TISHREI, 5736 I SEPT., 1975 VOLUME XI, NUMBER 2 fHE EWISH SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS BSERVER :"tl~ J'1:l:tN> • ..,,,"S '"!'11 /"fN.,., : =>:17 I How Kosher are your Mezuzos? U:rtl 3'\V 1 "')::1.'.1', ';, l1 t::,page27 1'1"'t::l 1.1'1 :i....,.:t? How violence-prone is your home? 6page14 Should the Orthodox community get involved in 1V & Radio? t::,page 17 ® 27- Do inter-faith dialogues foster better relationships? t::,page38 Are yeshiva students respectful of authority? t::,page 9 THE JEWISH QBSERVER this issue• A Challenge to our Generation I Eliyahu KiTov 3 "Why Not Wednesday?" I Uri Sondheim 9 The Honey and the Sting I Reuben E. Gross 12 Television and the Jewish Home I Nissan Wolpin 14 A Jewish Observer Symposium Radio & T.V. and the Jewish Community I THE JE\.'VfSH OBSERVER is published Bernard Fryshman 17 monthly, except July and August, by the Agudath Israel of America, Radio & T.V. Without the Jewish Community I S Beekman St., New York, N.Y. Martin Waxman 17 10038. Second dass postage paid at New York, N.Y. Subscription: SEED-ing the American Countryside With Torah 20 $6.50 per year; Two years, $11.00: Three years, $15.00; outside of thf' Simchas Yom Tov I a poem United States $7.50 per year. 22 Single copy seventy··five cents. Printed in the U.S.A. Kutzo Shel Yud I The Point I Aryeh Kaplan 26 A Second Generation of Halacha Publications 31 RABBf NrssoNWOLPIJ\ Yesodei Smochos Editor Guard Your Tongue Aids to Talmud Study Editorial Board DR ERNST L. BoDFNHEJMER The Student 35 Cl-rainnan RABBI NATHAN BULMAN Letters to the Editor 38 RABBI Josr.rH EELLA.5 JOSEPH fR!fDENSON RABRI MOSHE SHERER THE ]EVVISH OBSERVER does not assume responsibility for the Kashrus of any product or service Credits: photograph on pp. 22-23, by Leonard Freed; sketch on p. 26 from A advertised in its pages. 'Norfd at Twilight, by Lionel S. Reiss. SEPT., 1975 VOL. XI, No. 2 Typos,rap/1y by Compu-Scribe at ArtScrol! Studios. Ltd. ------------------Eliyahu KzTov A Challenge to Our Generation Chapter I Illusions Shattered The second anniversary of the Yorn Kippur War has others," we are experiencing the total rejection of that passed, and we are still left with a bewildering array of very "family." negatives and destroyed illusions. It is only through The Israeli army, once crowned with seeming invin­ courageous and painful analysis that we can emerge cibility, has lost its magic. Even restored to its former with a plan for recovery and hope for the future. power and invigorated by new weapons, it has lost its Some beliefs have been forever shattered and hurled hold upon our confidence. upon the junkpile of history. And we are the better for We can no longer believe in its power to withstand it. The State of Israel has suffered almost total social, forces ten times its size. Is it indeed physical power economic and military upheaval. Who can now believe which led to its past successes? Did we, indeed, lack in previously established philosophies for the salvation mighty forces during the long periods in our history of of mankind? holocaust and tragedy? There can no longer be faith in socialism or com­ Wars no longer serve to solve our security problems; munism to solve the problems of society. our confidence in cease-fires has long dissipated, since There is even no longer faith in democracy as the truth is no longer honored. protector of human rights. Have not the democracies of In short, man-made institutions have been totally the world learned the same perverse acts of exploita­ repudiated. Parties and organizations no matter what tion, discrimination and injustice which reign in other their ostensible purpose - national, communal, political systems? religious, secular, humanitarian, ideological, cultural, There is no longer faith in the Jewish State, as we have educational - have been rejected. Anything benevolent known it, as the antidote to anti-Semitism. Has there in their nature has been negated by their multitude of ever been such widespread anti-Semitism as we now see detrimental effects. arrayed against the Jewish State? After generations of progressive education, utilizing There is no longer any faith in the concept of "Jewish the most modern concepts, we are perhaps worse off Nationalism" and the hope of becoming a member of than before. We stare out into an abyss of nescience - "the family of nations." Precisely when we seem closer not knowing who we are, who is a Jew, and what is than ever to achieving the status of "a nation among Israel. Chapter II Challenge to a Confused Leadership You, who occupy exalted positions of power, who How do you propose to restore to our people its unique pretend to guide our youth and legislate our laws - identity and culture, when you have systematically what answers have you to the urgent problems of the emptied Israeli culture of our own very unique day? heritage? What can you do to cure society of the decay that is Now that you have removed the spiritual barriers slowly destroying us? which separate Israel from the nations, how do you What answers do you have for our tormented youth propose to save our national identity? How can you which cries out: "Why do we deny the Arabs their prevent the flow of strangers from without and the rights?" "Why must we have a Jewish State?" "Why, growing tide of capitulation that threatens us from indeed, a Jewish people at all?" within? ELIYAHU KITOV, one of the great educators of our times, is author National Director of Torah Umesorah, ·with the assistance of DR. of many books that have become classics, including Sefer Hatoda'a HAROLD I. LEJMAN, well-known Jewish educator now residing in and !sh Uveiso. [n this essay, he reacts to the spiritual crisis in fsrael. lsrael. Extensive editing and adaptation were done by RABBI The original essay of six chapters was printed in l1ebrew in YAAKOV FEITMAN, translator and adapter of Rabbi Eliezer Ben­ Maariv, Israel's popular et1ening newspaper. The basic translation David's Out of the Iron Furnace, published by Shengold. Presented info English was executed by DR. JOSEPH KAMINETSKY, on these pages are excerpts from Rabbi Feitman's adaptation. The ]e7.vish Observer / September, 1975 3 Now that Zionism per se has proven hollow, what can And even should there be a semblance of peace, can you say to your spiritual sons and daughters, the sad there indeed be true peace with the Arabs who conspire products of your educational system and false to destroy us in war and peace? We may take the words propaganda? of Bourguiba of Tunisia as a paradigm of Arab thought: "Give them peace for twenty years and there Do you doubt that the Arabs are serious when they an­ will no longer be a Jewish State." A potpourri of na­ nounce their intentions to annihilate Israel, G-d forbid? tions, a melange of faiths, devoid of any Jewish national The peril becomes ever more critical as the unfeigned unity - such will be the character of Israel after twenty hatred of Russia towards Israel is unleashed. Where are years of peace! your plans for salvation? You who have proclaimed yourselves captains of the 1-low long can you continue to rely upon the support of Jewish Ship of State, in what direction are you steering the United States; and what if, in due course, American us? I-low will we ever again replace the legacy of faith national interests do not coincide with ours? and security you have so brazenly destroyed? Chapter Ill The Answers The truth is, you will find no answers! Once you II What Are We? abandoned the "well of living waters," you forfeited Our essence is defined by our Divine m1ss1on: to any claims to wisdom and understanding. You may perfect the world for the reign of the Al-mighty and search long and diligently for the answers to all the help bring about the day when "the L-rd shall be King above raised questions, but in vain, for your very over all the Earth" (Zachariah 14:9). We accepted this premises are at fault. Heavenly designation by covenant between ourselves There is, indeed, a source for the solution which you and G-d. This covenant wiil never be abrogated and we seek. But it is not where you have been searching. The can never shirk the responsibilities it places upon us. eternal G-d-given Tor ah alone can guide us. II What is Our Purpose Here' In it alone can we find the answers to the crucial ques­ tions which torment every mind and heart: We became a nation solely to fulfill our Divine mis­ sion and for this reason we were given the two precious 0 Who are ioe? gifts of Torah and the Land of Israel. D What are we? He gave us the Divine Torah as a detailed guide toward 0 What is our purpose here? achieving our goal: to be a "kingdom of priests" (Shemos 19:6) so that there be one nation,in the world D Why has all this travail come upon us? which would proclaim the sovereignty of G-d in the D Where can we find a friend in our trouble? world. D When will all our tribulations come to an end? He gave us the Land of Israel, singularly endowed with the qualities necessary as a base for the Kingdom of D What is required of us? Heaven on earth and from whence to spread His rule over the entire globe.