In this issue: RABBI DAVID SUITON The Historic Visit of Rabbi Stei es ' Hao!am, the most trusted name in Cholov Yisroel Kosher Cheese. A reputation earned through 25 years of scrupulous devotion to quality and kashruth. With 12 delicious varieties. ttao!am, a tradition you'll enjoy keeping. AH Haolam cheese products are made in the U.S.A. under the strict rabbinical supervision of: The Rabbinate of K'hal Adath Jeshurun Washington Heights, NY Cbolov Yisroel THUKM BROS. WORLD CHEESE CO. INC. BKOOKLYl't NY 11232 a The Thurm Families wish Kial Yisroel a n:ii" i1?J'nn1 n:i'n:J If it has no cholesterol, a better­ than-butter flavor, and a reputation for kashruth you can trust... E I E COMMERCIAL QUALITY • INSTITUTIONAL & RESIDENTIAL •WOOD •STEEL • PLASTIC • SWINGS •SLIDES • PICNIC TABLES • SCHOOL & CAMP EQUIPMENT • BASKETBALL SYSTEMS • RUBBER FLOORING • ETC. • Equipment meets or exceeds all ASTM and CPSC safety guidelines • Site planning and design services CAMP GAN ISRAEL - Parksville, NY with state-of-the-art Auto CAD CAMP STERNBERG - Narrowsburg, NY • Stainless steel fabrication for MESIVTA SANZ - Union City ultimate rust resistance YESHIVAT HADAR - Monsey, NY HEBREW ACADEMY FOR SPECIAL CHILDREN - Bensonhurst, NY CHAPIN SCHOOL - New York City, NY RENAISSANCE SCHOOL - Jackson Heights, NY PASSAIC COUNTY MUNICIPAL GROUNDS - Passaic, NJ YESHIVA OF LINCOLN PARK - Yonkers, NY better 5302 New Utrecht Avenue • Brooklyn, NY 11219 health Phone: 718-436-4801 Elul 5758 •September 1998 U.S.A.$3.50/Foreign $4.50 •VOL XXXI/NO. 7 THE JEWISH OBSERVER (ISSN) 0021 ~6615 is published monthly except July and August by the Agudath Israel of America, 84 William Street, New York, N.Y. 10038. Periodicals postage paid in New York, N. Y. Subscription $24.00 per year; two years, $44.00; three years, $60.00. Outside of the United States (US funds drawn on a US bank only) $12.00 surcharge per year. Single copy $3.50; foreign $4.50. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: The Jewish Observer, 84 William Street, NY, NY 10038. Tel: 212-797-9000, Fax: 212-269-2843. Thoughts and Images forYom Kippur Eve Printed in the U.S.A. Rabbi Yitzchok lsbee 7"Yl RABBI NISSON WOLPIN, EOITOR I I The Soulful Cry of the Shofar EDITORIAL BOARO OR. ERNST L. BODENHEIMER Jeremy Kagan Chairman 14 RABBI ABBA BRUDNY RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS Revisiting "Tashlich" JOSEPH FRIEDENSON Rabbi Mayer Birnbaum RABBI YISAOEL MEIR KIRZNER RABBI NOSSON SCHERMAN 16 PROF. AARON TWERSKI A Summons to the Yorn HaDin MANAGEMENT BOARD Elimelech Meisels AVI FISHOF NAFTOLI HIRSCH ISAAC KJRZNER AN HISTORIC EVENT RABBI SHLOMO LESIN I 8 Introduction NACHUM STEIN Robbi Nissan Wolom RABBI YOSEF C. GOLDING "Let it be Like These and Like Those" Suslr>e$$ Manager Novominsker Rebbe, Rabbi Yaakov Perlow N"P>?w Published by 23 Hosting a Gadol BeYisroe/ Agudath Israel of America Avraham Biderman U.S. TRADE DISTRIBUTOR ISRAELI DISTRIBUTOR An Opportunity to See and to Learn Feldheim Publishers Ne&hemia Rusenberg 200 Airport Executive Park Kiryat Tel she Stone, 108A Yisroel Leizerson Spring Valley, N.Y. 10977 0.N. Harni Yehuda, ISRAEL 3 I EUROPEAN REPRESENTATIVE AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTOR M.l Bibelman Gold's Book & Gift Co. Hacham Ben Sion Abba Shaul 7"YT Grosvenor Works 36 William Street Mount Pleasant Hill Balaclava 3183, Vic., Rabbi David Sutton London ES 9NE, ENGLAND AUSTRALIA POSTSCRIPT THE JEWISH OBSERVER does not assume responsibility for the Kashrus From Station to Station of any product, publication, or service Akivo Davidsen advertised in its pages © Copyright 1998 SECOND LOOKS The Hillel Hoax SEPTEMBER 1998 VOLUME XXXl/NO. 7 Robbi Avi Shafran lETIERS To THE EDITOR Thoughts and Images For Yom Kippur Eve based on a Shabbos Shuva (5756) derasha by the late Rabbi Yitzchok Ishee 7":-:lt IN SEARCH OF A and was taken Hakippurim. We all enter this day on SPRINGBOARD aback. He went what appears to be equal standing. At FOR TESHUVA off to the side the end of the day, the proclamation is and began to made: Havdel hachaim min hameisim. YomKippur weep bitter Some will live, some will prosper, some approaches, tears. "\'as iz will achieve success, experience good A we all seek gevoren mit health, celebrate simchos... and some ideas or experi­ mein leben!" he will rn not. ences to inspire us cried. "What I heard this every Yam Kippur dur­ to teshuva. We look has become of ing the ten years that I davened in Ner for the vort, the my life!" Israel, and I continue to carry this expe­ story that will All of us rience with me. touch us and wake nurture certain us up, to prompt us to begin examin­ mental images, certain ideas, that we LETTER FROM RABBI DESSLER ing our deeds, to determine what needs dra\v upon to help us in our own striv­ correction and what would benefit ing for teshuva. I can vividly picture the ver the years, I have collected from itnprovement. Rosh HaYeshiva of Ner Yisroel, Rabbi other ideas as part of my Yamim Great people have little difficulty Yaakov Yitzchak Ruderman ':>"Yr, who 0 Nora'im preparations, and since finding sources of inspiration. Rabbi would say the same vort every year. I became a Rav, I have repeated some Chaim Shmulevitz 7"Yl was moved by Dressed in white, standing in front of the of them many times. I often refer to a a picture. Someone recently told me that packed beis hamidrash of close to 700 letter written by Rabbi Eliyahu Eliezer his grandfather had been a childhood people on Yam Kippur evening, he Dessler 7"Yt to a ta/mid who was seek­ friend of Reb Chaim. They grew up in would illuminate the significance of Yam ing guidance in getting ready for the the same town, Stutchin, and played Kippur with the Midrash in Eicha that Yamim Nara'im. Rabbi Dessler writes together as young boys. When his described what happened every Tisha that the key to preparing a productive friend went to Bretz Yisroel, his grand­ B'av that the Jews were in the Midbar. outlook is to review the events of the father sent with him a present for Reb On that fateful evening, every year, each year gone by- all the levayos (funer­ Chaim. It was a picture of Reb Chaim Jew was commanded to dig a ditch and als), all the sicknesses, pain and suffer­ as a teenager - a striking photograph, lie down in it for the night. The next ing that one has witnessed. When was for he had been a tall, handsome boy. morning a proclamation was sounded: this all decreed? The previous year, on He visited Reb Chaim and presented Havdel hachaim min hameisim: "Let Rosh Hashana, Aserres Yemei Teshuva, him with the picture. Reb Chaim saw it those who have remained alive separate and Yom Hakippurim. All of these themselves from those who have per­ occurrences depended on how we dav­ Rabbi Ishee ?"::rr served as Rav of Agudath Israel Bais Binyomin, in flatbush (Brooklyn) until his ished." Said Rabbi Ruderman: "That is ened and to what extent we did teshu­ passing last year. how we should view ourselves on Yorn va. How awesome and frightening! 6 The Jewish Observer, September 1998 Rabbi Dessler continues in the letter is "Vayikra-and He called to Moshe": to his student: "[ heard this thought regardless of who called him, and no from my father every Rosh Hashana • matter what transpired in his life, hat does it take when I was a young boy. The picture of Moshe perceived it as an instance of my father comes back to me, and I see Wto shake us up? Hashem calling to him. In every expe­ him standing up from his chair and rience, he heard the voice of the Ribbono telling me, 'Now you are young, but Haven't we attended Shel Olam; and then he internalized the inscribe these words in your heart message and acted upon it. because some day you will beco1ne enough levayos this What does it take to shake us up? deeply aware of their significance. Then year? Did it inspire Haven't we attended enough levayos this your Rosh Hashana and Yorn Kippurwill year? The passing of an older person is be on a different plane! This year, l see more yiras Shamayim sobering enough. But what about peo­ terrible dangers for Kial Yisroel, a terri­ ple in their 40's or so's? When we hear ble deterioration of their situation, and (fear of G-d) in us? The of such pain, do we become changed l understand what my father was telling people? Do our tefillos take on a new me." [The letter was dated Elul of Ribbono Shel Olam is urgency? Does the spectre of some day 1936.] calling to all of us, but I giving an accounting endow us with a My own feelings at this juncture echo new perspective on what our priorities those of Rabbi Dessler sixty years ago. am not sure that we should be? Did it inspire more yiras As I review the events of 5755, a year of Shamayim (fear of G-d) in us? The Rib­ intense sorrow for myself and my fam­ hear the call. bono Shel Olam is calling to all of us, but ily emerges, since we experienced the I am not sure that we hear the call. agony of losing someone dear and spe­ There are so many gravely ill people, cial [the patriarch of the family, Rabbi • so many tragic occurrences. Every such Leibel Isbee ':nn]. Yes, the Yamim ma to make the difference? Some years, occasion is a summons from Hashem, Nora'im of l"l\?711 have taken on deeper Hashem showed Himself in the pain of and it should leave its mark on us.