- Who Can Say It? THE JEWISH QBSERVER

in this issue ...

'"NEVER AGAIN!" - WHO CAN SAY IP THE JEWISH OBSERVER is published monthly, except July and August, Nissan Wolpin ...... 3 by the Agudath Israel of Amercla, 5 Beekman St., New York, N. Y. 10038. Second class postage paid HIS TITLE WAS "HILLEL HAKOHEN," at New York, N. Y. Subscription: $6.50 per year; Two years, $11.00; Shmuel Singer ...... 13 Three years $15.00; outside of the United States $7 .50 per year. Single copy sixty-five cents. NOTES ON DAF YOMI: SEVENTH SIYUM HASHAS. Printed in the U.S.A. based on remarks by RABBI MEIR SHAPIRO ztl ...... 18 RABBI NlSSON WOLPIN Editor SECOND LOOKS ON THE JEWISH SCENE

Editorial Board THEY MARCHED FOR SHABBOS...... 21 DR. ERNST I.. BODENHFIMER Chairman "BORROWED" SYMBOLS...... 24 RABBI NATHAN BULMAN RA!llH JOSfPH ELIAS HOW NOT TO WIN VISITORS JOSI PH FRIEDEN SON RABRI MOSHE SHERER AND INFLUENCE SETTLERS...... 28 TIGHTROPE, Shlomo Kahn...... 31 THE JEWISH OBSERVER does not ONE MAN'S VOTE...... 32 assume responsibility for the Kashru'i of any product or service :1dvertised in its pages. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR...... 33 MAY, 1972 VOL. X, No. 10

Typography by Compu-Scribe at ArrScro/l Studio5 Nissan Wolpin

- Who Can Say It?

URING WORLD WAR II, all hopes and thoughts with their victimizers. - Never Again! .. . Last time, Jews Dwere directed toward "Victory," And when those who were at a safe distance did not take their brothers' glorious goals were finally reached - VE Day (May 8, plight to heart, and wrapped themselves in a cocoon ofin­ 1945) and VJ Day (August 14, 1945)-people tended to dzfference. - Never Again! .. . Nations were permitted to look ahead, toward personal and national reconstruc~ close their ears - and their doors - to the terrifying cries lion, rather than backward, to understand what had of the innocent, while American Jews hesitated to pry open happened and why, the conscience of national leaders for fear of rocking the Now, thirty years later, there is a deep interest in boat. -Never Again! . , . Fate may have been the cruel probing, analyzing, and understanding the events sur­ master in the past. -Never Again! Henceforth we shall rounding the War and the decimation of European be in control of our own destiny. Jewry, Much is clearer because of the great wealth of in­ It is all very dramatic - and all baseless, even formation now available; but much is distorted - by the dangerous, assumption that they knew then what we know now, and by viewing distant events through the lens of wishful To Prophesy with Hindsight thinking and personal ideologies. Representative of some of these fact-distorters is the ISTORIANS, POLITICAL ANALYSTS, ANTHROPOLO­ slogan: "Never Again!" popularized by the Jewish HGISTS, THEOLOGIANS - all have succeeded in Defense League, Its message - if not its wording - has finding root-causes of the holocaust in the events and gained acceptance in most staid circles. trends of earlier times. Why didn't European Jewry read all the obvious sign-posts - from declarations of Luther The Myth and Nietzche to Hitler's MEIN KAMPF - that pointed to their ultimate annihilation? . . , If the destruction of Euro­ s IS THE CASE with most slogans, 0 Never Again!" pean Jewry was the logical conclusion of the interplay of Ainspires mouthing without careful thought. It is historic factors and contemporary situations, how coultt our intention to show how the implications of this the Jews have ignored them? . .. Didn't they know that slogan, as a cry of defiance rather than as a prayer, are anti-Semitism was locked into the bones of the Germans fraught with distortion, deception, and even blasphemy. - as well as the French, the Poles, the Hungarians, the We will have to examine whether or not the Never Ukranians? . . , Could they so easily forget centuries of Again slogan is compatible with the Torah. But first let pogroms and blood libels? . .. How could they ignore the us see if the premises on which it is built are factually plans for their own genocide so clearly articulated in sound. Hitler's MEIN KAMPP? . , . Could they really pretend that The slogan implies that, one way or another, a chain the Great Depression was not forcing the German of events took place that victimized Jewry, and this leadership into finding a convenient scapegoat for the na­ chain shall not recur: Faced with similar circumstances, tion's frustrations?, , . Didn't they realize that the only the same type of tragedy will not take place again. Next safe haven was home in Palestine? time around we will assert ourselves . . .implying that the The questions press heavily in a retrospective view of first time, the victims could have escaped, but ignored the 30's. But living through events puts them into a dif­ the threatening clouds of death. - Never Again! ... ferent focus, Jews had always been subject to prejudice, They should have resisted, but instead disgracefully went persecutions, and pogroms; yet, they always survived. to their slaughter like sheep, perhaps even collaborating While looking backwards from the forties, one can find

The Jewi.sh Observer/ May, 1975 3 many roots to the full-flowering of Hitler's genocide certificates to members of Agudath Israel, although program, yet nothing in the twenties and early thirties the number of religious Jewish eager to emigrate indicated that random events and declarations would was considerably higher. Thousands of Agudists prove seminal in ushering in the Final Solution. As beleaguered the Agency offices in Warsaw and sociologist Jacob Katz phrases it in an incisive study, Berlin, Bucharest and Prague, begging for cer­ "Was the Holocaust Predictable?" (Commentary, May, tificates, but their inability to show a Zionist '75 ): membership card shut the doors of Eretz Yisroel. ...rather than the past's determining the present, it For this reason, scores of Agudist training centers was the present that made its own connection with were established in Europe where thousands of the past by adopting figures and trends with which it young people were taught various trades, and farm­ felt an affinity. ing skills. Yet, even after this preparation, they had to wait years until their turn came under the quota­ People still point to the Vladimir Jabotinsky's rally­ system which limited members of Agudath Israel. cries to a/iya: "Liquidate the Galut or the Galut will li­ This tragic situation continued even after the war quidate you!" Prophets of hindsight use Jabotinsky's broke out, and, of course ...many did not live to get stirring calls as indictments of those who perished - their certificates. weren't they sufficiently warned? Why did they refuse to hearken" But Katz points out that from A HISTORY OF AGUDATH 1SRAEL, by Joseph Friedenson what Jabotinsky actually had in mind in speaking of a worsening of the Jewish position was the aggra>0- The situation was compounded by the British White tion of economic, social, and political measures Paper, issued in 1939, which limited legal immigration against the Jewish community in Poland itself, not to a trickle. There were those who did not try to leave the possible conquest of Poland by the Nazis. because they did not expect to succeed in their attempts, Together with many Jewish intellectuals he shared a or because they did not relish submitting to a secular­ conviction that Nazi rule was fragile and would controlled Agency; there were others who did try, but crumble through internal difficulties or at the first were refused papers, or who did get papers but couldn't clash with a foreign power. How unaware he was of get passage on a ship -Did they set such a deplorable even the near future is clearly demonstrated in the example that we must spit a defiant "Never Again!" at very idea of evacuation: he suggested transferring a their conduct? million-and-a-half Polish Jews to Palestine over the Yet, there were still others who never thought of course of the next ten years. Jabotinsky's vision, in­ emigrating to Palestine, and found justification because spired though it was by a deep passion for the of the views of their religious leaders. Yes, the Chafetz welfare of his people, was as limited as anyone's by Chaim had predicted that "a fire would sweep across the impenetrability of the future. Europe and the only refuge would be in the Holy Land." Is there any clarity of thought in a contemporary True, the Gerer Rebbe had advocated aliya. But there judgment of the 30's that justifies a cry of Never Again? were others of stature who advised against aliya, and those who had hearkened to them perished. Where was The Unopen Gates their leaders' dedication to the survival of their followers? In offering advice, these men were undoubtedly as ER HAPS LIFE IN EUROPE was always hazardous for conscious of the threat to spiritual survival posed by the Pthe Jew. But, as circumstances did worsen, why did secular fashioned "practical solution to the Jewish Jews not pack their bags and go to Israel? This is especial­ Problem," as they were by the nebulous threat to ly puzzling in regard to the religious Jews who should physical survival building up in Europe. But at least sur­ have been impelled by their special relationship with the vival of each individual did dominate their considera­ Holy Land, who should have been guided by rabbinical tions . .. . By contrast, one must question what was in the mentors to be oleh. Why did they remain, to be killed? minds of the officials of the Jewish Agency who killed a To question so is to forget - or to deliberately ignore project to transport European Jews to Madagascar - - that Palestine was under British Mandate from 1922 insisting only on passage to Palestine. on and that the British had severely limited immigra­ Moreover, by what means of prognostication could tion. In addition, they had entrusted the Zionist­ the religious leaders have divined that the Holy Land identified Jewish Agency with management of much of would be spared the Nazi onslaught? One must not the internal affairs of the land, including control of im­ forget that when General Rommel's Afrika Korps had migration certificates. The Agency issued these ex­ reached the banks of Suez in 1943, the Jewish Agency clusively to Zionists - strongly favoring Labor Zionists frantically destroyed its secret files housed in Jerusalem, over religious Zionists, and simply ignoring requests of so imminent did the German invasion appear. It was ob­ members of Agudath Israel and other non-Zionists. vious to the religious Jews that only the hand of G-d After prolonged discussions with the Mandate, the could save them - and did save them. But, until then, Agency agreed to issue roughly 6 to 7 percent of the was the defeat of the Afrika Korps any more predictable

4 The Jewish Observer/ May, 1975 than were the consuming flames of Auschwitz's furnaces Board ....And in February 23, 1943, Rabbi Wise, as that leaders should have banked on the one and avoided spokesman for the American Jewish Congress, chal­ the other? In the 30's, Poland seemed no less safe than lenged the authenticity of an Irgun-placed ad in the Palestine. N.Y. Times. calling for $350,000 in cash to save 70,000 Rumanian Jews from sure death - killing the effort, The Unhelping Hand even though the cause was just, the need real, and the in­ evitability of death so certain - as the events of the next HERE ARE MANY INDICATIONS that the Zionist few weeks proved. . . .In a similar situation, the TEstablishment was more intent on settling and "establishment" Joint Distribution Committee refused developing the Holy Land than on saving lives. The to respond to a Nazi offer to barter lives for $1,000,000 theme "selective immigration" appears recurrently in (an offer which the Orthodox-run Vaad Hatzalah picked policy statements and public declarations by such up, scraping together the then-astronomical sum.) Why notables as Dr. Chaim Weizmann. As a matter of fact, was this" news" suppressed, why were these rescue plans at a well-attended World Zionist Congress in London in scratched? One can only guess. The strong possibility 1937, Dr. Weizmann viewed the impending destruction again looming is that good relations with the British of European Jewry with fatalistic equanimity. Address­ were higher on their priority list than saving lives. ing the 480 Zionist delegates, fifteen hundred visitors, True, those who had placed their highest hopes for two hundred press correspondents from all corners of survival in the establishment of a national homeland the earth, and official representatives from a score of na­ and those who had invested their trust in the dreamers, tions, Dr. Weizmann proclaimed planners and leaders of that Movement - perhaps they "/told the British Royal Commission that the hopes of should say "Never Again!" But those who were left Europe's six million Jews were centered on emigration. I behind and perished ... .Never Again? was asked, 'Can you bring six million Jews to Palestine?' I replied, 'No.' .. . The old ones will pass. They will bear The Distortion their fate or they will not. They were dust, economic and moral dust in a cruel world. . . Only a branch shall survive. N THIS AGE OF FRUITFUL ACTIVISM, when crowds ... They had to accept it... If they feel and suffer they will I surge spontaneously in p·ublic squares, and heads find the way - beacharis hayamim - in the fullness of of government quake in reaction, the question is con­ time . . .l pray that we may preserve our national unity.for stantly posed - why were American Jews so indifferent it is all we have." to the plight of their European brothers? Why didn't they In the same vein, the Zionist Establishment looked crowd Times Square, picket the German embassy, chain with disfavor at the illegal immigration of Mossad Ali ya themselves to the White House fence in protest against the inhumane Nazi treatment of Jewry, or at least to bring Bet. It simply feared rupturing the good relationship with the British which it found so essential for assuring about changes in restrictive immigration laws? the establishment of the Jewish national homeland after Hail to the Chief! the war. So they avoided defying· British immigration During our era of toppling leaders, it is difficult to en­ restrictions. It was not until the eve of the German inva­ vision (or recall) a president who earned the blind faith sion of Poland in 1939 that the World Zionist Congress and trust of almost all his countrymen. But Roosevelt responded to Berel Katznelson's plea that illegal im­ was such a man. There was a Yiddish wise-crack that migration be supported. By then, however, not too "Yidden gloiben in drei velten" -Jews believe in three much could be done. velten - literally worlds: "die velt" -this world, "yenne Even later, during the war - as Rabbi Michael Ber velt'' -the next world, "und Roosevelt." And believe in Weissmandel recorded in his Min Hameitzar, and as him they did: as the patrician humanitarian who ignored was further publicized through the Kastner trial in Israel the wealthy circumstances of his upbringing to redeem in 1955, and as Joel Brandt recorded in his Memoirs - the broad masses from a terrifying depression. FDR there is evidence that the Jewish Agency (that is, the would do whatever could be done. Arthur D. Morse's World Zionist Organization) actually hindered efforts to While Six Million Died documents "the acquiescence of barter equipment and money for the lives of Hungarian the US government in the murder of the Jews." His Jews because this would have antagonized the Allied book actually fleshes out a secret government memoran­ Powers, who were more interested in a swift defeat of dum issued in 1944 bearing "The Acquiescence ..."as Germany than in saving Jewish lives. And Allied favor its title, but at the time of this acquiescence there was lit­ was essential for the post-war goal of making Zion a tle public indication that this apathy was the attitude of Jewish home. officialdom - from the top down. In America, Rabbi Stephen Wise, American Zionist Moreover, the overall mood of the country in the 30's leader, had testified before a special Congressional was inner-directed, still staggering with mistrust of Committee during the War, objecting to the proposal foreign entanglements from memories of the wounds of that the American government create a War Refugee a World War on a foreign continent - a war that was

The Jew1~1·h Observer I May, 1975 5 being viewed as having had little immediate conse­ quence to America; still attempting to heal its Depression-wracked economy. Mid-Western American First-ers and Southern isolationists were joined in Julius Steinfeld xenophobia by "liberal" labor leaders who feared the in­ flux of jobless foreigners - regardless of the tyranny they were fleeing. Even well-meaning American Jews risked his life to save were uncomfortable with their European brothers who thousands of Jews made it to these shores, and "welcoming committees" from Jewish communities that provided refuge for es­ capees also provided them with rules of decorum that advised against speaking foreign languages in public, or any other such conduct that would make them embar­ rassingly conspicuous. The national mood was not one of spreading the welcome mat. Rabbi Aharon' Kotler Also, one must bear in mind that the 30's was a time when Law and Order was a way of life, not a codeword for suppression of minority-group activism. Any kind of led the founding of the public protest against American apathy or inaction Vaad Hatzalah would have back-fired. One need only recall that several years earlier, in 1934, General Douglas McArthur led an armed attack against an encampment of American heroes - veterans of World War I - that had convened in Washington, D.C. to demand consideration for jobs Reb Elimelech and welfare benefits. Law and Order were to be preserved at all costs. It is unlikely that Jews demanding "Mike" Tress a more liberal immigrntion policy for the benefit of foreign nationals would have been treated any more gently. lived only to save others from death In addition, public Jewish pressure tactics would have only added ammunition to the isolationist elements - led by such notables as Charles Lindburgh and Avery Brundage - who were protesting against being dragged into a "Jewish war" in Europe. Any "Jewish" protest, against American policies would have confirmed their Rabbi Avrohom arguments. Kalmanowitz The Unstamped Visa Thus, in the late 1930's and early 40's, when American immigration policies and bureaucratic red tape made it saved Mirrer Yeshiva difficult for penniless refugess to escape Europe and students from desrruction next to impossible for them to gain entry into America, every Establishment organization refused to do anything but play it by the book - whether out of fear of officialdom or complicity with British designs. Only a small community of foolhardy and courageous in­ dividuals in Europe and America were the exception - Rabbi Eliezer Silver men such as Julius Steinfeld. ?"Yl I who braved the SS offices in Vienna and demanded, bargained, and pleaded for exit visas for thousands of helpless Jews; and stormed the White House then flew from capital to capital in Europe to raise to open America's doors money to back his pledges and to fulfill his bribes - so to refugees involving himself in negotiations with the enemy that he had difficulty in gaining entry for his family and himself in America as a suspected German agent! Or the indefatigable Rabbi Aharon Kotler ?"Yl who spearheaded the Vaad Hatzalah efforts to raise funds and save lives. Never Again?

6 The Jewish Ohserver / ,!i;fay, 1975 Or the inimitable Rabbi Avrohom Kalmanowitz ;, .. ,, who stormed the American country-side, and the world, My heart is filled with pain. True, in the general scheme of rescue activities, the Vaad Hatzalah takes an eminent place; to save his beloved Mirrer Yeshiva, and joined the Vaad but, unfortunately, the whole scheme was a very narrow one. I Hatzalah 's valiant efforts to save and sustain whomever see not only the tens of thousands of Jers, who by the grace of they could. C-d, were rescued thanks to our efforts, but also - and mainly - many hundreds of thousands who cried out for help Or the resourceful Rabbi Eliezer Silver 7"Ylwho inces­ andwere not answered. Or perhaps thel'e was some possibility santly issued personal checks against funds he was rais­ to rescue them and it was not properly exploited .... Yet, ...I ing for saving lives, maintaining a constant overdraught can declare unequivocally - our intentions were all for the of $150,000 in his Cincinnati bank account; even leading best .. . Never did we have any base thought of personal or party interests. We never retreated from any obstacles that an unprecedented Rabbis' March on the White House in were put in our way willfully, maliciously. We flinched before 1943 to petition Roosevelt's sympathy, resulting in the no officialdom or government and were never dismayed by formation of the War Refugee Board. any "strong men" or "powerful forces" in Jewish life or in the Or the unforgettable Reb Elimelech "Mike" Tress world at large. ;, .. ,, , who devoted every fiber of his being to saving lives Rabbi Eliezer Silver - shuttling between Washington and New York on any quoted in DISASTER AND SAl VATION: A HISTORY Of THE VAAD HATZALA of the seven days of the week, managing the "immigra­ by Moshe Prager tion office" housed in Zeirei Agudath Israel head­ quarters at 616 Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, that ground out employment guarantees and him with a pretext for stepping up his anti-Semitic cam­ documents for affidavits and emergency visas, saving paigns. This apprehension was echoed by European thousands of Jews from the clutches of death. leaders, as recorded in Rabbi Michoel Ber Weiss­ Or the entire community of young Roshei Yeshiva mandel's Min Hameitzar. The Establishment ridiculed and Bnei Torah who did not hesitate to travel on Shab­ this hyper-sensitive approach, but William Shirer's Rise bos to raise funds, who sold personal belongings and and Fall of the Third Reich reports Hitler's fury at every private seforim collections to rescue lives. And their dar­ tightening of the economic screws, and records how he ing colleagues and counter parts - the Irving Bunims, stepped up the genocide process in retaliation. Chaim Yisroel Eisses, the Sternbuchs and the other un­ Efforts to ship relief parcels to Europe had failed to sung heroes who saved lives without the benefit of crews inspire much following in the early '30's. Suspicious of camera men recording every drop of perspiration that Reform Jews who were then strongly anti-Zionist, smel­ dotted their brows. led a Palestine trap-door under every charity box, even if Their means and methods would have horrified the its label said "European Relief Fund." In 1940, the Establishment. But during an era when tens of millions climate changed and American Jews of all shades began were rendered homeless and stateless by legal decree, to ship food parcels in volume through their own chan­ and when millions more were to lose their lives by exten~ nels to Jews in German occupied lands - notably in sion of the Nuremberg Laws, legal niceties were all dis­ Poland. . ..The Red Cross would not guarantee carded for the sake of a higher calling - that of saving delivery. lives. -ls their track record so shameful that we must Then, because maintaining this life-line defied a disassociate ourselves from it with a cry of "Never British war-time boycott against any shipping to Con­ Again/''? tinental Europe - which was by then completely under German control - Dr. Joseph Tennenbaum of the Of Protests, Boycotts, and Parcels American Jewish Congress used his intluenece to cut off After Kristalnacht, when the oppression obviously food shipments to starving, needy Jews. Perhaps this worsened, some inkling of the desperation of the situa­ made sense to those who were planning to eventually in­ tion reached American Jewry. Three possible responses herit political control of Eretz Yisroel from the British, were projected from 1935 to 1939: Public protest rallies but not to everyone. against the Nazis, sending of parcels to the suffering, The claim was that the parcels never reached their and punitive economic boycotts of German goods. - destination and only enriched the enemy. Orthodoxy, Did A1nerican Jeu1ry respond with responsibility? notably the Agudath Israel, had another overriding con·· The tactic of economic boycott was first begun in cern: retaliation for Germany's all-day boycott of Jewish es­ By Mid-July i 1941), HIAS and the American tablishments on April I, 1933. The American move­ Federation of Polish Jews had also ceased se•ding ment, led by the Jewish War Veterans and the American parcels to Europe. Only the Agudas Israel remained Jewish Congress, picked up its greatest momentum in obstinate.... Tennenbaum responded by picket(ing) the late 30's through 1940. the ultra Orthodox organization. The event was The Orthodox leadership in America abstained from given full coverage in the Yiddish press, and editorial such acts for fear of antagonizing Hitler and providing comments fully supported the Council.

The Jewish Observer I May, 1975 7 On August 5th, Tennenbaum released a stipging Consult Steiner's Treblinka or Isaiah Trunk's Juden­ statement against the Agudah: rat or Lucy S. Dawidowicz's "The War Against the "After three weeks of continuous picketing, Jews: 1933-1945" and find how confused ghetto life was. the Agudas Israel still continues in the sorry How the Germans deliberately structured a society role of being the only organization breaking replete with dead ends and hair-pin turns: where security the British Blockade and Jewish solidarity .... was associated with work assignments. or official posi­ tions, or youth, or physical stamina. and color-keyed "It is to be deplored that the Agudas Israel of identification cards were issued accordingly - only to America, a sickly weed transplanted from be called up and re-issued in line with new formulas - foreign soil to the liberal American environ­ with new criteria hinted at. honored. and then defied. ment, should continue to poison the at­ Hope and dismay tumbled with one another as limited mosphere without regard for the consequences food supplies, rampaging epidemics, and complete lack to the entire Jewish people." of fuel. clothing and medicine took their toll. The Agudas Israel stated that it was not convinced When the ghetto denizens were ultimately rounded up that its means ofreliefviolated the British Blockade, in city squares and railroad stations, who was to guess and in addition, it questioned the Council's right to that the destination was a death factory and not a new act "'dictatorially." place of forced labor? Didn't friends and relatives send Moshe Gottlieb, "In the Shadow of War," "All's well, wish you were here" postcards from Dachau, AMERICAN JEWISH QUARTERLY REVIEW - Dec., 1972 Treblinka, and Bergen Belsen? One might debate whether this was an honest difference of opinion. or a case of one group (Ortho­ doxy) putting lives first while the others put priorities on The Defamalion not alienating British trust so as to be on top when the national homeland was established. in fulfillment of the UT FOR RARE EXCEPTIONS, the Jews of Europe did Balfour Declaration. In either case, the Jewish com­ Bgo to their death like "sheep to the slaughter," in munity was only vaguely informed, was impotent to fulfillment of the words of the Psalmist. A curse visited move events through actions in the public arena. and on a nation is an experience of shame. Must one accept was challenged and harrassed when anyone did attempt the legacy of defamation without a grain of resistance or defiance, without some rallying spirit? to extend humanitarian aid. - Never Again? True, the Jew was never celebrated for his physical The Slander might. Yet, no perpetuation of Toras Yisroel is possible without a Kial Yisroe/ to live the ideology, to fulfill the HE FORESTS OF EUROPE were full of heroic destiny. We cannot be a suicide community. I partisans. The cities of France were peopled by Nonetheless - of dominant importance - life must valiant underground fighters. Why did the Jews comply have purpose and meaning that transcends the flesh­ with their murderers? Why didn't they fight back? and-blood existence. Library shelves full of Holocaust literature render this question an obscenity. Even the simplest outine of a political and military history of World War JI will record the fall of Netherlands in three days. of Belgium in 17 days, the surrender of the well-trained French army. protected by its Maginot Line, in 53 days. Can one visualize even the best-trained army of Vladimir Jabotinsky's wildest dream withstanding the shock of the Nazi Blitzkreig any more effectively than Europe's fines\? ... But that does not answer why the Jews did not resist individually or in small bands against the ever­ mounting oppressive measures. One need only pull out volume after volume from the library shelves to read how the Jews of Europe - forever pursued. forever optimistic - never believed that the Nazi's oppressive measures were aimed at the systematic murder of millions of innocent civilians. Even when they were rounded up and locked into the ghettos. they continued with their richly hued religious and cultural life. (Read Moshe Prager's Those Who Did Not Yield, or any accounts of ghetto life.) The Jews of Kovno on their way to the Ghello

8 The Jewish Observer / May, 1975 When searching any era for incidents of inspiration to even 2% of the French , Polish, or Hungarian populace emulate and pitfalls to avoid, one can be confronted by was active in underground activity. Of course, Jews had confusing combinations of shame and pride, exultation more at stake, but many Polish and Ukranian partisans and humiliation. What, then, are the salient points would as soon shoot a Jew as let him join their group. around which we heirs of the churban can rally, the Further, German treatment of Jewish resisters was un­ heroism of that time that we can perpetuate? Today, bearably harsh: there is a prideful focus on Ghetto uprisings, such as the The Germans decreed death by shooting or hanging Warsaw battle of thirty-two years ago, and the uprisings as the legal punishment for an act of resistance. , - . in Bialystock and Vilna. Some even go so far as to say If one thinks carefully and personally about the that the uprisings, demonstrating Jewish might as they fortitude required to accept the law and to live by it, did, proved Jewish ripeness for national independence: the result is likely to be humbling .. , . as if the ability to fight provided the sense of dignity necessary for self-government. This theme, often under­ The resisting non-Jew braved swift death. scored during the week that conveniently includes Yom Sometimes the death was slowed and rendered more HaShoa (Holocaust Remembrance Day) with Yom painful by a local German commander with a taste Ho'atzmaut (Israeli Independence Day) at its heels, in­ for brutality, but. , . regulations. , .specified the troduces the non-Jewish element of physical prowess to noose or the bullet as. , .maximum, , .. For the Jew, a claim that by rights should only have spiritual sub­ this punishment was minimal and merciful, and rare. stance: "Reject the culture of the nations ... ( and then) I The regulations specified that a resistant Jew might will give you the Land as an inheritance" (Leviticus XX: be killed ""in any manner considered most conducive 23, 24) .... This romanticized focus on the uprisings also to discipline and deterrence of further resistance. In ignores the increased blood-shed and the shortening of the province of Lublin, , ..SS Lieutenant General life the uprisings brought as a result; a painful point, but Globocnik (decreed) the Jew caught with a gun or in one that cannot be side-stepped. an act of sabotage (be) hung , , .on a hook. , , .In Minsk, SS Lieutenant General Herff... blinded cap­ True, those who denied the Nazi beast the oppor­ tives with hot irons ....Arthur Greiser, gauleiter of tunity to claim sovereignly over Jewish blood did act Warthegau, burned Jewish resistance fighters at the heroically. - Who is to question that? But there were stake. , ..Baron Gustav von Waechter favored the still others who denied the Nazi control over the Jewish thumbscrew and the iron boot during his six months soul. - And nothing can match that. rule at Krakow. . . .SS Major General Fritz This was effectively articulated by Dr. Marek Katzman .. ,fed captured Jewish resistants Edelman, one of the leaders of the Warsaw Ghetto up­ spasmodic poison so they could die in agony for the rising, in a recent interview with the French magazine edification of his dinner guests in east Galicia ... L'Express: Bernard Bender put his captives into pits with starv­ "The Warsaw uprising was not a chance to die ing wolfhounds. , . , Leopold Gleim reconstructed the with glory, but a way of informing the world of the rack of the Spanish Inquisition and used that to tear ghetto's existence. Had we any chance to vanquish, them apart. to change the course of things' Not the least. The frofn FORGED IN FURY by Michael Elkins only important thing was to take a gun and shoot. Men have always felt that shooting was an act of Once the cattle-cars reached their destinations - after heroism. . , " he said. endless days of travel - and disgorged those passengers Such is not the Polish doctor's idea of heroistn. who survived the dark, filthy, crowded trip, the environ­ During the war he saw a young boy climb aboard a ment was a confusing mixture of terrifying and the dis­ German truck headed for the gas chambers - to be arming: Franz Stangl designed Treblinka - from its with his mother. to console her in her last 1noments. nlusical name, flower gardens, and station-clock with ··There is an act of heroism far superior to using a hands painted permanently at 2:30, to its ten-car plat­ firearm." form length - to disarm the light-blinded passengers, and to facilitate their swift disembarkment to make quoted hy Edwin Eyta!/ in the Jersey City JEWISH STA NDARO room for the next train scheduled for 70 minutes later. On the side, booted camp guards carried bull whips and True, mad-men escaped and told tales no sane person rifles, glaring unspoken warnings against one mis-step, would believe (and remain sane). But rejecting the old one wrong gesture ....So the starving, disease-ridden, "all-will-be-well" frame of mind meant assuming a new fatigued, heavily guarded ghetto-residents-cum­ one. And this new one required a whole new set of concentration-camp-victims never rose in rebellion. responses that were virtually impossible. - Are they to We can - and must - pray that this shall not be our be faulted for tending to believe what they could deal lot. But was their conduct guilty in a way that we have with? the right - never mind the duty - to cry "Never As for joining partisan groups - remember that not Again!''?

The Jewish Ohserver / Ma.v, 1975 9 Joseph Friedenson (editor of Dos Yiddishe Vort), an alumnus of four concentration camps including Buchenwald and Auschwitz, wrote in the very first edi­ tion of The Jewish Observer: "The Germans strove to transform their Jewish vic­ tims into animals. But, despite all. the Jews remained human beings who did not lose their Divine Image at the very edges of their mass graves. The Germans wanted to force Jews to.for1Elchonon Wasserman's demise are recorded in the inroduction (by his son, Reb The Blasphemy Sim cha K'P•?v) to his Kovaitz He'oros: Reb Elcho non had just returned from a trip to America. He was begged NDERLYING THE ENTIRE .. Never Again!" to stay on, but refused. His children - his students in Uassessment of the Destruction of European Jewry the yeshiva at Baranovitch - needed him during this is the theme that "last time we were manipulated. Next frightful period. So he returned, but found them scat­ time we'll be in control of events." tered - in flight for their lives. He was united with some Until now we have dealt with facts, seeking to deter­ of them in a ghetto round-up, and - as death hovered mine whether they impose a burden of guilt for cowar­ as an imminent certainty - he taught his disciples a Jes- dice or indifference upon the Jewry of World War II.

10 The Jn,fish Observer / May, 1975 Actually, this is not the relevant descussion. The more The Misapplied Lesson basic question is if man is actually capable of altering the course of events, promising himself "Never Again!" EVER AGAIN" IS, OF COURSE, an implied judgment Nof the past. But as the expression indicates, it is Throughout his hfe, a Jew is taught to acknowledge primarily the basis for a plan of action for attacking cur­ G-d as the source of all that befalls him: the rent and future problems. Shehechiyanu blessing is directed toward Him "who has It draws on the past in its own way to declare that sustained us " when a Jew bites into the first nectarine of compromise and retreat are the by-words of defeat, and the season, dons a brand new suit of clothes, rejoices for that survival for the beleaguered Jew is only possible the birth of a daughter. - And the Jew recited "Dayan when he is not afraid lo assert himself with physical ho'emes" - proclaiming Hirn a truthful judge when a prowess and political clout. close relative dies. This generalization has then been applied uniformly !fa Jew is not guilty of personal neglect, he blames no to any and all problems that face individual Jews and one for the loss he suffers, for the tragedy he witnesses. Jewry at large: Are territorial concessions demanded of The circumstances may be puzzling: death of an inno­ the State of Israel' A re Soviet Jews suffering persecution? cent babe, or of a beguiling child; sudden demise of a Is a prominent anti-Semite given red-carpet treatment in young man in the promise of life, of a mother who is the the UN or at a college campus symposium' ls hub of her family; the unexpected departure of a shy neighborhood stability being threatened: - in the inner scholar; or the brutal murder of an elderly man - all city, in "tipping" neighborhoods. or in suburbia' Are the can be perplexing or painful. But the Jew must accept Jewish poor being ignored? The "Never Again" response his fate unquestioningly: "!Jatzur tomin1 poalo - G-d is invariably has been to slug it out. Regardless of the com­ perfect in all His acts." plexities of international intrigue and diplomacy, in spite of the "hostage" status of Jews in enemy lands, When the murder of these six or seven is multiplied forgetting gains made through low-profile approaches, million-fold, the pain becomes traumatic, but no less the ignoring the possibilities of loss of life in pursuit of ex­ act of G-d. More: the staggering dimensions of the treme policies, and - most hazardous of all - com­ catastrophe of Six Million makes its divine source all the pletely losing sight of the decisive role of G-d's more aparent. Yes, the bankruptcy of Western Civiliza­ providence in the destiny of Jewry, the "Let our right be tion was also apparent in the fruition of Hitler's mad proven with our might" approach is simplisticly applied plans, without condemnation by others. But this does to every and all situations, even guiding young children not place them in charge of events, Even the policies dic­ in making life and death decisions on the basis of tated from the very top of the decision-making hierarchy elemental gut reactions. are not really man's alone, for "The hearts of kings and princes are in the hands of G-d." To be sure, hishtadlus- human effort - has its place The Courage To Rebuild in the range of actions a person is expected to pursue to protect himself. And one must examine the past to determine which mode of conduct is effective and which is not. But the ma'amin - the believing Jew - knows that the outcome of events is influenced by his own spiritual station, and his major efforts are always directed toward perfecting his spiritual strategy rather than toward improving his political or military moves. All - absolutely all - is in G-d's hands, and teshuva, tejilla, and tzedaka - repentance, prayer, and charity­ are the measures by which He allows himself to be in­ fluenced. ~r110:t'.:t-1,C'b;M1'\W'OI"! Nt'___ INf> -rot''---= In such a cosmic view, how can insignificant man, ab­ -~---~'M JiC }'Jtl 1lMt' )',ll:l; tl;l»" l'.M'V:J}_~.c... solutely dwarfed by the enormity of this shattering act of ":'', ·~·r.• Ol"\ti)ll ,)H'M), "l'J'"O l'l~M WAii :,k~'i ';'l~ fl'e' ll'l~; " •)l't --­ G-d, raise a puny fist in defiance, brandishing all the ___ ,,_, -kl:l'J;'', itee>lj'>:J jli'!'t:I~' 'j'ri~"Wl , b11 )

The Je1fish Ohsen'er / /I-fay, !975 II The Reconstruction

VERY BODY CARRIES HIS OWN set of mental images Eof striking contrasts: destruction and rebuilding, agony and glory. Those whose cradle of Jewish con­ sciousness was rocked by the hands of Leon Uris and Otto Preminger in Exodus has his set of scenes: the ghet­ tos where bodies were swept away with the morning trash (-cut-) the blue-and-white flag fluttering in the breeze against the azure sky of the Holy Land. I, personally, harbor a different set of images. I flinch whenever I envision the photograph of the grinning Nazi shaving off the beard and payos of a stoic Polish Jew, yet marveling at the barbarian con­ gratulating himself for his Aryan superiority, deluding himself that he is victorious over Netzach Yisroel - the faith of eternity. Then the mental image switches and I am in the crowded synagogue in the Far West of my childhood ... l 950. The Ponevezher Rav is on the pulpit reporting on his findings during a tour of the European continent, reciting the geography of Eastern Europe, to the tearful accompaniment of congregants: Ponevezh . .. Bialystok . .. Vilna . .. Kamenitz - rubble . . . trash heaps . . empty shells ... ashes. "But we shall build on a hill-top in Bnei Brak a new Kamenitz, a new Ponevezh, a new Vilna." And he did - (or, rather they did, contributing fully ten times the maximum amount they had ever before contributed to any yeshiva). Or the Bluzhover Rebbe, arriving in New York totally crushed from his personal losses from the destruction of the War, suddenly too involved in guiding, counseling, helping others in reconstructing their lives to give thought to his own suffering.

The dangers of pursuing such a singleminded ap­ Or the young fellow who had spent four years in a proach are self-evident. By the same token, rejecting a barn on a Polish farm, only venturing out on moon-less one-dimensional Never Again approach does not mean nights-sitting in front of me in a Torah Vodaath class­ an unbending commitment to passivity. There is always room, swaying over a page of Gemora and Tosfos. the hishtadlus factor of action on the human level which Or the Chag Hasmicha in the Bobover Beis at times calls for resorting to arms or forceful action in Hamidrash in Boro Park last year, when the venerable one form or another. Each problem must be examined Rebbe recounts how thirty years ago the town square of for its own array of possible solutions, and the correct Bobov was crowded with Jews being rounded up, and a one must be selected for the particular situation - question mark hung in the air - The dayanim, the rab­ coupled with a prayer that we be guided in our choice bis, will all be gone. Who will answer questions in the and that, most important, we be worthy of redemption. future? Who will ask questions in the future? And here - • • • dayanim. rabbonim - leaders and followers - here is An exhaustive discussion would be required to do the answer! justice to each of these problem areas mentioned, but Or the shmura matzos being gingerly rolled flat in the the main focus of this article has been the historical brick oven, the long wooden rod wielded by an arm background from which the "Never Again" slogan tatooed in Auschwitz. draws its assumed justification, calling, as it does, for its own brand of preventive steps and healing of wounds. There was a destruction, and now a reconstruction. Having spoken of this background, we must devote a Were there people then who were seized by paralytic few lines to the Reconstruction in contrast to the one the grief thirty years ago? - or besieged by despair? Never Again philosophy inspires. - Never Again!' ~

12. The Jewish Observer/ May, 1975 Shmuel Singer

His Title Was ''Hillel HaI

Rabbi Dr. J(lein, who successfully led New York Jewry for thirty-five years - on the eve of his fiftieth yahrzeit.

We yearn for great personalities to admire, often un­ The Eisenstadt Yeshiva was unique in that it not only aware that the American landscape of not-too-long-ago taught /imudei kodesh (sacred studies), but devoted time provided us with a number of outstanding individuals. One to German and classical languages as well as to such figure was Rabbi Hillel Klein. mathematics. To combat the spread of assimilation and Two years after Rabbi Jacob Joseph had become Chief the Reform movement, Rabbi Hildesheimer thought it Rabbi of New York, he found the responsibility too vast to necessary to produce young rabbonim and laymen with a handle alone. He heard that Rabbi Klein had just been fundamental knowledge of secular subjects. Here Hillel forced out of his position as Rabbi of Libau, Latvia. Rabbi Klein was introduced to secular knowledge in service to Klein seemed to possess an unusual combination of at­ the higher pursuit of spiritual goals. tributes that made him a most attractive candidate for Recognized as an exceptional ta/mid, Klein was an American assignment, so upon Rabbi Jacob Joseph's presenting a shiur (lecture) to thirty students before a recommendation, a leading congregation in New York in­ year had passed. Two years later, Klein left for Vienna, vited Rabbi Klein to serve as its Rav. In 1890 he arrived on where he entered the Gymnasium and later the univer­ these shores. sity. Rabbi Zalman Spitzer, son-in-law of the Chasam What had made this deposed rabbi so attractive to the Sofer, invited the young man to give a daily Gemora Chief Rabbi that he had him brought to America to serve class in the well-known Schiffshul - a celebrated as his assistant? What were the remarkable ingredients in fortress of Torah and yiras shomayim(fear of G-d) in his background that made him so suitable for this task' Central Europe. The Unusual Combination On to Berlin HILLEL HAKOHEN KLEIN, born in Baratcka, Hungary in WHEN RABBI HILDESHEIMER left Eisenstadt in 1869 to 1849, was endowed with unusual abilities. By the age of establish his seminary in Berlin, he asked some of his eleven, he knew the complete Tanach by heart and was most accomplished disciples to help him - among them familiar with entire Seder Nezikin of the Tamud with Hillel Klein and David Zvi Hoffmann, who was to commentaries. At the uncommonly young age of twelve, become famous as rosh yeshiva of the Hildesheimer he went to the Pressburg Yeshiva as a ta/mid of Rabbi Seminary in Berlin. A vraham Shmuel Binyomin Sofer, the Ksav Sofer. He In Berlin, Hillel Klein received semicha in 1871 from left four years later to enroll in the yeshiva of Rabbi Rabbi Binyomin Zvi Auerbach of Halberstadt. Rabbi Ezriel Hildelsheimer in Eisenstadt, Hungary. Auerbach, with Rabbis Ezriel Hildesheimer and S.R. Hirsch, had been among the foremost leaders in the bat­ SHMUEL S!NGER studies at Bais Medrash Yeshuron of the Yeshiva Rabbi Samson Raphael !firsch, in New York. He is a frequent contributor to tle against Reform in nineteenth century Germany. Hil­ rhese pages. lel Klein also received semicha from his rebbi, Rabbi

The Jewish Observer/ May, !975 13 Hildesheimer, and in 1873 he received his doctorate Soon after his arrival in New York in 1890, Rabbi from the University of Berlin. Klein was appointed by Chief Rabbi Jacob Joseph as This was only part of the background that seemed to one of his dayanim (rabbinical judges) and became his make Rabbi Hillel Klein so eminently suitable for his untitled assistant. Rabbi Klein was deeply involved in position of leadership in the teeming New York City of Rabbi Joseph's efforts towards centralization of kashrus the turn of the century. supervision in New Yark City and was in charge of all supervisory undertakings of the kehi/la, especially after The Kiev Assignment the Chief Rabbi's stroke, when Rabbi Klein became the RABBI KLEIN MOVED TO KIEVin 1875, to become a tutor unofficial Chief Rabbi of New Yark City. to the son of Israel Brodsky, a well-known religious in­ The Shabbos Problems dustrialist and millionaire who had contributed the necessary funds to establish the kolel of the famous OBSERVANT JEWS in New York City in the 1890's faced Volozhner Yeshiva. During his five years in Kiev, Hillel severe problems. The greatest difficulty was the seven­ HaKohen Klein became familiar with the vibrant world day work-week, which was the rule in all industries. of Eastern European Jewry and came into constant con­ Those with at least a bit of feeling for the day rose early tact with leading rabbis of Russia and Lithuania who on Shabbos mornings to daven with the first minyan were frequent visitors to the Brodsky home. before going to work. Only elderly retired folks and a few hardy exceptions among the active workers truly The Libau Years observed the Shabbos. The harm of this situation cannot be overestimated. Children grew up without ever seeing IN 1880. RABBI KLEIN accepted the appointment to the rabbinate of Libau, Latvia, a large conHnercial center Shabbos observed. No wonder the young generation began to assimilate so completely' of some 10,000 Jews on the Baltic Sea. Rabbi Klein joined Rabbi Dr. Bernard Drachman At this time there were two rabbis serving every Jewish community in Russia: The government had es­ and Rev. Dr. Pereira Mendes, the leaders of native American Orthoxy, to remedy this terrible situation, tablished official seminaries to produce assimilationist founding Agudas Shomrei Shabbos in 1894 to foster minded "rabbis." The local communities refused to ac­ Shabbos observance among the Jewish masses. cept these ignorant, irreligious young men as spiritual Manufacturers were approached to close their factories leaders. Thus every town had an official crown rabbi. on Saturday. Shomer Shabbos workers were then who had graduated from one of the government­ directed to these factories. A list of other Shabbos obser­ sponscired rabbinical seminaries or from a recognized vant employers was also compiled, ... An educational European university, and the true rav of the city, who campaign was launched to convince Jewish housewives answered all rabbinical queries and was responsible for not to shop on Shabbos, and then the league would pres­ the community's Torah institutions. Rabbi Klein was sure stored in Jewish areas to close on Shabbos. Lastly, exceptional in that he could serve Libau in the double the organization advertised in the Yiddish press that all capacity of both rav and rabbi. Because of his unusual laborers seeking Shomer Shabbos employment contact background, he was acceptable to both the government the organization. While this plan did not fully succeed in and the people of Libau. solving the Shmiras Shabbos problem in New York, it In 1881, Rabbi Klein married Julie Hirsch, daughter did alleviate it somewhat. There was at least an address of Mendel Hirsch, principal of the Frankfurt Real­ for religious Jews to turn to for help in this matter. Schule, which had been founded by his father. Rabbi S.R. Hirsch. Combatting Reform Rabbi Klein's rabbinical service to Libau was abrupt­ RABBI KLEIN'S INTELLECTUAL BACKGROUND and ly terminated in 1890 when he was forced to leave the university training helped him in his fight against the community on the grounds that he was a foreign Reform Movement in the United States as it had in national - most likely a ruse to cover up the govern­ Europe. He attacked Reform in many of his public ad­ ment's real complaint: that this crown rabbi was not like dresses, and endeavored to persuade the youth that only the others and would not serve as a tool of the regime Torah Judaism was authentic. Reform leaders feared to promote Jewish assimilation. him more than other Orthodox rabbis, for they felt that he disproved their contention that Orthodox Judaism The New York Invitation was ancient and outdated. Isaac Meyer Wise, founder THE FAME OF RABBI KLEIN had reached New York City, and leader of the American Reform Movement, wrote and he struck Rabbi Jacob Joseph as possessing just scathing article in his newspaper against Rabbi Klein, those qualities that the community needed. He sug­ expressing doubts as to whether Rabbi Klein truly pos­ gested that the Congregation Ohab Zedek on the Lower sessed a doctorate. (Still unanswered by modern East Side offer the position of rabbi to Rabbi Klein. The historians is: did Isaac Meyer Wise ever receive the doc­ congregation followed the advice and sent a ksav rab­ toral degree he claimed for himself after his arrival in bonus (rabbinical contract) to Rabbi Klein. America?) Rabbi Klein responded with a letter to the

14 The Jev;i5h Ob.rerver / May. 1975 .The Ksav Sofer Rabbi Ezriel Hildesheimer Rabbi Jacob Joseph

Rebbi to Hillel HaKohen Klein conferred "semicha" on Rabbi Klein brought Rabbi Klein to New York to assist him newspaper: "Jn order to save you from error, I am enclos­ slaughterhouses. Jn addition, many local rabbis opposed ing herewith a copy of my diploma, in which I take buz a interference with their personal hashgachos. The crucial modest pride. There is but one title that I bear with a con­ blow was the failure of the whole kehi//a idea, when scious pride, and that is Hillel HaKohen." This brief note money and inspiration dissipated with the end of World ended the controversy. War I, and the dream quietly vanished into thin air.

The Slaughterhouse Battles The 0 Shochtim" Strike AS RABBI JACOB JOSEPH'S right hand, Rabbi Klein was actively involved in the fight to centralizeshechita (ritual RABBI KLEIN WAS ALSO concerned over the welfare of slaughter of animals) in New York and bring it under the shochtim (ritual slaughterers). Their working condi­ proper control. All declarations in the Yiddish press tions were truly horrible - extremely long hours, concerning kashrus were signed by the Chief Rabbi, his sometimes extending from 3 a.m. to 9 p.m.! The work­ bais din, and also "Hillel HaKohen hamechuneh (also ing areas were sheds, open at both ends to the cold, known as) Doctor Klein." wind, and snow. In 1892 the shochtim revolted against After the passing of Rabbi Joseph and the collapse of these harsh and humiliating conditions. The encourage­ the centralized New York kehilla. Rabbi Klein retained ment of Rabbi Klein and Chief Rabbi Joseph aided the a number of the cattleshechita houses in Manhattan un­ shochtim in organizing the Meleches Hakodesh Society, der his supervision. When Judah L. Magnes and other which struck for better conditions. This strike and suc­ important Jewish figures attempted to establish the New ceeding ones eventually brought the shochtim great York kehilla in 1914, they turned to Rabbi Klein for improvements by the beginning of the twentieth century. help in kashrus supervision. The new York kehilla was Rabbi Klein was again involved in kashrus matters in an endeavor to link all Jews in the city into one the spring of 1911, when the matzo bakers in New York organization with subdivisions dealing with education, struck against long working hours and low salaries. charity, and kashrus: the kashrus committee would With Pesach fast approaching, an acute shortage of license shochtim and provide mashgichim for the matzos threatened New York and indeed much of the slaughter houses, eliminating the plague of unreliable United States, since most matzo bakeries were in the pseudo-rabbis and shochtim. The final authority in all city. Rabbi Klein organized a bais din to arbitrate the New York kashrus matters would be a supreme bais din labor dispute. They resolved the strike and the Jewish (rabbinical court) consisting of five leading rabbis of the community's matzo supply was assured for the year. city including Rabbi Klein. The supreme bais din was also to organize forty-one additional New York rabbis into local batei din of three dayanim (rabbinical judges), A Torah Institution for New York providing every district in the city with a local bais din . TORAH EDUCATION was primary among Rabbi Klein's As can be easily surmised, this plan was never com­ concerns, mainly to aid the only advanced yeshiva in the pletely operational. The big meat packers objected to United States at that time, Yeshiva Rabbi Yitzchok any arrangement that would restrict their control of the Elchonon. This bais hamidrash had been established in

77ie Jewish Observer/ May, 1975 15 line of distinction drawn in the Yiddish press between the seminary graduates and the musmachim of his yeshiva. In 1906 Rabbi Klein formed the Semicha Board of the institution together with Rabbi M .z. Margolies and Rabbi S. Wien. Under their supervision the first stu­ dents of the yeshiva, and perhaps the first tatmidim to be ordained on American soil, received semicha that year. Rabbi Klein resigned from his position as president of the yeshiva in 1908, but remained one of the yeshiva's masmichim until his death. In that capacity he was responsible for assigning a host of rabbis, both Euro­ pean immigrants and native Americans, to positions all over the United States.

Tzeddaka Campaigns SOME OF RABBI KLEIN'S greatest achievements were in the field of tzeddaka. In 1914 the first World War broke out, enveloping most of Europe. The main Jewish pop­ ulation centers ran along the Russian-German and Russian-Austrian borders, which became the most heavily contested battlefields. Old established com­ munities and yeshivas were uprooted. The Jewish pop­ ulation of entire regions fled into the interiors of their countries, and those that did remain were subject to im­ poverishment and persecution by constantly advancing and retreating armies. The yeshivas suffered most, for they were deprived of their means of support, and the future of Torah learning in Europe hung in the balance. Realizing that something had to be done, Rabbi Rabbi Klein's shul, once on Norfolk Street on the lower East Side Klein, together with other Orthodox activists and rab­ (Insert), moved uptown to //6th Street in Harlem (above). bis, organized the Central Relief Committee to aid the suffering Jews of Europe by raising large sums of money. Rabbi Klein was careful to set up this organiza­ 1896 on the Lower East Side. Rather than educate tion with only Orthodox supporters. He thus was able to Americans, it provided further Torah study for Euro­ direct funds and food supplies to the responsible rab­ pean yeshiva boys who had immigrated to the United bonim and community leaders in war-torn Europe, States. These tatmidim would eventually receive semicha rather than to anti-religious elements who would have (ordination) and serve as rabbis in their new country. used the shipments for their own purposes. In this man­ The financial burden of this yeshiva was crushing, es­ ner he was also able to channel a substantial share of the pecially for the masses of poor immigrants who were the money to the European yeshivas. Eventually the only potential supporters for a European yeshiva in this secularists set up their own relief organizations, but it country. Thus the yeshiva had no permanent quarters, should be noted that Rabbi Klein and his colleagues and moved from shut to shut on the Lower East Side. were the first workers in this field. Ultimately the Rabbi Klein agreed to serve as president of the various relief organizations consolidated to form the yeshiva in 1902. He recognized the yeshiva's need for a Joint Distribution Committee. Rabbi Klein was able to building of its own to maintain its dignity and optimum maintain his influence on the JDC and assure that a fair function. He thus immediately launched a building cam­ share of aid was sent to Orthodox circles. paign fund, and by 1904 the yeshiva purchased a Rabbi Klein continued to exert this influence on the building on the Lower East Side. Rabbi Klein JDC after the war as well, dispatching much financial simultaneously led a campaign to clearly establish that aid to help the European yeshivas in their reconstruc­ the Jewish Theological Seminary was not a yeshiva, or tion. He was particularly active on behalf of the for that matter an Orthodox institution at all. By this Hungarian yeshivas, devoting time and effort to his time, the Seminary had strayed from its Torah-true former yeshiva in Pressburg. Without Rabbi Klein's course, and it was necessary to publicize this - especia­ work, the existence of the yeshivas in Lithuania, Poland, ly since it had been an Orthodox establishment but a Czechoslovakia, and Hungary would have been decade before. Rabbi Klein succeeded in having a clear precarious indeed.

The Jewish Observer I May, 1975 '1 Rabbi Klein was also actively interested in the Old Yishuv in Eretz Yisroel. In 1892, Rabbi Klein joined a A CALL FOR TORAH STUDY number of prominent Jewish figures, including the Join the hundreds of Chaverim in the USA, Israel Orthodox newspaper publisher, Kasriel Sarasohn, in and other parts of the world who now enjoy an extra forming the Agudas Hakehillos Letziyon - to unite all spiritual dimension in Jewish living by learning three activity in this country on behalf of the old Yishuv. Rab­ halachas and/or two mishnas and/or the weekly sedra bi Klein headed the (Hungarian) Kole! Shomrei every day 1wr.ii ;i7,7:i ;i;m:i po1im 7~ Hachomos in Eretz Yisroel until his death. He regarded 'l p;~ C":ir.i-,7 n"n m~?;i - C1':i ;on ?w t:>in ,,i,ll his activity on behalf of the kolel as a serious obligation, You will gain respect and love from your family and working late into the night, signing receipts and answer­ become an inspiration to your friends. ing correspondence so money would not be spent on Ask for your free lu 'ach from secretarial help. These arduous activities eventually led to serious eye trouble which necessitated an eye opera­ CHARLES M. BAIT, Chairman tion. MISHNA AND HALACHA YOMIT Rabbi Klein also helped found Ezras Torah, a much­ 16 Tobey Road / Bloomfield, Conn. 06002 needed fund devoted entirely to supporting Torah scholars in Europe during and after World War I. He Remember the lent his full efforts and prestige to Ezras Torah, serving fantastic record, as treasurer for fully ten years. J.E.P. SINGS The American Agudist REACHOUT? IN 1918 A DELEGATION of great Torah leaders, including Could anything Rabbi Aaron Walkin of Pinsk and Rabbi Dr. Meir be greater? Hildesheimer of Berlin came to New York. A second delegation, with Rabbi Hildesheimer, Rabbi Meir Don Plotzki and Dr. N. Birnbaum followed in 1920. These YOU BET! delegations were warmly received by Rabbi Klein, but nearly all prominent rabbis and lay leaders in the United States were followers of the Mizrachi movement, with only one exception, Rabbi Klein. Indeed Rabbi Klein was appointed president of the newly founded American branch of Agudath Israel, a position he retained until his death. Unfortunately, the time was not yet ripe for an Agudah branch in America. The attempt ended in failure and Rabbi Klein's demise closed the episode. Until his death Rabbi Klein remained the spiritual leader of Congregation Ohab Zedek. When he was in­ stalled as rabbi there in 1890, this shul was located on Norfolk Street on the Lower East Side. Later the con­ gregation moved to I 16th Street in the then fashionable Jewish neighborhood of Harlem. From I 909 to 1922 Rabbi Klein had as his assistant rabbi the well known, native born American baa/ teshuva, Rabbi Dr. Bernard • Hearttugging Jewish Melodies Drachman. During this same period, the famous Yos­ • Inspiring English-language Lyrics sele Rosenblatt served as the shu/'s chazan. • Superb Adult & Children Choir • Ten Outstanding Soloists Rabbi Klein died on March 21, 1926, leaving a solid All proceeds to JEP record of Jewish achievement in this country. At the (Zeirei Agudath Israel Reach-Out Program) time of his death he was honorary president of the Agudas Harabonim, president of Agudath Israel of ...... Order Form ...... America, treasurer of Ezras Torah, the nasi of Kole! Send $4.00 to: J.E.P. RECORDS Shomrei Hachomos in Jerusalem and vice-president of 425 East 9th Street Brooklyn, N.Y. 11218 the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of Enclosed please find $ ...... for ...... records. America. One can whole-heartedly agree with the Yid­ dishe Tageblatt's eulogy: "There was practically not one Name ...... important thing done in New York in the last thirty-five Address ...... years foreign to Horav Klein." IX City ...... State, Zip ......

The Jewish Observer / May, 1975 17 SIYUM7 JEWRY & TALMUD DAF YOMI

THE Anatomy of Jewry-When the First Knessia TEACH Me to Number My Days - We are today Gedola (International Congress of the Agudath Israel celebrating the Siyum of Maseches Zevachim, according in Vienna, 1923) launched the "Oaf Yomi" Program to the Oaf Y omi schedule. whereby Jews all over the world Six years ago one may have study the same page of Gemora viewed the Oaf Yomi proposal as every day, it bestowed upon Kial visionary, but today it has been Yisroe/ one of the Movement's converted into a vibrant reality. greatest legacies. In my travels to every corner of the world, I have encountered When the idea first struck me, Oaf Yomi study groups in every it suggested a unifying symbol for single place that I visited. We the broad cross-section of Jewry cannot assess the value of the represented here: Jews of all 100-200,000 dapim of Gemora walks of life, all streams, all man­ studied daily as it fills the vast ners and customs. The Gemora void of ignorance that prevails to­ relates how Adam Harishon was day - and the staggering amount created: His head was formed that it reaches when we multiply from the earth of Eretz Yisroel, the one quarter of a million Oaf his body from Babylon, the rest Y omi adherents by the two thou­ of his limbs from the other lands sand two hundred forty four of the Earth. G-d refrained from pages of the Gemora that have molding the father of mankind been covered since the program's from the dust of one specific area inception. to avoid endowing him with a one-sided personality. Every nation, every cultural group, dates its calendar from the So has it been in the recording time of its founding. Only the of the Oral Law: its head - the Jewish people mark its days by Mishna - was compiled in the the portion of the Torah, such as Holy Land; its body - the "the fifth day to the week of Ki Talmud - was written in Seitzeh," when that is the portion Since Rav Meir Shapiro, '?"~!in­ Babylon; the rest of its limbs - of the week. In this way we the commentaries and codes of troduced Oaf Yomi half a cen­ demonstrate that our lives are Rashi, Rambam, the Tosfos, tury ago, Jews the world over structured by the Torah and sub­ Maharsha, and Maharam - have been studying the same jugated to its rule. Nowadays, were each composed in different page of Gemora, one page per when the words of Torah are lands: the Provence, Spain and day, completing the entire ridiculed at every opportunity in Egypt, France, Hungary, and the Jewish streets, how ·much Poland. Talmud every seven-plus years. more imperative is it for us to This June 23 (Tammuz 14), will demonstrate that we have but one Here, too, with us today are mark the completion of the law, and that we are as much sub­ representatives of various seventh Oaf Yomi Cycle of jugated to the authority of the national groups, all united with Talmud. In honor of the occa­ Oral Law as we are to the Written one overriding ambition: Law. This is the underlying theme strengthening and enhancing sion, we quote Rav Shapiro on of numbering our days by Oaf Torah. Students and laymen led Oaf Yomi: Yomi pages. by venerable sages who are ignoring consideration of health, forgetting limitations of time, here to head this undertaking dedicated to the dissemination of Torah. -from remarks made at the Second Knessia Gedo/a, in Vienna, /929. The Chofetz Chaim: on Oaf Yomi "In rhe World to Come, each Jew is honored for the measure of Torah he has studied. They call out:WELCOME TO THE MAN WHO STUDIED When R' Meir Shapiro visited Radin, the Chafetz Chaim told him: MESECHTES B'ROCHOS:WELCOME TO THE MAN WHO STUDIED MESECHTES "l am especially fond of you-and why?-,because of the Daf Yon1i. SHABBOS! Each one sits on a seat engraved with the name of the mesechta You have to your credit a tremendous achievement, and In Heaven they which he learned. are pleased with your efforts. You should know that there-in the' World "Until now, many of the seat.s were empty; people studied only certain of Truth'-man i"s not honored for his good deeds nearly as much os he i.~ ntesechios, neglecting others. But now, thanks to you, ail the seats are honored for his study of Torah. being filled, and what joy there is in Heaven!"

18 The Jewish Observer / May, 1975 DAF YOMJ "WHO KNOWS . . " SIYUM 7

"ONE of my first memories of my dear mother, finds her can never be recovered .... And who knows what rocking my cradle and humming softly to me the tomorrow may bring .... Maybe the salary we arranged traditional lullaby: "Learn, my son, learn Torah/ For for him is not ample .... True, in our times, this too is a Torah is better than all other korbon (sacrifice), but for a Torah merchandise." so vast, this is but a small korbon. Of course, it is not that I ac­ And who knows ...." tually remember this scene, but And again her eyes flooded that, instinctively, I know that with tears . ... this was how it was. More than The tears of my beloved that, I can actually sense this mother were not in vain. That memory with all my being! It very same day, my melamed, Reb could not have been otherwise ... Sholom of Sainted Memory, ar­ What I do remember, however, rived and it was from him that I are the words she told me at the learned Torah for the next six occasion of my first Chumash years. To all who knew him, Reb Derosha. "Learn and I will yet be Sholom exemplified I1~K7r.i '1lll1JI zocheh to hear your derosha of i'IJ1r.ix:i 'i - one who does the Rabbanus." labor of Hashem with And when, after 16 years, I faithfulness. Indeed the tears of became Rav of Gali ne, I "I envy the Lubliner Rav," a my mother were not in vain. delivered my first speech as its Gadol of his generation was THOSE selfsame tears and es­ Rav, she reminded me of her heard to remark, "for being the p ec i a 11 y the words of my words. initiator of the Oaf Yomi. mother-"for a Torah so vast, No other request did she de­ this is a korbon too small" mand of us. Her one constant Imagine, all those pages of awakened a similar echo in the desire was that we should go in Gemora, studied by thousands heart of my grandfather, Rav the ways of the Torah and im­ of individuals, each day, the Shmuel Yitzchok Schor. How merse ourselves in its way of Life. world over - all those pages are these words reached him, I do not EVEN today, before my eyes to his credit-the Z'chus of Rav know till this very day. Yet I appears a scene from my Meir Shapiro." remember that in the year 1900 childhood. I was but 7 years old when I travelled with my mother at the time and it was the day The germination of the Oaf to Minestrich, to study Torah after Isru Chag Pesach, 1894. Yomi, the masterminding of a from my grandfather, he glanced Entering my home, I found my project of such immense at my small slight frame, and mother sitting engrossed in her turned to my mother, asking thoughts, her face reflecting wor­ proportions-where did it all quizzically, "A Torah so large and rv. I could hear her murmuring to begin? In a speech delivered by a korbon so small'" To which my herself, "A day that passes will Rav Meir Shapiro himself, we mother promptly responded. never return again, And who gain an inkling of under­ "This koton- this small one­ knows . .. ," she continued. "A standing, a glimmer of insight will yet be a gado/I" Torah so vast and Korbonos so sm­ THE wisdom of my mother's all. .. Who knows . .. Who knows . . into what may have been its words have accompanied me all .. " And when she saw me, tears beginning. These are his words: my life and serve as guideposts welled up in her eyes. for me until this very day .... "Mother," I entreated tearfully." Tell me, please' When I came to spread the idea of a Oaf Yomi, I What happened?" would often quote her words, "Each day that passes Slowly, she unfolded the story to me. Long before without the learning of Torah is a loss that can never be Pesach, a melamed was engaged for me, from the city of recovered.'' Sachistov, a G-d-fearing Jew and a renowned ta/mid And when I would go from city to city to enroll stu­ chochom. A salary of 300 rubles was agreed upon per dents for Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin, I would once term, in addition to providing for all his needs. And here again quote her timely words. "And in our times, it was, already two days after Pesach and no word from whatever we give is a korbon, but, for a Torah so vast, him, no reply from Sachistov. each korbon is but too small." "Do you know, my son," my mother ended, "each day that goes by without the learning of Torah is a loss that And who knows .... Who knows .... "

The Jewish Obsen•er I May. 1975 19 I TALAT

We are a movement-and we are moving on a wide front. So much more is yet to be done and we can't do it ourselves. We need more people, more ideas-we need you. Let us introduce you to TaLaT with a brief description of our activities. But before we do, let us say this: This is an age of movements-for civil rights, for peace, for ecology, for jobs, for government There is a thirst for Torah and Torah values that programs, for everything. The finest ideas find that can hardly be imagined until one actively goes out their time has not come unless they can in their into the towns, settlements, youth clubs, hostels way, find their way into both the minds and where too many people have felt for too long that hearts - one is not enough - of men. The power of Torah cannot thrive. We are wanted. We are media and public relations techniques to merchan· needed. We are a movement. We are on the move. dise candidates, corn flakes, and cars has been Kollelim - twenty· five new pins are dotting the Torah amply proven. map of Israel. Ten families in each Kollel are es· Surely no movement has a cause as worthy as tablish!ng Torah communities far from the strongholds ours. But are we a movement? Let's honestly ask of Jerusalem and B'nai Brak. ourselves some blunt questions: Metivtot - new fronts in the struggle for Torah zeroing D How much are we doing to bring Torah to in on children of junior high school age, winning them Jews and Jews to Torah? for secondary yeshiva education - the children who would otherwise be lost to Torah. D How effectively are we bringing Torah to new settlements in Israel? Youth - social and educational activities for religious and non·religious children - the groundwork that br­ D How well are we touching immigrants to Israel ings back children who used to be written off. with the wand of Judaism? Neve Yerushalayim Seminary - for young women, D How vigorously are we responding to the most of them university graduates groping their way to hundreds of young college students who are grop­ Judaism. A superior institution geared to serious, intel­ ing for a Torah answer to the ills of modern society? lectual, intelligent, and dedicated people. We of TaLaT in Israel have asked ourselves these Segev - a project best described as saturation for questions. Who are we? We are Americans, Torah. A Kolle!, and yeshiva gedola, a metivta, a sum· Englishmen, Europeans, and, of course, Israelis and we mer camp, and community action - all in a Galilee set· are all committed to finding and implementing tlement that is being transformed into a Torah answers-positively, effectively. Our response is TaLaT stronghold. - Tnuah L'hafatzat Torah - the Movement for the Immigrants - human tragedies or human resources Spread of Torah. - newcomers to Israel, especially from Russia, can be either. TaLaT helps in countless ways. Zarkor - TaLaTs children's magazine providing desperately needed reading material for a constantly growing circulation of religious and nonreligious youngsters. Talat is represented by Rabbi Raphael Brenner who recently arnved from Israel to open the Talat American office. There is an interesting 20 minute Audio/Visual presentation perfectly suited for organizations, schools, adult groups, etc. Available upon request.

Horav Chaim Schmu/evitz (standing), Rosh Hayeshiva of Mir­ Jerusa/em, and Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem Horav Betzalel Zolty (left}, TAIAT addressing an assembly of all TaLaT Kolle/ Members at an all-day 220 Fifth Avenue/ New York, 10001 convention in the Reb Yochanan Ben Zakai Synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem. (212) 889-5430 ~~'7"'"~~~~~-,-~~~~~~_,_~...,.,,,.~~~~~~~~ NEW BOOKS second looks FROM FELDHEIM

Moses Maimonides' jewish scene Commentary on the Mishna: at the translated into English by Dr. Fred Rosner. The book contains: 1) The first English rendition of Ram­ bam's famous "Introduction to the Mishna_" in which he deals in his masterful way with the Revelation at They Marchedfor Shabbos Sinai, the transmission of the Oral Law down to Talmudic Times, the nature of It was common in Europe for a "Jewish," he who willfully violates prophecy and the types of law in the Mishna. community representative, such as the Shabbos in public has put himself 2) A translation of Pirush Hamishna­ shamos, to alert the people to the ap­ beyond the pale. yot L'Ho'Rambam on Masechet Be­ proach of Shabbos. In later times, rachot. when unfortunately Sabbath desecra­ The American Scene With notes, glossary and index tion had become less rare, the rav $8.95 would address himself to those who THE SPECIAL PLACE OF Shabbos in the Hfe of the individual Jew and of had ignored the Shabbos's arrival, Medical Ethics: pleading with them to close their the community as a whole has impelled many to bring the cause of A compendium of Jev.iish moral, ethical places of business. and religious principles in medical prac­ Shabbos observance into the street tice. Edited by Rabbi Moshe D. Once, when the Chafetz Chaim was to urge those lax in its observance to visiting Vilna, he approached a Jew to Tendler. Fifth edition. Paperback. become more faithful to its laws and $8.95 close his business for the Shabbos. spirit. Very annoyed, the merchant had the sainted rabbi arrested for harrass­ Several weeks ago, a representa­ Chapters of the Fathers: tion of a broad cross-section of the Hebrew text of Pirke Avoth, English ment. Several of his students rushed translation and commentary by Rabbi to the local precinct to arrange for Orthodox community of the Flat­ bush section of Brooklyn joined in a Samson Raphael Hirsch. their rebbe' s release. $3.50 Shabbos Walk-A-Thon. The Young They arrived before the authorities Israel, the Yeshivas Rabbi Chaim Ethics From Sinai: had an opportunity to jail the rabbi. Berlin and Mir, the Agudath Israel The disciples expressed relief that by Irving M. Bunim. An eclectic wide­ branches, a number of shuls and their teacher was spared the indignity ranging commentary on Pirke Avoth. shtibelach - rabbis and con­ of sitting in prison. Three volumes. Cloth-$25.00 gregants, roshei yeshiva and stu­ Paperback-$12.50 Said the Chafetz Chaim: "In­ dents, men, women and children - dignity' On the contrary! I've always 3,000 people in all, marched along a The Baal Shem Tov on Pirke searched for ways to express my love route that wound through the Avoth: for Shabbos. Imagine if I could have Avenue J commercial area. Some Every passage that illuminates the sat in jail for my loyalty to Shabbos!" people were singing zemiros, others words of our Sages in Pirke Avoth has chatted, some just looked straight been culled, gathered, arranged and MORE THAN ANY OTHER mitzvos, translated by Rabbi Charles honoring the Shabbos is an act of ahead. But all were wondering what Wengrow. textimony to the Creation - ''a sign type of effect this would have on the $7.50 between Me and the Children of merchants who were staring through Israel that I fashioned the Heaven their glass store-fronts at the endless We have a large selection of old and Earth in six days, and on the procession. Judaica and Hebraica. seventh I rested ...."Thus, Sabbath Sound trucks and leaflets had an­ Philipp Feldheim, Inc. observance unto itself is an accepted nounced the parade in advance. A The House of the Jewish Book criterion for fidelity to Torah. Per­ provisional directory of establish­ 96 East Broadway formance of any other mitzvos, or ments closed on Saturday was New York, New York 10002 Jack of it, can be interpreted as an published. Letters to individual Feldheim Publishers, Ltd. exception to the overall rule es­ shop-keepers were being mailed the 39 RechovTachkemoni tablished by Shabbos conduct: One following day - letters that spoke Jerusalem, Israel who keeps Shabbos faithfully is courage and offered support, both

The Jewish Observer / May. 1975 21 financial and moral, to those who in the neighborhood. Some are "Speaking to the shop-keepers is would take the vital step to Sabbath customers. others could be. And they usually most fruitful. Years ago, in observance. Could this campaign care enough to march for the kovod of Williamsburg, two of my colleagues make a dent in their ingrained pat­ Shabbos. This march mainly served and I would visit stores on tern of Shabbos desecration? to create a climate of interest. We Havemeyer Street during weekdays. then put our greatest hope in the I don't believe in directly con­ We live in a democratic society, follow-up of individual visits. But fronting a man on a person-to­ where a permissive atmosphere sometimes we're surprised. A beauty person basis while he is violating the prevails and everyone tends to pur­ parlor and a hardware store on the Shabbos. Our first step was a local sue his or her own goals consistent parade route closed before we could shoe store. The proprietor shouted: with that person's chosen life-style. even call on them .... One of our 'What? Me close on Shabbos? Now?' How meaningful can a parade or a organizers received a telephone call Then he invited us in and com­ public demonstration for Shabbos from a neighborhood dry cleaner a plained softly that for years no one observance be? Aren't today's week after the Walk-A-Thon. The even approached him to close on sophisticated moderns put off by cleaner said that he was willing to Shabbos. such a fundamentalist approach? take the chance of closing on Satur­ " 'True, but now we're speaking Rabbi Elchonon Teitz, of days: Twenty years ofchillul Shabbos about next Shabbos. Isn't it time?'" Congregation Ahavas Torah, presi­ - he now realizes how wrong it was . . " 'Yes, yes •.' he replied. dent of the Council for Shabbos .. His grandfather had been a rabbi Observance was among the leaders in a famous shut on the East Side. " 'Then why did you shout at us?' of the Walk-A-Thon. He com­ - But would we promise to let the asked one of my friends. mented: "The parade seemed to set people know that he's becoming " 'So my neighbors won't wonder merchants thinking - there are ac­ Shomer Shabbos to compensate for what got into me after all these tually thousands of Shomrei Shabbos the lost day's income .... years. Let them know that it was your visit that pushed me .... But it MEMBER FDIC could have happened ten years ago, too.' " Why didn't you come before? Boro Pilrk Office That is the most frequent complaint 5003 - 13th Avenu€ we hear." Brooklyn, N.Y

-..;: One Who Marched Announcing the Community National Bank's FABULOUS FIFTIES ACCOUNT! "A LUMBER SUPPLIER who was open Complete free checking for depositors 55 or over. on Shabbos right in the middle of the Complete trust and estate services Jewish district of Munich - he was Full banking services, including checking and savings accounts the first merchant I approached. Convenient Banking Hours: And he responded. Since then I've Monday - Wednesday: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. never hesitated to present the case of Thursday: 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday: 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Shmiras Shabbos to a Yid who, lo VALUABLE PRIZES DURING GRAND OPENING oleinu, stays open on Shabbos." The speaker was Reb ltche FIRST PRIZE: Win a Round-Trip Meyer, a Jew of Polish birth who for Two to Miami Beach Florida pleaded with merchants and shop­ ~~-;Y Coup:;-1 and a Week Vacation at the Carrib­ pers to change their habitual pat­ bean Hotel (before Nov. 15). Arranged by tern, with rabbis and lay leaders to I Fill out and deoosit ( •., =• I Perfect Trauel, Inc. cooperate with him, and with as­ in Prize Deposit Box in Bank. I SECOND PRIZE: Win a Zenith 19" semblies of Jews to join him - Name Color 'IV (in a Handsome Grained pioneering Shabbos marches and in­ I Walnut Cabinet) dividual counseling over the years in I Address I THIRD PRIZE: Win a Zenith Al- the East New York, Crown Heights, legro AM/FM Stereo, with an 8· and now Flatbush communities of City I Track Tape Player with 2 speakers (in Brooklyn. I State/Zip Wood Grained Walnut Color) "At first I was simply shocked at GRAND OPENING the extent of chillul Shabbos here in America, even among so-called ne NOW THROUGH JUNE 27 t: --- =J______, religious Jews. I spoke to the old 22 The Jewish Observer .Vay, 1975 Kopishnitzer Rebbe il:l,:J7 i',,::i i::it , Shabbos morning, then stations that handkerchief. -Here, I'll show and he insisted that I organize peo­ himself near a large super market. you how to •wear' it.'' ple into communal action. More He doesn't harrass or annoy "Shouldn't you skip buying the recently, his late son 7"YT con­ anyone. Just stops a woman pushing stantly gave me advise and en­ a shopping cart and asks her if she paper today? After all, it is Shab­ couragement, and I did my best to couldn't shop Fridays instead. She bos." follow it. asks why, gets an answer, and The response is startlingly "We're not out to annoy people. promises to think about it. positive. After all, the man has If they tell us to mind our own Sometimes she turns around and nothing in mind but the other business, we just walk away. But goes home without completing the person's welfare. . . . And then usually people listen, and somehow trip. again, should all Jewry keep two the mood is more responsive to our Reb ltche Meyer stops a sur­ consecutive Shabbosos. M oshiach pleas than ever before." prisingly large number of shul-goers: would be with us, and then wouldn't Reb ltche Meyer davens early on "You really shouldn't be carrying we all be the beneficiaries? !..T,

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The Jewish Ohserver / May, 1975 23 11 Borrowed'' Symbols

The tale is told of an old aristocratic 9 I will contrubute all moneys saved lady whose house was burglarized. from fasting and/ or non-meat con­ Her greatest loss was a set of sumption to the UAHC hunger heirloom linens. campaign. The next day she passed a burly -All very lovely, but something of fellow making a delivery to a an impossible social burden for the Adopt A Special Child neighboring home. As he stopped to frail "bread of affliction" to carry, Jewish children with handi· rest from his load, he mopped his in addition to its intended "kavana­ caps need warm. loving Orth· brow with a familiar-looking piece of load" of the Egyptian slavery ex­ odox homes to give them a cloth. The dowager peered over her perience, the Exodus and Redemp­ fair chance in life. Can you glasses at the porter:" Young man," tion, and the symbol of unleavened provide a permanent home she said sternly, "that Irish damask is humility as the touchstone of per­ for such a child? to be used only for formal dinner set­ sonal redemption. For further inform~tion call: tings, not to blot your perspiration!" A harder look at the matzoh­ (212) 851-6300 p ledge will reveal even more adulterating ingredients: TORAH AND MITZVOS belong to all Jews. There is no club whose "Meatless days" and "a fast-day members are sole proprietors over in addition to Yom Kippur." These this heritage. But there are rules and might seem like social-consciousness guidelines regarding interpretation covers for traditional Jewish ac­ and application of Torah teachings tivities - opportunities to initiate and mitzva performance, and it is ex­ Reform Jews into the Nine Days of tremely painful to see this heritage Mourning that mark the destruction 4907-1Sth Ave. "borrowed"from its intended pur­ of the Holy Temple, when one ab­ stains from meat, and the Fast of the Brooklyn, N.Y. 11204 pose and misused. Ninth of Av. As a matter of fact, the (212) 851-6300 Pesach ushers in a season replete UAHC Commission on Social Ac­ "The only professional with fourth matzos, fifth cups of tion considered the possibility and child care agenc_y uttder wine, extra questions, and third then rejected it because the touch of Orthodox Jewish Auspices seder nights. Jewish particularism which these in the U,S.A. ". Some of these absconded symbols days denote would destroy the uni­ pass from the mind like so much versalism of this plea for Social sour wine down the drain, but some Conscience, - thus they are get stuck in the throat and just "tending the vineyards of others refuse to go away. while neglecting our own." For one, the Commission on Nonetheless, part of the poor Social Action of the (Reform) matzoh's burden .... Why must a Union of America Hebrew national heirloom be messed up by Congregations distributed a matzoh using it to blot chemical fertilizer? imprinted "Pledge of Conscience," which includes, among other choice * * * * crumbs: THE PESA CH FEST!V AL of liberation 8 I will eat at least one-third less is culminated by the Shavuos holiday beef and designate at least two of Receiving the Torah, with the days each week as meatless days. theme of "It is a tree of life to those who grasp it." This passage, which 9 I will not use chemical fertilizer for is recited when the Torah scrolls are non-food purposes (lawns, etc.) returned to the Ark, is often lovingly 9 I will observe at least one fast day embroidered onto Torah covers and each year, in addition to Yorn Kip­ Ark-curtains. It has also found its pur. way onto the JNF certificates that 9 I will have my household pets record the planting of a tree in spayed or nutered. Israel.

24 The Jewish Observer/ May, 1975 Now, planting trees in the Holy They would have turned to the schools available in her Land is a worthwhile enterprise in JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMMIT­ neighborhood. For recreational ac­ its own right - who is to deny it? TEE (JDC) in Moab for assistance. tivities, her children would attend But why, in heaven's name, must it Through the JEWISH AGENCY they the local "Y." be peddled with the motto that was would have been flown to Israel, put All the agencies mentioned applied to Torah study and its sup­ up in an absorption center for new above-among others-are sup­ port by the author of those words, olim where they would have stayed ported and maintained by our con­ King David? Why can't the care of for months, being processed, learn­ tribution to the UJA-Federation Joint descriptive phrases of Torah be left ing Hebrew and ad1usting to their Campaign. to those who most identify with the new surroundings. The JEWISH Just a few questions: In the Ulpan mesora (heritage)? AGENCY also would have sought at the absorption center in Israel, housing for them, and Naomi, an where Ruth would "have been elderly woman, might have entered * * * * processed" would she have learned a MALBEN institution for necessary SHA vuos IS ALSO the festival when the 613 mitzvos, as she did from care. Ruth, after marrying Boaz and the Book of Ruth is read. As the Naomi" With Naomi safely stashed bearing a son, might enroll him N. Y. Federation-affiliated Board of away in an old-age facility, who either in an ORT (ORGANIZATION Jewish Education noted in a would have directed Ruth to Boaz" . FOR REHABILITATION) teaching bulletin,there are a number .. Without the opening of fields to THROUGH TRAINING) school to of lessons regarding charity and the poor, how would Ruth have met learn a trade or in a UJA academic communal responsibility implicit in him" ... And which Jewish Family high school. the story of Ruth, from the evasion Service counselor would have al­ of Elimelech and his family of their Had they elected to settle in the lowed Ruth to marry such an old responsibility of helping others dur­ United States, they would have man? . . i1ow would Naomi have ing the famine in Israel, to Boaz's been aided by the UNITED HIAS been available to care for their child befriending Ruth while she picked SERVICE (HIAS) and the NEW Oveid: "And Naomi carried the "forgotten sheaves" in the YORK ASSOCIATION FOR NEW child at her bosom and she cared for kinsman's field. AMERICANS (NYANA). Naomi him. And the neighbors said. "A might have been placed in one of In "A Discussion and Program child has been born to Naomi"' Federation's six homes for the aged. Guide for Pupils and Teachers,"the (Ruth IV: 16,17). pamphlet recognizes that ""we see Ruth might have turned to the "Turning to the N. Y. Board of that harvest time for our ancestors NEW YORK BOARD OF RABBIS Rabbis for spiritual guidance"' - •vas not merely an occasion/or rejoic­ for spiritual guidance and clarifica­ imagine the liberating experience for ing but an opportunity to practice tion of her religious status. After Ruth if Board-member Rabbi Sally tzedaka. The farmers' natural feel­ marrying Boaz and giving birth to a Preisand is her counselor or any ings of thanksgiving were to be son, she could have turned to the other Reform member, for that mat­ translated into concrete acts of social BOARD OF JEWISH EDUCATION ter, when she petitions for "'clarifica­ responsibility.'' tor information on the religious tion of her religious status"': Would If the message were to be brought up to date for any social comment, it could perhaps contrast person-to­ RABBI JOZEF KATZ \I.\ R K LOH"' GER person tzedaka.where both the giver 83 Division A venue BrookJyn, !:'i. Y. 11211 and the recipient are gratified and enriched from the exchange, with OF the modern-day impersonal giving of alms and corporate disbursement of funds. Efficient, perhaps, but not as personally enriching as it should be. ALL LEADl"1C IfoTELs BA:--;QuET ll..\.LLs The BJ E takes on a different task, A."llD JEWISH CE:-.ITERS AVAILABLE pushing the charity style of its spon­ soring agency - the N.Y. Federa­ tion of Philanthropies. And we quote: 388-4204 388-3590 863-8892

Had Ruth and rNaomi lived in to­ • ('aterer for Agudath Israel ('onventions and Dinners • day's world, their story might have been recorded in this fashion:

The Jewish Observer/ May, 1975 25 they require her to accept the Then, after enrolling Oveid in an authority of a personal-and­ "ORT school" or in a UJA universal Deity and His mitzvos, academic high school, or - in the when they themselves do not? Who, US scenario - in a BJE religious in their book, is a Jew, and how? school, and registering him in the local "Y": are these the training One of grounds from which the father of WORLD'S LARGEST Weddings· Bar· Mitzvahs Jesse and King David will emerge? CAMERA STORES USA./ Israel i1::!C' iDH!' Never mind the computerized, Wall Street initial-studded federated philanthropies. Take me back to Camera Exchange "the days when the jud; "s judged," Complete Line of Cameras and the heritage was practiced in its and Photo Supplies PHOT::;§!~i 111111111 pristine purity. And if the time-trip 82 Wall Street ZELMAN STUDIOS is denied me, at least let me ap­ New York, N. Y. 623 CORT£L YOU ROAD preciate the present through the Telephone: WH 4-0001 (OFF OCEAN .P!! • 11\H llA'.\!E:'iliC!IOT v Moderate enough for your company A:-ID AIL cnn:n:RIES TN ISRAEL controller ... RIVERSIDE onlv ran offt>r 1hi~ ~('rvi<'e V Kosher enough for the most observant Enroute to Israel within 24 hours Jew ... • Strirt adher('nce to H;.ilarha and :rtfinhaJ!im. Arrani::rment~ m:idt' durinr: liff"tin1e with no ohlii:::ition. v Big enough for meetings, affairs and Chapel ~!"cured in anv ron1munity. conferences . . . v Intimate enough for that special occasion ... RIVERSIDE v . . . and offering Free Parking/ Memorial Chapel, Inc. • Funeral Directors MANHATTAN· 76th St at Amsterdam Ave. - EN 2-6600. :fr SR:OOKL YN: Ocean P'way at Prospect Park' - UL 4.2000 BRONX: Grand Councourse at !79th Stree~ · LU 3-6300 WESTCHESTER: 2! West Broad Street, Mt. Vernon (914) MO 4-6800 ~n,alt FAR ROCKAWAY: 1250 Central Avenue FA 7-7100 IS COMING SOON! SOLOMONChaoels inSHOULSON MIA~AI and MIAMI BEACH ANDREWJE 1-1151 FIER Watch this paper for opening date. For infonnation call 591-5110 On the Island it's still ~ERUS.m.E@sf Specializing in Szechuan, Hawaiian and Cantonese Jewtah and American dellcaclea TRADITION PERSONNEL - HCUC 73-14 Parsons Blvd. (cor. Klssena Blud.) I Kew Gardens Hills. N. Y. 11365 Call 591-5110 for travel directions "At Your Service With All Your Employment Needs" GlAlT KOSHER UnderS..pe,.; .. on o/Vud Harabonlrn of Queens Need A Shomer Shabbos Job? 10% Discoun Saturday night in June, July and August Looking For A Shomer Shabbos Person? For Fast, Efficient and Courteous Service 18 W. 45th St., New York, N. Y. 10036 • 563-3994

26 The Jewish Observer i .May, 1975 AN INVITATION TO ASPIRING BNEITORAH

O Are you an eighth grader graduating Yeshiva this year? Perhaps you are in a Mesivta High School or Bais Medrash looking for "SOMETHING" more? O We extend to you an invitation to spend a Shabbos with us (transportation provided). Be our guest and see for yourself the fine group of students who are striving for Torah heights. Ex­ perience for yourself an atmosphere of Varemkeit and "midos touos" in a total Torah environ­ ment. For reservations contact: Rabbi Avrohom Schindler (212) 828-6520 / (914) NEZ-6192 Yeshivah Hagdoia Ohr Hameir and Tifereth Israel High School Three Boulevard, New Rochelle, N. Y.10801 Applicants for the Semester starting Elul 5735 (September '75) interviewed by appointment only Secular Studies Program under the guidance of the renowned educator Julius Howard Gottesman RABBI ELOZAR KAHANOW RABBI ISRAEL KANAREK ROSH YESHNA ROSH YESHNA 100,000 RUSSIAN JEWS HAVE COME TO ISRAEL ••• . . . what are WE doing tor them? The Russian Jewish immigrants to Israel desperately need help to save them from losing their Yiddishkeit in a secular dominated society. As a matter of conscience we dare not permit the Russian Jews to suffer the same spiritual fate as the Sephardic Jews of earlier aliyos, where tens of thousands were lost from Yiddishkeit because so few cared. The Russian Immigrant Rescue Fund • building Torah Community Centers • establishing religious Ulpanlm • organizing Torah study groups RUSSIAN IMMIGRANT RESCUE FUND • creating special yeehlvoe for 5 Beekman Street I New York City 10038 immigrant youth Enclosed please find my donation of$ ...... to this • supporting special claHes for historic undertaking to spiritually save our Russian immigrant children brothers ·1n Israel. * engaging spiritual leaders for immigrant communities Name ... * publishing religious books and Address ..... Information in Ru11la City ...... State ...... Zip ..... * and more..• and more... and more.•. Contributions are tax deductible

The Jeit·ish Observer i May, 1975 27 How Not METIN to Win Visitors EIIAT, ISRAEL

meet.~000 YEARS AGO. El Al offers a tour to Israel for singles. It includes par• and ties, nightclubbing, dancing, and touring the land. Though we can't promise you'll meet a ~ Sheba or Solomon of your own, this much we can speculate: your "Singles Tour of Israel" ' Influence Settlers jusl might be the starl of something big...... ------' '

ISRAEL IS ANXIOUS for tourists to their concept of the ideal Israel, The Call to Aliya visit her cities and villages, spending promoting what they would believe THE ALIY A PROBLEM and its money generously. And she longs the would-be visitor seeks, too often misrepresentations can be much for new olim to settle, to bolster her ignoring the facts. more serious - by both failing to economy and enhance her security. For instance, the Tourist Ministry attract the best candidates for aliya To encourage visitors, Israel has a has been urging Americans to sam· and succeeding in winning the Ministry of Tourism, and to entice ple the sands of Eilat - as the worst. settlers she has a Department of Riviera of the Mid-East; to savor The post-Yorn Kippur War ex· Aliyah and a Ministry of Immigra­ Jerusalem - older than Rome and perience of these past two years has tion and Absorption. Both holy to all religions; to try the Tel demonstrated that any attraction enterprises are now in crisis.Aliya Aviv theater district - lively as toward a/iya other than kedushas has dipped from its past peak of London's, its night clubs as ha'aretz (sanctity of the land) can be 10,000 American and Canadian sophisticated as Paris's. . . .As short-lived. A secular nationalistic Jews four years ago to less than Agudah Knesset member Rabbi I. dream can, under pressure of events, 4,000 in 1974 - including some 103 M. Abramowitz pointed out in a become tarnished. After all, "My returning yordim. And tourist hotels Knesset debate on the matter, it is country right or wrong"has a great are desolate. Although the two self-defeating to sell Israel as the hold when "right" is much more fre­ agencies deal with somewhat dif­ London-Paris-Riviera-Rome of the quent than "wrong," but not when ferent clientele, the difficulties they Mid-East. Israel is further away every diplomatic tactic seems to be a encounter have common sources: from the U.S. than are the other blunder. And the attraction of a the ailing world economy and the "vacation spots," and thus more ex­ national homeland that offers a safe uneasy security situation in Israel. pensive to reach. Besides, London refuge in a tempest-tossed world can One cannot solve these two has Westminster Abbey and be rather tenuous when it proves to problems (or are they crises?) with Buckingham Palace, Paris has the be dead center of the tornado ... the stroke of an ad-writer's pen. But Eifel Tower and the Left Bank, the Olim, who long for freedom of the advantage of visiting Israel and Riviera has exciting casinos and choice and activity as a liberation settling there should be fertile Rome has the Coliseum. Israel's from the oppressively controlled enough fields for the tourist-poster main attraction is the fact that it is Soviet society are not always quick designers and aliya shlichim to Jewish, the ancestral homeland for to adjust to the Israeli combination develop without any serious 13 million Jews, the Holy Land. - of bureaucratic tangle and un­ problems. Why cloud the issue with dis­ directed free-enterprising labor tracting, distorting non-essentials market .... Threat of war and Inevitably, however, when the that are almost guaranteed not to economic instability take their image-molders step in, they project work? greatest toll among those who were

28 The Jewish Observer/ May, !975 motivated to aliya by considerations Anyone with the dimmest of Jews and feel proud that they are other than the kedusha factor. Even memories will recall t1'at the "Law Jews." Yehoshua Yadlin, Director of the of Return" em braced at! members Hauptman added: "Jews have Israeli Aliya Center in New York, of a "Jewish" family emigrating to always been outsiders. For the fir.t has admitted: Israel - even non-Jews - giving time in 2,000 years a Jew in Israel them all the privileges of instant can be a part of the majority "Of the people who actually leave citizenship and other concessions for Israel, we find that not only are culture, not through assimilation because "We are expecting a flood as in the diaspora but through the the great majority of families all of Jewish families from the USSR, Jewish, but even quite traditionally assertion and development of many of them intermarried, who Jewishness, to live as he or she Jewish as well. In other words, the have been suffering religious oppres­ decision to settle in Israel is made wants to live without being sion for half a century. Let us first programmed by another culture, to not only on the basis of Zionist ef­ give them a heroes' welcome and forts. It is the result of a deeper live as a human Jew and not have take care of technicalities (i.e. to choose between being a 'Jew' or commitment to the land, a commit­ halachic conversion) later." ment that antedates their response being a diffused human." Now this same lack of specificity to the booklets we send out and the The majority culture of is being applied to inter-married parlour meetings we organize." Diezengoff Square and the American Jews who deserted their secularization of the generations-old Israel could win its best olim when heritage in the freedom of American dream of aliya will not bring it is projected as the Holy Land. society! Yadlin's o/im of "deeper com­ Everything else is secondary - or In addition to the obvious mitment," nor will the prospect of hardly counts at all. duplicity of the rationale, this is joining a national assimilation (or You'd never suspect this from the precisely the wrong type of pitch to "normalization") trend do the trick. thrust of the aliya campaign being win the olim that Israel needs Unfortunately, the public relations carried out by shaliach Yehuda most. men seem to write copy by knee-jerk Kesten, on loan from his San Fran­ The attraction should be the sanc­ reaction, assuming that what brings cisco office to New York head­ tity of the land, and the opportunity vacationers to Florida (where quarters of the Israel Aliya Center to belong to those segments of everybody else is also a middle-class to direct Aliya Youth. Israeli society that seem to ap­ American Jew looking for an easy For one, his come-on is based on preciate this sanctity and live it out. sun-tan) will bring olim to Israel. bringing in "stars" such as Abba Unfortunately, this kedusha­ Don't they realize that they're fly­ Eban, Pinhas Sapir, and Moshe conscious community does not ing the wrong flag on the pole? lT. Dayan to address large groups to represent what one can describe as stress Israel's need for immigrants. "the majority culture" of Israel, but Not exactly the stars that being out there are such thriving Torah com­ the religious olim in droves. munities throughout the Land. THE WORLD FAMOUS DIGEST OF MEFORSHIM More serious, his pitch is neither Aaron Hauptman, an American honest nor attractive. In an inter­ who works in the public relations of­ '1'1i''i in:i. '1'1p'i view with Aaron Sittner of the fice at the Aliya Center, and Allan ':>"!! i~o':>N ':>N11.l1V 'i Vi1i~l.l Jerusaslem Post (March, 75), he said Pakes from Edmonton, Canada, an Available at economist and statistical analyst LEKUTEI INC. that: c/o I. Rosenberg The families who respond repre­ who made aliya in 1964 and worked 10 West 47th Street, Room 702 sent a true cross-section of the in a variety of jobs in the Aliya New York, N. Y. 10036 American Jewish community. Center, offered their approach in a 20 Volumes on Torah, Perek, Quite a few of these families are press conference with Murray Medrash, Megilas and Talmud. Proceeds of so/es distributed among mixed marriages. But Jewish Zuck off of JT A again ignoring these Yesliivos and used for reprinting Agency workers assure them that features: of _,o/umes ouf*of-print having one of the partners non­ Pakes noted that one of the PRICE $6 PER VOLUME Jewish has no bearing at all on strongest currents carrying Jews to Israel's eagerness to have them the shoreline of aliya is the realiza­ come and settle."The Law of tion that in Israel "you're living as Return is very clear on that point," a majority in a majority culture, l"1'5li1 l!l~1i he said. 0 We make no distinction and the culture is ours, Jewish, not EV 7-1750 whatsoever between all-Jewish and someone else's culture. lt'S iden~ ll",0 il'.l!:l part-Jewish families. We want tity. It comes down to the fact that ll/Wli't:li'l'.I 't:l't,'Wlii•11.ll) both types." I want my children to be raised as

The Jewish Observer/ May, !975 29 PINCUS MANDEL Recognized Expert Over 22 Years of Experience Through the efforlS of Rabbi Moshr Sherer ol Agudath 1:.rarl, the coopcra1ion of !he /)rae/i Coruulate and a~·Js/anre of /wo pron1inenl Orihodox Phy>ician:., regulations havr b<'f'rl aff1erHfed n1aking it possible for INTERMENT IN ISRAEL in IC'.~:. than 18 houn after dernise, r'f, with all H/OURIM- as done only by SHOMREI TC)RAH UMITZVOS Graves available in all parts of Eretz Yisrael­ p roc u red directly from CHEVRAH of ESTABLISHED KEHILOS, responsible for their COMMUNITY CEMETERY. PINCUS MANDEL 175 LEE AVE. BROOKLYN, N.Y. 11211 Day and Night Phone: (212) 855-5121 YOUR business will do better Recommended by many prominent Orthodox Rabbis and Admorim with better employees! Known for rersonalized, Ultra-Orthodox procedure 1n rendering a Dedicated, Dependable, Efficient Service at Project COPE can help you by Reasonable Cost Agudah Member - 46 Years giving you FREE OF CHARGE: •a financial inducement for "on-the-job" training. It's Not Too Late •professional counselors to screen potential employees through - for Convention '74 counseling, guidance and testing. Recapture the excitement of the 52nd Annual Agudath Israel •an employee who will also be Convention. live recordings of two high points of a trained by Project COPE. memorable three days spent in Atlantic City last fall, available in 90 minute cassette tapes, for inspiration and pleasure at your •a trainee who has graduated a convenience. vocational school through our - Vocational Education Program. Saturday Night Keynote Session: featuring addresses by Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (Chairman of Mo<'tzes Gedolei Ha Torah), and • an address for all your Rabbi Leib Gurwicz, Rosh Yeshiva in Gateshead, England. employment needs. II English-language Session: "The Lonely Jew in a World of C'all or write: Upheavtll," fedturing addresses by Rabbi Chaim Dov Keller, Rosh Yeshiva of Telshe, Chicago, and Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld, Project COPE Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Sh'ar Yashuv, Far Rockaway, N.Y. Career ()pportunities and $2.50 each, both for $4.50 Preparation for Employment for your cassettes, send check or money order to: A Division of Agudath Israel of America AGUDATH ISRAEL OF AMERICA AudioVisual Dept. 5 Beekman Street, New York, N.Y. 10038 5 Beekman Street I New York City 10038 (212) 964-1300 or call our Brooklyn office at: ------(212) 434-4075. Funded by the City of New York Department MOVINC? of Employment under The Comprehensive Be sure to notify us in Employment and Traini!1g Act, Title I. advance so that your copies will continue to reach you.

30 The Jewish Observer / May, 1975 the serious wrong committed. The keeper and I, and either's grip on the Tightrope Torah's condemnation of giving plastic like the lever of a hangman's A thought can trigger marvelous­ false measure is devastatingly trap door. Tightrope! ly the flashing of mental pictures on severe, branding it bedfellow of RABBI SHLOMO KAHN the mind's imagination screen. debased immorality(Deut.25: 15-16; Congregation Beth Israel What does the word "tightrope" re­ Talmud Babba Basra 88b). of Washington Heights mind you of' And here we were, the shop from his Synagogue Bulletin Suspense. Thrill. The perilous an­ tics of the artist. The daredevil acrobatics performed with bravado, high on the tension wire. Caution cast dizzyingly to the winds. No visi· ble margin for safety. Grievous acci­ dent the wages of the slightest error. ATTENTION MECHANCHIM Breathless, nerve-tingling excite· Hebrew Academy of Cleveland ment gripping the onlooker, gluing Publication Department offers him to his seat. 50 educational items for Tightrope. Agonizing choices. Hebrew Day Schools Striking the precisely proper balance * Curricular manuals, guides, in life. Worry over a deviation, a * Workbooks false step which can end in disaster. * Visual aids, maps, and many others A risky business venture with rich (reduced sample at left) rewards beckoning in the offing, but Catalogue sent upon request potential ruin all along the way. Send .30 for handling to: Bold action in a delicate personality· HEBREW ACADEMY clash problem which could lead to a PUBLICATIONS DEPT. blessed breakthrough but also to an 1860 South Taylor Rd. irreparable break. A decisive plea Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44118 for advancement with toss-up pos­ sibilities: raise and promotion, loss of position. SIX WEEKS = ONE VEAR Tightrope. Examples all, of walk­ ing the treacherous narrow path, Not new math but calling for accurate steerage, dead­ o n course between Scylla and Charybdis in exquisite Your Formula For Success brinkmanship, avoiding the pitfalls at the famed right and left. Life presents many similar instances of course, all agonizingly slippery. I offer one MESIVfHA TIFERETH JERUSALEM more, matching its brethren in un­ diminished intensity though it SUMMER ACADEMY squats on an altogether different perch. July 1 - August 12 To reupholster some kitchen chairs, I asked the remnant dealer Complete a year's high school course for I 'Ii yards clear, heavy plastic. He unrolled some length, measured in six short weeks it and - it was bulky and his table • Special Twelfth Year Program cluttered - asked me to hold the • Hebrew Language and Torah Studies Courses loose end while he cut. And I • Driver's Education thought: If I should pull hard now, I • Chartered by N.YC. - Subway at our door could cheat him out of an extra half. inch. If he pulls hard, he'll cheat me. For infonnation and application, write or call: Either way, one of us would come to SUMMER ACADEMY/ 145 East Broadway, NYC 10002 grave harm. Not in losing a negligent amount of money, but for (212) 964-2830, Ext 44 1-5 p.m.

The Jewish Observer/ May, 1975 JI One Man's Vote

Reflections on British Participation in the European Economic Community

A Jew is taught to view the world as the line"? What measure of in­ abortions, euthanasia and other in precarious balance, subject to tip­ dependence will each country have? aspects of medicine in which a ping either way, dependent upon the If Britain withdraws, how easy will Torah viewpoint is involved? individual's every thought and act. it be to import Kosher foodstuffs, * Does our history show that Jews This reality become more vivid in a butter, cheese, biscuits, chocolate, are generally safer in living under democratic society, where every vote etc., from other member countries, one small unit than under large as­ can make the difference. Today, Jews and from those outside? sociations of countries-the Holy are viewing Great Britain's continued * Will membership or otherwise Roman Empire, the Austrian­ membership in the Common Market affect the import from Israel of Hungarian Empire, and others? (EEC), recently subject to national .. ritual articles," tefillin, mezuzos, referendum, with deep concern. The lulavim, seforim, and so on? * Some of these conjectures can following comments on the subject, perhaps be answered by prophets written before the vote, are reprinted * Has there been any talk among who are woefully lacking in our from a recent column in the London member nations of the possible midst, but we can be given guidance JEWISH TRIBUNE. encroachment into the field of on some points by the many well­ education, raising or lowering the informed and well-educated people AS JEWS, more particularly as school-leaving age, abolishing of Torah Jews, our lives will inevitably who, in consultation with the Rab­ private schools, enforcement of mix~ be affected by the outcome of the bonim, can tell us how to use our ed schools, a common syllabus for votes. vote to remain in or withdraw from GCE exams (or their equivalents) the EEC and it is essential that we be with perhaps highly unsuitable text­ The British government intends disseminating vast amounts of lit­ given guidance by Torah leaders on books? how to use our votes. There have erature to acquaint people with the already been faint rumblings on a * Will permanent .. summertime" "true facts" and thus enable them to number of subjects and others be reintroduced, causing difficulties decide. Of two things we can be spring readily to mind: of tefillah be'tzibbur in winter? quite certain: l). None of this * What is the likelihood of one • Could there be renewed efforts literature will touch on Torah member of EEC banning Shechita to "reform the calendar"-thus problems. 2) We cannot escape the and the others being forced to "toe bringing Jewish life virtually to a consequences by abstaining from close in EEC countries? voting. * If doctors qualifiying in one It may be my vote that decides SEE member country can practise in how Torah Jews will live in Europe. KEDUSHAS ERETZ YISROEL another, might there be a common I pray that my vote be in accordance policy regarding e.g. post-mortems, with with Da'as HaTorah. AGUDAH TORAH TOURS 5 SHOMER HAKOTEL ST. Come To JERUSALEM 7 INSPIRING TOURS Old City: Friday, 9 a.m. East Jerusalem: Formerly Kosher King Sunday, 9 a.m. 1501 Surf Ave , Coney Island Tel. 534607 Whitehead Hall. Brooklyn College

The Jewish Observer/ May, 1975 32 In Appreciation. of Reb £limelech Gamel Tress Letters to the Editor ;i::i;::i? i''il' ;:it Hemlniscmg about OtthodtJ. their .behalf. They Jewish Community." For all I Finally, I wept for sadness that witnessed how the entirety af his time, know, most of the faults you found our yeshivas - which are doing so strength, and/vement the Cleveland Jewish News one I have seen written by a they created anil the Ideals they personified. recognized professional Orthodox He Wept Thrice Social Worker who seems to be The Second .of Tommuz is. Heb struggling with this issue. I have Elimelech's Yohneit, May he all1'0ys be an familiarized many students with this inspiration, to thase who krif?w' him and To the Editor: informative piece of work, and it has .1,,!Jed him,

The Jewish Observer/ A1ay. 1975 33 Worker working with non­ the client "you may be violating the of social work applicable to Orthodox clients in an non­ halacha"9 Orthodox Jews? Orthodox agency deal with * How does the Orthodox social * Do the traditional Social Work problems such as intermarriage, worker deal with a group that principles represent the Orthodox abortion, or pre-marital relations? decides to visit a non-kosher Jewish culture? * How does the concept of becom­ restaurant? * A major underlying issue is, ing an individual involving a process * What are the ha/achic require­ doesn't the Orthodox community of differentiating from one's ments of the mentally ill? have a responsibility to set up its own social service agencies which parents, become hindered by * Where does the obligation of reverence for one's parents when the will meet the needs of Orthodox hochacha - to reprove an errant people in need" issue is not a halachic one? - Does Jew - fit in" the social worker encourage the dif­ These are some of the struggles we ferentiation, or encourage the client The Weinberger article raises the have. If it is in the interest of the to make his own desicions, or tell most crucial question: Is the method public, I would appreciate ad­ ditional comments from Dorothy MESIVTA OF STATEN ISLAND Weinberger or from other Orthodox TAKES PRIDE IN ANNOUNCING social workers. I would like to mention that l was sorry to hear about the untimely Yeshivas Hakayitz passing of Paul Weinberger. Rock Hill, N. Y. (Near Monticello) SHMUEL LEFKOWITZ Social Worker A summer yeshiva-camp for sleep-over campers East Flatbush Rugby YM-YWHA and children in bungalow colonies Brooklyn, New York GIVE YOUR SON A FRUITFUL AND ENJOY ABLE SUMMER THE JEWISH OBSERVER MORNING AFTERNOON welcomes letters from the Your son will learn under the Your son will have a marvelous readers, but they must be sign­ guidance of dedicated and ex­ time in our camp, with ed to be considered for publica­ perienced rebbeim, with delicious and nutritious meals, tion. Names are withheld upon emphasis on developing enjoy­ boating, swimming, and a full ment in learning and Midos program of activities. request. Tovos. Children who attended YESHIVAS HAKAYITZ in the summer excelled in their respective yeshivas during the following winter. SLEEP-OVER: Grades 7-12 PRICE: $565 FROM: 27 TAMMUZ - 14 ELUL (July 6 - Aug. 21) DAY CAMP: (w/ transportation): Chevra Kadisha D'chasidim Grades Pre-1A-12 PRICE $185 Har Hamnuchot • Eretz Hachaim FROM: 28 TAMMUZ - 14 ELUL Founded 1856 Masmidim and Staff Assistant Program $250.00 BURIAL IN JERUSALEM AND ALL CEMETERIES IN ISRAEI Newly constructed handball and basketball courts with spot lights. Modern filtered pool for swimming. Rowing in our own lake. maal1n Bakobesh We are proud to announce our dedicared staff of Rehbeyim: RABBI KUSHNER, Rosh Mesivta RABBI Y. JOSEPH, Menahel Ruchni SOCl€ty Rabbis: Glucksman, Goldsmith, Millstein, Pashkes, S. Perlman, Y. Perlman, and Potash RABBI GERSHON WEISS, Menahel RABBI E. PERKOWSKI, Sgan Menahel 26 CANAL ST. RABBI SHOLOM STEINBERG, Director DOVID GODIN, Head Counselor NEW YORK CITY 10002 011y & Nite Phone SEVERAL BUNGALOWS STILL AVAILABLE ON OUR PREMISES. 233-7878 In Canada: FOR REGISTRATION: (212) 633-6867 or 633-2056 I Eves.871-5429 Montreal Tel.: 273-3211 Or Write: RABBI E. PERKOWSKI I 1638 47 St. I Brooklyn, N.Y. 11204

34 The Jewish Observer/ !\fay, 1975 Network of Youth Programs Dedicated to the memory of E/imelech Cavriel Tress '"YT

The second of Tamuz is the Yahrzeit of Reb Elimelech Tress?"YT. The last convention of Agudath Israel designated this day for "Kafer Nefesh Appeals" for all friends and members of Agudath Israel. Especially those who remember his Misiras Nefesh for every Jew will want to partake of this great Mitzvah. Please join us on this occasion with a special contribution of $18.00 which will help us strengthen the 33 programs that Yad Elimelech conducts in 13 cities and towns in Israel for two hours each day.

Don't Just Cry

... over the tens of thousands of our children in Eretz Yisroel who have been torn away from Torah Yiddishkeit because we Orthodox Jewish have done so little to create the proper atmosphere for them, while irreligious groups have spent tens of millions for centers which propagate kefirah !

Crying and complaining alone will not be ! mekarev these children to Yiddishkeit. ! Yad Elimelech Proper action will! 5 Beekman Street/New York, N.Y. 10038 Give. to Ya d EI' 1me Iec h so we can open a f ter- : Gentelmen: school centers all over Israel, where i I want to do something concrete for the future of children can learn and play in a Torah: children in Eretz Yisroel. Enclosed please find my atmosphere and be convinced to continue! contribution of$ ...... their studies in a Yeshiva or Bais Yaakov i School. The life you save will be"h bring Name. future generations of Torah observing Jews j Address .... for Kial Yisroel and Eretz Yisroel. ~ City, State, Zip ....

From Acco to Beer Sheva, from Tiberias to Jerusalem, over 1,000 children attend Yad Elimelech programs which inspire them to come closer to Torah Yiddishkeit. Scores of Rabbis and Principals plead that we establish programs in their communities. You can make that possible.

The }!'Wish Observer/ MaJ', 1975 35 DEDICATE COMPLETION OF SHAS TO COMMEMORATION OF WORLD WAR II MARTYRS

THE ~OETZES GEDOLEI HATORAH (Council of simultaneous completion of Shas, to com­ central demonstration has been arranged in Torah Sages) of Agudath Israel of America memorate those who had perished under order to give expression to the historic import has declared that the forthcoming Slyum Nazi persecution during the war. At this same of this unique adult Torah study project HaShas, celebrating the completion of the meeting, this Council also declared it an entering its fiftieth year. seven-year Daf Yomi cycle, be dedicated to obligation on all Jewish educators to teach Jews from every walk of life are expected to the memory of the millions of martyrs who their students regarding the glorious attain­ join in the Manhattan Center demonstration, perished in the destruction of European ments of the Jewish communities of pre­ whose sole purpose will be the advancement Jewry during World War II. This declaration, W orld War II Europe, the suffering and of mass Torah study, and the manifestation which was decided upon during a formal ses­ destruction of the war itself, and the martyrs' of the centrality of Torah for the survival of sion of the Council, was announced by a countless acts of Kiddush Hashem and the Jewish people. spokesman for Agudath Israel at its national Mesira" Nefesh for Jews and the observance headquarters, 5 Beekman Street, New York of Judaism. City. Tor ah Demonstration "SUPREME COURT SMASHES to Mark Siyum CHILDREN'S HOPES," On the 14th of Tammuz (June 23), al! par­ AGUDATH ISRAEL DECLARES ticipants in the Oaf Yomi study program, A huge Torah demonstration to mark the which involves the study of one complete completion (Siyum HaShas) of the entire THE SUPREME COURT decision striking down as page of Gemora every day, will complete Talmud by the Daf Yomi study groups unconstitutional the Pennsylvania state aid Shas (the .entire Babylonian Talmud) - a throughout the world, wil! take place Sunday law for non-public schools "smashes the process which takes approximately seven afternoon, June 15th, 2:00 P.M. in Manhat­ hopes of children in religious schools to be years. This wi!I be the seventh time that Shas tan Center, 34th Street and 8th Avenue, New treated as equals in society," the Agudath has been completed in the Oaf Yomi study York City.Theevent i<; sponsored by Agudath Israel of America declared. The Agudath program since its introduction by Rabbi Meir Israel of America and the International Oaf Israel at the same time reassured the public Shapiro (Lubliner Rav) at a Knessia Gedola Yomi Commission, with the participation of that this decision will not affect the various (World Congress) of the Agudath Israel the foremost Torah scholars in the country. New York State programs benefiting non­ world movement. public school children "because they are In addition to the local celebrations of the basically different in aims, structure and The Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah deemed it historic date when the study of the entire method of funding." fitting to use this opportunity, involving tens Talmud will be completed for the seventh of thousands of Jews celebrating the time by many thousands of adults, this The Agudah, which pioneered Jewish ef­ forts since many years to obtain government aid for Yeshivas and non-public school ls your present life insurance children, especially deplored the Supreme Court's denying health benefits in Penn­ set up under a sylvania, which it labelled "a cruel act of dis­ "Planned Liquidation" crimination against medically deprived children." The hope was expressed that the situation? Supreme Court, at a later date, with new members, will nullify this week's ruling, and By use of CAPITAL NEED ANALYSTS "ultimately bring the Supreme Court into the your wife and children can be assured spirit of the I 970's when the country has recognized that non-public school children with INCOME through must be treated as equals." "PIANNED CONSERVATION" famous Call me for further details KOSHER I eheeses

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36 The Jewish Observer / May, 1975 PROJECT COPE LAUNCHES PRIZES TO BOYS WHO KNOW LAUNCH "PEN PAL" COMPREHENSIVE TESTING OF MISHNA VOS BY HEART PROGRAM IN EXPANDING UNDEREMPLOYED REACH OUT EFFORT FOUR SETS OF SHAS (complete sets of Talmud) A MAJOR EFFORT to stimulate friendships A MAJOR CAMPAIGN to offer comprehensive were awarded by the National Council of between Yeshiva students and Talmud Torah testing to the unemployed and un· Pirchei Agudath Israel to boys who mastered and day school children was launched by the deremp!oyed was recently launched by Pro· between 1200 and 2,000 Mishnayos by heart, Jewish Education Program of Zeirei Agudath ject COPE (Career Opportunities and as successfully tested by a specially convened Israel through its new· "pen pal" program. Preparation for Employment) a division of rabbinical committee. To motivate children One hundred Yeshiva boys and Bais Yaakov Agudath Israel of America. The tests are the to !earn as many Mishnayos as possible, girls write to Talmud Torah and day school latest measures adopted by the guidance and prizes were presented to each boy who children regularly, exchanging small talk, counseling division of Project COPE in an ef· mastered at least 50 Mishnayos by heart. leading to exchanges in Yiddishkeit. The let­ fort to provide more accurate counseling ters are part of JEP's attempt to foster closer towards eventual placement in a fulfilling More than 2,000 children participated in relationships between the Yeshiva students career in employment. The broad range of the four Siyum Mishnayos gatherings, which and children with a minimal background in tests will include vocational ability and were held in the Soro Park section of Yiddishkeit. scholastic achievement testing recognized by Brooklyn, Cleveland, Denver, and Los According to Rabbi Shaul Shenker, Direc­ governmental and educational institutions. Angeles. These assemblies are truly unique, as tor of the Jewish Education Program, the new A major part of the new testing campaign the only gatherings of Jewish youth where the pen pal program is designed to encourage a by Agudath Israel's Project COPE will be to entrance fee is knowledge of Torah - in this larger number of day school and Talmud offer these tests to High School and College case a Perek of Mishnayos by heart, En­ Torah children to visit the homes of Yeshiva graduates about to enter the job market couraged by the unusual accomplishments up students in the Orthodox Jewish communities without any firm footing on a job career. The to now, the National Council of Pirchei and to participate in Shabbaton programs. entire effort will be overst:t:n by Dr. Joel Agudath Israel is now organizing regional "There is no better way to win over the Rosenshein, a prominent psychologist. who Siyum Mishnayos gatherings in still more sec­ Neshoma of a wandering young boy or girl has offered his professional skills, guidance, tions of the United States aiming for the than through a warm friendship with Yeshiva and assistance to make the tests an important cumulative goal of 80,000 Mishnayos to be children," Rabbi Shenker noted. mastered by all who will be participating in tool in the counseling process. The JEP Program features a broad array of the Thirteenth Annual Siyum Mishnayos of reach-out activities including release hour In· Project COPE is a major training man­ Pirchei Agudath Israel. The co-chairmen of struction, Shabbatons, camp placement ser­ power agency of Agudath Israel of America, the Siyum Mishnayos committee are Gershon vice, Yeshiva placement service, visitation which comprises several major components, Nathan and Shaya Yaroslawitz. including On-Job-Training, Vocational programs, publications, recordings, and Education. and Classroom Training. Project Any boy who expects to learn at least 1200 Chavrusa programs. JEP is one of 16 major COPE is located in Suite 814 at 5 Beekman Mishnayos Be'al Peh before the next Siyum divisions of Agudath Israel and is funded by Street with a field office at 813 A venue H should contact the National Director of the parent organization. (near East 9th Street) in Brooklyn. Agudath Pirchei Agudath Israel, Rabbi Joshua Silber­ Israel's latest social service project is funded mintz, at 5 Beekman Street, New York, N.Y. by the Human Resources Administration of 10038, or call him at (212) 964-1620, Monday the City of New York. through Thursday, Between 3:00 and 5:30

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The Jewish Observer/ May, 1975 37 SIYUM CELEBRATED BY BORO PARK AUTHORS SENIOR CITIZEN CENTER .. - . CHEVRA SHAS • • 250 SENIOR CITIZENS participated in a festive Your sefer is part of your life. Siyum of Maseches BrachoJ. which took place on Lag B'omer in the Boro Park Senior It took years of your Citizen Center of Agudath Israel of America. best efforts, and its Rabbinic and community leaders participated in this unique event and many of them ex­ publication deserves tended greetings to the gathering. Rabbi craftsmanship and care Eliezer Horowitz, the lecturer for more than 100 senior citizens who participate in the dai­ commensurate with ly shiur, delivered the /fadran. your scholarship and A warm praise of Agudath Israel for its ac­ labor. complishments on behalf of senior citizens in the Boro Park area was delivered by Rabbi ArtScroll and Nochum Y. Perlow, Noveminsker Rebbe, a member of the Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah. He Compuscribe can fully asserted that the Chevra Shas was a great satisfy this need. glorification of Hashem's name and certainly the crowning glory of the senior citizen Compuscribe-ArtScroll's revolutionary electronic typesetting centers. process-is now fully programmed to set Eni;ilish and Hebrew The initiation of a new /Wesechta was books and seforim - straight text, or Hebrew/English intermixed delivered by Rabbi Eliezer Kirzner. President -in a wide variety of classic and modern typestyles. (Hebrew styles of the Vaad of Boro Park and Rabbi of available with or without nekudos !) Congregation Bnei Yehuda. Greetings were And we can deliver your finished volumes in only 3-5 delivered by Mr. Harry Levine, president of the Advisory Committee of the Center, Mr. months at lowest prices! Moshe Kwiat, and Rabbi Menachem Call or write today for further information: Lubinsky. former director of the center, who pioneered the senior citizens' Chevra Shas. ArtScroll Studios, Ltd. Rabbi David Grossman, director of the Boro 212 Fifth Avenue (at 26 St.)/ N.Y.C. 10010 I (212) 689-9832 Park Senior Citizen Center served as Chairman. CompuSc:nbe is a. Registered Trademark of Art Scroll Studms. Ltd . N.Y C WANTED · Volunteer driver<, for i hospital-visiting volunteers.

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38 The Jewish Observer 1Way, 1975 "JEWISH POLICY MUST BE SET ON JEWISH VALVES," 1,000 ORTHODOX ACTIVISTS HEAR AT AGUDATH ISRAEL DINNER provided for the defense and sustenance of the children of Abraham who have returned to redeem that promise of the L~rd,"the New York Governor affirmed. Governor Carey declared that he is "a charter member of the Agudath Israel fan club because Agudath Israel stands for that special ingredient that makes America tick. it seems to find in its religious heritage the answers to all problems that beset mankind." He lauded Orthodox Jewry for "transplanting to these shores the spiritual generators of Judaism that pulsated in the Europe which the Nazis attempted to destroy. How invigorating it is to see so many of those who were then on the threshhold of despair, not only come alive again, but now giving life to others as well." The guest speaker, Rabbi Nachman Bulman of Far Rockaway, noted lecturer, educalor, and spiritual leader, called to the Rabbi Moshe Feinstein. chairman of the Moetzes Gedo/ef HaTorah (Council of Torah Sages) Orthodox Jewish community to continue to addn•ssing the 53rd Annual Dinner of Agudath Israel of America. respond to the ever-growing roster of needs of their fellow Jews. He pointed to the newly published Directory of Services of Agudath "AGUDATH ISRAEL OF AMERICA"S efforts to and inteniationa! scenes can only be set in ac· Israel that was distributed at the dinner: structure the Jewish community around the cordance with uniquely Jewish values, which "This is only a beginning! We must build core of Torah is in many ways responsible for can be found solely in our time-honored ever-more bridges to the needy, to those who the significant growth of Torah Judaism in traditional sources of Torah views." In his thirst for the word of G·d!" America during these past decades," declared remarks. Rabbi Feinstein praised Agudath Rabbi Moshe Feinstein in his greeting to the Israel's accomplishments on behalf of the Three outstanding community leaders were more than 1,000 guests who crowded the yeshivas and the Torah community in singled out for special awards: The Hagaon grand ballroom of the Commodore Hotel in general, as realized under the leadership of Rav Aharon Kotler Memorial Award was New York City at the 53rd Anniversary Din­ Rabbi Moshe Sherer, Executive President of presented to Mr. Sheldon K. Beren, well­ ner of Agudath Israel of America, which took the organization. known Denver industrialist, who is in great place on Sunday, April 27. measure responsible for the tremendous (iovernor Carey was presented with resurgence of Torah study in that region. Rabbi Feinstein, who is Chairman of Agudath Israel's Humanitarian Award, in Agudath Israel's Council of Torah Sages recognition of his leadership in the national The present head of Beth Medrash Gevoha (Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah), was joined at legislature as well as in the public arena, in in Lakewood, New Jersey, and son of the the dais of the dinner by a number of other behalf of the genuine needs of humanity, founder, Rabbi Shneur Kotler, participated outstanding Roshei Yeshiva, including Rabbi coupled with a keen sensitivity for the par­ in the presentation. Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman, Rosh ticular needs of the Jewish community in this The Moreinu Yaakov Rosenheim Award Yeshivah of Ner Israel in Baltimore, also a country and overseas. Governor Carey was presented to Mr. Joseph Friedenson, member of the Council of Torah Sages; as received a huge ovation when he declared that beloved editor of Dos Yiddishe Vort, Agudath well as a large number of rabbinic leaders, the Jew's rights to Israel are based upon the Israel's celebrated Yiddish monthly, "for dis· community activists, and government of­ Bible. tinguished service to Agudath Israel." The ficials, including Governor Hugh L. Carey of Reb Elimelech Tress Memorial Award to the New York. Governor Carey stated that "during these "Shearis Hapleitoh Man of the Year" was days of trial and stress for Israel, it would do The evening was opened by Rabbi Chaskel presented to Mr. Max Berg, Chairman of the well for us to remember that Israel is more Besser, member of the Presidium of Agudath American division of the Russian Immigrant than a haven of refuge for the homeless Israel, who introduced the evening's Rescue Fund. The awards were presented by wanderers from the Holocaust. It is the Bible, Chairman, Rabbi Shmuel Bloom, who Rabbi Sherer. which is holy to all peoples, which spoke to recently joined Agudath Israel's Project Cope the children of Israel, and said·. 'This Land is Mr. Meier David Lewenstein of Tel Aviv, as Director of Vocational Education. yours: I give it to you and your seed for all who heads the RIRF in Israel, and Mr. In his greeting,. Rabbi Feinstein also time.' Yitzchok M. Cymerman, who leads the declared that "the only means by which Jews British division of this undertaking, were also can survive is by total commitment to authen­ "I am confident that the American govern­ present at the dinner and were introduced to tic Judaism, which requires the on-going ment will not permit petty and blind so-called the guests. They were cited for their ex­ study of Torah by adults as well as political considerations to obstruct all the aid, emplary devotion on behalf of the religious youngsters. Jewish policy on the domestic military and economic, which must be absorption of Soviet o/im to the Holy Land

The Jewish Observer I May, 1975 39 vive·~···· .··tllu~indft~ '(}ift; one. year's. ·subscripti~ttir6;.~lfe JeWisH >.(;)~~~~~ri·f6~;~ijl~ 1\,$~!~.Q:. aud········Keeciue ... q.·•··dif~·<~l•tlcg~~?~~···· Y<>l.lt p~n. personalizecl ·ifif{:)1trnals

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