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CO ll"C. ~EW YORK :"Y • The Thurm/Sherer Families wish Klal Yisroel n:i1v nr.r~nn1 n:i.,n:J If it has no cholesterol, a better­ than-butter flavor, and a reputation for kashruth you can trust ... It has to be Iii the new, improved parve I I unsalted margarine r~W1 WISH BSERVER THE JEWISH OBSERVER (ISSN) 0021-6615 6 is published monthly except July and August by The Late Gerer Rebbe, Rabbi Simcha Bunim Alter ?"~ the Agudath Israel of America, 84 William Street, -AN APPRECIATION New York, N.Y. 10038. Second class postage Rabbi Shlomo Ashkenazy and Rabbi Avrohom Chaim Cannell paid in New York, N.Y. Subscription $22.00 per year; two years, $36.00; three years, $48.00. Outside of the United States 15 (US funds drawn on a US bank only) $10.00 Growth from Disorder-And the Jewish Experience surcharge per year. Single copy $3.00; foreign Rabbi Avi Shafran $4.00. Send address changes to The Jewish Observer, 84 William Street, N.Y., N.Y. 10038. Tel: (212) 797-9000. 20 Printed in the U.S.A. The Dance of the Waters: The Joy of Succos Ben Hillel RABBI NISSON WOLPIN, EDITOR EDITORIAL BOARD 23 DR. ERNST L. BODENHEIMER Chalmran "And Never the Twain Should Meet" Eliyahu Grossman RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS JOSEPH FRIEDENSON RABBI NOSSON SCHERMAN 31 MANAGEMENT BOARD BOOKS IN REVIEW NAFTOLI HIRSCH ISAAC KIRZNER Judica By Women RABBI SHLOMO LESIN NACHUM STEIN 35 RABBI YOSEF C. GOLDING " " (WITH AND WITHOUT COMMENT) Business Manager Hearken to the Voice of Your Youth Published by Agudath Israel of America 36 RABBI MOSHE SHERER SECOND LoOKS AT THE JEWISH SCENE PRESIDENT An Open Letter to the Neighbor of a Baal Nisayon THE JEWISH OBSERVER does not assume responsibility for the Kashrus of any product, publication, or service 41 advertlsed in its pages LETTERS TO THE EDITOR © Copyright 1992 OCTOBER t 992 VOLUME XXV I NO. 7 Rabbi Shlomo Ashkenazy and RabbiAvrolwm Chaim Carmell RABBI S1MCHA BuNIM ALTER I. ASSESSING THE LOSS not the late twentieth cen­ tury when he finally One cannot attempt to comprehend a donned the mantle of mystery without realizing that its es­ leadership. Yet, far from sence is hidden. So, too, in contemplat­ being distant and re­ ing the life ofthe !ateGererRebbe, Rabbi moved from our era. the Simcha Bunim '7"i71:¥"t, one must note Rebbe showed an amaz­ that he existed in almost total oblivion, ing sensitivity to the studiously slumning the public (and pri­ needs of the time, both vate} eye, suddenly emerging as a current andfature. Rebbe ojtlwusands ofChassidlm, and The thousands of a Torah leader of all-encompassing di­ people wlw wended their mensions. When on the seventh of way along the two-mile Tamuz his passing was announced, route from the Beis World Jewry-regardless ofreligious af­ Midrash in Ge'ula Wl Har filiation-realized that it had lost a Hazei.sim, were notjust unique tzaddik and leader. The 100, - mourning the loss of a 200,000 people wlwattended the levaya great tzaddik they had camefrom all sectors ofthe Israeli scene. heard about, but rather a One ofthe Gedolim ofpre-war Europe person whose name had commented (referring to the lmrei EmesJ, become Cl_: byword as "Gur is not a 'Rebbishe dynasty'; each champion of Torah inter­ Rebbe was worthy of being chosen to ests in Eretz Yisroel. Ifis lead the Chassidim on his own merit." inlative had given the To­ The late Gerer Rebbe was no exception rah world aDafHayomi of to this statement. His gadlus and Yerushalmi, set stan­ tzidkus were reminiscent of the nine­ dards of restraints on teenth century into which he was bom, simchos and marrying off Rabbi Ashkenazy, a talmtd of Mesivta Torah children. changed the Vodaath. in Brooklyn, N.Y., BethMedrash Govoha, map ofIsrael by establish­ in Lakewood, N.J., and Mir ..Jerusalem, is presently ing new chareidi presence Rosh Kollel of the Bostoner Kollel in the Har Nof in m.qjor towns, and re­ section of Jersualem. Rabbi cannen, a ta1mid of the Yeshivas of Gateshead (England) and Pone­ peatedly called upon To­ vezh, teaches in the Bostoner Kollel. rah Jewry to exercise its 6 The Jewish Observer, October 1992 strength to prevent breaches in chomas hadas and protest chillul Hashem. And then there were the hundreds who had been helped by the Rebbe"s tefillos and berachos for banei, chayei, umezonei (children. health and livelihood}: and of course, the('.iererChassidim, young and old, with their rent garments. mowning the death ofa loving father and uplifting teacher who connected them to levels of kedusha and deveykus of a hundred years ago and more. Dusk settled over Yerushalayim. People made their way home with the true greatness qf the Rebbe only begin· ning to dawn upon them. An ongoing conflict had been resolved. The Rebbe had two burning desires-to help every Yid, and to totally conceal his own Avodas Hashem. Hashemfa!fills the de· sires of those that .fear him but Jewry needs to krww and learnfrom their great ones. Now we can begiI1 to appreciate the grandeur and stature of the late Gerer Rebbe, zecher tzaddik livrocho without violating his wishes. two-and·a-halfyears, with a son (Reb Il. BIOGRAPlllCALNOTES So successful was he in Yankel). He would say ironically that there were two things he was never lmost 100 years ago. on 24 this charade that when short of-money and tzoros. Despite Nissan 5658 (6 Aplil 1898). a his suffeling, he was always b'simcha A fourth son was born to Rav the Beis Yisroef passed and was never heard to complain. Avrohom Mordechai Alter (the Imrei He accompanied his father on his Emes). the oldest son of the S.fas away, many people tlips to Eretz Yisroel between the wars Emes. He was named Simcha Bunim and actively propagated the idea that after the Rebbe Reb Bunim of were surprised to hear the time was opportune for religious Parshis"cha. the great mentor of the Jews to settle in Eretz Y1Sroel, to en· first Gerer Rebbe. Reh Yitzchok that this unassuming sure that the newly emerging Yishuv Meir-the ChiddusheiHaRim For the would have a solid Torah base. In first six years of his life he grew up "businessman" was to be 1927, heemigrated toEretzYisroe1on benefitting from the proximity of his the suggestion of his father that the illustrious grandfather. until the the new Gerer Rebbe! melit of Eretz Yisroel might help the latter's death in 1905, when his fa. sWl-childless couple. After a biiefre­ ther donned the mantle ofleadership. Before long, however, turn to Poland for a few years, he His uncle Reh Nechemia, a renowned world Jewry came to settled permanently in Yerushalayim Gaon and author, vied for the melit of in 1934 and lived there for the rest of having him as a son-in-law, and be· realize that the many his life. He was visiting Poland in fore his Bar Mitzva in 1911, he was 1939, when World War II broke out, engaged. The wedding took place in years of reticence were and he and his family were smuggled Warsaw in 1915 in the midst ofWorld out of Nazi-occupied Europe as part War I. By then he was well versed in not for lack of leadership of the miraculous escape of the Imrei all of Shas and recognized for his out­ Ernes and his close family, including standing middos. Later his father en­ qualities. his son Reh Yisroel (the Beis YisroeQ trusted him with the instruction of and ,,.·n?:i>, his youngest son, Reh the younger married Chassidim, Pinchas Menachem (present Gerer which he did in his quiet unassum­ guish. A first daughter, born ten years Rebbe N"'1''7\tl), who had just turned ing way. after his marrtage, died a half year BarMitzva. While he was successful in his later, and it was only after twelve On Shavuos 1948, while business ventures, his personal life years that the couple was blessed Yerushalayim was under siege by the was beset with suffering and an- with a daughter, and after another Arab legions, the Imrei Ernes passed The Jewish Obseroer, October 1992 7 away, and in accordance with his written will. the leadership of the deci­ mated Gerer Chassidus passed over to his son, the Beis Yisroel. There were Chassidimwho would have pre­ ferred to see Reb Simcha Bunim as Rebbe, stnce he had been known as his father's Iight hand. To evade tn­ temal conflict, Reb Simcha Bunim had tickets and passports arranged for himself and his family durtng the shiva, and immediately thereafter set sail for France and Belgium, where he and his family spent several months.