Nissan 1976

THE LIGHT Published by the

HAMAOR PUBLISHING COMMITTEE APRIL, 1976 — NISSAN, 5736

Vol. 14, No. 1

15p

rrn

CONTENTS

Editorial

•

•

•

•

•

The Haggadah, by Rabbi Dr. H. Rabinowicz ...

a

a

•

•

1-2

21, by Torah Life and Modern Thought Rabbi Jona Ernest Ehrentreu ...

2-3 Salt Waters, by Harry Briskman

Irrelevance of Reform to Authentic Judaism, Rabbi M. Frydman

a

a

a

a

... 13-16

by

Tour Behind the Iron Curtain, by Robert Owen .

Pesach Rules

7-12

Book Reviews 5-7

a

Reports Obituaries

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

a

I

a

•

a

... 17-20 . 21-28

a

... 29-31

run ’33 nKin iW? ,’-d » srwn “HpHIS year we are here, next year we pray we -*■ may be in the land of Israel; this year we are slaves; next year we hope to be free”.

their intense desire to assert their Jewish identity and their longing to be reunited with their brethren in the Land of Israel.

With this fervent prayer and hope, we open the proceedings of the Seder ceremony, the first part of which obviously applies to all Jews still scattered throughout the world, even to those living in the afflu­ ent lands, where they enjoy every possible freedom, comfort and comparative safety, for even they feel in the profoundest depth of their hearts that the only place in the world they and their children can live out their lives as full, proud and staunch Jews is their own land, Israel. The second part of the prayer ap­ plies mainly to that part of our people still living behind the iron curtain under the cruel, oppressive Soviet regime, which uses every possible means at its disposal to deny them their constitutional rights to lead an organised Jewish life and brutally to suppress

On reflection, however, we see in this prayer a more comprehensive and deeper meaning, and those of our Sages responsible for the text and arrangement of the Haggadah we recite on the Seder nights have revealed in this prayer the profound significance of this festival of Pesach and the message it conveys to our people in all lands for all times.

A great number of the Mitzvot of our Torah are closely bound up with the mighty and wondrous his­ toric event of “Yetziat Mitzrayim”. For that very reason we are repeatedly warned and commanded to remember this great day all the days of our lives.

On examining the scriptural texts, we find that the Torah speaks not only of the day we came forth out

Page Two

APRIL, 1976

of the “land” of Egypt, but also of remembering the season that we came out of “Egypt”, omitting the word “land”. And when Moses was charged with the task of pleading with Pharaoh for the release of the Children of Israel from Egyptian bondage, he was told, “and bring forth My people out of ‘Egypt’ This omission of the word “land” points to the main goal and object of the great event of “Yetziat Mitzrayim”, the aim of which was not merely the physical re­ demption and the taking out of the People of Israel from the geographical boundaries of the “land” of Egypt, but primarily to take them out of “Egypt”, to cleanse them of the defilement of that land, because they had dwelt there for so long, that it had inevitably left its mark on them. Thus, it was the task of Moses not only to take the Children of Israel out of Egypt, but also, and mainly, to take the Egyptian ugliness out of them, to lift them up to a higher moral plane, so that, later on, at the foot of Mount Sinai, they would be fit and worthy to be adorned with the distinctive title of “A kingdom of priests and a holy nation”.

1

1

f

A

■

«

.

—

_

Just as we are commanded to remember the day of our redemption from Egypt, so are we equally commanded to recall and remember how we behaved during the period of our slavery, and how our fore­ fathers reacted to the many evil decrees enacted against them. When Pharaoh decreed that every Jew­ ish male child bom was to be cast into the river, did they fall into despair ? Did they stop marrying and having children ? On the contrary. We read : And the Children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly and multiplied and waxed exceeding mighty, and the land was filled with them; and the more they afflicted them the more they multiplied and the more they spread. Consequently, we witnessed that, whereas seventy souls initially came into Egypt, almost three million came out victorious in triumph and glory.

Bearing this historic lesson in mind, one is saddened and, indeed, shocked to read of a Bill introduced into

THE HAGGADAH

By RABBI DR. H. RABINOWICZ (London) Second only to the Bible itself, the most popular book among the People of the Book is undoubtedly the Passover Haggadah. For centuries this slim little volume has been a phenomenal best seller, for it is more than merely the blueprint of the Seder ceremonial. Upon its pages scribes and illustrators through the ages have lav­ ished their artistry.

The Haggadah, so called even in Talmudic times, derives its name from the Biblical injunction, “Vehiggadata” : “And you shall tell your son on that day saying, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when 1 came out

NISSAN, 5736

n o n

the Knesset to liberalise Israel’s abortion law, which would allow abortions during the first three months of pregnancy, thus giving the seal of approval and legality to the murder of tens of thousands of Jew­ ish children, not at the hands of our enemies but at the hands of our fellow Jews. This Bill isn ot only contrary to Jewish law, but is directly opposed to everything that we have stood for throughout all the ages since the days when we came out of Egypt. It is the surest way to promote and encourage im­ morality and promiscuity and return our people to the moral wilderness of Egypt.

The State of Israel is passing through very difficult times. Immigration into the land is on the decrease, while the number of “Yordim” continues to grow, and the Arab population is increasing daily. The only way of securing the future of the State is to maintain and even increase its population, and yet, what does the Government do ? On the one hand, it stubbornly refuses to amend the Law of the Return to recognise only “Giyur Kahalacha”, thus allowing people into the land who are halachicallv non-Jews, and on the other, it proposes to allow abortions, thus condoning and conniving at the murder of those very citizens who in twenty years’ time would be the country’s safety and security.

“This year we are slaves. Next year we hope and pray to be free”. Instead of being men whose ideas run freely in the stream of Torah, whose life-giving waters have sustained our people throughout the cen­ turies, we are becoming enslaved to every perverse and twisted immoral thought which impinges on Jewish society from the secular world. Our ideas and actions are no more the pure and lofty ideas of our Sages; we are becoming polluted by every fad and fashion in immorality in which the Western world is deeply immersed. Let, then, our prayer for Pesach be: This year we are slaves to all that is bad in the civili­ sation which surrounds us. Next year let us be free men, free to enjoy and practise those values which have kept our people pure throughout the ages. of Egypt’ ” (Exodus, 13:8). Up to the 13th century, the Haggadah was part of the Prayer Book and was included in the liturgical manuscripts.

The Haggadah is an anthology of excerpts from the Bible, the Mishnah, the Babylonian and Palestinian Talmud and Midrashic literature, together with prayers, psalms and special hymns. Certain passages date back to preMaccabean times, probably to the Men of the Great Assembly. Other passages evolved in later centuries.

Chapter Ten of the Mishnah Pesahim contains the nuc­ leus of the Haggadah, and most of the basic text is to be found in Saadia Gaon’s Prayer Book (10th century), in the Mishnah Torah of Moses Maimonides and in the litur­ gical work Mahzor Vitry, compiled by R. Simhah, son of Samuel Vitry, a disciple of Rashi.

The first printed Haeeadah was nart r>f rhp Pravpr RtvaL-

THE

LI GHT

APRIL, 1976

printed in 1485 by Joshua Solomon Soncino. The first fully illustrated Haggadah text was produced by Gershon ben Solomon ha-Kohen Katz and his brother Gronem in Prague in 1527. The printer of the 1711 Amsterdam Hag­ gadah used copper-plate illustrations which became the prototype of many subsequent editions. The first English Haggadah was printed in London in 1770.

In 1901, the bibliographer Samuel Wiener, librarian of the Hebraic collection in Leningrad, listed 909 editions of the Haggadah. In 1930, Abraham Yaari, in his Kuntres Haggadot, found an additional 315 editions which had appeared before 1901. A. Duker listed yet another 164 editions. Yaari, in his definitive bibliography of the Passover Haggadah, enumerated 2,713 editions which had been printed in 170 places before 1960. A new supple­ ment by Theodore Wiener added 300 more items, and 175 extra editions listed by Naphtali ben Menahem, together with the 118 items listed by Harry H. Hirschhorn, Abraham Meir Haberman and Ruth P. Lehmann, have brought the total of known Haggadot to over 3,300 editions.

Since the Torah specifically exhorts each man to tell his son the story of the Exodus, it was regarded as of the utmost importance that the Seder service should in­ terest, intrigue and involve the children. First of all, it was important that they should understand the Haggadah, and it was translated into scores of languages. A Latin version was printed in Frankfurt-on-Main in 1512, and Abraham Yaari lists over 218 translators. Today there are 258 editions of the Haggadah with English translations.

Most exquisite of all are the illuminated Haggadot of mediaeval days. Fortunately, a number of these rarities have survived the vicissitudes which Jewish manuscripts (no less than their owners) have undergone over the ages.

Since the text of the Haggadah is comparatively short and since it was designed for home use, scribes and illu­ minators have gone out of their way to decorate the pages, so as to held the interest of the children. The Second Commandment: “Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image nor any manner of likeness” did not inhibit the artists, who found in the Book of Freedom an ideal outlet for elaborate caligraphy and pictorial imagery.

Pride of place among illuminated Haggadot must be given to the fourteenth-century Sarajevo Haggadah now in the archives of the local municipality. The manuscript has 84 leaves of parchment with no fewer than 69 illu­ minations. The illustrator cast his net wide, beginning with the creation of the world and ending with the wan­ derings of the children of Israel in the wilderness.

Another far-famed Haggadah manuscript is preserved in a library in Darmstadt, Germany, written in the fifteenth century by Israel ben Meir Heidelberg. Rich illuminations in gold and vibrant hues enliven the ornate pages of this mediaeval masterpiece. The ancient illustrators occasion­ ally tempered a sense of reverence with an irrepressible touch of humour. In the “Washington Haggadah”, written in 1470 probably in Italy (and now in the Library of Congress), the misogynist illustrator points to the mistress of the house when he mentions the bitter herbs.

Of about 30 illuminated manuscript Haggadot, a goodly number adorn the libraries of this country. The British Museum possesses six. In one 13th-century text the illus­ trator traces the Biblical narrative from the creation to the celebration of the Passover. He shows inter alia, Adam naming the animals and Eve emerging from the rib of Adam. Another late 13th-century manuscript portrays Miriam and Moses celebrating with the women of Israel the deliverance from slavery.

The invention of printing did not curb Haggadah artistry.

NISSAN, 5736

Page Three

Moses cleaving the Red Sea. An illustration from a Haggadah of the 15th century

The Prague Haggadah of 1526 became the model fer many other illustrated Haggadot. The Venetian Haggadah prin­ ted in 1609 depicts the participants dressed in contempor­ ary costume. During the succeeding centuries, the high standard of Haggadah illustrations has been maintained in our own day by Arthur Szyk and Ben Shahn. The Haggadah, in manuscript form and in printed editions, is a fitting and timeless testimony to the devotional art­ istry of Jewry throughout the ages.

WITH VERY BEST WISHES and

nm

TO ALL OUR CLIENTS ❖

GOODMOS TOURS W O R L D T R A V E L SERVICE

9-13 ST. ANDREW STREET LONDON EC4A 3DH TELEPHONE: 01-353 8682

Page Four

APRIL, 1976

THE IRRELEVANCE OF REFORM TO AUTHENTIC JUDAISM

By RABBI M. FRYDMAN (London) Reform Judaism originated in Germany as a result of the emancipation of the Jew in European society. As with the Reformation within the Church in the 16th century, so some Jews felt the burden of traditional Juda­ ism too heavy to carry; others found that the observance of the commandments of the Torah stood in the way of acceptance into non-Jewish society. The founders of Reform Judaism asserted that change was required within the thinking of the Jewish faith and that the modern age called for adapting the Torah to the new conditions and circumstances prevailing at the time.

Discussions were conducted among intellectuals as to the validity of Torah min Hashamayim. The Bible was made a subject of research which followed the methods of the so-called Bible criticism of non-Jewish scholars.

The result of the debate produced a new concept in Juda­ ism : the rejection of the Oral Law and interpretation of the Written Law in accordance with the Haiachah.

Reform Judaism argued that time and conditions must find new interpretations of the Torah, that the Torah was not divine and that man could alter or generally meddle with the Torah as he felt the hour demanded.

The very foundation of traditional Judaism is that the Torah is divine truth and therefore valid at all times.

Changes in conditions or circumstances can have no in­ fluence on the veracity of the Torah and its laws, and the Haiachah is the only authority capable of providing

in ; m u ; i » N A T IO N A IT B rand

Kosher Meat Products are now available for Pesach

M ad e b y

S k i t

I K

L T D .

6-14 Balliam Road, London, N.9.

NISSAN, 5736

n

nt] n

an authentic interpretation for legislation and practice, as laid down in the Talmud and Codes.

As the very term suggests, the Haiachah has its own evolutionary development. The basis of the Haiachah is that the Written and Oral Law were both revealed at Sinai and that each succeeding generation after Sinai will solve in the context of the Haiachah the problems that occur from time to time. The authority for decision-mak­ ing was given for all times to those scholars recognised for their profound knowledge of the Torah and its vast literature, for their great Yirat Shamayim—fear of the L-rd—and their meticulous observance of the Command­ ments. The motto for these interpreters of Torah was Rayshit chochma yirat hashem. The fear of the L-rd was considered to be the science of wisdom. The Rambam (Maimonides) formulated the basis of Jewish faith in the form of his Thirteen Principles.

Throughout the history of the development of the Haia­ chah, a number of heresies and heretics appeared. There were scholars who became “apicorsim” and whose think­ ing was at variance with that of the Halachic authori­ ties. Even in the Talmud, many names are mentioned of those who rejected the teachings of the Torah as form­ ulated by the Tanaim and Amoraim.

In more modern times we experienced the period of the Haskalah, the so-called “Enlightenment”, but during that era no one propagated a substitute for authentic Jewish beliefs. The adherents of the Haskalah movement admitted that they had lost their faith in Torah min Hashamayim and introduced in its place the new concept of Chochmat Yisrael, rejecting the ideology of Emunat Yisrael. The period of the Haskalah can be compared with others in Jewish history when “apicorsut” flourished.

The Reform movement, however, introduced a new ideology which was claimed as a substitute for our faith, a new religion, comparable only, I would suggest, to the Ma'aseh Ha’Aigel—the incident of the Golden Calf, when the Israelites proclaimed the slogan: “These are your new gods O Israel” to replace the G-d-given Torah from Sinai. Through the ages Jews have tried to explain the meaning of the Commandments and the Statutes, but no one till now has succeeded in substituing the Torah min Hashamayim concept by a new philosophy.

Discussion on a high plane had been conducted among the greatest of scholars as to the meaning of life and the purpose of creation and human existence, but at no time were the truths of the Torah questioned. Those who rejected the inseparability of the Written and Oral Law declared themselves to be Kofrim b'ikar.

The Reform movement, however, has embarked upon new concepts in the interpretation of our faith. It preaches a man-made religion with nothing divine about it, the Bible as simply a great piece of literature written by people of superior intellect. Progress, they say, demands changes. Thus, the Reform movement has challenged all the Commandments of the Torah as being unsuitable for present times. In the same way as a secular Parliament, by the consent of its members, promulgates laws to accord with the times, so will the philosophy of faith be fixed by human decision. There is thus a fundamental difference between the approach of Orthodoxy towards belief and Reform thinking which can never be reconciled.

Reform Judaism will be guilty of an unforgiveable his­ torical wrong in educating a section of the Jewish people without knowledge of Torah and in introducing a watereddown Judaism which has no basis in Halachic develop­ ment. The result may well have catastrophic consequen­ ces for the uniqueness and unity of the Jewish people.

THE

APRIL, 1976

LI GHT

A TOUR BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN

By ROBERT OWEN (London) I recently returned from a tour of Eastern Europe organised by the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS).

Seventeen young people from all over the world part­ icipated, and our leaders were two American students who had both previously visited the Soviet Union and one of whom spoke Russian.

The group first met in Frankfurt, where a 2^-day seminar was held on the past and present plight of Jewry in the countries we were to visit, and the situation we would encounter in Soviet Russia was explained to us.

We also had three Russian lessons, so that at least we could read the Cyrillic street signs and reply to the blackmarket money changer with “Dosvedanya”—“Goodbye” !

On our last night in Frankfurt, everybody piled onto one bed the articles they intended leaving in the Soviet Union. Everything had to be vetted as, although we were not officially travelling as a Jewish group, the Soviet authorities would be well aware of that fact and might create problems at the border if we had too much “offen­ sive” material with us.

In the event, it was a good thing that this precaution was taken. One member of the group had brought with him twenty copies of “Notes on Aliya for the Russian Immigrant” which, our leaders decided, it might not be wise to take with us. Another boy had brought twenty pairs of stockings, which were duly distributed among the female members of the group.

We commenced our tour in Prague where, instead of our Czech guide showing us the usual tourist sights, we showed her the Jewish sights, as we had only one day there. Six synagogues and the cemetery in the old Jewish Ghetto area have been converted into a State Jewish Museum. These provide a “history” of this once great Jewish community, now almost non-existent. In the Spanish Synagogue, an old Jewish lady showed us the largest collection of Ark covers in the world, but broke into tears when we tried to talk to her about Jewish life in Prague. In the Maisl Synagogue, we saw an enorm­ ous collection of silver appurtenances which will never be used again. The most frightening sight was the Klaus Synagogue, now a museum of Jewish life and Holv-days.

Here one could see a table prepared for Shabbat. Next to it was written: “The Jews used to celebrate the Sab­ bath in this manner.” It sent a shiver down my spine.

A kosher canteen is still in existence in the Ghetto, and there we met the leader of the community. He told us that there had been two Barmitzvah ceremonies in the last fifteen years. Of the few Jews left after the Second World War, most had emigrated to Israel.

The next day we visited Theresienstadt—a Nazi transit camp near Prague. The enormity of the Nazi Holocaust was impossible to comprehend, even after seeing the mass graves and the conditions under which the inmates were forced to live. One room in the camp, now preserved as * Robert Owen, B.Soc. Sc. (Hons.), M.Sc. is 22. He was educated at the City of London School, where he was head Jewish boy; Birmingham University, where he graduated in 1974, and at the London School of Economics, where he ob­ tained his Master’s degree (in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics) in 1975. He is now on the staff of the Commercial Union Assurance Company as an actuarial trainee.

NISSAN, 5736

Page Fi^e

a museum, contained washbasins and taps with mirrors above, completely out of keeping with the surroundings.

This room had been built by the Nazis to impress the Red Cross when they visited the camp.

Our next stop, Warsaw, again brought home the de­ vastation wrought by the Nazis. Not only the Jewish Ghetto but the whole city was razed to the ground, as we were shown in a film in the History Museum The moving Jewish Ghetto Fighters’ Memorial is in the heart of what was the Ghetto and is now surrounded by modern flats. It depicts the Jews in enslavement to the Egypt­ ians, behind whom can be seen Nazi helmets. On this site and also nearby, where the Ghetto Resistance had its headquarters in Mila Street, are memorial plaques written in Polish, Yiddish and Hebrew.

The Jewish Historical Institute is a Museum to the Warsaw Ghetto but, when our official guide was not looking, we were taken into another part of the building which contains an enormous library of Jewish books and manuscripts amassed by the Nazis and seldom used for research nowadays. The Director also showed us a copy of the Jewish Chronicle, which he is able to obtain re­ gularly, ostensibly for research purposes.

Our next flight took us into the Soviet Union, to Lenin­ grad. As anticipated, we were all thoroughly searched at the airport, but thanks to our leaders’ foresight, we were able to account for all our belongings and nothing was confiscated. An official with five stars on his epaul­ ettes was shown all books written in Hebrew and was clearly able to read them.

A word about some hotels in Russia. I understand that the largest hotel in America is said to be the MGM Grand K in Las Vegas, with 2,100 bedrooms. I stayed at an hotel in Moscow, which was a complex of buildings containing 6,000 bedrooms. It was rather frightening to see micro­ phones exhibited quite openly on the walls in bedrooms.

When members of our group wished to converse privately among ourselves, we used those pads upon which a message can be scribbled and thereafter erased immediately.

In Leningrad I began to lead a schizophrenic existence.

No physical bar was placed on our going to see what we wanted, but our day was packed full of sight-seeing with our official Soviet guide, in order to leave us as little spare time as possible. Notwithstanding these attempts to fill our minds with the undeniable beauty of Leningrad, we made contact with many Refusniks and visited the Synagogue on Friday night and Shabbat morning.

My first contact with Refusniks came one afternoon when two of us left our coach in the city centre “to look at the shops” after a guided tour and proceeded by taxi to an address we had brought with us. Knocking timidly on a flat door, we were welcomed by the inevit­ able greeting “Shalom” and taken in without question as to who we were. This was the home of a Refusnik of long standing.

With some reluctance, due to great fear, he gave us a list of new Refusniks in Leningrad, to enable them to have the invaluable link with the outside world. We then heard his story and were much moved by the plight of his 15-year-old daughter, who is being harassed at school for refusing to join Komsomol—the Young Com­ munist League. We were also told, the first of many such occasions, that the Chief Rabbi had been sitting where we were, a week previously. We, in fact, arrived in the Soviet Union the day the Chief Rabbi left the country.

The same evening, still in rather a dazed state, I went with the group to a ballet performance. We were amazed

Page Six

APRIL, 1976

when, towards the end, a Chagall backdrop came down and a performance of Sholom Aleichem’s story, on which Fiddler on the Roof is based, took place. In this story, a Gentile boy falls in love with a Jewish girl, but is rejected by her family and the Jewish community in the shtetl. This situation evokes sympathy when viewed from the safety of stalls in a London theatre. Watching this in Leningrad, however, I felt it was intended as an antiSemitic piece to emphasise alleged Jewish hatred of Gent­ iles. Instead of being heartened by this Soviet production of a Jewish classic, I was frightened by it.

On Friday we were taken, as the Chief Rabbi had been, to see the cemetery and mass graves of the 700,000 people —over half the then population—who had died during the 900-day Nazi siege. The continuous classical music, together with the memorial flame, produced a very mov­ ing effect.

We had been warned in Frankfurt of what would occur in the Synagogue if we went there with our eyes closed. We were told that the Shammas would greet us, take us to the front row, no doubt an honour anywhere else, present us with a brand new Siddur printed in Moscow and there we would sit on our own and admire the beauty of the Cantor’s voice. Sure enough, on Shabbat morning, as I entered the beautiful Synagogue in Lenin­ grad, the first thing I observed was two Americans, whom I recognised from our hotel, sitting by themselves in the front row. I pointed out to them that all around them were old men, none under th e age of 65, whose Siadurim were falling apart. I suggested that they talk to these people in Yiddish, which they did, much to the conster­ nation of the Shammas.

The politics of the Synagogue are very delicate. It is the only Jewish institution allowed to function by the

THE FINEST BANQUETING SUITE IN NORTH LONDON NOW NEWLY DECORATED

ABRAHAM

LEIFER

HALL

47 Lea Bridge Road, E.5 (adjoining Clapton Synagogue)

A FEW SUNDAYS STILL AVAILABLE IN 1976

For Bookings apply to the Secretary Telephone: 806 4369

NISSAN, 5736

"ii

n Dn

Soviet authorities. The Shammas is an official of the Government, paid to ensure that the place is used only for prayer. He is, however, Jewish and as such will be as helpful as possible when he thinks an action is un­ noticed by the KGB agent inevitably present.

This was proved by two examples in Leningrad. First, the Shammas approached me and asked me to read the Haftarah, knowing full well the effect that this must have on several hundred old men (remembering there is only one functioning Synagogue in Leningrad for a few hundred thousand Jews) who believed that the Jewish faith was dying with them. They all crowded round the Bima with tears in their eyes, and I knew I had per­ formed the greatest Mitzvah of my life. Secondly, one could give away Siddurim etc., provided the Shammas was not looking, or believed that the KGB mar. was not looking, otherwise they would be locked away to­ gether with the new Siddurim for visitors. As we looked around, we saw some small Siddurim printed in Jerusa­ lem and New York which could have been confiscated at any time by the Shammas had he wanted to. but were not.

While I was in the Synagogue, other members of our group were outside meeting young Refusniks who come there, as it is the only known meeting place for Jews.

We arranged mass meetings with them for that evening, our last in Leningrad. I went to the home of a couple who, it turned out, had been corresponding with Mr. and Mrs. Young, who live opposite me in Hendon—it’s a small world—and I was given a present to take back for them.

From everyone’s meetings in Leningrad, we all gained the impression that the Refusniks were optimistic. They were setting up a Jewish library, to which we were able to contribute a few of the books we had brought with us, and they were also all beginning to learn Ivrit.

On our last day in Leningrad, we visited the Museum depicting the various ethnic groups in the Soviet Union.

We asked to see the Birobidjan section, but were told that it alternated as an exhibit with the Ukrainian sec­ tion and was presently “in storage’’.

In Moscow and Kiev, the other two cities we visited in the Soviet Union, we had similar experiences to those in Leningrad.

In Moscow we went to the Synagogue in the mornings, and I read the weekday portion from the Torah with the same effect as in Leningrad. The portion I read included the words: “And moreover I have heard the groaning of the Children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered My covenant.” Never before had I felt such meaning given to the words I was reading.

Moscow Refusniks are very well organised, and on our last night there we met a large group of them, including the famous Professor Mark Azbel, a most dynamic per­ sonality who conducts scientific seminars for academics, which group the Chief Rabbi addressed on “Jewish Medi­ cal Ethics”. Many of the Refusniks we met there spoke perfect Ivrit and had very good Jewish libraries, no doubt accumulated from many visitors. Their main concern was to prepare themselves for jobs which they would under­ take when they arrived in Israel.

Kiev was altogether a different story. The Ukraine is the traditional home of anti-Semitism. In the city centre we saw a statue of Chmielnitzki, the saviour of the Ukrainians from the Poles, and the biggest murderer of Jews prior to Hitler. The mass meeting we had arranged with Refusniks had to be cancelled as, instead of our being quietly followed by the KGB, they openly walked

THE

LI GHT

APRIL, 1976

out of our hotel after us, stepped into five black cars and started following us. At this point, our leaders deci­ ded the situation was too dangerous, and we returned to the hotel.

We asked to see Babi Yar and were taken there in our Intourist coach. This has now, finally, become a recognised monument to the Nazi tragedy and a very moving memor­ ial is in process of construction, though nowhere is it mentioned that most of those shot were Jews.

For many years after the war, the Soviet Union tried to cover up what happened at Babi Yar. When the Ukraine, to the East of Poland, was invaded by the Nazi armies, the native population, with a long history of anti-Semitism, regarded the liquidation of Jews calmly and with some satisfaction.

Babi Yar is a ravine on the outskirts of Kiev. In that ravine, the German units in charge of the extermination programme massacred some 40,000 Jews—no one knows the exact number—men, women and children, and the Ukrainians collaborated in those hideous mass murders.

The outside world only really began to take notice of what happened there after the famous Russian poet, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, a non-Jew, but one whose con­ science troubled him, wrote his poem Babi Yar. Some of the lines in that poem read: No gravestone stands on Babi Yar; Only coarse earth heaped roughly on the gash.

Such dread comes over me; I feel so old, Old as the Jews. Today, 1 am a Jew. Over the thousands that lie buried here.

I am each old man slaughtered, each child shot.

None of me will forget.

On our way out of Russia we were searched as thor­ oughly as on entering, but again nothing was. confiscated.

Our final stop was in Budapest, designed to show us a more tolerant situation.

Budapest has a Jewish population of 30,000 and all communal activities are permitted. There is a kosher can­ teen, a seminary and several Synagogues but, unfortun­ ately, we found the situation far from satisfactory. We attended one of the forty weddings which take place annually and met the seven students of the seminary, the standard of learning of which is appallingly low, as it must start from absolute basics. I felt that here was a community which needed help and could be helped quite easily, but was completely overshadowed by the situation in the Soviet Union and so was neglected. Per­ haps the Hungarian authorities are that much cleverer than the Soviets.

At the conclusion of our tour we all sat down together in a conference room in Vienna airport, through which have passed so many Soviet Jews, to discuss freely, at last, our experiences. We all felt that we were commit­ ted to doing everything in our power not to allow Soviet Jewish life to go the way of Czechoslovak and Polish Jewry.

I optimistically do not believe this will happen. Jews in the Soviet Union are a nation in the same way as Ukrainians, Lithuanians and Tartars. As such they have the word “Jew” written in their passports, and this re­ minds them of their heritage on momentous occasions like the Six-Day War in 1967. By this means and by perpetual persecution—from Jewish quotas at the uni­ versities to imprisonment or exile—the Soviet authori­ ties, far from stamping out a Jewish identity, are streng­ thening it, unlike in Hungary, where the authorities’ tolerance is producing rapid assimilation.

In conclusion, I would make one practical suggestion

NISSAN, 5736

Page Seven

for alleviating the plight of Soviet Jewry which I feel has not been sufficiently stressed by activists on their behalf. That is, for as many people as possible to go and visit the Refusniks and the old men in the Syna­ gogues. Consult one of the appropriate organisations be­ fore going, so that you may take with you the maximum of useful articles. I am convinced that you will feel that you have had the most worthwhile holiday of your life­ time. You need have no fear for your safety, only for that of the courageous people who deserve your support.

SOME PESACH RULES 1. Ma’ot Chittim my to It is customary to distribute money or gifts of food to the needy before Pesach, so that all our brethren should be able to celebrate the Festival and the Seder Service.

2. Passover Products Only such Matzos, wines, foodstuffs and all other Pesach commodities should be purchased as bear the Passover Hechsher of a recognised Rabbinate. A mere label “Kosher l’Pesach” is not a Hechsher.

3.

M’chirat Chametz riTDto It is obligatory to dispose of all leaven in one’s possession before Pesach and not later than one hour after the Hafsakah (see para. 6). Chametz which is not destroyed must be sold to a non-Jew. The * sale is usually arranged through a Rav.

4.

Bedikat Chametz npHn The search for Chametz in the home should be made after dark on the evening before Erev Pesach (i.e. this year, the evening of Tuesday, April 13).

The full procedure and the blessing are printed at the beginning of the Haggadah.

5.

Fast of the Firstborn □niDn rpjyn All firstborn, and fathers of firstborn sons under 13, are obliged to fast on Erev Pesach, April 14.

However, in most synagogues a Siyum is arranged after the Morning Service, and those participating are thenceforth permitted to eat.

6.

Hafsakah npODH No Chametz may be eaten after the Hafsakah, this year, 10.05 a.m. on Wednesday, April 14.

7. Bi’ur Chametz Tiy*’!

All Chametz must be destroyed or sold to a nonJew and Kol Chamirah recited not later than one hour after the Hafsakah (see para. 6).

8.

9.

Kashering of Utensils nbyrwi Utensils should be “kashered” before 10 a.m.

New utensils require T’vilah.

The Laws relating to Pesach are many; the above is only a brief outline. If there is any question or doubt, especially with regard to the kashering of utensils, a Rabbi’s advice should be sought.

Eruv Tavshilin miy As the second day of Yomtov falls on Friday, an Eruv Tavshilin should be made on Erev Yomtov, Wednesday, April 14.

Page Eight

APRIL, 1976

TORAH LIFE AND MODERN THOUGHT — 21

By RABBI JONA ERNEST EHRENTREU (London) INDIVIDUAL LIFE (continued) Sefer Hayyashar—“the Book of Righteousness” “And he (David) said : One may teach the Sons of Yehudah the (use of the) bow; behold, it is written in the Sefer Hayyashar . .

(II Shemuel 1, 18). To this Passuk the Gemara in Avodah Zarah a sk s: “W hat is the Sefer Hayyashar?” And the Gemara gives three answers: “R. Yochanan says it is the Book of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, who are called Yesharim. R. Eliezer says it is the Book of Devarim. R. Shemuel ben Nachmani says it is the Book of Shoftim”.

One sees from the Gemara that the word yashar has here not a general meaning, but is the term for denoting a higher life and law—Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin.

Let us discuss the three suggestions as to the term Sefer Hayyashar : a) Sefer Ha-avoth: The Legacy of Avraham, shown in the example of his life and thought in his teaching, and fol­ lowed by his son Yitzchak and grandson Yaakov, was not only Mishpat—“Justice”, but Tzedakah — “Equity” com­ bined with Mishpat. The excellence of such a life was recognised by the population of Kenaan (see Bereshith 23, 6).

The legacy of Avraham was Tzedakah u-Mishpat. This dual term occurs very often in Tanach, but the sequence of the two words is different. We read the term Mishpat u-Tzedakah—“Mishpat” first—in Yirmiyah at least five times, and in Yechezkiel at least seven times, to name only two books. The difference in the sequence of the words is surely not a chance happening. Apart from the case of Avraham, the term “Tzedakah u-Mishpat” occurs only in Tehillim 33, 5, and there it refers to G-d.

The reason for the difference seems to be as follows: The basis of the legacy of Avraham was the Goodness of his personality, which expressed itself in the feelings of his heart and in the thoughts of his mind. This led him to expound these sentiments and ideas in a code of conduct and of law for his own life and that of his children and coming generations. The basis was Tzeda­ kah, which led to Mishpat. Hence this sequence of the words. Quite different was the case after Mattan Torah The Torah was and is binding for Kelal Yisrael. This is the first and foremost Mishpat. To this Mishpat, one may, and should, add Tzedakah whenever suitable cases occur.

This means: Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin. One example was David Hammelech, where the Passuk says very clearly: “. . . and David did Mishpat u-Tzedakah to his whole people” (II Shemuel 8, 15).

In spite of the great Righteousness of Avraham, fighting and war were not excluded from his life. Thus he went to war to save Lot. He took nothing for himself of the spoil. But what the fighting men needed for their food, he did not give back. It was Idealism blended with Real­ ism. And Yitzchak and Yaakov were prepared to fight where and when it was necessary to ensure that Justice prevailed. b) Sefer D evarim: As to the phrase hattov vehayyashar, the Maharsha, loc. cit., asks why Sefer Shemoth is not called Sefer Hayyashar, as (15, 26) the word “Yashar” occurs there. It seems that there is a particular reason for Sefer Devarim being called Sefer Hayyashar. The word

NISSAN, 5736

n o n

“Yashar” occurs not once but a few times. And the word “Yashar” in Devarim is the source (or one of the sources) from which the concept of Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin is derived. Furthermore a main theme of the whole Sefer Devarim is to show in many cases that the Mitzvoth can be fulfilled and therefore how they preferably should be fulfilled on a higher level than the plainest manner, namely Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin.

(A closer study of the Maharsha mentioned above shows that he apparently disregards the fact that by the term “Hayyashar”, which so often occurs in Sefer Shoftim, is meant “righteous” in the eyes of people (and not of the good ones), while the term “Sefer Hayyashar” refers to the concept of Righteousness in the eyes of G-d.) c) Sefer S h o ftim : According to R. Shemuel, it is called Sefer Hayyashar. In point of fact, the Sefer Ha­ yyashar is directly mentioned only in the Passuk II She­ muel 1, 18, where it is w ritten: “And he said, one may teach the Sons of Yehudah the (use of the) kesheth (bow); behold it is written in the Sefer Hayyashar . . .”. This Passuk is the introduction to the elegy of superb beauty which was conceived and spoken with deepest emotion

by David, after the death of King Shaul and his great son Yehonathan on the battlefield of Gilbo’a. This elegy be­ gins with the words: “The beauty of Yisrael is slain upon your high places. How are the mighty fallen!” David, before expressing his deepest feelings with regard to the disaster of Yisrael, declares the bitter truth that the time has unfortunately not yet come when the weapons of war can be laid aside. Peace, Jewish peace, does not mean to submit “peacefully” to all demands and to all deeds which come from powers hostile to G-d and to His Moral Law, hostile to the Torah and Am Yisrael. However, greater than to win a war is to keep and win the peace.

And the way to do this is Derech Hayyashar, which means, in its application to human relationships, Love. And the greatest and sublimest example of love is the relationship between David and Yehonathan. The latter, knowing that not he, but David would sit on the throne of Yisrael as his father’s successor, nevertheless loved him with the greatest love on earth. And he brought even his own life in immediate danger to save David. Thereby, David and Yehonathan gave the highest example of Derech Hayya­ shar, of Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin, in its sublimest form.

The Passuk than mentions Sefer Hayyashar and its spirit as the way and means to establish peace on earth. Though it is actually not in Sefer Shoftim, but in Sefer Shemuel, the whole basis of the happenings and of the proceedings lies in the historical description in Sefer Shoftim. There­ fore, we may understand that the Gemara uses the phrase “Sefer Shoftim” and not “Sefer Shemuel”.

The divergence of opinion about which Sefer is called “Sefer Hayyashar” must not be taken too seriously. As often, divergencies of opinion refer to different things and can be combined without difficulty. According to the first view, the first group of people whose life can be called a book of righteousness were our Avoth. According to the second view, the book which prepares Am Yisrael for Eretz Yisrael reminds the people again and again of an attitude of Yashar in the Land. According to the third view, the Sefer Shoftim, where we often hear that the people did what was Yashar in their own eyes, should be called “Se­ fer Hayyashar” as a Mussar Sefer, which shows how low the standard of the country and of Yisrael is when every­ body follows his personal—negative—views of Yashar, and on the other hand how great Yisrael is when the concept of Yashar of Hashem and His true followers is realised and materialised in Yisrael.

TH E

LI GHT

APRIL, 1976

The three different views do not exclude one another.

They cover only different periods with different conditions.

And this shows us at the same time that the concept of Yashar—as that side of Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin which refers particularly to human relations—is realised and ma­ terialised within the relevant practical conditions in human surroundings.

As so often, likewise at the very end of Sefer Shoftim, we read: “At that time, there was no king in Yisrael; everybody did what was Yashar in his eyes” (Shoftim 21, 25). This book is immediatedly followed by Sefer Shemuel, which begins with the birth of that man who reigned over Yisrael as an uncrowned king and unappointed highest judge, till he in the name of G-d appointed the first and the second Jewish king, thereby establishing the Royal Dynasty of Yisrael for all time. And it is remarkable that the concept of Yashar occurs very often precisely in the description of the lives of the Torah-true kings. In con­ tradistinction to other kings, their religious devotedness should be emphasised all the more. According to TorahLaw and Torah-Thought the king does not stand above the Law, but under the Law. In addition, he has more duties than other people. An elevated position in Yisrael demands an elevated standard of religious life. Here the concept of Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin comes in; it is natural that it is realised in various degrees in accordance with the various personalities and life circumstances.

Of Assa, who reigned for 41 years, we read in I Melachim 15, 11-14 as follows: “He did the Yashar in the eyes of Hashem, like David his father, and . . . only the heart of Assa was fully (shalem) with Hashem all his days”. And in II Divrey Hayyamim we read: “And Assa did Hattov ve-Yashar in the eyes of Hashem”.

Of Yehoshafath, who reigned for 25 years, the Passuk (I Melachim 22, 43) says: “And he walked in all the ways of Assa his father; he did not turn aside from it, he was doing the Yashar in the eyes of Hashem”.

Of Yeho’ash (Yo’ash)—not to be confused with Yo’ash, the King of Shomron (Yisrael)—who reigned for 40 years —we read in II Melachim 12, 3: “And Yehoash did Hayyashar in the eyes of Hashem” (meaning as long as Yehayada, the Kohen, lived who taught him Torah).

Of Amatziah, who reigned for 29 years, we read in II Melachim 14, 3: “He did the Yashar in the eyes of Ha­ shem, but not like David his father.” And in II Melachim 25, 2 we read: “He did the Yashar in the eyes of Hashem, however not with his whole heart.”

Of Uziyahu (Azaryah), who reigned for 51 years, we read in II Divrey Hayyamim 26, 4 as follows: “And he did the Yashar in the eyes of Hashem . . .”

Of Yotham, who reigned for 16 years, we read in II Divrey Hayyamim 27, 2: “And he did the Yashar in the eyes of Hashem . . .”

Of Chizkiyah, who reigned for 29 years, we read in II Divrey Hayyamim 31, 20: “And he did the Tov and the Yashar and the Emeth before Hashem his G-d.” Ana, “There was none like him among all the kings of Yehu* dah” (II Melachim 18, 5).

Of Yoshiyahu, who reigned for 31 years, we read in II Divrey Hayyamim 34, 2: “And he did the Yashar in the eyes of Hashem, and he walked in the ways of David his father; he did not go astray to the right or to the left”.

Let us mention details of only one King’s activities— Yoshiyah. Thus, we read in I Divrey Hayyamim 35, 7-18 as follows: “And Yoshiyah gave to the people (of the flock) lambs and kids, all for the Pessach-Offerings, for all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks: these were of the King’s

NISSAN, 5736

Page Nine

substance. And his princes gave willingly to the people, to the Kohanim, and to the Leviim: Chilkiyah and . . . and . . ., rulers of the House of G-d, gave to the Koha­ nim for the Pessach-Offerings two thousand and six hundred [small cattle] and three hundred oxen . . So the Service was prepared and the Kohanim stood in their place and the Leviim in their courses, according to the King’s commandment . . . And there was no Pessach like that kept in Yisrael from the days of Shemuel the Navee . . .”

The special action of Yoshiyah was that he not only encouraged the people to arrange a Pessach Festival of an outstanding nature, but he personally—and other peo­ ple followed—provided the people with animals for the Korbanoth. This is a royal action of Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin.

Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin, in the mind of David (in Tehillim 15) In Makkot 24a we read: David came and “placed” the Taryag Mitzvoth on eleven: He who walks uprightly, like Avraham of whom it is said: “Walk before me and be whole-hearted” (Bereshith 17, 1). and does righteousness, like Abba Chilkiyah. He was a celebrated Teacher, to whom other Teachers came asking him to pray for rain. He was immensely scrupu­ lous in his bearing, words and deeds, and he refused to take any credit for himself on account of his conduct (see details in Taanith 23a-b). and he speaks the truth from his heart, like Rav Safra.

He refused to receive an increased sum for selling an article, after the would-be buyer was prepared to pay v more because the latter was under the misapprehension that R. Safra was not satisfied with the first offer.

This was not true; he had not shown his agreement earlier because he had at that moment been reciting the Shema (see Rashbam, Bava Bathra 88a and an­ other case in Chullin 94b). has no slander in his tongue, like Yaakov, who said: “. . . I would appear to him as a deceiver” (Bereshith 27, 12).

Nor does he do evil to his neighbour. That is one who does not set up—his livelihood—in opposition to (competition with) his fellow craftsman (see Sanhedrin 81a and Nedarim 32).

Nor does he take up reproach towards his neighbour.

That is the one who befriends his near ones. See San­ hedrin 76b: “He who loves his neighbour, displays in­ timacy towards his relatives, marries his sister’s daugh­ ter, and lends a sela to the poor man in time of his need—of him it is said: ‘Then you shall call and Hashem shall answer’ ” (Yeshayah 58, 9). in whose eyes a vile person is despised. This is one like Chizkiyah, King of Yehudah, in his dealing with his father’s body.

He honours those who fear Hashem. This is a case like that of King Yehoshafath, King of Yehudah who, whenever he saw a Talmid Chacham, rose from his throne and embraced and kissed him, calling him “Fa­ ther, Father; Rabbi, Rabbi; Mari, Mari.”

He swears to his own hurt and does not change it.

A case like R. Yochanan, who once said: “I shall keep fasting till I come home.” According to the Haiachah, however, this was a case where he was not obligated to fast; nevertheless he did so. This is an instance of the fulfilment of the Tehillim-Passuk 4 (last part). He has sworn to his disadvantage, but has not altered it, even though he is not duty-bound to fulfil it.

i !'

t . i .ffi*

r—

%

- n"

Page Ten

APRIL, 1976

He does not put out money for interest. Not even to a non-Jew. This is not regarded as a noble practice, though permitted by the Torah (Devarim 23, 21).

According to Rabbinic sources, the Tannaim forbade the lending of money to a non-Jew for interest. Rashi says (loc. cit.) that the reason is that the Yehudi should not be induced thereby to lend money also to another Yehudi for interest. Other sources also mention that the Yehudi should not in general become used to nonJewish business practices. The Halachah today is that this prohibition does not apply to the business condi­ tions of our time (Yoreh Deah 157, 1 etc.)

He does not take (as a judge) reward against the innocent. This refers to cases of extremely subtle in­ stances of “reward”, such as the case of R. Yishmael ben Yose. His gardener always used to bring him a basket of fruit on Erev Shabbath. Once he brought it on a Thursday. Asked why, he answered: “I have cited someone to appear with me before R. Yishmael”.

Rav Yishmael refused to accept the fruit, and other schol­ ars were appointed to hear the case (Kethuboth 105b).

With this the cases in Tehillim come to an end. Now follows an investigation whether the praise in the Mizmor: “He who does these things, he shall never be moved”, refers only to the one who keeps all these things. R. Gamliel wept at the consideration that this might be the case. But the outcome of the Gemara is that if one practises even one of these virtues, he will not be moved.

Then the Gemara continues as follows: Yeshayah came and placed them on six (Yeshayah 33, 15): He who walks righteously, like Avraham (Bereshith 18, 19). “I have chosen him that he may command his

NISSAN, 5736

n o n

children and his household after him that they may keep the way of Hashem to do Tzedakah u-Mishpat— Righteousness and Justice . . .”

He who speaks uprightly, that is, one who does not affront his fellow man in public.

He despises gain by oppression. For instance, the case of R. Yishmael. Once somebody came and brought him — being a Kohen — reshith haggez, the first sheepshearing of the year, which belongs to the Kohen. When R. Yishmael asked him whence he came, he mentioned a place a long way off. R. Yishmael asked him: “Is there no Kohen between there and here?” The man answered: “I have a Din Torah at your Beith Din and, ‘by the way’, brought the wool for you”. R. Yishmael told the m an : I am not eligible to act as a judge for you.”

He also shakes his hands from the holding of bribes, like R. Yishmael ben Yose (see above).

He who shuts his ears to the hearing of bad words. One who does not hear aspersions made against a Talmid Chacham, and does not remain silent, as once did R. Eleazar bar R. Shimon (see Bava Metzia 84b).

The Gemara continues as follows: Michah came and placed them on three (Michah 6, 8) : To do justice. This refers to the (strict) Din. to do mercy. This refers to Gemilluth Chassadim, the rendering of deeds of kindness. to walk humbly before G-d. This refers to walking in procession or accompanying a departed person, as well as accompanying a Kallah to the Chuppah.

The Gemara continues as follows: Yeshayah (he is mentioned a second time) came and placed them on two (Yeshayah 56, 1):

W ith best w ishes to all readers of h a m a o r for a very H appy and K osher Pesach

FOR KASHRUS AND QUALITY

FINEST VIENNAS

SALAMI

AND COOKED MEATS

WILL BE MANUFACTURED FOR PASSOVER AS USUAL

I. BLOOM (KOSHER) & SOX LIMITED UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF THE LONDON BETH DIN Our Canned Products are NOT Kosher for Passover

-- U -

La *

S

THE LI GHT

APRIL, 1976

Keep judgement and do justice.

The Gemara continues as follows: Amos came and placed them on one (Amos 5, 4): Seek me and you will live.

The Gemara continues as follows: Chavakuk came and placed them on one (Chavakuk 2, 4).

But the righteous shall live by his Faith.

As to the last two utterances, the consideration of the Gemara is as follows: When the Gemara brought the first Passuk of Amos, the view was that this Passuk speaks indeed of one Mitzvah only. (And Rashi says as to the Passuk that the meaning is this: Go to Yerushalayim to bring there the Korbanoth which you owe; do not go to the places of the Avodah Zarah). Then the Gemara comes to the view that perhaps in this Passuk Amos was actually thinking of the whole Torah, and then the mention of Amos (with this Passuk) in this context of the Gemara would not be suitable. Con­ sequently the Gemara brings the other Passuk, which is the proper one here.

The dual expression, “Hattov ve-Hayyashar” —“the Good and the Righteous” in Devarim 6, 18 (and in very many other passages in Sefer Devarim and in the rest of Tanach, in the same or a very similar version) require some explanation. Rashi says (there) that “the Good” means in the eyes of Hashem, and “the Righteous” means in the eyes of man. This is the view of R. Akiva in the Sifrey 12, 28. R. Shimon (there) says vice versa.

Without going into details, it seems to be agreed that the terms refer to the Mitzvoth between man and man as well as to the Mitzvoth between man and G-d. The Vilna Gaon refers to this divergence of opinions in his commentary to II Divrey Hayyamim with regard to the Torah-devotedness of Assa, King of Yehudah.

The concluding words of Passuk 28 also require some consideration. To which of the two words—tov or yashar —does the phrase “in the eyes of Hashem, your G-d” refer? If to the last word, yashar, as is the usual way of the language, this would be against the view of R. Akiva. Therefore one may say that it refers to both words; and the Neginah favours this. The idea behind it is significant. When one speaks of “in the eyes of” (the righteous) one must not be in any way whatsoever against the Din and spirit of the Torah.

The concept of Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin The words in Shemoth 18, 20 “ . . and to show them the way wherein they should walk, and the work they should do”, have a distinct meaning, according to Tradi­ tion (in Mechilta, Bava Kamma 99-100, Bava Metzia 30b).

They teach the concept of Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin.

The traditional interpretation of the Passuk Devarim 6, 18: “And you should do that which is hayyashar ve-h'attov—the Right and the Good—in the eyes of Hashem”, is similar. See Rashi there, who says that hayyashar vehattov means Pesharah, Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin. In certain cases, another Passuk is also to be applied (Mishley 2, 20): “You shall walk in the ways of the good, and keep the paths of the righteous”.

Very similar or even identical is—according to Redak —the term mitzvath anashim melummadah—“man-made command, well-drilled in it”—referring to the habit of one who does only that which is commanded, and does not add from his own. For a detailed explanation, see the earlier article on Volitional Life.

To begin with Rashi’s remark: “Pesharah” means the Mitzvah, in our relations with other people, not always to insist and even fight for our right (and for what we con­

NISSAN, 5736

Page Eleven

sider our right) up to the last, but to give in voluntar­ ily, whenever possible, for the benefit of our fellow men. “Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin” is a wider concept; it includes not only our relationship with our fellow men, but also our relationship with G-d—to act Lifnim Mish­ shurath Haddin, meaning: to do more than Hashem has demanded from us in the Torah; to act “beyond the strict Law”, but in the spirit of the Law and within the Law. It is a voluntary decision, but in certain cases it be­ comes nearly the character of Law. Speaking of law and considering the Divine Beney Noach legislation, it may be mentioned that non-Jewish legislation also embodies a concept of a similar nature.

The nearest equivalent in English law is summarised in the term “Equity”. This is a system and body of justice outside the Common Law but complementary and sup­ plementary to it, in the form of collections ol rules based on precedents and leading cases. Its purpose is to remedy injustices due to rigorous application of the letter of the law, and its effect is that the judge is given the right to apply fairness where the letter of the law would not demand or even favour it. And this kind of legal dealing is suported by the ideas of Natural Law. It is noticeable that Tradition reports that the concept of Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin applies also to the Mitz­ voth Beney Noach (Rambam, Hilchoth Melachim X, 10).

How immense the difference is between Equity and the whole concept of Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin will be easily perceived in the course of our investigation.

Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin in Talmudic-Halachic cases When, in the following, a number of sources are men­ tioned in which the concept of Lifnim Mishshurath Had-V din is dealt with, there is no necessity or possibility to go into great detail; the intention is only to describe the concept in its source and in its application.

Kethuboth 97a: Someone sold real estate to R. Papa because he intended to use the money to buy oxen.

The purchase did not work out, and the person wanted to get the real estate back. R. Papa gave it back, on account of Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin.

Bava Kamma 99b-100a: A woman came to R. Chiya and showed him a coin, and asked whether it was gen­ uine. R. Chiya confirmed that it was. Later, the woman came back and said that she had suffered a loss because the coin was actually of no value. R. Chiya paid for her loss. Why? Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin.

Bava Metzia 30b: R. Yishmael met a man who was carrying a bundle of wood. The man put down the bun­ dle and had a rest. Then he asked R. Yishmael to help him to shoulder it again. The latter asked him the value of the wood (because it was a physical strain to him to help). The man told him the value of the wood, and R. Yishmael gave him the money and was mafkeer— i.e. abandoned his ownership of the wood. The original owner acquired it again in the usual legal manner and again asked R. Yishmael to help. The latter again gave the money, and abandoned ownership of the wood. When he saw that the man was again making an attempt to acquire the wood, R. Yishmael said: I have been maf­ keer, I have given up the ownership of the wood for the sake of the whole world, but not for you. Then the Gemara asks: Was R. Yishmael obliged to help to shoul­ der the wood at all, since he was an old man? Further: Was his whole action in accordance with his dignity as a great Teacher? And the Gemara answers: He acted Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin.

Bava Metzia 83a: Rabbah bar Chanah hired workmen

Page Twelve

APRIL, 1976

NISSAN, 5736 11

to transport a cask of wine. The cask was broken. Rabbah took the garments of the workmen to cover the loss, but Rav ordered him to give back the garments. Rabbah asked: “Is this Law?” and Rav answ ered: “Yes, it is w ritten: ‘You shall walk in the ways of the good’ ” (Mishley 2, 20). Then the workmen complained that they had worked the whole day and now had nothing to eat.

Rav ordered Rabbah to pay the wages. Rabbah asked: “Is this Law?” and Rav answered: “Yes, it is w ritten: ‘And keep the paths of the righteous’ ” (Mishley 2, 20).

This case is usually counted among the real Halachic cases of Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin. Acording to Tossafoth loc. cit., however, this is not a proper case. Actu­ ally, the workmen were obligated to pay for the damage because it happened on account of their negligence. And the concept of Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin—in its proper sense—has its limits. This seems to be the reason why Rav does not quote one of the Torah Pessukim, but an additional one from Mishley. This Passuk advises on an additional side of the application of the principle of Lif­ nim Mishshurath Haddin in an even higher degree than the usual one. It was an exceptional case. The Gemara does not explain why, so suggestions may be made. The workmen were indeed in a very difficult situation at the end of a working day. Secondly, the one who hired them was a great Teacher of whom it is expected that he not

only lives and acts Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin, but goes even further to prevent human distress. Such an attitude is based on the human heart, and is expressed in the particular human teaching of Mishley.

Bava Metzia 30b and 88a: R. Yochanan says: Yerushalayim was destroyed because they based their (legal) matters on the Din Torah, and not on Lifnim Mishshu­ rath Haddin.

Berachoth 45b: When three people eat together, one has to interrupt his meal in order to join the other two in mezoomen for Birchath Hammazon, but not two for one. However, Rav Papa with another person interrup­ ted his meal for one person. He did it because of Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin.

The last two cases are of particular kinds. The first speaks generally of the significance and importance of Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin. The second case shows that in the pure religious-ritual life we should show friendly consideration towards other people on account of the concept of Lifnim Mishshurath Haddin.

Other Talmudic-Halachic cases are mentioned in Bava Metzia 16b, 24b, 108a, etc.

There are important Tossafoth in Pessachim 53b and in Bava Kamma 99b-100a; in Bava Metzia 24b and 108a; Metzia 16b, 24b, 108a, etc.

(To be continued)

THE FEDERATION OF SYNAGOGUES DERASHOT IN HALACHAH AND AGGADAH WILL BE DELIVERED ON SHABBAT HAGADOL, APRIL 10, AS FOLLOWS : Dayan M. Fisher, Rav Rashi

SHAARE SHOMAYIM SYNAGOGUE, 47 Lea Bridge Road, E.5.

Before Musaf

Rabbi M. Aaronberg

SHEPHERD’S BUSH, FULHAM & DISTRICT SYNAGOGUE, Poplar Grove, W.6.

Dayan P. Braceiner

FINCHLEY CENTRAL SYNAGOGUE, Redbourne Avenue, N.3.

After Mincha

WEST HACKNEY SYNAGOGUE, Amhurst Road, E.8.

Rev. B. Koschland, B.A.

SHOMREI HADATH SYNAGOGUE,

OHEL SHEM SYNAGOGUE,

527 Finchley Road N.W.8.

Chamberlayne Road, N.W.10.

After Mincha

After Mincha

Rev. L. Gayer

Rabbi M. Smith

FIELDGATE STREET GREAT SYNAGOGUE,

SINAI SYNAGOGUE, Woodstock Avenue, N .W .ll.

After Mincha

Rev. Dr. J. G. Jacobs, M.A., Ph.D.

Dayan D. Kaplin After Mincha

After Mincha

Fieldgate Street, E.l.

After Mincha

Rev. I. Nodel

ILFORD FEDERATION SYNAGOGUE,

Rabbi J. Kahan

TOTTENHAM HEBREW CONGREGATION,

Coventry Road, Ilford

High Road, N.17.

Rev. M. Gingold

After Mincha

After Mincha

WOOLWICH SYNAGOGUE, Anglesea Road, S.E.7.

Rabbi G. Lopian

YESHURUN SYNAGOGUE, Fernhurst Gardens, Edgware.

Before Mincha

Rabbi E. Sebbag

CROYDON & DISTRICT SYNAGOGUE, 30 Elmwood Road, Croydon.

Rabbi D. Gukovitzki

Nelson Street, E.l.

SPRINGFIELD SYNAGOGUE, Upper Clapton Road, E.5.

AHAVATH SHALOM SYNAGOGUE, Clifford Way, N.W.10.

Before Musaf

Rev. A. Rosin

EAST LONDON CENTRAL SYNAGOGUE, Rabbi Dr. S. Herman, B.A., Ph.D.

nnn

Before Musaf

After Mincha

Rev. L. Shaposnick

GREAT GARDEN STREET SYNAGOGUE, Greatorex Street, E.l.

After Mincha

THE

APRIL, 1976

LI GHT

SALT WATERS A Short Story

By HARRY (ZVI) BRISKMAN (Jerusalem and London) The uprising in Judea had been crushed. The citizens of Jerusalem dared not lift up their heads; the Roman legionary stamped on the pavings in town with a con­ queror’s pride. In back turnings and quiet alleys he walked unmolested. The Roman horsemen cantered at their pleas­ ure on the high roads.

In the lonelier parts of the country, however, in the up­ lands, deep in the interior, no discreet Roman trusted himself alone. Angry men still lurked there, sword in hand, as any Roman who ventured too far out learned to his cost.

The military governor of Jerusalem had stern orders from the procurator in Caesaria: “Wipe out what remains of rebel nests; make an example of captured rebels to instil fear and dread in the population.”

The people were desperately brave — but Rome was determined.

The military governor of Jerusalem set a careful watch over his troubled area. Eyes were everywhere. It was observed that Jerusalem citizens, setting out singly or in pairs after nightfall, met in a cave in the Judean desert.

The military governor rose to the occasion. His soldiers barred the exit from the cave while a meeting was in progress. The group was called upon to surrender or die.

They gave in without a struggle. The Romans felt they had snuffed out the germs of sedition. They were mis­

NISSAN, 5736

Page Thirteen

taken, however. The men they had trapped in the cave were not the dangerous conspirators they were suspected of being. But a militia in action asks few questions. Two of the group were singled out to die without a hearing.

The others were hustled back to Jerusalem, where they were kept under heavy guard.

The two men sentenced to die were put into bags and thrown into the Salt or Dead Sea, near the cave. This is what the procurator at Caesaria meant by “making an example” of trouble makers.

But the two men thus singled out had, it would seem, more chance of surviving than their compatriots chained in a Jerusalem gaol!

The soldiers threw them into the Salt Sea and then literally fled from the rising vapours, the pungent brine and the pervading smell of the asphalt floating in black blotches on the surface. But the two men in the bags did not sink: they floated.

The Romans did not know that the Dead Sea was dif­ ferent from other seas or lakes. Its waters evaporated under the blistering heat, and on the compact salt residue, the two men were buoyed up, exposed to view on the surface.

And there were friendly eyes in the neighbourhood piercing keenly through the salt vapours, hardy natives who knew every inch of the terrain, men of the flitting rebel bands whom the Romans could not catch.

Swiftly they moved over the dunes to rhe rescue, like figures out of a fable coming true to life. Through the thick brine they waded, cut open the bags, freed the gasp­ ing men and revived them. They were duly introduced to Ben-Lakish, the rebel leader in the Judean area, who* knew everything and everybody. He knew his. rescued

(CONNY SHACK) Licensed by Federation Beth Din and Kashrus Board

FISH AND DAIRY FOODS OUR SPECIALITY MID-WEEK AND SUNDAYS ANY HALL

67 BEEHIVE LANE, REDBRIDGE, ESSEX Telephone: 01-554 7375 or 01-247 6153 Day

Page Fourteen

APRIL, 1976

NISSAN, 5736 11

prot£g£s were members of the Party of Peace, against continuing the war, against himself.

But he led his men in a hearty chorus: “Perish Rome.

Long live Judea!” The two survivors, in part out of a sense of gratitude to their rescuers, chimed in with the others: “Perish Rome. Long live Judea!”

It was a lonely cry in the lonely places born of in­ dignation and despair.

The round-up in the cave near the Dead Sea cast a cloud over Jerusalem.

Eliezer ben Janai, head of the arrested group, was a leading force in the Party of Peace, preaching against all further fighting.

It was in vain that prominent citizens pleaded with the governor, pointing out that Eliezer ben Janai was a scholar and a saint, who had led his group into the desert so as not to be disturbed in study and prayer. In vain the citizens’ spokesmen pleaded and protested that Hosea and his group had set their faces against the warlike factions.

The military governor had been in some haste to send in a proud report to the procurator at Caesaria and had got back the sardonic response: “Slaughter the dem ons!”

Besides, prayer and study meetings were under control or ban—and this conclave in the desert had taken place without permission.

There was a further point tipping the scales against Elie­ zer and his group. Eliezer and some of his followers were tall, graceful persons, as those born and bred in Jerusalem often are. Thus, whether they were rebels or not, they at least looked the part. For the military gover­ nor of Jerusalem, in common with all men, had his own lunacies. Those above a certain height fixed themselves in his mind as mutineers beyond all court of appeal. That is how it came about that the gaols were filled with men whose only crime was their stature, while those elements, dangerous, but not tall enough to excite sus­ picion, escaped the noose.

Modestly the governor gave himself a bumper toast, declaring that, in his district at any rate, the last vestiges of rebellion were smouldering out, with the stubborn ring­ leaders behind bolts and bars.

But in the desert of Judea or on the banks of the Dead Sea the lingerers, wanted but not caught, scowled and chuckled in turn.

Stubbing their calloused feet in the marl dunes, or bathing them in the soothing salts of the Dead Sea, where they were hardly ever disturbed, they consoled themselves in disaster with the caprice that when they caught Rom­ ans wandering out too far, there were no mistakes— no fine and subtle distinctions made between the tall and the short. *

*

*

Jose Hakafuf, or stooping Jose, was so called because in the past two or three years he had developed a stoop.

Jose Hakafuf left Jerusalem on a sultry day, set for the fords of the River Jordan, which he was determined to cross.

But in the wake of the hot desert wind came a sudden storm and, running for shelter, Jos6 was stopped by the soldiers.

After the routine cuffs, kicks and curses they began to question him. “What are you doing here? Where are

N73n

you off to? Are you alone?” But an officer came up and recognised Jos<§. He vividly recalled his first meeting with him.

Jose’s aged father, Nachman, had been seized and de­ tained during a military search. The military action had taken place following a nasty rebel attack on the gover­ nor’s residence, when one of the terrorists with dagger drawn had almost burrowed his way into the governor’s private quarters.

Jose had come round to headquarters to get his father released. “How can an old man of eighty be active in rebellion?” he had demanded. The officer had a clear recollection of the details.

But unfortunately, Nachman was very tall, and broad to boot. He looked if anything a hardy veteran, which in a way he was, having taken part in a number of skirm­ ishes and battles. There had been little chance of gaining his release.

Had not the laconic procurator at Caesaria stated : “All Jews between eight and eighty are suspect”? Jose’s father was undermined in the crowded prison conditons. He contracted typhus and died.

“Where are you going to?” asked the officer, his voice a blending of stem duty and human interest.

“I’m going to the ford, to cross over into a new coun­ try”, said Jose. “My aged father died in prison, my two sons were killed in the siege, my third son is . . . I don’t know where, my daughter vanished after the siege. My wife—I buried her two days ago. Nobody pays attention to me; nobody wants me, nobody listens. I’m on my way to find a new home for myself among strangers, across the river”.

“There’s no need for you to leave Jerusalem”, said the officer. ‘ We’ll take you back with us. We might put you in the way of something good . . *

*

*

Three days later, Eliezer ben Janai was talking quietly to his followers in the cramped prison space, when the door was wrenched open without warning by rude hands.

A new prisoner was thrust—one might almost say hurled —in with little ceremony and no word of introduction, and the door slammed, shutting out the world again on the old occupants of the cell and this new arrival.

“Jose, Jose”, some cried, “what have they against you?”

“Poor Jose”, they thought, “all the troubles of the world come pouring down on his head”.

The prisoners clustered round him with warmth and concern, jerking out their questions one after the other, so eager were they for a spot of first-hand news of home, of family, friends, their circle and the political situation.

“But why have you been sent here?” insisted Eliezer.

“They questioned me about my third son, and as I could not tell them where he is, they said I would lodge in prison until my knowledge improved”.

Eliezer and his followers expressed their deep sympathy.

Jose proved very useful to the prisoners. He ran in and out doing small offices. He seemed to be on good terms with the guards and some of the officers, and enjoyed a large liberty. Jose contrived to forge a link for Eliezer ben Janai and the others with the outside world.

But among his companions in prison he was generally silent and withdrawn, a clouded, perhaps angry man.

Eliezer and his followers were gentle with him.

A little while after Jose had been flung into gaol, a

TH E

LI GHT

APRIL, 1976

note was smuggled in for Eliezer ben Jannai—a word of warning from Ben-Lakish’s group — which read as follows: “Jose is not to be trusted. Demented by his loneliness he has entered Roman service. He has been posted to the prison to pick up private talk and report back. Be careful what you say in his hearing.”

Eliezer’s feelings were hurt. He refused to believe the denouncement. “A pure invention”, he thought, “on pur­ pose to sow discord among us. We have indeed fallen on evil times”.

Eliezer dismissed the matter from his mind as some­ thing not worth his attention.

Jose, in the meantime, had run a little message which had far-reaching results for all the occupants of the cell —but one.

He carried a secret instruction from Eliezer ben Janai to friends in town. They were to get in touch immediately with one Fabius Varro, a historian in Rome. Eliezer had met him when on a mission there.

Fabius Varro and his wife had had long talks in their home with Eliezer and were both impressed with his character and the beauty of Hebrew teachings. Fabius had influence in governing circles, and Eliezer pinned his hope on him. to have an inquiry set up which would lead to their release.

The military governor called on the prisoners in person.

There was a touch of respect in his hearing, for interest in Eliezer ben Janai’s case had been aroused in Rome.

The military governor had very good news for Eliezer and his followers.

“You got your message through to Rome . . .” he said with a smirk, then stopped abruptly, on catching sight of Jos6 crouching in his independent niche. “. . . With the help of this two-faced fellow, Jose, the bearer of your secrets! Well, it worked, anyhow. You’re free to leave this prison, except this Jose of course. He will be execu­ ted”.

The governor quickly switched over to a plane of intimacy.

“It was news to me, I must admit, Eliezer, that you have powerful friends in Rome. Fabius Varro is a very good friend to you, believe me. He and his wife have asked us to convey their best wishes. I am told by our procurator that this lady and many Senators’ wives are taking an interest in Jewish teachings. We all have our tastes, Eliezer, but frankly, I for one, hold that noble Roman ladies should be otherwise occupied. However, you got your message through, that’s the main point— you Jews have always been good at underground passages.

Fabius Varro took up your case, and the procurator at Caesaria was ordered to open an inquiry. We are now completely satisfied that you are innocent men”.

The governor’s glance fell once more upon Jose, who withered under his bold military demeanour.

“We had an inquiry, as you now know, and we dis­ covered a thing or two”. The governor began to rumble: “Jos6 is in your pay! We have no clear proof, but there is no doubt in our mind that Jos6 worked for your in­ terest outside this prison. He’s a double-crosser, a twofaced, stooping, cringing baboon, whom nobody may trust.

You are all leaving prison today, all except this one”.

Eliezer ben Janai replied for the occupants of the cell, saying how thankful they all were, deeply indebted indeed to the military governor, to the procurator, to Fabius Varro alnd those in Rome who had seen justice done.

“But either we all go together or none of us”, he said gravely. “We cannot leave him in the lurch. It is against

Page Fifteen

NISSAN, 5736

our laws. So, if Jos6 is to die, we shall die with him”.

The governor did not take Eliezer seriously. He was merely irritated.

“Jose will be ducked in the big salt pond below, where bodies are sucked in and never seen again. Jose will be executed”.

“We cannot leave this prison without Jose” said Eliezer quietly. “We mustn’t do a thing like that”.

Eliezer spoke in a tremulous voice and the governor took alarm.

“If you knew . . .” he began falteringly. But Jos6 Hakafuf now flung himself at the feet of Eliezer with a cry of torment that appalled the listeners and brought the governor to a standstill.

He tugged at the hem of Eliezer’s cloak and sobbed, speaking convulsively through his sobs: “Don’t judge me, please don’t blame me. Spare your curses. I had to do it. They pushed me into it. They found me trying to cross over into a foreign land. They brought me here.

I buried my wife. My sons, my daughter, my father are gone. One son only have I left, and who knows what may have happened to him! Nobody listened to me; nobody wanted me. Nobody cared for a lonely man like me.

“I am a spy”, he shrieked against the harassed ears of those present, “a Roman spy. I am a spy!”

There were some among the prisoners who could hardly summon the strength to stand up against the scene.

Jose sobbed bitterly on the floor, while the others looked on, agonised, palsied.

The prosaic military governor may have been a little sorry for Jose. But he had his orders from the procurator, whose strict procedure it was “to make an example”.

And this time the axe had fallen on Jose’s neck.

SMITH, SELMON & TEMPLE & CO. LTD.

INSURANCE BROKERS TEMPLE CHAMBERS, TEMPLE AVENUE, E.C.4 Telephone: 01-353 0581 (5 Lines)

I ft

.

k

Page Sixteen

APRIL, 1976

NISSAN, 5736 11

His voice was strangely husky and gruff when he spoke.

“There you have it. He spied on you; that’s why we kicked him in here, and let him in and out. He played fast and loose with you and us, carrying your secret mes­ sages and bringing us reports at the same time.

“It’s the procurator’s orders that Jose be thrown into the sea. The rest of you will leave prison today”, the governor declared.

The execution of Jose ben Nachman was fixed for the next army manoeuvres in the desert. When the army moved, Jose, in chains, was led out with them to the shores of the Dead Sea. They sewed him up in a sack. The governor was pre­ sent to witness the dipping in those strange waters, where human bodies mysteriously disappeared—such were the whispering rumours and reports.

The soldiers stood by. Strong guards were on watch at every possible avenue of approach. When all was ready, they threw Jose in.

But the salt sea played strange conjuring tricks. Far from living up to the Romans’ expectations, it kept Jose in the bag buoyed up, floating on the briny surface, before the astonished legionaries, who suspected guile and the black arts. All attempts at prodding him down had the contrary effect of making him shoot up. Such is the nature of these evaporated waters.

The military governor—not too enthusiastic from the start—had the man dragged back to shore, taken out gasping from the bag and revived.

Jose was fundamentally sound in wind and limb. He had had his share of concealment in cellars, caves and underground. He was none the worse for his experience.

And since he had so cannily cheated death, he became the object of wonder and awe—even of some sneaking

TO EH HEO

from an

%nr> arm

>

HT] n

admiration. The governor had no stomach for further experiments in putting Jos6 to death. But he had his pres­ tige to think of. Jos6 would have to be removed from his area—sent up North or somewhere. In Jerusalem, the governor feared, Jos6 would cut a figure in the public estimation as “The man they couldn’t drown”, and that would be hurtful to his rule. ‘‘I’ll send you up north”, he said to Jos<§. “We have a shrine there on the Hermon slopes, where our priests bless the river’s sources. You may stay there and help the priests, and after some years of good conduct become a citizen of our Empire. You might perhaps enter one of our temples in Rome itself”. The governor spoke half in earnest, half in jest. “You look a holy man, in spite of everything. You mustn’t go back to Jerusalem, but I’ll let you go up North to the shrine. You need some quiet and change after all you’ve gone through. W hat say you, Jose, to staying at one of our shrines?” The last question was mere form — more of a final decision than a question.

As soon as the governor’s intention began to take on vivid shape, JosS seemed to be pulling himself together.

His eyes shone.

Would Jose sell out or would he remain steadfast?

Was it Jose the stooping, the cowed, distracted by lone­ liness and despair, or Jose son of Nachman of suspicious height and girth? Jose, father to Zurishadai, who had been torn by enemy javelins in a bold attack on a Roman battering ram; father to Jephunah who fell from the battle­ ment in a heap below; to Jochanan, the third son, who ranged the Galilee hills with the last of the rebels and who, two weeks after the governor had thrown his father into the sea and dragged him out again, took part in an attack on the shrine at the river sources, leaving the shrine and the priests untouched, but wiping out the mili­ tary force entirely? Would Jose stoop or would he die upright?

He straightened up, but in a flash he was humble again in the presence of the military men.

“Let me prove to your priests that I am charmed”, he said. “Four times you have tried to push me under, and four times the waters refused to cover me up. No sea can drown me; no sword can slay me. Pass your sword here, right through my heart. I will not die, I am charmed”.

The military governor, it is true, had been cheated by appearances, not understanding the nature of the salt sea waters.

But he was no fool. He closely scrutinised the haggard face of the man before him. His military experience had taught him to judge men’s minds.

“Jos<§ wishes to die upright”, he mused. “He thinks we led him astray in a weak moment and he is now bent on correcting his past mistakes”.

The governor’s brain worked quickly, soldier fashion.

Either Jose went up North, or died by the sword. There was no other way out. W hat would the procurator say?

And if Jose really did have a charmed life, as he profes­ sed, let him stand up to the ordeal. So ran the thoughts of the governor.

“Run your sword through this man”, he ordered one of the soldiers.

“Here”, said Jos6, pointing. “Pierce me here, through the heart”.

“Let it be through the heart”, rapped out the governor, h(is colour rising.

The soldier obeyed. Jose the son of Nachman had stood firm and upright.

He died in full view of a crestfallen army.

0!

■

itt= '

I 1S

A *

s4 (0

r-

' r V -

f.

—

THE

LI GHT

APRIL, 1976

BOOKS

EAST END HISTORY A study of London’s East End; Chaim Bermant; Eyre Methuen; £5.00.

POINT OF ARRIVAL.

What does the East End conjure up for us today? The fables and anecdotes of our grandparents: Moshele the milkman, Josele the chicken man, Rivka the dress-maker, Motele the tailor. Do they bring tears to the eyes? Pic­ tures of a warm, lively, bustling, happy community This book by Mr. Bermant dispels all this.

Mr. Bermant commences his (narrative by taking us back to the origins of the East End, to the reigns of William I and Edward I. It was the then garden suburb of London. It provided corn-flour and bread. It was “the great forest”. Yet, by the time of Henry VIII and Eliza­ beth I, due to their overseas adventures, the Navy had expanded rapidly, and thus the consequential need for more docking facilities led to shiprights, caulkers and carpent­ ers removing themselves to the more spacious areas of the River Thames at Rotherhithe and Deptford.

The East End, particularly Stepney, became vastly popu­ lated. Labour was cheap, as men did not belong to the “posh” city guilds. Street crowded upon street, house upon house with gables thrusting tow ard till they almost met, and little light or air between them. The slaughter-houses of Stratford polluted the air, and the refuse emitted from these unsavoury places was cast into the river, which provided drinking water for the population. Therefore, it should have been of little surprise that there were continuous outbreaks of plague, and in 1664, the year of the notorious Black Death, mortalities were numerous.

Some 15,000 people died in Stepney and, as Mr. Bermant says, the gaps left were soon filled, for the East of London has always displayed its chief quality, “resilience”.

Mr. Bermant then devotes a chapter to the waterfront, depicting the drunkenness, which was described with such vividness by contemporary historians, often quoted by the author. He reasons that since work was hard, hours long, thirst great and local water supplies so deficient, even up to modern times, there was little else but beer and strong drink to maintain oneself with.

The first “strangers” to inhabit the East End, were the Huguenots. They began arriving from the time of Eliza­ beth I. The peak was reached in 1685, with the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. These French Protestants were ideal strangers. They worked honestly and lived sparingly.

They were, in the majority, weavers, and those who proved to be highly successful built palatial homes in Spital Square. They constructed churches and hall societies, and the rich established soup kitchens and charity schools for their poorer brethren. However, the reader must ask him­ self, how is it that this Huguenot concentration has lost all trace of itself? On page 34, Mr. Bermant attempts to give us an answer. He suggests, that they were few in number and too readily acceptable, despite the bitter complaints of the city Weavers’ Company, since they had come here under Royal patronage. The Huguenots were Protestants in a Protestant land. They maintained their native French for a very short time. The rate of inter­ marriage was high; their hard work and industry caused them to rise from artisan to master or merchant and

i

Page Seventeen

NISSAN, 5736

they subsequently removed themselves from Spitalfields altogether. It is a pity that Mr. Bermant does not take this opportunity of comparing the exodus of the Hugue­ nots with that of the Jews in the twentieth century. Un­ fortunately, however, no comparisons are made, and each group is treated as a separate entity. < The next group of sojourners were the Irish, who were numerous, mobile, rowdy and poor. The English had grown rich from the soil of Ireland, but spent their illgotten gains in the home country. The Irish birth-rate was prolific. Thus, while England grew richer, the Irish grew poorer. Physical distress and degradation, the natu­ ral outcome, led to their seeking employment in the goldpaved streets of London, where all the well-laden ships docked. It was enough that they were the insurgent Irish, but that they professed Catholicism, too, led to open conflict with their English counterparts. Civil rights were denied and attempts to ease their lot were thwarted by bigoted Protestants. When, in 1846, the potato crop failed they came in their hordes and formed what has been called “a submerged class, always tending to drag down their neighbours’ standard of living”. They found work usually by the docks, and undertook those jobs which were regarded as too demeaning by the native English­ man. Their very Catholicism acquired for them virtues and defects. At his most brutish the Irishman was open to chastisement by the priest. He could seek solace at the church—perhaps a little bit too much comfort—for he was inclined to shirk his responsibilities, since he could always seek the church’s forgiving balm. The Irish were the bane of the trade unions, since they depressed wages and were notoriously difficult to organise. It is here that Mr. Bermant again fails to point out that the resourceful-

FRYDMAN PROPERTIES EXTEND S IN C E R E G R E E T IN G S FOR

j

/»'

/S3 f— *

• i

” “«M

Page Eighteen

APRIL, 1976

ness of the East Ender was of aid to the Irishman, whose greatest attribute was his enduring optimism. Mr. Bermant fails to comment on the comparative historical aspects of his study.

He continues to describe the many institutions set up by the rich to help alleviate the depressed areas of the East End, since the picture transmitted to them was one of awful squalor: the continual epidemics, the dens of vice, the gin palaces, the street urchins. Many persons, such as Miss Octavia Hill, The Rev. Arthur Barnett, Dr. Barnardo, F. N. Charrington and William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, devoted their lives to the service of the East End. As Mr. Bermant rightly points out, some were too liberal, to the detriment of the poor, since they gave money and food without substantiating the facts and without insisting that work should be found and that the money was solely for physical needs, not for alcoholic beverages. A common malady of today’s social services.

Mr. Bermant then spends a whole chapter or. Jack the Ripper, joining in the exercise of the many who have tried to solve the puzzle of the man, who vanished into thin air. Mr. Bermant makes mention of the dangerous repercussions the Ripper murders could have had on the Jewish community. The necessity for Mr. Bermant to play detective for one chapter seems to me to be a less than stimulating game.

The Jews returned to England with the advent to power of Oliver Cromwell. The Sephardim, mostly wealthy, shunned their German-Dutch counterparts (Ashkenazim), who were much less wealthy. Those who had lived in and around Aldgate worked in the rag trade, buying and sell­ ing. They were exemplary family men, and were clean and regular in their habits due to their religious conservances. Nevertheless, they were continually blamed for recurring outbreaks of pestilence, and even pamphlets showing them to be “perfect strangers” did not confound the attacks. Their amusements were concerts and theat­ res, with little love of literature. There was admiration for the Jewish charities which would allow none of their people to live or die in the workhouse. Although small in numbers, they had a hospital, seven schools, a widows’ home, an old-age home and numerous loan institutions.

A comparison with society today would again be useful.

The schools became the conversion places to English manners and morals. Mr. Bermant might have pointed out here how the pendulum has swung and we now have “Jewish” schools to teach Jewish subjects to an other­ wise ignorant, assimilated populace. As the young grew and sought work elsewhere, they found the close, warm huddle of the ghetto claustrophobic, even though in their childhood it had afforded shelter from the abuse and hostile world of urchins, drunkards and whores.

The East End became a new world on the Sabbath, when the night was blotted out and the family conclave drew close together. It was the professional Jews who contended that, to beat prejudice, children must be taught secular requirements and their duty as citizens, and must be imbued with the same English spirit which prevailed among their neighbours. One must stop here to think and argue whether this conclusion was correct, but Mr. Ber­ mant does not express an opinion. It might have been worth pointing out that this course did lead to complete assimilation, as he rightly asserts, but he does not stress the fact that without the immigration from Eastern Eu­ rope, Anglo-Jewry might not have existed.

Then the “deluge” came, as Mr. Bermant terms the arrival of the East Europeans. They survived in an East End which would have stifled an Englishman and even

NISSAN, 5736

1 1 Nn n

an Irishman. Why? Mr. Bermant suggests it was the intangibles. Primarily, they had no alternative. If he was Orthodox as were most of the newcomers, the East Europ­ ean Jew had to seek work from fellow-Jews. Moreover, bad as things were in London, they were worse in Russia, or Poland or Rumania. There were the soup kitchens, etc.

The other was hope. He saw his other brethren, who had improved themselves, and so saw what the future could hold. The East European newcomers became tailors and labourers in the sewing trades. They were exploited by the Gentile wholesalers and by their Jewish counterparts.

They laboured long hours for minimal wages. It was indeed the sweat-trade. They worked six days and were rejuvenated by the Sabbath. Jewish grocers, butchers and bakers sprang up, depriving local traders, another cause of discontent. Eventually, the serious overcrowding led to a Royal Commission which cut immigration. It should be noted, as Mr. Bermant does, that the commercial poten­ tial of the East End caused many companies to move their premises there, knocking buildings down indiscriminately, and thus causing even more homelessness and overcrowd­ ing.

The established community had set up its own hierar­ chy, evolved as a parallel to the Church of England; the East European immigrants, had no part in it. They had their various “chevras”, which caused consternation among older Jewish families, who feared the perpetuation of their outlandish customs which they had abandoned long ago.

It was Sir Samuel Montagu who encouraged these “chev­ ras” to form a unified group which eventually became the Federation of Synagogues, and thus was initiated the enduring battle of words between the Rothschilds and Montagus, a feud which has hardly diminished today, a phenomenon about which Mr. Bermant is tactfully silent.

The first and second World Wars are described. The desire of some Jews to enlist, and others who did not think it was anything to do with them. They had been pushed around enough. Then the Fascists of the 1930s and, finally the Blitz, which tore down many of the slums of the East End and jettisoned those prosperous lews who had not moved away earlier to take their bags to the new garden suburbs and relinquish their heritage for the comforts of materialism and the civilised habits of the universal populace. Mr. Bermant concludes with an en­ dearing picture of the Pakistanis, and wonders how long they will remain unreceptive to their changing surround­ ings.

Is this book really a social history, or has it remained a popular account of the history of the East End immig­ rant? The latter would seem to prevail. Mr. Bermant does not bring much statistical evidence and seems almost reluctant to account for and compare today’s society with that of just a hundred years ago, a task I would have thought indicated by his sub-title, “A Study”. He neither excites the reader nor causes him to revile the scene he describes, and if this objectivity is regarded as a forte, so be it. Surely, this is not expected of a popular history; an author must show his sympathy with an event to give credence to his research and interest to his reader. He never apportions blame or credit to the governing powers, surely, a factor whose function would necessitate dis­ cussion. A more concentrated study of one of the immig­ rant communities, concentrating on their interactions with their surroundings, emphasising their personal tragedies and successes, might have dramatised more forcefully the theatre that was and is the East End. Reba Hames

w

—

W v

1 »•

/

Ci

THE

LI GHT

APRIL, 1976

PRAISEWORTHY QUARTET say good-bye : you may never see them again.

John Allin

and Arnold Wesker; Jonathan Cape; £2.50. east end J ew ish radicals. William I. Fishman; Duckworth; £6.50. yom kippur war. The Sunday Times Insight Team; Andre Deutsch; £5.25. peoples of old testa ­ ment tim es . Edited by D. J. Wiseman; Oxford Uni­ versity Press; £5.50.

Having been born not far from the rural affluence of the Sussex Downs, raised in leafy avenues in Dalston and Upper Clapton, and evacuated to pleasant country towns like Banbury and Bedford, I developed in my early years a faintly haughty attitude towards the East End and East Enders. Indeed, until I joined Etz Chaim Yeshiva, my acquaintance with the area was confined to Fieldgate Street, whither I was taken before Yomim Tovim to my great-uncle’s, who tailored my suits and overcoats at one end of the street, or occasionally to visit another uncle whose watch-repairing establishment was situated at the other end. Later, to reach the Yeshiva which, in my days was grimy, gloomy and ill-maintained, I had to scurry through the canyon of Thrawl Street, whose oppressive rust-brick tenements fairly blocked all natural light and air.

Fate determined that I return to the East End to work, and I have since learned to appreciate at least what Step­ ney means to those who lived there once and live there still. The notably human quality and vitality of East End life is portrayed in another review in these columns, but what Hitler’s bombs left the planners and economics have obliterated, so that the area today is almost unrecognisable to former inhabitants. For them the slim volume of Lowrylike paintings by John Allin is a delightfully cheery sou­

NISSAN, 5736

Page Nineteen

venir, likely to arouse a sentimental stream of reminis­ cence, despite the inept script by Arnold Wesker. For social snobs—a dying breed I am pleased to say—this book is a pleasing antidote.

William Fishman’s book provides a useful account, from the viewpoint of an admirer, of the lives and activi­ ties of the assorted groups of Jewish Socialists, anarch­ ists, and other club-room revolutionaries who troubled the metropolitan community around the turn of the cen­ tury. The other points of view—those of the “establish­ ment”, of the master tailors, of the Rabbanim and of the religious working people—are discounted here but have been adequately detailed by other social historians (Lloyd Gartner, V. D. Lipman, J. Jung et al). One must own to a sneaking admiration for such tenacious idealism, nurtured no doubt by the ethical vision contained in the Hebrew Scriptures, but Dr. Fishman surely exaggerates the influence of the radicals on the Jewish community.

Of interest to Federation members is the fact that one Socialist “cell” regularly met at 165 Jubilee Street, where the famous Synagogue was later to be established The ceasefire that ended the Yom Kippur War two-anda-half years ago was followed by an inevitable flood of books, articles and broadcasts investigating the causes, describing battle scenes, analysing the political back­ ground and estimating effects. Among the best of these efforts was a series of reports by the Insight Team of The Sunday Times newspaper, which were eventually pub­ lished in book form. Later the team gained access tc Arab heads of State and Chiefs of Staff, to the findings of the Israeli commission of inquiry, as well as to senior dip­ lomats and officials in Washington, and the earlier account was entirely re-written to result in what the blurb rightly v claims is “a unique work of contemporary history”, com-

SUPERB BANQUETING BY

UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF THE BETH DIN AND KASHRUS BOARD OF THE FEDERATION OF SYNAGOGUES

CATERING AT LE CHANTICLEER, PAXTON ROAD, N.17 Apply A. Altman, Director 01-808 9794-5 01-800 0364

Page Twenty

APRIL, 1976

plete with photographs and maps. Prepared by professional journalists, the writing is provocative and exciting, yet convincing. For us, together with our kindred in Eretz Israel, the War was a traumatic experience. With the aid of this excellent study we are able to re-define our feel­ ings and attitudes.

Peoples of the Old Testament provides the general reader with useful background information on the major nations mentioned in Tanach as neighbours, allies or ene­ mies of Israel and Judah—including the Canaanites, Am­ monites, Egyptians, Philistines, Moabites, Assyrians. Hittites and Ethiopians. Studies based on the history, religion, customs and literature of these peoples are contributed by specialised scholars, using mainly contemporary sour­ ces. A most serviceable work of reference.

Michael Goldman

ALL ABOUT MIZRACHI anthology of religious

Zio n ism . Edited by Joseph Tiiosh;

Department of Torah Education and Culture in the Diaspora, Jerusalem.

The philosophy of religious Zionism is essentially the philosophy of authentic Judaism. It was enunciated by the movement’s mentors and luminaries over seventy years ago, to give practical expression to a vision which the Jewish people has carried with it throughout its disper­ sions. “The Mizrachi movement”, as Rabbi Meir Bar-Ilan (Berlin) put it, “opened the synagogues to Zionism and has harnessed itself to the arduous task of implementation, under none-too-ideal conditions”. This involved total dedi­ cation and continuous search for solutions that brooked no delay, using the movement ideology as guidelines, but often falling short of the desired.

There was little time to sit back, think and reassess, with the result that whereas the basic principles were un­ changeable, the approach and outlook were not always

BETH JAKOB SEMINARY LUCERNE, SWITZERLAND

Applications are invited from prospective students for the scholastic year commencing Ellul, 5736 (August, 1976) (Part-Scholarships are available) For further information, please contact: Rav Jisroel Ehrentreu, Bruchstr. 26, 6003 Lucerne, Switzerland.

T elep h on e: 041 23 32 84

NISSAN, 5736

11 HT3il

up-to-date. Indeed, there have been, from time to time, ideological conferences and seminars and, of course, a vast volume of articles, but these have not reached the general public.

This fact, as well as the current factionalism and dis­ harmony between the religious and secular camps and, more seriously, within the religious camp itself, prompted Mr. M. Krone, head of the Jewish Agency Torah Educa­ tion Department, to bring out this anthology, an excellent translation based on the Hebrew edition compiled by Mr. Joseph Tirosh, a past head of the World Mizrachi Information Department.

Covering a wide vista of subjects, aspects and writings over many decades, this book will give the reader an inkling of the enormity of the problems which are basic to our very existence, the tasks performed, and the greater ones still ahead of us. The authors encompass Mizrachi thinkers and leaders of the past decades.

Unfortunately, they are not given in any chronological order or even dates. The only exception is Rabbi Meir Bar-Ilan’s Achievements and Aspirations, which is dated 1927. If, indeed, this essay was written over 20 years before the establishment of the State, it testifies both to the permanency of Mizrachi values and the prophetic vision of Rav Bar-Ilan. It expresses succinctly the Mizra­ chi credo and surely deserves a separate reprint.

Otherwise, it would be invidious to distribute credits.

The nature of the subjects is such that there must needs be a great overlapping and quoting of similar sources.

Every one of the essays deals exhaustively with its sub­ ject, and is characterised by a nuance of its own. Yeshayahu Bernstein presents us with a comprehensive exposi­ tion of all aspects of Mizrachi ideology, while Moshe Krone presents a down-to-earth appraisal of the situation and effectively demolishes the criticisms of the “fault­ finding element”.

It is an acknowledged fact that freedom of conscience of the individual is basic to religious Zionist ideology, which stops at the demand that public life honour Jewish religious precepts (Shabbat as the official day of rest, kashrut in the Army and public places, personal status based on Halachah, etc.). This theme forms a continuous thread in the various essays. Odd Man Out is Rabbi Nissenbaum’s personal credo in What is Mizrachism? “I am equally at odds”, he writes, “with religious Jews who insist on public observance but disdain any wish to infringe on individual freedom, as I am with the non-religious who consider Judaism a private matter.” And later, “we plead guilty that we are in favour of the invasion of privacy”.

This impingement, he maintains, should be no more re­ sented than Zionism’s levying of taxes, making Hebrew obligatory and requiring a national education. On the general theme, Nissenbaum declares that “Mizrachi clin­ ches the synthesis of nationhood and heritage”. Galut dim­ inishes Judaism. Judaism cannot and does not, therefore, exist in the Galut, which is why we must return to Eretz Israel”.

Rabbi Nissenbaum, a martyr of the Warsaw Ghetto, had been secretary to Rabbi Mohilever in the pre-Mizrachi foun­ dation era. He was a leading movement ideologist, but he had no chance of testing his ideology in a democratic Israel created only 30 years later. His followers harbour the same vision, but feel it can be realised by education, persuasion and example.

This anthology provides a standard textbook for who­ ever wants to know “all about Mizrachi”, and we have the Torah Department to thank for it.

B. Mindel

THE

LI GHT

APRIL, 1976

REPORTS

ANNUAL CHEVRA KADISHA SEUDAH The annual Service and Seudah of the Chevra Kadisha of the Federation of Synagogues was held on Adar II 7, corresponding to February 9, 1976.

The Service, which was held in the Great Garden Street Synagogue, was conducted by the Rev. J. Steinhart, and was attended by members of the Beth Din and Rabbinate of the Federation of Synagogues, the President and Honor­ ary Officers and representatives of Federation Synagogues and other guests.

In his sermon, the Rav Rashi of the Federation of Syna­ gogues, Dayan M. Fisher, referred to the death during the previous year of Mr. Herschel Steinhart, who had been Gabbai of the Chevra Kadisha of the Federation for some forty years and who, like Moshe Rabbenu, whose yahrzeit occurred on Adar 7, had chosen to be mitasek in this Mitzvah above all others. The Rav Rashi also re­ ferred to the recent death of the Rev. Samuel Roth, who had been Chazan of the Commercial Road Great Syna­ gogue and who, he said, had been steeped in Jewish learn­ ing and liturgy. The Rav Rashi also mentioned the recent death of the former Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Issar Unterman, and he deplored the fact that no com­ munal memorial service had been organised in AngloJewry, on whom the late Rabbi Unterman had left his mark during twenty-three years of devoted service.

The Rav Rashi pointed out that the Yoreh Deah, that section of the Shulchan Aruch which dealt with the laws of kashrut and purity, commenced with the rules of shechita and concluded with the laws of mourning. This, he said, was because these two Mitzvot emphasised the holi­ ness of the Jew and also that the body of the Jew was a sacred object. In fact, the remains of a Jewish person were regarded in the Codes and the Responsa as being of even greater sanctity than a Sefer Torah for, as Rashi put it (Gemara Shabbat 108b), not even the greatest ignoramus in Jewry is entirely without Torah or Mitzvot.

The Rambam (Maimonides) in his letters, and Rabbi Yehudah Halevi in the Kuzari, had compared the human body and its organs to the Tabernacle and its appurtenan­ ces, relating each particular organ to a part of the Holy Sanctuary, the Ark representing the heart, the Cherubim representing the lungs, and so forth. While the mystic relationship between the Mishkan and the body was diffi­ cult to comprehend, it was clear that the human body itself was regarded as of great sanctity. It was, therefore, a basic requirement in Jewish tradition that the remains of the dead should be treated with the utmost respect, and the members of the Chevra Kadisha must always attain the highest standards in the fulfilment of their duties.

The Rav Rashi quoted Gemara Betza 15: “He who wishes to preserve his property should plant ‘Adar’ among them”.

Rashi explains that “Adar” refers to a kind of grass which protects the fruits against germs and disease. The Rav Rashi suggested that the term “Adar” was intended to remind us of the importance of instilling in the minds of Jewry, particularly the children, the significance of the month of Adar, when Moses our Teacher was born and

NISSAN, 5736

Page Twenty-one

when the Jews of ancient Persia (Esther 9, 27) reaffirmed their acceptance of the Torah. The surprising adoption of Persian names for the months of the calendar was in­ tended as a reminder of Babylon, where Ezra the Scribe had enacted rules and regulations to protect the integrity of the Torah and where Jewish customs had helped to pre­ vent total assimilation. In the present age of general permissiveness and abandonment of Jewish concepts of morality, when reform and intermarriage were tolerated instead of being wholeheartedly condemned, the message of Adar could not be over-emphasised.

At the Seudah in the Morris Kasler Hall following the Service, the chair was taken by the President of the Federation of Synagogues, Mr. Morris Lederman who spoke with gratification of the progress being made in the Federation Kehillah, and particularly of the appoint­ ment of a new Dayan to the Beth Din and of young Rabbanim and Ministers to their congregations. There was, however, a regrettable tendency in the community gener­ ally to degrogate the status of the Federation of Syna­ gogues, and there was apparently a deliberate attempt to exclude the Federation from certain communal efforts.

Recalling that the Federation of Synagogues had been in the forefront of Zionist activity since the earliest days and that the former late Principal Rabbi of the Federation of Synagogues, Rabbi Kopul Rosen, had been a foremost international advocate of the establishment of Medinat Yisrael, it was unthinkable that the Federation community should be prevented from participating in work for Israel and other Jewish causes.

Dayan P. Braceiner spoke of the personality of Moshe Rabbenu, whose yahrzeit was celebrated on Adar 7. He noted also that the seventh of Rambam’s Thirteen Prin­ ciples of Faith related to Moshe Rabbenu, whose love and care for his people were without parallel in history. The story of Purim, which also occurred in Adar, served both as a warning of the dire danger resulting from neglect of Torah and as an assuring message that the Al-ty would always send help if we, for our part, accepted his com­ mands.

Rabbi M. Frydman, Vice-President of the Federation of Synagogues, thought that the celebration of Adar 7 by the Federation Kehillah was well worth emulating by the community at large. He spoke of the contribution the Federation made to the general community and to the maintenance of Orthodox Judaism in Great Britain.

Mr. L. Gayer, Treasurer of the Federation Burial Society, welcomed the remarks made by the Rav Rashi regarding the work of the Chevra Kadisha and agreed that, while standards had been well maintained there was always room for improvement. He thanked the members of the Chevra Kadisha and the administration staff for their loyalty to him on his assumption of responsibility for the department following the death of Mr. Steinhart. Their co-operation had resulted in an excellent standard of service to members and the public.

Mr. L. Elgrod, an Elder of the General Council, com­ mended the President and his colleagues for their con­ tinued devoted services to the Kehillah.

Mr. L. Littman, Superintendent of the Edmonton Cemetery, paid tribute to the good relationship that existed between Head Office and in particular the Treasurer of the Burial Society, Mr. Gayer, and the Burial Society staff.

Items of Chazanut were rendered by the Rev. B. Smus, and the proceedings concluded with benching conducted by the Rev. I. M. Braier.

Page Twenty-two

APRIL, 1976

LONDON TALMUD TORAH COUNCIL The 10th Annual Prize Distribution was held on Sunday Adar II 26, 5736 (March 28, 1976) at the Federation of Synagogues, Greatorex Street, E.l.

Mr. Maurice Caplin, Chairman of the London Talmud Torah Council, extended a warm welcome to the guests of honour, Mr. Morris Lederman, President of the Federa­ tion of Synagogues, and Mrs. Lederman. He also welcomed the Rav Rashi, Dayan M. Fisher; Dayan P. Braceiner; Rabbi M. Frydman, Vice-President of the Federation of Synagogues; Rabbi L. Spector, Education Officer of the London Talmud Torah Council; Rabbi G. Lopian, the newly appointed Rav of the Yeshurun Synagogue, and all the prize-winners, together with their parents and all the other guests who had so kindly accepted the invitation to be present.

The Chairman said that he was pleased to report that progress in all the sets of Classes had gathered momentum during the past year, and Jewish religious education had improved considerably throughout the Centres. He stres­ sed the fact that this was due to the untiring efforts of the very capable headmasters and the dedicated teaching staff.

He was also pleased to report that there had been an increase in the number of children attending the Loughton Talmud Torah, which now had an average of 40 children attending on Sundays. He congratulated the headmaster and the Classes Committee at this Centre for their efforts, which had met with such success.

The Neasden Centre had now been resuscitated and here, too, the attendance had greatly improved. He thanked Rabbi Dr. Herman, the newly appointed Rav of the Ahavath Shalom Synagogue, for his efforts, which had achieved these results.

The Annual Examinations were held on Sunday June 29, 1975, when 62 pupils entered for the Senioi, the Junior Grade B and the Junior Grade A examinations.

Four pupils sat for the Senior examination (1 girl and 3 boys) who all passed, the girl and 1 boy passing with distinction.

This result served to prove that girls as well as boys could attain the same high standard of education if they were willing to avail themselves of the opportunities made available to them by the London Talmud Torah Council.

Of the 16 children who entered for the Junior Grade B examination, 11 passed. Of these, 6 passed with distinc­ tion and 2 with credit.

42 children sat for the Junior Grade A examination and 20 passed, 6 passing with distinction and G passing with credit.

Mr. Caplin felt that the results were excellent and that everyone could be justly proud of the children, who had done so well in the examinations, which were based on a high standard of educational ability. However, Mr. Cap­ lin continued, although there was good cause to be satis­ fied with the results, no one must be complacent. All must strive to improve the standards of Jewish religious education at all Centres.

By teaching children a sincere approach to Judaism and by endeavouring to instil a real love of Torah and a true appreciation of the meaning of our faith and herit-

NISSAN, 5736

"11 NTDn

age they would build with firm foundations for the future.

They could then rest secure in the knowledge that, in the fullness of time, their children would become leaders in the Synagogues and religious institutions.

The Chairman congratulated all the prize-winners and thanked the parents for their co-operation in helping to maintain regular and punctual attendance at the Centres and for endeavouring to encourage the children to con­ tinue with their Jewish religious education. He assured the parents that the children would continue to receive the best possible education that the London Talmud Torah Council could provide.

The Chairman concluded by thanking the guest of honour, Mr. M. Lederman, and the Hon. Officers of the Federation of Synagogues for the untiring support that they gave at all times to the London Talmud Torah Coun­ cil. He also thanked them for the generous financial help which the Federation of Synagogues gave to the L.T.T.C. This enabled them to carry on with the great task of Limud Torah of their children.

He also thanked Rabbi Spector and the headmasters and teachers for all their efforts in helping to achieve such excellent results, and he thanked all those in the organisation who had given wise guidance and loyal sup­ port at all times. He also thanked Mr. Kitsberg, the Sec­ retary of the L.T.T.C., for his invaluable help and un­ tiring efforts.

Mr. M. Lederman and Dayan M. Fisher also addressed the gathering. Both stressed the importance of Jewish religious education and emphasised the importance of further study so that the children could increase their knowledge of Jewish traditions and become more aware of their heritage.

Rabbi M. Frydman proposed the vote of thanks to Mr. M. Caplin, Mr. and Mrs. M. Lederman, the Rav Rashi and Rabbi Spector, and he congratulated the prize-win­ ners and their parents.

Mrs. M. Lederman presented the prizes to the following prize-winners: Senior Charles Daniels (1); Ruth Arkus (1); Ian Sassoon (2); Mark Sassoon (2).

Junior Grade B Susan Joseph (3); Hannah Elias (3); Daniel Kitsberg (1); Imanuel Ezekiel (2); Jason Isaacs (1); Andrew Newman (1); Solomon Levi (3); Darius Gilmont (1); Jonathan Glazer (3); Colin Mulberg (1); Simon Levene ( 1 ).

Junior Grade A Louis Levy (3); Jackie Beuchler (4); Michael Raymond (3); Rachel Joseph (3); Garry Field (1); Jane Branston (1); Alan Sober (4); David Rosenthal (1); David Isaac­ son (5); Paul Simons (1); Meryl Lederman (1); Kevin Gothelf (5); Bernard Gaus (5); Simon Walters (1); Debbie Brindle (5); Jonathan Gross (1); Richard Brand (1); Steven Woolfson (5); Anthony Rochman (5); Barry Donn (1).

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

KEY TO CENTRES Yeshurun Synagogue Talmud Torah Stamford Hill Talmud Torah Clapton Synagogue Talmud Torah Ilford Synagogue Talmud Torah Woolwich Synagogue Talmud Torah

THE

APRIL, 1976

LI GHT

NISSAN, 5736

Page Twenty-three

EAST LONDON CENTRAL SYNAGOGUE INDUCTION OF RABBI SEBBAG Th3 East London Central Synagogue in Nelson Street, looking festive and bright following its recent restoration, was filled on the Sunday afternoon before Rosh Hashanah (August 31) with an attentive congregation who had come to participate in a special service held for the induction of the newly appointed young Rav, Rabbi Eliezer Sebbag, and to commemorate the merger of the various Batei Knesset and Batei Midrash forming the new entity.

The proceedings commenced with the formal opening ceremony by Mr. J. L. Cymerman, President of the Syna­ gogue, in the presence of Mr. M. Lederman. President of the Federation of Synagogues, and the Mayor of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Councillor B. Holmes.

Among other guests were the Rav Rashi and Dayanim of the Federation Beth Din, Rabbi P. Toledano, Deputy Haham, Mr. Jack Wolkind, Chief Executive and Town Clerk of Tower Hamlets, Rabbis and Ministers of local Synagogues and Honorary Officers of the Federation of Synagogues.

The Service, which was conducted by the Rev. D. Fried­ man, Chazan of the Synagogue, assisted by a choir, opened with a procession of Sifrei Torah, borne round the Bimah in an Hakafah before being placed in the Aron Hakodesh.

Interior of East London Central Synagogue

who had served those Synagogues in the past, revered scholars and preachers such as the late Rabbi Gerber, Rabbi Berger, Rabbi Singer, Rabbi Pekarovitch, Rabbi Weinberg, Rabbi Levine, Rabbi Cymerman, the Dayanim Rudnick and Gukovitsky, Rabbi Kramer, Rabbi Rabinowitz and Rabbi Szpetman, who had been Rav at Nelson Street Sephardish Synagogue.

Dayan Fisher was reminded on this occasion of Ezra’s description of the consecration of the Second Temple, Induction address by the Rav Rashi when he wrote that “many of the priests and levites . . ., In the course of his induction address, the Rav Rashi, 'and the old who had seen the first Temple . . . wept Dayan M. Fisher, who welcomed the civic dignitaries and aloud . . . and many shouted in joy”. Similaily, those pre­ other guests, read a list of twenty-four congregations which, sent who could vividly recall the pre-war Fast End with at various stages had amalgamated to form the existing its great and small shools and shtiblach, its vibrat­ congregation. He also referred to the illustrious Rabbonim ing life of Torah and Tefillah, the pervading Jewish spirit, the earnestness and re­ verence at prayer, the sanctity of Sabbath and Festival, the sac­ rifices made for Yiddishkeit, the dis­ tinguished Rabbanim and Maggidim who had struggled to keep the flame of Judaism alive and who had exer­ cised such great influence in mould­ ing communal life—those who could remember the area as Har Hamoriah were saddened to witness its decline to become Har Horev, from Mount of Teaching to Mount of Desolation.

Today’s joy was marred by nos­ talgia and sorrow at the disappear­ ance of so glorious a past. And, like the little stones which, the Midrash relates, joined together at Moriah to form Jacob’s pillow, so the small congregations of East London had joined to form a large and viable shool, where his ideals and spirit would continue to live.

In Pirke Avot, Rabbi Joshua ben Prachya counsels “Asei lecha rav”— “Provide thyself with a teacher”. The literal Hebrew of the text implied Right to left: Mr. B. Morris, Rabbi M. Frydman, Mr. L. Elgrod, Rabbi E. Sebbag, “Make for thyself a teacher”. The Mr. J. L. Cymerman, the Rev. D. Friedman, Mr. M. Lederman, the Mayor of complaint was often heard that the Tower Hamlets, Councillor B. Holmes, the Mayoress, Mrs. Holmes, Mr. J. Wolkind, Rabbis of today were not like those Mrs. Wolkind, Mrs. J. L. Cymerman of days gone by; but were the Baale

1!<

I L—

%

v l(P

~ -fl, 3

Page Twenty-four

APRIL, 1976

NISSAN, 5736 11

Batim of today like those of old, who “used” their Rav, turned to him with their problems, consulted him for advice and teaching? It was through this process that the rabbinic responsa literature had developed. It was by “using” their Rav, that a congregation made him into a Rav, increasing his learning, knowledge and experience.

Thus did a congregation acquire a great Rabbi, who in return, formed his flock into a great Kehillah.

And while the modern Rabbi’s task had widened to com­ bine many professions, he remained keeper of the con­ science of the congregation. He had perforce to draw them into the Synagogue and at the same time to reprove them for their misdeeds. How could a Rabbi discharge this unpleasant task and still retain friends in his congrega­ tion? Rabbi Prachya’s advice was, “Provide thyself with a teacher”—“uknei lecha chaver”, a teacher who should be your friend and companion. The wise Rav knew how to administer the medicine of rebuke with understanding and compassion, to succeed not only in retaining the friendship of his community but also to win their respect.

Rabbi Sebbag was a man of profound learning and Yirat Shamayim who would be a source of blessing to the whole of the East London community. Under his guid­ ance, the area should once again become a bastion of Orthodoxy.

Rabbi Sebbag’s sermon Rabbi Sebbag, reminding his congregation that they were approaching the Days of Penitence, devoted his own sermon, too, to the theme of rebuke. Jerusalem had been destroyed, declared the Talmud, because the people did not reprove one another for their misdeeds. “Like rams without pasture” (Echah I, vi) the leaders of Israel had not faced one another squarely with reproof.

The Mitzvah of “hocheach tochiach” lay not only in giving rebuke, but also in its acceptance. This was of particular significance, because it was human nature to reject censure, yet it offered man an escape from wrong­ doing. Without mutual reproof, there is moral suffocation.

The spiritual sensitivity needed to face exposure of mis­ deeds, which characterised the early Israelites, was lacking in this generation, when any criticism of moral failing, even when discreetly veiled, was met with the retort, “Mind your own business”. This was an attitude most dan­ gerous both to the individual and to society.

“Hear the word of G-d”, declared the Prophet Jeremiah, and a striking Midrash explains, “Listen to the words of prophecy before you are forced to listen to words of rebuke; listen io rebuke before you hear the sound of punishment; listen to the words of punishment before you hear the sound of war; listen in the Holy Land before you are compelled to listen in exile; listen while you live rather than from among the dead . . .” So, warns Jere­ miah, heed the reproof while it is yet delivered lightly.

In the light of the tragedy of the present generation, the task of the present-day spiritual leader was to shar­ pen the sensitivity of his congregants to mild reproof, so that the sharper reproach of Providence might be with­ held.

T Rabbi Sebbag concluded with the prayer that his en­ deavours for his new Kehilla would meet with blessing and success.

At a reception following the service, the gathering was addressed by Mr. M. Lederman and Mr. J. L. Cymerman.

Both spoke with gratification of the growth of the East London Central Synagogue. It was to be hoped that with the appointment of their new Rav, the Kehillah would continue to progress.

NT] n

AHAVATH SHALOM SYNAGOGUE INDUCTION OF RABBI DR. S. HERMAN Rabbi Dr. Simon Herman was inducted into office as Rav of the Ahavath Shalom Synagogue, Neasden, by the Rav Rashi, Dayan M. Fisher, at a special service held at the Synagogue and conducted by Chazan P. Cowan on Sunday, December 21. The former Minister of the Synagogue, Rabbi I. L. Abrams, also participated Noting that the induction service was taking place in the week of Sidra Shemot, which recorded the birth of Moses, the Rav Rashi quoted the Rabbinic thought that there is a spark of Moses in every Jewish spiritual leader, who should emulate the great Teacher in his care and leadership of his flock.

“We live”, said the Rav Rashi, “in very dangerous times.” The world had gone insane, particularly in its distortion and misuse of language on a scale never ex­ perienced before. Injustices and evils were concealed in flowery language. Wholesale murder, hijacking and kid­ napping were the work of “Liberation Movements”; a na­ tion causing untold suffering within its own borders and throughout the globe called itself a “People’s Democracy”, and the Jewish people, the victim of racism since the dawn of history, was labelled “racist”.

In such a world it was the task of the Rabbi to re­ affirm the teaching and standards of the Ten Command­ ments. Gone were the days when the Rabbi could stay shut up in his library, remote from his congregation, waiting for them to come to him. Today, he must descend from the mountain like Moses, to mix with his people, experience their difficulties and then raise them to a higher plane.

The Rav Rashi commended Dr. Herman as a Rabbi of wide experience and learning, deserving the respect of his new congregation.

In his sermon, Rabbi Herman stated that historically Judaism regarded each generation as being less endowed with spirituality than its predecessor, so chat the leaders today, rabbinic or lay, could not attain the standards of piety, learning or inspiration of their forefathers. Thus, the Torah declared (Devarim 34, 10): “There never arose a prophet such as Moses, whom the L-rd knew face to face”. Similarly, the Tanaim of the Mishna were greater than the Amoraim of the Gemara, and the Rishonim more authoritative than the Aharonim. Nevertheless, every gene­ ration had solved its problems and withstood its persecu­ tions with courage and strength of character.

The challenges of today were greater than ever before: materialism, violence, moral turpitude and the soul-de­ stroying influence of the environment and the media. The greater the challenge, the greater the response must be.

It had been the historic destiny of the Jewish people to conquer against tremendous odds, as David did Goliath, and as the State of Israel had against overwhelming super­ iority of arms. The oil that burned in the Menorah was “Beaten for the Light”—the light with which Israel was to illumine humanity was kindled only through struggle.

Though the spiritual lights of pre-war Europe—the great communities and yeshivot of the Continent—had been extinguished, new yeshivot, kollelim and schools had been established. The future could be faced,, therefore, with determination and hope.

The Ahavath Shalom Congregation in Neasden. though small, had a role to play. He was grateful to the Rav Rashi

THE

APRIL, 1976

LI GHT

for his words of encouragement and for the opportunity afforded to him to lead the congregation forward.

At a reception following the service, the chair was taken by Mr. Morris Pliskin, Pesident of the Synagogue.

He welcomed the guests, who included Rabbi M. Frydman, Vice-President of the Federation of Synagogues, and the Deputy Mayor of Brent, Mr. L. Snow. Mr. Snow emphasised the need for Jewish citizens to participate fully in communal and municipal activity. Rabbi Frydman stated that the Jewish members of the community could best contribute to the general welfare through their own Kehilla. Greetings were also expressed by Rabbi A. Her­ man, son of the new Rav. Votes of thanks were expressed to Mr. M. Woolf, and his colleagues of the Functions Committee, who had orga­ nised the day’s events.

MR. MORRIS PLISKIN A Kiddush was held at the Synagogue on Shabbat, Feb­ ruary 28, prior to the departure of Mr. and Mrs. Morris Pliskin from the locality.

YESHURUN SYNAGOGUE Rabbi Gershon Lopian, son of the Gateshead Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi A. L. Lopian, and a member of the Sun­ derland Kollel, took up his appointment as Rav of the Yeshurun Synagogue, Edgware, shortly before Purim.

Rabbi Lopian, who is 37, was born in Portsmouth.

After taking “A” levels in economics, he studied Rabbi-

Page Twenty-five

NISSAN, 5736

Mr. Pliskin has been President of the Synagogue for the last two years, combining this office with that of Honorary Secretary, a post he has held for over two decades.

During his period of Secretaryship, he was closely in­ volved in the construction of the new Synagogue building in Clifford Way, which was consecrated shortly after the death of Rabbi I. Landau, as well as in the appointment of Rabbi I. L. Abrams and of his successor, Rabbi Dr. S. Herman.

Mr. Pliskin is also General Secretary of the Grand Order of Israel and was a senior officer in the Public Health Department of the London Borough of Tower Ham­ lets for many years. He is also active in the Freemasonry movement.

He has been an active Member of the Executive and General Council of the Federation of Synagogues At the Kiddush, tribute was paid to Mr. and Mrs. Pliskin

by Rabbi Herman and other speakers, who wished him well on his retirement.

The Editorial Board of hamaor extend best wishes to Mr. and Mrs. Pliskin in their new home. nics at the Gateshead and Hebron Yeshivot. He received semicha from eminent Rabbanim in Israel, including Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yossef and Rabbi S. Z. Auerbach, and has gained practical experience in Halachah and rabbinic jurisprudence both in the United States, under the tute­ lage of the distinguished Possek, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, and in this country. While studying in Sunderland, Rabbi Lopian has taken a close interest in local youth activity and education.

Rabbi Lopian’s wife, who qualified at the Gateshead Seminary and is an experienced teacher, is the daughter of a well-known North London physician.

SHAARE SHOMAYIM SYNAGOGUE Annual Dinner The 21st Annual Dinner was held on Sunday, November 23 in the Abraham Leifer Hall, with the Synagogue’s everpopular Vice-President, Mr. Emanuel Lever, and Mrs. Lever as guests of honour. Mr. Morris Leifer, President of the Synagogue, presided.

As on previous occasions, this function was a social and financial success. It is encouraging to note that over the years, this event has made many friends for the Syna­ gogue who patronise its functions, year after year.

Mission to Moscow On Thursday, January 15, 1976 the Synagogue arranged a meeting which was addressed by Mr. Moshe Davis and Mr. Harold Miller. Mr. Morris Leifer was in the chair.

Mr. Davis, who had accompanied the Chief Rabbi, Dr. Jacobovits, on a fact-finding mission to Moscow, described his experiences there. Mr. Miller stressed the need to help those wanting to emigrate to Israel.

Tu B’Shvat Rabbi Gershon Lopian

On Tu B’Shvat the Synagogue organised a celebration for the children of the Talmud Torah, at which they were

Page Twenty-six

APRIL, 1976

presented with Israeli oranges and chocolates, kindly dona­ ted by Mr. and Mrs. H. Conroy and Mr. and Mrs. E. Lever.

Mayoral Visit The Synagogue held a civic service on Shabbat, January 29. His Worshipful the Mayor of Hackney, Councillor Arthur Super, accompanied by the Mayoress and members of the Council, entered the Synagogue preceded by the Mace Bearer and escorted by the President and the Hon­ orary Officers. The Mayor was called to the Torah and he also read the Haftorah.

Mr. Alan Greenbat, who has often occupied the Syna­ gogue’s pulpit, addressed the gathering. After the service a Kiddush was held in the Abraham Leifer Hall, where the President officially welcomed the Mayor and Mayoress and their entourage. The Mayor, in his reply, thanked the congregation for the wonderful welcome and the oppor­ tunity afforded to him of paying a visit to the Synagogue.

The Synagogue Ladies’ Guild were given a warm vote of thanks for their excellent arrangements.

Clapton & Highbury Youth Club The Youth Club held its Annual General Meeting on February 2. This was preceded by Mincha in the Syna­ gogue, conducted by members of the Club. Mr. Monty Richardson, M.A., spoke from the pulpit. The guests of honour were the Worshipful The Mayor of Hackney, Councillor Arthur Super, and the Mayoress.

The following were elected: Chairman — Mr. Harold Marco; Vice-chairman — Mrs. Helen Abelson; Honorary Treasurer — Mr. Norman Reisman; Honorary Secretary— Miss Brenda Smekler.

Evening of Mystery On February 22 a large gathering of members and friends enjoyed an entertaining and thought-provoking evening with Franklyn, international man of mystery. Franklyn, whose interests are mind-reading, magic and the occult, presented a sensational act that mystified and delighted his audience.

The President, Mr. Leifer, expressed the Synagogue’s grateful thanks to Franklyn, who not only gave his servi­ ces free of charge, but also organised a successful bro­ chure. As a result of the evening, the Synagogue was able to add a considerable sum to its Israel Fund.

Consecration in Guild Lounge On Sunday, March 7, the Synagogue celebrated a triple consecration—a Holy Ark, a Parochet and four covers for the Sifrei Torah for the Guild Lounge, which is used regularly as a Beth Hamedrash. The consecration service was most ably conducted by Rabbi E. Salasnik and the Rev. J. Levinson, Rabbi and Chazan of the Waltham Forest Synagogue.

The Ark which was presented by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Shields in memory of their parents, was made entirely by hand by Mr. Shields. A labour of love by a master craftsman, it is beautiful in its simplicity.

The beautiful Parochet of blue velvet embroidered in gold, together with matching reader’s desk covers, were the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Falkson, Amanda and Mrs. Dora Falkson, in memory of Mr. Phillip Falkson.

Two attractive covers for the Sifrei Torah were presented by the Spring family in memory of Mrs. Sadie Spring,

NISSAN, 5736

rlion

and the other two equally gracious covers were presented by the Fox family in memory of Mr. Joseph Fox. The Ladies Guild donated the elegant curtains that adorn the walls of the Guild Lounge. After the ceremony, members of the community and guests of the donors were entertained to tea in the Abraham Leifer Hall.

Mr. Leifer opened the proceedings by welcoming the fami­ lies and friends of the donors and members of the con­ gregation. He spoke of the long association of the families of the donors with the Synagogue and thanked them most warmly for their gifts. He also thanked Rabbi Salas­ nik and Rev. Levinson for their excellent service. Mr Moshe Lederman, President of the Federation of Syna­ gogues, spoke of our Jewish heritage and the constant need for Jewish education. There could be no better gifts, he said, to aid this purpose.

Synagogue Ladies’ Guild During the past year, the Ladies’ Guild reports, they had been able to continue their various activities with success, despite difficult times. The New Year’s Eve Ball attracted a record number of guests and raised a very substantial sum. The annual Social for rhe Blind was, as usual, a credit to the hard-working organisers, and provided a memorable evening for the guests. A special lunch for the users of the Sylvia Leighton Day Centre and a tea for the residents of Clore House were further signs of the Guild’s active participation in our communal institutions. For the Synagogue, the Guild provided lino and the beautiful curtains that adorn the Guild Lounge.

Donations were also made to the Synagogue Yom Kippur Appeal for Israel, Jewish Women’s Week, and many other deserving charities. The ladies of the Guild are also responsible for the refreshment arrangements for the numerous Synagogue functions.

Clapton Talmud Torah The Talmud Torah held its annual Prize Day on Sunday March 14. A large gathering of parents and friends atten­ ded.

Mr. J. Wiseman, Chairman of the Talmud Torah, pre­ sided. The guest of honour was Mr. Harold Green, Trea­ surer of the Synagogue. Mrs. Green presented the prizes.

Among the platform party were Mr. Leifer, President of the Synagogue, and Rabbi Spector, Education Officer of the London Talmud Torah Council. Mr. S. Leman, the Headmaster, gave a short report of the children’s work, and the children themselves entertained the company with a programme of songs and a very charming “dance”.

After the prize-giving, the children were presented with chocolate by the Ladies’ Guild and were given drinks and Hamantashen by the Synagogue.

Clapton WIZO The Clapton Women’s Zionist Society is proud to report that during the year ended September 1975, it sent more than £1,000 to WIZO and since then has already sent a further £500. Despite the fact that the Society is a very small one and that £1,500 is a substantial sum, the members are still not satisfied and hope to increase their contributions this year. The money is raised by a series of small functions, thrift shops and collections for Wo­ men’s Week. Here, thanks must be expressed to the Clapton Synagogue for its help in allowing the Society the use of meeting rooms, the Abraham Leifer Hall, and so

THE

APRIL, 1976 — NISSAN, 5736

LI GHT

on, and for its wonderful gesture in allowing the Society a percentage of the Synagogue Yom Kippur Appeal Clapton Zionist Society The Clapton Zionist Society is continuing its direct help to Israel by adopting a kibbutz. This year, too, it has sent a considerable sum of money to help a girls’ seminary in Netivot, a development town. The Society has also organised a tour to Israel to take place after Shavuot.

On Motzei Shabbat, March 13, the Society held a Purim Neshef, with Major Dr. David Weiss, of the Shaare Zedek Hospital, as guest speaker. With the aid of a map of the Egyptian front at the time of the Yom Kippur War, Major Weiss spoke briefly of the role of the Medical Corps and the importance of its work. An appeal on behalf of the Shaare Zedek Hospital was made by the Chairman of the British Friends of the Hospital, who was present at the meeting.

During the evening a certificate for trees planted in Israel by the Synagogue was presented to Franklyn to thank him for his services on the evening of February 22.

Page Twenty-seven

he was responsible for the material and physical welfare of all the major yeshivot, chedarim, Talmud Torahs, orphanages and schools in Poland supported by the “Joint”.

Later Rev Kagan was appointed Secretary of the Warsaw Lubavitch Yeshiva, where there were over five hundred bachurim.

He arrived in London in 1938 where, shortly after his marriage, he was appointed Shammas at the Beth Ha­ medrash and subsequently combined his duties with those of Shochet. During his period of service he had conducted virtually every variety of synagogue function, including giving shiurim and acting as Baal Tephillah, Baal K’riah and Baal T’kiah. Rev. Kagan added somewhat wistfully that his salary as Shammas had never been increased since his original appointment!

The gathering was entertained by items of chazanut rendered by Rev. Z. Schein, Rev. S. Samet, Rev. I. Wiesenfeld and Mr. A. Luftig.

The Chairman presented a testimonial to Rev. Kagan on behalf of the Beth Hamedrash, and the proceedings concluded with a vote of thanks to the Beth Hamedrash Ladies’ Guild, who had prepared the Melavah Malka

MEETING WITH ISRAELI STAMFORD HILL BETH HAMEDRASH RETIREMENT OF THE REV. A. KAGAN A reception was held at the Stamford Hi.ll Beth Hamedrash on Motzei Shabbat, Parshat Vayakhel, in honour of the Rev. and Mrs. A. Kagan, on the retirement of Rev. Kagan as Shammas of the Beth Hamedrash, which he served in that capacity for nearly 38 years, and their forthcoming aliya.

The chair at the reception was taken by Mr. Arye Chentow, President of the Beth Hamedrash, who expres­ sed the gratitude of the Honorary Officers and Board of Management to Rev. Kagan for' his unstinted devotion and loyalty to the Synagogue and his close interest in the welfare of the Kehillah and of individual members throughout the period of his service.

While Rev. Kagan’s conscientious labours were widely recognised, said Mr. Chentow, less well-known were his innumerable personal acts of kindness and generosity on behalf of members in need.

Warm tributes to the personality and works of Rev. Kagan were also paid by Rabbi B. Blau and Mr. S. Gold­ berg, Rav and Life President of the Beth Hamedrash respectively. They both expressed best wishes to Rev. and Mrs. Kagan for their future happiness in their new home in Eretz Israel.

In his response, Rev. Kagan recounted details of his family background and early upbringing. His father, an alumnus of the Slabodka, Tels and Lubavitch Yeshivot, had been a businessman, but had conducted shiurim in the kollel of his home town. Eminent visitors to the family home had included the Chafetz Chayim, Rabbi Shimon Shkopp and famous Chassidic Rebbes. Rev. Kagan himself left home at an early age to study at various yeshivot, including those of Pinsk, Lomze and Warsaw. He was eventually granted semicha by the members of the War­ saw Beth Din and other distinguished Rabbanim. He was subsequently appointed Deputy Director of the Chinuch Department of the Polish section of the “Joint”, where

MINISTER OF SOCIAL WELFARE A nublic meeting was arranged by the Federation of Synagogues at the Sinai Synagogue, Golders Green, on Monday, March 22 to hear the Israeli Minister of Social Welfare. Mr. Zevulun Hammer, the youngest Minister in ' the Israeli Cabinet and a leader of the National Religious Party.

Present at the meeting were the Rav Rasiii, Dayan P. Braceiner, the President and Honorary Officers of the Federation and a select gathering of Ba’ale Batim.

The Minister analysed in a fascinating manner the ideological struggle of the State of Israel in relation to its physical development. The message he gave to AngloJewry was that there was little time left for the Jewish people to remain partially indifferent or inactive. The demand of the hour was greatly increased aliyah, especi­ ally from among the Orthodox community. A strong Israel could be assured through sacrifice and selfless devotion.

Secular Zionism had failed to implant in the generation that succeeded the founders of the new Yishuv the belief in the right of the Jewish cause. On the other hand, the generations that had been educated in the ideals of the religious Zionist movement had not failed to produce chalutzim to this very day. He stated further i hat Jews the world over must become partners in the budding of Israel. Financial aid alone did not suffice; physical part­ icipation was essential. Young people needed the inspira­ tion of the older generation. Synagogal organisations had a holy duty to educate their members in the necessity of aliyah. Israel, together with world Jewry, could secure both a spiritual revival and a strong, economically viable Medinah.

Mr. M. Lederman, the President of the Federation, in­ troduced the Minister as a personality of great human qualities ready to help and to receive people in the most charming manner. Mr. Hammer was respected among all circles in Israel for his sincerity and simplicity, Mr. Leder­ man said.

The Rav Rashi in his inimitable, stirring manner, em­ phasised the holy task of the entire Jewish people to

Page Twenty-eight

APRIL, 1976

stand behind Israel, and praised the Minister for his staunch defence of Orthodox life there. He spoke, too, of the great service rendered by the National Religious Party towards the preservation of the religious character of the State.

The Minister answered a number of questions put to him by members of the audience.

Rabbi M. Frydman, Vice-President of the Federation, proposed a vote of thanks to the Minister, stressing that his message to Anglo-Jewry had been delivered with such sincerity that it would certainly achieve the desired effect.

The evening was considered a most successful occasion by all present.

YAVNEH SYNAGOGUE In recent years Yavneh has seen more active participa­ tion by its younger members, both male and female, in various aspects of the Synagogue’s life.

While in past years at the A.G.M., the same few older members were returned to ensure that the Board of Man­ agement had its quota of twelve names, today, the twelve places are not enough for the actual members seeking office, and these are young and active members!

A number of them with their wives, were joined five years ago by members of the former North East London Ladies’ Guild and of the former South Hackney Talmud Torah Parents’ Association, when together they formed the now active Ainsworth Combined Functions Commit­ tee. Recently, on Leap Year Sunday, the Committee arran­ ged its fifth annual supper dance at the Abraham Leifer Hall in Clapton. Various other functions are arranged during the year and, consequently, the Committee have donated large sums of money to the Yavneh Synagogue.

They have also donated cash gifts to various hospitals, elderly people’s homes, Yeshivahs and orphanages, both in England and in Israel. They have presented a televi­ sion set to the Jewish Welfare Board home in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, and in 1975 they presented a fully equipped kidney machine to the Tel Hashomer Hospital in Tel Aviv.

Men and women of the Committee visit male and female members of the Synagogue in hospital, and while years ago the Synagogue boasted of various Societies such as Bikur Cholim and Gemillat Chesed—the Ainsworth Com­ bined Functions Committee are today performing all these Mitzvahs.

The name “Yavneh” was chosen for the Synagogue as it originates from the Hebrew word “Boneh”—to build.

Today’s members are living up to this name.

Another feature of the Synagogue is its newsletter, which reaches members resident in all parts of the coun­ try, keeping them up to date with the Synagogue’s act­ ivities.

During this last year Yavneh has unfortunately lost members, including such regular attenders as Rabbi'Abra­ ham Weinstein, Mr. Philip Brett (Ha-Cohen) and, recently Mr. Solomon Shinebaum (Ha-Levi). Another loss was Mrs. Mary Okun, a founder-President of the former Ladies’ Guild, in whose honour the Miriam Okun Hall, adjoining the Synagogue, was named.

On the brighter side—Dr. Barry Brooks, who celebrated his Barmitzvah at Yavneh—was recently presented with quins by his wife Rosemary. Barry’s parents, Frances and Charles Brooks, are very esteemed and highly respected members of Yavneh, and in 1970 they were given the honour of Chatan Torah, as a token of this esteem.

NISSAN, 5736

n

nf] n

CONGRATULATIONS The Editorial gratulations to :

Board of

extend hearty con­

hamaor

Sir Isaac and Lady Wolfson on their Golden Wedding anniversary.

Rabbi and Mrs. M. Singer on their daughter’s marriage.

Rev. and Mrs. J. Steinhart on the birth of a grandson.

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Brooks (Yavneh) on the birth of quin grandchildren.

Mr. and Mrs. A. Mansfield on the birth of their seventh grandchild.

Mr. Hyman Steinhart and family on the birth of a grandson.

Mr. and Mrs. S. Rurka on the birth of a grand-daughter.

Mr. and Mrs. Jack Gayer on their son’s Barmitzvah.

Mi. and Mrs. Lewis Gayer on their grandson’s Barmitzvah.

Mr. and Mrs. B. Gayer on their great grandson’s Barmitz­ vah.

Mr. and Mrs. I. Goodmaker on their son’s engagement.

Mi. and Mrs. I. Ross on their son’s engagement.

Mr. and Mrs. S. W. Stuart on their son’s engagement.

Mi. and Mrs. H Green on their marriage.

Rev. and Mrs. D. Josovic on their daughter’s marriage.

Rev. and Mrs. Kagan on their son’s marriage.

Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Magen on their daughter’s marriage.

Mr. and Mrs. M. Plaskow on their daughter’s marriage.

Mr. and Mrs. B. Lixenberg on their Silver Wedding anni­ versary.

Mr. and Mrs. L. Gayer on their Ruby Wedding anniversary.

Mr. and Mrs. M. Kent on their Ruby Wedding anniversary.

Mr. and Mrs. H. Sunshine on their Golden Wedding anni­ versary.

Mr. and Mrs. W. N. Margolis on their Diamond Wedding anniversary.

Mr. W. Singer on his 70th birthday.

Mr. B. Feldman (Ilford) on his 100th birthday.

CONDOLENCES The Editorial Board of dolences to :

hamaor

extend sincere con­

Dr. Judith Grunfeld and family on the loss of their husband and father, Dayan Dr. I. Grunfeld.

The family of the late Rev. S. Roth.

The family of the late Mr. Herschel Steinhart.

Mi. H. Gaventa on the loss of his son.

Mrs. J. Mandelbaum on the loss of her husband.

Mrs. E. Salasnick on the loss of her mother (Mrs. Roston).

Mr. J. Lipson on the loss of his father.

Mr. L. Sabel on the loss of his brother.

Mr. Nissim Ezekiel on the loss of his mother.

Mrs. Nissim on the loss of her mother.

Mrs. S. Lichtig on the loss of her husband, Mr. Dennis Lichtig, architect.

Mr. J. Flashman on the loss of his father.

THE NEXT ISSUE OF H A M A O R A DOUBLE ISSUE WILL APPEAR FOR ROSH HASHANA

TH E

LI GHT

APRIL, 1976

NISSAN, 5736

Page Twenty-nine

OBITUARIES

CHIEF RABBI UNTERMAN The passing of the revered Rabbi Isser Yehudah Unterman, y^r, late Chief Rabbi of Israel, was deeply felt not only in Israel but throughout world Jewry. Universally acknowledged as a sage and supreme Rabbinic and Halachic authority, he embodied the highest attributes of a Gaon and combined this with the unparelleled experience of over 60 years in the Rabbinate, in several countries, underscored by outstanding eloquence and inspired leader­ ship. Born in Brest-Litovsk, descended from a distin­ guished lineage which includes the Tosefot Yom Tov and Saul Wohl, he was, at an early age, acclaimed a “prodigy”.

He possessed a phenomenal memory and remarkable per­ ception, and was known as Baal Havana and the Brisker Iluy. He studied at the Mir, Malch and Volozhin Yeshivot and was ordained as Rabbi by Gaon Raphael Shapiro, the Rav and Rosh Yeshivah of Volozhin.

Rabbi Unterman, at the instigation of leading Rab­ bis, founded a Yeshivah at Vishniev, Russia, which pro­ duced many Rabbis and scholars, and the saintly Chofetz Chayim took a personal interest in its excellence.

After various posts in Russia and Poland, he left Grodno, famous for its incumbents, to take up an appointment as the Rav of Liverpool and district. His activities en­ compassed everything that concerned the fate and de­ stiny of the Jewish people. Thus, while in England, in addition to his multifarious Rabbinic activities, he became President of the Mizrachi Federation of Great Britain and Ireland and Vice-President of the J.N.F.. He success­ fully organised and strengthened the local Yeshivah and Talmud Torah, as well as Kashrut, Mikvah, and many charitable institutions. His shiurim in Talmud all over the country inspired many disciples. His untiring work for refugees found its special reward when he succeeded in bringing over some 40 Orthodox children, caring for their welfare, and arranging for their study at the Liver­ pool Yeshivah, whence many graduated to important positions.

He appealed to the Mandatory power to open the gates of Palestine, appeared before the Anglo-American Com­ mission of Enquiry, and pleaded for clemency for the 18 Jews sentenced to death in Haifa.

In 1946, Rabbi Unterman was elected Chief Rabbi of the all-Jewish city of Tel Aviv-Yafo. As President of the Batei Din, he set about arranging the eight Rabbinical Courts, selecting Dayanim of the highest integrity and learning, and resisting all outside interference in- the pro­ cess of these appointments. The Gaon Chazon Ish, publicly lauded Rabbi Unterman’s success in raising the standard of the Dayanut in Israel.

He personally devoted countless days and nights, to­ gether with his Dayanim, to resolve many agonising Halachic problems, always without publicity, as in the matter of thousands of cases of Agunot, to which a happy solu­ tion was found. He made three goodwill visits to America on behalf of the Government. He travelled throughout the U.S.A., always speaking to packed audiences, silenc­ ing Israel’s detractors and inspiring Israel’s friends. His meeting with President Truman and, on another occasion, with President Johnson and their entourages at the White House, left a deep impression of him upon them, not only as a pious sage and scholar, but on account of the beautiful literary English over which the Rabbi had dominion.

Rabbi Unterman founded two higher academies of Torah learning and research, Kolel Shevet Miyehudah in Tel Aviv, and Kolel Shevet Umchokek in Jerusalem. He devo­ ted a lot of time and energy to the Jerusalem Kolel, in particular, where gifted young Yeshivah scholars from among the finest in the land are engaged in the study of Poskim. It is a five-year course, beginning with Choshen Mishpat, continuing with Even Ezer and Yoreh Deah and ending with Orach Chayim. This Kolel has already produced Rabbis, Dayanim and Magidei Shiur of the highest level. It was one of his delights to conduct Shiurim in Halachah for these exceptional scholars, in addition to his Shiurim at Yeshivot and scholarly gather­ ings, which were avidly discussed, and his rulings became part of Halachic law.

A prolific writer on Halachah and Agada, a contributor to many Hebrew, Yiddish and English journals, he pub­ lished a profound work Sheve Miyehudah, now out of print, which was deemed to be the text book on matters of Pikuach Nefesh and other issues. He was about to publish other books dealing with Halachah, which are awaited with tremendous interest.

During the last three years, while in retirement, his home remained a Bayit-Vaad-Lachachamim, a focal point for great Rabbis and leading laymen from all over the world, who sought his advice on a variety of urgent and complex problems. He was greatly esteemed, revered and admired by the entire Yishuv and the Diaspora, and at his funeral, under formal security protection, the vast gathering included President Katzir, Cabinet Ministers, the Speaker of the Knesset, the Mayors of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Rabbis, Dayanim, Roshei Yeshivah and leaders from all walks of life.

Harav Unterman has left an imperishable legacy of greatness, nobility and piety to Jewry at large.

Page Thirty

APRIL, 1976

DAYAN DR. ISIDOR GRUNFELD V st The death of Dayan Grunfeld occurred after our last issue had gone to press. Detailed assessments of his life’s work and achievements have appeared elsewhere, but we must pay tribute to a man of exceptional character and ability, whose contribution to Anglo-Jewish Orthodoxy and Torah studies and literature was immense.

He was particularly admired for his broad humanity and understanding and his unfailing readiness to assist in the solution of communal and personal problems, as well as for his invariable courtesy to all. The Editorial Board of hamaor , to which he was an occasional con­ tributor extend condolences to Dr. Judith Grunfeid and the family.

'7i '2 'X 'T)

NISSAN, 5736

n i r T] n

connected with Taharah. Following the retirement of the late Sexton of the Federation Burial Society in 1955, Mr. Steinhart undertook responsibility for the administration of the Department, and his meticulous observance of the Mitzva of “Chessed Shel Emet” was reflected in his pains­ taking attention to detail in this office, too, as well as in all his Kehillah endeavours.

On his retirement from business, Mr. Steinhart took an even closer interest in communal affairs and was elec­ ted Treasurer of the Federation Burial Society. He also represented the Federation on a numbr of communal orga­ nisations, notably the Kashrus Commission, in whose for­ mation he participated and which he served as Treasurer for many years, the London Board for Shechita and its licensing Committee, the London Board of Jewish Reli­ gious Education, the Board of Deputies, the London Board of Mikvaot and the Initiation Society. Mr. Steinhart was instrumental in the establishment of the Dunk Street Mikvah, and helped to arrange the transfer of its assets when it was re-established in Ilford. To all these varied com­ munal responsibilities, he devoted a great deal of time and energy and fulfilled every undertaking with mani­ fest conscientiousness and integrity. The late Mr. Stein­ hart was one of the most respected figures in the Fede­ ration of Synagogues and also at the Wembley Synagogue, where he was a regular worshipper during the latter years of his life and where his son-in-law, Rabbi Myer Berman, is emeritus Minister.

MEMORIAL SERVICE

HERSCHEL STEINHART It is with profound regret that we report the death on the first day of Rosh Chodesh Kislev of Mr. Herschel Steinhart, Joint Treasurer of the Burial Society of the Federation of Synagogues and Honorary Gabbai of the Chevra Kadisha, at the age of 86.

Mr. Steinhart was born in Poland and spent his youth studying in the Beth Hamedrash of the famous Chassidic Rebbe of Ostrowce. He emigrated to England in 1909 and eventually established himself in business as a master furrier. In due course he became Gabbai of the Dzikower Beth Hamedrash in Dunk Street.

Mr. Michael Goldman w rites: Mr. Steinhart’s associa­ tion with the Federation of Synagogues began over half a century ago, when he was first elected a delegate to the General Council. The name of his late father, Reb Israel Steinhart, appears among the first entries in the Pinkas of the Chevra Kadisha, and Reb Israel introduced his son to this vital Mitzva at a very early age. Mr. Her­ schel Steinhart would frequently interrupt his business to assist in Taharot, and continued to perform this Mitzva until quite recently. As Gabbai of the Chevra Kadisha, he instructed the mitaskim in the dinim and minhagim

A service in memory of Mr. Steinhart was held at the Wembley Synagogue on December 18. Hespedim were delivered by the Rav Rashi, Dayan M. Fisher, Rabbi Myer Berman and the deceased’s grandson, Rabbi Vivian Ber­ man of Leeds. The service was conducted by the Rev. I. L. Abrams and Rev. S. Robins of the Wembley Syna­ gogue, and the congregation included representatives of the Honorary Officers’ Committee of the Federation of Synagogues, the Board of Deputies, the London Board for Shechita and the Kashrus Commission.

The Rav Rashi said he spoke as one who had enjoyed the close friendship of the deceased for more than three decades and had had the opportunity to observe him in action in the many fields in which he had involved him­ self in the Anglo-Jewish community. Alluding to a Mishna in Baba Metzia which considers the absorbency of wine casks, the Rav Rashi described the Niftar as a man who had absorbed the wine of Jewish life and tradition in his home town to the extent that his allegiance to those traditions never wavered. The Rav Rashi quoted a strik­ ing statement in the Sefer Chassidim, in which the author adjures the reader to seek out and perform such Mitzvot as are generally neglected, for this, he says, is the true Mitzvah, and the truest Mitzvah is surely that of “Chesed Shel Emet”, where the kindness shown to the dead is truly disinterested, since one cannot expect any reward.

It was to such Mitzvot that Mr. Steinhart had devoted his life. The Talmud (Berachot 53) quotes the passuk: ‘‘Sanctify yourselves and be holy” and explains that the first phrase refers to netilat yadayim and the second to mayim achronim. The main preoccupations of the de­ ceased, continued the Rav Rashi, were with the neglec­ ted and almost forgotten Mitzvot of mayim rishonim (Taharat HayMishpacha) and mayim achronim (Taharat Ha’Met). He also took a close interest in the Mitzvot of chinuch and kashrut—“what went into the Jewish Keppel as well as what went into the Jewish Teppe/”.

TH E

LI GHT

APRIL, 1976

The community mourned the loss of one of its finest members; the Federation of Synagogues mourned the loss of one of its wisest, most skilful and dedicated lay lead­ ers, while the Beth Din and the Rabbinate mourned the loss of a great friend and a great respecter of Torah.

On behalf of the members of the family of Mr. Herschel Steinhart, Rabbi Myer Berman expressed thanks to those who had been responsible for arranging the memorial service. They had assembled to pay tribute to the life and, particularly, the public communal service of a re­ markable personality, who had drawn his strength from his unshakable beliefs in the truths of traditional Juda­ ism. When Herschel Steinhart came to this country he was already an accomplished Talmudic scholar, and con­ ducted a Gemara Shiur in the Machzike Hadass Syna­ gogue. He admired the solid and substantial foundations of British society as he saw it then, and contrasted the precarious life in Poland with the freedom here.

Before the first World War, said Rabbi Berman, the Federation of Synagogues was still in its infancy. It was then no more than a loose federation of completely in­ dependent, mainly small synagogues joined together mainly for the practical purpose of providing burial facilities for the immigrant Jews of the East End. The President of the Federation was then Samuel Montagu, M.P., who became the first Lord Swaythling. He had been instrumental in the formation of the Federation in 1887. Mr. Herschel Steinhart had a profound respect for the virtues and sin­ cerity of Lord Swaythling, who had adhered strictly to Orthodox Judaism and who represented for Mr. Stein­ hart the ideal blending of Orthodox Judaism and modern life in this country. Rabbi Berman referred to the Sidrah of the week, Vayechi, of which the concluding words are: “And he was put in a coffin in Egypt”. Joseph’s coffin was to remain until Moses led the Children of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt to the Holy Land. Side by side with that “aron” the Israelites carried the Ark in which had been placed the Tablets of the Law. Onlookers gazed in astonishment and asked: “What is the meaning of these two Arks?”

“The one is the symbol of the pious dead, and the other the symbol of the Will of Him who lives eternally”.

“And why are they carried side by side?”

“Because he who lies in the one Ark fulfilled the pre­ cepts enshrined in the other”.

This analogy could be applied to describe exactly how the Federation of Synagogues developed. The revenue derived from the one “aron” provided the means to safe­ guard and promote the second.

Mr. Steinhart had not been a public speaker, but had been possessed of good common sense based on practical knowledge; whenever he intervened in debate his views were respected and honoured. Jewish education was clos­ est to his heart. He supported the Yeshiva Etz Chayim and was ever ready to assist Orthodox establishments and charitable causes in this country and in Israel. He was not a politician but a hard practical worker, and what­ ever he did was lish’ma, entirely for the benefit of the maintenance of Orthodox Judaism without any personal motivation whatsoever. When he moved out of the East End and came to reside in Wembley, he was invariably the first person to arrive at the Shool and the last to leave. His presence added a sense of piety to the assem­ bled congregation and he was regarded as the beloved patriarchal figure in the Shool. He acquired the Chazakah of being Bal Makre on Rosh Hashana and for calling up the Chatanim on Simchat Torah. He now lay “in the space earned by decades of devoted service, reserved for

NISSAN, 5736

Page Thirty-one

him next to the plot containing the grave of the first Lord Swaythling. ‘And he was placed in an Ark in Edmonton’.

There may he rest in peace and may his memory be recalled for a constant source of inspiration.”

In a concluding address, Rabbi Vivian Berman mov­ ingly recalled his grandfather’s love and devotion to his family.

The Editorial Board of HAMAOR extend sincere con­ dolences to the children and family of the late Mr. Herschel Steinhart.

'H '2 '2 '1 'D

CHAZAN SAMUEL ROTH

W

With the passing of Chazan Shmuel Roth, who served the Federation community with distinction for almost fifty years, the Anglo-Jewish Ministry has lost an out­ standing Sh’liach Tsibbur.

Before his arrival in London in 1925, when he was appointed Chazan of the Commercial Road Great Syna­ gogue, the Rev. Roth served Synagogues in Hungary and gave recitals in major European cities. Following his retirement in 1945, he continued to act as Chazan at the Emet V’Shalom (Maida Vale) Beth Hamedrash.

Rabbi M. Frydman writes: When he stood before the Amud he became a master in the art of chazanut. His recital of the prayers was interpreted in unison with the meaning of every word. It was a delight to watch his face when he was rendering the Tefillot, for one would feel that one was listening to a man in solemn dialogue with the Al-ty pleading for his congregation and indeed, for , the whole Jewish people. He had the ability to improvise and be creative in liturgical music. Like the traditional chazanim of old, he played with the words of the sup­ plications, placing his own emphasis in rhe text.

During his retirement he regularly attended the Annual Se’udah of the Federation Chevra Kadisha on Adar 7.

His contribution at that function was to render the prayer “Av Ha’Rachamim” from the Shabbat Mussaph. Each year the “Av Ha’Rachamim” assumed a new interpreta­ tion; the situation of the Jewish people at the time was told in the prayer.

Colloquially, this type of Chazan was known in the world as a good “Zogger”. A great Chazan of the old school has departed, leaving a void in the art of chazanuth.

Chazan Roth leaves a daughter and two sons, one of whom is Professor Martin Roth of Newcastle.

'H '2 'V '1 'D

JOSEF MANDELBAUM V'T We very much regret to record the recent death of Mr. Josef Mandelbaum yq, who was President of the Emet V’Shalom (Maida Vale) Beth Hamedrash for some 30 years.

He was a founder-member of the Synagogue, which originally mainly comprised refugee families from Nazi Germany who had settled in the district.

Mr. Mandelbaum took a very close interest in the for­ tunes of the Beth Hamedrash and in the welfare of in­ dividual members. He was also keenly interested in Zion­ ist activities, and contributed greatly to his Synagogue and to charities.

Mr. Mandelbaum is survived by his widow, brother and sisters, to whom sincere condolences are extended.

'H '2 V '1 'T)

Page Thirty-two

APRIL, 1976

NISSAN, 5736

11

P u b lis h e d by HAMAOR P u b l ic a t i o n s C o m m i t t e e , 64 L em a n S t r e e t , L o n d o n , E .l a n d p r i n t e d by N a ro d P r e s s L td., 129-131 Cavell S tr e e t, L ondon, E .l.

H

nD