A Nay Bintl Briv: Personal Reminiscences of Rabbi Israel Meir Ha-Kohen from the Yiddish Republic of Letters
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A nay bintl briv: Personal Reminiscences of Rabbi Israel Meir ha-Kohen from the Yiddish Republic of Letters A nay bintl briv: Personal Reminiscences of Rabbi Israel Meir ha-Kohen from the Yiddish Republic of Letters Shaul Seidler-Feller Editor’s note: The present post is part one of a two-part essay. Part two can be found here. Introduction Beginning on January 20, 1906, Abraham (Abe) Cahan (1860–1951), the legendary founder and longtime editor of the Yiddish-language Forverts newspaper in New York, published a regular agony uncle column famously entitled A bintl briv (A Bundle of Letters; often Romanized A Bintel Brief).[1] Herein he reproduced missives sent to the daily by its largely Eastern European immigrant readership seeking advice on a range of personal issues, followed by his wise, insightful counsel.[2] While today this once-immensely-popular feature may have quietly evanesced into the mists of Yiddish journalistic history,[3] it is my intention here to revive it, if only briefly and in altered form, via transcription, translation, and discussion of two letters penned to the distinguished Forverts columnist Rabbi Aaron B. Shurin. Shurin, born in Riteve (present-day Rietavas, Lithuania) on the second day of Rosh Hashanah 5673 (September 13, 1912)[4] to his parents Rabbi Moses and Ruth, learned in his youth at the heder and yeshivah of Riteve (the latter founded by his father) and spent the years 1928–1936 at the yeshivot of Ponevezh (present-day Panevėžys, Lithuania) and Telz (present-day Telšiai, Lithuania).[5] In 1936, he joined the rest of his family in the Holy Land, to which it had immigrated the previous year, and soon thereafter he continued his studies at theyeshivot of Hebron (as transplanted to Jerusalem) and Petah Tikva, as well as at the 1938 Summer Seminar in Tel Aviv under Prof. Yehuda Even Shmuel (Kaufman; 1886–1976).[6] The following year (1939), he received yoreh yoreh and yadin yadin semikhot from Rabbis Meir Stolewitz (1870–1949), Isser Zalman Meltzer (1870–1953), Reuven Katz (1880–1963), and Isaac ha-Levi Herzog (1888–1959) and in 1940 moved again, this time to New York, to which his father had relocated circa 1937.[7] At that point, he began studying at Yeshiva College and Columbia University, and in 1941–1942 he simultaneously taught Bible and Hebrew language and literature in YC; he would later go on to occupy a position on the Judaic studies faculty at Stern College for Women for many years (1949–1956 and 1966–2001).[8] In the years that followed, in addition to teaching at YU, Shurin served as cofounder and vice president of Poalei Agudath Israel (1941–1947), rabbi of two synagogues (Beth Hacknesseth Anshei Slutsk at 34 Pike Street in Manhattan [1941–1945] and Toras Moshe Jewish Center at 4314 Tenth Avenue in Brooklyn [1945–1947]), and principal of a day school (Talmud Torah Hechodosh at 146 Stockton Street in Brooklyn [1949–1953]), among several other leadership positions.[9] However, it is his sixty-two-plus-year career at the Forverts on which I wish to focus here. Already in his youth, as a talmid in Telz and then in Israel, he began writing articles and studies for various Hebrew and Yiddish publications, and when he came to America (to quote him directly), “Anywhere I could write, I did […] I enjoyed it, and I compiled a portfolio of articles on a wide range of subjects. One day, a friend said to me, ‘You should write for the Forward.’ I laughed.”[10] At the time, the Forverts was by far the most widely read Jewish newspaper, with a daily circulation of over 100,000 copies, and was avowedly secular in orientation, even publishing on Shabbat andyom tov (although it was respectful of the religious).[11] Nevertheless, despite these challenges to a young, aspiring Orthodox journalist, Shurin took the idea of working at the Forverts to the famed historian and bibliophile Chaim Lieberman (1892–1991) who, after reading a sample of his work, recommended him to Harry Lang (1888–1970), a managing editor at the paper, and shortly thereafter editor Hillel (Harry) Rogoff (1882–1971) hired him.[12] From 1944 to 1983, Shurin wrote approximately two columns per week; when the Forverts became a weekly in the latter year, he, too, switched to one column per week until his retirement in 2007.[13] For the most part, Shurin’s Forverts articles focused on religious topics, Jewish education, social-political issues in Israel (particularly those concerning the Orthodox parties), and the lives of great Jewish historical figures.[14] The aforementioned letters written to Shurin were sent in response to two of these columns, separated by eight years. His son David was kind enough to transfer them to Seforim Blog editor Eliezer Brodt (who then e-mailed scans to me) and to give full permission for their publication and translation below.[15] First Letter In honor of the sesquicentennial of what some consider the birth year of Rabbi Israel Meir ha-Kohen, the world-renowned Hafets Hayyim,[16] Shurin published an article in the Forverts treating the most important aspects of this great leader’s biography, focusing on his legendarily superlative piety, as well as his literary, educational, and political activities on behalf of European Jewry.[17] Not long thereafter, he received the following letter: שיקאַגאָ, 1/31/88 זייער געערטער הרב שורין! אייער אינטערעסאַנטער אַרטיקל וועגן חפץ חיים האָט מיר דערמאָנט אַ פּאַסירונג אין מיין היים-שטאָט ווילנע מיט זעכציק .יאָר צוריק, ווען איך בּין געווען אַ קינד פון קוים פינף יאָר מיין זיידע האָט געהאַט דעם גרויסן זכות צו זיין אַ פריינט פון חפץ חיים, ווי אויך זיין דאָקטאָר. ווען דער חפץ חיים .פלעגט קומען קיין ווילנע פלעגט ער אונדז שטענדיק בּאַזוכן אַ פּלימעניצע פון חפץ חיים האָט געוואוינט ״נעקסט דאָר״ פון .אונדז און ער פלעגט נאַטירלעך איר אויך בּאַזוכן איינמאָל ווען דער חפץ חיים איז געקומען צו אונדז אין הויז אַריין איז מיין זיידע פּונקט ניט געווען אין דער היים, ער איז .געווען בּיי אַ קראַנקן. מיין פאָטער איז אויך געווען בּיי אַ פּאַציענט מיין זיידע און מיין פאָטער האָבּן געהאַט אַ געמיינזאַמע פּראַקטיק און מיר האָבּן אויך געוואוינט צוזאַמען. מיין מוטער האָט גלייך געוואָלט עמיצן שיקן רופן דעם זיידן, אָבער דער חפץ חיים האָט געזאָגט, אַז ער וועט בּעסער וואַרטן בּיז דער זיידע וועט צוריק קומען. ער האָט ווייזט אויס ניט געוואָלט דער זיידע זאָל זיך איילן בּיים בּאַהאַנדלען דעם קראַנקן. ער איז געזעסן אין אַ גרויסן לעדערנעם פאָטעל אין וואַרטע-צימער און ניט אין די אינעווייניקסטע צימערן, ווייל דאָס וואָלט געמיינט צו זיין אַליין מיט די פרויען, מיין בּאָבּע און מיין מוטער. דאָס איז געווען אין 1927 און ער איז שוין געווען א זקן. מיין מוטער 2 האָט מיר געהייסן אַריינגיין אין וואַרטע-זאַל און בּעטן דעם חפץ חיים ער זאָל מיר בּענטשן. איך בּין געווען אַ קליין מיידעלע פון פינף יאָר און איך האָבּ זיך געשעמט, האָבּ איך צוערשט זיך בּאַהאַלטן הינטער אַ דיקער סאַמעטענער פּאָרטיערע וואָס איז געהאַנגען איבּער דער טיר. איך האָבּ געקוקט אויף אים פון הינטערן פאָרהאַנג און געזען אַ פנים פון בּלויז גוטסקייט, האָבּ איך זיך אָנגענומען מיט מוט און בּין פּאמעלינקערהייט צוגעגאַנגען צו אים. איך האָבּ ניט געזאָגט קיין וואָרט נאָר בּלויז געקוקט אויף אים און געוואַרט. דער חפץ חיים האָט מיר דערזען און פאַרשטאַנען. מיט אַ לייכטן שמייכל האָט ער .אַרויפגעלייגט די האַנט אויף מיין קאָפּ און מיר געבּענטשט איך האָבּ געשפּירט ווי אַ גרויסע וואַרעמקייט און גוטסקייט שטראָמט פון אים און איך האָבּ געפילט אַ גרויסע ליבּשאַפט צו דעם צדיק, ווי נאָר אַ קינד קען פילן, ניט מיטן פאַרשטאַנד .נאָר מיטן האַרץ בּיז היינטיקן טאָג גלויבּ איך אַז אין זכות פון זיין ברכה .בּין איך איבּערגעקומען היטלערס לאַגערן איך דאַנק אייך געערטער הרב שורין פאַר דעם פאַרגעניגן וואָס איר פאַרשאַפט אייערע לייענער מיט אייערע אַרטיקלען און איך ווינטש אייך איר זאָלט זוכה זיין צו .דערפרייען אונדז מיט אייער שרייבּן נאָך פאַר לאנגע, לאַנגע יאָרן מיט אכטונג, .בּעטי דיִקמאַן 1930 W LOYOLA 618 Chicago, 1/31/88 To the highly esteemed Rabbi Shurin! Your interesting article about the Hafets Hayyim reminded me of a story that took place in my hometown of Vilna sixty years ago, when I was a child barely five years of age. My grandfather was very fortunate to be a friend of the Hafets Hayyim, as well as his physician. When the Hafets Hayyim would come to Vilna, he would always visit us. A niece of his lived next door, and he would also, naturally, go to see her. One time when the Hafets Hayyim came to our house, my grandfather, as luck would have it, was not home; he was tending to someone ill. My father, too, was with a patient. My grandfather and father had a shared practice, and we also all lived together. My mother immediately suggested sending someone to call for my grandfather, but the Hafets Hayyim said that he preferred to wait until my grandfather returned. He evidently did not want my grandfather to rush his treatment of the sick person. He sat down in a large leather armchair in the foyer,[18] not in the innermost rooms, because that would have meant being secluded with the women – my grandmother and mother. This was in 1927, when he was already an elderly man. My mother 2 told me to go to the hallway[19] and ask the Hafets Hayyim to bless me. I was a small, shy girl of five years, so I initially hid behind a thick velvet portiere hanging over the door. But when I peered at him from behind the curtain and saw a face of pure goodness, I mustered up my courage and slowly approached him.