“the comforter.” All his life, my father quence quelled the rebellion, and he when it was my father’s turn to drive, Working with his close friend, Eliyahu kept a framed photograph of the Imrei remained in Danville for three more he was determined to the children Kitov, he translated two of Kitov’s clas- Emes on his desk. years. Many of his congregants became to school on time, despite a terrible sic books, A and His Home and The lifelong friends and loyalists. A surpris- pain in his side. In Norfolk, my father Book of Our Heritage. My father’s final ing number of Danville children were collapsed with what proved to be a resting place is on Har HaMenuchos, “Daddy, tell us again about inspired by my father to pursue careers ruptured appendix. The other father near that of his beloved friend. the shtetl where you grew up,” my sib- in kiruv, chinuch and the rabbinate. made no more threats, and all his chil- My youngest brother was born just lings and I used to joke. We knew our After leaving Danville, my father dren grew up to build -true before the Six Day War, and soon after father was American-born, and he spoke served as YU’s mashgiach ruchani (spiri- homes. that my father became the of the English eloquently. Yet there was always tual advisor) for a short time. My father The following year, my father started Young of Far Rockaway, a post something of the foreigner about him. ultimately moved away from the YU a day school in Newport News. He he held for eight years. As time passed, His parents were Gerrer Chassidim from orbit, yet often expressed hakaras hatov taught second grade himself. My sib- my father’s longing for Eretz Yisrael Poland; his was warm and rich. (gratitude) for what he had gained there. lings and I have vivid memories of him became more fervid; he finally fulfilled He spoke intimately and poignantly of teaching our classes how to daven, his lifelong dream of making in the great Torah personalities of Poland, telling us that every word of tefillah cre- 1975. Russia and . During the 1950s my father ates its own malach (angel)—but if the My father won the respect and admira- My father attended yeshivah for ele- was one of the founders of NCSY, the words are rushed and mispronounced, tion of rabbanim, roshei yeshivah and mentary and high school, which was OU program that brings thousands of an army of crippled angels go up to Chassidic rebbeim in Israel across the highly unusual in those days. In irreligious teenagers to Torah. Many heaven, with broken legs or arms! Like Orthodox spectrum. He maintained a Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan people who are now grandparents still the people of Danville, many Newport unique perspective, seeing all sides of WHOWHO ( University), he was a talmid of remember his electrifying addresses at News congregants maintain strong every Orthodox group in Israel with per- Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Other NCSY conventions. bonds with my family to this day. fect clarity. Identifying fully with no rebbeim he loved included Rav Moshe In 1957, with four young children, From 1963 to 1967, my parents group, he was beloved and sought out by Bick and Rav Moshe Polayeff. my parents moved to Newport News, lived in the Bronx, New York, where all. At his funeral, one of the speakers WILL Ultimately my father received his semi- Virginia. The nearest day school was my father served as a roving ambassa- compared him to Queen Esther, who was WILL chah and BA in philosophy from YU. in Norfolk, an hour away. Our carpool dor and troubleshooter for Torah claimed by each of the Persian Empire’s It was hard then to find a girl who was not always punctual, and one of Umesorah, the association of Jewish 127 provinces as its own. wanted to marry a rabbinical student, the fathers threatened to put his day schools. He founded The Jewish While living in , my father but fortunately the Creator had pre- daughter in public school. One day, Observer and served as its first editor. played a vital role in thwarting one of COMFORTCOMFORT pared my mother, Shaindel Freund (may she live to be 120). Like my Zeide Meir, my Zeide Moshe Yechiel held on to Yiddishkeit with all his The Early Years USUS NOW?NOW? might in America (“by his fingernails,” Rabbi Bulman and I were classmates at Yeshiva Chassidut, and I was amazed at the range of his knowl- By Toby Katz my mother says). Despite a limited University, and studied together under the Rav, zt”l. We edge. Equally impressive was his delivery—in a some- Jewish education, my mother had a were not part of the same chavruta, but we socialized what high-pitched voice; he was truly eloquent in both Photo courtesy of Ohr Somayach courtesyPhoto of Ohr passionate desire to marry a yeshivah together—especially on Friday nights, after the Yiddish and English, but especially the former. How I Rav Bulman, zt”l (1925-2002) bachur. When my parents met, meal, on Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg envied him—and how much I learned from him! truly found his rib. section. Young Orthodox of all schools—Torah Nachman and I agreed on many things, and disagreed They married in 1950 and my father Vodaath, , Chaim Berlin, Chofetz about many others. But whether we were of the same became rabbi of a small shul in Danville, Chaim—used to walk and talk, and the talk was often of opinion or not, there was a mutual feeling of respect and, Virginia (the city where I was born). the highest caliber (to the surprise, no doubt, of those at least from me to him, admiration. I never found him av Nachman ond wife and newborn son in a The shul, unlike many others, had a who looked upon this weekly promenade with a jaun- to be provincial, and he was a modeh al haemet. Our R kosher mechitzah, a ladies’ balcony. Bulman, zt”l, taught and inspired pogrom. He was left alone to raise two diced eye). What intrigued me about Nachman, and friendship was not diminished by distance or long lack of thousands of individuals, but I have small daughters. All this happened To his dismay, my father discovered what evoked affection and respect, was both the content contact; the rare occasions we met after he made aliyah the privilege of being able to say, “He before he was 25 years old. He mar- on erev Rosh Hashanah that the elderly and form of his conversation. The content was always reawakened in us the old, warm feelings of our youth. was my father.” Although I cannot do ried his third wife, my grandmother women sat downstairs on Yom Tov, high and serious. He was a yerei Shamayim but never nar- Nachman is gone now, to my great distress, but I know him justice, I will try to convey some- Ettel, and their firstborn son died of next to a dubious partition. A hastily row or shallow. He lived and breathed ahavat Yisrael, and that in the empyrean abode where his pure neshamah thing of the man my father was. famine during . My kashered mechitzah was not an aesthet- he was distressed about oh, so many things in the Jewish now rests, he is passionately lecturing the angels on a My grandfather, Meir Bulman, lost grandparents then moved to America. ic success, and there was much mur- community that he loved! He was critical of the less frum host of great issues. And they, messengers of the his first wife in childbirth, and his sec- Years passed; there were no more muring. One lady sat outside all and the too frum, let alone the non-frum. He approached Almighty who are supposed to know only Hebrew, will children. They wrote to the Imrei morning in protest. My father almost all problems from the point of view of musar and no doubt find their heavenly hearts warmed by his liter- Ms. Katz is a Judaic Studies teacher, Emes, the Gerrer , for a scrapped his prepared sermon, and ary, yet expressive, idiomatic and zaftig Yiddish. writer and homemaker living in North berachah. At age 43, my grandmother delivered an impassioned defense of Rabbi Dr. is the president of Yeshiva University. Zol er hobn a lichtign Gan Eden! Miami Beach, Florida. gave birth to my father, Nachman— the sanctity of the . His elo- JEWISH ACTION Winter 5763/2002 JEWISH ACTION Winter 5763/2002 Mayor Teddy Kollek’s more nefarious of peace and harmony, with everyone and killed. The grief-stricken owner My father was an Agudist, but an My father once made a wry com- schemes. Kollek thought he could feeling that they were working for a buried the dog in his yard, and asked my unusual one: He had a sympathetic view ment about various principles of alter the city’s religious character by My father envisioned that his common goal—to serve Hakadosh father to say a few words. And he did! My of Mizrachi and a deep appreciation for that had been appropriated by building a sports stadium near a reli- community would be a kehillah, like Rav Baruch Hu.” siblings and I were convulsed with laugh- the writings of Rav Kook. He once said one or another stream. “Because of the gious neighborhood. Bringing togeth- ’s in . It Unfortunately the community did ter. “Daddy made a hesped for a dog?!” to me, “Look at the students of the seri- Zionists, we can’t love Eretz Yisrael er Orthodox leaders from the left and would have a shul and a yeshivah, with not prove to be economically viable. But though the dog’s owner realized his ous Mizrachi yeshivos and their wives. anymore. Because of Lubavitch, we’ve the right, my father succeeded in some community members learning Yet people who lived there during the request was inappropriate, he remem- Their observance of halachah and their stopped yearning for Mashiach. stopping the mayor. As Rav Torah, others working to support Torah 14 years it lasted remember with long- bered above all my father’s kindness. standards of tzenius are impeccable.” Because of Reform, we can’t have deco- Heisler said at the funeral, Rav Bulman and others serving in the army. ing the years of inspiration, and the A man who visited my father in the Another time, on a Friday night at the rum in shul. If this keeps up, frum Jews was owed a debt of gratitude not only Former Kiryat Nachliel residents sense of different kinds of Jews being hospital near the end of his life said grate- Kotel, we saw a group of students from will have to give up the whole Torah.” by Sanhedria Murchevet but by all of Rabbi and Mrs. Dovid Levine remem- united in one great enterprise. fully, “I remember how you welcomed me Yeshivat Hakotel in their short-sleeved Jerusalem, for having saved the sancti- ber the time they lived there as being One story we heard during the shiv- to your community in Migdal Haemek white shirts and black pants. My father ty of the holy city. the peak years of their lives. In his hes- ah was somewhat amusing. A man even though I wore a knitted kippah, and said to me, “Look at those bachurim. For many years after my marriage, For many years my father was mashgiach ped of my father, Rabbi Levine said, from Kiryat Nachliel had a dog to how you even said to me, ‘We need more They look so Shabbosdik, and they’re my husband and I had no children. At one ruchani at Ohr Somayach. With his dream “Rav Hirsch in Frankfurt had it easy. which he was very attached. My father kippot serugot in Migdal Haemek.’” dressed appropriately for this country. point, a woman in Israel, who had one son, of building up Eretz Yisrael, my father He only had to deal with Germans. hated dogs, but he once saw this man’s My father did not believe that the It’s a pity our community didn’t adopt asked my father for a berachah for more established Kiryat Nachliel, an English- Rav Bulman had to deal with Americans, dog in the local shopping center and existence of the State of Israel indicat- their style of dress in Eretz Yisrael.” children. He told her what the speaking community in the northern town Israelis, Georgians, Russians, ba’alei realized it was lost. He and another ed aschalta deGeulah, that the As a Chassid himself, my father had says: If you pray for someone else, and you of Migdal Haemek. He commuted to teshuvah and frum from birth, man coaxed the dog into the back seat Redemption had already begun. Nor warm feelings towards fellow Chassidim. need the same thing yourself, you will be Jerusalem weekly so that he could continue and working men—and the amazing of a car and returned it to its owner. did he celebrate Yom HaAtzmaut. Yet He was intimately acquainted with the answered first. He gave her my name. to deliver shiurim at Ohr Somayach. thing is that he kept them all in a state A year later, the dog was hit by a car he most certainly ascribed cosmic sig- writings of all the Chassidic masters, We were living in Tennessee when nificance to the fact that Jews had con- including those of . Despite his we received a call about a Jewish baby trol of Eretz Yisrael, that millions of appreciation for Chabad, he was wary born with defective kidneys. Fearing Jews were living there and that there of what he considered to be their mes- the worst, the parents were placing A Day School Grows in the Catskills were more yeshivos and Torah learning sianic excesses. He once told me, “We him with a Christian couple for adop- Liberty, Monticello, South Fallsburg. Once a day school was established in the region, the there than at any time since the Jews have to stay on the broad high- tion. Would Michael and I take him? The 1950s was a time of Jewish ferment and change in recruitment of children became the next hurdle. Here too Destruction of the Temple. He way. Lubavitch is an exotic garden off It was 3 AM Jerusalem time when I the towns sprinkled throughout the Catskill Mountains. Rabbi Bulman was an effective advocate. One participant believed we were in the times known the side of the road.” Yet he also said, woke my father and asked him what Each hamlet had a shul and typically a young Orthodox in a parlor meeting insisted that he saw no reason to as the “Footsteps of the Messiah.” “As long as they haven’t gone over the to do. He replied, “Go get him. rabbi eager to spread the Torah way of life. But these rab- “force-feed” religion to young children. He would rather My father inspired many American line of halachah, you can’t read them However long he lives, his neshamah bis faced daunting problems. The Eastern European they make their own decision about religion when they Jews to go on aliyah, but there were out of Klal Yisrael.” His wariness was will know that it is in a home where immigrant generation, long the backbone of Jewish viabil- are old enough to think for themselves. Calmly, Rabbi also many whom he advised to stay in heightened by the bizarre behavior of there is Kiddush Friday night, where ity, was quickly dying out and its more assimilated chil- Bulman asked, “Would you wait that long to teach them America. In particular, having seen so many Lubavitchers after their rebbe’s there is Shabbos, where there is dren were far less interested in Jewish affiliation. to eat with a knife and fork?” many American youngsters lost to death. While he may not have agreed kashrus.” Our miracle son, Shai, cele- It was determined that only by establishing a day school In his own congregation, Rabbi Bulman was able to Yiddishkeit in Israel, he strongly dis- with every word, my father spoke brated his Bar a few months in the area would the continuity of Orthodoxy be assured. convince many non-Orthodox parents to send their chil- suaded people from moving there with warmly of David Berger’s book (The ago. His health is fine, baruch Hashem. Formative meetings were held with the local . As dren to the day school. But at the end of the first year, teenagers. “It is better to be in America Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of When our son was two, my second the plans progressed, the hostility of the general Jewish many of them registered their children in the local public and long for Eretz Yisrael than to be in Orthodox Indifference, Oxford, 2001) child, Naomi, was born in Atlanta, population increased. “It’s ‘un-American.’” “We live in a school. Members of the day school board of directors Eretz Yisrael and long for America.” and said, “A blessing on his head.” Georgia. That very same day, in Israel, pluralistic society and must adapt to it.” “We don’t want were angered, feeling that the parents had taken advantage our children ‘ghettoized.’” These were but a few of the of the day school’s policy of early admission to provide taunts hurled at the day school supporters. One shul pres- their children with a head start in public school. Rabbi A Unifier of Klal Yisrael ident even told his rabbi not to expect a renewal of his Bulman told the directors, “One day those children will contract if he continued to support the day school. grow up and eventually go to Olam Haemes where their Rabbi Bulman had the ability to deliver a half-hour The Rambam writes that a person should always In many of these confrontations, the day school ba’alei good and bad deeds shall be measured in the Bais Din diatribe on the hashkafic deficiencies of a particular view himself as being responsible for tilting the batim relied heavily on the capabilities of Rabbi Bulman, shel Ma’alah. That one year of day school—learning to say sect or shitta, then pause and say, “Yet…” and begin entire universe in the direction of good or evil. zt”l—the leader of the South Fallsburg congregation. Shema, learning to say berachos, learning about Shabbos an even longer about the distinctive and special Indeed, Rabbi Bulman always made a person feel Superbly eloquent, with the diction of a professor of and Yom Tov—may be the deciding factor for a positive contribution made by that group. He believed in the that his struggles were cosmic, that they represented English, he spoke with such sincerity that his detractors decision in their favor. How much is that worth?” beauty and importance of each shitta as part of a spec- eternal and universal questions and that the resolu- soon became his best friends and eventually strong sup- Almost 50 years have passed. The Hebrew Day School trum of sheleimut, even while he condemned the limi- tion of his issues would result in for the porters of his views. of Sullivan and Ulster Counties continues to be a center tations of total devotion to any specific one. larger public. of Torah education in New York’s Catskill Mountains— It was these specific aspects of Rabbi Bulman’s Yale Gibber has been an extremely effective and much helped in its infancy by the vision, leadership and elo- Rabbi Chaim Malinowitz is a general editor of the makeup that made me feel that he was singularly suit- beloved communal leader for over 50 years. quence of Rabbi Nachman Bulman. Schottenstein edition of the Bavli. ed to unify all the disparate parts of Klal Yisrael.

JEWISH ACTION Winter 5763/2002 JEWISH ACTION Winter 5763/2002 the woman who had asked my father for to me, “No one has your father’s com- the principles of Torah im Derech Eretz. •Valuing the unique contributions place of the books he never wrote. She came in and spoke to my father a berachah gave birth to her long-awaited bination of intellect and heart.” My To adumbrate just a few of the made by women to the Torah polity. Two years ago, at the time of my in her lilting, soft Southern drawl. second child, a son. She called my par- father knew every sefer in his vast Hirschian themes that animated my Principled opposition to those who parents’ 50th anniversary, my siblings “Rabbi, I want you to know that you ents to invite them to the bris. (I also library. At the same time, he felt deeply father’s life: would lure women away from their and I had a reunion in Jerusalem. As changed my life and the lives of so have another daughter, Shifra, now 9.) for every troubled Jew. He understood •Uncompromising intellectual time-honored Torah roles, as well as to we lined up for a photograph, my many people. You taught us to love The above story is found in The people in a profound, even uncanny, defense of Orthodoxy. those who would denigrate women. father said, “I have one accomplish- the Torah. You taught us that there is a Footsteps of the Maggid, by Paysach way. In a few words he could save a •“Da ma shetashuv”—knowing how •Deferring to gedolei Torah, honor- ment in my life: five decent human God and that He always takes care of Krohn (New York, 1992) but the marriage, free an , bring an to respond to skeptics. ing talmidei chachamim. beings.” Not one of us can begin to us and we don’t have to be afraid of names were changed at my father’s errant child back into the fold, mend a •Acquiring a command of language. My father was a tzaddik, but he was approach our father’s greatness, nor anything. Rabbi, I love you and I will request. He didn’t see himself as a broken heart. •Maintaining Austritt, Orthodox not a perfect man. He was a real person. did he expect us to. But it is comfort- never forget you.” rebbe; he didn’t want people to come independence; not joining any body He could lose his temper. He could ing to know that he was happy with With these words she gave him to him expecting miracles. where Orthodox and non-Orthodox jump to conclusions, make mistakes, the way we turned out. comfort. She gave back to him what My father also had a beautiful, haunt- My father was a very emo- rabbis functioned as peers; having shout at people. He could also admit In the last weeks of his life, my father he had once given to her. ing, tenor voice. In his youth he had tional man, who laughed and cried nothing to do with Federation; sup- he’d been wrong, humble himself, apol- suffered terribly, both physically and Three days later, on Shabbos morn- learned the classical Modzitzer niggunim. freely. He held nothing back when he porting Orthodox institutions with ogize to someone much smaller than emotionally. We tried to ease his distress. ing, my father passed away in his home When my father sang at the Shabbos spoke, taught, sang, davened. He light- Orthodox money. himself. He was always in a hurry, often Our efforts were not very successful. in Jerusalem. As my brother said at the table, one felt the presence of King David, ened other people’s burdens and shoul- •Reaching out with warmth, friend- late, always drove above the speed limit. He was visited one day by an elderly funeral, it was fitting that it happened the Sweet Singer of Israel. When my dered them himself. He was a lion. ship and intellectual clarity to non- He never wrote the books he meant to lady from Danville, a former congregant during the Three Weeks. It was truly a father read Megillas Esther, he read Esther’s My father used to say that the religious Jews. write, but he also never closed his door of his. My father was in bed, barely able time of mourning for all Klal Yisrael. line, “If I perish, I perish,” with tragic pathos. Gemara was the math and science of •Believing in the ideal of a kehillah. to any Jew. His shelves were full of to speak anymore. I told him Lillian was Yes, we will remember: Hashem Hu No one in the world davened like Torah, while Tanach, •Seeing Klal Yisrael as a unified body books by writers he had helped and there to see him, and asked him if she HaElokim. my father. Once he told a student who and were the liber- consisting of 12 different tribes; respect- encouraged. Their books will stand in could come in. He nodded yes. Goodbye Daddy. JA had doubts regarding his emunah, al arts of Torah. My father’s breadth ing the followers of different Torah paths. “Come talk to me after Musaf on Rosh encompassed everything in Torah, but •Being an idealist, resisting cynicism. Hashanah.” After hearing my father he majored in the . He •Knowing the intellectual currents of daven, the young man said he had no could read a book or a sefer almost as one’s own time, and above all, what the The Cosmic Importance of Each Jew more doubts. Anyone who heard my fast as he could turn the pages. He Torah has to say about everything. I first met Rabbi Bulman when I was 12. He was my tion, were participating in NCSY activities and some even father daven the Neilah prayer on Yom didn’t just read the sefarim in his Knowing that the Torah has something to Sunday school teacher. attended Jewish high schools out-of-town. Those who Kippur sprouted wings and flew to library; he loved them, passionately. say about everything. Intellectual fearless- To me he was a strange-looking man who spoke of eso- remained in the community for high school were encour- heaven. Not since Elijah on Mount Of all the sefarim he ever read, the ness and self-confidence. No cowering teric things like the mission of Am Yisrael in the world aged to go to Yeshiva University or Stern College. Carmel did anyone cry out so exul- one that had the greatest impact on his behind intellectual walls, no defensiveness. and the cosmic importance of each Jew in the Divine As his congregants grew spiritually, Rabbi Bulman was tantly as my father did: Hashem Hu life was The Nineteen Letters of Rav Seeing Torah Jews as having some- • scheme. But he also had a strong curiosity about every- with them every step of the way. He never told them HaElokim! The Lord, He alone is God! Hirsch. He found this gem as a teenag- thing vital to contribute to the public thing that interested the youth of the town. We filled what to do. He led them. He answered questions in a The wife of the Novominsker Rebbe, er in, of all places, the public library. square. Working to improve the moral- him in on our views of the world; he related to us with language they could understand and they inevitably Rebbetzin Yehudis Perlow, z”l, once said Thereafter, his whole life was guided by ity and God-awareness of the nations. the utmost sincerity. None one of us ever realized that he wanted to follow. was subtly not only listening, but guiding. By age 14, I Indeed, Rabbi Bulman was able to reach so many dif- was ready to start investigating observance. ferent people because he believed that every Jew is con- Rav Bulman and My Brother Jimmy I never thought Rabbi Bulman was extraordinary. It nected to Netzach Yisrael. Sometime after I married and In 1950, when Rav Bulman came to the quiet mill him goodbye and Rav Bulman, with tears streaming down was only later that I found out being a rabbi didn’t mean moved to Rechovot, Israel, I invited the Bulmans for town of Danville, Virginia, he immediately sought to his cheeks, quietly said, “This is why I came to Danville.” you were like him. Shabbat. When they finally arrived, just minutes before increase the religious observance among his congregants Subsequently, many others followed my brother. Rav Bulman When Rabbi Bulman first came to Newport News, candle lighting, I asked if they had gotten lost. “Certainly at Aetz Chayim Synagogue. In the afternoons, he would affected so many lives; because of him, new generations of Jews Virginia, in 1957, the median age in the Orthodox shul not,” the rebbetzin replied. “We stopped at a gas station in teach us children; in the evenings, he taught our parents. emerged from the unlikeliest of places within small-town America. was 60. Though the shul had a mechitzah, a debate on Ramle and the rabbi got into a conversation with a young Soon, homes were kashered, a daily was started How did he do it? He dazzled you with his extraordinary whether to maintain the mechitzah was underway. The Sephardi Jew who was pumping gas. I couldn’t get him and a mikveh was built. In time, Rav Bulman began knowledge, ranging from Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch to the shul’s mikveh was not in use. back into the car.” I could just see Rabbi Bulman, dressed encouraging parents to send their high school age chil- Kotzker Rebbe, from Kant to Tennyson. By the time Rabbi Bulman left in 1962, a new shul had for Shabbat, having an enthusiastic conversation with the dren to study in yeshivot in New York. My oldest brother He challenged you by presenting piercing thoughts that ques- been built with a mechitzah, the mikveh was in use, there attendant, also dressed for Shabbat, possibly in undershirt, Jimmy was the first to agree to go. tioned your assumptions. was more than a minyan of shomer Shabbat families in town running shorts and gold chains. I will never forget bidding my 14-year-old brother good- He moved you with his sweet, melodic voice that lifted your and a day school with 70 children had been established. Rabbi Bulman did not leave institutions or a commu- bye at the Trailways bus station, together with my family and neshamah. Lectures and shiurim had become staples in the communi- nity, but he left individuals who went on to establish Rav Bulman. As brave Jimmy boarded the bus, we kissed But most significantly, he opened his enormously generous ty. Teenagers, for whom there was no formal Jewish educa- families of which he was very proud. I hope he is at heart to every Jew with loving acceptance. peace knowing that an institution or community would Rabbi Kenneth Hain serves as the rabbi of Congregation When his heart finally gave out this summer, I know it was Ms. Pnina Aronson is a technical writer who lives with have been too small to contain or define his passionate Beth Sholom in Lawrence, New York. because he had given so much of it to us. her family in Israel. Torah personality.

JEWISH ACTION Winter 5763/2002 JEWISH ACTION Winter 5763/2002