.. .. ...·. ·.. ·_·.. · - • • • • .. •• • • • ' # •• •• • • .·· ...... ... .· ·· . .· ... .· ··-· . .. .. THE -'• .. ·' ,· . ... · .. .' • ... .. : .. .. : .... .. ·.· .. .· :.--· . .. ..· . '. .· ...· .. - . .. .. .. .. .· .-· .... .· .... · .. · .. ·.. .. .. -· . ... .. · .... ...· .· . ·· .. · .. ..· -- .. .. , .. .... ·. .. · . · .·- -·. ·.:·: CRISIS FOR.THE URBAN JEW; . ... ' .: ..... .. .-·. .. , . .. ... :;· .•. -· REMEMBER BROWNSVILLE? · .- . .· ... : ..· ·.'.- ~ : The Terrible Toll ·-~-:_: ::.::·.-_--: ·:_ .Neighborhood Stabilizer---_-_·::·. ... .. ... .- · -:. ~ -Ghettoes in .· · .· · .- ~ ·:· .. ·:.>:_·: .....·:·;.:.:. -. , .. .. <.Bretz Yisroel :: · ·~ ..: ...-:.·. • · >t-.:·::. ··: .. : ... , ..... · " . .· ,' . " . ..· .. .:··· also· ···.··.· ·: -· •· . .. .·- .. .. : · The '1/alacha" Vote -- .-.>)·<: .· ... " .. .. · ... .. .. .... ..·· _--. .. ..._:. · in the Knesset .:.- .-·,· . ·· . : .· .. - . .. .· . Once the proud "Amboy Street Shul" • • ;• Tragedy in ·Munich .. .. .· .. ····" . •' .·· . .. ... · .. ··.·' .·· . ".: .. : ..· .. ,.. •' ..· .. ... .· ....... " .... ., . ... THE JEWISH QBSERVER in this issue ... THE "HALACHA" VOTE IN THE KNESSET, Nisson Wolpin ......... 3 FOR WHOM DOES HOPE BURN BRIGHTER?, from a Shiyur Daas by Rabbi Mordechai Gifter, adapted by Nathan Abramson 8 CRISIS FOR THE URBAN JEW ........................................................................ 11 THE TERRIHLE TOLL OF MovING, Nosson Scher1nan 12 THE KEHILLA AS A NEIGHBORHOOD STABILIZER, Y ehuda A. Sorscher ................................................ ............................. 18 THE GHETTOES OF ERETZ YISROEL, Shmuel Gorr 22 KING OVER ALL THE EARTH, Menachem Rokeach ........................ 26 MUNICH - 1972 ...................................................................................................... 30 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR .................................................................................•.. 32 PICTURE CREDITS: Photographs on Cover, pages 14 and 18, by Alan B. THE JEWISH OBSERVER is published Tepper, printed courtesy of the Association of Jewish Anti-Poverty Workers monthly, except July and August, and their Cnuncil For the Jewish Poor; page 11, sketch from A World at by the Agudath Israel of America, Twilight, by Lionel S. Reiss; page 19, courtesy of the Kahal Adath Jeshurun; 5 Beekman Street, New York, New York 10038. Second class page 23, photograph by Yishayahu Dolak; page 26, woodcut "Shawled postage paid at New York, N. Y. 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Kashrus of any product or service advertised in its pages. City.... .... Stute ........... Zip.......... City................... ..... State........... ".. Zip D Enclosed: $ D Series I O Series II SEPT. 1972 VoL. VIII, No. 7 D Bill 1ne: $ .. 0 Series III ·~<ID Nisson · Wolp£n . - . The ·"Halacha" .Vote.in.the Knesset The topic was "Who Is a Jew?" It had appeared to .The fury that raged in the Knesset was duly reported be another skirmish in the seemingly endless struggle fo the press, and so was the crossfire of accusations of between the secular parties and Torah forces in Israel. betrayal, exploitation, and surrender that followed. All But it was more than that. There were subtleties, com­ of this is undoubtedly familiar to the reader. A brief . '~ .. plications, and world-wide ramifications that took it review of these events is nonetheless worthwhile for the outside the scope of the usual political confrontations sake of clarity, and to allow for some evaluation of .that mark the uneasy coexistence of conflicting the volatile situation in lsrael-past, present, and ideologies. future. The Record of Events A Bad Law, Improved Badly Mizrachi-Poale Mizrachi's political part.Y), . fe1t that the amendment, as a package, represented an improve­ The Law of Return, which grants immediate citizen­ ment over the previous version of the Jaw and voted ship and benefits to Jews who "come home" to Israel, .·for it in spite of the deliberately vague wording of the was a poorly written law. It did not define Jewishness. giyur (conversion) clause. Agudath Israel refused to · Early in 1970, a bill was drafted to correct this am­ vote for the bill, in protest. biguity by stating that a Jew is one born to a Jewish mother (a decided improvement)-or, it added, one On March 10, 1970, the amendment waspasscd who is a convert to Judaism. At that time, the Agudath without the phrase "kehalacha." Israel representation in the Knesset objected to the ··proposed amendment's lack of definition on a crucial Fears Substantiated point-what constitutes conversion. Their fears were Before long, reports from: Israel told of non-Jews · sharpened by Justice Minister Chaim Shimshon Sha­ entering as Jews on the basis of claim alone. They, as piro's clarifying statement: well as others who were equipped with certificates testi- . Jying to "conversions" spuriously performed, had the "In the regulations of the Interior MinistrY of word "Yehudi" stamped on their identification papers, January 1960, there was a clause that (in urder and there was no foreseable barrier preventing these to be registered as a Jew) one must be 'converted non-Jews from marrying freely into the Jewish com­ in accordance with halacha,' but in this new Law munity. the phrase 'in accordance with halacha' was omit­ . ted. It should be very clear that the purpose (for In June {)f this year, Chief Justice Shimon Agranat {)f this omission) is very simple. ... We know that the Israeli Supreme Court fo1lowed Justice Minister there are Liberals, Conservatives, and there are Shapiro's interpretation of giyur, and recognized a non­ Reformers of all types who are performing con­ Jew who had undergone a Reform conversion as a versions. ... We say that whoever comes here Jew. with a conversion certificate of any Jewish group, ·· as long as he is not affiliated with a difjerent re­ The Mountfog Protest ligion . will be registered in his identity card Before long Orthodox Jews the world over were as a Jew ..." (From the official Knesset minutes, demanding a change in the law: defining giyur with the February JO, 1970.) addition of the word "kehalacha- in accordance with Torah law." The Lubavitcher Rebbe has been especially Religious leaders in Israel decried the proposal, and persistent in this demand, and he was eventually joined were joined by others throughout the world, for non­ by the Mizrachi itself, which realized the fallacy of J ews who undergo Reform conversions are totally, and their previous arguments that giyur ipso facto means by any measure, still non-Jews. kehalacha. In fact, two M afdal stalwarts, Zevulun . Rabbi Moshe Feinstein and Rabbi Joseph B: Solo­ Hammer and Yehudi Ben Meir, denounced the Law's veitchik (of Boston) issued a joint telegram to the lack of clarity in a tour of the United States. They Mizrachi in Israel, urging them to prevent passage of even drafted a bill to add the "kehalacha" phra~e; bu! the bill. The National Religious Party, or Mafdal (the were thwarted from presenting it to the Knesset by The Jewish Observer I September, 1972 3 other members of the ruling coalition, of which Mafdal is a member. Even though it had little chance of pass­ A PLEA AND A WARNING ing, the motion was deemed a worthwhile beginning. To the Mafdal to avoid a chilul Hashem (a Agitation, Consultation and Abstention desecration of G-d's name) and to vote for exclu­ Agndah Knesset representative Rabbi Shlomo Lo­ sive recognition of halachic conversions at all costs. rincz has on numerous occasions called for amending If they vote against this motion or abstain we the Law. He proposed the change as a bill before the shall be forced to come out against the Mizrachi Knesset on January 10 of this year, but it was not Party in Israel. released for debate until July. (Excerpts from the Agudath Harabanim Lorincz speech at the occasion are printed below.) af United States and Canada Rabbi Kalman Kahane, of the Poale Agudath Israel, (Excerpts from a letter from Rabbi Y oseif Eliyahu presented a similar motion. Henkin [dean of rabbis of America] to Prime Minister Meir opposed the motion, and in­ the Chief Rabbis of Israel): sisted that coalition discipline be maintained-that the "I turn to you unite in voice, to use all of your NRP also not vote for it. Zvi Raphael (Mafdal) first influence to convince the Mafdal to vote for the announced that his party would vote against the motion, halacha clause in regard to conversions. but then Mrs. Meir softened her stand and alloweej "The rule is that when someone proposes a move the Mafdal to abstain. in accordance with halacha, even if we