A Torah '.' :, Perspective/.• I"O:L • S& Uali Fit for A
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A Torah '.'_:, Perspective/.• i"O:l • s& uali Fit for a Welcome to the world of Royal, where the consumer is king. Royal Kosher Poultry is under Star-K Certifi cation. For taste and tenderness, and the toughest levels of kashrus inspection in the industry, Royal is the one. Under Star-K Kosher Certification-Rabbi Moshe Heinemann, Rabbinic Administrator WISH BSE R THE JEWISH OBSERVER (ISSN) 0021-6615 is published monthly except July and August by the Agudath Israel of America, 84 William Street, New York, N.Y. 10038. Second class postage paid in New York, N.Y. Subscription $22.00 per year; two years, $36.00; three years, $48.00. Outside of the United States (US funds drawn on a US bank only) $12.00 surcharge per year. Single copy $3.00; foreign 5 $4.00. Send address changes to: The Jewish Family Values: A Torah Perspective, Observer, 84 William Street, N.Y., N.Y. 10038. Rabbi Chaim Dov Keller Tel: (212) 797-9000. Printed in the U.SA. 12 RABBI NISSON WOLPIN, EDITOR The Utvakkes EDITORIAL BOARD Chaim Shapiro OR. ERNST L. BODENHEIMER Chslrman RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS 19 JOSEPH FRIEDENSON RABBI NOSSON SCHERMAN Bridging the Communication Gap in the Teshuva Process Benyamin Wolfson MANAGEMENT BOARD AVIFISHOF NAFTOLI HIRSCH 37 ISAAC KIRZNER RABBI SHLOMO LESIN The Use of Midrash in Adult Education NACHUM STEIN Rabbi Abraham Hassan and Rabbi Moshe Kupetz RABBI VOSEF C. GOLDING Business Manager 44 Published by SECOND LooKs ON THE JEWISH SCENE Agudath Israel of America RABBI MOSHE SHERER "Dear Mrs. Clinton": PftESIDENT THE PRomSE AND THE PEan. OF llEALm CARE REFoRM Chaim David Zwiebel SOLE U.S. TRADE msm1BUTOR EUROPEAN REPRESENTATIVE Htldheim Publishers M.T. Bibelman Tanna Rabbanan- 200 Airport Executive Park Grosvenor Worl(s Spring Valley, N.Y. 109n Mount Pleasant Hill M'IsmvA, THE Scam.Ls AND THE ORAL LAw London ES 9NE, ENGLAND Levi Reisman ISRAEtl DISTRIBUTOR AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTOR Nethemia Rosenberv Gold's Book & Gift Co. Knyat Teisha Stone, 108A 36 William Street O.N. Harei Yehuda, ISRAEL Balaclava 3183, Vic., AUSTRALIA 49 "Avi Yesomim-The Father of Orphans" THE JEWISH OBSERVER does not MenuchaLev assume responsibility for the Kashrus of any product, publication, or service advertised in its pages 51 ©Copyright 1993 Letters to the Editor MAY 1993 VOLUME XXVI I NO. 4 I E • Davka Corporation announces a breakthrough of historic proportions-the CD-ROM Judaic Classics TIWIE CQ]]) Third Edldonl This all-new version has been expanded to lnciude Important sefarim never before available In Ullcdl CJ ..... ····· computerized format, lnciudlng: • Miii::i. l"lllt'~ oy tl"M nine iiiy 1n?iw • li'Jl"I iyw ,l"l~?l"I iiN'::!. 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IL • 60645 PC: IBM PC or compatible, EGA or VGA monitor, 640k RAM, hard drive, &. CD-ROM Dr1ve. (312.) 465-4070 •FAX (312.) 262.-9298 Mu: Macintosh Plus or higher, 2 meg RAM, hard dr1ve, and CD-ROM Dr1ve. Do you need Ask for FRll judaJc SoftwallOCatalog a CD-ROM drive? Davka offers complete hardware/software bundles. Call for more detalls. Rabbi Chaim Dov Keller • • A TORAH PERSPECTIVE Based on a presentation at the 70th Annual Convention ofAgudath Israel ofAmerica --- - ----- - -- AS THE NORM HAS SHIFTED on lo some(hing important S(udtes and society: Tzu unz hoti es ntsht. (This stall.sties and our own observattons tell has nothing to do with us.) But this Uiing the recent presidential us that American fwnilies are Increas is not so. ingly fragile and unstable, and wefear election, "Family Values" be that, a..<> a result, many children are be When I was a kid attending the D came a major issue1 • Even ing seriously damaged." N.Y.C public schools, I knew many though it failed miserably at the polls, In fact, this topic deserves serious people, both Jews and non-Jews, but it set off a great deal of serious discus discussion even (or perhaps more so) I did not know of one divorced fam 2 sion in some unexpected quarters • in our circles. We sometimes make ily-not among the Jews and not In the words of Albert Shanker, the mistake of thinking that we are among the non-Jews. Today. I know president of the American Federation immune to the ills of contemporary quite a few-even among "unzere of Teachers, in an ad in the New Re Yidden_" In addition, there are many public (Nov. 30, '92): 1 As the reader will remember, former Vice-Presi other problems that 1 never heard "When the Republicans began dent Dan Quayle canied the bannerofFamilyVal~ about when I went to public high stressing traditional family values in ues in his campaign. school. which I hear about now-not the recent presidential campaign, they 2 Editor's note: A wide-ranging article on the dain only among the general populace, but go( a lot offlnk. Nevertheless, they were aging effects that single-parent upbringing can have on children and on society in general was fea amongftwnJews. Rabbi Keller, Rosh Hayeshiva ofTelshe-Chicago. tured in Atlantic Monthly. Aplil '9~3: "Dan Quayle It is obviously true that, Baruch is a frequent contributor to The Jewish Obsemer. Was Right,~ by Barbara Dufoe Whitehead. Hashem, there ts a great gulf between TheJewtshObseroer, May 1993 5 "us" and "them."The New York Times They come from the spiritual waste reported (October 20, "92): land outside, into homes where there 'The traditional American Family is respect and communication be has declined so fw- in New York City. tween husband and wife and between that married couples with their own parents and children. They see fami children now constitute only one sixth lies sitting about the table on ofhouseholds. Thetrendisneithernew nor peculiar to New York. Bui a new Shnbbos enjoying each other's com cmalysis ofthe 1990 census hasfowul pany, and speaking of higher things that the typical family has been radi· in life. When people searching for cally redefmed. The share of manied some meaning to life are exposed to a couples living with their own children in .family, let alone a family in the con the city declined from 19.2% of all text of Shnbbos, they become aware households in 1980 to less than 17% in of a whole, new, and beautiful world. 1990. Among the nation's mqjorcities. it appears that the percentage qf so And this has brought them closer to called 'traditionalfwnil.ies' was lower Torah. It hasn't been lectures on phi only in San Francisco." losophy or religion, in many cases, This is what is happening out but the vel)' fact that they saw that there. ll'j7'm:t1Vi"lr.l1l'"WN, How fortu· there is a different dimension to fam nate we are that, indeed, for the most ily life, that there is a zevach part, we do have families, and what We sometimes make the mishpachn. that has changed their beautiful families! We do have chil lives. We dare not confuse the world's dren, and our children live normal mistake of thinking that definition of family with ours and be lives: they get married and generally satisfied with their definition.