Jewish Life Summer-Fall 1981

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$2.50

Tishrei 5742/Summer-Fall 1981

Comments: "It's a Crazy World," / Nuclear Reactors, Israel, and the End of the World, or, "After You to the Gas, Ladies and (Jentlemen" / The Proliferation of Antisemitism / Menachem Begin: Premature Reports of His Demise/Words From the Heart Don't Count/World Gathering of Holocaust Survivors.

Alliances and Misalliances: Orthodoxy's Challenge / a proposal for positioning Orthodox Jewry and the Moral Majority.

Attempts to Infiltrate Religious Life in Israel / a proposal to re-evaluate Orthodox relations with the non-Orthodox.

Orthodox Co-operation with Non-Orthodoxy / a call for greater efforts to touch the lives of the masses of non-Orthodox Jews.

Something Happened at Lubavitch / a poetic-graphic expression of Chabad Chassidus.

The Changing Orthodox Synagogue / a study of Baltimore's congregations sheds light on what is happening in the rest of the country.

A publication of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America /Orthodox Union

Volume V, Numbers 2-3

Tishrei 5742/Summer-Fall 1981

Editor Yaakov Jacobs Mrs. Linore Ward and Family have established the Jess Ward Memorial Jewish Life Fund

Editor Emeritus Saul Bernstein

Editorial Board Marc Angel Julius Berman Isaac Bernstein J. David Bleich x Judith Bleich David Cohen Jack Simcha Cohen Samuel Cohen William Helmreich Lawrence A. Kobrin David Kran zier George Rohr Sheldon Rudoff Michael Shmidman Pinchas Stolper Shimon Wincelberg Maurice Wohlgelernter

to assure the continued publication o f Jewish Life in its expanded format and to continue the dissemination o f Torah ideology to English-speaking Jewry throughout the world.

The Fund is a tribute to the sacred memory of Jess Ward who in his lifetime gave of his talenis and his means to his fellow Jews.

We pray that these pages shall be a worthy memorial to his committed life.

A publication of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America Sheldon Rudoff, Chairman , Publications Commmission

1

Volume V, Numbers 2-3

Contents 2

Comments: It's a Crazy W orld/Nuclear Reactors, Israel, and the End of the World, or, " After You to the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen/VThe Proliferation of Antisemitism/Words From the Heart Don't Count/W orld Gathering of Holocaust Survivors/Menachem Begin: Premature Reports of His Demise/"No 'ach Mit Ziben Gray'zen"

15

Alliances and Misalliances: Orthodoxy's Challenge, Looking at the Moral Majority/Ralph Pelcovitz

21

Attempts to Infiltrate Religious Life in Israel/Louis Bernstein

25

Orthodox Co-operation With Non-Orthodoxy /W alter S. Würzburger

29

My Father's Vineyard/Stella Felthun

34

Something Happened at Lubavitch/Shmuel Gorr

43

The Changing Orthodox Synagogue: A Study of Baltimore's Congretations/Gershon Kranzler

53

Reb Chayim of Volozhin/Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff

61

Annual Book Round-up

67

Chanukah Gelt: Jewish Tradition, or Pagan Practice?/D. Bernard Hoenig

70

On the Roof, Fiddling/a poem by I. E. Mozeson

73

The Jewish Community in Argentina/A Background Report Because of the small staff producing Jewish Life, contributors are asked to send an inquiry before submitting manuscripts, and to be patient in waiting for a response. We regret any inconvenience we may have caused in this regard, and we trust we will be able to increase our efficiency in the future. ©Copyright 1981 by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.

Material from JEWISH LIFE, including illustrations, may not be reproduced except by written permission from this magazine following written request JEWISH LIFE (ISSN #00-2165-77)ispublishedquarterly. Subscription: 1 year— $10.00, 2 years—$18.00, 3 years—$25.00. Foreign: Add $.50 per year. Single copy $2.50, Editorial and Publication Office: 45 West 36th Street, New York, N.Y. 10018. Second Class Postage Paid New York, N.Y.

'It's A C razy W orld' How often do we hear ourselves—and others—saying "It's a crazy world." Whether we're talking about crime, government, taxes or any of the myriad sources of anxiety that life throws in our path from day to day, the last word will be some variation of a verbal shrug-of-the-shoulders: "W hat can you do, it's a crazy world."

Now, how does a believing Jew understand this notion? For­ getting about the question "Is this the best of all possible worlds," and the propriety of questioning the Almighty's ability as a worldbuilder, what do we mean when we say "it's a crazy world"—or should we be saying it at all? And besides, by what criteria do we diagnose this world as "crazy"—what other world are we com­ paring it to?

The B aalei Mussar, the moral philosophers of Reb Yisrael Salanter's contemporary school, and those who preceeded them in each generation, taught that it is man's purpose in this world to strive for hashlam a for "completeness;" to make of ourselves from the raw material given to us by our Creator, the sublime per­ sonage every one of us can become with the instruments of Torah and mitzvos. With this in mind, perhaps, our moral imperative is not to determine the mental health of our society or world— though surely it must concern us since we live in it—but rather how must we react to what is happening around us, since few of us have the capacity to make any notable changes in our society and world.

As we pass through the days of Elul and the Days of Awe, we might well ask ourselves what we can each of us do within our families, within our communities, and in the widening circles which make up our society to make the world less "crazy."

The Almighty's world is our given; and making it a better world is His challenge to us. As such it is indeed the best of all possible worlds since we would otherwise have nothing to do.

To all of our readers, to Klal Yisrael, go our good wishes for a good new year which will become for all of us a year of re­ demption on a personal, a national, and a cosmic level— Sh'nas

Geula V'yeshu'a.

Nuclear Reactors, Israel, And the End of the W orld, or 'A fter You, to the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen' The New Yorker, to many people, is a magazine you read in doctors' and dentists' offices, and in more sophisticated barber shops. You flip through its pages and stop to look at the cartoons

they are famous for—most of which are worth more than the pro­ verbial thousand words. If the waiting room is crowded, you may even read a short story, for which New Y orker is also famous.

But hidden in its austere pages is some of the finest journalism being written today. Unlike other journals which advertise their wares on their front covers, The New challenges the reader to find its subject matter—it is only in recent years that the editor deigned to even list the articles in a "Table of Contents." Under the rubric Talk of the Tow n"—known for its subtle and humorous observations of what another journal calls "Life in These United States"—the reader is occasionally alerted to more serious obser­ vations which appear under the sub-heading "N otes and Comments." Under that sub-heading, in their issue of June 29, 1981, appeared a scathing attack on the government of Israel for having bombed the nuclear reactor in Iraq. No, not scathing: that s not their style—but sharply reasoned and sharply critical.

They give Israel the first word: Shortly after Israel bombed the nuclear reactor in Iraq, Prime Min­ ister Begin stated at a press conference that if Iraq had made three bombs of twenty kilitons each and had dropped them on Israel, then Israel would have suffered six hundred thousand casualties. He went on to ask, "Where is the country that would tolerate such a danger knocking at its door? Begin s question is, of course, easily answered . . .We, for one, are such a country. . . . The Soviet Union is another . . . . Another is China, and others are France, Germany, and the rest of the nations of Europe. In fact, the truth is that no country on earth—including Israel, for that matter—is free of this peril, and all countries "tolerate" it because they haven't yet summoned the will to do anything else about it.

In the United States, the Administration condemned the raid, but other voices were raised in approval, among them that of the Street Journal, which advised in an editorial, that Israel's conduct of­ fered "a few lessons we ourselves could profitably learn." The Journal did not get into specifics, but if someone were inclined to draw any lessons from the raid and from Mr. Begin's justification for it, one of them would surely be that any country that faces the possibility of mass destruction can protect itself by launching military action against the nations that pose the threat.

Returning to Mr. Begin, the writer continues that the Prime Minister, referring to the holocaust of European Jews at the hands of the Nazis, declared, ". . .'We shall not allow any enemy to de­ velop weapons of mass destruction against us.' He thus drew a connection between the holocaust that overtook European Jewry and the nuclear holocaust that now hangs over not just Israel but everybody in the world (although he seemed to forget this for a moment)."

One wants to be objective—even about Israel. The argument is—at first—compelling. What good is it for Israel to save itself and thereby be responsible for blowing up the world? But it is precisely "the holocaust which overtook European Jewry" that 3

makes the difference. Put the case, may God forbid, that for the sake of the larger good, Israel had allowed Iraq to develop nuclear bombs, and put the case that they were used against Israel, would The New Yorker's "domino theory" really have worked? Would it have triggered the end of the world?—or would it have merely caused the nations of the world to bemoan the killing of Jews; to urge (probably force) Israel not to retaliate; and call for interna­ tional safeguards against such further destruction! Would Israel have become the example from which the world would learn its lesson?

Prime Minister Begin, by ordering the strike against the Iraqi reactor was saying to the world: "The next Holocaust will not be ours! If there is to be another Holocaust, of whatever proportions, it will be yours—not ours!" Israel, and indeed world Jewry, has declared—to paraphrase the gruesome title of a book by a nonJewish Polish writer who survived the camps—'After YOU, to the gas, Ladies and Gentlemen!" The reader will forgive a flippancy— we Jews are always flippant in the face of destruction—"we gave at the Konzentrazion Lager."

In the June 29, 1981 issue of The New Yorker , their corres­ pondent, in a "Letter From Israel," said it very clearly: The aerial destruction by Israel of Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor, near Baghdad, on June 7th, has, as much as any other event in the country's thirty-three years of precarious existence, once again reminded the Israeli people that they stand alone, and can depend only on them­ selves."

Let there be an end to nuclear proliferation, indeed. But not over our dead bodies.

The Proliferation of Antisemitism The moratorium against antisemitism is over. Following the defeat of Nazi Germany, it seemed hardly proper for those who fought against Hitlerism, at the cost of millions of their own people, to espouse hatred of the Jew. For those who supported the Nazi campaign to destroy world Jewry, it seemed hardly prudent to continue to espouse antisemitism. And for several decades some foolishly believed that antisemitism had fallen into dis­ repute. Until, that is, the Elders of Jew Hatred discovered that they could overcome the stigma of their discredited dogma by distin­ guishing between Jews and Zionism. "We don't hate Jews," they told us, "we hate Zionism." Zionism they found to be imperial­ istic: in a vast sea of Arab territories, they begrudged us our piece of Homeland.

Arab propagandists then argued: "We cannot be antisemitic, because we are also Semites. We love Semites. We hate only those Jewish Semites who would perpetuate the State of Israel." Yet, in their threats to drive Israel into the sea, they offered no plan

whereby they would distinguish between "Jews" and "Zionists."

Beyond that: Zionism, they then argued, was a threat to human brotherhood, to world harmony and to world peace, because it discriminated between Jews and the rest of the peoples of the earth. This led to the master stroke: "Zionism is Racism," and it must be so labeled by the international councils of the world, and it must be rooted out. And who are the new adherents of this doctrine? The General Assembly of the United Nations and the members of the New Left, who are silent when the Soviet Union denies freedom to its own citizens, and sends its legions into nations which offer a glimmer of hope that they will become inde­ pendent of their Moscow masters. These same forces will be silent should Russia's legions march into Poland, which appears to be opting for freedom and justice, at the instigation—it is often claimed—of sinister Zionists. Whatever the role of Arab propa­ gandists, enriched and enboldened by their petro-dollars, it is the old-fashioned Jew-hatred that is now cropping up in America, in Germany, in France, and in other parts of the world.

And so once again, while the State of Israel is the major target of an emerging wave of Jew-hatred, it is clear that the target is what it has always been. And only thirty-six years since the defeat of Nazi Germany, world Jewry is now contemplating a frontal attack, and quibbling over what the response should be. A case in point is Argentine Jewry.

It is several years now since the case of Jacobo Timerman first became a matter of concern to world Jewry. Timerman, who was bom in the Ukraine in 1913 and emigrated with his family to Ar­ gentina in 1928, established himself as a professional journalist, founded two newspapers, and appeared as a commentator on Ar­ gentine radio and television. From 1971 until his arrest by military authorities on April 15, 1977, Timerman had been editor of the newspaper La Opinion. When large numbers of Argentines, Jews among them, were arrested and held incommunicado, Timerman published the names of these prisoners, defying official and unof| ficial threats, until he too became a prisoner. Timerman was acting out of a sense of justice and as a loyal citizen of his adopted country. While he disavowed being a religious Jew or even a re­ ligious Zionist, he did declare himself to be a political Zionist.

Nevertheless, in the course of his arrest, confinement and subse­ quent torture, he was constantly reminded by his captors that he was a Jew and a Zionist. From the beginning, efforts were made to secure his release, and after thirty months—during which time no official charges against him were brought—the government was forced to comply with Argentina's Supreme Court ruling that his imprisonment was illegal. He was stripped of his citizenship and property and expelled from the country, and made his way to Israel where he and his family now live. In May of this year, Ti­ merman published Prisoner Without a Without a

Number (Alfred A. Knopf), a modern-day classic which quickly became the center of a storm of controversy in the Jewish and the non-Jewish worlds. Timerman takes the position—which he had espoused prior to his arrest—that there is organized antisemitic terrorism in Argentina practiced by both the Left and the Right.

Leaders of Argentina's Jewish community, who had criticized Timerman's charges of official antisemitism lest it increase antiJewish hostility, were understandably disturbed by Timerman's book. In this country, however, the book was at first warmly re­ ceived as a proper indictment of the country that the Council of Hemispheric Affairs described as the most flagrant violater of human rights in Latin America.

But Timerman, to some extent of his own doing, became in­ volved in the debate in this country over what the Adminis­ tration's policy should be toward Argentina's government on the basis of distinguishing between "authoritarian" regimes, where citizens are safe as long as they remain non-political, and "totali­ tarian" regimes, which harrass and persecute citizens without ap­ parent cause.

Shortly after the publication of the Timerman book, Irving Kristol, a neoconservative political scientist, wrote in the Wall Street Journal that Timerman is a leftist who prefers to castigate "friendly" regimes like Argentina, rather than "totalitarian" regimes like the Soviet Union. In other words: Timerman was ac­ cused of being a leftist partisan who cannot be trusted when he claims that he was imprisoned and tortured because he was a Jew. Kristol suggested that Timerman was arrested because of his asso­ ciation with David Graiver, a Jewish Argentine financier said to have looted two American banks and supported Argentina's leftist guerrillas—though no formal charges were ever brought against him.

William F. Buckley, Jr. jumped into the fracas claiming that Simon Weisenthal had told a Uruguayan journalist that T i­ merman had interfered with Weisenthal's pursuit of Nazi phy­ sician Josef Mengle; and that Timerman was arrested not because he was a Jew, but because he was suspected of terrorist activities.

Weisenthal, the highly-respected Nazi-hunter, disclaimed having made these statements, and Buckley blushed in his syndicated column for not having checked his sources. With journalists and commentators taking positions based on their political orien­ tation, The New York Times summed up the situation in a front­ page article: For Jews, the controversy has touched on such old and painful questions as how to judge whether widespread anti-Semitism is offi­ cially sanctioned or not; what part of an arrested person's being Jewish, as distinguished from his politics, might play in his perse­ cution; how exactly to speak out, if at all, in the face of perse­ cution. . .

So there it is. Like Jews in pre-Hitler Germany, Argentine and American Jews are now agonized by the question of how to react

to hatred—fully aware that whatever its magnitude it is surely there, has always been there, and has ranged from accusations of leftist tendencies all the way to Genocide.

Two things are clear: Jacobo Timerman did not get privileged treatment because he was a Jew; and he has written a brilliant chronicle of life in a totalitarian prison where he was wantonly tortured—and from which he emerged to tell his story.

Perhaps it is well to recall the apocryphal story of a Jew in Czarist Russia writing a letter to America in which he praises the government, describes in glowing terms his family's living con­ ditions, and signs it "Moishe Kap'oyer" so that his family in America will know the reverse is true. Is this what Argentina's Jewish leaders are telling us when they say that all is well with them? In a country with an antisemitic tradition, ruled by ter­ rorists of the right, this would seem to be the case.

Words From the H eart Don't Count A president of the United States must surely measure his words, lest he inadvertently commit our government to a position or a policy not in our best interests. It is not an uncommon occurence for presidential press officers to explain away spontaneous words spoken by a president. Recent presidential pronouncements re­ garding the State of Israel, ammended moments later provide but a few cases in point. But one such recent episode was too much to go unnoted.

At a White House ceremony marking the destruction of Eu­ ropean Jewry, President Ronald Reagan departed from his pre­ pared text to declare that human freedom would always be on our agenda with nations guilty of depriving its citizens of basic freedoms. The President was carried away, and spoke in emo­ tional tones. But within minutes his press office issued its cor­ rective. Since (as we noted above) this administration has chosen to distinguish between totalitarian regimes and those which are merely "authoritarian," the President's words—"spoken from the heart"—were not to be construed as a deviation from his policy.

One wonders how such a policy would have rated the Hitler regime in its early days?

The World Gathering of H olocaust Survivors Psychiatrists treating victims of the Nazi death camps have iden­ tified what they have labeled as "the survivor syndrome." Men and women living in a free society, under normal social and eco­ nomic conditions, suffer from nightmares; wake from their sleep screaming; manifest abnormal behavior; and suffer from debili­ tating guilt complexes, plagued by the question: 'W hy did I

7

survive?" One psychiatrist whose practice was almost totally con­ fined to survivors, lectured extensively in West German medical schools and noted the irony that it is the victims who have the guilt complexes, not the perpetrators. In only one instance, he re­ ported, did a fellow psychiatrist rise to say that he was indeed treating one former concentration camp guard.

The World Gathering of Holocaust Survivors recently held in Yerushalayim no doubt had some cathartic, and hence therapeutic effect on many of the six thousand survivors, many of whom met fellow survivors they had not seen since the liberation; and many of whom were able to confirm what they already knew: their fathers or mothers, their sisters or brothers, their friends or rel­ atives were indeed dead. It gave them the burst of tears and mourning which people experience during the shiva period—an experience they were denied thirty-odd years ago. In an astute piece of reporting, Trudy Rubin, writing for the Christian Science Monitor News Service, opened her report by saying that "anyone who wanted a better understanding of Israel's strike against the Iraqi nuclear reactor should have attended the world gathering of Holocaust survivors, just one week after the raid. The one-time assembly of 6,000 Jewish survivors . . . offered a living reminder of the psychological factors shaping Israel's relationship to the rest of the world." Samuel Pisar, a French attorney liberated from Auschwitz when he was sixteen years old, refuting the charge that the Israeli raid was a pre-election ploy by Menachem Begin, told a gathering memorializing the million and a half Jewish children killed by the Nazis: Today, when Israel sees any nuclear power plant in its region as a new gas chamber . . . it displays an understandable psychosis about security.

But what of the guilt feelings of those who killed our Six Million? Are they sorry?—and if they are, how sorry are they?

When one brushes up against someone else on the street or on a bus, one says "I'm sorry." A toe stepped on usually rates "I'm terribly sorry." A person who has hurt another person in an auto­ mobile accident might say "I can't tell you how sorry I am ." What of one who wipes out a whole family? What of one who wipes out a town?

How does one say "I'm sorry" for taking millions of lives?

Whatever efforts have been made; whatever moneys have been paid; whatever is the total of all attempts to wipe out the debt— has it been of a magnitude even approaching the unspeakable magnitude of the crime?

The family of a youngster who defaced a Jewish house of worship was angry with Jewish community leaders who had tor­ mented them by insisting that the boy be brought before a judge.

The husband of the vicious Mrs. Ryan who was found guilty of 8

war crimes after six years of litigation by a West German court, was vicious in his denunciation of those who had fought to have her brought to trial. If it is the case that the Jew-haters of the world have declared an end to the moratorium against Jew hatred, then we dare not become bored with remembering: we must remember in inverse proportion to the magnitude in which they want to forget.

M enachem Begin: Prem ature Reports of His Demise Enemies of Menachem Begin, and enemies of the Jewish State, and enemies of the Jewish People—the first two are not synonymous, the second two most frequently are—were terribly upset by Begin's failure to fade away as they hopefully thought he would.

The President of the United States and even his State Department, as well as other world leaders, seem to be reconciled to his con­ tinued leadership of the Jewish State; Reform and Conservative Jewish leaders in this country are having a more difficult time of it.

Their response to the unexpected victory of Begin, and to the prospect of Orthodoxy's even stronger role in the new gov­ ernment has been vicious. Their threat to stop their support of fund-raising entities for the State in this country is unpardonable, and is in effect an attack on the Peoplehood of World Jewry. Their desire that admission to Jewish Peoplehood should be subject to their own deviationist whims, is an affront to our age-old désiré and struggle to maintain our Peoplehood and our religious identity in the face of massive efforts to destroy us. There is no vestige of logic in their position that any ritual for the "con­ version" of a non-Jew which they concoct should be recognized in Israel s Law of the Return." For them to brand those Orthodox as well as non-Orthodox Jews who wish to maintain traditional standards and procedures for conversion as perpertrators of "a serious rupture of the unity of the Jewish people," is an absurdity which defies understanding. It can only be understood as a des­ perate effort to gain recognition in the State of Israel as legitimate arbitors of Jewish law and tradition. The alliance of Conserv­ atism, (which was itself a reaction to the rejection by Reform of halacha as the norm for Jewish religious life) with the Reform movement, testifies to the crude desire for political power which lies at the base of this unholy alliance.

In any confrontation between Orthodoxy and non-Orthodoxy in America, one would hardly expect the old-line establishment American Jewish Committee to take sides, no less to side with Orthodoxy. No: they have not done this; but six weeks before the election which put Menachem Begin back into office, the Com­ mittee issued a report of a major study on "Religion and Politics in 9

Israel," which really goes to the heart of the matter. (Students of Talmud know the dictum that events described in the Torah are not necessarily in chronological order.) Not given to quoting press releases verbatim, we deviate in this instance because the text below is neither shrill nor polemical as we fear the words above m aybe.

NEW YORK, May 18 . . . Since the Six-Day W ar of 1967, all sectors of the population in Israel, whether essentially religious or not, be­ lieve that Israel will not survive unless it remains a Jewish state, and they seem to agree that the Jewish character of the state will be pre­ served most fully by the Orthodox.

This is a basic conclusion in a far-ranging analysis of "'Religion and Politics in Israel," a 32-page booklet by Daniel J. Elazar and Janet Aviad, just published by the American Jewish Committee for its Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights. The booklet is a preprint of a larger book on the subject, to be titled "Re­ ligion and Politics in the Middle East," edited by Michael Curtis and [to be] published by Westview Press in 1981.

The authors, explaining that the Government of Israel does not control or seek to control the religious establishment in the state, adds that the religious communities and groups within Israel make use of state instrumentalities to further their own ends.

There is "a close interconnection" between the state and the re­ ligious communities, the authors continue, which includes state support of all organized religions except those explicitly rejecting such support, along with "a special status by consensus" for the majority religious community. Israel has a Ministry of Religions—the authors draw attention to the plural, of the word "religions"—serving Muslims, Druze, various Christian denominations, and others, along with Jews.

In the past 15 years, the authors report, the attitude of the nonreligious public tow ard Judaism and religious Jews has been changing—more "a reawakening of interest in Judaism and Jewish sources among groups who in earlier periods displayed no such in­ terest" than a general return to Judaism.

Here are some of the reasons they suggest for this changing attitude: * An "almost natural diminution" of the force of Zionism, and its inability to replace religion, either for the individual or the com­ munity"; * A reawakening of self-questioning and reconsideration of print ciples, something that has been evident in the kibbutz movement.

While for some this reawakening has meant a return to traditional forms and Orthodoxy, for many more "it has meant a searching for ways to express growing interest, openness, and positive sentiments." * "A growing acknowledgement among virtually all sectors of the Jewish population that the state cannot survive if it is not a Jewish state, and that the Jewish character of the state is preserved most fully by those recognized as the authentic guardians of Judaism, the Or­ thodox."

Because of this last, the authors add, "there is a clear desire not to alienate the religious element of the population," and a "nonmanipulative desire" to maintain contact with the traditional world as

part "of the complicated constellation of historically determined at­ titudes towards the substance of Jewish belonging and national meaning."

The mutual needs of the religious and non-religious, they state, "those of political power and those of spiritual ideals, lie beneath and undergird the existing relationships of religion and politics in Israel today." . . . In trying to point to directions in the future, the authors stress that "pace-setting elements of Israeli society," no matter how strongly they hold religious beliefs, nonetheless have shifted toward this greater concern for Jewish tradition for two reasons: One, the perennial search for meaning, which they hold to be char­ acteristic of Jews, including Israeli Jews, and two, the Jewish concern for the survival of Israel.

We do not believe that sociological studies—even those which support our views—are to be read as scriptures. But the con­ tention that Orthodoxy's wish that Jewish Peoplehood and its in­ tegrity is best served by Israel's adherence to traditional norms in defining Jewishness threatens "a serious rupture of the unity of the Jewish people" is belied by Jewish experience throughout the ages as well as by the perceptions of Israeli Jews themselves that "Israel will not survive unless it remains a Jewish state, and that the Jewish character of the state will be preserved most fully by the Orthodox."

Is it too much to expect from our non-Orthodox brothers that they set aside their partisan concerns to help assure the survival of the Jewish State?

We cannot resist a final polemical question. On the question of ordaining women as "rabbis," the Conservative movement went through what was for them an agonizing sturm und drang, with study commissions, and heated debates which caused an as-yetunhealed rupture in their own ranks, until they arrived at a demo­ cratic consensus. Was not a similar searching effort equally jus­ tified before they publicly denounced Israel's new government, at a time when it needs the support of all Jews? Simply: did this un­ precedented attack with threats to undermine support for Israel represent the grass-root?

'No'ach M it Ziben i

In our Welcome to the Editorial Board" in our last issue we made the following errors. *We welcomed "four" new members and listed five. *We omitted the name of Rabbi Michael Shmidman. We are sorry, Rabbi Shmidman. Welcome to the board. *We described new board member Rabbi Maurice Wohlgelernter as the Chairman of the English Department at Baruch College. Professor Wohlgelernter is not the chairman, just a very distinguished member of the department.

All in all, we came close to the proverbial ziben gray'zen," the pithy Yiddish expression for making more mistakes than one should generally be allowed. (For the uninitiated: No 'ach is the Hebrew name for Noah which is spelled with two con­ sonants and two vowels. Spelling it with "siben gray'zen," seven errors, is no mean achievement.

The Issue We missed our Summer issue. We hope you did too. We trust that this double issue makes up for it. Our schedule is not yet perfect, but we are approaching it. We took some consolation, when earlier this year, the prestigious journal, The Paris Review, pub­ lished its 25th Anniversary issue—twenty eight years after they began publication.

In this issue . . . . Rabbi Ralph Pelcovitz offers us a reasoned approach to a troubling problem in: Alliances and Missalliances: Orthodoxy's Challenge, a look at the Moral M ajority. . . Attempts to Infiltrate Religious Life in Israel, is the subject of an article by Rabbi Louis Bernstein, in which he proposes a re­ valuation of Orthodox participation in umbrella groups with the non-Orthodox. . . . the newly-elected president of the Synagogue Council, Rabbi Walter S. Wurzburger, argues that it is precisely Orthodoxy's new strengths and resources that make it all the more imperative to retain our ties with our non-Orthodox brothers.

The Editor notes: One of the expressions whose demise I hopefully anticipate is "but that's just semantics." ( That "hopefully" was properly used, he hopefully said.) It is particularly jarring to hear the thoughtless expression from an Orthodox Jew. Semantics is modern man's attempt to know what he is talking about. Vast sections of the Talmud are devoted to efforts to discern the correct meanings of spoken and written words—and distinguishing one from the other. —What does a person really mean when he makes what appears to be a vow, and when is it binding? - When a person appears to designate another person to act for him, but his language is ambiguous, how do we know if he is a duly appointed agent? Discussion as to the meaning of a single word in the Torah occupies pages and pages in Talmud and the commentaries. We should hardly oppose attempts to clarify discourse!

A phrase used in the context of Orthodox participation in re­ ligious umbrella groups is "the issur." Tfcose Torah scholars who urge against participation in the umbrella groups did not proclain an issur. It was rather a P'sak Din, a ruling which spoke their 12

understanding of Torah law. When a Jew puts a question to a rav as to the permissibility of a particular act, and the rav rules in the negative, he is not "banning" it, he is giving instruction in Torah law. This concept is embodied in the designation of a rav as a "moreh ho'ra'ah," a master of the Law. Other scholars may rule differently, but calling a P'sak Din an issur contributes to con­ fusion of the issues at hand.—Y .J. . . . we are pleased to introduce a new talent from Cape Town, South Africa, Stella Felthun, with a story she calls, M y Father's Vineyard. We trust this will be the beginning of further contri­ butions from other parts of the English-speaking world. In this context, Jewish Life Editorial Board member Rabbi Isaac Bernstein is returning to the British Empire to serve a Congregation in London. He has consented to keep us in touch with British Jewry with a periodic Letter From London. . . . the Torah world will never be the same after four decades of work by the Lubavitcher movement throughout the world.

Shmuel Gorr, a native Australian transplanted to Yerushalayim, where he now is engaged in a variety of creative endeavors, writes poetry, sets it in type by hand, prints it on hand-made paper on an eighteenth-century press which he inherited from an Australian poet turned Buddhist priest—which he then binds by hand. Som e­ thing H appened in Lubavitch was published in a limited edition of one hundred copies. M r. Gorr has kindly consented to share his work with readers of Jewish Life. It loses in translation to ordinary machine-made paper, but it gives us a poetic understanding of Lubavitch. (Readers are referred to a more prosaic study of the movement in Rabbi Bernard Weinberger's Satmar and Lubavitch which appeared in our issue of Fall/Winter 1977-78.) . . . The Changing O rthodox Synagogue: A Study o f Baltimore's Congregations, is the latest study of American Judaism by the dis­ tinguished sociologist, Dr. Gershon Kranzler. . . . another in his series of studies of nineteenth-century Gedolim, Reb Chayim o f Volohzin, is offered by Rabbi Aaron Rakeffet-Rothkoff, one of Yerushalayim's master teachers. . . . Our Annual Book Round-up examines some recent works in Judaica. . . . Chanukah in the Fall? Production schedules and postal de­ livery being what they are, we offer D. Bernard Hoenig's Cha­ nukah Gelt: Jewish Tradition-—or Pagan Practice, which sheds new light on an old Jewish practice—or is it pagan? . . . with Argentina and its Jewry more and more in the news, we offer The Jewish Community in Argentina, a background report.

We look forward to presenting in a future issue a report on Or­ thodoxy in Argentina.

Ralph Pelcovitz

Alliances and Misalliances: Orthodoxy's Challenge— Looking at the M oral M ajority A number of vital issues presently confront us both as Jews and as American citizens. In making decisions on these questions, it is important that we perceive clear-cut distinctions. It is consid­ erably easier to reach conclusions and know where one stands if there are lines of demarcation and clear boundaries separating darkness from light and right from wrong. This concept is deeply rooted in our Torah tradition. When Yaakov came to the city of It isimperative that we examine the rightward swing, Shechem, the Midrash says that he arrived at twilight, a time especially on the part of when light and darkness mingle and he established techumim, traditional Jews, while at the boundaries and limits. Our Cachomim are obviously telling us same time questioning the that at a time when men are confused and cannot distinguish be­ extent o f the danger presented by the Moral tween right and wrong, it is important to establish boundaries. In Majority and similar the dispute between Moshe and Korach, the expression bok er is Evangelical, used, "Boker , " "In the morning" God will tell us who is right and ultra-conservative groups. who is wrong. Rashi, citing the Midrash, explains that the word morning teaches that God has established boundaries in this world between light and darkness and by the same token, there are limits set to man's authority and power to rule. Indeed, at the close of Shabbos we "make" Havdalah and praise the Almighty, "who separates light from darkness; the holy from the profane." Here again man is taught that there must be a distinction between the sacred and the secular and there must be clear-cut lines delineating right from wrong. These lines become blurred at times and the result is confusion and bewilderment.

The purpose of this prelude is to sensitize the reader to the diffi­ culty in addressing ourselves to the topic at hand. We have been cautioned by many in the Jewish community of the danger be­ setting us as a result of the growth and strength of the radical right.

Liberal Jewish circles have been most shrill and strident in their condemnation of the Moral M ajority. Serious-minded political analysts have also expressed their dismay and unease at the movement of Jewish voters from the Democratic to the Repub­ lican Party, and their disquiet at the turn to the right on the part of so many of our co-religionists. It is, therefore, imperative that we examine the rightward swing, especially on the part of traditional Jews, while at the same time questioning the extent of the danger Rabbi Pelcovitz frequently presented by the Moral M ajority and similar Evangelical, ultra­ comments in these pages on conservative groups. Articles in liberal Jewish periodicals and ex­ matters of concern to pressions of opinion by Jewish representatives who have access to Orthodox Judaism. See his the media, have given an image of these right-wing groups which "The Teshuva Phenomenon: the Other Side o f the Coin in is incomplete and faulty. Knee-jerk reactions flowing from condi- our Fall 1980 issue.

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tioned reflexes—rather than considered response—has resulted in labeling some of these organizations as antisemitic. In all fairness, we must take a careful look at the positions espoused by the Moral M ajority and ask ourselves a key question. With what do we agree and with w hom do we identify? The answers to these two questions may differ.

Identifying

A re we liberal or conservative, moderate or extreme? Some of us will probably identify ourselves as liberal but not radical; others as conservative but not reactionary.

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"To identify" is used in the sense of emotional association. With whom do we feel more comfortable and with whom do we prefer to associate? Identification also refers to how we look at our­ selves; how we understand our own identity. Are we liberal or; conservative, moderate or extreme? Some of us will probably identify ourselves as liberal but not radical; others as conservative but not reactionary—and even these labels may have to be mod­ ified depending upon the issues at hand. Jews have always had a well-developed sense of social consciousness and empathy for the oppressed. We have developed over the years our traditional traits of kindness, generosity of spirit and concern for other human beings and their fundamental needs. Living in a nonJewish society has made us very mindful of the need for tolerance and breadth of vision as opposed to narrow, prejudiced posture on the part of politicians and religious leaders. A climate of freedom is generated when there is a generous spirit as opposed to a mean spirit.

This would seem, therefore, to place us in the liberal camp rather than the conservative one, perhaps even a little to the left of center rather than to right. The question then is, why did so many break ranks and join the other camp and why do our sympathies so often correspond with those whom we have always suspected and rejected?

The answer must be that although we identify with individuals, groups and forces who are moved by a liberal spirit, and we are advocates of human rights and social justice, nontheless we agree on vital issues with those who are in the conservative, and at times, even ultra-conservative camp. In other words, the "havdalah," the line of demarcation is not that clear and we cannot glibly choose between "the forces of light" and "the forces of darkness," for we live in a twilight zone and are not able to es­ tablish boundaries as readily as Yaakov or Moshe Rabeinu.

Image is not all. Issues are certainly more substantive and more important in determining how we stand and with whom we must at times ally ourselves. Consider some of the major issues which confront American society today. To mention but a few, they are: abortion on request, ERA, permissive moral standards, gay rights, busing, affirmative action, and the teaching of Creationism in addition to the theory of evolution in the public schools. We are

aware of the position of the Moral Majority on all of these questions. What is the position of Orthodox Jews on these vital issues? By and large they are the same. We sympathize with the attitude of the Right-to-Life exponents; we are turned off by the militant ERA advocates; we are repelled by pornography and the demands for gay rights, and we are sensitive to the dangers pre­ sented by school busing as well as the drafting of women. We certainly believe that school children should be given an equal opportunity to learn the theory of Creation as well as that of evo­ lution. So where do we find ourselves aligned on these vital issues—with the right, or with our traditional friends in the liberal camp? Can we subscribe to the position of the liberals who are committted to abortion on demand, extreme permissiveness with only minor moral disciplines? Can we stand with those who would atone for the discrimination sins of the past even at the expense of our communities and the future of our own children?

And how can we ignore the question of Israel? The Evangelical groups have been extremely supportive of the State of Israel for the past many decades while so many of our liberal friends have become severe critics of Israel and even enemies of the state, while, professing their affection for the "Palestinians."

Jews have always had a well-developed sense o f social consciousness and empathy fo r the oppressed.

We have developed over the years our traditional traits o f kindness, generoisty o f spirit and concern fo r other human beings and their fundamental needs.

The horns of the dilemma We are, indeed, in the midst of a dilemma. To ally ourselves with the Moral M ajority, even though they reflect our positions so often, is impossible for we fear them—and rightfully so. They may say the right things, but we are not so naive as not to rec­ ognize how narrow, bigoted and intolerant they are. We also know that many of them are not cured of their inherent anti­ semitism and that even their pro-Israel stance is motivated by the wrong reasons. Nonetheless, if we turn to the liberal camp, we may not be afraid, but we are angry. We'd rather live with them but since we cannot agree with them, we feel uncomfortable and unwanted in their camp. With the conservatives there is a sense of uneasiness and somehow we cannot relax in their midst. It is more haimesh with the traditional liberals but we are convinced that their kind of society is one in which we and our people cannot long live and retain our Jewish principles. Ours is not so much a sense of betrayal as it is one of bewilderment and concern. We are alarmed by the strong, shrill and often strident advocacy by our liberal friends of human and social values, or non-values, that we consider threatening to the very essence of our social fabric, the core of our civilized being, the foundation of our families and the security of our communities. If we must choose, and that is not necessarily mandatory as we will argue later, then reluctantly and sadly we would live those with whom we have always been asso­ ciated and side with those whose positions on the vital issues men-

. . . nonetheless we agree on vital issues with those who are in the conservative, and at times, even ultra-conservative camp.

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We sympathize with the attitude of the Right-to-Life exponents; we are turned off hy the militant ERA advocates; we are repelled by pom ongraphy and the demands fo r gay rights, and we are sensitive to the dangers presented by school busing as well as the drafting of women.

tioned above we agree with. We do so fully recognizing their flaws and wary of their prejudices, their narrowness and animosity towards us and many of our values.

For many years we have recognized that Orthodox Jews live in two worlds: the world of Torah and the Western world around us.

For many years we have tried desperately to retain not only our equilibrium but our sanity and integrity as well. Now we find our­ selves with an added imbalance: one foot still firmly planted in the liberal, humanitarian camp; the other standing uneasily in the conservative camp. The irony is that both are really alien to us— one in ideology, the other in attitudes—and both in their way of life.

Some Conclusions

To ally ourselves with the Moral Majority, even though they reflect our positions so often, is impossible fo r we fear them—and rightfully so.

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Our position must be an independent one, based upon our own Torah principles and convictions. We must not allow ourselves to become the captives of either camp. To do so we must first rid ourselves of guilt feelings when we associate ourselves with the conservative point of view and we must no longer feel a com­ pulsive need to curry favor with our liberal brethren. There is a tendency on the part of some Orthodox leaders and spokesmen to be silent, or at least muted, in their support of certain policies and positions which are vigorously promulgated by the Moral Ma­ jority, lest they be labeled reactionaries, "narrow-minded" and out of step with the prevailing, accepted point of view—which usually means the preachings of the high priests of the media. We must not allow ourselves to be intimidated by the passionately held views of our erstwhile liberal allies as we have been too often in the past. Guilt by association has, fortunately, fallen into dis­ repute so we need not fear voicing our opinion on questions of abortion, ERA and other issues, which have deeply divided the conservative and liberal camps, even when our position may concur with the former rather than the latter.

Decisions must be reached on major issues confronting the country, motivated by our own ideology without looking over our shoulders to see whether we find favor iin the eyes of the secular and heterodox Jewish establishment. In general let us stop worrying about labels for we need not be identified with either the conservative or liberal camp as long as we are honest to our own Torah principles. We have unimpeachable credentials as humani­ tarians and champions of social justice and need not feel stigma­ tized if some of our other positions are also echbed by the far right.

Our real problem may well be that we have abdicated to others the championing of causes which, rightfully, should be ours. It is incumbent upon us to voice our opinions in those areas which have been monopolized by organizations such as the Moral Ma­ jority. Sadly, when we agree with them, ours is but an echo rather

than a firm voice. For example, many of us would strongly en­ dorse some of ther statements made by Jerry Falwell in a recent magazine interview where he states, among other things, that the "Ten Commandments" are valid for today; condemns secular hu­ manism as having no absolute, only relative values; quotes from the Book of Judges that we live in a time when "Each man does what is right in his own eyes" rejecting all rules; and asserts most adamently his belief that man is indeed created in the image of God. We certainly should not be ashamed to subscribe to these statements. Rather we should be ashamed that we haven't been courageous enough to affirm these values ourselves instead of just approving them when others state them.

As we stated at the outset, we live in a world where we cannot fit into neat compartments. As Orthodox Jews, we must face up to the fact that while there will be many areas in which we must continue to ally ourselves with the liberal forcés in our society, there will be many issues where we find ourselves in agreement with the conservative camp. The only label that we should accept is that of Torah loyalists, committed to the teachings and guidance of our Sages and prepared to voice our opinion in a free society based upon these Torah commitments. If we are courageous enough to do so we will be recognized for what we are and re­ spected for our point of view.

When Yirmiyahu is sent to be God's prophet, he is uncertain, unconfident and voices deep doubts. The Almighty assures him that he will become as "a fortified city, an iron pillar and as a brazen w all." These are attributes and characteristics which we desperately need in facing the issues of our time, convictions and commitments that are strong and the courage to voice them. There really is no dilemma: there are choices, and choices must be made by mature and responsible people. There are such men and women in our ranks.

It is more haimesh with, the traditional liberals but we are convinced that their kind of society is one in which we and our people cannot long live and retain our Jewish principles.

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/

Louis Bernstein

Attem pts to Infíltrate Religious Life in Israel It is more than twenty years that American Orthodoxy has been involved in a bitter dispute over the continued membership of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) and the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America in the Synagogue Council of America (SCA). Both national Orthodox bodies had long been affiliated with what has been characterized as the "umbrella or­ ganization" bringing together Jewish religious bodies to speak with one voice on matters of common concern.

Year after year, resolutions were introduced at the annual con­ ventions of the Rabbinical Council calling for withdrawal from SCA, on the grounds that such participation constituted O r­ thodox recognition of non-Orthodox rabbis. The resolutions were debated, always generating a great deal of heat, and in every case—rejected. The Orthodox Union also rejected attempts from within its own membership to bring about its departure from the Synagogue Council. Since that time the issue has been raised only

by Orthodox groups who never were members, citing it as their justification for refusing to join an Orthodox council with those who sit on the Synagogue Council. Students of American Judaism have noted that the issue was symptomatic of even deeper cleavages within Orthodoxy.

I write now in a personal vein because I was then among the most outspoken supporters of continued participation of RCA in the Synagogue Council.

The Synagogue Council of America is not the most important of the multitude of Jewish organizations in America. By its very nature, its scope is limited. (Any of the three bodies may veto a proposed action or position of the Council. Orthodoxy has uti­ lized this veto frequently, based on the sound proposition that SCA would speak only on external matters —klapei chutz —that is: on matters dealing with the government and the non-Jewish religious scene; while excluding internal matters —klapei p'nim — which impinged on Orthodox sensitivities and beliefs. That prop­ osition remains as sound today as it has always been.) But the scope of SCA has been further narrowed by new realities: Or­ thodox rabbis and laymen participate in various federations where they discuss religious issues of far greater consequence than the matters which find their way onto the agenda of the Syna­ gogue Council.

Am erican O rth od oxy—in all of its m anifestations—has profited from these contacts. They swung the balance during the various attempts to prohibit or to coinpromise the practice of she-

. . . there are new realities as the ground rules are being changed by the Reform and their new allies, Conservatives.

Rabbi Bernstein is past president o f the Rabbinical Council of America and the Religious Zionists o f America.

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Whatever the outcome o f our re-thinking may be, it takes place in the context of an Orthodoxy far stronger than when the Synagogue Council came into being; and the fact that Reform and Conservatism aretby their own admission in serious difficulty.

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chita. In 1972, when the Congress? of the United States was de­ bating an amendment of the Selective Service Act which would have done away with the long-standing exemption of divinity students from enforced military service, these contacts made it possible to defeat the bill. Students of the Lakewood Yeshiva— among the strongest opponents of Orthodox participation in SCA —placed calls to Reform and Conservative rabbis soliciting their support in the fight against the proposed amendment.

Yeshivos and other Orthodox institutions frequently profit from formal ties to the broader Jewish community. On a personal level, Orthodox rabbis and laymen have helped make Orthodoxy more acceptable in many areas of Jewish life which have been enriched by the presence of Orthodoxy and the impact of expositions of Orthodox teachings and traditions.

I remain singularly unimpressed by the thesis that an issur, a ban, is the best tactic for dealing with Jewish religious differences in American life. In retrospect, the most significant component in the formulation of my own decision to exert strenuous efforts against such an issur was that a dangerous precedent would be set.

The concept of "issur" conjurs up unhappy circumstances when one issur was countered by yet another issur, leaving the faithful in confusion as to which was indeed the Torah way. American life, in which Orthodoxy is a minority within a minority, abhors rule by fiat.

Having come this far, in recent months several past presidents of the Rabbinical Council—myself included—have come to the brink of a re-evaluation of our position for two reasons.

First, it is prudent from time to time to re-evaluate all ideo­ logical positions. Perhaps the repugnance attached to the term “ideologue" derives from his unwillingness to revise past positions and policies. Secondly—and in this instance of even greater importance—there are new realities as the ground rules are being changed by the Reform and their new allies, Conservatives. And if we are re-evaluating, we need to go beyond Synagogue Council— the least effective of umbrella groups—to examine our rela­ tionships with the United Jewish Appeal and other federations which far surpass the Council in importance. The Synagogue Council is “important" only in that it is the only such council to which part of Orthodoxy belongs organizationally qua O r­ thodoxy.

Whatever the outcome of this re-thinking may be, it takes place in the context of an Orthodoxy far stronger than when the Syna­ gogue Council came into being; and the fact that Reform and Con­ servatism are by their own admission in serious difficulty. While numbers do not testify to the validity of an ideological position, nevertheless, the demographics of Jewish life are operating against the non-Orthodox. They are being driven to such life-saving

efforts as accepting non-Jewish spouses into congregational mem­ bership without even the sham of a Reform "conversion." Inter­ marriage, minus-zero birth-rates, and, to some extent, defections of their youth to Orthodoxy, threaten their organizational sur­ vival. These factors explain their frenzied attempts to gain recog­ nition and acceptance in the State of Israel.

Again: I write from a personal perspective. For the past three years I have served on the executive of the World Zionist Organi­ zation, and as a representative of the W .Z .O . in such bodies as the Jewish Agency, the United Jewish Appeal and the United Israel Appeal. Orthodoxy is paying a high price for not having given adequate attention to these bodies which allocate hundreds o f millions o f dollars each year. We have been dragged feet first into ideological confrontations, although Orthodoxy prefers that phil­ anthropic bodies remain beyond the realm of ideological dispute.

Yet, it is precisely in these areas where we must meet the challenge and evaluate our position—because it in these areas that the crucial issue is being foisted upon us.

Much has changed in the past twenty-five years. Reform has veered sharply to the left; Orthodoxy has tilted to the right. The society pages of the Sunday New York Times—where marriage notices appear—are replete with reports of marriages performed

by Rabbi X and Reverend Y. It is now not only possible for a non-Jew to rise to the presidency of a Reform temple, but con­ ceivably to the presidency of the Synagogue Council of America.

This constitutes a changing of the rules which creates new realities we cannot easily ignore.

The battle to capture the allegience—or at least the membership—of Jews has shifted to higher ground, to Eretz Yisrael, where the non-Orthodox are using all sorts of pressures to force the State of Israel to recognize their religious authority. Ac­ ceptance of non-Orthodox marriages, conversions and divorces would remove the existing halachic jurisdiction over personal status. This is an issue that must be more fully explored, but in this context it shall suffice to say that since halacha prohibits marriage to one who has undergone a non-legitimate conversion, ac­ ceptance of such persons as Jews by the State would constitute a threat to the survival of the State of Israel. No modern democratic state—more so Israel, surrounded by masses of hostile neighbors—can afford to create within its own borders a society which would bar one segment of its population from marrying another. The religious status quo, achieved decades ago, was not a sectarian religious victory, but a victory for all Jews living in the Holy Land.

While Orthodoxy has large cadres of citizens who can—and do—exercise the power of their votes, Reform and Conservatism have few such adherents in Israel. It is only through the mounting

It is now not only possible for a non-Jew to rise to the presidency of a Reform temple, but conceivably to the presidency of the Synagogue Council o f America.

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In effect, all of this means that any proposed exit from the Synagogue Council today would be radically different from a similar act twenty years ago, when we would have been responsible for creating a breach in American Jewish unity. Today, regardless of the results of our re-thinking, it is the non-Orthodox who have de facto caused a breach.

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of pressure campaigns—some brutal, some more sophisticated— in philanthropic councils that they can hope to prevail. The Labor Party alignment in Israel, sensing political advantage, has already committed itself to "cultural pluralism"—a euphemism for de­ struction of the status quo by giving equal status to all denomi­ nations of Judaism—if they are returned to power. It should be noted that the non-Orthodox view this pledge with more than some skepticism, but they will nonetheless attempt to redeem it.

The entry of Reform particularly into the World Zionist Organ­ ization was more than a natural progression from their early an­ tipathy toward Zionism to finally making their peace with the Jewish State. It was a calculated move for legitimization, and it has been working. They have mounted a carefully-honed cam­ paign to pressure local federations throughout the United States to pass resolutions calling on Israel to change its law on'personal status. However, since such political stances can jeopardize a charitable organization, Reform has taken a new track: asking for resolutions condemning discrimination against non-Orthodox olim in absorption centers. Though there are few Reform and Conservative Jews in such centers, my inquiries indicate that there are none of the restrictions charged. Yet in the vocabulary of slick public relations operations the cry of "Discrimination" is always effective.

Within Israel the pincer movement is completed by such apologists for Reform and Conservatism as Amnon Rubinstein and Abba Eban, who proclaim that "the vast majority" of religious Jews in Israel are being deprived of their rights. They further declare that if this rank deprivation is done away with, Reform and Conservative Jews would flock to settle in Israel. The fact is they have not done so even though there are ample opportunities for liberalized worship in Israel.

In effect, all of this means that any proposed exit from the Syna­ gogue Council today would be radically different from a similar act twenty years ago, when we would have been responsible for creating a breach in American Jewish unity. Today, regardless of the results of our re-thinking, it is the non-Orthodox who have de facto caused a breach. And it goes far beyond the Synagogue Council. If there is to be civilized discourse within Orthodoxy on this crucial issue, it must be supported by a common concern for what is best for all the House of Israel and the State of Israel. It is not a decision that can be arrived at in months, or even in a year. A decision to go it alone would require a re-shaping of Orthodoxy's organizational structures, and a new understanding that all those who stood together at Sinai must stand together today.

Whatever the result, the process has already begun. It remains only to be formalized.

Walter S. Wurzburger

O rthodox Cooperation with non-O rthodoxy The phenomenal resurgence of Orthodoxy in recent years has rendered obsolete many of the strategies and tactics we adopted during the era when we were widely perceived as moribund.

A thorough reassessment of our policies has become necessary in the wake of such revolutionary transformations. Among the most sensitive issues that are subject to reexamination is that of our organizational relationships with non-Orthodox movements.

Against the background of the growing polarization of the Jewish world—the committed becoming ever more rigorous in their standards, while the bulk of modern Jewry inexorably drifts towards radical assimilation—one encounters with increasing fre­ quency and intensity the demand that Orthodoxy sever all organi­ zational ties with the non-Orthodox community. Especially sig­ nificant is the fact that opposition to cooperation with non-Orthodox groups is no longer confined to "right wing" Or­ thodoxy, which as a matter of religious principle has consistently objected to any association with those who reject Halacha.

Today, the advocates of "rejectionism" include prominent rep­ resentatives of movements that are far removed from the ideo­ logical tenets of separatist or secessionist Orthodoxy. For them it is not a matter of formal principle, but of pragmatic expediency.

They contend that with Orthodoxy's newly acquired political know-how, intellectual sophistication, and economic power, a policy of "splendid isolation" would be in its best interests. Under conditions where total self-reliance has become feasible, why maintain a policy of cooperation, which, rightly or wrongly, in the public mind is frequently interpreted as our legitimization of expressions of Jewish religion which reject the binding force of Halacha? Can we afford to risk such a dangerous misunder­ standing of our position, especially when a vehement battle is being waged by our opponents in behalf of "religious pluralism" against the alleged "Orthodox monopoly" in Israel?

To be sure, from a logical point of view, there is really no con­ nection between cooperating with non-Orthodox groups for the attainment of common objectives and the legitimization of breaches of the Halacha. A long time ago, in a widely-quoted ar­ ticle, Rabbi Shubert Spero conclusively demonstrated that partici­ pation in an umbrella organization or coalition, does not entail endorsement of the ideologies espoused by one's associates.

It must, however, be conceded that in the battle for the minds of men, logical considerations are far from decisive. Images often have greater impact than ideas or issues. Logically invalid ar­ guments may be extremely effective as propaganda weapons. We,

. . . one encounters with increasing frequency and intensity the demand that Orthodoxy sever all organizational ties with the non-Orthodox community.

Rabbi Wurzburger is the Editor o f Tradition; past president o f the Rabbinical Council of America; and presently serves as president o f the Synagogue Council of America.

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To be sure, from a logical point of view, there is really no connection between cooperating with non-Orthodox groups fo r the attainment o f common objectives and the legitimization of breaches o f the Halacha.

A s I see it, the unaccustomed position of strength in which Orthodoxy finds itself today is not an argument for withdrawing into our own com er, but rather calls fo r an all-out effort to reach out into every segment of the Jewish community.

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therefore, cannot rest our case for continued involvement with non-Orthodox groups simply on the logical fallacies committed by those who claim that our present policies constitute a tacit en­ dorsement of Conservative and Reform ideologies. Instead, we must show that our advocacy of cooperation with others rep­ resents not merely a permissible option, but is so highly desirable and vital to our interests that it warrants our taking the calculated risk that our position may be misunderstood, or even deliberately distorted.

As I see it, the unaccustomed position of strength in which O r­ thodoxy finds itself today is not an argument for withdrawing into our own corner, but rather calls for an all-out effort to reach out into every segment of the Jewish community. Separatism might have been an appropriate response in an era when Orthodoxy had to fight an uphill battle because it was dismissed in "enlightened" circles as an obsolete relic. A "siege mentality" was suited to the requirements of the spiritual and cultural climate of an age, which under the spell of a triumphant liberalism and rationalism scoffed at the "narrowness" of particularistic Orthodoxy. Under such conditions, it made sense to argue for a policy of strategic retreat in order to preserve at least a saving remnant from the onslaught of the tidal waves of assimilation.

Fortunately, such a defensive stance has become completely outmoded. For the first time since the beginning of the Emanci­ pation, we seem to have the inside track in the competition for the Jewish soul. The fires of the crematoria consumed the faith in the "spirit of the time," which before the Holocaust seemed to relegate Orthodoxy to a position on the very fringes of civilization. And the pervasive malaise of contemporary society further reveals the bankruptcy of the gods of liberalism, progress, or narcissistic he­ donism. Small wonder, then, that growing numbers of Jews from assimilated backgrounds have become so disenchanted with the lure of modernity, that they turn into full-fledged baalei teshuva.

I wonder whether we fully grasp the extent of the radical changes that have transformed the complexion of Jewish life and have engendered a new respect for Orthodoxy. Who would have dreamed twenty years ago, that Orthodox Jewish scholars or pro­ fessionals would serve as chairmen of Departments of Jewish Studies at the most prestigious universities, or that they would head such pivotal institutions as Welfare Funds, Federations, Community Councils, or Bureaus of Jewish Education? Who could have envisaged only a few decades ago, that a newly elected president of the World Jewish Congress would in his acceptance speech refer to the fact that his numerous consultations with leading figures all over the world were completely overshadowed by the insights he had gained in the course of his discussions with Rav Yosef Ber Soloveitchik?

This is art age of beckoning opportunities for extending our in­ fluence over vast sectors of the Jewish community, which are so hungry for Torah. This is no time to be afraid and run scared.

Shouldn't we be ready to take risks for the sake of Torah—even the risk that our involvement with non-Orthodox groups might be m isconstrued as an endorsement of "religious pluralism ?"

Shouldn't we participate in the activities of Federations, Welfare Funds, UJA, Synagogue Council, and the like, while making it perfectly clear that our willingness to enter into limited part­ nerships, alliances or coalitions by no means constitutes a legitimi­ zation of non-Orthodox Judaism?

I indulge in a personal reference. I deliberately chose the oc­ casion of my installation as President of the Synagogue Council of America to point out that one need not play down the importance of the irreconcilable theological differences that separate O r­ thodox from non-Orthodox groups in order to achieve a desper­ ately needed sense of Jewish unity. It is precisely because we are committed to the proposition that Halacha, as we understand it, obligates not only Orthodox Jews, but every single member of Kellal Yisrael, no matter how far he may have strayed, that we bear responsibility for every Jew, whether he labels himself Secular, Reconstructionist, Reformed, or Conservative!

Since we are "responsible for each other", why not cooperate with all Jews in matters of common interests and goals? Why not join forces for developing in America a climate which is conducive to the cultivation of a wholesome religious life unhampered by governmental interference? Should we not work together with all our fellow Jews to prevent the total assimilation and disinte­ gration of our people, be it through secular humanism, "Jews for Jesus," or other cults?

Because of my concern for every single Jew, I am deeply troubled by the growing polarization, fragmentization, and parochialization of the Jewish community. When so many of our non­ observant fellow Jews lose even the last vestiges of Jewish selfidentification, we must not, in a spirit of "triumphalism," gloat over the failure of other movements. Instead, we should mobilize all our resources to stimulate the will to live as Jews, even within the most marginal members of the Jewish community and to at­ tempt to draw them into the orbit of Torah living. Towards the attainment of this objective, we must disregard all purely institu­ tional or sectarian concerns and be ready to take the risks entailed in our continued cooperation with Jews of all "labels", out of love for God, His Torah, and His People.

It is precisely because we are committed to the proposition that Halacha, as we understand it, obligates not only Orthodox Jews, but every single m em ber of Kellal Yisrael, no matter how far he may have strayed, that we bear responsibility fo r every Jew, whether he labels himself Secular, Reconstructionist, Reformed, or Conservative!

27

Stella Felthun

M y Father's Vineyard When my father left his native Lithuania at the tender age of thirteen to journey alone to South Africa, he settled in a small rural village where an older cousin, his only relative in the country at the time, had made his home. It was here that he learned to speak, read and write English, and it was here also that he learned a love for farming.

When he married and came to Cape Town some years later, he The agent made no mention was able to combine two divergent facets of character—he was o f the leaking roof, the peeling paint, lack of both shrewd businessman and dreamer. His business was a fur­ cupboard space, and the niture store in the heart of the city, while his dream was to own a other problems, but played vineyard—a dream he knew would never be translated to reality, up the enormous garden . . . as my mother had no interest in vineyards or any other type of "A n d would you believe it, there's even a grape-vine ! " farming. She was intelligent and entirely practical. Her only dreams, also doomed to disappointment, were restricted to am­ bitions for her children.

They worked together in the store and when they had saved enough for the initial deposit, decided to buy a house of their own.

Every evening after work, they would make the rounds with various agents—and as regularly as clockwork, they would come home and fight. The attractive modem homes my mother wanted were beyond my father's price range, while the ramshackle, pic­ turesque places that appealed to him, she considered an insult.

I was with them when they went to see the house. The agent, a woman, made no mention of the leaking roof, the peeling paint, lack of cupboard space, and the other problems, but played up the enormous garden—once, no doubt, very beautiful, but now, after years of neglect, a veritable jungle of sinister-looking trees and weeds.

"And would you believe it, there's even a grape-vine! Of course, the fruit is quite inedible," she started to say, when she saw my father's face and bit her tongue.

"We'll take it," he said.

My mother stared at him in horror.

"Issy! Are you mad?"

He was wearing that look of mulish obstinacy we all knew so well, but which my mother now ignored.

"Thank you very much," she said to the agent. "We'll think about it and let you know ." She led my father through the gate and we returned home in ominous silence.

My mother, as I said, was a clever woman. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, she could twist my father around her little Stella Felthum is a free-lance writer from Cape Town, finger, but on the rare occasions when he dug in his heels, she had South Africa. This is her first learned from bitter experience to bow to the inevitable and give in appearance in Jewish Life.

29

A fleet of gardeners attacked the grounds , but with strict instructions not to touch the grape-vine. That was to be my fathers own private domain.

30

gracefully. She usually made a good thing out of his subsequent gratitude and, with a small show of martyrdom, could exact rewards far sweeter than the original bone of contention. In this case, however, she made a desperate, all-out effort.

"For God's sake, Issy! Be reasonable!''»she pleaded. "Four people rattling around in a twelve-room house! What do you want it for? It needs a new roof, painting inside and out. Repairs will cost us a fortune!"

It was useless, of course, as we had known from the start. He did not argue. He merely said, "I've given my word. We are taking it."

And that was that.

A week of tears produced a flurry of architects, builders and painters, after which my mother dried her eyes and went to work, making the "pig-sty," as she called it, habitable. A fleet of gar­ deners attacked the grounds, but with strict instructions not to touch the grape-vine. That was to be my father's own private domain.

As soon as we moved in, a strange love affair developed be­ tween my father and the vines. There were, in fact, four of them.

Once they had climbed up stone pillars, spreading across wire­ netting at the top to form a shady arbor. Only one pillar now remained intact, the others having been whittled down over the years to pathetic stumps, while a few rusty strands were all that remained of the netting.

Each day my father came home from work and changed into what he called his gardening outfit. This consisted of a sweater my mother had been trying unsuccessfully for years to throw away, and his oldest trousers tucked into a pair of fisherman's boots. He was a short man and on anyone else the boots would have been knee-high. On him, they reached his thighs. The first time we saw him in this rig, my brother and I shrieked with laughter. My mother merely shrieked.

Once the pillars had been rebuilt, he set about applying tender loving care. He pruned, he sprayed, he watered, he fed. He stroked the thickening branches, crooning and chatting to them in blissful content.

And the vines responded. Their leaves unfolded and stretched towards him. Tiny tendrils curled coyly around his fingers. They vied with one another racing up their pillars and joined hands across the top to provide him with shade. The fruit appeared, sweet and plump, blushing a deeper purple whenever he ap­ peared. When he brought his chair and sat beneath them, they flung themselves onto his lap, dribbling mouth-watering juices, like shameless adolescents hurling themselves at a pop star.

When the house and garden were completed to her satisfaction, my mother took pride in her achievement and Dad was forgiven.

When she was not taking admiring friends and relatives on tours of inspection, she would join him in his little sanctuary and the

two of them would sit in companionable silence. The vines, however, had not forgotten her original hostility and they would have none of her. They stained her clothes and dropped insects into her hair until, retiring in disorder, she began to keep a wary distance.

One night in midsummer, Dad was rushed to hospital with acute appendicitis. Complications developed when the appendix burst and for a while his life hung in the balance. His obsession surfaced during his delirium. He tossed from side to side, mut­ tering, "The vines! The vines! No one to see to the vines!" while my mother, with tears streaming down her face, held his hand and tried to comfort him.

"Hush, Issy! Hush! Don't worry! I've hired a gardener. The vines will be okay."

He did not hear her or, if he did, he took no notice. He just went on and on, saying the same thing over and over. When he seemed slightly better, she tried to reassure him by promising to bring him a bunch of his own grapes, but in spite of the new gardener's at­ tentions, the vines had gone into decline. The fruit was dry and sour, the leaves were curling and turning brown—although I swear they perked up when they heard footsteps, and sagged again when they saw it wasn't Dad! My mother scoured the shops for the same type of grapes. They were not readily available, since they were grown mainly for export, but she managed eventually to track some down and bore them triumphantly to the hospital. He took one look and shook his head.

"Not mine," he whispered.

"Issy, have I ever lied to you? They're from your own vines!"

"No, you've never lied to me before, but you are now," he said, turning his face towards the wall. Only my brother and I saw my mother's despair.

That night, I was woken by a sound coming from the garden. I crept to the window and looked out. My mother, whom we had always considered astute, practical and somewhat unimaginative, was standing under the grapevines in her nightgown, like some Jewish Lady Macbeth, and shaking her fist at them. Her screaming whisper carried clearly in the still night air.

"You damned idiots! What are you trying to do to him? Do you want to kill him altogether? What can I tell him tomorrow? That you're dying, too?"

She knelt on the ground, her arms clutching my father's chair that still stood lonely and forlorn in its usual place, and sobbed inconsolably.

She was still there, though quiet now, when I finally crawled, shaken, back to bed.

The next morning, her strange outburst seemed so completely out of character that I began to think I must have dreamed it. I

As soon as we m oved in, a strange love affair developed between my father and the vines.

A nd the vines responded.

Their leaves unfolded and stretched towards him. Tiny tendrils curled coyly around his fingers. They vied with one another racing up their pillars and joined hands across the top to provide him with shade.

31

The vines had not forgotten her original hostility and they would have none o f her.

She knelt on the ground, her arms clutching my father's chair that still stood lonely and forlorn in its usual place, and sobbed inconsolably.

32

slipped into the garden and stared down at my father's chair. The hairnet my mother usually wore to bed had caught between the slats of the seat.

It had really happened then. A breeze ruffled the pile of dead leaves under my feet as I looked about me. Did I imagine it, or were the few remaining leaves becoming greener, more erect? And the grapes, now bursting out of their skins with juice and vitality—were these the same that only yesterday were shrivelled like wrinkled old men?

My mother suddenly appeared beside me, carrying a basket and a pair of scissors. I had been so engrossed in my thoughts that I had not heard her coming.

"Ma! Look at the vines! They've come alive again!"

Yes, I know. It must have been the terrible heat we've been having. That new gardener never watered them properly, so I came out last night and gave them a good soaking. We'll take some fruit to Dad today. They're still a bit bruised, but it doesn't m atter."

I watched in utter confusion as she set the basket down and calmly went to work with the scissors. It was impossible to rec­ oncile this serene matter-of-fact woman with the one 1 had seen last night. The ground was still dry, in spite of its so-called soaking. And yet—could tears perform miracles? As long as I lived, I would never understand it.

We went to the hospital. My mother followed sedately as my brother and I ran on ahead to my father's bed, carrying the basket between us. For a long moment, they stared at each other over our heads.

You see," she said, without preamble, "they're a bit bruised, so I didn't want to bring them in case you got upset. But it's only because that gardener doesn't look after them properly, like you do."

He digested this in silence and then he nodded. He got the message.

He recovered quickly after that. As soon as he came home, a second chair was placed permanently in my father's vineyard, for the vines and my mother had come to a tacit agreement: In very special circumstances, a man might sometimes be al­ lowed two loves in his life.

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I I

SOMETHING HAPPENED AT LUBAVITCH

SHMUEL GORR

T he origin al hard b o a rd prints are by Sidney Fetten

T H E noise of the children playing outside in the Succah seemed to have subsided somewhat and the voice of one of the older Chasidim slowly broke through the subdued talking and snatches of ‘nigunim’ (tunes) that were being sung in small groups at different parts of the hall.. .“What is ‘Seichel’ (intelligence)?

It’s nothing! It’s lim ited. . . ‘Seicher can’t see or feel — ‘Seiche!’ can’t experience. . .

‘Rabboisai’ — I have seen; and that is higher than ‘Seiche!’ . . and as the old Chosid spoke there was a far, very far twinkle in his eyes — it was as if he was seeing it now — there in the Lubavitcher Yeshiva in East St. Kilda. He was caught in his thoughts of that experience that had occurred many, many years ago in old Russian Jewry when he had had the ‘merit’ to have

known and witnessed the daily life and conduct of one of the great Torah personalities of the last generation. “It hurts; oi how it hurts!” he continued, “that all of you here today may not have seen, and been able to experience, such a lofty level of Torah existence” Tears roiled down his cheeks and into his beard as he closed his eyes and spoke again and again of the greatness of this Torah personality of his home town. I believe that he was not with us for those few minutes even though he was speaking to us. Our ‘SeicheP couldn't understand it; but somehow we felt — we saw. He has transfered his experience to the crowd of Simchas Torah Yidden that were seated around the table. “Yidden! Gevalt Yidden! .. . ‘SeicheP can only help till a certain level and then it is powerless.

T his ‘O R ’ (light) — where can we see it now?

‘O R 5.. 55 T h e word seemed to repeat itself; again and again, “ ‘O R 5 - ‘O R 5 - ‘O R 5” He turned to one of the small Yeshiva boys and started, “Dear Child, do you know what is ‘O R ? — ‘L I C H T IG K E IT 5 -

One can’t

realise it through the ‘Seiche ! 5 — One has to see it — I saw it. Yes! I saw it. It raises — it elevates — it envelopes — it is clear and illuminating 55 he heaved a deep sigh and again had that faraway look — he was back in his thoughts and experience again.

T h e air was charged. Something was happening.

No one could articulate it. We all seemed to be feeling -

seeing - ‘O R 5 -

‘L I C H T IG K E IT 5

T h e old Chosid’s voice cried again, “Gevalt Yidden! Gevalt! Vos vet zein? T h e young have to

see and feel, also. T h e Yeshiva must grow at spread ~~ like cOR\ It must raise, elevate, and envelop every Y i d ...‘O R ’ — cO R \ .f his voice trailed away and was lost in the sudden start of a slow, but catchy and lively ‘nigun’.

Suddenly everyone found himself in the ‘wheel’ . . . They were dancing; and what a dance! Yes! Something had happened there at Lubavitch on Simchas Torah. T h eir ‘rikud* (dance) had taken wing and was flying higher and higher. . . above ‘Seiche!’ . . . way and above. They were feeling ‘O R ’ — it was spreading. “Keili Atoh V ’oidekoh, Eloikah Aroim’mekoh” (and I will extol You). . .

T h eir voices rang out clear and ‘Lichtig’ as they danced and danced.

Gershon Kranzler

The Changing O rthodox Synagogue: A Study O f Baltimore's Congregations (This report is based on interviews with the rabbis and lay leaders o f 30 o f the 32 orthodox synagogues in Baltimore. Since the Jewish community o f Baltimore is fairly representative o f most larger ones outside o f New York City, its findings m ay have signif­ icance beyon d the confines o f its locale. It may also yield som e insight into broader developm ents in a realm that is notable fo r the dearth o f factual inform ation.)

A study of Baltimore's Orthodox synagogues at the end of the Seventies and beginning of the Eighties suggests significant changes. On one hand there is continued decline in numbers and commitment among the aging membership of the older, moder­ ately Orthodox synagogues. On the other hand, there emerges an increasing emphasis on stronger individual and collective com­ mitment among the younger elements of the intensively Orthodox congregations. Because of their generally high religious and secular education, and their active involvement in communal affairs, they are changing the image and impact of Orthodoxy in this country and beyond.

. . . developments o f the past few decades on the broader American Jewish scene—as in the Baltimore Orthodox Jewish Community— have reversed these developments, provoking optimistic judgments . . . x

Changing Patterns The patterns of change in Baltimore's Orthodox Jewish com­ munity parallel those of the broader American Orthodox Jewish community. Most of its members belong to the lower socio­ economic strata and are mainly first and second generation immi­ grants. In the past half century its ranks have been decimated by death, social mobility, and the drying up of mass immigration from Eastern Europe and other centers of Jewish life, resulting in gloomy predictions of its imminent demise.

Yet developments of the past few decades on the broader American Jewish scene—as in the Baltimore Orthodox Jewish Community—have reversed these developments, provoking opti­ mistic judgments such as that of Marshall Sklare, the eminent soci­ ologist of American Jewry: In less than three decades orthodoxy has transformed its image from that of a dying movement to one whose strength and opinions must be reckoned with in any realistic appraisal of the Jewish Community.

A number of factors are responsible for this change in Bal­ timore, as in the American Jewish community in general. From a demographic perspective it is probably a reflection of the pattern that Professor Calvin Goldscheider of the Hebrew University, in an article on "Demography and American Jewish Survival," has

Dr. Kranzler is Professor of Sociology at Towson State University in Baltimore. He is a frequent contributor to these pages.

43

called the "shrinking middle of commitment." He describes it as follows: The third generation growing up in the 1940's and 1950's continues to shift toward the less-committed end of the continuum. The relative size of the middle has decreased significantly, encompassing for the first time less than the majority; second, a small but significant growth has taken place in the proportion of the more-committed end of the continuum.

. . . the proportion of Jews at the less-committed end o f the continuum has tripled, increasing from 10% -15 % in the first generation to 35% -40% in the fourth. The more-committed groups include approximately 20% of the fourth generation, compared to only 10% o f the second.

Goldscheider estimates that the proportion of Jews at the lesscommitted end of the continuum has tripled, increasing from 10% -15% in the first generation to 35% -40% in the fourth. The more-committed groups include approximately 20% of the fourth generation, compared to only 10% of the second.

This phenomenon of the shrinking middle of commitment which Goldscheider found for the American Jewish community, also describes the pattern of change in the Baltimore Orthodox community.

As in most large American Jewish communities, over 50% of Baltimore's 92,000 Jews are not affiliated with any synagogue, nor do they even attend High Holiday services. Only fifteen percent of the approximately 38,000 families, or 5,200 families, are members of Orthodox congregations, a proportion somewhat larger than in most Jewish communities of comparable size. About 2,500, or half of their adults, go to shul on Shabbos and Yom Tov regularly— two third male, one third female. Yet only about half of these are the strictly observant who walk to shul on Shabbos and generally adhere to the crucial indicators of observance, such as keeping kashrus at home and away and family purity. Most others go to Orthodox shuls because of convenience of location or old family ties.

The pattern of the shrinking middle among the thirty Orthodox congregations studied emerges when we look closer at the figures of the membership in the congregations on the continuum from the modern Orthodox to the strictly Orthodox.

Continuum of Orthodox Synagogues in Baltimore

N u m b er % of O rth .

C om m u n ity A v e ra g e A ge

M o d e m O rth o d o x

M o d e ra te ly O rth o d o x

S trictly O rth o d o x

S yn agogu es

S ynagogues

Synagogues

5

12

13

5 5 % plus

35%

1 5 % plus

3 5 -4 5

5 0 -6 0

3 0 -4 0

More than half of all the Orthodox in Baltimore belong to the five modern Orthodox congregations, which in this context we are defining as using a microphone on Shabbos and Yom Tov, and having a relatively low m echitza separating the men's and women's sections. Generally, their members are the more affluent 9 9 44

EI s

and have a good balance of younger and older elements. The two largest synagogues have a significant number of three-generation families among their members.

In contrast, most of the members of the twelve moderately Or­ thodox congregations, to which approximately a third of the Or­ thodox community belongs, are in their fifties and sixties; only between 10% and 25% are 40 and younger. Their number is de­ clining by natural attrition.

The 13 strictly Orthodox synagogues, most of which are small, informal shtieblach, comprise only 15% of the Orthodox com­ munity. But more than half of their members are in their middle twenties and younger; and half of the congregations are less than ten years old. The majority of both women and men have more secular and religious education than their parents. A good many are products of yeshivos g ed olos, colleges or institutes of graduate-level religious and secular studies in the United States and Israel. Quite a few are kollel scholars, married graduate students of rabbinics. A good many of the men combine semichah with advanced secular degrees or professional certification. They have high standards of religious observance and commitment to continued study of Torah, regardless of their professions. Hence, they reject any type of compromise in the manner of worship or social activities that characterize many of the older shuls. If they cannot change synagogues to meet their own higher standards, they organize their own congregations, frequently in refurbished private homes.

Three of the four Chassidic shuls were formed by pre- or postWorld W ar II immigrants, under the leadership of rebbes of out­ standing scholarship and piety. Yet, they too are increasingly at­ tracting members from the growing number of young professionals or government workers who are moving to Bal­ timore because of its excellent religious and secular educational facilities for the young and for adults. Many of these are products of the Boro-Park-type of Chassidic environment and upbringing.

The fourth is the congregation of the Chabad House, made up of a dozen or so Lubavitcher Chassidim in their twenties and thirties, and a few older men from the neighborhood. Most of their wor­ shippers, however, are ba'alei teshuva, young men and women attracted by the intensive outreach program of the Lubavitcher activists and the Orthodox religious philosophy and life-style.

The most important aspect of this strong growth of the younger membership among the modern Orthodox and the strictly Or­ thodox congregations is that they have larger families than the average Baltimore or American Jewish household. Yet most of them are still in the middle of building their families and careers.

Typical is the composition of one suburban shtiebel, as they refer to their congregation, formed three years ago. Its members

The 13 strictly Orthodox synagogues, most o f which are small, informal shtieblach, comprise only 15% o f the Orthodox community. But more than half o f their members are in their middle twenties and younger . . .

. . . they too are increasingly attracting members from the growing num ber o f young professionals or governm ent workers . . .

45

The most important aspect of this strong growth o f the younger membership among the m odem Orthodox and the strictly Orthodox congregations is that they have larger families than the average Baltimore or American Jewish household.

Yet most o f them are still in the middle of building their families and careers.

are mostly professionals who were dissatisfied with the syna­ gogues in their area. They meet in the basement of a young man who has five children, holds an M .A . and a rabbinic degree, and works for the Social Security Administration, as do dozens of other young Orthodox men and women in the community. The shtiebel has fifteen members who average three children each, suf­ ficient to crowd their makeshift synagogue to capacity on Shabbos morning. They are willing to make sacrifices to maintain their own congregation. As one of them, a research physicist, who works for the United States Navy in Washington, D .C ., put it: We are young men still in the beginning.or middle of our careers. We send our children to day schools, which means thousands of dollars in tuition, and school-related projects. But we won't join the synagogues whose members and administrations have a different outlook and lower standards of commitment and observance. We'd rather do with our temporary quarters than yield to their watered-down style of services. Their people are old and there is not a child in sight in their fancy buildings.

. . . we w ont join the synagogues whose members and administrations have a different outlook and lower standards of commitment and observance . . .

The shtiebel is now forced to look for new and bigger quarters to accommodate their growing families, but they are not willing to join the typical older, moderate Orthodox synagogues in their area. Though most are salaried people, these young men and women of the shtiebel and similar synagogues prefer to seek mem­ bership in small shuls, or form their own congregations to meet their standards of commitment and religious observance. A major consideration is the fact that these small shuls do not demand the large investment of funds and participation in the social activities that characterize the older moderately Orthodox congregations programs, and which they consider a waste of time or even inap­ propriate. While this makes for further fragmentation and provokes the ire of the leadership of the older congregations, it has produced a great deal of new and more intensive Jewish life in the Baltimore Orthodox community.

The situation is different in the large modern Orthodox syna­ gogues, one third of whose membership consists of families whose heads are forty and younger. Many of them are successful lawyers, physicians, businessmen, or executives. They constitute a new socio-economic elite whose life style is similar to that of the older businessmen who still predominate in the administrations of most synagogues of the American Jewish community, the Or­ thodox as well as the Conservative and Reform. Increasingly, however, members of the new elite are moving into leadership positions. As the rabbi of the largest modern Orthodox synagogue commented: These young leaders have the intelligence, education, organizational know-how, as well as the commitment which we need for a Jewish future.

The broad age-spread of the membership of the modern Or­ thodox synagogues stimulates a great variety of programs of all 46

softs and types, not all of which are acceptable to the strictly Or­ thodox. They have special services and activities for children, teenagers, young adults, and adults, tailored to their particular needs and interests.

These trends in the composition and orientation of the Or­ thodox synagogues in Baltimore result in three major changes: L type of synagogue services; II. educational and social programs; III. type and level of involvement in community-wide programs, projects, and Jewish political activities and organizations.

Synagogue Services There is a sharp difference in attitudes between the younger el­ ements who belong to the modern Orthodox and those who belong to the strictly Orthodox congregations, as to the type of services they each desire. The young modern Orthodox, like their elders, want formal services conducted by a professional cantor.

They want a rabbi who is an eloquent orator, whose sermons are "relevant," and who provides inspiration, religious leadership, personal guidance, and Jewish political direction. If their re­ ligious, cultural, and social needs are not met, m any— particularly those whose Jewish educational backgrounds are weak—may join Conservative synagogues because they do not have a strong commitment to the stringent Orthodox standards of halacha.

The opposite is true for the growing number of strictly Or­ thodox young men and women who, because of their education in day schools, yeshivos and institutions of advanced Jewish studies, set more stringent standards for themselves, their personal life­ styles, and their synagogues' functions and functionaries. They reject the formal services that characterize the modern Orthodox and the older strictly Orthodox synagogues. They prefer amateur b a a lei tefilah over a trained cantor, and the old or new Chassidic niggunim over the stylized, traditional melodies of the older types of strictly Orthodox synagogues. They are not interested in being "relevant." Nor do they go for the standard fare of breakfast minyanim, brunches, lunches, or banquets of the brotherhoods and sisterhoods with their book reviews or popular lectures on health, wealth and societal problems. Their religious, cultural and intel­ lectual orientation requires different challenges than those offered by most of the eloquent young rabbis or the older, Europeantrained, Yiddish-speaking rabbis. Naturally, this provokes neg­ ative reactions and criticism, such as that voiced by a prominent American senior rabbi:

The situation is different in the large m odem Orthodox synagogues, one third of whose membership consists o f families whose heads are forty and younger.

All these years I have waited for the young b'nai T o ra h and profes­ sionals as the ideal baalei-battim . Now that many have come to our city and joined my shul, they have so much to criticize that I won't mind if they leave and establish their own shtiebel. I have a large

47

congregation of older men and women with whom I must continue to work and who, frankly speaking, have the means and commitment to sustain my synagogue.

Other rabbis openly protest the split caused by the young, more critical elements "who look to their former Roshei Yeshiva or Chassidic rebbes for guidance and direction," as one of them said, "and who have little use or respect for the shul rabbis."

Education

N C SY has over a thousand members, many of whom have gone on to intensive Jewish study programs in the U. S. and Israel. From their ranks have also come some of the most active young members and officers o f the older, moderately orthodox synagogues, which are thrilled by this injection of young blood.

48

As far as Jewish educational programs are concerned, the trend is overwhelmingly in favor of more intensive Jewish education than that provided by the Hebrew Schools that were affiliated with most synagogues—Orthodox as well as non-Orthodox. For example: the largest moderately Orthodox synagogue, once the mainstay of Orthodox communal activities in Baltimore, had over seven hundred students in its thriving Hebrew School as recently as 15 years ago. Now it has a token group of thirty. Its mem­ bership is aging, and as their rabbi put it: "Most of the time I am the youngest man here; and I'm going on fifty." Only a few of the suburban Orthodox synagogues still have Hebrew Schools, and these are more of a service to the community in the area than to the children or grandchildren of their members. Even the large modem Orthodox synagogues, which still have sizeable Hebrew Schools, put increasing emphasis on day school education. The largest and most modern shul has a thriving day school with over four hundred students, and its Hebrew School has only half as many boys and girls. The reason for the success of the day school is not only fear of the public schools and their well-publicized problems. To a high degree it is an expression of search for meaning in life, for Jewish roots, and for more knowledge than provided in Hebrew Schools. Furthermore, the impact of the Hol­ ocaust, of the State of Israel, and the threats to Jewish survival are vital factors in the new orientation, even of parents that are not strictly Orthodox.

The strictly Orthodox parents, particularly the younger el­ ements who themselves are products of an intensive yeshiva edu­ cation, are the most ardent supporters of day school education for their boys and girls, and for advanced study until long past college age. Consequently, there are now almost as many day school students among the young of the Baltimore community as there are in the combined Hebrew Schools of the Orthodox, Conserv­ ative and Reform synagogues—close to 1,300. And this figure does not include the hundreds of Baltimore boys and girls who are studying at yeshiva high schools and colleges for advanced studies elsewhere in the United States and in Israel. Yet only twenty years ago, Talmud Torah and Hebrew Schools rosters had almost ten times as many students as the local day schools. The only real growth is in nurseries and kindergartens in synhgogue-affiliated

and private schools, because a larger number of women work or pursue careers, or believe in early childhood education.

A second type of program thriving in Orthodox as well as in non-Orthodox synagogues is adult education. These institutes at­ tract many hundreds, particularly among the younger and middle-aged women from suburbia. They offer courses for the general public, and intensive study classes that meet daily or weekly. Regular study programs and independent Torah study have always been part of the synagogue's central activities. And the Bais Hamidrash of Baltimore's downtown synagogues used to be crowded with first generation immigrants who would come to learn Torah early in the morning before going to work, and at night after long hours in the shops. Now members of the third and fourth generations have taken up this lifelong pursuit of Torah study, often to the amazement of their parents and grandparents who had moved into suburbia and adopted its life-style.

Emphasis of the adult education institutes is on reaching out to hitherto unaffiliated and to the less learned among the affiliated members. An institute set up for ba'alei teshuva by some young scholars has proven particularly successful in attracting these young men and women who are searching earnestly. Many of them are becoming seriously committed to religious Judaism and to a more or less intensive Orthodox Jewish life-style.

Special efforts are also being made by the Orthodox synagogues and schools to attract and teach the new Russian immigrants, now numbering about fifteen hundred, who have settled in Northwest Baltimore. A good many have undergone circumcision, con­ version, and proper religious marriage. But few have remained in the Orthodox synagogues (and even fewer in Conservative and Reform congregations), except the children who have been suc­ cessfully integrated into the local day schools.

More successful have been the intensive outreach programs of youth organizations such as the National Conference of Syna­ gogue Youth (NCSY), the youth group of the Orthodox Union, which in the past eight years has established branches in many of the old mainline and suburban synagogues. As a result of the en­ thusiastic work of the leaders they have been highly successful in attracting youngsters from all circles. NCSY has over a thousand members, many of whom have gone on to intensive Jewish study programs in the U .S. and Israel. From their ranks have also come some of the most active young members and officers of the older, moderately orthodox synagogues, which are thrilled by this in­ jection of young blood*

Probably the most important contribution of the younger generation is their participation in various types o f communal and national Jewish social and political activities . . .

Community Involvement Probably the most important contribution of the younger gen­ eration is their participation in various types of communal and national Jewish social and political activities. Though they do not 49

. . . they make a substantial contribution to raising the standards and intensifying the activities that are vital fo r the ritual and religious life of the congregations and their members . . .

. . . there is emerging a strongly committed elite of capable young men and women . . . the new elite is moving into the front ranks of local synagogue and communal life.

50

have the resources and power of the older, successful busi­ nessmen, they make a substantial contribution to raising the standards and intensifying the activities that are vital for the ritual and religious life of the congregations and their members. Their high level of secular and religious education and their dedication to the application of halacha in daily life equip them to play leading roles in such realms as kashrus, the local mikva, the eruv, and similar projects. Occasionally, these efforts of the young ac­ tivists produce friction with the rabbinic and lay leadership of the Orthodox establishment who resent interference in this previously exclusive domain and source of income for the older rabbis. But the community in general appreciates the elevation of standards, the intensification of the levels of religious and ritual observance, and the availability of products and services previously un­ available, at little or no extra cost.

Some outstanding younger individuals are also gradually moving into the leadership structure of the Jewish community of Baltimore. Most of them come from the modern Orthodox syna­ gogues; but some are from among the strictly Orthodox young leaders, and are products of intensive yeshiva education.

This activism does not appear to include participation in general political life in Baltimore. There is little evidence of the electioneering of local and national candidates that is now common in the Chassidic centers of New York City, where young Orthodox men and women become candidates, in growing numbers, for city and state offices. Senators and Congressmen are, of course, very much part of the synagogue banquet and mass meeting circuits. But except in the largest synagogues, there is little public appeal for support of candidates. However, there is strong positive sentiment for the backing of judges and city officials who are members of Orthodox synagogues.

More important is the participation of the Orthodox synagogue membership in Jewish political life on the local, national and inter­ national levels. At present there are no synagogues officially affil­ iated with any of the religious parties, except the small shul of Bnei Akiva, the Religious Zionist Youth movement. But there is a strong trend, particularly among the younger elements, for mem­ bership and support of the so-called "ultra-Orthodox" Agudath Israel movement. Less than twenty-five years ago many of the local rabbis and heads of the rabbinical college and day schools were active in the more moderate Mizrachi or Religious Zionist movement. Now most are active in Agudath Israel, and work with the prominent leaders of the younger strictly Orthodox syna­ gogue. The synagogue that had once been the center of the local moderate Young Israel branch, is now solidly right-wing Agudah.

Some of the activists of the Religious Zionist movement are still prominent in the older moderate and modern Orthodox syna-

gogues. But the majority of the older elements, and the affluent elite of the modern Orthodox congregations are active in the general Zionist movements or in the super-organizations of Jewish communal life, such as the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congre­ gations on the national level, or the powerful Associated Feder­ ation of Jewish Charities, on the local level.

Some Conclusions This study of the Orthodox synagogues in the Baltimore Jewish community suggests the following significant patterns of change: • First and foremost, there is emerging a strongly committed elite of capable young men and women who have had a better Jewish and secular education, and are at a generally higher professional level than most of their elders. Though they do not yet have the financial resources that gave the successful businessmen a position of power (in spite of their frequently lower-degree of religious knowledge and commitment), the new elite is moving into the front ranks of local synagogue and communal life.

• Secondly, growing numbers of young men and women, mostly in their thirties, already have families of two and more children, far above the 1.8 average of the broader American and Baltimore Jewish community. They place greater emphasis on intensive re­ ligious study of the day school and yeshiva type from which most have drawn their own personal and collective commitment.

• Thirdly, while the younger elements of the modern Orthodox synagogues continue to prefer the more formal type of services, the majority of the more strictly Orthodox elements join or or­ ganize new congregations with informal lay structures. Politi­ cally, they have moved to the right, into the ranks of the Agudah movement.

• Finally—and very important—most realms of synagoguerelated ritual and communal activities have received new impetus from the contributions of competent younger spokesmen, ac­ tivists, and leaders. They are largely responsible for the new, more positive public image of the American Orthodox Jewish com­ munity in Baltimore, as elsewhere. By virtue of their higher secular and religious education and intense commitment, and with their growing experience and resources, they are bound to play a major role in and beyond the Orthodox synagogues of the future.

51

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Reb C hayim of Volozhin Reb Chayim was born in 1749 in Volozhin, a small Russian town in the district of Vilna, from whence he took his name. His mother descended from leading rabbinical figures such as the Maharam Lublin and Reb Yom Tov Lipman Heller, the author of Tosafos Yom Tov on the Mishna. His father, a parries of the local Jewish Community, constantly sought to aid the poor by lessening their tax burden. In such a home, the young Chayim received his earliest training and education.

At the age of twelve, the youngster began to study with the well-known Reb Raphael Hamburger, then the rav of the greater Minsk district. When he was fifteen, Reb Chayim studied with Reb Ary eh Leib Gunzberg, who became the rav of Volozhin in 1750 where he prepared his classic Shaages A ry eh for publication.

While in Volozhin, both Reb Chayim and his older brother, Reb Simchah, studied with Reb Aryeh Leib who was renowned for his independent approach and incisive method of study. The young Chayim was greatly influenced by these aspects of his teacher's methodology. While studying with the Shaages A ryeh , the two brothers continued their learning late into the night. When candles were not available, they studied by the light of the moon.

Reb Chayim later began to forge a close relationship with the Torah luminary who would become his main mentor, Reb Eliahu, the Gaon of Vilna. From the age of nineteen on, Reb Chayim began to regularly visit the Gaon three or four times a year. He generally remained in Vilna about a month each time, discussing all his Talmudic problems and halachic questions with the Gaon.

Reb Chayim continued this practice for more than twenty years.

During this time he became the Gaon's most dedicated talmid as he totally mastered his mentor's method of study and daily de­ portment. The Gaon had forged a new rabbinic methodology by insisting upon the establishment of a proper text, free of textual errors that had crept in due to faulty transcription. He also dis­ avowed pilpul, insisting instead on a thorough analysis of the text.

Reb Chayim later displayed these characteristics in his Talmudic discourses and responsa. He never allowed himself to be bound by convention and tradition if he felt the truth was elsewhere.

In 1773, Reb Chayim became the rav of his native Volozhin.

This came about when Reb Raphael Hamburger chanced to travel through Volozhin. When he learned that its rabbinate was vacant, he encouraged the local lay-leaders to offer the position to its native son, Reb Chayim, who remained there until 1789. That year Reb Chayim was called to the more prestigious position of rav of Vilkomir. Here he succeeded the late Reb Shlomo, an older talmid of the Vilna Gaon. The Vilkomir community had covered

Reb Chayim forged a close relationship with the Torah luminary who would become his main mentor, Reb Eliahu, the Gaon o f Vilna.

This is the latest of Rabbi Rakeffet's studies o f Torah luminaries which have appeared in Jewish Life.

53

Reb Shlomo's seat in the beis ha-midrash with a blac his demise. Only with the arrival of Reb Chayim was this covering removed and the seat given to the new rav. Nevertheless, Reb Chayim only remained in Vilkomir for one year. Controversy broke out over Reb Chayim's principle of not accepting a salary for his rabbinical functions. He insisted on operating a textile plant to sustain himself. Some of the local laymen were opposed to their rav being involved in commercial endeavors. It is also related that at the height of this controversy he was asked the exact time of the appearance of the new moon on Shabbos Reb Chayim was unable to answer and his opponents turned this in­ cident into another rationale for their opposition. Later in life, Reb Chayim would always advise young rabbonim to check the exact time of the m olad before S habbos M'vorchim.

Reb Chayim returned to Volozhin as a result of this opposition.

His native city warmly welcomed him and he was to remain the rav of Volozhin for the rest of his life. He gradually gained recog­ nition for his erudition and was not diffident in responding to dif­ ficult halachic inquiries. Reb Chayim even wrote responsa re­ garding aggunos, married women who could not properly establish that their husbands were dead. In one such responsum he wrote: In our locality the rabbinic sages have placed a difficult burden upon me. They refuse to permit an a g u n n a h [to marry] unless they have my humble acquiescence. I contemplated before my Creator and concluded that I must utilize all my abilities for the well-being o f the a g u n n o s (C h u t h a -M eshullash, N o . 5 ).

Controversy broke out over Reb Chayim's principle of not accepting a salary fo r his rabbinical functions. He insisted on operating a textile plant to sustain himself.

54

With the ever-increasing fame of the Volozhiner rav, his at­ titude towards the Chassidim became pivotal in the continuing controversy between them and their opponents. Unlike the Vilna Gaon who opposed Chassidus on the social and the intellectual levels, Reb Chayim practiced a dual approach. In the social sphere, he was on friendly and amicable terms with them. Many studied in the yeshivah which he later organized, and he be­ friended and guided them. Never did he insist that they disregard their Chassidic life-style. Chassidim traveling through Volozhin also sought audiences with Reb Chayim. He received them gra­ ciously, and some were guests at his Shabbos table. It is reported that one such visitor was even asked by Reb Chayim to repeat some words of Torah of Reb Shneour Zalman of Lyady, the founder of Chabad Chassidus. Nevertheless, on a philosophical level, Reb Chayim totally negated much of the Chassidic ide­ ology. He stressed the study of Torah li-shemah, for the sake of understanding, rather than as an expression of ecstasy or spiritual theurgy. The study of Torah, he taught, is the most basic mitzvoh, since the continued orderly existence of the universe is dependent upon learning. Only through this study does the individual attain unity with God and the Torah. Reb Chayim also opposed the

stress on the subjective kavanah of the individual when it resulted in transgression of the objective halacha. He decried those who delayed the recitation of the minchah until after dark in order to attain more intense concentration. He wrote in the Nefesh Ha'Chaim (page 92): I have seen with my own eyes a community where some people who have become so accustomed to praying at the wrong time that they have almost completely forgotten the time designated by the chach a m im for the m in ch a h . . . They think that m in h a h should pref­ erably be prayed a fter the stars appear. When one man says to an­ other, let us say m in ch a h , the latter responds, let's see if the stars are visible. May God forgive and grant atonement to those who act so foolishly.

Reb Chayim was also acclaimed for his wordly wisdom and intuitive insight. On one occasion the rabbonim of Navardok and Mir brought a dispute between their communities before Reb Chayim, who ruled in favor of Mir, despite the persistent efforts of the Navardoker Rav to uphold his community. As a result, Reb Chayim sensed that the Navardoker was angry with him. Later that year, they met at a trade exposition, and Reb Chayim asked that the Rav of Navardok accept a difficult Din Torah which had been presented to him. The Navardoker Rav agreed and af­ terwards informed Reb Chayim of his decision in the case, who then called attention to the fact that this case was very similar to the dispute between the communities of Navardok and Mir. The Rav of Navardok had now ruled exactly like Reb Chayim's verdict in the earlier case. Reb Chayim therefore claimed that the Rav of Navardok had no reason to be upset with his previous ruling.

Months later, one of the litigants in the second case passed through Navardok. During his stay there, he visited with the Rav who asked him how he finally worked out his relationship with the other disputant. The visitor then explained to the surprised Rav of Navardok that there had never been an actual controversy: they had been asked by Reb Chayim to stage a dispute, and he even gave them the money to pay the Rav of Navardok for his services.

Tradition also credited Reb Chayim with keen insight in imme­ diately discerning the falseness of the so-called "Crimean Jew ." He had been received with great fanfare by Vilna Jewry after he had been described him as a representative of a powerful African king who was Jewish. The "Crimean Jew" was a powerful preacher who inspired the masses to follow his lead. He publicly displayed great care in his religious observances. Subsequently he was of­ fered the position of town preacher of Minsk. Reb Chayim cau­ tioned against accepting his outward piety. In a short time it was discovered that the "Crimean Jew" was in reality an agent of the Czarist government sent to check on tax evasion by the Jewish populace.

Unlike the Vilna Gaon who opposed Chassidus on the social and the intellectual levels, Reb Chayim practiced a dual approach. In the social sphere, he was on friendly and amicable terms with them.

. . . on a philosophical level, Reb Chayim totally negated much o f the Chassidic ideology. He stressed the study o f Torah li-shemah, fo r the sake of understanding, rather than as an expression o f ecstasy or spiritual theurgy.

55

The opening of a Yeshiva in Volozhin became Reb Chayim's most important achievement.

Reb Chayim was cognizant of his position as a leader and care­ fully thought out his positions. On one occasion, he sent a letter to his daughter Chassia who lived in Lida through a person traveling there. Before the traveler left Volozhin, Reb Chayim substituted a new letter for the original letter. Shortly afterwards Chassia visited her family in Volozhin. Her brother asked about the contents of the letter and was surprised to hear that it was exactly the same as the original. However, she did mention that shortly after receiving the letter, a get was issued for a woman named Chassia. The Lida Rav asked to see a letter from her father so that he could ascertain exactly how to spell the name. This was the sole difference between the two letters—the spelling of Chassia.

The opening of a Yeshiva in Volozhin became Reb Chayim's most important achievement. Those were times of change and transition in the Jewish world. The old way of ghetto life was grad­ ually disintegrating. The ongoing controversy between the Chas­ sidim and the Misnagdim also left its mark on the Jewish com­ munity. In the past there had been no central yeshivos in Europe since young men generally learned in the local Batei M idrash , and the town rav supervised them. Often this learning was haphazard.

With the ever-widening cracks in the ghetto wall such a method of study was bound to become increasingly detrimental to Torah ob­ servance. The Chassidic viewpoint regarding Torah studies also was gaining acceptance among the masses. They stressed the study of practical works which emphasized ethical instruction and the fear of God. Reb Chayim described the situation in his Nefesh Ha'Chayim (page 93): Even those who desire to come close to the Lord are mainly preoc­ cupied with books detailing the fear of God and m u ssa r . . . May God forgive them, for their intentions are good; but this is not the path upon which the light of Torah shines.

Earlier generations were totally involved in the study of Talmud and its commentaries. They were consumed by the love of Torah which constantly glowed within their hearts. Nowadays, however, the opposite is true. Books on m u ssa r and the fear of God are the main texts, and n o t the traditional studies. I have seen an area where the Batei M ed ra sh contain mainly m u ssa r works, and there is not even one complete Shas among them . . . If this continues, there soon will be a lack of properly-trained rabbonim, and what will then become of the Torah!

The Yeshivah, officially named Yeshiva Etz Chayim, was opened around 1802. Gathering a small group of competent students around him, Reb Chayim totally supported the school from his own funds. As the student body increased, Reb Chayim appealed for support from the greater Jewish community. In an open letter circulated in 1803 he described the conditions which led to his starting the school: Let us not say a word against God's nation. They have not rebelled against God and the Torah. Many wish to learn Torah but have no 56

means of support. Others can afford to study but they do not have teachers capable of teaching them the proper method of Talmudic analysis. For many years in this area the leading scholars have estab­ lished their own small classes feeling that larger groups would not appreciate Torah study.

Reb Chayim proposed that his Yeshiva be open to many more students. There would be regular classes with teachers who were excellent pedogogues. The needy pupils would also be supported by the school so that they could totally devote themselves to Torah study. Reb Chayim volunteered his services as a teacher and urged those competent to follow his example. Others should give funds to the Yeshiva so that it could meet its ever-increasing budget.

When there were over one hundred students in the Yeshiva, Reb Chayim began a campaign to build a structure for the school. In the past Torah study took place in community owned study houses and synagogues. The idea of a yeshiva having its own building was considered a radical change for this period. Never­ theless, Reb Chayim also succeeded in this venture, and a large wooden structure became the permanent home of the Volozhiner Yeshiva. He was motivated not only out of concern for the physical needs of the students, he also wanted to free them from their dependence upon the good will of the local laymen. The Ye­ shiva now supervised its own premises and the students were free to pursue their own unique way of life.

Reb Chayim insisted that the voice of Torah never be stilled.

Groups were organized for each night so that there were always students in the Bais Medrash. This practice was followed even on the Shabbos and Yom Tov. At the conclusion of Yom Kippur, Reb Chayim continued studying until midnight since he knew that others had stopped.

While involved with his Yeshiva responsibilities, Reb Chayim did not neglect his communal responsibilities. Every morning fol­ lowing Shacharis, he taught a public class on the weekly Torah portion. The town basked in the Yesniva's glory and Volozhin became a by-word in the Torah world. Reb Chayim was also active in responding to the problems which began to engulf Russian Jewry during this period. He aided and guided delegations sent to St. Petersburg to negotiate with the Czarist government to secure additional rights for Jews and to minimize antisemitism.

On one occasion, while a commission was in the capital city, Alex­ ander I appointed a special committee to oversee the introduction of secular studies into Jewish schools. The Jewish delegation was apprehensive that such an innovation would lead to mass assimi­ lation, and they sent for rabbinic leaders to join them in St. Petersberg. Although quite advanced in age at the time, Reb Chayim traveled the long distance to the capital. He did not leave until it was certain that the Czar's plans could be averted.

Gathering a small group of competent students around him, Reb Chayim totally supported the school from his own funds.

57

Nevertheless, Reb Chayim's main energies were devoted to the Yeshiva. His lectures were the focal point of the school's public classes. The best minds gathered around Reb Chayim and eagerly listened to him. Among those who later became rabbinic leaders were Reb Yaakov of Karlin, the author of the M ishkanos Y aakov; Reb David Tevel of Minsk, the author of Nahalas David ; Reb Yoseph of Slutsk; and Reb Yoseph Zundel of Salant. The latter settled in Yerushalayim, but only after he profoundly influenced Reb Yisrael Salanter with the ideals that lead to the creation of the Mussar Movement. Reb Chayim's devotion to his students was limitless. Reb Meir Shalom of Karelitz studied with Reb Chayim for fourteen years, after which he arranged for Reb Meir Shalom to head a Yeshiva in Vilna. Some of his contemporaries were jealous of this appointment and attempted to minimize his stature.

While on a visit to Vilna, Reb Chayim regularly attended his talmid's shiurim and engaged him in scholarly discussion in the presence of the assembly. Reb Meir Shalom's position was strengthened after his master publicly displayed such esteem for his talmid.

Reb Chayim did not expect his students to follow him blindly.

He felt that each must be intellectually honest and exercise his own independent thinking. Even if this led to differences of opinion between them it was still within the context of a proper rebbitalmid relationship. In his commentary to Pirke A vos (1:4), Reb Chayim wrote: It is forbidden for a student to accept his teacher's viewpoints blindly when he in fact questions them. At times truth may lie with the talmid. It is like a small piece of wood which kindles a larger one. This is the meaning of our Sages' dictum: "Let your house be a meeting place for scholars; sit at their feet in the dust; and drink in their words thirstily." To "sit at their feet" also has as its root the word "to wrestle." It is similar to that which the Torah tells us about Yaakov: "There wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day."

Likewise, we must struggle with rabbinic works. We must attempt to answer their questions and to refute their viewpoints. We must never show favoritism to anyone but rather constantly seek the truth.

Reb Chayim insisted that the voice of Torah never be stilled. Groups were organized fo r each night so that there were always students in the Bais Medrash.

This practice was followed even on the Shabbos and Yom Tov.

58

Reb Chayim had two sons and three daughters. Reb Yitzhak assisted his father in the Yeshiva and later succeeded him as its head and as the Rav of Volozhin. Reb Chayim's other son, Reb Yoseph, died at a relatively young age. Reb Chayim's three sonsin-law were Reb Hillel of Grodno; Reb Mordecai Kamenetzky of Lida; and Reb Yoseph Soloveitchik of Kovno. Reb Hillel also lec­ tured in the Yeshiva for ten years, and afterward became a rav in his native Grodno. Reb Mordecai was a wealthy businessman while Reb Yoseph was a rav in Kovno. The latter became the forebear of the pre-eminent Soloveitchik family.

Towards the end of his life, Reb Chayim was afflicted with illness. About a half year before his death, on Rosh Ha'Shanah, H £Bf

the Sefer Torah fell from his hands when he had been honored While involved with his with hagba'ah.Reb Chayim then confided to his close acquaintances that his end was near. Later that year, on the fourteenth or Sivan, 1821, he died at the age of seventy-two. He was Every morning following buried in his beloved Volozhin, mourned by the entire Torah Shacharis, he taught a public class on the weekly Torah world. portion.

Reb Chayim's main writings were published posthumously by his son and successor, Reb Yitzhak. These included his com­ mentary to Pirke A vos Ru'ach Ha'Chayim, and his magnum opus, Nefesh Ha'Chayim, the classic response to the challenge of Chassidus. Some of his important responsa were later published to­ gether with Chut Hut b l y his great-grandson, Reb eshu a-M H Chayim Hillel Fried, and Bais Ha'Levi, by his great-grandson, Reb Yoseph Baer Soloveitchik of Brisk.

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O ur Annual Book Roundup In our past annual book roundups—which have appeared more and less than annually—we have distinguished between reviews and literary criticism. Reviews are generally written by jour­ nalists; criticism is generally written by critics. Critics are gen­ erally assumed to be brighter than reviewers; they have a language all their own which only other critics can understand. In this section we aspire only to the lowest level of this kind of writing about books, which we would call "book reports," if that ex­ pression did not conjur up images of grade school or high school assignments. We intend no more than to share with our readers information on books sent to us for "review," combined with some observations about the books, their publishers, authors and editors.

Abraham Isaac Kook—The Lights of Penitence, Lights of Ho­ liness, The Moral Principles, Essays, Letters, and Poems, The

Classics o f Western Spirituality, Translation and Introduction by Ben Zion Bokser, Preface by Jacob Agus and Rivka Schatz, Paulist Press, New York.

Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook was the first Ashkenazik Chief Rabbi of Eretz Yisrael, serving in that office from 1919 until his death in 1935. His ahavas Yisrael and his ahavas Eretz Yisrael often brought him into conflict with rabbinic leaders of this time, although none questioned his piety, his vast Torah learning, his capacity to deal with kabbala, and his grasp of secular philos­ ophies. His writings were published during his lifetime and post­ humously, and much yet remains in manuscript. His works are difficult to read and understand, and, as he himself admitted, the difficulty is compounded by his style. Some of his work has been popularized in Hebrew and in English, but this volume represents the first attempt to translate into English most of his major works and his essays, letters and poetry. And this volume too, were more people aware of it, might engender consternation and contro­ versy, as did his own life. Ben Zion Bokser, the translator and editor, whose earlier work in the field has been published in several books and journal articles, occupies a pulpit in a Conserv­ ative congregation in New York City. Preface One is written by His ahavas Yisrael and his ahavas Eretz Yisrael often Jacob Agus, who has sem icha from Yeshiva University where he brought him into conflict taught for many years. Preface Two is by Rivka Schatz- with rabbinic leaders o f this Uffenheimer, Professor of Kabbala and Chassidus at Hebrew Uni­ time, although none versity. And the work is published by the Paulist Press, a distin­ questioned his piety, his vast Torah learning, his capacity guished Catholic publishing house as part of its series on Western to deal with kabbala, and his spirituality. All this is not surprising: Rav Kook's philosophies grasp o f secular philosophies. have been embraced by the Conservative and Reform movements, who have mistakingly taken his "liberal" outlook as a 61

Rav Kook sought to bring new “Lights" into Orthodoxy, and not to compromise essential Torah beliefs and practices|

There is a reluctance to discuss the shortcomings of the yeshiva—an institution which has saved American Judaism from the brink of oblivion, restored Torah scholarship to its rightful place in Jewish life, and generally raised the level of Jewish life . . .

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deviation from Orthodox belief and tradition. When Rav Kook, for example, had warm and loving words for kibbutzniks—those who worked the sacred soil of Eretz Yisrael on Shabbos—it was because they were helping to rebuild the land; he was no more condoning chilul S habbos than he was supporting the views of secular Jews—who had turned their backs on Torah and m esora — when he chose to accept them as brothers and as partners in binyan ha'aretz. It is to the editor's credit that he makes clear in his Introduction, that Rav Kook sought to bring new "Lights" into Orthodoxy, and not to compromise essential Torah beliefs and practices. (Rav Kook couched much of his teaching in terms of Light, as in his classic work, Or os Ha'Teshuva , The Lights of Peni­ tence.)

Rav Kook's broad scope is still a major influence in Israeli life, and it ought not to be forgotten that his urging that Orthodoxy bring close those who stand at a distance was the source of the kiruv rechokim phenomenon which is now embraced by all shades of Orthodoxy. Yet it is here in America—where his teachings could help bring about rapprochement between Or­ thodox and non-O rthodox; as indeed w ithin the ranks of Orthodoxy—that his work and teachings appear not to be oper­ ating. If this work before us, regardless of the ambiguities of its production, were in some way to spread the Lights of Rav Kook, it will be to the credit of all who have had a share in it.

(For a brief introduction to the teachings of Rav Kook, the reader is referred to "The Philosophy of Rav Kook" by the late Zvi Yaron, Jewish Life, Summer/Fall 1978.)

Vision of Redemption, The Educational Philosophy of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook in Historical Perspective, Justin Harely Lewis , Four Quarters Publishing C om pany , New Haven 1979.

When rabbis and educators—and the proverbial "interested laymen"—get together these days, conversation often turns to some of the problems and weaknesses of yeshiva education today on the lower and upper levels. But the conversations are often muted when "an outsider" enters the room. There is a reluctance to discuss the shortcomings of the yeshiva—an institution which has saved American Judaism from the brink of oblivion, restored Torah scholarship to its rightful place in Jewish life, and generally raised the level of Jewish life in more areas and in more ways than may be immediately apparent. If, for example, students at the Hebrew Union College, Reform's seminary, demand kosher food and wear a kipa, it is Lakewood's impact on Cincinnati. Having achieved so much, those who are beneficiaries of the yeshiva, and remain in its orbit, refuse to admit, at least in public or in print, that it has any faults at all.

Given these inhibitions to open discussion, the work at hand offers an opportunity to become aware of the educational phi­ losophy of one who in his time was^willing to propose changes in

traditional yeshiva methodologies. The author of this work draws on Rav Kook's own writings and secondary sources in Hebrew, and in a clearly written volume delineates the Rav's approach to chinuch and to secular learning. He describes the obvious in­ fluence of the Maharal Mi'Prague, whose educational reforms were largely rejected, and whose critique has a contemporary ring. Lewis also describes Rav Kook's interaction with the educa­ tional philosophy of Rav Shamshon Rafael Hirsch and his dis­ ciples.

While the work has the tell-tale signs of a doctoral thesis, and lacks the fervor which the writer might otherwise have brought to bear on his subject, it fills a need in contemporary Jewish life and the message emerges even through the detached mannerisms and "apparatus" of scholarly dissertations. It might well serve as a source book for productive seminars and workshops on yeshiva chinuch , and as a "working paper" for some future re-evaluation of the traditional yeshiva curriculum. It could also serve as a text or source book for courses in Jewish education.

Vision o f Redemption is an important contribution to the popu­ larization of Rav Kook.

The Watcher, Isaac M ozeson, Downtown Poets , New Y ork .

Do you ever wonder: "Where have all the poets gone?"

When this writer was associated with another journal, some poetry arrived in the mail. The poet identified himself as a student at one of America's great yeshivos. "If you decide to print it," he wrote in a cover letter, "please don't use my name—the fellows in the Bais Medrash would make fun of m e." What of our neviim , the prophets who were more poets than "see-ers" into the future?

In their poetic flights—which even the most traditional of com­ mentators recognize as being poetic—it was the present that they saw best, the realities that the non-poets were unable to see. What of Ibn Ezra, Yehuda Ha'Levi? Where have all the poets gone? (I am indebted to Rabbi Pinchas Stolper for this anecdote: When Rabbi Stolper showed his mentor, the late Gaon Rav Yitzchak Hutner, something he had written in Which he cited a poem the Rosh Ye­ shiva had written, Rav Hutner asked that it be properly attributed to him. This gadol apparently, was not frightened by poetry.)

It is a truism in contemporary publishing that books of poetry sell very poorly, and that virtually no poet can sustain himself from his poetic endeavors alone. Isaac Elchanan Mozeson is an Orthodox Jew, a graduate of Yeshiva University, and he is willing to admit that he is a poet. For this alone his work deserves our attention. (His work appears in the Spring 1981 issue as well as this issue of Jewish Life.)

Mozeson has now issued his first major poetic work. For most of the year 1977 he worked as a "shomer," a "watcher" in a Jewish funeral chapel, remaining overnight with the dead awaiting burial

. . . some poetry arrived in the mail. The poet identified himself as a student at one of America's great yeshivos. "If you decide to print it," he wrote in a cover letter, "please don't use my name—the fellows in the Bais Medrash would make fun of me.

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Welcome Orthodox Jewish poet. We pray that the conventional wisdom about poetry and poets will not prevail in your case.

the next day, in keeping with the tradition that a corpse not be left alone until it is returned to the earth. From this experience—where he was able to observe traditional treatment of the dead, as well as the absurd practices of those who exploit the families of "the de­ parted" and huckster their wares in artificially sweetened and hushed tones—Mozeson chose not to preach or polemicize, but to convert his experience into poetry. (He stumbles at times and does lapse into preaching, but who says a poet may not preach?)

The W atcher opens with a prayer: Lord God,/Help me always to feel/Like the blind, to see/Like the deaf, to hear/Like the mute, and to Love/Like the dying. The W atcher blends the poet's Torah learning, secular sensitivities, and street idiom into a work that will speak to all who read it, and that in a sense defines poetry.

Welcome Orthodox Jewish poet. We pray that the conventional wisdom about poetry and poets will not prevail in your case.

Memorbook; History of Dutch Jewry from the Renaissance to 1940, with 1100 illustrations, and text by M ozes Heiman Gans,

translated from the Dutch, distributed by A bner Schram, 30 Park Street, Montclair, New Jersey, 07042.

Memorbook is an incredible work: it is one of the finest examples this writer has seen of the art of the printed book. Its 850 pages of text, documents, drawings, and photographs make it possible for the reader to experience without moving from his chair the six centuries of Dutch Jewry's history. The book's dimensions are im­ pressive: it is twelve inches tall, nine inches wide, over two inches thick—and weighs several pounds. Its scope and its beauty are even more impressive.

M em o rb o o k , as the author explains in his introduction, "Waiting for the Messiah," derives from a tradition going back to the Middle Ages to publish "Books of Remembrance . . . to recall the names of those who had perished lik'dushat hashem, for the sanctification of God's nam e." M em orbook , however, tells the story of Jewish life in the Netherlands. To assemble such a col­ lection of paintings, title and sample pages of sacred and secular books, and copies of drawings and documents is a monumental achievement. In a sense it is a valuable contribution to the liter­ ature commemorating the destruction of European Jewry while it celebrates the glorious life of the Jews who found haven and shelter—and acceptance—as free and honored Dutch citizens.

M em orbook —how does one avoid the cliche?—belongs in every Jewish library. To be a Jew today is to know from whence we come. Jewish tradition is the sum total of all of our sacred texts and all that we have experienced. The book's epigram says this so well.

Every Jew obeying the Ancient Commandment, "Tell ye your children of it", is a historian.

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The Minhagim/The Customs and Ceremonies of Judaism, Their Origins and Rationale, A braham Chill,

New York, 1979.

The average Jew today not conversant with Hebrew who seeks guidance on Jewish law has access to a growing number of works in the English language. (See our review of The Concise C ode o f Jewish Law, by Rabbi Gersion Appel, Jewish Life, Fall 1980 .) The work at hand brings a new dimension to this literature by giving the reader an authentic survey of the mixture of Torah Law with Jewish custom, much of the latter not being available in a single authoritative volume even in Hebrew.

Minhag, which means more than custom, is an amalgam of Torah and Rabbinic law with the overlay of folk-experiences over the centuries which may be expansions of required procedure or unique ways of observing these laws. Often, the minhagim's origins are obscured, and in such cases Rabbi Chill offers various explanations proffered by the literature on the subject, carefully documenting the sources at the end of each chapter. (The "Anno­ tated List of Authors" is in itself a valuable contribution for those who care to trace minhagim in the original sources.)

In the words of Professor Marvin Fox of Brandeis University, in his introduction to this work, the author "has done a great service to all who seek an introduction to the range and richness of minhagim in the major areas of Jewish life . . . He has explored with great care the customs of the various communities, and he has set them forth in a form which will be readily understood by every intelligent reader. His work is a contribution to a l l . . . who would like to include in their cermonial life not only the spare purity of the law, but also the beautiful poetry and art of ancestral Jewish custom."

Without detracting from the beauty and the value of this work, it should be noted that minhagim as well as halacha are governed by local usage, and they should not be adopted—or rejected—on the basis of this work alone. Community practice, as well as the teachings of the M orah d'Asra, the local rav, should be the de­ ciding factor in these matters. A reader charmed by a Sephardi custom, for example, might be embarrassed by practicing it in an Ashkenazi congregation. . . . the author "has done a This writer has yet another quibble. The author has interwoven great service to all y>ho seek Torah law with minhag, and the reader must be careful to distin­ an introduction to the range guish between them, particularly when circumstances require that and richness o f minhagim in choices be made. the major areas of Jewish Minhagim has been beautifully produced, with charming illus­ life . . trations, and source references that do not intrude into the text or the page, and are yet readily available. The publisher, Samuel Gross, has thereby enhanced the masterful work of Rav Chill, and the Jewish reader is in their debt.

65

left: Maccabean coin 67-40 B .C .E ., showing cornucopia; right: coin ofAntigonus Matisyahu, 40-37 B.C.E. with seven-branched menorah.

1976 Israeli Chanukah coin , showing colonial American Chanukiya, in commemoration of the American Bicentennial.

D. Bernard Hoenig

Chanukah G elt: Jewish T rad ition , or Pagan Practice?

Silver dollars and Kennedy halves; English shillings, Russian rubles and even chocolate coins—all have been used at one time or another for the traditional gift of Chanukah gelt. It is an old and beautiful custom, a highlight of the Festival of Freedom, particu­ larly for the child who receives it. During the Middle Ages, Cha­ nukah gelt was one of the primary means of support for the Jewish educator: the celebration emphasized a renewed dedication to the study of Torah. In recent years the fictitious aspects of the practice have been replaced with the real thing: genuine, legal tender— Chanukah gelt minted by the State of Israel; a dream come true: Jewish coins for a Jewish custom.

Despite its popularity, the authenticity of Chanukah gelt as a purely Jewish tradition is often questioned. Its historical sources are obscure and, oddly enough, no mention is made of the practice in the Talmud, Shulchan Aruch, or other original sources of Jewish law or lore. Only in some of the later scholarly studies are various theories proposed. One, for example, suggests that the child's acceptance of the Chanukah money symbolizes his or her acceptance of the responsibility to learn Torah; another declares that the gelt is merely intended to reawaken the youngster's in­ terest in the festival—much like the dippings during the Seder; and yet another suggests that the Chanukah gelt is given to remind us of God's graciousness through the restoration of the Bais Ha'Mikdash in 165 B.C .E. However interesting these theories may be, none attempt to relate the practice to the actual events which gave rise to Cha­ nukah. As a result of these feeble attempts to rationalize, two major theories have arisen that seek to destroy its Judaic roots.

In an attempt to wean the Jewish child from the color and pag­ eantry o f Christmas, the gentile tradition o f exchanging gifts was adopted by the Jews.

Both the Jewish and Christian customs are derived from the identical pagan practice o f the ancient winter solstice festival that pre-dated Chanukah by hundreds o f years.

The natural reaction to such thoughts is to shrug them off, or shout "Heresy!", or retort that it was probably the others that borrowed the Jewish minhag. Nevertheless, unless some con­ nection can be found between Chanukah and its gelt, it will always be observed as just a nice little custom to delight the Jewish child—but without any real religious or historical significance.

Determined to find such a relationship, we probed into the events that preceded and followed the re-dedication of the Bais Ha'Mikdash in 165 B .C .E ., since Chanukah was only the midway

Despite its popularity, the authenticity o f Chanukah gelt as a purely Jewish tradition is often questioned.

Its historical sources are obscure . . .

D. Bernard Hoenig is a free-lance writer who practices law in partnership with his distinguished father, Moses D. Hoenig.

67

point in a struggle for freedom that spanned one hundred years.

And there in the Book of Maccabees was a solution to the di­ lemma, a fascinating episode that tells of the important role of coinage in the Hasmonean efforts to achieve Jewish independence.

For more than twenty five years the Maccabean War had raged, taking the lives of Eliezer, Yehudah, and Yonasan. Finally, in 142 B.C .E ., the remaining son of Matisyahu— Shimon Ha'Makabi— brought Judea to the state of sovereignty. In an act of recognition considered vital to any emerging nation, Syria's King Antiochus VII Sidetes declared to Shimon:

. . . the first Jewish coins in history were the culmination o f the Hasmonean quest fo r freedom — religious and political~as expressed by the festival o f Chanukah.

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"I turn ov er to you the right to m ake your own stamp fo r coinage fo r your country. " (I Maccabees 15:6) It was an exciting moment for tiny Judea, for the right of coinage was in ancient times the ultimate symbol of nationhood.

Besides its obvious commercial use, it was frequently utilized to promote nationalism, espouse ideologies and commemorate his­ toric events. For years, the basic right to mint its own coins was denied to the Jewish people by the tyrannical Greco-Syrian rulers.

Thus, the first Jewish coins in history were the culmination of the Hasmonean quest for freedom—religious and political—as ex­ pressed by the festival of Chanukah. No longer did the coins of pagan overlords circulate through the Land of Israel as bitter re­ minders of Jewish suffering and subjugation.

While little is known about the coinage of Shimon (or if, in fact, the coins were ever issued), most of the Hasmonean dynasty strikes depicted cornucopiae, representing the nation's potential for growth and prosperity. Interestingly, one of the coins minted

by Antigonus Matisyahu (40-37 B.C .E.), the last of the Mac­ cabean kings, portrayed the seven-branched menorah on one side and the Table of the Showbread on the reverse, thus coming closer to the concept of Chanukah m oney than those of his predecessors.

The designs may have been deliberately used to remind the people of Chanukah, which had been neglected during the final years of the Hasmonean dynasty.

A half century later, when Judea's independence was again threatened—this time by the Roman Empire—the holiday was re­ vived and observed more fervently than ever before. Coincidental victory celebrations such as Nicanor Day, commemorating the defeat of the notorious Syrian general by Yehudah Maccabee, were incorporated into the festival, as were numerous customs of the period. In all likelihood, it was then that Chanukah gelt was introduced to symbolize those first Jewish coins that had instilled pride and self-reliance in the children and adults, and encouraged the giving of tzedaka throughout the land.

When the Second Bais Ha'Mikdash was destroyed, Jewish coinage ceased to exist, except for a brief period during the Bar Kochba revolt (132-135 C .E.). For almost two thousand years the tradition of Chanukah gelt has continued, acquiring different meanings in different communities.

In 1958, a decade after the rebirth of the State of Israel, Cha­ nukah gelt experienced its most important and exciting change.

Through a beautifully conceived program created by the Bank of Israel, special commemorative coins were struck exclusively for use as Chanukah money, thus converting concept into reality and fiction into fact. For the first time in Jewish history there were real coins called Chanukah gelt.

With a nominal value of one lira , the first such commemorative piece poignantly linked the ancient and modern worlds of Eretz Yisrael, portraying the same menorah that had appeared on the last M accabean coins of Antigonus Matisyahu, 1,998 years before. Beneath the lamp, in modern Hebrew script, were the in­ spiring words, Torah Ohr (The Torah is light).

In recent years each of the annual Chanukah coins was en­ graved with a different Chanukah menorah ( Chanukiya , as it is called in Israel), selected because of its artistic worth or to convey an appropriate message or theme. In 1972, for example, a five lirot silver coin was struck showing a 20th century Russian menorah.

The message to the world was clear: Despite the spiritual en­ slavement of millions of Soviet Jews, their quest for freedom would continue to burn brightly alongside the light of the Cha­ nukah menorah.

Commemorating the 200th birthday of the United States, the State of Israel struck its 1976 Chanukah coin with the engraving of a colonial-American menorah. The coin eloquently expressed the concept of democracy shared by Israel and America. Within a few months the entire issue was sold out and today it is one of Israel's rarer numismatic items. Other countries represented through their Chanukiyos have been Italy, Iraq, North Africa, Syria, Holland, France, Israel and Egypt.

Last year's com memorative—a silver one Shekel piece— reflected the change from the lira to the shekel as Israel's currency.

It depicted a menorah from Corfu, Greece which was the catalyst for the historical events of Chanukah. What was most exciting about this coin was that it was the first Shekel coinage to be struck by a Jewish government since the destruction of the Bais Ha'Mikdash in the year 70. To add to its historical significance was the decision of the Bank of Israel to mint the coin with the same silver content and weight as that of the ancient Judean shekel.

Israel's current Chanukah gelt carries the picture of an old me­ norah from Poland. Again, the Chanukiya is used to demonstrate Judaism's support of a beleaguered people; this time, the Polish workers struggling for freedom from Communist oppression.

Israel's Chanukah coinage has enabled thousands of Jews to participate in a fascinating and educational Judaic hobby with great investment potential. But above all, it has restored to that ancient custom the dignity, meaning and symbolism that it has always merited.

Through a beautifully conceived program created by the Bank o f Israel, special commemorative coins were struck exclusively fo r use as Chanukah money . . .

Commemorating the 200th birthday o f the United States, the State o f Israel struck its 1976 Chanukah coin with the engraving o f a coloniaUAmerican menorah.

The coin eloquently expressed the concept of democracy shared by . . .

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Isaac Elchanan Mozeson

On A Roof, Fiddling Zero, you were nothing if not Tevya the milechicah come to America

from intimate, obstinate Anatevka. *

So what can we d o? . . . It's a new world.

All day long you biddybiddy bummed trying to become a wealthy man.

Wonder o f wonders . . . a little bit o f this . . . a little bit o f that. . . now you have everything— do you know what everything's for?

Your big heart and great frame sang out a kosher style

tradition, tradition unsung in the beis medrash, not by a stage jew who waxed fat and kicked, who married a Radio City Music Hall rockette with chorus line legs that kick a foreign tradition.

It takes a wedding to say, "Let's live another day, I'chaim, I'chaim . . . to life"— liberty and the pursuit of the strangers' ways.

The Jewish artist is on a roof, fiddling ancient melodies with new instruments on the high sharp angle of two cultures.

The balance is easily lost; a shower of shingles buries the backslider.

He is the fiddler and the match­ maker; playing with matches Mr. Mozeson is a poet living in New York City. His recently published book, The Watcher, is reviewed in this issue o f Jewish Life.

70

an ar^s* can

burnt.

Zero, your countdown ended right after Groucho and just before the New Jewish Year and Day of Atonement.

Tevya the milk deliverer was over; you kicked the bucket rehearsing a new Shylock role.

May the Lord forgive and defend you, may He always shield you from shame; may you come to be in Yisrael a shining name.

May the Lord bless and keep the far away from us.

Like all great clowns you were larger than life, and like all starved Jews swollen with shtetle starch you spread your cells out so thin that your heart lost touch with your blood. Sunset .

sunrise, we'll wait for the messiah east of here.

Someone should have put a match to this place years ago. Zero, do you love him? Yes, I suppose I do. But without our traditions, our songs would be flatter than a fiddler fallen from the roof.

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A Background Report

The Jewish Community in Argentina (While discussion on antisemitism in Argentina grows—see The Proliferation o f Antisemitism in this issue—few American Jews are at all familiar with the history and current circumstances of that major Jewish community. We are therefore pleased to present to our readers this background report made available to us by the American Jewish Committee.)

The 300,000 Jews in Argentina comprise by far the largest of all 23 Jewish communities in Latin America. Approximately 250,000 live in Buenos Aires, and the rest in Rosario, Cordoba, Mendoza and Bahia Blanca. Argentina is virtually the only Latin American country with a sizeable middle class and the majority of Argentine Jews are to be found in this category. They are represented in many of the nation's industries, including naval construction, textiles, metallurgy, export-import trade and banking, and are heavily concentrated in the liberal professions and academe. They are also prominent in Argentine science, literature, the arts and the media, and many are members of various Argentine Academies. Jews have served in the Argentine parliament (now suspended), as provincial governors (last in the late 1960's) and, occasionally, in the national cabinet (last in 1975), but none hold such office today. Before the army came to power in 1943, a tiny handful of Jews were to also to be found in the armed forces; and while there were occasional Jews in the diplomatic service prior to the 1970's, there are none now.

Massive Jewish emigration to Argentina began in 1888, and most Jews coming in the 19th century settled in agricultural colonies in the fertile pampa regions. The resulting Jewish contri­ bution to Argentine agriculture and the country's cooperative movement is well recognized. Today, though, the Jewish popu­ lation is overwhelmingly urban. The community grew in number to nearly half a million by the 1950's; but then dropped in size because of a declining birth rate, intermarriage and emigration.

There was a spurt in Jewish as well as general emigration when the Ongania regime came to power in 1966, partly for economic, partly for political reasons as strongly conservative elements came to the fore; and a continued current of exit during the early 1970's.

This spurted anew, particularly among intellectuals, when the present ruling junta took over in 1976. Overall Jewish emigration figures are not available, but the number of those leaving for Israel since that time is estimated at about 2,000 per year, with probably as many and more going to Spain, Mexico and other Latin American lands. (The total movement to Israel since its founding in 1948 is about 20,000.) There has never been any mass Jewish

Jews have served in the Argentine parliament as provincial governors and, occasionally, in the national cabinet but none hold such office today.

73

exodus from Argentina, which always has freely permitted emi­ gration.

The first generation of Jewish immigrants in Argentina, as in the United States, tended to speak Yiddish and live together, but their children arid grandchildren are overwhelmingly Spanish-speaking today. The pressure of the surrounding Catholic culture is quite powerful. This has made it difficult for Jews to maintain their Jewish identity as they move into all elements of society and inter­ marry. It also has spurred the creation of a whole network of insti­ tutions aimed at maintaining strong Jewish commitment. Strong Zionist ties among Argentine Jews also foster this.

Antisemitism in Argentina

The pressure of the surrounding Catholic culture is quite powerful. This has made it difficult fo r Jews to maintain their Jewish identity as they move into all elements of society and intermarry.

74

Antisemitism is endemic in Argentina, for reasons embedded in Argentine history and tradition. When the government, in the 1880s, decided to allow Jews from Czarist Russia to come to Ar­ gentina, there were vigorous protests and debates. In 1919, during what is known as "The Tragic W eek," a right-wing inspired mob murdered one Jew, injured 71, and burned two Jewish libraries.

Only in the past three decades have there been efforts to root out bigoted Catholic religious teaching and interpretations deeply in­ jurious to Jews. In the 1930s and early 1940s, Nazi propaganda was widely distributed, and pro-Nazi groups broke synagogue and Jewish shop windows.

When the armed forces took power in Argentina in June, 1943, antisemitic groups felt they had a green light. There was a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents, and the Jewish community feared for its safety. Juan Peron instituted a number of anti-Jewish measures in the army while he was Minister of Defense; after he took power in 1946, however, he put a stop to such discrimination, and later issued statements denouncing antisemitism. At the same time, he sought to control the Jewish community by creating and sup­ porting a parallel Jewish communal institution, the OIA, Organic zacion Israelita Argentina , since disappeared.

Various antisem itic trends persisted, to a lesser degree, throughout the Peron regime. The decade after his departure in 1955 was more favorable for Jews under the governments of Aramburu, Frondizi and Guido, and it was during this period that a number first were admitted to high government posts. Several Christian-Jewish associations were established during this period and steps were taken by the Vatican and the Argentine Catholic hierarchy to stem the antisemitic speeches and attacks of certain priests. (One of those active in combatting clerical antisemitism, Msgr. Jorge Mejia, is presently Secretary of the Commission for Religious Relations with Judaism at the Vatican.) Occasional shocking incidents, however,—including one in which a young Jewish girl had a swastika branded on her chest by pro-Nazis who were unhappy at Israel's kidnapping of Eichmann—demonstrated \

how strong antisemitism still was among various elements.

The return of military government under Ongania, in 1966, brought a sharp spurt in antisemitic incidents. By 1969 Argentina was rent by increasing civil strife, as three military governments failed to cope with the economic and political crises, and nu­ merous groups on the left and the right took matters into their own hands with assassinations and murders. This chaotic situation continued after Peron's return from Madrid in 1973, and under his wife, Isabel Peron, who succeeded him. There was, too, a rise in both leftist and rightist attacks on Jews: kidnappings of Jewish industrialists, bombing of synagogues, emphasis on "Zionism is Racism" and anew outpouring of the writings of Hitler, Goebbels and other Nazis as well as publications patterned after the Pro­ tocols of the Elders of Zion.

The record of the military government under General Videla, from 1976 through March 1981, is well-known. Many of the more extreme rightist groups were incorporated into the armed forces or the paramilitai^ and police services after the military came to power in 1976. The junta acted to stamp out all activist groups, using terror to do so. There are estimates that as many as 20,000 Argentinians "disappeared" as each of the military services and even each military district chief imprisoned or did away with persons considered subversive or ideologically tainted. The Or­ ganization of American States has some 6,000 names of individualsjwho have disappeared; a combined list put together by human-rights organizations totals over 10,000. Of the latter, nearly ten percent were Jews, a significantly higher proportion than the 2 percent they constitute of the overall population. Some scores of Jews were saved through a variety of interventions and left the country. Those who managed to get out consistently agreed that though they may not have been arrested because they were Jews, they suffered worse treatment and torture than others once they were imprisoned. At present, approximately 100 Jews are known to be in prison in Argentina, and intervention is being made in their behalf.

Jewish institutions in Argentina continue to function without any interference on the part of the government, and there is full Jewish religious, cultural, Zionist and other activity. At the same time, antisemitic elements continue with their activities and prop­ aganda. In 1980, for instance, the O RT and Bialik schools in Buenos Aires were bombed, fortunately without casualties. And in addition to old neo-Nazi publications like the monthly Cabildo, new ones, like the magazine Papeles, an organ of the National Argentine Aryan Party, have emerged.

The DAIA has vigilantly and strongly denounced all forms of antisemitism, and constantly seeks government action against it.

Leading government officials have declared their opposition to antisemitism on several occasions and promised to crack down on

Antisemitism is endemic in Argentina, fo r reasons embedded in Argentine history and tradition. When the government, in the 1880s, decided to allow Jews from Czarist Russia to come to Argentina, there were vigorous protests and debates. In 1919, during what is known as "The Tragic Week, " a right-wing inspired mob murdered one Jew, injured 71, and burned two Jewish libraries.

The record of the military government under General Videla, from 1976 through March 1981, is well-known . . . The Organization of American States has some 6,000 names o f individuals who have disappeared; a combined list put together by human-rights organizations totals over 10,000. O f the latter, nearly ten percent were Jews, a significantly higher proportion than the 2 percent they constitute o f the overall population.

75

Jewish institutions in Argentina continue to function without any interference on the part of the government, and there is full Jewish religious, cultural, Zionist and other activity. A t the same time, antisemitic elements continue with their activities and propaganda.

antisemitic publications. Once, Cabildo was shut down for two issues; for the most part, however, government promises have remained unfulfilled and perpetrators of antisemitic acts have not been apprehended. A TV journalist recently expressed overtly an­ tisemitic remarks on the air without being censured by the au­ thorities. The DAIA has been more successful, however, in pro­ testing attempts to re-introduce mandatory Catholic religious teaching into the secular public school curriculum.

With regard to arrests and disappearances, the community has trod much more cautiously, speaking out publicly only on rare occasions, as when it demanded the release of Jacob Timerman in its publication. Some rabbis and lay leaders have been quite active behind the scenes, however, striving to help in their individual capacities as lawyers, journalists, etc. and in many other ways.

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