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BROOllLYl'I, NY 11232 Haola The Thurm Families wish Klal Yisroel a n~1V1 i-v:> ln If it has no cholesterol, a better.­ than.-butter flavor, and a reputation for kasfiruth you can trust••• ·-· It has to be the new, improved parve Migdal unsalted margarine I~~ I PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT COMMERCIAL QUALITY • INSTITUTIONAL & RESIDENTIAL • SALES • INSTALLATION • SERVICE Design and Layout •WOOD • STEEL • PLASTIC • SWINGS • SLIDES • SCHOOL&CAMP EQUIPMENT • PICNICTABLES • BASK.ETBALLSYSTEMS • RUBBER FLOORING • ETC. • Equipment meets or exceeds all ASTM CURRENT INSTALLATIONS and CPSC safety guidelines • Site planning and design services CROWN HEIGHTS YESHIVA - Mill Basin with state-of-the-art Auto CAD BEER HAGOLAH INSTITUTE - Starret City • Stainless steel fabrication for YESHIVA KETANA OF PASSAIC - Passaic, NJ ultimate rust resistance ERASMUS HALL ACADEMY - Flatbush Ave. Campus INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL #190 - East NY CITY ISLAND LIBRARY - City Island, NY better 5302 New Utrecht Avenue - Brooklyn, NY 11219 health Phone: 718-436-4801 Nissan 5757 •April 1997 U.S.A.$3.50/Foreign $4.50 ·VOL XXX/NO. 3 THE JEWISH OBSERVER (ISSN) 0021~6615 is published monthly except July and August by the Agudath Israel of America, 84 William Street, New York, N.Y. 10038. Second class postage paid in New York, N. Y. Subscription $24.00 per year; two years, $44.00; three years, $60.00. Outside of the United States (US funds drawn on a US bank only) 8-:/ $12.00 surcharge per year. Single copy 31 $3.50; foreign $4.50. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Jewish Observer, 84 William Street, N.Y, N.Y. 10038.Tel:212-797-9000, Fax: 8 212-269-2843. Orthodoxy and Feminism: How Promising a Shidduch? Printed in the U.S.A. Nissan Wolpin wrth Levi Reisman RABBI NISSON WOLPIN, EDITOR ANTICIPATING PESACH EDITORIAL BOARD DR. ERNST L. BODENHEIMER I 8 Yearning to Be Free: Ch11irman A Personal Approach to the Festival of Freedom RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS Matrs Roberts JOSEPH FRIEDENSON RABBI NOSSON SCHERMAN l 3 "Make Them Known to Your Children and Your Children's Children" Rabbr Myer). Schwab MANAGEMENT BOARD AVI FISHOF NAFTOLI HIRSCH 31 ISAAC KIRZNER Buying Tomatoes in Jerusalem, Leah Oriel RABBI SHLOMO LESJN NACHUM STEIN SECOND LOOKS RABBI VOSEF C. 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Rabbi Shimon Finkelman THE JEWISH OBSERVER does not assume responsibility for the Kashrus READERS' FORUM of any product, publication, or service advertised in its pages S 0 Orthodoxy's Move to the Right ©Copyright 1997 BOOKS IN REVIEW SS Facing Adversity With Faith, reviewed by Binyomin Eckstein APRIL 1997 VOLUME XXXINO. 3 S 7 LETIERS TO THE EDITOR 6 2 DATELINE: 84 WILLIAM STREET .!/'JI!: xm ,.,.,"' ~ /J•tu1r.i~ ~ The Day that will Go Down in History... Mr. :& Mrs. Marcos Katz, Guests of Honor Reserve··.the Date oitiR'T OV'T 1'.,,,,.,3'.t3'., join Kial Yisroel ,.!"(.,V' S~:i .P'O l"~ Tt .P'D'7'tl in. payi~g tribute. to the 1~. "rl::I;) p:V.'.!El!"( 1'!"( B®over RebbeShlita R11P.,;,\p "111iO'TR l.,O j.' 11 :> at the tJ>?:J Mo:sdos Bnei Zion.·D'BobOV .:'ltlR.:'l''T l1'3 ~.3.:'I ni"l't!10 Fiftieth Anniversary l)innq .,l7.3'j ?'.:ii' l1't!l.'~DiD Sunday, the eighth o]June, '97 p".i:b .t"5wn ,]1't:i ':i ,.'.!!"(P)lt n".'i"( New York Hilton ·· j!"(V5'i1 p,!"(, 1;) Five thirty in the.evening VJP11!"( 5:30 J)avid Scharf, Dinner Chairman F<!r infonnation, reservations a,ndjournal ads Call:(718).853-7900.orfa:x:(718) 435"8834. Baruch HaShem, so many today are learning the Daf quickly if you want the thrilling z'chus of being Yomi, that all 20,000 seats in the Main Arena of part of history, when close to 70,000 Jews will Madison Square Garden were reserved within days of gather on the Sunday before Rosh Hashana in a ticket availability. monumental demonstration of fli1!1il 11:J..::J in However, since there remains an Madison Square Garden, Nassau enormous outpouring of people who • nassau Coliseum and in cities throughout want to join this historic event, the North America. Daf Yomi Commission has opened a ~Coliseum If you delay, history will have second venue at Long Island's NASSAU VETERANS passed you by. You will have lost the rare opportunity MEMORIAL COLISEUM, just a short drive from to join in the heartwarming celebration of the anywhere in the New York area. This will enable an crowning achievement of 2,711 consecutive days of additional 18,000 people to participate in the Tenth Talmud-study via the Daf Yomi by multitudes the Siyum HaShas. The two locations will be interactively world over. linked by satellite, with segments of the live program What a Kiddush HaShem! originating fro1n Nassau Coliseum. Be sure to make your reservations now before Many of the seats at the Nassau Coliseum have Nassau Coliseum joins Madison Square Garden to already been reserved. Therefore, you must act also announce: ''All Seats Reserved." THE NATIONAL CELEBRATION OF THE TENTH SIYUM HASHAS OF DAF YOMI 1 DJ1))il 1 D1 1 il t")l Jto 1 1 1 \D))il D"toil 01 1 0 SUNDAY EVENING, 6:00 PM • SEPTEMBER 28, 1997 • l"l\on (nm•)o ·~i ?1?K i" J MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, NASSAU COLISEUM AND CITIES NATION\VJDE For a reservation brochure, write to: DAF YOMI COMMISSION, Agudath Israel of America, 84 William Streel, NY, NY 10038 or send a fax to: 212-269-2843 Orthodoxy and Feminism: How Promising a Shidduch? I. TWO NEWS-MAKING EVENTS sion, this service was to al mix of partic­ include a Torah read­ ipants was wo recent events triggered an ing by the celebrant. In noted: women unusual amount of attention on an aln1ost unanimous with head cover­ TOrthodox feminism in its various vote (with two dissen­ ings, women in expressions. Reportage and commentary sions and three absten­ jeans, women in were forthcoming in all sorts of journals, tions), the rabbis said both ... spanning ranging from The New York Times and that "such an endeavor is three genera- the Jerusalem Post to The Jewish Week halachically prohibited." (Their tions, some­ and The Village Voice. Along the way, a decision was clearly based on precedent times number of issues were touched upon - set by lead- the validity of the feminist agenda, the ing authori- timelessness of Torah, the capacity for ties, including Rabbi Moshe Fein­ compassion on the part of male religious stein and Rabbi ). B. Soloveichik error within the leadership, and the strength of rab­ ;i~i~7.More on that later.) same family, each attending for reasons, binical authority. And these, in turn) The uproar that followed included an wishes, and hopes of their own. While relate to basic principles of Judaism. outpouring of conden1nation and sym­ the journalists covering the event may The first event was an extraordinary pathy - the former against the Vaad, have focused on this or that sound-bite meeting of the Vaad Harabbonim of the latter for the women. Some eleven or comment, an overwhelming concern Queens on January 12, where the Vaad Modern Orthodox Rabbis, including hovered in the air throughout the pro­ issued a p'sak that women's prayer Rabbis Marc Angel, Saul Berman, Irv­ ceedings, a concern that should also be groups• are outside the pale of accept­ ing Greenberg, Haskel Lookstein, addressed to those backing the women's able practice. This meeting, with close to Emanuel Rackman, and Avi Weiss, prayer group in Hillcrest: 50 rabbis in attendance, was convened issued a letter, voicing their support of It is basic to tenets of Judaism that at the request of the administrator of the wo1nen's prayer groups, and decrying both the Written Torah and the Oral Yeshiva of Central Queens because a the Vaad's interference in an area of Law emanate from Sinai. Taught by G-d number of school's students were invit­ jurisdiction of the Rav of the specific to Moshe, both aspects of the Torah are ed to a women's prayer group that had synagogue. immutable. (See Rambam, Thirteen been scheduled to be held in conjunc­ Much of the English-language Jew­ Principles of Faith, Introduction to tion with an Orthodox congregation in ish press decried the rabbinical decision Perek Cheilek, Sanhedrin: Principles 8, Hillcrest in honor of a fellow student's as being "political," "mischievous" and 9.) As new situations and circum­ bat mitzva.