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Seven Veteran Rabbis Tell It Like It Was

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Seven Veteran Rabbis Tell It Like It Was BackupFall08B.qxd:Layout 1 8/21/08 12:17 PM Page 28 CoverStory Fifty Years in the Pulpit: Seven Veteran Rabbis Tell It Like It Was 28 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5769/2008 BackupFall08B.qxd:Layout 1 8/21/08 12:18 PM Page 29 n January 2008, Jewish Action invited seven prominent veteran rabbis, with a combined 350 years of leadership in the Orthodox community, to reflect on the unpredictable growth and remarkable evolution Iof American Jewry. The participants were Rabbis Rafael Grossman, Joseph Grunblatt, David Hollander, Dr. Gilbert Klaperman, Ralph Pelcovitz, Fabian Schonfeld and Max Schreier. The discussion, which was moderated by Orthodox Union President Stephen J. Savitsky and took place at the Orthodox Union (OU) headquarters in Manhattan, spanned a variety of topics including the frightening pace of intermarriage, outreach to the already frum and the non-frum, the role of the North American rabbi and the decline of the cathedral-style synagogue. Subsequently, at its 110th National Dinner in April, the OU honored each of these distinguished leaders with the Lifetime Rabbinic Achievement Award for his contribution to Jewish life. The following are excerpts from the wide-ranging discussion. We hope you will be inspired by the timeless wisdom in the pages ahead. To order a DVD of the entire discussion, e-mail [email protected]. Comments and responses to this discussion are welcome on Jewish Action’s web site, www.ou.org/jewish_action. Photos: Menachem Adelman Fall 5769/2008 JEWISH ACTION I 29 BackupFall08B.qxd:Layout 1 8/22/08 11:51 AM Page 30 Steve Savitsky: What have been Rabbi Rafael Grossman: I spent most Rabbi Max Schreier: [The rabbis of the most significant changes in of my years in rabbanus away from fifty years ago] were respected be- American Orthodox life you’ve New York. There was a time when cause they were gedolei Torah, but witnessed since you entered the every community in the United States they didn’t have a community to work rabbinate? What have been the with at least two- to three-thousand with. I remember when I arrived in most significant changes in the Jews had an Orthodox shul. Those Rochester, New York, the story was rabbi’s functions? Reform A, Conservative B, and Ortho- doxy a poor third. But the commitment Rabbi Dr. Gilbert Klaperman: In of Orthodox rabbis in general was very 1950, I came to Lawrence [New York] great, and these rabbis functioned as and found a very interesting congrega- they did within limitations of commu- tion—patrician, aristocratic people. nal influence. The congregants were They were very fine Jews, but they not very well educated, by and large, knew very little about the religious re- with the exception of those who came quirements of Judaism. They helped from religious communities. build the synagogue. Together, we built the first yeshivah in Nassau County. Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld: Basically, We [helped] build the first eruv in the changes came about with siyata the county. We had a great commu- d’Shamaya [help from Above]. It’s the nity.But we did not have talmidei natural way of Torah to inspire people, chachamim. We have them today in to cause them to rethink what life is all our congregation—I think that’s a about. It was the drive towards Jewish significant change. education—the yeshivah movement, Rabbi Rafael Grossman was the day school movement—that senior rabbi of the famed Baron Rabbi Ralph Pelcovitz: When we brought about a very significant Hirsch Synagogue in Memphis, change. People call it “the shift to the came into our positions, a half-century Tennessee, for thirty years. Hon- Right.” I don’t know of a Right, or Left ago, we found—those of us who were ored with the OU’s National or Center. This is a question of label- in truly Torah-observant shuls—that Rabbinic Centennial Medallion ing, which is wrong. I’ve always been the older generation was more frum Award, he is a past president of opposed to the use of [the term] “Cen- than the younger generation. Today, both the Rabbinical Council of trist Orthodoxy.” . It’s Torah Judaism. the younger generation is more frum America (RCA) and the Beth A rabbi’s job has also changed than the older generation. Din of America, as well as a for- tremendously; [he is no longer] some- mer chairman of the board of body who [just] answers occasional Rabbi David Hollander: Among the Religious Zionists of Amer- questions about Ya’aleh Veyavo, Ret- other significant changes is the up- ica. Additionally, Rabbi Gross- zeih and Al Hanissim. Today, the rabbi surge of Torah learning for men and man is a practicing has to be a qualified psychiatrist, psy- women of all ages. Overall, there’s a psychotherapist and a noted chologist and, above all, social wonderful change in favor of yahadus professor, author and columnist. worker—which is really what Moshe haTorah. There’s just no comparison Rabbeinu was. Yisro’s criticism of [to what was]. And for that change, the Moshe Rabbeinu was “You’re too much OU is entitled to tremendous recogni- shuls have tragically and painfully dis- of everything.” Our role has changed tion and credit. appeared. This is the negative aspect of tremendously. We are involved in peo- the last fifty years. [In] town after ple’s lives, in their parnassah [liveli- Rabbi Joseph Grunblatt: There have town, city after city, where there were hood]. I don’t think that rabbanim ever been various changes in American pulpits for Orthodox rabbanim, Ortho- had this kind of a challenge. The idea Jewish life, for better or for worse. In doxy no longer exists. But, on the other of the rav [spending all of his time] sit- some communities, the stability of the hand, a number of shuls that were affil- ting and learning has changed. Rabbi family has been seriously challenged. iated with the OU fifty years ago, out- Eliezer Silver said that once, when he We find many more dysfunctional fam- side of New York, were either without was rabbi in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, ilies in the Orthodox community, and mechitzahs or had other deviations that the [shul] president walked in, and more divorces than in the past. On the were seriously problematic. [Today, found him learning. “Rav Silver, what’s other hand, we frequently encounter a this is no longer the case.] What doing?” he asked. “I’m learning,” he an- gap between the older and the younger brought about this tremendously posi- swered. “You’re learning?! You’re a generations. Many people who are tive change, and the dawning of a po- rabbi already—you don’t have to learn members of this Orthodox organiza- tentially great future for communities anymore. If you don’t know how to tion [the OU] have children who will in the remote parts of America, or at learn, why did you become a rabbi?” probably not daven in an OU shul, but least remote from New York? Firstly, of asked the president. [While the rabbi’s rather in a shtiebel. [Many of them course, chinuch [education]. Secondly, need to learn] hasn’t stopped, the rabbi will] sit and learn. So certainly, there NCSY. The achievements of NCSY are is [now required] to get involved in have been some very radical changes. nothing less than remarkable. every aspect of Jewish life. 30 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5769/2008 BackupFall08B.qxd:Layout 1 8/22/08 11:51 AM Page 31 Mr. Savitsky: One of the greatest problems facing Jewry is intermar- Rabbi Joseph Grunblatt served for riage. What do you think can nearly four decades as rabbi of the be done to stem the tide of Queens Jewish Center in Queens, assimilation? New York. He is a recipient of the OU’s National Rabbinic Centennial Rabbi Grunblatt: Frankly, I don’t Medallion Award as well as the 1996 think there’s too much that we can do. recipient of the esteemed Ben Zakkai [Years ago,] there were many Jews Honor Society Harold H. Boxer Me- who were not observant, but you had morial Award. Rabbi Grunblatt is also a sense they were Yidden. But this a former vice president of the RCA [ethnic identification] is practically and the Vaad Harabonim of Queens, gone, and without true Torah commit- as well as an author and contributing ment there’s very little sensitivity editor to Jewish Action. about [maintaining a Jewish identity]. The liberal branches have attempted, of course [to deal with assimilation]. there was never legitimacy granted to that far a distance from legitimacy to They’re constantly writing in the this phenomenon—which is what has acceptance. And there’s also a connec- media about accepting intermarried happened in our country, slowly but tion, an opening from acceptance to couples, and working with them. But surely, over the years. When we began approval. And therefore, what we have essentially, I think it is a losing battle in the rabbinate, we, not only the Or- to do—this is something that the OU and [there is] very little that we can thodox, but also the Reform, the Con- and all Jewish organizations have to do for people who have reached the servative and the secular agreed that work on—is to reinstitute total disap- point where being Jewish doesn’t intermarriage was beyond the pale. proval, and the refusal to accept or to matter anymore. Over the last half century, there has legitimize any kind of intermarriage. been an encroachment upon the invisi- Once you give intermarriage legiti- Rabbi Pelcovitz: [The Jewish people] ble barrier between us and the non- macy, there is no argument left for us always [suffered from] intermarriage.
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