SHEVAT, 5734 /JANUARY, 1974 VOLUME IX, NUMBER 8 THE SIXTY FIVE CENTS The Crisis of Liberalisnt ERROR AND ARROGANCE A Profile THE "OHEIV YISROEL" After the Cease-Fire OF DISILLUSION AND REVELATION G-D IS NOT A CANNON THE DESPERATION FACTOR IN TEFILLAH Fifty Years Ago THE CHOFETZ CHAIM IN VIENNA A New Feature " ... " (with and without comment) THE JEWISH OBSERVER in this issue ... ERROR AND ARROGANCE, Yisroel Mayer Kirzner ·-·········· 3 THE "OHEIV YISROEL": A PROFILE, Zelig P/iskin . 6 AFTER THE CEASE-FIRE OF DISILLUSION AND REVELATION, Nissan Wolpin .... 10 G-D ls NOT A CANNON, Stephen Oren ................. 14 THE DESPERATION FACTOR IN "TEFlLLAlI," Zech aria F endel 15 THE CHOFETZ CHAIM IN VIENNA, Nasson Scherman 18 MECHEL THE PROVIDER, a story by Aaron l;lisch 23 " (WITH AND WITHOUT COMMENT) JEP SHABBOS ..... .............................. ... .......................... 25 " ... As THYSELF" 25 AMERICAN JEWISH CONGRESS; "FRIEND OF THE COURT" OR FRIEND OF YESHIVOS? .................. 26 WHY STUDY JEWISH HISTORY?, Yariv Ben Aharon...... 28 THE JEWISH OBSERVER is published monthly, except July and August, by the Agudath Israel of Amercia, iil::yi1i i1)iii f.l'HE STRENGTH AND THE HU1\1ILITY], a poem by 5 Beekman St., New York, N. Y. Y osef Leib Solomon 29 10038. Second class postage paid at New York, N. Y. Subscription: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR $6.50 per year; 1'wo years, $11.00; Three years $15.00; outside of the REGARDING BOOK REVIEWS, A'RGENTINA, THE JEWISH United States $7.50 per year. Single Gorns, CHAIM SHAP1Ro's BIOGRAPHIES 32 copy sixty-five cents. Printed in the U.S.A. RABBI NISSON WOLPIN Editor GIVE A SPECIAL GIFT TO SOMEONE SPECIAL Editorial Board DR. ERNST L. BODENHEIMER THE JEWISH OBSERVER Chairman 5 Beekman Street / New York, N. Y. 10038 RABBI NATHAN BULMAN RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS [j (lNE YEAR: $6.50 0 TWO YEARS: a $13 value, only $11 JOSEPH FRIEDENSON 0 THltEE YEARS: a $19.50 vaJue, only $15 RABBI YAAKOV JACOBS RABBI MOSHE SHERER Send ,tiagazine to: From: Na1nc ................................................... Na,ne ...................................................... .. THE JEWISH OBSERVER does not assume responsibility for the Ad<lress......................................................... Address........................................................ .. Kashrus of any product or service advertised in its pages. City..................... State............ Zip.............. City..................... State............ Zip............ ., D Enclose gift card 0 Enclosed: $ ...................... .. JAN. 1974 VoL. IX, No. 8 ['] Bill me' $ ....................... ..... @ Yisroel Mayer Kirzner ERROR AND ARROGANCE The Crisis of Liberalism: An Unhappy Asses.r1nent of its Consequences to the Orthodox Jew I to choose, and for the gifts of initiative and determina­ tion, as we11 as for the material resources, which per­ The Individual in Success and Failure mitted him to design and carry through his plan. When, A 1\1AN HAS CAREFULLY LAID OUT a plan of action, again, his plans fail, he perceives this as the hand of based on the most extensively researched information hashgacha restraining, with a wisdom his own frail available. He has proceeded, with all deliberation and human mind has so far been unable to fathom, action diligence, to implement his plan through the precise which he should not in fact have undertaken (and from series of actions prescribed by his calculation. And which, had he known that they were doomed to frustra­ then, despite all his foresight and care, it turns out tion, he would, in any event, have obviously refrained). that he fails entirely to achieve his goal. Or the achieve­ ment of his goal is accompanied by consequences that The Cloud of Failure are as desperately undesired as they were unforeseen. To those not possessing the Jew's faith and insight Here we have classic material for the canstic and illu­ into the ways of hashgacha, the phenomenon of unsuc­ minating comments of the moralist. Man proposes, the cessful plans is a profoundly disturbing one. Unsuccess­ proverb tells us in so many languages, but G-d disposes. ful plans remind man that he is less than omniscient. The failure of plans underscores man's total Jack of The potential for error revealed by the failure of past control over his worldly fate, reminding him of his utter plans, casts a shadow over what today seems a confi­ dependency upon Divine mercy and hashgacha. dent prediction of the future. Risk and uncertainty It is, at the same tin1e, undeniable that man's pro­ cloud man's actions, generating in turn the fortifying pensity to formulate plans of action and to endeavor, experiences of doubt, hesitation, worry, regret, shock through perseverance and deter1nination, to achieve and disappointment. planned results, is an inherent feature of man's being. To imagine a human being incapable of seeking to All these deeply ingrained features of the human pursue plans, is to imagine a contradiction in terms. condition are familiar enough from times in1mcmorial. What invites fresh attention in our own age, is the The Torah Jew's Response extension of these typical aspects of human frailty from the level of the individual to that of society. This ex­ The tension between man's sense of control over tension is accompanied by circumstances which seen1 his destiny through his action, and the awareness to justify our vigilant concern. of his utter helplessness and dependency upon Divine hashgacha, represents one of those profound cosmic II paradoxes which characterize the enigmatic relation­ ship between man and his Maker. To the Torah-Jew When Society Fails this tension generates an increased sense of apprecia­ WE HAVE HEARD MUCH JN RECENT YEARS about a tion and wonder at the co1nplexity, wisdotn, and mercy "crisjs of liberalis1n." Massive plans for social improve­ to be discerned in the hashgacha. When his plans are ment have, one after another, gone dismayingly awry. successfully consumated, his purposes achieved as an­ Projects promulgated with supreme confidence have ticipated, his reaction is one of intense gratitude for produced perverse, even disastrous, resu1ts. Experience the Divine guidance which led him to assess correctly with problems of education, welfare and poverty, urban the alternatives from among which he had been forced blight and congestion, race relations, environmental ---"--------------"--"""____ " ____ "_ pollution, manpower, energy, and others, has revealed DR. KIRZNER is a professor of eco11on1ics in 1Vew York Univer­ again and again that social planning has been abysmally si1y. He is a musmach of Nfesi1:fa Chain1 1Jer!i11 and is a frequent contributor to the JO. defective, quite erroneous1y anticipating future condi- The Jewish Obserper /January, 1974 3 tions, and failing utterly to assess correctly the con­ ena relevant to his course of action: he may believe sequences of alternative courses of action.• that effects will be forthcoming from causes which are The shock of these failures has been paralleled dur­ in fact incapable of generating them, or he may be ing the same period of time by a series of highly un­ unaware that the conditions with which he is working settling discoveries indicating that items consumed for must generate effects inconsistent with his planned years by unsuspecting millions, from cigarettes to course of action. Most importantly, in any social con­ cyclamates, possess potential for serious harm. Clearly text, a plan may go awry as a result of the unexpected it is possible not only for individuals to err and to actions and plans of other members of society. In gen­ pursue flawed plans; vast multitudes can suffer enor­ eral it is a commonplace that control over the future mous damage as a result of widespread gaps in com­ through planning, on any scale, calls for control (in the mon information; and those assigned to plan on their sense of accurate predictive knowledge) over the course behalf can initiate courses of massive social action of future events to be expected from each of the avail­ resulting in resounding and spectacular failures, with able courses of action. It follows that attempts to avoid disastrous large-scale consequences. These develop­ the repetition of earlier failures in plans, must neces­ ments have been most disconcerting, not only to the sarily take the form of obtaining better knowledge of politicians, officials, and scientists responsible for the and control over the background of facts against which unsuccessful social experiments, but also to the masses, plans are to be constructed. In particular such attempts, whether more or less educated, whose confidence in where undertaken in the social context, must take the themselves, their institutions, and their experts, has form of obtaining more powerful knowledge of and been so profoundly shaken. control over the actions of the individual members of society itself. Error Escalation: From the Modest to the Gargantuan To Retreat or Expand? This contemporary phenomenon of widespread and repeated failure in ambitious social planning is a re­ AS THE HIGH HOPES PINNED to large scale planning for markable one in its own right. Our concern here, how­ society collapse again and again into puzzled disillu­ ever, is not with this phenomenon itself, but rather with sionment, revealing unsuspected gaps in knowledge what can only be described as the ominous reactions to concerning the physical and human environment sur­ it which have come to be widely encountered. Briefly rounding the plan, the possible reactions range across