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AUSTRALl4 REVIEW ARTICLE GAVRIEL BECHHOFER ISH YEHUDI: THE LIFE AND THE LEGACY OF A TORAH GREAT, RAV JOSEPH TZVI CARLEBACH by Rav Shlomo Carlebach (Shearith Joseph Publications; Brooklyn, NY, 2008) EDITOR'S NOTE: The following essay, a book review of a recently released Torah biography, serves a dual purpose. Many of us are accustomed to viewing the history of Eastern European Jewry between the two world wars through the prism of the records of its great yeshivos and Torah giants. There is a paucity of Torah literature dealing with the state ofthe hamon am, the great masses that made up Jewish society beyond the walls of the yeshivos. The Haskala movement, ignorance, assimilation and grave economic deprivation all had a strong impact upon Lithuanian and Polish Jewry. The confluence of these tides of change resulted in mass abandonment of the already struggling cheder form of education. At the outset, formal Torah education for girls and young women did not yet exist. This essay extracts from the book under review details of the manner in which educational methodologies of the great German school of Torah im Derech Eretzwere being introduced to be employed in the Lithuanian Yavneh and the RABBI BECHHOFER IS " FREQEENT CONTRIBU­ TOR TO THESE PAGES. \\",TH A P·\RTICULAR FOCUS Polish Bais Yaakov school networks to combat the problems ON THE INTERACTfO, OF PRE-\\AR EASTERN AND ofthe day. This review has been reviewed by gedolei Torah WESTERN EUROPEA" JF\\Rl. HE A .\fAGGfD SHfUR AT YESHIVAS OHR SO"AL\CH ], \\0,5£1 AND AT and roshei yeshivos> who confirmed the picture drawn by MESIVTA OF Y£SHl\ AS R' YITZCHOJ.. ELCHO"lON, AND IS ALSO EDITOR .n .-\RTSCROLL \IESORAH, Rabbi Carlebach in his new work, and who encouraged us to CHRRENTLY WORKIl'iG 0, THE DAll.) DOSE. put his "new" historical insights before our readership. 33 ~ I ~ DECEMBER 2008 "To them, the Torah is not a lesson in religion but the very wisdom of life, the living spirit which penetrates every fiber of existence, and defines the structure of the soul, in which one thinks and forms concepts, which fills heart and mind, is guide and support for the whole spectrum of life, giving creative inspiration, and anchoring the soul." Rabbi Ssmson Raphael Hirsch HE ENORMOUS UPHEAVAL in Chacham Bernays of Hamburg, Rabbi I historical awareness: its highlighting the political and social structure Samson Raphael Hirsch of Frankfurt, of an insufficiently explored aspect of TofJewish society throughout the Rabbi Azriel Hildesheimer of Berlin, early twentieth century Jewish history, land [of Lithuania] in the aftermath and the Wuertzburger Rav, Rabbi S. B. namely the impact of German Jews of the war threatened the stability and Bamberger. Both IiteraJly and figurative­ and their approach on their Polish and loyalty of Jewish youth. Under those ly, he was the captain who went dawn Lithuanian brethren. circumstances, these Torah leaders felt with the ship of German Jewry, when an urgent need to introduce a similar the illustrious history of Galus Ashkenaz EAST AND WEST: 1 educational program, on a broad scale, was brought to its conclusion. A TWO-WAY ENCOUNTER by reorganizing existing schools and It is beyond the scope of a brief establishing new ones, where subjects in review essay to capture the greatness of hat the encounter ofWestern and Derech Eretz would be taught alongside the multi-faceted Rabbi Dr. Joseph Tzvi Eastern Europe made an impact Limudei Kodesh (Ish Yehudi, p. 74). Carlebach. In Ish Yehudi, the author, his Tin the reverse is amply docu­ Legend has it that the Brisker Rav son, the renowned mashgiach, Rabbi mented. For example, upon returning said that the last true German gadol Shlomo Carlebach, a"jyls (building on an from a tour of Eastern Europe, Rabbi balbrah was the Aruch Laner (Rabbi earlier work by his uncle, Rabbi Naphtali Joseph Tzvi Carlebach wrote: Yaakov Yokel Ettlinger, 1798-1871). Carlebach), does so in a comprehensive "The secret is ... the learning of Perhaps. Nevertheless, there arose in and gripping manner. Anyone interested Torah. Young and old, rich and poor, late nineteenth century Germany (and in the history of Orthodoxy in the first everyone is learning, learning con­ even more so in the early twentieth half of the twentieth century (a group stantly, totally immersed, living and century) a cadre of rabbanim and that should include the entire reader­ breathing the Torah, be it the written talmidei chachamim whose "superior ship of The Jewish Observer!), anyone or oral one. Just as their [Eastern scholarship in many disciplines, coupled interested in the Torah im Derech Eretz European] Yiddish language is inter­ with extraordinary personal qualities, approach to avodas Hashem, and anyone woven and intermingled with idioms convinced multitudes of doubters that seeking role models to emulate should and phrases from the Talmud, so is those who advocated reform and aban­ read this biography. In this essay, we their very life pulsating and throb­ donment of the Torah way of life were would like to highlight one ofthe major bing ,vith the echo of sacred writ. charlatans, exploiting a wave of dis­ contributions that Ish Yehudi makes to Everyone is learning and drink­ content among the masses to promote ing from the sources, not from the their own interests" (Ish Yehudi, p. 17). _ it is not the focus ofthis review, one distilled and bottled excerpts and of the many contributions that Ish Yehudi makes The sheleimus of these German leaders to our literature is its description ofthe true role essences which we spoon-feed our complemented their greatness in Torah ofa rav in times of extremis. To take the metaphor youth, but from the fountainhead scholarship. further, as captain of his ship, Rabbi Carlebach of Jewish wisdom, which is always Rabbi Joseph Tzvi Carlebach (1883­ helped save as many passengers as possible ­ fresh and wide open, rich in spiri­ while declining opportunities to save himself. 1942) was the last, and one of the He remained with those passengers that he could tual nutrients. For us, Hebrew is a greatest, of the illustrious line of such not save, looking out for them and serving as a foreign tongue, as is German to a I load,,, that began with the Aruch Ian", source of strength for them until the very end. Frenohman, bhorin",iy "q~ 34 ~~- -~~~ THE JEWISH OBSERVER CHANGES IN THE fragments diligently patched togeth­ Their brother-in-law, Rabbi Dr. Leopold WORKPLACE er. To them, in contrast, it is the Rosenak, the Rabbi of Bremen, was mother tongue, every simpleton's appointed the chaplain for the Baltic ne of the issues that greatly talk, as natural to children's babble sector. The brothers-in-law established concerned the German occupi­ as to mature people's talk. To them, close ties with the great rabbanim and Oers was the haphazard Eastern the Torah is not a lesson in religion rebbes of the occupied areas, and they European Jewish educational system but the very wisdom of life, the liv­ accomplished much for the Jews in beyond the rarified realm of the yeshiva ing spirit which penetrates every their respective sectors.