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rt-tE. · .. .· .... A Dissident Speaks ··Out · A.Statement by Harav Mordecai Giftet > In .Retrospect ·· · ·. The Synagogue Courtcil ·· • ····· From Mir to Shanghai . .· The Source: A Critical Analysis ·· ·· Science.· -- Slave or Master? > ..•.. Time For A Change ..• . .. · . Israel iJ igest ·· .· Anti-Jewish or Anti-Torah? .· . JVhat ihey are saying in the ]eivish pt·est ... :Jle /!/ltf;{':J£e/'J ~ :Jle /euM.°JA OtenJe/' a/'e_,4/eaJecl lo t~/'m?ou dal a Jttkc/'Jiilion AaJ ken enle/'ecl t/t?Ott/' nam.e aJ de?~~ The Jewish Observer / 5 Beekman Street / New York, N. Y. 10038 We would like to enter your name on some of our gift cards, and send them to your friends and relatives with an annual subscription Here is our special offer: 1 gift subscr~pt~on ....................... $ 5.00 2 gift subscriptions ....................... 8.50 3 gift subscriptions ........................ only 12.00 {add $1.00 for each overseas subscription) Give your friends a meaningful, lasting gift . and help us increase the number of our readers. Clip this coupon, attach your check, and mail them now. The Jewish Observer / 5 Beekman Street / New York, N. Y. 10038 Friends: Please send gift subscriptions and an announcement card to the following: Name ...... ................................. Address., .. CHy... .................... State ... ................... ZipNo........ Name ........... Address ..... City........ ..... .. ...................................... State ....... .. ................................... Zip No ........................... Name... ................................. Address ... CHy.... .. ...... .. ...................... State ..... ..................... Zip No ...................... ~ .... (please make your own list for additional names) I enclose $.... .... ............. 0 Please bill me. My name is: .... .. ............................. Address....... CHy ...... .............................................................................................................................. State ... .. ........................ Zip No..................................... THE JEWISH . · . OBSERVER In this issue ... · IN RETROSPECT ••• a~ analysi.<: of the counter-reaction to the recent protests against Orthodox participation in the Synagogue Council, and an examination of some of the fictions and distortions that came in its wake .................................... ·A DISSIDENT SPEAKS OUT , • • We are pleased to publish a definitive statement on Synagogue Council by the distin­ guished Telsher Rosh Yeshiva, RAnBI MORDECAI GIFTER ......... FROM MIR TO SHANGHAI ••• recollections of life in the Mirer Yeshiva in Shanghai during the war years, by a then-talmid of Mir, now a well-known educator, RABBI CHUNA HERZMAN Ta:E JEWISH OBSERVER is published monthly, except July and August, by the Agudath Israel of America, THE SOURCE •• , RADBI MORRIS BEKRiTSKY, in his firsti:dn­ S Beekman Street, New York, N . Y. 10038. Second class tribution to T JO, offers a critical analysis of the best-selling postage paid at New York, N. Y. novel, "The Source" by James Michener ............................................... Subscription: $5.00 per year; single copy: 50¢. Printed in the U.S.A. SCIENCE~LAVE OR MASTER? •.. asks PROF. LEO LEVI, in a profound, yet clearly-stated exposition of the sphere, relia­ bility, and nature of science in a Torah perspective. He con­ Editorial· Board cludes that science must be used to further the goals and ....·DR. ERNST L. BODENHEIMER Chairman purposes of Torah ................................................................................................... RABBI NATHAN BULMAN RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS TIME FoR A CHANGE • • ; says DK SEYMOUR GLICK, in the JOSEPH FRIEDENSON attitudes of some yeshivos and yeshiva educators toward RABBI MOSHE SHERER science and scientists. He warns that in rejecting these atti­ ·•Advertising Manager tudes of their teachers, students may also reject all that their . RABBI SYSHB HESCHEL teachers have to say ............................................................................................... Managing Editor RABBI YAAKOV JACOBS ISRAEL DIGEST •• • In this new TJO feature, MENACHEM GREENBERG brings you up-to-date on some recent devel- JEWISH OBSERVER does not opments and concerns in Israel ................................................................. assume responsibility for the Kasbrus of any product or service WHAT THEY ARE SAYING IN THE JEWISH PRESS •.• a selection ··advertised in its pages. of clippings from various sources reflecting some of the currents in American Jewish life ................................................................. JAN. 1967 VoL. IV, No. 1 ..... @) SECOND LOOKS • • • Some recent thinking on antisemitism as reflected in recent publications ...................................................................;,; .. In Retrospect------------ The Synagogue Council WE ARE RELUCTANT-but we cannot shirk our respons­ Commission has had the matter under consideration for ibility-to write a postscript to the recent Synagogue the past eleven years and had not issued a decision.* Council dinner. This event and its attendant circum­ The Cheshvan 10 (October 24) statement was there­ stances have left a fateful heritage of implications and fore an unwelcome reminder, and there ensued a merci­ consequences for the future of American Jewry-and, less campaign to counter its effect. in particular, Torah Jewry-which must be faced. First, the Day-Morning Journal printed a news Though we foresaw some of them, and therefore raised release, received from the public relations department our voice in advance of the event, we did not foresee of Yeshiva University, stating that a number of Rab­ how soon and to what extent we would reap its bitter bonim and Roshei Yeshiva formally called on Rabbi harvest. It remains now for us to take stock of what Belkin to urge him to attend the dinner. No names were has happened, praying that the necessary lessons will, given in the news release. We challenge the public re­ after all, be drawn from it. lations office of YU to remedy this omission-informa­ tion from the faculty indicates that such an incident Nullification of Daas Hatorah never took place. Next, word was spread that at least some of the On October 24, 1966 a letter was issued by four signers of the letter never actually signed it. This was outstanding Roshei Yeshiva, deploring the calamity not only stated from at least one well-known pulpit represented by the "fatal partnership" of the "three but even appeared in print: seminaries of American Jewry" at the forthcoming It must be noted that H arav H agaon Synagogue Conncil dinner. Actually this statement Rav Moshe Feinstein Shlitah, whose should not have come as a surprise; it introduced noth­ name appears on this Kol Koreh ing new-it was a logical consequence of the p'sak din has, we are told, never seen its issued in 1956 by eleven Roshei Yeshiva, and con­ contents or agreed to the use of his curred in by the late Brisker Rav-Rabbi Zev Solo­ name ..." HAMEVASER (Official veitchik, and Rabbi Pessach Tzvi Frank, as well as Student Publication of the Religious other Gedolei Torah in Eretz Yisroel. The letter of the Divisions, Yeshiva University) Nov. Roshei Y eshfra was certainly not aimed to counteract 10, 1966. any heter issued since 1956 by other sources, for the Obviously, this fiction could not be maintained, in incontrovertibJe fact is that at no time did any respons­ view of the availability of facsimile copies of the letter, ible rabbinic authority (including the Halacha Com­ complete with four signatures, and, in consequence, an mission of the Rabbinical Council of America or its even more offensive fiction was disseminated: that the chairman, Rabbi J. B. Soloveitchik) issue a heter on letter did not represent the thinking of the signators participation in the Synagogue Council or challenge and was only signed under pressure. It would follow, the above mentioned p' sak din. consequently, that it could legitimately be disregarded. Yet it is true that these issurim were disregarded by [In view of the incessant circulation of this the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations and the falsehood-which the staff of THE JEWISH OB­ RCA, on the strength of the fact that the latter's Halacha SERVER knew to be false-an expression of our *In a letter to THE JEWISH OBSERVER, Rabbi Louis Bernstein, his position ... I might suggest you survey his writings and editor of the official publication of RCA, claims that "the posi~ in which areas he does participate for a clearer understanding tion of the RCA was inaccurately and unfairly presented (by of his position." It is, of course, clear that the p"sAK DIN con­ THE JEWISH OBSERVER) . The RCA was part of the SCA be­ cerning the SCA was not only issued by the eleven Roshei fore the issur of the eleven Roshei Yeshiva wa<; promulgated. Yeshiva, but by the greatest Gedolei Torah then alive; that it It has no quarrel with those who issued the issur or those who was most certainly not meant only for their students, but as a adhere to it. Even a cursory glance will indicate that it is general PSAK DIN; that it is the greatest effrontery, in the face directed to the students of these Roshei Yeshiva who asked for of this fact, to speak about the competence of the RCA mem­ their guidance. The RCA consists of 800 members ... It is bers to make their own decisions; and that Rabbi Soloveitchik quite competent to arrive at its own decisions. It is no secret, has never expressed one word in contradiction
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