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It hurts even more ... the turmoil suffered by Only you can make that miracle happen. the brothers and sisters. Mishkon. They are our children. Mishkon is helping not only its disabled resident Join in Mishkon's campaign to construct a children; it is rescuing the siblings, parents­ new facility on its campus to accommodate entire families from the upheaval caused by caring additional children. All contributions are for a handicapped child at home. tax-deductible. Dedication opportunities Retardation and debilitation strikes every- are available. Call 718-851-7100. Mishkon: They are our children. DR. JOEL ROSENSHEIN, Director RABBI YECHIEL KAUFMAN, Assi.1tunt Director COMMUNITY ADVISORY BOARD PROF. AARON TWERSKl, Chairman RABBI YAAKOV HOROWITZ, Posek RA.BBi RONALD GREENWALD, Con.1ultanr RABBI JOSHUA FISHMAN AARON ZELIG GREEN JOSEPH S. KAPLAN RABBI DAVID SINGER RABBI CHAIM FOLLMAN RABBI DAVID HELBERG MOSHE DAVID MEISELS RABBI LUZER WEISS Mishkon • 1358 56th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11219 • (718) 851-7100 - a division of the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services - The Bluzhever Rebbe, Rabbi Israel Spira '''~t The Bluzhever Rebbe receiving campers at Camp Agudah We go to press grief-stricken with the report that the late Bluzhever Rebbe, Horav Yisroel Spira n:Y1'.l? p)i~ "l:n is no longer with us. he Bluzhever Rebbe was and replanted the tradition ofDinov HaShas of Daf HaYoml in .New many things: Rav, Rebbe, and Bluzhov-of Galician Chassi­ York, in 1975 and 1982. he recalled T quintessentialsurvivor, warm dus-which had come close to how the Lubliner Rav. Reh.Meyer heart. Wise counselor. embodiment extinction but which would not die. Shapiro '"~'· had introduced Dqf of courage an.d inspiration, Torah The Rebbe was a distinguished HaYomi ;:it that First Knessia leader. Chassidic tzaddik. member of the Moetzes Gedolei Gedolah. For. five . years of unspeakable HaTorah (Council of Torah Sages) The world and the JeWish people torment. be was under the Nazi of Agudath Israel of America for have changed considerably in the jackboot, in ghettoes, concentration decades, as well as an active member hundred years since his birth, but camps, and slave labor camps. of the organization's Nesius (pres­ he ws a five-generation-long chain Books and articles have been writ­ idium) for a number ofyears: indeed, that tied us fast to that world of ten about his extraordinary ability his colleagues valued his penetrat­ Torah, Chasstdus, and Yiras to remafo spiritually strong and to ing insight along With his warmth, Shomayim help others maintain their faith. Of Wisdom. and wit Because he was here, we are here. such an "Israel" has Hashem said, He was one of the very few among 111:1. 1.,:n 1n~ 1N!ll'1N 1~ 1\!!N ~Nil!!>, lsraeLfor tn you us-perhaps the last one-who had Adetatled biographical tribute to d6 I take pride (Isaiah 49:3 ). attended the first Knessia Gedolah the Bluzhever Rebbe is .in prepa­ When the horrors ended, he estab­ as the leader of a community, rationforpublication in ajorthcom- lished his residence in Brooklyn, Indeed, at the 7th and 8th Siyumei ing issue. · THE6WISH BSERVER 6 Opportunity Knocks, Again. The Russians Are Here. What Can We Do? Rabbi Shmuel Bloom THE JEWISH OBSERVER (ISSN) 0021-6615 Is 14 published monthly except July and August, by the Agudath Israel of America, 84 William Rabbi Boruch Ber Leibowitz '"~n Street, New York, NY 10038. Second class postage Fifty paid In New York, N.Y. and at additional malling Years Since His Passing office. Subscription $22.00 per year; two years, Chaim Shapiro $36.00; three years, $48.00. Outside of the United States (US funds drawn on a US bank only) $10 sur­ charge per year. Single copy $3.00; foreign $4.00. 25 Send address changes to The Jewish Observer, 84 Wiiiiam St., N.Y., N.Y. 10038. Tel. (212) 797-9000. Reb Boruch Ber- Printed in the U.S.A. A Paradigm of Wisdom and Piety RABBI NISSON WOLPIN, EDITOR TzviZevAmm EDITORIAL BOARD DR. ERNST BODENHEIMER Chairman 27 RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS Judaica vs. the Classics on the JOSEPH FRIEDENSON Yeshiva English Department Curriculum RABBI NOSSON SCHERMAN A Letter & Reponse MANAGEMENT BOARD NAFTOLI HIRSCH ISAAC KIRZNER 37 RABBI SHLOMO LESIN The Jewish Light Artillery NACHUM STEIN Yaakov Lavan RABBI YOSEF C. GOLDING Business Manager 41 Published by Agudath Israel of America Poetry RABBI MOSHE SHERER A Hellenist Left Standing, Bmcha Druss Goetz PRESIDENT THE JEWISH OBSERVER does not assume 43 responsibility for the Kashrus of any product or service advertised in Its pages. Second Looks ©Copyright 1989 "From Beirut to Jerusalem, by Thomas L. Friedman" Behind the prize-winning by-line DECEMBER 1989 48 VOLUME XXll I NUMBER 9 Letters to the Editor Shmuel Bloom _PPORTUNITY KNOCKS, ~""" •. Today, perhaps we should be saying: "The Ribbono Shel Olam brought Premier Gorbachev to power, turned over the entire Com­ munist world, made the Soviet economy dependent on help from the West, and forced the Russians into a position where they have to let the Jews emigrate-just so that the Jews of the Soviet Union should not be lost forever to their people. What. now, is our response?" BEYOND THE FIRST RESPONSE ur first response is that the best place for Soviet Jews is OEretz Yisroel. Despite the dif· ficulties associated with resettling in Eretz Yisroel, we can be fairly as­ sured that the new immigrants will remain Jewish and marry within the fold. Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetzky '""at PROVIDENCE AT THE aren't interested in Jewish educa­ a convention of Agudath Israel of GATES OF ENTRY tion. They just want to get their chil­ America remarked that perhaps the t was a very heated meeting in dren out of the deteriorating public zechus hakiyum of the State of the Rabbi Jacob Joseph School schools. If they want to use us as Israel is that after the Holocaust. in the early l 950's. The East Side a private school, let them pay for it." when the Jewish refugees were in I The prevailing mood of the meet­ despair and could have fallen prey neighborhood in which the yeshiva was located was inundated by an ing was against giving them scho­ to the scourge of intermarriage, the illiterate immigrant influx. Jewish larships until Irving Bunim asked fact that so many Jews immigrated parents who until then had been for the floor. "I don't understand you to Israel took away the opportunities satisfied with the neighborhood people," he said. "The Ribbono Shel for them to be lost among the public school education decided to Olam uprooted a million people nations of the world. This is cer­ send their children to Yeshiva Rabbi from their native habitat and tainly true of the Russian Jews who, Jacob Joseph, and applied for scho­ brought them to the East Side of having lived in a society where larships. The majority of the New York just to push these Jewish intermarriage was rampant. now members of the Board of Directors children into a yeshiva. And you have the opportunity to settle in were adamant: "These parents want to defeat His master plan by Israel and live among their brethren. refusing them?!" Once again the Unfortunately, though, they are not Rabbi Shmuel Bloom is the Executive Vice legendary Irving Bunim had saved seizing that opportunity. Other President of Agudath Israel of America. the day. than those who became baalei 6 The Jewish Obseroer, December 1989 teshuva in Russia and settle almost key to open up a successful relation­ entered the covenant of Avrohom exclusively in Eretz Yisroel. the ship with them. And so many of us through an authentic brts or have overwhelming majority are opting to turned off. experienced an increased Jewish settle in our communities in the We pointed to the millions of consciousness and therefore will United States-more than 50% in dollars and tens of thousands of not intermarry, or have a positive New York City and its environs. So man-hours that were invested by feelings about Y!ddishkeit so that the burden of a response falls upon programs such as Agudath Israel's their children will go to day us. Project RISE (Russian Immigrants schools-does that not also qualify There are those who said our Services and Education). We re­ as success? As one valiant worker community would not or could not membered bringing an outstanding with Russian Jews told me in 1978: respond. After all. from 1976 mechanech from Eretz Yisroel to 'We must make them mechalelei through 1980, when the Russians design educational programs for Shabbos before we can hope for first started arriving on these shores our long lost brethren.