SHEVAT, 5737 /JANUARY, 1977 VOLUME XII, NUMBER 2 THE EWISH SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS BS ERV ER a car on an icy road DIMENSIONS OF A TRAGEDY a Rosh Yeshiva comments ANOTHER VIEW ON THE DAY SCHOOL, USA ! a Torah pioneer in colonial America GERSHOM MENDES SEIXES a Rebbe takes leave in Antwerp REB ITZIKEL, i1!>.,!:lr, i''i~ .,::>T second looks WOMEN IN THE ISRAELI ARMY THE GOVERNMENT FALLS letters THE JEWISH OBSERVER in this issue THE JEWISH OBSERVER is pub!is,hed monthly, except July and August, by the Agudath Israel of America, 5 Beekman St., New York, N.Y. 10038. Second class postage paid at New York, N.Y. Subscription· Dimensions of a Tragedy I Nisson Wolpin 3 $7.50 per year; Two years, $13.00; Three years, $18.00; outside of the United States $8.50 per year. The Day Schools: Another View I Meir Belsky 5 Single copy seventy-five cents. Printed in the U.S.A. The Day Schools: A Postscript - The Way Things Really Are Elchonon Oberstein 7 RABB! NrssoN WOLP!N Editor A Homegrown Torah Pioneer in America: Gershom Mendes Seixas I Shmuel Singer 9 Editorial Board DR ERNST l. BODENHEIMER Mrs. Rosenberg's Yeshiva I Yisroel Miller 12 Chairman RABBI NATHAN BULMAN Remembering Reb ltzikel I Pinchos Jung 15 RABB! JOSEPH EL!AS )OSEPH FR!EDENSON Second Looks at the Jewish Scene RABBI MOSHE SHERER Girls in the Israeli Army - A Crisis? I Ezriel Toshavi 19 The Neo-Hellenists, Shabbos, and Fall of the Government THE JEWISH OBSERVER does not assume responsibility for the Ezriel Toshavi 22 Kashrus of any product or ser­ A Home for the 'Talit' 23 vice advertised in its pages. Letters to the Editor 24 JAN. 1977 VOL. XII, No. 2 Typography by Compu-Scribe at ArtScroll Studios, Ltd. Nisson Wolpin The Dimensions of a Tragedy Based on some thoughts expressed in two chapters in Michtav Me'Eliyahu, Vol. Ill THE TRAGIC ACCIDENT that took the lives of five personality strikes us in its absence - partly because of shochtim and kashrus supervisers last month shocked the vacuum that is left in the wake of his death, partly the religious community. All hearts were deeply because the incident of his death, in itself, prompts us touched by the personal dimension of the tragedy, in to evaluate his gifts and what he meant to us. which young families were struck, leaving some thirty So the survivors are jolted into an attempt at filling children orphans, their mothers widows. the vacuum, which has two effects: we more fully ap­ Details filtered out, regarding an imminent simcha in preciate the greatness of the tzaddik after his passing one family, a recent death in another, the total than we ever did during his lifetime; and we actually dependency on the father as much more than bread­ respond to his inspiring personality with even greater winner in yet other families; the men's expertise at their accomplishments in his absence than we did while he craft, the deep ehrlichkeit and religious fidelity with was alive. which they had discharged their obligations, personal "The Sins of the Generation" histories of decades of total dedication to Torah study in Lakewood and other kolelim ... all contributing to PERHAPS THIS CAN THROW some light on another rather the sharpness of the pain of the terrible loss. ambiguous statement in the Talmud: "Tzaddikim are Within days of the accident, the many segments of caught in the sins of the generation" (Shabbos 33b). the Orthodox community were galvanized to attempt to This is a difficult concept - in our own range of ex­ raise large sums of money to at least soften the financial perience and observation, and all the more so in earlier blows to the families, to whatever extent possible. times, because great men of spirit are invariably so far above the petty pitfalls that ensnare others of their There is another level of the tragedy that is not too time. For instance, if one were to select a single spiritual easily detected, nor so quickly dealt with. The deaths of malaise in mid-20th Century America as "the sin of the so many outstanding men in one bold stroke simply generation," it might well be a pursuit of material cannot be dismissed as happenstance. If "one does not pleasures and comforts, while ignoring Torah values, strike his finger below unless it has so been ordained forgetting spiritual goals. And if there was ever a group above" (Chulin 7:1), then surely it should be boldly ap­ of men that succeeded in remaining above the morass of parent that a loss of such proportions is fore-ordained, American materialism it wa~ the corps of Torah giants and for reasons that G-d deems necessary. who built Torah institutions of pre-War European We do not pretend to see beyond the tragedy to calibre in post-War America, introducing by both ex­ detect causes. But the reasons are there, and somehow a ample and instruction the fullest dedication to Torah, suitable response is expected of us. totally foreign to this pragmatic culture. Could one say that Reb Reuvain Grozovsky, Reb Elya Meir Bloch, or When a T zaddik Dies Reb Aharon Kotler i1J1J~ tll11JT were in any way CHAZAL (the rabbis of blessed memory) commented on whatsoever ensnared in the sin of materialism of their the death of men of unusual righteousness: "Tzad­ generation? dikim are greater in their death than during their - Unless one is to understand this Talmudic quote in lifetime" (Chulin 7:1). Too often, we do not assess the a different way: At times, the people of a particular many facets of a tzaddik's activities - his immersion in generation may fail to learn from the exemplary con­ Torah study, his extraordinary views on life, the lofty duct of their leadership, so involved are they in the "sin selfless mode of conduct of his day-to-day affairs, his of their generation." The hashgacha - the Divine prescient leadership ... embodying Torah in a very tem­ governance - is then faced with a dilemma kaveyachol poral world. Our dealings, our awareness of his (as if one could employ such a term). Outstanding per­ greatness is limited to a fragment here, another aspect sonalities are planted in their respective generations to there. By contrast, when he dies the full scope of his teach very specific lessons, to correct the sins of the The Jewish Observer I January, 1977 3 generation. When the people respond to their presence, compensate for lost opportunities ... , When the one all is fine. That is as it should be; the sins of the genera­ who is taken away is a younger member of the group - tion are corrected. By contrast, when the people fail to one who has not yet realized his potential - it is to call take inspiration from the presence of the tzaddik of attention to shortcomings in involving him in the their times, they must be forced into evaluating his group's assigned task. greatness - when all else fails, with his death .... The hashgacha must resort to the tzaddik's greater impact in The six men who were travelling the icy stretch of death as compared to the lesser impact of his living highway between Brooklyn and their destination in presence. Pennsylvania that pre-dawn Monday, certainly repre­ sent a commonality beyond their particular profession. Because of the sins of the generation - its limitations A commonality that we, the survivors, share - or in appreciating the tzaddik - he is ensnared: he does should aspire to share. We all may belong to various not fully succeed in teaching by living example, only by clubs, groups and associations. But above all, we are the vacuum that ensues after his passing. members of the Torah community, assigning to Torah • • • study and fastidious mitzva observance the highest priority, seeing them as the very core of our existence This discussion may well relate directly to the five ... or do we? who so tragically were killed. Moreover, it can guide us Each of the six men in the ill-fated car represented a in viewing the Divine patterns that often underlie the very high calibre segment of this community. Not that seemingly inexplicable, and lead us to search for yet they necessarily relished their professions. Few people more enlightening remarks of Chazal. really enjoy being a shochet. The work itself is strenuous - a monotonous, repetitious, physical labor. One of the Group The responsibility is awesome - being accountable for REBBE CHIYA BAR ABBA said, Rebbe Yochanan said: the kashrus of the food consumed by thousands of peo­ Should one of a group die, then the rest of the group ple. The conditions are unpleasant - spending the good should be apprehensive . ... Some say this refers to the part of the week away from home. Yet people do work head of the group, others say it refers to the least as shochtim - because it is imperative that the com­ member (Shabbos 105b). munity have shochtim. And because these men in that The gifts and talents, strengths and weaknesses with car could not conceive of themselves engaged in any ac­ which a person is endowed - his financial assets or tivity other than one that revolves around Torah: liabilities, the myriad circumstances of a person's life - Torah study, propagation of Torah, or safeguarding of all are means with which he is charged to manifest mitzva observance. "kovod Shomayim." Riches - whether of material or We - the survivors - have been very deeply jolted abstract value - ideally should be understood as gifts by this traumatic ripping away from us of men who coming directly from G-d, to be used in His service.