Not Just a Cheese, a Tra3ition••• Haolam
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Not just a cheese, a tra3ition••• Haolam. the most trusted name In Cholov Yisroel Kosher Cheese. A reputation earned through 25 years or scrupulous devotion to quality and kashruth. With 12 delicious varieties. Haolam, a tradition you'll enjoy keeping. All Haolam chCese products are made In the U.S.A. under the strict rabbinical supervision of: The Rabbinate of K'hal Adath Jeshurun 1~~1 Washington Hdgbts. !'ft' Cholov Ylsrod 11llJllM BROS. WORLD CHEESE CO. ll'IC. BROOllLYI\ "1' 11232 Hao la The Thurm Families wish Klal Yisroel a n:iiv i1?J'nni n:i'n:J If it has no cholesterol, a better... than... butter flavor, and a reputation for kasliruth you can trust••• the new, improved parve unsalted margarine lr;;.~I COMMERCIAL QUALITY • INSTITUTIONAL & RESIDENTIAL • WOOD • STEEL • PLASTIC • SWINGS • SLIDES • PICNIC TABLES • SCHOOL & CAMP EQUIPMENT • BASKETBALL SYSTEMS • RUBBER FLOORING • ETC. • Equipment meets or exceeds all ASTM and CPSC safety guidelines • Site planning and design services FOREST PARK - Lakewood, NJ with state-of-the-art Auto CAD YESHIVA TIFERETH MOSHE - • Stainless steel fabrication for Kew Gardens, NY ultimate rust resistance OHEL SARAH DAY CARE CENTER - Crown Heights JEWISH FOUNDATION SCHOOL - Staten Island PS 153 - Harlem, NY The Friedman/Heimlich/Wertheimer Families wishes our customers i:in:>n ;i:iiv i1l'\?>7 better 5302 New Utrecht Avenue• Brooklyn, NY 11219 health Phone: 718-436-4801 Tishrei 5758 • October 1997 U.S.A.$3.50/Foreign $4.50 •VOL XXX/NO. 8 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. Periodicals 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) $12.00 surcharge per year. Single copy $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: APPROACHING THE SEASON OF CHANGE: STRONGER, SADDER, AND RICHER 212-269-2843. 6 The Big Black Wolf - Teshuva in the Nineties Printed in the U.S.A. Rabbi Fyvel Shuster RABBI NISSON WOLPIN, EDITOR I () Reversing the Statistics, One Jew at a Time EDITORIAL BOARD Rabbi Yehuda Silver DA. ERNST L. BODENHEIMER Chairman I 5 Lenny and the Chassid, RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS Rabbi Aryeh Rodin JOSEPH FRIEDENSON RABBI NOSSON SCHERMAN I 9 From Rosh Hashana Judgment to Yorn Kippur Forgiveness Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Klugman MANAGEMENT BOARD AV! FISHOF 25 A Melodic Anamoly, Tying the Seasons Together NAFTOLI HIRSCH Rabbi Yaakov Weinberg ISAAC KIRZNER RABBI SHLOMO LESIN 2 9 "Seek Peace and Pursue It" NACHUM STEIN Avrohom Y Stone RABBI VOSEF C. GOLDING Business Manager IN THE WAKE OF THE SIYUM HASHAS Published by 32 For Love of Learning Agudath Israel of America RABBI MOSHE SHERER Dr Jacob Mermelstein PRESIDENT 31 An Unsung Hero - Rabbi Moshe Menachem Mendel Spivak i"'i1 U.S. 'TRADE DISTRIBUTOR ISRAELI DISTRIBUTOR Eliezer Katzman Feldheim Publishers Nechemla Rosenberg 200 Airport Executive Park Kiryat Telshe Stone, 108A 41 Shas (& More) Literally on Your Fingertips Spring Valley, N.Y. 10977 O.N. Harei Yehuda, !SRAEL Yaakov Astor EUROPEAN REPRESENTATIVE AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTOR M.T. Bibelman Gold's Booll & GiH Co. 46 Grosvenor Works 36 William Street Mount Pleasant Hill Balaclava 3183, Vic., A Treasure Lost.•. London E5 9NE, ENGLAND AUSTRALIA An Appreciation of Rabbi Moshe Arye Freund ;i:iu., i""Tll UT Pinchas Osher Rohr THE JEWISH OBSERVER does not assume responsibility for the Kashrus 5 2 POSTSCRIPT of any product, publication, or service The Beis Din in America: A letter and a response by Rabbi Avrohom Cohen advertised in its pages 5 3 SECOND LOOKS ©Copyright 1997 Orthodox Continuity is Not Threatened by Intermarriage Rabbi David Weinberger OCTOBER 1997 VOLUME XXX/NO. 8 fS 5 V'ESH 0MRIM ... AND THERE ARE THOSE THAT SAY... Is There Really a Crisis in the Torah Community? Chaim Kuperwosser $ 6 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR APPROACHING THE SEASON OF CHANGE Stronger, Sadder, and Richer When US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright made her personal pilgrimage to Prague last July to "encounter her Jewish past" for the very first time, as it were, she was visibly moved. After visiting various Jewish landmarks and synagogues, she was quoted (The New York Times, JTA, et al) as remarking: "To the many values and many facets that make up who I am, I now add the knowledge that my grandparents and members of my family perished in the worst catastrophe in human history. So I leave here tonight with the certainty that this new part of my identity adds something stronger, sadder and richer to my life." One can understand how those three descriptive words - "stronger, sadder and richer" - have a special poignancy in her unique situation. In her unusual circumstances, they have an extraordinary impact. Nonetheless one could use the same words regarding anyone who experiences some type of inner growth. He or she will also feel stronger in a spiritual sense; surely richer in understanding of his or her role in life, or in appreciation for the bounty with which G-d has endowed us, or in some other newly-gained Insight; and sadder than before for those who he or she has left behind, and are not similarly strengthened and enriched. In this way, each of us, can become stronger, sadder, and richer every day of our lives. Especially during these days of self-evaluation and teshuva. How much more so a Jew who has been alienated from Torah and has now discovered his or her sacred heritage! How much richer and stronger they feel for their newly-realized gains! And how much sadder for those who have not joined them in their spiritual ascent! The articles that follow portray the depths of feelings realized by those who are daily becoming stronger, sadder, and richer. Perhaps we can be zocheh, and merit joining them in our personal growth. Rabbi Fyvel Shuster The Big Black Wolf Teshu'Va in the Nineties The Nightmare of Secular Israel n 1982, Amnon Danker, a writer for and shrug their shoulders .... You ask kanfot;, kisses mezzuzot. You sit down Haaretz, described the wave of a friend to go someplace on Shabbos to have a coffee with him and before I teshuva that changed his world. and he starts to evade you, it's incon he drinks he says " Shehakol Nihyeh Suddenly I look around and I say venient, he's busy... until you force it bidvaro:,You look at him, listen to him -Whafs going on? I'm alone. One goes, out of him. For three weeks he's been speak, and ask, "Is it really him?" another one. You search for someone going to Rechovot for Shabbat to a Rav Then he disappears and you hear and the chevra say, "He went there:' who lectures about Judaism. You that he is in Ohr Same'ach All ofthem - - Rabbi Shuster is currently menahel of Machon watch how he changes from day to day. were from the "cream" of the medina, Lev - Jerusalem College of Technology Beit It's shocking. One day with a kipa, Askenazim who graduated Tichon, Midrash Program for Overseas Students. His "Acts after a week, he eats only kosher, in officers in combat units.... " of the Unfaithful" was featured in JO Jan. '94. another week he appears with "arba --- ------ - 6 The Jewish Observer, October 1997 THE WAVE OF THE NINETIES meets Rabbi Yuval Ashrov, who teach THE "NIGHTMARE" OF SECULAR es chozrim biteshuva. "There are many ISRAELIS anker is describing the wave of who have come closer to Torah and are teshuva in the eighties that afraid to put on a kipa. You see some t this point, Elbaum tells Yediot D brought tens of thousands clos one who looks like a total chiloni, but readers, he realizes that has er to avodas Hashe1n. In the nineties, he is keeping Shabbos meticulously. You A found the "big black wolf' He something else is happening. A recent see a man wearing an earring) but he's is referring to an article in the journal survey by Machon Dachaf, a respected putting on tefillin and davening three Shadmot by Barry Zimmerman, a sec demographics research firm, found that times a day." You can hear Shem ular writer from Kibbutz Givat Chaim. in the past six years, over half a million Shamayim on the lips of your taxi dri In 1986, he (very perceptively) predict Israelis reported a significant return to ver, the grocery store owner, the elec ed the following: Torah. Over two hundred thousand of trician, as they tell you that they are mit Somewhere in the soul of the them reported that this change took chazek, n1itkarev-moving closer. nation, the big black wolf is sleeping. place during the last three years. As the generation of the Holocaust The findings shocked the Israeli passes on, this wolf will howl, first in media: What is happening? When did Ill its sleep but then in a state of awak it happen? Where are all of these ening that will grow ever stronger.... "chozrim b'teshuva"? Not in Ohr he phenomenon Whoever is not prepared for this Same' ach, not in Bnei Brak. V\There are howl will have his ears deafened by it. they hiding? Tdiscovered by This cry, the final one, will be rabbinic Dov Elbaum, a writer for Yediot Judaism with all of its symbols, lead Acharonot, decided to search for this Elbaum of Yediot ers, and ways of life.