the lush Valley of Gennosar, with the city of Teverya as its capital. NOT BY BREAD ALONE The Talmud (Megilla 6a) attributes the name Tiberias to the Hebrew word he foods that the Torah permits tabur - navel, "for Tiberias is the na can actually heighten man's ca vel of Eretz Yisroel"). Moreover, the val T pacity for awareness of G-d's ley derives its name Gennosar from a presence and enhance his ability to contraction of two Hebrew words, gan serve his Creator. The Arizal explained You were pleased to give to our fore sarim - garden of princes {Midra.sh that every physical object or being fathers. to eat of its fruit and to be satis Bereishis Rabba 88:21). owes its existence to a holy spark bu fied with its goodness." The Tribe of Naftali, which possesses ried within it. When a man eats, his The Tur (Shulchan Aruch, Orach this valley, was blessed by Moshe: body extracts the vitamins and Chaim 208) cites the opinion of his fa "Naftali is satiated with pleasure and minerals in the food. but it is not these ther. Rabbeinu Asher (the Rosh). who filled with the blessing of Hashem" that keep him alive, for if a person's soul deleted this last line because he felt it (Devarim 33. 2-3). To this, Sifri com were to leave him he would be no more improper to say that G-d gave Israel the ments, "Satisfied ... and filled with animate than rocks and sand. 1'he hu Holy Land so that they should "eat of blessing, because of the fruits of man soul extracts the spark of holiness its fruits.'' Did Israel yearn for the Holy Gennosar." within the food and it is these that Land merely to eat delicacies and And why was the lake that watered maintain life by nourishing his soul. fruits? Mitzvos - Divine service - this province called "Kinneret"? Be "Hashem fed you Manna... that He that is why the Holy Land is destined cause its fruit are as sweet as the music might make you know that man does for Israel! of the kinnor - the harp (Megil!a 6a). not live by bread alone, but that man The Bach (Bayis Chodosh, commen *The Talmud (Pesacllim 8b) states: Why don·t lives by that which emanates from the tary on the Tur by Rabbi Yoe! Sirkis) the rich fruits ofGennosar grow in Jerusalem? So mouth of Hashem" (Deuarim 803) The upholds the original version of the that the Jews who con1c to Jcrusalen1 for the Divine sparks that stem from the spo blessing and his opinion is accepted as three festivals should not be able to sav. "If we ken word of the Creator are part of all halacha. Bach explains: G-d has a camt' up only that we might eat these w~nderful fruits it would have been worth all of our effort creation. and thus are found within ev reservoir filled with holiness called and expense." In other words, these fruits might ery slice of bread and morsel of meat Eretz. YisroelshelMa'aloh - the celes distract the pilgrims from the main purpose of that man eats; and it is these sparks tial Eretz Yisroel. It is the Divine Will coming to Jerusalem. which is the Divine service that keep man alive. that this holiness flow earthward for in the Holy Ten1ple. Tosafos Rabbeinu Peretz (ibid.) quotes Rabbi On Tu B'Shvat we rejoice over the man to absorb. Nowhere is this sanctity Shmuel who asks: Why suggest that the Genno fruits of Eretz Yisroel, which are filled more concentrated than in the fruits sar fruits grow in Jerusalem? Perhaps the soil with these Divine sparks. and grains of Israel. which are so brim conditions in Jerusalem are simply unfit to grow After eating any of the seven species ming with holy sparks, that tasting such fine produce. He answers: In truth. Jerusa Yisroel lem is the center of the entire globe. for G·d for which Eretz is praised - them with proper concentratioin can created Jerusalem first and the rest of the earth foods made from the five types of grain, stir the soul with fresh yearning for the emanated and spread out from there. By rights. wine. grapes, figs. pomegranates. Master of the Universe. Andaftereating Jerusalem should be the ''navel'' and the source olives or dates - we recite a special them. one thanks Hashen1 for having of blessing and sanctity for Israel's fruits. Since the fruits might distract people from the Temple blessing in which we thank G-d: " ... for bestowed us with the Iioly Land, '' ... to service. the "fruit center" was transferred toGen the produce of the field, and for the eat of its fruit and to be satisfied with its nosar. which is now the "Jerusalem of the world desirable. good and spacious land that goodness.'· of fruits.''
JO The Jewish Observer/January, 1986 '~r,!'1;.'
Ramban (Shaar Hagemul) explains ,-i<'·::~· The Gemora continues (and note, as that music is the most delicate and ,J~;1 Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto explains, spiritual of all sensual pleasures. Music . ·.• · .....-/::.t/.~'.'·"'<·"""'.·.-· ..- •.· ..·:··;- the Talmud is wont to express spiritual is intangible, no more than vibrating , A -_:{ .: . ·... ·. : .. ·.'.. '--... ·.··:.·:~-''[.~~~.'~.~·.'.::.<~ >- _.·J' truths in physical terms): ~·;~--- -- ,:-_..-~.. -~-.- ...... r--- airwaves - pulsating, invisible forces 1 which pluck at the heartstrings and .... .sr -!''!!~ J
The ,Jewish Observer/Januar!_J. 1986 11 The fruits of Eretz Yisroel are so brimming with the sparks of holiness embedded in them by the Creator, that tasting them with proper concentration can stir the soul with fresh yearning for the Master of the Universe.
SPARKS IN THE SYRUP our Rabbis observed: From that celebration they did indeed draw up [buckets of] Ruach HaKodesh (Holy ne wonders,,,why the fifteenth Spirit). day of Shevat is the Ne\v Year Appropriately, the mazal - the O for trees. Our Rabbis explain unique celestial sign - that influences that on this day the saraj' - sap - be the rr1onth of Shevat is the bucket gins to rise inside the trees, the first step (Mazat Dli), for in the month ofShevat in the long process of producing a ri the saraf and its holy sparks rise up pened fruit.* Outside, freezing winds within the fruit tree just as buckets of ho\vl. for the fifteenth ofShevat is called water are dra\vn up from a well. "the cold of winter" (Babba Metzia I 06b): yet inside the tree, the first warm fluids ofspringtime begin their up\vard THE REFRESHING PAUSE flow. There is also a spiritual dimension in this sap, for the word sarqf literally e live in the "fast-food gener ation ... u.rhere the serving means "fire" or "burning energy." al luding to the sacred sparks contained W and consumption of meals in abundance in the fruits of the Holy correspond to the n1addening pace of Land. These sparks can ignite the our lives. We are constantly urged to go faster, always on the run: "Grab a bite!" responsive soul with a burning desire to .. Chopp a nosh! .... Speed it up! .... Make rise ever higher and closer to G+d. Tu it in a flash!" B'Shvatis the day\vhen G-d begins to deposit the first sacred sparks into the 1'he \Vhirlwind of activity leaves us trees frorn where the fruits of the com breathless and senseless ... hollo\v. ing year will emerge. burnt out before our time. Life in the fast lane 1neans an abundance of pres ~rhe revered Chassidic master. Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov. \.Vrites in his sure and little time for reflection. classic work, Bnei Yissos·chor: We Chazaladvise us to slow down - es· have a tradition from our teachers to of pecially before we eat. In Talmudic tilnes people did not merely sit for fer special prayers on Tu B'Shvat that must scale to reach the pinnacle of holi meals, they actually reclined and G-d provide us with a perfect, beautiful esrog. On this day the sarafbegins its ness. In the monthly lunar rene\val. lounged on sofas. They loosened their which syrnbolizes rnan 's perpetual rise, and the outcome depends [not on belts (Slwbbos 9b) and slipped offtheir agricultural or botanical conditions, quest for spiritual rejuvenation and shoes. but] on a Jew's spiritual merits. Pray gro,vth. the moon is at its fullest on the Food is life. Food is fuel. Food is tlre - fervently on this day ... and your prayers fifteenth dav of its cvcle. (See Artscroll calories for the cells. holy sparks for the Tehillirn. Vol. V. ·pg. 1499-1501 at will literally bear fruit. soul. We must teach ourselves how to length.) savor food's spirituality, to extract its King David composed fifteen Shir holy energy by contemplating the Di· BLESSINGS BY THE BUCKETFUL HaMa ·atos, Songs of Ascent (TehiWm vine Source of all food, and by leading 120-134) \Vhich correspond to the fif our lives in a rnannerthat does credit to teen steps that rose up to the inner the sacred sparks that we absorb into ne would expect a "Ne\v Year" courtyard of the Beis HaMikdash. The our bodies from the foods \Ve eat. The to occur on the first day of a Kohanirn (priests) sang the Songs of fruits of Eretz Yisroel are special, of 0 month rather than at its mid Ascent on Succos during the Simchas course, because they are replete with dle. In this case, ho\vever. the date - Beis liaShoeiva celebration, when sacred power. But all food contains the fifteenth - is appropriate, for the they dre\v a bucket of v..rater that they sorr1e measure of spiritual energy. number fifteen alludes to the fifteen carried up the fifteen steps to use as a li On Tu B 'Shvatwe pause to celebrate levels of sanctity and \Visdom a man bation. The dra\ving of the water sym the sanctity of food. Jf\veusethis pause bolized Israel's yearning to be drawn up \Vell, it has the po\ver to refresh our * See Rashi to Rosh Hashana l 4a. and lifted closer to G-d's exnbrace. And souls the \Vhole year round. 1111
12 The Jei.vish Observer/January, 1986 One can never tell how people or events will be judged by history, years after they had occupied stage-centet in their own time. Turn back the calendar to Ger many in the 1830's. Two figures faced each other in impassioned battle for the souls of the Jewish people, over the meaning of Jewishness. One was a man of enormous prestige and power in contemporary Jewry - Abraham Geiger, spokes man for Reform Jewry, rabbinical leader for wide segments of Germany's Jews. By contrast, the other, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, was viewed with pity and a great deal of disdain, as the protagonist of an outmoded and doomed obscuran tism; when the time came for him to restore the glory of the ancient Kehilla of Frankfurt, only eleven families joined him in his endeavors. Today w,,e look back at Hirsch's leadership as a watershed in the history of mod ern Orthodoxy, sparking its renaissance in Western Europe and profoundly in fluencing Jewish life in America and all over the world. We are all heirs to his un compromising leadership, his personal example, and above all. his prolific literary output which can today be found all over the Jewish world. What about Abraham Geiger and his teachings? Or, in the words of Rabbi Avi Shafran:
ABRAHAM GEIGER, ARE You THERE?
e're well aware that you've leagues, though in full agreement with been dead one hundred and you, would so often wax diplomatic, W eleven years now. A shame, pretending not to change but to "fulfill" for there can be no doubt that today's the Law, as the founder of yet another world would interest you. After all. as a popular religion once put it. self-proclaimed visionary you placed Not so, you. Abraham Geiger was to your every hope on your view of the the point. No beating around the bush, future. that \Vas your way. We today admire You were born, \Ve know, in 1810 your honesty. and rose in importance to become a Unfortunately (for your sensibilities). leader, if not the leader, of the early Re the Mapa is just as accepted by today's form movement in Germany. Your observant Jews as it was in your day. views were strong and uncompromis~ The R 'MA 's voice was somehow not ing; ironically, you \Vere much more in· stilled by your declaration: it is heard tractable than the "primitive" obser constantly in every beis midrash, and vant Jews you so pitied for their evident in the workings of every obser inadaptability to the times. longer wish to heed the voice of Moses vant Jew's home. Foremost, you were a crusader for a Isserles.'' * And look at those homes, bli ayin "New Jewish Order." "Life, spirit. You were to be well admired for your hara, the sheer number of them! Sur scholarship and research," you wrote, forthrightness. So many of your col· prised? Well, of course. You made "have outgrown the confines of the sta· abundantly clear how you felt the tutes of the Shulchan Aruch... \Ve no *Reference to R'MA. 16th Century codifier, "praxis" ofJudasim was rapidly fading whose glosses on the Shulchan Aruch - the into oblivion, and should indeed be en Rabbi Shafran teaches high school in the New Mapa - set the standard for halachic prac England Academy of Torah in Providence. R.I.. tice in all non-Sephardic Jeu1ish com couraged to do so. As it happens, and writes for various Jewish publications. munities_ though, more and more Jews are join-
The Jewish Observer/January, 1986 13 ing the ranks of the "primitives." Mrs. Zunz, ''even though she may Baalei teshuva have, tellingly, attained punctiliously see to it that no milchig the status of a "movement. .. knife will as much as touch afleishig ta blecloth. and though she may push her WHO SPEAKS HEBREW? bonnet down almost to the tip of her nose. she will always remain my he very language of holiness friend." you saw withering: "The time We know not if Zunz addressed the T \\'hen Hebre\v ... \vas the only matter of your friendship with his wife; key to basic [Jewish} education ... has he did, though, reply to your advice on long since passed. Yet people have per kashrus. He wrote: "It is not religion sisted in these obsolete endeavors but ourselves that we must reform .. .it and ... conceived of them as characteris is not at inherited, hallowed traditions tic features of Jewish learning. This but at prevailing abuses ... that we must claim might have been valid for East direct our attack. Your hue and cry ern Germany and the Slavic nations, against the Talmud smacks of but it certainly was no longer for us, in apostasy." Western Germany.·· Do you remember That, even from the man who coined those words of yours? the phrase Wissenschaft des Juden The people st.ill persist. we 're afraid. turns, a man you respected and ad The vernacular is even utilized towards lieve 1hat entire communities of Jews, strong and flourishing. consider your mired and considered an "elder" of the better understanding of Hebrew. your own movement. which is still very much the language of ex-classmate to be- their rebbe to this Jewish education. One need only very day? And that religious Je\vs the glance at the seforim published each \Vorld over revere his memorv, em MAKING FRIENDS, year. listen to the learning .... braC'e his ideas. studv his workS. con LOSING FRIENDS German is. of course, still spoken. sidPr hiln eternally -timely? He lives In Germany. even no\v. o matter though. You certainly By Germans. To our knov..rledge, no, there aren't made more friends than you Erelz Yisroel. where Hebre\v is the any real Geigerian groups, at least none N lost. wouldn't you say? Your official language of a Jewish state es that are apparent. There are Reformers "reforms" appealed to many. as they tablished there. would perplex you en of various shades. of course. Quite a lot demanded nothing at all of them, though. sadly. only Christianity tirely. \VC suspect. You didn't feel that of them. But they embrace n1uch that Zion had any pertinence to Jews: it was benefited from your efforts. but an ancient relic, in vour Weltan Incidentally. kosher food is available schauung. You railed 3-gainst those today almost anywhere there are Jews. Je\vs in your day \Vho dared to hopp for Rabbinical (the old type) certifications a return one dav to the land of their abound. Restaurants spring up like fathers. They. You inveighed. \Vere mushrooms ... oh, but forgive us. such looking to the past, not the future ... things don't interest you now. It spems. though. that Je\vs. even the Zunz referred to your attitude toward least observant. had deep \Vithin them the Talmud. You had predicted the ces some inexplicable but innate desire to sation of interest in ta.lmudic literature, once again live on the soil of their ances would shock you. and are perpetually the cessation of belief in its holiness, its tral home. And that yearning. G-d al suffering well-deserved identity crises, divinity, "when we ourselves (will) lo\ved to become a reality. in blatant hardly avatars of your ''Ne\\' Jewish Or have finally outgrown the Middle disregard of your instructive. der." And they're losing ground as well Ages." ~some gleaning. in noisy desperation, Sir. the yeshivas. the kollelim. do you And Germany today? If memory even more rituals. n1ore tempting links sec them? Gemora and Rishonim serves faithfully, there \Vas a rabbi \vho to the vital past. Their follo\vers, in any lapped up with fervor, intelligence, and was imported there not too many years event. are for the most part passive. un dedication. Do you see the scientists, ago. to try to maintain some recogniz committed, "Reformers by default·· the doctors, the la\vvers and the univer ably Jewish presence. Nothing much not quite the type vou so boisterouslv sity scholars adheri-ngto their dqfyomi heard. since. \Vere in your O\Vn day. Dr. Geiger? - schedules, so zealously - so punctili One letter you \\'rote. to Lc-opold DO YOU REMEMBER ously. you might put it? The shiurim S.R. HIRSCH? Zunz. stands out as particularly and steady sedarim on campuses. in memorable. You had heard that. de private homes? The strength of the o you. bythe\vay. rernembera spite his enlightened attitudes, he had dedication, the sheer volume of the fellow student at Bonn. during inexplicably decided lo keep a strictly learning itself astounds. D your university years. one kosher home. You wrote him. "These The mitzva of milah particularly Samson Raphael Hirsch? Of course you dietary la\vs ... so void of rationale and irked you. did it not? You saw it as hav n1ust; you wrote many articles about such a hindrance to the development of ing evolved from the ancients' practice his Nineteen Letters .. The book obvi social relationships ... (are) sheer of human sacrifice, a ''milder custom'' ously impressed you, though you re madness.·· you called it, deriving from a primitive jected its every premise. Would you be- You then sent your best wishes to horror.
14 The Jetvish Observer/January. 1986 Mohalim are kept very busy these ··All the idealism and hopes brought days. They are frequently called to ob about by the Age of Enlightenment in scure towns, nooks and crannies in this century, to which people have at which onlyafewJewscaq be found. to tached their own hope for the future, ply their ancient skills. Avraham - the have not even passed the first original one, that is - is no doubt test ... there are no signs that humanity happy with the adherence of his people will now be capable of bringing about a to his covenant. And you, Abraham? new and better order." Abraham Geiger, your beloved Ger you ... protects you ... you may be at many failed you in ways too horrific to GEIGER: "I LOVE GERMANY AND peace ... dwelling in security ... .ln the recount. The "antiquated" Talmud. MUST REMAIN HERE" radiance of Royal benevolence there is the "obsolete" Isserles, survived intact. life and security, shelter from all danger allowed Jews to survive, and flourished hat were most telling, and protection from any attack!'. along with them afterward. though, of your life and your Indeed. Behold, Abraham Geiger. the world W attitudes, were your often And the oratory you delivered in you left but a century ago. Behold the expressed emotions for your country. 1863, on the occasion of the fiftieth an vitality which is the Torah world today. You had little patience for the "nation niversary of the Battle of Leipzig? And behold the remnants of your stu~ alistic aspirations" of "medieval ''When another fifty years hence an dents and your philosophy. Jewry," i.e. the longing of your people other generation is assembled here, You were a Jew. May G-d spare you for their land. may they mark this day as a celebra pain. It is punishment enough for you "I love Germany and must remain tion of brotherly conciliation ... one hu t.o be an eternal example. here," you wrote. German thought and man race united in love, one great and For you stand as a warning for Jews German scholarship were, to you, the mighty Fatherland!" in all generations, a warning never to supreme expressions of all human in The generation you happily antici forget or abandon the mission of the tellectual achievement. AH your eggs pated, Abraham Geiger. that agonized Jew. A warning never to see our heri you happily and proudly placed in that and anguished generation - did its tage as a burden, but as a gift. A warn venerable basket. groans, its screams reach you? ing never to be fooled into doubting our Had you only lived three-quarters of inherited knowledge of the Torah's di a century longer. "Your" country, Ger HIRSCH: "ENLIGHTENMENT vinity. A warning never to put our full many. did not develop into the ideally HAS NOT PASSED trust in the whims of governments, at fertile soil for Judaism's growth you THE FIRST TEST" the expense of our trust in our Creator. had envisioned. You serve to remind us to remain Do you recall a sermon you once re you listening. still? Just Jews, as Jews always were, as Jews al preached? eight years before you spoke ways should be. "Rejoice. my brethren ... for the eye of A those words, Rav Hirsch We really should thank you for what the !Germanl law watches over penned the following: is a precious legacy. • Notjustacheese, a t1-a'1ition •••
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good fruit tree cannot grow and produce unless there The next generation was led by Hakham Moshe Haim, the are certain optimal conditions, such as soil replete Ben !sh Hai's grandfather and a brilliant scholar. Torah learn A with nutrients; enough sun; adequate water; sources ing prospered to an even greater degree during this period. of heat to combat the frost. etc. Similarly, a spiritual genius The next generation saw the rise of another bright star: does not usually just happen on the scene-he must grow up Hakham Abdall-h. • in the kind of environment propitious to spiritual develop· ment. This environment. of course. is provided by family, TEAMWORK FOR TORAH peers, teachers, and the community at large. Baghdad's great Torah genius, Rabbi YosefHaim (the Ben he Somekh family included many successful men, Ish Hai). was the product of three generations of spiritual some of whom made their mark in business. others in builders, the last of which was Hakham Abdall-h Somekh, his T religious leadership-not surprising for this teacher. aristocratic family whose tradition claims deseent from the The story actually begins in 17 42, when a plague struck Gaon Nissim of Nahardea. the ninth-century author of the Baghdad and wiped out most of the rabbis including the city's Great Confession, which forms part of the Sephardic Yorn chief rabbi and the entire beitdin. The Jews of Baghdad im· Kippur prayerbook. mediately turned to their brothers in next·door Syria in this Hakham Abdall-h was born in 1813. His father was a emergency: and Hakham Sadka Hussin. one of Aleppo's prosperous jeweler. His brothers, too, went into commerce greatest rabbis, came to serve in Baghdad, where the light of where Abdall-h followed them for a short time as a business Torah shone brightly during the thirty years of his guidance. partner of his wife's father. But the young Abdall-h soon found that his inclination tended too strongly to the spiritual, and he left the business Mrs. Nahmoud. a frequent contributor to these pages, served as histori cal consultant for ArtScroll's Treasury of Sephardic Tales, In deference to * Jews in all diaspora communities at tiincs used the translation of their He the subject matter of this article, Hebrew words are transliterated in accor brew names in the language of the country; as Baer =Dov: Faygie ""Sipporah: dance with Sephardi pronunciation. Abdall-h =Ovadia: Moussa=Moshc: etc.
The Jewish Observer/January, 1986 17 They lived 80 days' journey by camelback from Baghdad, yet when they needed a teacher or rabbi, they came to Hakham Somekh.
world. Supported by his father, he studied under the direction "The religious instruction among the Jews of Baghdad is ad of one of the studentsofHakhan1 Moshe Haiin. At seventeen mirable, for there is a large yeshiva in which sixty young rabbis he published his first sefer. Es haSadeh (Tree of the Field), study. This school is under the direction of the learned Rabbi a commentary on 1'ractate Beitza. Abdall-h ben Abraham Somekh, who performs the duties of his Hakham Abdall-h was soon recognized for yet another tal office without pay. lie is a very rich man, and at one time headed ent, teaching. He started studying with a group of ten young one of the community's principal businesses. But he has given men, meeting with notable success. This little group was the over the management of his business toa partner in order to de beginning of his famed yeshiva. In 1840, one oflraqui Jewry· s vote himself entirely to his holy work." leading citizens. Yehezkiel Menasheh, was impressed with Hakham Abdall-h's activity. and not long afterwards estab Not long aft.er Benjamin's visit, Yehezkiel Menasheh died lished a new yeshiva for him called "Midrash Abu* (1851)- but his sons Menasheh and Sasson carried on the Menasheh.'' partnership with Hakham Abdall- h. They awarded scholar Then an idea came to Hakham Abdall-h, Why not take the ships to new young men and, in 1854, Menasheh demolished best boys from the Jewish Quarter's kitab, the heder for or the first yeshiva building and constructed a yeshiva complex phans and poor boys. and enroll them in the new yeshiva. of three buildings on the site of the former Midrash. The new Yehezkiel Menasheh and Hakham Abdall-h thus became yeshiva. called ··Beit Zilka.·· started its first year with a library a team. Hakham Abdall-h gave the boys a complete course of of 1.000 volumes, also provided by Menasheh. study leading to ordination; Yehezkiel Menasheh provided The reputationofHakham Abdall-h 'soperation in its new food and clothing and, after ordination, support for as long as building continued to grow. attracting students from other they wished to continue their studies. He and the Hakham countries-such as Syria, Iran, India and Kurdistan. It was found them wives and helped them establish homes, as well. also a highlight on the itineraries of travelers from all parts of More and more students came-and not only from poor the world. Here is how Beit Zilka was seen through the eyes families. After being ordained, receiving the title of of outsiders: hakham-rabbi, each graduate started his own little study group under the wing of the yeshiva. Ephraim Neumark, who visited the Yeshiva in 1884, describes it in some detail, reporting that fifteen scholars with WORLD REKNOWN Hakham Abdall-h as their leader sat in the two-story build ing whose second floor served as faculty living quarters. In ews of this project began to spread outside the Middle this Yeshiva, he continued. they ordained rabbis and ritual East with the visit of Benjamin the Second in 1848, slaughterers for the surrounding area, even for places as far N who reported: off as India and Iran. Sages from distant countries appeared \Vith their questions to be answered by the scholars of this " Abu = father in Arabic. a term of affection in this context Yeshiva.
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18 The JeuJish Observer/January. 1986 Jacob Sapir wrote after his visit to Yemen in 1864:
''In the city of Anezi (Yemen), there are about seventy families, MIGDAL OHZ SEMINARY who in all matters of Torah obey the Rabbis of Babylon (Le., Bagh dad) .... They live eighty days' journey by camelback from Baby FOR TEACHERS lon. yet when they needa ritual slaughterer. teacher, or a rabbi. they come to ask Hakham Somekh for such dignitaries." Rabbi Shimon Grama, Dean
How was Hakham Abdall-h viewed in the Ashkenazi community? Rabbi Shneur Zalman Mendel. on a visit to Baghdad from "Migdal Ohz opened my heart and stimu Jerusalem in 1869. wrote: lated my head. I will never forget my year at M.O.S. T.!" "In Baghdad there are yeshivot supported by the philan thropist Menasheh and his brothers, where scholars study Binah Silberger, selected as Migdal Ohz Gemara and the commentaries under the direction of the hasid Ma ar more important to a yeshiva than fame and acclaim is the quality of the men who come forth from it. And IF YOU ARE SINGLE F this was the crowning glory of Beit Zilka. Hakham Abdall-h's era saw the emergence of Hakham AND SHOMER SHABBOS Eliahu Mani, who became the great dean of the Hebron Yeshiva in Israel (originally a Sephardic institution); Hakham Dangor, who was later the Chief Rabbi oflraq; and Hakham ''EZER'' YosefHrum, the Ben !sh Hai. one of the brightest lights in the can help find that Middle East since the days of the Gaonate (see JO. Dec. '76). "special person" for you. During the Ben !sh Hai's epoch the Yeshiva produced Hak ham Fatiia, a distinguished Kabbalist who emigrated to Call or write for applications: Jerusalem and wrote several outstanding seforim; and Hak 1618 Coney Island Ave. ham Suleman Musafi, also a Kabbalist and a sadiqmuch Bklyn., N.Y. 11230 loved by the people of Jerusalem. Other hakhamim from Beil Tel.-718-951-8585 Zilka joined these two in Jerusalem where they sat in Porat YosefYeshiva, teaching and learning. Sponsored by Vand Harabonim of Flatbush The Jelvfsh Observer/January. 1986 19 If Jews absolve their vows in "Kol Nidre" every Yorn Kippur, how can their word be trusted? ... But then examine the text of "Kol Nidre"! HIS BOOKS A member of the anti-Jewish element had composed an ugly song about Hakham Abdall-h and subsequently circu· or all the hours he spent daily on teaching. adminis lated through the souq (open-air bazaar) singing the song as tration, receiving the public and on his O\Vn study and he went along. Later in the day, when Arabs from the souq F research, Hakham Abdall-h continued writing. In customarily stop in cafes for coffee and a few puffs on a nar 1904 Zivhe Sedeq (legal decisions and responsa on the four gileh {water pipe), this man walked into one of the cafesand volumes of the Shulhan Arukh) appeared. Some of his arti regaled both willing and unwilling ears with his composition. cles came out in the journal Ha-Meassafin Jerusualem in The next Friday he announced in the neighborhood that he 1897. and in Rabbi S. Tebina's book Nofet Sujlm. Another had added new verses to the song, inviting one and all to at work of note wasllazon leMo 'ed, a treatise on the calculation tend a "recital" in one of the cafes. The invitation drew the of the Hebrew leap year. Iiakham Abdall-h's novellae and ar worst kind of audience, as could be expected, and the cafe was ticles were kept in the Beit Zilka synagogue, but were de packed. stroyed in a conflagration which burned the synagogue to the The following morning the composer, a mue.z.zin, * climbed ground. One \\'Ork that is in popular use today is his commen to the minaret's turret to sing the Muslim call to prayer. Sud tary on the Haggadah of Pesach. called Qibus Hakhamim. denly his feet slipped and he fell to the roof of the mosque. Two men carried him home unconscious. where he lay un til he awoke the next morning. When he opened his eyes and WITH THE ARABS tried to speak, he found he could not make a sound-he had apparently lost the powerof speech. Later in the day paraly he Jewish community of Iraq witnessed its share of sis set in, and he died that same evening. dramatic ups and downs in Jewish-Arab relations The good people among the Arab population were con during the l.300yearsitwasunder Arab rule. While T vinced that his death had a direct connection with his pub Hakham Abdall-h' s era in Iraq was far from being a period of lic dishonoring ofHakham Abdail-h. That view, however, was persecution, it nevertheless had its days of tension. While the not shared by all. An Arab was sitting in a Jewish-owned shop authorities did not oppose the Jews at that time, a certain ele in the souq when a second Arab entered. The first man asked ment of the population did; and the power center neither had the second to sing him the infamous song-in the presence close contact with some of the the highly inflammable Arab of the shop's Jewish owner, to be sure. The second man com. citizenry. nor did it have 100% control over them. plied with the request while his listener rocked the building Hakham Abdall-h was renowned not only for his intellec with horselaughs.... That evening the listener fell ill and died tual and administrative accomplishments as judge, educa three days later. Needless to say, this incident confirmed the tor and community leader, he was also a holy man and was belief held by many Arabs that a holy man should not be so recognized by the better Arabs, including many of those dishonored. in authority. More than one Arab came to kiss his hand, a sign of respect extended to such a man in the Middle East. The following story, told by an Iraqi Jew, clearly shows the ~ n1uezzin ·one \vho sings the Muslim call to prayer five times a day from the widely differing attitudes among the Arabs. minaret (tower) of the mosque. l'amous the dair~ restaurant ~¢If!?~ ...,,,,., lli"~~~ ~·~ 222 West 72nd Street (212) 595-8487 =-=~ ~1~·11\i Cholov Yisroel • Shomer Shabbos Certified by Vaad Mishmere.! Stam Under the Supervision of K'hal Adath Jeshuron 1 Flight Up Open for Breakfast, Luncheon and Dinner Will Pick Up Your Mezuzos To Check Catering · Parties · Meetings 4312·15th Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y.11219 (7181851·1637 20 The ,Jewish Observer/January. 1986 11 I 1 Capodanno Blvd. Staten Island 10306 THE UNREALIZED REVENGE SIMCHA AT THE SHALIMAR The New Place for A Truly l'lagnificent Simcha round 1873 a crisis threatened; but. paradoxically, A it was not Arab-instigated. A certain Jew named Moshe had converted to Islam, appar ently not from belief or conviction but out of hatred for his own People. He brought a false charge against another Jew and took him to the non-Jewish court. The Jew swore to his • Highest Standards Of Glatt Kosher Catering innocence, and the court acquitted him. ______• Impeccable ___,,__.______Service _ Sick with thirst for revenge, the apostate went immediately • Accommodations For Up To 800 to the Wali (governor) and told him that a Jewish oath is of no • Convenient Location To All Parts Of value, whether taken in court or out, the proof being the Kol The Metropolitan Area Nfdre, repeated on the Day of Atonement, which annuls all past vows, oaths and promises. • Ample Free Parking The Wali was a good ruler and far from anti-Jewish. This • Widest Choice Of Distinctive Menu Options declaration, however, was upsetting to him, coming as it did For further information please call from a Jew who, he felt, must be well informed about his own (718) 979-7400 religion. The Wali immediately ordered Hakham Abdall-h brought before him for an explanation. NEW FLEXIBLE PRICE STRUCTURE Three police officers were sent to escort the Hakham to the Wali'soffice. They anivedat Beit Zilka. opened the door, and saw Hakham Abdall-h sitting in a group of rabbis. The three Tapes of the officers were stopped in their tracks, overwhelmed by the holiness of the man and the place. 63rd National Convention Hakham Abdall-h, concentrating on the seferon his lap, did of Agudath Israel of America not notice their presence. The police officer approached one of the rabbis and explained their mission. Hearing the voices, are now available Hakham Abdall-h raised his head and looked inquiringly at the three Arabs. Awestruck, they turned and ran from the Tape # 1 Symposium: room. They told their employer: "We couldn't do it. That man GROUPS AND TRENDS IN JEWISH LIFE: is more like an angel than a human being." THE USE AND MISUSE OF JEWISH UNITY The Wali was not pleased that his men had failed to carry out his order, particularly for what struck him as a flimsy ex Rabbi Chaim Dov Keller cuse. Three more officers were sent to Beit Zilka and, when Rabbi Nissen Alpert they anived at the door, they stopped and asked a student to Tape #2 Symposium: transmit the Wali's order to the Hakham. Hakham Abdall-h left the Yeshiva accompanied by the RELATING TO JEWS OF DIFFERENT rabbis and the students. The sight of the entire Yeshiva walk BACKGROUNDS: A CHALLENGE FOR THE ing as a group through the Jewish Quarter was a rare one and TORAH COMMUNITY naturally attracted the attention of all the shoppers, shop Rabbi Avrohom Pam keepers and passersby. Upon learning the reason for this un usual procession, one after the other the Jews joined Hakham Rabbi Joshua Fishman Abdall-h'sescort. The Wali. hearingarumbleasofthousands Rabbi Nessen Scherman of voices, looked out his window to see that it was indeed Tape #3 KEYNOTE SESSION thousands of voices. Hakham Abdall-h and a few rabbis went in. The Wali had Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman never met Hakham Abdall-h. and in an instant he realized the Rabbi Mordechai Gifter excuse of the first three policemen was authentic. Rabbi Moshe Sherer This no-nonsense man of authority, suddenly diffident. Rabbi Shimon Schwab welcomed the I-Iakham warmly in the best Middle Eastern manner, apologizing for the inconvenience. He turned to one Tape #4 MESSAGE FROM RUSSIA: of the rabbis and asked his question about Jewish oaths, Michoel Khanin upon which the rabbi sent for a Mahzor and pointed to the SYMPOSIUM: passage translating: PERSPECTIVE ON T'SHUVAH: TRIALS AND "All vows. oaths and promises ... ofthe Nation. made in error." TRIUMPHS ON THE ROAD TO RETURN Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb and panelists Ife continued. explaining that only those vows made unin Send $4.00 per tape or $12.00 for full set to: tentionally can be annulled, and only in areas other than CONVENTION TAPES money matters. It took but a few seconds for the Walito see Agudath Israel of America that this was a clear-cut case of false accusation. The apostate 5 Beekman St.. NYC 10038 Jew was immediately arrested and brought to the Wali"sof- The Jelvish Observer/January. 1986 21 fice where he was lashed before Hakham Abdall-h. The Hak The Jews wanted to bury their beloved Hakham in his fa ham. who had no idea what it was all about. pleaded mily plot in the cemetery on the eastern side of the Tigris clemency for the man. River. But because he had been a cholera victim, the Walire fused permission. agreeing however that Hakham Abdall-h The Wali arranged for Hakham Abdall-h to return to the could be buried in a graveyard near one of the city's western Yeshiva with a guard of honor. The two men subsequently suburbs. became good friends, and the Wali frequently visited Hak The gravediggers started their work only to be stopped by ham Abdall-h, coming on holidays specially to ask the the mayor of the suburb with the announcement that the bur Rabbi's blessing. ial was forbidden. At the same moment the funeral proces sion was on the way. When they reached the gates of the cem etery. they found them locked. INCONCLUSIVE ENDING Some Jewish notables quickly went to the Mayor of Bagh dad. who immediately dispatched a cavalry contingent to keep order and permit the burial to take place. The village akham Abdall-h died in a cholera epidemic which mayor sent out a call, and a gang of village rowdies assembled swept through Iraq in 1888, and the Ben !sh Hai de at the cemetery wall. H livered his eulogy in the Great Synagogue of While all attention was focused on the excitement escalat· Baghdad. ing in front of the cemetery, a small group of Jews climbed Ending? Far from it! over the wall, unbolted the gate ... and within minutes the Hakham Abdall-h had been staying in a village near Bagh body was inside the cemetery and buried. dad when he contracted the disease. It took an extraordinary Although there are exceptions, an Arab does not accept de amount of negotiations between the Jewish community and feat easily: he feels humiliated before his friends (and ene the government to have him brought to Baghdad for medical mies), and he may stop at nothing until he has settled ac care, due to the fear of contagion. Successful therapeutic counts in his favor and feels his manhood restored in his own measures against cholera, however, had not yet been discov eyes and those of his audience. ered, and Hakham Abdall-h died on the eighteenth ofElul. For this reason the village mayor went to the Prime Minis ter with the story that the Jews had brazenly flouted the pro hibition to bury Hakham Abdall·h, fighting with Muslims and KARKA IN ISRAEL with the army. This resulted in arrest and jailing of many Jews. Worse yet, an ugly mood began to be felt with the al Take advantage of the opportunity to purchase ceme ways volatile Arab masses. To forestall a full scale pogrom, tery plots in Eretz Yisroel in Mifgash Shimshon near some important Jewish figures wired London and Paris. Yerushalayim through our newly established The British government, a highly respected and effective CHEVRAH OSEH CHESED OF AGUDATH ISRAEL weight-thrower in those days, reacted immediately. The Sul Membership in the Chevra entitles one to all benefits tan was warned that if passions did not cool down soon, Brit which accompany the services of a Chevra Kadish a and ain would make sure that they did. The Sultan freed the Jew interment. When you purchase a plot from the Chevra ish prisoners, took measures to protect the Jews and, to Oseh Chesed of Agudath Israel, you are supporting the restore calm among his own people, he ordered the body of many Agudist, activities especially the Pirchei and Bnos Hakham Abdall-h reinterred in the other Jewish cemetery activities as well as a Free loan Fund in Israel. where the Je,vs had wanted it buried in the first place. (212) 791-1800 A great throng of Jews converged on the cemetery in procession, among them government doctors carrying strong spices, as the body had been buried for eighty-four days al ready. The grave was opened, and the body was found to be in the sa1ne condition as the day it was buried twelve weeks JEWISH TRIBUNE before. °'S 22 The Jewish Observer/January. 1986 DIAl-A-SUIUR THE WEEKLY PARSHA os told by the world reknown maggid of Yerushalayim Ho'rav Sholom Schwadron A STUDY OF THE HOLOCAUST presented by the editor of ArtScroll Rabbi Nosson Scherman •Analyzes. •Reports. JEWISH HISTORY •Evaluates •Reviews. as explained by the dean of Yeshiva Sharei Torah Rabbi Berel Wein •Comments. •Reflects. A marvelous explanation on •Inspires. •Projects. OUR DAILY TEFILLOS by Rabbi Moshe Eisemann THE The inspiring songs of SEFER TEHILLIM by Rabbi Pincus Tzvi Singer JEWISH The homiletical teachings of THE TALMUD by Rabbi Fishel Shachter OBSERVER NAVI incorperating a wealth of Chazal Wedo more by Rabbi Chaim Dov Altusky than just observe. HALACHA encompasing the vital Dinim of Shabbos & Yam Tou by Rabbi Noach Isaac Oelbaum ------Subscribe, Renew or Give DEVARTORAH The Jewish Observer on the weekly sidra now and save. by Rabbi Bernard Weinberger D One Year/$15.00 (for ten issues) STORIES FOR CHILDREN D Two Years/$27.00 (a $40 value) dramatically read by D Three Years/$36.00 (a $60 value) Shlomo Hill D Canada, Israel and all Europe-$20.00. D Australia & South Africa-$25.00. HASHKOFAH & YAHDUS U.S. FUNDS-DRAWN ON A U.S. BANK ONLY by Prominent Gedo/ai Torah 5 Beekman Street/New York, N.Y./10038 magazine to: plus many other interesting and informative programs on a variety Send of Tor ah subjects all taught by some of the finest and most Name ______outstanding teachers, brought to you over your nearest phone 24 hours a day. Your cost only $6.00 per month (plus $36 one time Address ______membership). For program schedule call (718) 436·4999. City ______state _____~ip ___ An Educational Project of 0 Enclose gift card D Master card 0 Visa Torah Communications Network producers of Dial-A-Dal & Mishnah-On-The-Phone Account No. DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD 1618-43rd Street, Brooklyn, New York 11204 Expiration date DD (month) DD (year) Call (718) 436-4999 Signature ______"In the past seven months "When I was told I'd have "When it comes to I learned 842 Mishnayos- to go to sea- that's when Jewish policy, who should and I know them by heart!" I reil.lly started to worry" have the final say?" Thanks to Pirchei Agudath Israel, I'm When my return to Yiddishkeit conflicted Kial Yisroo\ has always looked to lts now finishing off mesechta after wi1h my obligations 10 the Navy, Agudath Gedolei HaTorah; Agudath Israel is the mescchta, enjoying myself, and doing Israel was ready to advise and assis1 me movement that's carrying this tradition lots of Chcsed, too. with its expertise and an array of forward. government contacts. "Shabbos used to be "Our Yeshivos' "My neighbor asked me: the loneliest day Torah programs 'What's so wrong with of the week" were threatened" Conservative Judaism?'" Now, three volunteers from Bnos Agudath Fortunately, Agudath Israel stepped in, What realll} made hin1 see things in a Israel Bikur Cholim visit us every and with concerted effor! persuaded the new light was an article I gave him from Shabbos, and really brighten up the State to rewrite the regulations. Agudath Israel's monthly-The jewish whole house. Observer. "One stick can easily be snapped in half," goes the rabbinic parable. "Add two together, and it's harder to break them. Make a bundle-an agudah-and the strength is multiplied many times." The Chofetz Chaim, the Gerrer Rebbe and the other ence a coalition of Orthodox Jews can make, and has Gedolei Torah who founded Agudath Israel knew made in the lives of tens of thousands , and in that the issues that Kial Yisroel ".""l\TillV\Y). ,Y,llJ II n~lly the battle to preserve authentic and "Reb Yisroel" face cannot I l,g,L II .II'- '' 'CJ 1 1 '' Yiddishkeit. But there is much, be met by individuals working T:"gu:rt=a""" IS"'OEI ofAMERll"'.O much more to do. And the amount alone. They saw that only when ni U U I N t '-' of good we can achieve depends one Jew joins another, and another, and another- directly on the number of individuals adding their then we can effectively come to grips with the cha!- names to this partnership effort-individuals like vou. lenges that confront us. The above stories represent Respond to the call of our Gedolei Torah; join Agudath just a small sampling of the kind of practical differ- Israel today. And watch the accomplishments multiply. TOGETHER WE CAN CONFRONT THE CONCERNS OF CONTEMPORARY JEWRY. me. "I couldn't afford to move, "At first, my father "I can't show my face, but thanks to SBCO didn't want me but I want you to I didn't have to:' to go to Yeshiva." hear my story:• With the new housing, projects cret.11ed Now, thanks 10 Agudath Israel's Jewish ... in thH harrowing years in my native bv Agudah's Southern Brooklyn Corn· Education Program (JEPL my whole country, in transit, resettling, placing my munity Organization, the neighborhood family is coming back to its roots. children in yesl1iva, Agudalh fsracl is stabilizing, and l was able to relocate l1clpcd me in ways I cannot even rclaw. righl here ln 1he area. "Who would have "Last year my brother "When Shiva for my believed that I would was invited to a Passover husband ended, my finish Shas?" Seder in a church:' problems just began." Through Oaf Yomi, promoted by Agudath Chizuk, Aguda1h Israel's ba'al t'shuva Fresh Start, a division of Agudath Israel's lsrael, I'm now on my second lime network, spent long hours wi1h him since Project COPE, helped pull me tlirougl1 the around. tl1cn, and this year he'll be spending trying times with support and job coun Pesach at a yeshiva in Jerusalem. seling, and now I'm back on my own two feel. ,------·cuTUUTCOUPONANIJMA!t TODA/'"' ------,· lrREE SUBSCRIPTIONS I • MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION • ', Dear Sirs: ', ~NEW MEMBERS , Yes, I want a share in Agudath Israel's coalition of Orthodox Jews for Cl A1C.tlf,r> \ , enective Torah action. ff. OAfpl?E:, .d£.Ns· , , Enclosed is (check one}: o 525 annual membership. 'E/Jll'Jf IJV1l:Ns1f/E; ""' - o 5100 patron membership. o ssou Jifr:limc membership. li1rru1,.,, lfl?rJ A'C: ... ······· ~' 'O~~-ti . ~ ill)Cf llliij , ,/br!/tf I! JV1 '£ Please send me my free one·ycar introductory subscription to: JJhu11;;~·nieair;qjl-: ba.1·h U~;__- ~ D THE JEWISH OBSERVER O DOS YIDDISHE VORT nininb,,r_::~~/i~"~" \ (for first·/ imr, memburs and non.current subscribers only} ..., •. r;,.r.~.·~.·.·:·· '.~~~ O Please send me informal ion on the Aguda1h Israel Health Insurance plan. &-- D Please send me lnforma1ion on the Agudisl Benevolent Society (chevra kadisha). ....,~·'"" ' NAME------·----·-----·-----·-·------' ' ADDRESS··--- ·---·------·-···--·---- Becoming a mr.mbr.r of Agudalh Israel !or tlll: lirsl lmw entilles ' you to a lrnc, one-ycarsubscriptmn tu line of Aguda1h fsr I was obsessed I'll never forget together? my eyes with matching ... my shock Two years since ... had been everything when I saw the wallpaper won over ... for my new home my newly-furnished kitchen is not as had to be for the first time ... white wallpaper perfect... the freshly put up wallpaper as it used to be ... and linoleum - hitting on greeted me the linoleum big deal! just the right shade boldly ... has lost its shine ... but... wasn"teasy the linoleum and!... it set me one color - barely one day old I have also thinking ... too dark glistened ... changed ... how many things another - but- now I wonder that don't a bit light... the "browns" why the match "match" and on CLASHED! ever with my lifestyle and on ... I blinked hard ... bothered me ... have the relief! felt then stared ... they go so well my eyes when I how did I ever together. .. grown accustomed to finally think time with made up my mind those two has surely done time? was shortlived .... would blend well the trick. .. HindyKviat with 500 tested, delicious new recipes ask for It at your 5eforim store for wholesale orders write to: "Cookbook" P.O.B. 241, Mt. Kisco, N.Y. 10549 (914) 666-5267 For single copies send $10.00 per book to above address. Shipping and Handling included. This book includes: Chestnut (akes • Brittle Cake • Choco-Cheese Cake • Pirogen • Quiche • Souffle • Sauces • Relishes • lee Cream. etc. 26 The Jeu1ish Observer!t]anuary. 1986 Devora Bloom ''When I Was a Mormon.... '' Thefollowing is a translation ofselections from a letter that "Devora Bloom" wrote to the Interior Committee of the Knesset in its investigation of the controversial building of the Brigham Young University Education Center on Har HaTzofim in Jerusalem. .. To the Interior Committee, ery Jew. After I began learning Torah, During my time with the Mormons, Knesset: I saw that all those similarities were im they told me that they don't have to aginary. For example, according to convert many Jews, because the Jews their stories in the Book of Mormon, the that do convert to Mormonism will be y name is Devora Bloom. I am American Indians are the ones who come missionaries to their Jewish a Jewish woman (my parents descended from the tribe of Ephraim: brothers. When I arrived in Israel. I was M are Jewish). In the year 1969- somehow, the Mormons say. they are full of enthusiasm and missionary feel 70, I studied at the University of Texas mem hers of the tribe of Ephraim, even ings, and I talked with anyone I could. at Austin. In January, 1970. I met though they never married Indians. I even tried to talk to girls in Neve Larry Lewis: he, through the influence Mormons believe that the Jews killed Yerushalayim !the women ·s division of of his twin brother Gary, was a recent Jesus. They also believe that Jesus will Ohr Somayach - editor]. and the convert to Mormonism. I was part of a not ''come again'' until the whole world hardest part of my return to Judaism group of friends who slowly all con converts to Mormonism. This is the ba was to come to the realization that it verted to Mormonism, mainly through sis for their missionary program. There was all light to be different from others. Larry's influence. I was officially bap are two kinds of Mormon missionaries: The Mormon presence in Israel has tized into the Mormon Church (the active missionaries, who go on a mis been growing since I arrived. I was Church of J.C. of Latter-Day Saints) in sion for 1 1/2 to 2 years, and every other given a name of one Mormon to get in October, 1970. In January. 1972, I Mormon. Active missionaries receive touch with when I came. which I since came to Israel, and in February, 1972, no wages, but have their expenses co lost. Then I found out that groups of I entered Neve Yerushalayim College vered. Missionaries can be identified by students come for a six-month study for Women, and returned to my Jewish their clean-cut appearance, their suits, trip ... that they have "congregations" in roots. i1"'.J.. white shirts. modest dresses for female Herzliya and Teverya, besides The Mormons told me that they are missionaries, and the name tags they Yerushalayim. Now they are building similar to Jews: that other Christians wear: ELDER SMITH, SISTER DUNN. I their "educational center." As long as persecute them. that they are from the cannot give names of missionaries be they are allowed to spread themselves tribe of Ephraim (which they pro cause they work only two years {one out in Israel, thev will continue to build nounce E:'-phre-am), that they have a and one half years, for girls); however, stage after stagC of their "convert-the Family Home Evening ''which resem every Mormon sees himself as a mis Jews.. program. bles Shabbat." lehavdil. They say sionary. When he acts as a good person, The Mormons signed an agreement these things to any Jew they wish to when he becomes a friend, when he im stating that this center will be for ''edu convert. which, ideally for them. is ev- presses us positively, he is a passive cation· and culture.'' But which educa Devora Bloom is a noni de plume. to shield lhe missionary by attracting people to him tion and culture? - Mormon. The privac9 of lhe author. self and eventually to his religion. agreement states that the students and The JeLvish Observer/January, 1986 27 faculty will not engage in missionary activity; however, nothing was written about missionaries. The agreement The Mormon Church Is Rich, Rapidly states that there will be exhibits open to the public - those exhibits will be Grow:ing And Very Controversial about Mormonism. The agreement does not state what the "students" and others educated at the center will do af he followers of the Church of J.C. of Latter-Day Saints, as the Mor ter they leave - they may return to the mons officially are known .... have emerged from a tiny. per secuted cult best known for its now-abandoned practice of polyg United States and other places bringing T the hechsher of the State oflsrael with amy to become America's most successful homegrown religion. them to Jews there. The Mormons claim 5.2 million members world-wide, still small in re The Mormons' stubbornness in con lation to the world's 580 million Roman Catholics, but a membership tinuing bulding this center in spite of all some think will double in 25 years. The church sponsors a 50·state, 100- country missionary effort that is currently the most aggressive of U.S. the opposition from various groups (Jews, Arabs, Christians) shows how religions. It operates a business empire rich and enviable by Wall Street important this center is to them in their standards. It administers a welfare program considered a model of char· plans for world conversion to Mor ity and efficiency. Whatthe Mormons lack - and what some think they seek most ofall monism. I think this means that they believe the time has come to start work - is widespread acceptance by the mainstream religious community. ing on the Jews in a broad, serious, and Founded in 1830 on the claims of divine revelation by Joseph Smith in general way. The million dollars (bribe) New York, Mormonism remains the odd man out among large U.S. they gave to the Jerusalem Foundation denominations. It blends the moral strictures of the Puritans and the fer in order to get this particular land to vor of the modem· day evangelicals with secret Masoniclike temple build their center for "education" rituals and a view of immortality that sounds more Buddhist than Bap sounds too similar to things other mis tist. On top of that, the church stakes a claim thatit is "God's only true sionaries said to poor families not so church." long ago: "We'll give you money, food. As a result, Mormonism continues to attract an unusual number of clothing, etc.; let us educate your child critics. especially among fundamentalist Protestant groups that consider in our school." The Mormons want to Mormon doctrine heretical and spurn ecumenical exchanges with the "educate" us - to Mormonism. They church. The Mormons recently ttied to counter their critics with a $12 want nothing less than the mass con million Reader's Digest image-boosting advertising campaign that em· version of Jews to Mormonism. as they phasized the Mormon devotion to family and wholesome American have so often and so openly stated. And values. Church officials also proudly point to 200.000 new converts last by allowing them to build this center. year alone and to high-profile Mormons - the singing Osmon els, the en trepreneurial Marriotts of hotel fame, several diplomats and a dozen we are helping them do it. members of Congress - as examples of Mormon inroads into the mainstream. (Miss Bloom continued her tes timony with a detailed report on the Mormon doctrine, as it evolved under Joseph Smith's leadership, even doctrines and beliefs of Mormonism. today remains unorthodox by mainstream religious standards. A few ex- We are omitting them and continuing amples: God lives on a planet and looks very human; He is married to a with the following}: Mrs. God; Mormons themselves may aspire one day to become Godlike and preside over their own planets. Adam and Eve lived in Jackson County, Mo.; J.C. will return to an earthly kingdom in the Missouri town The Mormon missionary program is oflndependence. one of the most active and successful in the world. By their own account. they from the.first ofa two-pa.,.tarticle by Ken Welts that appeared in The Wall Street have about 30,000 missionaries in the Journal, Nov. 8~9. '83. world and had 200,000 converts last year. That's over 6 converts per mis sionary. And since missionaries always about Mormon belief, Temple ritual. What needs to be stressed is that go in pairs, that means over 12 converts and some more questionable sides of anything the Mormons do is for the ul per pair of missionaries. The mission Mormonism. I saw a video based on the timate purpose of converting people to aries go door- to-door, and do not talk book at the Israel Center, and it scared Mormonism. This I know from per about Mormonism unless invited in by me. It also contends that the world sonal experience. Most Mormons are the household. They have excellent wide missionary activity is for the ulti good people who try to be better. They training. both in language and in per mate purpose of world conquest and also don't know a lot of the things suasive arguments. More importantly, dominion by the church hierarchy stated in The God-Makers. But they do they are sincere, and they believe that (shades of the Elders of Zion!). And this believe that if they are friendly. kind, they are doing the greatest kindness for is one reason the Mormons are building honest, good to others, then others will you by bringing you into the Mormon their ''educational center" on Mount eventually become interested in Mor church. Scopus - it's a prominent place, a monism, and thus the "good word" will There is a book out now, The God place of control. Pe'ilim heard that from spread. As for their ''Zionism.'' it is only Makers, written by a former Mormon some Mormons who converted to in preparation for the mass conversion and Temple worker. It reveals a lot Judaism. of the Jews to Mormonism. • 28 The Jewish Observer/January, 1986 Second Looks at the Jewish Scene .. Twelve percent of the people in my Ulpan were Gentiles. This does not in clude thirty others from Denmark, who were invited to stay and work for three months. As an American. I was keenly aware of the problems of assimilation. But these kibbutz people, who have been very comfortable and "safe" by living amongst a majority of Jews, are shocked when their children leave to find new homes in Denmark, and even Germany. Ron's closest friends were Gentiles, and I was not at all surprised when l found a copy of their Bible in his bookshelf. Gentiles were so welcome into the kibbutzim that Christian mis the Jewish holidays as we do." As a sionaries were being discovered MarkAshin Jew from the States, I found it rather secretly converting and missionizing. hard to indentify with this, for to accept Anyone weak and ignorant enough in s I was sitting in the Shaliach's such a one-sided definition, I urould his own religion could easily fall prey to (messenger's) office. making have to pack my bags and move to Is their tacitcs. A arrangmements for a Kibbutz rael permanently, remembering to The HaShomer Hatzair movement Ulpan experience, I was asked by the leave all of my rituals and observances was self-defeating in its political views Shaliach, "Do you want a religious or back home. The Jewish rituals that as welL On many occasions. its pro non-religious kibbutz?'' Defining my helped to instill within me a sense of Arab sentiments went to such an ex self as non-religious, I chose the latter. Jewish identity have no place within treme that they almost seemed "anti Little did I know of what! would be en the HaArtzi movement. and clashed Jewish." The HaArtzi movement is countering. severely with its ideology. very willing to return Judea and Growing up in the States, I went to I at least had some Jewish ex Samaria to the Arab people ... .If their Hebrew School and had a Bar Mitzva. I periences. Not so Ron. my roommate at sole definition of Jewish identity lies in went to a Jewish camp (Camp Ramah the kibbutz, a twenty-four-year-old the land itself. how can they be so will· - Conservative) and also participated Mid-Westerner with no background ing to give it away? During a with this camp in a seminar to Israel. whatsoever in Judaism. His family HaShomer Hatzair demonstration for But I still did not consider myself an ob never belonged to a synagogue. He returning the land to the Arabs, one servant Jew: I didn't come from a ko never attended a Hebrew School nor Arab participant commented, "You sher home nor did I attend synagogue did he celebrate his Bar Mitzva. He was don't love this land as much as we do. very often. Soon after arriving on my a genuinely good human being who, We want to fight for it and you want to kibbutz, however, my very limited like many with his limited exposure to give it away." background made me feel like an obser Judaism, wasn't really sure why he vant Jew amongst a nation of Gentiles. had come to Israel. POSTSCRIPT The kibbutz that I was on for 5 1/2 Ron's first exposure to Jewish iden months was under the HaArtzi move tity was during a IJaArtzi seminar en After leaving the Kibbutz, I was still ment, also known as HaShomer Hat titled "Jewish Identity." The introduc in search of my Jewish experience. I zair, which encompasses a large per· tion given by the lecturer was: "I drive was fortunate enough to stumble centageof the kibbutzim in Israel and onShabbat. l eat pork. I don't believe in across the Yeshiva Aish HaTorah in was started by a youth movement with G-d .... I'm aJew.'' Our Hebrew teacher Jerusalem, where I met many people its own political and religious views. elaborated on this with, "We don't be like myself. People from non-religious For the majority of the kibbutzim in ls· lieve that G-d created the Jews but that families, all of whom were joined in the rael, their political and national identi the Jews created G·d." The only con common goal of investigating their ties are identical with their Jewish nection these people have to Jewish roots and searching for that Jewish ex identities. In the words of one kibbutz identity is merely "living" in Israel, a perience. Most of us had come from var member: "TobeaJew,youmustlivein definition that most certainly would ious Kibbutzim throughout the coun Israel, serve in the army, and observe not have supported the survival of the try, and had made the Yeshiva our last Jewish people in the past 2000 years stop before returning home. We did not Mark Ashin. a specialist in musical lnstn1- and cannot support our people in the have to go any further. ''Home,'' we dis ment repair. lives in Vineland. N.J. future. covered, was the Torah. 8 The Jewish Observer/January, 1986 29 ''Abraham and Sarah'': Hosts to a Highrise Hoax d \:t:J the thought of Are you distu~de ·n the ground? fort of the loved one) has been accompa nied to the green, it is entrusted to the being bune ' • cemetery workers (I haven't heard a ' acho1c.e. code word for them yet) to be lowered into the ground for interment. 1heres d burial for All of this is deceptive, in violation of all considerations of halacha and To rah understandings, and by flying in "''"o"e-groun . h the face of reality, can delay and badly n.v the Jewish fa\t . complicate adjustment to the personal loss. Chaza1 (the rabbis of the Talmud) teach us that the human body. even af ter death, is a vessel that has housed a divine soul for a lifetime. All laws and customs that govern preparation for burial and interment take this into ac· count - including the return to the earth "from which the person was taken, "as a preparation for teChiyas hameisim - the resurrection. Now a breach of halacha, tradition. honesty. and decency is being peddled in full·page advertisements in New York's dailies as ''achoice ... forthe Jew ish faith." Under the lovely name of "Sanctuary of Abraham and Sarah," 'neath the Benday-shadow ofa Magen David - misrepresenting the under· ground cave at Machpeila, where Abra· ham and Sarah were laid to rest - the reader is advised: "Nobody has to remind you of the feelings you've experienced seeing a casket being lowered into the ground. These memories never leave you." The alternative? High-rise storage, piling bodies in vertical stacks of marble-faced lockers, huckstered as "a he gall of it all. Preying on peo hidden behind a veil of euphemism, loving tribute to those who rest in this ple's insecurities and igno cosmetics. and "rituals." (Jessica Mit clean dry. protected atmosphere'' - T rance, and dressing it up with ford'sAmerican WayofDeath,ascath where they are denied the atonement of pietistic references - all for the "non ing expose of the mortuary-burial in returning to the earth. profit" buck. dustry written twenty years ago, is still As a final reminder. the ad urges: A death in the family is tragic. Wit relevant.} The deceased is called "the "Above-ground burial at The Sanctu nessing a burial can be traumatic. The loved one." the body is shot through ary of Abraham and Sarah. Don'tleave prospect of separation for the rest of with embalming fluid, its face is con· it up to your children. Look into it one's life is very painful, indeed. And torted and made up to give the appear· today." the specter of the unknown can be es ance of healthy, peaceful slumber (of You see, with today's trend of return pecially frightening to the non ten a cruel charade after a lingering. to Torah values, "your children'' might believing?'"i. All of these emotions have debilitating illness): the body is put on just discover the wisdom, the beauty, been successfully exploited by the view for one last ''visit'' by friends and and the common sense of tradition and thriving undertaking business, in relatives; and after the bier (interiors ignore the message. So don't delay. which death and all its implications are cushioned in pastel satins for the com- "Look into ittoday." • 30 The Jewish Observer/January, 1986 The 4,000 athletes from 35 coun tries, it was hoped, would do more than merely participate in !he 30 different sporting events. Their very involve· ment in the games, as the Prime Minis ter underscored, would serve to spon sor Zionist ideals and promote aliya in others and themselves. The celebrated captain of the Australian rugby team corroborated this point in an interview on Kol Yisrael (7122): Interviewer: Captain, do you and your team plan to spend some time in Israel after the completion of the Maccabiah? Answer: Definitely. My squad and I hope to goto the beach fora few weeks Maccabiah Madness and chase girls. cabiah. In the lexicon of Orwellian As in everything that is puzzling. or Hanoch Teller terms, Maccabiah has a special place: disconcerting. one should get to the root of an event to better understand it. ow does a Jew celebrate the How must a Jew with a modicum of Maccabean revolt against the sensitivity for what the Maccabees This Maccabiah does not have its ori· Hellenistic forces? How does stood for - and died for - feel when he gins in the mountains of Judea, but in H the Athenian hills. Appropriately one commemorate the triumph of spirit hears their name invoked in the con over the culture of flesh? For over 2,000 text of a gala sporting event held in Is enough. this past summer's event be· years. the accustomed way was rael and davka during the Nine Days? gan in early May when "Jewish ath through the Chanuka festival, marking The Maccabiah would not be so objec letes held try-outs on the Sabbath and the time the values and might of Torah tionable were it not "dedicated to the were served ... ham sandwiches."* scored a crushing victory over its Maccabean victory over the Greeks." Maccabees, indeed! • greatest enemy. Dedication services commence in "editorial in TheJetvish Press, May24. '85. The Book of Maccabees protrays in Modi'in. site of the birth of the Macca gruesome detail the torment with bean revolt. There the Maccabian flame which the Jews were confronted. On a is kindled and dispatched by runner to daily basis they were exposed to a cul an Olympic-sized stadium. How the ture that revered - almost worshipped heart must palpitate CITIUS ALTIUS HOME - the physique and musculature of the FORTIUS as the torch-bearer signals human body. Sports arenas within a the offical opening of the Twelfth Mac discus' throw of the Temple compound cabiah. But the Maccabees gave their ATIENDANTS displayed flesh to the horror of the Jew· lives to extinguish that very flame! needed for . ish audiences forced to be witness. And if the rhetorical irony of the These athletic games were often held in event isn't enough, the organizers of HOUSEKEEPING AND the nude, and several measures, in the twelfth Maccabiah outdid them PERSONAL CARE cluding surgical means, were em selves: the chairman of the organizing ployed to disguise the Jewishness of committee proudly announced that the for the the participants. Maccabiah Number 12 correlates to DISABLED AND From details emerging from Israeli and is dedicated to the theme of the media reports of the Twelfth Mac Twelve Tribes. Would they have but HOMEBOUND cabiah athletic competition this past started with Echod Mi Yodeya! summer. it is apparent that the battle of There are those who contend that in Good pay and benefits the defiant anti-Hellenists is not yet the atmosphere of gloom and doom en Boro Park, Bensonhurst and over.... Some of the very perversions veloping the land, the Games offer the Flatbush Area and atrocities against which the Macca citizenry ten days during which to Full-time live in positions only bees fought so bravely are once again share in something other than eco reartng their ugly heads - or more spe nomic chaos, industrial strife and polit cifically, torsos - only this time with ical skulduggery. The audience can Project OHR Inc. the ultimate affront: they bear the participate vicariously in the efforts of name of the very emissaries of the Al (Office for Jewish sportsmen from around the Homecare Referral) mighty who had laid down their lives globe. Prime Minister Peres effused at for Torah principles. the gala closing ceremony of the Mac Only a cynic could have dreamed up cabiah held amidst fireworks and 1308-40th Street this irony of ironies called the Mac- singers in Jerusalem on Tisha B'Av Brooklyn, NY 11218 eve: "You jsportsmenJ have inspired us 853-2700 Rabbi Teller. of Jerusalem. is author of Once Upon a Soul and Soul Survivors. and a frequent with unity, and given us a love of Juda contributor to these pages, ism and the State of Israel. ... " The Jewish Observer/January, 1986 31 Commuting on the Right Track gaze of the man sitting beside me. His ''I'" side-long glances at my Tehillim were making me squirm. ''Forget him, and continue with your Tehillim," I told myself. "'No reason to be ashamed for doing what's right. People think you're doing something unusual? So what! It's not your job to impress these peo ple. They're not authorities on what's important in life. Chances are you'll never see them again, anyway. It's your own approval you need, not some stranger's.'' Having put my persepctives in order, I continued to squirm. I just couldn't help but be aware of the stare. My con science made another bold attempt: stories, and playing pointless games. I "What better thing could you be doing wanted to disengage myself from this than reciting Tehillim? So the man Bat Sheva Menucha speeding trap. if only possible. watching you sees you reading from a omebound. Thetrainrolledon Suddenly l was struck by the sight of small book - not too unusual. .. well, like any other,train carrying its a young man boarding the train. He perhaps a bit unusual, but you're enti H load of passengers to or from hurriedly found himself a little space in tled to pray." No go. the working world. Its cars were filled the crowd. Hanging onto a commuter's Finally. I closed the sefer in defeat, with a sea of faces. Some stared into strap with one hand, he deftly held the with more than a tinge of guilt. Immedi space, others amused themselves by pages of his Gemora open with the ately, my neighbor asked me, ''Excuse reading the newspaper, while a few en other. Soon he \\'as deeply engrossed in me, was that Tehillim that you were gaged in animated conversation. These his learning. His knitted brow and grin reading?" commuters and their predecessors of satisfaction told it all - joy in what I answered with ill-contained sur· have been riding this train, and others he was doing. with complete oblivion to prise, "Yes, it was! How did you like it. staring into space or reading the his surroundings. I studied him and know?'' newspapers. for years. For the mo thought: "Why not me?" I. loo. would "I am originally from Israel," he re ment. they were people trapped in a try to be indifferent to those who might plied. "It's been so many years since capsule of emptiness. Once off the ridicule n1e when I was doing what I I've seen a Tehillim. I remember study train. the setting would change, but the knew to be right. .. ing it in school. It was very beautiful, pursuits would be equally trivial. . .in Several mornings later, I was on the very sweet and very strong," he said front of their T.V. 's, reading frivolous train, with a new project of my own: wistfully. ''It'snice to see someone say Bat Sheva Menucha was represented by ''The saying my daily chapters of Tehillim. ing Tehillim. I really should get back to Call Unanswert'd" in the Feb. '85 JO. Much as I tried, I could not ignore the it myself.... " • ''The Times'' -Are They A-changing? Ruth J. Berman Becomes a Bride submitted by L.M. Reisman Ruth J. Berman, a daughter of Mr. the Pushkin Institute in Mosoow and Mrs. Michael Berman of London, Ullder an Ohio State University pro. and Kenneth Robert Spiro, a son of gram. Dr. and Mrs. Ronald H. Spiro of New The society column of The New Rochelle, N.Y., were married Sunday 1'be bride's father Is a partner of York Times all too often chronicles by Rabbi Noah Weinberg at Mosbav Bllnkbom, Lyon, Golding & Company the accelerating intermarriage and Ora in Jerusalem. tn London. Mr. Spiro's father is an at .. tandlng S1l1'&eOll in the bead and neck assimilation that plague the Jewish The bride is a secretary at Yeshiva lerY!ce at the Memorial Sloan-Ket· community. "Making the Times" is Aish Batorab in Jerusalem, Where teriJlg cancer Center in New York. the bridegroom is a student. She part of the all-American success The bridegroom Is a grandson of graduated from the J.F.S. COmpre Anne Koshet% of Brooklyn, whose late story: another family proudly an benslve School and the Kilburn Poly· husband, Herbert Koshet%, was nounces another step in its disap tecbnlc College, both in London. The aulstant to the financial editor of The pearance as Jews. How nice. then, to brlclegoom graduated !?Om Vassar Newl'9rk Times at the time of his re College in 1981 after Which he studied tlrenfifilt, after 52 years Oil the staff. see the following item that appeared Russian language and literature at on October 22nd: 32 The Jewish Observer/January. 1986 OIIBOOKSI generated by a masterful story-teller with the warmth and insights ex perienced by identifying with trau matic moments in Jewish history. The author lets her hero, a critically A PROBLEM CALLED wounded Israeli soldier in his feverish CHAVI, by Eva Vogel (Feldheim. dreams dlift back into earlier ages, and N. Y .. 1985, $8.95 hardcover, $6.95 follow various ancestors of lhis family softcover}. in their heroic struggles for their Jew ishness. Each episode throws light on a ou do not have to go back in his different epoch in Jewish history; all of tory, or explore distant lands to them together testify to the loyalty of Y encounter excitement and puz THE FLIGHT TO SEVEN the Jew to h!sDiVine legacy. In the end zlement. That is demonstrated by this the soldier recovers - regaining not book which deals with a real-life situa~ SWAN BAY, by June Leavitt only consciousness but also a new ap tion that could (and indeed does) arise (Feldheim. N. Y .. 1985. $9.95 hard preciation of what he owes to Torah in many schools: the arrival of a new cover. $6.95 softcover}. and to his people. Mrs. Zakon did her girl who is unable to adjust to the historic research well, and shows her stresses and strains of a strange en ere we have a book that will sensitivity in the design of her story and vironment. The solution of the problem hold the interest of older of its component parts (though occa is developed with skill and sensitivity, H elementary students and the sionally the age of their central figures so that the young readers may well be younger high school crowd. It could did not entirely fit the roles assigned to helped to understand and handle such perhaps best be called the frun1 THE STORY OF MIMMY ANDSIMMY, byYaffaGanz. il THE DINK THAT lustrated by Harvey Klineman STOPPED THE CLOCK, (Feldheim, N. Y .. 1985, $5.95). written and illustrated by Chaiky Halpern (Feldheim. New York. ere is another outstanding chil· 1985. $2.50). dren's book - very well writ H ten, attractively illustrated, his is another booklet in the with an interesting plotline, and at the popular Sifrei Rimon series of same time with a very definite message T children·s books. It tells another to the young set, unobtrusively episode centering on King Rimpu and THE COHENS OFTZEFAT, presented. The central characters of his strange kingdom of Miroop, the by Miriam Zakon (Mesorah Publica the book are two girls, one from a point of which is that Shabbos prepara tions. Brooklyn. 1985, $9.95 hard wealthy home and the other one from a tion should be fun rather than a hassle. cover. $6.95 softcover}. poor one, and the story goes to show The point is well made. to be absorbed that "Who is rich? He who is satisfied not only by the youthful audience but new addition to the Artscroll with what he has."' It is geared to the also by the mothers who read it to Youth Series, this volume com pre-schoolers, but will also be enjoyed them. This is a lovable book. and will A bines the suspense and thrill by somewhat older children. surely be hugely enjoyed. TheJelvish Observer/Janu.ary, 1986 33 heroine. Her goal was not to provide a formal historical biography (and indeed many facts of her life are not touched upon) but to tell a new generation of Bais Yaakov students of her ideals, ef forts and achievements... to present the goals which she set for the Bais Yaakov movement. .. and to define the role which, with the support of Gedolei Yis roel, it was destined to play. This book will, without doubt, serve to inspire its readers. It would be advisable, how MY FIRST BOOK OF THE STORY OF REB ever, that in any future edition the Eng MITZVOS, by Isaiah and Ruth NACHUM'KE, by Rabbi Shi lish be polished {phrases such as ''loose Schild Karlinsky (Feldheim, N. Y., mon Finkelman, illustrated by translation'' should not occur) and, per 1985, $9.95). haps, Hebrew words [such as hash YosefDershowil2, designed by Shea gacha pratis) should be italicized. his is an utterly beautiful book Brander (Mesorah Publications, for young and old. In excellent Brooklyn, 1985, $10.95 hardcover. full page photographs it traces a Torah Tieddy T $7.95 softcover). !\.oe,;rn~ Cdoq child's progress through the day, from Negelvasser to the Krias Shema that his is the latest volume in the ends the day. On the way, it not only fo Artscroll series of biographies of cuses on the obvious, such as brachos, T Gedolei Yisroel for juveniles. It kashrus and honoring one's parents. deals with a legendary Nineteenth Cen bu ton not fighting, heipingthe elderly, tury figure: Rabbi Nochum Kaplan of and greeting everybody in a friendly Horodna, whom the Chafetz Chayim manner. Both younger and older chil considered his mentor. Beyond the pic dren. boys and girls, appear in the pic ture drawn of this remarkable person tures, so that young readers will read who overcame many childhood han ily be able to identify with the "heroes" dicaps to emerge as an inspiration to of the book. There is a lyrically evoca Lithuanian Jewry, the book offers a tive quality to this work, which is sure great deal of information on the Jewish to touch all hearts. life of those times and on such impor tant historical facts as, for instance, the Chaluka. The style and illustrations combine to make this not only a valua TORAH TEDDY LEARNS ble volume but also an enjoyable one to read. COLORS and TORAH TEDDY LEARNS TO COUNT, by Shaindy Shul man, illustrated by Ahuva Baluka (distributed by Feldheim. Jerusa lem. 1985, $3.95). hese two little books seek to SHABBOS IS COMING, by teach numbers and colors - Ruth Lipson, illustrated by Nurit and they utilize mitzva objects T Tzmfati (Feldheim, New York, 1985, for this purpose, there by reinforcing the $2.50). llf!,\CM!\ RlSHONA child's awareness of these mitzvos. Colorful pictures accompanied by his is still another Sifrei Rimon SARAH SCHENIERER, catchy verses show. for example, one booklet, which tackles the mezuza, eight Chanuka lights, a white T theme of Shabbos in a very SEAMSTRESS OF lzilzis, and the black letters of a Sefer different way. In the little family that CRACOW, by Bracha Rishona, Torah. To the very little child, who is the author describes, each day of the illustrated by students of Bais used to making her doll say a bracha, week is used for another aspect of Yaakov (Bracha Rishona Publica there is probably nothing surplising in Shabbos preparations. There is the tions, New York, 1984, $6.95). having a lovable brown bear, complete shopping... the learning of the par with yarmulka and lzil2is, as the hero sha ... and a weekly arts and crafts pro his book, issued on the occasion of this series- even though a grown-up ject to beautify the Shabbos table - a of the fiftieth Yahrzeit of Sarah may be tempted to question its educa lovely idea indeed. The book, attrac T Schenierer, represents a labor of tional appropriateness. In the age ofBa tively written and illustrated, exudes love. Drawing on the scanty records as bar. the elephant king, and George, the warmth and teaches without being ob well as on the memories of students of curious monkey, the emergence of a vious {hachnassas orchim is right hers who made them available to the strictly mitzva-observing animal was there, and so is the father carefully author, she set out to present a monu probably an inevitable event - another preparing the Shabbos candles for the ment lo the great and unforgettable signal of Orthodoxy on the march? mother). A delightful booklet. 34 The Jewish Observer/January. 1986 The Yeitzer Hora I see the waters and distorted by borrowed But this much do I know today massive and powerful spectacles the turbulence. the unrest, the storming and raging fury of the waters the anger of defiance Sometimes the snug-fitting spec indeed, the very waters and the anguish of unrest tacles of closestfriend themselves hopelessly entangled standing near at water's edge that is not I. in noiseless scream seeing the waters all around me N.Bassman but never stepping in And I see the ship instead urging me to stay where being tossed from wave to wave lam DO YOO LOVE weak and powerless and make peace. even merge. barely afloat with them CHILDREN? And I see the shore "And drown?" I ask. betrayed. Would you like to care for firm and assuring containing and restraining And sometimes the spectacles of a child on a parHime still and peaceful the wise old men basis? JBFCS/Mishkon the master and teacher of shore has families who need And I wonder and sky who am I but for whom the waters remain help with their "frum" the ship but a speck in the distance mildly retarded children. or the shore ''Teach me the waters" I call out Hours to suit your Again I see the waters and he fades into the horizor. schedule-stipend given. and this time above them silently proclaiming For more information call: hover storm clouds of black and "To learn one mustfollow" Mrs. Jacob at Mishkon gray and I long to walk behind him but myfeet remain mired (718)851·7100 and as the waters end and shore in their water-soaked tracks begins PINCUS MANDEL so end the clouds and clear sky And so I discard all telescopes begins and spectacles Cemetery Consultant deep blue sky and tranquil shore and plantedfirmly at water's Over 30 Years of Dedicated continuing Service to the Orthodox Jewish edge Community one atop the other where the sands cradle the into the magical horizon thrashings of incoming waves Karka available on their destined meeting place one foot within and one foot all cemeteries in where amidst brilliant hues of without Eretz Yisrael controlled and blue and red I stand alone maintained by the the shore basks in the under and raise my eyes above me Chevra Kadisha standing to that place where cloud of each community, of That which lies far beyond it touches blue sky Jerusalem, 'fiberias, Tzfas, . and yet again I wonder Miron, Holon, etc. Still the waters draw me who am I Recommended by trying to make me a part of them the ship Gedolai Hador- only to better understand here and in Eretz Yisrael (f or the shore them for honesty-integrity and responsibility And this time I see them Perhaps tomorrow I shall want magnified by the telescope of NO compromises in kovod baniftar enough to know as evaluated by a fear Perhaps tomorrow I shall choose cemetery expert. to be Naftoli Bassman. a member of the Kolle! of A service from the heart Beis Medrash Govoha. Lakewood. New Jersey. that which I really am witb a beart has been represented in The Jewish Observer then shall I know for certain ·· 156947thStreet,Brooklyn,N.Y, 11219 by "Is Love a Jewish \Vord?'' (Jan.'85) and Day and Night Phone-(718) 855-5121 several poems. If I am ship or shore The Jewish Observer/January, 1986 35 MARRIAGE MINDED? DO YOU WANT TO LEARN THE UNION OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS YOREHDEAH? OF AMERICA IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE ORACH CHAIM? A National Commission Consider On Family and Marriage YESHIVA BIRKAS REUVEN OUR GOAL: 1221 Ave. "S" Brooklyn To introduce seriously marriage-minded Orthodox individuals. (718) 375-8511, 998-3201 THE PROCEDURE: Shiurim on Chulin By Rav Shamshon All interviews will be held with Rabbi Daniel Fingerer, Ph.D. They will be private and confidential. Careful thought and Brodsky and Yoreh Deah by Rav Asher serious study has been put into the creation of a program that Zimmerman leading to Semicha. will be of special interest to those that seek discretion and understanding. Now forming a Niddah Chabura Appointments will be arranged at mutually convenient hours. -halacha and practical shimush- Rabbi Daniel Fingerer, Director For registration or infhr1nation ca11 Marriage Commission Rav Wikler at (718) 998-3201 The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregalions of America 45 West 36th Street New York, N.Y. 10018 Prepare fOr a career serving Klal Yisrael (212) 563-4000 in Chinuch or Rabbanus. Soro Park, B'klyn. East Side, N.Y.C. " ... my colleagues and I have conducted an exten 4717 13th Avenue 51 Canal St. sive survey of several major brands of vitamin and mineral supplements.... We found Freeda vita mins to be of the highest quality, since they con Lowest Prices! Big Savings! tain the least amount of preservatives, fillers, toxic dyes and additives, as compared with other COME IN and $AVE brands." WE CARRY A FULL LINE of S. Shaw, M.P.H. •CAMERAS• RADIOS• TVs• Environmental Health STEREOS• VIDEOS• TELEPHONES and Nutrition •GIFTS• WATCHES• FEINGOLD ASSOCIATION APPROVED WALL CLOCKS NO SALT FILLER NO SUGAR AUTHORIZED SEIKO, PULSAR, BULOVA, NO ANIMAL DERIVATIVES DEALER NO STARCH NO COAL TAR DYES WE HAVE A FULL LINE OF NO SULFATES ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES Call or send for free brochure. for EXPORT 220 V Manufacturers of a complete line of Kosher vitamins since 1928. RECORDS • TAPES 7HOUR DEVELOPING SERVICE 50°/o OFF A poignant case in point is the trans lation into Hebrew of Aryeh Kaplan's classic treatment of Mikve: Waters of Eden (an NCSY publication. reviewed in JO in June, '77). This \Vas under taken by Rabbi Imanuel Ravad. who is distributing free copies of the book through the Jewish Family Research Institute to public libraries and even to soldiers throughout Israel. This activity has \Von the accolades of rabbis and chaplains in Israel as well as the mayors of such diverse cities as Bnei Brak and tiaifa. While this book was translated from the English into Hebrew (and will soon be translated into Spanish), the distri bution campaign in Israel is serving as Translations Come Full Circle an impetus for similar campaigns here in America. Several Jewish communi ties have actually mailed complimen tary copies of the Kaplan book to all ust three years ago, these pages nacularwith regularity, and we've seen contributors to the local Federation, hosted a debate between the a number of essays and biographies in \Vith surprisingly positive responses. J champions of English-language Spanish, French, German and - yes Apparently the truths of Torah, translations of classical texts of sifrei - Hebrew. (Somehow. Rabbi Braf presented with knowledgeability, kodesh (sacred literature) and those man's "The Yeitzer Hora Re reflecting a commitn1ent to their eter who - at best - "rejoiced with trepi examined" (JO, Sept. '85) in Hebrew, nal principles. ernanating from a heart dation" at their proliferation. Some as published in T'murah, a Bnei Brak dedicated to reaching out to\vard letter-writers had it that any \Vork publication, may strike the unknowing others. will succeed in penetrating the presented in English - not only trans reader as the ''original'' for Brafman's heart of the reader. Regardless of the lations. but even original works such as "translation.") language in which it is written. II anthologies, Torah thoughts and com mentaries - isinfertor simply because it was not \Vritten in Hebre\v. By con Entering our 2nd year trast, H.abbi Arye Kaplan, z'L in his re vie\v of the Artscroll Shir 11ashirim. commented, "A friend recently sug gested that [since] the Art.scroll series iepresent[s] ... a major contribution to 1'orah literature, {it] might be trans We have, with the help ofHaShen1, succeeded in lated into Hebrew 400 years frorn no\v .... One \vould hope that this be creating a seminary which has become recognized done much sooner" (JO, Feb. '77). for its scholastic level, and for the warmth and vital I have since heard a similar senti ment expressed by a leading Rosh ity which our many years of experience in Arnerica Hayeshiva in Jen1salem. lamcntingthe have helped us develop.- dearth of up-to-date hashka}U material available in modern 1-Iebre\v. in con Graduates of High School seeking a seminary in trast to the explosion of English lan Eretz Yisroel are invited to apply for the 5747 ( 1986- guage output. Aryeh Kaplan's friend need not wait 87) school year. another 391 years. 'l'he era of transla tion of English-language originals into You may contact our office in the United States Hebrew has begun. A number of for details and/or registration. Agudath Israel publications around the \vorld translate JO articles into the ver- SEMINAR YERUSHAIATIM The branch in Eretz Yisroel HATZOLOH of Sara Schmirer Semi11arv_, New York. ., 4b22-14th 1\venue, BrookJ.vn, N.Y. 112 l:l (718) EV7-1750 (7W) li33-8557-8 Jcn1sak·111, P.C).B. 755(i The Jeluish Observer/January. 1986 37 Jesse Shavan Hero-Worship: Distracting or Destructive? atabadtime. l'msopreoccupied today. What did I give you last year?'' Increas ing the donation so as to avoid prolong ing the visit, he bade the visitor a hasty farewell. As the door was closing the meshulach couldn't help but hear the head of the house proclaim to the bnei bay is. "Please don't answer the door 'till the game is over." A MATTER OF MISPLACED PRIORITIES t would be comforting to dismiss these two true anecdotes as iso I lated, uncommon - not reflecting a dangerous attitude toward sports and its heroes. but that would be a lie. Cloaking itself in the innocent wrap pings of clean. honest entertainment, this distraction has penetrated all too deeply into many yeshiva- and layman lives. I don't argue that athletics cannot serve an important function in main taining health and fitness. The occa sional ball- game certainly has its place. But what justification can be offered for he line grew longer. Their Biting cold winds blew in this wintry addictive adulation for spectator sports young faces reflected their ,January day. The frail figure of the and its heroes? T growing anxiety and excite elderly meshulach, a brave and When any recreational pursuit ment as each one's tum approached for devoted sustainer of young Jewish crowds out time and attention from To the use of the yeshiva pay phone to call souls in f::retz Yisroel, could be seen rah study, and even displaces basic de "Sports Phone." After all, it was now making his way through the wind cency (never mind traditional Jewish probably the 7th inning and the drifted snow. His destination, a large generosity!). that pursuit is no longer Yankees had been trailing by 2. The Colonial-style house, offered hope of a an innocent pastime. Even the ordi young bachur, fidgeting nervously. bit generous donation as well as perhaps a nary fellow without aspirations to be ing his nails, dialed and listened. Mo place to rest his weary feet. the legendary masmid, who has nei ments later, slamming the phone down Knocking on the heavy oak door, he ther time nor interest in any activity in obvious disgust. he trudged back to could hear sounds of cheering and ex aside from Torah, still has priorities. To night seder to spread the word: Win citement. Unbeknown to him, the permit a WorldSeriesclimaxorSuper field failed us. Struck out on a 3-2 curve. sounds he could hear from within could Sunday to displace Torah or chessed of Reaction was felt wall-to-wall. unani offer an explanation to the uncharac their customary topmost place on this mous. Dejected - some even display teristically high number of homes that list is a little frightening. ing genuine anger - they turned away had not responded to his knockings. And then there's the more subtle and from their orphaned Gemoras to begin Surely on a day like this, people would more insidious matter of hero the slow process of recovery and re be more apt to choose the comforts of worship .... habilitation. home over exposure to the elements. 1'he baseball season was now over. If he only knew. This was "Super EVERYBODY LOVES A HERO Soon, hope and optimism would fill the Sunday." Yes. the Super-Bowl. The cli air as they checked their schedules. max of sixteen weeks of pro football. The Knicks were opening exhibition Yet the door did finally open (thanks in f course. everybody loves a hero season in two weeks. Patrick Ewing will great part to Anheiser-Busch. proud - The adventurous astronaut, surely carry us through the long cold sponsors of pro football). bringing into 0 the dashingly handsome actor, winter zeman. view a young baal-habayis \Vho had the charismatic politician, all seem to given generously in the past. Smiling stoke the fires of one's imagination, Jesse Shavan is a student in one of Brooklyn's uncomfortably, he hastily sent his child evoking within the observer a sense of major yeshivas. This is his llrst article in ,JO. to get his checkbook. "You caught me vicarious grandeur and excitement. 38 The Jewish Observer/January. 1986 Yes. the fan is out there on the field tip Moreover, one must always bear in ping his hat along with his hero ... stand mind that Sports America is not an iso ing right alongside him, to bask in the lated arena. but like anything else in glory of his achievements. And lo and our United States, it is packaged and behold. we go beyond his prowess on marketed with the required amount of the ballfield to identify with the man provocative display and other such at· himself: An overachiever, model ofdis tractions so evident in halftime shows cipline and integrity. Good family and cheering sessions. man. Loves G-d. Wish he were Jewish. Make a nice son-in-law. Satire, yes. Exaggerated, possibly. FOR WHOM Pointless - absolutely not. With com THE WHISTLE BLOWS plimentsfrom our over-inquisitive me dia, their extended reach into our lives, and their bottom-line attitude. the ath eedless to say, the point of this lete's graduation from ordinary human essay is not directed or in to hero comes as no suprise. Athletes, N tended to educate the broad and for that matter, rock- and movie masses. Rather. it is to question the stars, are now joining the ranks of best distinguish the athlete from his per generous hospitality the Torah-loyal seller authorship with quotable opin sonal and social identity. community is offering this pastime. ions on all facets of life. ''Hero-worship,'' unfortunately, does Have we so descended into Golus We are. of course, aware that the me not respect good intentions. It grows on America that our heroes and focus of dia's uncompromising spotlight has il the victim until he no longer can isolate admiration, daily attention and fawn luminated some highly unsavory the innocent attraction from the per· ing must lie in an uneducated, amoral aspects of the athlete's life. Drug-use, sona. The addictiveness of sports vis-a 20 year old? Can all be well with us high-living, and undisguised greed are vis its heroes is like a happy-time cock when the results of athletic events or in· some of the regular features of athletics tail for an alcoholic. An innocent sip, dividual performances can directly af USA - '85. No one is naive enough to and one's guard is down and the nox fect our moods? Can this be dismissed plead. ''Say itain'tso, ''to their heroes. ious vapors find their way into the when a thriving Chavrusa spends a It is undeniably "so," and many a receptive follower. As we all know, as Sunday afternoon - areingeton in a professional athlete is scarcely worthy similation has no perceptible starting football game? Is there no reason for of respect. let alone adulation. But I'm point. Sitting together in Madison concern when talk bein gavra legavra d[[Terentfrom the masses, one will say. Square Garden side by side, yarmulkes on Shabbos morning concerns the X I don't admire the person. I'mjust im and tzitzis in place, flanked by cheer rays of their hero's knees? pressed with his athletic skills. Hu ing, beer-guzzling fans, is just another Asa nation, wedonotlackfortower man nature, with a neat assist from the roadmark on the continuum of as ing heroes to admire. Why descend to media, makes it extremely difficult to similation. the minor leagues? II BNEITORAH CAR AND VAN SERVICE Muta11m4~1ii 1?>111>11? ))111 jlN lNj.1 illln >n ZAVE From Factory Rep JN WlLLJAMSB!JRG: IN HORO PARK SHER UN SAVE!!! 342 Marcy Ave. 5010 12th Ave. 388 7008 384 7492 851 ·2022·851 ·2072 ORCHESTRA GUARAJVT!:HIJ LO\Ft::ST RATE (718) 434-3540 105 Vans, St Go with the Best .•• l\()L CllA,,,IM ~ WCfl~§TVA BIG SIMCHA VIDEO ~ APPLE PLUS COPY & PRINTING • Broadcast Video CENTER • Candid Photos 87 NASSAU ST NEW YonK NY 10038 (212) 962·4282 (718) 438-6010 BALTIMORE MARYLAND (212) 267-9478 The Jewish Observer/January. 1 986 39 Letters to the OUT-OF-TOWN IN BROOKLYN Editor To The Editoro to settle in an all:f"rum community. l read with delight Emmy Stark As parents. their outlook changed. Zitter's article about the advantages In her article. Mrs. Zitter writes and drawbacks ofliving out-of-town_ that chinuch in the home can make As a fifth generation New Yorker. l up for what the school is lacking. Not have always agonized over this only is this true. but it is also ideal for phenomenon. Thatis why. when we the parent to teach his own child. She began our married life many years does question whether she \Vill be up ago, my husband and l decided that to the challenge. but I wonder if she our long-term goal - challenge - realizes hov..· enormous that chal would be to bring up our children as lenge is. When the father is working. OUT-OF-TOWN EXPATRIATES out-of· towners in the midst of the and the mother is. if not also '"'orking. IN THE BIG CITY New Yorkfrum community. Not only taking care of an expanding family. as out-of-towners. bl1t as baalei can the parent always be assured of teshuva as well-i.e., to cherish their To The Editoro having enough lime to fill the gap for Yiddishkei t and love each mitzva each child? Moreover. when mothers When I read Mrs. Zitter's recollec not to get drawn into the quicksand tions of her friend who was im bore exclusive responsibility for their of mitzvas anoshim melumada (per· pressed by the way strangers wished daughters' Je\vish education the formance of mitzvos by rote. lacking her a "Gut Shabbos" ("The Out-of girls did not attend school. Today. real feeling and sincerity.) Towncrs·· -Oct. "85) it brought back \vhcn a girl gets home from school at memories of my own childhood out 4:00, will she willingly give up her With a tremendous amount of of-to\vn. A friend of mine once spent playtime to continue her studies? Siyata Dishmaya (help from Above). Shabbos in Orthodox Brooklyn and Mrs. Zitter also mentions in many many tears and lots of courage and upon her return she related to us hO\V places the idea that the chinuch at determination, I can say. with trepi she had wished people on the street borne can overcome outside in dation, that we have had much ""Gut Shabbos. ··and often the return fluences. and hold the child true to hatzlacha-and we pray to Hashem "Gut Shabbos"' was accompanied by his parents· values. This is often true. for the help we need for many more a look of, "Do I know you?" This was As a child gro\vs older. ho\vever. he is years to come. au r view of New York. more open to peer pressure. less will True, the level of learning in our Mrs. Zitter portrays very vividly ing to be "different." When the whole Torah institutions in New York is far the life in a smaller Jewish commu class goes to a movie. it is hard for a superior to that of out-of-town nity. and her comments and vie\vs child to stay home. It may be difficult (mostly). butmanyNewYorkmena are very inspiring. I have heard many for a child to miss his friends' get halirn shed real live tears over their positive reactions to the article-all togethers because of the radio music seemingly futile efforts to get across from New Yorkers. As a born- and or the kashrus problems. Will the certain facets of chinuch that pro· parent be sometimes be tempted to bred out-of-towner. l would like to duce a real eved Hashem (servant of n1ake a fe\v comments from the op give in? G-d). We see in the Torah that every posite vantage point. And so, when we accompany our As teenagers we were all very glad thing a person experiences. both physically and spiritually. affects daughters to the chupah without the that we were raised in a smaller com help of a professional make-up artist. munity where life was safer and peo him. Pirkei Avos relates of the refusal when fiashem gives us such won ple friendlier. We \Vere certain that of Rabbi Yosi hen Kisma to accept the derful daughters-in-la\v and sons-in we \VOuld all marry and remain out equivalent of a vast sum of money to of-town. :F'or if we could remain frum liv(' ill a community without Torah law that lam ever hum bled with love having gone to day schools. so could (VI. 8). and appreciation (and I must admit our children! Today 1nost of those Chinuch fro1n the home is a very that they are almost all out-of· girls \Vho manied Bnei Tforahare set strong influence. But so is the in· towners). l say: Thank You tled in the New York area or in Israel. fluence of one's peers. Can we take Ha..~hem-a million times over-and l don't think that this was just a re such risks with our O\Vn children? please help us survive New York! sult of whom each particular girl hap pened to marry. Most of the girls mar MRS. E. BLOCH NAME WITHHELD BY ried out-of-towners. and they decided Jerusale1n. Israel REQUEST 40 The Jeu1fsh Observer/,January, 1986 piece of tasty lukshen kugel can NEXT YEAR ON PER HOMINUM AD HOMINUM serve to help deepen one's spiritual THIRTEENTH AVENUE experience (Shabbos) more than all the Mussarthat accompanies it.. .. He should not make it sound like the To The Editor: To the Editor: coke and pizza cancel out the Kosel. Years ago, when I was about to I am an avid reader of The Jewish Rabbi Teller forgets that although leave for Yerushalayim for my year in it Is easy for poor people to adapt to a Observer, and Rabbi Teller's articles seminary (one year fueled me im rich life, it Is very difficult for people are usually the first and favorite for measurably for the mesiras nefesh raisedatahigherstandardoflivingto me to plunge into. I draw so much in for Torah I hope I have till now). one adapt to a lower one. spiration from his writings. However, of my rabbeim told us: "When a per Large numbers of Bnei Torah have Ifound the tone of his "Next Year in son goes to Eretz Yisroel he some considered thatan important compo America" (June '85) negative and times has to look very hard to see the nent In their growth of Torah is to unproductive, making one feel that if diamonds. And ifhe doesn't look, he spend a few years learning in Eretz we are not all we should be, in eretz won't see them." I am sure that we Yisroel yeshivas. The motivation is hakedosha, we are worth nothing, in not "to do a year" or some other Torah Jews have similar challenges eretz treife; worse yet, we become flighty reason. As often as not, it here in America. even though we where we live. This leaves out one's means young people foregoing the lack the Kedushas Ha 'aretz that our personal struggle to grow where ever comforts of home, the help of family, brethren have there. The struggle one lives. Why doesn't the author ask and the ability to establish a financial and the diamonds that we uncover himself why those of us who strive for stake for the future, simply to be able here are also real. Let us help each improvement have not been advised to have a husband learning a "year or other with words of chizuk for which by our mentors to leave the gash two in Brisk." ever place the Ribbono- shel-Olam mius of America for Israel? Think of the adjustment: some prefers us to live. times having to move three, four My husband is learning hc~e in times in two years: eating through Kolle! for seven years now and we live NAOMI SCHNUR one's savings because there are few with the same siyata dishmaya that Brooklyn, N. Y. jobs for American girls who have no the Master-of-the-World provides for Protektsia; learning to deal with the all his precious children laboring in Israeli. These young people can only Torah. Do we Americans represent HOTLINE look forward to returning to America nothing but 13th Avenue fashion TO JERUSALEM to a life of financial struggle, un and pizza shops to him? (By the way, In lime of illness, surgery or ameliorated by a home of their own, these pizza shops are owned and run unlike their Israeli contemporaries, crisis, special prayers will he by Israelis, many of whom are recited at the Western Wall and all of whom seem to have a dira of Shomer Shabbos only because they at our Yeshiva in Jerusalem. their own. Ifitisajarof peanut butter are here in the gashmius-pots of go CALL 24 HOURS or a slice of pizza that helps ease the lus.) I think Rabbi Teller should adjustment, however transitorily - rather consider it a trend ofour times (718) 871-4111 what of it? in the world at large - that gash A FREE PUBLIC SERVICE Of By the way, I don't know where mius pervades all areas - instead of Rabbi Teller gets his ideas of The American Rabbi Meir America. Certainly, the 10.000orso blaming it all on "13th Avenue." Baal Haness Charity yeshiva students who populate the Those that send their children to Is "black hat" yeshivosand seminaries rael to learn, whiletheybuildahouse KOLEL AMERICA have less to do with the 13th Avenue here, are still supporting them in scene than do transplanted Israelis. their studies, besides their support With respect to his last question for yeshivos here and in Israel. And (speaking to G-d from Eretz Yisroel is let's not forget the poorer parents a local call. why pay out-of-town that scrape together the money to rates?) I would only respond that send their children for that same some of us have to live in America ''one year.'' and carry several jobs to enable both That Yid who goes to the Kosel and Americans and Israelis to pay the tel "tops off his visit with a pizza and ephone company. coke" still went to the Kosel. Is Rabbi Teller measuring his spiritual ex DovCHADASH perience? He himself once stated in 132 Nassau St.• N.Y .. N.Y. 10038 Midwood, New York another article that sometimes a The Jewish Observer/January, 1986 41 INDEX TO ARTICLES THE JEWISH OBSERVER VOL.XVIII no. 1-10 heeded Cry, Mar. '85: Jewish Responses to examined. Sept. '85; Rosh Hashana: The SUBJECTS Nazi Persecution. Mar. '85: Sparks of Revelation ofSpeech. Sept. '85: Signposts. Glory, Mar. '85: BookofEzra, May '85: Lil Sept. '85: Succos: The Encounter Between 'mod Ule'lamed on Nevi'im: Joshua, May Judgment and Joy. Oct. '85: The Old Man Advocacy Fighting City Hall. Mar. '85: A Jew "85: Our Sages Sho\ved the Way, Vol. III, Counted to Nine, Oct. '85 ish Child. All Alone. Mar. '85: Your May '85: At the Center of the Universe. Oct. HealthCare When It Seemed There Was No Honors:, Summer '85: Walk the Tightrope, '85: Machzor Zichron Reuven (Art One to Help. Jan. '85: Schwester Selma. Oct. '85: Beware of Your "Friends," Oct. scroll/Mesorah). Oct. '85: Gateway to Hap Summer'85 '85: The View from California: Notes from piness, Oct. '85: In Search of Happiness. History Schwester Selma, Summer '85 a Jewish Lobbyist. Oct. '85: Where Do Our Oct. '85: Time is Life, Oct. '85: Soul Sur Interpersonal Relationships The Nature Secular Jewish Brethren Stand?, Nov. '85 vivors. Oct. '85; In Search of the Jewish and Obligation of Ahavas Yisroel: Love for Agudath Israel of America Fighting City Woman. Nov. '85: The Modern Jewish One'sFellow Jew.Jan. '85: Is Love a Jew Hall, Mar. '85: Council of Torah Sages Woman.Nov. '85: ManandWoman-The ish Word? Jan. '85: The Psychodynamics Declares: No Rabbinic Dialogue With Con Torah Perspective, Nov. '85: Happiness in ofGrief and Mourning: A Layman 'sGuide servatives, Apr. '85; Your Honors:, Sum Marriage, Nov. '85: The Spice of Torah - to Making a ··shiva" Visit. Jan. '85: An mer '85; The View from California: Notes Gematria, Nov. '85 Open Letter to My Friend Behind the from a Jewish Lobbyist.Oct. '85 Chessed (Philanthropy) When It Seemed Wheel, Nov. '85 AJCongress A Jewish Child. All Alone, Mar. There Was No One to Help. ,Jan. '85; ''Tzed Israel Wall Chips. Nov. '84: JO On Eretz Yis '85: Where Do Our Secular Jewish Breth daka ": a Matter of Justice. Feb. '85 roel: A View fron1 the Holy Land.Jan. '85: ren Stand?, Nov. '85 Conservative Jewry And Now ... Rabbi Amy Scorched Scroils. Jan. '85: Banking vs. Baal Teshuva The Baal Teshuva - Brain· (SL)~. Mar. '85: Council of Torah Sages ··Kavod Hameis" (Respect for the Dead). washed or Enlightened? Nov. '84: The Declares: No Rabbinic Dialogue with Con Feb. '85: Don't Shoot Until You See the Wanderer ... and the Jew, Nov. 84: Dia servatives. Apr. '85: When There is a Need WhitesofTheirLies{'' ... '').Apr. '85: The Is logues in Judaism. Summer '85: He Looks for Distinctions. Mav '85 raeli Toothache (PS)•, May '85: The Mom Like All the Rest (a poem), Nov. '85 Ethiopian Jews The :Ethiopian Aliya. Apr. and-Pop Deli in the Sky? (SL)•. May '85: Books In Review The Complete Artscroll Sid '85: The HalachicQuandary. Apr. '85: Be The Essence of Jerusalem, Summer '85: dur, Nov. '84: Guide to Ritual Circumcision yond the River Sambatyon, Apr. '85: Next Year In "America,'" Summer '85 and Redemption of the First Born, Nov. '84: Where Falasha is a Naughty Word. Apr. Israel -Politics Who isa WHAT?·· 1984'' in The Halacha and Beyond. Nov. '84: The '85: Letters to the Editor, Sept. '85: The 1985. Feb. '85: The Ethiopian Aliya. Apr. Living Torah. Nov. '84: Rabbi Nachman·s Ethiopian Aliya: One Compromise Too '85: The Ethiopian Aliya: One Compromise Stories, Nov. '84: The Light Beyond, Ad· Many (PSJ•. Nov. '85 Too Many (PSJ•, Nov. '85 ventures in Hassidic Thought, Nov. '84: If Falashas: See Ethiopian Jews Israel· Religion The Ethiopian Aliya. Apr. You Were G-d, Nov. '84: The Aryeh Kaplan Feminism Sanctity and Se if Expression: Do '85: The HalachicQuandary. Apr. '85; The Reader, Nov. '84: ShemirasShabbos. Nov. Women Really Need a Minyan of Their Mayor. the Mormons, and the Battle for '84; Once Upon A Soul. Nov. '84:The Feast Own? Feb. '85; And Now ... Rabbi Amy Mount Scopus (SL)* , Nov. '85: The Ethio and the Fast, Jan. '85: Reb Meir Premish (SL)•. Mar. '85: Letters on Women's Min pian Aliya: One Compromise Too Many laner. Jan. '85; Fire in the Sky, Jan. '85: yan. May ·35 (PS)*. Nov. '85 The Exiles of Crocodile Island, Jan. '85: Festivals and Fast Days The Miracles of Jews In Europe Remembering Europe in its The King Who Came Back, Jan. '85: The Chanuka. Nov. '84: Wall Chips (Succos), Glory and its Destruction. Mar. '85: A Storv of Reb Yosef Chaim, Jan. '85: The Nov. '84; The Call Unanswered (Shabbos). Shabbos in Siberia, Mar. '85: The Teacher BeslofO!omeinu. Books5and6, Jan. '85: Feb. '85: The Mom-and-Pop Deli in the is the Lesson {Sarah Schenirer). Apr. '85; Follow the Moon, Jan. '85: Collected Writ Sky? (SL]• (Shabbos), May '85: Rosh Were It Not For Her. .. (Sarah Schenirer). ings of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. Hashana: The Revelation ofSpeech. Sept. Aµr. '85: Shadchanim - Matchmakers. Vols. I and III. Feb. '85: Return to the '85: Succos: The Encounter Between Judg Summer '85: Cracow: Who Owns Its Mem Source, Feb. '85: Soldiers from the Ghetto. ment and Joy, Oct. '85 ories? (SL)*, Nov. '85 Mar. '85: The Warsaw Ghetto in Photo Golus The Redeeming Features of "Ga!us Jews in Israel The Ethiopian Aliya, Apr. '85: graphs. Mar. '85: The Holocaust Years: So Awareness," Feb. '85 Sch west er Selma. Summer '85: Rabbi Ezra ciety on Trial. Mar. '85: The Abandonment Hashkafa The MiraclesofChanuka. Nov. '84: Attia BuilderofTorah, Sept. '85: Tribute to of the Jews. America and the Holocaust The Nature and Obligation of Ahavas Yis an Israeli Shoemaker (poem), Sept. '85 1941-45. Mar. '85: The Jews Were Expend roel: Love for One's Fellov.' ,Jew. Jan. '85: Jews in USA When It Seemed There Was No able, Free World Diplomacy and the Holo Is Love a Jewish Word? Jan. '85: JO on One to Help. Jan. '85: Sanctity and Self caust, Mar. '85: American Jewry During Eretz Yisroel: A Vie\v From the Holy Land. Expression: Do Women Really Need a Min· the Holocaust. Mar. '85: The Holocaust Jan. '85: The RedcemingFeaturesof''Ga yan of Their Own? Feb. '85: Fighting City Studies Annual. Vol. l. Mar. '85; Heroine lus Awareness." Feb. '85: After the Chur Hall. Mar. '85: Walk the Tightrope, Oct. of Rescue. The Incredible Story of Recha ban: The Groundswell of Love. Feb. '85: ·s5: Beware of Your "Friends." Oct. '85: Sternbuch. Mar. '85: Franco Spain. the (Geula) After the Ch urban: Being Judged The View from California: Notes from a Jews and the Holocaust. Mar. '85: Comfort. by the Martyrs. Feb. '85: Dialogues in Jewish Lobbyist. Oct. '85: The Out·of Comfort My People, Mar. '85: The Un- Judaism, Summer '85: The Essence of Tov.'ners: A Personal Narrative. Oct. '85: Jerusalen1. Summer '85: Letters on Eretz. An Open Letter to My Friend Behind the • PS = Post Script • SL = Second Looks Ylsroel, Summer '85: The Yeitzer Hora Re- V..'heel. Nov. '85 42 The Jewish Observer/January. 1986 Journalism A Call to ''Every Jew'' and Some ter the Churban: Being Judged by the Fryshman, Dr. Bernard Science, Pseudo Responses, Jan. '85: Time For A Re· Martyrs, Feb. '85: Remembering Europe in Science. and Rocky Raccoon (SL)*, examination. Feb. '85: Don't Shoot Until its Glory and its Destruction. Mar. '85: My Apr.'85 You See the WhitesofTheir Lies('' ... ''], Apr. Heart is Not Proud (King David), May '85 Goldberg, Rabbi Hillel A Minyan. Sept. '85 '85: Cracow: Who Owns Its Memories? Tzeddaka Torah Study and Its Support: The Gottlieb, Rabbi David The Miracles of {SL)*. Nov. '85 Many Faces of Their Rewards, May '85: Chanuka, Nov. '84; Dialogues in Judaism, Marriage Shadchanim ·Matchmakers, Sum The Israeli Toothache (PS)*, May '85 Summer'85 mer' 85 Women Sanctity and Self Expression: Do Gottlieb, Yaffa Leba Ode to a Grudge Media The Tzaddikim vs. the Good Guys. May Women Really Need a Minyan of Their (poem), Nov. '85 '85 Own. Feb. '85: Letters to the Editor. Feb. Gruber, Yaakov The Wanderer ... and the Mitzva Observance Taking Flight With a '85; And Now ... Rabbi Amy (SL)*. Mar. '85: Jew, Nov.'84 Mitzva {Shiluach Hakein), Nov. 84: The The Teacher is the Lesson {Sara Habshush, Arleen N. A Tribute to an Israeli Psychodynamics of Grief and Mourning. Schenirer). Apr. '85: Were It Not For Shoemaker {poem), Sept.85 Jan. '85; "Tzeddaka": A Matter of Justice. Her. .. {Sarah Schenirer), Apr. '85: An Over Kamenetzky, Rabbi Yaakov The Redeem Feb. '85; Letters {Shiluach Hakein). Apr. whelming View (Sarah Schenirer), Apr. ing Features of "Caius Awareness," '85: A Minyan. Sept. '85 '85: Letters on Women's Minyan, May '85 Feb.'85 Narrative Wall Chips, Nov. '84; The Old Man World War II After the Ch urban: the Ground· Keller, Rabbi Chaim Dov "Were It Not For Counted to Nine, Oct. '85 swell of Love. Feb. '85; After the Ch urban: Her. .. " (Sara Schenirer). Apr.'85 Mourning The Psychodynamics ofGriefand Being Judged by the Martyrs, Feb. '85; A Klugman, Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Dimensions Mourning, Jan. '85 Shabbos in Siberia, Mar. '85 of a Torah Personality (The Steipler Gaon). Personalities The Teacher is the Lesson World War II -Remembering Remembering Nov.'85 (Sara Schenirer). Apr. '85: Schwester Europe in its Glory and its Destruction. Kohn, ShlomoTorah Study and Its Support: Seln1a. Summer '85; Rabbi Ezra Attia Mar. '85: Reflections on Remembrance, Their Rewards, May'85 Builder of Torah, Sept. '85; The Steipler May '85; Preserving the Spiritual Legacy of Krupenia, Falge He Looks Like All the Rest Gaon: Dimensions of a Torah Personality. the Holocaust, May '85 (poem). Nov.'85 Nov. '85; The SteiplerGaon: Perspectives World War II· Rescue Heroic Efforts. Fatal Leff, Rabbi Zev The Essence of on Greatness, Nov. '85 Failings, Mar. '85 - review of new holo Yerushalayim, Summer'85 Poetry The Talmid Chochom. Nov. '84: The caust books Lebovics, Dr. Irving Notes from a Jewish Rabbi and Class. May '85: Tribute to an Is World War II-Survi vorsAn Overhwelming Lobbyist: The View from California, raeli Shoemaker, Sept. '85: My Heart Is In View (Sarah Schenirer), Apr. '85: Preserv Oct.'85 the East. Sept. '85: Etchings. Sept. '85: Ode ing the Spiritual Legacy of the Holocaust., Meister, Tovia Please, Take Note, Mar.'85 To a Grudge. Nov. '85: He Looks Like All May'85 Menucha, Batsheva The Call Unanswered the Rest. Nov. '85 Yeshiva Education The Wanderer ... and the (SL)*. Feb. '85 Rabbinical Council of America Council of Je\V. Nov.' 84: Please, Take Note. Mar. '85: Mermelstein, Mrs. Sorah Shabbos in Torah Sages Declares: No Rabbinic Dia A Jewish Child. All Alone, Mar. '85; The Siberia. Mar.'85 logue with Conservatives. Apr. '85: When Teacher is the Lesson (Sarah Schenirer). Nahmoud, Nehama Consuelo Where There is a Need for Distinctions. May '85 Apr. '85: Were It Not For Her. .. {Sara Falasha is a Dirty Word. Apr.'85 Reflections Signposts. Sept. '85 Schenirer). Apr. '85; An Overhwelming Pam, Rabbi Avrohom After the Churban: Reform Jewry Seeking Inspiration. Reform View (Sarah Schenirer). Apr. '85: Rabbi The Groundswell of Love, Feb. '85 Style, Sept. '85: JO: Always Harping, Nov. Ezra Attia Builder of Torah. Sept. '85: Perlow, Rabbi YaakovThe Nature and Ob '85 Where Do Our Secular Jewish Brethren ligation of Ahavas Yisroel·Love for One's Religious Pluralism A Call to ''Every Jew'' St.and?, Nov. ·35 Fellow Jew, Jan '85 and Some Responses. Jan. '85: Who is a Reisman, L.M. Rabbi Ezra Attia. Builder of WHAT? "1984"' in 1985, Feb. '85; Council Torah, Sept. '85 of Torah Sages Declares: No Rabbinic Dia Reisman, Yisroel The Old Man Counted to logue with Conservatives.Apr. '85; When AUTHORS Nine, Oct. '85 There isa Need for Distinctions. May '85 Robinson, Michoel The Mishna-Halacha Sephardic Jewry Rabbi Ezra Attia, Builder Yomis, Sept.'85 of Torah. Sept. · 85 Anonymous An Open Letter to My Neighbor Rubin, Chant My Heart is in the East (poem). Social Comment Scorched Scrolls. Jan. '85; in Shul, Nov. '84: An Open Letter to My Sept. '85 Were It Not for Her. .. (Sarah Schenlrer), Frlend Behind the Wheel. Nov. '85 Sabadena, Shepsi Wall Chips, Nov.'84 Apr. '85: The Tzaddikim vs. the Good Amitai, Yaacov Of Sanctity and Self Schaps, David The Tzaddikim vs. the Good Guys, May '85: Next Year In "America". Expression. Feb. '85 Guys, May' 85 Summer '85: Shadchanim ·Matchmakers. Augenbraun, Hedy Rollin The Rabbi and Scheinman, A. Rosh Hashana - The Reve Summer '85: The Out·of-Towners: A Per Class (poem). May'85 lation of Speech. Sept.'85 sonal Narrative. Oct. '85; An Open Letter to Sassman, Rabbi Naftoli The Talmid Scherman, Rabbi Nosson Reflections on My Friend Behind the Wheel. Nov. '85 Chochom (poem), Nov. '84: Is Love a Jew Remembrance, May'85; Perspectives on Science and Judaism Science, Pseudos ish Word? Jan. '85 Greatness (The Steipler Gaon). Nov. '85 cience. and Rocky Raccoon (SL)*, Apr. '85; bat Rivka, Baila An Overhwhelming View Schnitzer, Shmuel The Baal Teshuva - A Mirage of Controversy, Nov. '85 (Sara Schenirer). Apr. '85 Brainwashed or Enlightened? Nov.'84 Talmud Please. Take Note, Mar. '85 Brafman, Rabbi Aaron The Yeitzer Hora Re· Shapiro, Chaim Shadchanim - Match Tefilla Sanctity and Self-Expression: Do Examined. Sept. '85 makers, Summer'85 Women Really Need a Minyan of Their Cohen, Eliezer Tzeddaka: A Matter of Jus Spiegel, Dr. Shmuel A Mirage of Con Own?. Feb. '85: Letters on Women's Min tice, Feb.'85 troversy. Nov.'85 yan. May '85; A Minyan, Sept. '85 Daum, Menachem Preserving the Spiritual Steinberg, Ruth Schwester Selma, Torah Study The Mishan-Halacha Yomis. Legacy of the Holocaust. May'85 Summer'85 Sept. '85: Dowek, Mrs. Chana The Israeli Toothache Svei, Rabbi Elya After the Churban: Being Torah Support Torah Study and Its Support: (PS)*. May '85 Judged by the Martyrs, Feb. '85 The Many Faces of Their Rewards. May Elias, Rabbi Joseph Heroic Efforts, Fatal Teller. Rabbi Hanoch Scorched Scrolls. '85: The Rabbi and Class (poem by Hedy Failings. Mar.'85 Jan.'85: When It Seemed There Was No Rollin Augenbraun). May '85 Finkelman, Rabbi Shimon Taking Flight One to Help, Jan. '85: Next Year in Translations and Adaptations The Baal With a Mitzva (Shiluach Hakein). Nov. '84; ''America,'' Summer'85 Teshuva - Brainwashed or Enlightened? Succos: The Encounter Between Judg Twerski, Dr. Aaron Your Honors:, Nov .. '84: The Redeeming Featuresof''Ga ment and Joy. Oct.'85 Summer'85: Signposts. Sept.'85: Religion lus Awareness." Feb. '85: After the Chur Friedman, Rabbi Leib My Heart is Not in the Public Arena: Walk the Tightrope. ban: the Groundswell of Love, Feb. '85: Af- Proud, May'85 Oct.'85 The Jewish Observer/January. 1986 43 Wein, Rabbi Berel Religion in the Public Arena: Beware of Your ''Friends.·· Oct. '85 Wikler, Dr. Meir The Psychodynamics of Come To Formerly Kosher King Mourning. Jan. '85 Wolpin, Rabbi Nisson SCA: What Kind of Council? Whose Counsel? {SL)•, Nov. '84: An Editorial Response (Coverage ofEretz Yisroel). Jan. '85: A Modest Proposal {SL)•, Jan.'85: A Call to "Every .. Jew (SL)•. i St'ATEMeNTOFOWNERSHiP. MANAGEM&NT AND CJRCULATJO~ {Act ofCktober 23. 19&2. '$t!ctlol'i 4369.- Title SR Un!it'd StitesCOde) batNifFJling:Sepl. 20. i9S5 , 2. 'l'ltfo of Publlta\lon:_1'he J_eWlsh ObservetllSSN,-02!.! 1•661 $ · 2. frequency ofl$$Ue.M'ortthly, exCepl July and Aug11M;A No. :of ls· ~uesp\.!bUshed11>1t1ually_-1'et1 .. B. Anrt\ll\lmib&'tlpUon_Prke-St5.00 4., L!)tamm ofKnowT! Offir-e: of Publleatlon' S SeekmansttCd. New Ybrk.N'.Y. lob3S 6, Names and Addrcl>'S bfPub\lshh. Eduor, arid Mariag1rtg Editor Publisher- Agudath brad of America: Cbr. Editorial Bt>'atd.:....Dt. Emsi L. Bo.dcnhtlme1\ 5 Btekman _St., NS:c.. _iMarmgJrigEdlt,ot;•• ..... Rt.bbl Nls~n Wolpln, $ Beekm11nS1r1tet,N.\'.£, 1QOOS 1. owner' Agudath Isr11d or Aruet1e11. 5 &likrnan Street, New York; b NN. 1003@ •" 8. Rnown bt>ndhblders. Moitga.gesand oth!frSct 44 The Jewish Observer/January. 1986 Part ofDais at Agudath lsraersconvenllon: Rabbi Mordechat Gifter. Rosh YeshivaofTelshe. addressing the keynote session. Front ro1v l. tor.: Dr. Isaac Lewin, Rabbi ShmuelFaivelson, Rabbi YitzchokFeigelstock, RabbiAvrohom Chaim Levin. RabbiPinchosM. Teitz. Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Horowitz (Bos loner Rebbe), Rabbi Chaskel Besser, RabbtAvrohom Pam. Rabbi Moshe Sherer. Rabbi Gifter (speaking), Rabbi Simon Schwab, Rabbi Yaakov Perlow (Notz.omtnsker Rebbe), Rabbi Aharon Schechter, Rabbi Elya Fisher, Rabbi Yosef Harari-Raful. Rabbi Chaim Dov Keller, Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky. (Not seen: Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman.) Photo by Ed Bernstein. CONVENTION '85 Bring Back Misled Conservative and Re The entire four-day convention was form Jews, Agudath Israel Convention marked by serious discussions and inspiring Told: An outpouring of concern for the wel presentations by leading figures in yeshiva, fare of millions of Jews in the U.S., Russia. chassidic, and rabbinical circles. and Israel who have lost touch with their To c2KATANA rah heritage and an abiding abhorrence of Conservative and Reform reconstruction of gALLEI(Y Judaism represented the overwhelming tide I of sentiment throughout the 63rd Annual Convention of Agudath Israel of America, Reports on the activities of Agudath Israel 4906 18th Ave. which took place in Rye Brook, New York. of America that usually appear in the latter Brooklyn, N.Y. (718) &51-4448 from November 29 until December 1. part of The Jewish Observer will now be While strenuously decrying any form o,f di found in greater detail in COALITION: alogue with the official leadership of Conser News and Currents in Agudath Israel of Jewish books, Judaica, Talei.sim vative and Reform Judaism, a panoply of America, which will be appearing five times Mez,1JZ0S, personalized Talis hags, roshei yeshiva. chassidic rebbeim, and lead yearly. Telfilin bag;, Yarmulkas and Cha/ah ing rabbinic authorities of the Orthodox Jew These pages will continue to present covers, records and tapes, lucitc, ish world called upon Orthodox Jews to cre selected news briefs of special interest and silver, senii-precious stones and gold ate relationships on a personal level with occasional photographs of noteworthy jewelry. individual members of the Conservative and events. Reform movements who in the words of If you would like to receive COALITION in Agudath Israel president Rabbi Moshe your mailbox on a regular basis, send in your JU..LAfSUPERDISCOUNT Sherer, "have been misled by their rabbis to name and address to COALITION, Agudath believe that 'you don't have to be Jewish to Israel of America, 5 Beekman Street. New PRICES! be a Jew."' YorkCity, 10038. The Jewish Observer/January. 1986 45 Reagan Administration's Educational ies across the U.S. and Canada undertook Voucher Plan Hailed by Agudath Israel: personal Torah-learning projects that saw GOVERNMENT "Permitting parents to choose through the them devoting at least 10. and up to 110 use of educational vouchers is an idea whose hours. of individual study over the 12-day AFFAIRS time has come." That was the message de yeshiva vacation. The program, constituting livered by Rabbi Moshe Sherer. President of the 22nd semi-annual installment of the Na Agudath Israel of America. to U.S. Secretary tional Hasmodoh Contest of Pirchei Agudath of Education William J. Bennett upon the Israel of America. was augmented this year New Jersey Orthodox Leaders to Head Reagan Administration's introduction of by a novel experiment in which 400 boys Regional Agudah Commision: Prominent legislation to provide vouchers to poor par gathered under the organization's aegis in figures in Orthodox Jewish affairs in the Gar ents of educationally deprived children. five locations in New York for a morning of den State were named this week to major The Administration's new voucher pro intensive Torah study held on the Friday of leadership positions in the advocacy work of posal was introduced November 13th at a Chol Hamocd. the New Jersey chapter of the Commission Washington press conference in which on Legislation and Civic Action of Agudath Secretary Bennett specifically cited Agudath Pirchei Agudath Isarel National Israel of America. Rabbi Elazar M. Teitz of Israel's support for the voucher concept. As Leaders' Seminar: Close to 100 leaders Elizabeth and Rabbi Shmuel Blech of Lake explained by the Secretary. the vouchers and branch leaders of Pirchei Agudath Israel wood have been appointed co-chairmen of would be made available to parents of chil from aeross the nation and Canada recently the body, and West Orange attorney Bruce dren eligible for· 'Chapter r· remedial educa assembled for their Annual National Shoulson. Esq. will serve as Counsel to the tional assistance. and could be used to defray Leaders' Workshop. group. private school tuition charges. among other The New Jersey Commission, one of var things. Pirchei Tejillin Contest: Pirchei Agudth ious regional bodies established by Agudath Israel is sponsoring a contest for boys. grades Israel nationally, has brought together attor 7 -9. on mastery of the halachos of Tefillfn. neys. jurists, rabbis. and other activists from U.S. Civil Rights Chief Tells Agudath Is Every entry received by Purim Kotton, Feb. a broad spectrum of Orthodox Jews rael: Next Eight Months Crucial. In an ad· 23. 1986, is an automatic winner of a prize. throughout the state, and has scored victo dress to Agudath Israel of America's Com The contest is entered by subrnitting a letter ries in the two years of its existence in the mission on Legislation and Civic Action on signed by the contestanfs rebbi attesting to areas of autopsy exemptions, kosher food November 13, 1985, U.S. Assistant Attorney the student having studied the halachos of enforcement and legal holiday burials, as General William Bradford Reynolds declared Tefillin in Mishna Berura or one of the well as in legislation benefiting yeshivas, that civil rights policy in the United States is English-language approved texts. Grand now at a crossroads. prize, based on scores on a written exam. is Mr. Reynolds. who heads up the Justice a free round-trip to Israel or the equivalent Department's Civil Rights Division, said that ($400) in a pair of tefillin ofseforim. For more the next eight months may well determine information call Rabbi Joshua Silbermintz. which way this country will proceed tn mak 212-791-1800 2 - 5: 15 pm. Mon.-Thurs. ing what he views as a choice between a prin cipled path of equal opportunity for all Americans and an unjust path of special preferences for certain identifiable groups. The Reagan Administration's civil rights UPDATE chief told the Agudath Israel group that these months would prove crucial in setting civil 4916 13th Ave., B'klyn, N.Y. 11219 rights policy for years to come inasmuch as Dr. Shmuel Spiegel, author of" A Mi (718) 854-29\l ''both the executive and judicial branches of rage of Controversy" (JO Nov. '85), is government will be making far·ranging an alumnus of Yeshiva Ner Israel of Bal pronouncements.. in this field. timore, and is currently with the Department of Radiology of Toronto Western Hospital. THE WORLD FAMOUS Reference no. 5 in the bibliography of DIGEST OF MEFORSHIM his article is from the Journal of 'tnp? 1n:i 'tnp? DATELINE Urology. '"!ft '1Y\J';IN ';IN1nv ,., '1"nnn YOUTH LEKl'TEI INC. Photo Credit JO Wt'>'! ~71h Strert. R Pmt·<·nl~ ot ,..,,1<.,, clislri11ut0l ;omrnip; Yt'>'h""' Hnd '""l f(,r mass campaign organized by Pirchei server, as well as those credited to Pho n•1nimin~ C>fmlunu.,, "uH>!'.prilll. Agudath Israel over the recent Succos holi ton Zion, are available exclusively PRICE $8.00 PER VOLUME day. some 700 youngsters from yeshivas in through Photon Zion. 10 Rechov New York. Baltimore. and several other cit- Yerushalayim. Bnei Brak, Israel. 46 The Jewish Observer/January. 1986 'l'HE LIBRARY OF JEWISH INFO TION 760 OVERSIZED PAGES CONTAINING EVERY BIT OF JEWISH INFORMATION AVAILABLE fhe 1986 Jewish Directory and Almanac is the •a digest oflsrael's laws• film and book reviews• most comprehensive one-volume compendium of calendars to the year 2001 and perpetual candle contemporary Judaica ever published. Book One, lighting charts for 41 cities• historical, biographical the Almanac, contains: and sports notes • and dozens of other features • •analyses of contemporary Jewish issues, including printed on high-quality 50 lb. stock. antisemitism, Soviet Jewry, the Ethiopian exodus, Book Two, the Yellow Pages, contains directory demographic trends, Raoul Wallenberg and more• lists of 16,000 Jewish communal organizations and Israeli history as seen through New York Times and commercial establishments in the United States and Jerusalem Post front pages • a transliterated English Canada, from Advertising Agencies to Zionist Yiddish-Hebrew dictionary • a guide to Torah texts Organizations. ___ copies of THE 1986 JEWISH DIRECTORY and PACIFIC PRESS ALMANAC@ $14.95 softcover, $24.95 hardcover 501 FIFTH AVENUE, SUITE 2203 plus U.P.S./Handling $2.00 each NEWYORK,N.Y.10017 ___ copies of THE JEWISH DIRECTORY and 212-687-0500 ALMANAC-Volume I@ $1 l.95. ___ Three~year subscription@ $42.00 softcover, postpaid; $70.00 hardcover, posrpaid. N. Y.S. sales tax (where applicable) Flying High & Coming Home Wen 1967 began. Dani was just a boy of 12. Bright, wide-eyed, and .perfect story unsure of where life would lead him. But when summer arrived, things somehow looked different. Six days in June offered Dani, as well as all of Israel. a new perspective. • Suddenly he was 13, a man. A man who saw other men die for their right to live. And the thunderous roar of the jet engines above him, remained forever in his memory. By the time he was 20, Dani was brighter, wider-eyed and much less unsure. A lifetime dream became a reality as he passed his final tests and became a pilot for the Israeli Air Force. "Be perfect", he was warned, "there is no room for error". And perfect he was ,.. in every mission. But the higher he flew, the mqre he searched. For meaning, for answers, for understanding. He. began learning TORAH at age 24, and hasn't stopped. After marriage, he enrolled in a Kolle!, and some time later he heard about MIFAL HASHAS. An organization that would help develop the Torah leaders of tomorrow by administering monthly exam inations and demanding perfection. It's been over 2 years now. Still bright and wide-eyed as ever, Dani is now sure. And every month when he receives the results of the previous exam, along with a moderate stipend, he and his family are proud. T.re has been no room for error for Dani -100% on every test. That's what he oemands of himself. That's what MIFAL HA.SHAS is striving tor. That's what , leaders are made of. r------1 I Ylsoscher/Zevulun Par1nershlp Agreement : I l WOUid Ike to become a partner in the 'oWl1defftA \Wik of Mital HaShas by contributing I NAME~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ADO~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TELEPHONE~~~~~~~~~~~~- 0 $150permonth as a Slulal Ha Torah* o S36 per month as a WdrTaah a $100per month as a Parnes Ha Torah o 16 per month as a Chal 5upporter a $50 per month as a Tomech Torah c s other Any and a• contributions to "Mifal Hashas~ are tax Oeductible and most appceciated. : MIFAL HASHAS 4&)6 16th Avenue Brooklyn, N.Y. 11204 (718)436-7700 : ~--·------~------J