'EW Is H ELUL 5733 I SEPTEMBER 1973 VOLUME IX, NUMBER 5 fHE SIXTY FIVE CENTS BSERVER

THE GOLDS-RIDDEN JEW

• WHY ARE WE DESTINED TO WANDER?

• THE HOLOCAUST: QUESTIONS WITHOUT ANSWERS ••• FAITH WITHOUT QUESTIONS

• TWO TALES OF HEROISM

• THE JEW'S LOVE FOR ERETZ YISROEL

Books:

• SACRED LITERATURE IN THE VERNACULAR

• JEWISH LANDMARKS IN EUROPE

a l.ro: THE YESHIVOS' DAY IN THE COURT THE JEWISH OBSERVER

in this issue ...

THE "VICTORS" AND THE "VANQUISHED," Moshe Sherer...... 3

THE HOLOCAUST; QUESTIONS WITHOUT ANSWERS ... FAITH WITHOUT QUESTIONS, Y oseif Avraham Wolf, trans- lated and adapted by Nosson Scherman ...... 8

GoLus: WHY ARE WE DESTINED TO WANDER? from Horav Meir Simcha HaCohain's "Meshech Chochma," translated and adapted by Gershon Dubin ...... 11

Two BY MosHE PRAGER: EYEBALL TO EYEBALL ...... 13

THE SONG OF SHLOMO, translated by N. Scherman 15

To BRETZ Y1sROEL-W!TH A LOVE THAT DoEs NoT FADE, Nissan Wolpin 18

BOOKS IN REVIEW:

RAMBAN, COMMENTARY ON TORAH (GENESIS) ...... 23 THE TRAVELER'S GUIDE TO JEWISH LANDMARKS THE JEWISH OBSERVER is published OF EUROPE ...... 26 monthly, except July and August, by the Agudath Israel of Amercia, GEMS FROM THE FOUNTAIN ...... 27 5 Beekman St., New York, N. Y. 10038. Second class postage paid THE INESCAPABLE TRUTH ...... 30 at New York, N. Y. Subscription: $6.50 per year; Two years, $11.00; Three years $15.00; outside of the LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ...... 30 United States $7 .50 per year. Sing1e copy sixty~five cents. Printed in the U.S.A. PICTURE CREDITS: cover, sketch by TULLY f'ILMUS; page 7, courtesy of YESHIVA AND MESIVTA OHR YJSROEL (Forest Hills, N. Y.); page 8, from RABBI NISSON WOLPIN wood-cut hy SIEGMUND FORST; page 13, a drawing by BEN SHAWN, Editor

Editorial Board DR. ERNST L. BODENHEIMER In the forthcoming issues we shall ;i"'N publish articles Chainnan RABBI NATHAN BULMAN regarding three outstanding Torah personalities who passed RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS away during recent months (in order of their passing): JOSEPH FRJEDENSON HORAV BINYOMIN ZE'EV JACOBSON i1::ri:i? i'"1'S .,:n RABBI YAAKOV JACOBS RABBI MOSHE SHERER who was a creative force in askonus for over half a century; HORAV ELIYOHU MOSHE SHISGAL i1!).,:l'1 i'"1':i: i:JT THE JEWISH OBSERVER does not an American Rosh Yeshiva of singular achievement in assume responsibility for the lomdus and tzidkus; Kashrus of any product or service HORAV YOSEIF ELIYOHU HENKIN ;i::ii::i'i i)'1l i:lT advertised in its pages. the dean of European Rabbis in America, outstanding au­ thority in halacha, head of Ezras Torah. SEPT. 1973 VoL. IX, No. 5 :i":i'iln ...@ Moshe Sherer The "Victors" and the "Vanquished" Reflections on the Non-Public Schools' Day in the Court

In June 197]. the U.S. Supreme Court voted 8-1 against the constitutionality of Pennsylvania's purchase of services program and Rhode Island's program of supplements to the salaries of non-public school teachers. This vote (Lemon-DiCenso decisions) was a forerunner to a more severe blow dealt to the efforts to obtain government relief for non-public education, including the yeshivas, which was dealt by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 25th of this year. In a landmark decision (Pearl v. Nyquist), the Court struck down four basic types of aid to non-public education: 1) small grants to parents paying tuition at non-public schools; 2) income tax reductions for tuition-paying parents; 3) payments to inner-city non-public schools to help maintain health and safety facilities; 4) payments to non-public schools as reim­ bursement for the costs of maintaining certain records mandated by the State and of administering tests to students (lVlandated Services Act). THE JEWISH OBSERVER presents an analysis of the meaning of this decision, written by RABBI MOSHE SHERER, executive presi­ dent of Agudath Israel of America, who for more than a decade has pioneered and spearheaded Jewish efforts to obtain govern­ ment aid for yeshivas. A founder of COLPA and the national president of C.R.ED.l.T. (a coalition representing five million non-public school students), Rabbi Sherer has been a key strate­ gist on the State and national scenes in this effort.

The condolence calls began on Monday, June 25th. deprived of these dollars.-Over the chilul Hashem And they didn't stop for many days. From every of Jewish organizations causing a drainaJ?e of funds walk of life and every part of the world, friends from the pockets of yeshiva parents.-Over the and strangers vhoned to console me on the loss spectacle of Jewish "spokesmen" publicly combatting of the U.S. Supreme Court case on non-public school religious education. aid. But they all 1nissed the point. And I grieved for those Jews-by-birth who were If I was mourning that day, it was not only over elated over their "victory" because they lack the the loss of a court case. Courts change, Justices are capacity to think Jewishly. Their propaganda mills replaced, and decisions can be reversed. Nor did I declared in triunzph: "A1nerican lel-vish Con{?ress Hails mourn simply because of the loss of dollars; it Supreme Court Decision Voiding New York Law>," was over the Jewish children whom. lve would lose "Jewish Groups Hail Ban on School Aid," and so on. from the Jewish fold because the yeshivas were Jewish history will undoubtedly cast a longer look

'The Jewish Observer I Septen1her, 1973 3 on matters, when it passes judgment on the court battle over government funding for yeshivas and the survival of these hard-pressed institutions. It will 1wt be the traditional yeshivas that will ultimately be defeated, because they will continue to hitch the destiny of Jewish children to the star of eternity. Lack of outside funding will be one more difficulty to hurdle, but parents con11nitted to the perpetuation of Yiddishkeit will not flinch in the face of new obstacles. It is those secularist elements who now exult as they drink their heady cup of victorv who are really the vanquished, because the reach-out potential of yeshivas has become diminished, and as a result these elements may have lost the only hope for their own grandchildren to remain Jews-should the current pace of spiritual erosion continur unabated. Instead of ecstatic paeans of joy from the "victors" and condolence calls to the "vanquished" the hour calls for a sober reappraisal-an analysis of the ourt Decision To Cost court's decision and its ra1nifications, an examination of the stance of dilferent segnients of the Jewish Day Schools Millions community, and a few more notes on the prospectus ~f"\\ \"'Jilk "'I\ 11><· l' .0 !'"'"•· .-ff,,rt, '" .,i,,,,,., '"'" ,,,,1 '""'h·"'"' •!""'"' .,,i,., l"' .u """' ''""" ,,. hldn ""h' ,."'"""1"'"· ·'"" "' -."'"'"'hr.:"" b,., .., "..--"''" for these segments' continued existence.

The Court Decision 2, "PRIMARY" NO LONGER MEANS PRIMARY 1. What the Court Did Not Do THE MAIN EYE-OPENER of the current decision (Pearl WHILE IT IS TRUE that the Supreme Court put a freeze v. Nyquist), which is devastating in its far-reaching on any new programs substantially aiding elementary application, is its interpretation of the phrase "primary and secondary non-public schools, it is itnportant to effect." While all recent Court decisions have agreed bear in mind what it did not do. For example, it did that the various legislative proposals to help non-public not tamper with such existing forms of help as text­ schools passed the basic "secular purpose'' test of their books (Allen decision of 1968), lunches, bus transpor­ constitutionality, two other tests have emerged: that tation (Everson decision of 1947), health and related the legislation 1) should not have a "primary effect" services, the varied tax exemptions enjoyed by the that helps or hinders religion, and 2) should not en­ religious schools, and deductions for charitable contri­ gender "excessive entanglement" of the government butions (Walz decision of 1970) or the Elementary with religious affairs. While in the Lemon-DiCenso and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Also, the decisions of 1971 the Court's main objection was the government assistance programs enjoyed by the re­ inability of the laws in question to pass the "excessive ligious-related higher educational institutions, includ­ entanglement" hurdle, the current decision is based ing numerous yeshivos gedolos and kollelim, remain mainly on the "primary effect" test. in effect. And for that we should be grateful. Sound logic would seem to dictate that the "primary The Supreme Court did offer us its self-portrait-a effect" test should mean that the Court weighs the com­ clear picture in living color: As Jong as Justices Bren­ parative effects of the school-aid bill, and determines nan, Blackmun, Douglas, Marshall, Powell and Stewart which is primary: the religious or secular effect. Using sit on the Supreme Court, there will always be a this simple yardstick in the manner in which it was majority of six who will thwart any worthwhile new always applied, the laws should have been upheld, program to effectively help non-public education or because their primary thrust is relief for the expenses non-public school parents. Clearly, the rationale used of parents and schools for secular matters. Instead, the hy these six justices to invalidate the four programs Court now declared that "primary effect" means "the struck down on June 25th is applicable to any of direct and immediate effect of advancing religion" or a the other vehicles of meaningful school aid which "direct and substantial advancement of religion"-re­ have been on the drawing board these past years. gardless of whether it is primary or not.

4 The Jett'isli Observer / Septen1ber, 1973" This interpretation, because it makes the restrictive if a statute is on its face constitutional, it could still be word "primary" entirely superfluous, actually flies in declared unconstitutional when citizens exercise their the face of the first interpretation of "primary effect" rights of free speech and petition relating to this law as enunciated in a Supreme Court decision: the and thus create "divisiveness." As Jews, we have a Schempp (Lord's Prayer and Bible Reading) decision particular stake in combatting such a pernicious con­ of 1963. The word "primary," which was again used cept, because it could be used as a device to disastrously in the Allen (Textbooks) decision of 1968, was defeat us on many issues of Jewish concern which patently selected by the Court in J 963 to declare that spawn controversy-incJuding legislation on humane not every "direct, immediate or substantial advance­ slaughter and shechita protection, fair Sabbath laws, ment of religion" violated the No-Establishment Clause and even aid to Israel. ...e::.11 of the Constitution, un1css this aid was "prin1ary." In Since the Court did not need this "political divisive­ ignoring the traditional definition of this doctrine and ness" argument to invalidate the non-public school-aid refusing to weigh the secular versus the religious effects Jaws, it obviously sought to raise a scarecrow to silence of this aid on the scales of justice, the Supreme Court religionists, which, unless it is demolished, will wreak has erected a barrier which no meaningful non-public havoc on a broad range of unre]ated issues. school aid bill could ever hurdle. 4. TAX CREDITS-A CASUALTY 3. "POLITICAL DIVISIVENESS": A TIME BOMB ANOTHER CASUAL TY of the Supreme Court decision is the tax credit bill for non-public school parents, as it I.OST IN THE LEGAL VERBIAGE of the decision is a js presently structured (H.R. 49). This bill, for which hardly-detected time-bomb which could eventually ex­ the CR.ED.LT. coalition had succeeded to marshall p1odc with serious consequences: the Court's repetition support from a majority of the members of the U.S. of what it said in the Lemon-DiCenso cases-that non­ House of Representatives and Senate, is no longer public school aid legislation is bad because it creates viable as it is currently drafted, in the light of the "po1itical divisiveness." The Court now declared in majority opinion (6-3) on the New York State tax Pearl v. Nyquist: "While the prospect of such divisive­ exclusions Jaw. ness 1nay not alone warrant the invalidation of state Although the federal tax credit bill bears no resem­ laws that otherwise survive the careful scrutiny required blance to the struck-down New York tax bill, the by the dec;sions of this Court, it is certainly a 'warning language used by the Court majority clearly indicates signal' not to be ignored." Although the Court reserved that even if H.R. 49 were to be passed, it would have decision as to whether "political divisiveness'' is suf­ the same fate in the hands of the "Supreme Court Six." ficient reason per se to invalidate non-public school aid 1t would be harmfully self-deluding to deny this, as legislation, it added that the efforts to secure and disappointing as this conclusion must be to all those maintain this assistance have a "grave potential for who fought for this concept out of conviction that it is entanglement in the broader sense of continuing politi­ constitutional. While hope may be maintained that the cal strife over aid to religion." legal position espoused by Chief Justice Burger in the This incredible doctrine could in effect spell the dissenting opinion of three Justices will ultimately death knell to any legislation on any issue, besides prevail, this hope cannot alter the facts: Six are more non-public school aid, raised by minority religious than three, even when the six arc incorrect in their groups to protect their religious interests or civil rights. reasoning. It could deny the rights of any religious group to seek Meanwhile most of the continued research for con­ legislation for a "redress of their grievances," and bury stitutional vehicles to help non-public education will any bill that might require a religious faith community have to concentrate on devising other channels of in­ to use public media in a natural effort to shape public direct aid left open, as even the majority opinion in opinion in order to win support for its position. Pearl v. Nyquist left some doors ajar-especially in the Fortunately, until now laws have never been in­ field of tax relief. vnJidated because they create "political divisiveness"; this issue has only been raised by the Court in the school aid decisions of 197.1 and 1973. That it has no The Jewish Decisions basis in fact is obvious: These school aid bills have not FROM THE VERY BEGINNINGS of their existence as a created any religious wars in the states in which they nation, the Jews made a decision to Jive by: "Na'aselz, were adopted; the grim spectre of "continuing political v'nishmah" (We will do and we will hearken) .... strife" raised by the Court is merely a myth. They knew from their hallowed faith-and the lesson A public outcry should be raised against the booby­ was reinforced from the pattern of their history-that trap embodied in this doctrine, which asserts that even their capacity to survive hinges upon their observance

The Jewish Ohserver I Septen1her, 1973 5 of Torah Law as revealed by the A-mighty at Sinai. 2. THE AJC ACT ON REVOl,VING STAGE And the observance of Judaism, in turn, rests on one single point: the study of Torah. It is as simple as all INGRAINED JEWISH rachmonus will evoke a sense of pity that. for those who comprise the secular Jewish Establish­ ment because they are walking off the Jewish cliff with 1. A :FATEFUL EFFORT AND their eyes blindfolded. But this compassion turns cold A DECISION TO DESIST when confronted with their hypocritical pronounce­ ments on the survival prospects of yeshivas. THIRTEEN YEARS AGO Orthodox Jews in this country For over a decade, these groups have developed an made a decision: to embark on an effort to obtain amazing scenario, which is but a sophisticated version federal and state financial aid for yeshivos, the centers of the murderer who, as he plunges the stiletto into his by for Torah study in America. Motivated the knowl­ victim's heart, soothingly whispers into his ear: "Sorry, edge that yeshivas hold in their hand the very key to but you're really better off now ...." On June 25th, Jewish existence. a handful of concerned Jews under before the ink on the Supreme Court decision was dry, the guidance of the Roshei Hayeshiva succeeded in the official American Jewish Congress release pro­ forging a united Orthodox position favoring this strug­ claimed: "We hope that officials of religious schools gle to obtain the reimbursement funds for expenses will recognize the benefits of operating free of govern­ incurred by yeshiva parents and schools for their ment controls. . .." Of course, this was accompanied secular services. Some battles were won, others were by the usual pious AJC call, issued whenever it suc­ lost, and despite the recent Supreme Court reversal, ceeds in depriving Jewish education of government the war is still far from over. money, to "the Jewish community, and particularly the Jn the interim, the secular Jewish Establishment, Jewish Welfare Funds, to increase their .support of spearheaded by the American Jewish Congress, also Jewish schools.'' made a decision: to put their narrow concern regarding And it is shamelessly repeated, even though this the legalistic doctrines of separation of church and litany has not brought one dollar into the yeshivos' state above the needs of Jewish education. This posture coffers since it was first used as rhetoric to accompany should really not have surprised anyone, since those the act of depriving the Torah institutions of millions who head these Jewish organizations have themselves of dollars. This sham cannot easily be forgiven. never had the privilege of a genuine Jewish education. Then again, it is not really for the Orthodox com­ Consequently, men and women whose attachment to munity to forgive the Establishment for its narrow the broad sweep of Jewish history is via a slender mindedness, for as a result of curtailed government thread of a nebulous "Jewish consciousness" - who funding of yeshivos, its faculties' salaries must continue have not lived by the enriching disciplines of kashrus to remain below standard, and better teachers either and Shabbos, and are unfamiliar with our heritage of must supp1ement their income from other sources or laws and customs - these people are simply not leave the field. Who is to say "all is forgiven" to this? equipped to think Jewishly. More, the yeshiva community has become increas­ They thus view Torah education as an abstract entity, ingly concerned over reaching-out to Jews alienated or a sentimental talisman from other days--not the from their Torah heritage: An appalling two-thirds of mainstay of Jewish survival. While constitutional guar­ American Jewish children never receive any kind of antees against an established religion are a very real Jewish education, and (according to American Jewish protection against forced Christianization of Jewish Committee figures) barely I 0% of those who do. never masses, not merely legalistic abstractions. go beyond Bar/Bas Mitzvah-leaving a shocking 95 % So their organizations-involved as they are in the of our children who receive no Jewish education during "1nission impossible" of creating Jews without Judaisn1 their crucial teen years. The yeshiva day schools have -opted to drag school-aid laws into courts, knowing been expanding their efforts, but who will fund these incontrovertibly that their success means the Joss of reach-out programs? While the Torah community will millions of dollars in cash for the Jewish educational find ways for self-perpetuation, regardless of the hard­ effort. Even if this inevitability evaded them when ships involved, who will bring Torah to the alienated they had embarked on their crusade, they surely became masses? aware of it over the years of their struggle. But So who then is in position to "forgive" the Estab­ they are Jewishly desensitized from years of living the lishment for perpetuating the kind of ignorance that life-style of their non-Jewish neighbors, and they have breeds the 40%-50% intermarriage rate, which is gradually adopted the thinking process of their non­ 1naking America a disaster area for Jews? Surely, the J ewish environment: A moot constitutional question, Orthodox community cannot forgive those who main­ albeit of Jewish concern, has assumed greater impor­ tain this type of tragedy; nor can the victims them­ tance than Torah-study. selves . ...

6 The Jewish Observer / September. 1973 Under the most difficult circum- stances the Torah community will take care of its own, but who will fund programs to expand the yeshivas' reach?

3. AN INDEPENDENT ORTHODOXY EMERGES In our battle for aid for yeshivos, we are already DESPITE THIS MAJOR COURT DEFEAT' Orthodox Jewry witnesses to this reward for our effort: an aroused, in the U.S.A. has still gained tremendously from its independent Orthodoxy is emerging in this country, decision thirteen years ago to fight for government aid, capable of representing its own interests in keeping over and above the monetary benefits which were won with Torah precept and tradition. and will continue intact for the yeshivas. The basic hashkofoh of Agudath Israel, that Orthodoxy must '.M~V "l'l~tl.l ";:) .,, '11~'N 'fi~!.Vl1 ~bt break its shackles of domination by the secular Jewish (n:r n~'l.l) '' i111 '1 1wn~ ~1/J!! ·~ Establishment, finally broke through. And a number The prophet Micha (7:8) offers a fitting epilogue of Orthodox groups, who for years were spinning in to this piece: "Do not rejoice against me, my enemy; the orbit of the non-religious groups, made a major even though I fall, I shall arise ..." departure from the gravitational pull which tied them Those anti-Orthodox who greeted with joy the to their secular allies, and adopted an independent Supreme Court decision that brought such sevrre Orthodox stance. losses to yeshivas, react from a lack of knowledge The widely-publicized independent position adopted of how to read Jewish history. The Torah lelv possesses by all Orthodox organizations on government aid to an innate resilience, which steins froni fighting a yeshivas accomplished this important victory: the thousand battles for survival, that enables him to monopoly that the secular Jewish groups enjoyed for distill light out of darkness: decades as being the "official spokesmen" for the Jew­ " ... when I sit in darkness, G-d is a light to ish people was broken. Now, everyone knows that me." there exists a historic Jewish community which is es­ sentially distinctive from all others who bear the name This knack of finding the light of G-d even when of Jew, a community which practices a life-style sitting in darkness is the unique quality which has uniquely loyal to religious traditions and mores, and enabled the Torah Jew to grasp victory out of which speaks for itself. And Kial Yisroel is in a much defeat throughout the many periods lVhen hhi better position as a result. sta1nina was put to the test. It is now no longer possible for an Orthodox Jewish The Torah Jew will continue to fight for his organization to co-sign a statement asking a court to sovereif{nty as the bearer of authentic ludnis1n with ban bus transportation for non-public schools, as was greater zeal than in the past. Even as he unrelentingly the case before the battle was begun. This same organi­ continues his struggle to obtain justice for the zation has already learned its lesson. yeshivas from the government, he lvill intensify a Let us, therefore, not denigrate the value of a sincere thousandfold his efforts to obtain solid support from struggle, even if for the moment its goals are not the Federations. And he will pull in his belt tighter achieved. A great sage once gave a wise interpretation and make even greater per.mnal sacrifices for the to a well-known saying in the Talmud ( M egilah 6) : "If support and expansion of Torah study in this country. someone tells you 'I tried but did not find,' do not He will do so because the Torah Jew fully believe him." Don't believe him, this sage explained, comprehends the stakes for which he is fiJ?hting: because even if he did not find what he set out for, the ability to survive as a Jew in a sp;ritually-polluted the very act of trying, of making a mighty effort, in society. The war for Torah on all fronts will proceed itself is 1nost rewarding. lvith as much fervor as ever, if not 1nore. O

The Jewish Observer/ Septe1nber, 1973 7 THE WOUND OF THE HOLOCAUST-the loss of six million most Jewish Jews-cannot easily heal. But even after THE HOLOCAUST some of the pain has been numbed by the passage of time, ,gnawing questions continue to hover over us like a dark shadow. They are most difficult questions, and their presence does not ever seem to 1eave us. Why did the Holocaust happen? How could a Merci­ ful G-d have allowed it to happen? What can justif-" the brutality inflicted upon the six million? These questions are posed from two different sources. Some use them as a basis for cha11enging the Divine hand in history. Or as a canard against those whose trust is in the Torah and its leadership. Or as a fulcrum for tilting confidence in favor of secular-oriented "ac­ tivists" over the leadership typified by the presumed "passivists" of the previous generation. To questioners such as these we owe no explanations. Their questions are not questions, but answers-justi­ fications for all they choose to do and all they elect not: to do. Their decision to abandon their religious heritage is the cause of their questioning. not the result. Others ask these same questions in fullest sincerity, seeking enlightenment while still maintaining loyalty to their Torah heritage. In truth, one might say to them that the best we can do is to remain silent. Who are we that we may question the Divine plan, that we may seek to probe the Divine intelligence? Since we have no answers, why open up discussion in the first p1ace? Yet we cannot remain silent, for to do so would he to allow foes of Torah to ensnare the uninformed with rhetoric and irresponsible insinuation. For guidance in formulating any kind of understand­ ing we must turn to the best source, the great con­ temporary Torah giants and those of the recent past: the self-sacrificing Roshei Hayeshiva and Chassidic Rebbayim, who had deleted "personal comfort" from their vocabularies. Having made note of the irreperable loss of the Holocaust, they went on to build new homes ... questions with­ for Torah and raise new legions to carry the banner of Judaism. Their response and comment can provide out answers ... us with a scenario for our own reaction. The Reaction of Our Greatest: ... faith without Triumph-Even In Death THROUGHOUT OUR HISTORY, Torah leaders have taught us more than the Law; they taught bow to face life­ questions ... and death, too. The Holocaust period revealed count­ less people of whom the heavens could exclaim, "You arc fortunate, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that such grandchildren descended from you." It was almost from an essay in Avrohom impossible to escape the destruction, but there were those who could have escaped and refused the oppor­ Wolf's "Hatekufa Ubayoseha" tunity because they felt they had no right to forsake their people in the time of greatest need-men like Reh -adapted by Nasson Scherman Menachem Ziemba of Warsaw, Reh Elcbonon Wasser-

8 The Jewish Observer I Septen1ber, 1973 man of Baranovitch, and Rabbi Yosef Carlebach of must fast on Yom Kippur whether he likes it or Hamburg. not, so n1ust he rejoice on Puriln even if there is There were others who had not choice, but who nothing to be happy about! died gloriously and inspired hundreds to face In a similar vein, the 11rand rabbi, Reb Shlomo the end with Jewish pride and repentance. One of Slonim looked for a way to dance on a Purim was Reb Avrohom Grodjensky, Mashgiach of ivhen he li'OS a _vrisoner in a concentration can1p. Slabodka. Toward the end he and Reb Elchanan He challenged his Nazi guards to a dancing con­ Wasser1nan, together with their students, lvere test. They showed their prowess. Then the rabbi in the sa1ne ghetto. The execution date had arrived danced as though he lVere in another world_, and they spent their last hours together. Rav singing the Purim son11: "Shekol kovecho lo Grodjensky asked Rabbi Wasserman to deliver yevoshu . . . those who place their hopes in You a talmudic discourse on "Kiddush Hashen1," the will never be shamed and humiliated." co1n1nandn1ent to sanctify the Name in death. Perhaps the most amazing incident of all in­ Rabbi Wasserman was surprised at first, but he volves Rabbi Aharon Rokeach ?"~T, late Grand acceded to the request. When he was finished, Rabbi of Belz. When he was told that the last Rabbi Grodjensky delivered his last "mussar" known survivor of his immediate fa1nily his old­ (ethics) dfa'course, and the group surrendered their est son Reh Moshe, had been thro"wn int~ a burn­ souls froni a spiritual su111mit far above Nazi ing synagogue and gone to a fiery death, the ability to profane. Belzer Rebbe exclaimed, "The Creator in His Reb Elchanon Wasserman's last moments have 1nercy has allowed n1e to share in the sacrifices been recorded by an eye witness, Rabbi Ephraim of my people!" Oschry of New York: Conventional wisdom sees the Nazi era as a horrible "In the heavens they seem to consider us great aberration of history-a nation gone heserk without tzaddikim," he told his students. "It seems that rhyme or reason. Our giants of the spirit did not see we have been chosen to atone for our brethren. it that way at all. They remained strong until the end If so, we must revent, sincerely and fully. We no matter what the horrors and provocations. Their 1nust realize that our sacrifice will be a n?ore loyalty to G-d did not waver, because they saw His perfect one if we hallow ourselves.-ln that way Hand everywhere, whether or not they understood 1ve will save the lives of our brothers in A1ner­ the reason it smote. They saw no accident; only Divine ica . ..." judgment-so they accepted. He continued until the end. He belonged fully to bis students-and to his brothers in America Ten Years Before and everywhere else. He could not even spare a TEN YEARS BEFORE WORLD WAR II-in 1929-someone moment for a last farewell to his beloved son, commented to the Chafetz Chaim on the tragedy of Naftali. World War I, when 12 million people had lost their The Chassidic Grand Rabbi, Reb Klonymos lives. Hitler was still four years away from power, Kalmish Shapiro of Pia'cbena was one of the genocide was a term that could be found only in dust­ powerful spiritual forces of the Warsaw Ghetto. covered unabridged dictionaries. And the Chofetz He exemplified the type of courage that is so Chain1 said, often overlooked by those who are fond of de­ "Twelve million? That is child's play! The real thing scribing Jewish reaction to Hitler in terms of win begin in ten years." sheep being led to the slaughter. "What can we do in ten years?" asked his guest. There is a courage that is different from that "Eretz Yisroel-there, it will be safe." exemplified by militants and freedom fighters. The Chofetz Chaim explained with a parable. Two And it is deeper, too. It is the kind that was villages shared in the cost of a fire engine. It was displayed by people like Reb Klonymos Kalmish stationed in one of them, but if a fire broke out in the who would not allow the Hun to dehumanize and other village, the fire engine would come speeding to de-Judaize them. He trained his disciples in the the rescue. Once a fire broke out and the apparatus ways of spiritual strength that would sustain them was called. The answer was, "We can't come now. to the death. He wrote a sefer made up of the Our village is burning. As soon as the fire is put out Torah discourses he delivered during the ghetto RABBI WOLF is menahel of the Bais Yaakov Teachers Sendnary years, and buried it just before the extermination; of Bnei Brak, in Eretz Yisroel, His "Hatekufa Ubayoseha," fron1 lv/dch this piece is taken, is a collection of essays on it was found and published several years ago Torah philosophy. under the apt title "Holy Fire." During Purim RABBI SCHERMAN is editor of Olomeinu, Torah Un1esorah's 1941, he told his disciples that the "Zahar" likens 1naga.zine for children, and serves as principal of the Yeshiva Karlin~Stolin in Brooklyn. He is a frequent contributor to these Purim to Yom Kippur because, just as a Jew pages.

The JeH'ish Observer I Septen1ber, 1973 9 here, we will come to help you." In the same way, in the Bais Hamikdosh. G-d is testing us by conceal­ ten years the fires will be burning everywhere. G-d will ing his Divine Presence from us-He will reward see to it that it is safe in Eretz Yisroel-because that is us for withstanding this difficult test. Have faith His village. in G-d and strengthen your Torah study and Military historians are indeed at a loss to explain prayer. Then G-d will surely give you strength. why Rommel, most brilliant of military leaders, con­ The Gerer Rebbe did not offer philosophical spec­ queror of Egypt and Libya, did not swoop down on ulation. He ordered a positive way of life just as a Eretz Yisroel as it lay helpless before him. The Chofetz rabbi will decide a question of concrete Halachic ap­ Chaim foretold why: "G-d will see to it that it is safe in plication. His letters made no attempt to answer the Eretz Yisroel-because that is His village." question: "Why did it happen?" Instead he was con­ The Chafetz Chaim's questioner was astounded, cerned with: "What are we to do now?" "That means that our generation will see a miracle! Why are we worthy of it?" The "Why" of the Holocaust "Hashem will be testing us," was the answer. BUT THE "WHY?" REMAINS a haunting question. The No--our greatest saw no accidents in history. His­ Talmud says that a wise man is superior to a prophet tory is G-d's tool, not His master. and, indeed, some of our wise men in the pre-war period saw thunder-clouds forming in the Jewish sky. In the Aftermath And their origin was Berlin-not Hitler's Berlin, but IN THE AFTERMATH, TOO, the faces of Torah leaders Mendelsohn's Berlin. were fixed toward the future. The Holocaust was not The Maggid of Kelm said, "Because of the sin a starting point for recrimination and hopelessness. Of of Geiger's Reform Code of Jewish Law, another major importance was to rebuild the world of Torah law will emerge from Germany. lt will say that rather than to philosophize on the theology of destruc­ every Jew, without exception, must die. May G-d tion. Of course there were looks backward, as well, protect us!'' but only to identify the seeds of destruction so that they Reb Chaim Ozer Grodzensky of Vilna wrote, would not again take root. Lesser men could consecrate "Faith in G-d has weakened in our time. Reform themselves to deciphering the reason why; the truly began in Western Europe and its influence has great ones echoed the Chazon Ish: spread eastward. Our nation has suffered increas­ Upon being questioned on the reasons for the ing persecutions, but instead of learning our les­ Holocaust, he responded, "Can someone blithely son and returning to Torah, the irreligious are dismiss a difficult Tosefos if he can barely trans­ growing in numbers and audacity. As they refuse late a Mishnah? The layman might be infuriated to repent, our suffering increases. And people when he sees a tailor cutting good material; he is wonder why this is our lot!" simply too ignorant to understand that the tailor Twenty years before the war, the Rabbi of is making a new garment. It is true that we arc Dvinsk, Reb Meir Simcha Hacohen, wrote a most too small and puny to understand the ways of illuminating commentary on the lengthy catalog G-d, but we must recognize that even history's of Divine punishment in Vayikra, Chapter 26. most incomprehensible and barbaric eras are but His prescience is awe-inspiring as he draws a a part of the Divine plan. Could we but see the pattern of Jewish history. His presentation de­ complete design, we would understand each of deserves detailed study.* Among other things, he its parts." says, "Modern man thinks that Berlin is J erusa­ The worst of the Nazi fury was visited upon lem, but the fierce storms of destruction will Polish Jewry; over 95% was wiped out. Yet soon emanate from Berlin and leave but a scant rem­ after V-E Day in 1945 its greatest surviving lead­ nant. The survivors will disperse to other coun­ er, the Gerer Rebbe 1?"lT-old, sick, alive only tries and Torah will strike new roots and young through miracles-wrote to his followers in scholars will produce undreamed of accomplish­ America and Europe: ments." Nation of G-d, be strong despite the suffering Others, such as the Grand Rabbi, Reb Dovid and be confident that He will be good to us. ln Moshe of Chortkov and n"1?n~;i1? the Satmar Rav, the worst of days, look ahead to better times that look beyond Berlin. They see Jewish secular-na­ once were and that will be again. We must hope tionalism and Zionism. In seeking to be "like all that good times will come from now on. the nations," these ideologies have corrupted the The main thing is to know that, just as the ideal that must set the Jewish nation apart. We curses of the 1'orah come to pass, so, too, its are not like the nations. We were different at our blessings and consolations will be fulfilled-as "' A translation of the full piece appears elsewhere in Rabbi Akiva remarked when he saw the ruins of this if;:sue.

10 The Jewish Observer / Septnnber, 1973 conception and we are required to remain differ­ no one can pretend that we know all the reasons or ent lest we forfeit our right to exist. It might be have anything even approaching a total understanding comforting to our latent chauvinistic instincts to of what and why. In conclusion, the words of Maimoni­ hear the State of Israel described as the world's des should be always kept uppermost in our minds. third military superpower, but we dare not delude They are quoted by Tosefos Yorn Tov at the end of ourselves into believing that we were granted Tractate Brachos: nationhood by G-d and "chosen" to demonstrate The time for Divine retribution comes: G-d devises superiority in the military and political arenas. ways to provoke men to violate the Torah so that the ensuing punishment is understood to be deserved. This "Entirely Beyond Human Comprehension" is so deep and complex a concept that it is entirely But these are only attempts to find a glimmer of beyond human comprehension. The scriptures bear uuderstanding in the events of Churban Europe. Each witness that the Divine mind is as far above ours as of these Torah luminaries gained an insight and shared heaven from earth. All His ways are just and His justice it with us; would that we could learn from them. But is completely proper. D

GOLDS: Why Are We Destined to Wander? From (Yeshech Chochma)) by Horav Meir Simcha of Dvinsk Translated and adapted by Gershon Dubin

HE HISTORY of the Jewish people through this current f!Olus is truly awesome. It is a two millennia chronicle of almost unrelieved suffering from hostility, T oppression, ostracism and eventual exile from lands where on1y years before Jews had found refuge. Who, at the time of the destruction of the Bais Hamikdosh and the dispersion of the Jewish People, would have imagined the People to survive over such a long painful period, through so storm-tossed a destiny, still loyal to its Divine mission, with its integrity of purpose still intact? lndeed, the mere survival of the Jewish People through 2,000 years of cruelty and oppression can of itself provide the clearest evidence of the centrality of hashgacha (Divine direction) in the course of history. Once one accepts Divine guidance of history, however, one can ask, as have so many Jews through the years: Why have we been made to endure such unparal­ lelled suffering? ls there any purpose in these seemingly endless wanderings? A key to this puzzle may lie in the pattern this suffering has followed: Jews arrive in a new land. They and their children gradually prosper and become important citizens of their adopted country. They organize into communities to huild and niaintain their own institutions. With the passage of time, they become more deeply involved in the culture of their surroundings. Acclim,ation leads to assin1ilation, as the .Tew abandons his divine mission and his hope for spiritual salvation in favor of the seductive Rlitter of the non-Jewish world. After a time, the host country turns against its Jewish citizenry, and several hundred years after its founding, this Jewish community is completely destroyed by the unleashed wrath of its erstwhile hosts. The survivors, impoverished and broken in spirit, escape to a more hospitable country to rebuild in an atmosphere of relative peace-until' they are again subjected to harsh treatment.

HORAV MEIR SIMCHA 7"10 was an outstanding Torah scholar GERSHON DUBIN is a full~tiine ta/mid in the Bais Han1edrosh of and European con1n1una[ leader during the first quarter of y,,shivas Nacha!as Leviin1 of Brooklyn. this century. His "Ohr Someach" on Ra1nban1 and "Meshech Chochma" on Torah are key works in their field.

The Jewish Observer / Septen1ber, 1973 11 The Drive for Change

HE PURPOSE of this cycle in the ultimate realization of Israel's destiny can best be understood by delving into the causes for each stage in the process. T A universal characteristic of every generation is the desire to change and hopefully to improve upon the accomplishments of its predecessors. In the realm of worldly achievement, this can be of greatest value. After all, secular knowledge is the product of human intellect. As such, its theories and conclusions are subject to constant revision with the discovery of the heretofore unknown and its correla­ tion with the already proven. This process of adaptation and revision absorbs the energetic compulsion for change of each succeeding generation. The thirst for newness can always be well met. By contrast, Torah is G-dly wisdom, and does not have any such allowances for adaptation and revision. Yet before Israel was driven into golus, it too enjoyed opportunities for meeting this inherent drive for change in a constructive manner. The thirteen rules of exegesis were open for each beis din (religious court) to interpret the Torah in accord with its understanding. The choice to circumvent the law in cases of special need ( hora'as sha' a) was a viable power in the hands of our wise men. In addition, the guidance of prophecy and, later, of ruach hakodesh prevailed in each generation in accordance with its need~-pinpointing new areas of special concern and concentrated effort. While the Torah itself remained immutable, its application to the exigencies of the times remained for each generation to determine for itself. There was thus a constant process of renewal and an ever-pervading air of fresh accomplishment. Once the Jews were driven into golus, however, the situation changed radically. The Age of Prophecy had ended with the destruction of the First Bais Hamikdosh, and the ruach hakodesh that prevailed during the Second Bais Hamikdosh was never since equalled. The concentration of scholars devoted to Torah study, which had characterized both Commonwealths, also remained un­ matched. With the dispersion of the Jews in golus, the standard of Torah scholar­ ship fell greatly. The result, as the Rambam explains in the introduction to his Yad Hachazakah, was that beis din no longer possesses the authority to institute new laws or to re-examine certain old ones. Since this avenue of expression for the need to innovate has been closed, new ones are always sought.

Thus the Cycle

HE CYCLE of Jewish settlement in the go/us can now be understood. When Jews enter a strange country, they are relatively ignorant of Torah as a T result of the distraction from the insecurities that plagued them in their old country and in their migrations to the new. They then experience a re­ awakening of the Divine spirit within them which impels them to return to Torah. Their Torah scholarship improves gradually until it peaks at an unusually high level-a level that nonetheless falls short of the attainments of earlier scholars. At this point the new generation does not conceive of any opportunities for progress. How can they possibly add to the accomplishment of earlier generations? So the neod for change expresses itself in criticism of the status quo. This in turn leads to eventual denial of the worth and substance of their ancestral heritage. The Jew of this final generation abandons his religion and national identity in favor of the mores of his adopted country. He thinks of Berlin as his Jerusalem and learns to behave in a manner typical of the lower elements of the host society. A storm of destruction follows which uproots him and deposits him in a distant land, where the language and customs are unknown to him, his ears still echoing with the perjorative: Jew! Who made you into a personage? This brings him to the realization that his adopted culture and language in truth were foreign to him,

12 The ]elt'ish Ohserver / September, 1973 and that in essence he is a Jew. His intrinsic "culture" is the Torah, his language is Lashon Hakodesh, and his sources of comfort are the prophecies of the Nevi'ei Hash em. Any attractions other than these are to be regarded at most as temporary coverings to be shed when they present any conflict to the way of life ordained by the Torah ....This has been the pattern of Jewish existence over the centuries. And this is the meaning of G-d's words of comfort: "I have not degraded them"-referring to the low level of achievement in Torah and Jewish consciousness ... [Nor] have I rejected them"-referring to the expulsions and forced wander­ ings from land to land ... "to annihilate them"-to the degree that they should completely abandon Torah and reject their heritage ... "for I am the Hashem, their G-d"-my bond with them is never annulled. The degradation and rejection are not wanton, nor are they ever con­ sumated. They are carefully modulated measures of maintaining the Jews' awareness of their special relationship with "/, Hashem their G-d." Not despite wanderings and sufferings, but because of them, does the Jewish People remain alive. D

Two by Moshe Prager I. Eyeball to Eyeball

It was not long after Germany's lightning conquest of Poland. A group of Nazi officers, drunk with triumph went carousing through the Jewish streets of Warsaw looking for amusement. It didn't take them long to find it. It was one of the Intermediate Days of Succos and Jews still prayed openly in their synagogues proudly dressed in their holiday garb. As the officers careened down Tvarda Street, they ca1ne upon a group of Gerer Cbassidim just ]caving their house of prayer. The Nazis pounced on them gleefully. "Hey, Moses, let me have your pretty beard." One of them grabbed at the beard of an old man and cut it off with his bayonet. One after another, the officer pulled at the beards of the frightened old men and they stood there unresisting and humiliated, grateful that their lives were spared. Then came a shout, HShoot me! Ki11 n1e! I won't let you cut my beard!" The shout of defiance came from a heretofore quiet, meek young man named Yaakov "Yanchie" Geffen. To back up his words he held tightly onto his beard with both hands and stood his ground as if daring the Germans to cross him.

F'rom a chapter in MOSHE PRAGER'S ,,,Yl:J.l N?tv :"t?N,, ("Those Who Did Not Surrender"). MR. PRAGER, a noted journalist and historian, is editor of the Hebrew langua~e Beth Jacob Monthly journal. Translated by NOSSON SCHERMAN.

The Jewish Observer / Sr>pten1ber, 1973 13 "Damn Jew! I'll kill you on the spot!" first move was to get them all together again. Y anchie "Please, Yanchie, don't be stubborn. We musn't would not permit them to continue their scattered get them angry" --one of the old men pleaded with existence like frightened rats. They must all stay Yanchie privately, but to no avail. Meanwhile the together in one hiding place and carry on their life Germans were increasing in their anger-especially of prayer and study without fear of the Germans. since they were totally unprepared for such a show The location Yanchie chose was the top floor of an of defiance. abandoned Talmud Torah building. "Blasted Jews! Let him go to hlazes!" Once, after midnight, the entire group was im­ The officer with the knife lost his composure and mersed in Torah study when they heard the raucous began pleading with Yanchie. "Just a few hairs. voices of a German patrol coming down the street. Let me just have the long ones." The soldiers stopped at the Talmud Torah and "Yanchie have pity on your own 1ife. You're began pounding on the door, demanding admittance. too young to die!" The young Chassidim inside listened in terror and "Yanchie, stop it! They'll kill us all if you their hearts stopped. Had the Germans discovered don't give in!" their whereabouts? Had their lamps been seen through "Let me have just the tip of your beard and then a crack in the covered window? Were the Nazis I'll let you go!'' planning to search the building on a hunch? Some of Finally Y ancbic gave in and still holding his hands them immediately thought of escape.-They could

When Jewish purity of faith was locked in confrontation with Nazi brutality, what were its prospects for survival?

tightly wrapped around his beard, he exposed a silently climb up to the roof and hide there.-Perhaps few hairs to the Nazi barber. they should separate and hide in the many rooms Infuriated, the Nazis chased away the Chassidim. and closets of the deserted building. But standing "Get out of here, you lousy Jews. No wonder the over them was Y anchie Geffen, calm and serene as Fuehrer hates you so!" though the angel of death were not shouting Later on Yanchie was asked why he risked his life obscenities and in the process of breaking down the over something so trivia1. His answer was simple, '"I door of their refuge. Yanchie motioned to the did it to show them that the whole world doesn't Gemoras and cast his fearless look on each of the belong to them." young men. His bearing calmed them and gradually each one returned to the now-silent study-or, at least, maintained his selfcontrol. They heard the crash of the broken door falling inward. The Nazis Y aakov Geffen, the quiet one, became a fierce swarmed into the building cursing, laughing, shouting. and courageous Jeader during the most trying times. "There're here! They're here!" It was one of the He left Warsaw to travel secretly to the ghettoes Klein brothers, dashing in from the corridor, terror­ where the Nazi boot stamped hardest. After Mattisyohu stricken. With an angry movement of his hand, Gelman left Cracow never to be heard from again, Yanchie silenced him and directed him to be seated. conditions in the ghetto became steadily worse. Time dragged on like an eternity. Finally the Cracow was the headquarters of the Nazi military Germans were heard again, this time laughing and governor of Poland and it was there that the harshest exulting as they left the building. Then it was quiet regime existed for Jews during the early part of the again. As the Chassidic group learned later, the Nazis occupation. Jewish life was an unending chain of had discovered that the basement of the building fear, terror, and persecution. The Chassidic group had been used to conceal the valuables of a wealthy that Matti Gelman had put together-the Mattisovtzies Jewish refugee. They came to loot and departed happy. -began to feel that in unity was danger. They Then Y anchie turned to the Klein boy whose decided to split up into small groups to ease hysteria had nearly given them all away. He was concealment and avoid the chance that all would furious, but not because Klein had endangered every­ be caught at the same time. It was then that Yanchie one. What he had to say was meant for alJ; it was Geffen arrived on the scene. His presence electrified the raison d'etre of the Mattisovtzies and their unique the Gerer group and gave them new courage. His form of resistance.

14 The Jewish Observer / Septen1ber, 1973 "You Jost control of yourself! You made no while ago. You remember those young Gerer astounding discovery-didn't we all know who they Cbassidim? Well, when Commandant Goethe ordered were? Didn't we all hear them coming? them taken out to be killed, one of them asked for "And anyway-so what! What difference does it permission to say a few words of farewell to his make if they come or not. That's what they want, friends. I was standing right there and I heard every isn't it? Isn't that why they make all that noise and word. His name was Yisroel Eisenberg and he was commotion-so we should lose our heads and panic? the leader of the group. He didn't say much, just They want to break us and make us give up.-Let that they were all about to die to sanctify the Name them do theirs. We'll do ours. We'll never give in! of G-d and they must all be happy. He grabbed We'll never retreat! The Scriptures say, 'Fortunate them by their hands and said, 'The main thing is is the man who trusts in G-d.' " to be happy.' Then they all took hold of one another That was the key to the way of life of the and started singing and dancing. They pulled their Mattisovtzies. They knew full well that the ultimate payos out from under their caps and kept on singing Nazi goal was to dehumanize their victims through and dancing as if they were going to a ball. Such terror and a blitzkrieg against the psyche. Fear young people-about to die and celebrating! r thought and confusion were the Nazis' most formidable allies. I would go mad. They kept on dancing until the The Chassidic underground refused to be bullets ended everything. Even the Gestapo officers intimidated. By retaining their sense of purpose and knew they were in the presence of holiness. One of self-respect they remained unconquered to the death. them said 'They aren't human; they are angels.' " The two Kapos fell silent for a few moments. Then both burst into sobs. O In the slave labor camp of Plashuv, a Jewish prisoner was awakened one night by a conversation between two Kapos. The Kapos were concentration camp police chosen from among the inmates themselves II. The Song of Sl1lomo to carry out the orders of the Nazis. Their survival lay in proving their loyalty to the Germans by their compassionless cruelty to their own brethren. That there was always a supply of such people is a sad Shlomo Zelichovsky was a young man who never commentary on the human condition. That night in sought followers, but had them just the same. In Plashuv, the bone-weary Moshe Brachtfeld was his quiet way he was the model of a Gerer Chassid. sleeping on the wooden shelf that served as his bed Shlomo was never without a smile-a real one- no when he awoke and listened to the conversation of matter what problems he might face. And his every the two Kapos who were on guard duty. free moment was spent studying Torah. His voice was of rare beauty and power, and he was a favorite One of them was crying and .his comrade was of Reb Yossele Chantziner, the main chazzan of the astounded. After all, no cruelty was a novelty to a Gerer Rebbe and composer of Gerer music. This Kapo and sentiment had Jong since ceased being a music made the heart long for the Divine .Presence, part of their makeup. and could set the feet tapping in a happy march of "Why the tears? What happened?" joy for being G-d's chosen soldiers on earth. Shlomo "Don't ask. Something happened today that Zelichovsky, just by being himself, created a circle of depressed me terribly." admiring young Chassidim who saw hi111 as an "What's wrong with you? I escourted my own example and a goal because of l1is dedication to Torah, father to his death. You watched your mother being the joy of his Jewishness, and the beautiful melodies shot. What could possibly bring us to tears?" that always accompanied him. When be stood before The weeping Kapo answered. "Today it was a the amud to lead the congregation in prayer, the different kind of thing. I was taking an old Chassid to song, the words, and his soul seemed to melt into be killed and suddenly he stopped and looked at me one rapturous whole. and said, 'Yes, we deserve this horrible judgment. He wasn't a Mattisovtzy, he did it on his own. We are indeed guilty. If one Jew is capable of When the war broke out, Shlomo and bis family went leading another Jew to the slaughter, then there is to the town of Zdanska-Volia to join his father-in-law. so1nething wrong with the entire nation and we There he was part of an unconquered Chassidic deserve even this punisbment.'-Whenever I group much like the Mattisovtzies of other ghettoes. ·think of that old man's words, my insides twist." And there he emerged as one of the war's greatest "And that's enough to make you despondent! heroes, his bravery to be spread by the underground Listen to what I saw with my own eyes a short newspaper of the Warsaw Ghetto and memorialized

The Jewish Observer/ Septen1her, 1973 15 Did you know Shlomo Zelichovsky? Once you meet him and hear his voice, you will not ever forget him. in a Hebrew poem by the non-religious poet, Yitzchok temporary survival was bought at the price of Katzenelson. He defeated the Gestapo and, by his extinguishing the spark of brotherly love, and turning example, he wrote a new definition of vengeance. their once warm hearts into icy rocks. Reb Shlorno led, the other condemned men sang and prayed with him. And even the ghetto police cried like children. It happened in 1943. The Nazis had a favorite They began Ne'ilah, the prayer that closes the Yorn method of mass mental torture. They would use Kippur service with a final passionate appeal for Jewish holidays as an excuse to punish the entire Divine mercy. Shlorno stopped in the middle; the last Jewish community for some sin committed during its part of Ne'ilah woufd be said on the way to the gallows. history. On Purim that year they assembled every Jew in town to witness a public hanging of ten Jews to avenge the death of the ten sons of Haman. Two The next day, the ten prisoners-hands tied behind days before Shavuos that year, ten more Jews were their backs-were marched to the gallows. The arrested. The official charge was sabotage and Germans were there. The Jews were there. All were smuggling of food, but the ghetto knew it was to be waiting to see ten cowering, broken men, fearful a macabre spectacle "in honor" of Shavuos. This of their fate. The Germans waited with gleeful time, instead of gathering around a mountain to anticipation; the Jews with heartbroken trepidation. receive the Ten Commandments, the ghetto of The ten men came, heads high, all of them singing Zdanska-Volia would gather around a gallows to the concluding and most moving part of Ne'ilah, witness the hanging of ten of their brothers. The led by Shlorno's sweet and powerful voice: ten criminals were picked at random and Shlorno . . . C'pi?~ 01:JTN. Zelichovsky was one of them. "/ remember, Oh L-rd, and I tremble, when I see Meanwhile the official order went out: All Jews every city built up on its hilltop, and the city of were to gather on Shabbos, the first day of Shavuos, the L-rd degraded down to the lowest depths. And in the Stanshitz marketplace. No reason was given, despite all this, we belong to the Merciful G-d and but the Jews knew. Once again they would be forced our eyes look to the Merciful G-d." to stand and watch, horrified, humiliated, powerless, They reached the gallows. The anguished people of while their Nazi overlords reveled in the entertainment the ghetto looked at them. They stood there, the of the day. The soldiers of the army and the sadists ten of them ... an even line-backs straight-heads of the Gestapo would turn out en masse for the erect ...their eyes looking to heaven. And the Jews spectacle. The officers would bring their wives and of the ghetto straightened up too, transfused with mistresses to watch the fun. That is exactly how it inspiration and courage. "Despite all this, we belong happened, but Shlomo Zelichovsky and bis nine to the Merciful G-d and our eyes look to the condemned comrades turned the tables; they were the Merciful G-d." victors and the Germans were the humiliated ones. There were ten gallows, each one with a bench While foey languished in prison waiting to go on beneath it. The condemned men would he placed on as stars of the Gestapo's passion play, Shlorno would the benches, the nooses would be put around their not allow his fellow prisoners to give in to despair. necks1 and the benches removed. But the Germans He raised their spirits to a summit as they joined \Vere in no rush. They wanted to prolong the fun. him in preparing to sanctify the Name before every Dra}v out the niinutes, let the cowards beg for mercy, living soul in Zdanska-Volia. He proposed that they let the cowering spectators stand by and stew in their declare the day before their execution as their Yorn helplessness. Shlorno Zelichovsky stood there and Kippur, that they fast and pray the Yorn Kippur demanded of his guards, service. He himself would lead the prayers, as he "Well, aren't you ready?" had done so often in the past with his sweet voice, With that he stepped up onto the bench and the unsurpassed fervor and the beautiful nusach (liturgical Stanshitz marketplace was filled with a familiar melodies) of Reb Y ossele, the Gerer chazzan. They voice chanting for the last time, all agreed, and that day became Yorn Kippur. The "Shma Yisroel-Hear, Oh Israel, Hashem our prayers of the day penetrated even the hearts of the G-d, Hashem is One." Jewish ghetto police, those unfortunate men whose Silently every Jew in Zdanska-Volia called out

16 The Jewish Observer / Septen1ber, 1973 with the inner voice that carries to the heavenly throne, so that he could pass the tefillin to a neighbor. Every "Hashem our G-d, Hashem is One." Jew who wore those tefillin felt new strength surge Then one of the ten shouted, "Fellow Jews, up within him as he wrapped them on his arm, fixed avenge our blood!" them on his head, and renewed his bond with G-d. The Gestapo had been robbed of the delicious "Fellow Jews, avenge our deaths." pleasure of prolonging the agony. Shlomo and his comrades had defeated them. They continued with the closing words of Ne'ilah. Another time, Mendel was among hundreds of "Shma Yisroel ... Blessed is the name of his Zdanska-Volia Jews who were being shipped to the glorious kingdom forever and ever. Hashem is G-d." Lodz gheto for their "final solution." They were The benches were kicked away and their tips were crowded into a cattle car for a four-hour train ride. stilled, but their fellow Jews still heard the words Fumes from the locomotive went into the cars and and the handful who survived the war remember the trip was made twice as long as necessary so that them still. as many as possible could die on the way. The people could not move, they could barely breathe. Many called out "Down with Hitler. Long live Stalin." Mendel Yuskowitz was about sixteen when he They were hoping to provoke the guards into witnessed the execution. At the time he thought that shooting into the crowd thus ending the agony. the cry, "Fellow Jews, avenge our blood" was It did not help. The train lurched on. somehow ludicrous. "How could we take revenge? The Mendel remembered Shlomo Zelichovsky. He We whose lives hung on n hair, starving, weakened, called out, "Fellow Jews, we are going to the gas frightened-what could we do?" Then he realized chambers. Let us pray together our last Maariv." that they could indeed realize revenge-the very act They prayed, and in praying avenged their of singing Ne'ilah and saying Shma was revenge. hrothers. D The Nazis chose Shavuos as an execution day for a reason: they wanted to execute the Jewish soul, "We are indebted to Rab­ to eradicate their faith in Torah and in its Giver. bi Abraham Rosenfeld for Sh!omo had publicly proved that the Nazi murderers making available his excel­ had no power over the Jewish soul; our faith in G-d lent works {the Selichot) which will be welcomed by was beyond their power to uproot. What greater all. ... revenge could there be than to prove that the Jewish "I can appreciate the la­ spirit was impervious to all the blitzkriegs Germany bour, the time, the perse­ could unleash against it! verance and the research The very next day Mendel participated in his involved in the Author's undertaking in producing own little act of revenge. He took part in a secret these full and complete minyan in the ghetto to recite the festival prayers editions of the SELICHOT. '1ll1m ':>::i':> c':>11m l11i1'':>c "\'1C ... The total effort has of Shavuos. The Torah reading was read from a been rewarding .... It is SELICHOT FOR torn, slashed scroll, one that had been bayoneted by to be highly commended." THE WHOLE YEAR an enraged Gestapo officer \vhen he discovered it The Very Rev. The Chief Rabbi Dr. /. Jakobovifs, The authorised SEUCHOT for the Whole Year at an earlier secret 1ninyan. Greaf 8rifain Hebrew and English Until the end of the war, Mendel carried within him the memory of Sblomo Zelichovsky and that Translated and Annotated by memory kept his faith strong no matter how great RABBI ABRAHAM ROSENFELD the suffering or apparent hopelessness. Selichot means literally "Forgiveness," and is thus applied to prayers for forgiveness. It is used to de­ scribe penitential prayers which are not generally A few months after the Shavuos execution, the an integral part of the service but are recited on Jews of Zdanska-Volia were herded to the town's certain solemn days of the Jewish calendar. The Jewish cemetery. It was 25 Elul 5703, a hot, stuffy Selicot in this volume are those recited on the September. For three days they were kept there days preceding Rosh Hashanah, on the days be­ tween Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and on without food or water. The thirst was unbearable. certain Fast Days. People fainted. They licked the gravestones to cool 832 pages, S\!2" x SW' $4.9S their parched tongues. Some bit their skin to drink tbeir own blood. Mendel felt as hopeless as the rest when he made a discovery. There on the cemetery ~'.;~:?~.~~, :,~;:'.:::~~'HA,EFARIM. lnr. t field, he found a pair of tefillin. Suddenly he felt strong -13 <'I''! 'Tllf'F'f • '.'-.',," Y0d, ~ Y ](l\lll~ • 011.,,. 0 i 1;0: again and he donned the tefillin. Hurriedly he prayed

The Jewish Observer I Septen1her, 1973 17 Nirson Wolpin To Eretz Yisroel- With a Love That Does Not Fade

EVERY MAN THINKS HIS LOVE is unique, the object of Poland, Russia, back to Germany, and now America. his love incomparable. Parallels and analogies only re­ At any time, memories may have reached back to one duce its dimensions. A Jew's love for Eretz Yisroel is stopping place before, but a sense of belonging was different. It is not an experience that is new with him. associated with but one particular land-a land never In fact, one can only begin to understand it by tracing viewed, but often spoken of, and always yearned for: its roots to its beginnings, over a hundred generations Eretz Yisroel. Thus the Jew exiled from Spain did not ago. miss the Iberian flatlands as intensely as the plains And greater insight is gained by viewing it in the of Judea. Herded into the Pale of Russia, he did not context of attachments of other national groups to their dream of the waves of the Black Sea of his childhood, own homelands. For them the Jew's bond to his Land but of those that lap the shores of Tiberias. And so it emerges as being beyond comparison: Rare is any other has persisted for 1900 years. transplanted group that has maintained a bond with This love, then, is both unique and shared-unique its erstwhile homeland for more than a generation or to the Jewish People, who share it with their progeni­ two. Generally, after such time, strangeness no longer tors and their heirs. applies to the host country but to the country of origin. and the children of aliens become native sons in their A Primeval Y earnin)i foster country. ' YEARNING OF THIS SORT does not lend itself to ra­ Jews have had much less success in adapting to nc\v tional explanations. It must be metaphysical in nature, settings. At most they become comfortable guests in and indeed its roots reach back to the prehistory of the any host country-their hold seldom tightening beyond Jewish People. Its parallels are not in the nationalistic the grip of Jacob's words upon entering Egypt: "We ties to homeland experienced by other peoples, but have co1ne to sojourn in the land"-not to settle here. in the acts of patriarchs that seared characteristic speci­ At worst, they are unwelcome strangers, only worthy fics into the national Jewish soul. of oppression. Thus, most often by choice, sometimes Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin pointed out that the Ten by virtue of circumstance, wherever Jews have dwelt, Tests to which Abraham was subjected were not de­ they have remained children of another !and. signed to prove Abraham's commitment to G-d, as Tracing the itinerary of wanderings of any Jewish much as they were exercises of elevation~ designed to family from Jerusalem 3833 to Chicago 5733 can mean 1nold his neshama in most specific ways. following a trail through Rome, Babylon, the Meghreb, A prize example is the celebrated Jewish readiness to Castillian Spain, the Provence in France, Germany, relinquish life for the sake of Heaven-al kiddush

18 The Je-.vish Observer I Seplenther, 1973 Hashem--0ften viewed as a decision painfully arrived get (bill of divorcement) to a woman whom he is re­ at individually by every Jew so challenged throughout quired to divorce-he can be subjected to physical pres­ history. But the descision is not reached at the moment sures until he relents, even though halacha requires of challenge. It was made for him millennia ago. In that the act be performed as a matter of personal other words, when a Jew is forced to choose between choice. The Rambam explains that in spite of the his life and his faith, and he chooses temporal death element of force, this requirement of volition is really for the sake of convictions, he does not weigh alternate honored. Inherently, every Jew yearns to fulfill all values and then decide. Instead he refers to the spiritual mitzvos. Only a shallow attraction toward self-service genetic code programmed into every Jew's neshan1a, and pleasure-seeking dellects him from his inborn pur­ which was entered into the national spiritual treasury at suit of mitzvah performance, and this can be "neutral­ the time of the akeida-and Isaac's willing submission ized" by creating conditions that make it physically to G-d's command that he be offered as a sacrifice. uncomfortable for him to evade response to a higher This "test" was an elevation experience that impressed calling, leaving him to respond to his natural instinctive a trait pecu1iar to the Jew on his national neshan1a. drive: performing G-d's will. Since then, kiddush Hashem has been a natural, auto­ The Jew's special relationship with Eretz Yisroel matic response. also has its ramifications in halacha. According to many The same must be said regarding Abraham's re­ authorities, a Jew is simply not permitted to sell any sponse to G-d's command: "Go ye from your land, land in Eretz Yisroel to a non-Jew. The Chazon Ish from your birthplace, from your father's house to elaborates on this in his master work on Jewish juris­ the land that I will show you .... And Abraham went" prudence-his commentary on Shulchan A ruch Cho­ ~to an unknown spot bordering the Mediterranean shen Mishpat: "G-d's gift (of the Land) to Abraham Sea, leaving behind an empire where he had made was an eternal one, and Eretz Yisroel is thus Jewry's souls, amassed a fortune, and had established himself as eternal possession. Even after the Jews were exiled Father of his Country, Aram ... all for the promise of and aliens seized the Land by military force . . . the a land. This trek across Asia Minor left its imprint on Land remained ours, because He vowed to return us to Abraham and his children. The Land reached at great it. True enough, every individual may have forfeited personal sacrifice was presented as a spiritual entity; his personal hold on his own ancestral lands-those it became an integral part of the Jewish soul; and the which were portioned to the original settlers of the bond between the Jew and the Land assumed a Land. Nonetheless, each individual as part of the dominant place in the Jewish psyche. This Jove that nation as a whole has a share somewhere in Eretz points to sources primeval draws its strength and its Yisroel-a share that will become determined le'asid unique character from its ancient weJJsprings. lava-in the ultimate future." A relationship established in the metaphysical realm From the Ethereal to the Practical must obtain in the practical realm of halacha. THESE SPECIFIC CHARACTERISTICS OF ,JEWISHNESS are not exclusive to the realm of metaphysics, but have A Feature of the Spiritual Anatomy expression in the most practical aspect of Judaism­ ONE MIGHT SA y THAT A JEW'S Jove for his Land is not the halacha. By virtue of the Divine election that singles only a matter of heart or of ego, bu! that it is a out the Jewish People to seek sanctity through Torah dominant feature of the anatomy of the Jewish soul. and n1itzvos, every Jew may be assumed to have a This "anatomy" is not simply a metaphor. The Talmud predilection toward fulfilling G-d's commands. So much relates the Torah's 365 negative commands to !he cor­ so, that should a Jew exhibit reluctance to perform an responding number of vessels in the human body; and act which is incumbent upon him-such as serving a so does it tie in the 248 positive commands with the

The Jewish Observer / Septen1ber, 1973 19 like number of human limbs. The implication is that when one "sees His face"-these can only be experi­ human fulfillment on the spiritual level must involve enced in the Holy Land. expression and restraint along lines corresponding to And as the Chasam Sofer declared: Even if, as some the physical makeup of the human body. The human maintain, mitzvos of the Land do not obtain under cur­ anatomy then can be viewed as a physical representa­ rent circumstances, "nonetheless, the sanctity of 'the tion of one's spiritual make-up in its potential, and, House of G-d and this is the Gate of Heaven' was when fully developed through Torah guidelines, as Man never invalidated, nor will it ever so come to pass" in his ideal state. And just as man's physical fmm has ( Chamm Sofer, Y ora De' ah 233). 365 vessels and 248 limbs so does his soul. No wonder the Jew feels incomplete when estranged So great a number of mitzvos depend upon residing from his land-as if limbs of bis spirit are threatened in Eretz Yisroel, so many involve active development with atrophy from disuse. And no wonder the yearning of the soil and reaping its produce, that one can only to return grows, rather than diminishes, with the length view the soul and the Land as inextricably intertwined of the exile. More than a place to live, beyond offering -neither fulfilled without the other: ... The first fruit completion to a soul suffering denial, the Land-home is consecrated as bikurim-to be brought with great of the future third Bais Hamikdash-represents ful­ festivity to the Bais Hamikdash in Jerusalem .... Teru­ fillment of Messianic yearnings to Jews in exile. 'mah, the tithes, and other gifts of the harvest nurture and reinforce our homage to those who dedicate their The Supreme Awareness lives to Divine service . ... The corner of every field, THE JEW'S LOVE FOR HIS LAND is also a feature of his forgotten sheaves, and single strands of grapes are all love for his G-d. left for the poor ... the Sabbatical Shmittah and the "The royal palace" is the appellation applied to Y ovel Jubilee-All remind us that "the earth is the Eretz Yisroel in Midrashic literature. The usual refer­ L-rd's." ence is to the exacting demands made on the inhabit­ Thus the Jewish craving for returning to Eretz Yis­ ants of Israel, admonishing them not to permit their roel is based on the metaphysical drive to experience behavior to sink to the level of other nations. There those mitzvos impossible to perform outside of the Land. arc liberties that one might allow himself in his own But it is also a search for the added dimension of home or even in a public place that are intolerable in kedusha one can realize even in those mitzvos not de­ a royal palace. Such are the demands of living in Eretz pendent on the Land. Tefillin, Torah study, Shabbos­ Yisroel. all are enhanced by being performed in the setting of And then the corollary. In the palace there is a the Holy Land, for all mitzvos are intertwined (much pervading awareness of the royal presence even \Vhen as the well-being of any part of the human anatomy is the royal personage is not viewed directly. The trap­ effected by the sturdiness of the entire body, which in pings, the furnishings, the guarded atmosphere of the turn depends on the health of each individual limb). palace, all contribute to this awareness-a sensitivity The centrality of the Bais Hamikdosh to national that cannot be equalled in the marketplace. Eretz life, the common denominators of sacrifice and close­ Yisroel is the "Land that G-d inquires after con­ ness to G-d realized through daily communal offerings stantly." Awareness of this Divine surveillance has an and individual korbonos ... the pilgrimage festivals almost tangible impact npon the dwellers of the palace.

The Chazon !sh on Love of Zion How can one best depict love of Zion? I recall a tenance for thousands of settlers in Eretz Yisroel. Lithuanian village with several hundred families that When the meshulach would arrive, he had no need eked out a living with difficulty. Three rubels covered to fire the hearts, to inspire contributions. His work the week's needs for each Jewish family. They lived an had already been done for him. He had but to visit inipoverished life, and served Hashe1n. the homes to collect his money-to gather and to Occasionally a meshulach would visit on behalf of count. The total he would amass from this one some yeshiva-firing the hearts, speaking, preachinJ?, village every year was over 300 rubles! visiting the houses of the villagers. If he was effective, 1·ranslating this into today's tern1s would 1nean he would raise some eight rubles. A more successful that-taking into account all towns and villages, 1ncshulach, representing a larger institution of wider forgotten corners and hidden crannies of Europe­ fame, might raise as much as fifteen rubels . ... And millions of Israeli pounds were culled from the then a meshulach would appear on behalf of the poorest of the poor every year/ They established the impoverished in Eretz Yisroel: Some decades before, and they built it ... (from "LETTERS OF THE Reb Chaim of Volozhin had established the "Fund yishuv, of Rabbi Meir Ba'al Haness" which provides sus- CHAZON ISH" ).

20 The Je1vish Observer / Septe1nber, 1973 So much so, that the Talmud and the Midrash describe clothed in whatever philosophical trappings that were the extraordinary interaction between the man attuned then in vogue-"a national homeland" ... "a worker's to kedusha and the Land of kedusha in most extra­ paradise" ... "dignity through labor" ... "a utopia of ordinary terms: "Fortunate are those who dwell in equality" ... -but beneath the veneer of godless com- Eretz Yisroel, for they have neither sin nor iniquity ..." mitments pulsed a soul-bond with the Land that could ( Yalkut Shimoni)--especially in comparison to those never respond to Birobidjan or Uganda-only to the deprived of this superior awareness of kedusha for Land of Israel. dwelling in the gala: "Whoever dwells in Eretz Yisroel is as though he has a G-d and whoever dwells out of Politics of the Spirit, or the Land is as though he has no G-d" (Kesubos the Spirituality of Politics? 1 lOa), for he is estranged from the all-encompassing ONE WOULD NOT SERVE VINT AGE WINES in earthen ves­ awareness of his Creator that the Land offers. Thus sels. Neither would one willingly present a throbbing the yearning beyond emotions, the supra-rational drive spiritual reality in political terms or as a purely emo­ to imbibe more deeply from the sanctity of the Holy tional entity. Thus those truly impelled by a love for Land; for the Land of Israel is not a point on the globe the Land cannot accept the wines of Chibas Ha'aretz but a level of kedusha for which every Jew innately in the clay flasks of "secular nationalism"-or for that craves. matter any other such reductions of the spiritual to the mundane. The Historical Imprint Moreover, a violation of Torah in the Holy Land, or the pursuit of policies that violate the spirituality of THE JEWISH CRAVING FOR THE LAND is also a search for the myriad facets of kedusha revealed, which were Eretz Y isroel-policies running counter to the sanctity invested and implanted in the Land through any num­ of the Land, or counter to the sanctity of the People ber of individual gestures of dedication, communal acts who dwell in the Land-such provoke outcries of pro­ of Divine servitude, the pronouncements of all the test that can simply never be muted. These are outcries prophets, recorded and unknown, and revelations of that do not express physical pain or emotional anguish, kedusha by G-d Himself-from the time of the Patri­ but outcries from a soul in agony. archs, through the Biblical Monarchies, the Talmudic Generally, there are any number of circumstances era, and beyond. The connoisseur of kedusha can find that can provoke people to extremely powerful re­ all these in the Land, and relish in their rediscovery .... sponses-a son on behalf of his father's honor, a This figured prominently in Yehuda Halevi's Jove songs mother in protection of her offspring's safety-but to Eretz Yisroel, much as it drove the Ramban and these pale when compared to the outcry of the soul his disciples to rededicate every one of the Holy Land's in torment. Whether in response to threat of violation stones ignored or desecrated for generations: "The or deprivation, the demands for spiritual fulfillment are greater the kedusha," the Ramban bemoaned-know­ the most potent and unrelenting in the human experi­ ing well how to guage the comparisons of kedusha's ence-precisely because they articulate a need that is greatness, "the greater is the destruction!" And so he more than human. set out to rebuild. A spiritual thirst can not be stilled by waters from It was this sensitivity to kedusha in its multi-faceted springs of a physical nature. The Jewish yearning for expressions that guided the Ari Zal in his tour of the his Land involves geography--but much more. Political Holy Land, touching gravestones with his walking stick. autonomy can provide an element of fulfillment to the recognizing the remains buried there by the nature and J cw-but if it is viewed as the totality of fulfillment it degree of the kedusha associated with those interred .... is a factor of further alienation. It was this thirst that impelled the followers of the Even at the Western Wall, the tears of joy and Baal Shem Tov to aliya and that inspired the disciples gratitude mingle with tears of hope and supplication of the Vilna Gaon to settle the Land .... That made when one says: "May our eyes witness Your return to Zion with Mercy." Eretz Yisroel figure so prominently in the kavanos as O well as the spoken prayers of our oppressed people. No wonder every modern effort toward organized a/iya Do you have room in your heart -from Reh Shmuel Mohliver's Chovevei Zion through Theodore Herzl's secular Zionism - found an cager for a Jewish child in need of a foster home? response from Jewry.-If a Jew was to finally put 'an end to a particularly bitter sojourn in the go/a, was Call OHEL FOSTER CARE there any other place, anywhere on this earth. that he (212) 851-6300 could calJ "ho1ne"? Even the most avowed secularist found his heart The only Orthodox child-caring agency in New York quicken to the call of Zion. His loyalty may have been

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22 The Je1rish Observer I Septen1ber, 1973 "If we want to come to know Judaism ... we must read it in Hebrew, i.e. in the spirit of this language ... with wide-awake eye and ear, and BOOKS with a mind aroused to do its own share; we must read it ... to reconstrue the speaker's thoughts­ else we will miss their meaning" (Nineteen Letters RAMBAN, COMMENTARY ON THE TORAH (GENESIS), of Ben Uziel, Letter 2). translated and annotated by Rabbi Dr. Charles B. Chavez. He himself, therefore, devoted special attention to the (New York, 1971; Shilo Publishing House, $12.00) linguistic details as he prepared his translations and commentaries. But, ultimately, the only protection OUR GOLUS HISTORY is marked by the successive rise against the dangers described lies in going back to the and decline of community after community. If we seek sources in their original fonn. to evaluate the emergence of a new Jewish center of These thoughts cross the mind of the reviewer as he settlement, and its progress toward maturity, there are peruses Rabbi Chavel's translation of the Ramban's many indicators we can use-and by no means the least commentary to Bereshith. Let it be said at the very important is the emergence of Torah literature in the outset that this is a masterful piece of work. Rabbi vernacular. Chavel has previously established himself as an author­ When translations of Torah classics or new presenta­ ity on the writings of the Ramban, of Rabbeinu Bachya tions of Torah thought and scholarship become avail­ and of the Sefer Hachinuch, of all of which he has able, in response to popular demand, this marks an published corrected editions, with annotations that are important milestone in the history of a new community. of the greatest help to the student of these classic works. It indicates that the initial "culture shock" suffered by He was therefore excellently prepared for the task of in11nigrants to a new land, with a new civilization, has translating the Ramban's Torah co1nmentary, and at begun to wear off. the same time brought to it a facility of language and Time and time again, we see at the beginning of a clarity of expression without which any translating of new J cwish community how an abyss appears between this difficult work would have had to remain useless the old generation, which clings to the heritage which and unintelligible. it has brought with it, and the young generation, which is drawn into a headlong rush toward the lures of its Moreover, Rabbi Chavel has succeeded in being new surroundings. It takes some time-and, unfortu­ faithful to every nuance of the Ramban's meaning. nately, all too many victims-till it is discovered that Where his translation seems to differ in any detail from "the new wells are broken and do not hold water" and the text in our chumashim, reference to his critical that it is better to return to "the wellspring of living edition of the Ramban's commentary shows that his water," the Torah. At that point, Torah literature in words are based on a clearer and therefore superior the vernacular has a crucial role to play, in bringing version in a Ramban manuscript. One example may about a new familiarity with, and understanding of the suffice. On page 78, the words, "are merely a matter teachings of Torah. of consensus and not of nature" reflect a manuscript Yet there are pitfalls in this development too. Most version, brought in Chavel's Perush Haramban (vol. obviously, there is the danger that, in the search for l, p. 39), rather than the text found in the printed more lasting values than the environment offers, the editions; it should be added, however, that in the treasures of Torah will be mined by people who are Perush Haramban Rabbi Chavel indicates this fact, not qualified, who do not truly understand them, or­ while he does not do so in the English translation­ even worse-who inisuse them to buttress their own this is a pity, for it might confuse some student who preconceived ideas of what Judaism should be. Less is trying to use the translation as an aid in understand­ obvious, but just as real, is the danger that people ing the Hebrew text in the standard chumashim. might be satisfied with what they can glean from ver­ It is this function of the English edition of the Ram­ nacular Torah literature, rather than being inspired by ban that is in fact most valuable. While it is possible it to go back to the source. to read the English text by itself, this must by necessity This inevitably produces a shallow and uniformed be of somewhat limited value-and perhaps even some­ Jewishness and-since translations and adaptations can what dangerous. Here applies what I stressed before. never fully capture the spirit and essence of the original In order really to understand the Ramban, insofar as --can easily Jead to misinterpretations and misunder­ the reader is at all equipped to do so, he must work standings. This happened to Hellenistic Jewry in the at it-otherwise shallow and even misleading ideas can times of Philo of Alexandria. Thus, Rabbi Samson be garnered by the reader, even as he fancies himself Raphael Hirsch, himself a pioneer in the use of the an authority on the Ramban. vernacular, warns that: (please turn to page 25)

Thr Jewish Observer / Septen1her, 1973 23 Interesting Books for Young Adults and Up from "The House of the Jewish Book" Duties of the Heort Studies in the Book of Genesis Judaism and Psychology Chovoth Holevovoth by Nehan1a Leibowitz. Translated from by Rabbi Abraham Anise[. Presents for by R. Bachya ibn Paquda. The noblest the Hebrew by A. N ewn1an. $7 .50 the first time a theory of human nature example of post-Talmudic ethical litera­ The World of Prayer within the framework of Judaism, delv­ ture. This work was written for the or­ ing into the nature of behavior, the causes by Rabbi Dr. Elie Munk. This two~ vol­ of mental illness, and possible thera­ dinary, intelligent man. Its purpose is to ume work literally unlocks the gates of make clear and definite the truths that peutic approaches. worships. Each prayer is clearly, beauti­ 214 Pages $5.95 the believer should hold. Complete He­ fully translated, and thoroughly ex­ brew text with English translation on plained. From each paragraph's historic The Inescapable Truth facing pages by Moses Hyamson. orie:ins, the author goes on to unfold its A Sound Approach to Genuine Religion, 1'wo Volumes 800 Pages $15 levels of meaning and to show its place by Rabbi Eli Gottlieb. This book should in the great structure that is Jewish be required reading for everv Jewish or The Poth of the Just prayer. non-Jewish individual who is in search Mesilath Yesharim Vol. I: The Daily Prayers of The Truth. The reader will be re­ by Moshe Chaim Luzzatto. 'fhe fu11y 240 Pages $6.50 warded with a powerful experience that vocalized Hebrew text with source refer­ Vol. II: Sabbath, Festival & Fast Day may dramatically change his previous ences face<> the English translation by Pravers 350 Pages $8.50 outlook towards religion. The author Shraga Silverstein. 352 Pages $6.75 Set of Two Volumes $15 offers a completely new and rational Gems from the Fountain approach to such perplexing age-old The Gates of Repentance questions as Freedom of Will, Torah Shaarei Teshuvah by Rabbanit Nechan1a- Rabinowitz. To~ from Heaven, Immortality of the Soul by Rabbeinu Yonah hen Avraham of pies on salient and puzzling points of the and so on. Many other crucial questions Gerona. Translated by Shraga Silverstein. Weekly Sidra, sparkling with gems of about religion in general and the so­ 416 Pages $7.75 thought and permeated with ethical max­ ims. Arranged according to the Sidrah called branches of Judaism in particular, Give Us Life are dealt with in a most decisive manner. of the week, couched in a succinct, lucid Cloth 366 Pages $7.95 Meshalim and Masterwords by the Cha­ style. With a Foreword by Chief Rabbi fetz Chai1n, collected and edited by Men­ I. I. Unterman Cloth 240 Pages $6 Golden Heritage del Weinbach. 'fhese pithy sayings are The Sabbath An anthology of Jewish Literature. A brilliant examples of ageless advice tai­ Treasury of Jewish Thought for young lored to current problems; a wise doc­ by Dayan Dr. I. Grunfeld. A concrete, adults of all ages, by David M. Haus­ tor's prescription for the Torah version sound and convincing guide to the prac~ dorff. $5.95 of the good life. 256 Pages $5 tical observance of the Sabbath, following the classic ideas of Rabbi Samson Ra­ Revelation-Torah Min· To Turn the Many to phael Hirsch. Beginning with a basic ex­ Hashamayim Righteousness. Mezake Harabim planation of the concept of "work" ac­ This is an introductory guide to the A chapter from the famous classic "Mad­ cording to the Torah, the author outlines subject of Judaism and revelation by regath Haadam," by Rabbi Joseph Hur­ the 39 n1elachot (categories of work) one of the promising young Orthodox witz of Navardok zt'I, speaking of the and the Rabbinic proscriptions subsumed Rabbis of Great Britain, Ben Levi. responsibility of our generation to turn under them. A well-written, well-rea~ Paper 36 Pages $1 the people back to Torah. With Hebrew soned, well~organized work by an emi­ foundations of Jewish Belief text and English translation by Shraga nent member of the English Rabbinate. 108 Pages $2.95 bv Rabbi Martin Schwartz. A reasoned Silverstein on facing pages. exposition of the faithful Jew's belief in 102 PaQes $2 Universal Jewish History G-d and His Law, The Torah. by the noted Jewish Historian and 306 PaQeS $4.75 Chochmah U'Mussar Thinker, Rabbi J)r. Philipp Biberfeld. by the late Frankfurt Rav, Rabbi Salon1on 'fhis work, based on genuine Jewish tra­ Jewish Faith in our Time Breuer zt'l. The son-in-law and successor ditions and modern scientific research, E<;say.s by Rabbi B. Horowitz (Man~ of Rabbi Samson R. Hirsch gives, in an presents an original orthodox approach chester). 106 Pages $2.50 original approach, insights into the por­ to early Jewish History. Dr. Biberfeld The Modern Jew Faces tions of the week, covering Bereshith and shows the fallacies in the theories of Shemoth. Translated into English by Eternal Problems Bible critic." and other modern scholars by Dr. Aron Barth. $3.50 Jacob Breuer, with a foreword, "The who consider the faith as a mere borrow~ Frankfurt Kehi11ah," by Rabbi Joseph ing fron1 surrounding races. A most in­ The Jewish Adolescent Breuer. $5 teresting and important work. A Guide for Today's Girl. A <::onduct A Chapter of Talmud Vol. 1: Ancient Jewish History $3.75 Guide for every Jewish daughter till her wedding day-and beyond, by the late by Rabbi B. Elizur Epstein. A translation VoJ. II: The Patriarchal Age 6.75 Vol. 111: The Patriarchal Age. great educator llriel Zbn111er, ::.'/. and elucidation of a chapter in Talmud $3.50 (Perek liamekabel in Bava Metzia) de­ Part Two: Conclusion. 8.75 signed to help students "learn" Gemara. The Royal Reach If you lVish to order an.v of these titles $3.50 Discourses on the Jewish Tradition and bv mail, please send check to cover cost Sabbath Chapters of Talmud the World Today, by Rabbi Normal! of book, plus 50¢ for one copy and by Rabbi B. Elizur Epstein. A continu­ LamnL At this time in Jewish history 25<[ for each addition(J/, plus sales tax ation of "A Chapter of Talmud" dealing when so many dissenting voices are if you live in N. Y. State. with excerpts from tractate "Sabbath." heard on the meaninglessness of religion in the modeern world, it is indeed re­ Chaps. Vil (73a-75b), XII & XJJI. PHILIPP FELDHEIM, Inc. $3.50 freshing to have available a book which not only provides material for thought "The House of the Jewish Book" The Weekday Siddur for the scholarJy and learned, but also 96 EAST BROADWAY, N. Y., N. Y, 10002 An exposition and analvsis of its struc~ provides a much needed inspiration and Telephone: WA 5-3180 ture, contents, language, and ideas by insight into Jewish thought and practice B.S. Jacobson (translation of Netiv Bina for the avera!!e layman. FELDHEIM PUBLISHERS Ltd. I). $10 356 Pages $7.95 39 Tachkemoni, Jerusalem, Israel

24 The Jewish Observer I SepteTnber, 1973 A good example can be found at the beginning of YOUR COMPLETE HOLIDAY NEEDS Vayerah, where the Ramban sharply criticizes the Rambam, declaring that his "words contradict Scrip­ r~~------~.-_=-oo __ ture. It is forbidden to listen to them, all the more to When you th ink of SUCCOS ·1 believe in them" (p. 228). Rabbi Chavel's footnotes c.,:r1iriK' help only somewhat to clarify the controversy-how­ think of ever, in the much more elaborate footnotes to his c.,in:.+i:l 1 Hebrew edition of the Ramban he draws the student's attention to the defense of the Rambam's position by Israel Ethrog Center, ltd. Abarbanel and Ritbah, and explains what they say. l,~,~"i:l Jn the English work, all this is omitted, though in the c/o Goldman-Otzar preface Chavel refers in general to the Ritbah and Haseforim, Inc. other defenders of the Rambam. Obviously, it would be most difficult to go into fine detail in translations of a commentary; but that is the very reason why trans­ the traditional center for lations should best be used as aids and stepping-stones Ethrogim, Lulavim, and to the understanding of the original, rather than as Hadassim from Israel. self-contained works. This observation is meant as a caution against ex­ ~ All orders handled with speed cessive reliance on translations-but it in no way ~ and courtesy. diminishes the value and excellence of Rabbi Chavel's ..,~,?\ achievement. It is to be hoped that the remaining volumes will appear in short order. D Individuals, dealers, and synagogues-all welcome. C"ttl~ti I ~.,.~=-~- NECINAH ORCHESTRAS Sincerest Ksiva VeChasima Tova U)ishes 1309 48th Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. 11219 for all our customers and fri.ends 854·2911 - IMO A.M. to a,oo P.M. of Kla.ll Yisroel! Superb Musical Entertainment For All Your Simchas ISRAEL ETHROG CENTER, Ltd. Also: For Home Entertainment c/o Goldman • Otzar Haseforim, Inc. NEGINAH RECORDS 32 Canal St.. New York City • 212·0R 4·1707 For information write our Record Dept. The first and ONLY ONE to have expedited 1212) 998-2791 matters S'\viftly enough so that interment was 436·1385 made in Israel in less than 24 hours. Over ZI Years Experience in INTERMENT IN ISRAEL EXECUTIVE MOTOR TOURS, Inc. Graves Available in All Parts of Israel Fully Authoriz.ed Agent specialists in Licensed by Israeli Authorities Glatt Kosher Tours • Weddings PINCUS MANDEL Ski Tours • Demonstrations - No Associates - School Outings • Camps Over 43 Years of Cemetery Experience { 18 years with Beth David Cemetery on Long Island; now Administrative Consultant of Beth Israel Educational Tours Cemetery, Woodbridge, N. J.) Conventions Known for Personalized, ULTRA-ORTHODOX Procedure in Rendering a Featuring Dual Level I Air Conditioned Dedicated, Dependable, Efficient Service Lavatory Equipped Coaches at Reasonable Cost with Stereo Tape Deck 175 LEE AVENUE, BROOKLYN, N. Y. 11211 Day and Night Phone (212) 855-5121 CADILLAC LIMOUSINES • MINIBUSES Graves procured directly from Chevros Kadisha appointed by ESTABLISHED KEHILOS, and 1667 East 18 Street, Brooklyn, N. Y. 11229 responsible for their Community Cemetery.

The Jewfrh Observer/ Septen1ber, 1973 25 is disposed of with two sentences (incorrectly placing BOOKS {continued) the district into the East End!). The Manchester Mac­ cabi House is listed, but not Lubavitcher House in London, the Manchester Reform Temple, but not the THE TRAVELER'S GUIDE TO JEWISH LANDMARKS OF Manchester Yeshiva-nor for that matter the Yeshivas EUROPE, by Bernard Postal and Samuel H. Abram­ in Sunderland, Montreux, Foublaines, or Strasbourg, son (New York, 1971, Fleet Press, $3.95 paperback, or the girls' seminaries in Lucerne and Aix !es Baines, $10.00 hardcover.) or the Day School in Zurich and any of the day schools in England, except the Jewish Free School. Even This comprehensive volume will contribute greatly though these institutions are at the very heart of Jewish to a Jewish traveler's journeys through Europe-but it survival in Europe, it could perhaps be argued that will also be of great interest to a reader comfortably they are of minimal interest to the casual tourist (even ensconced in his armchair at home. After giving a brief though every single European ORT trade school is introduction to the history of Jews in every country listed)-but what about Mikvaoth? The ruins of some (listed alphabetically), the authors list the local points n1ediaeval ritualaria are listed~ but not a single one of interest within the country. A country may have only presently in operation. a quarter page (as for Andorra) or as many as 54 (for Instead, next to matters of real interest, whether France), and the information given may range from from past or present, there are entries that are only of the address of the kosher restaurant or K ehillah office the most peripheral concern to Jews-certainly to those to the ruins of an old synagogue or a historical burial who arc likely to use this book out of a genuine interest ground. in Jewish concerns. Max Jacob, Bernard Berenson, Whether the reader's interests are contemporary and Marcel Proust, Sarah Bernhardt, Felix Mendelsohn­ practical, or historical and sentimental, he is likely to Martoldy, and innumerable other apostates, renegades, find himself frustrated by the authors' lack of perspec­ and half- and quarter-Jews are carefully listed-so tive and consistency. They list the communal offices in much so that in reading the section on, say, Paris, one many cities, and a goodly number of organizations that is overwhehned with a sense of Jewish decay and are part of the "establishment" (e.g. the Association for disintegration, never suspecting that there is in Paris Jewish Youth in London, of which most English Jews even now a strong and living traditional com1nunity. have little or no knowledge), but are satisfied with There is, of course, a full description of the stained­ one sentence for the most flourishing institutions in glass windows which Marc Chagall created for the Europe-or ignore them altogether. famous Metz Cathedral, with the authors noting that The Stamford Hill district in London boasts large the artist "has never accepted money for work for the Yeshivas, a girls' seminary, the famous Adas Israel Church" (p. 66). Travelers are directed to the chapel Synagogue, and many other religious institutions, but of the St. Sigismund Cathedral in Prague where a

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26 The Jewish Observer / Septen1ber, 1973 fragment of the Temple Menorah is supposedly kept; also told that the head of the tiny Jewish congregation and, like many others, the Church of Notre Dame in in lnnsbrnck is a former Polish prince who converted Assy has almost half a page-thanks to a sculpture to Judaism. by Jaques Lipschitz and a mural by Chagall. Less The authors point out that many famous Jewish grating on our sentiments but even more boring are historical sites were destroyed during World War II. such items as the lengthy description of a villa in At the same time, however, this war put many new Beaulieu which is included merely because it happened places on the Jewish historical map-heartrending re­ to be presented to the French government by a Baroness minders of the "Final Solution." There are the de­ Rothschild. scriptions of Mauthausen and Auschwitz concentration And yet-all the authors' shortcomings cannot rob camps, for example, and of innumerable n1artyrs' mon­ this book of its value and interest, regrettable though u1nents co1nmemorating Nazi atrocities and Jewish suf­ its deficiencies are. The authors may have failed to fering. The resulting mood of desolation pervades the provide an accurate picture of contemporary Jewish entire volume. It is a harrowing reminder, Jest we life in Europe, they may have shown very poor judg­ forget, and at the same time a chalienge to the "remnant ment as to what is or is not of authentic Jewish his­ of Israel" to persevere in its historic task. D torical interest; but from page after page there resound A !so received- the echoes of our national experience. The reader is reminded that the Moabite Stele, in GEMS FROM THE FOUNTAIN, by Nachama Rabinowitz the Paris Louvre, commemorates a war with Achab, (Jerusalem, 1971; Feldheim Publishers, $6.00) about 2500 years ago. He is directed to the priceless Brief comments on the weekly Sidrah; originally relies and manuscripts of the British Museum. The written as weekly circulars of the Federation of Syna­ tombstone of Rabbeinu Gershom in Mainz, the Worms gogue Women's Guilds of South Africa, to bring some grave of Rabbi Meir of Rotenburg, and the ancient basic thoughts on the Sidrah, in simple, popular form, synagogue in Carpentras are just some of the many to a wider public. While some oversimplifications have historical sights and sites that bring to mind the van­ inevitably crept in, this volume has a definite value as ished glory of European Jewry (interestingly enough, an introduction to basic Jewish ideas. D however, the ancient community of Fuerth is not men­ THE INESCAPABLE TRUTH, by Rabbi Eli J. Gottlieb tioned at all). (New York, 1971; Feldheim Publishers, $7.95) Of particular interest are the many stories of Jewish loyalty and heroism of which reminders can be found in Offered as "a sound approach to genuine religion," Europe. There is the sixteenth century "Jew's Tower" this volume has set itself a twofold purpose: to provide in Segovia, so called after a Jew who was imprisoned for Orthodox Jews a reinforcement of their belief by there because he refused to accept baptism, and died a statement of a solid intellectual foundation for their in his jail. In connection with the Great Synagogue in Sofia, mention is made that the late Chief Rabbi Asher I SRA EL Hananel (died in 1962) was arrested in 1961 for Burials and American Disinterments refusing to close the synagogue; he has not been re­ jMKT'iHl!lf M~'i!t' placed. But there is also a laconic entry that during is privileged to announce that RIVERSIDE is the only licensed funeral director in the U.S. able to effect the French Revolution the Jews of Bidache converted Transfer to Israel within 24 hours their synagogue into a Temple of Reason. RIVERSIDE also is available as the There are innumerable reminders of Christian Jew­ Sole agent for Sanhadrea Cemetery hatred and persecution. As late as 1957 an Italian HAR HAZEITIM • HAR HAMENUCHOT parish priest set up a new ritual murder shrine; and AND ALL CEMETERIES IN ISRAEL RIVERSIDE only can offer tl1is !':ervice: on Majorca, every Easter, the worshippers carry a pair Enroute to Israel within 24 hours of ancient silver Torah orna1nents in procession­ • Strict adherence to Hala<'ha und I\finhugim. memento to some unspeakable pogrom. Yet we are • Arran~ements made during lifetime with no obligation. Chapel secured in any community. Encircle on your calendar now RIVERSIDE RESERVE THANKSGIVING WEEKEND Memorial Chapel, Inc. • Funeral Directors NOVEMBER 22 • 25 MANHATTAN~ 76th St at Amsterdam Ave. - EN 2-6600. BROOKLYN: Ocean P'way at Prospect Park - UL 4-2000 for the BRONX: Grand Councourse at 179th Street - LU 3-6300 WESTCHESTER: 21 West Broad Street, Mt. Vernon Slst NATIONAL CONVENTION of (914) MO 4-6800 AGUDATH ISRAEL OF AMERICA FAR ROCKAWAY: 1250 Central Avenue - FA 7-7100 Chapels in MIAMI and MIAMI BEACH - JE 1-1151 Sheraton-Deauville Hotel, Atlantic City SOLOMON SHOULSON ANDREW FIER

The Jewish Observer/ Septen1her, 1973 27 convictions, and to challenge and convince people who tions can be taken (e.g. his speaking of "positive doubt" have been skeptics, particularly about Orthodox Juda­ where he really means "reasonable assumption,'' p. 10) ism. and some are quite simplistic (e.g. concerning the role The author treats many questions that are often of the State of Israel, p. 308). But he has succeeded asked (certainty of religious faith, truth of Torah, free in providing stimulating and thought-provoking answers will and divine omniscience, immortality, 1neaning of to many of the challenges encountered by Torah Juda­ Auschwitz, etc.). To some of his formulations excep- ~- D

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NOT ONLY THE PRICE OF STEAK HAS GONE UP Bringing you the breatf-antf-butter of your thinking also costs more. Soaring costs are an unfortunate con1mon feature of the daily lives of The Jewish Observer readers. We too, have been victimized by the inflationary spiral. 1'"'or ten years we have kept this unpleasant fact of life away fron1 the pages of our magazine and we have maintained a steady subscription rate that in no way reflected increasing production cost. Unfortunately, we arc no longer capable of

If n1ailing before Rosh Hashanah, 5734 (Sept. 27), you may strike out ainounts printed and enter o]d subscription rates. THE JEWISH OBSERVER/ 5 Beekman Street/ New York, N. Y. 10038

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28 The Jewish Observer / Septe1nber, 1973 Last October, we announced the largest,single,outside, private capital investment in the history of Israel. Who cares? !(!~Oxford Fi~~~ce c~res . .we cleared the way for Oxford to.offer land 21~c~:'~~\ acquisition fina:inng fo.r ~ re~l es.tate de'::lopment 1n !srael. ~· ·· ,Q~~( Our recent ma1or part1npat1on in The First International , [211/\ Bank of Israel (FIBI), provided a knowledge of Israeli 1 1 1~~~~, )i1' regulations .on real estate and f~reigi: exchange, and gav~ \v( 1~?-~1 : Oxford confidence that land registration and transfer of title <,~~> could he legally and properly handled. Northeast Electronics cares. We helped this New Hampshire test equipment manufacturer set up a distributorship in Israel. Together with our people at FIBI, we aided in selecting an Israeli agent, and recom1nended a system for collecting and transferring funds back to this country. Delta Truck cares. We helped this Pennsylvania truck body manu­ facturer form a partnership with an Israeli hardware firm. Our association ! with FIBI enabled us to locate several prospect firms in . Israel. And FIBI's knowledge of these firms provided a way f]), )J to screen them for credit standing and reputation, and recom­ mend a compatible partner to Delta. Mrs. David Levin cares. We sent her son, hospitalized in Jerusalem, the money he urgently needed for medical care. Mrs. Levin, although not a customer of ours, deposited the money with First Pennsylvania Bank, and her son received it the next day through the FIBI branch in Jerusalem. If you do business in Israel, or plan to, no financial institution can do more to help you than First Pennsylvania Corporation. Contact Mr. Elly Streit, First Pennsylvania Corporation, 1500 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA 19102. (215) 786-7031. In Israel, contact The First International Bank of Israel, 39 Rothschild Blvd., Tel Aviv. Telex FIRBK 033834. Cable FIRSTBANK. ml First Pennsylvania Corporation ii:~tti~ iii~~t:o~: 1535 - 49th STREET Letters to the Editor BROOKLYN, N. Y. REGISTRATION NOW GOING ON A most unusual opportunity for bochurim interested in an atmosphere of personalized attention conducive to true hatzlocho bilimud. • Shiurei lyun Emphasizing Student Participation and Involvement • Bikiyus Shiurim Several Times Weekly (:om1nents on Reaching Out to the Non .. 01Jservant • Shiurim in Shulchan Oruch "Orach Chayim" • Emphasis on Development To the Editor: but recently were "yeshiva stu­ of Student's Torah Regarding Hagaon Horav Moshe dents," who benefitted from day Hashkofos. Feinstein's ca11 to action reported in school educations, bais hamedrash For an interview please call The Jewish Observer (Tammuz or seminary education, and who RABBI PINCHAS HOROWITZ 5733) it is surely very much in shared a kollel experience-proud Tel.: 438-0479 place, but I would suggest that it be results of personal devotion and Hanholas Hayeshiva addressed to another audience. As joint communal dedication-an ar­ many bnei Torah and bnos Torah as senal of talent, of power, and of may today be found in our batei spirit-why should the Time for HE LP! HELP! Action not be theirs? And for them, Anyone who has visited Eretz Yisroe!, and midrashim, kollelim, and seminaries, has witnessed the shameful tragedy of our there are ten times more who have in contrast to yeshiva students, not Sefardi brethren drifting away from Yid­ graduated from these institutions, only is there no wrestling with the dishlceit, gets a sharp pain in his heart just who are similarly trained, oriented, soul regarding bitul Torah - for to thinlc of it. We have all heard about this and inspired, but whose energies are them, such a program is their salva­ -dare we iust sigh and turn our heads? permitted to atrophy-all dressed rtion too. ! !:!:KM ii i11 :"':! up with nowhere to go. Perhaps we can solve one prob­ MIFAL TORAH - VODAATH OF JERUSA­ lem through solving another. LEM, founded by my father Reb Binyomin Jn no way do I denigrate the pro­ Wilhelm 7"T, is doing remarkable work to portionate involvement of those on ELKANAH SCHWARTZ save our precious Sefardi children and their active duty. However, it would be Brooklyn, New York parents. MIFAL's dedicated workers and sad to neglect the vast legions of teachers are pashuf saving lives. But the available reserve forces. A New Awakening accomplishments are still comparatively a drop in the bucket. In Born Park and Washington HELP US! before it is :i7'7n too late. Heights, in Flatbush, Forest Hills, To the Editor: Send your generous contribution to my and Far Rockaway, in other areas The four articles on reaching out attention: Mifal Torah Vodaath, c/o Mrs. of New York City, as well as in the to the non-observant are honest, in­ Leah Herskowih:, 143 Taylor St., Brooklyn, environs of other yeshiva centers in novative and original. In many N. Y. 11211. - Every penny of your money America, are men and women who respects, this represents a new di- goes directly to save these boys and girls, giving them a new Torah~true life. In the Zechus of our Mesiras Nefesh and sincere prayers, may Hashem answer us TRADITION PERSONNEL AGENCY soon, and may we together be Zocheh to witness the rebuilding of Zion in this coming "At Your Service With All Your Employment Nee"cls" year. 1l'i'1~ n'tV~ !1N'::I::!· Need A Shomer Shabbos Job? P1 :~ Looking For A Shomer Shabbos Person? i1'5~i1 !0£11"1 GIP For Fast, Efficient and Courteous Service EV 7-1750 ·-· 18 W. 45th St., New York, N. Y. 10036 • 563-3994 II",!) it1ll Open Monday night by appointment only lllll'ri•=i'!S •::11wrii•1r:i:

30 The Jewish Observer / September, 1973 rection-especially the statement of Horav Moshe Feinstein N"0'?1V. I was particularly impressed with the articles of Rabbi Kaplan, Rabbi ..,.....~~ Belsky and the memorandum of Rabbi Wasserman and Dr. Frysh­ UNITED man. It is almost unprecedented in the annals of American Jewry to Chevra Kadisha D'chasidim speak of the achievements of an­ Har Hamnuchot • Eretz Hachaim other organization. This is a reflec­ Founded 1856 tion of honesty and courage. The Most Trusted Name in Kosher Poultry BURIAL IN JERUSALEM The issue also reflects an en­ AND ALL CEMETERIES IN ISRAEL couraging new a\vakening in yeshiva ranks. There is a recognition that a CLEANED Jewish world exists outside walled SOAKED and SALTED • neighborhoods-that these outside READY-TO-COOK and COOKED maal1n sakobesh communities arc in a state of crisis -but much more so, that we are society beginning to realize that we have 44 CANAL ST. the wherewithal, the personnel, the NEW YORK CITY 10002 tools and the program with which to EMPIRE KOSHER POULTRY, Inc. Nr. E. Broadway Sta. "F" Train deal effectively with this crisis. MIFFLIN TOWN, PA. 17059 I hope that we will all have the Day & Nite Phone zechus to turn our good ideas into 925-2277. 8 fruitful deeds. REJOICE 0 YOUTH! In Canada: RABBI PINCHAS STOLPER by AVIGDOR MILLER Chevra Kadisha National Conference of of United Jewish Congregations Synagogue Youth, 384 PAGES - $6.50 Montreol Tel.: 273-3211 National Director 402 E. 52 St., B"klyn, N. Y. 11203 New York City

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The Jewish Observer I Septen1ber, 1973 31 @ E ·DISTINGUISHED WEDDING BEGINS WITH ITS INV1TATION, Most Inspiring THE SPECIAL MARRIAGE BEGINS WITH "Garden" of Se.forim ITS KETHUBA. ... To the Editor: I found Elkanah Schwartz's You are cordially invited to a private viewing "Come, Walk In My Garden," of Rembrandt Associates exclusive line of Wedding which you featured in your June Invitations and Kethubahs for the discriminating-at issue, a most inspiring piece. It was very moderate costs. at one time a very personal portrait Rembrandt Associates-creators designers and print· of the author's own seforifn-schrank ers of the scro!I, tassle, photomontage and other fine invitations. (book-shelf) profile and a universal time-table of metamorphosis that every adolescent yeshiva bachur­ Duk [ngdh.ndt Shimie Silver by .ippointment only {212) 532--0300 cum-adult can readily identify with. Rembu.ndt Associates Advertising Ud. 49 West 27 Street N.Y.C. 10001 My gratitude to Elkanah Schwartz for sharing his private thoughts with me, and to you for printing l~MBIANDT ASSOCIATIS ADY= LTD= them. . . . [The piece] literally brought tears to my eyes. A BIBLIOPHILE BETH JACOB OF BORD PARK (Name Withheld By Request) 1371 46th STREET • BROOKLYN, N. Y. Brooklyn, New York We are pleased to inform the many residents of Flatbush who THE WORLD F A/110US have made requ·ests for bus service that C-d willing for DIGEST OF /11EFORSHI/11 THE NEW TERM TH!lRE WILL BE '1'1i'7 i11:! '1'1i'7 11 11 BUS SERVICE IN FLATBUSH 17 !lf iy~i,N ?Ni~iV ,., l i1iii~ Available af For Pre-School and First Grade Children LEKUTEI INC. c/o I. Rosenberg Please contact CE 6-7300 for further information. 10 West 47th Street, Room 702 New York, N. Y. 1003b 20 Volumes on Torah, Perek, Medrash, Megilas and Talmud. UNITED LUBAVITCHER YESHIVOTH Proceeds ol safes disfributed among Yeshivos and used for reprinting 841 - 853 OCEAN PARKWAY BROOKLYN, N. Y. 11230 of volumes ouf·of·prinf REGISTRATION FOR NEXT SEPTEMBER PRICE $4.50 PER VOLUME ELUL 5733 - SEPTEMBER 1973 is now being accepted for: SERVICES ARRANGED IN • Kindergarten and Pre 1 A - Full Day Classes YOUR COMMUNITY • Yeshiva and Elementary - Grades 1 • 8 • Mesivta and High School - Grades 9 • 12 Norman L. Jeffer • Day and night Torah classes for all • Beth Hamedrash Mesivta talmidim daily 9 Daily Minyan for talmidim COMMUNITY CHAPELS, • Special Masmidim daily Grades 5 and above Accredited N. Y. Staie Board of Regents Inc. OUTSTANDING TEACHERS, GYM, LAB .. LIBRARY 47th Street & Ft. Hamilton Parkway Hot Lunches - Transportation from All Neighborhoods Limited Dormitory Facilities available for Out-of-Town Students. Brooi::lyn • Phone UL 3..4000 Appointments and application, please call: 434-0784 - 434-0795 Mikvoh under Supervision of Bikur Cholim ol Boro Park RABBI S. GOURARY, Chairman Executive Committee

32 Tire Je1rish Observer / September, 1973 ORTHODOX JEWS DEMAND "LAWS OF SHMITA OBSERVANCE" INTERNATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF BOARD OF ELECTIONS RESIGN PUBLISHED BY AGUDATH ISRAEL ORTHODOX LEADERSHIP AT "FOR INSENSITIVITY TO Observant Jews who travel to Israel, AGUDATH ISRAEL CONVENTION ORTHODOX JEWISH COMMUNITY" or who purchase Israeli-grown products in the U.S.A., will now find it easier to An international assembly of the The New York City Board of Elec~ observe the Jaws of s/11nita, the sabbali­ world leaders of Orthodox Jewry will tions was ca!Jed upon to resign due to cal year when the land lies fallow. 'These be held in conjunction with the 5lst its "insensitivity to the needs of the ()r~ religious regulations have now been pub­ National Convention of Agudath Israel thodox Jewish citizens of this City and lished for the first time in an English­ of America, it was announced by a for violating its mandate to increas~ Janguage brochure of 32 pages by Agu­ spokesman for the movement. Over three voter registration." This demand was dath Israel of America as a public thousand Orthodox activists rirc expected made by the Commission on Legislation service. to participate in the various sessions of the three-day conclave, which will be and Civic Action of Agud

MOVINC? Be sure to notify us in 388-4204 388-3590 863·8892 advanc:e so that your c:opies • Caterer for Agudath Israel Conventions and Dinners • will c:ontinue to reac:h you.

The Je1vish Ohsen'er /September, 1973 33 KOLLEL OPENED IN BUENOS AIRES The first Kollel in Latin America as its Rosh Yeshiva (dean) an out­ opened ]ast June in Buenos Aires, as standing young Torah scholar, Rabbi part of an expanded Torah education Shmuel Aryeh Levine. Rabbi Levine, complex established by Agudath Israel born in Buenos Aires and a graduate of of Argentina, with the cooperation of the Jocal Haichal Hatorah, was per­ the American Agudath Israel organiza­ suaded to return to head this ambitious tion. Included in this new Jewish educa­ 1'orah project after he spent seventeen tion project, which is an extension of years studying at the famed Ponovezh the Torah educational institutions spon­ Yeshiva in Bnai Brak, Israel. sored by Agudath Israel in Argentina, is the opening of the first dormitory to The Agudath Israel-sponsored educa­ tional complex in Buenos Aires, of house yeshiva students from Latin Ameri­ which the Kolle[ and the yeshiva dormi­ can countries who seek to develop their tory are the latest additions, is known as knowledge of Torah to a high degree. Haichal Hatorah, and its components

mu~ The new Kolle{ and the entire Torah are the Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim-Chazon studies expansion program is an out­ Ish for boys, as well as a Beth Jacob 't~'O 'i'ti1 1i1 'tit17:ll!l ::!1i1 growth of the first Pan-American con­ school for girls from elementary through ference of the Agudath Israel move1nent sen1inary grades. Dr. Raphael Kugielsky A unique Seier devoted to the which took place in Buenos Aires in is the chairman of Agudath Israel of difficult Halachos related to 1970. The plan to open new horizons Argentina, which expects to attract stu­ the International Date Line of higher Torah education through the dents for the Kollel and Yeshiva from and the observance of the establishment of a Kolle! for advanced other Latin American countries. The Sabbath in Japan. Torah research was first presented by president of Haichal Hatorah is Israel Rabbi Moshe Sherer, executive president Gutwirth, a prominent Buenos Aires in­ Also contains a lengthy dis- of Agudath Israel of America, who was dustrialist, who had been a student of course on the proper times for the main guest of the entire conclave. the Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin before the war. the Tefillos. Encouraged by the financial support PRICE: $5 which Agudath Israel of Ainerica sub­ Rabbi Sherer hailed the opening of sequently helped marshal for this pur­ the new Kollel as "an historic advance RABBI S. D. SIEGEL pose, the new Kol/el opened its doors in the effort to spiritually save Latin 5700 NARCISSUS AVENUE last June in a large building contributed American Jewry, by providing it with Baltimore, Md. 21215 by a Brazilian Jewish philanthropist, its home-bred Torah scholars, who in Mr. Elias Guerstenstein. With the help turn would furnish this long neglected of the An1erican Agudath Israel organi­ continent with the type of intensive Jew­ zation. the new Kolle! was able to obtain ish education it needs for survival." Agudath Israel Travel 0 Invites you to spend YOM TOV IN JERUSALEM SPECIAL AGUDAH ALL INCLUS/YE o•Jiti• TOURS FOR' '7».!IMYIU 'DJ"M,Mi1ViM 1. SUCCOT 2. CHANUKAH (Sample Itineraries are now Available) Yereim Orthodox Chapel 93 Broadway · Brooklyn, N.Y. 11211 We have a full selection of flights for individuals, groups and youths DIGNIFIED TRADITIONAL SERVICES to Israel and Europe. THROUGHOUT THE METROPOLITAN AREA Tours, Hotels, Transfers avail· able to suit your every need Kovod Haniltar Observed throu9hout the year. Feel free to call us for any information regarding burial minhogim Ask for Aliza at: 24 hour service ACUDATH ISRAEL TRAVEL 5 Beekman St., New York City 10038 Day and Night phone 384-6784 1212) 258-0709 964-1620

34 The Jewish Observer / Septe1nber, 1973 1362 49th STREET • BROOKLYN, N. Y.

Dear Bais Yaakov High School Graduate: We are writing to introduce you to Bais Yaakov of Brooklyn Seminary program, which offers: • Day Seminary, which meets Mondays through Thursdays from 8:00 to 11:00 A.M. • Evening Seminary which meets Mondays and Wednesdays from 6:00 to 10:00 P.M. We also have a one-evening General Session from 6:00 to 10:00 P.M. Our faculty membership includes: RABBI ABRAHAM BLUMENKRANTZ RABBI NACHMAN BULMAN RABBI ZVULIN LIEBB DR. CHAIM NUSSBAUM RABBI SHLOME ROTENBERG DR. ALFRED SCHNELL RABBI SHRAGE SILVERSTEIN RABBI ARON ZUCKERMAN ij<-

Whether you know which program suits you, or you are undecided, we'll be happy to talk to you and advise you. Just call GEdney 5-7776 and we'll arrange a convenient appointment. We look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely yours, i RABBI YEHOSHUA BALKANY I Dean i I ' ' r~ The Jewish Observer/ September, 1973 35 ·~· G'( cfl ~&XJ J"1A- '? ~ THEN SHE DESERVES ... ~ N. lp~~ n~l ''D,l9 '3 ~ . . FERNDALE, NEW YORK a~------.. ~q:: == >-

~ ~cp ~9: E c- -~

A RESIDENT FTN!SH!NG SCHOOL DEDICATED TO THE CONCEPT OF (i• ,nr.i c•~nnl nn•)!:l 1?n n:i. n11:i.::> ?::> OFFERING • Full Four Year Regents Accredited • School Choir and Band High School Program • International Student Body • Superb Individually Tailored • Landscaped 96 Acre Campus Hebrew Studies Program • Modern Fire-Proof Structures • Programs and Instruction in Physical • Residence Rooms Fully Carpeted, Education, Dramatics, Arts & Crafts, With Private Balcony and Bath Homemaking Skills • Full Four Season Sports Program • Co-Curricular Projects • Day and Overnight School Trips Continuing in the principles of its founder, HORAV AVROHOM NEWHOUSE, ;":;r For Further Information Contact p·nirnia Bais ~aakov Executive Office: 1415 EAST 7TH STREET, BROOKLYN, N. Y. 11230 TEL. (212) 375-3533 Ferndale Office: BAIS YAAKOV CAMPUS, FERNDALE, N. Y. 12734 • TEL. (914) 292-8193 aw a z-,