Jewish Action Fall 2015

FALL 5776/2015

THE MAGAZINE OF THE ORTHODOX UNION

VOLUME 76, NO. 1 • $5.50

JEWISH ACTION Features 12 Chocolate and Eagles and Lions! Oh My!

By Akiva Males

18 Shomer Shabbat Boy Scouting Why Orthodox kids become Boy Scouts

By Bayla Sheva Brenner

22 In the Aftermath of the Flood,

Houston’s Jewish Community Searches for Strength

By Jacob Kamaras

COVER STORY

26 Remembering Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, zt”l

28 Rav Aharon: An Appreciation for Complexity

By Menachem Genack

32 A Gentle Giant of Torah

By Ron Yitzchok Eisenman

36 A Grandfather Figure

By Chaim Goldberg 38 On Complexity and Clarity

By Shalom Carmy

42 What is the Legacy of Rav

Cover photo courtesy of Yeshivat Har Etzion

VOL. 76, NO. 1

44 Strength and Splendor: A Tribute

Departments

50 A Personal Reminiscence

2 LETTERS

SPECIAL SECTION Alternatives in Education

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE 8 The Meaning of Sacrifice

By Martin Nachimson

to Rav Aharon Lichtenstein

By David Shatz

RABBI’S DIARY

Aharon Lichtenstein?

By Hillel Goldberg

FALL 5776/2015

By Julius Berman

54 Q & A with Kriah Specialist

10 CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE

58 An Innovative Educator Shares

74 A Woman in Search of a Wall

Rabbi Dr. Aharon Fried

By Jewish Action editorial staff

His Secret for Kriah Success

By Yoel Yormark with Yaakov Dovid Kibel

60 The Forgotten Talmud: On Teaching Aggadah in High Schools

By David Bashevkin

JUST BETWEEN US

By Sarah C. Rudolph

ISRAEL 78 On and Off the Beaten Track in . . . Mitzpor Haelef

By Peter Abelow

81 INSIDE THE OU

62 Homeschooling: A Growing Trend?

By Avigayil Perry

THE CHEF’S TABLE

90 Fabulous Fall Foods to Serve in the Sukkah

By Norene Gilletz

FOOD

69 Lessons from the Syrian Kitchen: An Ashkenazic woman takes lessons from a master of Syrian Jewish cuisine

By Naomi Ross

73 The Well-Spiced Life: A Food Memoir

By Barbara Bensoussan Reviewed by Naomi Ross

PAGE 12

By Gerald M. Schreck

PAGE 18

BOOKS 94 The Shame Borne in Silence

By Abraham J. Twerski Reviewed by Faye Walkenfeld LASTING IMPRESSIONS

96 Cheshbon HaNefesh:

The Arithmetic of My Soul

By Marcia Greenwald PAGE 26

PAGE 78

Jewish Action seeks to provide a forum for a diversity of legitimate opinions within the spectrum of Orthodox Judaism.

Therefore, opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the policy or opinion of the Orthodox Union.

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Fall 5776/2015 JEWISH ACTION I 1

Letters THE MAGAZINE OF THE ORTHODOX UNION www.ou.org/jewish_action

Editor in Chief Nechama Carmel carmeln@ou.org

Assistant Editor Rashel Zywica Literary Editor Emeritus Matis Greenblatt

When Leaders Fail I am almost finished with your most recent issue, and I hate for it to end. The articles are timely and beautifully written. You handled the topic of leaders who “slip” (“When Leaders Fail: Healing from Rabbinic Scandal,” summer 2015) with sensitivity and with Torah at the center of the discussion. Visually, the magazine is creative and inviting, drawing the reader in. I look forward to and enjoy each issue of Jewish Action.

Though this letter is long overdue, thank you for publishing this wonderful magazine. g

RENAH (MESCHELOFF) BELL Long Island, New York

I first would like to commend the Jewish Action editorial board for tackling this difficult but vital issue, and for choosing an individual of the calibre of Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz to write such a comprehensive, erudite article.

As a clinician who has worked with victims of abuse, I was especially gratified by his spirited defense of the need for these individuals to be able to speak their truth openly, and the responsibility of our community to support their right to do so, without blame or recrimination. Too often, victims who step forward are re-victimized by the community or their families, which often leads to religious alienation and psychopathology. Further, his words regarding the need to accept the possibility of sincere teshuvah of perpetrators g

2 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

were enlightening. For those of us who, on a daily basis, deal with the devastation that abuse causes, it is a perspective that we need to seriously consider.

However, one point that should be added to the discussion is the role of sociopathy, which is characterized by a complete lack of moral conscience or remorse in exploiting those who are vulnerable. Also crucial is the differentiation between those who have traits of a sociopath as opposed to those who are hard-core sociopaths.

Those who have sociopathic facets to their personality, which may only be manifest within the context of this type of behavior, can indeed be empathic and remorseful. For these types of individuals, it is quite possible that teshuvah can be achieved. In such cases, these individuals should be fully embraced and reintegrated into their families and communities.

However, it is critical to also identify the true sociopath, for whom exploitation, manipulation and lack of remorse is pervasive and defines who he is as a person.

Most clinicians would agree that these individuals cannot and do not change, and rarely demonstrate any real ability to modify their character or behavior. They represent true rishus (evil), and as such, should not be placed in the position to strike again. In order to honor the pain of their victims, and to prevent future victimization, these individuals should be placed “chutz lemachaneh” (outside of the community) indefinitely. Accordingly, whether or not

Book Editor Rabbi Gil Student Contributing Editors Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein • Dr. Judith Bleich Rabbi Emanuel Feldman • Rabbi Hillel Goldberg Rabbi Sol Roth • Rabbi Jacob J. Schacter Rabbi Berel Wein Editorial Committee Rabbi David Bashevkin • Rabbi Binyamin Ehrenkranz Mayer Fertig • Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer • David Olivestone Gerald M. Schreck • Rabbi Gil Student Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb Director, Design & Branding Carrie Beylus Design Deena Katzenstein Advertising Sales Joseph Jacobs Advertising • 201.591.1713 arosenfeld@josephjacobs.org

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Gerald M. Schreck, Chairman Joel M. Schreiber, Chairman Emeritus © Copyright 2015 by the Orthodox Union.

Eleven Broadway, New York, NY, 10004.

Telephone 212.563.4000 • www.ou.org.

these individuals are incarcerated, communities should be notified that they are predators, and they should not be allowed access to potential victims.

Certain crimes are so heinous and reprehensible that they should result in the removal of the perpetrator’s individual rights or the ability for the individual to reintegrate into the community. In such cases, the safety of the klal should always supersede individual rights.

DR. NORMAN GOLDWASSER Psychologist Miami Beach, Florida

The articles concerning the problematic behaviors of some rabbis served to further open discussion of this sensitive topic. Several points, however, should be included: • The efforts to promote compassion and understanding of the rabbis in question certainly have a place in any collective discussion, but not to the extent that they gloss over the true character of these sexual activities. The violations here are profound and must be the core issues that warrant our attention.

• To the best of my knowledge, none of these rabbis has been diagnosed as psychotic or functioning with diminished mental capacity. They are, therefore, fully responsible for their actions, no matter their level of stress, burnout, isolation or other factors offered to mitigate their offenses.

• Rabbis who struggle with sexual challenges need much more than peer support or some generic counseling. These are complex, often uncomfortable issues and they need the intervention of experienced sexual health professionals. In the articles, these professionals are notable by their absence.

• Congregations, or at least boards, who decide to retain these rabbis, have a right to know that therapy is being handled competently. In some cases, a level of therapeutic monitoring may need to last a lifetime.

• As a religious community, we continue to make the mistake of confusing modesty with secrecy.

With the rather recent exception of sexual abuse, we continue to avoid open discussions of sexual issues in print, through other media or in public forums. We most assuredly possess the verbal and written tools to confront human sexuality openly while maintaining a tone of discourse consistent with our traditional values. Regrettably we have yet to demonstrate the courage to unashamedly look at the place of physical intimacy in the lives of religious Jews. As long as this topic lurks in the darkness, we are more likely to fall victim to further unacceptable behaviors from some of our mentors.

g

DAVID S. RIBNER, DSW Chairman, Sex Therapy Training Program Bar-Ilan University Ramat Gan, Israel

The future is in your hands.

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Picture yourself at YU. #NowhereButHere

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www.yu.edu/enroll Fall 5776/2015 JEWISH ACTION I 3

“When Leaders Fail” is an article that fails. It is too late, cold and clinical and is filled with error.

The author states, “In some ways, this cynicism and loss of faith may be a greater tragedy than even the very real pain suffered by innocent victims (a pain that I certainly do not want to minimize in any way).” This is wrong. Child abuse kills. It damages the brain. MRIs and other diagnostic tools prove this. Victims have shortened lives.

The author writes, “There is an element of collective guilt in the fact that we as a community allowed these abuses to occur, did not respond to the problems that were brought to our attention, ignored them, swept them under the rug.” Wrong again.

There is now a well-populated community of outspoken abuse survivors and advocates, whom the author neglects to thank—and we do not bear this “collective guilt.”

The author writes, “There are, of course, laws of lashon hara, and I am not necessarily envisioning full public exposure in the media (though this happens anyway), but at least within the limited community of responsible leadership, those who were harmed must be able to speak.” Wrong again. The author first told us that leadership bears the blame, and now recommends that victims should consult only with this failed leadership. He writes this while reminding us, in the vaguest way, of hilchos lashon hara, planting the seeds of doubt that true negative information about a misbehaving rabbi should not be reported.

Finally, he states, “In the superheated atmosphere of the Internet, everyone is guilty until proven innocent and indeed quite often, is guilty even after being proven innocent. In this world of hyperbole, gossip, unsubstantiated rumors and personal vendettas, a casual reader might conclude that the rabbinate, and indeed the entire Torah community, has run amok, is utterly devoid of any semblance of morality and is nothing less than the modern incarnation of Sodom and Gomorrah. This does not reflect reality, and it is important that our children know this.” This sentence is not only wrong, it is an insult and smear upon every abuse survivor and advocate who taps words onto the Internet complaining about his or her abuse. Additionally, the implication that the survivors and advocates are guilty of many false accusations is an outright falsehood.

This article does not deserve the OU haskamah. g

The future is in your hands.

Meet Miriam Libman, a Yeshiva University graduate.

Miriam graduated with a degree in accounting and will begin her career at Ernst & Young. She is among the 90% of YU students employed, in graduate school or both— within six months of graduation.* With nearly double the national average acceptance rates to medical, dental and law school and placements at Big Four accounting firms, banks and consulting firms, our numbers speak for themselves.

Picture yourself at YU. #NowhereButHere

ELLIOT B. PASIK Long Beach, New York

In-reach or Outreach?

Mr. Marty Nachimson writes about the need to reach out to youth who are dropping out of religious life, and cites an alarming statistic: nearly 20 g

www.yu.edu | 212.960.5277 | yuadmit@yu.edu *Career Center Survey, 2013/2014

www.yu.edu/enroll Fall 5776/2015 JEWISH ACTION I 5

percent of American Orthodox Jews are abandoning observance (“In-reach or Outreach: The Perennial Dilemma,” summer 2015).

He explains that this presents a dilemma for the OU, because its limited funding cannot substantially help both the unaffiliated and affiliated. So the question becomes, which group does the OU primarily assist?

Many of the youth who attend NCSY programs are from Orthodox homes. This demonstrates that our children are not getting sufficient inspiration from home, school and shul. Serious solutions are needed.

Furthermore, Mr. Nachimson mentions that significant numbers of our youth are educated on secular college campuses where often they are religiously challenged. This is a common occurrence despite the fact that their parents sacrificed for so many years to provide them with an environment conducive to Torah values and observance. Perhaps Orthodox high schools and community leaders should attempt to keep our college-age youth closer to home, or encourage them to attend colleges under Orthodox auspices.

I attended a prestigious Modern Orthodox high school, and I recall the pride the administration had for those students who were accepted into Ivy League universities. Yeshiva University was looked upon as a less exciting fall-back option. Why was this so? The religious risk factors of the secular college campus are real. Our youth should not be encouraged to go there. Directing our youth to Jewish campuses would not only save them from potential spiritual harm, but would also leave more funds for those who have never tasted the beauty of Torah and who legitimately warrant our outreach.

I commend the OU for its efforts, but perhaps the emphasis should be placed on providing the ounce of prevention, instead of the pound of cure for a problem that, for the most part, does not really need to exist. g CHAVA GORDIMER New York, New York

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Women’s Open House and Israel Fair Sunday, November 15, 2015 Stern College for Women Sy Syms School of Business Beren Campus Men’s Open House and Israel Fair Sunday, November 22, 2015 Yeshiva College Sy Syms School of Business Wilf Campus RSVP at www.yu.edu/open-house

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President’s Message

By Martin Nachimson

The Meaning of Sacrifice

I

never tire of hearing about NCSYers who are moser nefesh for Yiddishkeit. I never tire of hearing about the twelve-yearold girl who decides to stop riding in a car on Shabbat or the teenager who is the only one in his entire public school to wear a yarmulke. And what about the NCSY alum who had to walk up forty-five (no, you did not misread the number) flights of stairs each Shabbat while living in Hong Kong, or the young man from a small desert town out West who drives three-and-a-half hours each way to obtain kosher meat? No matter how many times I hear such stories—and there are hundreds of them—they remind me that in order for Yiddishkeit to be rock solid, there has to be an element of sacrifice.

This is perhaps one of the biggest challenges facing contemporary American Orthodoxy. Put simply: we are too comfortable. Many of us are fortunate enough to live in communities with at least three shuls within walking distance, a smattering of kosher restaurants including, of course, Chinese takeout and an array of Jewish day

8 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

schools to choose from. Our children are rarely challenged to defend their religious beliefs. In this era of materialistic excess, Orthodox life is easy and entails no real sacrifice. This, ironically, puts our youth at great risk for they lack the tools to cope with religious hardship or challenge.

Contrast this with the lives lived by many of our grandparents and great-grandparents. Their faith was fashioned through struggle and hardship. In the shtetl in Pruzhany, now in Belarus, where my mother grew up, she and her family endured intense poverty and persecution.

Nevertheless, her parents remained staunchly religious.

…in order for Yiddishkeit to be rock solid, there has to be an element of sacrifice.

When many of our ancestors arrived in the United States, they waged intense battles in order to hold onto the Orthodoxy they were raised with.

Some of them lost their jobs because they refused to violate Shabbat. Some of them defied the status quo and sent their kids to yeshivah at a time when very few parents were doing so.

We are so fortunate. We live in a society that is remarkably accepting and tolerant; we have shuls, schools, mikvaot—all the infrastructure necessary for religious life. And yet, in many ways, we are victims of our success.

Responding to a well-known article on social Orthodoxy that appeared in the pages of Commentary some months ago, Rabbi Haskel Lookstein quoted Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, the former chief rabbi of Great Britain.

In the Haggadah, the rasha, the skeptical son, poses a question: “What is this avodah [worship] to you?”

Rabbi Sacks, based on a gemara, says that the word avodah should be translated as tirchah—“hard work” or “bother.” What the rasha is really asking is this: Why make all this effort for Judaism? Why bother with all the rules about the korban Pesach? Why the hard work and endless effort? But Rabbi Sacks suggests that that is precisely what Judaism requires: effort.

In Rabbi Lookstein’s words: We have tried Judaism without the detailed attention to religious practice . . . . [Advocates of non-Orthodoxy thought that they could keep] Jews close to Judaism by easing the requirements and giving Jews the opportunity to be less restricted and restrained in their behavior with regard to Shabbat, kashrut, and other things. What happened was the exact opposite; rather than keeping Jews close to tradition, the lessening of demands led Jews to move further and further away from Judaism, the opposite of what was the intention. . .

It’s through effort and sacrifice that we ensure Jewish continuity. To see what true mesirut nefesh looks like, all we need to do is look at NCSYers in cities throughout the country, and, indeed the world, who make sacrifices each day for the sake of Yiddishkeit. I cannot think of a better way to prepare oneself for the Yamim Noraim. g

At Touro’s Graduate School Of Social Work, We Don’t Just Talk About Excellence. We Practice It Every Day.

Dr. Alan Kadish, President and CEO, Touro College and University System with Dr. Steven Huberman, Dean, Graduate School of Social Work

Congratulations Dean Steven Huberman!

Chancellor Rabbi Doniel Lander, President Dr. Alan Kadish and Chairman of

the Board of Trustees Dr. Mark Hasten extend their congratulatory wishes to Founding Dean Dr. Steven Huberman and the Faculty on the National Accreditation of the Touro Graduate School of Social Work through 2023.

Through this achievement, Touro’s Master of Social Work graduates are license-eligible for top positions in the United States and overseas.

Building Bridges, Changing Lives. We Are Touro.

Visit: gssw.touro.edu Email: tina.atherall@touro.edu • Phone: 212-463-0400 ext. 5630

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@WeAreTouro

Touro is an equal opportunity institution. For Touro’s complete Non-Discrimination Statement, please visit: www.touro.edu

Chairman’s Message

I

n this issue, we are honored to present poignant recollections and stories of Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, z”tl, the rosh yeshivah of Yeshivat Har Etzion and one of the foremost leaders of Modern Orthodoxy, who passed away this past April. In planning this tribute issue, we sought contributors from among Rav Aharon’s closest friends and talmidim.

I confess: while I knew of Rav Aharon (who didn’t know of Rav Aharon?), I never had the occasion to meet him personally or attend one of his shiurim. Thus, I feel especially fortunate that I merited to work on this special issue, replete with some of the most moving personal anecdotes about this self-effacing talmid chacham.

Through reading and re-reading these essays, I was able to finally “meet” this true gadol b’Yisrael and get an intimate understanding of who he was and how he inspired so many.

Working on this issue also led me to reflect on the various teachers and rebbeim I have had over the years who helped shape my future and mold me into the person I am today.

When I think back to my days as a student, I can single out three individuals, all of whom were different from

By Gerald M. Schreck

one another but together they helped me pave my own path as a religious Jew in the modern world.

As a young child of four or five, before I was eligible to enroll in Torah Vodaath (the yeshivah did not yet have a kindergarten class), I attended public school. But in the afternoon, I was greeted by the shining countenance of Rabbi Elchanan Scheinerman, my talmud Torah teacher. Rabbi Scheinerman did not only give his heart and soul to his young pupils when teaching us the Aleph Beis, he exuded love and warmth. The gentle manner in which he dealt with us rowdy American kids is something I cannot forget. Learning Torah from Rabbi Scheinerman was such a sweet experience that more than fifty years later, when I think of this kindly man, I can still taste a sweetness in my mouth.

As I got older, there were other towering figures who influenced my way of thinking. At Yeshiva University, I was privileged to learn Gemara with Rabbi Israel Wohlgelernter. As a teacher of Talmud, Rabbi Wohlgelernter was energetic and dynamic— he was very different from the European-born rebbeim I was familiar with. A master pedagogue, Rabbi Wohlgelernter’s superb techniques drew me into Gemara. He was a rebbe who gave me a special gift: a lifelong love of learning. For that, I am forever grateful.

Finally, I must mention Rabbi Dr. David Mirsky. A descendant of a long line of rabbis, Dr. Mirsky, who had semichah from Yeshiva University and a PhD in English literature, exemplified Torah u’Madda. He was an indisputable talmid chacham, yet at the same time, he had a profound understanding of and appreciation for language and literature. He was an authority on

Gerald M. Schreck is the chairman of the Jewish Action Committee.

10 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

American and English literature and Hebraic culture (at one point he served as dean of Stern College for Women); very few could teach Milton’s Paradise Lost as he did, offering a Torah interpretation of this Christian epic poem at every opportunity. He encouraged me to pursue a graduate degree in English, which I ultimately did. Perhaps even more importantly, he taught me that one can be a genuine Torah Jew and be invested in the secular world at the same time. Unfortunately, he died relatively young. But he modeled for me and for many, many others what it means to be a Torah u’Madda Jew. In addition to the wonderful essays on Rav Aharon, this issue is packed with relevant, timely articles including a feature on shomer Shabbos Boy Scouting (who knew it existed?); a section on “alternatives” in education including homeschooling and different approaches to teaching kriah and Aggadah, and a Q and A with Poopa Dweck, a well-known expert on Aleppian Jewish cuisine who has dedicated her life to preserving Syrian Jewish tradition and culture. Enjoy all of this in addition to an array of stimulating and thought-provoking articles on halachah, traveling in Israel, recipes for the chagim, Jewish books and more. I wish all of you a kesivah vachasimah tovah. g

Who affected you? Which teachers or rebbeim changed your life in a significant way? We at Jewish Action would love to hear your stories.

Please send them to ja@ou.org with the subject line: “Changed My Life,” and you may get published in an upcoming issue.

Begin the Year With its Blessings.

Rabbi’s Diary

By Akiva Males The lions adorning Kesher Israel’s beautiful hand-crafted ark spurred Rabbi Males to investigate the compatibility of carved imagery with Jewish law and tradition.

Photo: Chana Tillman

Chocolate and

AND

Eagles Lions!

Oh, My!

R

abbi Moshe Feinstein1 was once approached by someone who felt that the proper blessing to recite before eating chocolate should be “Borei peri ha’adamah” instead of the customary “Shehakol.” Rabbi Feinstein replied that for hundreds of years, the universal Jewish practice has been to recite the blessing of “Shehakol” prior to eating chocolate.2 Rather than assume that world Jewry has—for centuries—been reciting the incorrect blessing, it makes more sense to work on understanding why “Shehakol” is, in fact, the correct blessing to recite on chocolate.3 I thought of this incident on a recent Sunday, as I carefully returned a tall wooden ladder to our shul’s janitorial room, and then brushed years’ worth of dust off of my shirt and tie.

Although Kesher Israel Congregation (KI) in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is just a twenty-minute drive from the world-famous Hershey Company's headquarters, the episode involving Rav Moshe and chocolate was on my mind for an entirely different reason.

While conversing a week earlier with a Pennsylvania official—who is a knowledgeable and devout Muslim—I learned that some of his coreligionists will not pray in a room containing a particular type of American flagpole.

Surprised, I asked him why. He explained that many US flagpoles are topped with an American eagle— which some Muslims consider a graven image. As such, they feel it is religiously inappropriate for them to pray in a room with such a flagpole.

The conversation reminded me of Shemot 9:29. After suffering through

the plague of barad (hail), Pharaoh pleads with Moshe to pray to God for the plague to cease. Moshe tells Pharaoh that he will indeed ask God to stop the hail—but will do so only after he leaves the city. Quoting the midrash, Rashi explains that since the city contained so many idols, it would have been inappropriate for Moshe to pray there.

The conversation with the devout Muslim got me thinking. The second of the Ten Commandments4 clearly forbids making graven images. In addition, idolatry is one of the three cardinal sins for which a Jew must forfeit his or her life rather than transgress. Thus, it is understandable why this sin has been taken extremely seriously by halachic authorities throughout the ages.

As such, why had I never heard

Rabbi Akiva Males serves as rabbi of Harrisburg’s Kesher Israel Congregation, an OU-member synagogue. He and his wife, Layala, moved from Kew Garden Hills, New York, to Pennsylvania in 2007.

12 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

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about halachic objections to the eagles found atop many US flagpoles?5 Furthermore, one of the most common forms of synagogue art is that of two mighty lions—one on each side of a representation of the Luchot HaBrit, Tablets of the Covenant. Elaborately carved imagery of lions is found atop the aron kodesh (ark) in countless synagogues around the world.6 In light of the clear Biblical prohibition against creating graven images, how are we to understand this widespread Jewish practice? Such a popular custom could never have taken off—and endured—if it was clearly wrong.

The issue of ornamental lions adorning arks resonated strongly with me for another reason as well. KI has a beautiful hand-crafted ark which goes back to the days of its first rabbi—the famed Rabbi Eliezer Silver.7 When KI relocated to its current location in 1949, the congregation’s original ark was carefully transferred to the newly built sanctuary. KI had always been blessed with scholarly and outstanding rabbinic leadership.8 As such, I felt it was inconceivable that the synagogue’s beautiful ark could be in conflict with halachah. I was confident that if I did some research, I would surely discover how the lions adorning KI’s ark (and the arks of countless storied Jewish sanctuaries all over the world) were compatible with Jewish law and tradition.

As I began my research, I quickly realized that the literature on whether images or sculptures of animals fall under the halachic definition of graven images is quite vast.9 In surveying the many varying opinions on the matter, Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog (1888– 1959) observed that generally speaking, the rabbinic authorities of the Sephardic world forbade the practice of decorating synagogues with animal imagery, while Ashkenazic authorities allowed it.10 This would explain why images of lions as synagogue art seem to be a uniquely Ashkenazic phenomenon.11 However, on what halachic basis had the great rabbinic leaders of Ashkenzic Jewry allowed this custom to flourish?

I found peace of mind in two responsa. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein 14 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

directly discusses the American eagle commonly found atop US flagpoles12 and rules that this patriotic figurine presents no halachic problems. Firstly, he states, halachah is concerned with sculptures of animals that are one of the twelve signs of the zodiac. The eagle is not associated with the zodiac.

Secondly, he says, the consensus is that fashioning or owning the likeness of animals poses no halachic concerns in a time or place where people do not worship animals. As this is clearly the case today, Rabbi Feinstein concludes that the sculpted eagle atop US flagpoles—as well as the lions commonly found in Ashkenazic synagogue art13—pose no halachic problems.

In addition, an important responsa

by Rabbi Chaim Sofer14 addresses the Ashkenazic custom of decorating synagogue arks with sculpted lions.

Rabbi Sofer prefaces his halachic opinion with a powerful statement: . . . God forbid to say that this [practice of adorning synagogue arks with decorative lions] is included in the injunction of “You shall not make a carved image.”15 To suspect, God forbid, that earlier generations—who are likened to angels—may have transgressed the prohibition against idolatry, is to speak malicious falsehoods against the holy ones of our land . . .

Rabbi Sofer goes on to explain that the lions used to adorn synagogue arks are not free-standing sculptures, and hence are not halachically problematic. While the images appear to be life-like sculpted lions, they are not, in fact, three-dimensional free-standing sculptures. The backs of the lions (facing the wall) are smooth since they are flush against, or simply facing, the synagogue’s wall. A sculpture that is not carved on all sides is not considered a sculpture as far as halachah is concerned.16 Having seen these two responsa, I now understood why the eagles found atop many US flagpoles as well as the lions adorning arks in countless Ashkenazic synagogues had never posed halachic concerns. Nonetheless, that Shabbat, as I sat in shul alongside KI’s ark, I kept glancing upward, and my curiosity was piqued. The

ornamental lions above KI’s ark are not flush against the synagogue’s wall.

It would be possible for me to feel the backs of those lions to determine if they were sculpted on both sides or only partial sculptures. I was curious to see if KI’s lions would satisfy Rabbi Sofer’s criteria.

Elaborately carved imagery of lions is found atop the aron kodesh in countless Ashkenazic synagogues around the world. In light of the clear Biblical prohibition against creating graven images, how are we to understand this widespread Jewish practice?

The next morning, after everyone had left the shul, I helped myself to our custodian’s tall wooden ladder.

After gingerly placing it alongside the ark, I was soon standing about ten feet off the ground. I felt the backs of the ornamental lions—they were absolutely smooth (and very dusty).

The lions, I can now testify, are sculpted on one side only.

Returning the heavy ladder, I smiled and thought of the incident regarding Rav Moshe and the proper blessing for chocolate. Rabbi Feinstein had taught his questioner an important lesson about not assuming generations of scholars and pious Jews had erred.

My hands-on lesson with the lions reinforced this message for me. Before assuming that observant Jewish communities—and their learned leaders—have made mistakes, let’s do our utmost to try and understand how

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their practices posed no halachic problems in the first place.17 g Notes 1. 1895-1986. See Rabbi Aharon Felder’s Sefer Rishumei Aharon, vol. I (5771), 24, no. 35.

2. See Minchat Shlomo 1:91.2 where Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (1910–1995) sought to make sense of the prevailing custom of reciting the blessing of “Shehakol” on chocolate. Rabbi Auerbach ends up making the case that depending on the proportion of cocoa to the other ingredients, the proper blessing on chocolate may very well be “Borei peri ha’etz.” Nonetheless, Jews around the world are accustomed to reciting the blessing of “Shehakol” before eating chocolate.

3. See note 1. Despite the halachic concept of “minhag ta’ut” (an incorrect custom), Rav Moshe obviously felt that when faced with a long-standing universal practice endorsed by the greatest of Torah scholars it makes more sense to try and understand the soundness of that practice, rather than assume that it was simply a mistake.

4. See Shemot 20:4 and Devarim 5:8.

5. In one of his responsa, Rabbi Feinstein discusses whether or not it is appropriate for a synagogue to place national flags in its sanctuary (Iggerot Moshe, OC 1:46). However, in that responsum, he never raises any concerns over the American eagle commonly found atop US flagpoles.

6. In the course of writing this article, I came across several theories as to why the lion became so popular in synagogue art. 1. The Tribe of Judah was traditionally symbolized by a lion (based on Bereishit 49:9). As the Davidic dynasty stems from Judah, the lion was always associated with Jewish royalty and prestige—a fitting symbol with which to adorn the ark. 2. The lion symbolizes the trait of strength (Pirkei Avot 5:20)—a trait essential for living in accordance with the Torah. 3. Isaiah (29:1) referred to Jerusalem—the destination of our prayers—as Ariel, Hebrew for lion (note the lion on the flag of the modern-day city of Jerusalem).

4. A synagogue ark containing the Torah reminds us of the Biblical ark, which contained the Tablets of the Covenant.

Perched upon the Biblical ark were two sculpted keruvim (cherubs), which Jews were halachically prohibited from replicating elsewhere (see the midrash quoted in the final Rashi to Shemot 20:20). As such, mighty lions were seen as worthy substitutes to be perched upon synagogue arks.

7. Rabbi Eliezer Silver (1882-1968) served the congregation from 1911 to 1925.

8. Rabbi Silver was followed by Rabbi Chaim Ben Zion Notelovitz, who served KI from 1925 to 1932. Rabbi David L. Silver (a son of Rabbi Eliezer Silver) served the congregation from 1932 to 1983. Rabbi Dr. Chaim E. Schertz served as rabbi of KI from 1983 to 2008.

9. See the many commentaries and responsa revolving around Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 141:6.

10. Heichal Yitzchak, OC 11. Rabbi Herzog (as well as Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in Yechaveh Da’at, YD 3:62) also suggests a fascinating cultural theory which may have played a role in the different halachic viewpoints. For centuries, Sephardic Jewry had lived within Islamic society, where the prohibition of graven images was taken extremely seriously. Muslims, in fact, took this prohibition beyond what halachah demands. Nonetheless, Muslims were aware that their understanding of monotheism and the prohibition 16 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

of graven images—especially in a house of worship—were rooted in Judaism. As such, in addition to forbidding the use of animal imagery as synagogue art on purely halachic grounds, perhaps the great Sephardic rabbis forbade that practice in fear of the terrible desecration of God’s name which would result from Muslims seeing animal imagery in a Jewish house of worship. However, no such concern existed in Ashkenazic lands where Christian society did not at all frown upon religious imagery. Therefore, when ruling on the propriety of decorating a synagogue with animal imagery, Ashkenazic rabbinic authorities were able to consider the halachah alone, which they concluded allowed for this practice. They did not need to worry about meta-halachic issues which may have concerned their Sephardic colleagues.

11. See Yechaveh Da’at, YD 3:62 for a survey of Sephardic opposition to this practice.

12. Iggerot Moshe, YD 2:55.

13. Rabbi Feinstein’s second point is important, since the lion does play a role in the zodiac.

14. Rabbi Chaim Sofer (1821-1886) studied in the yeshivah of the famed Rabbi Moshe Sofer (1762-1839) of Pressburg, though they were not related.

15. See note 4.

16. Sefer Machaneh Chaim, YD 2:29.

17. I thank Rabbi Yitzchok Shapiro of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the editorial staff of Jewish Action and my father, Mr. U. H. Males, for their important comments to an earlier version of this article.

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T A B B A MER SH

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ts e Boy Scou m o c e b s odox kid Why Orth er eva Brenn h S la y a B By

T

hink it’s too late for your technapped child? Take heart. Hope comes in unexpected forms— sometimes in a khaki uniform.

Orthodox kids across the country are putting aside their Wiis and iPhones to pitch tents, stoke campfires and learn first-aid, CPR and lifelong leadership skills.

They’re shomer Shabbat Boy Scouts, and proud of it.

“Parents may not feel comfortable teaching their kids to fish, hike and camp out,” says Alex Hochberger, cubmaster of Pack 18 in Hollywood, Florida. Hochberger treasures the wilderness skills he learned as a child and enjoys teaching them to his twenty-seven cubs. (Kids are Cub Scouts until age ten and Boy Scouts from age eleven to eighteen, whereupon they can become Venture Scouts until age twenty-one.)

“It’s one of the most meaningful experiences of my life,” he says. “I see kids who were scared to try something new working with tools for the first time; these are kids who have never seen a screwdriver.”

Boy Scouts of America encourages participation in projects that contribute to the community, such as helping clean up debris from a natural disaster or collecting surplus food to give to the needy. Kids earn merit badges for accomplishments in sports, the arts, science, business, technology and more.

“My scoutmaster helped mold me into the person that I am today,” wrote an Eagle Scout in his application for admission to Yeshiva University. “He taught me the skills of delegating, listening, problem solving

and taking control . . . . I was often put in charge of my fellow scouts as troop guide and senior patrol leader. He encouraged me to teach my fellow scouts the basic skills of scouting. There is no better way to know a topic than to teach it to others.”

Frum scouts learn how to construct a kosher eruv, determine the camp site techum (distance one can travel on Shabbat) and prepare cholent for the tro o p that will remain hot for the day seudah.

Howard Spielman, scoutmaster of Troop 54 in Boston, notes the difference between the sense of accomplishment a boy feels in scouting versus playing sports. “In sports, on any given day, it is possible that half the participants go home feeling like losers,” he says. “The scouts are not competing against anyone. When you can chop wood safely, you won. When you can sharpen an axe, you won; when you can cook a meal, you won.”

Sheldon Freidenreich from Highland

Bayla Sheva Brenner is senior writer in the OU Communications and Marketing Department.

18 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

Park, New Jersey, scoutmaster of Troop 55 for thirty-eight years, illustrates how the scouts develop as mature young men.

One boy, who joined the troop at age eleven, struggled with severe Asperger’s syndrome. Although he had poor social skills, he had an uncanny ability to recall every scout skill. He would approach the other scouts, proudly explaining every detail of first-aid procedures he had learned; they responded by feigning disbelief, causing him to feel flustered and hurt.

“With time, the boys learned to be more sensitive,” Freidenreich says.

“They learned to work together with [and appreciate] him.”

Preparing cholent in the wilderness The backpacks of shomer Shabbat scouts often include milichig and fleishig pots and utensils, a pair of tefillin and even an occasional sefer Torah for overnight camping trips. “This shows the kids that there there’s no place where you can’t be frum,” says one father of a Boy Scout from the New York area. “There’s an important lesson here—the mitzvot we do [require consistency], and no matter where we are, we take our mitzvot with us. So if you have to take extra water with you on a hike because you have to wash netilat yadayim, that’s what you do.”

Photo taken at a dinner held in honor of Troop 613 and the scouts’ newly earned ranks, in Keneseth Beth Israel, Richmond, Virginia.

Courtesy of Heni Stein

Sam Chasan of Bergenfield, New Jersey, a former Boy Scout senior patrol leader and assistant scoutmaster, concurs. “Every morning you’re davening with a minyan as the sun is rising against a beautiful setting,” says Chasan, who was himself a Boy Scout back in the 1980s. “It’s not only an outdoor experience; it’s a meaningful Jewish experience.” Once a scout, always a scout; scout leaders still call on Chasan to cook for Boy Scout events.

Camping over Shabbat requires familiarity in both halachah and outdoor culinary techniques. Frum scouts learn how to construct a kosher eruv, determine the campsite techum (distance one can travel on Shabbat) and prepare cholent for the troop that will remain hot for the day seudah.

“We start a campfire before Shabbat, and once it begins to burn down, we bury a cast-iron Dutch oven filled with the cholent materials in the hot coals; the coals stay warm for at least thirty hours,” explains Saul Zebovitz, an Eagle Scout and former assistant scoutmaster of Troop 185 in Elkins Park, Philadelphia, the troop in which he participated as a boy. “Come Shabbat day, it’s fully cooked and we have a delicious cholent. We also make fantastic apple crisp that way.”

Yehuda Katz, an Eagle Scout who has held a number of leadership roles in the Boy Scouts, including assistant scoutmaster of Troop 613 in Silver Spring, Maryland and Troop 54 in Har Nof, Yerushalayim, says that there are many halachot that he never would have learned if not for the program.

“As a youth leader in the troop, I called in the head of our local eruv to talk to us about the details involved in building an eruv,” he says. “You have to know what is not allowed to be inside an eruv, like a swamp or any body of water that is not drinkable.”

Why would an Orthodox kid want to become a Boy Scout? “The boys get leadership experience that they are not going to get elsewhere,” says Daniel Chazin, a retired lawyer who is the scoutmaster of Troop 226 in Teaneck, New Jersey. “They plan and run the meetings and activities; they come up with and follow through on their own ideas.” Priming the next generation of leaders, Chazin, who has published several books on hiking and has been involved in scouting since 1977, currently directs scouts whose fathers were in his troop. “It’s wonderful to know I had an impact on their lives.”

Along with learning essential life skills, including emergency preparedness and how to survive in the great outdoors, scouting emphasizes spirituality. In fact, one of the Scout Laws obligates scouts “to be reverent” (without specifying any particular faith).

“Belief in God and religion is an integral part of scouting,” says the father of a shomer Shabbat Boy Scout. “It’s respected, expected and accommodated. Religion permeates the entire scouting experience.”

Middot are stressed as well. “Boy Scouts hold dear many ‘old-fashioned’ values that are not so cool in the world today, among them honesty, integrity and respect—middot that we [as frum Jews] value,” says Naomi Stillman, DDS, from Brookline, Massachusetts, the parent of an Eagle Scout. “The program also inculcates the idea of cheerfulness and helping others. My son Avinoam [now twenty-one], who started scouting at ten years old, became very self-reliant; at the same time, he’s alert [to the needs of others] and always available to help.” Her son comes from a long-standing Boy Scout tradition. His father and paternal grandfather both participated in a shomer Shabbat troop in Borough Park, Brooklyn.

“I love camping with them; I adore the simplicity of it,”

Fall 5776/2015 JEWISH ACTION I 19

Stillman says. “There are no phone calls, e-mails, racing around; no modern frenetic daily life. The Scouts manage the cooking; I don’t have to lift a finger. It’s a great getaway.”

Every four years, troops from across the country, approximately 40,000 scouts, gather at The Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve in West Virginia, which is 10,600 acres of forest, surrounded by over 70,000 acres of National Park Service land, for a jamboree—a ten-day celebration of scouting that includes white-water canoeing, rock climbing, mountain biking, zip lining and more. Among the participants is a strong contingent of shomer Shabbat troops.

Birth of a Jewish Boy Scout Tro op According to the National Jewish Committee on Scouting (NJCOS), the first exclusively Jewish Boy Scout troop was formed in 1913, at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan; by 1957, 1,367 troops were chartered to Jewish religious institutions throughout the United States, with an estimated 100,000 Jewish scouts registered in both Jewish and non-Jewish sponsored scout troops. Based on conversations with national leaders of the Boy Scouts of America and local Jewish scout leaders across the nation, Spielman reports that there are approximately sixty Jewish Cub Scout packs and sev-

enty Jewish Boy Scout troops. Of the 130 combined Jewish packs and troops, approximately 40 percent are shomer Shabbat, totaling 840 boys.

Spielman, who has a PhD in administration and computer graphics, began his sixty-year-long involvement in shomer Shabbat scouting in the early 1950s as an eight-year-old Cub Scout.

His father launched Pack 100 in 1954, chartered to the Orthodox synagogue Congregation Shaaray Tefila, then in Far Rockaway, New York (now in Lawrence).

That pack grew quickly to seventy boys, and was one of the most active shomer Shabbat packs, according to Spielman.

Spielman remembers having adult leaders who had been scouts in shomer Shabbat troops in the 1920s. The number of shomer Shabbat Boy Scouts hit a peak after World War II, with a significant number of Orthodox synagogues in the New York area chartering troops. “There may very well have been about 4,000 shomer Shabbat Boy Scouts in New York City in 1960,” says Spielman. “The world was different then. You didn’t have as much competition from computer games.”

Making an Impression Shomer Shabbat Boy Scouts also get a summer camp experience at the Forestburg Scout Reservation near Monticello, New York. “We created an infrastructure

for our troops,” says Spielman, referring to a shul, a separate (kosher) half of the dining hall, as well as their own freezer, oven and preparation area. Scoutmaster and Eagle Scout Yehuda Katz recalls the summer Rabbi Yisroel Belsky, one of the senior halachic consultants for OU Kosher, came to the camp to teach the boys about the wonders of astronomy.

Scouting events and campouts afford the shomer Shabbat scouts many opportunities to make a kiddush Hashem. “If we share camping areas with non-Jewish troops, they watch us daven and see how involved we are in it,” Katz says. “They notice that there are kids who are leading the service; that really impresses them.

They’ve told us that outright.”

Wanting to get in on all the fun, the younger sister of a scout in Troop 613 in Richmond, Virginia, approached Russ Stein, scoutmaster of the troop, wanting to become a scout. Stein’s wife, Heni, who didn’t see herself as an outdoorsy type, reluctantly agreed to lead an Orthodox all-girls troop.

She loves it.

Her troop, numbering eighteen girls, focuses on chesed. They’ve written letters to the marines in Afghanistan, worked with homeless veterans and planted a vegetable garden for a local nursing home.

“Because we have no kids [of our own], this is our way of giving to the next gen-

“Belief in God

Scouts on a ten-day backpacking trip at the Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico.

Courtesy of Daniel Chazin

20 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

and religion is an integral part of scouting,” says the father of a shomer Shabbat Boy Scout. “Religion permeates the scouting experience.”

Clockwise from left: Pack 18 learning leather working at a campout. Courtesy of Alex Hochberger; Girls in Girl Scout Troop 613 getting ready to go horseback riding at Foxmeade Farms in Midlothian, Virginia. Courtesy of Heni Stein; Shul tent in the Forestburg Scout Reservation near Monticello, where shomer Shabbat Boy Scouts get a summer camp experience. Courtesy of Howard Spielman

eration,” Russ Stein says. “The girls love Heni; on Shabbat at our shul, they flock to her.”

The diverse observance levels within the shomer Shabbat troops also present outreach opportunities. Spielman relates that a number of years back, he was asked to speak at the Jewish Federation’s General Assembly. Addressing Jewish educators from around the country, he led a session focusing on possible strategies to keep teenagers involved in Jewish activities.

“At that time, my troop was chartered through a Jewish community center, so I had a heterogeneous population,” Spielman says. (His troop is currently chartered through the Maimonides School in Boston.)

He brought along a boy from a Reform background and one from a Conservative background. He explained what the scouts do, and showed photos of them canoeing

and horseback riding in the Rocky Mountains. He then let the boys speak to the group, having little idea what they would say.

“They both told the group that they learned more about Judaism in the Boy Scouts than in all of their years in Hebrew school,” Spielman says. Some unaffiliated boys even went on to get semichah. “One mother told me her son would not be shomer Shabbat today if it weren’t for the Boy Scouts.”

For all its character building and fun, shomer Shabbat scouting could very well be one of the Jewish world’s best-kept secrets. Steve Kahn, scoutmaster of Troop 613 in West Hempstead, New York, says that since the older boys leave the troop at eighteen, he’s always looking to bring in new youngsters. “It’s a challenge getting the word out,” he says.

“The population ebbs and flows as new troops are formed and older ones expire,” reports Spielman. Nonetheless, he’s optimistic. “The number of shomer Shabbat troops could easily grow. All it takes to start one is five boys, three adults and a charter organization. The adults require no special skills; the Boy Scouts of America will give them all the training they need, as well as experienced scouting volunteers to help them get their program up and running.”

Spielman’s enthusiasm for the Boy Scouts extends to his entire family. Once when his mother, who was in her nineties, became ill and was wheeled out of her home on a stretcher, he leaned over and asked her how she was feeling. She answered: “Get me more of those brochures about Boy Scouts. One of the Hatzalah guys [here] has a kid who’s the right age.” g

Listen to Howard Spielman discuss shomer Shabbat Boy Scouting at www.ou.org/life/community/savitsky-spielman/.

To start your own troop or to learn more about kosher scouting, contact Friends of Shomer Shabbat Scouting at 443-288-6278.

Fall 5776/2015 JEWISH ACTION I 21

In the Aftermath of the Flood,

Jacob Kamaras, a journalist living in Houston and a member of United Orthodox Synagogues, is the editor in chief of the Jewish News Service (JNS.org), a wire service providing content to Jewish community newspapers and web sites across the US and abroad.

22 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

S

itting next to his sixteen-year-old daughter, Shayna, in his flood-damaged house in Houston’s Willow Meadows neighborhood, Rick Guttman recalls a deal he made with God after his home flooded during Tropical Storm Allison in 2001.

“At the time, after that flood, I decided that we would not spend any more money or do anything [to flood-proof my home] because I made my own little arrangement with God,” he says.

“I would volunteer and contribute to the community if we didn’t have another flood until Shayna, who was a baby at the time, graduated high school.”

Though he says he kept up his end of the bargain in terms of volunteering, the flooding timetable Rick envisioned was off by a year—Shayna will be a high school senior this coming fall.

“I think that I owe Him a little bit more time in synagogue,” Rick says.

The Guttmans are among an estimated eighty families belonging to the United Orthodox Synagogues of Houston (UOS) congregation who were affected by a devastating flood this past May in America’s fourth-largest city.

Rabbi Barry Gelman, rav of UOS, an OU shul, says his home took in thirty inches of water. “The water damage forces the homeowner to tear out the bottom four feet of sheetrock from the entire house as well as all the insulation,” he explains.

“Adding to that, [the flood water was] ‘category three water,’ the most contaminated water; water that includes fecal matter.”

Virtually every area of UOS, which has about 325 member units (families or individuals), was flooded, amounting to more than $1 million in damages. “Our sanctuary is a shell,” says Rabbi Gelman. UOS is currently holding minyanim in the one room in the building that was not flooded.

A smaller Orthodox synagogue nearby, Meyerland Minyan, an OU shul in Houston’s Meyerland neighborhood, suffered about $75,000 worth of damage to its facility and lost $10,000 worth of sefarim. Rabbi Gidon Moskovitz, rav of Meyerland Minyan, says the water destroyed everything in its path, including the shul floor, walls, furniture and rugs as well as Chumashim, siddurim, machzorim and other sefarim. “But, there’s concrete and there’s air conditioning—which is all that really matters in Houston,” quips Rabbi Moskovitz. Among the sixty-five member units at Meyerland Minyan, upwards of ten families were affected by the flood, says Rabbi Moskovitz.

A flood this past May devastated Houston’s Jewish community. Photo: Aaron M. Sprecher/AFP/Getty Images

By Jacob Kamaras

Shining Aftermath of the Flood

Water-damaged Chumashim at United Orthodox Synagogues of Houston.

Photo courtesy of Rabbi Steven Weil

Jews both far and near rushed forward to help rebuild the community’s devastated homes, lives and shaken sense of hope.

The OU was among the first to respond.

The day after the deluge, Rabbi Steven Weil, the OU’s senior managing director, visited the hard-hit frum neighborhoods.

He witnessed the widespread loss of homes, appliances, cars, personal valuables and sefarim. He also saw a community looking after each other.

“I was blown away,” he says. “Neighbors were taking in families until their homes would be restored. Students from the [Robert M. Beren] Academy [a Modern Orthodox day school in Houston] were going from house to house helping people clear out [the wreckage]. It was very powerful.” He shared his experiences with Rabbi Judah Isaacs, director of the OU’s Department of Community Engagement, who immediately set up an OU Disaster Relief Fund campaign online.

Rabbi Isaacs reports that the campaign has prompted a generous response. “We give the funds to the local rabbis who have direct knowledge of individuals’ needs.”

Since the OU raised funds for victims in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy as well as Hurricane Katrina, Rabbi Isaacs is familiar with the kind of havoc water can wreak on people’s lives. “You have to make sure there’s no mold, which entails ripping out a few feet of every wall and all the furniture has to be replaced. And it takes time for insurance coverage to take effect when you have hundreds of thousands of people claiming it at the same time.”

Rabbi Gelman says he has drawn inspiration from the tremendous outpouring of support, both financial and otherwise.

Relief efforts at UOS, which are being organized by volunteer coordinators, have included clean-up help for flooded homes, arrangements for short-term housing, laundry and meals for individual families, larger communal meals and information sessions. Yeshivah students from Teaneck, New Jersey, and Yeshiva University, whose trips the OU helped underwrite, as well as a contingent from Columbus, Ohio’s NCSY region, traveled to the area to assist in the clean-up efforts.

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Rebuilding One Day at a Time By late June, Meyerland Minyan was almost done with repairs. A tile floor, which the congregation hopes will be flood-proof, was installed. But rebuilding UOS will take six to eight months, says synagogue president Max Reichenthal.

Houston’s Jewish community is looking at about an eighteen-month timetable for total recovery, with an estimated $3.5 million price tag on the necessary support for individual flood victims and Jewish institutions, says Lee Wunsch, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston. Among the 500 Jewish families in Houston whose homes were flooded, 250 need some kind of outside support, he says.

A full recovery, according to Wunsch, “means that families that today may be living on the second floor of their house, or may not be living in their house, are back to their ‘normal’ lives—their house has been restored, their kids resume their normal activities . . . and they’re coping financially.” Among the Jewish Federation’s top priorities, he says, are raising money for flood victims and working with the various government entities that are involved in the relief process.

Though the flood is taking a toll on the entire Houston Jewish community, it poses an additional challenge to the frum population due to their need to live within walking distance of a synagogue.

“Honestly, the biggest concern is, what’s going to happen with these neighborhoods, and are they going to maintain their Jewish character?” Wunsch says. “Because the cost of rebuilding, both institutions and homes, is so significant, there could be those who say either ‘I don’t have the money to spend to rebuild,’ or ‘I’m not going to spend that kind of money with the risk that my house or my institution, my synagogue, is going to be flooded again.’ And therefore— thinking as somebody in the Orthodox world—‘I have to leave the city.’ The options are very limited.”

For the Guttmans, the options include rebuilding their home to its pre-flood state, raising it above the floodplain, or tearing it down and starting anew. The decision, Rick says, depends on the result of the family’s flood insurance settlement and what kind of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance is provided.

Until the prognosis is clearer, the Guttmans are living in the home of Rick’s mother-in-law in the Fondren neighborhood, whose Orthodox community was not severely affected by the flood.

“It is different being out of your surroundings, and Shayna not being in the community where she’s grown up,” Guttman says. “This is where all our friends are; this is where the synagogue is; this is where the school is; this is where her life is built, around this community, and now we’re in a different area.”

Like the Guttmans, UOS members David and Dina Silberman are deciding how to proceed with their flooded

24 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

home. Dina says they have “more questions than answers” on what to do next.

For their short-term solution, the Silbermans moved into an apartment owned by Dina’s aunt, who recently moved to Florida. The apartment is not within walking distance of UOS or another Orthodox synagogue, meaning the Silbermans need to make arrangements to be near UOS each Shabbat. In the long run, whatever decision is made regarding their flooded home, Dina says she “would not move out of this community.”

Reichenthal, a lifelong Houstonian who celebrated his aufruf at UOS shortly after a different flood in 1983, is hopeful for the UOS community’s future.

“Our membership is resilient,” he says. “I think that everybody will figure out where they’re going to be, what they’re going to do with their homes, shortly. . . . I think people have to really sit back and deal with the shock first.”

Rabbi Gelman needed to vacate his house and made plans to move into an apartment in August.

“I’ve had to sort of split myself in half and deal with the communal issues as well as our personal issues,” Rabbi Gelman says. “The fact that I’m experiencing the same hardships that other people [in the shul] are experiencing gives me a better understanding of what people are going through, and the chance to address it from a more authentic perspective.”

Understandably, emotions continue to run high.

“This creates real stress on families,” says Rabbi Gelman.

“The children have seen their homes destroyed before their eyes, and now they’re displaced. It’s very traumatic.”

Rabbi Moskovitz concurs. “One of the parents told me that her two-year-old keeps asking to go home. Unfortunately, there’s no home to go back to.”

“I don’t think that the majority of people will be financially impacted in a negative way,” says Guttman.

“I think that many people are experiencing emotional distress,” he says. “The decision process, the anxiety and the uncertainty [with] their home, their insurance proceeds . . . .

It has taken adults out of their natural comfort zone.”

Dina Silberman says her biggest fear is “that this place that is so emotionally strong can be destroyed because of the economics of rebuilding this community.”

Yet Rabbi Gelman conveys a sense of optimism about the synagogue’s future. “I have a lot of confidence in the longterm health of the community,” he says. “This is not at all to diminish the real misery that people are experiencing now, and I’m not one who says, ‘Ignore your current situation because everything will be okay . . . .’

“I’m sure we’ll come out of this stronger, with a balanced perspective, knowing what’s important in life,” says Rabbi Gelman. “Ultimately, our community is not our buildings and material possessions—it’s our people.” g

Cover Story

Rav Aharon Lichtenstein 1933-2015 Photo: Intermountain Jewish News/Richard Nowitz

26

I JEWISH ACTION

Fall 5776/2015

REMEMBERING

RAV AHARON LICHTENSTEIN,

‫זצ"ל‬

Menachem Genack Ron Yitzchok Eisenman Chaim Goldberg Shalom Carmy Hillel Goldberg David Shatz Julius Berman Photos courtesy of Yeshivat Har Etzion, except where otherwise indicated

Fall 5776/2015 JEWISH ACTION

I 27

Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein was born in Paris in 1933 but fled Nazi-occupied France for the United States with his family in 1940. He was recognized as an outstanding student while studying at Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin under Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner. Subsequently, he attended Yeshiva University, where he studied under Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik. He earned semichah from the Rav, and went on to complete a doctorate in English literature at Harvard University. In 1960, he married the Rav’s daughter, Dr. Tovah Lichtenstein.

After serving as rosh kollel at YU’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary for a few years, Rabbi Lichtenstein was approached by Rabbi Yehuda Amital to serve as co-rosh yeshivah of Yeshivat Har Etzion in Alon Shevut, Israel.

Rabbi Lichtenstein accepted the offer, and he and his family made aliyah in 1971. He served as rosh yeshivah at Yeshivat Har Etzion for four decades and taught thousands of students, among them many rabbis and educators. A leading figure in the Religious Zionist world, Rabbi Lichtenstein also served as rosh kollel of Yeshiva University’s Gruss Institute in Jerusalem. Rabbi Lichtenstein was awarded the Israel Prize for Torah Literature in 2014. He passed away on April 20, 2015, at the age of eighty-one. Rabbi Lichtenstein left behind his wife and six children, including head of Yeshivat Har Etzion Rabbi Mosheh Lichtenstein, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Rav Aharon:

An Appreciation for Complexity

By Menachem Genack In one of Rav Aharon Lichtenstein’s masterful discussions on the value of general culture for the development of a Torah personality, he reflected on the importance of being able to assess the character and uniqueness of individuals, and especially of gedolim. Rav Aharon cited Rav Soloveitchik who commented on the verse “zeh sefer toledot adam, this is the book of the generations of man” (Bereishit 5:1), that an individual must be studied like a book. To this Rav Aharon added: “All the more so if he is a gadol; if grasping his essence accurately is a fulfillment of ‘But thine eyes shall see thy teachers.’” We cannot here do justice to Rav Aharon’s truly unique gadlus, but in the memories and reflections that follow, I hope to capture some of his exceptional character.

W

hen I was a student at Yeshiva University, I remember Rav Aharon running through the halls (he was always running) with his mini Shas and two-volume Mishneh Torah balancing atop his Gemara. As rosh kollel, Rav Aharon always opened this mini Shas almost magically to the right page and to the source needed.

But in fact, it was not magic; it was a testament to Rav Aharon’s knowledge of every page of Shas, which led his fingers immediately to the line in question. In the Rav’s shiur, whenever a source was needed, Rav Aharon supplied it immediately. But, in keeping with his humility, he once commented to me that there was

Rabbi Menachem Genack is CEO, OU Kosher.

28 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

a special “Al Chet” confession for those who must demonstrate their knowledge of the page number (daf ) every time a passage of Gemara is cited: “dibarnu dofi, we have spoken the daf.”

I remember once during a summer shiur of the Rav in Onset, Massachusetts, in 1967, Rav Aharon’s five-yearold son Yitzy coming into the Rav’s shiur, announcing that he was carrying a “Bambam for Zeidy.” This little boy could not yet pronounce Rambam’s name, but the education he received from his parents meant that Rambam was already in his blood. He is now a renowned talmid chacham who has edited volumes of the Rav’s published chiddushim.

Rav Aharon’s gadlus baTorah is well-known, but less celebrated is his gadlus as a father and as a son; his commitment and dedication to his family. Rav Aharon was always learning, but nevertheless managed to spend time with all of his children.

When Rav Aharon’s father became blind, Rav Aharon demonstrated legendary care. Rav Aharon dedicated an article of his in Hebrew to “the descendants of Yitzchak and Yaakov, the disciples of Rav Sheshet and Rav Yosef, who accept their lot with love and serve their Creator in silent anticipation,” the last phrase of which he later confessed was an allusion to the concluding line of Milton’s “On His Blindness”: “They also serve who only stand and wait.”

Even when Rav Aharon was living in the United States, he always spoke to his children in Hebrew, while his wife, Dr. Tovah Lichtenstein, spoke to them in English. This provided the children with an early example of the dialectical method. But this also may have been because, as his son Rav Mosheh asserted, Rav Aharon already dreamed of teaching Torah in Israel from the

time of his childhood in France. It was no secret that the Rav was opposed to Rav Aharon and his wife, the Rav’s daughter, making aliyah with their children, both because the Rav did not want his family to be so distant and also because he wanted Rav Aharon to be his successor in the United States. But Rav Aharon and his wife made the difficult but principled decision to make aliyah because they believed that outside of Israel, the full expression of Jewish religious life was lacking. As Rav Aharon put it in an article about the relationship between religion and state: “No doubt, in its essence religion is ultimately, in Plotinus’ phrase, ‘the flight of the alone to the Alone.’ Nevertheless, for the Jew, the purpose and direction of his religious existence is defined by his membership in Knesset Yisrael.”

Outside of Israel, one remains an individual Jew. Only in Israel does one truly experience Judaism not merely as an individual, but as a member of the Jewish nation. As Rav Aharon admonished in a different context, “We must not only live in history, but live historically.” Ultimately, the Rav reconciled with their decision, and I remember during one of Israel’s wars the Rav remarking with pride that his grandson was serving as an IDF soldier in Lebanon.

For Rav Aharon, ethical considerations were always paramount. According to Rav Aharon, being a Jew does not mean forgoing the universal dimension of ethics; on the contrary, “the sharpening and heightening of the universal spiritual reality is part of what the sanctity of Israel is all about.” This ethical awareness accompanied him in his every action.

Rav Aharon’s approach was always principled but wonderfully reasonable. He had high standards, especially for those he loved most. As such, he was very critical of Israel’s response to the events of Sabra and Shatila. And it was his position as a citadel of rectitude and integrity which gave Rav Aharon the credibility to stand for “the better angels of our nature” in the aftermath of the tragic assassination of Yitzhak Rabin.

Har Etzion dinner held in New York City in 2013 where Rav Aharon was honored on his 80th birthday. Pictured dancing are Rabbi Menachem Genack (far left), Rav Aharon (middle), and Rav Aharon's son Rabbi Yitzchok Lichtenstein.

Perhaps Rav Aharon’s trademark intellectual trait was his recognition of the complexity and multidimensional character of many issues, and that the quest for truth requires that all sides be thoroughly explored. This exploration was the defining feature of his Talmudic shiurim, where he examined every sugya for all of its potential theoretical underpinnings—following to the maximum the Rav’s frequent expression during his shiur that “my job is to exhaust all logical possibilities.” This intellectual complexity was also the basis for

This was precisely the lesson that Rav Aharon sought to teach—that the world we live in requires nuance, and navigating it requires an appreciation for complexity. his appreciation of great literature, where he found the complexity of the human condition depicted, and of his worldview as a whole.

Dr. Tovah Lichtenstein recounted that once on Purim, an inebriated student complained about the impossibility of ever receiving a straight answer from Rav Aharon; for every question, the answer always consisted of “on the one hand” and “on the other hand,” all options carefully weighed for their advantages and disadvantages. But this was precisely the lesson that Rav Aharon sought to teach—that the world we live in requires nuance,

and navigating it requires an appreciation for complexity.

Underlying this intellectual position was Rav Aharon’s profound humility. The gemara (Berachot 28b) recounts that when Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai was dying, his disciples went in to visit him, and found him weeping. When his disciples asked him why he was weeping, he replied, “When there are two paths before me, one leading to Gan Eden and the other to Gehinnom, and I do not know by which I shall be taken, shall I not weep?”

The Rav explained this gemara by referring to another episode in the life of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai.

As recounted elsewhere in the gemara (Gittin 56b), Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai met with Vespasian, the Roman emperor, and was granted any request. Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai asked to save Yavneh and its sages, but he did not ask to save Jerusalem. The two paths that he saw before him, the Rav explained, reflected his self-doubt; he was forever conflicted whether his decision to ask for Yavneh over Jerusalem was the right one. He did not ask for Jerusalem because he figured such an outlandish request would be rejected out of hand and they would then be left with nothing.

His position of leadership did not lead him to a pat self-assurance, but rather to constant questioning; his humility led him to see complexity. Rav Aharon’s appreciation of complexity was likewise born of humility.

Fall 5776/2015 JEWISH ACTION I 29

Over the years, Jewish Action has had the honor of publishing numerous articles by Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, z”tl. This was due, in no small part, to the relationship Rav Aharon had with his former classmate Rabbi Matis Greenblatt, the founder of Jewish Action and literary editor emeritus. Following are the articles by Rav Lichtenstein that have appeared in the magazine, all of which can be found at our web site at www.ou.org/ Jewish_action.

“A Clarification,” Fall 2013 “Dear Reb Aharon,” Summer 2010 “Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein Responds,” Summer 2010 “Hands Across the Ocean: A Review of Rabbi Aharon Feldman’s The Eye of the Storm,” Spring 2010 “To Sharpen Understanding,” Spring 2004 “The Orthodox Union Centennial Symposium: Our Next 100 Years: The Future of American Orthodoxy,” Fall 1998 “A Gentle Giant, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt"l," Fall 1995 “The Source of Faith is Faith Itself,” Fall 1992 “Response to Jewish Action Symposium 5747: The Strength of Orthodoxy and the State of K'lal Yisrael,” Fall/Winter 1986

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Rav Aharon’s intellectual complexity was rooted in religious commitment. As he commented, we must “appreciate modernity, but only through the prism of eternity.” He gave no countenance to disciplines, such as Biblical criticism, which undermine our tradition, and in the case of contradiction between Torah and general culture, he did not hesitate about where our loyalties must lie. He was a staunch advocate of the centrality of Talmud study lishmah, despite its difficulty. Similarly, Rav Aharon believed in the centrality of ethics that go beyond the letter of halachah. But in a case where our moral intuition opposes halachah, Rav Aharon wrote, “The answer is perhaps practically difficult, but surely it is conceptually clear and unequivocal . . . God’s command takes precedence, in every respect, over our moral sensibility and our conscientious objections.” Rav Aharon’s persona was multi-faceted, but not fragmented; his entire being was subsumed under his identity as an eved Hashem.

Finally, I think it was Rav Aharon’s quality of wholeness that allowed him to see the best in others. Rav Aharon saw the potential in every individual. We began with the Rav’s observation that man must be studied like a book. The gemara (Shabbat 105b) says that one who is present at the time of death of another Jew must tear his clothing, because it is as if he has witnessed the burning of a sefer Torah. Rashi explains that every Jew, even one who appears to be empty, nevertheless contains Torah and mitzvot within. Rav Aharon saw the sefer Torah hidden within each individual, and through his genius, kindness and humility, he restored in countless people their connection to the Book of Books. g

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A Gentle Giant of Torah

By Ron Yitzchok Eisenman

I

entered the room with my stomach in knots; the numerous stories about the famous “Gush bechinah” (entrance exam) caused my mouth to be so dry, I could not even say a word as I sat before him.

He hardly looked at me, and he certainly did not smile. There was no chitchat or even pleasantries; rather, he began by asking me what I was learning and, without the benefit of a sefer, he began his questioning. For him it seemed to be a game of chess and logic; for me, it was an exercise in futility. Whatever I answered, he quickly countered with the logical extension to my thesis. Soon I was no longer aware of which masechta (tractate) I was learning and which sugya (topic) I had chosen. My mind was spinning and my heart was pounding. The next thing I knew, this imposing man with the serious demeanor asked me, “So based on what you have said, it follows that you believe it is a Torah obligation to eat meat and milk on Yom Kippur; is that correct?”

This was the first time I met the man whom I would come to lovingly call “Rebbe.”

It did not take me long to realize that this seemingly aloof and daunting man was in reality a gentle, caring individual whose “remoteness” was more the product of his humility combined most probably with a touch of shyness.

I learned quickly during my second Shabbat in the yeshivah that although one could mistakenly assume that Rav Aharon was removed from the mundane aspects of this world, in truth, he had his finger on the pulse of the student body.

There are outdoor balconies that surround the back of the beit midrash; one could access these outdoor areas by simply stepping out the door. Once, at the conclusion of davening, without warning, Rav Aharon marched to the front of the beit midrash—which, according to the veterans of the yeshivah, was highly unusual.

He was shaking with emotion and was clearly filled with disappointment and pain. A group of soldiers who were not part of the yeshivah were visiting for Shabbat, and some of the yeshivah students took the opportunity to show the guests the balcony of the beit midrash during davening.

Rav Aharon was incredulous at his students’ behavior; I can still recall his words today. He thundered, “I understand that there are students who want to perform the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim; however, we are two weeks before Rosh Hashanah! How can we allow ourselves to go traipsing on the veranda as if we are strolling in the park on a day off?”

I was awed.

I had never seen a rav show such emotion and passion while clearly maintaining his equilibrium.

He was disappointed because of the lack of kavod Shamayim; yet there was not the slightest semblance of personal anger in his words. Indeed, he went out of his way to superbly balance the need to not make the guest soldiers feel unwanted while effectively rebuking his own students.

Rav Aharon was one of the most controlled individuals I have ever met. He had a PhD from Harvard in English literature and would liberally quote John Milton and Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene

before and after quoting Rambam, yet when it came to kavod Shamayim, Rav Aharon could be full of fury while maintaining complete self-control. Every word uttered in shiur or even when he spoke extemporaneously was measured and thought out; he never “shot from the hip.”

I cannot recall a time when he had to retract a statement or when he was guilty of a slip of the tongue; Rav Aharon became my role model in how and when to speak.

Two weeks after that Shabbat, my initial feeling of awe was augmented with a newfound love for Rav Aharon—the catalyst being my first Yom Kippur with him.

To describe Rav Aharon on Yom Kippur, one word comes to mind: ethereal.

His focus and intensity during davening was otherworldly.

He stood for the majority of the davening, and his face displayed intense concentration along with fear of judgment. I witnessed a man pleading for his life before his Creator. Then the shofar sounded and Yom Kippur was over. The yeshivah erupted in singing and dancing, the likes of which I had never seen.

As I looked up, Rav Aharon appeared as an angelic apparition, his face shining brightly with a smile that illuminated the entire beit midrash. On his shoulders sat his young three-year-old daughter, Toni.

Could the same man who just moments before stood for hours detached from this world now be dancing with his daughter on his shoulders while waving tenderly in the direction of the balcony to his beloved wife, Tovah?

Could the same man who was so transcendent the entire day now be the “normal” father who took

Rabbi Ron Yitzchok Eisenman is rabbi of Congregation Ahavas Israel in Passaic, New Jersey.

32 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

such pleasure and joy in making his young daughter happy? But there was no contradiction and no inconsistency; that was Rav Aharon. He was a living example of a person who was able to synthesize his physical and spiritual selves, and become the ultimate paradigm of the genuine servant of Hashem.

It was apparent that Rav Aharon’s first and primary love was Torah; Torah was his lifeblood.

I cannot recall a time when he had to retract a statement or when he was guilty of a slip of the tongue; he became my role model in how and when to speak.

I never witnessed another person whose complete concentration while learning Torah was as intense as Rav Aharon’s. As he sat at his desk, on the right side of the beit midrash, he was totally immersed in learning. I can recall many times standing near his desk as the minutes ticked by, hoping that he would

Fall 5776/2015 JEWISH ACTION I 33

Left: Rabbi Ron Yitzchok Eisenman as a young yeshivah bochur learning in Yeshivat Har Etzion. Courtesy of Rabbi Eisenman Right: Beit midrash at Yeshivat Har Etzion.

notice me as he remained engrossed in the sugya.

And yet, while his commitment to Torah was total, it was never at the expense of his middot. On the days when Rav Aharon was relying on the Egged bus to return home, he would stop learning exactly four minutes and nineteen seconds before the bus would arrive. He would stand up and literally run from his seat. He would first stop at the bookshelves to put every single sefer back on the correct shelf. He would then bolt from the beit midrash and sprint to the bus stop while vaulting over at least one park bench in order to arrive at the bus stop precisely as the bus pulled in. Time was of the essence; so was putting away sefarim for the next person to use them.

Although Rav Aharon cherished time for his personal growth, he always had time for me and for others.

I can recall countless times when I spoke to him privately in his office and he never gave the slightest indication that he was in a rush.

Rav Aharon taught me a new definition of what is a chumrah (stringency) and what is a kulah (leniency).

He once related how before Pesach when he was called up for miluim (reserve duty), his task was to help kasher a kitchen. He and the other milumniks were working under the chaplain. After they finished cleaning the pots, the chaplain arrived, inspected their work and proceeded to berate the men for not using the blowtorch to remove some grime on the pot handles. Rav Aharon told us very emphatically how he felt that the chaplain, who may have thought he 34 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

was being strict (machmir) in hilchot Pesach, was actually being very lenient (meikel) in the laws of bein adam l’chaveiro. The chaplain publicly embarrassed the other men, and he kept them at the base for another hour for what was unnecessary work, thereby depriving them of family time. Rav Aharon pointed out that the grime he had them remove was not a halachic problem in the first place.

The one who was seemingly machmir was now the meikel and the meikel was, in truth, the machmir.

Although Rav Aharon excelled in so many middot and in learning, the one trait in which he towered above all was certainly his middah of anavah, humility. His self-effacing style and his innate humility were legendary.

I will never forget how he would sit in the beit midrash when Rav Amital spoke, appearing as a student sits before his rebbe, although he himself was fluent in the entire Shas and Rishonim.

There are countless stories attesting to his humility. Once, he had to take an Egged bus four hours to the North for reserve duty. He casually mentioned how after two hours on the bus, he said to the woman standing near him, “Excuse me, please sit down. I sat for two hours and now it’s only fair that you sit.” There was not the slightest hint of conceit in his voice; he was just informing us how we should be sensitive to others.

At one point, Rav Aharon took a controversial position regarding the question of relinquishing land for the sake of peace. Since he knew his position was passionately opposed by some of the veterans of the yeshivah, he gave a member of the kollel

the opportunity to offer a rebuttal to his position. With that one gesture, Rav Aharon grew ten feet in my eyes.

Which other rosh yeshivah would give equal time for a member of his kollel to offer an opposing view? But that was Rav Aharon. Why would he think his position was more compelling than anyone else’s? There were opposing views and he gave equal time for disparate opinions.

Who can forget the time in the Yeshiva University cafeteria when a student asked a friend, “Aaron, do you have change of a quarter?” Before the friend could respond, Rav Aharon walked over and said, “Yes, here I have two dimes and a nickel. Will that help you?”

Rav Aharon held himself to a tremendously high standard; nevertheless, I always found him to be understanding, compassionate and down to earth when he dealt with others.

When I was going through a difficult period in my life, he was there for me with the empathy and responsiveness akin to that of a loving and understanding father; he was never judgmental. I am consoled as I recall that the man whom I initially so feared and felt intimidated by I ultimately came to love and admire as a father figure. I realized that the man who may have seemed so forbidding was in reality a gentle giant in Torah and an even greater giant in middot.

And the man who considered himself nothing but ordinary was revered by so many as being the epitome of “extraordinary.”

Good-bye Rav Aharon, and thank you for being my rebbe. g

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A Grandfather Figure

By Chaim Goldberg Since the passing of Moreinu v’Rabbeinu HaRav Aharon Lichtenstein, zt”l, many people have asked me, “Did you know him well? Did you have a relationship with him?” This seems to be a perfectly understandable question, since the sense of loss one feels with someone’s passing corresponds to the depth of the relationship one had with the niftar. In this instance, however, it’s a faulty assumption and—with all due respect—the question rings hollow.

A

t the end of a devar Torah I wrote some years ago, I thanked those who had helped me in my religious development since my bar mitzvah. I concluded with the following: “Of all these people though, there is one individual I would like to particularly thank: my rosh yeshivah, Rav Aharon Lichtenstein. I have probably learned more from him—directly or indirectly—than from any other personality I have encountered. And all this though I’ve spoken less than a thousand words to him.” Quite frankly, had I spoken no words to him, the above sentence would remain equally true.

One of the ways in which Rav Aharon’s impact was felt was through his tefillah. Rav Lichtenstein would daven for the amud on the yahrtzeits of his parents. When he davened, there was a vivid sense of God’s presence. In many synagogues, the verse “know before Whom you stand” is displayed, yet 99 times out of 100, we fail to think about this. When Rav Lichtenstein davened, however, there was no mistaking before Whom we were standing and, consequently, what our purpose in life is. During chazarat hashatz, Rav Aharon uttered every word of the tefillah with painstaking focus and intensity, though no adjective can do Rav Lichtenstein’s devotion justice. Witnessing him daven invariably inspired one to engage in a cheshbon hanefesh; during

those few precious minutes, one’s priorities in life suddenly became abundantly clearer, and summoning the strength to pursue proper life goals became exponentially easier. If this sounds somewhat like how one feels on Yom Kippur, that is because Rav Lichtenstein’s Minchah on a random day was indeed like Minchah on Yom Kippur for the rest of us.

Any act in the service of God was not something to be outsourced; if he had the strength, he was going to perform it himself.

Rav Lichtenstein’s parents’ yahrtzeits were 6 Elul and 13 Elul. I arrived at yeshivah on the first of Elul; thus, within two weeks—witnessing his davening on the yahrtzeits and on the Shabbatot preceding each yahrtzeit—I essentially experienced four mini Yom Kippurs before Selichot even started. Had I come to the Gush and stayed through the Yamim Noraim only, my life would have been transformed forever. Considering that I was privileged to stay two years and hear numerous sichot and shiurim from Rav Lichtenstein, the impact was only magnified.

Once, while in the grocery store on erev Shabbat, Rav Lichtenstein bought flowers and other groceries for his wife. Rav Lichtenstein was known to eschew honor, but aside

from the fact that he was my rosh yeshivah, he already had some difficulty walking, so I offered to carry some items home for him. With an appreciative smile, he kindly refused. Another time, I was about to enter the beit midrash when I saw Rav Lichtenstein coming and held the door open for him. It was a heavy glass door, which I imagined might be difficult for him to open in his weakened condition. They were double doors, however, and when Rav Lichtenstein arrived, he paid no heed to the open door and headed right to the other door, opening it himself. I wondered why he did so. I was rather certain his refusal of help had nothing to do with maintaining independence as he aged; Rav Lichtenstein knew how to accept assistance gracefully and with gratitude when it was needed. Rather, I believe that his refusals were simply manifestations of the fact that he was the consummate eved Hashem. He didn’t only serve God when learning; he served God when he was buying his wife flowers l’kavod Shabbat as well. And he didn’t only serve God when engaged in prayer, but also on the way to the synagogue. Any act in the service of God was not something to be outsourced; if he had the strength, he was going to perform it himself. To see this total dedication to avodat Hashem was itself inspirational, generating an unspoken demand that we improve our avodat Hashem.

In an e-mail to a secular acquaintance of mine, I struggled to convey what Rav Lichtenstein meant to me.

I settled on, “Someone passed away today in my life, not actually a family member, but as close to a grandfather figure as I’d ever had.” I could not

Chaim Goldberg is a senior at Yeshiva University and a first-year student at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He is the head advisor for NCSY Atlanta and staffed NCSY’s The Anne Samson Jerusalem Journey Ambassadors Poland this summer.

36 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

help but think how strange this was, as Rav Lichtenstein was clearly not like a grandfather. He was way beyond that; more of a spiritual anchor for the entire community. The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized the two were not contradictory. Something that always astonished me was how Rav Lichtenstein’s eyes, which, at times—particularly when he was davening or giving an impassioned sichah—were fierce and penetrating were simultaneously the warmest, most welcoming eyes when wishing a “Shabbat shalom” or sharing some personal news. Since I never had a grandfather, Rav Lichtenstein was the closest anyone would come to filling that role for me. To be sure, he was not a grandfather in the traditional sense, but as long as Rav Lichtenstein was there, I knew everything would be all right. I could turn to him with anything, and though I generally did not do so unless it was a matter of great importance, merely knowing he could be my address in times of need was a most comforting feeling. He was a man filled with compassion for all, with a particular love for his talmidim. Rav Lichtenstein was not my primary rebbe. But if, as Chazal teach us, one’s rebbe is like his father, then being the talmid of his talmidim makes me a grandson of Rav Lichtenstein. g

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On Complexity and Clarity

By Shalom Carmy When asked what he had learned at Harvard, Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, zt”l, answered that there he grasped the complexity of human beings and their affairs.

R

av Lichtenstein, like the Rav, understood that many human challenges, and precisely the most important ones, enact the clash of competing, even conflicting, values, all of which have legitimacy. As a practical matter, we can’t avoid giving preference to one ideal over others; we are compelled to choose among people and causes that claim our allegiance. Nevertheless, if you are honest, you cannot deny or dismiss the spiritual reality of the “road not taken.” You must continue to keep in mind, and respond to, reality in its full complexity.

Some refuse to admit to irresolvable conflict; life is simpler with clear-cut marching orders and one– dimensional emotional attitudes. In their opinion, when God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son, then, because he must obey God, he should ideally have suppressed his natural feelings for his son. A father’s feelings, though valuable in ordinary life, must be obliterated by the higher duty. Such people believe that the ideal Abraham—as Rav Lichtenstein once put it—would slaughter his son with the same equanimity that he would shake a lulav on Sukkot. Rav Lichtenstein did not want to be such a person, nor did he educate others to

think that way. Consequently, his vision of Abraham was of a man wholly committed to obeying God, even as he did not abandon or diminish in any way his devotion to his son.

This insight itself is invaluable. Yet most of us, even having digested it as a philosophical thesis, fall short of living it consistently. We act one way or another or we arrive at some middle ground, and the compromise then becomes the new equilibrium.

Afterward we offer lip service to the options not actualized, but their vitality, in effect, has been neutralized.

Rav Lichtenstein never allowed that to happen. In that respect, as in others, he remained young to the end.

Partly, you say, this was a triumph of the intellect: his comprehensive insight refreshing and sustaining the radically complex awareness. No doubt, the sweep and scope of Rav Lichtenstein’s knowledge of Torah, the perspicuity of his insight into the human condition and the power to articulate that perception that he gained from his liberal arts studies, enabled him to bear in mind considerations invisible to, or easily neglected and forgotten by, most of us.

But this is not the whole story.

Avodat Hashem is not just refined intellect, but intellect harnessed by the

Rabbi Shalom Carmy is co-chair of the Jewish Studies Executive at Yeshiva College of Yeshiva University and editor of Tradition, the journal of the Rabbinical Council of America.

38 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

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human being in his or her wholeness and wholesomeness.

I recall the time, in the late sixties, that Rav Lichtenstein arranged a sunrise Shacharit for his students, followed by an early shiur. He then accompanied us to the Isaiah Wall, where we demonstrated against the massacres in Biafra. As we trudged around on that bitterly cold morning, one of us asked: “Rebbi, if we ought to have early shiur today, why not conduct a march every day?” Rav Lichtenstein did not answer.

One reason we fall short of living according to our best insight is that we spend too much time living our spiritual lives under the gaze of others.

I ventured to suggest that if we violated our normal schedule regularly, the study of Torah would soon fall by the wayside. Maintaining the set schedule with one exception, I

40 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

thought, was a reasonable compromise between the ongoing commitment to Torah and one’s duty not to ignore a genocidal war. Rav Lichtenstein said nothing; he neither endorsed my suggestion nor criticized it. I learned that sometimes it is more honest to let a question remain unanswered than to be satisfied with a reassuring but not wholly adequate solution.

Rav Lichtenstein subscribed to Rabbi Soloveitchik’s view that territorial compromise in the land of Israel, however painful—he compared it to amputating a limb to save a life— is permissible for the sake of peace.

During the Gaza disengagement, he vigorously opposed soldiers disobeying orders. Even if the government’s policy was ill-advised, to undermine the stability of Israel’s political system was more harmful. Many adopted his conclusions and gave no further thought to the subject. For Rav Lichtenstein, however, the sense of pain regarding every dunam of retreat was real, as was his sympathy for the settlers being uprooted.

It was so real that he went down to Kfar Darom, without publicity, to spend the last hours before the evacuation with them. By then he was an old man, and his views were not popular in those circles. And yet his sympathy did not end with words. He found a way to translate it into action.

I said “without publicity”: One reason we fall short of living according to our best insight is that we spend too much time living our spiritual lives under the gaze of others. In the sixties, Rav Lichtenstein was invited to speak on ethics at an RCA convention. In the wake of a recent scandal in Albany, a prestigious newspaper hinted that a timely remark could gain the young rabbi a bit of celebrity.

Rav Lichtenstein told us that he had made sure his speech included nothing that would stimulate extraneous interest. So his presentation did not make news worthy of printing, and he forfeited his shot at glory. How starkly does this contrast with the “look-at-me” mentality that too often trumpets today’s self-nominated moral and religious idealists.

There is a common belief that sensitivity to complexity leads to indecision. We see that Rav Lichtenstein found ways to respond creatively, authentically and courageously when action was appropriate. An appreciation of complexity (murkavut) is not the same as needless complication (histabechut). To the contrary, intellectual clarity dispels the mental clutter that obstructs decisiveness and clouds judgment. When asked how to balance the tzedakah needs of Israeli institutions vs. local American causes, Rav Lichtenstein noted that cutting down on luxury vacations might leave ample money for both. In the eulogy I gave on the day of his funeral, I mentioned his help in clarifying my own crucial choices. Such examples can be multiplied indefinitely.1 As he grew older, Rav Lichtenstein avowed, his sense of the need for what a liberal arts education can offer sharpened, although he was less sure whether it was obtainable today in mainstream academia; if not, he said, with characteristic candor, one must gain an education on one’s own. But he spoke of an increased “awareness of the difficulties of realizing it; of the very considerable spiritual and educational cost—regrettably far in excess of what is inexorably necessary—which the proponents of Torah u’Madda often pay for their choice.”2 Much of the unnecessary cost can be attributed to wrong priorities. If the Modern Orthodox were settling for mediocrity in Torah, he ruefully quipped, it is not because they were burning the midnight oil poring over Plato and Milton.

As I grow older, I realize how much Rav Lichtenstein prized stability of character (yatzivut) and persistence.

I don’t mean only hard work and dedication, but also steadiness of purpose and outlook. What differentiates those who succeed in integrating general studies and exposure to the world with the primacy of Torah is often the strength of fundamental convictions.3 It means not being swayed by passing moods, not rushing to get on board with the latest social and political discovery or novel intellectual trend, not measuring one’s stature and creativity

by the number of traditional teachings one is able to doubt while standing on one foot. Here too Rav Lichtenstein’s teachings and example, his genuine breadth and remarkably conscientious thoroughness, are a standing rebuke to much of what passes for “enlightened” discourse.

Voices were raised in the late 1960s when Rav Lichtenstein decided to add a hashkafah shiur. One Talmud-focused student complained that it was over everyone’s head. Rav Lichtenstein responded, paraphrasing Rav Yitzchak Hutner, rosh yeshivah of Yeshivas Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin: “The best teaching aims at where the student will be years later rather than at his present state.”4

If the Modern Orthodox were settling for mediocrity in Torah, he ruefully quipped, it is not because they were burning the midnight oil poring over Plato and Milton.

The years have passed, over forty-five years, and now the sheloshim too are over. Whether Rav Lichtenstein’s thought and expression ever caught up with that student, I don’t know. I know that I and thousands of other talmidim are still progressing toward the ideals of character and the ideals of Torah study that he set for us. We commemorate his mastery of Torah and his capacity to draw judiciously and elegantly on the Western intellectual tradition to enhance authentic and critical religious thinking. We dwell on his ethical greatness and the magnificence of his piety—how he prayed, how he listened to other human beings, how he attended to his father, how he never wasted a moment. This man, who made every effort to avoid placing himself on a higher level than others, who demonstrated enjoying the best that a “normal” life can offer with unmitigated zest while pursuing without compromise or abatement the passionate service of his Creator, continues to beckon from eternity, toward eternity. g Notes 1. Available on Yeshivat Har Etzion’s web site and elsewhere.

2. See also my “Music of the Left Hand: Personal Notes on the Place of Liberal Arts Education in the Teachings of R. Aharon Lichtenstein,” Tradition 47:4 (winter 2015).

3. See also my “The Gate Matches the Home: On R. Lichtenstein’s Depiction of Faith,” Tradition 47:4 (winter 2015).

4. See Pachad Yitzchak: Iggerot no. 155.

Fall 5776/2015 JEWISH ACTION I 41

What is the Legacy of Rav Aharon Lichtenstein?

By Hillel Goldberg What is the legacy of Rav Aharon Lichtenstein? Only too soon, the answer, I fear, will be: It depends on whom you ask.

A

lready the hints of fault lines are beginning to emerge. On one level, this is only natural. Few, if any, can grasp the depth of a towering Torah personality in his entirety; and, in any event, no two disciples, no matter how close, will discern the master in exactly the same way.

However, in the case of Rav Lichtenstein, the perception of him in very different ways would be misleading, for if there is one thing about his life and teachings that is clear, it is their consistency, his various developments notwithstanding (some of them, such as his view on shemittah, he himself noted).

Professor Adam Shear has traced the “reception history” of Yehudah Halevi’s philosophic masterpiece, the Kuzari, over the past 800 years. Aside from its superior research and style, Shear’s volume is highly instructive, showing how the very same text can be taken in radically different ways, depending on the time, place and culture. I do not deem it extravagant to mention Rav Lichtenstein in the same breath as such a time-honored giant as Yehuda Halevi—a servant of God, a philosopher of faith more than reason, a lover of language, a passionate student of Torah, a devotee of the Land of Israel and an explorer of disciplines outside the Torah. All this, and more, was Rav Lichtenstein, and perhaps his legacy, too, will follow the highly varied reception history of the Kuzari. I hope not.

One of the emerging fault lines is the “liberal” vs. the “conservative”

Rav Lichtenstein. He was “liberal,” for example, because he favored sustaining non-Orthodox Jews’ religious commitment, however attenuated, as better than nothing. He was “conservative,” for example, because a number of his halachic rulings and approaches hewed precisely to the tradition. It is not difficult to imagine this fault line widening as partisans on both sides plumb the writings and teachings of Rav Lichtenstein to support their respective positions.

Rav Lichtenstein simply recognized the lugubrious reality that the majority of American Jewry is distant from Orthodoxy, and expressed the view that no Orthodox Jew would want them lost to the Jewish people altogether.

Both sides would be wrong. Space permits me to cite only one example, and only in outline form at that, among many. Rav Lichtenstein’s rebbe, Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik, famously responded to an inquirer that, if he could not hear the shofar on Rosh Hashanah in a halachically valid Orthodox synagogue, he should stay home rather than go to the local Conservative synagogue and hear the shofar there. According to some, Rav Lichtenstein fundamentally disagreed with this, showing his “liberal” side. The proof cited are these words of Rav Lichtenstein:

Listen to Rabbi Hillel Goldberg discuss Rav Aharon's legacy at www.ou.org/life/tribute/savitsky_goldberg/.

Nor do I share the glee some feel over the prospective demise of the competition. . . .

Their [the Conservative and Reform movements’] disappearance might strengthen us in some respects but would unquestionably weaken us in others. . . . The people currently served by these movements—many of them, both presently and potentially, [are] well beyond our reach or ken . . . . Can anyone responsibly state that it is better for a marginal Jew in Dallas or Dubuque to lose his religious identity altogether than drive to his temple [on Shabbos]? (“The State of Orthodoxy: A Symposium,” Tradition, vol. 2, no. 1 [spring, 1982]).

This statement clearly addresses Jews “both presently and potentially well beyond our reach or ken.” A person asking a halachic query of a leading halachic authority is not within the purview of Rav Lichtenstein’s dispensation. His comment concerns people radically distant from Orthodoxy, on whom it would never dawn to turn to an Orthodox rabbi with a halachic query such as was posed to Rav Soloveitchik.

Rav Lichtenstein’s comment is not evidence of a “liberal” side; it is, in fact, unremarkable, indicative of neither a disagreement with Rav Soloveitchik in this particular case nor of a general liberal bent. It is merely the common sense by which virtually all Orthodox Jewish leaders, of whatever stripe, operate when they are a clear minority in a Jewish community. Rav Lichtenstein simply recognized the lugubrious reality that the majority of American Jewry is distant from Orthodoxy, and expressed the view that no Orthodox Jew would want them lost to the Jewish people altogether. I find it difficult to imagine that the preponderance of other gedolim, far to Rav Lichtenstein’s right on other matters, such as Zionism, would disagree.

If anything, the brilliance of Rav Lichtenstein’s openness to Western culture and the larger realities of the Jewish people was how steadfastly and congenially he kept all this within the boundaries of tradition. That is neither liberal nor conservative. That is beyond both. That is rooted in the Torah and the mesorah, as Rav Lichtenstein received it faithfully and adapted it faithfully. g

Rabbi Hillel Goldberg, PhD, executive editor of the Intermountain Jewish News, in Denver, Colorado, is a contributing editor of Jewish Action.

42 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

Top Left: Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein with Rabbi Hillel Goldberg.

Courtesy of Mattis Goldberg; Center: Rav Lichtenstein with some of his students; Bottom:Â Rav Lichtenstein outside his home in Yerushalayim with some of his children and grandchildren. Courtesy of Yechiel Lichtenstein

Fall 5776/2015 JEWISH ACTION I 43

Strength and Splendor:

A Tribute to Rav Aharon Lichtenstein

By David Shatz “The voice of the Lord is strength (koach), the voice of the Lord is splendor (hadar)” (Psalms 29:6). Commenting on this verse, Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, zt”l, suggested that “koach” refers to God’s imposition of His authority, while “hadar” refers to the beauty of His commands.1 This duality of koach and hadar applies to great rabbinic figures as well. At Rav Lichtenstein’s funeral, Rav Ezra Bick, a RaM at Yeshivat Har Etzion who studied with Rav Aharon fifty years ago at Yeshiva University and later became a colleague, beautifully portrayed his relationship to his rebbi as, initially, that of eved to adon, servant to master. This, one might say, was the “koach” aspect of a rosh yeshivah. In this capacity Rav Lichtenstein inspired profound respect for his authority. But what Rav Bick’s and virtually every other hesped for Rav Lichtenstein has also pointed to is the dimension of hadar, the splendor and beauty of both his Torah and his outer and inner self.2

T

he eulogies have captured many aspects of this hadar: breathtaking brilliance, integrity, humility, moral sensitivity and commitment, depth of mind and soul, diligence and dedication, kibbud av vaem, devotion to family, concern for students, care and compassion for all people, courage, and a ceaseless sense of being an eved Hashem, of experiencing yir’at Shamayim, and of living in God’s presence.

It is extraordinarily difficult for me to identify characteristics of Rav Aharon that others have overlooked—and I will not attempt to. But I want to offer a framework: to draw from images in Chazal and from experiences of mine which—in my effort to grapple with an immeasurable loss—I have found personally resonant and vivid.

I was not formally a talmid of Rav Lichtenstein, and I did not attend Yeshivat Har Etzion. But I did have the privilege of interacting with him and his talmidim on many occasions. Even for simply having observed him and heard him, I am inexpressibly grateful.

He was, for me and myriad others who

were not technically his students, not only a teacher but a beacon—we walked by his light, with reverence and love.

One aspect of Rav Lichtenstein’s hadar can be captured by a statement of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel. “We do not erect monuments for tzaddikim.

Their words are their memorials (divreihem hen hen zichronan)” (Yerushalmi Shekalim 2:5 [7a]).

What did Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel mean? The common understanding is that when people have communicated Torah in conversations, addresses and writings, they do not require physical monuments as memorials; people will remember them by studying what they spoke and wrote, or even just by knowing of their standing and achievements. Their words, oral and written, stand as monuments. The practice of referring to great Torah scholars by the names of their works (e. g., “the Avnei Nezer”) reinforces this idea, as does the fact that gedolim generally do not speak about their personal lives.

But if we allow ourselves some homi-

letic license, we can add a layer to this idea. Divreihem hen hen zichronan does not mean merely that you study what they stated; it means that through what they spoke and wrote you can gain insight into who they were and how they lived. In the case of some people, there is no ready separation between the cheftza and the gavra, between what they produced and who they were.

Hence you may utilize their writings and discourses not just as cheftza shel Torah, as intellectual entities, but rather as windows into their personalities. Just as you can sometimes “read a person like a book,”3 you can sometimes read a book like a person.

The writings of Rav Lichtenstein tell us much about who he was. I refer not only to substance but to style, to form as well as content. His conviction that “the world is complex and the human being is complex”4 is matched by a dialectical style that embraces complexity and evinces an exquisite sensibility of balance.5 He sought to balance a host of values, many of which are often absolutized to the exclusion of the others. Rav Lichtenstein recognized that, on most issues, arguments can be marshalled on either side. Often he spells out the other side’s arguments more robustly than even its adherents do, and he formulates and fields objections to his views that the other side may not have thought of, and that a less intellectually honest author might have suppressed. His psychological depth and sensitivity enabled him to anticipate and articulate psychological and not only logical obstacles to accepting his views. The integrity and

Dr. David Shatz is university professor of philosophy, ethics and religious thought at Yeshiva University, editor of The Torah u-Madda Journal and editor of the series MeOtzar HoRav: Selected Writings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. In the latter capacity, he was afforded the opportunity to interact with Rav Lichtenstein, zt”l, and tibbadel l’chayyim, Dr. Tovah Lichtenstein.The author wishes to thank the Yeshivat Har Etzion alumni with whom he exchanged thoughts about Rav Lichtenstein in the months since his passing, and who offered feedback on an earlier version of this essay: Rabbis Elie Berman, Yitzchak Blau, Nati Helfgot, Aaron Segal and Reuven Ziegler. He also wants to thank Dr. David Berger, Dr. Yoel Finkelman, Rabbi Robert Hirt and Paul Reinstein for their comments.

44 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

Fall 5776/2015 JEWISH ACTION I 45

incisiveness of this kind of presentation edifies readers and inspires authors. While he drew boundaries and stated his opinions and criticisms forcefully and at times sharply, he acknowledged the legitimacy of other positions within the boundaries. Not coincidentally, his derech halimmud (method in Talmud study) was marked by an appreciation of alternative ways of looking at a topic, even ones that seemed only marginally plausible.6 Where there are legitimate options, he approximates the refined, respectful approach that Beit Hillel adopted in debating Beit Shammai—in virtue of which Beit Hillel merited that we follow their rulings (Eruvin 13b). And the elegance of his prose, the rich sensitivity to nuance, flowed from an elegance of personality. Being alert to these facets of Rav Lichtenstein’s writing makes one all the more conscious of how blatantly and painfully absent such qualities are in so many writers and speakers, and in so many places and settings. Divreihem hen hen zichronan.

A trait of Rav Lichtenstein that has been remarked on repeatedly was his unceasing consciousness of the Ribbono shel Olam and his yir’at Shamayim at every moment. Here, too, writings are revealing. This is not an author spewing abstractions or false pieties; the words clearly come from the deepest place. As he put it to Rav Haim Sabato, “I feel closeness to Hakadosh Barukh Hu more than to anything else.” “There is nothing of which I am more sure . . . than emunah.”7 Speaking of “the duties of the heart” that Judaism requires in response to suffering, he says, “Response to suffering cannot be divorced from the totality of religious experience, and the ability to in46 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

tegrate religious solutions is a function of the totality of faith and commitment . . . . The key to confronting suffering in a Jewish way . . . entails reaffirmation of one’s fundamental Yahadut.”8 That “totality of faith and commitment” is not merely stated; it is felt by readers on every page. So, too, when he depicts the study of Torah (as he often does) as an experience of God. Note that Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel applied his point not to chachamim, but to those who are (also) tzaddikim.

Chachamim can write wonderful abstractions, but these do not always grow out of their personality, and do not always reveal the person. But in the case of chachamim who are also tzaddikim, persona and product are linked; character shines through even the most strenuous of intellectual exercises.

A second aspect of Rav Lichtenstein’s hadar was the dedication and effort he invested in every task, along with his remarkable comportment in carrying out the task. Let me illustrate with one example.

One of the many venues in which Rav Lichtenstein communicated his ideas was the Orthodox Forum. Convened in 1989 by Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm, then president of Yeshiva University and rosh hayeshivah of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), and chaired for a quarter-century by Rabbi Robert Hirt, now vice president emeritus of RIETS (and succeeded as Forum chair by Rabbi Shmuel Hain), the Orthodox Forum is a think-tank devoted annually to vital intellectual and social issues in the Orthodox community. Papers are distributed in advance and are discussed at length by the group over the

course of a day and a half. Rav Lichtenstein contributed over a dozen papers to the Forum—more than anyone else, never refusing an invitation—on the topics of suffering, egalitarianism, philanthropy, marriage and sexuality, tolerance, spirituality, Religious Zionism, the chief rabbinate, communal governance, yir’at Shamayim, the conceptual approach to learning, relating to the non-Orthodox, modernity, and human and social factors in halachic decision-making. (These papers originally were published in volumes of the Orthodox Forum, and many were later anthologized in Varieties of Jewish Experience and Leaves of Faith.) In the years he was able to attend, he set a model for participants—and not only by agreeing to write. Here he was, a man with extraordinary demands on his time and countless other commitments, who accommodated so many requests from strangers, and yet he could be counted on, always, to be a paragon of conscientiousness—reading the other dozen or so papers, annotating them, attending every session, focusing on what others had to say, commenting in discussions. Given his stature, he could easily have flitted in and out of sessions, or ignored the other papers. But instead he participated to the fullest extent.

How can anyone fail to see how characteristic this was: the sense of responsibility, the investment of effort, the meticulousness?9 I’m sure he reasoned: if I don’t involve myself in the work, what business do I have being here?

And in discussions, even while he was in truth the group’s ultimate authority, he expressed himself without an iota of domineering or self-importance, never imposing himself as either the first or last word. He sat not at the head but rather, like everyone else, wherever there was a seat; and he waited to be called on like everyone else. His demeanor in the discussions leaves an indelible memory. It dovetails with patterns of conduct that others have depicted in fascinating anecdotes—stories that demonstrate extraordinary humility, conscientiousness, and wholehearted attention to whatever task was at hand.

There is another image from Chazal that evokes for me the hadar of this giant. The Talmud states, “Chacham adif minavi, the chacham is greater than the prophet” (Bava Batra 12b). Rav Kook suggested that the chacham is the one who plumbs minutiae, countless details and technicalities, including intricate details of halachot. The navi, by contrast, is the person of great ethical and spiritual vision. However, precisely because of the breadth and sweep of his vision, the navi does not grasp how the erosion of the performance of details, the seemingly small stuff, can “destroy the vessels in which is stored the exalted spirit.”10 Moshe Rabbeinu, says Rav Kook, “discerned simultaneously the claims of general principles as well as of the exacting demands of the particulars.” He was the ideal synthesis of chacham and navi. But in nevi’im short of Moshe, when practice of details began to erode, “what prophecy . . . could not accomplish . . . was accomplished by the sages . . . by raising many disciples and the assiduous study of the particular laws.”

And even prophets then acknowledge,

“chacham adif minavi.” Yet, while no one else is Moshe Rabbeinu, the ideal is the blend of broad ethical and spiritual vision with halachic details, of halichot with halachot, in Chazal’s phraseology (Megillah 28b).

Institutions have an identity, and that identity is forged by the figures at their helm. When you view Rav Lichtenstein’s persona and the persona of Yeshivat Har Etzion (“Gush”), the profile that he and Rav Yehuda Amital, zt”l, created for the institution, you find the integration of dikdukei halachah—halachic details studied in the most complex and rigorous ways—with vast horizons of machashavah and ethical vision. For example, Rav Lichtenstein insisted that Torah study must involve even massechtot that are no longer relevant in our day; in fact it is precisely in studying the practically irrelevant that one manifests submission to the Ribbono shel Olam. But in him were both halachot and halichot, the allegiance to both the particulars and the broad, grand ideals of Judaism—the seemingly minute and the palpably momentous— and the frequent anchoring of machasha-

vah and of morality in halachic particulars. Halachah is central in his thought, to be sure, and not all particular laws are thought to be manifestations of the grand vision; but neither vision nor details should be robbed of their due.11 Emulating their rosh hayeshivah, the same talmidim who work intensively on Kodashim and Taharot produce work in Tanach and machashavah, and integrate Torah with general chochmah. They are also imbued with a vision of the significance of the State of Israel, and they participate in its life from both near and afar.

Rarely does one encounter the sweep and majesty of Rav Aharon’s vision; more rarely still is such vision combined with the power and brilliance of his study of halachah.

It is customary to refer to a Torah giant as an “ilan gadol,” a tall tree. Rav Aharon Lichtenstein was an ilan gadol, and we were blessed to partake of the ilan’s fruit—the peri etz hadar.

There is virtually no topic in Jewish life that Rav Lichtenstein did not address, and nothing in his shiurim, writings, and conduct from which we

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cannot learn. More than one thousand works of his have appeared in print, either from his own pen or from those of students adapting his shiurim and sichot; and we have as well, especially now, many a ma’aseh rav, that is, a wealth of awe-inspiring anecdotes and testimonials about how he lived. More materials are bound to follow. May the man—and his life and work and aspirations and achievements and vision—be a source of blessing for the generations.

Yehi zichro baruch. g

the

this expression means that sometimes a person’s character and motivations are easily detected and utterly transparent. In a different use of this expression, Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, zt”l, remarked that “Zeh sefer toledot Adam, This is the book of the events of Adam,” (Genesis 5:1) can mean, “This is the book of the events of the human being (adam),” and that one must study a person as if studying a book. This idea is quoted by Rav Lichtenstein in “The Rav zt”l in Retrospect: Divrei Hesped,” in Leaves of Faith, vol. 1 (Jersey City, New Jersey, 2003), 207-08.

4. See Rav Haim Sabato, Mevakshei Panecha: Sichot im HaRav Aharon Lichtenstein (TelAviv, 2011), 48.

5. This theme is also found in Yoel Finkelman, “Canon and Complexity,” in a special issue of Tradition ed. Yitzchak Blau, Alan Jotkowitz, Reuven Ziegler (Winter 2014): 69-85.

6. See “The Conceptual Approach to Torah Learning: The Method and Its Prospects,” in Leaves of Faith, 1: 56. Note the contrast drawn there with “Classical Brisk.”

7. Mevakshei Panecha, 10.

8. “The Duties of the Heart and the Response to Suffering,” Leaves of Faith, vol. 2 (Jersey City, New Jersey, 2004 ), 148. (Originally in an Orthodox Forum volume edited

by Rabbi Shalom Carmy.)

9. I was told that Rav Yosef Adler likewise

alluded to Rav Lichtenstein’s diligence at the Forum.

10. See Rav Kook, Orot, 120-21. The translations are from Ben Zion Bokser, Abraham Isaac Kook (New York, 1978), 253-55. See also Rav Kook, Orot haTorah 3:8, cited by Rav Sabato in a question he poses to Rav Lichtenstein in Mevakshei Panecha, 32.

11. On the interrelated topics of methods of Talmud study, yeshivah education, and the centrality of halachah, see the following: “Why Learn Gemara?,” Leaves of Faith, 1 (Jersey City, New Jersey, 2003), 1-17 (esp.

8-9); “The Conceptual Approach to Torah Learning,” in Leaves of Faith, 1:19-60; Mevakshei Panecha, 30-50, 249-78. See also the strong words of caution in Shlomo Zuckier and Shalom Carmy, “An Introductory Biographical Sketch of R. Aharon Lichtenstein,” in the special issue of Tradition mentioned above, p. 6. “To ignore or minimize the emphasis on Torah study, and on Talmud, in R. Lichtenstein’s thought, just because he has championed broad universal concerns and advocated the study of liberal arts as a vehicle to religious wholeness, is a distortion of his teaching to the point of making it unrecognizable.” The distortion also diminishes the awesomeness of his true achievement.

AmbAssAdor

Yehuda avner

Notes 1. See “Being Frum and Being Good: On The Relationship Between Religion and Morality,” in By His Light: Character and Value in the Service of God: Based on Addresses by Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, adapted by Rabbi Reuven Ziegler (Alon Shevut: 2nd edition, 2003), 107-108. I have taken some liberty here with the vort; for example, in the original context, Rav Lichtenstein is distinguishing between two categories of mitzvot rather than two aspects of each mitzvah.

2. Note that many translate hadar as “majesty.” This, too, was a characteristic of Rav Lichtenstein.

3. As commonly used, and as I use it here,

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A Personal Reminiscence

By Julius Berman When Rav Betzalel Zolty, zt”l, the chief rabbi of Yerushalayim, delivered the hesped (eulogy) for Rav Elimelech Bar-Shaul, zt”l, the chief rabbi of Rechovot, he commenced with a quotation from the hesped Dovid HaMelech gave for Yehonatan: “Tzar li alecha achi Yehonatan; na’amta li me’od, I am distressed over you, my brother Yehonatan; you were so pleasant to me.” Rav Zolty questioned Dovid HaMelech’s use of the word “achi, brother.” He could understand if Dovid HaMelech had used the word “chaver,” “re’a,” “yedid” or “yedid nefesh.” But why “achi, brother”? No matter how close the two may have been, Yehonatan wasn’t Dovid’s brother. Rav Zolty answered with the following: “ach ein lo temurah, a brother has no replacement.” When one loses a brother, there is no way to transfer the relationship to another. Ach ein lo temurah. That, added Rav Zolty, reflected his feeling of loss upon the passing of his chaver, Rav Elimelech Bar-Shaul.

Many people, especially the students at Yeshivat Har Etzion, witnessed the mesirut nefesh Rav Aharon exhibited when his aging father became blind and almost deaf. They saw how Rav Aharon sacrificed his own tefillah, in a sense, to enable his father to fulfill his chiyuv tefillah (obligation to pray) despite the fact that he may not have even had an obligation to pray due to his physical condition. This dedication to his father has become part of the legend of Gush.

W

After Rav Lichtenstein passed away, during the week of shivah, the house was predictably crowded with visitors coming to pay their respects. But a few of the visitors were unexpected. A delegation of Arab workers at the yeshivah came to mourn a man who always treated them with respect, who would go out of his way, especially prior to the yamim tovim, to thank them on behalf of the yeshivah and himself for all they did to make the students’ time in yeshivah more comfortable and productive.

No doubt, Rav Aharon fell within that very select group of talmidei chachamim worthy of being allowed into the beit midrash of Rabban Gamliel because, as the gemara in Berachot (28) points out, tocho k’varo, his inner character fully corresponded to that of his exterior.

ith Rav Aharon’s passing, I felt similarly: “Tzar li alecha achi Aharon; na’amta li me’od.” How might one describe Rav Aharon Lichtenstein? A brilliant Torah scholar. A pedagogue beyond compare.

One who possessed extraordinary piety, courage, selflessness, clarity of vision and purpose. A man whose level of intellectual honesty was matched only by his quest for emet. A man of true humility and integrity.

The former Chief Rabbi of Britain Lord Jonathan Sacks described Rav Aharon as “a man of great intellect, equally at home in the literature of the sages and of the world, and a master Talmudist; a profound exponent of Jewish thought; a deep and subtle thinker who loved English literature and whose spiritual horizons were vast.”

I will leave to others more literate and erudite than I am to dwell on these attributes. Instead I will focus on Rabbi Sacks’ next sentence: “No less impressive was his stature as a human being, caring and sensitive in all his relation-

ships; one who honored his fellows even when he disagreed with them; a living role model of Jewish ethics at its best.”

It was 1958—fifty-seven years ago— and I was in the shiur of Rav Yosef Dov Halevi Soloveitchik, zt”l.

It started with a rumor—someone mentioned in the beit midrash that he heard that “the Babe” was returning to yeshivah from Harvard, after having earned his PhD in English literature.

Who was “the Babe”? The old timers informed us he was Babe Lichtenstein, the young ilui from Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin and now a full-fledged gaon, in the truest sense of the word.

Indeed, he was already a legend. Moreover, what is equally relevant—to me, at least—he was a gaon in middot. If we could only learn to emulate how he interacted with people—whether with his late parents, with five generations of his family, with in-laws, with roshei yeshivah, with any and every human being he met—we would all be richer for it.

Julius Berman, a former president of the OU (1978-1984), is past chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and president of the Conference of Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. Additionally, he is a board member of the Toras HoRav Foundation, dedicated to the publication of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik’s unpublished manuscripts.

50 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

Returning to 1958 and the impending arrival of Rav Aharon to yeshivah, I was warned that I shouldn’t be misled by his easygoing, friendly nature. On the basketball court, especially under the basket, his elbows were sharp and he played rough. He played fair, but like everything he did, he played to win.

What a change he made in our class!

While on the one hand he was deliberately laid back and tried to blend into the rest of the class, rarely volunteering an answer on his own, on the other

The auhor’s wedding on November 1, 1959, in New York. Seated, on the left, is the author; in the center, standing, is Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, witness to the ketubah; seated on the right is Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik, mesader Kiddushin and rebbe of the author. Courtesy of Julius Berman

hand, it wasn’t long before we realized that this student was clearly different.

Whenever the Rav was searching for a citation, he would look to Rav Aharon who would immediately respond with the chapter and verse. It soon became clear he was a walking Encyclopedia Talmudit.

Many have referred to Rav Aharon’s humility and integrity; others have described his acts of chesed, and I’m confident we can fill an entire issue of this magazine just skimming the surface of the kindness he has exhibited through the years. And yet, and I say this most respectfully, I don’t consider these acts chesed at all. To my mind, an act of chesed is one that is l’ma’alah min hateva, out of the ordinary, not expected in the normal course of conduct. But whose “normal” are we referring to?

Certainly not Rav Aharon’s. According to Rav Aharon’s “normal,” kindness was integral; chesed was not “l’ma’alah min hateva”; it was part and parcel of his teva.

My brother-in-law, a talmid of Rav Aharon when he taught at Yeshiva University, had arranged to have a pair of tefillin written in Gush for his son’s upcoming bar mitzvah. When the tefillin were ready, he asked the sofer to bring them to Rav Aharon at Yeshivat Har Etzion with the understanding that Rav Aharon would bring them home to Yerushalayim and my brother-in-law would pick them up from his house. Unfortunately, on the day chosen for the

delivery, it was raining heavily. That afternoon, my brother-in-law, who was in a hotel in Jerusalem, heard a knock on the door. Opening it, he saw Rav Aharon, wet from the rain, with the tefillin in hand. My brother-in-law, feeling very uncomfortable, said that the understanding was that he was to go to Rav Aharon’s house to pick up the tefillin.

Rav Aharon nonchalantly responded that he had to get wet anyway going home from the yeshivah, so why should both of them get wet?

That was Rav Aharon.

On the other hand, try to be nice, to do a chesed, even a simple kindness, for Rav Aharon—it was nearly impossible.

Before his son Yitzchok moved to Monsey, Rav Aharon would stay at our house when he came to New York. Rav Aharon’s brief trips to New York two or three times a year would follow a familiar pattern.

About a month before his arrival, the calls would start coming in—first sporadically, then with increasing frequency as the date of his arrival approached. The caller heard that Rav Aharon would be arriving soon and he wished to make an appointment with him. If Rav Aharon had been contacted in Israel, he would usually suggest that the caller contact my wife, Dottie, who was president at the time of the Etzion Foundation, to arrange a meeting. Dottie knew that Rav Aharon needed time to deliver shiurim at Yeshiva University,

interview applicants to Gush and give community lectures or deliver Orthodox Forum essays. How Dottie was able to juggle Rav Aharon’s schedule is beyond me.

When Rav Aharon would arrive on an early morning flight, he would take a taxi directly to my shul in Forest Hills, Queens, where I would meet him. After shul, as we were leaving, I would try to take Rav Aharon’s suitcase to the car.

But I never succeeded. Invariably he would insist on taking the suitcase himself. I didn’t have the nerve to tell Rav Aharon that I was embarrassed because people would see both of us walk out of shul—he with a large suitcase and heavy carry-on and me with nothing in either hand other than a set of car keys.

Once we arrived home, Rav Aharon would begin to work either on an article for the Orthodox Forum or on a shiur he would be delivering.

The problem—for me, anyway—was in the kitchen. Dottie was aware of Rav Aharon’s food preferences. The complication arose after he finished eating.

Rav Aharon insisted on washing every dish, plate and utensil he used, returning the uneaten food to the proper place and leaving the kitchen spotless. While my wife, naturally, was thankful, I was not. What a terrible example he was setting for me in my own home!

After breakfast, I would head off to work and sometimes Dottie would have to leave for a short while to shop Fall 5776/2015 JEWISH ACTION I 51 I 51 Fall 5776/2015 JEWISH ACTION

or keep an appointment. That left Rav Aharon all alone, working on his lectures or shiurim. But now he had another task: answering the phone.

Imagine the scene. The phone rings.

Rav Aharon answers. Sometimes it’s for Rav Aharon, and that’s fine. But if it’s not, the caller is perplexed; he knows the number he called, but he doesn’t recognize the voice. So he asks, “Julie?” and Rav Aharon answers, “He’s not home.” The obvious question then follows, “Who is this?” Answer: “Aharon Lichtenstein.” Dead silence.

Finally, Rav Aharon says, “May I take a message?” When my wife comes home, our temporary telephone operator dutifully reports to her all the messages.

I’ve learned from Rav Aharon that a true friend can even divine the need of a friend and decide on his own to do a kindness, even a major kindness, without being asked.

My father, zt”l, passed away on Asarah b’Tevet in 1987. He was to be buried in the cemetery of Yeshivas Ponevezh in Bnei Brak. When Rav Aharon was informed of the petirah, on his own he went to pick up my son Elie and my nephew Ari who were attending Gush and brought them to the airport to escort my father to Bnei Brak. They stopped in front of the yeshivah and scores of bachurim came out to greet the procession and, at the request of a cousin of mine, Rav Aharon delivered a hesped for my father, following which they proceeded to the cemetery for the kevurah. Shortly thereafter, Rav Aharon showed up at the hakamat hamatzeivah and again eulogized my father.

While Rav Aharon taught hundreds of talmidim over the years, there are many individuals who, despite the fact that they never learned in Yeshivat Har Etzion, consider Rav Aharon to be their rebbe.

To illustrate: A few years ago, Rav Aharon required a medical procedure and needed to be sedated. The procedure lasted longer than planned, so ad52 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

ditional sedatives had to be administered. After some time, it became clear that the procedure was not going to be successful and was aborted.

A short while later, even though he was still somewhat sedated, Rav Aharon was permitted to leave. To reach the parking lot, Rav Aharon had to take an elevator.

When the elevator finally arrived, the doors opened and a crowd, including Rav Aharon’s party, moved quickly inside. Suddenly, Rav Aharon changed course and swiftly left the elevator. The service door to an adjacent bakery had opened and a young man with a large cart filled with baked goods was trying to maneuver himself through the opening. Rav Aharon reached for the door, held it open for the young man with his goods until he passed and then returned to the elevator.

Rav Aharon insisted on washing every dish, plate and utensil he used, returning the uneaten food to the proper place, leaving the kitchen spotless. While my wife, naturally, was thankful, I was not. What a terrible example he was setting for me in my own home!

A few weeks later, the doctor who had accompanied Rav Aharon to the hospital was participating in a medical convention in Vienna. He was on a train on the way to the conference when the doors of the train opened. On the platform stood a young woman with a baby carriage attempting to enter the crowded train. The doctor expected someone inside the train who was close to the doors to give the young woman a hand. No one moved. His first reaction was not to intervene. After all, he was in a foreign country wearing a yarmulke, and, therefore, trying to keep a low profile. However, he visualized a sedated Rav Aharon running to help the young

man with his cart. The doctor then went to help the young woman with the carriage. Even though the doctor never learned in Yeshivat Har Etzion, he too considers himself to be a student of Rav Aharon.

Rav Soloveitchik once pointed out that one could not frame a better job description for a manhig Yisrael than Moshe Rabbeinu himself did when responding to his father-in-law’s reprimand about his daily schedule: “Ki yihiyeh lahem davar, ba eilay, When they have a matter, they come to me” (Shemot 18:16). A manhig, explained the Rav, engages in chesed, whether it’s helping someone with a personal problem, a family issue or sometimes an intergenerational dispute. That, said the Rav, is a manhig as a ba’al chesed. Moshe continues: “V’shafat’ti bein ish u’vein re’eihu, And I judge between a man and his fellow.” That, according to the Rav, is a manhig as a posek, whether judging purely halachic issues or resolving disputes between people. Finally concludes Moshe, “V’hodati et chukei ha’Elokim v’et Torahtav, And I make known, I teach, the decrees of Hashem and His teachings.” That, said the Rav, is the manhig in his role as rosh yeshivah.

The Rav then went on to list a series of manhigim through the years and point out in which of the three categories each excelled.

Fortunate is the generation that has the privilege to have as its manhig a man that in his composite personality combined all three of the attributes of manhigut described by Moshe Rabbeinu: the ba’al chesed, the posek and the rosh yeshivah—proficient in each, but always the warm, engaging, approachable, pleasant, cordial human being suffused with humility and integrity.

Rav Aharon represented all of our dreams of what Torah could mean in our lives. May his memory inspire us to live in his shadow and to continue to be influenced by his living lessons to be a ben or bat Torah as the first stop on the path to the ultimate goal of being an eved Hashem. g

Education

RETHINKING OUR APPROACH TO KRIAH:

Q& A

with Kriah Specialist Rabbi Dr. Aharon Fried

Jewish Action: An educator who works with kids in an out-oftown day school wrote the following: Oftentimes, I come across eighth graders who read Hebrew slowly, hesitantly, missing key consonants or vowels. When I am in shul, I look around and see ten- and eleven-year-olds or even older boys distracted during davening; simply not davening. I don’t think it’s because they don’t want to daven; I think it’s because they can’t. If reading Hebrew is a struggle, davening is a struggle, and eventually, a burden, a chore.

Some, not all, of the kids who go off the derech do so because of their inability to master kriah and hence, learning. Their school years become years of consistent failure.

How would you respond to the above?

Rabbi Dr. Aharon Fried: You identify the educator as one who teaches in an out-of-town day school. Let me begin by stating that the issues addressed are universal. They are true in town and out of town; in day schools, cheders and yeshivos, in the Chassidish, Yeshivish and Modern Orthodox worlds.

The educator’s observations actually focus on three separate issues: • The failure of many students in our schools to master kriah • The quality of davening

• The connection between kriah problems and “off-thederech” children.

I hope to address each issue separately.

JA: Do you have any statistics on the prevalence of day school kids with “kriah issues”?

RF: One of the problems in our communities is that we have no statistics. This allows anybody with an agenda to declare any problem to be “the biggest problem plaguing our community,” and to claim to know the cause of that problem and to demand that everyone support the obvious solution. We would be much further along Courtesy of as a community if we had some Yeshiva University data on the goings-on in our communities and schools.

While I do not have statistics, I do, however, have my experience. Having been involved in consulting in a number of schools in different cities and of different orientations, I have often tested entire classes on kriah. Invariably I find at least four to six children out of a class of twenty-five with some difficulty in accuracy or fluency.

JA: I’ve heard the claim that kids have difficulty with kriah because the schools rush kids along. Are our children learning to read Hebrew at too young an age?

RF: The failure of many students in our schools to master kriah can be attributed to a number of factors. Some point to timing as the major factor—i.e., children beginning to learn reading too early, too little time allotted daily to kriah and the pace of learning being too quick, not allowing for sufficient review for mastery to occur. Others have pointed to the methodology used in teaching kriah—not properly teaching children the phonological elements of Hebrew, the relationship between consonants and nekudos and the phonological rules of various nekudos and combinations of nekudos (e.g., the patach genuvah and the “schwa” sounds).

Still others have pointed to the lack of meaning in reading Hebrew, and the difficulty of learning to read a language

Rabbi Dr. Aharon Fried is the associate professor of psychology at Yeshiva University. He is involved in the development of teaching and evaluation methods in Jewish education and in teacher training. He also developed the Kriah Scan, which assesses Hebrew reading skills.

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without understanding it. Some have suggested and maintain that most children in the primary kriah class do master reading, but that there is a lack of follow-up in later grades.

Starting with Chumash class and going through Mishnayos and Gemara classes, children are rarely asked to read anything that the morah or rebbe hasn’t first read for them. And in many classes, there is little time allotted even for having children repeat what the rebbe has read (and translated).

Teachers maintain that when they ask students to read aloud, they quickly lose the rest of the class.

In truth, each of the above critiques is correct; each is true in one school or another, for one child or another. In fact, various programs have been implemented in different places, with some success. The problem is that rarely have all of the above points been addressed in an integrated manner.

In a broader sense, there is a problem with the culture of our schools that prevents mastery of any subject. Our children do not only fail to master kriah, they fail to master anything—not Chumash, not Rashi, not Mishnah, not Gemara.

The culture of our schools is a hurried one. This mindset is actually pushed by the culture of our communities, i.e., our parent bodies. When a child knows how to read, more or less, he is pushed into learning Chumash; when he can more or less translate a few pesukim, he is quickly advanced to Rashi, and in this fashion, to Mishnah and then Gemara.

In my experience, knowing something “more or less” is more “less” and less “more.” The traditional questions asked about children is, “Vos lernt er shoin? What is he learning already? Kriah? Chumash? Mishnah? Gemara?” We rarely ask, “What does he know?”

Gedolei Yisrael from the Maharal on have complained about this. The famous Yerushalmi melamed Reb Chaim Yidel Yakobson, z”l, writes that in all his forty years as a melamed at Etz Chaim Yeshiva in Yerushalayim, whenever he met a child who was not succeeding, he found that that child had never in his career in cheder been allowed the luxury of mastering anything; as a result, the child was confused and disoriented. The famous Chicago educational psychologist Dr. Benjamin Bloom, a strong proponent of mastery learning, claimed that the failure of schools to insist on mastery is the reason many children fail. In a hurried system there is little wonder that children fail to master kriah.

JA: How would you define “kriah difficulties”?

RF: In broad terms, difficulty with kriah, and I am referring here to decoding, i.e., sounding out words or recognizing them, as opposed to understanding them, can be identified at two levels: in accuracy and in fluency. There has been much work done in the area of improving accuracy in Hebrew reading. A number of educators have focused on improving the teaching of phonology; some have created programs of their own, while others have adapted proven methods (such as the Orton-Gillingham approach) for teaching English reading to teaching Hebrew kriah. However, little has been done to improve fluency. To be sure, this Fall 5776/2015 JEWISH ACTION I 55

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In a broader sense, there is a problem with the culture of our schools that prevents mastery of any subject. Our children do not only fail to master kriah, they fail to master anything—not Chumash, not Rashi, not Mishnah, not Gemara.

mirrors the advancements that have been made in teaching English reading. There, too, most of the research and classroom work has focused on accuracy, and little on fluency.

The only solution offered to children to improve fluency has been practice, practice, practice. While this can be somewhat helpful, the efficacy of this approach is limited. Research has shown that fluency in a language is achieved when all the elements of reading are combined and integrated—i.e., phonology, morphology, meaning and sentence structure. There is a research-based program for improving English reading and fluency, known as RAVE-O, that combines these elements and more. Unfortunately, little of this nature has been done for Hebrew reading (at least outside Israel).

JA: You say that the practice method is somewhat helpful.

What do you mean?

RF: Practicing text for fluency is most helpful if children practice the same segment of text over and over until they achieve fluency in that segment, and then move on to read and practice other segments. It is less helpful when children plod their way through the entire Tehillim without achieving fluency in any one perek. Moreover, children would do better if they practiced kriah using a Chumash rather than a Tehillim. Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky, z”tl, advocated this, saying that “ben chamesh l’Mikra” means a child should begin reading from a Chumash.

JA: At what age should intensive kriah begin?

RF: I’m not sure what you mean by “intensive” kriah. Actually, I am not sure the process should ever be “intensive”; the word carries a connotation of stress and hurry. According to the Darkhei Moshe (The Rema), in the Shulchan Aruch, the teaching of the Aleph Beis can begin at age three, and the child is given time to master kriah until age six or seven, depending on the child. This suggests a slow and deliberate process which allows time for learning of letter sounds, vowel sounds, their combination, words, phrases, et cetera.

Researchers in Israel have demonstrated that children who began to learn how to read later (at age six) learned more quickly, more easily and with less pain than children who began earlier (at age five-and-a-half ), and were as proficient as the children who had started earlier. However, I read a study recently that found some advantages for children who had begun learning how to read earlier. I believe that it

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depends on the child, the method, and the approach of the teacher and the school. If the child is being taught age-appropriate skills in an encouraging and even fun way, learning how to read earlier could have advantages. But it is important for teachers to recognize when they have gone beyond the child’s current ability level. We should never make a child feel like a failure on account of our trying to teach him something beyond his capabilities.

JA: What are the major contributing factors to a child having “kriah issues”?

RF: If we are talking about an individual child, rather than the system, the issues will lie in the language areas—not in areas of visual perception or eye movement. Children with problems in properly processing the sounds of a language (i.e., auditory processing problems), sometimes congenital and sometimes due to ear infections and fluid in the ears, will have difficulty with the phonology (sounds) and morphology (sounds that produce changes in the meaning of words, e.g., the “s” at the end of an English word) and with reading. Children with word-finding problems, children who have difficulty remembering color names or the names of other highly familiar objects (often saying “What’s it called? The whatchamacallit?”) are likely to also have trouble recalling and producing the sound made by a particular letter or nekudah.

We need to be flexible and have different approaches for different children.

JA: Do Modern Orthodox day schools have better success teaching kriah than other kinds of schools?

RF: I don’t believe this question is answerable. There is no monolithic method that reigns in one type of school or another, and often, not even in all the classes of the same school. In my experience, there is no significant difference between different schools. Of course, only research and data can truly answer this question. Having said that, my sense is that Chassidic cheders devote more time to practicing kriah up until fifth grade. To the extent that this is true, their students may be expected to decode text more accurately and more fluently than children in schools that devote less time to practicing kriah.

Regarding Chumash, each school essentially reaps what it plants. Schools that place a greater emphasis on “teitch” (rote translation) have students who translate with greater ease,

Listen to Rabbi Dr. Aharon Fried discuss new approaches in teaching kriah at www.ou.org/life/education/savitsky_aharon-fried/.

56 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

RF: It can be made to work better. Our goal should not be translation; our goal should be language. If schools deem it important for their students to speak Hebrew and to thereby be able to more easily access and comprehend

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JA: Does the Ivrit b’Ivrit approach really work?

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RF: How do schools ensure that when a child graduates elementary school, he or she will be able to independently do the four basic mathematical operations? They focus on teaching the operations, practicing them and testing them ad infinitum. The same needs to be done for Chumash and Rashi. We need to teach children the language of the Chumash; we need to teach vocabulary, not just shorashim, prefixes and suffixes, though these are definitely important. We need to teach the meaning of words, sometimes the multiple meanings of words. We need to teach the difference between words that are nouns and words that are verbs. We need to teach children to break up pesukim into subject and predicate, to find facts within pesukim, to identify quotes, to be able to sequence the events in the text, to summarize a group of pesukim or a topic. And we need to familiarize children with the text to the point where they can “hear” and be troubled by an anomalous word or phrase, e.g., a lashon zachar when it should be a lashon nekeivah, or vice versa.

Then they will often anticipate Rashi’s question, and truly appreciate what Rashi is saying. Children need to be given words and pesukim with focused questions to answer, questions that help them to focus on the text. And then children need to be regularly tested on these skills, and also need to be listened to as they read Chumash and Rashi out loud.

Unfortunately, in many schools today, memorization passes for exercise, and testing consists mainly of questions about the content with little about the text (except for previously memorized “mi amar el mi?, who said to whom?” and “al mi ne’emar?, whom is this talking about?” questions). We need to teach, exercise and test for textual knowledge. Without all three components, we will not achieve our goals.

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but without much comprehension. Those that focus on shorashim, prefixes and suffixes will have students who know shorashim, prefixes and suffixes, but cannot necessarily answer comprehension questions. And those that focus on the content of the stories will have students who know the stories well and may even have thoughts about the meaning and implications. Unfortunately, few schools focus on the actual text, the meaning of words, making connections between words, the meaning of phrases and pesukim and their interconnections. Those that do are the ones that will have students who will be able to read a pasuk in Chumash, understand what in the text is troubling Rashi and how Rashi helps us understand the pasuk. Few do this because it cannot be done in a rush. Schools are, for the most part, afraid of not covering enough ground.

JA: How should schools teach to ensure that when a child graduates elementary school, he or she will be able to independently read and comprehend a pasuk in Chumash with Rashi?

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An Innovative Educator Shares His Secret for Kriah Success

By Yoel Yormark with Yaakov Dovid Kibel Kriah difficulties Learning challenges Lack of proficiency in Chumash Unmotivated students Incredibly, a solution to these problems can be found in just four words: shnayim Mikra v’echad targum.

Five years ago, as I was preparing a Chumash worksheet for my fourth graders, I thought to myself: there must be a better way. Many of my students had difficulties with kriah and struggled in Chumash class. I was feeling frustrated. Class time was limited; it was simply impossible to have each student read aloud from the Chumash every day. Was there a solution?

Suddenly, it hit me: I had always been an average student. Why do I know Chumash so well? What had inspired my own enthusiasm for learning?

The answer was astonishingly simple—I have been reading shnayim Mikra since my bar mitzvah; some years later, I added Rashi. Reading Chumash week after week for decades has made me fluent in Chumash and Rashi.

At that moment, I decided to introduce a shnayim Mikra program to my students.

It has succeeded beyond my wildest expectations.

My fourth-grade students began reading shnayim Mikra until rivi’i (no targum, no translating) each week. My sixth graders read shnayim Mikra until shishi, and with targum until sheini.

Over time, my students’ fluency improved dramatically and many were showing a lot more enthusiasm for learning Chumash. At first, I offered prizes and contests, but the program soon took on a life of its own—my students

seem to actually enjoy reading Chumash. We found that simply reading the Chumash text is a remarkable motivator.

Parents tell me that their children now stay in shul for leining. They read along with the ba’al korei so that can fulfill their obligation to read shnyaim Mikra.

The Spiritual Power of Chumash The gemara in Berachot states: “A person should always complete his [study of the parashah] with the congregation [by studying] shnayim Mikra v’echad targum, twice Torah (text) and once targum [translation]. Anyone who does this will have long days and years.” This is one of the few mitzvot where Chazal assure us longer life if we perform it.

The Levush notes that reading shnayim Mikra—which is an actual halachah—assists one in achieving fluency in Chumash, which subconsciously provides one with a deeper connection to Torah and mitzvot. Furthermore, studying Chumash instills in one a profound knowledge of halachah as well as deep hashkafot and major yesodot (which are embedded in every parashah). This is all achieved by simply reading Chumash—without translating or understanding. The Ramchal writes that reading Chumash out loud, even without understanding, has a powerful spiritual effect.

To me, the answers to some of the most pressing problems plaguing the chinch system is simple: shnayim Mikra.

This program should be mandatory in every day school and yeshivah high school. If properly implemented, it could change students’ lives. g

Rabbi Yoel Yormark is a fourth-grade rebbe for over twenty years, and currently the director of the resource room in South Bend Hebrew Day School in South Bend, Indiana. Rabbi Yaakov Dovid Kibel lives in Lakewood, New Jersey.

Sign Up for OU’s Shnayim Mikra Sign up to receive the OU’s popular Shnayim Mikra series via e-mail at www.ou.org/newsletters. Shnayim Mikra provides a verse-by-verse review of the parashah in seven daily installments, corresponding to the seven aliyot. Insights and commentary are provided by master educators including Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, Rabbi Menachem Leibtag, Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom and others. The daily e-mails feature a text synopsis of each aliyah by Rabbi Jack Abramowitz, author of The Shnayim Mikra Companion. From the e-mail, subscribers can access the accompanying audio lecture, plus the text of the parashah in Hebrew and English.

58 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

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RF: The educator whose letter you referred to at the start seemed to be blaming the lack of involvement and enthusiasm for davening on the children’s difficulties with kriah.

I am sure these difficulties serve as contributing factors to the problem, but I do not believe that is the whole story.

Many children who do read well nevertheless fail to daven well. Training children to daven properly, to enjoy and to be uplifted by davening is a huge challenge. Children need to hear about the importance and the meaning of davening.

They need to see their rebbeim, teachers and menahalim taking it seriously, and expecting proper decorum during davening, be it in the classroom, in the school beis midrash or in the community shul. How children daven in school will affect how they daven later.

Finally, allow me to say a few words about kriah and “children at risk” or “off the derech.”

There is a tendency for people to seek the cause for this painful phenomenon. We seek to find the cause so that we can “fix” it, and also to know whom or what is to blame for our children who go off the derech. This is a futile venture.

There is not one cause or a few causes. For each purported cause we can point to, we can find many children exposed to the same “cause” who have not gone off the derech. This is usually because the child benefited from one or another protective factor that kept him or her within the fold—a loving family, a caring rebbe or teacher, a friend or even just the intelligence to be able to understand and appreciate some of the learning in his school despite a reading problem. The “causes” we point to are risk factors, factors in a child’s life that put that child at risk for emotional hurt and upheaval and possibly for dysfunctional behaviors. Problems in kriah are certainly such a “risk factor” and we should try to eliminate them. But, at the same time, we should also try to build in as many protective factors into a child’s life as possible.

We need to take a holistic approach to the chinuch of our children. This must involve good education, but it must also involve the emotional, behavioral, social and spiritual growth of the child as well. Only such a holistic approach will succeed in helping children grow with less risk. g

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JA: How important is it to make sure that every word of tefillah is understood? Should day school/yeshivah davening be modified in terms of speed or comprehension in order to accommodate kriah proficiency and understanding? (Do you feel that there is a direct relationship with the manner in which tefillah is conducted at the school level and later problems with davening, or with going off the derech?)

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Torah texts, I think they should begin a Hebrew immersion program in nursery and kindergarten. If they spoke to their three-, four- and five-year-olds in Hebrew about everything—colors, shapes, the seasons, sharing et cetera— those children, by the time they begin learning Chumash, would not need to translate. They would read the text and understand—sometimes with a little cuing from the teacher, but never needing to translate. This can be done.

I actually saw this method implemented in a small school.

It was phenomenal.

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By David Bashevkin

R

abbi Shmuel Eidels (1555-1631), known as the Maharsha, presents the following regret in his introduction to his commentary on the Talmud: I regret my initial decision to divide up my commentary into two separate works, namely, one on Aggadah and one on halachah. But it was no longer possible to synthesize both into one work because it would be a cumbersome undertaking.

This issue was later corrected in subsequent printings, whereby the commentary of the Maharsha on halachah and Aggadah were woven together as a united commentary on each page of Talmud. To this day, however, the Maharsha on Aggadah is printed in a slightly different, usually smaller, font, serving as a reminder that initially these two works were written separately. The dilemma of the Maharsha remains relevant today. Aggadah, namely the stories and nonhalachic materials found throughout the Talmud, have not been given the same attention by many of our schools as the more halachic or, to use a yeshivah phrase, “lomdishah,” aspects of Talmud study.

Perhaps, like the Maharsha, this is a regret that we would be wise to correct for future generations.

When I was in high school, each school year would begin with the study of a different tractate of Talmud. In eleventh grade, we studied Tractate Gittin, which primarily deals with matters related to divorce. Aside from the crucial topics that arise in the tractate that relate to eidut (the nature of testimony in Jewish courts), shlichut (halchic status of an agent acting on one’s behalf ) and several other more global legal issues, the tractate is also home to some amazing Aggadic passages, such as those dealing with exile that don’t have immediate bearing on halachah or Jewish legal principles. Those passages, however, were usually skipped.

First, why is halachah and “lomdus” given more attention than Aggadic passages in Talmud? Regarding the former, the answer is quite obvious and, frankly, quite sound. Halachah Rabbi David Bashevkin is director of education for NCSY and is finishing his PhD in public policy and management at The New School in New York. Some of his thoughts on Aggadah can be found in his recently published mediocre-opus, B’Rogez Rachem Tizkor.

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is a crucial part of the high school curriculum. Aside from allowing for standard talmud Torah, it also informs us how to live a Torah-observant life. Halachah study provides the framework and concepts for situations that arise in our everyday life as religious Jews. Can one heat up food on Shabbat?

What berachah do you make on corn flakes? The quotidian implications of halachic study make it a natural bedrock of our yeshivah curriculum.

Lomdus, the conceptual methodology for Talmudic thinking, has a more nuanced purpose in yeshivah studies. Particularly, many educators and rabbis have lamented the centrality that Brisker lomdus, the approach pioneered by the eminent Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik of Brisk, has played in our yeshivot. As notably articulated by Rabbi Yaakov Dovid Wilovsky, the Ridvaz, Brisker style methodology was derisively seen as Talmudic chemistry, entirely foreign to the traditional more textual focus of Talmudic study.1 History, however, would seem to indicate that these concerns are misplaced. While Brisker lomdus is certainly not the only conceptual framework for Talmud study, its prevalence has ushered in a renewed interest in Talmud study and has reliably excited many classrooms. If you are looking for another essay criticizing the popularity of lomdus, Brisker or otherwise, you will surely be disappointed. Instead, I would like to suggest that we revitalize the study of Aggadah precisely by marshalling the aspects of Talmudic lomdus that make it so attractive.

“Many schools have opted instead to ignore or skip Aggadah as part of their Talmud curriculum altogether.”

Why is the focus on Aggadah so often minimized, or even ignored entirely? There are several factors, but I would like to focus on two. Aggadah is simply not seen as having the methodological rigor and conceptual constructs found in other areas of Talmud study. The bits of Aggadah we do study are often presented as springboards for pithy (however powerful) vortlach and inspirational ideas. The system of Aggadah as a whole, however, has not been given the same intricate and complex framework that makes lomdus so attractive. We don’t teach Chumash by reading through a collection of Shabbat table ideas. Our Talmudic Aggadah, at the very least, should be subject to similar methodological meticulousness.

Secondly, I think the risk of misunderstanding an Aggadic passage is perceived as being greater than misunderstanding traditional Talmudic texts. Much of our theology is derived from Aggadah and there is a rightful concern that if it is misrepresented, one’s very conception of Judaism will be warped.

The concern for misunderstood theology is loudly, often distractingly so, pronounced by both those who prefer a more conceptually mystical approach like that of the Maharal and those who prefer a more rationalistic approach as reflected in much of Rambam’s writing. The real loser, unfortunately, in the fight for the rightful approach for Aggadic interpretation has been Aggadah itself. Rather than presenting the differing approaches in Aggadic interpretation, many schools have opted instead to ignore or skip Aggadah as part of their Talmud curriculum altogether.

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Notes 1. Introduction to Rabbi Wilovsky’s Beit Ridvaz. Also see Marc Shapiro, “The Brisker Method Reconsidered,” Tradition 31:3 (1997): 78-102; The Orthodox Forum series, Rabbi Yosef Blau, ed., Lomdus: The Conceptual Approach to Jewish Learning (Jersey City, 2006); and Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein’s brilliant essay, ibid., “The Conceptual Approach to Torah Learning: The Method and Its Prospects.”

2. Robert Cover, “The Supreme Court, 1982 Term–Foreword: Nomos and Narrative,” Harvard Law Review 97:4 (1983). See also Samuel Levine, “Halacha and Aggada: Translating Robert Cover’s Nomos and Narrative,” Utah Law Review 1998, no. 4 (1998).

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Aggadah, however, is simply too important to be excluded from the rigor and focus we afford other portions of Talmud study. As such, and as part of my work with NCSY, I have been developing a curriculum to teach the methodology of Aggadah in our high schools. While it is now in its early stages, the curriculum aims at teaching students how to ask incisive questions that will reveal the latent meanings contained within Aggadah. Some of the themes it addresses include: How Aggadic passages should be understood in light of modern science and history; how to approach Talmudic stories and whether or not they need to be read literally and how to analyze analogies in Aggadic passages.

To give a taste of how intellectually rigorous and exciting Aggadah could be: When teaching the role of analogies in Aggadah, for example, I would ask students, “What should one ask after reading the Talmudic passage ‘Dreams are a sixtieth of prophecy’” (Berachot 57b)? Clearly, the Talmud is suggesting a relationship between dreams and prophecy, but why, a student should be trained to notice, is the measurement of a sixtieth used to impart that relationship? Similarly, to use a more well-known example, students should be sensitized to question why the Talmud chose to place the Aggadah associated with the destruction of the Temple in the Tractate Gittin, which deals with divorce.

Hopefully, over the duration of the course, a student will not just learn some of the theologically rich Aggadah in the Talmud, but will develop a conceptual framework for approaching these texts in more substantive ways. Using this methodology will help students develop a coherent and sophisticated view of Aggadah. If Aggadah is ever to have equal standing with the rest of Talmud, an equally complex and enlightening foundation must be presented.

In 1983, legal scholar Robert Cover made the famous claim that while law and narrative are distinct, they are inextricably linked together. In his renowned article in Harvard Law Review, he evoked the Talmudic interdependence of legalistic thinking and narrative form as a model for American law. He writes, “No set of legal institutions or prescriptions exists apart from the narratives that locate it and give it meaning. For every constitution there is an epic, for each decalogue a scripture.”2 Indeed, if we are to ensure that Talmudic living remains relevant, we would be best to avoid the regrets of the Maharsha and ensure that we avail ourselves of the texts and education that provide such living with added meaning. g

original

Fall 5776/2015 JEWISH ACTION I 61

The Resnick children, who live in Sharon, Massachusetts, are homeschooled by their mom, Yael, who has been homeschooling them for fourteen years.

Courtesy of the Resnick family

What motivates some parents to spend their days with pencils and textbooks, worksheets and word problems?

Avigayil Perry

E

very morning, the four Aldrich children do not rush out the door to catch a bus or carpool— they head to the living room.

Ranging from the age of five to fourteen, the Aldrich children, who live in Indianapolis, Indiana, are part of a growing number of Orthodox kids across the country who are being homeschooled—that is, they are taught by parents who have made the decision not to relegate their children’s education to others, but to fulfill

the mitzvah of chinuch themselves.

Homeschooling in the general US population is on the rise, becoming more mainstream and accepted, as is evident from the increasing number of resources available to homeschooling families. In the Orthodox community, it is still a small but growing trend.

Yael Aldrich, who is viewed by many as a leader in the Orthodox homeschooling community, sees homeschooling becoming increasingly popular among Ortho-

Avigayil Perry lives in Norfolk, Virginia, with her family and writes for various Jewish publications.

62 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

dox families with young children.

“More people are interested and actually putting homeschooling on the table of possibilities. It will be interesting to see if they continue homeschooling as their children enter elementary and middle school,” Aldrich says.

“A lot of people don’t realize that homeschooling these days is a lot easier than it used to be,” says Yael Resnick, a forty-seven-year-old mother of five in Sharon, Massachusetts, who has homeschooled her children for fourteen years. “It’s actually overwhelming how many classes and activities are being offered to homeschoolers now—at museums, libraries, schools, parks and community centers.”

In Baltimore, for example, home to many frum homeschooling families, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra offers midweek daytime concerts that attract homeschooling families.

Technology has also created an upsurge in Jewish homeschooling as online programs like Room613.net gain popularity. Six years ago, Resnick’s husband, Rabbi Yosef Resnick, who has a master’s degree in education, founded Room613.net, an online program with, he explains, “a relaxed and inviting atmosphere that encourages all students to learn at their best and feel confident.”

Rabbi Resnick says he usually forms deep relationships with his students. “I really love and care about my students just like any teacher,” he says. “After a while, you forget that you are meeting in a virtual classroom.”

A Homeschooling Network About two million children in the United States are homeschooled, according to the National Home Education Research Institute. The number of Orthodox Jewish homeschoolers is more difficult to determine. Aldrich,

forty-one, runs an online support network via Yahoo for 450 homeschooling families—but the group doesn’t encompass everyone. She sees about 200 Orthodox homeschooling families in Facebook groups who are not in her Yahoo group. “Then people always tell me of other people who homeschool whom I do not know at all,” she says. “So I estimate two to three thousand Orthodox Jewish homeschoolers, and it’s growing!”

Aldrich coordinated the Sixth Annual Torah Home Schooling Conference over a year ago. Held in the spring of 2014, the conference, which took place in Englewood, New Jersey, drew about 100 participants from across the country, from young couples considering homeschooling their children to veteran homeschoolers. The presenters—most of whom are experienced homeschoolers—covered a variety of topics, such as “Homeschooling from a Father’s Perspective,” “Homeschooling Children with Special Needs,” “Finding Your Homeschooling Kodesh Style,” “Technology and Your Homeschool” and “Homeschooling the Preschool Years.”

What motivates these parents to turn home into school, to spend their days with pencils and textbooks, worksheets and word problems? Of course with escalating tuition, some families choose homeschooling as a survival tactic. But for quite a few Orthodox parents around the country, the decision is based on ideology, not finances.

Rebecca Masinter, a thirty-four-year-old mother of six living in Baltimore, has never sent her children, ranging between the ages of five months to twelve years, to school.

She describes Baltimore as a very accepting and inclusive community. “This is a bonus when choosing an alternative path for one’s family,” she says. “Because it’s a large community, you don’t experience the same pressure to put children in the local day school for the sake of supporting a [community institution], as is the case in some smaller communities.”

Masinter began homeschooling in order to have more quality time with and a greater influence on her children.

Having worked as a classroom teacher prior to homeschooling, she was no stranger to teaching. However, homeschooling, she says, is very different from teaching in a regular school. “Homeschooling is mothering, twenty-four hours a day,” she says.

Homeschooling appeals to Aldrich because she can customize her children’s education to fit their needs. Aldrich has clear goals: to provide her children with a “broad education that gives them the ability to think critically about issues in the Jewish and secular world,” and to enable them to “become self-learners.”

One Family’s Homeschooling Journey Aldrich, who holds master’s degrees in management and Jewish communal services, first discovered homeschooling when she and her family moved to Japan. Her husband, Rabbi Dr. Daniel Aldrich, a political science professor at Purdue University, needed to move there for research purposes. The Aldriches were not thrilled with the school options in Japan for Gavriel Tzvi, their oldest son who was then a first grader. (No Jewish schools exist in Japan.) “Some Orthodox kids went to the Japanese international schools or public schools, while others were homeschooled,” Aldrich explains.

The Aldriches decided to homeschool. After their year in Japan came to a close, the family moved to Indiana.

Even though a community day school exists where they currently live, they decided to continue homeschooling.

Aldrich uses a rigorous curriculum based on The WellTrained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer. She feels drawn toward classical education and chose this particular curriculum because of its focus on “language, literature and grammar.” Her older children study Latin.

Homeschoolers often find tutors or teachers to teach their children Judaic studies, science, art or other subjects. They also make extensive use of online resources. For example, Gavriel Tzvi spends time each day learning Gemara with the community rabbi, giving Aldrich time to work with her other children.

Each child works independently while waiting for his or her turn with Aldrich. Aldrich appreciates the flexibility of homeschooling.

“We can always adjust our schedule according to the kids’ needs,” she says. And on nice days, the family will drop their lessons and take an outing. “Instead of snow days, we have sunny days.”

How do homeschoolers get their kids to actually sit down and learn? “My kids are not angels,” Aldrich admits. But she motivates them by reminding them that homeschooling is a “privilege.” Since her kids feel that their education is “superior,” and that they would rather be homeschooled, they are inspired to buckle down and get to work.

When Yeshivah’s Not a Fit Some parents turn to homeschooling after experiencing problems in the yeshivah system. When Rivkah Harper, a forty-one-year-old mother of four boys who recently relocated to Dallas, Texas, sent her oldest son to preschool, she saw it was not a good fit. “He is very active,”

Fall 5776/2015 JEWISH ACTION I 63

“A lot of people don’t realize that homeschooling these days is a lot easier than it used to be. . . . It’s actually overwhelming how many classes and activities are being offered to homeschoolers now—at museums, libraries, schools, parks and community centers.” explains Harper. “Had we kept him in school, he would have been the kid [who is constantly] in the principal’s office. Instead of focusing on his schooling, we would be focused on trying to keep him out of the office.” Harper, who holds a bachelor’s degree in music and was a stayat-home mom, initially felt reluctant about homeschooling. After many months of research and her husband’s encouragement, she decided to take the plunge.

Leah Samuels, a forty-something-year-old mother of four in Baltimore, also never thought that she would homeschool. Her two sons are both dyslexic. Her nineyear-old is “bright and creative” but cannot recall material. Because he could grasp material when initially presented but could not recall it the following day, teachers believed this behavior was intentional, and called him lazy, Samuels explains. He began getting bullied by his classmates as well. After many attempts at resolving the issues, Samuels realized that she needed another option. Initially, the Samuelses looked into public school as well as a private school for children with severe learning disabilities. The public schools could not offer the appropriate services for the high level of remediation that her two boys required. Nor could the Samuelses afford the high tuition costs upward of $35,000 for the private school. They seemed to have only one option: homeschooling.

During the typical day at home, her sons’ schedules include sessions with a reading specialist and speech therapist, enabling Samuels to work with each kid individually. Her older son has a tutor for Judaic studies while her second son took a year off from Hebrew reading as per a psychologist’s recommendation. In the afternoons, the boys attend group co-op classes for physical education, art and music.

“My kids used to be afraid to speak up in group settings, but now they feel confident and do not fear being themselves,” she says. Samuels hopes to go back to school to pursue a degree in special education, both to better help her own children and other families.

Is Homeschooling Always the Answer?

Homeschooling does not work for everyone. Kate Friedman, a thirty-one-year-old stay-at-home mother of two girls in St. Louis, Missouri, initially felt drawn toward homeschooling for many of the same reasons others do.

“I saw that family life can be hectic between school, homework and activities, leaving very little family time,” she says. However, she eventually realized that homeschooling is not necessarily “a perfect alternative.” She kept both her daughters home until age three, and initially anticipated keeping them home longer until she realized that in the frum community, all the other playmates for her older daughter, now age five, were in school. “Above age two and a half, a child needs so much social interaction, and it’s difficult when the child only depends on the parent,” she says.

Similarly, this past year, the Aldriches realized that Gavriel Tzvi, who is turning fourteen, has few shomer Shabbat friends to hang out with in their community; the local school only goes through eighth grade. While the parents would have loved to educate their son at home longer, this fall, he will be attending a yeshivah high school in Boston, where the whole family will be relocating.

Gavriel Tzvi applied to three yeshivah high schools, all of which accepted him. Interestingly enough, the application process for him was almost identical to that of boys who attend day school or yeshivah. He submitted a parent-created transcript, as well as recommendation letters from his Gemara rebbe, bar mitzvah tutor, principal (Rabbi Dr. Aldrich) and teacher (Mrs. Aldrich).

At each school, he was tested in Gemara as well as in math and English. “We were worried that our unusual situation would place him at a disadvantage, but due to hard work and siyata d’Shmaya, Gavriel Tzvi succeeded beyond our wildest dreams,” Aldrich says. “We feel even more confident that homeschooling can produce a quality human being and ben Torah.”

Listen to Yael Aldrich discuss homeschooling at https://www.ou.org/life/education/savitsky-aldrich/.

64 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

Ya C H a d p r e s e N t s i N t e r N at i o N a l i N C l u s i o N a N d s p e C i a l e d u C at i o N C o N f e r e N C e s

Turning into Building learning StrategieS FOr diverSe learnerS

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November 11, 2015 8:00 am-4:30 pm

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Because Everyone Belongs

Gavriel Tzvi Aldrich, almost fourteen years old, is attending yeshivah high school this September. He was homeschooled for the past eight years. Courtesy of the Aldrich family

The Critics Most yeshivah educators and administrators strongly oppose homeschooling. Rabbi Shneur Aisenstark, dean of Bais Yaakov Bnos Raizel Seminary of Montreal, believes that homeschooling should only take place when “a child has a personality disorder or severe learning disability that cannot be helped with a resource room or other professional assistance,” he says.

“Even if the education in the school is inferior and you think that you can do better at home, it is not worth the exchange of knowledge for loss of social interaction that helps build the personality.”

Rabbi Mordechai Wecker, senior consultant at Toras Chaim, a day school in Portsmouth, Virginia, who has been in education for over thirty years, cites eminent social psychologist and philosopher David Emile Durkheim, who referred to the classroom as a “small society.” With the technological explosion, children have far less opportunities for interpersonal interactions, he says, a problem that is only exacerbated for the homeschooled child. Furthermore, he says, “Classroom facilitation by a competent teacher encourages cross-fertilization of ideas that promotes

out-of-the-box thinking.”

Homeschoolers maintain that homeschooling families get together regularly for various outings such as bowling, art museums and other trips, and children get to socialize by attending shul and participating in youth groups such as NCSY.

“Had we kept him in school, he would have been the kid [who is constantly] in the principal’s office. Instead of focusing on his schooling, we would be focused on trying to keep him out of the office.”

Social issues aside, critics note that homeschooling parents lack teaching credentials and, if the families live in a small Jewish community, by homeschooling their children they are failing to support the local community school.

Still others claim that because kids are not tested or assessed in any formal way, it is difficult to gauge whether or not they are actually learning. Masinter is not against testing and grading in a school setting but feels that in a homeschooling situation, there’s no real need

for grades or report cards. “As the educating parent, I am already familiar with what each child has and has not mastered at a given point,” she says. “I see no need to give an artificial label based on how others perceive growth.” She also believes it is “highly dangerous to assign a poor grade in limudei kodesh. It’s simply not true that a child can’t be good at Chumash, because it’s our inheritance and lifeblood. If a child is struggling with the material, I am not presenting it in a way that he needs to learn it.”

Many parents concur that if homeschooling were more accepted in the frum community, more families would be interested in pursuing it. “Usually community leaders request everyone’s enrollment [in the local school] to make the school [stronger], and they lack passion for homeschooling,” Friedman says.

“Each family adds a new dimension to a school. But then, how do you balance what’s best for the kid and family versus what’s best for the community?”

Of course homeschooling requires that one parent stays home full time. This obviously does not work for many families, given the high cost of living a frum lifestyle. While homeschooling is growing, Aldrich predicts that it will always be a small movement within the Orthodox Jewish community. g

For more information about the next Torah homeschooling conference, contact torahhomeed@gmail.com.

66 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

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Food

By Naomi Ross

Poopa Dweck, expert on Aleppian Jewish cuisine

In time for the holidays, an Ashkenazic woman takes lessons from a master of Syrian Jewish cuisine in preserving the tastes and traditions of the past and passing them down with pride

"

Y

ou gotta start with a lot of onions.” That was the best advice my Ashkenazic balabusta grandmother could impart to me in the kitchen. She was right. Her reputation for culinary prowess preceded her. Still more impressive was her ability to take humble ingredients and reap something delicious from them. Poland and Russia were not known for exotic ingredients, nor could any of my impoverished ancestors in Eastern Europe have afforded them. As I grew older and traveled over the years, though, I became familiar with Jewish food from different cultures and backgrounds.

One thing became clear: something special was happening in Syrian kitchens . . . and I was intrigued. The food was bold, the ingredients diverse and the energy surrounding its creation and preparation was extraordinarily positive. A Shabbat meal in a Syrian Jewish household was a regal event. I had to wonder: as an Ashkenazic woman, what was I missing? The Syrian Jewish home cooks are doing something right, and I wanted to understand more about what that something was.

To get insight into Syrian Jewish cuisine, I visited Poopa Dweck, author of Aromas of Aleppo: The Legendary Cuisine of Syrian Jews and an expert on Aleppian Jewish food and customs. Dweck, a first generation Syrian-Jewish American who lives in Deal, New Jersey, is a much sought-after speaker who has devoted her life to preserving and celebrating the legacy of one of the largest and most vibrant communities of Sephardic Jews.

Naomi Ross: What makes Syrian cooking distinctive? And which Syrian dishes are distinctively Jewish?

Poopa Dweck: Jewish Syrian cooking is authentically Arab cuisine.

Aleppo is renowned throughout the world for its cooking. Food historian Claudia Roden referred to it as “the pearl of the Arab kitchen.” Why? Because of Arab trade. Geographically, Aleppo was in the heart of the Middle East, so it had the grandest warehouses and the finest ingredients. Aleppo is the center of the Fertile Crescent. During the time of the Ottoman Empire, that’s where the sultan’s rich dishes were prepared.

Naomi Ross is a cooking instructor and food writer. She teaches classes throughout the New York region and writes articles connecting good cooking and Jewish inspiration.

Fall 5776/2015 JEWISH ACTION I 69

showbread in the Beit HaMikdash instead of the challah you are accustomed to.

NR: How widely have Syrian traditional dishes been passed on to the younger generation?

Syrian cooking uses very distinctive ingredients. For example, sweet and sour dishes are derived from the Persian influence on Syrian cuisine. Persians use pomegranate concentrate for the souring agent and dried fruits for sweetness. But Aleppo is well known for using tamarind concentrate (called “ouc”). We are also known for spicing our food more heavily, especially with allspice and Aleppo pepper.

Because of the wide use of fresh herbs, fruits, flavors and spices in Aleppian cuisine, the food is tastier and the palate is satisfied with less food. Therefore, smaller portion sizes also make it healthier.

Mehshi are stuffed vegetables—very popular in Syrian cooking. Aleppo was called “Queen of the mehshi.” Kibbeh [a torpedo-shaped finger food that comes in many varieties] is iconic. Traditionally, there are twelve loaves of Syrian bread set on the table to represent the twelve loaves of 2007/04/17

70 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

15:15:19

PD: For the first time in three thousand years, there are no Jews living in Aleppo. What’s amazing is that all the traditions and foods are still being prepared in the same way—no matter where we Syrian Jews are. When the Jews left Aleppo, the communities that migrated all over the world stayed cohesive. My relatives in Brazil maintain the same traditions as my relatives in New Jersey. We know that the religious traditions are connected to food, and the women have tried to maintain all the authentic dishes. It was important for me to write my book because I was afraid we were losing them. Most Syrian recipes and traditions, however, were not written down and existed only in the minds of the previous generations.

Syrian-Jewish women take pride in cooking these traditional dishes. It’s amazing; they prepare the ka’ak [biscuits made with anise seeds] and roll the grape leaves.

Of course, just like the rest of the world, many SyrianJewish women today are short on time. So a new cottage industry has developed within the community, where young women are making a profit preparing the maza dishes [ornate finger food starters] like kibbeh and selling them to families for Shabbat. In this way there has been a resurgence of interest in traditional foods among the younger generation.

NR: Why do you think the Syrian community has remained so strong despite the fact that it has been dispersed?

PD: The religious rituals have kept the community strong.

The first thing [those who emigrated] did was build a mikvah in their new country. Then they built shuls, schools, yeshivahs. And also I believe the food has kept us very connected. We hear all the time how important family mealtimes are. In the Syrian community, Shabbat is of the utmost importance. In every Syrian-Jewish household, there is a recognition that Shabbat will be coming and the family is going to be together; every mother wants to prepare those traditional dishes. That’s what has kept the families strong.

NR: Have the Syrian-Jewish culinary traditions been affected by their new environments and factors such as the availability of traditional ingredients, the infusion of new local ingredients and the generational shift toward reliance on convenience items?

PD: My parents were both born in Aleppo and moved to the US. My mother continued to make the traditional dishes, harvesting and preserving and pickling. I was brought up with that. Then there was a brief time when the second

d

Sweet Syrian dishes for Rosh Hashanah: Sliha Hilweyat wa Mashareeb – s w e e t s a n d b e v e r a g e s 2 8 3 (sweetened whole wheat grains with mixed nuts, a dessert prepared to celebrate a child’s first tooth)

274

Khu’shaf (apricots, almonds and pistachios in sweet syrup)

aromas of aleppo: the legendary cuisine of syrian jews

40495p244t323.indd 2007/04/17 15:16:21 274

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generation moved away from traditional dishes. However, today there is a renewed interest in local ingredients, home gardens and such; as a result, there has been a return to those Syrian-Jewish traditions. Even if certain ingredients are not always available, women tend to ask a relative who is traveling to bring back a hard-to-get item. Or they will use substitutes. If you can’t get Aleppo pepper, you could substitute crushed red pepper. Nowadays with the Internet, you really can get everything.

NR: Nowadays, people are so busy and have less time to spend in the kitchen. How has that impacted SyrianJewish cooking?

PD: What I always like to stress is that the meal itself is wonderful, satisfies the palate and has nutritional value. I say this to many women who work and don’t have time to actually roll the grape leaves, for example. But there is so much more to the meal. It brings families together, it brings us to prayer, it brings us to appreciation and gratitude to Hashem. It is so much more elevated than only nourishing our bodies and satisfying our palates. To women who have to buy prepared foods, I say that as long as it gets them

2007/04/17

to the table, that they are celebrating the holidays, that the family is together—[it’s good]. Once women understand and appreciate the meaning behind the meal and how elevated it is, then they understand that it is just as important as going to work and earning a living. When they understand the impact of every meal, then it is no longer a chore. Rather, they see it as elevating, as a gift we can give. We take such pride in every Shabbat meal because we understand the value behind the meal. We get excited about it and talk about it with each other and often many generations cook together as well.

When there is meaning behind meal preparation, it is not work; it is a privilege. There are even creative aspects in the shopping experience. Suffeh (literally orderliness in Arabic) is the highest compliment to a Syrian woman; it means that she exercises binah, that she understands the importance of her position in her family and that she hosts with grace.

Following our interview, I pondered the lessons I could glean from the Syrian kitchen, the differences that lie between my kitchen and theirs come a Thursday night filled with Shabbat preparation. I will always be an Askenazic matzah ball-making woman. But the pride, the esteem with which I view the food I prepare could certainly use an infusion of joy— even regality. And if all else fails, I’ll throw in a little ouc! g

Listen to Naomi Ross discuss Syrian Jewish cuisine at www.ou.org/life/food/savitsky-ross/.

Fall 5776/2015 JEWISH ACTION I 71

15:14:0

Rosh Hashanah is a time for experiencing newness—new and sweet tastes abound to usher in a sweet New Year.

This year, widen your traditional menus with this sweet Syrian recipe to enhance your holiday table.

Kibbeh Neye w’Khidrawat VEGETARIAN BULGUR PATTIES from Aromas of Aleppo: The Legendary Cuisine of Syrian Jews [New York, 2007]

Kibbeh neye w’Khidrawat, which are pareve, are a perennial favorite among Aleppian Jews.

Yield: 25 patties, about 10 to 12 servings ½ bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped 4 to 5 scallions, chopped 1 large red bell pepper, chopped 2 small green bell peppers, chopped 3 fresh tomatoes, chopped 6 onions, chopped (about 3 cups) 1½ cups red lentils, washed 2 cups extra virgin olive oil

3 cups fine bulgur (cracked wheat) rinsed in cold water and drained One 6-ounce can tomato paste 1 tbsp. ground cumin 1 tsp. Aleppo pepper, or ½ tsp. crushed red pepper 1 tbsp. kosher salt ½ cup ouc (tamarind concentrate) homemade or store-bought (optional)

1. Combine the parsley, scallions, bell peppers and tomatoes in a large bowl. Mix together with half of the onions and set aside.

2. In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, sweat the lentils in 1 cup water with the remaining onions until the lentils and onions are soft, about 10 minutes.

3. While lentils and onions are hot, add them to the minced vegetable mixture in the bowl; add the olive oil, and stir.

Add bulgur, tomato paste, cumin, Aleppo pepper and salt. Blend the mixture thoroughly by hand and adjust the seasoning, if necessary. Cover with foil, and refrigerate for about 30 minutes to let the mixture solidify.

4. Form the mixture into into torpedo shapes, about 3 inches long. Serve the kibbeh at room temperature with ouc, if desired.

72 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

Bensoussan

THE WELLSPICED LIFE: A Food Memoir

By Barbara Bensoussan

Israel Bookshop Brookline, Massachusetts, 2014 236 pages

a Food M

emoir by

Reviewed by Naomi Ross

F

or Barbara Bensoussan, life has been a journey both inside and outside of the kitchen. As chronicled in her new food memoir, The Well-Spiced Life, the portraits of her journey as an Ashkenazic ba’alat teshuvah acclimating to a Sephardic Moroccan family are painted with a liberal dash of spice in her recipes and charming anecdotes.

Bensoussan captures the challenges and transitions of religious life and her “mixed marriage” to a “nice Jewish boy from Casablanca” in a lighthearted yet poignant way.

Each concept or story is followed by a correlating recipe to mark the memory with flavor. With wry humor, she recounts her indoctrination into Moroccan cuisine and tradition during her mother-in-law’s four-to-six-week stays and the intriguing recipes she learned, like alberaniya (candied eggplant jam that is eaten before Yom Kippur) or harissa (a hot red pepper dip).

For an American girl who grew up eating traditional American and Eastern European Jewish fare, cooking with foreign colorful spices opens her senses and inspires her cooking. After all, how many shades of potato are there?

An entire section of the book is dedicated to explaining the use and benefits of natural “food colorings” like saffron, turmeric and paprika. Seeing the weighty value Sephardim place on food being appealing to the eye as well as to the palate, Bensoussan has developed a more fundamental understanding of how spices enhance the role of food. She observes, “Nowadays foodies worship good food, but they’ve really got it backward: food is meant as a vehicle for worship. In Judaism, it’s through the most everyday physical acts that a Jew strives to connect to the Divine.”

Cooking for her large family and guests has allowed Bensoussan ample time in the kitchen to reflect on the meaning behind family meals and the common struggles women face today in feeding their families in a nourishing way. For Bensoussan, these contemplations are magnified by the contrast between a culture that values slow, time-intensive cooking and the scattered eating habits that resemble modern American family

life. Despite the differences between Ashkenazic and Sephardic cultures, she concludes that the disparity is as much generational as it is cultural. When reflecting on her own upbringing, she acknowledges that “the flavor of those homecooked meals we all remember fondly didn’t come only from Mom’s expert touch in the kitchen; the flavor was enhanced by the fact that those meals were eaten together.” Sentiments like this cement the foundation of her lessons in the book and what she has tried to accomplish with her culinary escapades.

In between the kitchen observations and ponderings, The Well-Spiced Life is buoyed by an undercurrent of practical witticisms that make Bensoussan’s experience relatable and engaging. One has to smile as she questions how women living in the sweltering heat of North Africa could spend so much time over a hot stove for a bowl of tchouktchouka (one of the beloved Moroccan dips). But by the end of the chapter, the reader feels inclined to head off to the kitchen, push up her sleeves and try it out for herself . . . or at least marvel at those who do. g Naomi Ross is a cooking instructor and food writer. She teaches classes throughout the tri-state area and writes articles connecting good cooking and Jewish inspiration.

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L’Shanah Tovah Fall 5776/2015 JEWISH ACTION I 73

Just Between Us

A

By Sarah C. Rudolph

ttending a halachah seminar for women at a prominent Orthodox institution several years ago, I found myself—along with two others—cast in the role of “rebel” for an unlikely reason.

The week-long course was taught almost entirely by men, and we were informed on the first day that we would break at a particular time each afternoon so the men could join the Minchah minyan down the hall.

Upon hearing this, my two friends and I turned to one another with similar expressions of . . . surprise? Amusement? Exasperation?

Here we were, a roomful of adult Jewish women, all of whom had chosen to attend a halachah seminar; clearly we all valued halachic observance. Some of us were unmarried, some childless, some (like myself ) had young children at home and some had seen their child-raising years come and go. But regardless of our familial responsibilities, during those few afternoons of the seminar, there were no claims on our time preventing us from taking advantage of the benefits of public prayer.

So why were we not invited to do so? Why did my friends and I have to huddle together and strategize: Should we ask if we can go? Should we just go find the minyan and see if there’s a spot where we can stand, apart from the men but close enough to be able to hear and respond to the prayers?

Should we give up and find a corner in which to say Minchah on our own? But there was a minyan right there; how could we not make an effort to be part of it?

With all of the views in halachic literature on women’s obligation in prayer and their relationship to public prayer, there is much room for respectful disagreement. But even the (majority) view that states that women have no obliga-

tion at all in public prayer allow and encourage women who have the interest in attending a minyan and the ability to do so to do just that.

We were able and we were interested. So why were we not encouraged to walk down the hall and pray with the minyan?

I have prayed twice daily throughout my adulthood, in accordance with my understanding of my halachic duty. I have never, however, made it a priority to attend minyan regularly—in accordance with my understanding of what is not my halachic duty. But if I am at a place where a minyan is readily available, and my children are not in need of my supervision, why should I stand around and schmooze rather than join a community of prayer?

I am frequently confused and frustrated by the assumptions that lead some men to announce things like “if any of the men want to daven . . . .” And then, inevitably, the men take over the entire area, leaving no space for the one or two interested women.

In the midst of all the discourse throughout the observant world about women and halachah and whether or not traditional assumptions about women’s participation in halachah or Jewish communal life should change, this innovation should be a really easy one. I’m not asking to lead the service, or to be counted as part of a minyan. I’m not asking to stand in the middle of the men, sans mechitzah. I’m asking for a space for women, for a mechitzah. Some women start movements “of the wall” or “for the wall”; I am a woman in search of a wall.

Interestingly, no one has ever made me feel anything other than welcome and respected when I do end up attending a minyan. At the seminar, for example, when my friends and I gathered the nerve to go find a spot where we could hear

Sarah C. Rudolph is a Jewish educator and freelance blogger who has contributed to various web sites, including The Times of Israel, Kveller and others.

74 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

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Some women start movements “of the wall” or “for the wall”; I am a woman in search of a wall. and respond to the minyan, no one objected. The first time I attended a parent function at my children’s school and marched to the designated space for Maariv along with all the men, the head of school saw me and immediately began looking around for a suitable spot for an improvised women’s section—which is wonderful, and I appreciate it. But if I am welcome, I should be invited.

Why, instead of simply welcoming me to my corner when you notice that I came, do you not announce from the beginning, “There will be a minyan in five minutes; this part of the room will be the men’s section, and this part will be the women’s section”? And perhaps if we were invited, more women would consider attending.

It is a frequent source of frustration to me to see women standing around chatting when a minyan is going on right in front of them. Old habits die hard, both individually and

communally. I understand the habits, on both levels: an individual woman, especially if she has or had young children, can easily and legitimately fall into the habit of skipping formal prayer and certainly public prayer. And communal habits stem from individual habits. Since so few women attend regular minyanim, it is only natural for the men to start spreading into the women’s section, and for everyone to forget that some women might actually be interested in praying with a minyan.

But habits can be broken, and this one should.

We can respect all the reasons for women to skip public prayer while still creating a community that encourages those who are able and interested to attend.

Let’s keep the gender distinctions where there’s a halachic reason for them, and break the habits of exclusion when there’s a halachic reason against them. g

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Israel

On and Off the Beaten Track in...

Mitzpor HaElef

By Peter Abelow

T

he Land of Israel is a “lovely, good and expansive land” (Birkat Hamazon). The new observation deck, Mitzpor HaElef in Neve Daniel, Gush Etzion, is one of the places in Israel where those words resonate the loudest. While Israel is smaller than New Jersey, not to mention forty-three other states in the US, on a clear day, from this amazing viewpoint, you get a sense that the country stretches almost endlessly in every direction.

At an elevation of more than 3,000 feet above sea level, the yishuv of Neve Daniel, just fifteen minutes south of Jerusalem on Road #60, is the highest elevation of the settlement bloc known as Gush Etzion.

Recently, the Jewish National Fund, in conjunction with the Gush Etzion Regional Council and the yishuv of Neve Daniel, constructed an observation tower (“mitzpor” is derived from the word tzipor, bird) at the highest point in the yishuv—a spot that is 996 meters (3,267 feet) above sea level. It is dedicated to the memory of Sam and Frieda Makovsky, z”l, of Pueblo, Colorado, twenty of whose descendants now live in Israel. When standing on the deck, you are more than 1,000

meters above sea level (elef is 1,000 in Hebrew, thus the name “Mitzpor HaElef ”). On a clear day, the view in every direction is spectacular!

Let’s start by looking east. The hills in the distance are in Jordan, on the other side of the Jordan River, just fourteen miles away.

Looking in this direction, the Bible literally comes alive. The mountains are the harei Moav—the hills of Moav. It was there that Moses stood in his final days, addressing the Jewish people prior to their entry into the Land of Israel. It was there that God said to Moses, looking across the river toward this exact spot we are discussing— Mitzpor HaElef, “This is the land which I swore to Avraham, to Yitzchak and to Yaakov, saying, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you shall not cross over to there” (Deuteronomy 34:4-5).

Continues the Tanach, “So Moses died there . . . in the land of Moav.”

Generations later, Naomi and Elimelech, residents of Beit Lechem at the base of this hill, moved to the plains of Moav to evade the regional famine and it was there that their son Machlon married Ruth the Moabitess (Ruth, chap. 1). Ruth subsequently returned with Naomi to the fields of Beit Lechem and to her des-

tiny as the great-grandmother of King David.

When looking directly ahead, one sees the modern Israeli city of Efrat, home to over 10,000 residents. Many will, of course, recall that Efrat and Beit Lechem are frequently connected in the Biblical narrative. “Rachel died and was buried on the road to Efrat, which is Beit Lechem” (Genesis 35:19) and “May you prosper in Efrat and build a name in Beit Lechem” (Ruth, 4:11), to quote just two textual references.

Another prominent landmark is the volcano-shaped hill; this is Herodium, a luxurious and magnificent fortress built by Herod.

During the Great Revolt against Rome, seventy years after Herod’s death, the site was taken over by Jewish rebels. (See my article on Herodium in the summer 2010 issue available at www. ou.org/jewish_action.)

The road directly below Mitzpor HaElef runs north/south from Jerusalem to Hebron and eventually to Beer Sheva. The hills to the south are the Hebron hills, and the city where the Avot and Imahot are buried is clearly visible on the horizon. The road is known as Derech Ha’Avot, Path of the Patriarchs, because it was along this very path that Avraham and Sarah traveled when they first entered

Peter Abelow is a licensed tour guide and the associate director of Keshet: The Center for Educational Tourism in Israel.

Keshet specializes in creating and running inspiring family and group tours that make Israel come alive “Jewishly.” He can be reached at 011.972.2.671.3518 or at peter@keshetisrael.co.il.

78 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

View west toward the Mediterranean Sea from the Mitzpor HaElef observation platform in Neve Daniel. The view encompasses some of the homes in Neve Daniel, Beitar, the largest city in Gush Etzion, Tzur Hadassah and Arab villages that dot the Judean Mountains as they descend to the coast.

On a clear day, the cities of Ashkelon, Ashdod, Beit Shemesh and the Gaza Strip, as well as the sea, are all visible from this viewpoint.

Photo: Yehoshua Halevi

Map: Deena Katzenstein

the Land of Israel. Avraham and Yitzchak walked the path, which is today a main road, on their way to the Akeidah; Yaakov fled along this same road many years later, escaping the wrath of his brother, Eisav, and returned on this same road twenty-two years later with his family, the beginning of the twelve shevatim.

Turning west, a totally different scene comes into view as the land drops off dramatically toward sea level along the coast of the Mediterranean. The breathtaking panorama goes from Gaza to the south (left), past the buildings of Ashkelon and Ashdod to the tall buildings of Tel Aviv, to the right. The lower portion was once the land dominated by the

Philistines (Gaza, Ashdod and Ashkelon are mentioned in the Bible as Philistine cities), and the area right below is where a young David defeated Goliath, along the seam line through the Ela Valley which separated Judea from Philistine territory 3,000 years ago.

Continuing to circle the compass, we now look north. The nearest homes are in Beit Lechem.

Beyond are the buildings of Jerusalem. Although we are not high enough to see the tell-tale gold dome on Har Habayit, there are three towers clearly visible on the horizon. The westernmost is the tower in the center of the Hebrew University campus on Har Hatzofim (Mount Scopus). Moving to the right, the next two towers are on Har Hazeitim, the Mount of Olives. In the valley, blocked from view but just below the ridge of Mount Scopus and the Mount of Olives, lies the Old City. Beyond Jerusalem lie the hills of the Shomron. Signs on the site visually highlight the features of the view in each direction.

Neve Daniel is located only a few miles south of Jerusalem, just off Road #60, the “Tunnel Road.”

Turn south off Rosmarin Street and continue a few minutes beyond the turnoff to Beit Shemesh and Beitar (Road #375). The next possible right-hand turn off Road #60 is the road that ascends the quarter of a mile to the gate of Neve Daniel. Enter the gate, continue straight to the first traffic

circle until the second left and a small sign for Mitzpor HaElef.

Turn left, follow that street to the next Mitzpor HaElef sign, on the right, and ascend the short paved road to the base of the observation tower.

Neve Daniel was named in commemoration of a convoy to Gush Etzion that was ambushed in March 1948 (Nebi Daniel, a bend in the road several kilometers southwest of Beit Lechem, was the site where the supply convoy was ambushed). The town now has a population of over 2,000 and is growing. According to the Neve Daniel web site (www.nevedaniel. net), “On a visit to Neve Daniel in 2009, former US President Jimmy Carter told his hosts: ‘I have been fortunate this afternoon in learning perspectives that I did not have.’ At a meeting in the garden of Shaul Goldstein, head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council, President Carter said: ‘This particular settlement area is not one that I can envision ever being abandoned or changed over into Palestinian territory. This is part of settlements close to the 1967 line that I think will be here forever.’”

Standing at the Mitzpor HaElef observation tower, you will have numerous photo ops while also gaining a deeper understanding as to why the former US president was so moved upon visiting this extraordinary area. g Fall 5776/2015 JEWISH ACTION I 79

Inside The OU

OU’s Campus Program

Continues to Expand At the beginning of the academic year, the Orthodox Union’s Heshe and Harriet Seif Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC) welcomed several new educators and two new campuses: Boston University and Santa Monica College. Currently, OU-JLIC is found on twenty-three campuses throughout North America.

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY Rabbi Joe Wolfson, from England, studied at Yeshivat Har Etzion in Israel, received semichah from the Israeli Chief Rabbinate and has degrees from Cambridge. He has taught Torah on four continents, primarily as a faculty member of London School of Jewish Studies.

Corinne Shmuel, from Leicester, England, studied the history of art at the University of Leeds and the Courtauld Institute of Art. Additionally, she studied Talmud and Tanach at Matan Women’s Institute for Torah Studies. She is also a professional chef. After living in Israel for the past few years, the couple is excited about relocating to New York to be at the heart of Jewish life and learning at NYU. JOHNS HOPKINS Rabbi David Eckstein received semichah from Yeshiva University’s Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and an MPA from Baruch College. He is the former director of community engagement at the Manhattan Jewish Experience (MJE) in New York City.

Jenny Eckstein was born and raised on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and attended Midreshet Moriah seminary in Israel and Stern College for Women. She has a master’s degree in speech language pathology and is an active volunteer with many Jewish organizations, including Camp HASC, Keren Or, MJE and the Gift of Life. The couple is thrilled to be joining the Johns Hopkins community.

PRINCETON Rabbi Ariel Fisher is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where he majored in urban studies.

After graduating, he moved to Israel and received semichah from Rabbi Shlomo Riskin of Efrat and Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg of Jerusalem.

Bina Brody spent two years as a basic training commander in the Israel Defense Forces and many years studying at various institutions for higher learning for women in Israel including Midreshet Lindenbaum and Matan Women’s Institute for Torah Studies. Currently, she is completing her second year in Matan’s Advanced Talmud Program as well as her master’s degree from Hebrew University in linguistic anthropology. The couple is excited about moving to the States and making Princeton their new home.

SANTA MONICA COLLEGE Rabbi Nick and Orit Faguet will be the first OU-JLIC couple at Santa Monica College. Rabbi Nick Faguet was born in Los Angeles to a traditional family with roots in Livorno, Italy, the French region of Provence, and Lebanon. He speaks English, Hebrew and Spanish fluently and is proficient in Farsi, Syriac and Italian. Rabbi Faguet graduated from UCLA with a degree in Near Eastern archeology and completed a law degree from UCLA’s law school.

Orit Cohen Faguet was born to a Persian family and is a niece of Chacham Yosef Hamadani Cohen, z”tl, the chief rabbi of Iran until 2014. Orit spent two years in Israel studying at Baer Miriam seminary. Subsequently, she attended UCLA and obtained a degree in English literature. Since graduating, she has worked in the special education field. She has taught at Maimonides Academy and Ohr Eliyahu Academy, both in Los Angeles, and has worked for Yachad/NJCD. The two met at UCLA and their relationship grew out of their involvement with OU-JLIC. The couple is especially suited to work with the large population of Sephardic Jews at SMC whose families emigrated from Iran.

80 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

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BOSTON UNIVERSITY Rabbi Yehoshua Dovid Schwartz studied English, psychology and astrophysics at UCLA and received semichah from Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg of Jerusalem. A trained chef, he also ran a successful catering business while in Israel.

Chava Schwartz spent significant time in Israel studying at Bnot Torah Institute (Sharfman’s) and Touro College and completing a fellowship with the Ner LeElef Kiruv Training Program. Additionally, she served as a teacher and program director at Tomer Devorah Seminary in Jerusalem.

Three years ago, the Schwartzes moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where they worked to engage Jewish students on campus. Rabbi Schwartz delivered shiurim to the men while Chava found her niche giving dynamic Torah classes to the women and organizing campus events and programs. The couple is looking forward to bringing new energy to the BU campus.

Rabbi Moshe Benovitz

Promoted to Managing Director of International NCSY Rabbi Moshe Benovitz, longtime director of NCSY Kollel, assumed a new post this summer as managing director of International NCSY. In his new position, Rabbi Benovitz will work together with NCSY International Director Rabbi Micah Greenland and Associate International NCSY Director Keevy Fried in supervising NCSY’s activities throughout the world. Rabbi Benovitz began his involvement with NCSY as a high school student in the 1980s and has been involved with NCSY throughout his professional career. “Rabbi Greenland has laid out an ambitious agenda for the future and I look forward to helping him attain his goals for the organization,” says Rabbi Benovitz. g

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• Inspires tens of thousands of high-school students as they experience their Jewish heritage for the first time through NCSY. • Helps secure millions in state and federal government funds of synagogues, yeshivot and Jewish day schools through the efforts of OU Advocacy.

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www.ou.org | 212.613.8137 82 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

OU Communities Fair

Draws Largest Crowd Yet Left to right: Orlando residents Dr. Tovah and Ephraim Ellman and Rabbi Avraham Wachsman, dean of Orlando Torah Academy, representing the Orlando community at the most recent communities fair. Photo: M. Kruter

With over 1,500 people in attendance, the OU’s Fifth International Jewish Communities Home and Job Relocation Fair, held this past April in Manhattan, saw the largest participation in the fair’s history. Forty-seven communities in twenty-two states were present, including some new communities such as Silicon Valley, California; Orlando, Florida; South Bend, Indiana; Mt. Kisco, New York; Charleston, South Carolina and San Antonio, Texas.

In addition, for the first time, the State of Israel was represented at the fair by OU Israel and Nefesh b’Nefesh for the benefit of those thinking about aliyah.

The communities fair highlights thriving communities across the United States that have the amenities of Orthodox life, at a lower cost of living than in the New York City area. Amenities include Orthodox synagogues, yeshivot/day schools, mikvaot, Judaica stores and, of course,

More Than 900

Jackie Schlanger from Teaneck, New Jersey, with his daughter Tamar. Photo: Claudio Papapietro

More than 900 people from across the Northeast attended the 29th Annual Northeast Yachad Family Shabbaton, held this past May in Stamford, Connecticut.

During the Shabbaton, families participated in support groups and were provided with networking opportunities and individual time with caring professionals who are leaders in their fields. Workshops covered a variety of topics, including developmental milestones, the ABC’s of autism, social skills, vocational readiness and family dynamics, among others. “Our Yachad families don’t always have it so easy,” explains Dr. Jeffrey Lichtman, international director of Yachad/NJCD (National Jewish Council for Disabilities).

“The Family Shabbaton is a venue where families can speak their minds, network with other families dealing with similar situations and have a respite where everyone can be themselves without ever having to feel judged. If we can help these families build and strengthen their relationships with each other, their children, their family and their greater community, then we consider this program a success.” Many families receive generous scholarships through Yachad/NJCD in order to participate in this highly anticipated event. To sponsor a family, please contact Eli Hagler, associate director of Yachad/NJCD, at HaglerE@ou.org.

Fall 5776/2015 JEWISH ACTION I 83I 83 Summer 5775/2015 JEWISH ACTION

Inside the OU

Attend Yachad Shabbaton

the easy availability of kosher food. OU Executive Vice President Allen Fagin remarks, “The decision to move is a significant one, and informed by a variety of factors.

Whether you’re considering relocation for a career move, retirement or just a change of lifestyle, by attending the Jewish communities fair, you come one step closer to turning your dream into a reality.”

“The motivation behind establishing growing communities as places for relocation was the excessive cost of housing and education in the New York metropolitan area,” explains Steve Savitsky, former OU president and the visionary behind the communities fair. Mr. Savitsky clarified that Israel is still the ultimate goal. “While we at the OU always encourage aliyah as the first choice . . . we are realistic that there will be many Jews who prefer to remain in the United States.” g

OU Meets with Leaders in Washington

Inside the OU

To Discuss Iran and Key Domestic Concerns OU Advocacy brought 120 national and congregational leaders to Washington in June to advocate for key domestic and international concerns, including the Nonprofit Security Grant Program, which assists nonprofits, such as synagogues and day schools, in making their buildings more secure; the proposed Nonprofit Energy Efficiency Act, which will help nonprofits make their buildings more energy efficient; the nuclear negotiations with Iran and the advancement of Israel’s security.

During the mission, the delegates—who represented nine states—heard from Israel's Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer and met with White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough. They met in small groups with thirty members of Congress, including Democratic Whip of the US House of Representatives Steny Hoyer, and were joined by several US senators during a luncheon in the Senate. g

1

2

1 US Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) receives an award of recognition during the mission. Pictured left to right: OU President Martin Nachimson; Chairman, OU Advocacy Yehuda Neuberger; Director of State Political Affairs, OU Advocacy Maury Litwack; Senator Portman; President of Fuchs Mizrachi School in Beachwood, Ohio, Jeffrey Wild; Executive Director, OU Advocacy Nathan Diament; Chairman, OU Board of Directors Howard Tzvi Friedman, and OU Executive Vice President and CEO Allen Fagin. 2 US Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) speaking to OU leaders.

84 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

3

4

5

6

8 7

Inside the OU

Photos: Lloydwolf.com

3 White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough addresses OU delegates. 4 US Representative Lee Zeldin (R-NY) meets with a delegation from New York during the OU Advocacy Leadership Mission. 5 Israel’s Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer briefing mission participants. 6 US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) addresses OU leaders. 7 Left to right: OU Senior Managing Director Rabbi Steven Weil and Rabbinical Council of America President Rabbi Leonard Matanky with US Senator James Lankford (R-OK). 8 Co-chair, OU Advocacy-MD Sam Melamed with US Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD).

Fall 5776/2015 JEWISH ACTION I 85

LEADS

MILLIONS

TO GRASSROOTS ADVOCACY GRASSROOTS ADVOCACY LEADS TO MILLIONS FOR FOR NY, NJ JEWISH DAY SCHOOLS & YESHIVAHS

Inside the OU

W

hen it comes to the legislative process, negotiations always lead to compromise. This year, in Albany and Trenton, those negotiations also led to a windfall of $250 million and a new line of funding for non-public schools, respectively.

For this reason, OU Advocacy keeps its “eyes on the prize,” namely, securing government funding for Jewish day schools and yeshivahs.

Direct advocacy in our state capitals is a key element to achieving this goal. But our grassroots outreach that mobilizes the Jewish day school/yeshivah community to make its voice heard to legislators is just as important.

“Our community had a strong presence in both Albany and in the local districts this year. We made it loud and clear to our legislators that non-public education—and funding for non-public education—is a fundamental issue to their constituents,” says Director of Field Operations for OU Advocacy-Teach NYS Arielle Frankston-Morris.

This year, OU Advocacy-Teach NYS brought delegations of students, parents and school leaders to Albany to advocate for legislation that supports our schools.

OU Advocacy-Teach NYS also arranged for state legislators to visit Jewish day schools and yeshivahs in their districts, where they discussed the importance of Jewish education and tuition affordability.

But the true “full-court press” of this year’s grassroots/ community engagement centered on the education tax credit bill in Albany. OU Advocacy-Teach NYS actively campaigned for the bill, which would have provided $150 million in education tax credits and scholarships annually. Through the campaign, New Yorkers sent thousands of letters to state legislators in support of education tax credits.

Unfortunately, Albany turned down the education tax credit bill. In its place, however, Albany approved a deal to infuse an additional $250 million into the state’s non-public schools for mandated services—the largest amount ever allocated to this program.

“We’re disappointed that our lawmakers didn’t approve the education tax credit bill. But this historic level of funding is tremendously beneficial for Jewish day schools and yeshivahs. The mandated services program is a key funding source that helps our schools meet their bottom lines,” says New York Director of Policy for OU Advocacy-Teach NYS Jake Adler.

OU Advocacy-Teach NYS is continuing to engage students, parents and school leaders to keep the voice of the day school/yeshivah community strong.

The budget season also ended on a high note for New Jersey’s Jewish day schools and yeshivahs. For the first time in more than twenty years, a new funding line was created for New Jersey’s non-public schools.

The Secure Schools for All Children Act, sponsored and championed by Assemblyman Gary Schaer, was approved

by Governor Chris Christie. The bill provides funding to non-public schools for security services and equipment, alleviating the financial pressure for those schools previously unable to afford various security measures.

Regional Director of OU Advocacy-NJ Josh Pruzansky attributes much of this success to TEACH NJS, a new coalition of twenty New Jersey Jewish day schools and yeshivahs, two Jewish Federations and the OU, formed to make the Jewish community more politically engaged in order to influence how the state funds non-public education.

The TEACH NJS network mobilized the Jewish community to urge state legislators to support the security bill as well as technology, textbook and nursing funding for non-public schools. Partner schools engaged their parent bodies to contact their legislators and TEACH NJS brought community members to Trenton to advocate for these important bills. Within a month, state legislators heard from thousands of New Jersey residents.

“The community rallied around the possibilities that TEACH NJS can create to help address education affordability. Our first advocacy effort led to a new funding stream that will have a real impact on Jewish day schools and yeshivahs,” says Pruzansky. “We are grateful to Assembly Budget Chairman Gary Schaer for his leadership on this critical issue.”

“Providing a safe environment for our children where they can thrive is our top priority. We are deeply grateful for this new security funding and thankful to our parents and the entire TEACH NJS network that helped make this critical legislation become reality,” says Chairman of the Board, Rosenbaum Yeshiva of North Jersey, Rabbi Yehuda Rosenbaum.

Sam Moed, co-chair of TEACH NJS, notes that the efforts and influence of the community, the TEACH NJS coalition partners and other allied groups led to the state reinstating more than $5 million to New Jersey non-public schools—including the new security funding. “We are thrilled that so many schools and organizations see the importance of community advocacy. We have much work and opportunity ahead of us,” he says. g

Roslyn Singer is the director of communications for OU Advocacy at the Orthodox Union.

86 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

By Roslyn Singer

No Gaps in the Gap Year

B

Rabbi Steven Weil is senior managing director at the OU.

The purpose of this trip was to recruit students from the many schools at a point in which they are ripe to take on leadership roles in a number of our programs including NCSY, Yachad, Heart to Heart and the Heshe & Harriet Seif Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus when they come back to the States for college. The products of these schools are precisely the role models we want—young men and women who have taken the time to grow in their learning and in their self-awareness and character. We are enthusiastic about partnering with the schools to help these students achieve the next level in their personal development—leadership training. By becoming advisors for any of our programs, these young adults assume impressive responsibilities acting as planners, programmers, teachers and mentors. They will be helping younger kids through the pitfalls of adolescence. They will be pushing wheelchairs, serving meals, singing, dancing and giving their hearts and souls to a cause that is both selfish and selfless— the continuity of the Jewish people.

As a parent and as a Jewish communal professional, I am extremely impressed by and grateful to the network of yeshivot and seminaries in Israel for “filling in the gap,” JA and3.75x5 for working with all of us, year after year, to develop a remarkable cadre of leaders and individuals. g Still jewiSh family owned and independently operated

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Inside the OU

y the time you are reading this, my wife and I, like thousands of other parents, will have just said goodbye to our recent high school graduate, watching him clear security at JFK Airport with nary a look back. I’m sure he will be laughing boisterously with his friends, and soonto-be friends, on this group flight for at least three schools; we will surely joke about the poor souls doomed to fly with hordes of eighteen-year-old boys flexing their “freefrom-parents” muscles for the first time. But underneath the excitement and anticipation, I am certain that all the parents bidding their children farewell will be wrestling with the same questions: How is this year going to change my child? Will the school she is attending really be able to take care of her on her first foray away from the nest?

Spending a gap year in Israel between high school and college has become a rite of passage in our communities.

High school graduates now have a plethora of schools to choose from. Some young men and women have the opportunity to visit the schools before choosing which one suits them best, but most students simply choose a school, sight unseen. They do their homework, but ultimately the institution we are entrusting our children to, in what is arguably one of the most formative years of their lives, is a matter of faith and trust.

I am happy to report that our trust is well placed. I recently went on a whirlwind trip to Israel with several OU staff members where we visited nineteen yeshivot and seminaries in four days. We met with administrators, rebbeim, teachers and students, and found that while each school has its own individual flavor, they all seem to share two primary goals. Firstly, they are teaching our kids how to navigate texts. The schools help our kids understand sources, grapple with questions and see the old and familiar through new and diverse perspectives. A Rashi they learned in fifth grade suddenly takes on a whole new meaning. Our kids learn that there are levels and nuances that take time and energy to uncover, but the knowledge and truth they discover are well worth the investment.

Secondly, the schools are overwhelmingly focused on personal and spiritual development. This growth takes place through mussar talks and chesed activities, but also through taking our kids’ hands as they look in the mirror and begin to figure out who they really are, not in the context of their families or communities, but in the context of themselves. They are taught to reflect on fundamental questions: What are my strengths? Which areas do I need to develop? What are my attitudes toward God, spirituality and prayer?

The schools I visited are not trying to fit students into a “one-size-fits-all” mold. They work with each student “ba’asher hu sham,” where he is. One rosh yeshivah in particular told me that he runs not one, but 140 yeshivot because the school goes out of its way to cater to each individual student.

By Steven Weil

Promoting Women From Within In light of the Orthodox Union’s ongoing commitment to retain dynamic women, this year several female staff members move into senior leadership positions across the organization. Hannah Farkas, who has served as the assistant director of community engagement for the last five years, will now serve as the director of OU board engagement and new leadership. “I’m very excited for the new opportunity and I look forward to the new challenge,” says Farkas.

Rina Emerson, who served as the interim regional director of West Coast NCSY, is now the formal director of the region. The promotion was especially meaningful for Emerson who joined NCSY as a teenager in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. “The staff of West Coast NCSY is really amazing,” Emerson exclaims. “And West Coast NCSY is growing.”

Rebecca Schrag, who served as the coordinator of high school programming for Yachad/NJCD and the director of Yachad’s popular summer program, Yad B’Yad, was pro-

Rina Emerson

Hannah Farkas

moted to Yachad’s director of informal education.

Dana Sicherman, the director of development for Atlantic Seaboard NCSY, is now director of development for OU Advocacy, the OU’s political lobbying arm.

Shira Boshnack and Sharona Kaplan, who were JLIC educators for Brooklyn College and UCLA, respectively, are now executive leadership cohorts for JLIC. Avital Moss, who served as NCSY coordinator for Bergen County High School of Jewish Studies, is now the volunteer projects coordinator for NCSY. Devora Weinstock, who was the director of programs for New England NCSY, is now in addition the regional coordinator of Upstate New York NCSY. Miriam Lejtman, who worked as an auditor for OU Kosher, was promoted to junior financial analyst.

We congratulate the women for their various promotions and wish them well as they advance in their careers. g

Rebecca Schrag

Sharona Kaplan

Inside the OU

Lunch and Dinner: Heart to Heart Expands How do you spread the beauty of Shabbat and Judaism? By sharing a Shabbat meal.

That’s the brilliance behind Heart to Heart, a grassroots college Shabbat program founded by Hart Levine and run through the Orthodox Union’s NextGen Division. Levine began Heart to Heart seven years ago when he realized there was a void for Jewish college students who wanted to share Shabbat meals with their non-observant college classmates.

“Person-to-person connections are really the core approach of Heart to Heart,” emphasizes Levine. “Our goal is to connect Jews to Judaism, and to the Jewish community, by creating meaningful experiences with friends in a more organic campus setting—we work with students to connect with their peers, working from the inside out.”

Rabbi Dave Felsenthal, director of the NextGen Division, explains that Heart to Heart’s formula for success is simple: “It’s a movement of active Jewish students sharing the beauty of Judaism with Jewishly nonactive 88 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

students who are living in their dorms and attending the same classes—it’s friends sharing what they love with their friends.”

Levine was recently recognized for his work by New York’s Jewish Week who named him one of the “36 under 36” Jewish leaders of today. However, Levine is not one to rest on his laurels. Since Birthright NEXT— the follow-up program for Birthright participants— closed, Heart to Heart is looking to bring the joys of Shabbat to more people than before.

Expanding on its popular Shabbat meal program, Heart to Heart will be working with Birthright alumni from the OU’s Taglit-Birthright Israel Free Spirit trips and Israel Outdoor trips to host Shabbat dinners with their peers on select campuses. This model will allow Birthright alumni to become Jewish leaders by developing their own Jewish communities on their college campuses. Over time, Heart to Heart will ensure that Birthright is only the first step in a lifelong journey toward Jewish engagement. g

Between the Lines of the Bible: Recapturing the Full Meaning of the Biblical Text—Genesis (Revised Edition) Echoes of Eden: Sefer Devarim—Echoes of Sinai

By Rabbi Ari D. Kahn OU Press and Gefen Publishing House

In the beginning, there was peshat. In Between the Lines of the Bible: Genesis, a revised and expanded edition of a book which has been unavailable for a number of years, Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom argues for a return to focusing on the peshat, the “plain sense” of the text, and in so doing, he uncovers new solutions to questions for which the familiar answers are often taken for granted. Rabbi Etshalom’s contribution is not merely a fresh look at an ancient text, but a methodology which makes use of such diverse academic disciplines as literary analysis and archeology to discover the meaning of the Divine word.

This methodology, which has emerged over the last generation primarily in Religious Zionist circles in Israel, offers an approach which is both traditional—many of its apparently new ideas are rooted in the approaches of the midrash and of medieval commentators—and also highly innovative, in its encounter with the text on its own, without preconceived notions.

Throughout the book, Rabbi Etshalom explains his methodological tools for examining the literary structure of a passage. What seem to be repetitions, for example, can be explained as multiple perspectives of the same event. In part, Rabbi Etshalom makes use of this approach to counter Biblical criticism. In one such case, following a close reading of the text, Rabbi Etshalom explains the apparent repetition of the story of the flood as containing two perspectives, corresponding to man’s dual nature as God’s partner in creation and as God’s servant. Throughout the book, Rabbi Etshalom introduces and explains many other literary tools which contribute to our understanding of the text. Between the Lines of the Bible is an excellent introduction to a new world of Torah commentary which is both highly original and deeply committed.

Madrikh La-Moreh: A Guide for Talmud Teachers

By Rabbi Kenny Schiowitz OU Press In Madrikh La-Moreh, available in four Hebrew volumes on the tractates Berachot, Sanhedrin, Sukkah and Bava Kama, Rabbi Kenny Schiowitz, chair of the Ramaz Upper School Talmud Department, has compiled a curricular resource which addresses the challenge of teaching Talmud to high school students. Rabbi Schiowitz selects topics in each tractate, and on each topic, selects sources included in full, which are geared to provide important general knowledge, help develop Talmudic learning skills and respond to compelling basic and philosophical questions likely to intrigue high school students. Accompanying these sources are prefatory notes which explain the choice of material and how they can be used by students of varying levels. Rabbi Schiowitz has performed an important service for those involved in the critical arena of Talmud instruction. g

Fall 5776/2015 JEWISH ACTION I 89

Inside the OU

Each year on Simchat Torah, as we complete the reading of Sefer Devarim and begin again reading Sefer Bereishit, we celebrate.

The Midrash derives this concept of celebrating the completion of the Torah from King Solomon, who celebrated upon attaining his unique level of understanding of the world. The cause for celebration upon the completion of the Torah is the new understanding we have gained, which can only be achieved with completion, with the comprehension which comes from seeing what previously seemed to be disparate segments as an integrated whole. Such new understandings and connections abound in Rabbi Ari D. Kahn’s Echoes of Eden series, which is now complete with the publication of Echoes of Sinai on Sefer Devarim.

Rabbi Kahn follows a midrashic approach in finding connections between far-flung portions of the Chumash, while citing a very broad range of sources in formulating his ideas. Thus, in a discussion of the eglah arufah, the calf slaughtered to atone for the discovery of a murder victim, we encounter in the course of a few pages not only the classic commentaries of Ibn Ezra and Ramban, Netziv and Malbim, but also lesser-known commentaries such as that of Rabbi Menahem Recanati, the thirteenth-century Italian kabbalist; Tzror HaMor by the Spanish exile Rabbi Avraham Saba; the esoteric anthology Yalkut Reuveni and Torat Ha’Olah, the philosophical work by Rabbi Moshe Isserles. Rabbi Kahn cites his sources in their original Hebrew and their English translations, making them accessible to the reader.

In the law of the eglah arufah, Rabbi Kahn finds allusions to the murder of Abel by his brother Cain, as well as to the episode of the golden calf. As in the traditional “hadran” in which one finishing a masechta connects its end to its beginning, Rabbi Kahn’s Echoes of Eden series demonstrates the understanding that comes with appreciation of the Torah’s integrity and interconnectedness—giving us all cause to celebrate.

By Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom OU Press and Urim Publications

The Chef’s Table

By Norene Gilletz

Sukkot celebrates the final gathering of the harvest before the winter. Meals are served in the Sukkah, which symbolizes the temporary shelters in which our ancestors lived during their forty years in the desert.

A wonderful way to celebrate the agricultural theme is to take advantage of the bounty of the fall harvest, focusing on the glorious produce that is so plentiful at this time of year. Be sure to include more plant-based foods when planning your menus. Include a variety of salads, plus some main dishes and sides that can be served at room temperature. Stuffed vegetables (e.g., stuffed cabbage, eggplant, zucchini and bell peppers) are often served on Sukkot.

Please consult the OU Kosher guide for checking vegetables: https://oukosher.org/ou-guide-to-checking-produceand-more/.

Rolled Stuffed Turkey Breast

Adapted from Norene’s Healthy Kitchen (Whitecap, 2007) Yields 10 servings This rolled-up roast tastes terrific and can be made a day ahead. The vegetable stuffing makes a beautiful pinwheel effect that will dazzle your guests. This dish makes a spectacular presentation for your holiday table.

Spinach and Mushroom Stuffing (next page) 2 medium onions, chopped 1 boneless, skinless turkey breast (about 4 pounds/1.8 kilograms) 2 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 teaspoon) Salt, pepper and paprika 1/2 teaspoon each dried basil and thyme 3 tablespoons apple, orange or mango juice 3 tablespoons balsamic or apple cider vinegar 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil Norene Gilletz is the leading author of kosher cookbooks in Canada.

She is the author of ten cookbooks and divides her time between work as a food writer, culinary consultant, spokesperson, cooking instructor, lecturer and editor. Norene lives in Toronto, Canada. For more information, visit her web site at www.gourmania.com.

90 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

Prepare stuffing as directed. Spray a large roasting pan with cooking spray. Spread chopped onions at the bottom of the pan.

Butterfly the turkey breast by slicing it almost in half horizontally, leaving it hinged on one side so that it opens flat like a book. Cover with plastic wrap; pound lightly and flatten to 1/2inch thick. Rub on both sides with garlic and seasonings.

Spread stuffing mixture on the turkey breast within 1 inch of the edges. Starting at the narrow end, roll up tightly. Tie with string in several places, about 3 inches apart. Place in prepared pan.

In a measuring cup, combine the juice, vinegar and olive oil with additional salt and pepper; mix well. Pour the mixture over the turkey, turning to coat it on all sides. Cover with foil and marinate the turkey in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days, basting occasionally. Remove from the refrigerator about 1/2 hour before cooking.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Roast the turkey, covered, calculating 25-30 minutes per pound. Total cooking time will be about 2 hours. Uncover the last half hour of cooking and baste occasionally. When done, a meat thermometer should register an internal temperature of 165-170°F and juices will run clear when turkey is pierced.

Let stand, covered loosely with foil, for 15 minutes for easier slicing. Slice the turkey thinly, making a pinwheel effect. Serve with pan juices.

Note: Keeps for up to 2 days in the refrigerator; reheats well; freezes well.

Stuffed Turkey London Broil

Instead of rolling the turkey breast with the stuffing, buy a boneless turkey breast with the skin attached (this is called Turkey London Broil). Spread the stuffing just under the skinCooking time will be about 25 minutes per pound.

Chef’s Secrets

• Turkey breast will stay tender and juicy when the internal

temperature does not exceed 170°F on a meat thermometer.

• Do-Ahead: Prepare and cook the turkey as directed. Wrap in foil and refrigerate overnight. Reheat, loosely covered, at 350°F for 25-30 minutes. To serve: carve into 1/2-inch slices and arrange the overlapping slices on a serving platter. Serve with pan juices.

Spinach and Mushroom Stuffing

This versatile stuffing is packed with phytonutrients, vitamins and flavor. It makes a super stuffing for turkey breast but is also excellent for chicken breast, meat loaf or a large salmon fillet. Leftovers make a terrific omelet filling.

1 tablespoon olive oil 2 medium onions 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper 2 1/2 cups coarsely chopped mushrooms 2 or 3 large cloves garlic (about 2 teaspoons minced) 1 package (10 ounces/300 grams) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry 1 teaspoon grated orange rind 1 tablespoon orange juice 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil (or 1 teaspoon dried) Salt and freshly ground black pepper In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil on medium heat. Add the onions and sauté 4-5 minutes or until tender.

Stir in the red pepper, mushrooms and garlic; sauté 5 minutes longer, stirring occasionally. If the mixture begins to stick, add a little water.

Stir in the spinach and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until most of the moisture has disappeared.

Remove from heat and add the orange rind, juice, basil,

salt and pepper. Let mixture cool before using. Stuffing can be made up to a day in advance and refrigerated.

Stuffed Cabbage, Slow Cooker Style

Adapted from Norene’s Healthy Kitchen (Whitecap, 2007) Yields 24 cabbage rolls Cabbage rolls are often served on Simchat Torah because their cylindrical shape symbolizes the shape of a Torah scroll.

If you don’t have a slow cooker, see chef’s secrets (next page).

This heart-healthy version comes from children’s author Rona Arato, of Toronto. My friend Ronnie (Rona) really loved her mother’s stuffed cabbage, so she set out to duplicate it when she moved into her first apartment. Since she didn’t have the recipe, she made it from memory.

1 large cabbage, frozen (see Chef’s Secrets, next page) and then thawed 2 pounds (1 kilogram) lean ground turkey, chicken, veal or beef 2 large eggs 1/2 cup uncooked brown rice 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste) Pepper and sweet paprika to taste 1 teaspoon dried basil Sauce: 1 large onion, diced 1 can (28 ounces/796 milliliters) crushed tomatoes 3/4 cup water (about) 1/2 cup cider vinegar (or to taste) 2 to 3 tablespoons sugar (or to taste) 1 teaspoon caraway seeds 1 teaspoon dried basil Dash of Worcestershire sauce (choose a brand that does not contain anchovies) Salt, pepper and paprika Remove the leaves from the thawed cabbage and squeeze out any excess water.

Combine the ground turkey, eggs, rice and seasonings in a large bowl; mix well.

Place a large spoonful of filling on one end of each cabbage leaf. Starting at the end with the filling, tightly roll up the leaves, folding in the sides. Place the cabbage rolls, seam-side down, in the slow cooker. Slice up any leftover cabbage and add it to the slow cooker.

Roasted Squash with Red Onion & Pears Photo: EyeCandyTO

Easiest Apple Cake Photo: Doug Gilletz

For the sauce: In a large bowl, mix together the onions, tomatoes, water, vinegar, sugar, caraway seeds, basil, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper and paprika. If the mixture is too thick, add a little water to thin it. Taste the mixture and adjust the vinegar-sugar ratio to get the right sweet-and-sour flavor.

Pour the sauce over the cabbage rolls.

Cover and cook on high for about 4 hours or until the cabbage is soft. (If you prefer, cook on low for 8 hours.)

Note: Keeps for up to 3 days in the refrigerator; reheats well; freezes well.

Chef’s Secrets • Place the whole cabbage in a plastic bag in the freezer for

up to 2 days. Remove from the freezer the night before using and thaw at room temperature overnight. When fully thawed, use a sharp knife to remove the core. The wilted leaves will separate easily.

• To roll the cabbage leaves easily, pare the thick rib portion with a sharp knife. Larger leaves are best for stuffing.

• No Slow Cooker? Pour the sauce mixture into a Dutch oven or large pot. Add cabbage rolls and leftover cabbage. If sauce doesn’t cover cabbage rolls, add a little water. Cover and heat until simmering. Cook slowly for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Roasted Squash With Red Onion & Pears

Adapted from The Silver Platter: Simple to Spectacular

by Daniella Silver and Norene Gilletz (Mesorah, 2015) Yields 8 servings

92 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

This unique combo of squash and roasted pears brings something new to the table. A perfect partner to roast chicken or brisket, this scrumptious veggie side dish is always well received. As an added bonus, it’s gluten-free and perfect for the vegetarians at your holiday table. Simply spectacular, simply delicious!

2 large delicata squash (about 1 pound/500 grams each)* 1 large red onion, halved and sliced 4 firm ripe pears (e.g., Bosc), cored, cut into wedges (do not peel) 2 tablespoons olive oil 3 tablespoons brown sugar or honey 1 teaspoon sweet paprika Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Cut squash crosswise into 1/4-inch slices to form half-moons.

In a large bowl, combine squash with onion and pears.

Drizzle with olive oil; sprinkle with brown sugar, paprika, salt and pepper. Stir gently.

Spread mixture in a single layer on prepared baking sheet.

Roast, uncovered, for about 30-35 minutes, just until tender, turning squash, onion and pears once or twice during cooking.

Transfer to a serving platter. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Note: Do not freeze. Reheats well. *If you can’t find delicata squash, substitute acorn squash.

Yields 8 or 9 servings

When my son, Doug, and his wife first started dating, she told him, “This is my mom’s apple cake!” Doug replied, “No, this is my mom’s apple cake!” I had created the recipe nearly 50 years ago when a group of young Jewish women in Montreal compiled Second Helpings, Please! as a fundraising project.

The cookbook is no longer in print, but this recipe has become almost everyone’s apple cake! I hope it will be yours as well.

2 eggs 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup oil 3 tablespoons water or orange juice 1 1/2 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 6-8 baking apples, peeled and thinly sliced 1/2 cup white or brown sugar 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1/4 cup icing sugar, if desired Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9-inch square baking dish or 9-inch springform pan. Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla in an electric mixer or food processor until fluffy. Beat in oil.

Add liquid alternately with combined dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt) and beat just until smooth.

Spoon half of the batter into prepared baking dish. Spread evenly with a rubber spatula. Add apples which have been sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. Cover with remaining batter. (It doesn’t matter if the apples are completely covered.)

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until nicely browned. Cool completely. Sprinkle with icing sugar, if desired.

Chef’s Secrets

Doubly Delicious! Why not double the recipe? Use a 9 x 13inch baking dish. Baking time will be about 1 hour.

Freeze with Ease: If you make this cake more than a day or two in advance, it will get a bit soggy. Try this terrific trick: Cool cake completely, then wrap airtight and freeze. When needed, thaw completely. Then cover loosely with a sheet of parchment paper, making several slashes to allow the moisture to evaporate. Reheat in a 350°F oven for 12-15 minutes.

Tastes fresh-baked!

Variation

Use blueberries, cherries or your favorite pie filling in place of apples.

Wishing you and your family a healthy, happy, prosperous and sweet new year.

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Books THE SHAME BORNE IN SILENCE: Spouse Abuse in the Jewish Community

By Abraham J. Twerski, M.D. Urim Publications New York, 2015 144 pages

Reviewed by Faye Walkenfeld

R

abbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski, prominent Chassidic rabbi, psychiatrist and prolific author, packs a powerful punch in his book about spousal abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community. In this second edition of the book (the first edition was published in 1996), the author adds a new preface and an updated final chapter with resources. In the preface, the author states that the first printing of this book yielded such a negative response that his first few public appearances following the book’s publication required police protection. The current reprinting of the book has not raised anything near that kind of ire, perhaps an indication that the Orthodox community more readily acknowledges domestic violence as a difficult reality we must face.

Faye Walkenfeld, PhD, is a licensed psychologist and assistant professor of psychology at Touro College. She serves as administrative director of Touro's Master’s in Mental Health Counseling Program and deputy chair of psychology at Touro’s School for Lifelong Education. She maintains a private practice in New York.

94 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

Judaism views marriage as a holy, safe haven wherein a couple lives in harmony, with mutual respect. Unfortunately, though we prize marriage, we seem to have many marriages that are in trouble. The purpose of this book is to heighten awareness in the frum community regarding spousal abuse; to dispel the myth of the Jewish husband as someone who does not “hit his wife or abuse alcohol”; to place spousal abuse in the context of Jewish sources and to offer guidance on how to protect Jewish women from spousal abuse. The book concludes with a discussion on the fate of agunot as well as child abuse.

Rabbi Dr. Twerski’s knack for seamlessly weaving together Jewish sources and psychological concepts is evident throughout the book, making this a unique resource for anyone wishing to understand abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community. Though husbands are also victims of abuse, the author focuses on women as victims because this is most often the case in physical abuse; women who abuse men are more likely to use emotional abuse which, while harmful, is not immediately life-threatening. He discusses both types of abuse, as both physical and emotional abuse are damaging, and often what starts out as “only” emotional abuse escalates to physical abuse.

Throughout the book, the author engages the reader with vignettes, using dialogue to illustrate how the abusive spouse establishes control and power while the victim doubts herself and accepts blame for her behavior. This stylistic technique allows readers to recognize the control tactics and to feel the hurt, bewilderment and resignation of the victim.

The first step in remediating problems is acknowledgement. Hiding abuse deepens victims’ pain. Though awareness of spousal abuse is growing, many still mistakenly believe that abuse “does not occur” in the Orthodox community because following religious rituals shields one from wrongdoing.

Rabbi Dr. Twerski argues that to be guarded from wrongdoing, one must

adhere to more than religious rituals; one must also work to develop ethically and spiritually.

A running theme in the book is that abuse occurs because people do not respect themselves or others. If men would respect women (and themselves), they would not resort to either physical or emotional abuse. In a chapter ironically entitled “Preparation for Marriage, or How to Deal with Abuse,” the author offers some solutions to strengthen women in case they end up in an abusive relationship. He suggests that empowering women to be less emotionally and financially dependent on their husbands would foster more confidence, dignity and respect, and make women more likely to stand up for themselves.

As a psychologist and college educator for Chassidic and Yeshivish students, I have witnessed the troubled aftereffects of some young newlyweds who lack knowledge and have misconceptions of what marriage is about. The author suggests that because young men and women from Chassidic and Yeshivish homes enter marriage very young, without experience in relating to the opposite gender, their rebbeim and teachers ought to address these matters in the latter half of high school.

Education builds awareness and knowledge prepares people for different eventualities.

Dr. Twerski’s goal in this book is to raise awareness, rather than to answer every question on the topic. This is not meant as a textbook on all aspects of abuse but rather as an eye-opener and helpful guide for community leaders to respond responsibly to the problems in our community. With regard to that, he has accomplished his goal. Inroads have been made; there are shelters and hotlines as well as organizations that work to educate the community. Nevertheless, more needs to be done. The republication of this book is a significant step in the direction of taking care of the community’s victims of abuse.

g n i c u Introd The study of Tanakh has always

been a staple of Jewish life. The new windows which have opened up in the last century into the rooms of academia— anthropology, archeology, philology, and literary analysis, to name a few—have given new perspectives to traditional study with greater depth and insight. In this rich volume, Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom presents 26 essays on the book of Genesis that demonstrate the methodology through which traditional study meets academic rigor, and new insights into the meaning of the text and its import come to light.

Yitzchak Etshalom received rabbinic ordination from the Chief Rabbinate of Jerusalem, and is an educator and a leading teacher of Tanakh in North America. He is the author of Between the Lines of the Bible. He lives in Los Angeles.

“[The] lucid presentation of the methodology and premises that represent the backbone of the New School of Orthodox Bible Commentary is particularly meaningful to us at Yeshiva University. . . This represents the best of Torah Umadda.”

—Richard M. Joel President, Yeshiva University

Available September 2015 at fine Jewish bookstores and websites and

www.oupress.org

“. . . the author takes a superbly sophisticated approach to delving into the complexities of the weekly parsha.

I am proud that OU Press is a co-publisher of this impressive work and greatly look forward to using this book in my own studies and teachings.”

—Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb Executive Vice President, Emeritus, Orthodox Union

URIM

Books that educate, inspire, enrich and enlighten

Lasting Impressions

By Marcia Greenwald

Cheshbon HaNefesh:

The Arithmetic of My Soul

G

o figure. Maybe it’s because I taught math for over forty years that numbers permeate my life. It’s always been that way, but even more so since my husband, Manny, passed away in January.

If he had lived another month, we would have celebrated our fifty-ninth anniversary.

On the eighth night of Chanukah, we celebrated Manny’s eighty-seventh birthday with a festive family dinner. It’s true that his mind, fortified by Torah study and a lengthy law career, was not as alert as it used to be. But he knew that he was surrounded by children and grandchildren, and a wife, who loved him. And I know that if they had come to me fifty-nine years ago and told me that I’d get fifty great years, seven so-so years and eighteen lousy months, I would have asked, “Where do I sign?”

Well, nobody told me, and I didn’t sign, but I knew my life with Manny was a gift. And when I heard my sons saying Kaddish for their father, I remembered the fact that my father said Kaddish for his father as a twelve-yearold. And here were our sons, both in their fifties, saying Kaddish for their father. And I knew that they knew what a gift they had been granted.

As for me, since Manny passed away, numbers continue to shower me with comforting gifts. I find myself remembering that unlike me, spouting numbers at every turn, Manny kept the arithmetic of his life tightly under wraps. We were engaged to be married when someone mentioned that Manny had graduated first in his class. In all the months that we had known each other, it never occurred to Manny to divulge such a self-aggrandizing statistic.

Manny was an attorney, and he chose that profession because he wanted to help people. I have noticed that some choose to be lawyers to help themselves, but that wasn’t Manny. Our kids used to joke about the fact that he just couldn’t bring himself to charge high fees for his services.

They never forgot the client who paid their father with gefilte fish.

During shivah and the weeks that followed, friends, neighbors and clients divulged Manny’s numerous acts Marcia Greenwald lives in New York.

96 I JEWISH ACTION Fall 5776/2015

of chesed about which we were completely unaware.

People in organizations he served told us how he not only did their legal work gratis, but also that he usually paid their filing fees. When his clients and friends discussed their own wills and estates, he encouraged them to remember to include tzedakah in their plans. I didn’t have to know exact dollar amounts to be comforted by these posthumous reports.

His integrity shattered stereotypes about lawyers. A colleague wrote, “Manny never lost his tzelem Elokim in my dealings with him across the closing table. We’ve lost a fine member of the bar down here. We’ve gained a superb lobbyist Upstairs.”

If you told Manny something in confidence, it stayed that way. Many a client, chatting on the phone with me, would mention facts and figures I knew nothing about. They would exclaim, “What? Manny never told you?” I would reply, “No, I had no idea.” They often responded, “But I want you to know all the details.” And filled with gratitude, they would describe how Manny helped them with a pending sale, purchase or loan.

As I continue to adjust to widowhood, numbers continue to offer me comfort. I find myself remembering that my maternal grandmother became a widow upon the birth of her first child; she was nineteen years old. My paternal grandmother became a widow in her thirties. Yes, my fiftynine years with Manny were a gift.

Still, while riding on the bus to our Jerusalem suburb a few weeks after he passed away, I saw the hundreds of breathtakingly beautiful almond trees in blossom, just in time for Tu B’Shevat, and I cried because I knew that Manny was missing this. And then I thought how he’d miss our twin granddaughters’ bat mitzvah celebration held this past spring, and our twin grandsons’ bar mitzvah celebration in five years and all the engagements and weddings along the way, and I kept crying until I heard him say, “I see the trees, I see them. Stop nagging!”

So I figure that if he can see the blossoming almond trees from his heavenly abode, Manny will surely see our family tree continue to blossom. I’m 100 percent certain of it. g

th y e a r 8 the

it’s time t n a l p e r to

israel’s farmers still need your help. the struggle of shmitah continues.

For 2000 years we prayed to return to Israel, to cultivate the land and keep

mitzvot hatluyot ba’aretz. The vanguard of our shared vision, Israel’s farmers

feed the nation and preserve its pioneering spirit. By observing Shmitah, they sacrifice their very livelihood to fulfill our collective religious obligation.

With Rosh Hashanah 5776, many think Shmitah is over. But the farmer’s struggle continues throughout the 8th year. Loans taken for land and equipment lease

r, e m r a f a help e today D o n a t fund.org w w w .s h m

it a h

must be repaid, infrastructure repaired, and seed purchased – all without a crop to harvest and sell.

This is where The Shmitah Fund comes in. With your help, we give Israel’s

farmers the resources they need to get back on their feet and bring forth, b’ezrat Hashem, the bounty of Eretz Yisrael.

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