Kol Hamevaser Contents

Volume I, Issue 8

May 8, 2008 Staff Gilah Kletenik 3 Editorial Julian Horwitz 3 Letter to the Editor Continuing the Discussion Managing Editors

Mattan Erder Ari Lamm 4 An Interview With Dr. Norman Lamm Gilah Kletenik David Lasher R. Elchanan Adler 6 Deciphering a Spitting Image: To Live and to Learn at 60

Associate Editor Yosef Bronstein 7 Shivat Tsiyon, Prophecy and Rav Kook Sefi Lerner Leah Kanner 8 Holy Land, Holy People

Staff Writers Dr. Shmuel Schneider 9 Religious Circles in America and Their Attitude to Chava Chaitovsky the Study of Hebrew Noah Cheses Ari Lamm 11 An Interview with Rabbi Zevulun Charlop

Ben Greenfield Dr. Ruth A. Bevan 15 A New Zionism Tikva Hecht Shimshon Ayzenberg 16 Moses Leib Lilienblum: Alex Ozar A Revised Legacy of an Early Zionist Ayol Samuels Gilah Kletenik 17 Mamlakhtiyut Shira Schwartz Yosef Lindell 18 Practical Zionism: R. Yitshak Yaakov Reines and the Beginnings of Mizrachi Interviewer Ari Lamm Aviva Stavsky 20 IDF: Peace-makers or Warmongers? Sabbath Ob- servers or Heretics?

Copy Editors Zev Eleff 21 What They Were Really Saying at YU in ‘48 Shaul Seidler-Feller 22 Last Letter from Moshe Pearlstein Yishai Seidman Simeon Botwinick 22 A Visit to Har Ha-Bayit

Art and Layout Editor Jaimie Fogel 23 The (Almost) Final Boarding Call Avi Feld About Kol Hamevaser Noah Cheses 23 The Future of the Zionist Enterprise Kol Hamevaser is a student publication supported by

Kol Hamevaser is a magazine of Jewish thought dedicated to spark- The Commentator. Views expressed in Kol ing the discussion of Jewish issues on the University campus. Hamevaser are those of the writers exclusively. It will serve as a forum for the introduction and development of new ideas. The major contributors to Kol Hamevaser will be the un- We would like to thank the entire staff of Kol Hamevaser and all dergraduate population, along with regular input from RIETS other contributors for all of their hard work and dedication. In ad- Roshei Yeshiva, YU Professors, educators from Yeshivot and Semi- dition, we would like to express our hakarat ha-tov to Zev Eleff and naries in Israel, and outside experts. In addition to the regular edi- the staff of the Commentator, whose support made Kol Hamevaser pos- tions, Kol Hamevaser will be sponsoring in-depth special issues, sible. speakers, discussion groups, shabbatonim, and regular web activ- ity. We hope to facilitate the religious and intellectual growth of -David Lasher and Mattan Erder Yeshiva University and the larger Jewish community. Outgoing Managing Editors

2 Volume 1, Issue 8 Israel at 60 LetterLetter toto thethe EditorialEditorial EditorEditor “And You Expect to Possess the Land?” Dear Kol Hamevaser, In his article in the previous installment of Kol Hamevaser, Ben Greenfield argues that God does not communicate with us through the BY GILAH KLETENIK challenging was acknowledging that maybe It is impossible to go back in time and language of history. In particular, after con- the rest of the world wasn’t totally “wrong” – undo past injustices; we can’t reverse our driv- sidering the difficulty in formulating a coherent At the start of high school, I was Israel ac- maybe there was something behind their in- ing out of over 700,000 Palestinian refugees and defensible interpretation of the recent Mer- tivism exemplified. As an upstart freshman, I cessant, albeit unbalanced calls against Israel’s and neither can we fully dismantle over caz haRav attack, he exhorts his readers to even co-founded our school’s Israel club. I sent “systematic humiliation and human rights vio- 250,000 Jewish settlers and their communities “cease to pretend that His omnipotent com- many a letter berating “anti-Israel bias” to the lations.” in the West Bank – not to say the least of the mand of history implies a revelatory commu- New York Times and emailed even more letters It wasn’t that I stopped believing in Is- East corridor and the Golan. While niqué through history.” While Mr. Greenfield’s urging elected officials in Washington to sup- rael’s legitimacy. To the contrary, I realized that we can’t make up for the mistakes of yester- point is well-taken – it is hubris of the highest port the Jewish state. I was raised in a Zionist by embracing these beliefs, I was in effect day, we can surely approach today with greater degree to for one to claim knowledge of what home, experienced summers at a Bnei Akiva delegitimizing my homeland. Israel’s entitle- sophistication and sensitivity – to recognize is going on in God’s “head” – I think he fails camp and even spent a year in Israel with my ment to exist is often connected to not only the that one can be both a victim and a perpetra- to make an important, if not somewhat obvi- family during middle school. So my deep con- ous, distinction. cern for Israel was natural and the positions I While the true meaning of most events took on the issues only typical of a Modern Or- will continue to be shrouded by inherent diffi- thodox Jew. culty and uncertainty of interpretation, other The rhetoric I spewed in my advocacy ef- acts of God, which fall under the rubric of forts is familiar to us all. At the dinner table, in prophetic revelation quite clearly proclaim the classroom and at community meetings with “darsheni.” For example, if after several gen- congresspersons, I was wont to make such im- eration of warning God decides to destroy the passioned and blanket statements as “the Pales- Beis Hamikdash and exile His wayward peo- tinians don’t want peace” and “a greater Israel, ple, it is safe to assume that He is angry and is a more secure Israel.” I held these beliefs to that Klal Yisrael should begin to contemplate be true with great intensity and considered changing ways. On the other extreme, and them the obvious expression of my firmly held more contemporarily, I quote Israeli Rosh religious convictions and deepseated love for Yeshiva Rabbi Yehuda Amital, who bemoans my people. Today, my perception of the Israeli- that ours is “a generation with an impaired Palestinian conflict is more nuanced, but no sense of history:” “The prophet says, ‘Old men less informed by my Judaism. and old women shall yet again dwell in the In retrospect, I’m not quite certain when streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his my positions began evolving into what they are staff in his hand because of his old age; and the today, but I do know that the shift was gradual, streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls painful. And, while the particulars of my jour- right, but the need, especially in the aftermath tor, to be at once a David and a Goliath. We playing in its streets” (Zechariah 8:4-5)...After ney are obscure, I nevertheless recall a fateful of the Holocaust, for the Jewish people to de- must realize that confessing and correcting our two thousand years, children play in the streets moment when I realized that the words com- fend itself. But, when Israel, the country of the crimes is not a sign of weakness, but instead of Jerusalem! Can this be a natural phenome- ing out of my mouth were incongruent with the , a people that has endured thousands of the greatest sign of strength – for, when we act non, after two thousand years?” (Commitment values in my head. It was then that I began to years of persecution and the victim of count- immorally we lose our legitimacy vis-à-vis and Complexity: Jewish Wisdom in an Age of internalize my dishonesty, and gained the less injustices acts immorally, does this not call both the world and God. Upheaval. Ktav Publishing House. Newark, courage to admit that I could no longer, in good into question the very legitimacy of its exis- Looking back, part of me wishes I still 2008. pp. 56-57) While this sign may not di- conscience, defend and justify a country whose tence? On a practical level, it’s clear that these had that enthusiastic fervor; that black-and- rectly impel us to do any one specific action, it actions I considered morally questionable. policies have only come to hurt Israel, fanning white perspective so very simplistic in scope. I certainly seems to tell us that it is time to hear How could I advocate for a country that occu- the flames of the cycle of violence and further now know though, that such an approach is ap- the voice of our beloved knocking and get a pies another nation, a government that deprives distancing the possibility of peace. This reality pealing because of the assumed security it pro- move on. citizens of their natural rights? not only hurts Israel’s image abroad, but might vides – concealing reality’s troubling texture. Forgive me for waxing poetic (an unnec- It was difficult for me to confess that the even be the country’s undoing. Sixty years have gone by and Israel is no more essary apology on the pages of Kol country I loved dearly, and the state that meant Furthermore, religious Jews that we are, secure than it was at Independence – clearly Hamevaser), but I also feel that Mr. Green- so much to my people, was also a guilty player we turn to the for ultimate legitimacy, the status quo isn’t working. Perhaps it’s time field’s thesis fails to address the grander scope in the unending conflict. And more, it was hard which it seems we are increasingly losing: we collectively emerge from our adolescence, of Jewish History. When we turn on “the ten to realize that the numerous settlements I had “Then the word of the Lord came unto me, say- pause in our wisdom and reflect: are we acting o’clock news,” we see much more than “tame, come to believe crucial not only from a reli- ing: “Son of man, they that inhabit those waste with the responsibility expected of a people indisputable lessons.” Who can fail to perceive gious perspective, but also from a security per- places in the speak saying: who have endured our history and a nation in the continued survival of the Jews, that “cer- spective, were in fact roadblocks to peace and ‘Abraham was one, and he inherited the land; founded on the principles of justice and moral- tain people, scattered and dispersed among the that many were even built on Palestinian land. but we are many; the land is surely given us for ity – are we losing our legitimacy? other peoples in all the provinces,” the hand of Even tougher was coming to terms with the inheritance.’ Wherefore say unto them: ‘Thus God plucking us out from the fire? Perhaps it fact that what we perceived as “security” ne- said the Lord God: You eat with the blood, and is impossible to tell why God allowed a terror- cessities, often only engendered more hatred lift up your eyes unto your fetishes, and shed Gilah Kletenik is a Managing Editor of ist to murder a few yeshiva boys, but isn’t it and distrust of Israel within Palestinian soci- blood – yet you expect to possess the land? Kol Hamevaser eminently clear that He has prevented other ety. I began to understand that these policies You have relied on your sword, you have com- terrorists from murdering us all? were in a sense counter-productive; only gen- mitted abominations, and you defile every one erating the need for more roadblocks, curfews his neighbor’s wife; and you expect to possess 1 Ezekiel 33: 23-25 Sincerely, and walls. Above all though, what was most the land?’”1 Julian Horowitz, YC ‘11

Volume 1, Issue 8 3 Kol Hamevaser

ContinuingContinuing thethe Discussion:Discussion: EmunahEmunah An Interview with Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm: Continued

BY ARI LAMM gave it an especially high place int the hierar- There is nothing in these sacred texts that choosing God is as important as His choosing chy of Jewish precepts. But even those who implies genetic or racial superiority of the us. What role does Am Yisrael’s status as the did not emphasize it to the same extent obvi- “seed of Abraham,” nor that other peoples are Finally, “Israel” is not described any- am ha-nivhar play within our belief system? ously approved of it; else how did they recite inferior or less deserving of Divine compas- where as a racial genetic group, thus excluding the Kiddush or the blessing before the Shema? sion, nor that we were destined to rule the all the rest of mankind from the opportunity to The doctrine of am hanivchar - the elec- world or be given any special privileges other serve Him as part of the “holy nation” and tion or chosenness of Israel — has been glori- than observing the Torah and the mitzvot. On “kingdom of priests.” Were this so, we would fied and condemned, but mostly the contrary, chosenness implies a commitment never be permitted to accept proselytes from misunderstood, for the greater part of our his- to serve Him and thus become the teachers — other nations. Those who advocate such a nar- tory. Some have dismissed it with contempt willingly or unwillingly — to the rest of hu- row view must explain why, according to the and infamously compared it to the Nazi idea of mankind. For in addition to declaring us a Midrash, Abraham and Sara were the first to the Herrenvolk; others have exaggerated its “holy nation,” we were simultaneously com- enlist pagans as gerim, and why the Tradition particularity as thoroughly genetic in nature; missioned to be a “kingdom of priests,” a goy affirms that the souls of proselytes of all gen- and yet others have diluted it to just about the kadosh — a term which implies, as Ezekiel erations were present at the Revelation— point of making the notion both pointless and would later announced (22:26), that as a priest- “those who are here standing with us this day... meaningless. Few other ikkarim, major prin- people we were to teach the world the differ- and those who are not with us here this day” ciples of Judaism, have been subjected to such ence “between the holy and the profane, the (Dt. 29:14) — a phrase that intends not only distortion. pure and the impure.” The best term to de- future generations of Jews from birth but also The comparison to the foul ideology of scribe this Divine mission is the French no- true proselytes (Tosefta, Sotah 7:3). Aryan racial superiority is a vicious canard that blesse oblige. God loves all humans and Furthermore, there are references to yir’ei has been with us since the Enlightenment, but therefore provided a single people to undertake Hashem, God-fearing people, especially in ratcheted up since the appearance of mass anti- the noble and historic task of bringing God to Tehilim. Who are these people? Ibn Ezra in Semitism in the twentieth century. The non- them and them to God. four places in his commentary to Psalms, iden- ideological discomfort that some modern Jews Who chose whom at Sinai? The tifies them as Gentiles who fear God. So too feel is more of a social nature — “what will my (Avodah Zarah 2a, b) records two famous ver- does R. David Altshuler, in his Metzudot David non-Jewish neighbors think of me/us when sions of the giving of the Torah. One has the and R. Yaakov Tzevi Meklenberg in his Ha- they hear of this boast?” and underlies a good Almighty offering the Torah to various of the Ketav ve’ha-Kabbalah deal of the embarrassment with the am Moreover, and the Torah itself speaks of the ancient peoples, all of whom objected to cer- What binds the generations of Jews to- hanivchar idea. And not far removed from this Divine choosing of Abraham and, at Sinai, the tain basic commandments; only Israel accepted gether is not biology but a culture of faith that concern is its enfeeblement and eventual exci- people of Israel. the Torah in toto. The second has God coerc- is transmitted not by genes but by a shared his- sion from the prayer book and educational ma- There are several questions that beg to be ing Israel to accept by threatening to bury them tory and a shared destiny, a faith of commit- terial by many liberal- modernist Jewish answered Among them: Who chose whom at under that falling mountain. The difference be- ment to and act in a manner that will lead to a groups. Sinai? Why was this choice made in the first tween them is this: The first tells us that the life of holiness. Those bonds are powerful, and Equally fallacious, if less deplorable, is place? What about all the other nations of the Jews chose God; the second, that God chose they are not impenetrable to those who yearn to the interpretation of chosenness in some world? Can strangers “join the club” if they the Jews. accept upon themselves the mitzvot and the no- Haredi and other, especially Hasidic, circles, were not originally Jewish? I believe that both versions must be read blesse oblige. namely, that Jews are religiously and spiritu- The first to be chosen by God to bring His together; both, paradoxically, are equally and A few decades ago a scholar wrote a dis- ally superior to the rest of mankind and that message to mankind was Abraham. His loy- simultaneously true. There was and is a mutual sertation at Columbia University in which he this pre-eminence is genetically determined. alty, his faith and his self-sacrifice made him “choosing.” When we are born, we are in- conclusively demonstrated that, amongst the Placing the concept on a biological basis is the chosen one, and his children after him (the ducted into the Covenant of Avraham and con- Tannaim, the more a Tanna emphasized the good for the collective ego but is poor scholar- “seed of Abraham”) were to carry on this tra- firmed as members of the Chosen People — “doctrine of election,” the more pronounced ship and is untrue to our sacred texts. A critique dition despite all difficulties. At the Revela- whether we like it or not. We are the chosen, was his universalism. Not only is there no con- of all these views will become explicit in the tion at Sinai, the Divine Voice informed our not the choosers. But as we learn and mature, flict between the two but, surprisingly, cho- following paragraphs. ancestors that we are chosen to be a “holy na- we come into our role not by coercion or habit senness affirms universalism. The doctrine of election is accepted by all tion” and His segulah or “special treasure,” and but by will and love and eagerness. Jews who The more Jewish you are, the more do great Jewish thinkers but not necessarily to the that He desired us and chose us not because we reject the “yoke of Torah” are condemned to you — and should you — care for the rest of same degree. Thus, for instance, Rambam and were numerous or great, for we were the small- being the subject of Divine duress. They are, the world. a number of other Sephardic scholars of the est of all the peoples. Rather, we were chosen no matter how much they try, Jews by birth Middle Ages accepted it, but did not give it the because He loved us and had promised our only. They often suffer from their Jewish iden- “Academic” approaches to the study of prominence accorded it by other Jewish forefathers that He would redeem us from slav- tity — anti-Semitism and confusion about the Jewish texts - from Tanakh, to Gemara, to re- thinkers. Rambam does not include it in his ery. He wishes us to know at all times that He State of Israel and spiritual rootlessness — and sponsa literature - are sometimes perceived as Ani Ma’amins. Other prominent sages, from is faithful and keeps His promise made to our do not taste of the glory of Jewishness. Only being in conflict with certain aspects of Emu- Yehudah Halevi to the Maharal to the Tanya to forebears in the covenant with them, and ex- when we turn around and choose Him and His nah. How would Rav Lamm assess this per- Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook, ex- tends His Love for their descendants “unto a Torah, of our own free will, do we experience ception of academic Jewish studies? What sort pounded on the doctrine of chosenness and thousand generations” (Dt.: 7:-6-8). the dignity and delight of being Jewish. Our of role should “academic” methodologies play

4 Volume 1, Issue 8 Israel at 60

in a Yeshiva University curriculum? that there is only one truth and no other.) Proof: More than once, in my own learning, have I wistful remark as to what gives him personally Tanur shel Akhnai (B.M. 59b): the Talmud found myself puzzled in trying to penetrate a the most spiritual pleasure - it is Torah, in In answer to your question, I do not be- records a debate amongst the Tannaim as to the sugya which I considered opaque, and found which he delights -and that is certainly no sur- lieve that academic approaches to sacred texts purity or impurity of a kind of earthen oven. R. so-called “academic Judaica” to be of great prise. I assume that all of us, me included, feel are necessarily in conflict with emunah. After Eliezer b. Hyrcanus declared it tahor, while R. help. An alternate reading found in a Ms. cited that we derive our greatest intellectual fulfill- all, our faith is challenged and often attenuated Yehoshua considered it tamei. Whereupon the in the Dikdukei Soferim can help elucidate ment and spiritual enjoyment from the study of by hunger, luxury, persecution, the ubiquity of former invoked all kinds of supernatural mira- many a passage that is otherwise puzzling or Torah even though we do not denigrate the in- sexual temptation, and so on. Popular culture is cles to support his halakhic decision.R. even incomprehensible. While personally I do dependent role of Madda in our lives.) What usually in conflict with some of our received Yehoshua dismissed all of them, including the not as a matter of practice spend much time on the Rambam is doing is saying that the “other teachings and is menacing to our way of life. final “proof” of R. Eliezer, namely, the Bat Kol variant readings, they do prove most helpful in wisdoms” serve two functions: on one level, Yet we do not and should not condemn all of which favored R. Eliezer. In other words, ha- many cases. There is no one methodology or they have innate value because they explain the contemporary culture, even when it is in occa- lakhic truth, decided by majority vote of great derekh that is inherently superior to others; it is world which the Almighty created, and this sional conflict with principles of Judaism. Sci- but ultimately fallible human beings, prevails all a matter of intellectual conviction, taste, ori- contemplation leads us to a genuine religious entism (the worship of science) is deplorable, over a direct revelation of the divine will! entation, and personal choice. Hence, everyone experience; this is Torah UMadda in its broad- but science must be treated with respect. Pop- Halakhic tradition is decided by the ha- is entitled to use whatever satisfies him in at- est sense. And second, they serve specifically ular literature is usually of no importance to a lakhic process, not by some external (even di- tempting to understand devar Hashem zu Ha- to enhance the study of Torah. This latter func- serious ben Torah, but truly great literature is vine) standard. That being the case, even if our lakha. But there is no reason, other than habit tion fits nicely into the rubric of academic serious and should not be dismissed although research leads us to conclude that technical er- or intellectual comfort, to fail to make use of study as propaedeutic to our Talmud Torah, en- certainly it need not be accepted as authorita- rors crept into the Mesorah in the course of his- parallel sources such as Yerushalmi, Tosefta, riching it - and us. In this sense, of course, ac- tive. As for potential problems posed by aca- tory, we can live with such “error.” This is the halakhic Midrashim, etc. ademic study of sacred texts can certainly be demic approaches, we should not minimize considered as helpful. them, but put them into perspective. People of A word of caution: When the ben Torah genuine emunah were and are almost always undertakes to study any academic discipline, faced with challenges. It was true in the ancient whether scientific or humanistic, he should world and is true today in our contemporary bear in mind that each discipline must be pur- world. Yet we managed to survive without sued truthfully, that is, without prejudice to its banning all human thinking from our learning principles or conclusions. Each discipline de- and teaching-at least not in our Torah UMadda serves to be studied with an open and honest circles. Avoiding a challenge may be tem- mind. Only afterwards should we look back porarily soothing, but ultimately self-defeating. and see how this comports with our under- Essentially, academic approaches should standing of Judaism - halakhic or aggadic. But be subsumed under “Madda“ which, in turn, we must treat each non-Torah discipline ac- can be divided into two parts: first, that which cording to its own methodology. has no direct bearing on Talmud Torah, but Finally, just as in learning Torah we must which impinges on one’s religious conscious- bear in mind the importance of human dignity, ness. This can sometimes prove deleterious to kevod ha-beriot, so when we engage in “secu- our spiritual sensitivities, but equally can rein- lar” studies must we not forget the centrality force and deepen our faith and yirat of the human being, who was created “in the shamayim. Example: contemplation of the image of God.” Whether engaging in a labo- vastness and the overwhelming complexity of ratory sciences or business or literature, the in- the cosmos may make us question the signifi- tegrity of the human soul must always be cance of individual human beings and the ulti- respected even if, as often happens, it is neg- mate meaningfulness of life itself. But more lected by practitioners in the field. often, this becomes the spur to ahavat ha-Shem In all cases, we must accept as a foregone and a rousing affirmation of the wisdom of the another example of the view that halakhic I am convinced that this form of academic conclusion that while a great deal of what we Creator and the justification of our faith in Him practice is not ontological; it is not a statement assistance in learning too is a form of Madda; study in the academic world may be helpful in - which is what Rambam explicitly writes in about objective, ultimate truth, but rather it ad- it is using non-traditional methods to assist us support of religion, much of it is certainly an- his Hilkhot Yesodei ha-Torah. dresses our subjectivity, it is about a way of liv- in understanding Torah. Indeed, an excellent tagonistic. While it is important for all of us The second aspect is that which concerns ing a life of sanctity. This is made clear in a example of this can be found in the Rambam in to have a “taste” of those worlds, we must itself not with our overall faith commitments statement by Rav (Ber.R. 44a) that the mitzvot a famous teshuvah in which he refers to “sec- leave deep involvement in such disciplines to but with specific parts of Talmud Torah. Here were given in order to purify people, to make ular wisdom” as rakkachot ve’tabbachot ve’o- those who are ready to devote their time and too the brunt of such academic interpretations them aware of the Divine Presence, to train fot - a locution denoting servants or helpers, energy to fully explore them and to remember of halakhic texts can be harmful or helpful. It them to a life of kedushah; the mitzvot are not preparing the way for Torah. Opponents of that their first obligation is to Torah and their is worth examining each in turn. intrinsic, but a means to a higher end. Hence, Torah UMadda quite erroneously point to this ultimate commitment is to the Almighty, and Let us say that in the course of academic even if by the standard of academic Judaica responsum to argue that the Rambam regretted not to submit to the latest fashionable apikor- research you conclude that the Gemara’s inter- there was positive proof of a wrong decision at his high estimation of philosophy and science sus. pretation of a baraita was mistaken, as a result one time, the “erroneous” decision has already in the hierarchy of disciplines contained in the of which the pesak Halakha should be reversed been incorporated into the body of Halakha Pardes, thus undermining the usual conception (assuming, of course, that the process of so de- and is as binding upon us as if it were a Ha- of Maimonidean espousal of a positive view Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm is the Rosh ha- ciding is compelling). We are then indeed lakha le’Moshe mi’Sinai. towards Torah UMadda, reducing all worldly Yeshiva of RIETS and Chancellor of Yeshiva faced with a problem of considerable signifi- For further evidence of the non-ontic na- knowledge to the rank of mere instruments, de- University cance. Should we continue practicing the tra- ture of the mitzvot, note ki im tzadakta mah void of any inherent value. ditionally accepted Halakha and be false to our titen li (Job 35;7), which freely translated However, I believe this is simply not so. conscience, or should we change our conduct means, “even if you are righteous, it is not for (In my Torah UMadda, chapter 4, I point out Ari Lamm is the interviewer for Kol and fly in the face of centuries of sanctified Me but for yourself” (and see Ramban to Dt. that some of the most significant authorities on Hamevaser practice? Which prevails: truth or tradition? 10:12). Also, since all the chagim depend upon Rambam, such as the late R. Kapach, have My approach is that we err if we put the when the Sanhedrin declares the new month questioned the authenticity of this letter. More- question in such stark either/or terms. Halakhic has begun, their kedushah is not inherent but over, the overwhelming weight of Rambam’s truth differs from historic or factual or con- derives from human activity. writing solidly supports the autonomous role ventional truth or any other kind of truth. (It is, But, as I indicated, academic skills can that chokhmah plays in Maimonidean thought. I believe, wrong and even immature to aver certainly be used to enhance our Talmud Torah. In all probability, therefore, he is offering a

Volume 1, Issue 8 5 Kol Hamevaser ContinuingContinuing thethe Discussion:Discussion: DerekhDerekh Ha-LimmudHa-Limmud andand ReligiousReligious GrowthGrowth Deciphering a Spitting Image: To Live and to Learn

BY RABBI ELCHANAN ADLER therapy as a means of gaining deeper insights that link it to an earlier episode in Miriam’s had just issued a royal edict ordering every into the underlying origin of their “here and childhood. The first is the topic of Miriam’s newborn Jewish male to be cast into the Nile. Author’s Note: This essay is a transcript now” reality, most of us are content living our slander; the second is Hashem’s introductory At this depressing juncture, Miriam’s father, of a talk given several years ago. Its thesis, the daily lives without the need to discover under- remarks before issuing Miriam’s sentence of Amram, a prominent leader in the community, link between aspects of Miriam’s childhood lying patterns from the distant past. seclusion. made a fateful decision to divorce his wife, and the episode involving her critique of Yet sometimes we stumble upon a partic- In addition to devaluating Moshe’s level Yocheved. Amram reasoned: What purpose Moshe Rabbeinu, is, in effect, a piecing to- ular incident where the impact of a person’s of prophecy, Miriam also spoke “about the could there be in bringing children into a world gether of disparate midrashic sources. The ob- early personal history is so powerful that to Kushite woman” to whom Moshe was married where they might be forcibly drowned! His servation that the divine rebuke in the latter overlook it would be to miss an important part - who, as we know, was Yisro’s daughter, Tzi- decision sent shockwaves through the commu- episode served to reopen an emotional wound of the story. I believe that such an example can pora. As Rashi explains, Miriam was critical of nity and many others followed suit. But soon from Miriam’s youth is based on the comments be found in the Torah at the conclusion of Par- Moshe’s separating from Tzipora. Moshe had afterwards, Amram was rebuked by his daugh- of R. Zev Wolf Einhorn (MaHarZu) to Shemos shas Behaaloscha (Bemidbar Chapter 12) in done so in order to remain “on call” for ter Miriam who argued: “Father, your edict is Rabba (1:22), and elaborated on in his trea- the episode dealing with Miriam’s slander prophecy at all times. Though Hashem had more drastic than that of Pharaoh! Pharaoh’s tise Nesiv Chadash (P. 14). against her younger brother, Moshe. (I say sanctioned Moshe’s decision, this was not edict was directed against the Jewish males, The drasha raises a number of important known to Miriam. yours is directed at the males and females, for issues of hashkafa; among them, the balance In effect, Miriam’s critique of Moshe had you are not allowing either gender to be born.” that must be maintained when analyzing the two components: first, she underestimated Whereupon, Amram reversed his decision and conduct of gedolei hauma – Torah giants Moshe’s status as a prophet; second, she con- reunited with his wife. This, in turn, led all whose sanctity and piety defy description. On sidered it wrong for Moshe to deprive himself those who had divorced their wives to return the one hand, the fact that the Torah does not of a normal family life. And these two compo- to their former marital relationships. obscure the mistakes of our leaders suggests a nents were interrelated. Because Miriam failed What was it that prompted young Miriam certain license to probe such matters, ostensi- to appreciate the uniqueness of Moshe’s to boldly challenge her father? On one level, it bly in order to draw inferences which may be prophecy, she saw no justification in Moshe’s must have been a powerful instinct about the of moral value to us. Yet, the very enterprise of decision to divorce his wife. After all, she too profound importance of family life. Miriam scrutinizing individuals of enormous spiritual was a prophet who nonetheless lived a normal understood that the family is the symbol of stature carries the risk of introducing biases family life. From Miriam’s perspective, it was Jewish continuity, and that even extraordinary borne of our small-mindedness and limited un- presumptuous and inappropriate for Moshe to circumstances do not justify breaking up the derstanding. With this in mind, it behooves us be different. family unit. not to lose sight of Miriam’s own grandeur The clue that this story finds its roots deep But there was another factor as well - an within the mesorah. To the extent that our ap- in Miriam’s past can be detected in Hashem’s actual prophecy that Miriam received at this proach affords us fresh insight into this Torah statement prior to ordering Miriam into seclu- young age – a prophecy informing her that her narrative, it should be emphasized that the dy- sion: “Were her father to spit in her face, would mother was destined to give birth to a son who namics must surely have played out in a far she not be humiliated for seven days? Let her would eventually become the redeemer of Is- more subtle manner than words can convey. I be quarantined outside the camp for seven rael. Indeed, it was out of this “reunion” be- share this drasha in the hope that it will foster Miriam because while both Miriam and days, and then she may be brought in” (v. 14). tween Amram and Yocheved that Moshe an appreciation of “dekula ba” – that there is Aharon were faulted for the error, it was Simply stated, Hashem offered a logical justi- Rabeinu was born. [This is why Miriam is re- no element of truth regarding human nature Miriam who initiated the conversation and was fication for His sentence - just as a rebuke by ferred to elsewhere (in parshas Beshalach) as which is not contained and elucidated in the primary judged for the misdeed.) her biological father would put her to shame “Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aharon” Torah. The essence of Miriam’s slander was that for a week’s time, so does the divine rebuke - - because her first prophecy came to her at a she equated Moshe’s level of prophecy with by the Heavenly Father - deserve no less. But time when was still merely the sister of Aharon Have we ever stopped to think about the that of her own: “Was it only to Moses that why, we may ask, did Hashem use the prior to the birth of Moshe.] connection between who we are today and our Hashem spoke? Did he not speak to us as metaphor of a father’s rebuke? Is this analogy It should now be obvious how Miriam’s experiences during early childhood? About well?” For this insensitive remark, Miriam merely hypothetical? According to various critique of Moshe’s separation from Tzipora how a poignant feeling or instinct we had in was chastised by Hashem who made it un- midrashic and talmudic sources it is not. It is and her equating of Moshe’s prophecy with her early life continued to resonate within us, con- equivocally clear that Moshe’s prophecy was something that Miriam actually experienced in own find their roots in the events of Miriam’s sciously or subconsciously, only to manifest it- in a class of its own - qualitatively different her own life. childhood. As we can see, both of these issues self again many years later? How the nature than that of other prophets. If we flash back to little Miriam - age five were intertwined with the events leading up to of our earliest relationships with our parents In the wake of the divine rebuke, Miriam and a half - we would find her during one of Moshe’s birth. It was then that Miriam cham- and siblings became inextricably linked with was stricken with tzara’as (a skin ailment the cruelest, darkest periods of the Egyptian pioned the cause of the family in persuading our self-image? Or how a private act of kind- which was inflicted upon slanderers during exile. (Even the name Miriam is synonymous her father to reunite with Yocheved. And it ness performed as a child can unexpectedly biblical times). Aharon turned to Moshe and with the Hebrew word for bitter.) The Jewish was then that Miriam began her own career as provide solace for us many years later? implored him to pray on behalf of their sister sojourners in Egypt had been transformed into a prophet in predicting the birth of her brother. These issues are largely the domain of and Moshe obliged. Hashem responded by or- slaves. Originally recruited into building large No wonder that Miriam felt justified in criti- psychoanalysts who posit that our adult “per- dering Miriam to be secluded outside the camp storage houses for Pharaoh, they gradually cizing Moshe on both of these counts. sonalities” - our feelings, tastes, attitudes, in- for seven days. The people postponed their found themselves subjected to a daily regimen But the story does not end yet. Both of terests and personalities - can be traced to journey for a week until Miriam could rejoin of back breaking field labor. Their lot grew these issues - Miriam’s strong feelings for fam- childhood experiences. While there are some them. bitterer by the day and their spirits were de- ily and her identity as a prophet - were destined who invest vast resources of time and money in There are two critical aspects to the story moralized. To make matters worse, Pharaoh to become enmeshed with a third dimension -

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that of her father’s love and acceptance. When many years before. To Miriam, this experience baby Moshe was born, the entire house filled of abandonment must have indeed kindled a Shivat Tsiyon, with a spiritual light. Amram then turned to deja vu reliving of the paternal rejection that his daughter and gave her a warm kiss on the she felt as a child. forehead, saying: “My daughter, it seems that But at the same time that Hashem offered Prophecy and Rav Kook your prophecy will indeed be realized.” But a rebuke, He also extended a warm, comforting short three months later when the baby could hand: “And the people did not journey until no longer remain in hiding, Moshe was placed Miriam was brought in” (v. 15). As Rashi ex- BY YOSEF BRONSTEIN bounty of the divine light that rises from all of in a wicker basket to virtual abandonment and plains, Miriam was granted this special tribute the lowliness of the worlds and their con- concealed among the reeds of at the bank of of being “waited for” just as she had “waited” There are many positive elements that one fines.”x In other words, the Land is endowed the river. At that point, Amram turned again to in her youth for her baby brother by the river can point to when describing the uniqueness of with the ability to allow its inhabitants to ex- his daughter - this time in great disappointment bank. living in Erets Yisrael. Some focus on one’s perience a purer form of imagination that in – slapped her face, and cynically asked: “My Yes, Miriam was grossly mistaken in her ability to fulfill a larger scope of the gamut of turn capacitates them to see beyond the con- daughter, what has happened to your ‘so criticism of Moshe. Her championing of fam- mitsvot,i others point to the very living in the fines of physical reality. called’ prophecy?” ily values in this case was misplaced. Her Land as a mitzvah,ii a third group mentions an It is important to stress that Rav Kook did As little Moshe lay in his basket upon the equating of Moshe’s prophecy with that of her internal, objective holiness that G-d endowed it not stop on the level of a theoretical connec- water, a pair of watchful eyes gazed anxiously own was fallacious. But her instincts as a with,iii while still others will emphasize the tion between Eretz Yisrael, imagination and from afar, waiting to learn the fate of the new- young girl were still valid. All that she did to higher level of hashgahah that one lives under prophecy. Rather, the beginnings of the return born baby: “Vateisatav achoso merachok bring Moshe into the world was still appreci- in the Land.iv v However, there is another as- of Am Yisrael to Eretz Yisrael that he was wit- le’deah ma yeiase lo” – “And his sister sta- ated - her standing up to her father... her pect that is developed in certain schools of nessing and advancing indicated to him that tioned herself at a distance to know what prophecy... her watchful devotion as a sister... thought upon which I would like to elaborate prophecy was once again becoming a reality. would be done to him” (Shemos 2:4). She may not have risen to be a prophet in the from both a theoretical and practical perspec- He asserts with daring certainty that “the Miriam, Moshe’s eldest sister - the human caliber of Moshe but she was a prophet tive – the Land as imbuing one with the ability shoots of prophecy are sprouting and the sons being perhaps most responsible for this baby’s nonetheless... And her passionate desire to pre- to transcend the limitations of the intellect. of prophets are stirring, the spirit of prophecy existence - stood “merachok” - from a distance serve the family was a positive one. It was just If I understand correctly, the roots of this is about in the Land,”xi affirming that in his - not just distant from the baby in a physical that Moshe was exceptional. Miriam remained theory begin with the Tannaitic assertion that own times the divine spirit was slowly return- sense - but distant from her father who had beloved even at this vulnerable time. All of one is only privy to prophecy in Erets Yisrael.vi ing. It is clear that Rav Kook viewed himself snubbed her - distant from her own self who this was being conveyed to Miriam’s through as partially tapping into that nascent spirit since had felt so certain that this baby needed to be the nation’s postponement of its journey. the above quotation in the original manuscript born ...“lede’ah ma yei’ase lo” - to know not It is truly remarkable to see how Miriam’s is preceded by an attempt by Rav Kook to lo- just what would become of the baby but what current experience had opened up a window to cate the sources of his own ideas and theo- would become of her prophecy which now her past. On the one hand, the divine punish- ries.xii One of his prime disciples, Rav David hung precariously in the balance. Miriam knew ment reawakened old wounds - images of pa- Cohen, the Nazir of Yerushalayim, took his that the fate of this baby was inextricably ternal rejection - “Were her father to spit in her mentor’s notion to its extreme but logical con- linked with that of her own - her belief in the face.” At the same time, she was also provided clusion and spent many years preparing him- preservation of the family unit, her career as a with an opportunity for healing her past - “and self to becomes a full-fledged prophet. In a prophet, and her reconciliation with her father. the people did not journey until Miriam was diary entry written on the boat taking him to So Miriam waited as only a loving sister could. brought in.” Eretz Yisrael, the Nazir wrote “the spirit, the And suddenly Moshe’s life was miracu- As we go about the business of our daily ru’ah ha-kodesh and the revelation of His word lously saved by the most unlikely of sources - lives, we all carry within ourselves imprints of in the future is my ultimate goal in the Holy Pharaoh’s daughter, Basya. When Basya re- our youth. We are, after all, an accumulation Land… this is inexorable.”xiii Even if one quested a Jewish woman to nurse the baby, of our personal histories. We are, at times, in- would disagree with the Nazir’s sense of the Miriam suddenly emerged and offered the clined to harbor early feelings and to reenact immanence of prophecy and contend that his services of the baby’s own mother, Yocheved. deeds prompted by those feelings. Every so methods, which included fasting, vows of si- Miriam had now found peace with herself and often, we become aware of these forces Prophecy is clearly a phenomenon that sur- lence and other acts of perishut, were extreme with her father. Her prophecy was authentic through powerful experiences that reawaken passes the restrictions of the intellect and re- and too early, one can still affirm that his gen- after all... her faith in the power of the family our past. Sometimes, these experiences - like quires a strong imaginative faculty (as even the eral aspiration of the return of prophecy is had proved correct... her father’s love would Miriam’s - re-open old wounds that may be rationalist Rambam admittedvii) and it would laudable.xiv yet return... painful. But as with Miriam, the suffering is therefore be tempting to link this limited geo- While Rav Kook writes of his yearning This was Miriam at age six. Many years meant to help us expand our wisdom and con- graphic area to its effect on the imagination. from the perspective of one who is viscerally later, these same factors resurface, in Parshas sciousness. It is this very process that allows However, Rambam himself marginalized the suffering from the lack of full spirituality in the Behaaloscha, but in a different context. Once for healing. As we struggle through the hurt of concept of the limitation of prophecy to Erets current state of affairs, I think that for many of again, we find Miriam championing the cause old wounds, we can, hopefully, come to realize Yisrael by maintaining that if not for the trou- us a semi-halakhic argument would be more of family unity - this time in her criticism of that despite our disappointments, we still re- bles of the galut a person would be able to per- understandable. The Gemara in Shabbat (31a) her brother, Moshe, for separating from Tzi- main worthy of Hashem’s love - that making a fect himself in the Diaspora to the level relates that one of the questions that a person pora. And once again, it was Miriam’s confi- mistake doesn’t mean that our instincts were required for prophecy.viii Even the Kuzari, will be asked upon arriving at the Heavenly dence in her own status as a prophet that led all bad or all wrong. Life is about living and which has a much more fundamentalist ap- Tribunal is “Tsippita liyshu’ah (Did you long her to equate herself with Moshe. This time, learning ... and about healing the past. proach to the restriction, does not explicitly tie for the redemption)?” Mefareshim point out however, she was not right. Moshe’s situation the uniqueness of Eretz Yisrael to the Land’s that “tsipiyah” connotes a more active antici- was different because Moshe was different. effect on the potential prophet’s mental facul- pation than other parallel verbs,xv and Rashi de- And Hashem knew that Miriam had to learn ties.ix fines “yeshu’ah” as “kiyyum divrei nevi’im (the this lesson in a painful manner. However, for some this connection actu- fulfillment of the words of the prophets)”. As When Miriam was stricken with tzara’as Rabbi Elchanan Adler is a Rosh Yeshiva ally exists. Rav Kook, for example, describes the prophet Yo’el speaks of a prophetic renais- and sentenced to seclusion for her sin, it re- at RIETS, where he is an occupant of the Eva, the “imagination of Eretz Yisrael” as being sance as part of his eschatological vision,xvi a opened old wounds from her past by trigger- Morris and Jack Rubin Chair in Rabbinics. “clear, clean and pure, specially fit for the rev- yearning for the return of prophecy should fall ing bitter memories of her estrangement from elation of the Divine Truth … prepared for the under the mandate of “tzippiyah liyshu’ah.” her father. Now we understand why Hashem explanation of prophecy and its lights, for the I think that it is no coincidence that the drew the analogy of her father having spat in brightness of ru’ah ha-kodesh and its shining.” fulfillment of this charge requires the activa- her face - “Ve ‘aviha yarok yarak befaneha.” This is as opposed to the imagination of Huts tion of the imagination in order to properly en- The divine rebuke was to Miriam at that mo- La-Arets which is “murky, mixed with dark- vision the Messianic age in the mind’s eye. It ment what her father’s slap must have felt like ness … and cannot serve as the basis for the is as if we are showing our desire for the return

Volume 1, Issue 8 7 Kol Hamevaser

of the ideal form of imagination that enables prophecy by using our limited imaginations to envision such a reality. The goal of this essay is twofold. First, I Holy Land, Holy People want to raise awareness about a potential ram- ification of Shivat Tsiyon that I do not think is emphasized in our community. Second, Rav Kook thought that the percolation of these ideas in a public forum is not only helpful for BY LEAH KANNER home. One such “Mi ke-amkha Yisrael” story would make sense that the implied reason to their clarification but also contributes to the re- occurred when we realized our new camera live in Israel would be, “because its actions are alization of the ultimate goal of redemption, as “Look at the beautiful palm trees!” my was missing from our car about twenty min- better than those of other nations.”ix tsippiyah liyshu’ah is not only symptomatic of mother exclaimed. But to my almost-twelve- utes after leaving Kever Rabbi Akiva. We re- In his commentary on the Torah, Ramban an assured future but actually has a causal re- year-old eyes, it was all wrong. Palm trees be- turned, and as my father began looking around, emphasizes the uniqueness of Erets Yisrael as lationship with it.xvii It is in that spirit that I longed in California; here things were he saw his anxiety mirrored on the face of a a land that is “nahalat Hashem”x and attributes have written this essay. supposed to be different. As our taxi wound its man running over and saying, “Is this camera the gravity of punishment in some situations to To conclude, I would like to cite the Ran’s i xi comments on the query of tsippita liyshu’ah. way between the offending trees and out of the yours?” and his subsequent relief matched by the fact that the sin was committed in Israel. While Rashi formulates it as “kiyum divrei airport, the paved highways and modern build- that same man’s instinctive reaction, “Thank He does not distinguish between different pe- nevi’im” the Ran adds in one powerful word – ings only added to my distress. Where was God that I was able to fulfill the mitsvah of riods in Jewish history with regard to the land’s “be-yamekha” (in your lifetime). Ve-khen yehi Erets Yisrael, artsenu ha-kedoshah, the land I hashavat avedah!” sanctity, and seems to think of kedushah as an ratson. intrinsic property of the land that lasts forever. Rambam, on the other hand, sees the land of Israel in a more utilitarian light. Based on his Yosef Bronstein is a Junior in YC rationalist approach, he is wary of attributing intrinsic differences to different countries in a given region,xii or claiming that God’s presence i See Sotah 14a, Rashbam to Bava Batra 91a is more directly in one place than another. c.v. ein yotse’in, Gilyonei Ha-Shas to 110b, Therefore, he focuses on the fact that Israel, in and Rav Ovadyah Yosef’s article in Torah She- its ideal state, is populated by those who keep Be’al Peh 11. the Torah and observe the commandments, and ii Ramban’s additions to Sefer Ha-Mitsvot of xiii Rambam, Mitsvah 4 therefore, it is the best place to do so. iii Tashbets Responsa 3:200 and Kaftor Va- While Ramban thinks that Israel is the Ferah, chapter 10. best place for a Jew to perform the mitsvot be- iv Ramban to Leviticus 18:25 and Penei cause it is holy, Rambam thinks that its holi- Yehoshua to Ketubot 110b c.v. tanu rabbanan. ness stems from the fact that it is the best place v Though I present them as four distinct fac- for a Jew to perform the mitsvot. Therefore, we tors, I think that it is reasonable to assume that could say that Ramban, seeing the holiness as if thought about, there is much overlap be- intrinsic to the land, might focus on the inani- tween them. mate manifestations of its holiness, while vi Parashah 1. Rambam would place more emphasis upon the vii 2:36 people who can impact its holiness through viii Ibid. their actions. ix 2:13-14 Yehuda Amichai underscores the conflict x Orot Erets Yisrael, keta 5. The rough and im- precise translations throughout the article are had learned about and dreamed of visiting? My I think that these two ideas, holiness of between these two sources of holiness in his xiv my own. only solace during that early morning drive place and of person, can be traced back to the poem, “Tourists.” He tells of a tour guide xi Orot Ha-Kodesh I, pg. 157 from Ben Gurion Airport to Jerusalem was the conceptions of Ramban and Rambam of ke- who drew attention to a person only in order to xii Shemonah Kevatsim 4:17 view of the kever of Shmuel ha-Navi perched dushat Erets Yisrael. ii point out, “a bit to the right of his head there’s xiii Mishnat Ha-Nazir, pg. 42 upon a hilltop. At last, a landmark that I rec- Ramban is known for his emphasis on the an arch from the Roman period.” Then offering xiv However, I recently heard from mori ve- ognized, right out of a drawing in the Sefer primacy of the land of Israel in Jewish thought his commentary, Amichai berates the tour rabbi Rav Rosensweig that notions of nevu’ah Shmuel I used in school. However, only the and practice. He considers living in Israel a guide for emphasizing the place at the expense are not really part of the worldview of the Ha- next day, when we visited the , was I commandment that is obligatory even in a time of the person saying, “redemption will come lakhic Man as described by Rav Soloveitchik. truly satisfied. This was the Israel I had seen in of exile,iii and states that the ideal place to per- only when they are told: You see over there the xv I have heard this from several rabbinic fig- my mind’s eye; the stone buildings and narrow form all commandments is the land of Israel.iv arch from the Roman period? Never mind: but ures but cannot currently locate a specific alleyways left no room for mistake. Finally, I Although Rambam does not explicitly list liv- next to it, a bit to the left and lower, sits a man source. knew that I was in a place unlike any other, a ing in Israel among the commandments, he who bought fruit and vegetables for his xvi Chapter 3 place where I could imagine walking in the does not ignore the land or its sanctity in his home.”xv To Amichai, it is the person who is xvii Orot Ha-Kodesh III, pg. 355 footprints my ancestors had worn into these halakhic writings.v In fact, the omission of primary. same cobblestones. mitsvat yishuv ha-arets may be attributed to a I prefer to think of these two sources of As I think back to those first impressions, technicality of its being subsumed under the holiness as complementary, since in my mind, I realize that at that point I saw the uniqueness prohibition against settling in Egypt,vi as the neither is complete on its own. It should also be of Erets Yisrael as solely dependent upon its two are discussed together in Rambam’s Mish- noted that the distinction made earlier between history. Therefore, only when I could see rem- neh Torah.vii According to this approach,viii we the ideas of Ramban and Rambam is merely a nants of that past did I feel like I was in a land can use the reason specified by Rambam for difference in focus; it would be difficult to of holiness. During that trip, I learned from the prohibition of living in Egypt to shed light claim that either of them sees the two sources various experiences to expand my conception on his conception of living in Israel. This rea- of holiness as mutually exclusive like Amichai of sanctity, and find it not only in the history son given is “because its actions are more cor- does. Relegating the land’s sanctity to a func- of the land, but also in the people who call it rupt than those of other nations.” Conversely, it tion of the past makes it independent of our ac-

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tions and therefore, less meaningful. At the same time, limiting it to a function of its pres- Religious Circles in America ent-day inhabitants is dangerous since it all but erases our link to the land. Synthesizing both of these ideas empowers us not only to walk in, and Their Attitude to the Study but to deepen the footprints of our ancestors, and perhaps chart our own ground in a land that is ours me-az u-le-tamid. of Hebrew

BY DR. SHMUEL SCHNEIDER The professional Jewish educator whose committed Jews is the source of their pride and Leah Kanner is a Senior at SCW majoring expertise transcends the PR hype fed to Anglo- open militancy. Undoubtedly, graduates of in- in Physics and Mathematics Translated from the Hebrew Jewish media is fully aware of the negative at- stitutions with a “right-wing” agenda possess a by Goldie Wachsman titude in some circles toward the study of profound religious awareness and identify vis- Hebrew. The dichotomy “we teach/they teach” cerally with the Jewish people. One rarely So said Rav Yehuda in the name of Rabi: “The is trumpeted with satisfaction and pride, as in finds radical leftists or disseminators of pro- i Which may have been less offending had I re- Sons of Judah were careful in their speech; “We teach Yiddishkeit and not Ivrit“ — the Palestinian propaganda in their midst, which is alized that without palm trees, Israel would be thus, their Torah was perpetuated through their final “t” exaggerated to mock a Sephardi He- far more common among “alienated” Jews. missing one of the shiva`at ha-minim as well as actions. The sons of Galilee were not careful brew accent. The tone faintly echoes that of the This point is often raised as proof that “Look, lulavim in their speech; their Torah was not perpetu- in Palestine, an era in which young we don’t teach Ivrit but our graduates are far ii I would like to thank Rabbi Dr. Mordechai ated” halutzim (pioneers) during the early waves of more Jewish than their peers who are enrolled Cohen for informing my understanding of this -Eruvin 53a aliyah were dismissed by some as “Hebrew- in schools that invest heavily in teaching He- topic through assignments and class discus- speaking goyim.” brew.” Yet that argument misses the point. sions. One would have expected the study of The claim “we teach Yiddishkeit“ clearly Learning classical Hebrew text without the iii Nahmanides, Hasagot ha-Ramban le-Sefer Hebrew to serve as the cornerstone of Jewish implies that the Ivrit be-Ivrit approach — with fundamental and systematic study of Hebrew ha-Mitsvot. Omitted Positive Commandment education in today’s Orthodox schools. After its emphasis on Hebrew and its systematic is self-defeating. If Orthodox Jews had sup- 4. all, if the bedrock of Jewish education is Torah study as an autonomous discipline — is inim- ported the ideological premise that religious iv Nahmanides, Commentary on the Torah, she-bikhtav and Torah she-be’al peh ( ical to the study of sacred texts (limudei texts can be studied in translation, the problem Leviticus 18:25 s.v. “va-titm’a ha-‘arets” and Talmud), which are taught from the origi- qodesh). Thus, an antithetical relationship is would be solved. Instead. of shenayim miqra v Maimonides, Mishneh Torah. Hilkhot Teru- nal Hebrew, then acquiring the skills to facili- struck between the study of Hebrew and the ve-ehad targum (lit. , reading the Scriptural mot 1: , Hilkhot Bet ha-Behira 6:14-16 tate such study — a thorough grounding in study of Judaism. Liberate yourself from He- portion of the week twice in Hebrew and once vi Maimonides, Sefer ha-Mitsvot. Negative Biblical and Rabbinical Hebrew across the brew and you fortify the ranks of the Torah in translation), everything would be translated, commandment 46 ages, from the Sages to the present — has to army. which is the practice in some circles to this day. vii Maimonides, Mishneh Torah. Hilkhot be a priority. To be sure, there are a good number of Or- Such was the case for the Jews of Alexandria Melakhim 5:7-12 Yet against all logic, the study of Hebrew thodox schools that stress the study of Hebrew de facto if not de jure, who managed to create viii Jacob S. Levinger, “The Uniqueness of Is- is relegated to a corner and some religious in- and integrate it into the Jewish curriculum, but an impressive exegetical and cultural monu- rael, its Land, and its Language,” Maimonides stitutions even consider it a hindrance. True, of late, these institutions have been placed on ment on the basis of translated text. The irony as Philosopher and Codifier. (Hebrew; the study of the Hebrew language had its hey- the defensive. For the decisive vote belongs to is that these institutions of Jewish education Jerusalem, 1989) 90-94 (The discussion in this day, in particular, right after the establishment those who regard Hebrew as deterring the see themselves as the heirs of Slabodka and paragraph follows his argument) of the State of Israel. At that time, even Jewish growth of Yiddishkeit, better known in English Volozhin, basing their educational philosophy ix Levinger, “Uniqueness” 93 day schools that did not excel in the “Ivrit as Torah-true Judaism. These circles view upon the “Ivri“ and the thorough preparation x Genesis 12:1 “ ‘el ha-‘arets”, Genesis 19:5 be’Ivrit“ system (Hebrew-only total immer- themselves as the guardians and watchdogs of of a page of Talmud. Consequently, even s.v. “ve-ned`a ‘otam” Leviticus 13:47 s.v. “ve- sion) tended to reinforce the study of Hebrew, Jewish education — and their influence in re- studying from a Soncino Talmud is tantamount ha-begged ki yehiyeh” Leviticus 18:25 s.v. “va- and many switched to Ivrit be-Ivrit. stricting the study of Hebrew is considerable. to heresy. titma’ ha-arets”, Numbers 35:32 “ve-lo Israeli instructors were hired, and princi- Willy nilly, a covenant is stuck with the tahnifu” pals and teachers began to perfect and deepen B. Hebrew language as a result of this guiding ed- xi See Genesis 19:5 s.v. “ve-ned`a ‘otam” (de- their knowledge of the language. Nevertheless, ucational philosophy. Nevertheless, misgivings struction of Sedom), Leviticus 18:25 s.v. “va- after only the briefest honeymoon, signs of a Reservations concerning the study of He- about Hebrew —- dating back to the days of titma’ ha-arets” (the punishment of tsara`at), lengthy withdrawal process became apparent, brew reveal a strange paradox and reflect the the Berlin — which one would have xii See Levinger, “Uniqueness” 93 and footnote one that reduced Hebrew to the status of a mar- anomaly of Jewish cultural life in the United thought had dissipated by now, resurface from 9. Like other philosophers of his time, Ram- ginal Regents course. Gone was any identifi- States. On the one hand, this milieu vaunts the time to time. Rather than grapple with Hebrew bam did think of the Middle East as the ideal cation with the language; instead there was fact that its schools teach “real Judaism,” rather and adopt it wholeheartedly because it is the climate for human development, however, this capitulation to and exploitation of regulations than courses about Judaism. In other words, sacred tongue in which the holiest texts were would not account for his distinguishing be- issued by secular state authorities, who re- texts in the original Hebrew are examined, as rendered, some educators ‘hung it. It is hard to tween Egypt and Israel. quired the study of a foreign language. opposed to lengthy introductions and surveys imagine how depth or mastery are attainable in xiii Levinger, “Uniqueness” 93 Moreover, as Hebrew assumed the role of (in English) surrounding Judaism. They de- limudei qodesh without a solid linguistic base. xiv I would like to thank Rabbi Dr. Jacob J. a “lowly Egyptian maidservant,” Jewish edu- clare with pride that the Bible is taught in their So long as Orthodox education is modeled on Schacter for drawing my attention to this poem cators and leaders developed an ideological- schools from Genesis to Deuteronomy as the the “Ivri“ and “shenayim miqra,” those at a lecture entitled, “History, Truth, and the conceptual justification for their attitude. None genuine Hebrew article, in contrast to other schooled in that system cannot do without a Jewish Experience” on March 21, 2007 at of the above is ever publicly discussed in the schools where the Hebrew writ is dwarfed by proper linguistic background. Lamdanut, or Yeshiva University panels, symposia, and “Yemei Iyun“ (intensive lectures on the Bible’s historical antecedents or real scholarship, is impossible if the linguistic xv Yehuda Amichai, A Life of Poetry, 1948- day-long workshops or study groups) so typi- by comparative analyses with ancient Eastern foundation is systemically flawed. 1994, page 333 cal on this continent. Usually the issue is raised cultures and their impact. As for the students Religious educational institutions that unofficially in conversations among the teach- themselves, they may never even get to see or minimize Hebrew often justify their approach ers themselves, in informal contexts that lend read Hebrew Scripture with their own eyes. with the theological argument that they are not even greater credence to the opinions ex- The success these religious circles can in the business of teaching modern secular He- pressed. claim in educating students to remain fully brew, which they deem an indulgence or at best

Volume 1, Issue 8 9 Kol Hamevaser

an amusing distraction. Words like gelidah and achievement is assessed first and foremost by text on a deeper level, which makes for an “im- Heritage” and “Jewish Ethical Values.” These kadur regel (Hebrew for ice cream and soccer) the ability of students to study independently, poverished religious experience.” In truth, this educators likewise maintain that Hebrew gets and the lexicon of everyday Hebrew are of no i.e., to read, analyze, and comprehend material conclusion was consistent with the observation in the way of teaching and absorbing Jewish interest because the primary subject matter is at the proper level. Would anyone deny that that Hebrew is an obstacle. Thus, in order to values. They claim that with the limited time limudei qodesh. Even those who would reject textual comprehension is one of the aims of a reinforce the religious experience, a new ritual at their disposal, not only can’t they devote this approach because they identify with He- yeshiva education? Yet how many high school based on the lingua franca of the time, usually hours to the study of Hebrew as a language but brew and the Zionist dream that adopted He- graduates meet that criterion? How many can German, was established. they can’t teach limudei qodesh in the original brew for practical use, will admit, if only out of read a book in halakhah in the original and un- The fruits of this “non-Hebrew Judaism” either. For the most part, that is the argument of respect for democracy and freedom of choice, derstand it well, let alone a more esoteric text and the poverty of its religious experience are after-school Talmud Torah teachers. Although that everyone is entitled to an opinion, includ- of piyyutim? a lesson that Jewish history has been learning their time is certainly limited, the perception ing the foregoing one. But the reality is that the There seems to be no correlation between since the close of the eighteenth century, both that Hebrew is some technical or decorative discomfort with secular Hebrew leads to the the quantity of hours or years devoted to study- in Europe and the United States. To their credit, fixture is a complete distortion of the basic val- suppression of language study as a discipline ing religious texts and the level of linguistic let it be said that at least they were consistent. ues of Judaism. Anyone who has tried to teach crucial to the comprehension of the written achievement. Small wonder that the translation In contrast, the Orthodox milieu rejects “non- Jewish values in any context other than the word, a case of throwing the baby out with the Hebrew Judaism” and its lifestyle and cleaves right one — in Hebrew garb — ends up teach- bathwater. Because the Hebrew of gelidah and to the kotzo shel yod, the Hebrew letter of the ing neither Hebrew nor ethics. kadur regel is suspect, administrators of some Law. That being the case, why do they insis- So long as translation served as a bridge schools have built a wall around the language tently remain betwixt and between? Those who between the Jewish experience and the external and neglect their dual obligation to impart predicate Jewish survival on the dictum ve-shi- world, the Jewish framework was not weak- strong language skills to students and to si- nantam le-vanekha — the Biblical command ened. Without a doubt, when translation ceased multaneously and unconditionally insist upon that requires parents to speak, teach, and ver- to be external but was internalized as an or- the study of text in the original tongue. Hence, bally drill their children so that they will love ganic part of the religious experience, it be- the paradox: How can one achieve real depth in G-d — must transmit the verbal skills, or the came a factor in the forces of assimilation. a genre of Torah learning seeped in traditions darkhei shinun, that inform the fully commit- From the beginning of the nineteenth cen- of hakha garsinan, ve-doq, and tzei u-lemadi ted Jew. tury, leaders of Reform Jewry have spoken when the students lack the tools to compre- The paradox of Torah education is that it from the lofty peaks of justice and prophetic hend, deduce, or extrapolate meaning from the ridicules the assimilated Jews who can’t read a morality. Their speeches, however, end on the words of the argument? If the fury has been un- word of Hebrew at the same time that it mocks other side of the mountain, sans Jewish ethics, leashed against the parparaot, why the attack the study of Hebrew, owing to the fear, dating sans prophecy, and in distant, alien pastures. against the miqraot?ii from the Mendelssohn era, that language is an All that is left of their intellectual and histori- untrustworthy child, the idolatry of maskilim cal opus is the dry bones of ideology. The reli- C. and grammarians. Apparently these misgivings gious and social history of European Jewry persist to this day. But rather than shun se- bears this out. What happened in Western Eu- The dismissal of careful reading and in- mantics and syntax, it would be wiser to em- rope has been happening in the United States in terpretation necessarily lowers the standard brace them and apply them to the study of the last few generations. and the lomdus prized by leaders in Jewish ed- industry is booming. Yet despite the industry’s sacred texts. One cannot transmit Jewish values by ucation. It’s difficult to take the self-congratu- loyalty to tradition and the best of intentions, Sometimes another excuse is used, one making noble speeches about “Judaismus” in latory “we teach” posture seriously if what’s its results are highly questionable. that lays the blame on the shoulders of young German or even in new English translations being taught is sacred text with classical com- teachers — the yeshiva graduates and “field (notwithstanding their innovation and fine mentary and novellae and when any greenhorn D. workers” who interact with the real world of technique). Similarly, one ignores the essen- knows that the students’ ability to decipher un- Jewish pedagogy — who, it is claimed, are un- tiality of Hebrew at one’s own peril. At the vocalized, rabbinic text is poor. In discussions of an informal nature about able to teach students the basics of Hebrew. very least, it behooves the decision makers and The scores on a single surprise quiz gen- the level of Jewish day schools, when admin- They are not trained to think linguistically be- policymakers in the world of Jewish education erally suffice to expose this self-congratulation istrators are pressed to the wall they attribute cause the will not validate linguistic to face the facts. for what it is. The achievements, such as they their problems with Hebrew (the gap between study of Hebrew sources. are, are meager. There is no yeshiva that can reading and comprehension) to the ubiquity of Textual comprehension in this milieu is honestly bask in the glory that its graduates English. In other words, children are immersed usually gained by reading the text over and know how to translate a Biblical verse prop- in a corrupt, alien culture that includes televi- over during many long hours at the desk, Dr. Shmuel Schneider is the head of the erly and read Rashi adequately. Nor should the sion, radio, newspapers, etc, etc. This makes it which is an admission of failure. Yet that’s the YC Hebrew Department failure of the after-school Talmud Torah net- extremely difficult to overcome the language way it is and it is up to the prime movers in re- work be used as a comparison to measure the hurdle, especially since Hebrew is a Semitic ligious education to do something about it — success of the yeshiva world. Those who boast tongue that differs from English in structure to train teachers how to teach Hebrew. Just as *This article was originally published in that their students know how to translate a and form. In fact there is some truth to this English instructors shouldn’t be allowed in Bitzaron 9-10 (Winter:Spring 1981), pp. 80-83 verse of Biblical Hebrew after twelve years of claim, since even students in Torah institutions class unless they know the language, and math i ‘Talmudic terms that mean “this is the study are virtually advertising the bankruptcy are exposed to the influence of American cul- teachers shouldn’t teach unless they know their of the system. Such accomplishments are the ture and lifestyle. algebra and geometry, instructors of limudei way it should be read,” “examine” and fruit of rote and repetition, a professionally Yet this alibi begs the question. If the di- qodesh should not teach the subject unless their “corroborate for yourself.” useless education. A decline of standards in agnosis is that Hebrew is the source of the mastery of the sacred tongue is thorough. Jewish education is consequently inevitable problem, then the treatment needs to address A paradoxical attitude to the study of He- ii Parparaot, literally “dessert”; by exten- because the method is at fault, much like the the illness, or act upon the logical implications brew characterizes a significant segment of the sion, something sweet but insubstantial. deterioration in the public school system, pri- of the diagnosis: Either eliminate the problem Conservative movement as well. Strangely, Miqraot, literally the “texts to be read.” marily in major cities. or make your peace with it. Assimilated Jewish their rationale is similar to that of the yeshiva The worst part of the deficit is that it pre- theologians have always seen Hebrew as a hin- world, although the terminology differs. The vents students from learning on their own. Ef- drance whose disadvantage outweighed its yeshiva world favors expressions like Torah- fectiveness, albeit hard to measure, is the very benefits. Hebrew, they maintained, prevents true Judaism and Yiddishkeit, whereas the Con- touchstone of Jewish education. Academic those who don’t need it from understanding the servatives prefer the expressions “Jewish

10 Volume 1, Issue 8 Israel at 60 An Interview with Rabbi Zevulun Charlop

BY ARI LAMM …And now, after only 60 years, we have owing much to R. Yitzhak Yeruham Diskin or shortly after the British broke the grip of the reached that number and perhaps surpassed it. zt”l, son of that Gaon ha-Ge’onim R. failing Ottoman Empire and General Allenby Editor’s note: In the course of his interview In light of this, in light of tremendous eco- Yehoshua Leib Diskin zt”l, a small comple- marched into Jerusalem. My grandfather tells with Ari Lamm, Rabbi Charlop made exten- nomic and scientific progress, and most im- ment of young, outstanding talmidei hakhamim of urging Professor Weitzmann to go see Rav sive reference to two letters that his grandfa- portantly, in light of the tremendous resurgence was formed – attached to the Yeshivas Ohel Kook upon his return to London (where, at the ther, R. Yakov Moshe Charlop wrote to R. of authentic Torah learning, one wonders Moshe in the Old City. Its chief purpose was time Rav Kook served as rabbi), and strongly Avraham Yitzchak Ha-Kohen Kook, and to a whether at any time, even during the Tannaitic to keep these talmidim from starving in those encourages Rav Kook to make every effort to letter that his father, R. Jechiel Michael Char- and Amoraic periods, there has been so much desperate days, and thereby ensuring the sur- see Weitzman. In that selfsame letter, my zeide lop received from several Rabbinic leaders of Torah learning – at least quantitatively if not vival and perpetuation of Talmud Torah. recounts the discussion he had with Professor the old Yishuv. R. Charlop was gracious qualitatively. My father, R. Yechiel Michel Charlop Weitzman focusing upon the bedrock need for enough to share these letters with us. They can zt”l, only sixteen years old then, was selected Eretz Yisroel to be a land of kedusha, to which be found on the pages following this interview. to give the chabura to these budding Torah lu- Weitzman responded “ani dogel la-zeh,” “I We would like to thank R. Charlop for pre- minaries. Among this group, in addition to my [too] stand for this!” senting these letters to the readership of Kol father, were several other talmidim of my These letters carried great hopes and, Hamevaser. zeide, R. Yaakov Moshe Charlop – including most importantly, the glimmering possibilities R. Amram Blau zt”l, R. David Ha-Levi Jun- of their fulfillment. Can you imagine those As the grandson of a renowned talmid greis zt”l, and R. Yaakov Yerucham Ha-Levi who eventually became the Neturei Karta haver of R. Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook, Katzenellenbogen zt”l, figures whom later building moshavim in Medinas Yisroel for the could Rav Charlop share his perspective on the generations would never think to identify as purpose of Talmud Torah and working the legacy of his grandfather, the legacy of Rav talmidim of my zeide, or colleagues of my fa- land? Can you imagine Professor Weitzmann Kook, as well as on the broader issue of the ther. being dogel for a land of kedusha? Yet some- centrality of Eretz Yisrael in our lives? Indeed, around 1924, my father – then how, all of this went tragically awry, and it is a serving miles and miles away from Jerusalem bekhi le-doros – a lament, a cry, for the gener- I have been asked whether we should still as rabbi in Omaha, Nebraska – received what ations. retain “Reshit Tzemihat Ge’ulatenu” (the be- must be reckoned today, in the passing of Nevertheless, I still believe that we are ginning of the redemption) in the Tefillah li- decades and generations, a memorable letter living in a time of extraordinary nissim em- Sh’lom Medinas Yisrael. I remember that R. from Rav Dovid ha-Levi Jungreis, who later bodying, albeit not always as robustly as we Moshe Tzvi Neria zt”l, who was very close to became the Rav and av beis din of the Edah might wish, the aschalta de-ge’ulah. My my grandfather, Rav Yaakov Moshe Charlop HaChareidis of Jerusalem. Appended to the grandfather already used the term aschalta de- zt”l, and was one of his premier talmidim, ex- letter were personal, handwritten messages by ge’ulah is in a letter he wrote several days after cised Reshit Tzemihat Ge’ulatenu from the I want particularly to address two kinds of R. Amram Blau, who was to become the head the United Nations voted on the partition plan. Tefillah le-Medinat Yisrael after the Oslo disappointments, and anchor my comments on of the Neturei Karta and the fiercest antagonist He was upset by the partition, because the very Agreement, and Israel began retreating, or at a letter written by my grandfather to Rav to Zionism, and R. Yaakov Yerucham Halevi idea of partition, the very idea that Jerusalem least advocating retreat from parts of Judea and Kook, and on a letter received by my father Katzenellenbogen, whose role was no less or any other part of Eretz Yisroel is not ours, Samaria. However, I don’t feel that I can stop from haverim with whom he learned in noteworthy as a no-holds-barred opponent of was anathema to him. Nevertheless, he wrote saying it, or that anyone should stop saying it, Jerusalem. As is well known, my grandfather, that movement of Jewish national rebirth. The to my father that this is undoubtedly aschalta even in the face of disappointment and fore- Rav Yaakov Moshe Charlop zt”l, was a talmid letter was published, not long ago for the first dege’ulah. Indeed, while we have been faced boding. chaver of Rav Kook zt”l. My grandfather – time, in the Torah journal Moriah. In the in- with many disappointments, we must put his- May 4, 1948 (5 Iyyar 5708) is indelibly born in Israel and never to leave for the dura- troduction to this letter, the editors of Moriah tory in perspective and realize that the path of impressed on my memory: How we Bronxites tion of his life – was reared in the same envi- describe the senders – Jungreis, Blau ge’ulah may not be smooth, but is certainly in trumpeted the fact that there were more Jews in ronment in which most Yerushalmi Jews of the and Katzenellenbogen –as talmidim of R. forward motion – perhaps sputteringly for- the Bronx (660,000) than there were in the yishuv ha-yashan were born and raised; he was Yaakov Moshe, as we indicated before. ward, but always forward nonetheless. newly founded State of Israel (600,000). integral to that yishuv and part of its neshama. The letter was in response to one written Today, the Bronx has barely 35,000 Jews, At a very early age he gave the highest shiur by my father, commenting on an article re- while Israel (ba”h) has a population of over in Yeshivas Etz Hayyim, which was the lead- cently published by R. Jungreis. As a post- Rabbi Zevulun Charlop is the Max and 7.2 million, about 5.5. million of who are Jew- ing makom Torah in Eretz Yisroel. script to this letter R. Amram Blau, incredibly, Marion Grill Dean of RIETS ish. I think that by all current calculations and Somewhile in his early twenties, he be- asks my father, whom he refers to as yedid naf- statistics, Israel has, in the last year, superseded came seriously ill. The doctor prescribed a pe- shi, to help him (and presumably Rabbis Jun- Ari Lamm is the interviewer for Kol America as the world’s largest Jewish commu- riod of rest in Jaffa. It was then that he met greis and Katzenellenbogen) in building a Hamevaser nity. It has been the center of a kibbutz galuyos Rav Kook who was recently appointed rabbi moshav outside Jerusalem devoted to Talmud the likes of which we have never seen before. of Jaffa. The first Shabbos afternoon he spent Torah and working the land – Torah ve-Avo- On the following pages: After the Babylonian captivity only about in that port city, he went to hear Rav Kook’s dah. Pages 12-13: Letters sent from R. Yakov 40,000 Jews heeded the call to return to Israel derasha. As my grandfather listened to Rav As a counterpoint to this correspondence Moshe Charlop to R. Kook towards the end and rebuild the Temple. And in the centuries Kook speak for the first time, their eyes locked. is an even more remarkable postscript in one of the First World War. that followed, we do not hear of great masses Their legendary relationship grew from that of my zeide’s letters to Rav Kook in which he Page 14: End of a letter sent from R. David of Jews that came later. The Jewish population initial encounter. describes a series of private meetings between Ha-Levi Jungreis, R. Amram Blau, and R. in Eretz Yisroel at its height, more than 400 Near the end of the First World War, himself and Professor Chaim Weitzmann. Yaakov Yerucham Ha-Levi Katzenellenbo- hundred years later, hardly reached 5 million. when hunger stalked the streets of Jerusalem, These meetings took place either immediately gen to R. Jechiel Michael Charlop.

Volume 1, Issue 8 11

Kol Hamevaser

14 Volume 1, Issue 8 Israel at 60 A New Zionism

BY DR. RUTH A. BEVAN about Israeli history and contemporary issues. brew? USA-Israel alliance re-enforces the prejudice. Ideally, each student should take a course on While in Israel last summer as a fellow of Furthermore, Markovits points to the low inci- As Zionists, we need to reassess the na- Israeli Politics (my apologies if this sounds like the Brandeis University Israel Studies Summer dence of anti-Semitism in American history ture of our Zionist commitment as Israel cele- a self-interested plug for our Political Science Institute, I was struck by a significant change and subscribes to the idea that, regarding its at- brates its sixtieth birthday. We need to fashion Department but, in this case, our Department in attitude among Israelis concerning Diaspora titude toward Jews, America is “different.” The a New Zionism. The old Zionism produced the has an important role to play.) Notice that we Jewry. A faculty member of Bar Ilan, himself point to be made here is that Jews have an im- revolution in the life of world Jewry. It brought are specifying Israeli politics, not Middle East religiously orthodox, remarked in a public portant stake in American democracy .Our Jews across the world out of the galut and in- politics. Our reasoning on this score is as fol- forum that he favored strong Diaspora com- Zionist activities must include strengthening spired them to rebuild Israel out of the swamps lows: every Zionist needs to have factual in- munities. This, of course, means essentially a American democracy in whatever way we can into the advanced society it is today. It pro- formation about Israel in order to inform others strong American Jewish community. Clearly, and continuing to advocate for Israel in the duced the self-directed “new Jew” epitomized as well as to counter false accusations about Is- aliyah remains a Zionist priority. It now be- American public forum. We must be informed by the Israeli. We must never forget those ini- rael. All of us have a lot of work to do in this comes supplemented, however, conceptually and active citizens. tial swamps or that hellish galut in order to ap- regard. We must accept this as a personal obli- as well as actually, by the Diaspora community Today’s college students will be the crux preciate the revolution wrought by the old of tomorrow’s Zionist movement. This New Zionism. We now need a New Zionism to sus- Zionism must be information-oriented and Di- tain and further this revolution, one attuned to aspora-active. In this globalized world indi- the rhythms and demands of our globalized vidual Jews can share living and working space world. This new Zionism must “go with the between Israel and the United States. One can flow,” meaning it should rest upon an appreci- work for an American firm, for example, that ation and use of the world’s current fluidity. operates in Israel. Or vice versa. Think about Let me elaborate. choosing professions that facilitate this kind of The world has changed drastically since New Zionism. Think about professions in com- Israel’s rebirth in 1948. Perhaps the key char- munications. In political activism. In teaching. acteristic of our globalized world, as opposed Perhaps we need workshops for this purpose. to the world of 1948, is continuous and mas- Contemplate also that your generation will sive movement across borders, actual and vir- have to shoulder philanthropic and other fi- tual. Jets transport us physically while the nancial obligations that allow the Jewish world internet transports us virtually across borders to operate. There is important and exciting wherever they exist – every minute of every work to be done. day. Competing groups attempt to give coher- Let me leave you with one Israeli’s vi- ence to this fluid world through the imagery sion. At the Brandeis University conference and (des)information they channel across the Shlomo Avinieri of Hebrew University was the globe through mass communications. A keynote speaker. Listening to his inspiring group’s size is less important than its strategic words created in me the sensation of sitting in leverage and financial backing. Herein lies the the midst of a new Zionist congress. Avinieri challenge for the New Zionism. Despite the dreamed aloud that each Jew should be given physical dangers confronting it, Israel can not the chance to spend one year living through the rely solely on military prowess for its security. gation. Toward this end, we propose that stu- (to be differentiated from the galut). This Jewish calendar in Israel. How could one for- The larger battle to be won has to do with the dents on both campuses form Israel Study means, however, that we American Jews can get a Yom Kippur in Israel? Would it be sur- world of public relations and with education; Groups. Perhaps they can connect in some way not, or should not, take refuge in the American prising to learn that Hanukkah does not exist it entails conveying information about Israel with our Israel Studies Center. There should be “good life.” It means, rather, that we must ful- because of Christmas? One woman in the across the world. a specified reading list for the year that stu- fill our responsibilities by being active citizens Brandeis audience, affiliated with some Jew- At a recent conference on Israel at Bran- dents must accomplish and which they come and Zionists. ish organization in Boston, became fascinated deis University, the signature donor of the Uni- together regularly to discuss. I volunteer my- In his latest book, Uncouth Nation with the mechanics of such a program and it’s versity’s Center for Israel Studies remarked self as a faculty participant. These study groups (Princeton UP. 2007), political scientist Andrei financing. Let us all reflect on Avinieri’s dream that the Center seeks to spread the truth about might also watch films about Israel. Further- Markovits discusses “why Europe dislikes and how each of us might help realize it. Re- Israel through research. We must participate, more, such study groups should connect with America.” Markovits advances the argument member Herzl’s words: if you will it, it is no in our own way and through our own re- students from other colleges and universities. that anti-Americanism shares the same roots as fairy tale! sources, in this important mission. Gratefully, One efficient way to connect with other col- anti-Semitism, maintaining that while one can Yeshiva University now has its own Center for leges would be to establish a YU blog devoted talk about anti-Semitism without considering Israel Studies with Prof. Steven Fine as its di- to Israel, with possibility for a chat room. anti-Americanism, the reverse is not true. In Dr. Ruth A. Bevan is the David W. Pete- rector. Such centers are springing up all over Students should seek to do internships in analyzing anti-Americanism one must, by def- gorsky Professor of Political Science at the country. Our YU Center will have its in- Israel – at least once in their college career. At inition, include anti-Semitism. This syndrome Yeshiva University and the Director of the augural conference this month. These centers YU we shall need to help students make these predates the rebirth of Israel, taking shape, Rabbi Arthur Schneier Center for International will be a much needed counter-weight to those connections. Ideally, we should have summer rather, at the beginning of the nineteenth cen- Affairs universities whose Middle East departments school classes in Israel, featuring, collabora- tury. Europeans view American bourgeois, have become anti-Israel propaganda mills. Let tive teaching with Israeli university faculty. A capitalist democracy as “Jewified.” Jews and us remember this vital point: the facts about Is- long-distance learning with Israeli universities America are seen as “paragons of modernity – rael speak for themselves. We do not have to should at least be considered at YU. Would it money-driven, profit-hungry, urban, universal- manufacture an apologia for Israel. This enno- be possible to have an ulpan instituted at YU istic, individualistic, mobile, rootless, and hos- bles our task. (perhaps in the summer) so that students and tile to established traditions and values.” Each one of us needs to be informed faculty can become functional in modern He- (Markovits, p. 155) Of course, the present day

Volume 1, Issue 8 15 Kol Hamevaser Moses Leib Lilienblum: A Revised Legacy of an Early Zionist

BY SHIMSHON AYZENBERG the intrinsic authority of rabbinic law was in- cialist and revolutionary groups, self-professed on his mind. Finding no answer to these ques- tended to be commensurate to particular his- delusions of the “benevolent government” tions, he put his public advocacy on hold. Moses Leib Lilienblum was part of the torical circumstances. Now that the excess of were revealed for their foolishness and inanity. Then, as pogroms ripped through the Pale third and last generation of the Russian these laws, from over the ages, is unsympa- The maskilim, thus, moved ever closer to the of Settlements in 1881 and Lilienblum hid Haskalah before he became an ardent Zionist. thetic to the Jews living in abject poverty in the liberal Russian intelligentsia, which stood at from the marauding peasants, the answer be- The story that is tendentiously told of his tran- Pale of Settlements, Lilienblum prodded the odds with the Romanov monarchy. came clear. The Narodnaya Volya, a radical ter- sition corresponds to that of another early rabbis to organize a synod to make Shulkhan From the Russian intelligentsia, Lilien- rorist group assassinated Czar Alexander II Zionist, Leon Pinsker: Sudden waves of Arukh less burdensome. The crop failures of blum learned of Nikolai Chernyshevski’s during a royal procession in St. Petersburg. pogroms in 1881 forced Lilineblum to reject 1867 and 1868 seasons bolstered his claim. novel, Shto Delat? (“What Is To Be Done?”). Since one of the assassins was a Jewess, Hesya assimilation and adopt Zionism. This is the The rabbis, however, considered his arti- It was about an ascetic revolutionary dedicated Helfman, the Jews were blamed forthwith. To conventional storyline, cast completely in the cle too rash, too radical. Thinking that he to the Realism and Positivism of Dmirti Pis- the consternation of the younger maskilim, shadow of Pinsker, the more popular associate sought to undermine their authority, they arov, an austere-looking Russian philosophe, much of the Russian intelligentsia was either in the Hibbat Zion movement. But, in fact, as hissed and cussed at him, mostly in the pages who famously cried that a person’s pair of blissfully indifferent or downright proud of the a former maskil, unlike Pinsker, Lilienblum of an ultra-reactionary orthodox paper, Ha- shoes was more important than all of Shake- pogromchiks. Even Leo Tolstoy and Ivan Tur- never wanted to assimilate. Historians have Levanon. His article even aroused a storm of speare’s plays.v With this practical advice, genev, internationally most respected Russian had difficulty reconciling Lilienblum’s con- humanists, were peculiarly quiet. In response flicting statements between his Russian and to these appalling collision of circumstances, Hebrew articles from this period. Yet, these Lilienblum wrote a series of articles for the statements are less of a conundrum if we were popular Russian Jewish journal, Rassvyet, to consider Lilienblum’s entire life-work. which were collected and published in book Lilienblum was born in Kardainai (in the form in 1886 under the Zionistic title, “On the province of Kovno) in Czarist Russia and was Regeneration of the Jewish Nation” (O recognized by his mentors as an illuy (wun- Vozrazhdeniye Evresskavo Naroda). derkind) for mastering the entire Talmud at an The answer was Zionism/nationalism. early age. After he wed at fourteen he was pro- Lilienblum’s Jewish nationalism starts out with vided for financially by his in-laws to study the Risorgimento and arrives at close proximity of Talmud. He moved to Wilkomir with his wife the raison d’etre of “integral” nationalism. In and opened his own Yeshiva. There he began to fact, his formulaic explanation is kindred to read maskilic literature, which often stressed Pinsker’s Autoemancipation. It became obvi- Jews’ need of social affinity with the “benevo- ous to Lilienblum that land is what feeds this lent government” of Czar Alexander II. By the frenzy of hate and anti-Semitism. Can one 1860’s “the Czar Liberator” not only emanci- blame the natives for rebuffing their strangers? pated the Russian serfs, but abolished his fa- Strangers are tolerated until they become par- ther’s ruthless cantonist system, and allowed asitic, taking substantial amounts of the na- for certain well-to-do Jews to settle outside the tives’ food and employment. Once that Pale of Settlement.i In this period of heightened happens, the stranger could be politely bid to hope, unparalleled in the history of Czarist copious criticism from his friends and family. Lilienblum lambasted the previous two gener- leave, or forcibly kicked out. It is “an instinct Russia, Lilienblum became more convinced Passersby on the streets of Wilkomir accused ations of maskilim for their cockeyed set of of self-preservation.”vii “A new age is upon us,” that Jews had to be “men who accomplish wor- him of monstrous heresy. He was forced to priorities, spending their days immersing in Lilienblum proclaimed. “It is possible to say thy things, assisting the king’s country in their close-down his Yeshiva. The harassments got historical and philological research when mil- that… the pogroms are but a flower of the birth actions, labor and wisdom,” as Naphtali Hertz to the point that Rabbi Israel Elhanan Specter, lions of Jews were in a more urgent need of of national consciousness across Europe and Wessely, an early maskil, wrote in 1781, in the Rav of Kovno, used his esteemed influence “bread, a sense of life, knowledge of the ne- the fruit is only starting to bud.”viii “We must order to attract further economic and social to curb the disreputable overreaction.iii cessities.” vi Great and highly advanced nations know that now begins the second chapter in the betterment from Alexander II as his valued A year later, Lilienblum published the like Britain and France could invest appropri- history of our suffering, a chapter of ‘national subjects.ii Nosafot La-Ma’amar Orhot Ha-Talmud (“Ad- ate resources, time and money, for such nebu- fanaticism.’ Any short peaceful time in the But, Lilienblum felt, the Shulkhan Arukh ditional Remarks to Orhot HaTalmud”). This lous subjects, but the Jews, who evince a most past” when Jews were accepted by liberal gov- prevented Jews from being worthy of the time he accused the rabbis of purposefully fos- dreadful appearance, require advice on how to ernments in the 19th century “was only a break Czar’s acceptance. Contrary to the first two silizing Judaism, who, through their manifold raise their meager standard of living. The bick- between these two chapters,… How many generations of Russian maskilim, notably Isaac stringencies would lead to many Jews to leave ering over Jewish chronology or grammar is bloody pages will be in the second chapter can- Leib Levinsohn (“the Russian Mendelssohn”) fold of Torah. Subsequently, Lilienblum was vainglorious and unhelpful. not be known. Therefore, we must strive to col- and Samuel Joseph Fuenn, who courted the compelled to flee to Odessa, then the capital of But with time and with a modicum of onize Palestine.”ix government to impose upon the Jewish masses an acculturated version of the Russian change Lilienblum’s patience simply faded. He later elaborates in more pronounced the new school curricula and modern dress, the Haskalah. He automatically joined forces with Doubtful of its strength, he ceased to think that “integral” terms: “History entered into a new third generation realized that change cannot be a legendary radical maskil, Judah Leib Gordon, Haskalah could reform Judaism. As he lost motif, a nationalistic motif… History may de- imposed. The rabbis must be persuaded of the to crusade for reform in Judaism spearheading hope in Judaism itself, he disqualified himself velop slowly and allow for a reaction, but once maskilic cause to invite reform peaceably. the Reform Controversy of 1868-1871.iv from the Reform Controversy. He began to it entered into its predestined path, it will go Thus, in 1868, Lilienblum published his first But by the 1870’s it was already quite ev- study the Russian language more fully to en- fully into the direction of its end-point. And article, Orhot HaTalmud (“The Way of the Tal- ident that the Haskalah movement had under- roll into a university, which was his life-dream. what will be then? One need not be a prophet mud”), in the main literary organ of the Russ- gone a tremendous ideological change. As the However it should not be assumed that he to confidently propound that the nationalistic ian Haskalah, Hamelitz, asking the rabbis to Czarist regime grew reactionary, threatened by abandoned his people for assimilation. The civilization will ultimately be triumphant over join his humanitarian cause. He averred that the emergence of many small anti-Czarist so- Jewish Question and religious reform were still cosmopolitanism… [and there] will be a pre-

16 Volume 1, Issue 8 Israel at 60

destined, recognizable, and irrevocable and divisive Judaism is in dire need of re- ate the toil of the rural religious Jews of the arrangement of each nationalistic society ac- form.xv However, why would Lilienblum use Pale, now he is willing to compromise for the cording to the racial right of each nation…”x the Russian press to send this message out? It well-to-do Jews, largely secular and urban, so Mamlakhtiyut There is no escape for Jews anywhere in seems that Gordon and Lilienblum were tar- they would have the means to come back to Europe. In Russia there are physical pogroms, geting different audiences. In that case, what their people. He did not completely disregard men beaten up, houses looted and burned, kind of religious reform was Lilienblum re- his earlier religious reform work with Judah women raped, yet wherever Jews live in West- garding? Leib Gordon. He placed it in the second cate- BY GILAH KLETENIK ern Europe as strangers, there are “paper The only sector of the Russian Jewry that gory. The solution to the Jewish Question is for pogroms,” laws that restrict them from fully would read his Russian articles is acculturated the Jews to immediately establish their own na- There is much to be said about Mam- participating in the country’s social and politi- or even assimilated. Unlike Gordon’s articles, tionalistic state, where religious reform will lakhtiyut – Ben Gurion’s term for Jewish sov- cal spheres.xi none of Lilienblum’s Russian articles speak to evolve by itself. He criticized Gordon out of ereignty – its definition, its compatibility with Only a physical homeland could trans- orthodox Jews. Lilienblum uses language, rhet- his positivistic attitude toward the earlier traditional Judaism and, further, the feasibility form the Jews from a “ghost-like people,” as oric, and witticism, that could only inspire the maskilim for wasting their time on objectives of its implementation by a nation foreign to Pinsker put it in his Autoemancipation, which assimilated Jews to carry on the work of his that were automatically futile. But religious re- self-rule. However compelling and complex roams aimlessly around Europe like a tribe of Haskalah days and facilitate the process of re- form should not be totally forgotten in the Di- these conversations are, they are essentially gypsies, in Lilienblum’s analogy, into a full- form in Judaism. The Jewish Question was an- aspora, for the assimilated Jew needs to find conceptual in nature – concerned more with the blown nation. The fact that unlike gypsies, the swered with Zionism. Now, the question of his or her way back to Judaism, which is the philosophical “what” than the practical “how.” Jews have a history, language, and culture religious reform can also be solved. In view of only true identity of the Jew. Thus, a more relevant question is: how ought would, in itself, denote that their racial identity the aforementioned catastrophes predicted due the modern Jewish state act? is salvageable and can be rehabilitated.xii to history’s determined march toward “the na- Considering that the State insists on being The process of rehabilitation is twofold. tionalistic motif”, Lilienblum reached out to Shimshon Ayzenberg is a Senior at YC, a “Jewish” one, it is not inappropriate to ex- First, poor Jews would be concentrated in the assimilated Jews in order to save them from majoring in Jewish History, and is working on plore the religion’s classical texts in address- Palestine. The rich Jews would pay for their existential harm that would fall upon them as his masters degree in Modern Jewish History ing this question. The obvious challenge to this transfer, so they build the infrastructure for fu- strangers in Europe. at BRGS. method is that the Torah never directly, or even ture immigrants. Then, as more immigrants ar- Convincing the assimilated Jews would indirectly, entertains the notion of Jewish sov- rive, the religious and cultural questions would take a great amount of inspiration. As during ereignty independent of a Jewish monarch, naturally solve for themselves by molding a the Reform Controversy a decade earlier, he bound by halakha, empowered by God’s man- new Jewish society when the settlers would still considered the rabbinic authorities as the date. However, this is not to suggest that there need to inevitably find ways to cooperate with only legitimate source for bringing about re- i Fiener, Shmuel. Haskalah and History, is no wisdom to be gleaned from the Torah on each other in a single piece of land.xiii Thus, form in Judaism. He, perhaps naively, relied on (Littman Library, 2004) p. 205. this matter. To the contrary, the Torah is rich in with Zionism, solves the Jewish Question and the assimilated Jews to come back to their Jew- ii Divrei Shalom Ve’Emet, 13, (Vienna, 1826). insight, universal in scope, and also very ap- the question of religious reform: the physical ish roots in droves to drive the rabbis to rewrite Wessely wrote this pamphlet, which became plicable to the deliberation at hand. This essay safety of Jews from any more persecution and the Shulkhan Arukh.xvi But, Lilienblum was not the first official document of Haskalah, in sim- will focus on a fundamental Jewish idea, that the cultural regeneration of the Jews via the going to tailor Judaism for them as, he ex- ilar hopeful circumstances, after the enlight- of moral responsibility and its pertinent rele- natural reformation of Judaism on their own pressly pointed out, Reform in Germany. The ened despot, King Joseph of Austria, vance to Jewish governance. land. synod of rabbis “may invent ways to circum- proclaimed the Edict of Tolerance on January The Torah is in many ways merely a book In the pages of HaMelitz, Lilienblum vent laws of Moses but cannot negate them.” 2, 1782, which allowed for Jews to study in of commandments and Judaism but a religion challenged Judah Leib Gordon, about his con- This statement puts the “Revelation” as the German schools. of laws. However, the system of mitsvot rests tinued call for religious reform in lieu of the cornerstone of Judaism and Jewish identity. iii Zinberg, Israel. A History of Jewish Litera- on the notion of responsibility – accountabil- pogroms. Specifically, in an article directly re- “The entire authority of the Laws of Moses is ture. Vol. XII (Ktav 1972). Ch. 8. ity to someone, something or some idea – the sponding to Gordon called “Ein Ma’avirin founded upon the idea that it is the product of iv Vilna, was the other center of a more Beit- recognition that an entity beyond oneself is that She’elah Be’She’elah” (Let’s Not Confuse the the heavenly will of the Lord, without this ad- Medrish type of Haskalah. which informs one’s actions. This responsibil- Issues), Lilienblum mentions emphatically that mittance the Jews would not have a religion. v Vital, David. The Origins of Zionism (Oxford ity often takes the shape of moral imperative. religious reform is not as pivotal as “plainly Frankly, could anyone, even the smartest of 1980). 113. The Torah is filled with commandments de- and simply a matter of life and without whose people negate the laws that were established vi Fiener, 278 manding responsibility rooted in morality and solution we are doomed as a people,” – the set- by G-d?”xvii He devotes an entire article, the vii O Vozrazhdeniye Evresskavo Naroda 4 justice. tling of Palestine. We might have our own in- second in the series, to explain how the Mish- viii O Vozrazhdeniye Evresskavo Naroda 9 The Jewish call for moral responsibility dividual prejudices, but where a nation is nah and the Talmud acted as guidelines for re- ix O Vozrazhdeniye Evresskavo Naroda 12 transcends time, place and circumstance; it is concerned, it should be dearer to us than any form and renewal of Judaism for every x O Vozrazhdeniye Evresskavo Naroda 43 incumbent upon all, no matter when or regard- division. “There are neither a modern, old- generation, nearly reiterating his Orhot HaTal- xi O Vozrazhdeniye Evresskavo Naroda 27 ing what, to stand up for morality. This all-en- fashioned, pious, nor freethinking men, save mud.xviii xii O Vozrazhdeniye Evresskavo Naroda 16 compassing accountability is particularly for the Children of Abraham, Isaac, and One of Lilienblum’s main tasks is to iden- xiii Kol Kisvei Lilienblum, (1902) 13-15 poignant in Abraham’s conversation with the Jacob.”xiv tify “the explanation for our religious indiffer- xiv Kol Kisvei Lilienblum (1902) 29 Lord concerning the imminent destruction of At the very same time, however, Lilien- ence.” He opines that Jews assimilated because xv Lilienblum, Moses Leib. “On the Necessity Sodom and Gomorrah. In their exchange, blum wrote three long articles in the Russian of “the superiority of various formalisms, little of Reform.” Voskhod. Vol. 1, 1882 p. 160 Abraham calls God to task for what he views Jewish literary journal, Voskhod, which, seem- detail, and punctiliousness in the ceremonial xvi Lilienblum, Moses Leib. “On the Necessity as unjust: “Shall not the Judge of all the Earth ingly, directly contradict his position in part of” Judaism, “to the extent that even Jew- of Reform in the Jewish Religion”, Voskhod. deal justly?”i Abraham’s audacity to challenge HaMelitz. In the first article, “On the Neces- ish patience could not bear it anymore.”xix Vol. 3, 1883 p. 85 God’s justness stems from responsibility and sity of Reform,” Lilienblum confronts this Originally there were people who attempted to xvii Lilienblum, Moses Leib. “On the Necessity his perception of God’s responsibility to be just glaring contradiction. In case any of his bilin- separate this minutia from Judaism, and cast of Reform in the Jewish Religion,” Voskhod. as well as an understanding of his own respon- gual readers would be taken aback by his du- aside its “medieval gloom,” – the early mask- Vol. 3, 1883 p. 93 sibility – to challenge anyone, even God, when plicity he asks, “Is it really in order that we ilim. But other Jews, who did not care for any xviii Lilienblum, Moses Leib. “On the Necessity justice is at stake. Moses follows in Abraham’s should now, troubled by the pogroms, fires, so- principle, also began to cast this minutia aside of Reform in the Jewish Religion,” Voskhod. footsteps when, as leader of the nation he cial and political infringement, just wave away en masse. It is a telling admittance, on Lilien- Vol. 1, 1883 p. 135 stands up to God, convincing God not to ex- by hand all that is happening to us, and accept blum’s part, that the first wave of maskilim xix Lilienblum, Moses Leib. “On the Necessity terminate the Children of Israel following the the suffering as our forefathers who were in- opened a floodgate of dropouts. For a healthy of Reform.” Voskhod. Vol. 1, 1882 p. 170 sin of the Golden Calf.ii These powerful con- clined to forget their bitterness” and grapple process of reformation our task is to remove frontations with Heaven underscore the Jewish with religious reform? Yes, he answers, be- the reasons for this indifference: the systematic value in justice – to challenge even the moral- cause it is precisely at this time when the Jew- removal of the minutia of the Shulkhan Arukh. ity of God’s actions. While these powerful ish people need unity the only source of their In stark contrast to Orhot HaTalmud, episodes speak to all, they certainly provide unity is Judaism. But, the present, antiquated, where Lilienblum called for reform to allevi- particular potency for Jewish leaders, empha-

Volume 1, Issue 8 17 Kol Hamevaser

sizing the inherently moral side to Jewish lead- Jewish government ought to be moral and that ership as embodied by Abraham, Moses, and the precise parameters of morality are left Practical Zionism: by God himself, the leader par excellence. open. There is enough room in Jewish law to Maimonides, in his Guide of the Per- accommodate most, if not all positions. Is it plexed discusses the necessary attributes of a moral to siege Gaza and deprive innocent Jewish leader based on the notion of imitatio Palestinians of electricity or is it moral to ac- R. Yitshak Yaakov Reines dei, imitating the actions of God in His own commodate continued firing of Qassams on leadership and relationship with humankind. Sderot’s innocent population? Further, does the Moses turns to God and asks “show me thy former only encourage the latter or is the latter and the Beginnings of glory”iii and God responds with the Thirteen but a response to the former? Attributes: “The Lord! The Lord! A God com- The particular benefits of this moral- passionate and gracious, slow to anger, minded approach to Mamlakhtiyut are prima- Mizrachi abounding in kindness and faithfulness, ex- rily twofold: its universalism and its sensitivity tending kindness to the thousandth generation, to Jewish national history. The Tanakh’s call BY YOSEF LINDELL But despite these achievements, R. Reines forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, yet for justice and morality is not directed exclu- did not consider himself a visionary. Through- He does not remit all punishment, but visits the sively to the Jewish people. To the contrary, it Religious Zionism is heavily associated out his voluminous prosaic writings, he con- is instructed to all of humankind. In fact, many with the thought and efforts of R. Avraham Yit- stantly speaks of the dire exigencies that drove of the Torah’s moral tenets have been accepted shak Ha-Kohen Kook. More than any of the him to his novel conclusions and the necessity as universal, or at least as Western values. other early Religious Zionist thinkers, R. Kook that pushed him to follow through on his proj- Thus, this approach need not be in conflict was responsible for creating a theological ects. It was the immediate needs of the nation, with Israel’s western democratic nature; rather, framework for Zionism that ensured the com- not an idealistic vision, which drove R. Reines’ the two might even compliment each other. Be- patibility of national aspirations and strong re- creative spirit. yond this, the moral charge holds a particular ligious values. R. Kook believed that the R. Reines concluded that in order to ame- poignancy to the Jewish people. It seems ob- secular Zionist movement could be made holy liorate the troubles besetting the Jews they vious why a nation oppressed for thousands of by directing its efforts to the settlement and needed a safe haven—a homeland—where years and the victim of countless injustices cultivation of Israel in preparation for the Mes- they would be free from oppression and perse- ought to feel a unique responsibility to uphold siah. Developing the land and infusing it with cution. In Kol Mi-Tsiyon, a letter to Mizrachi justice and act morally. spirituality could hasten the coming of the constituents, he passionately painted a dire pic- In conclusion, framing the conversation long-awaited Redeemer. Under this umbrella ture: “The blood of our brothers is now being about Mamlakhtiyut around its applicability of religious destiny, cooperation with secular spilled more and more like water everywhere, lends itself to everyday practical implementa- and even anti-religious Jews could be sanc- the hatred for our nation is increasing in all the tion. Viewing Mamlakhtiyut through the lens tioned. This novel stance perturbed many of lands, pushing the Jews more and more from of moral responsibility is not only informed by his religious contemporaries, and seemed to [a normal] life and bringing them to poverty, Jewish heritage, but is universal in scope, undermine the prevailing tradition for cen- famine, sickness, suffering and submission of while at the same time uniquely suited to the turies—that the Jewish people must wait pas- the spirit. … Our sons and daughters are being Jewish ethos. Herein lays the richness of this sively for the Messianic era to be brought by sold to another nation. … Judaism is being approach – it is both very Jewish while at the divine grace alone. pushed aside more and more for other cultures same time entirely secular. It is at once a sub- When one thinks of Mizrachi, the political and the name of Israel is being erased from the mission to God’s ancient command while at arm of Religious Zionism, this Kookian view, face of the earth.” i the same time an expression of western moder- which advocates a commitment to the Land For R. Reines, Zionism was a purely prag- iniquity of parents upon children and children’s nity – in essence, the very epitome of the mod- and now to the State by virtue of its religious matic political movement necessary to save the children, upon third and fourth generations.”iv ern Jewish State of Israel. and ultimately Messianic importance, proba- Jewish people from physical and spiritual dan- Maimonides derives from this conversation bly comes to mind. But Mizrachi’s beginnings ger. In stark contrast to the position of R. that to God, a Jewish governor ought to imi- were much different. The movement was Kook, R. Reines believed the efforts of the tate His moral attributes and only in that way Gilah Kletenik is Managing Editor of Kol founded by R. Yitshak Yaakov Reines (1839- Zionists had no connection to the Messianic re- fulfills the Torah’s vision of Jewish leadership.v Hamevaser 1905), a man driven by a very different spirit demption at the End of Days. In Sha’arei Orah The Torah and Jewish tradition do not than that of R. Kook. Where R. Kook was a ve-Simhah, he wrote: “And in all their [the imagine the possibility of a Jewish democracy. dreamer, poet, and an idealist, R. Reines was a Zionists’] actions and efforts there is also no Nevertheless, Judaism has much to say about realist, activist, and pragmatist. The pernicious hint or mention of the final redemption. Their Jewish leadership – that a true Jewish leader is i Gen. 18: 25 and unrelenting nature of anti-Semitism, not entire intention is only to improve Israel’s [the one who, like God, the archetypal leader, em- ii Exo. 32: 9-14 Messianic idealism, brought R. Reines into the Jews’] situation and ennoble it with dignity … bodies morality. This analysis obviously in- iii Exo. 33: 18 Zionist camp. so that Israel should know that it has a safe vites the question: what exactly is morality? iv Exo. 33: 6-7 The of Lida, a mid-sized city place. … It is only an effort for the improve- Some, chief among them Yeshayahu Lei- v Guide I:54 near Vilna, R. Reines was a brilliant Torah ment of the nation’s physical situation.” ii bowitz, would object to the premise of this in- vi Leibowitz, Yeshayahu, ed. Eliezer Goldman. scholar and autodidact—he published works To counter the arguments of those who quiry entirely and maintain that there is no Judaism, Human Values and the Jewish State. that presented an entirely new logical method maintained that making a concerted effort to morality beyond halakha and that Jewish obli- Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992. for the systematic study of the Talmud. R. settle in the Land of Israel before the proper gation stems exclusively from halakha; that it’s Reines was also a courageous and outspoken time ordained by God violated a prohibition not a question of morality, but rather a ques- activist on many issues concerning Eastern Eu- against hastening the Messianic redemption, R. tion of halakha.vi If this is indeed a question of ropean Jewry. His establishment of the Reines responded that pure political Zionism halakha, then the very essence of morality Mizrachi Party within Herzl’s Zionist Congress had no connection to the Messiah. In this as- lends itself to mahloket – that lively Jewish dis- in 1902 earned him the condemnation of many pect, R. Reines’ ideology was similar to that of course wherein all angles are considered and within the traditionalist camp. The story goes Theodor Herzl. Disillusioned by the growing no stone is left unturned. In the struggle for the that the saintly Hafets Hayim himself came to anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe despite the “right” answer it soon becomes clear that there visit R. Reines to plead with him not to ally emancipation of the Jews, Herzl gathered the really isn’t one “right” answer, a single defini- himself with the Zionist cause. And, in 1905, Zionist Congress in 1897 for the express pur- tion of morality. Instead, there are endless pos- R. Reines established the first yeshiva in East- pose of obtaining a homeland for the Jews that sibilities, circumstances and realities. The ern Europe to teach secular subjects and the would guarantee their security. His approach, discourse is live and organic; it leaves room for Hebrew language in addition to the traditional known as political Zionism, made him and R. nearly any reasonable position. Talmud curriculum. Reines’ Mizrachi movement natural allies in What emerges from this analysis is that a

18 Volume 1, Issue 8 Israel at 60

the Zionist Congress. they [the non-observant] are involved in the virtues, and R. Reines took a much more po- tion” remains elusively difficult to predict. Yet Although R. Reines evinced strong incli- Zionist movement, there is reason to be con- litical approach in working from within the it is clear that this modern miracle of Jewish nations toward political Zionism, this ideology cerned that it will result in ruinous breaches in Zionist Congress. But both thinkers cast Zi- sovereignty in the land of our birthright repre- itself was not the catalyst that led him to es- religion. … I clearly demonstrated that there is onism in a profoundly religious light. Both sents a political and spiritual renaissance of the tablish a new party within the Zionist Con- no concern at all that it will affect religion be- saw it as a movement of rebirth, a spark of ho- highest degree. Jewish pride has increased, gress. Rather, R. Reines established Mizrachi cause, essentially, it is an idea whose funda- liness in an age of secularism, and a measure of and exiles that were dispersed to all four cor- in 1902 to oppose the Democratic Faction, a mental principle is to improve our physical national distinctiveness and unity in a time of ners of the globe have found respite, rejuvena- cultural Zionist party headed by Chaim Weiz- situation and to obtain for our brothers of the rampant assimilation. And through this, both tion, and a new life in the land of our ancestral mann and Ahad Ha-Am. Hostile to traditional House of Israel who are oppressed and pursued built bridges to non-religious Jews, confident heritage. In these respects, Israel and Zionism religious belief, Weizmann and Ha-Am wanted without respite a place of secure refuge in our that the goals they shared in the Land of Israel have exceeded R. Reines’ most ambitious pre- to appeal to discontented Jewish youth by re- Holy Land. This has nothing to do with spiri- stemmed from the same love for the Jewish dictions. formulating Zionism upon secular nationalist tual or religious matters.” v In order to respond people. But national unity was also incredibly im- lines, stressing the synthesis between Jewish to fears that the Zionist movement would pre- But as Mizrachi’s influence spread and its portant to R. Reines. He saw the Zionist move- culture and Western intellectualism, as well as cipitate “ruinous breaches in religion” by center of gravity and leadership moved toward ment as a way to bond all Jews, religious and the revival of Hebrew language, literature, and virtue of the Democratic Faction’s attempts to Austria-Hungary and points further west, R. secular, under the common banner of renewal art. R. Reines and others started Mizrachi, a inject it with an ideology of cultural and reli- Reines quickly became a marginal figure in the and return. The situation in Israel today— party closely allied with Herzl, in an attempt gious reform, R. Reines reaffirmed that Zion- movement he founded. The intellectual foun- marked by extreme divisiveness on political is- to mitigate the Democratic Faction’s influence ism’s agenda was purely political. He stressed dations of Mizrachi, which were akin to those sues and polarization in all aspects of religious by focusing on what they believed to be the that it only sought relief for the oppressed and of political Zionism, did not provide satisfac- life—would disappoint this visionary. Israel essence of Zionism—political activism in therefore should not be usurped by those seek- tion to most of its adherents.ix As we noted, R. faces enough enemies from among the other search of a Jewish homeland.iii ing a platform for social and cultural change. Reines maintained a strict separation between nations. We must learn to minimize our dif- R. Reines’ strongest affirmation of Zion- Because R. Reines desired to distance politics and religion by divorcing Mizrachi ferences and celebrate our shared heritage. ism’s political side can be seen in his support Mizrachi from the Democratic Faction as from all aspects of religious education. Yet of the Uganda Proposal. Although the Zionist much as possible, he maintained that the move- many felt that it was Mizrachi’s duty to de- movement desired a homeland in Palestine, the ment should have nothing to do with religious velop a plan for religious education and that education. Purportedly, he even kept the fi- the best way to combat those who sought to Yosef Lindell graduated YC in 2007 with nances of his yeshiva in Lida separate from the merge Zionism with cultural Judaism and reli- a BA in History and is finishing up an MA in Mizrachi treasury. R. Kook, on the other hand, gious reformulation was to open schools that Jewish History at BRGS saw religious education as an integral compo- espoused Zionism and traditional religious val- nent of Zionism. ues. Thus, Mizrachi, the movement founded Yet despite the fact that R. Reines di- upon the strictures of political Zionism, be- vorced Zionism from Messianism and reli- came an organization with a mandate to openly This essay culls material from my undergrad- gious education, he still saw the yearning for instill religious revival into Jewish education.x uate thesis, “Beacon of Renewal: The Educa- Zion expressed by the Zionist enterprise as an With Mizrachi’s shift, R. Reines’ prag- tional Philosophy of the Lida Yeshiva in the expression of deep religious identification. matic political Zionism was all but forgotten in Context of Rabbi Isaac Jacob Reines’ Ap- The return of even secular Jews to their Jewish religious circles. The arguments for or against proach to Zionism,” now forthcoming as an ar- national roots was, for R. Reines, the kindling Zionism began to center exclusively on the ticle in Modern Judaism. of a dormant spark of spirituality latent in movement’s religious legitimacy. Was there a every Jew. He wrote, “The awakening of the prohibition against attempting to hasten the i This letter is printed in Yizhak Refael, ed., non-observant to the Zionist idea is not at all Messiah? Or, just the opposite – could the Sefer Tsiyonut ha-Datit 2 (Jerusalem, 1977), because of an irreligious [nature] but because Messiah only come if we work to bring him 475. of their rejection of an irreligious [lifestyle].”vi closer? ii I.J. Reines, Sha’arei Orah ve-Simhah, Petah Zionism had a great ethical potential, particu- After the Holocaust, when the tens of Tikvah (Vilna, 1899), 24-25. Ottoman Turks, under whose jurisdiction it lay, larly for the Jewish youth, as it would “turn thousands of Jewish survivors who crowded iii See Ehud Luz, Parallels Meet: Religion and rebuffed Herzl’s propositions. Therefore, in their hearts away from the delights of the larger the DP camps found refuge in the newly es- Nationalism in the Early Zionist Movement 1903, Herzl proposed an alternative based on world to gaze upon the light of Judaism and to tablished State of Israel, one prominent thinker (New York, 1988), 182-88, 227-31. an offer from the British: an autonomous Jew- see the radiance of their nation and its splen- transcended this debate of religious legitimacy iv This letter (Central Zionist Archives folder ish state in the African nation of Uganda. dor.” vii and in doing so reaffirmed R. Reines’ position. no. Z1/30) is printed in Michael Heymann, The While, understandably, this famous proposal Indeed, with euphoric conviction, R. R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik, in his moving essay Uganda Controversy 2 (Jerusalem, 1977), 180. precipitated enormous controversy within the Reines proclaimed Zionism’s ability to unite Kol Dodi Dofek, argued that the religious im- v I.J. Reines, Or Hadash al Tsiyon (New York, ranks of the Zionist Congress for two years the Jewish people in a national renaissance: perative to support, sanction, and settle the 1946), 276. until the plan was dropped, in a letter to Herzl “Zionism powerfully raises the flag of Zion State of Israel comes not from its Messianic vi Or Hadash, pp. 256-57. R. Reines enthusiastically endorsed it: “We and rallies around it all the dispersed and unites character, but rather from the covenant of fate vii From a letter to Yehuda Leib Levin printed in agreed to the African proposal because we paid them as one. It calls out from the heights the that binds all Jews to actively insure their mu- Tsiyonut ha-Datit, p. 482. attention to the needs of the nation that is name of Israel, it goes out to fight bravely tual survival. To R. Soloveitchik, it did not viii Ibid., p. 476. See also Or Hadash, pp. 136, dearer to us than the Land [of Israel]—and the against the tendency towards assimilation and matter whether one believed that the State was 138. needs of the nation that is deteriorating both self disparagement. … It calls out to the nation a manifestation of the beginnings of the re- ix See Luz, pp. 241-55. physically and spiritually requires a secure to stand up for itself and not to give up any- demptive era or that one saw its secular gov- x See Eliezer Don-Yehiyeh, “Ideologiyah u- refuge wherever it may be.” iv It may seem thing. It brings national pride (ga’avah ha-leu- ernment as a legitimate expression of Jewish Mediniyut ba-Tsiyonut ha-Datit: Haguto ha- strange that such support would be forthcom- mit) to the hearts of many.” viii Thus, despite his authority. The refuge it provided in the wake Tsiyonit shel ha-Rav Reines u-Mediniyut ing from a traditionalist rabbi who identified constant pragmatic presentation of Zionism, R. of the greatest tragedy of Jewish history un- ha-‘Mizrahi’ be-Hanhagato,” Ha-Tsiyonut 8 with the Land of Israel on both historical and Reines did not see it as devoid of religious equivocally confirmed its providential nature. (1983):138-46. religious grounds. Yet, in light of R. Reines’ value. For ideological reasons, Mizrachi had Like R. Reines, R. Soloveitchik saw profound xi See responses of R. Yosef Blau and R. pragmatic approach to the Jewish problem of to remain a purely political arm of the Zionist religious value in Israel as a safe haven from Nathaniel Helfgot to R. Moshe Meiselman in his time as he understood it, his strong sup- movement, but at its core, Zionism was a spir- further persecution and dislocation.xi Tradition 33:2 (1999) – Communications. I portive position regarding Uganda comes as itual awakening. As I reflect upon Israel sixty years after note approvingly their contention that although less of a surprise. With this more nuanced understanding of its founding, I cannot help but wonder how R. R. Soloveitchik believed in a pragmatic Zion- This pragmatic approach to Zionism is R. Reines’ conception of Zionism, I would pro- Reines would view the contemporary situation. ism sans Messianism, that does not make it any also what, in R. Reines’ eyes, ameliorated the pose that R. Kook and R. Reines are not quite Ahad Ha-Am’s cultural Zionism has been for- less religious. Indeed, R. Reines more or less concern of working together with the non-reli- as far apart as many have supposed. They dif- gotten. Even sixty years later, whether Israel felt the same way. gious: “There are those who claim that since fered fundamentally on Zionism’s Messianic represents “the first flowering of our redemp-

Volume 1, Issue 8 19 Kol Hamevaser IDF: Peace-makers or Warmongers? Sabbath Observers or Heretics?

BY AVIVA STAVSKY dained and therefore do not challenge Jewish lack of autonomy, halakha has become anti- Though many will argue that a Jewish state Law.iv Thus, it seems logical to conclude that quated and atrophied from disuse. Therefore, without Jewish laws is no Jewish state at all, I The Israeli Defense Force is known as one military force is both a permissible and neces- searching for a way for Judaism to contribute have observed that the importance of Jewish of the strongest, most technologically ad- sary component of the Jewish state. to political theory, Elazar mined the roots of tradition takes precedence over the intricacies vanced military forces in the world. Strangely The next question that should be raised is the Jewish people to find a hint of political of halakha. For the sake of regaining and pre- enough, the perpetual debate among Jewish the balance between nationalism and Judaism; thought, discovering that the idea of transfer- serving the many links in the chain of Judaism, thinkers is whether taking military action in between statehood and halakha . First and fore- ring powers, or “social contract,” is based on including all sects within it, Israel must recog- order to gain political independence is permis- most, it is important to recognize that a total the original covenant between man and God. nize that the common link between all sects of sible according to Jewish tradition and law. separation of politics and religion is simply im- (Because the Jews asked for a king to enforce Judaism is not halakha, but rather Jewish tra- Sources from the Written and Oral Law give possible in any state because deeply held reli- the laws of God, the ruler’s powers were lim- dition and heritage. proof to both sides of the debate, thus causing gious convictions will inevitably affect ones’ ited by the laws and absolute power of God, Mamlahtiyut, plain and simple, refers to uncertainty among modern political theorists stances on policy issues. In the case of a Jew- thus, as I’ve interpreted, establishing, in some the sovereign power of the Jews, the statehood as to whether Judaism champions or opposes ish state, political power and halakha are used form, a system of “checks and balances.”) of the Jewish people. Arguments have been war. Though one can find sources to verify to maintain order in the state and in religion, Thus, Elazar provides evidence for political raised as to the legitimacy of a Jewish state, both sides, a certain degree of militancy is ar- respectively. The issue, however, with which theory penetrating Jewish tradition and law. resting on the idea that Jews have not con- guably vital to the existence of the State of Is- Israel grapples is finding a healthy balance be- It is imperative, however, to establish tributed to political thought. However, once rael, which is, according to many, a tween the two forms of authority. Halakha Jewish political thought assiduously and mind- scrutinized, both the Written and Oral Law prerequisite for the survival of the Jewish na- seems to promote passivity on the part of the fully because of the tendency of the rest of the contain many hints of political theory. Once the tion. Mamlahtiyut, a neologism coined by world to misinterpret Jewish idea of a Jewish political body is sanctioned by David Ben Gurion to refer to the political sov- thought and course of action, Jewish texts, it is inevitable that the justifica- ereignty of the Jews, would practically have to resulting in oppression. tion for military force will soon follow. While encompass both Jewish Law and modernism While it is argued that ha- statehood denotes independence, Jewish state- in order to achieve independence while pre- lakha and state can coexist, hood requires a level of halakhic consciousness serving Jewish identity. based on a compromise that in obtaining autonomy. The moral values of ha- In the Diaspora, Jews were considered a allows “religious Jews to live lakha are important to retain for the success of state within a state; they were often free to according to godly way of a Jewish state, but I certainly do not believe it practice their religious traditions, but they life in a state which lives ac- is necessary or appropriate for halakhic values weren’t given the rights of statehood, resulting cording to its worldly way of not pertaining to political matters to pervade in (This reaaly ought to say something like “in- life,”ix how is this situation the Israeli government. It is important for the stead suffering from”) political subjugation any different than that of the state to find a way to balance halakha and pol- and repression. Over the centuries, the Jewish Jews in America today? The itics in the same way other countries do. The people were subject to cruel scrutiny from the State of Israel must, there- Israeli government should accommodate and other nations, possibly in part a reaction to the fore, take a different ap- respect the religious Jew but should not impose Jews’ view of themselves as the “Chosen Peo- proach in order to call itself the views of the more right-wing Jews on those ple.”i This attitude of superiority pervades Jew- Jews when it comes to war. Biblical law a Jewish state. There must be a balance be- who are secularized. What I believe makes the ish law, whether in the differentiation between places limitations on the justifications for wag- tween halakha and opposing secular ideologies State of Israel Jewish is that it embraces Jew- Jewish and gentile blood or the “resident ing war, and Talmudic law expresses its strong rather than a mere separation of the two. The ish tradition and culture, thus appealing not just alien” (ger toshav) status of the non-Jew in the aversion towards cruelty to the enemy during a Zionist interpretation of the Holocaust has al- to the Orthodox Jews, but to all Jews Jewish state. Such an attitude, in addition to the time of war.v So it would seem that requisite ways been that six million Jews died because timidity of the Jews because of halakhaii, led for the success of Jewish statehood is a recon- they lacked a military force, a state-power. And to the oppression of the Jews and therefore the ciliation of modern, essentially pagan, politi- while halakha does establish certain restric- Aviva Stavsky is a Sophomore at SCW ma- need for a state to serve as their safe haven. cal tactics with halakha and a compromise tions limiting the use of force, it is also impor- joring in Mathematics and Political Science Once the reason behind the necessity for between the two arguably opposing forces. tant to recognize that Jewish law, to an extent, the state is clearly stated, its goals and course The issue raised, however, in Daniel J. is ever-changing, which is most clearly exem- of action for achieving these goals are more Elazar’s “Kinship and Consent,” is the plified by the fact that many Rabbis draw dis- easily understood and justified. Because the dilemma posed by Machiavelli: “a Christian parate halakhic conclusions based on the i Ehud Luz, Wrestling With An Angel: Power, state was established for a people who had prince has to choose between being a Christian specific case with which they are dealing and Morality, and Jewish Identity (Yale University been politically oppressed, the state does not or being a prince,” claiming that such a balance the time in which they are living. It has become Press, 2003) p. 225. just serve to achieve independence. It must also would be impossible.vi Though arguably quite evident that a military force is not only justi- ii Nicholo Machievelli discusses this point in be a tool for the people to combat those forces simple, the Archimedean point raised by Pro- fied by Jewish Law but arguably sanctioned by reference to Christian virtues. See Ibid. 27. of opposition who have and continue to perse- fessor Nathan Rotenstreich,vii which insists that Judaism in order to guarantee the survival of iii Ibid. 22. cute them, resulting in the conclusion, I be- the Jews should remain true to their beliefs but the Jewish people. iv Ibid. 223. lieve, that military force is not only justified, open-minded to the rest of the world, which However, while it seems to me that Israel v Ibid. 22. but necessary for the goals of the state. A fa- will allow the Jews to live harmoniously in the has been careful not to conflict with halakha in vi Daniel J. Elazar, Kinship and Consent:The mous source of this rationale is the command- world with the freedom to govern themselves. its establishment of a military force, the ques- Jewish Political Tradition and Its Contempo- ment by God for the Jews to destroy all of the Elazar attempts to explain the the Jews’ strug- tion that is pertinent today is the battle within rary Uses (Rowman & Littlefield Pub Inc, Canaanites. This biblical reference is utilized gle to contribute to political theory and politi- the state between secular Zionists and ultra-re- 2002) 446. as an example of a “holy war,” a fulfillment of cal activism, an issue necessisarily addressed ligious Jews. A Jewish state does not necessar- vii Ibid. 448. God’s will, as opposed to an “optional” or “un- in legitimizing a nations’ claim to a land.viii A ily mean a religious state, and without making viii Ibid. 447. holy war.”iii Rav Kook builds on this distinc- nation cannot claim sovereignty over a land if that distinction, religious Jews will continue to ix Ibid. 459. tion between holy and unholy wars and says it lacks a political system to govern its people. feel politically inferior, and the secular Zion- that wars fought for Israel are divinely or- Elazar argues that due to the Jews’ prolonged ists will continue to feel religiously inferior.

20 Volume 1, Issue 8 Israel at 60 What They Were Really Saying at YU in ‘48

BY ZEV ELEFF in fundraising for the Histadrut than their Con- ing of Palestine in an irreligious spirit.” More- state is rapidly approaching reality. The eyes servative and Reform counterparts. “It is a over, the editorial concluded with a striking of the world are focused on Eretz Yisroel to see This essay has been written in dedication to my fact,” the piece claimed, “that there are in criticism of the rabbinic organization’s lack of what sort of edifice the nation which gave the colleagues, David Lasher and Mattan Erder, Palestine today organized groups which, while presence in American Jewish society. “Such world the Ten Commandments will raise. We and their incalculable efforts in reviving Kol insisting on the establishment of an enlight- problems do not exist for people whose minds must show that the people of the Book can put Hamevaser; their product far surpassed my ened social order on which our friends in the have been hibernating among the petty ques- the ideals of that Book into practice … Every initial plans for the publication. May they con- Reform and Conservative Camps place so tions of the Polish village of last century.” Yeshiva boy, every Jew who is not a member tinue to write, inspire, and write some more. much emphasis, draw their inspiration from Indeed, the information provided in of a Zionist organization should join one im- and remain steadfast to the principles of Or- Burns’s article is incomplete if not spurious.** mediately, as it is through such groups that our On the front-page of The Commentator’s thodox Judaism.” Despite the high volume of coverage in aid will be sought … We are indeed fortunate special edition issue commemorating Israel’s In fact, before graduating, that inaugural The Commentator’s pages from the time of its to have lived to see the foundations set up for 50th anniversary, Yehuda Burns published an Governing Board dedicated space to news on inception, the newspaper’s diligence in report- the embryonic state. Perhaps this time our age- article entitled, “YU, The Commentator and Is- Palestine or Zionist groups on five front-pages ing on Zionism was at an all-time high in the old cry of “next year in Jerusalem” will be ful- rael: Through the Years.” As the longest run- and dedicated another five editorials to similar months leading up to Israel’s establishment. filled.” ning student publication within the University, topics regarding Zionism. Moreover, as a final What is more, during this later period, the A few issues later, in the January 15, 1948 Burns correctly theorized that by “look[ing] exclamation point for the 1935 Governing newspaper continued its uncompromising sup- edition, sensing that independence was near, back at [The Commentator’s] coverage of Is- Board, the newspaper polled seniors on vari- the student journalists made an unusually big raeli affairs throughout the years,” he would be ous issues. In that article, it was reported that deal of Yeshiva College participants at Rutgers able to gauge the student body’s Zionistic fer- all but five members of the senior class, at the University’s Model U.N. who, by representing vor since the newspaper started in the mid- time, planned to one day move to Palestine. the Dominican Republic, helped bring aid to ‘30s. All in all, by March 4, 1943, coverage of Israel in the role-playing game. In a few edi- While culling from select issues when one Palestine appeared on the front-page of 21 edi- tions later, The Commentator printed a banner might expect to find reports of Israel related tions and in 15 editorials. Further, aside from headline reading: “Dr. Soloveitchik Asks news and editorials, Burns also points to grow- the annual Dean’s Reception and “Charter Palestine Aid.” In the article, the newspaper ing relations between Yeshiva University and Day” – a March 27 event sponsored regularly reported that Rabbi Soloveitchik keynoted the Israel toward the ‘60s and ‘70s. Indeed, in his by alumni commemorating the day Yeshiva Yeshiva University Student Drive for New attempt to cover over a half-century of news College received accreditation – the only Palestine Settlements and announced the coverage of Israel in a single article, the writer yearly event covered consistently by The Com- Drive’s goal to raise $15,000. swept through The Commentator’s history, mentator was Balfour Day held every year on Articulating the importance of a Jewish pointing out key articles, among other events, November 2. state, the Rav was quoted stating that “the visits to Yeshiva’s Main Center campus by Is- One notices early on that while the earli- number of religious colonists will decide the raeli Prime Ministers and chief rabbis; the de- est governing boards challenged many institu- future of Palestine rather than any political tri- velopment of AIPAC; and Dr. Belkin’s plan to tions inside and outside the Yeshiva umphs. The extant of the heaven over our encourage Teacher’s Institute students to study community to support the Zionist effort, they heads will correspond with the land under our at Machon Gold’s Jerusalem campus. refused to criticize the different streams of Zi- feet.” What we wish to take issue with is onism themselves. For example, several ‘30s In addition, the Rav – who believed that Burns’s primary thesis, namely that “if there is editorials demanded that Orthodox organiza- “Yeshiva students must form the backbone of an overriding trend to point out, it is how the tions take greater roles in supporting Jews in port of all factions of Zionism. One example a religious pioneering movement” – stressed news coverage increased as the years went by.” Palestine, if for no other reason than to increase of the newsmen’s clear support is seen in a that although “Orthodoxy may not have a big After reviewing Commentator editions from religious observance in the Holy Land. How- May 22, 1947 editorial entitled “U.N. After- share in the new state yet Torah will be fruitful 1935-1948, it is clear that the above claim is ever, nowhere could we find an editorial where math.” In the piece, the Governing Board in Palestine. Religious Jews will be able to live untenable. Further, the author’s charge that The Commentator’s editors openly took issue identified and lashed out at the Jews’ enemies better in a Palestine ruled by Hashomer Hatzair Commentator editors were guilty of “sparse re- with various ideological strands of Zionism. In saying that “the Arabs, by stupid political ma- than in an American Jewish ghetto like porting” of Israel pre-1948 is simply un- this way, Yeshiva College’s newspaper took a neuvering, damaged their own case. They mo- Williamsberg.” founded. Finally, before presenting the facts, very open view of all Zionist cliques, as each nopolized the floor. They threatened to boycott Of course, the newspaper did not limit it- we hope readers will understand our delay in contributed in some way to the in-bringing of the session; they threatened war.” Not missing self to drawing its readers’ attention to Israel’s formulating a proper response to this thesis as the exiles. Any Zionism, it would seem to a chance to criticize local opponents, the edi- financial concerns. Thus, following the news- the present writer was still struggling with the these students, was good Zionism. tors remarked that “the American positions can paper’s history during this time, it would be re- sixth grade when The Commentator published Vehement criticism of branches of Ortho- be best portrayed as a rape of justice” and miss of any study of Yeshiva’ study body the article. doxy, on the other hand, was far from un- ripped members of the American Agudah who during this time period if we did not make Contrary to what is stated toward the touchable. During those years, the most “knew they had little or no hope of recognition, mention of The Commentator’s stirring issue opening of the 1998 Commentator piece, scathing criticism on the subject was reserved but sold their birthright for a hash of public- dated February 19, 1948. Before publication, Yeshiva College journalists discussed the situ- for the more right-wing groups of American ity.” Yeshiva students got word that Moshe Pearl- ation in Palestine long before the editorial en- Orthodoxy. At the end of the 1936 academic Then in the following academic year, stein, a member of the close-knit Yeshiva Col- titled “Palestine – A Temporary Haven and year, the May 6 issue of The Commentator in- streaming across the front-page of the Decem- lege class of ’46, had perished in battle. Permanent Home” was published on page-two cluded an editorial decrying the decision of the ber 11, 1947 edition, a headline read “Yeshiva Shortly after graduation, Pearlstein made of the March 4, 1943 edition. In fact, one need Agudath Harabonim to refuse participation in Hails Birth of Jewish State; Assemblies Cele- aliyah and enlisted in the Haganah. Eulogizing look no further than the very first published that year’s World Jewish Congress on the brations Mark Event.” In a dramatic and his- their friend, the newspaper recalled that issue of The Commentator published on March grounds that its involvement in a nondenomi- toric event, the United Nations approved “Moshe always went out of his way to be a 1, 1935 to find student opinion about Palestine national conference would be a detriment to partition of the Mandate of Palestine into the friend to all those he knew and this cordial in the undergraduate newspaper. The inaugu- Orthodox Jewry. “By their indifference and states, one Jewish and another Arab. Inside spirit was what endeared him most to us. Arab ral Governing Board ran an editorial entitled even opposition to Zionism,” the newspaper that issue, the editors printed two related edi- bullets,” they concluded, “cannot erase him “How Long Will Orthodoxy Slumber” blasting declared about the Agudath Harabonim, “they torials. Most significant is their following from our minds and memories of his years as Orthodox organizations for being less involved have already succeeded in causing the rebuild- prideful sentiment: “The dream of a Jewish our schoolmate will never escape us.”

Volume 1, Issue 8 21 Kol Hamevaser Accompanying the editorial was a letter “It was the irresponsible and senseless act of A Visit to Pearlstein had sent to his parents shortly before an extremist fringe of an extremist organiza- Last Letter from they received the tragic news about their son. tion. It is to be regretted because murder as Har Ha-Bayit Originally written in Hebrew, the editors ob- such is wrong, no matter what the circum- Moshe Pearlstein tained it and had it translated into English. Just stances.” BY SIMEON BOTWINICK as The Commentator related to its readership Soon thereafter, a December 30, 1948 ed- I don’t know how you are receiving the On Monday, the 4th of Sivan, 5767 (the 60 years ago, Pearlstein’s letter “acts as the itorial criticized Arthur Koestler’s New York news from Palestine these days. From the let- 21st of May, 2007) I was in a group of Har-Et- finest tribute to the type of man he was.” Be- Times column calling for a secularized Israel ters I’ve received from my friends and from the zion students led by Rav Yitzchak Levi that lieving that Pearlstein’s words carry with it the to create “a system of faith and cosmopolitan headlines of the “Herald Tribune” that I’ve had the opportunity to visit Har ha-Bayit. This power it had many years ago, we have repro- ethics freed from all racial presumption and na- seen, I got the impression that in New York was no haphazard, trip-on-a-whim; we had duced the letter in full and unchanged from its tional exclusivity.” Championing Religious they suppose the situation here is to be bad. original at the end of this article. Zionism, The Commentator came to the rescue prepared by learning the relevant halakhot with From the point of view of encounters be- Rav Yitzchak Levi, by discussing the history A few more articles and editorials dealing asserting that for the Jewish people, nation- tween Jews and Arab gangs, it is clear that the with U.N. and White House politics graced The hood “refers to bonds of a different type, bonds of the site and the situation today, and by tovel- Yishuv knows well how to defend itself. The ing the day before and the day of in a Mikvah. Commentator’s pages over the next few of common culture, history, development, truth is that a much greater number of Arabs months. Then, finally, it happened. ideals and – if it may be so termed – of Mes- But for all the preparation we did, I can’t say I have been killed. But the British don’t tell was prepared. Without reserving any emotion, the May sianic nationalism.” about that, because they want to incite the ter- The visit triggered in me an overwhelm- 20, 1948 issue of The Commentator hit stands Finally, on May 12, 1949, on the occasion rorists and they have no desire to frighten ing rush of conflicting feelings. As we as- announcing “Yeshiva Rejoices At Birth of Is- of the first observed Yom Haatzmaut, The them. When the Arabs assaulted part of Tel cended the wooden ramp to Har ha-Bayit, rael; Zionists Applaud Historic Occasion.” In Commentator, in elegant Hebrew draped Aviv, tens of the attackers fell. In the Old City, addition to reporting on a large rally held days “Techi u-tifrach Midinat Yisrael” across its too, they received a blow. Everywhere the looking down on people praying at the Kotel, earlier (May 16) “by all branches of the Zion- front-page. Also in Hebrew, that generation of Arabs attacked, the men of Haganah engaged it finally hit me. We were going: to the place, ist organizations” at Madison Square Garden, editors proclaimed their historical position as a in punitive action. All this in spite of the the place we had faced during shaharis that the newspaper’s layout team inserted a copy of nexus between the “final generation of servi- British, who do not only not aid in the mainte- very morning back at yeshiva, the center of the Israel’s Declaration of Independence in the tude” and the “first generation of redemption.” nance of order but also harass Haganah men. Jewish nation, the place Jews for centuries vis- center of the front-page surrounded by a wa- If anything is to be concluded from The In recent weeks I have been on guard duty ited on the shalosh regalim, one of which was termark of a map of Israel. Commentator’s coverage of the Zionist efforts in the environs of Jerusalem and in different only two days away. The feeling of return, of Aside from including remarks made by and the eventual establishment of the State of sections of the city itself. Most of the time I visiting the place where the Jewish people in- Yeshiva President Samuel Belkin, Teacher’s Israel, it is renewed cognizance of the student have been with Americans – among them trinsically belong was overpowering. Institute Dean Pinkhos Churgin and YC Dean body’s disenchantment with the Land in more Carmi and Aryeh. Understandably it has been Moses L. Isaacs, the young writers took the op- recent years. Recent treatment of Israel And yet, though my eyes wanted to see all difficult to study in recent days, even when that my heart knew they should see, they in- portunity to reflect in a simply titled editorial “news” in Yeshiva’s undergraduate newspapers I’ve been free from duty. Now there is a new stead were faced with the present reality. I “State of Israel.” The piece began profoundly: has been ceremonial; almost like a review of schedule, according to which we shall study knew Har ha-Bayit wasn’t in Jewish control, “The thousand years of waiting have at long news for the sake of logging a record of our for a fortnight and guard for a fortnight. The last ended. The land of Israel, built with the Zionist conviction on campus. Although re- natural science lectures and laboratories were but actually seeing it made the hurban so much blood, sweat, tears and lives of countless mar- cent policies taken against reporting on Israel halted and I shall leave for two weeks of guard more tangible. It’s one thing to know that all tyrs who so longed for that land, now exists in news is the responsibility of recent governing duty. Should the situation continue for a long we have is the Kotel; it’s something entirely the cradle of our religion’s birth. Our perse- boards, their common rationale ***this is in no time, I don’t expect to waste any time. Most of different to see what we could have, sitting just cuted and down-trodden shall flock to Zion to small part to the accessibility of Israel news on the hours on duty, we’re free, though we are beyond. build anew the glory of old. At this solemn the Internet. While The Observer has certainly forbidden to leave the post. So I read and The trip was a mix of exhilaration at see- moment, we look toward the East with new made more space for student op-eds on Israel, write. Now, if I find a companion, I’d like to ing Rav Yitzchak Levi point out exactly where hope and faith, expressing fervent thanks that The Commentator, in the last few volumes, has study Talmud. the Kodesh ha-Kedoshim stood, and anguish our generation has been blessed with the not (for more on this see Gadi Dotz’s “On the I am very happy that I have to privilege of at seeing a mosque sitting in its place. The trip fruition of our forefathers’ prayers.” Absence of Intellection Honesty” in The Com- living in Palestine today. I don’t think I could Concluding with as much passion as the mentator’s September 11, 2006 edition). was a mix of joy at being able to visit the site suffer living in the United States in crucial days that Jewish prayers for centuries have been di- editorial began, they wrote: “The members of Perhaps this trend is captured best in such as these. I feel this strongly when I re- rected towards, and deep sadness at having to our nation who are scattered over the four cor- Yeshiva Chancellor Norman Lamm’s recently ceive letters from my friends in the United hide and disguise our prayers behind hands to ners of the earth now have a champion, some- printed reference to “the Jewish experiment States. body to speak up for their rights, somebody to which has become the tragedy that is Israel.” About the attitude toward Jews here, I’ve protect ourselves. It was a mix of heartfelt protect them against all oppressors, somebody We do not contend to have an answer. With met Englishmen filled with respect for Ha- righteousness at saying the shir shel yom look- to welcome them when they are not wanted University administrators currently taking a ganah: the Arabs generally are wary. I’ve ing at the place where the Leviim said it, and a elsewhere. They now have a defendant whose fresh look at YU’s place in Israel, others will heard from many friends who traveled on con- feeling of injustice at seeing tourists standing support will be constant, whose backing will surely offer their own opinions on the matter. voys from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem how the Arabs there, laughing and taking pictures. not depend on bribes, oil, or politics.” As for Burns’s decade-old piece, that the fled on seeing buses and trucks approaching We were unable to take siddurim, pray Over the next year, the student newspa- data supporting his thesis is at best flawed, his with armed Jews on them. Sometimes I won- openly, or bow, and we had guards watching permen devoted ample space to the early tra- final point rings true. “Nowhere,” Burns der: what if there was no Haganah defense? Or over us the entire time to ensure we wouldn’t vails of the State. On September 30, 1948, an writes with utmost confidence, “is there a on the contrary: what if the Jews of Europe had try to do so. Unquestionably, things are not as editorial entitled “Assassination Aftermath” greater indication of the strong link between known how to defend themselves? they should be. However, the fact remains, we addressed the assassination of the Count of Yeshiva University and Israel than through the Mother wrote about the U.J.A. committee are a step closer than we have been for cen- Wisborg Folke Bernadotte. The United Na- pages of Yeshiva University’s undergraduate being sent to Palestine to examine defense turies. We may have been severely restricted, tion’s Security Council believed that the newspaper, The Commentator.” problems. It is easy to understand the need for but we did visit Har ha-Bayit, the source of our Swedish diplomat, who famously negotiated Upon thorough analysis, we agree, fully. money today, if one just calculates the thou- nation’s dreams and longings. And when we the release of 15,000 prisoners of Nazi con- sands who have been mobilized who must exited the area, when we all tore our shirts and centration camps, would help broker peace be- Techi u-tifrach Midinat Yisrael. have their needs met. danced in a circle, singing “bimhera be- tween Jews and Arabs. Unfortunately, the yameinu she-yi-baneh,” it was with real tears in members of the Stern Gang who ambushed With hope for days of peace and upbuilding my eyes that I, for the first time, realized how Bernadotte’s motorcade on September 17 dis- Zev Eleff is the Editor-in-Chief of the YU and with love, important this place is to me. agreed. Like most columnists, The Commen- Commentator Your son, tator condemned the terrorist attack. “The Simeon Botwinick is a Sophomore at YC, murder of Count Bernadotte cannot be con- Moshe majoring in English doned,” the editors repudiated in the editorial.

22 Volume 1, Issue 8 Israel at 60 The (Almost) Final The Future of the Boarding Call Zionist Enterprise:

BY JAIMIE FOGEL thought. No, this is the first stage in a larger vi- Let’s Not Worry sion for a life steeped in service of God and I am not a success story yet. Mine is a service of the Jewish people in a state I like to About the Wrong Things! story fraught with trepidation, with the un- call “an opportunity but not a promise.” For known and the undiscovered. After years of me, there is no more singing “le-shanah ha- BY NOAH CHESES ture of Israel better than any platform of fear mental conditioning and preparation, the mo- bah be-Yerushalyim” at the Pesah seder and and anxiety. Especially when it comes to teach- ment is quickly transforming from a far-off fu- motsei Yom Kippur wondering when I’ll really I recently heard a prominent Modern Or- ing and inspiring the next generation of Amer- ture endeavor into a present reality. Will the mean it; no more voluntary exiles in Miami thodox rabbi remark that “maybe the Satmar ican youth, educating towards the importance reality be as great as the dream? Certainly not, and Long Island; no more desperation and Rebbe was correct after all; maybe the State of of building a strong community, coupled with my rational mind responds, but then again, in longing to be anywhere but here. Israel is not the beginning of the flowering of a healthy dose of idealism, will be a much the past few years I have garnered a greater ap- Standing on the threshold of a life-alter- our redemption.” These words made me shiver. wiser recipe. preciation for realities. Dreaming is step one, ing decision which will drag me across vast I can understand why the Modern Orthodox Practically, this means that our commu- but dreams are intangible until realized and oceans and which will make me a foreigner in community’s attitude toward the state of Israel nity needs to speak less about the possibility that brings me to where I am today: less then a land I have always called my “home,” is to be is being tested. The problems in Israel are that Iran is preparing itself to destroy the state two months away from my aliyah, a move many and great: failed leadership, increased vi- of Israel and more about a vision for Israel as which will carry me—alone—across six thou- olence, poor education, a growing non-Jewish a strong and competent Jewish state. We need sand miles, far away from my family and population, abandoned immigrant populations, to acknowledge our absolute uniqueness as friends. Moving to fulfill a dream most of the increased awareness of the external threats Jews and stop worrying about “normalizing” world views as insane—to live the rest of my posed by Iran and other terrorist regimes, and ourselves to the standards of other European life in a bona fide war zone, smack in the mid- an uninspired vision for the nation’s future (a countries. At this juncture in Israel’s history, dle of its often depressing, post-national exis- partial list). I cannot understand despair. The nothing is clearer then that the old biblical truth tence. very fact that our community could entertain that “Israel dwells alone and shall not be reck- The attack on Mercaz ha-Rav made it all throwing in the towel is an absurdity. oned among the nations” (Bamidbar 23:9). The real. I kept imagining myself six months from The purpose of this article is to identify Jewish people’s long history is one of existen- then, answering a frantic call from my mother the origin of this poisonous, yet increasingly tial oddity and individuality. In other words, wanting to make sure that I and all I knew were popular, outlook in the Modern Orthodox com- we need to build from an internalized aware- alright. Get ready, I told myself on that awful munity, and then to suggest how we can redi- ness of who we are, from the inside-out, in- Thursday afternoon, because this will be an rect our attention elsewhere. I will argue that stead of from the outside-in. ever-present element in your daily existence. we cannot let our broad worries to lead to pes- When commemorating 60 years of state- We may not want to admit it, but no matter simism and despair, and should instead focus hood this Yom Ha’atzmaut, we will, as indi- how sorrowful one feels for those suffering in present in a complex reality. Coupled with on more positive, constructive, and important viduals and communities, inevitably evaluate Israel, we are still somewhat grateful to be able fears, doubts and occasional loneliness are matters. It’s a matter of attitude and focus. the current status of Israel. Let us not get to step onto the curb of 34th and Lexington or thoughts, hopes and anticipation for the start In my work with Bnei Akiva and the bogged down with heavy questions like ‘will 185th and Amsterdam where the buses are still of what I hope to be a fulfilling life. The short Moshava camps over the past few years, I have Israel still be around in 60 years from now?’ running as scheduled and the kids are still play- period of irrational fear during which I could- heard many chanichim report that they are ‘Will Iran and Hamas be successful in their ing rowdily in the schoolyard. But this time, n’t listen to the Israeli music on my Ipod or eat afraid for Israel because of the sudden realiza- plans?’ Worrying about these questions is only after receiving the text message with the tragic any Israeli foods, has been replaced by a de- tion that it has Iran and Hamas knocking on its counterproductive to the future of our home news, the distance was almost entirely swal- gree of calm and excitement which has come doorstep. Knowing that most kids do not read land. lowed. After all, the homeland of the Jewish as a result of beginning to realize a dream. the papers, I have asked where this feeling of Instead let us try to answer smaller but I people—no—my home had been attacked. The It is finally happening. It’s happening be- fear came from. The chanichim responded that believe more important questions such as, friends of children I will soon know, the par- cause I can’t imagine beginning the next stage their parents speak about the dreariness and ‘where is Israeli culture headed?’ ‘How can the ents of a population of which I will soon be a of my life somewhere else; because I can’t hopelessness of the situation in Israel at their increasing gap between the rich and the poor permanent part were screaming in pain. That imagine falling in love, raising a family or Shabbat tables. Their parents are worried about be decreased?’ ‘How can immigrant commu- Thursday, Israel stopped being the “Jewish growing old anywhere but in the place God the doomsday picture that more and more re- nities (like the Ethiopians and Russians) be homeland” and became my house. My back- told me to live. As the author Daniel Gordis porters and journalists are painting. better integrated into Israeli society?’ ‘Can the yard. My yeshiva. No more escaping outside puts it, “For after all, if there’s a place in this It seems to me—from the remarks of the internal conflict over Jewish identity be solved into the normalcy of Manhattan. No more de- world that can make you cry, isn’t that where Modern Orthodox rabbi mentioned above and or simply managed?’ ‘How can the flair of Re- parture dates. That Thursday I finally under- you ought to be?” If there is place that can the sentiments of my Chanichim—that our ligious Zionism be rekindled?’ ‘How can we stood that I had bought a one-way ticket home. move and stir my inner being on a morning jog confidence and idealism are being swallowed cultivate stronger religious and political lead- One of the most startling responses I re- through its green hills; in a makolet buying toi- by our anxiety for Israel’s future. This must not ers?’ ‘How can we be so deaf to the deafening ceived upon revealing my future plans was let paper that specifies which Shabbat desecra- be allowed to happen. Although we cannot di- cries of the Sderot community?’ from an old high school classmate with whom tions I will not commit by purchasing it; when rectly blunt the threat itself, nor control our The answers to these questions are com- I had lost touch. I ran into her outside the Stern I wake up in the morning happy because I live children’s resulting fear, we can control how plex, confusing, and contentious, but that is no building and in the course of friendly conver- in the land I know I’m supposed to call we deal with that fear. I believe that instead of excuse for ignoring them. A stronger effort sation she asked me about my post-college home—how could I choose any differently? dwelling on that fear, we should channel most must be made to formulate good answers and plans and I told her about the upcoming aliyah. of our time and energy towards dealing with to implement them. As the young, tradition- Her eyes widened in shock as she replied, domestic issues that we can make a significant loving Zionists, this task rests heavily upon our “Wow! That’s, well, that’s fulfilling a life Jaimie Fogel is a Senior at SCW, major- impact on. shoulders. dream. Good for you!” I calmly responded, ing in Judaic Studies and Creative Writing In the Purim story, when the decree of de- “Well, it’s the first step of a larger dream, yes.” struction was declared, Ester directed the peo- I certainly wouldn’t call making aliyah my ple to look inwards, to cultivate a deeper sense Noah Cheses is a Staff Writer for Kol ‘life dream’ because if this were my life’s ful- of commitment and community, not to combat Hamevaser fillment, that would imply that I’ve reached my the external forces of Amalek. Adopting this apex at twenty-two—quite a disturbing paradigm, at least partially, will service the fu-

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