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SIVAN,5731/MAY,1971 VOLUME 7, NUMBER 6 rHE EWISH FIFTY CENTS BSERVER ' " THE UNBRIDGEABLE GAP: A Torah Look at the American ' Reality ' " THE CONTINUING CRISIS IN ISRAEL: State and Religion on a Collision Course THREE SEFIRAH PIECES THE JEWISH QBSERVER In this issue ... THE CONTINUING CRISIS IN ISRAEL' RELIGION AND STATE ON A COLLISION COURSE, Nissan Wolpin. 3 THREE SEFIRAH PIECES, NIGHT TRIP, BARLEY OFFERING, SEVEN WEEKS OF MOURNING (ADAPTED FROM THE "SHEM MISHMUEL"). • • • • 8 THE UNBRIDGEABLE GAP, Chaim Dov Keller .......... 10 THE VIEW FROM OUTER SPACE, Moshe Bloch .......... 16 THE JF.\VISH 0RSERVER is published monthly, except Aug. and Sept., SECOND LoOK AT THE JEWISH SCENE' by the Agudath Israel of America, 5 Beekman Street, New York, SCIENTIFIC PLAYTHINGS ....................•.•• 20 New York l 0038. Second class postage paid at New York, N. Y. Subscription: $5.00 per year; Two years. $8.50; Three years, $12.00: LE'ITERS TO THE EDITOR •••••••••..•.•••••.••••••. 24 outside of the United States, $6.00 per year. Single copy, fifty cents. Printed in the U.S.A. RABBI N1sSON WOLPIN Editor SPECIAL OFFER! Editorial Board DR. ERNEST L. BODENHEIMER Cliairn1arz THE JEWISH OBSERVER 5 Beekman Street I New York, N. Y. 10038 RABBI NATHAN BULMAN RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS 0 NE\\1 SUBSCRIPTION: $5 --- 1 ,·ear of].<>. Plus $3 ·Gallery of Porlraits of .Gedo lei Yi.~roel: fRf:Ef JOSEPH fRIEDENSON 0 RENE\VAL: SJ2 for 3 '"·ears ol' J.O. RABBI YAAKOV JACOBS Plus $3 · Gallery of Portraits of Gedo lei Y i,.r1n•I: FREf; .' RABBI l\.10SHE SHERER 0 GIFT: SS - 1 year; S8.,'.)0, 2 yrs.; Sl2, 3 yr,.. of J.O. Pfu:; $3 ·Gallery of Portrait,.: of Gedolei Yi"roel: FJ<EE.r THE JEWISH OBSERVER docs not Send Mu1u1zi11e to: Send Portr11it.~ to: assume responsibility for the Kashr"us of any product or service l\'an1e 1\'an1e .... advertised in its pages. Address .. Address MAY, 1971 VOL. VII, NO. 6 Cit) ....... .................... State .............. Zip .. .. City ... .. ........... :S1111e ... 7.ip .... f,,ni.d •n I .S. ·L CROSS FlR05. l'"nt•ng (~.Inc. 0 Enclo.~ed: S .... D /Jill me:$ .... 0 Series I 0 Serie$ II Nissan Wolpin The Continuing Crisis in Israel State and Religion on a Collision Course In many respects, the relationship between reli those facets of life that bind the vast multitudes gion and state in Israel is based on delusions. Each with their religion. and the religious con11nunity is member of the uneasy partnership pretends that understandably reluctant to consider the possi~ the attitude of the other is something it isn't. And bility. for reasons of self-interest, each hopes to perpetu Similarly, all except the most bitterly secular ate the delusion. But with increasing frequency, Jews arc comfortable as part of a greater Israel that both the government and the religious community includes an official clergy which takes care of the are forced to divert their glance from the mirrors religious concerns of the con1rnunity. as well as a of distortion and look their partner square in the body of lmei yeslii11<1 who keeps alive the tradition eye. And - all to often -- a crisis results. of Torah scholarship. It's nice to be part of an Israel that includes an Abba Eban ("hPc11 if 111y Although many of the religious lceders at the J:n;;lish is less than parliarne11tarh1n "), <l Hebrew time - notably Rabbis Yoseif Chaim Sonnenfeld U11iPcrsity (",-lltlrougli I pcrso11ally prefer and Yeruchem Diskin, of blessed memory- disap 1\HAR.IV to :\/arrnsc''), soldiers on the Suez ("flnl proved of the creation of the office of the Chief a trur-!-? /;ackfiri11!), se1uls 111c scooti11g to t/1e 11e(rrcst Rabbinate, it has since beco1nc part of the rnodus /Jomb sliclter"), kibbutzniks ("llut I could11't li1w vivendi of Israel. Today the state-wide network of witliout Diezrngoj/"), and religious Jews ("h'm rabbis who serve the length and breadth of the thouRli a n(r,;ht ll'itli the telly arl(l a (Ia_y at tl1c land. their exclusive jurisdiction over laws of mar /Jeaclr is tire real 011cg Slia/Jbc1t fi1r 11re''). Every riage and divorce, and their control over kashrus, thing fits into its own predestined place in the have by ar.1d large become associated with the offi colorful mosaic of Israel. and every individual feels cial State-support Rabbinate. A couple cannot richer and fuller for the presence of the others. conte1nplatc n1arriage without taking into account On a more profound level, most people in Israel the suitability of their match by halachic criteria recognize an active religious life as essential to the vis-a-vis Kahanic restrictions, dissolution of pre State for more than merely furnishing another vious n1arriage, authenticity of conversion, and so facet to its cultural kaleidoscope. Religious tradi on. Generally, Kosher foods dominate the grocery tion provides the validity for the Jews' claim to the shelves in the land. Shabbosos and Yomim Tovim land. and the religious heritage is the essence of are official days of rest. All of this exists by virtue Jewish peoplehood. Very, very few Israelis would of the official status quo, much of which has its want an Israel without this religious presence. But roots in the pre-Mandate Turkish law that vested since so many do not adhere strictly to religious control over rnatters relating to personal status law, they arc only willing to accept it and support with the rabbinate. An Israel without the ubiqui it as long as the religion is livable and ;ous rabbinical presence might weaken some of "h u n1a n itaria n." The ]cwis/i()/;s1'n'er I 1\fay, 1971 3 What Price Harmony? a privilege they neither desire nor deserve. On the other hand, the government told the religious com Every now and then, religious law will prescribe munity to withhold its objections and to stay out a course of action that collides with political of the way of those who wish to emigrate. New expediency or popular sentiment, At such times, sources of manpower arc needed (political consid much of the general population might find religion erations). It is unfair to create new obstacles to the too assertive, and political leaders find that the normalization of immigrants who have already en price for the religious presence is more than they dured years of suffering behind the Iron Curtain care to pay. Actions and reactions then interplay (humanitarian considerations) ... Why must the with a ferocity that rips dangerous fissures into the Rabbis be so inflexible' (anti-clericalism) smooth surface of cooperation between the differ As a result of the cloud of doubt hovering about ent segments of the population, and the partner- Vienna, a delegation of highly-respected dayanirn ship becomes tenuous at best. · was dispatched by the Chief Rabbinate to Vienna Recently, a spate of incidents has taken place and returned with tight-lipped discretion to con which prompted government officials to pro ferc with their fellow rabbis. Their report when nounce judgment on halachic matters from politi issued stated that only fifty-four non-Jews were cal or "humanitariann criteria. And halachah, as a converted during the past year, but the halachic framework for life, and the Rabbinate, as its status of each of the fifty-four would have to be guardians, cannot respond to such pressures for re-evaluated on the basis of each ger 's niotivc to change or modification. convert and his translation of n1otive into action. As a result, words and concepts that have been (Have you ever heard of a 1 OO(f,, recall by General kept under wraps in polite company, and have only Motors?) The unspoken rnessage was: "Slou.1 <lu11n1. been used freely in Talmudic discussions or in the Swelli1tg tlie ra11ks of Kial Yisroel with co1111erts pristine air of a religious court, have danced out UhL~- never 1velcotne, .nui is as healthy as a plague. from the shadows and dominate daily headlines. 1t1e are ta1npcrinJZ iuith the 1t11ity o.f je1ury as iuell "Ceirut 11 (conversion) and "1\ia11rzeirut 11 (illegiti as the integrity of. ]rulaisrn, a11d both 11iust !Je macy) are being tossed about freely in editorial lia11cfled ivith the utniost caution.'' banter, parlor talk, and bus-line discussions in The spoken response of politicians was: "lt'e Israel. And - most significantly - the partnership rnust <1o all i11 our po1ver to haste11 tl1e orie11tlltion between State and religion is being strained to the periocl }Or converts. 1\:0 hf(lividual rnust be liiful point where each member must ask: Is it really l'red in his desire to !iJJc i11 lsnu>f. l?..e<luce the year worth it? of' orientation required for Israeli con Perts ,urd stop lookinJl. so har(l at the jOreig11 conversions.'' Tales from Vienna Courts: Geirut Military Mercy and the Marriage Law The conversion controversy began with rumors regarding the existence of a geirut factory in Vienna. The other "controversy'' centers around a young providing speedy conversions for would-be olim on man and his sister. Both had made their choice of a mass scale. It seemed that it was deemed vital to mates, but found themselves in a dilemma without the welfare of the State that everyone who in solution. The rabbincical courts refused to conse tended to make his home in Israel - Jew and non crate the marriage of each couple because the Jew alike - should be facilitated to the utmost in brother and sister were both born of an extra making full use of the Law of Return. Jf the oleh, marital relationship their mother had maintained as a non-Jew, did not qualify for the Law's lenien (without benefit of divorce from her first hus cy, that should not deter him.