So ~u,d!Jll~rt,pains tobedo~!;,® So maQJ<:IJIQre?tfllltinto,be ~ayrd~, · ·<::':.. _:;- :>--..· ,',' :··.·::.:.. ··:>'.'·;,·.. ,"-+_. ·.:>' .;::·,_:;·.<'·:·.> .·... ' 1 ' "t;chamto't' '>· '; illlraH'f ·.. > \ ''. The ca~liuign~~~u,~td..e~ in Torah Schools in ~retz Msro · Tl1E TE'IC]JMAN FAMILY Eb!T!ON fHE JEWISH EXPERIENCE: 2,000 YEARS ACOLLECTION OF SIGNIFICANT EVENTS

The history of the Jewish people is the world's great creation - this book is the list of ingredients. Rabbi Nachman Zakon, an American educa­ tor living in Israel, has taught about the sweep of Jewish history for many years and has collected "time capsules'' of events and personalities that are crucial to what we are today. Some are famous: some are known only to serious students of histo­ ry. All are important building blocks in the Divine Planner's grand formula for fashioning the Torah nation of today. Join Rabbi Zakon as he presents highlights of 2,000 years of world and Jewish history. This book is more than interesting, it is a mirror of what we are. This deluxe 8~" x 11" coffee-table volume is lavishly illustrated. Perfect for the entire family. Fl

In When Children Fight:A Torah Approach to Resolving Differences Peacefully, author Miriam Levi shares her secrets of good parenting in tough situations. Her previous book, More Effective Jewish Parenting, helped countless families with its down-to-earth approach and fluid. readable style. Written in the same practical and up-beat manner, When Children Fight tackles difficult sitUations that occur in every family, from sibling rivalry to trouble with classmates in school. Basic to Mrs. Levi's approach is her belief that Jewish parents have the same obligation to teach their children how to build successful relationships as they have to teach other mitzvos. Most parents have the opportunity to teach these lessons almost every day. Drawing upon case histories and her own expertise, she packs an abundance of realistic techniques into this tidy PocketScroll book. There is big advice in this little book for parents of children from toddlers to teens. ~eoo1 A GIFT PASSED ALONG A woman looks at tlu1 world around eautifully_written. Wise. Provocative.Warm. Inspiring. _Funny. Touching. BThere are many other words - all of them complimentary - one could use to describe this collection of essays. What a pleasure to welcome Sarah Shapiro to your library! In this book we'll hear Rabbi Scheinberg laughing. We'll understand all sides of the raucous, sometimes violent Shabbos demonstrations on Rechov Bar Han. And we'll feed the same soldiers who dragged us off a hill near Efrat We'll hear a 51-year-old woman say, "I respect age. I would not trade what I have learned for a face without wrin­ kles.Age is a crown:1 Thank you, Sarah Shapiro, for this Gift Passed Along. This marvelous book is filled with many gifts, and we thank you for them all!

Available at your local Hebrew bookstore or call: 1-800-MESORAH • In NYS: (718) 921-9000 • FAX: (718) 680-1875 • www.artscroll.com ArtScroH and The Jewish Observer present the newest edition of its Judaiscope Biography Series!

A treasury of biographical essays and sketches of over 25 Torah leaders whose devotion to Torah, dedication to Kial Yisroel, and warmth and compassion for each individual Jew helped shape today's Torah world. Some of the biographies contained in this volume include the Torah world's most recent losses: Rabbi Avrohom Pam, Rabbi Mordechai Gifter, Rabbi Avigdor Miller, Rabbi Binyomin Paler, Rabbi Yaakov Weinberg, Rabbi Elazar Menachem Shach, Rabbi Moshe Kulefsky, and Rabbi Nosson Wachtfogel i1:l1:J7 tl'i''ill i:it In this volume you will also meet: The Gerer Rebbe, The Bobover Rebbe, Hacham Ben Sion Abba Shaul, plus 15 others, including Rabbi Moshe Sherer and several extraordinary architects, builders and teachers of Torah. These stories will enrich your storehouse of knowledge, penetrate your heart, lift up your spirits and enhance your lives, inspiring you and your chil­ dren to greater heights. I Iyar 5762 •April 2002 U.S.A.$3.50/Foreign $4.50 ·VOL XXXV/NO. 4

THE JEWISH OBSERVER (ISSN) 0021-6615 is published monthly except July and August by the Agudath Israel of America, 42 Broadway. New York, NY10004. Periodicals postage paid in New York. NY. Subscription $24.00 per year; two years, $44.00; three years, $60.00. Outside of the United States (US funds drawn on a US bank only) $12.00 surcharge per year. Single copy $3.50; foreign $4.50. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Jewish Observer, 42 Broadway, NY., NY. 10004. Tel: 212-797-9000, Fax: 646-254-1600. Printed in the U.S.A. "LIB/ BEMIZRACH ... MY HEART IS IN THE EAST" RABBI NISSON WOLPIN, EDITOR 6 Israel Fights For Her Existence, Yonoson Rosenblum EDITORIAL BOARD RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS Chairman 20 Tefilla and Teshuva in Response to Troubled Times, RABBI ABBA BRUONY JOSEPH FAIEDENSON Rabbi Heshy Kleinman RABBI YISROEL MEIR KIAZNER RABBI NOSSON SCHERMAN PROF. AARON TWERSKI 24 Food For the Soldiers, Debbie Shapiro DR. ERNST L. BODENHEIMER Z"L Founding Chairman 2 7 A Trip to the Living Mekamos Hakedoshim

MANAGEMENT BOARD of Eretz Yisroel, Avrohom Birnbaum AV! FISHOF, NAFTOLI HIRSCH ISAAC KIRZNER, RABBI SHLOMO LESIN NACHUM STEIN 3 3 Coming Home ... To Eitz Chaim? Nissan Wolpin RABBI YOSEF C. GOLDING Managing Editor 36 The Quintessence of Mussar: Published by Agudath Israel of America Rabbi Avrohom Eliyahu Kaplan 7"YT,

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FRENCH REPRESENTATIVE SOUTH AFRICAN Rabbi Bamllerger REPRESENTATIVE 21 Boulevard Paixtians Mr. v. Taback 57000 Me17. PO Box 51552, Raedene FRANCE Johannesburg About the Cover: Over 50,000 Orthodox Jews convened in Lower Manhattan on Sunday, 2124 SOUTH AFRICA SWISS REPRESENTATIVE April 2119 lyar to say Tehil!im and offer their tefillos - their prayers and supplications - on Mr. S. Feldinger behalf of their brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisroe/, as well as fellow Jews in other parts of the Leimanstrasse 36 4051 Basel, SWITZERLAND globe suffering from active and violent expressions of anti-Semitism. THE JEWISH OBSERVER does not Photo Credit: Shimon Golding assume responsibility for the Kashrus of any product, publication, or service advertised in its pages ©Copyright 2002

Apri!2002 VOLUME XXXV/NO. 4 Yonoson Rosenblum Israel Fights For Her Existence ,~_-A,P _%(\! _ _, _ '{'.:; s'pJch g'lren hinted at a plafi to do so, motorists killed by snipers or in drive­ and when he spoke of the nation's deter­ by shootings are women. The Beil Yis­ arch was not a good month for mination, he sounded like someone rael massacre in early March, in which the Jews of Bretz Yisroel. In the whistling past the graveyard. a suicide bomber walked into a group Mface of eleven suicide bomb­ The Oslo bubble has burst for all but of women with infants in strollers) was ings during one month, national morale a few die-hards.2 Few believe that peace the ultimate expression of that demo­ plummeted to its lowest point since the with the Palestinians is anywhere on the graphic calculus. Yorn Kippur War. horizon, or can even envision how the Little by little, the suicide bombings For some time already, doubts about Arab-Israeli conflict will ever end so long have deprived the Jewish population of the very future of the state had gripped as Palestinians continue to harbor dreams its public space and private time. Down­ the population. The mass circulation of a Middle East without Israel. Yet the town Jerusalem is largely a ghost town daily Ma' ariv devoted an entire weekend thought of another 54 years of ceaseless after a series of suicide bombings. supplement in February to interviews fighting is too depressing to entertain. Attacks on restaurants and cafes convey with leading public figures on the topic, No nation can endure over an the message that there will be no relax­ "Does Israel have a future?" And a recent extended period of time the levels ofter­ ation for Jews. survey of Jewish high school students rorism with which the Jews of Israel have showed that only 54% are sure that Israel been living. The more than I 00 civilians THE SEDER NIGHT MASSACRE AND will still exist in 50 years. killed in terrorist actions in March alone OPERATION DEFENSIVE SHIELD A friend raising money for a think are the equivalent, in American terms, tank on issues related to Israeli democ­ of two World Trade Centers. Jews in he Seder night massacre in racy was told by one potential donor Israel cannot shake the feeling that the Netanya, in which 27 Jews were after another, "Why are you worrying country has become one large barrel and Tkilled and dozens of others seri­ about this? Who knows if we will even that they are fish within being picked off ously wounded or traumatized for life, have a country in a few years:' Anecdotal by Palestinian suicide bombers. was yet a further milestone in the ter­ evidence abounds of well-to-do Israelis Terrorists choose their targets with a ror campaign. Every Israeli Jew intu­ purchasing homes in Paris, New York, certain diabolical precision to deny itively understood the attack to be, in and Toronto, and moving their factories every Jew in Israel the semblance of a Yossi Klein Halevi's words, "a taunt - a and businesses abroad. normal life. The Palestinians view their reminder [on the Festival of Freedom] The once familiar proclamations of rapid population growth as one of their that we are no longer free in our land.' Israel's might and ability to defend its greatest weapons against Israel. To The Seder night suicide bombings citizens from any and all enemies are no speed their demographic triumph, they came two weeks after American envoy longer heard. 1 When Prime Minister appear to have targeted women and chil­ General Anthony Zinni arrived in Israel Sharon made a rare national address in dren. A disproportionate number of the 2 Among the recent converts from the ranks of late February to shore up the spirits of Oslo true-believers is Benny Morris, the dean of the nation, he achieved the opposite l At one level, the decline of the former levels of the "new historians;' who has done so much to "be'kochi ve'otzem yadt can only be positive, even result. Elected on the promise, "I know destroy the old Zionist mythology by retelling the if the circumstances causing that decline are not. story of Israel's founding from the Arab point of how to deal with terror;' nothing in his As one of Israel's major ba'alei hashkafa said view. In a very long piece in the Guardian, Mor­ recently, we have suffered from a reversal of the ---c~~~~ ·---­ ris admitted that many former colleagues suspect Rabbi Rosenblum, who lives in Jerusalem, is a traditional prayer, "Some with horses, and some that he has undergone a brain transplant. Nev­ contributing editor to The Jewish Observer. He with horses; but we, in the Name of Hashem, our ertheless, he now places the onus of blame for is also director of the Israeli division of Am Echad, G-d, call out." For too long, we in Israel have relied the dwindling hope for peace in this generation theAgudath Israel-inspired educational outreach on the strength of our planes and tanks while our squarely on Arafat, whom he labels both an effort and media resource. enemies proclaimed their faith. incompetent and a liar.

6 The Jewish Observer, April 2002 to broker a ceasefire. To facilitate that mis­ weakness of the Jews - their love of life. single phrase, that the Palestinian sion, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had The Palestinian hypothesis that Israel accounts upon which the allegations made a number of concessions. Prior to has no more will has now been put to were based "could not be independent­ Zinni's arrival, Sharon announced that the test and refuted. Operation Defen­ ly confirmed." he would no longer insist on seven days sive Shield chalked up other impressive The world press treated Israel's anti­ of quiet before negotiating with the Pales­ achievements as well. Hundreds of terrorism campaign as an extended tinian Authority over implementation of wanted terrorists, with Jewish blood on human-interest story told exclusively the Tenet Plan, a move that caused one their hands, were arrested or killed, vast from the Palestinian point of view. James rigbt-wing party to leave his coalition. On stores of weaponry seized, and Marwan Bennet's April 8 dispatch from Nablus March 14, Israeli troops who had sur­ Barghouti, leader of the Fatah-Tanzim, in the New York Times - a portrait of rounded Arafat's compound in Ramal­ the most frequent perpetrators ofter­ grim, determined fighters waiting to lah after three suicide bombings were rorist attacks in recent months, cap­ meet their fate at the hands of the Israel withdrawn. tured. Israel also seized documents that army - could have been written about Despite these steps, the Palestinian provided the smoking gun linking the Taliban in the caves of Tora Bora. But response was the same as it was to Arafat and the entire Palestinian secu­ it never would have been. Zinni's previous 1nission in January: a rity service to the terror.3 Few comparable stories appeared rash of four more suicide bombings. The illustrating the human consequences of Seder night attack was the final straw WORLD REACTION every terrorist attack or depicting what that left Israel with no choice but to it is like for Israeli children to grow up strike dramatically at the Palestinian ter­ iven the magnitude of the hor­ in a country where people are blown to rorist infrastructure. Within two days, ror directed at her citizens, smithereens around the Seder table, or 20,000 reservists received their call-up GIsrael could be forgiven for buying a pizza, or walking down the notices for Operation Defensive Shield. believing that this time, surely, the street. Michael Gelber, the Washington The reservists' response was over­ world would recognize her right and Post ombudsman, admitted in print his whelmingly enthusiastic. Normally the duty to wipe out the terrorists' nests. If paper's failure in this regard. Few oth­ Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is pleased if so, Israel was in for a rude shock. As ers, however, followed his lead. 60% of those summoned report for Mark Steyn put it sardonically in the For once, Jews would have been reserve duty. The response to this emer­ National Post of Canada, "All civilized happy for the tiresome moral equiva­ gency call up was 95-100%. In fact, 4,500 people can agree that killing Jews is lence between suicide bombings aimed more Israelis volunteered for service wrong. Well, killing six million of them at innocent civilians and military retal­ than were called up. 60 years ago is wrong. Killing a couple iation against the perpetrators of those Operation Defensive Shield was, in dozen every 48 hours or so, that's a dif­ bombings. Even that much was denied Yossi Klein Halevi's apt description, "a ferent matter." them. Jewish victims simply disap­ collective response to the assault on our Eager to absolve Europe of the stain peared from the story. collective being." The eagerness of of the Holocaust, the European press In its eagerness to condemn Israel, the reservists, most of them husbands and blasted Israel with inflammatory head­ media, following the Palestinian lead, fathers, to go to battle was itself the lines like "Genocide" (La Prensa) and 3 Despite these successes, and the complete respite greatest achievement of the operation. "The March of the Storm Troopers" (Le from suicide bo1nbings in the first week of Oper­ It provided an unmistakeable message Monde). Pope John Paul II, whose pred­ ation Defensive Shield, many in the West con­ to the Palestinians, and, no less impor­ ecessors knew something about exter­ tinued to portray the operation as futile. All it would achieve, they argued, was to increase the tant, to ourselves: the Jews of Israel have mination, fretted about the "extermina­ supply of suicide bombers by intensifying Pales­ not yet lost the will to fight. Precisely that tion" of the Palestinian people. Quickly tinian hatred and desperation. Yet the Palestini­ point had been very much in doubt forgotten were the suicide bombings that ans had long boasted of their inexhaustible sup­ among the Palestinians and among had triggered Israel's military action. ply of suicide bombers even before the Israeli incursion, and the evidence seemed to support Israelis as well. Much of the world media, with the that claim. Israel lacks the 1neans to reduce the The Palestinians have repeatedly cited Europeans in the lead, quickly adopted supply of suicide bombers. The only thing she can the Israel Defense Forces' hasty fligbt from the role of advocates for the Palestini­ do is reduce their operational capacities, and that Lebanon as proof that Israel cannot ans, simply repeating Palestinian alle­ was surely achieved by Defensive Shield. endure any casualties. The higbest-rank­ gations of Israeli atrocities as if they were Others,like the indefatigable Yossi Beil in, argued ing Moslem cleric in the Palestinian proven fact. An April 15 piece in the Los that Israel had weakened the very Palestinian secu~ rity services needed to restrain suicide bombers. Authority boasted in a sermon on PA tel­ Angeles Times, for instance, led with five But that is precisely what Arafat had refused to evision: "The Muslim loves death and paragraphs describing how"Israeli sol­ do for more than a year and a half. Documents [strives for] martyrdom;' whereas the Jews diers shot unarmed civilians, bulldozed seized by Israel revealed that the Palestinian secu­ love life. Suicide bombings are fiendish­ people alive and blocked access to rity services, including that of Jabril Rajoub, long touted by the CIA as a "moderate;' were active col­ ly designed to exploit the perceived medical care," before mentioning, in a laborators in the terror attacks.

The Jewish Observer, April 2002 7 often contradicted itself. At the outset of Afghanistan, Israel repeatedly placed her ABSENT FROM THE MEDIA: fighting in the Jenin refugee camp, the own soldiers in mortal danger in order A CONTEXT FOR COMPARISONS Palestinians boasted of their fighters' to minin1ize civilian casualties. l'hirteen determination to fight to the last man. Israeli reservists were killed in Jenin bsent from media reporting was all But when those fighters were van­ when they were trapped in an ambush context or points of comparison. quished, the Palestinians found that it in a booby-trapped house. !fad Israel A U.N. peacekeepers killed hun­ better suited their propaganda to portray simply destroyed the few remaining dreds of Somali civilians in the space of the battle as the massacre of innocent buildings from which the terrorists hours when fired upon by armed men civilians. And the media followed suit. were fighting, with a few helicopter-fired hiding behind human shields, and Amer­ The depiction of Israel's "staggering missiles, those thirteen would still be ican bombing in Afghanistan is estimat­ brutality and callous murder" in the alive. The only reason Israel did not do ed to have left up to 3,000 civilians dead. Evening Standard of London, for so was a degree of concern with loss of By what standard, then, was the world instance, was untenable on its face. In civilian life that no other army would media condemning Israeli brutality and stark contrast to the United States in have shown. measuring disregard for innocent civilians? The media has reduced the entire conflict to one box score: Palestinian dead vs. Jewish dead. Omitted are such questions and distinctions as: W110 ini­ tiated the violence and why? Were those who died innocent civilians, deliberate­ ly targeted, or were they killed while per­ petrating terrorist acts? All irrelevant. The press rarely mentions that every Israeli relaxation of the closure on Palestinian territory is rewarded with When Hashem, in his infinite wisdom, needs to import fresh Jewish bodies within 24 hours. justice to the world, he selects a chosen few to bear the Similarly unmentioned is that there physical brunt of the Midas Hadin. would not be a single Israeli soldier in He expects all others to share the retribution Area "/\' if Jews had not become daily targets of suicide bombers. in an easier fashion - financially. Western governments were not far behind the media in their condemna­ The M ...... family is suffering terribly. Seventeen children. The father, tions of Israel. The European Parliament a soler (scribe) who lost his keen eyesight, is now an invalid. His frail voted to impose trade sanctions. Six heart couldn't take the profound anguish of marrying off his children European governments - France, Bel­ and sinking deeper into debt year after year. gium, Sweden, Austria, Spain, and Por­ tugal -voted for a resolution by the mis­ The ninth child's wedding has been postponed time and time again. named U.N Commission on Human lin(i1[,j~fjlti!1@il1Wl!!1!1!J11l1HMl!IJi®JGl:!lmt1aj:!!fMNIQ®t\I Rights that affirmed the legitimacy of "all available means, including armed Those of us who were chosen to get off the hook with an mild reckoning, struggle;' by nations fighting occupa­ dare not shirk our fiscal obligations! We must fully do our part! tion, and accused Israel of "mass killings." As Michael Rubin pointed out in the Wall Street Journal, much of Endorsed by Leading Gedolei Hatorah Europe had effectively condoned suicide bombings directed at Jews in Israel. 1 1 (1111Z ~·11 .ftJI,, 11(0> '/f ft,01e .7?,, Vl The Belgian government warned Rabbi Matisyahu Solomon Rabbi Yaakov Perlow Rabbi Dovid Schustal members of the Antwerp diamond Mashgiach - Lakewood Novominsker Rebbe Rosh Yeshiva - Lakewood exchange that it was considering ban­ ning exports to Israel, Belgium's largest customer for uncut diamonds, a step that would destroy one of Israel's few remaining export industries. The Nor­ wegian parliament considered remov­ ing the Nobel Peace Prize not from the

8 The Jewish Observer, April 2002 unrepentant terrorist Arafat, but fron1 out, that name is anti-Se1nitism. Age-old building. While Pol Pot murdered two Shimon Peres, for being a minister in the hatred of Jews has transmogrified today million of his own people, the interna­ criminal Israeli government. into hatred of the idea of the Jews as a tional community devoted more time Once again, the double standard nation. No matter how imperfect Israel and energy to the status of Palestinians. applied to Israel is breathtaking in its is as a model of Jewish nationhood, Whatever the subject tackled by the hypocrisy. Syria, which murdered over Israel signifies to the world the assertion U.N. - aging, childhood, communica­ 20,000 of its own citizens in Homa in of Jewish peoplehood. ble diseases decimating the population 1982, sits on the U.N. Security Council, The world's obsession with the Pales­ of Africa, the status of women in while Israel is the only country in the tinians is so out of proportion to the Afghanistan - the majority of the dis­ world not eligible for membership. China, actual degree of their suffering- espe­ cussion and often the only resolutions in which citizens are routinely executed for cially when compared to tens of millions passed concern the Palestinians. 1'ens of minor "economic" crimes, religion is of other impoverished and downtrod­ millions of people have become brutally suppressed, and couples are den people around the world, who have refugees since the end of World War II, forcibly sterilized after one child, is award­ had far less a hand in their own fate - including 600,000 Jews thrown out of ed the 2008 Summer Olympics, while as to defy any rational explanation. It can Arab lands after Israel's independence, Israel is threatened with trade boycotts. only be understood as a function of the but only the Palestinians have a U.N. More than 30 years ago, Eric Hoffer millennial obsession with the Jews. agency, UNRWA, devoted solely to wrote: "The Jews are a peculiar people: To judge from the deliberations of the them. With respect to all the rest of things permitted to other nations are United Nations, the Palestinians are the those refugees, the United Nations forbidden to the Jews. Other nations most oppressed people on the face of the High Commission on Refugees has a drive out thousands, even millions of earth, if not the only ones with any claim mandate to "seek permanent solu­ people and there is no refugee problem. to the world's concern. Hutus and Tut­ tions:' Not so with respect to the But in the case of Israel, the Arabs have sis in Rwanda slaughter one another in Palestinians. They have been main­ become eternal refugees. Other nations the tens of thousands with fewer calls tained for 54 years as perpetual refugees when victorious on the battlefield, dic­ for intervention than are heard after one in fetid camps, where they constitute an tate peace terms. But when Israel is vic­ Israeli retaliatory strike on an empty ever-ready strike force against Israel. torious, it must sue for peace:' What was clear in 1968 is ten times 1nore so today. No Western government explicitly denies Israel the right to defend her cit­ izens from terror attacks. Yet every Israeli response - with the possible exception of an immediate unilateral withdrawal ' to the 1949 Armistice Line - is invari­ • Full Day, Half Day, Or Part Time Programs ably deemed disproportionate. One • Includes Intensive Limudei Kodesh suspects that they are only dispropor­ I • Endorsed By Leading Gedolei Yisrael I tionate because Jewish lives continue to • Dynamic Shiurim By The Foremost Mechanchim be so devalued in world currency • Hundreds Of Successful, Maalot Graduates Worldwide I I • Choice of Regular or Lishma Program Mark Steyn noted, with his charac­ • A Warm Bais Yaakov Atmosphere - Select Group Of Students teristic bite, that one undeniably pro­ • Option of Eight Week Summer Program In Yerushalayim I portionate Israeli response would not be I • The Exciting Alternative To A Full Year In Eretz Yisroel likely to command wide approbation in Renowned Mechanchim Include: Rabbi M. Blum, Rabbi Avraham Blumenkrantz the world's foreign ministries. What Rabbi Dovid Gibber, Rabbi Yoel Kromer, Rabbi Zev Merzel, Rabbi N. Robinowich I I Robbi Aron Rapps, Robbi Ben Zion Schiffenbauer, Rabbi Yisroel Dov Webster would that be? Prime Minister Sharon Rebbetzin Y. Oovidowitz, Rebbetzin M. Eisenberger, Rebbetzin Chaya Ginzberg should fish some eighteen-year-old girl Rebbetzin Devora Kitevits, Rebbetzin Naoma Lermon, Rebbetzin Rivka Oratz I out of a 1'el Aviv home economics class, I Rebbetzin Bruria Rubin, Rebbetzin Esther Twersky, Rebbetzin Foyge Wolpin load her up with Semtex, and send her Summer In Eretz Yisrael: Robbi Oovid Refson M Dean, Rabbi Dovid Kass M Director Robbi Nosson Geisler, Rabbi Leib Keleman, Robbi Y. Monot,, Rabbi Meir Treibitz to a Ramallah pizzeria to blow the legs Rebbetzin Tziporoh Heller, Rebbetzin Zehavo Kass, Rebbetzin Reno Tarshish off of Palestinian grandmothers. I 1 ·LA-1<-=L<>.._. - I tll: IV 1 J r:MITf#l I( T Cl' f'V,;H -,> r:Wll nil 'RY ANTI-SEMITISM RESURGENT WITH THE ERETZ YISRAEL FLAVOR! here is a name for the double RABBI SHOLOM G. GINZBERG, DEAN standard applied to Israel, and as, 931 Coney Island Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11230 TNorman Podhoretz has pointed • For More Information Phone Or Fax:(718)377-0222___.

The Jewish Observer, April 2002 ------9 'I'here are "hundreds of murderous on a vastly smaller scale, today. lard protested the substitution of Jew border disputes over lost lands going The "new" anti-Semitism still per­ for Israeli, the friend replied, "Israelis, on between Indians and Pakistanis, forms the traditional function of Jews, come on, it's the same thing." Chinese and Tibetans, Colombians, reminding Jews that they are different. Our Sages knew that anti-Semitism Congolese) Irish) Rwandans, Kurds For Western Jews never exposed to any­ 1night wax and wane, but it would and Turks," observes Victor J)avis thing more than the odd epithet, the never disappear. It would remain pro­ Hanson in the March 15, National spasmodic eruption of fury directed at tean, ever lurking beneath the surface, Review, and the world only sighs. No Jews everywhere has come as a shock. ready to explode in new forms. That is one cares, he continues, about millions Synagogues have been torched, ceme­ what they meant when they said, "It is of innocents butchered all over the teries desecrated, and Jews beaten by a fixed principle: Esav hates Yaakov." globe every year, but instead "focus on mobs in France, Germany, Belgium, As Hillel Halkin observed in the Feb­ what the Palestinians lost while Holland, Russia, and Tunisia. Virtual­ ruary Commentary, "Traditionally, Jews attempting to destroy their neighbors." ly every European capital has witnessed were not bewildered by anti-Semitism. mass demonstrations against Israel, at [T]hey understood not only that it exist­ NO TIME FOR ANOTHER OBSESSION which those dressed as suicide bombers ed, but must exist; that hatred of them have an honored place. was hatred of the G-d Who chose e Jews could be forgiven for Jews who thought that they were them .... Anti-Semitism was sometimes wishing from time to time fully accepted members of society devastating. It was never surprising or W that the world would find must now ask then1selves: VVho am I? demoralizing." another obsession. We should not. As Why am I hated? Precisely in those Zionism, in contrast to our Sages, long as the world's attention remains places where Jews have n1ixed most maintained that Jew hatred was a tran­ focused on the sliver of land Hashem freely - academia and the media - is sitory phenomenon, rooted in the par­ promised to the Jews, we have further hatred of Israel the most intense. ticular circumstances of the Jews, and proof that we are His Chosen People. Stephen Pollard described recently in when those circumstances changed The very irrationality of that obsession the Sunday Telegraph his shock to dis­ anti-Semitism wonld disappear. The is proof that something deeper, beyond cover that close friends from universi­ eradication of anti-Semitism was one of the normal realn1s of causality, is tak­ ty, comrades in every left-wing cause Zionism's shining hopes. ing place. ~fhere were those - Christians for twenty years, make no distinction Zionists attributed anti-Semitism to as well as Jews - who found the dedi­ between Jews and Israelis, and are the degraded state of the Jews living cation of the most "civilized" nation in equally repulsed by both. One old among the nations. They reasoned that Europe to the total eradication of the friend told him, "The Jews need to be when the Jews achieved a state of their Jewish people during the Holocaust to taught, terrible as the Holocaust was, own, like all other peoples, they would be the most powerful evidence of Jew­ you can't rely on that excuse forever, cease to be objects of contempt. ish chosenness. And we are witnessing and certainly not to justify what you are Quite the opposite has occurred. something similar, though thankfully doing to the Palestinians." When Pol- Israel, the Zionist state, has become the lightning rod for hatred of Jews. If any­ thing, it has served as a catalyst for new ~ 2,000 MARRIED "'c=>MEN expressions of anti-Semitism. For attended a series cf six bistcric lectures last year iu Brcc)flyu every anti-Semitic incident anywhere NOW YOU CAN HEAR IT in the world, there is always the same LIVE ON CASSEl"I'E! pretext: Israel.

THE UNITED STATES: A Beautiful Album of 14 Tapes• ISRAEL'S ONLY ALLY HALACHA & HASHKAFA on he opprobrium of the world • Sbalom Bayis • Marriaiic barely touched Israel in the open­ • Thbaras Hamisbpacba • T:::oius Ting days of Operation Defensive by Kebbetzin Zahava Braunstein Shield because the United States did not join in the chorus demanding Israel's immediate withdrawal. President George W. Bush seemed truly moved by the enormity of the evil involved in sending a suicide bomber to blow up people gathered for a religious cere-

10 The Jewish Observer, April 2002 mony. He and his proxies reiterated sev­ A DISPARITY BETWEEN eral times in the opening days of the ADVICE AND ACTIONS campaign that Israel has a right to defend herself. he disparity between American All that changed, however, in the actions and the course being dic­ President's surprise April 4 speech from Ttated to Israel prompted some of the Rose Garden. The speech began per­ the strongest supporters of the war on fectly from Israel's point of view. Once terrorism to assail the President's speech. again, the President demonstrated an Most of the Criticism in Congress came intuitive understanding of the connec­ primarily from conservative Republican C#t¥Developm,ent tion between the terror threat facing senators from states with small Jewish Israel and that experienced by the Unit­ populations. Among national pundits, SpeciaUstsserving ed States on September 11. "No nation the flack came primarily from conser­ can negotiate with terrorists. For there vative columnists like Charles i~ants!toddlers is no way to make peace with those Krauthammer, George Will, Cal Thomas, whose only goal is death;' he said. William Safire, Norman Podhoretz, & theirfamilies The President made clear his low William Bennett, and Jeff Jacoby. 5 regard for Arafat by mentioning him The President's critics accused him of only once in his speech, and then only having drained the moral clarity from in the context of having failed to con­ his war on terror. The killing of inno­ trol terrorists.4 Nor did the President cent human beings to further political spare the Palestinian Authority his ends is always wrong, the President had sting. He charged the PA had devoted declared. By now demanding that Israel itself to feeding its people's resentments withdraw in the first week of a compli­ rather than improving their lives. cated campaign, the critics argued, the Just when Israeli government offi­ President appeared to be making an cials had settled comfortably into exception for terror against Israel. In their chairs to savor the President's addition, the critics charged, by push­ words, he dropped a bombshell: Israel ing a political process leading to a Pales­ should begin withdrawing - subse­ tinian state, while the carnage in Israel quently amended to "immediately was still fresh, the President was reward­ withdraw" - from Palestinian cities ing terrorism. and towns. In effect, the President's 'fo give Arafat"one 1nore chance," in speech turned into an extended non­ the face of the magnitude of the terror sequitur: (I) Israel is faced with terror in Israel over the preceeding month, they on an unprecedented scale, against argued, would only convince him that which she has the right and duty to whatever he did, or failed to do, there EARLY~ it1f:ERVENTJON •MARES· A• OIFfERtNCt defend herself; (2) Therefore Israel would always be absolution. The critics should withdraw its troops from the might also have noted that Israel had just E'valuation &Therapy . Palestinian cities in which those ter­ two weeks earlier provided Arafat one .at our center or in.the rorists are sheltered. more chance at the behest of the Pres­ privacyof yourf\ome. As of the President's speech, the ident, and the result was 50 more dead American 1nilitary action in Jews. The price of American forbearance Free C)f Charge Afghanistan was already in its seventh is paid in Jewish lives. The President month, while Israel's military action to spoke as, in his words, «a committed Bi-Ungua/ Services Available destroy the terrorist infrastructure friend" of Israel. And that is doubtless within the Palestinian Authority was true. No president in recent me1nory has Executive offices still in its first week. Moreover, the shown such a keen appreciation of the .4228 Tenth .Avenbe, Israeli operation was of necessity a difficulty of Israel's situation or such a Brooklyn,.NewYork.11219 slow, house-by-house affair, precisely grasp of the nature of her ene1nies. because of Israel's willingness to do 4 what America had refused to do in Two days later, the President expressed hin1self 718•972•0880. Afghanistan: place its own troops in even n1ore explicitly, in effect calling Arafat an incorrigible liar. In response to a question, Bush danger in order to minimize civilian f'tlrnltd &. R.•'ll~llttl'>'.11~· M'S'1l'1(-1'i fuhltl1 & ~)'LD4Jf-/>1' ~~ aeiWb, said that Arafat had not lost his trust because"he ~,.}/W~~; !.· Aloi~•fllil.¥rk

The Jewish Observer, April 2002 11 "Acquire for yourself a friend," our President's speech. The speech reflect­ directly. Rather he reiterates that Israel Sages teach us in Pirkei Avos (1:6). And ed an internal struggle for his soul. Jn has the right to defend her citizens and the Maharal explains that a friend need the first half of the speech, President then goes on to note the regional con­ not even be on a higher level than one­ Bush's most deeply felt intuitions and text within which the Arab-Israeli con­ self to render excellent advice. It is suf­ instincts were ascendant; in the second flict takes place. ficient that with respect to the question half, the message coming from the State "Regional context" is a code word for at hand he does not have one's own Department seemed to gain controJ.6 American interests. In the eyes of the negios (vested interests). Secretary of State Colin Powell State Department, it is crucial that there In this case, however, the United admitted as much. When challenged be quiet on the Israeli-Palestinian front States is not without negios of its own, about the apparent inconsistency in order to secure Arab support for the and the advice being urged on Israel was between how the United States is con­ impending American effort to oust hardly disinterested. Perceived Ameri­ ducting its war on terrorism and how Iraq's Saddam Hussein. Jn addition, the can interests explain the apparent dis­ it wants Israel to conducts its war on ter­ State Department fears that the "Arab connect between the two parts of the rorism, the Secretary never answers street" in Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Ara­ bia could become so inflamed by images of the destruction in Palestinian cities and towns as to threaten the entrenched autocracies in those countries. Finally, the State Department is sensitive to the criticism of those who blame a lack of American involvement for the current war between Israel and the Palestinians. Whatever the weight of the Ameri­ can concerns - and there are a nu1nber of strong reasons to believe they are overblown' - Israel could not allow them to determine its own actions on • a matter of vital national interest with­ out assuming the role of Czechoslova­ kia circa 1938. Then, too, a small coun­ try was forced to take great risks to serve the interests of larger and more power­ ful friends. Jn the end, however, all con­ It hurts cerned ~ Czechoslovakia, Britain) and France - were ill-served by the deal r struck at Munich. Czechoslovakia was rendered indefensible by the sacrifice of its primary defensive assets, and France o. and Britain were rendered vulnerable to attack by German perception of their weakness. A similar dynamic is at work It feels better just to talk about it. That's 5 why we're here. Our staff is made up of 1he criticism, however, was not limited to con­ caring and sensitive individuals. Together, servatives. Some of the most trenchant criticism we can help you explore your options. We appeared in the liberal New Republic, particularly can refer you to recognized professionals that of Martin Peretz. for counseling, legal advice or help in 6 That struggle for the President's soul is ongo­ finding a safe environment. We can also ing. At a press conference, upon Secretary of State put you in touch with some very special Powell's return from his failed Middle East mis­ Rabbis. But in order for us to reach out to sion, President Bush was asked whether the con­ you, you must first reach out to us. tinued presence of Israeli troops around Arafat's 1.888.883.2323 compound in Ramallah did not contravene his Confidential Hotline demand for Israel to withdraw its troops. The (Toll Free) President denied the premise, and expressed his 718.337.3700 understanding of Israel's demand for the killers (NYC Area) of Israeli minister Rehavam Zeevi. He went on Do it for yourself. to describe Prime Minister Sharon as a "man of Do it for your children. Shalom Task force 1s a 501(c)(3} charitable orgarnzat1on peace," who had kept to the timetable for with­ drawal he had provided the President. ------·-----·------·------12 The Jewish Observer, April 2002 today. American pressure on Israel out nant woman carries a "baby" of 10 kilo­ cide bombers rejoice in their offsprings' of fear of what the Arabs might do grams of explosives, as was the case of heroic actions, and tell the eager Pales­ would only embolden terrorist states by the 17-year-old girl who blew herself up tinian media of their hopes that their suggesting a lack of American resolve. April 12 in Jerusalem's Machaneh Yehu­ remaining children will follow a simi­ Abundant experience shows that da market - and a six-year-old Pales­ lar path. While not every Palestinian is Arafat will never act to restrain Pales­ tinian boy being taken by an ambulance yet ready to strap an explosive belt to his tinian terror directed at Israel. Experi­ to a hospital is found with an explosive or her body, even the enthusiastic sup­ ence demonstrates as well that reliance belt underneath him, no person or vehi­ port of the population encourages sui­ on intercepting suicide bombers once cle can be above suspicion. cide bombers. they are loaded up and on their way is As long as that is true, security The Palestinian media and schools foolhardy. Israel therefore had no choice checkpoints are inevitable. And those have whipped the population into but to strike directly at the terrorist checkpoints will be slow-moving, paroxysms of hatred. Moslem clergy infrastructure. To withdraw while that humiliating affairs. appointed and supported by the PA reg­ operation was still in its first stages Nor is it altogether clear what the ularly broadcast sermons extolling mar­ would have been tantamount to taking President means by((innocent:' Accord­ tyrdom. The April 12 sermon on PA tel­ half a course of antibiotics: the bacte­ ing to every Palestinian poll, the war evision was typical. The preacher ria would have only come back again in launched just before Rosh Hashana 5760 castigated "whoever has not achieved a far more virulent state. commands huge popular support, and martyrdom in these times," calling on Prime Minister Sharon was right to the same is true of suicide bombings. them to rise up in the night and call out, have shown great solicitude for Amer­ Support for the latter consistently runs "My L-rd, why have you denied me mar­ ican interests and to have expedited the between 70% to 85% in polls. Sponta­ tyrdom?" Israeli action as much as possible. Yet neous celebrations invariably break out Arafat himself has famously called for rushing to do President Bnsh's bidding in Palestinian towns after every «suc­ a million martyrs marching on would have placed Israel in new danger cessful" suicide bombing. Parents of sui- Jerusalem, and after the Seder night (and have been fatal to his political i In fact, each one of the A1nerican interests is to popular uprisings, nevertheless the fear of career.) Clear proof that the United greatly overstated. There is, in any event, no the Arab street is frequently exaggerated. Prior States holds Israel on a very short leash chance of reconstituting the Gulf War coalition to the first American attacks on the Taliban, the could only have emboldened Palestin­ against Iraq. Every Arab country made clear to same fears were expressed about the destabi­ ian terrorists. Nor would American Vice-President Cheney, on his recent Middle East lizing threat of the Arab street Those fears never tour, that they will not publicly support or oth­ materialized. interests have been ultimately served by erwise aid an attack on Iraq. And, with the excep­ the appearance of absolute control over And far from a lack of American involvement tion of the British, the same is almost certainly having led to the present violence, it is far more Israel, for then every Israeli action true of the Europeans. In the end, the U.S. will plausible to argue that it was brought about by would become directly attributable to have to ad unilaterally. seven years of hyperactive American involvement. the United States. While it is true that none of America's allies in The present violence is a direct continuation of the Arab world command anything like den1- that initiated by Arafat on September 29, 2000, ocratic legitimacy and are therefore vulnerable after returning from Camp David. DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN "INNOCENT PALESTINIANS" AND TERRORISTS

((It is crucial [for Israel] to dis­ tinguish between terrorists and ordinary Palestinians seeking to Registration is now open i~; the summer program of 5762 which will be held 1YH in Yerush~la~·~. provide for their families," President Once again, the program which has been recommended and endorsed by Gedolei Y1sroel, will Bush advised Israel in his April 4 present an intensive course of study, prepared for Bnei Torah to enable them to develop their full poten­ address. "The Israeli government should be compassionate at checkpoints and tial as Mechanchim in Yeshivas and Day Schools. border crossings, sparing innocent Our dedicated staff of Roshei Yeshiva, professional Rabbeim, and prominent Mechanchim, will Palestinians daily humiliation." present the full range of subjects vital to the success of the rebbe in the classroom. We invite moti­ Nothing would bring Israel greater vated individuals possessing higher Yeshiva and (or) Kolle! education, to participate in this program. pleasure than being able to make pre­ cisely the distinction suggested by the Recognized for a Yeshiva Teacher's License President. Unfortunately, he neglected For further information contact to provide any advice on how to discern RABBI HILLEL MANDEL, Dean RABBI NACHMAN ZAKON, Administrator RABBI CHAIM ROBERTS who is a terrorist and who is an inno­ NY (718) 805-1191 Jerusalem 02-651-9739 England 161-740-3465 cent party seeking work. When a preg- Limited space available. If interested, please contact us immediately.

The Jewish Observer, April 2002 13 massacre was quoted in the Washington restrain terrorism, he implicitly assumes compound in Ramallah show Arafat's Post expressing his desire for "martyr­ that Arafat and the official organs are on personally approving funding of well­ dom like this." Three days after pub­ one side and the terrorists are on the known terrorists. A General Intelligence lishing a ghost written op-ed in the New other. Nothing could be further from the Service report filed by the Tulkarm dis­ York Times in which he condemned sui­ truth. The vast network of laboratories trict commander speaks of close coop­ cide bo1nbings against Israeli civilians, for the manufacture of bombs and mis­ eration between the GIS and a terror­ his Fatah movement sponsored a siles and the large stockpile of arms ist cell that murdered six Jews at a bat demonstration of elementary school uncovered by Israeli forces could never mitzvah celebration. Other docu1nents girls caring posters ofWafa Idris, the first have existed without the active complicity reveal the PA actively involved in the woman suicide bomber. of the security apparatus loyal to Arafat. procurement of explosives and other When President Bush condemns Arafat's involvement, however, goes arma1nents. Arafat for not having done more to far beyond moral support and benign Given the Palestinian population's neglect of the terrorist network. Accord­ overwhelming support for the war ing to a graph in The New York Times, launched against Israel 18 months ago, one-third of the terror attacks in the past in all its forms, and the full involvement 15 months and nearly half the recent of all organs of the Palestinian Author­ suicide bombings have been carried out ity in the terror directed at Israel, to by the Fatah-Tanzim and the Al-Aksa speak of"innocent" Palestinians is to tail Martyrs Bridage, both of which are to understand the true nature of the directly under Arafat's authority. A threat facing Israel. leader of the Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade told New York Times correspondent Joel "PEACE" IS BLOWING Brinkley that Arafat had never dis­ IN THE WIND AGAIN couraged the group's suicide bombings in any way. er haps the most ominous aspect Specializing in small batim for a perfect fit. Documents seized from Arafat's of the President's speech were the Pindications that the Bush admin­ istration may be returning to the failed diplomacy of the Clinton years. The President's warm praise for the Saudi proposal8 which envisions an Israeli return to the 1967 borders (as well as the Palestinian right of return, though this Global Cellphone Rental is less frequently noted), and the Unit­ "The Name You Trust'' ed States' sponsorship of Security Council Resolution 1054 calling for the DOMESTIC CORPORATE ACTIVATIONS establishment of a Palestinian state • Cellphone Rental for over 110 Countries both point in that direction. If the State Department believes, • Same day I Next day delivery however, that it is possible to return to • Voice mail & text messaging proposals put on the table by then Prime • Guaranteed lowest rates Minister Ehud Barak at Camp David, as soon as a temporary respite in the vio­ • 24 hr. customer service lence is achieved, it is badly mistaken. The • Fax & data service entire Oslo process was predicated on • Itemized bill what might be termed the rationalist folly. Those who subscribe to this folly imag­ • Call waiting ine that all human beings want basical­ •Caller ID ly the same things and will seek to max- imize their share of the desired goods. §, ~ Invariably, those goods are assumed 877.CELL P ~ to be economic in nature. In speech after 877.235.5746 • speech, Bill Clinton and Shimon Peres i I described the beautiful New Middle East www.travelcell.com ' that would be ushered in by peace.

14 The Jewish Observer, April 2002 Always, the vision offered was one of Palestinian Authority n1edia continual­ ing to let bygones be bygones. Changing material plenty for all peoples of the ly justified the Oslo Accords as the first the attitudes of an entire population will region. stage towards recapturing all of Pales­ take years, if it is possible at all. Yet until Rationalists tend to be optimistic. tine. No map or textbook produced by that is done, any"peace treaty" would do They believe that there is a solution for the Palestinian Authority ever showed nothing more than set the starting point every conflict - the point of compron1ise Israel, within any borders. for the next stage of war. determined by econon1ists' game theo­ The Oslo Accords envisioned a ry. Since they recognize the irrational­ staged process that would n1ake it eas­ AMERICAN JEWRY'S ity of war - dead people cannot enjoy ier in the end for both sides to make the MOMENT OF TRUTH life's material delights - they assume requisite con1pron1ises. ()ver seven everyone does. years, Israel handed over to the Pales­ he most direct in1pact of events They also tend to put enormous stock tinian Authority co1nplete control of the in Bretz Yisroel has, of course, in written agreements and to pay little daily life of 98% of the Palestinian pop­ Tbeen on the Jews living there. At attention to issues like the trustworthi­ ulation. In addition, Israel armed a the same time, American Jewry has not ness of the parties and the enforceabil­ Palestinian security apparatus that was been a disinterested spectator to the ity of the agree1nents. Because those supposed to prevent terrorism against unfolding warfare. Indeed Operation agreen1ents embody e1ninently ration­ Israel. Over that period, the vast major­ Defensive Shield constitutes a defining al compron1ises, in their eyes, they antic­ ity of Israelis accepted the idea ofter­ moment for American Jewry. ipate nothing more than a little cheat­ ritory for peace. The Likud position Israel has long been central to the self­ ing around the edges at the most. today is indistinguishable from that of identity of America Jews. Rabbi Yaakov Shimon Peres and Ehud Barak gave the Peace Now in l 993. Kamenetsky, ?"Yr, once said at a con­ ultimate expression to this tendency by Nothing reciprocal took place on the vention of Agudath Israel of America continually downplaying Palestinian Palestinian side. The Palestinian posi­ that the vast majority of non-observant incite1nent and expressing interest only tions at Camp David remained exactly Jews in the world would have lost all self­ in the content of written agree1nents. what they had been in l 993. In return identification as Jews but for the creation Suicide bon1bers are refutation of the for each concrete Israeli territorial with­ of the state. Israel served for many as the rationalist folly. The suicide bomber drawal, Israel received the same prom­ only antidote to the extreme despair reveals that human beings around the ises previously given. caused by the Holocaust. world differ greatly from one another in As Dennis Ross, the negotiator most In recent decades, however, as An1er­ their assumptions about the proper closely associated with the Oslo process, ican Jewish identity has waned, so has views of life, or even about the value of concluded in his valedictory summation: identification with Israel. While Israel life itself. The rationalists' economic Arafat is a revolutionary leader, who has remains a source of identity for Amer­ reductionism is further refuted by the completely defined himself by the ican Jews, its ability to do so has declined eagerness of the Palestinians to pursue armed struggle for Palestine. He cannot dramatically. Since 1967, support for a war against Israel that has resulted in make peace. Israel has ceased to be part of the liber­ the destruction of their economy. Instead of educating his people for al consensus to which most American 'lb dream of returning to where n1at­ peace, Arafat used the Palestinian Jews subscribe. The prestige press, par­ ters left off at Camp David is to ignore Authority media and educational system ticularly The New York Times, read by the crucial lesson of Camp David: the to whip them into a frenzy of hatred. PA most American Jews, tends to be high­ Palestinians have not accepted Israel's sun1n1er camps teach eight-year olds ly critical of the Israeli government. right to exist. Arafat himself acknowl­ how to kill Jews. And PA television On the elite campuses, Israel is nlore edged as much when he told President broadcasts Chairman Arafat kissing likely to be a source of embarrassment Clinton that he would be assassinated the heads of charming little girls dressed than a source of pride. That is one rea­ if he tried to sell Barak's Camp David in white, chanting songs of redeeming son why Jewish students, despite their proposals to his people. Jerusalem with daggers dripping with greater numbers, often find themselves In the eight years preceding Camp Jewish blood. unable or unwilling to defend Israel David, Arafat failed to educate his peo­ The entire Palestinian educational against Arab students. The latter feel ple that no resolution of the conflict was apparatus has been devoted to creating a n1uch more intensely about what is possible without compro1nise and the cult of death and killing. Today's suicide going on in the Middle East and stick renunciation of cherished an1bitions, bombers are the result. That seething caul­ to a uniforn1 1nessage. Jews were heav­ including the right of return. Rather, the dron of hatred, which today boils hotter ily represented in a recent pro-Pales­ ------8 The Saudi kingdon1's sponsorship around the today than ever, after 18 n1onths of war­ tinian den1onstration of Harvard world of the n1ost fanatic fonn of Islan1 - Wahab­ fare, cannot be cooled by forcing Arafat women - half dressed as pregnant bisn1 - and !ts consistent refusal to acknowledge to mumble some formula about recog­ Palestinians and half dressed as Israeli suicide bon1bcrs as terrorists inakc it a soincwhat nizing Israel's right to exist and promis- suspect sponsor of peace in the Middle East. soldiers busy kicking them.

The Jewish Observer, April 2002 15 Operation Defensive Shield has put shown greater sensitivity to civilian casu­ identification that will lead to more and American Jews to the test. Israel stands alties than would any other country more Jews joining us in turning to condemned by every country in the fighting in similar circumstances. i 0 Hashem. For surely we have reached the world (with the partial exception of the The unity of the Jewish people is itself stage where all the masks are off, and it United States). The prestige press has an important goal. There were times is possible to feel, in an almost tactile fash­ criticized the Israeli operation as both when the Hashem favored the Jewish ion, that we have none other upon whom futile and brutal. And the images of war people with military strength even to rely than Our Father in Heaven. • being broadcast on CNN are designed under wicked kings, like Achav, just 9 to put the worst possible cast on because of their unity. That unity is also The New York Times tried to soften the choice by personalizing the operation as "Sharon's War;' Israeli actions. How does one stand a precondition for the receipt of the and portraying it as a function of his violence~ against the entire world? On the other Torah-Tr.J;n'mi\v>""1]T1'1. But it is not prone character and long vendetta against Yass­ hand, does one really believe that the receipt of the Torah itself. For that er Arafat. Thus American Jews could continue to one's fellow Jews have suddenly devel­ we have to turn towards Hashem as one. believe in the basic goodness of their fellow Jews in Israel by i1nagining that they had fallen prey oped a lust for the blood of Palestin­ The massive prayer gathering six days to the machinations of Prime Minister Sharon. ian children and are eager to once again after the rally in Washington D.C. - The portrait of the war as Sharon's was nonsense. assume control of the daily lives of 3 50,000 Jews filling Lower Manhattan and The Prime Minister has been far more often crit­ million Palestinians? That was the another 30,000 participating around the icized in Israel for his restraint- bombing empty choice facing American Jews. 9 country- was, then, the second stage of buildings after ample warning in response toter­ The mass demonstration in Wash­ a process. Yet we must not forget that the rorist killings - than for his bellicosity. Had he not launched Operation Defensive Shield, his ington D.C. on April 15 provides a ray Jews gathered to recite Tehillim repre­ government would have fallen. of hope for American Jewry. Over sent a small percentage of American JO That does not mean, of course, that all Amer­ 100,000 Jews, and by some estimates Jewry, and that most American Jews ican Jewry lined up solidly behind IsraeL Though twice that number, chose to be on the have never beseeched Hashem through the nutnbers drawn to a weekday rally on short side of the Jews of Israel against the Tehillim. notice were surely in1pressive, the tens of thou­ sands of non-religious Jews present might only whole world. They recognized that We can only hope that what we wit­ represent the contracting core of identified Israel had no choice, and expressed their nessed in Washington D.C. did indeed Jews.A more optimistic evaluation would be that confidence that Israeli soldiers have represent a moment of profound Jewish the march represented a reawakening of Jewish identity.

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··------·------16 The Jewish Observer, Aprif 2002 Sunda~ May 19th, Tomchei 8 Sivan, 5762 9:30 am · 5:00 pm, Lunch Included

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MONEY: lJghtrope THE BOTTOM LINE BY LEAH FRIED A Concise Halachic Handbook on Money Matters for Everyone It may seem like a dream come true, BY RABBI MOSHE HILLEL KAUFMAN but little does Riki realize that her marriage to Daniel will be more than You agreed to se!I your wall unit to some­ she bargained for - especially with one, then changed your mind. Gin you can­ regard to her new mother-in-law. cel the sale? Your neighbor left his shovel out- side his front door. Can you borrow it without asking him? You Tightrope, the new novel from noted want to take some sandwiches home from a Bris you're attending. Can you? author Leah Fried, explores the complexities of human relationships - Money- The Bottom Line provides you with a digest of Jewish monetary law. It with candor, rare insight, and understanding. covers such diverse topics as weights and measures, overcharging, deceit, stealing, Written with great care and sensitivity, Tightrope deals with hurt, competition, hiring help, employers and employees, wages, interest, damages and healing, personal growth, and the courage needed to bring families loss, and much more. You'll !earn basic concepts and laws, as you encounter together. Once again, Leah Fried has taken Jewish literature to new heights dozens of common, practical case studies - all presented in one clear, concise, in a novel that js at once entertaining, yet spirituJl!y uplifting. and easy-to-read volume. ~. When it comes to money, be informed.

A RABBFS JOURNAL Kids SPEAK. RABBI YITZCHAK REUVEN RUBIN The GAME Are you looking for that special book you can'1 put down? Well, here it is! Just start reading ... and you'll know exactly BY CHAIM WALDER what we mean. A Rabbi's Journal is thal perfed mix - of Resped for others, charity, humor and warmth, insight and anecdote -- that will keep you turning pages ... until you wish there wen' more to turn. honesty, guarding one's tongue . Overflowing with wisdom and clarity, A Rabbi's Journal "it's all part of the Kids Speak examines today's Jewish world - in a way that is both offbeat Game -

LIVING IN TROUBLED TIMES withdrawal of the affliction. believe in Hashgacha, or he does believe, but is uncertain as to whether he United States and Israel are TB FILLA Hashem has the ability to save him - each waging its own war. In both [perspectives] are heresy. TAmerica, we are told that its war he Midrash Rabba explains the Perhaps one might say: I do believe on terroris1n is going to continue for an opening pasuk in Vo' es'chanan: "I that Hashem can save me from my mis­ indefinite period of time. In Bretz Yis­ Texhorted Hashem at that time fortune, except I am not worthy of roel, the cnrrent 19-month chain ofter­ leimor (saying)." The Midrash asks, Hashem's help. The Sefer Ha'Ikrim refutes ror by those seeking the destruction of What does" leimor, saying" mean? The that claim by reminding us that every­ Bretz Yisroel (Heaven forbid) shows no Midrash answers: "Say [this message] to thing we receive every day from Hashem signs of letting up. the futnre generations, that they, too, - every breath, every morsel of food - is With that in mind, what should onr should pray during troubled times:'3 not due to our righteousness, but rather reaction be? How can we help ourselves So great is the need to pray during to Hashem's benevolence and compas­ and Acheinu kol Beis Yisroel ha'nesunim troubled times, that the Rambam rules: sion. As the pasuk says: "Incline your ear, batzara ... in these troubled times? "It is a mitzva in the Torah to cry out Hashem, and listen, open Your eyes and The Rambam' and Mishneh Berura2 [to Hashem for help] and to sound the see our desolation, and that of the city both advise: trumpets in response to all troubles and upon which Your Name is proclaimed; It is in keeping with the paths of afflictions that befall the community:' for not because of our righteousness do teshuva that when a crisis arises, we Although the Rambam and Ramban we cast down our supplications before cry out to Hashem and sound the disagree on whether daily tefilla is of You, but rather because ofYour abundant trumpets... then all will come to Torah or Rabbinical source, they do agree compassion" (Daniel 9, 18). understand that the source of the mis­ that in troubled times, tefilla definitely We are accustomed to thinking that fortune is their own misdeeds, and has the status of a Torah command. when troub1e occurs, we must daven to that [recognition] will bring about the Jn addition, these prayers confirm Hashem for our sa1vation. Of course, we our belief in Hasheni, expressing our would rather not have the trouble Rabbi Kleinman, a popular lecturer on the nature, conviction that only He can help us. occur, but after it strikes, we find need purpose and halacha guidelines for effective tefilla, 4 is a co-founder of the Hakhel Public Lecture Pro~ The Sefer Ha'Ikrim writes: to resort to tefilla. Rabbi Yerucham Lev­ gram in Brooklyn, and a member of the Com­ It is appropriate and obligatory ovitz ?"lit, Mashgiach of the Mirrer mission on Kedushas Bais Haknesses of Agudath upon all who believe in Hashgacha Yeshiva in Europe, explains that this Israel of America. He is the author of Sefer Yad (Divine Providence) that they believe approach is incorrect. 5 The reality is that Lechazor on Bava Metzia; Be' cha! Derachecha De' eihu dealing with the hashkafa and ha/acha of that tefilla helps to rescue them from the cause for the trouble or the pain, in interpersonal relationships; as well as the soon­ their difficulties. If one does not pray the first instance, may have been to to-be published sefer, Ninety Days To Better Dav­ at the time of his misfortune - arouse us to daven - to pour out our ening, from which the above article was taken. whether it is because he does not hearts to Hashem - and then for Hashem to respond with the requested been available to all, they would not have Now we have received another salvation. felt compelled to daven to Hashem. As frightening report of the catastroph­ Rabbi Yerucham presents the follow­ a result, says Rabbi Gifter, it was better ic flood in our country, and a great ing analO!,T When someone plants a to hide the Book with its cures, which storm in Russia in which thousands of fruit tree, it is for the purpose of the tree unfortunately may have resulted in men, women, and children were killed. ultimately bearing fruits. There is no much suffering and death, to induce In many instances, the people's homes other way for the fruit to grow, except people to daven sincerely, thereby nur­ became their graves. by first planting the seeds. So too is it turing their relationship with Hashem. Surely, any thinking person should with affliction and Hashem's salvation. This is the crucial lesson. A life lacking be gripped with fear and trembling The trouble represents the seeds, which prayer is not worth living. At times, we upon hearing such news. The wise per­ result in the sprouting and growth are required to suffer so as to pro1npt son will understand that Hashem is needed for Hashem's intervention and us to daven for Hashem's help. For that warning us to repent. He is demon­ salvation. Thus, all the affliction that we response alone, all the suffering can be strating to everyone that He can do endure is in truth a necessary part of worthwhile. whatever He pleases. Hashem's salvation. So much so, that per­ I am certain that if there were haps the problem should not be called TESHUVA prophets alive today, surely they would ('trouble;' but "prelude to salvation:' exhort their fellow Jews to return to When the Chazon Ish was informed n addition to inspiring our daven­ their Father in Heaven. Because there of bad tidings or was faced with a ing to Hashem during troubled are no prophets today, however, troubled situation, his response was, "It I times, we must recognize that our Hashem warns us through other emis­ seems that Hashem wants us to pray to particular way oflife can also be a cause saries. As the pasuk says," He makes Him." for pain and affliction. The clear mes­ the winds His messengers, the flaming sage is - we are called upon do teshu­ fire His attendants:' KING CHIZKIYAHU'S PLEA va. We are expected to begin changing In 1991, one day before the Gulf War our ways. broke out, Dayan Aharon D. Dunner of he Gemora6 relates that King The Gemord' teaches us: London asked Rabbi Elazar Shach ., .. ,,,, Chizkiyahu, when deathly ill, Affliction and tribulation come to "What should we tell people in Amer­ Tpleaded with Hashem that he the world only on account of Kial Yis­ ica, England and the rest of Europe to earned the merit to live because he had roel, for the pasuk says that Hashem do? They want to do teshuva! They want concealed the Book of Remedies, which proclaims, «I have eliminated nations, guidance." contains the cure for every disease. their towers have become desolate, Rabbi Shach thought for a moment Rashi explains that before King deserted and waste, I have destroyed Chizkiyahu hid this Book, sick people their streets." The next pasuk contin­ did not have to daven to Hashem ues, •1 I said, 'Just fear me, Kial Yisroel, because they had an infallible cure for take a lesson from the destruction.)'' their illness, as prescribed in the Book. Rashi explains that Hashem brings As a result, King Chizkiyahu hid the punishment upon the nations, who are Book to prompt people to daven to themselves deserving of judgment, so Hashem for His compassion and 1nercy that Kial Yisroel who witness the to heal their ailments. destruction, will be fearful of being pun­ We will send you Rabbi Mordechai Gifter 7'''11 asks7: ished themselves, prompting them to FREE the luach for Mishna "Wasn't King Chizkiyahu's action con­ repent. In other words, the events call and Halacha Yomis. trary to halacha? Nothing is more out to us: We must do teshuva. sacred than human life! In fact, a per­ In 1925, on Erev Yorn Kippur 5685, Join the thousands who son is allowed to desecrate the Shabbos the Chofetz Chaim wrote a letter to his follow the luach daily. to save a life. Had the Book still been generation. 9 The letter begins: available over the years, countless lives Recently, I publicized a call to Write to: would have been prolonged or even teshuva following the great storm Rabbi Elias Karp saved by the cures written in this Book. that struck our Holy Land. I wrote how 4701 15th Avenue How could King Chizkiyahu bring dan­ that storm was a warning from Above Brooklyn, NY 11219 ger to so many lives by hiding it?" to the entire world to repent from its Or call 718-851-0770 Rabbi Gifter's answer provides an evil ways, for we know that all is from essential understanding into the reason Hashem, and that none of the fright­ In memory of why people experience troubles ening experiences of the past year were Rabbi & Mrs. Charles Batt, Hartford, Conn. throughout their lives. Had the Book mere happenstance.

The Jewish Observer, April 2002 21 and said: "Make small and meaningful ferent, and meaningful changes are pledges, binding for the next three subject to that person's strengths and • Tefilla months:' Rabbi Shach himself undertook weaknesses. Rabbi Shach himself • Come to shul to daven at least five to say Birchas Hamazon from a Siddur undertook to say Birchas Hamazon minutes earlier than you usually do. for three months when he ate at home. from a Siddur for three months, but •Choose at least one extra chapter of Rabbi Shach's message was clear: Do only when he ate at home. Tehillim and recite it daily after you have something small, but seize the moment. May I humbly suggest the follow­ learned its meaning. We must make small and meaningful ing: • c:onccntrate on the meaning of the pledges to change our ways. Consider at least one from each of first beracha of Shemoneh Esrei. the following categories of small • Learn the meaning of"Amen yehei SUGGESTIONS FOR SMALL BUT changes which, if initiated and main­ Shmei Rabba mevorach," and say it with MEANINGFUL CHANGES tained until the end of Chodesh Av all powers of concentration in your pos­ (August 8 ), will be a great zechus for session. n keeping with Rabbi Shach's sug­ the individual implementing the • Refrain from speaking during dav­ gestions, we must also bear in changes and for Acheinu Kol Beis Yis­ ening. I mind that each individual is dif- roel ha'nesunim batzara .... • Torah • Learn an extra five minutes a day. According to the Chafetz Chaim ., .. ,,,, this will result in at least I 000 extra daily zechusim of Torah (200 words per For careful attention to your minute). individual needs, call us today! • Join a Daf-Yomi, Mishna-Yomis, or Halacha-Yomis group or program. (845) 354-8445 • Learn at least two halachos in Shmiras Halashon daily.

• Chessed!Shalom • Greet each person with a smile. • Cheer up a person with a visit or phone call every day i.e., parent, child, sick person, neighbor, someone living in Bretz Yisroel. • Give someone the benefit of the doubt. • Make a conscious effort to speak extends its heartfelt appreciation to softly, when provoked to do otherwise. the staff and administration of ittle changes, kept faithfully and consistently, can result in major Lchanges - for the benefit of the individual adopting them, and as a source of merit for Kial Yisroel. •

1 Hilchos Ta'anis 1:2 for helping us provide emergency food to 2 Siman 5761, Quoting the Ra1nbam 3 Midrash Rabba, Devarim: 2,6 needy members of our community for 4 Sefer Halkrim, Maamar4:16 5 Sefer Daas Chochma Umussar II, ch, 72 the past 20 consecutive years! 6 Berachos 1Ob i Tehillim Treasury, Rabbi Avrohom Chaim Feuer, p.96 (ArtScroll) Jeno Hershkowitz 8 Yevamos 63a 9 The letter appears in Kol Kisvei Chafetz Chaim for the Administration of Tomche Shabbos Vol.2.-Lessons in Truth (the translation is from ArtScroll and the Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foun­ of Baro Park!Flatbush dation).

22 The Jewish observer, April 2002 A TREASURE CHEST OF FROM THE AUTHOR OF PRACTICAL STEPS MY CHILD, MY DISCIPLE .•. TOWARD MARRIAGE ..• Don't Judge A Book By Its fu8~~es Cover and other A~ -\-Ye1 \1s V\S BRINGING UP SPIRITUALLY HEALTHY advice on finding CHILDREN IN TODAY'S SOCIETY the right mate BY RABBI NOACH ORLOWEK One could well argue that there has never been a RABBI MORDECHAI DOUNSKY time when Jewish iamilies have confronted more for­ midable challenges than they do in this day and age. With almost 40 years of experience in advising young men on finding the right mate, Rabbi Parents need to develop unique attitudes, skills, and Mordechai Dolinsky - of Yeshivas 'forah Ore in Jerusalem - has developed a practical and resources - for 1he Silke of their families - to triumph over the allures that surround us all. insightful approach lo this vital, yet comµlex, subject. Rabbi Noach Orlowek has developed an approach to parenting - especially tiesigned to Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover discusses topics such as the ideal approach in finding a meet the chilllenges of our time. Steeped in the tm1e-honored teach­ mate; praclic,al advice on dating; wha1 charac1er traits lo look for, and ings of our tradition, the author discusses in prac_tica! detail the much more. approaches, the tools, the strategies and solutions .neede~ - to cre­ The author brings a wealth of warmth, wit, practical ·insight, and Torah atl' a loving Jewish home, and for successful child rearing to take wisdom to each and place. every topic dis- This book is cussed. As a reader, remarkMashgiach Ruchani of Mesivta absolute must important chapter for today's in your life. Torah Vodaath - examines this vital con­ cept in light of personalities, places, and Jewish home! events in TaNaCh. He draws upon a broad wellsRrings spectrum of dassical Jewish thought - from Talmud to the Maharal, from Chassidus to Mussar - to create a tapestry of ~!uminating Jewish thought. of fazth The result is a volume of essays that are at A once challenging and profound, yet exceed­ CHILDREN'S Perspectives on the ingly informal, gentle, and personal in tone. All readers -- scholar and !aym.:ln alike -- will BOOK ... Sources of Emunah come away with a deep."r understanding and greater appreciation of what it means to have "faith~ in our time. UNLIKE ANY OTHER!

TTHE Ten Me What You Think is Legacy especially designed to dev€'1op a child's language and power of BY SARAN KISNER expression - by stimulating dis­ cussion between parents and chil­ dren. When Mart Lieberman - a distinguished lawyer - begins a legal battle for Holocaust Full of colorful illustrations, stories, reparations, little does he know what his songs, poems, discussion topics, efforts will lead him into a tan~ed web of questions, and activities, Tell Me international intrigue involving a malicious What You Think is an ideal spring­ neo-Nazi group. board for engaging your children in lively, worthwhile conversations. The Legacy is an exhilarating read that takes you from New York to Zurich, and from Arosa Here is a unique book that can in the Swiss Alps to the heart of Eretz Yisroe!. help your children grow a~ it pro­ vides you -- and your children - Full of mystery, drama, and suspense, The with precious memories that will Legacy is one reading adventure you will not last a lifetime. want to miss! "LIB! BEMIZRACH ... MY HEART IS IN THE EAST" Debbie Shapiro

FOOD FOK THE SOLDIERS

A Different, Palpable Tension Although we had been warned that the Tehillim for a much needed yeshua. This terrorists were «planning something request was echoed over the secular he week before Pesach is usually big" in honor of lei! shen1urim, we were Israeli radio. It was obvious to all -reli­ a week of frenzied activity and still appalled. gious or not - that we were in desper­ Ttension mixed with anticipation. At the conclusion of the first day of ate need of Divine help. This year was no different. Our homes, Yam Tov, while the Jews in chutz l'aretz On the afternoon of Erev Yam 'fov, I of course, had to be kashered for the hol­ sat down to their second Seder, the Jews was, as usual) in the kitchen finishing up iday and there was, as usual, the tension of Israel numbly listened to the details the last touches for the seudos. Cakes, of trying to finish an unmanageable of the massacre. Twenty-eight innocent kugels and fish were already prepared amount of tasks before the bedikas Jews were murdered and over one hun­ and packed away in the refrigerator, chametz deadline. And like every other dred injured! Still reeling in shock, we while the chicken and meat were sim­ year, there was that wonderful feeling of heard of yet another attack, this time mering on the fire. The children had anticipation, as we waited for that spe­ four Jews were killed- all members of already prepared the table for our sim­ cial night when we re-experience our one family- when terrorists burst into ple Chol Hamoed meal. birth as a Jewish nation. their home just hours after the end of The radio was, as usual, opened to the This year, there was a different- and Yorn Tov. Arutz Hachareidi, the Orthodox radio palpable - tension in the air, a strong It was obvious that something was station, and I listened, with half an ear, foreboding that something would have going to happen - and soon. That same to the constant stream of announce­ to happen soon, and that things could night, March 28, the Prime Minister ments interspersing the music. not remain as they were. Despite the all­ convened an emergency Cabinet meet­ pervading apprehension, the streets of ing, which officially declared Arafat an An Announcement ... To Me Yerushalayim were far from empty. enemy. How could they be? There was still last Operation Defensive Shield had offi­ hen I heard an announcement minute shopping to do for the upcom­ cially begun. that food was being collected ing Yorn Tov. But compared to most Despite the tense atmosphere, our Wfor hungry soldiers, however, years, the streets remained bare. People family, as usual, entertained a constant I sat down to pay attention. Here, at last, thought seriously before leaving their stream of guests throughout the holiday. was something I could do to show my homes. On the one afternoon that we made a appreciation for what they were doing On Yorn Tov morning, my son qui­ family trip - to visit our son in Kiryat for me. etly took me aside and told me that he Sefer - we watched the endless line of Normally, 60% - 70% of the soldiers had heard from a friend, a volunteer for tanks making their way to the front lines. called into the reserves actually show up; Hatzala, that there had been a cata­ Armed soldiers seemed to be every­ the others have legitimate excuses to strophic terrorist attack in Netanya. where, and security was tight. remain home. Because of this, the army ----··"- -· - On Erev Shvi'i she/ Pesach, loud­ routinely calls up more soldiers than it Mrs. Shapiro, a professional writer in Jerusalern whose byline appears weekly in the American speakers circled the neighborhoods actually needs. This time, however, Yated Ne'eman, has had articles published in these announcing that the Rabbanim had almost all the reservists that had been pages, 1nost recently, "Terror" (Feb. '02). asked Kial Yisroel to begin reciting conscripted reported for service - and

------24 The Jewish Observer, April 2002 ...... rnany others can1e voluntarily. began to cook large quantities of addi­ tion. But Operation Food for the Sol­ Although the army did its utmost to tional food. "All food must be brought diers was organized in less than an hour. rrovide sufficient kosher l'Pesach food, to the collection points before three Everyone -Litvishe, Chassidishe, Sefar­ vrith the logistics involved in providing o'clock;' we were told; otherwise, the vol­ di, modern, and not so modern - for an additional 30,000 soldiers, there unteer drivers could not manage to wanted to give, to feel a part of the effort. vrere bound to be some errors. There transport it to the army checkpoints "Families - extremely poor families vrere n1any religious soldiers, as well, near the front before the onset of Yorn that can barely afford to buy food," said ~'ho would not partake of the army's Tov. Mrs. Grossman, "came knocking at our food, even if they were lucky enough to ('Our Yam Tov food was already door shlepping enormous pots. The fact r·~ceive it. more or less prepared when I heard the that the soldiers needed home-cooked Incredibly enough, "Operation Food announcement," said Shira, one of the food seemed to touch everyone's for the Soldiers" had its humble begin­ won1en whose home became a neigh­ hearts." nings when one soldier phoned his sis­ borhood collection point. "My children ter and told her that he was - as he so carefully helped me to package the del­ Tears ... For Every Last Crumb simply put it - starving. This soldier's icacies that I had made for our own fam­ sister contacted Mrs. Grossman, whose ily while we made do with the simple ue to the difficult security situ­ husband founded the Jewish Informa­ Yam Tov meal that I cooked at the last ation, soldiers are forbidden to tion Center in Yerushalayim, and asked moment - which, by the way, tasted D speak with reporters. One sol­ her if she had any ideas what she could absolutely delicious. dier, however, who helped distribute the do to help. "The neighbors streamed to our food to his comrades-at-arm told me Mrs. Gross1nan im1nediately con­ home;' continued Shira, "laden with that the soldiers accepted the packages t' cted the various Orthodox radio sta­ huge boxes of home-made food. It was with tears in their eyes. Words could not tions and asked them to notify their lis­ heartwarming to see the outpouring of express their gratitude. «And)" he con­ trners of the problem, and then ask pure love for Kial Yisroel. Eventually two tinued, "they ate every last crumb:' them to donate cooked meals to be dis­ vans left our house, filled with delicious Although there is no longer a prob­ tributed to the soldiers at the front. home cooked meals; and we were only lem with kosher l'Pesach meals, Opera­ Jv[eanwhile, collection points were set up one of several collection points in our tion Food for the Soldiers is still busy ir every neighborhood, and volunteer neighborhood. providing the soldiers with a touch of drivers were mobilized to bring the food "When people asked me what to home - and Yiddishkeit. Every Erev from the neighborhood collection bring, I mentioned that the soldiers had Shabbosthousands of homemade kugels points to a central one. requested wine and she1nura matzos. Later, we were inundated with boxes and When the Call Went Out boxes of ntatzos and wine. It was a true Kiddush Hashem." hen the call went out at one The logistics involved in organizing o'clock, Erev Yo1n Tov, wo1nen such a project would have, in normal W throughout Yerushalayim times, taken weeks of intense prepara- Not just. . a cheese, a trad 1t1on... ,,R · Haolam, the most trusted name in Cholov Yisroel Kosher Cheese. A reputation earned through 25 years of scrupulous devotion to quality and kashruth. With 12 delicious varieties. Haolam, a tradition you'll enjoy keeping.

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The Jewish Observer, April 2002 25 and cakes are distributed. Many of the packets include a small Tehillim or chizuk sefer. As a matter of fact, the Tehillim were such a hit that the secu­ lar Vaad L'Maan Hachayil requested 1,500 sifrei Tehillim, which they later handed out among the soldiers. Many people also include a person­ al letter of chizuk. One woman brought several dozen individual kugels and to each one added a picture of her children dressed in their Purim costumes, "to bring a smile to the soldier's faces:' Class­ es in one of the Beis Yaakovs baked dozens of cakes and kugels. Yad Eliezer donated ready-to-eat pre-packaged Shabbos meals, complete with small chal­ los for lechem mishna. Another organi­ zation donated hundreds of disposable containers. Jews, of all stripes and affil­ iations, came together to show their brothers-in-arms just how much they appreciate what they are doing. Oper­ ation Food for the Soldiers was - and remains - a true demonstration of Jew­ ARE THESE GUYS ish unity. oday, we are facing a frightening resurgence of blatant anti-Semi­ Ttism. Many of the world's nations lEARNING TORAH do not even attempt to disguise their plain old-fashioned hatred ofJews and Am YisroeL In such crucial times, it is our actions that can tip the scale, and OR COMPUTERS? determine our ultimate success. Through giving of ourselves, through tarting this Fall, a new class of80 young men will pure unadulterated ahavas chinam, we Senroll in the prestigious IDT Center for Turah and can annul the disastrous results caused Technology in Newark, studying Torah in the AM by the sinas chinam of 2000 years ago. and computers in the afternoon. G-d willing, their May it happen bimhera b'yameinu. • comprehensive training in Networking will enable them to qualify for industry certification exams and, KARKA IN BRETZ YISKOEL if they work hard enough, credits toward a B. B.A Call Rabbi Gavriel Beer for information on obtaining cemetery plots in Beth through Tuuro College. Ifyou're a ben Turah seeking Shemesh and other locations in Israel. to become a ben Tech, too, email our Rosh Yeshiva, 0 I 1-972-2-656-9427 RavYosefG.Bechhofer,[email protected] or call him at 973-438-3641. Leave your name, number, and a favorite D'Var Turah.

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26 The Jewish Observer, April 2002 "LIBI BEMIZRACH... MY HEART IS IN THE EAST" Avrohom Birnbaum ATlip to the Living Hekomos HHKedoJOim • of Eretz »sroe/

The Chazon Yechezkel Middle School At Chazon, Guy was introduced to a ·He loved his Rebbeim, and even the office looks like a picture postcard. Located a few whole new value system: Torah. He had staff at Chazon, for they treated him with minutes aivay from the fa1ned religious teachers who really cared about him, who love, respect - and points. agricultural settlement of Kon1emius, it is loved hint. He was also introduced to a con­ After a few n1onths Guy had a1nassed in a rural setting, with expansive pictur­ cept that until then he had know little some twenty dollars. It was time to redeem esque grounds, a basketball court, and plen­ about: accountability. The devoted staff of his hard-earned money and buy something ty of space for running around. At "Cha­ Chazon implemented a point system for for himself He approached one of his zon," as they call it, I meet a young Israeli positive conduct whereby students earn Rebbeim and asked, " Rebbi, where can 1 teenager named Guy. Until last year, Guy small amounts of money for their efforts. buy one of those tichels, the head coverings was enrolled in a rough-and-tough, state­ For example, davening, coming on time, that the women who work in the office run secular school, where he was exposed davening aloud from a Siddur, staying in wear? I want to buy a present for my moth­ to the many societal ills symptomatic of the one'smakom kavua (designated place), and er so she can be like the wo1nen who work failure ofthe Israeli secular educational sys­ not talking during davening. For every in the office here at Chazon!" tem: insolence, violence, drug use, and lack tefilla, the students can earn three points. This from an eighth grader in Chazon, of ele1nentary human ethical behavior. Three points translates into about seven who not long ago recognized Michael Jack­ Guy's father left for America years ago, cents, but even these s1nall sums of money son and Michael Jordan, but never knew leaving him alone with his mother, to fend gradually add up, and it means a lot to these who Moshe Rabbeinu was. Now he is for themselves. Although Guy's mother had kids who are by and large from poor devel­ learning not only about Moshe Rabbeinu, little religious knowledge and no affiliation, opment towns. There are points for study­ but is immersed in the world ofAbaye and she realized that if her son did not get out ing, for learning by heart,for good middos, Rava! of the school system he was in, he would chesscd, mitzvos bein adam lechavairo When Guy brought the gift-wrapped likely end up in another failed and long dis­ and so on. They can also lose points for tichel to his mother, she opened the pack­ credited institution, the Israeli prison sys­ improper behavior. age and broke into tears. Tears of joy. " I tem. A friend put her in touch with a young For Guy, the first few weeks in Chazon will never remove this tichel," she man nanted Malkiel Porat- Lev L'Achim's were not easy. He had been used to the rules exclaimed. "It is worth more to me than all regional representative. Malkiel spent some of the Israeli "Street" - the law of the jun­ the money in the world. Guy bought this time at Guy's house, talking with both him gle. Slowly Guy made progress. He learned for me with his own money, money that he and his mother. Eventually Guy's mother to love the school and the lessons learnt had earned through months of hard work consented to send him to a Beit Sefer there. He especially loved the intellectual and adjustment. And he bought this espe­ Torani, Chazon Yechezkel. stimulation he got from learningGemora. cially for me. He wants me to taste of the Rabbi Birnbaum, and educator in Lakewood, NJ, ,._ Sacred places - a tern1 usually employed for bur­ spiritual world that he has learned to love and a regular columnist for Hamodia, is a fre­ ial grounds, but referring here to settings of spir­ and cherish. That is why I will never take quent contributor to these pages. itual renewal. this off" ·----·---·------The Jewish Observer, April 2002 27 HEAVENLY EMBRACE ing Torah and mitzvos over the course forth a special ruach mimaram, a spir­ of just several months! In scores of it from above, to bring back to their e are familiar with baalei Israeli cities and settlements, from Eilat roots these neshamos kedoshos - holy teshuva's struggles and con­ in the South to Metuleh in the North, souls, who through no choice of their W flicts as they slowly embark on tens of thousands of Jews (close to 10% own, had been estranged from Judaism the age-old path of Torah and mitzvos. of the population), heretofore often for two or three generations. Hashem is We realize that completing the meta­ completely ignorant about even the calling His children home. morphosis to being a Torah Jew can take most basic precepts of Yiddishkeit, are many years, until one becomes fully inte­ returning to Aveinu Shebashamayim - THE UNDERSTATEMENT grated into our communities, shuls our Father in Heaven. and schools. There is no plausible explanation earing about this revolution The situation is completely different other than the fact that in our genera­ from various organizations in E'retz Yisroel where, on an ongoing tion we can just about hear the footsteps H here in the United States, we basis, thousands of families are embrac- of Moshiach. Hashem has seen fit to send may have thought that the reported turnaround in Bretz Yisroel was fundraising propaganda, with its base more in Madison Avenue than in truth. Nothing could have prepared me for the miracles of rejuvenation that I witnessed recently in the few days that I was in Finally~ Eretz Yisroel and was privileged to an eye-opening glimpse of the major bat­ kas Hamazon tlefront. As the late Rosh HaYeshiva of Torah Vodaath, Rabbi Avrohom Pam in a format ?"lit, often said, the future of Eretz Yis­ roel will be decided in the classroom, not rat everyone on the military battlefield. How true and can understand. prophetic was his vision! THE "TORAN!" OPTION

hei Shoshanim's orani Schools- an entire network Pictorial Series of schools that impart a pure, T Torah true education to children kes "bentching" who come from families with varying levels of religious observance - were with Kavanah originally envisioned by Rabbi Aharon into an easy, Kotler ?··lit, when he founded the Chin­ ttainable goal. uch Atzmai system. Today, these schools are run by various groups such as Chin­ uch Atzmai; Keren Nesivos Moshe (the fund named after Rabbi Moshe Sherer and founded in the wake of the historic combined visit of the Gerrer Rebbe, K"\:>"'111 and Rabbi Aharon Leib Stein­ man, N~ to America); Shas; the Russ­ ian immigrant Shuvu schools; the Sku­ lener Rebbe's Chesed L'Avraham Jo>order, call 7J2.J70.JJ44 or fat to 877-PIRCHEI network; Rabbi Elishayoff's Shaarei Tzion schools; Rabbi Aba Swiaticki's Other Titles in ·fGGERE6 HARAMIWI .. Ramot Torah schools, and numerous This .Serles Include: A 5HMl1TAH \VOf00500K other groups. More than anything else, these schools will ultimately decide the future of Eretz Yisroel. www.shemayisrael.com email: [email protected] First and foremost, of course, they

28 The Jewish Observer, April 2002 educate children, providing a solid or any of the smaller networks. An traveled fron1 city to city and school to 'forah education rather than a "watered­ atmosphere of unity, of" shituf peula" school, and got a first hand look at this down" version. 1~heir educational level (tea1nwork), is evident in the seamless phenomenon. The following are a few is similar that of our best chadorim and cooperation between these partners in impressions: Bais Yaakovs in America. the effort to ensure a Torah future for Educating children, however, is just the children of Israel. KIRYAT MALACHI the beginning. Most of the parents of Lev I:Achim's Project Rishum (reg­ these children possess very little or no istration campaign) is where it all e pulled up to the placid city knowledge of Yiddishkeit. The schools starts. During the month of Adar, the of Kiryat Malachi, where we therefore must also educate the parents traditional registration month in Israel W were met by the Rasham to enable them to learn with their chil­ when parents decide where they will (recruiter for Torah schools), Shloimi dren and progress spiritually at the same send their children the following year, Katalon. Shloimi has succeeded, single­ rate as their children. For this reason, the Lev L' Achim sponsors programs - such handedly, in signing up over 500 chil­ schools also function as outreach pro­ as those featuring former Israeli film star, dren for Torah chinuch in this town. First grams. The weekly Parsha sheets that are Rabbi Uri Zahar, speaking for several stop was the religious kindergarten, sent home with the children are hours each day on the radio, contrast­ which seemed to be on a different plan­ designed with the parents in mind, too, ing the moral failure of the secular edu­ et than the surrounding town. A gaily­ explaining concepts that are unfortu­ cational system with the spiritual beau­ decorated classroom, each decoration nately totally new to many of them. In ty of the Torah system. Periodically, he hand made with ingenuity - a beauti­ addition, the schools organize Chanu­ announces the toll-free telephone num­ ful menorah, pictures depicting various ka parties and other get-togethers bers that interested parents can call. middos tovos .... Some of the boys are specifically for the parents, where they Rabbi Zohar's program and public lec­ wearing kipos and others are not - yet. learn about the beauty of Torah, tures have profound impact on parents I ask the mora, "What kinds of families mitzvos, and in general, of life perme­ not previously identified with religious do these children come from?" To which ated by Yiddishkeit. Jewry, and thousands have enrolled due she responds, "Now, they are all chiloni The quality of the teachers is, of to his influence. - non-observant. But gradually they will course, central to the success of the Families are also brought to the change, as happened with last year's Torani system. Almost all of them are Rishum through seminars and gather­ Bais Yaakov-educated women or Yeshi­ ings where prominent speakers try to va-educated men. dispel the systematic and widespread They are not simply "doing a job!' untruths about religious Jews, which are Indeed, the success of the Torani schools incessantly broadcast by the virulently and their outreach work is largely due anti-religious mainstream Israeli media. 28 Weaver Avenue, Newport, RI 02840 Tel.: (401) 849-0051 • Faxo (401) 847-5902 to the tremendous mesirus nefesh, en1pa­ Other parents learn about these schools www.kosherbedandbreakfast.com thy and love that these teachers bring to from their friends. their jobs. For them, teaching is not lim­ Lev L'Achi1n also runs an extremely Enjoy the freedom and convenience of a kosher guesthouse, located ited to the classroom. After school, they successful volunteer program. Respond­ only minutes away from are on the phone with the parents, ing to the p'sak of the Gedo lei HaDor that the Touro Synagogue, the oldest synagogue strengthening their attachment and every Kolle/ Yungerman devote one in North America commitment to Yiddishkeit. evening a week to kiruv, thousands of bnei Torah from Bnei Brak, Yerushalay­ For reservations call: 1-888-465-0051 THE MIRACLE OF ENROLLMENT im, Kiryat Sefer and other communities take part in the weekly program. They he hard part comes well before knock on doors in secular neighbor­ the first day of September, the hoods, offering to teach fathers about official start of the school year. Judaism. Often, this is a family's first T Yeshivish How are parents convinced to actually contact with a Chareidi Jew, and they are Classical consent to send their children to a" Bet almost always surprised. They discover lsrHeli Sefer Torani"? This is where P' eylim I that the Chareidi does not have horns, Klezmer Lev L'Achim enters the picture. and is, in fact, articulate, pleasant and Not affiliated with any political caring. He may even have a sense of organization, Lev I:Achim enrolls chil­ humor! All of these programs encour­ dren in whichever Torani school can best age thousands of people to contemplate accommodate the student in his or her sending their children to Torani schools. area, be it Chinuch Atzmai, Shas, Shuvu, During my few days at the front, I

The Jewish Observer, April 2002 29 class."She then tells a story about Nili: mental in founding the "Middle School" OFAKIM Four-year old Nili came home one Fri­ as a dormitory facility catering to boys day and insisted that her mother light Shab­ from non-frum backgrounds. fakim is another town under­ bos candles, just as she had learned in Gan I walk into a classroom where the going profound change. For (nursery). The mother wanted to please her teacher is learning Meseches Bava Karna. 0 years there has been a small but daughter, but she had no idea what beracha I ask one of the children a question on the very distinguished Torah community to make. Gemora that he is learning, and he answers there, which Rabbi Shimshon Pinkus, Nili then went to her father and begged correctly. Congratulating hi1n, I co1nment­ ':>"ln served as Rav, but by and large, the him to make Kiddush, as they did in Gan. ed that it looks as if he will grow up to be mainly secular community re1nained He too ivanted to please her, but he did not a '1amdan." I ask, "What Mesechta did completely ignorant of their religious know what "making Kiddush" meant. you learn last year?" Jewish heritage. Wlien little Nili realized that her parents He looks at me incredulously, "Last year? Aptly named "Darchei Noam," this wanted to do as she requested, but had no Last year, I did not even know who Avra­ Chinuch Atzmai-run school has, in con­ idea how, she proceeded to teach her moth­ ham Avinu was, let alone what a Gemora junction with Lev r.: Achim, presided er the beracha one 1nakes on the candles, and looked like!" over a religious revolution in the city. her father the blessing to recite in Kiddush, Special programs, especially in a Every week, the school sends the chil­ just as they did it in Gan! This mature lit­ dormitory school such as Chazon, dren home with a newsletter titled, tle four-year old was so excited that the can­ require vast amounts of money, which, "Rega'im Metukim Shel Nachat-Sweet dles had been lit and Kiddush had been of course, is not in large supply in these Moments of Nachas," featuring quotes recited that she grabbed her 2-year old sis­ parts. "This is one of the difficulties we from the children that do indeed give ter to dance to the tune ofKabbalat Shab­ face;' says Rabbi Eli Cohen, principal of their parents and teachers nachas. A bat that she had learned in Gan. Chazon. "We are forced to reorganize question was posed to the children, our budget just to get through the "Describe a moment when you were CHAZON YECHEZKEL month. Sometimes I throw my hands up really happy:' One of the answers I saw, in despair; I just don't know how I will declared in childish handwriting, he next stop was the Chazon pay my bills. In such moments, I go out "When my mother registered me in a Yechezkel School, mentioned to the playground or to a classroom. I Beil Sefer Torani." Tabove. Lev L'Achim was instru- look at Guy, who bought a tichel for his As I walk through the halls, I notice a mother, and the hundreds of other kids delightful little boy with dancing eyes and there just like him, each with a separate brown hair. miracle story, and I get chizuk. I resolve "What is your name?" to move forward and pray that Hashem "Moshika." continue to perform His miracles, both "Do you like your school?" educational and budgetary:' "Yes, I like it very much." "Why do you like it so?" "Last year," he replies, "I was in anoth­ er school. There they did not even do neti­ lat yadayim and the teachers rarely smiled. Here, when you walk in, teachers meet you with smiles stretching from one side of their faces to the other. Over there, the children would often fight, and once I was even bit­ ten." "Is they're anything about your old school that you 1niss?" I asked. "The judo there was fun." "What will you do without judo?" The child thought for several seconds, and then ansvvered, "Jn this school I won't need judo because I will learn so tnuch Torah that soon I will becon1e 'Harav Moshe.' A Rav does not have to know judo!" Mrs. Esther Blau, the wife of a prominent talmid chacham in the com­ munity and herself a mother of a large

30 The Jewish Observer, April 2002 family, has thrown herself into rishurn in this field, you have to be something work, succeeding in enrolling countless of a meshuganer- just a little bit crazy. RABBI children. She described the situation Crazy in the sense that in spite of the fact with an apt metaphor:" 150 years ago in that common sense dictates that you will MORDECHAI America there was something called a not succeed, you must nevertheless ~·st 'gold rush: Realizing that there was an persevere. You must do what you can GIFTER opportunity to get rich quick, thousands and then let Hashem work His miracles. ENGLISH and thousands dropped everything and Rabbi Avraham Saadeh is such a person. rushed en masse to the undeveloped He has created "yesh me'ayin - some­ LECTURE SERIES West of America, to try to get in on this thing from nothing" in Kfar Yona, a one-time opportunity to make their for­ small town about 20 minutes' drive from Series #1 7 tune. We too, in Eretz Yisroel, are expe­ Netanya. He managed to convince riencing a 'gold rush;" she explained. enough parents to send their children LJ 1 First Night of Selichos - 5741 «The treasure, however, is nechmad to a Torani school to form a complete 0 2 Yomim Nore'im - 5744 mizahav and yakar mipninin1 - more class. There was only one problem, 0 3 Aseres Yemai Teshuvah - 5745 desirable than gold and more precious There was no Torani school in the town. O 4 Aseres Yemai Teshuvah -5746 than pearls. We must 'cash in.' Hashem That did not discourage Rabbi Saadeh. 0 5 Pesach - 5746 has opened a special window of oppor­ He worked with government authorities, 0 6 Elul - 5747 tunity, which seems to completely defy refusing to be deterred. Finally, he pro­ 0 7 Before Maariv T. B' Av - 5747 the laws of nature. It is the raging spir­ cured an old, decrepit building that 0 8 Chol Hamoed Pesach - 5748 itual thirst among estranged Jews, who would serve as the school. But the build­ D 9 Aseres Yemai Teshuvah - 5749 are now literally knocking on our doors ing had to be cleaned and painted, and LJ 10 Chanukah - 5749 [] 11 Pesach Thoughts - 5749 for help to return to Hashem. Despite time was short. It was Friday afternoon, our n1yriad obligations and responsi­ and school was slated to begin on the [] 12 Yeshivas Bein Hazmanim bilities, we must drop everything that is following Sunday. LJ 13 Diversity In Orthodoxy 0 14 Chanukah - 5750 not essential and take advantage of the So Avraham Saadeh bought paint D 15 Derech Halimud ruach mi1narorn that Hashem is sending. and spent the entire Friday afternoon - [] 16 Purim Who knows how long this special siya­ until ten 1ninutes before sunset - paint­ 0 Entire Series of 16 tapes ta diShmaya will last?" ing. He then jumped into his car, drove until it was too late to drive anyn1ore, COST: KFARYONAH parked the car and walked the rest of the $7.00 per tape if purchased way to Netanya, where he lives. It was individually n Kfar Yona, there is a Lev I:Achim already Shabbos when Reb Avraham, $6.00 per tape if more than 5 activist by the name of Rabbi Avra­ with paint-splattered clothing and tapes purchased I ham Saadeh. People say that to work shoes, and even speckles of paint dee- $90.00 for all 16 tapes $96.00 for all 16 tapes w/album .:NIPTICE OF, Series #178 NONDISCRIMINATORY POLICY U 20 tapes on Sefer Hachinuch AS TO STUDENTS COST: The Rabbi Naftali Riff Yeshiva, Inc. admits students of any race. color, national $90.00; $96.00 with album and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, progra1ns and activities generally SAVE $12.00- order accorded or 1nade available to students at the school. It does not both series with album discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in admin­ for only $180.00 istration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan pro­ Check boxes of tapes ordered gra1ns, and athletic and other school administered programs. Send payment to: The Rabbi Naftali Riff Yeshiva T.C.N. Tapes South Bend, Indiana PO Box 504 3207 S. High Street, South Bend, IN 46614 • (219) 291-4239 Wickliffe, OH 44092 Applications are now being accepted.for Elul 57621August 2002 Postage and Handling included.

The Jewish Observer, April 2002 31 greet Moshiach, and with great yiras hakavod will invite Moshiach to Lake­ wood and show him - 'Look how we have rebuilt the Lithuanian yeshivas in the spiritual desert of America.' Next the Gerrer Rebbe, the Beis Yisroel, ., .. ,,! will invite Moshiach to the massive Gerrer Beis Medrash in Yerushalayim, packed with legions of Chassidim and will say, 'Look at how we have rebuilt the glory of Polish Jewry from the ashes of the holocaust!' The Ponovezher Rav,., .. ,,! will greet Moshi­ ach and bring him to Bnei Brak to see the Ponovezher Yeshiva , followed by the Satmar Rebbe, 7">tl who will invite him to Williamsburg and Monroe, and so on. "The very last people on line," orating his beard, proceeded straight to looked at him wide-eyed, and coaxed the thundered Rabbi Schwadron, "the the Beis Midrash of the Sanz-Klausen­ story out of him. In a loud voice, the stragglers, will be the P' eylim, those berger Rebbe, N""""'7 where he davens Rebbe then exclaimed with emotion, who ran around in the trenches of every Friday night. Of course, he gen­ ""Your stained shirt and pants, paint­ Israeli towns and settlements bringing erally wears a clean suit and tie on Shab­ ed with mesirus nefesh for Hashem's chil­ Yiddishe neshamos back to Hashem. bos, but this Shabbos, all he had on was dren, are the most beautiful bigdei They will finally drive up in their old his paint-splattered clothing. Shabbos to wear in honor of Hashem and jalopies that run more on miracles than After davening, he lined up to wish His Shabbos!" on technology. They will come in "Gut Shabbos" to the Sanz-Klausen­ their creased suits and paint-stained berger Rebbe. As he passed, the Rebbe abbi Eliezer Sorotzkin, the shirts, and they will approach Moshi­ director of Lev L'Achim relates ach, with the keys to the old jalopies R the words of the famous Mag­ that served them so faithfully, taking gid, Rabbi Shalom Schwadron, 'nil them to hundreds of forsaken cities and who said: "When Moshiach comes, all moshavot. They will place the keys in of Kial Yisroel is going to run and greet Moshiach's hands and say, 'Here are the him. Rabbi Aharon Kotler, ':nrr will keys to the car. Now that you have final­ ly arrived, our job is finished. We're going back to learn in Kollel!'" • Thinking of Moving for Jewish 6rowth Opportunities? full Service Community Digest of Meforshim •Healthy Job Market in:i •Affordable Housing '"1V7 '"1V7 ?-~ ,vv'm 'm1r.i1?1 i··;nnr.i •Nurturing Community A.vailable at •learning Opportunities •Shomer Shabbos Medical Residencies LEKUTEI Begin c!o Yitzchok Rosenberg •Community Activities 1445 54th Street Brooklyn. NY 11219-4228 Thinking Total Torah Community 718-851-5298 •Cheder •Bois Yakov 20 Volumes on Torah, Perek, Medrash, Milwaukee •Yeshiva Gedola •Kolle! Megilos, Talmud, and Tehilim. • Mikveh • Eruv Proceeds of sales distributed a1nong •Wisconsin School Tuition Vouchers Yeshivos and used for reprinting of tor Qualifying families vohnnes out-of-print ~hennanPark Jewish Initiative PRICE: $8.00 PER VOLUME The Torah Community ~Rabbi Michel lwerski invites your interests J.800·226·3129

----·--··------·-·~------·· ---···------~---·------·----·~ ----- 32 The Jewish Observer, April 2002 Nissan Wolpin Coming Home . • • To Eitz Chaim? The searching Jew) and the new Conservative version of Torah

-I- a spirited "Vehi She'amda:' He listened his connection with the Exodus from to a dramatic recounting of the Ten Egypt as a participant, next year; not just Yes, we would be happy to host Danny Plagues, with emphasis on the "measure­ as an observer in the bleachers. Rosen' for the first night of Pesach, as long for-measure" factors. He sat through I never saw Danny Rosen again, but as he accepts nearby sleeping accommoda­ "Dayeinu:' He looked suspiciously at the I do know that he signed up for Hebrew tions for the two full days ofPesach. We did­ n1assive pre-measured matza and mar­ classes with the National Jewish Out­ n't want our Seder to be a drive-by, drop­ ror portions, and then valiantly reach Program. He was well on his way in, drive-away experience. crunched his way through his assigned to a reunion with his heritage. Rosen is a highly successful script-writer package. He raced through Shulchan for television drama. He actually realized Aruch with the rest of us. He observed -II- his childhood dream of seeing his name the afikoman-recovery negotiations. ahead of the title on the screen, yet some­ And he sat through Halle/ and Chad n observant Jew is in constant how he still feels empty. Life's meaning was Gadya. touch with our people's birth as simply not filling his cup. So he came to New After I bid Danny Rosen "Have a Aa nation. We consecrate every York to launch his search. Good Yam Tov:' and walked him to the Yam Tov with Kiddush on a goblet of his was nine years ago, when the door, my son-in-law, Yitzchak- a Rebbe wine: «zeicher liyetzias Mitzrayim - a Pittsburgh branch of our family in Hillel Academy and Pittsburgh coor­ memorial for the Exodus from Egypt:' T plus several of our own friends dinator of Partners in Torah - stood on Pesach ... Shavuos ... Sukkos. The theme had joined us for the Sedorim. Since the steps for close to twenty minutes of each festival ties in with the Exodus, Danny was not literate in Hebrew, and with Danny, hearing how his storybook and mentioning it is consistent with its the standard English translation Hag­ life has followed a golden path to suc­ celebration. But Kiddush on Shabbos also gados that we had contained lengthy cess ... ultimately leading no where. He includes mention of the Exodus - every com1nentaries, we gave him the felt personally adrift-yes, moving rap­ week. And so does reciting" Shema:· and ArtScroll Youth Haggadah, assuming he idly upward, but never arriving. To top donning tefillin include this mention - would follow, hoping he would not feel it off, he could not even read the everyday. himself the object of condescension. Hebrew letters in the Youth Haggadah, Obviously, as Sefer Hachinuch says in We had been warned that he might yet my little grandchildren were con­ regard to the mitzva of "Relating the just get bored and walk out in the mid­ versant in all sorts of minutiae, virtual story of the redemption from Egypt on dle. So be it, we thought. But that's not fountains of text and commentary - Pesach" (Mitzva 21): "This [mitzva) what happened. He stayed through using adult volumes of the same text that includes a fundamental principle, a vir­ Kiddush .. .. He stayed through five ren­ was cryptic curves and ink blots to him. tual cornerstone of our Torah and ditions of "Ma Nishtana:' He stayed His first step, he confided in Yitzchak, belief system, and it is for this reason that through endless questions-and-answers, would be to take Hebrew lessons so he we are forever referring to zeicher liyet­ l Not his real nan1e. could read the Haggadah and experience zias Mitzrayim in our prayers and our

The Jewish Observer, April 2002 33 blessings." Awareness of the Exodus observant family·· for a Shabbos meal, servative Movement's official "New should inform, direct, and enrich us at a Chanuka celebration, a Yorn Kippur Torah and commentary"? In an article throughout our daily lives. tefilla, or even a Tisha B' Av study ses­ in The Times' Arts & Ideas section (Mar, In its discussion of the first of the Ten sion of"Kamtza and BarKamtza." 9, '02), Michael Massing lists a number Commandments (Mitzva 25), Sefer But Pesach has a remarkable capac­ of"startling propositions" promoted in HaChinuch stresses how belief in G-d ity for linking a drifting neshama to its the Eitz Chaim Bible. They add up to a as the Creator and Governor of the spiritual moorings .. .in effect, elevating sweeping dismissal of the authenticity world is intrinsically tied to belief in the "remembering" to the point of experi­ of ]'orah as Divine word or record of Exodus, underscoring how nothing encing Yetzias Mitzrayim. events, to the point of casting doubt on occurs through happenstance, or natu­ the very existence of the Avos and the ral cause-and-effect. As in Egypt, G-d -III- veracity of such seminal occurrences as inicromanages the cosmos ... today. Yetzias Mitzrayim and Ma'amad Har Danny Rosen could have stumbled hat are we to make of Eitz Sinai. 2 into an awareness of his precious her­ Chaim, which The New York The article goes on to identify these itage by joining our family - or any W Times describes as the Con- radical views as "the product of findings by archaeologist diggings in Israel and its environs over the last 25 years - [which] have gained wide acceptance among non­ Subscribe or give a gift of Orthodox rabbis. But there has been no atteinpt to disseminate these ideas or to discuss them with the laity- until now." The Jewish Observer In addition, Eitz Chaim pushes the rational/denial envelope as far as it does by virtue of incorporating critical and $ave! insights of Biblical text that have emerged WHY NOT GIVE OR GET A PRESENT from "intense scrutiny from scholars like THAT WILL IAST AN ENTIRE YEAR? Julius Wellhausen of Germany." Archaeology? The only refutation of Subscribe. or give a gift at these reduced prjces the Pentateuch that this speculative sci­

and The Jewish (Jbserver- filled V11 ith the views ence has unearthed is lack of evidence: of leading 1'orah thinkers on current issues- w·ill he no discarded Manna wrappers were ever discovered in the vast wastelands of the delivered each n1onth, direetly to your door. Sinai Dessert. So Eitz Chaim is certain 'l'he longer you subscribe f;:>r, the larger your savjn~. that the Hebrews never camped there. Of course, this offer is un(•onditionally guaranteed: Wellhausen? He was discredited long, long ago - even in academic circles - for you may cancel at any time and receive a refund for his anti-Semitic leanings and baseless all undelivered copies. conclusions. But his sweeping dismissal So order today, and the vt>ry next i'.-'SlH:' w-ill be on of the authenticity of the Written Law its way to you as soon as pos;sihle. is apparently "Torah" to some. ____ ,,.-•. ;,:::---~------So Eitz Chaim leaves 1.5 million Con­ servative Jews with a new presentation Q YES, I want lo take adYantap;e of this n1oney l'!aving offer! Enter 1ny order as follows: of a "Torah" that in its view possesses ::J SELF '.) GIFT neither legitimacy nor l)ivine origin; \~A "lll'r. SiO Your cost $44 S68 Land of Israel as totally without histor­ 0 l yrar Cover Prier 535 Your cost $24 $.36 ical substance (no Abraham, no Exo------2 Jn his article, Massing sun1marizes Eitz Chai1n's '!!ir~t33Thl heresies with: "Abrahain, the Jewish patriarch, UBSERVER probably never existed. Nor did Moses. The entire •l2 Bmadwav. l'lth ~-!oor. :'-iew York, l\Y 10004 Exodus story as recounted in the Bible probably Th~ k1n.1h ()fo,.m•r i.< 1111blished rrwrrthl' 1•,ffepl Ju/_, a,,J A11;m.1t. ·\n·c!lllll .'\o. -----·---.. -----·--- !'lea-"' ,,{/ou -1 - (> l!Wk.<_lfir dr/i1w1. never occurred. The san1e is true of the tumbling E\pintlion IJ,1\e: lmon!hly.-;u) ______. ~out>id<> l .:-' . .'\. pri<«' r»n~ct' .31:? <"xlrn I''-""'"'""' 10 fi,,frav a;,. -loipp1n~ of the walls of Jericho." Other publications, rang­ "'"\". fnr~1~n l""'"'""I muo\ be nrnd•' in L.:S. ,foliar<. <"ithn hv dw<·k ing fro1n the Jewish Telegraphic Agency to var­ dr.mn nn" h,rnk m llw l .:'.A. m !n- \'/,\-1"" C.fo-l•·rl~"rd. ious academic journals, commented sin1ilarly.

34 The Jewish Observer, April 2002 dus); and claiming fidelity to halacha (as testify in a beis din that a fellow Jew is nebulous as this loyalty may be), which guilty of blasphemy, the judges and the HAT PLUS to their understanding has neither his­ witnesses are required to tear kriya - Hats • Shirts • Ties •Accessories toric nor spiritual basis. they rend their garments, and the rip is It is difficult to i1nagine a serious­ never repaired; this is an expression of Your#l Stop thinking Conservative Jew living by such mourning for hearing the sacrilegious for a "Torah/' confessing to such a re1igion. statement.3 We too must tear kriya upon Quality Hats Nor can one i1nagine the n1ost broad­ publication of Eitz Chaim, not only for WE ALSO ORY CLEAN LARGEST SELECTION minded, pluralistically-inclined Ortho­ the kefira - the denial of basic beliefs - & RESHAPE HATS OF CHOSONIM TIES IN dox Jew feeling any sense of kinship with that it espouses, but for the precious (All work dQne Qfl µrem1sesj BROOKLYN a religious system that emanates from neshamos of thousands of Jews who just 1368 Coney Island Avenue Eitz Chaim. Can serious people actual­ might be prompted to return to their (7"18) 377-5050 ly relate to such a "Torah"? roots by encountering their rich heritage Major credit cards accepted • We sh;p UPS in the pages of the Chumash ... but will -IV- pick up a copy of Eitz Chaim instead. Kriya- rending our garments with a rip ut 1nore important: if Danny that cannot be repaired, until we take Rosen had read Eitz Chaim before initiatives to reach them, and inspire Bperusing the Youth Haggada, and them to come ho1ne to Torah, in spite had accepted its claim that Moses never of Eitz Chaim. existed and the Exodus never happened, how would he have connected with the -V- historical Jewish continuun1 that stretch­ es from Sinai to this year's Seder table? ashem waits with incredible It's all only a myth, says Eitz Chaim. And patience and insatiable yearn­ Learn the benefits of yet, this volume somehow still lays claim H ing for His children to come this Mitzva in our new booklet - to serving as a "source" for Jewish ethics home. Unfortunately - tragically - ''The Power of Forgiveness - and values, customs and practices. With many of them may be destined to con­ Shortcut to Happiness". Eitz Chaim as the starting point ... why tinue to stray, following the path to No charge - if you send us should anyone be Jewish? oblivion paved by Eitz Chaim. 5 names & addresses of people And what about all the other Danny "Eitz Chaim - Tree of Life." What an who might enjoy this work, or else send $5.00 to Roscns out there, who have occasion to ironic nan1e for a tree with neither root hold a Siddur in their hands - be it even nor fruit! • YESHIVA FUND a Conservative prayerbook - and hear Box 82, Staten Island, NY 10309 themselves whisper the introductory 3 Sec Sanhedrin Pcrek 7, Mishna 5 paragraphs to the Amida? Their lips beseech "our G-d and the G-d of our ,·o::i fathers - the G-d of Abraham, the G-d of Isaac, the G-d of Jacob." Their He Deserves a Camp Aishel Summer neshamos can be stirred and they just for boys, teens and young men with emotional might be inspired to reach up to their disabilities or mild developmental disabilities. Source, ascending through the genera­ Camp Aishel is located on the grounds of Camp tions to connect with the Divine Avraham Chaim Heller and Camp Mogen Avraham in Throne, arriving there by the path the heart of the Catskills, in New York State.

beaten by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We are currently accepting applications for camper & From Eitz Chaim's perspective, howev­ staff openings. For further information please contact: er, the Patriarchs - those crucial rungs OHEL Children's Home & Family Services on the ladder to transcendence - never 718-851-6300 •Fax: 718-851-1672 existedl rfhe educated, searching Con­ servative Jew who uses Eitz Chain1 as his guide will simply never come home through tefil/a. Nor will his alienated children be exposed to even a rudi­ mentary declaration of faith. When witnesses are called upon to

The Jewish Observer, April 2002 35 Rabbi Yosef Gavriel Bechho er

The Quintessence of Mussar: Rabbi Avrohom Eliyahu Kaplan 7 11 ~~

We were accustomed to see elder­ Almost eighty years have passed since p. 269). Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik zt"l ly tzaddikim, or at least middle-aged Rabbi Avrohom Eliyahu Kaplan ?··~'s had once said about the elder Reb Avro­ ones. A young gaon and tzaddik is dif­ untimely death at the age of 34. He filled hom Elya: "I do not believe in illuim ficult to create, difficult to find .... A his major position as Rosh Yeshiva of the whose reputations precede them, with great tree with many roots, yet at the Hildesheimer Seminary in Berlin a one exception: the Illui from Rackov, same time a brilliant, eye-catching mere four years. Yet n1en who were who mastered the entire Torah" (ibid., flower. Old age and youth were at once much older than he praised him in p. 285). at work within him with amazing extraordinary terms. Ten years after his The younger Reb Avrohom Elya was strength. passing, at an azkara (memorial gath­ born and spent his early years in his RABBI ISSER ZALMAN MELTZER ;7":-lt ering) in Yerushalayim, it was said maternal grandfather's house in the (ibid., p. 272): "The greatness of the town of Kaidan, Lithuania, a suburb of (B'IKVOS HAYIRA, SECOND EDITION, thoughts and of the project of the Kovno. An entry in Reb Avrohom Elya's MossAD HARAv KooK, 1988. r. 273) deceased should be remembered for diary from 1902 (when he was twelve

- -~-- Rabbi Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer, a frequent con- generations. Attainments in talent, emo­ years old) portends the depth of tributor to these pages, recently relocated with tion, refinement of character, structure, thought he was to attain: his family from Chicago to Monsey. Rabbi Bech­ philosophical perspective, but above all, When the spirit is exhausted; when hofer is the Rosh Yeshiva of Beis Medrash Harav a deep fear of Heaven and a drive to memory revives the shadows of the Shmuel Yaakov, The IDT Center for Torah and influence the entire depth of life were past and their chill penetrates the Technology in Newark. His most recent contri­ bution to the JO, a May 2000 essay on the Rav gathered and fused in this great man." heart; when reflection, like an autumn Sa'adya Ga' on/Rav Aharon hen Meir Controversy, (This statement was made by Rabbi sun, illuminates the confusion of the was recently published in an expanded and cor­ Avrohom Y. Kook?"~.) present, but scatters its rays angrily rected Hebrew version in the 5762 volume of the Who was this remarkable man? upon one place, lacking the strength Yeshurun annual. The author published an expanded treatment of Reb Avrohom Elya's life, to rise up and advance during such work and legacy in Hebrew, in Ha'Ma'yan 39:4- I. HIS LIFE depressing moments of spiritual 40:1 ( Tammuz 5759-Tishrei 5760) exhaustion, I am wont to picture Author's note: Reb Avrohom Elya was a hero to abbi Avrohom Elya Kaplan was before me, in my imagination, the many a striving scholar, much as Reb Yisroel exalted image of man .... Salanter ., .. :in was Reb Avrohom Elya's. In perus­ named for his father, who had ing a journal of the Lithuanian yeshiva movement Rpassed away suddenly at the age ... Wandering in the desert waste, in the l 920's- the Telzer Ha'Ne'anan - I found of 33, several months before his son's alone on a globe that hurtles through that in the course of the journal's publication run, birth. The elder Reb Avrohom Elya was infinite expanses, alone, tortured only one picture was printed - that of Reb Avro­ hom Elya. An entire issue was devoted to his a renowned illui (genius) and a close unceasingly by the question that memory. friend of the Chafetz Chayim ?·~ (ibid., afflicts his soul: "For what purpose

36 The Jewish Observer, Aprif 2002 does he live? Alone he strives with A note written shortly after Reb gether? ... Our service of the G-d of courage - forward! And upward! In the Avrohom Elya's arrival in Slabodka Israel stems only from an enfeebled path of victory over the secrets of contains the first glimmerings of the form of '(fear" (not [Rabbi Moshe Heaven and Earth - forward and focal point of his later thought (free Chaim] Luzzato's great "fear of sin"... ), upward ..."(ibid., p. 153). translation): but from a nervous anxiety lest we At about this time, Reb Avrohom The sharpest sword placed ... bar­ stumble, Heaven forbid, and act E1ya's mother remarried a man from ring us from stretching out and proud­ improperly.... Possessed by blind anx­ Telshe (Reb Avrohom Elya was very close ly confronting life... from rising iety, we grope about and stammer: to his stepfather, and called him "The against an "arrogant" Europe that "Maybe, maybe, maybe it's not so Father" - ibid., p. 8). Reb Avrohom Elya does battle with us are the great good .... perhaps, perhaps, perhaps it's studied then for several years in the reflections concerning the vanity of not so proper... :' With this [attitude] renowned Yeshiva of Telshe. this world which Mussar has we consider ourselves to be yir'ei bequeathed to us, while not teaching Shamayim! Woe to this shame and dis­ The Slabodka Imprint us when it is appropriate to make use grace! Where is the vigorous health of of these reflections3 •••• Upon meeting the Torah intellect? ... t the age of 16, Reb Avrohom Elya even the slightest... this-worldly obsta­ Our practical powers of intelligence was drawn to the spirit of the cle, we dismiss it immediately as have been enfeebled. We became fault­ A Mussar Movement, 1 and went to worthless ... we flee from it, without finders.... We cannot... present our learn in the "Talmud Torah" in Kelm, the reflecting at all: How should we thoughts clearly, concisely, directly .... yeshiva founded by Rabbi Simcha Zisel respond to it? What claim does it make We remain capable only of mouthing: Ziv.,.. ,,,. Reb Avrohom Elya left Kelm, upon us? Should we concede some­ «You are far from the Torah, sunk in however, shortly after his arrival. He then what to it [this claim], or deny it alto- the mire of life, and therefore you do went to the famed yeshiva in Slabodka not understand us!. .." 3Reb Avrohom Elya - the quintessential product headed by Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel What, however, does the Torah of the Mussarmoven1ent-did not mean to crit­ ';>··yr, the Alter of Slabodka, and Rabbi icize the Mussarmovement; rather a negative trait demand~ "Respond to those who have Moshe Mordechai Epstein ':>"'Yl, the possessed by some of its adherents. strayed afar.... " Levush Mordechai. Reb Avrohom Elya studied in Slabodka for seven years, until the outbreak of World War I left him stranded in his mother's home in Telshe. 11 In Slabodka, Reb Avrohom Elya THeCciMPL TioN OF 0 VJ found the derech (approach to life) that he had sought. On his twenty-first birth­ JOIN THE HUNDREDS WHO ARE BENEFITTING day, four years later, Reb Avrohom Elya wrote in retrospect about his arrival in Slabodka: "Here the wheel turns! Here FROM MASTER DAF begins a new life! One evening, when I returned from the home of the Mash­ giach [the Alter], after hearing mighty • 4-5 blatt per tape words of reproof which penetrated deep into my heart, I burnt all my poems •A tape series where you can review/prepare the and writings ...." 2 Daf in your car, on the subway, or on the bus

1Founded by Reb Yisroel Salanter, it focuses on • Each Daf is read, translated, and explained slowly ethical conduct and consistency in all aspects of and clearly in just 20 minutes life. It is significant that Reb Avrohom Elya's famous poem, Shak'a Chama (set to music, it was • Mishna tapes also available (approximately one featured on a Pirchei Sings record), was written OEO Mesechta per tape) at this time. The poem expresses a sense of long­ . . .. •Subscription rate: $3 per tape (plus S&H) ing and searching, which may be the voice of a young man in a state of rootlessness. It begins: Call for Order Form: "The sun has set. .. my soul has set/ In the depth of its sorrow as great as the sea ..." (ibid., p. 171). 1-718-435-5438 • 1-800-966-6026 2 Ibid., p. 249. One often perceives in Reb Avro­ hom Elya's later writings - even in lomdus- an Fax: 1-718-851-2236 underlying simcha, sometimes bordering on play­ A project of the Slabodka Yeshiva fulness.

-·--·-----··-··-----·-·------·------··---·------·------The Jewish Observer, April 2002 37 Woe, nation of rabbits, how long substance. I understand you, and I am glory of this kedusha (sanctity) and emo­ shall you he rabbits! (ibid., p. 154). as amazed as you are, but amazement tions of gratitude for this gift. How can does not lead to blindness! Truth is one not be ashamed to enter the sanc­ Reb Avrohom Elya's years in Slabodka truth, even if others disagree! And I, tuary of kedusha that is this world with were filled with growth and contem­ in my understanding (if not [always] soiled shoes and dirty clothes? How is plation. In his notes, he critiques the in my actions), do not see in any of he not embarrassed to be engrossed in ideas and ideals of modern Europe on these desires anything more than frivolities while at the same time mak­ the one hand, and Zionism on the other. fruitless hallucinations!! ing use of the malachim created to facil­ He frequently examined his own avodas Reb Avrohom Elya writes: "The last itate Man's destiny? The entire world - Hashem, as he constantly considered and statement was expressed with such from its most general principles to its reconsidered his purpose and destiny in wonderful strength that it seemed to cut finest details - serves as a reminder at life. Although his penetrating self­ the air to shreds" (B'Ikvos HaYir'a p. each step we take to be cognizant of analysis clearly marks him as a ba'al 160). Reb Avrohom Elya understood: G-d, and, bechol derachecha da' eihu, "In mussar, he often wondered if he was constant personal growth in avodas all your paths you shall know Him." indeed worthy of such a lofty label. Hashem is the supreme value in life, and Reb Avrohom Elya was the Alters it takes precedence over any other incli­ His Strengths in Talmudic Study most beloved student (Reb Yaakov: The nation, aspiration, or ambition, no Life and Times of HaGaon Rabbi Yaakov matter how significant they might eb Avrohom Elya's growth in Kamenetsky, Mesorah Publications, seem. avoda was accompanied by 1993, p. 85). There was a close person­ The Slabodka perspective that emarkable talent in learning. al relationship between the two, and Reb became Reb Avrohom Elya's outlook is When Rabbi Aharon Kotler married Avrohom Elya felt that the Alter was perhaps best expressed in one of the Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer's daughter, privy to his deepest thoughts. In a con­ Alter's shmuessen that Reb Avrohom Reb Aharon delivered an extraordinar­ versation in 1913, the Alter comment­ Elya himself transcribed (ibid., p. 221): ily profound pilpul. Few of those pres­ ed to Reb Avrohom Elya on his occa­ Ghazal (Bereishis Rabba 10:6-7) say ent seemed to fully comprehended its sional preoccupation with the prevailing that every blade of gra.~s is controlled by contents. Up stood Reb Avrohom Elya Zeitgeists. a malach (angel) that causes it to grow. with a smile, and repeated the entire You are amazed that all those mat­ Man casually walks upon thousands of pilpul clearly- in rhyme!4 Rabbi Yaakov ters that stand at the heights of the blades of grass, not thinking of the great Kamenetsky ?··on once remarked that world, all those ambitions and aspi­ wisdom and transcendent purpose of Reb Avrohom Elya possessed such rations and desires for which endless the thousands of malachim upon which remarkable powers that, had he lived rivers of blood have been spilled for he treads. How uplifted should a person, longer, he would have restructured the generation upon generation and in in fact, become when he realizes how entire derech halimud (methodology of countless countries... in our four n1any malachim were created to serve study) in the yeshivas with his proposed amos, are regarded as ... shadows of no him! His heart should fill with both the new commentary' on Shas (Reb Yaakov, p. 85). Reb Avrohom Elya often contem­ plated leaving Slabodka, and in fact did leave from time to time, feeling that the 4 Ibid., pp. 277, 297. Reb Avrohom Elya was quite adept at this. He did the same with the Alter's first shmuess upon the Yeshiva's return to Slabodka after its exile during the first World War (Reh Yaakov, ibid.). ly Therapy Enhancement 5In 1919, Reb Avrohom Elya had already begun • Marriage Counseling • Counseling for Alienated, pondering the derech hali1nud of Lithuanian yeshivas. He felt it was necessary to put more stress Rebellious Youth At Risk and expand upon the particular approach devel­ oped by the Vilna Gaon ?·:sr, (B'Ikvos liaYira, p. 21) and Rabbi Chaim SoloveitchikofBrisk. The Jules Brotsky, A.c.s.w. underlying principle of this approach - the sys­ ten1atic application of which was to be his life's Daytime, Evening, & Sunday Appt. Hours great unfinished work - was simple: a return to the derech of the Rishoni1n, fro1n pilpul back to 250 Monmouth Road, Elizabeth, N. J. understanding (ibid., p. 163).In Reb Avrohom Elya's opinion, the return to the Rishonim's approach began with the Gaon's, and, to a greater extent, Reb Chaim's emphasis on substance and understanding over structure and creativity.

. ·--"·----·------~------·------·---- 38 The Jewish Observer, April 2002 intensity of the avoda there was so1ne­ and lofty discipline known as lomdus ... :' his discourses the framework that times too overwhelming. In the final He felt that perhaps his destiny was rather enabled his German students to devel­ analysis, however, he writes (ibid., p. to be a Rosh Yeshiva (ibid., p. 200). op and perfect their spiritual selves. His 194): "One Sinai we have in our gener­ personal avoda was exemplary: "One ation - Slabodka! Anyone who leaves The Hildesheimer Years who has not heard him read the Pesach Sinai cannot hope to find another. More night Halle[ in lofty ecstasy in the correctly, anyone who leaves the n1oun­ he final period in Reb Avrohom unique melody that he wrote yet in his tain falls into the valley.... " Even when Elya's life began in 1920, when he youth - has not seen true Jewish life in he was away from Slabodka, his heart Tmarried the daughter of a distin­ our generation. One who has not seen and soul ren1ained there. guished family from Telshe, and became him dance the Kotzker Rebbe's dance in Reb Avrohom Elya spent the war years a Rosh Yeshiva at the Hildesheimer Sem­ the joy of Sukkos - has not seen true in Telshe, immersed in study, amassing inary in Berlin. Reb Avrohom Elya's Jewish joy in our generation. He was a vast knowledge of Bavli and Yerushal­ remarkable ability to learn from any per­ alive and gave life.'' 10 His talks "ignited mi. At this time, he also developed a close son allowed him to absorb the derech of hearts with the lightning flashes of his connection to the Rosh Yeshiva and Rav Rabbi Dovid Zvi Hoffman )"", the ideas, heads were enwrapped in illumi­ of Telshe, Rabbi Yosef Leib Bloch ?"~t. Melamed L'Ho'i~ Rosh HaYeshiva of the nation, a purifying tremor enveloped all Although also affiliated with the Mussar Seminary (ibid., p. 276), and he became existence ..." (ibid., p. 294). movement, Reb Yosef Leib had a degree one of the primary poskim for German Reb Avrohom Elya died suddenly, on of affinity for Kabba/a and Machashava Orthodoxy. In 1922, upon Rabbi Hoff­ the 15 Iyar, 5684 ( 1924). On his matzei­ based on Kabba la-an approach that was man's death, Reb Avrohom Elya suc­ va (tombstone) was engraved the a novelty in Lithuanian yeshivas/' ceeded him as Rosh Ha Yeshiva at the Sem­ - -·- 9Heard frotn his son, a noted scholar and Towards the end of the war, Reb Avro­ inary. As the head of the major makom author, Rabbi Tzvi Kaplan, ofYerushalayin1. See hom Elya, now in his late twenties, 1'orah in Germany, he becan1e one of the the essays in Divrei Taln1ud, vol. l (Mossad HaRav becan1e 1nore involved in communal great writers and leaders of that country. Kook, l 958) by Rabbi Yechezkel Sarna~, lggeres, work and Harbotzas 1brah. He was one Reb Avrohom Elya brought hither­ p. 7 (this letter originally appeared in the lyar­ of the founders of a Torah youth move­ Sivan, 1929 issue of flaNe'eman fTeishe],an issue to unknown levels of Talmudic study to devoted to Reb Avrohom Elya's memory); and by ment "Torah v'Oz," and a parallel edu­ Germany. TWo years after his arrival in Rabbi Tzvi Kaplan, "Editor's Introduction," p. 12. cational movement for girls, "Agudas Berlin, he wrote: "When I first came JO B'lkvos HaYira, p. 297. Even in Berlin, his diary Enos Yisroel.'" Afterthe war's end, in 1919, here, I would say to myself that a shiur is full of yearning for higher levels of spiritual­ the Lithuanian government granted its from Telshe could not be said in Berlin. ity (ibid., pp. 165-7). He regularly spent his Yan1irn Jewish subjects autono1nous status. Reb Now I say that a shiur from Berlin may Nora'im in Slabodka, in quest of kedusha. Rabbi Matis Greenblatt related to me that the Alter Avrohom Elya's movement then blos­ be said in Telshe. The voice of Lithua­ would arrange for Rabbi Hutner to room with so1ned into a national organization nia may be heard in the tranquil halls Reb Avrohom El ya during these visits. known as "Tze'irei Yisroel."'8 Reb Avro­ of Germany" (ibid., p. 204). One of his hoin Elya represented this movement in major accomplishments in Germany the "National Committee" that had was his influence over n1any students to jurisdiction over the autonomy, and co­ spend years learning in the great chaired its division of education. Reb Lithuanian yeshivos. 9 Avrohon1 Elya was, however, ambivalent Above all, however, Reb Avrohom about his involvement in communal con­ Elya brought Mussarto Western Europe. cerns, and wrote of his yearning to return: His pleasant demeanor and refined "to that broad and illuminating, mighty personality were the foundations, and 6This n1ore 1nystical approach is perhaps reflect­ 8Reb Avroho1n Elya even wrote an anthen1 for ed in his 1920 poem that begins: "Did it ever hap­ this moven1ent, vvhich began: "Brothers in Avoda pen to you I At night, midnight, I Resting silent~ we are all, together,/ Let us work, let us toil, pre­ ly, with your eyes I Half closed, I To forget all / pare a generation, I A healthy, fresh generation, Your yearnings, I And think I Of Man and World a generation of Ovdiin, I Let our Torah be its sun I And feel that I Your soul has nothing I Except of light./ A generation alive in Torah, a genera­ it itself I And its G~d ... "(ibid., p. 182 and p. 257). tion alive in Judais1n, I A generation that is a free 7My great aunt, Mrs. Leah Ho!zberg shetichye of nation, free of the yoke of slavery, I A generation Yerushalayi1n, was a student of Reb Avrohom of sons of a holy nation, a nation that is ()ved Elya's in this period, and l'havdif bcin chayim Hashc1n. I Let us be oved, prepare for that life!" l'chayin1, my grandfather, Rabbi Dov Yehuda (ibid., p. 181.). The second stanza focuses on Eretz Schochet zr"/, was much influenced by Reb Avro­ Yisroel (Reb Avrohoin Elya ardently loved Eretz hoin Elya, as well. In conversations with my aunt, Yisroel, and constantly thought and wrote of inov­ it was ren1arkable to behold !he strength of the ing and being active there) and Lashon HaKodesh. impression left by Reb Avrohon1 Elya son1e 70 One cannot escape the in1pression that this years later. anthen1 was meant to counter the HaTikvah.

The Jewish Observer, April 2002 39 following epitaph: "An Ish Yehudi, great II. HIS THOUGHT emissary of a certain party to teach pol­ in knowledge, and great in life, pos­ itics to the masses, but rather one who sessed of heart and pure spirit. A mas­ b Avrohom Elya's role model, is perceived as a humble dweller in the ter of Torah, mighty in emuna, power­ Rabbi Yisroel Salanter ':>"Yr, is tent of Torah. One who learns himself, ful in understanding, and a onstant presence in Reb Avro- and then teaches what he has learned" sweet-songwriter. He loved his fellow hom Elya's writings. Reb Yisroel repre­ (ibid., p. 101). A true leader, Reb Avro­ man as himself, and was beloved by all sents, to Reb Avrohom Elya, the para­ hom Elya writes, follows in the footsteps who saw him. To his students he was like digm of leadership and influence: "No of Reb Yisroel, perfecting himself, then a brother, and their souls bonded to his. 'center,' no 'committee,: .. in all their glory, "spilling over" to his talmidim. Reb Avro­ With the brilliance of the Heavens, he have in the eyes of the nation the sig­ hom Elya strove to clarify the truth for illuminated East and West. The sun set nificance of a great talmid chacham. Not himself, and that truth then overflowed at the heart of its day." 11 someone who reveals himself as the to teach others. Many of Reb Avrohom Elya's essays center on the approaches Reb Yisroel had or likely would have had to various issues. In an essay contrasting the Chas­ sidus of the Rebbe Maharash ':>"Oil of Personal responsibility throughout service - NOT JUST "PAPERWORK" Lubavitch and Reb Yisroel's Mussar-the ORIGINATOR OF THE PRESENT RABBINICALLY APPROVED METHOD two, incidentally were close friends - Reb Highly recommended by Gedolai Hador- Here and in Eretz Yisrael Avrohom Elya writes (free translation): 1043-42nd Street, Brooklyn, NY 11219 Mussar often concurs with the Jewish vigor of Chassidus; with its Day&Nightphone: (718) 851-8925 capacity to shut out the environ­ 1in:m:i1-nn0Np lll"i' - 1'•~ 1Nl n10Yll >nn ment; with its heartfelt, open, bein Kavod Haniftar with Mesiras Nefesh and compassion for the bereaved family. adam l'chaveiro that softens petty, TAHARAS HANJFTAR SHOULD NEVER BE COMMERCIALIZED superficial, European etiquette; its 11 My great u;;de, R. Yosef Dov Hol~berg N"~ r.------~ of Yerushalayim, related to me that both Reh Avrohom Elya and his father died when, ARE You MOVING? immersed in deep concentration in a sugya, blood vessels burst in their heads. The following pas­ sage from the Berlin journal feschurun is quot­ IS YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS PRINTED ed in translation from Three Generations: The INCORRECTLY ON THE JO MAILING LABEL? Influence of Samson Raphael Hirsch on Jewish Life and Thought by Dayan Dr. I. Grunfeld '::>"~(Jew­ We need your help to ensure proper delivery of the Jewish Observer to your home. ish Post Publications, London, J 958, p. 77): Please attach current mailing label in the space below, or print clearly your address and "It is generally agreed that never had there been computer processing numbers that are printed above your name on the address label. witnessed in Berlin a similar scene of lamenta­ tion as on the day when Avrohom Eliyahu Kaplan was laid to eternal rest ( 16 Iyar 5684-1924). The expressions of desperate grief, the continued sob­ bing of West European men trained in self-con­ Affix old label here trol, cannot be explained merely by the tragic event that a young father had been torn away from his family and that a very promising career had been cut short. It was far more than that; from the depths of our subconscious minds, a Name~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~- feeling arose, breaking with all elemental force New Address through all conventional behaviour and telling us that this death was a blow which had struck City, down everyone of us and had put an end to a sacred conviction which we all shared; that this State, man was destined to bring about a revival and renewal of German Judaism." Date Effective ------­ (Beginning on page 74 of Three Generations, there Send address The Jewish Observer is significant biographical material on Reb changes to: Change of Address Avrohom Elya and his successor, fellow "Sla­ bodker" and friend, Rabbi Yechiel Yaakov Wein­ 42 Broadway, 14th Floor, New York, NY 10004 berg 'J'"::n, the Seridei Esh - whose hesped on Reb Please aHow 4-6 weeks for all changes to be reflected on your mailing label. We will not Avrohom Elya was published in LePrakim, Bil­ be responsible for back issues missed unless you notify us 6 weeks prior to yotir move. .J L. gorai, 1936,p.155.) ------The Jewish Observer, April 2002 40 dedication to lofty purpose, and its yearned to bring Reb Yisroel's Mussarto lar and intensive study should focus on readiness to forgo for that purpose Western Europc. 14 One of Reb Yisroel's the acquisition of Torah wisdom; c) one normal conditions oflife; its youthful innovations was the Beis HaMussar, a must not define Torah concepts on the fervor - well into old age- in mitzvos. place to rise above the constant din and basis of secular concepts; d) one cannot Mussar, however, has a significant confusion of daily life, to take up a sefer say: "l have mastered Torah, now I shall critique of Chassidus as well: Chassidus Mussar, exan1ine one's self and one's concentrate on secular studies." can be too external .... A Chassid may behavior, and assess one's destiny and He then defines and contrasts delude himself, thinking that he goals. Reh Avrohom Elya believed that Chochmas Ha'Umos and Chochmas Yis­ derives more out of Chassidus than he more than any tefilla b'tzibburor any lec­ roel (the secular vs. the Torah-based actually does. Chassidus deals with ture or essay, the power to reach one's quests for wisdom). The quest to know profound thoughts and great deeds, own heart despite the great urban mad­ everything and define all - both the hut these can remain outside the ness of Western Europe, was to be found mundane and the divine - is the basis essence of the Chassid. Chassidus pen­ in a Reis HaMussar-a place 'Where indi­ of Chochmas Ha'Umos. Ultimately, how­ etrates the depths of the greatest viduals who seek G-d could go and for­ ever, man must recognize that he can­ Torah problems... but it penetrates too tify themselves and their like-minded not know and understand everything. little the self of a person, so that he friends in their quest, through contem­ Despite mankind's quest to discover and might engage in a reckoning as to plation and introspection (ibid., p. 12 l ). grasp the mysteries of the distant past, where he stands in relation to his Reb Avroho111 Elya viewed Mussaras the ultimate future, the minuteness of the World and in relation to his obliga­ the scale against which all should be atom, the vastness of the cosmos, and the tions in his World .... An average measured. This opinion informs) for "why" of it all, these questions will never Chassid thinks that the niggun he sings exa111ple, his perspective on the balance all be resolved. Science is limited. It can­ wells up from his heart; that the of Torah and secular studies - a matter not answer the basic questions that dveykus that he experiences has its of great importance in Germany, the underlie its explorations. source in his soul, even though these land of Torah im Derech Fretz Chochmas Yisroel is radically differ­ may well be transient moods, not asso­ ( Chochmas Ha'Umos vc'Chochmas Yis­ ent. Christianity maintains that science ciated with his true essence .... 12 roel, ibid., pp. 27-31, especially p. 28). and philosophy are intellectual disciplines, That constant self-critique: "Per­ Reb Avrohom Elya begins his analy­ whereas fearing G-d is a matter of pure haps I am deluding myself"; the query sis with an exposition of four basic will - one who wants to fear that should accompany every step in halachic parameters which define the G-d fears Him. The Torah vehemently life: "Have I not strayed in this relationship between Lin1udei Kodesh disagrees. Yiras Hashen1 is an avoda, a instance from the path?»; finally, all and Limudei Chol: a) Torah study must wisdom that must be pursued and that is encompassed in the thought be one's primary concern and not a acquired - beginning with Mussar, that serves as a necessary precondition peripheral matter; b) one's most regu- continuing with halacha, and success­ for Shivisi Hashem l'negdi satnid [«I 14 A goal Reh Yisrocl hi111self had set 1nany years fully ending with teshuva u'ma'asim tavim. have placed G-d before me always"], earlier - sec ibid., p. 120. Chochmas Yisroe/ is the quest of the Oved namely, the thought, "I have placed my 'self' before nle always" - all this is more prevalent in Mussar than in Chassidus ... 13 Jonah's Fashion Inc. Reh Avrohorn Elya continued to bring examples of how Reb Yisroel's constant self-criticism influenced H.eb Yisroel's every step and deed. Reh Yis­ roel appraised every action, and checked • We make skirts and jumpers, solids if it had the slightest hint ("negi'a") of and plaids, from size 5 thru any negative character trait or sin. junior and pre-teens As mentioned, Reb Avrohom Elya • Bais Yaacov blouses made from 12 Rcb Avrohon1 Elya was not negating 1he power of niggun - he hin1self wrote 1nany niggunim of our own custom made dl'cykus (sec B'lkvos HaYiro pp. 217-218). (extra heavy) material 13 /bid., p. 22. Reh Avrohom Elya noted that the founders of Cha5sidus did know and i1npart thr need for Mussar-!ike introspection to their fol­ lowers, but sufficient stress was not placed on this con1ponent, and over tiine it was forsaken (ibid., p. 136).

The Jewish Observer, April 2002 41 Hashem to perfect himself. ( Shabbos 31 b) tell us there is only one Mussar. I regarded him with great We say: "Yismach lev mevakshei true chochma - Yiras Hashem! Reb esteem and honor - but I would not Hashem" -those who quest G-d will be Avrohom Elya notes that on the one have expected this much. Jn the final joyous. The popular adage states: "There hand: "Reishis chochma Yiras Hashem" analysis, he was yet young. 1rue, he had is no joy equivalent to that of the reso­ - the beginning of Ghochma is Yir'as learned and toiled mightily in Torah - lution of doubts." The quest for close­ Hashem; and on the other hand: "Tach­ and especially in the realm of ness to G-d is the Ghochmas Yisroel that lis chochma teshuva u'ma'asim tovim" - machashava and mussar, but even all his provides the answers. How? Ghazal the purpose of chochma is teshuva and toil cannot explain the great depth and good deeds. What is the middle? What profound thought that I found in New for the 15-16 forms the bridge? Halacha and mitzvos. B'Ikvos HaYira. 1'his is not an essay, year-old bochur Answers, then, come of their own rather a unique synopsis of immersion accord: "So many questions are resolved in profound thoughts and ideas ..." Befhel filnn - but not by resolving them! After sev­ ( B'Ikvos Ha Yira, p. 284). Summer Prtdram eral years, one is astounded to realize In a letter written to Reb Avrohom 4-8 weeks-~>~ that the questions no longer exist." This Elya (ibid., p. 281 ), Rabbi Sarna placed is what Ghazal meant in their interpre­ special emphasis on the style in which Learn under Rabbi ~ '111,i ~ Shmuel Brazil. renowned ~ ~ tation of the commandment "Acharei B'Ikvos HaYira was written: "... strong mechanech and mashpiah. ~ Hashem Elokeichem teileichu -You and sweet, clear and deep, penetrating ~ should follow G-d your L-rd (Devarim and captivating, robust and passionate Do genuine farm work: sheep. cows & chickens, gardening. 13, see Sota 14a):' To achieve dveykus, - that is why it makes a Mussar impres­ g ·sion." It is difficult, if not impossible, construction, and more! I one must emulate G-d - just as He is mercifuli so you must be merciful, etc. to convey the full inspiration of the 2-4 day intensive ba<:kpacking, mountain biking. hiking and/or The resultant refinement of character original in translation; it is to be canoe trips w~h Frum NY lie. guide. and devotion to identifying and fulfill­ hoped, however, that the following ing ratzon Hashem comprise the good translation will allow the English read­ 718-327-6322 deeds that are tachlis chochma. As mas­ er to catch a glimpse, and perhaps even ters of this Ghachmas Yisroe~ we perceive more than a glimpse, of the essay's the answers in our acquired dveykus. 15 power and pathos. When we mention yira to [the JJI. IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF YIRA ordinary] person, he visualizes its expression thus: Bent head, wrinkled eb Avrohom Elya left many mov­ brow, glazed eyes, hunched back, ng and inspiring writings in the trembling left hand, right hand klap­ ealm of Machashava. 16 Indeed, ping al cheit, knocking thighs, failing we have here just scratched the surface knees, stumbling heels. And he does of the inspiration one can draw from his not realize that this interpretation is essays, diaries and poems. Yet, one heretical. Rabbinical fefetences avail.tlble masterpiece stands out from among the There are times that demand tears rest, and is the work by which he is best and eulogies .... It is necessary then to ··Home: (718) 338..,1765 remembered: "B'Ikvos HaYira -In the bend low and take up sackcloth and Pager: (917) 486-5655 Footsteps of Fear:' Rabbi Yechezkel ashes·. Times come upon the world Sarna wrote: "This essay could have when our sins require these. Such, been written by one of the fathers of however, is not yiras Hashem. It is not the essence of yira, only preparation AREIVIM !:~~Besides -his ess~Ys on h~~hkafa, R·;i; Avr~hom Elya also left many "Reshilnos," short notes on for it .... HOTLINE topics in mussar, machashava, and avodas Yira is not anguish, not pain, not 1-lashem, some of which are beautiful vignettes bitter anxiety. To what may yira be From crisis to control. of life lived in a Torah-true and Mussar-suffused likened? To the tremor of fear that a way. Helping our boys and girls father feels when his beloved young 16His published works are: Divrei Talmud, 2 vol­ son rides his shoulders as he dances Parents: 1-866-6AREIVIM umes, published by Mossad HaRav Kook in 1958 and 1970; and B'Ikvos HaYira, also published by with him and rejoices before him, tak­ Teens: 1·866-0URGUYS Mossad HaRav Kook. The first edition was print­ ing care that he not fall off. Here there Email: [email protected] ed in 1956. The current (1988) edition is an is joy that is incomparable. And the All calls are confidential. expanded one. Reb Avrohom Elya's writings were fear tied up with it is pleasant too. It collected, edited, and in part translated, by Rabbi 1'm•':>K "1> 1~ J"" f.I l'')7':> Tzvi Kaplan. does not impede the freedom of

-----·------··-- 42 The Jewish Observer, Aprif 2002 dance .... It passes through them like Indeed, this is the direct relation­ Yet from the examples of that vanished a spinal column that straightens and ship. Indeed, this is the true vision world even we can derive inspiration to strengthens. And it envelops them like ('1'1'<1) that we call yir'a ('1Ni'). aspire to spiritual heights. Reb Avrohom a inodest frame that lends grace and "CVi1 1N1ii1 ... 7Nwi N1't1" Elya's model of true yirah and his pleasantness ... And this, therefore, is the reason derech can guide us in our quest to be It is dear to the father that his son that we dwell so much on fear of sin mekadesh shem Shamayim in all aspects is riding securely upon him and will ( "yir'as ha'onesh"). This is also vision of our lives. Ill not fall back, for he constantly - seeing things as they really are .... re1nembers him; not for a moment One who refuses to see his future does he forget him. He feels his son's shortchanges only himself. Only if he Uncle Moishy, every movement, even the smallest, sees ('1N1') will he fear (N1''), and only Mordechai Ben David, and he ensures that his son will not if he fears will he repent. and other top-of·the-line sway from his place, nor incline side­ And from here we proceed to the Jewish entertainers ways. His heart is, therefore, sure, and awe of loftiness ( ''yir'as haromemus') he dances and rejoices. - that is the vision [the perception] of are available If a person is sure that the "bun­ loftiness. From here-"The maid ser­ to visit dle" of his life's meaning is safely held vant at the Red Sea saw loftier visions seriously ill high by the shoulders of his awareness, than the Prophet Yechezkel." children he knows that this bundle will not slip From here comes the direct view, thanks to backwards. He will not forget it for a across all the dividers, to the source i1tr'il'1tllW l'ml)-cl? moment. He will remember it con­ of existence. This is an unceasing inner »'Tml ~ ., n:i rnn stantly. With yira, he will safe-keep it. gaze toward the matter that is one's AChessed project run by If every moment he checks it - then responsibility [the bundle of his life's Agudath lsrad of Ainerka in conjuhctkm With his heart is confident, and he dances meaning] (that he must safeguard lest Said -& D'mg Prt:JdudfOnS and rejoices ... it fall ... ). The gaze is one that leads to Tu set up an appointment, call! When the Torah was given to remembrance, remembrance that Israel, solemnity and joy came down leads to care, care that leads to confi­ bundled together. They are fused dence, confidence that leads to together and cannot be separated. strength (''oz") - an inner, bold, HELP FOR PARENTS OF That is the secret of "gil be're' ada" (joy uplifting, strength ("Hashem oz TEENS IN CONFLICT in trembling) mentioned in Tehillim. le'amo yitein") and a strength that Dance and judgment, song and law leads to peace ("shalom") and whole­ became partners with each other... ness, internally and externally, in Indeed, this is the balance... A rod thought and in deed ("Hashem of noble yira17 passes through the yevareich es amo ba'shalom"). TEL: 718-758-0400 rings of joy.... [It is] the inner rod Indeed, this is the wisdom of life: CONFIDENTIAL JO AM - JO PM embedded deep in an individual's soul c'Reishis chochma yiras Hashem." A that connects end to end, it links com­ fear (i1N1~) that is vision (i1iITT). "'SUPPORT GROUPS plete joy in this world (eating, drink­ ./REFERRALS -/HOTLINE ing and gift giving) to that which is b Avrohom Elya stood out in a beyond this world (remembering the eneration in which spiritual inevitable day of death) 17 to graft one Ri iants trod the face of the Earth. upon the other so to produce eternal fruit .... CHEVRA OSEH CHESED What is yira? It is the broad leap OF AGUDATH ISRAEL over the vast gap between myself and my Creator.... It is a mitzva to sepa­ BURIAl PLOTS rate oneself from smallness! Fly over IN ERETZ YISROEL barriers! And from there quest Him, Interment in a•. Shahbos Beis for there you will find Him ... sh.;mer Olam near Be ill Shemesh 17 An allusion to the beri'ach ltatichon, the inner 1537 50th Street, Pkase to: rod in the middle of the Mishkan's walls that went tb°:f}

The Jewish Observer, April 2002 43 BO()~S Rabbi Noach Orlowek R:~(w The Contemporary Challenge of Kindling souls

To Kindle a Soul, by Rabbi Leib Kelemen THE MIRACLE IN CONTEMPORARY Rochester, N. Y., when his mother passed (Feldheim Publishers, Nanuet, NY, 2001 JEWISH HISTORY away. Before her passing, he had prom­ $24.95) ised her that he would recite the mourn­ t was the oft-expressed opinion of er's Kaddish for one month. Upon his o Kindle a Soul, by Rabbi Leib Mori Ve'rabi (HaGaon Rabbi Simcha return to Los Angeles, he rushed to the Kelemen, is a treasure-trove of I Wasserman ?··~r) that we are wit­ Reform Temple on Wilshire Blvd. to catch T information that every parent nessing a miracle in our time. In the the Afternoon Service, but found that dur­ should be aware of - especially the baa/ past, Jews embraced Torah as a result of ing the week the Temple was closed. He teshuva, who should be able to present persecution or political hardship, or on then rushed to Orthodox Beth Jacob Con­ to his secular family his newly found account of some physical threat to their gregation on Olympic Blvd., but he educational approach for his children. security from their country of residence. arrived too late, and had to await the The book, besides its wonderful insights, 1oday, for the first time in our history, com1nencement of the evening service. As is destined to be a powerful kiruv tool, secular Jews are doing teshuva (return­ he sat there waiting, he noticed a Jew sit­ bringing secular parents and their baal ing to Hashem and His Torah) in spite ting and learning Torah with a sweet teshuva children together, for it shows of having been raised in an environment melody. Captivated by the purity of the secular grandparents that their beloved that is comfortable both economically melody and by the enthusiasm of the grandchildren are going to receive the and socially. learner, the ntan resolved to "check out" finest possible upbringing, from both Mori Ve'rabi'said that this switch is what this brand of Judaism was. From intellectual and emotional criteria. a sign that we are in the Generation of that one small spark, he eventually found Moshiach. When discussing the subject, his way to a Torah life. Rabbi Noach Orlowek serves as Mashgiac/1 in sev­ he would sometimes cite the following Dr. Alan Weiss, a prominent cardiol­ eral yeshivos in Yerushalayiin. A published author story to show how close people are today ogist from St. Louis who enjoyed a close - My J)iscip!e, My Child and My Child, My Dis­ ciple (Fcldheim Publishers) ~several of his essays to teshuva: relationship with Rabbi Elazar Shach ?·Oil, have been featured in these pages, n1ost recent­ Someone from Los Angeles was in quoted Rabbi Shach as having told him ly, "An Agenda For Reaching Out With Inner * referring to Rabbi Wassennan that although the yeshivas are the heart Strength" (June '97) of the Jewish people, the baalei teshuva will be the ones to bring Moshiach. You can.! Just call This return to Judaism is a blessing The Yit:t:i Leibel for us all. Every baal teshuva injects the Helpline. Jewish people with fresh spiritual ener­ HOURS: gy and a renewed appreciation for Monday-Friday ...... Sam -12pm Judaism. These can sometimes be lack­ Monday-Thursday ...... 8pm -11 pm ing in those who have grown up with it Sunday ...... 9am -12prn, 9prn -llpm and take it for granted as a natural part of life. -718<;~r~f-;~}lW 4 HOW PEOPLE VIEW THEMSELVES Chicago ...... (800) HELP-023 l.akewood ...... (732) 363-1010 Cleveland ...... (888) 209-8079 ometimes a baal teshuva who Baltimore ...... (410) 578-1111 begins a life centered around Torah Detroit...... (877) 435-7611 SJudaism, quickly changes his or her San Diego ...... (866) 385-0348 name, manner of dress, language, and ;i"j) 07o,,..+-i1 ~~;,~~,.:~ ~~-:~J; ;i'TI rol:'l '17,/;- even some of his or her mannerisms. All 0"ji i!N"I:: :i-: 0\:.'~ ·; i!! ;i''j)W' '; (~"'::".:e;ir-:::·~~:l these constitute rejections of the person's Dedicated b Mr. & Mrs. Shmuel Boruch Wilhelm previous lifestyle. If the rejection is total

44 The Jewish Observer, April 2002 and sudden, it may be more indicative Baal teshuva families should, if pos­ [pp. 153-190, just on TV!], and my frei of a rejection of self. sible, maintain good relations with their relatives are left speechless. The book Baalei teshuva need to find ways of extended family, siblings, cousins, puts tremendous power into a baal retaining the positive facets of their pre­ aunts and uncles, and, of course, teshuva's hands, since it allows us to baal teshuva days. There is no question grandparents. There are often difficul­ show that even by secular standards, the that the strength of character behind the ties that need to be addressed, for while 'idiot box' is only for idiots:' courageous changes they have made in the baa/ teshuva wants to have his chil­ At the same time, the book's detailed their lives comes from somewhere - and dren benefit from knowing their rela­ record of what passes for "family it is often from their morally sensitive, tives, some of the influences of the entertainment" on contemporary TV principle-centered parents. dominant society creep in. What to an fare may make some Torah-loyal par­ The problems that baalei teshuva average secular family is quite accept­ ents uncomfortable about keeping this encounter in their adaptation to the able is, in a Torah family, a profound volume within their children's reach. Torah world, especially in regard to their threat to the children's healthy spiritual children's upbringing, must be development. It's vital to build on what 2.SCHOOL addressed, like all problems, with an binds you together, not what separates understanding of their own strengths you. This is especially the case with here's no question that one of the and abilities. Then problems turn into extended family that lives close by. great advantages of living in the challenges, and can be addressed in that There are many recreational activi­ TTorah world is that for children, spirit. ties, such as rowing or a trip to an the environment is much healthier Baalei teshuva, having seen the false­ aquarium, that can be enjoyable for all. than "modern" society, in which children hoods of materialism, and having suc­ When visiting secular relatives, remem­ are exposed at early ages to extremely cessfully rejected the dominant culture, ber to bring an interesting game that damaging influences. His or her teach­ now face a new challenge. The Torah­ will occupy the children and distract ers will, in the great majority of cases, oriented society that they've chosen, the them from viewing the "idiot box:' be better personal role models, and the culture that is molding their children, Television, even when "educational;' can social setting will be on a far higher level is in many ways foreign territory. While open a whole panorama of difficulties. morally and personally, than one would they find this society far superior to the It should stay off, and, in my opinion, find in today's general school system. one they themselves grew up in, the out of sight. The Yeshiva or Day School, however, unfamiliarity is expressed in a number In To Kindle a Soul, the awesome is a very different place from the public of areas. For example: threat that TV poses for our children is or private secular school in which the baal presented in a way that secular people teshuva parent himself was educated. The I.FAMILY can appreciate. Rabbi Kelemen recent­ school day is likely to be substantially ly told me, "When anyone questions my longer, and the curriculum vastly differ­ he average American family has hesitance to expose my kids to TV, I just ent. Parents may have difficulty commu­ two children. The average Torah quote 2 or 3 statistics from the book nicating with teachers who lack an under- Thome averages at least double that, and five to seven children per fam­ YOUR CAR IN ISRAEL TYPE OF CAR PER.WEEK$

ily is not unusual. What this means is ~ A FIAT PUNTO 3 DR 112 that the average baal teshuva parent has i! • FIAT PUNTO S OR. 126 FROM - FORD FIESTA 147 no personal model on which to man­ Id ~ c Cl PEUGEOT 306 182 age a family considerably larger than MT MINIBUS 10 SEATS 518 the one in which he/she was raised. In u D OPEL CORSA 189 ~ E DAEWOO LANOS 211 addition, the baa/ teshuva usually g F SUZUKI 8ALENO ! ,6 encounters opposition from his/her 15.90~NT-Rn .. XL PEUGEOT 406 2.0 "'357 ~ parents and/or siblings, who are criti­ Per day. weekly rate, unlimited mileage. exe. ins. vx VOLVO S-70 630 EX MERCEDES E240 770 cal of the "burden" being imposed on SHABBAT KX MAZDA MPV their family member by this big-fam­ FREE* "Unlimited mlleage.exc.lns."' * Minimum 3 days renal. *Valid till 30 jun 2002, exc. ins. " Valid low season only ily life-style. Furthermore, having cho­ sen a strong Torah community to live FREE* ONE DAY CAR RENTAL U.S.11 New-York Toll Free: in, the baa! teshuva often lives far away FOR EACH NIGHT SPENT AT 1-800-938-5000 from his/her family of origin, and the ELDAN HOTEL JERUSALEM *Valid low Season Only: Group B in NYC Tel: 212-629-6090 help - with childraising, household car/exc.ins. www.eldan.co.il maintenance, and finances, that in the frum world is often gladly given by grandparents and siblings - is lacking. '.

The Jewish Observer, April 2002 45 standing of their background, and may feel assistance academically. that it can be patently dangerous if the that they themselves are inadequately As stated earlier, the baal teshuva baa[ teshuva parent wants his child to equipped to help their children with their needs to build on his personal strengths become a "super F.F.B:' (frum from Torah studies, since the material is unfa­ and create a relationship with his child birth). Children need to be loved, miliar to them. Indeed, not only can the that transcends the academic arena. respected, and helped in every which material be unfamiliar, and very different Children can be helped to respect the way. But they cannot carry on their from what they themselves learned as chil­ fact that their parents never had the shoulders their parents' unrealized life dren, but also it can be taught in Hebrew, san1e opportunities to study 'forah as a expectations. or Yiddish, rather than the parents' native child. When the parent shares his life tongue. Similarities can be drawn between wisdom, skills (either academic or man­ ASTUTE ADVICE FOR US ALL these baal teshuva parents and the new ual), and life experience with his child, immigrants to the United States at the turn the bond is a deep one. The parent's abil­ his need to build mutually loving of the twentieth century. ity to change his life course for the right and respectful relationships with While it is absolutely necessary for reasons, and dedication to truth, will not Tour children obviously applies to their children to learn in a Torah be lost on the child. all parents, not only baalei teshuva, for school, parents can take steps to miti­ we live in such a fast-changing world gate all these normal problems. I rec­ that it is common for children to get the ommend the following: feeling that their parents are hopeless­ ly "out of it." When that happens, the Choosing the School parents' power to protect and influence their children wanes. t is important to choose, if possible, Even parents who are sending their a school that is open to meaningful children to the same school they them­ I parent-teacher dialogue. That is, if selves attended, and who children the parent starts early in the year to get patronize the same corner pizza shop, acquainted with the teacher, the cur­ are probably completely out of touch riculum, and the school's goals, then the with their child's world if they rely on school will gladly help the parents keep their own knowledge of the school and abreast of their child's progress and be pizza shop, dating back one or two open to parental input as to who their decades, from the era of their own form­ child is and what kind of interaction Unrealistic Expectations ative years. Today, even a lapse of three with the teacher would work best for or four years can signal massive change. him or her. ll parents can have unrealistic In a pizza shop that was an innocent It is vital that the school respect the expectations of their children. meeting place a few years ago, our chil­ fact that the baal teshuva parent is indeed AParents coming from Europe dren can learn things today and be a unique individual, and that he or she were enchanted particularly with the exposed to things that are literally life­ will be its best source of information idea of their child having an opportu­ threatening, not just to their spiritual about such a family's specific needs. nity to become a doctor. (Mori Verabi well-being but to their very lives. Both parents and mechanchim will ':>"lit once said that in Eastern Europe the In this respect, the baa[ teshuva fam­ want to show others the section in To doctor had an almost divine aura.) But ily has an advantage. They, at least, real­ Kindle a Soul (pp. 58-65) where Rabbi the children, sensing that their parents ize that they need to learn their child's Kelemen demonstrates that a Torah wanted "nachas" in ways that were not world, for it is clearly different from the school need not be apologetic about its always right for the children themselves, one they grew up in. They are not lulled ability to develop a child's intellect and started to pull away. into a false sense of security about what love of learning. There is still another variation on this their children's day is like, whom he theme. Rabbi Shlomo Goldberg, an might meet up with, and what he is like­ Studying What Your Child is Learning expert educator in Los Angeles, was the ly to see and hear. The nachas they will first to bring this problem to my atten­ have is indeed enormous, for they are the ome schools will provide either tion: It is normal for parents to want for "Avrohoms," the ones who began a new classes or resources that enable the their children what they themselves life for themselves and their children. Sparent to master the material, or never had, whether it be education, Especially these "Avrohoms;' but some of it, that the child is studying. financial security, or life experiences. The indeed all of us, would benefit from the While this is not absolutely necessary, parent lives vicariously through the wealth of information which Rabbi Leib it is a good way to keep in touch with child. This pattern is normal, generally Kelemen has woven into his wonderful your child's world, and to be of some speaking, but Rabbi Goldberg points out book, To Kindle a Soul. •

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