Jewish Life October 1960

N O N - O R TH O D O X J E W S , P L E A S E B E F A I R &FY B R O T H E R S DO I S E E K • T H E M ID D L E G A T E R E V I S I T E D T H E Y E S H I V A H A L U M N U S • C A R E E R S I N A R C H IT E C T U R E

T IS H R I, 5 7 2 1 OCTOBER, 1 9 6 0

.a

A nnouncing the

62nd c

Anniv

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N a tio n a l 'Biennial (Convention OF THE

U nion o f Orthodox Jewish (Congregations o f (¿America N O V EM BER 9-13, I960 C H ESH V A N 19-23, 5721 C helsea H otel Atlantic City, N ew Jersey General Convention Chairman

President

H a r o l d M . Ja c o b s

M o s e s I. F e u e r s t e i n

UNION OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA 84 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 11, N. Y.

W O M E N ’S B R A N C H of?the

Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America

a n n o u n c ed its

37th Annual Convention N O V E M B E R 14-16, 1960 C H E SH V A N 24-26, 5721 CH ELSEA

HO TEL

Atlantic City, N ew Jersey

Convention Chairmen Mrs. Nathan Greenspan Mrs. Arthur H. Federman

Program Chairman Mrs. Solomon Freilich Program Co-Chairman Mrs. Meyer Karlin

President Mrs. Allen I. Edles

October, 1960

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JEWISH LIFE

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Vol. XXVIII, No. 1/October, 1960/Tishri, 5721

¡-¡"n

EDITORIALS Sa u l

Editor

B e r n s t e i n .,

M. M o r t o n Reuben

L ib b y

5

POLITICS, RELIGION, AND PUBLIC EDUCATION ..

6

R u b in s t e in

E. G r o s s

S. J. S h a r f m a n

R arbi

CONVOCATIONS IN CONTRAST ..................

K laperm an

ARTICLES

Editorial Associates Thea O dem ,

Editorial Assistant

JEWISH LIFE is published bimonthly. Subscription two years $4.00, three years $5.50, four years $7.00, Supporter $10.00, Patron $25.00.

NON-ORTHODOX JEWS, PLEASE BE FAIR/ Emanuel Rackman .............................. 10 THE MIDDLE GATE REVISITED/Elliot Samuelson .. 16 MY BROTHERS DO 1 SEEK/Gottfrled Neuburger .. 21 THE YESHIVAH ALUMNUS AND THE SYNAGOGUE/ Ralph Pelcovitz . . . ............................ 35 THE HALOCHAH/David S. Shapiro ............... 43

Editorial and Publication Office: 84 Fifth Avenue New York 11, N . Y. ALgonquin 5-4100

CAREERS IN ARCHITECTURE/Walter Duckat...... 59 THE ISRAELI SYNAGOGUE/Aryeh Newman........ 68

FICTION Published by U n io n

C o n g r e g a t io n s

M oses

o f

Sholom Staiman ................................ 50

A m e r ic a

I. F e u e r s t e i n President

Benjamin Koenigsberg, Nathan K. Gross, Samuel L. Brennglass, M. Morton Rubenstein, Vice Presidents ; Edward A. Teplow, T reasurer ; Herbert Berman, Secretary.

Dr. Samson R. Weiss Executive Vice President

Second Class postage paid at New York. N . Y. j j October, 1960

VICTORY — ALMOST — AT P.T.A.J&

of

O r t h o d o x J e w is h

BOOK REVIEW FROM MANY PULPITS/Gilbert Klaperman ....... 75

DEPARTMENTS AMONG OUR CONTRIBUTORS......................

4

HASHKOFAH: “Vidui” ...... ....................... 32 Drawings by Ahron Gelles Copyright © 1960 by Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America

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GOTTFRIED NEUBURGER travels extensively on business trips to many parts of the world. His last appearance in the pages of J e w i s h L i f e was in August, 1957, when he reported on the status of Polish repatriates in the Soviet Union'(“Mos­ cow Revisited”).

RABBI RALPH PELCOVITZ is spiritual leader of Congre^ gation Kneseth Israel, Far Rockaway, New York. He is presi­ dent of the Rabbinical Alliance of America and editor of its journal “Perspective.”

RABBI EMANUEL RACKMAN is spiritual leader of Con­ gregation Shaaray Tefila, Far Rockaway, New York, and honorary president of the Rabbinical Council of America. He is associate professor of political philosophy at Yeshiva University.

ELLIOT SAMUELSON is the pseudonym of a figure promi­ nently identified with orthodox Jewish endeavor.

among our contributors

RABBI DAVID S. SHAPIRO, founder of the Milwaukee Hebrew Academy, is spiritual leader of Congregation Anshe Sfard in that city. He has written numerous articles for leading Hebrew and Anglo-Jewish periodicals.

SHOLOM STAIMAN has contributed articles and short stories to various publications. This is his second contribution to J e w i s h L i f e , his first being “The Shabbos-Goy and the Shabbos Clock,” in the April, 1958 issue.

WALTER DUCKAT, supervisor of the Vocational Guidance Division of the Federation Employment and Guidance Service, continues in this issue his series on career prospects for observ­ ant Jews. Mr. Duckat is a lecturer on the graduate faculties cf Yeshiva University and the City College of New York.

J e w is h L i f e m arks its fo u r te e n th b irth d a y w ith a change o f o u te r ga rb . W h ile o u r covers h ave u n d e r ­ g o n e a n u m b e r o f changes sin ce J e w i s h L i f e first a p p e a re d in T is h ri, 5707, o u r n e w co ver strik es a d e c id e d ly n ew n o te. I t w as d e sig n ed

by A h ro n G elles, a g ra d u a te of th e B e za lel School in Jeru sa lem a n d P r a tt I n s titu te . M r.

G elles is en gaged in in d u stria l a n d g ra p h ic design a n d has m a n y n o te w o rth y a c h ie v e ­ m en ts to h is c re d it in th ese fields.

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Convocations in Contrast ECAUSE we Jews believe in Hashgochah P’rothith, Divine B Providence, as opposed to the concept of a ruler-less uni­ verse operating by blind chance, we find special significance in the fact that the most fateful session of the United Nations is convened at a time coinciding with the High Holy Days season.

It is not to be supposed that those who set the schedule had any thought of the Days of Awe as a setting for the assemblage of nations. Nothing, indeed, could have been further from their thoughts. To us, however, there is profound meaning in the simultaneous occurrence.

While the rulers and leaders of nations large and small from around the globe stand at grips with each other in a mightly struggle for dominance, Jews from one end of the world to the other come together to mark with prayer, with penitence, with petition for spiritual rebirth, the Days of Awe, the anniversary of Creation. On the one side, the marshalling of material power, on the other side, the individual and collective re-dedication to Divine Sovereignty. Rarely has history given so graphic an illus­ tration of “. . . for He hath not made us like the nations of the lands.”

Dare we hope that the spirit of the Yomin Noroim will pene­ trate into the halls of the United Nations? . . . that there be The vouchsafed to the struggling giants a sense of a higher Power Hope than any they can command? . . . that the fruit of this gathering be not the conflict of men turned beasts but the brotherhood of men awakened to the Divine spark within them?

Such hope is built into the very foundations of our faith; it is ever a beacon to us: “Therefore we hope in Thee, O Lord our G-d, that we may speedily behold the glory of Thy m ight. | . and all the children of flesh shall call upon Thy Name.” If the lust for power is a constant in human society, breeding destruction, the compulsion toward the sanctification of life, however ob­ scured by the clamor of events, is the ultimate force in human October, 1960

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existence, the element upon which the very fabric of society rests.

Yes, amidst all fears, we hope, we pray, that the travail of this moment in history may mark the onset of an era of spiritual rebirth for all of mankind.

P olitics, R eligion, and P ublic Education HE statement issued in opposition to the presidential can­ didacy of Senator Kennedy by the National Conference of Citizens for Religious Freedom— an assemblage of Protestant clergymen and laymen—has met with a veritable storm of con­ demnation. Republican as well as Democratic spokesmen and leading churchmen of various denominations, as well as public opinion at large, have repudiated the central premise of the state­ ment—that a Roman Catholic is per se disqualified for the office of President of the United States. However, both this statement and a companion pronouncement issued by Protestants and Other Americans United for Separation of Church and State include a supporting premise which, while as untenable as the main point, has gone unchallenged. We refer to the implication that while the Roman Catholic Church seeks, in its own interest, to break down “the wall of separation between Church and State,” Protes­ tantism is the defender of separation.

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The Catholics, it is asserted in evidence of this charge, con­ duct “a continuous campaign to secure public funds” for the “support of their schools and other institutions” and in various areas have “seized control of the public schools, staffed them with nun teachers wearing their church garb, and introduced the catechism and practices of their church.” Protestantism, it is to be inferred, is innocent of and opposed to any such sectarian inroads upon public education and the public funds. However true may be the charges against Roman Catholic policy in this regard, the facts are all too plain that Protestant forces are them­ selves yet more deeply engaged in “parochialization” of public education than their Catholic counterparts.

It is high time that the issue of religion in public education Time and government support of sectarian schools be stripped of prefo Stop tense and dissimulation. The Catholic position on the issue differs Pretense from that of many of the Protestant denominations simply in the greater degree of candor which the former brings to bear.

Not only are the public schools throughout the country per­ meated with the climate of Christian culture, tradition, values, 6

JEWISH LIFE

and observance, but in very many of them the teachings of the Christian faith are systematically imparted to the pupils. In over­ whelming measure, the religious climate of, and indoctrination in, the public schools is Protestant. The “non-sectarian” aspect applies, it would seem, only in making the spirit and content of the religious motif conformable with the standards of the different Protestant denominations—-with the acceptance, where tactically feasible, of other religious groups, and where not so feasible, without it.

HE case of the Miami schools, now in litigation, is but one T characteristic example of a prevalent situation. In this case, the Dade County Board of Education is charged with a series of infringements of religious liberty and of constitutional ChurchState separation in requiring the public schools under its juris­ diction to conduct daily Christian scriptural readings and prayers, religious holiday programs featuring enactments of creedal tradi­ tions, various other Christian devotional exercises, baccalaureate programs, and religious census of pupils. In short, the public schools in the city of Miami and other Dade County communi­ ties are, in ordinary view, denominational institutions. The dis­ tinction between these schools and “parochial” schools lies in the fact that the former are maintained by public funds and oper­ ate under public authority, with both attendance and participa­ tion in the religious instruction compulsory for all children of the community except those who attend non-public schools. The Dade County Board of Education does not deny that the re­ ligious observances are required but maintains they are of a cultural nature and are in accord with religious freedom and constitutional tenets.

The Christian teaching conducted by the Dade County schools is of Protestant hue. The Protestant elements in the area have not only failed to rise in support of Church-State separaPuhlic tion in this issue, but to the contrary have manifested with pasSchools sion the intent to maintain the religious program in the county’s Parochialized public schools. And so it is in countless other communities across the country—religious programs, of Protestant inspiration, are the established pattern; where challenged, the Protestant forces rise with utmost vigor to their defense. And neither in the Miami case nor in any like case, nor yet with regard to the problem as a whole, are the major national Protestant bodies or Protestants and Other Americans United heard from in positive support of Church-State separation as applied to Protestantdominated public schools. From this, and from the evidence of policies and programs fostered by national Protestant church bodies, one can but conclude that Protestantism at large is not in fact opposed to the sectarianization of the public schools but October, I960

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is in reality the chief sponsor of this policy—provided always that Protestantism shall be the sole beneficiary. The Roman Catholics, on their part, seem to find this a welcome precedent, likewise seeking control of public schools in accessible areas and thus relieving themselves of the cost of maintaining parochial schools.

IVIL libertarian groups and Jewish organizations active in this field have devoted great effort to the combatting of sec­ tarian encroachments upon public education. Over the years, they have scored some notable successes, and there must have been moments when they felt that the achievement of their objectives was but a matter of time and evolution. Today, however, they must face the fact that their legal victories are but hollow; the sectarianization of the public schools is not diminishing, it is The growing, and at an ever-increasing rate. It is growing because it Trend is addressed to fundamental needs—the need of the public for Grows spiritual definition, and the need of religious communities for the perpetuation of their existence. The Roman Catholic Church has been percipient, realistic, and purposeful in defining the situation and acting in accordance with it. They have established a phenom­ enal network of elementary schools, high schools, and colleges of their own, and now they are moving to obtain public funds for the support of the education of their part of the American public. The Protestant forces in their turn, seeing the generationsold combination of diluted Protestantism in the public schools with voluntary denominational Sunday Schools failing to cope with contemporary conditions, have been compelled to seek new approaches. A few Protestant church groups, sincere and con­ sistent in their attachment to the principle of Church-State sep­ aration, have established their own parochial day schools. But the large majority of Protestant groups have moved rather to the intensification of influence on the character and content of the public school program. It is their hope, perhaps, to make of the public schools a force for the strengthening of their cause more comparable with the achievements of the Catholic school system but with a front door entree to public authority and public funds.

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HE realistic view discloses there are two categories of re­ ligious schools in the United States: those designated as such and conducted and maintained only by religious denomina­ tions—Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant; and others, designated as “public,” conducted under public authority and expense but in large part Protestant and in minor part Roman Catholic.

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The Sooner or later, Americans must face the decision whether Reality to continue maintaining one category of religious schools as pubM u sf Be lie institutions and not the other, or whether to give both equal Faced treatment. Is a third alternative—the enforcement of ChurchState separation in the public schools—really conceivable? Is real “non-sectarianism” feasible, since experience has so far shown that no formula for the teaching of “spiritual and moral values” validly merits this designation? How, then, could the in­ evitable spiritual vacuum be filled? It seems unlikely, therefore, that the forces at play will permit any basic departure from the prevailing trend—no matter how many court cases be fought, no matter what court decisions be handed down.

It is clearly to the best interest of all that the realities of this situation be faced and that public policy be shaped in accordance with the reality.

mita §g§pt ravo J e w i s h L i f e extends best wishes for a happy 5721 to all our readers and their families, and to K ’lal YisroeL

October, 1960

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Non-Orthodox Jews, Please Be Fair

By E M A N U E L R A C K M A N Riddle of the good-w ill movement running Into short supply •— when basic Internal Jewish issues are at stake.

N Jewish-Christian relations of modem times, non-orthodox Jews have unquestionably been more ac­ tively preoccupied with the cultivation of good-will and mutual understanding than have orthodox Jews. Is it, there­ fore, too much to expect that the non­ orthodox exercise themselves similarly vis-a-vis their more observant breth­ ren? I make this plea to them because it is becoming increasingly apparent that their hostility to us is preventing them from helping us even when we do what they too ought to regard as best for the perpetuation of Judaism in Israel and in America. And when I address myself to non-orthodox Jews, I mean secularists and Reconstruc­ tionists equally with adherents of Conservativism and Reform. When we do that which they themselves must re­ gard as desiderata we ought receive encouragement and even help.

Let us start with Israel, for on a few fundamentals we must agree. First, what happens to Judaism in the state of Israel affects the future of Judaism everywhere. Consequently, within the limits prescribed by Israeli law and the laws of the country of their resi­ dence, all Jews have an obligation to

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exercise their influence on religious developments in the Holy Land. That they do not live in Israel does not disqualify them from so acting. Since their own future is involved, their active participation in the moulding of Israel’s ideology as well as her institu­ tions is not only proper but even an ethical imperative.

Second, Jews must be intellectually honest with regard to the religious problem of Israel. The loose use of slogans only to excite emotions is a dis­ service not only to Israel but to Jewry everywhere. Such is the case with the charge that Israel is guilty of “re­ ligious discrimination,” which charge was first used by Reform leaders and then by the disciples of the Satmar Rebbe. The result was neither the en­ lightenment of Jews with regard to the facts, nor any change for the better in Israel’s religious life. All that happened was that non-Israeli Jews were em­ barrassed and loyalty to Judaism was undermined everywhere.

Third, if non-Israeli Jews, with in­ tellectual honesty, become concerned with Israel’s religious problems, then they must compel their own sundry Zionist organizations and fund raising

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JEWISH LIFE

agencies to fulfill what they hold to be the right. The Government of Israel cannot be the sole arbiter of what is best for Jews throughout the world.

Indeed, it has thus far been the worst possible judge of what is good for Judaism.

APAI, Israel’s richest and largest M political party, does not accept these fundamentals. Though it has generally abandoned its loyalty to Karl Marx, many of its leaders still cling to one of his doctrines—hostility to reli­ gion, especially Judaism. It is difficult to fathom why they should have dis­ covered the errors of socialism’s prophet in politics, economics, and historical interpretation, and yet with regard to Judaism-—-in which Marx has always been known to be an igno­ ramus—they continue to regard him as infallible. And because of their hostil­ ity to religion, they will not embrace the fundamentals which seem so rea­ sonable to us. And because Mapai leaders will not argue on these funda­ mentals, they want exclusive control over all funds that Jews raise. They would even restrict the raising of funds that they cannot control. For that reason, for example, the develop­ ment of Bar-Ilan University, a religious university under American auspices, has been resisted and blocked by many Mapai leaders from the beginning.

They also deliberately distort the facts of Israel’s religious problem when they make it appear that the protago­ nists of Judaism in Israel and else­ where want a theocracy with religious regimentation when it is self-evidently their party that wants the regimenta­ tion—through control of the military and its own stranglehold on the econ­ omy. And last, it is Mapai spokesmen who are most vehement in reminding Jews that unless they settle in Israel, October, 1960

what happens there is not their concern.

By contrast, Israel’s religious parties, which non-orthodox forces resent, have been exceedingly reasonable and pro­ gressive. They insist on the unity of all of the Jewish people, wherever they live. They affirm the vital concern of all Jews in the strengthening of Judaism in Israel without which Jews everywhere might assimilate more rapidly. They do not sever the Jewish state from the past or future of Jews and Judaism. Moreover, they insist on respect for facts and avoid loose gen­ eralizations that arouse only tempers.

They speak specifically of areas in which the state should be involved with religion and areas in which the freedom of individuals shall be consti­ tutionally protected. And it is they who insist than non-Israeli Jews shall know what is being done with their money. They want non-Israeli Jews to decide whether they want an Israel which will have saved a few million Jews from Christian and Moham­ medan enemies only to have them develop an indigenous paganism of their own-r-the worship of the state instead of G-d. Unfortunately, how­ ever, the religious parties are maligned in connection with issues that have nothing to do with the shaping of the state’s constitutional character.

HE proposal to build a swimming pool in Jerusalem which provoked T grievous strife is often cited as an illustration of the conflict between the two forces in Israel. This is a palpable distortion. Israel could have had con­ stitutional guarantees of the separation of church and state as in the United States, and nonetheless, pursuant to zoning laws, the residents of Jerusalem could object to the building of a fa­ cility to which they object. Are gaso­ il

line stations any less necessary than swimming pools? Yet, they cannot be built in Jerusalem or New York or Johannesburg without regard to the will of neighbors.

Furthermore, the issue with regard to the Rabbinic prohibition in Israel against the use of milk bought in settlements that raise pigs is not re­ lated to the issue of separation of church and state. Does any state deny the Rabbinate the right to decide what products they will approve as Kosher?

The same is true of the issue with re­ gard to the Rabbinic prohibition in Israel on the use of paper for the printing of books of sacred learning when such paper is manufactured on the Sabbath. Does not the State of Israel itself encourage non-Israeli Jews to use its products for religious pur­ poses even if we can acquire them more cheaply elsewhere? Why? Simply because the State wants us to fulfill the Mitzvah of supporting Israeli enterprise. And isn’t the support of Sabbath-observing Israeli enterprise also a Mitzvah?

HAT stands in the way of uni­ versal acceptance of the few fundamentals that I submit are in­ separable? It is simply that Israel’s religious parties are viewed with prej­ udice by non-observant Jews every­ where. However, non-orthodox Jews hurt the cause of freedom itself when they permitted their hostility to Or­ thodoxy to block their support of the religious parties in last year’s issue as to “Who is a Jew.” Let us see how.

Long before there was a Jewish state Jews debated this question. How­ ever, no definite answer had to be given for purposes of law. In Israel, too, no definite answer would have had to be given if the government were not concerned with the religious

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identification of its citizens. It should have sufficed in Israel to enact laws for its citizens and residents irrespec­ tive of color or creed.

Yet, Israel is concerned with the religious loyalty of its citizens because the marriage and divorce laws of the state recognizes the jurisdiction of Rabbinic courts for Jews, ecclesiasti­ cal courts for Christians, and Moslem courts for Moslems. The government would not have dared legislate who is a Christian or who is a Moslem. But it wanted to create confusion for the Rabbinic courts by giving identifica­ tion cards bearing the name “Jew” to such as it itself might choose to recognize as Jews. But does a modern democratic state ever presume to make such “religious” decisions? Is not this a flagrant interference with matters of faith? And if a government wants to create a new standard for being a “Jew,” it should be fair enough to use a new title, such as Canaanite. Other­ wise, the confusion that would ensue is indescribable. There would be two standards of identification for the legal connotation “Jew”—one for the Min­ istry of Interior and the other for personal status law in the Rabbinic courts.

O ONE would argue that the gov­ ernment of Israel should desist from doing all it can for the welfare of its non-Jewish citizens—male or female, minor or adult. Everyone should enjoy equal protection of the laws and even cemetery lands should be made available for the burial of all. However, would even a non­ orthodox clergyman anywhere have wanted a state— albeit a Jewish one— to define who is a Jew? And if he did want the state to do so, then would he not be advocating a state religion?

The religious parties were thus the

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ones who wanted to preserve the autonomy of the religious life vis-avis the state.

Certainly, this is a position with which all freedom-loving Jews must agree. And if non-orthodox Jews were silent it was only because they be­ grudged the religious parties the fact that they are in the right. Yet, is this intellectual honesty? For so long have the religious parties of Israel been re­ garded as enemies of the principle of separation of church and state that we hesitate to change our tune and abandon our name-calling even when they are the champions of that posi­ tion! Surprisingly enough, the Ameri­ can Jewish Congress was similarly silent and offered the religious parties no congratulations or support.

However, if the religious parties had failed in this issue, more would have been lost than portfolios in Israel’s cabinet. Jews everywhere would have concurred in the greatest sanction ever given intermarriage in all of Jewish history and the encour­ agement that non-Israeli Jewish youth would have been given to marry non-Jews would have been over­ whelming.

It is true that with the emigration to Israel from countries behind the Iron Curtain there came many who have non-Jewish spouses. However, this act of migration by itself does not make one a Jew. It might make one an Israeli, if Israel’s government elects to give him citizenship. Such a nonJew, however, may become a Jew, but by methods which no government should ever fix unless it elects to be­ come the arbiter of what religious standards shall be. Therefore, as un­ enviable as the status of such a person may be in Israel, the government can­ not relieve him by making of religion a mockery and decreeing in his behalf October, 1960

what is unacceptable to the religious authorities. o n -o r t h o d o x

cle rg y m e n everywhere should have recog­ nized that even their congregations would not regard these non-Jewish spouses as Jews, since the one great deterrent to the conversion of these people to Judaism, and their recogni­ tion as Jews by the Israeli Rabbinic courts, is their own non-belief in Judaism. These are former Poles and Russians of Christian origin who were reared in atheism virtually from in­ fancy. Apart from a few who have a vestige of Christian belief, they are committed atheists. And even if they were ready to become theists, they are not possessed of any identication with Jewish belief and the Jewish past. All of Jewishness would have been made a mockery in the eyes of religionists throughout the world if we had equa­ ted Jewishness with nothing more than a desire to live with a Jewish spouse where the Jewish spouse chooses to live. One can readily visualize how non-Israel Jewish youth hell-bent on intermarriage would seize upon this as an argument in favor of their course of conduct.

The government of Israel should not even legislate with regard to the chil­ dren of mixed marriages. We must challenge the very right of government to make such decisions in Israel or in any country which makes claims of religious freedom. It is to the credit of Israel’s religious parties that they acted without delay instead of waiting for the children of such marriages to be confronted ten or twenty years from now—when they will want to marry—with the grim truth that they are not Jews. Perhaps some Israelis hope that by that time there will be two systems of marriage for Jews in

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Israel—one in accordance with the Halochah and the other in accordance with a law of the Knesseth. If so, they should be honest enough to make that the issue. Then, they could urge a dis­ tinction in identification cards between a Jew—universally recognized as such — and a new species that enjoys recog­ nition by the state. But by every rule of equity they should use a new name.

Let such a group call itself by a name that will not confuse. Even in business one can be enjoined from branding his product with a name heretofore used by another. Let the new group call itself what it will, but so long as the name Jew has enjoyed for millennia a Halachic definition, and Israel has heretofore accepted that definition without protest, then the meagerest regard for equity requires that a new name shall be used for the new group.

Non-orthodox Jews should have been fair to the religious parties in this controversy but instead allowed a deep-seated hostility to Orthodoxy to ruin their perspective.

HE one area, however, in which it is becoming absolutely impera­ tive for non-orthodox Jews to abandon their hostility to Orthodoxy is the area of Jewish education. We are on the threshold of a new era in this im­ portant sphere. Heretofore the major responsibility of the world-wide Jew­ ish community was rescue and re­ habilitation. Notable were our achieve­ ments, and, though hardly altogether fulfilled, our mission was markedly successful. Now we turn to education —to insure the spiritual and cultural perpetuation of the Jewish people. All agencies have so resolved. And scores of millions of dollars will be funneled to the purpose.

Yet what is this record to date?

American Jewish community federa-

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tions and welfare funds are generally hostile to any day schools. Jewish defense agencies are more concerned with saving the public schools* from church influence than with the protec­ tion of yeshivoth from the libels and canards of Jews who control the purse strings of community funds—includ­ ing even German reparations. And even the spiritual leaders of non­ orthodox congregations, most of whom know how impossible it would be to have Jewish scholars and teachers without the day schools, hesitate to speak out for the one proven instru­ ment we have for spiritual and cul­ tural survival!

One adjures them—Please, be fair.

True, most of these day schools are orthodox in their orientation. But their harvest redounds to the advantage of all Jewry. Moreover, precisely because they are preoccupied with the fullness of Judaism, rather than simply “Jew­ ish culture,” the measure of personal commitment which they induce by far exceeds that which any other educa­ tional approach can.

VISIT to the Soviet Union will convince anyone that Jews inter­ ested in “Jewish culture” alone will not martyr themselves as will Jews to whom Torah is “life and the length of their days/’ Day schools, therefore, which seek to teach only Hebrew and Hebrew literature may meet with lesser prejudice in the wider Jewish community, but they do not create that hard-core of zealots who will re­ sist any threat from without. And for the eternity of the Jewish people the hard-core is as essential as commandos are to a modern army.

If the non-orthodox movements would be fair they would support the pleas of the day schools addressed to all the agencies that are girding them-

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JEWISH LIFE

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15

The Middle Gate Revisited

By E L L IO T S A M U E L S O N

Applying modern, “do-it-yourself” aids to Talmudic study reveals

surprising

vistas

. . . unsuspected

grandeur.

LMOST everyone who attended a yeshivah in his boyhood days, or had gone to cheder long enough to commence the study of Talmud, will recall his introduction to the labyrinths of Talmudic reasoning through the portal of the Middle Gate (Bova Metziah). For time contrary to which runneth not the memory of men, this tractate has served as the classical primer for the study of the Oral Law. In the clearly enunciated rules for the determination of rights to lost prop­ erty, contained in the second chapter, generation after generation of young­ sters has soon discovered that the rule of the street, “Finders are Keepers,” was not the Din, but that the original owner could reclaim his property by proof through witnesses, by an identi­ fying mark, or, if he was a Talmid Chochom, by visual recognition. And who did not, in his adolescent dreams, visualize himself as such a Talmid Chochom, majestically examining his lost property and demanding its return on a mere say-so, to the awed glances of the common herd.

But such daydreams had their built-

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in awakeners, for to become a Talmid Chochom, hard, persistent, wakeful attention was required. The tyro Tal­ mudist was soon struck by the fact that the Rabbinic dictum, “Do not be concerned with the container, but with the contents,” did not apply to Tal­ mudic study, for before the student could obtain the meat of its thoughts, he had to be deeply concerned in try­ ing to crack through a triple shell of difficulties in which these thoughts were contained. Firstly, the thought was buried in a mysterious language— Aramaic; secondly, the text was unvoweled and unpunctuated—difficul­ ties enough with the more familiar Hebrew; and finally, the language of instruction most often was in a Yiddish that was barely comprehensible to the rebbe’s young charges.

If and when these walls had been reduced, and the Middle Gate was entered, tortuous paths of difficult reasoning presented themselves to young minds. Without the loving and guiding hand of the rebbe, it would have been impossible to avoid getting lost. The method of reasoning and JEWISH LIFE

analysis was unique—aside from the fact that any thinking is a unique ex­ perience for adolescents. It is truly a tribute to traditional pedagogy, the loving dedication of the rebbeim, and the inherited stiff-neckedness of their pupils—determined to get “the hang of it”—that any of them finally made the break-through and developed a working acquaintance with the Tal­ mud, and more, that some went so far as to be able to “solo” through its highways and byways.

Those who developed this skill to “leren,” that is, to scout through the forest and underbrush alone, neverthe­ less ran into an occasional query re­ quiring help from a more learned colleague or recourse to Jastrow’s lexicon, or to some similar device.

Unfortunately, such aids were scarce a few decades ago. Talmud was truly the Oral Law; without a teacher, its sustained study was extremely difficult, except for those who already knew it.

H P H E picture of the Talmudic jurisJL prudence that emerged from such a course of study was necessarily a very limited one: the view was that presented to a swimmer laboriously stroking through a vast ocean; or, to use the hackneyed saying, the forest could not be seen because of the trees.

From such studies there emerged the concept that Talmudic reasoning is crabbed, artificial, arbitrary, and causistic, and that it sometimes defies true rationality. In fact, the Talmud itself sometimes speaks of its logic as sus­ pending mountains by a hair. Certain sages were jestingly credited with being able to prove that creeping things were levitically pure.

In the course of years since leaving the Yeshivah, the writer has made a number of efforts to resume Talmudic studies on a regular basis. However, October, 1960

almost all proved unsuccessful because of the fundamental rule that no course of studies can be self-sustaining unless its gratifications or satisfactions are at least equal to or greater than its frus­ trations and difficulties. Otherwise it must bog down.

In the last decade or two, however, the “do it yourself” fad has reached even into the study of Talmud. In 1956, the publication of the Talmud Hamenukad was begun in Israel. To date four tractates of Talmud—Berochoth, Eruvin, Shabboth, and Bova Metziah—have been published, fully vowel-pointed and punctuated. While some people will always prefer things the “old-fashioned” way, this writer has found that the use of the stream­ lined product results in much less mental fatigue, and consequently in greater ease in concentrating upon the thought; and more important, in greater facility in following the thread of dis­ cussion as it hops about from topic to topic.

As an aid over the rough spots, and as a check and double check on whether the student has rightly com­ prehended his studies, the Soncino translation of the Talmud stands as a magnificent beacon. This monumental work, completed in 1952 after almost two decades of tireless scholarship of a very high order, is unquestionably one of the greatest aids in the study of Talmud since Rashi. It is, of course, an inadequate substitute for the origi­ nal, and its value for one who is wholly unacquainted with Talmudic method is doubtful. However, as an aid to students of all levels it is invaluable.

With these newly acquired aids and other recent publications, such as Blackman’s Mishnayoth, there is very little excuse today for a baal-habayith of modest educational background to fail to undertake and to pursue a sys17

tematic course of study in our sacred writings. By setting aside mere minutes, morning and evening, this writer has found it possible to complete the four published tractates of the Talmud Hamenukad, almost as fast as they were published, without strain. On the contrary, the fascination and delight in the kaleidoscope of topics pre­ sented and the sheer joy of mastering these once defiantly inscrutable texts can draw one on and on, like those thick-tomed novels (lehavdil) that cannot be put down once commenced.

HE RETURN to Bova Metziah was especially instructive, for sandwiched in between the two visits lie more than two decades, which were spent almost in their entirety in the study and practice of the common law.

The reactions of “before” and that of “after” were quite different from each other. j In the first place, the style and form of the Talmud (like Shakespeare, lehavdil) is something that is likely to be lost in immature minds. The tyro Talmudist is more apt to sympathize with that nineteenth century maskil who insisted that Talmud was not literature, rather than with his Tal­ mudist opponent in the argument, al­ though the Talmudist seemed to have scored a victory with the searing reply: “What Jacques said to Fifi in the boudoir is literature, bbt what Raba said to Abaya at Nehardea is not literature?!” The realization that there are parallels to the form of the Talmud lends light and appreciation to what Talmud really is. Anyone who has ever kept, or read, a good set of law school lecture notes or the minutes of law school seminars and compares these with Gemora is bound to be struck by their similarity in form. For Tabmud is most probably the minutes of

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proceedings in thé Babylonian Acad­ emies. This realization gives extra life and meaning to its study. With this in mind, one can almost see the opening of the lectures, and hear the posing of difficulties and apparent contradictions and their resolution, and feel the heat of the debate. The difference becomes comparable to that between visualizing a play or merely reading its lines.

But the substance of Bova Metziah is even more amazing. It contains a body of jurisprudence which is in every way the eqtial of and in some ways superior to á modern and matured system of law, such as the common law.

Now the common law as it exists today has good reason for its excel­ lence. It serves the needs of almost all the English-speaking peoples. Supreme courts in fifty states of the U.S.A. as well as intermediate courts of appeal in some states, an independently fed­ eral court system, and other courts in England and the British Common­ wealth are constantly grinding out decisions and refining the rules of law that govern the lives of the hundreds of millions of people dwelling under its aegis. Five hundred thick tomes are insufficient to contain all the decisions of New York State’s courts alone. As part of the process, great publishing houses analyze, digest, collate, index, and cross-index all these decisions. A large and well-paid body of men throughout the world is professionally engaged, day in and day out, in testing and proving the validity of the prin­ ciples of the common law. Yet in 1927, when a lady by the name of Palsgraf recovered a judgment against the Long Island Railroad because a conductor shoved another passenger carrying concealed firecrackers which dropped and exploded, and toppled a scale on her leg, both the trial court and the Appellate Division of New JEWISH LIFE

York agreed on her right to recover.

The railroad was apparently negligent in shoving the other passenger, and this negligence caused the fracture of Mrs. Palsgraf’s leg. However, when the matter reached the Court of Appeals, Judge Nathan Cardozo pointed out in an historic decision that though the railroad caused these injuries, they were not the proximate of foreseeable result of its negligence and conse­ quently it should not be held liable.

This point, though not novel at the time, was unthinkable fifty or a hun­ dred years earlier, for the reason that the doctrine of negligence, which today is basic to the law of torts, had not reached that point of development so as to set the stage for this refinement.

Nevertheless, Abaya and Raba and Rav Yoseph debated this very problem many centuries ago. The facts were different: one problem they discussed is of a bailee who negligently stores an object in a place exposed to fire, but the object is stolen, and not burned.

The principle is the same: Is there liability for the unforeseen results of a negligent act?

Although the Talmud came to a different conclusion from that of the New York Court of Appeals (which by four to three decision reversed a lower court three to two decision), it is not now in point to compare the approach or the results. What is im­ portant is that the Amoraim discussed problems which arise only in sophisti­ cated and matured legal systems.

NE further example: In recent years the device known as the O sale and lease-back has become a pop­ ular form of financing. The financier, instead of taking back a mortgage, buys the land and then leases it back to the former owner for a long period of time with an option to him to buy October, 1960

it back at the end of the period of the lease. In the interim, the financier collects rent instead of “interest.” The Talmud knew of this device and con­ demned it as an evasion of the usury laws.

Generally, primitive legal systems are characterized by inflexibility, fixed formulas, the correctly spoken word, and a reluctance to go behind externals and inquire into that elusive thing called “intention.” With the mature and developed social institutions there is less emphasis upon the external form and more upon the intention that is expressed by the external act. For example, conveyancing, whose roots are in the early common law, is largely a matter of using the right words. In the early seventeenth century Lord Coke argued the famous rule in Shelley’s case, an abstrusely reasoned construction of words in a deed. On the other hand, the law of contracts, which is a late development in the common law, seeks basically to deter­ mine the intention of the parties and whether their minds have met. As stated by Judge Cardozo in a leading case in the law of contracts, “The law has outgrown its primitive stage of formalism when the precise word was the sovereign talisman, and every slip was fatal.”

Another characteristic of primitive systems of law is the application of mechanically fixed rules of damages— both as to their amounts and the grounds for assessing them. Mature systems of law, however, make allow­ ances for variations of time and place and for different standards of care and of reasonableness.

Applying these tests to the system of jurisprudence that emerges from Bova Metziah, one notes a code as highly developed and as matured as is possible— so much so that one is com19

pelled to ask, How did all this come about?

HE Higher Critics and their ilk haven’t gotten around to the Tal­ mud yet. But if and when they do, their answer no doubt will be that all this has been copied from the Babylo­ nians and Greeks and Romans. That the evidence to support such a conclu­ sion is non-existent will not trouble them. Neither will they be troubled by evidence contrary to their point of view because they have a ready answer

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to disagreeable facts—forgery.

But the flawless unity and consist­ ency of the Talmud’s structure, which has stood up under the scrutiny and analysis of commentators possessing the greatest minds, across thousands of years, taken together with the majestic span that Talmud encompasses—a scope that was fully mastered only by select individuals in each generation— bespeaks that it is, like Creation itself, the work of the Creator; and that Torah, rightly understood, can be only “Min Hashomayim.”

JEWISH LIFE

My Brothers Do I Seek Im pressions of a trip to Arab countries

By G O T T F R IE D

NEUBURGER

HIS WAS by far the largest would be needed to cover the subject synagogue in the city, the ancient fully. It might be interesting, however, Congregation Shaare Hashamayim. to share a few of the experiences on Housed in a beautiful building in the this trip with my fellow-Jews in center of the downtown business dis­ America and perhaps it will even be trict, it was filled to capacity and possible to draw some conclusions even the standing room in the rear from such a report. was crowded. The occasion was Rosh Contrary to the practice of Lebanon Hashonah of last year. On the spa­ and some other Arab countries, the cious raised platform in front of the ark a high functionary of the Jewish United Arab Republic visa application community was standing/ a Sefer form for American travelers does not Torah in one arm and a prayer book include any question about religion* in the other. He wore a talith and a Alighting from the airplane at Cairo blue and white skull cap. Next to him Airport, I handed in my passport and stood a man in a dark suit, the only I had to wait in line for a few minutes bare-headed one in the vast throng. until the blacklist was searched to see The functionary in a loud voice sol­ if my name was included. Then my emnly read a prayer to which the taxi drove through the desert to the assembly in unison answered “Ameen” edge of the city, continuing through after every line. The prayer was for modern Heliopolis with its schools, President Nasser and his government officers’ quarters, and Nasser’s resi­ and the bare-headed man was Mr. dence. The journey took quite some time and I wondered aloud why we Nasser’s official representative. The did not catch any glimpse of the Nile. city Was Cairo.

The driver’s only reply was, “Just This was one of the many interest­ wait.” ing episodes//but by no means the At the Hilton Hotel the service was outstanding one, in my trip last year which led me to Egypt, Tunisia, and prompt and efficient and when the boy Morocco. It is impossible to report fully on Jewish conditions in these * This was changed within recent weeks—the U.A.R. visa application form now- do$s include areas in a magazine article; a book such a question.—Editor

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October, 1960

2$:

showed me my room, it turned out to be a suite-like affair with a fulllength glass wall on one side leading to a private terrace. I stepped out on it and there, directly below in the starlight, was the vast expanse of the Nile, the river which every Jewish child knows from his earliest years as the water that turned to blood, in, which many decades before the plague Miriam had placed her infant brother’s basket, the river that for thousands of years has witnessed the coming and going of empires, that exemplified fruitfulness as rain did elsewhere, the link between the heart of Africa and the world around and beyond the Mediterranean. The boy interrupted my reverie and, after turning on the air conditioning, said politely, “In this direction you will see the pyramids in the morning.” I did not quite believe it then, but sure enough, in the morn­ ing the massive triangles of the Giza pyramids were as clearly visible as the large buildings along the river and the minarets of the hundreds of mosques.

It was Thursday now and tomorrow night, Rosh Hashonah, would be ush­ ered in and I did not know a soul in all of Cairo. Only one of the syna­ gogues appeared to be within walking distance of the hotel and I therefore paid a visit to this house of worship during the day. There was no Jew present but a huge dark-skinned care­ taker in flowing robe and red fez told me in French to return for the after­ noon services and a seat was then as­ signed to me. On Friday night the shool was filled to capacity and many worshippers had to stand in the rear for lack of space. The mood was sol­ emn and the women and girls in their white dresses in the balconies and the men and boys in the long rows below participated actively in the typical Sefardic ritual.

22

T WAS not difficult to make friends during the holiday and to get ac­ Iquainted with many of these Egyptian Jews. One merchant in his thirties had been on a business trip to the United States not long before and it was in­ teresting to hear his opinion about America. I particularly remember one family, a native-born Jew with a charming wife and gracious, alert chil­ dren, mostly in their teens, owner and operator of several textile factories, and his mother, born in Lebanon of Italian parents. The piety of this fam­ ily was as apparent as their friend­ liness.

In the synagogue there was only one feature that I strongly disliked: during part of the morning service a microphone was in use. When I ex­ pressed my misgivings, I was told that this practice had started only a few years before and that it had oeen approved rather hesitatingly but that religious authorities from abroad had authorizedvit. It was added that there was not too much choice in the matter because portions of this holiday serv­ ice were being broadcast over the Egyptian state radio. I was glad that at least the blowing of the Shofar, during which, according to local cus­ tom, everyone was seated, was not interfered with in such a manner.

The Shofar blowing was continued during the silent Amidah. Other minhogim included the shouting of the patriarchs’ names at the beginning of the Amidah and the performance of Tashlich on the first day of Rosh Hashonah despite the coincidence of the Sabbath. In the afternoon Tehillim were said for several hours.

Besides the representative of Presi­ dent Nasser, whom I have mentioned already, there were also other gov­ ernment officials present during the service, including a member of the JEWISH LIFE

Washington embassy staff of the United Arab Rejpublic.

An unusual sight for me was to see some of the men going up before the Aron Hakodesh for Birchath Kohanim with red fezzes on their heads but in the surroundings it seemed to be quite fitting and natural.

N THE WAY to the hptel after Mussaf I passed a retail store in a fashionable section that carried a sign in Arabic saying that it was closed because of the holiday. It is even more remarkable that the stock exchange was closed, with an an­ nouncement giving the same reason.

The days, of course, when all Cairo department stores were closed on Jewish holidays are over since the time of the Sinai campaign. Ninetenths of the former Jewish population have left the country and only about six or seven thousand are still in Egypt. Many of the Jews who have emigrated were poor but most of those who are left behind are relatively wellto-do. One of the baaley-battim gave me a ride the day after Yom Tov in his latest-model American station wagon. Emigration is slowly continu­ ing. I spoke to a young Jew who was about to follow many others to Brazil, who told me that with the permission of the government he was taking sev­ eral Sifrey Torah with him and he implored me to alert American- Jews to the fact that three hundred addi­ tional Sifrey Torah from unused syna­ gogues were in storage and that these ought to be taken out of the country as soon as possible.

The Egyptian Jews’ second language is French and at home the family con­ verses in that language. Prayer books and the official Luaeh do not have Arabic but French translations and explanations. I also remember vividly

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October, 1960

how a little boy, when I said a prayer in my foreign Ashkenazic pronuncia­ tion, exclaimed in a puzzled voice, “Quel langage! Je ne comprends rien” At present there are two official rabbis in Cairo (the venerable Rabbi Nachoum was absent in Europe dur­ ing my visit) and three shochtim. Two schools, one for boys and one for girls, are attended by about five hun­ dred children. Ten synagogues still have regular services, four of them located in the former Jewish quarter.

The ancient Ibn Ezra and Maimon synagogues are disgustingly commer­ cialized for the tourist traffic. When I went to see the Ibn Ezra chapel in the “Old Cairo” section, where a few Jewish families still live in the same squalor as some neighboring Arabs, I was greeted by a self-proclaimed guide who welcomed me as a Jewish brother until I pointed to the large tattoo on his bare chest, whereupon he admitted that he was not Jewish.

The largest synagogue is the one in Adley Street, which I had attended.

There was a surprisingly large attend­ ance in that shool on the Fast of Gedaliah.

TRIED hard to find any evidence of anti-Jewish feeling on the part of the populace but I did not succeed.

On the second day of Rosh Hashonah I paraded my blue talith-bag with an oversized Mogen Dovid directly in front of long row of soldiers stand­ ing and talking on the street near my hotel. While the lack of any adverse reaction from them gives only a nega­ tive example, the following day pro­ vided plenty of opportunities for posi­ tive verification. I wanted to inspect some other synagogues and it took a number of taxi drivers and the help of bystanders in the various sections of the city to reach them. In each in-

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23

stance the request for help to locate the Jewish house of prayer was met by eager helpfulness. Sometimes a per­ son would offer to ride with us or walk a distance to make sure that we got there promptly.

Even before that I had an experi­ ence that pointed in the same direc­ tion. On Friday I had gone to the Bazaar district and at its entrance I felt quite lost, overcome by the in­ describable sights and sounds and smells. An elderly Arab approached me, introducing himself as a “sheik” of the neighborhood and volunteering to show me around without any dis­ cussion of remuneration. At first I took him for just another professional guide but things did not turn out that way. It was fascinating enough to walk through the narrow alleys, which in medieval fashion are still divided acaccording to guilds and trades, such as the leather workers, the goldsmiths, the coppersmiths, and so on. After some time we approached a big mosque occupying an entire block, and I expressed the wish to view it from the inside. In doing so I em­ phasized to my escort that I was Jew­ ish. It quickly became clear that he was a highly respected and well known man and he took delight in explaining the essential details to me. It was, of course, the Moslem sabbath and the mosque was well attended. It is, I believe, named after a grandson of Mohammed. Some men were just sitting there, reading or doing nothing at all, others were praying, and in one part of the large edifice there was an elaborate tomb around which many Arab women crowded, touching the walls and railings and invoking inter­ cession and help. Going on, we came to a courtyard and there, under a can­ vas canopy, about fifty young men were praying aloud at the top of their IS

voices, shaking to and fro in a —lehavdil—typical Chasidic manner, some so violently that foam was at their mouths. I was told that many keep this up not only for hours but on certain occasions for an entire day.

The elders of the mosque had been told that I was Jewish, yet I was shown every courtesy possible.

HIS VISIT made me even more ambitious and, as we walked under the blazing noontime sun across the crowded square, I stated my de­ sire to enter the A1 Azhar Mosque which we could see directly in front of us. I knew well that this was the fountainhead of contemporary Mos­ lem theology for scores of millions from Indonesia and Pakistan through the Middle East and many parts of Africa, and that this seminary had been an outstanding seat of Moslem learning fpr a thousand years. Upon entering I again insisted, as I had done at the other mosque, that my com­ panion tell the man in charge about my being a Jew and once more this caused only a smiling acknowledg­ ment and extraordinary courtesy. On the far side of the long arcade-ringed courtyard we changed from the sun­ baked exterior to the cool and spa­ cious main room of the mosque, its entire floor covered with beautiful oriental rugs, on which next to us a few hundred young and middle-aged men were seated, listening to a lec­ ture on the Koran. No women were present. In front of us a steep, narrow ladder-like stairway, completely open on all sides, led up to a pulpit about twenty-five or thirty feet above the floor. I did not believe my ears when I was invited to ascend to the pulpit in view of everyone in order to get a better look. Then the “shammosh” obtained a key and a door opened

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JEWISH LIFE

for me, leading to a small room that extended in height to the very roof of the mosque and in the other direc­ tion to the cellar where the grave of an early benefactor and sponsor of the mosque could be seen. My only regret during this visit to A1 Azhar was that most of the regular seminary students were away, because I would have liked to discuss a few topics with them.

HEN I paid a farewell visit to the Jewish quarter of Cairo, I stepped from my taxi and again there was an unknown friend, this time a younger man in European dress but with a red fez, who immediately ap­ proached me and offered to accom­ pany me. This was an even more curious encounter than my first one because the gentleman turned out to be Rabbi Chayim Douek, the assistant to the Grand Rabbi. He was most helpful in providing information about Jewish conditions, and, among other places, he showed me the Social Center where about forty Jews were being fed daily.

Egypt today is a strange mixture of the very old and the very new.

I remember looking down from my terrace in the Hilton Hotel and see­ ing on the boulevard below a huge modern American automobile, ap­ parently having broken down for some reason, being pulled by a very tiny gray donkey. To make the picture

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complete, two little urchins, clad only in tattered shirts that badly needed washing, were riding on the rear bumper. Just beyond the boulevard and promenade there were the swirl­ ing waters of the Nile, brown and heavy at this season with fertile mud and carrying the large round or oval shaped flatboats that looked like vast­ ly oversized pieces of the pascal bread of affliction, lowering their billowing sails to pass under the modern bridge, built not too long ago by the West German Krupp works, or drifting and turning slowly in the murky stream.

How could a visiting Jew help think­ ing back to Pharaoh and Joseph, to the time when the children of Israel became a nation, never to be slaves again, and to the later warnings and visions of our Prophets.

Out of the multitude of impressions on this visit, I pick out just another picture which implanted itself on my memory as I drove from the hotel to the airport. In order to make better time, we went by some back roads when suddenly we had to come to a stop. A slow and ponderous camel caravan was crossing in front of us, oblivious to air schedules and depar­ ture times, and as I looked to my right I saw a long line of veiled women and young girls, each walking erect and gracefully carrying a water vessel on her head, drawing water from a well just as their forebears must have done in Rebecca’s time.

TUNISIA

HERE was an airliner flying be­ tween Egypt and Tunisia, my next destination, via Libya but the con­ nections were so bad that it would have taken me several days to get there. The quickest way to get to Tunis

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October, 1960

was to cross the Mediterranean all the Way to Rome and to cross back again and, as saving time was essential, this is how I went.

While in Egypt the majority of peasant women and of those in native 25

dress in the city wore veils and black garments, it was immediately obvious that in Tunisia the womenfolk pre­ ferred lighter hues and that a number had discarded the veil. There have been perhaps more changes in Tunisia in the last three years than in the three hundred before. One change, however, occurs every year. On the, short drive from the airport to the city of Tunis one rides along a flat stretch of arid land that during the rainy season becomes a wide lake.

Arriving at my hotel in the city’s center, I noticed next to it a modern and pleasant park and I was horrified to learn that until the year before this had been a very old Jewish ceme­ tery. I could not help suspecting the Tunisian government of anti-Jewish feelings but I found out how wrong I was when on the following day I discovered that a Moslem cemetery had been similarly converted.

Tunisia’s independence had been gained at least in part with the assist­ ance of Jewish capital and Andre Barouch, a Jew, was a member of the first Tunisian Cabinet. He is still one of the richest men in the country and owns considerable properties. The main synagogue in Tunis on one of the principal streets is anything but modest in appearance and the Hebrew letters on the outside are several feet high.

I was startled to see large printed He­ brew announcements affixed to the walls of many houses; they invited worshippers to attend special services for departed ones in the apartments of their families at the end of the thirty-day mourning period and at other stated times. One can also find the word “Kosher” painted on some houses where eating establishments are located.

ALKING through the streets in the evening, my suspicions were

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aroused once more when hiy attention was drawn to the fact that %tall native in a white cloak was discreetly blit persistently following me ait a dis­ tance. My quest was innocent enough: I was visiting the various Kosher es­ tablishments to see whether I could find a place to eat. ^Att last the native approached and' asked me in perfect French whether I was looking for a Kosher restaurant, in which case he would gladly give me the needed in­ formation. By observing me he had simply concluded that this was the case. He was a member of a famous Jewish rural community, not far from Tunis, that claims to date back to Biblical times. Our brief conversation took place on the most important boulevard in front of the Brasserie Suisse, a typical French-style side­ walk restaurant, where I then enjoyed some delicious fish after the proprietor had shown me a certificate from the Chief Rabbinate of Tunis for his supervisory worker.

It was almost midnight when I got around to an inspection of the storied Kasbah and the Souks. The shops and stores were shuttered and the dark, narrow alleys were completely de­ serted except for some occasional Arabs who mysteriously appeared out of nowhere and vanished just as quickly. Yet in these strange surrounds ings and at this ghostly hour I felt much safer than I would in New York’s Central Park at night. After quite some time I emerged from the labyrinthian criss-cross to find at the Kasbah’s end a wide plaza, surrounded by ministries and other impressive governmental buildings.

Evidence of Jewish activities is scattered throughout Tunis, from the elaborate school buildings erected by the Alliance Israelite Universelle to JEWISH LIFE

others that bespeak American philan­ thropic interest. Jews are respected members of the Tunisian community and there seems to be no reason for complaints. One might express the hope, however, that the country’s un­

disputed leader, Bourguiba, in his sus­ tained and laudable drive for speedy modernization, does not overlook val­ ues, traditions, and treasures that have been lovingly and carefully preserved through the ages.

MOROCCO

NCE MORE a checking of air crippled that she was almost helpless.

O routes confirmed that the way The girl, instead of being depressed from one North African country to and downcast, was so sunny and another led not along the coast but from Africa to Europe and right back again. This time it was war-torn Algeria that blocked the way, and the only practicable connection was to fly north all the way to Paris and thence south to Morocco. At the stopover at Orly airport in Paris I had stepped outside the terminal building in order to daven Minchah and just during that time the loudspeaker must have called the passengers of my flight to embark.

I rushed towards the plane and by the time I reached it all four pro­ pellers were spinning. Two uniformed officials were trying to move me away and, when I resisted them, an armed policeman arrived on the scene on a bicycle. I shook him off too and placed myself directly in front of the airline technician who was just about to inform the pilot by hand signal to start moving. After a few seconds the engines were cut off one by one and I hastily clambered aboard. I had to make that plane because the next day was Erev Yom Kippur.

Some time later I was served—on this Arab (Royal Moroccan) airliner — an excellent Kosher meal. At the same time I also had occasion to cut and feed a non-Kosher portion because the passenger next to me was a little girl, about six or seven years old, with an angelic smile but so severely October, 1960

friendly that despite her handicap she made all the passengers forget their personal worries and troubles and everyone was saying goodbye to her at the first stop in Morocco with smiles and with tears. What a lesson grown­ ups can learn from such a child!

O LESS than 80,000 of Moroc­ co’s 200,000 Jews live in Casa­ blanca. Many of the others dwell either in the mountains or in the des­ ert and there they have to this very day preserved a way of life that is as unique among Jews as it is color­ ful. While living under the most primi­ tive imaginable conditions in mud brick shacks or even more flimsy dwellings, the women on festive occa­ sions wear marvelous metal ornaments that are prize examples of century-old handicrafts. Over several decades a collection of these and other Moroc­ can Jewish religious objects has been assembled and in addition local-—one might almost say tribal-—Jewish lore has been recorded on film and photos, and it certainly would seem worth­ while to acquire this collection for display in America and find a per­ manent home for it here. Some re­ gional special observances are shared

by Jew and non-Jew alike, and I was told that on the anniversary of some Jewish desert “saint” Arabs join the

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pilgrimage in such numbers that the roads are clogged for miles around.

Moroccan Jewish names mirror the ancient history of Jews in the country, and, while many are of Berber origin, others are Hebrew or Spanish and a few even Germanic in character.

In one respect Morocco is quite remarkable: About ninety per cent of all Jewish children (about 40,000) receive their education in Jewish day schools, although the latter vary great­ ly in Jewish content and emphasis.

This is a percentage hardly, if at all, reached in any other country of the Diaspora. Most of the Jewish schools in Morocco were originally founded by the Alliance Israelite Universelle and the French influence is still domi­ nant.* Other schools, much more religious in nature, are under the auspices of the Ozar Hatorah and the Lubavitcher movement. The latter have the curious distinction of using French in the schools for girls but not in those for boys. There might be good reason for this but undoubtedly there is a danger of future cleavage when these children grow up. There are also re­ ligious classes for those not attending these day schools, so that almost all Jewish children of school age receive some religious education. The entire Jewish educational system is heavily subsidized by the American Joint Dis­ tribution Committee.

N matters of welfare and health Jewish assistance from abroad has also brought about most noteworthy achievements. It was only ten years ago that such ugly illnesses as tra­ choma and scalp ringworm were ex­ tremely prevalent among the Jewish

I

* By a recent decree of the Moroccan govern­ ment, most of the Alliance schools have been required to accept Arab pupils and to use Arabic as the language of instruction .^-Editor

28

urban population there. In this short time these diseases have been almost eliminated—at least as far as the cities are concerned—and the OSE organi­ zation, also largely with financial help from the “Joint,” has to be credited with this extraordinary feat.

Approximately 100,000 Jews have emigrated, most of them to Israel, but all emigration to Israel has long since been stopped and no mail to Israel is accepted in Moroccan post offices.

Zionism and all Zionist activity are— as in the other Arab countries—con­ sidered a major crime. Moroccan Jews however, enjoy a status of official equality and in recent elections Mos­ lems voted for Jewish candidates, de­ feating Moslems, while in several Jewish voting districts Moslem candi­ dates were elected. In most Moroccan towns and cities many Jews live in the native Mellahs, and in Casablanca it­ self a majority of the Jews is concen­ trated in the native quarter, the Medina, which is located right next to the central square of the city, the Place de France.

A visit to the Medina is an unfor­ gettable experience. A heavy, pungent smell hangs over it like a heavy blanket. In an incredibly small space many scores of thousands of Jews and Arabs live in conditions that are best described as medieval. The lack of any modern convenience struck me first when I saw the water vendors fill their blown-up goatskins from a pump in the street and then, announcing their presence with brass bells, sell the water by the cup because the houses in the Medina have no running water.

On the Sabbath Jewish commercial life there stops completely and the many places of worship—there must be nearly ninety or a hundred in Casa­ blanca alone—are crowded. One can recognize the Jewish men immediately JEWISH LIFE

by their tall black caps, reminiscent of old Hagadah illustrations, although otherwise they wear native dress, and Jewish women, in contrast to the Mos­ lem women, do not cover their faces with veils.

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HERE is only a small number of Ashkenazic Jews in Casablanca

tickets or passes. He would not let us through without these and a heated argument was about to develop when a Jewish official came over from the entrance of the school and explained to the officer that “Americans do not carry on Yom Kippur.” The captain must have wondered about these quaint American customs.

Crown Prince of Morocco Moulay H assan (front left) enters synagogue to pay visit to the Ashkenazic congregation of Casablanca.

and on Yom Kippur I joined their minyori. The service was conducted

by Lubavitcher Chasidim and all those attending were of European origin.

For Minchah my friends and I had made arrangements to go to the near­

by Talmud Torah. In front of that building a company of Moroccan soldiers was drawn up and their com­ mander stopped us, asking for our October, 1960

We were ushered in to the front of the large, festive assembly where a few seats had been held in reserve.

At the front of the center aisle, just below the steps leading to the Ardri Hakodesh, a few fancy, upholstered chairs had been placed, also so far unoccupied. Just inside the shool we passed a group of boys, clad in white from top to toe, who led the congre29

gation in singing when the steady Sephardic chanting was interrupted by special nigunim. Suddenly a hush fell over the multitude. I was invited to join a small committee that went to the entrance to receive an honored guest. One could hear clipped com­ mands and the clicking of rifles as the company outside presented arms.

Presently a young man, not quite thirty years old, with an intelligent, alert face, well dressed but bareheaded, approached, and he and his entourage were handed each a red fez with which they covered their heads, except for the high military officers with them who wore their uniform caps.

The young man was the Crown Price of Morocco, Moulay Hassan (who since then has also become Prime Minister), accompanied by the Director of the Cabinet, the chief of the Bureau Militaire, the chief of police, the governor of Casablanca, and other notables. Among those greeting him were Chief Rabbi Haim Bensoussan, Rabbi Messas, the leader of the Jewish community Meyer Obadia and his colleagues, and the representatives of such Jewish organi­ zations as the Alliance Israélite, Joint, ORT, Ozar Hatorah, and others. Also present was Dr. Benzaquen, Jewish former member of the Tunisian Cabinet. The service was continued as soon as the guests were seated. A Sefer Torah was taken from the Aron and Rabbi Messas read a prayer for Moulay Hassan’s father, King Moham­ med. The congregation responded with many resounding “Ameens” and then the Torah was returned to its place.

One of the choir boys at the far end began to sing in a clear, beautiful voice but after the first few words the Crown Prince, rising from his chair, lifted his arm to indicate that he wished to address the assembly. He 30

said that while the form of worship might differ, Jews and Moslems shared the belief in one G-d whdse children they all are. In Morocco, he pontinued, there was not and there could not be any difference in rights or status between the citizens of the Moslem or those of the Jewish faith, both of whom were equally essential for the country. He was bringing his father’s best wishes for the welfare of the Jewish community and asked the Jews to continue to pray for the well-being of the king.

I was standing within a few feet of Moulay Hassan and there was no mis­ taking the sincerity of his feelings or the spontaneity of his words. I am firmly convinced that if true peace is to come to the troubled region of the Middle East, we must look to men like him for positive action. As he left the Talmud Torah I had a chance to exchange a few words with him and I was equally impressed by his grace and charm as by his innate aristocratic manner.

The next morning Casablanca’s newspapers carried the story and photo of this visit on the front pages.

Just one more example may be cited here that is a typical illustration of a situation largely unknown to Ameri­ can Jews. On Erev Yom Kippur I passed a modern bank and I noticed a large sign proclaiming that the bank would be closed the following day because of Yom Kippur. I stepped inside and inquired whether this bank was Jewish-owned and was told that this was not the case. Upon further in­ quiry I was then informed that the banks in Casablanca were closed on Yom Kippur, regardless of ownership.

Obviously they are way ahead of us in Casablanca and we can only hope that the day is not far off when we will reach this madregah in New York.

JEWISH LIFE

HESE, then, are a few of the im­ direct negotiations to be held between pressions gained on a trip through the two parties.

T Egypt and North Africa. The facts 4. The good offices of intermedia­ speak for themselves and yet it may ries have been offered from time to be useful to state just a few personal time, but there can be little doubt that conclusions that may be drawn and American non-Zionist Jews could ac­ that have practical significance and complish more in this respect than importance: any other group. The last decade has 1.

Arab anti-Zionism is almost uni­shown convincingly that diplomats, versal, yet I feel that it is a basic foreign ministries, or United Nations fallacy and a grave error to equate officials cannot do the job alone. Most this with “Antisemitism.” The major­ of the existing American Jewish or­ ity of the population of such coun­ ganizations, however, are unable to tries as Eygpt, Tunisia, and Morocco, undertake this task and others are where Jew and Moslem have long unwilling to become involved. lived side by side, is intuitively friend­ 5. From the foregoing it would ly to Jews. This does not diminish the appear that there is an urgent need for fact that these same Arabs are strong­ the formation of a new board or ly hostile to Israel and are deeply sus­ committee for the specific purpose of picious of Israeli future aims and dealing effectively with those Jewish actions. problems abroad that due to their very 2.

In every Arab country—from nature cannot be handled by existing the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean groups. There are many respected to the Atlantic—the regime is invari­ Jews in the United States who could ably faced first and foremost with the and should offer their active help in task of improving the standard of liv­ this situation. ing of the masses, which in many areas 6. A special appeal must be made is incredibly low. It is this writer’s here to America’s orthodox Jews. It opinion that the pressure of this need is a fact that in all the Arab countries counters any tendencies towards mili­ there are neither Reform nor Con­ tary adventures and there are grounds servative congregations and all reli­ for surmise that Arab leaders, for all gious institutions are organized along their bellicose attitude and their boy­ orthodox lines. So much more reason, cott, would actually welcome an eas­ then, for America’s orthodox Jews to ing of the long-standing tensions and volunteer their services and be in the a way out of the enduring impasse. forefront of a renewed effort to main­ 3.

It is futile, however, to pursue tain contact with our brothers and a settlement until and unless the prob­ sisters and to carry forward the at­ lem of the Arab refugees is tackled tempt to bring peace to a troubled in a realistic manner. There are, I area after twelve long years. There is feel, ways in which this problem can no money needed here, but wisdom be solved with resultant great bene­ and understanding, compassion and fits for Israelis and Arabs. It is still goodwill, and, above all, courage and practically impossible, however, for trust in the help of Divine Providence.

October, 1960

31

H a s h k o fa h

“viDur

By S A M S O N

R. W E IS S

A l l M itz v o th o f th e T o ra h , b e th e y c o m m a n d m e n ts o r p r o h ib itio n s , if a p e rso n tra n sg re ssed a n y o n e o f th e m e ith e r in te n tio n a lly o r b y o v e r sig h t, w h e n h e d o e s T s h u v a h a n d re tu rn s fr o m h is sin , h e m u s t c o n fe ss b e fo r e th e A lm ig h ty , b le s se d b e H e , f o r it is w ritte n : “M a n o r w o m a n , w h en th e y s h o u ld c o m m it a n y o f th e se tra n sg ressio n s, th en th e y sh a ll c o n fe s s th e ir sin w h ich th e y c o m ­ m itte d ” ( B e m id b o r 5:6-7). T h is is th e V id u i, th e v e r b a l c o n fe ssio n . T h is V id u i is a p o s itiv e c o m m a n d m e n t. H o w d o e s o n e c o n fe ss? H e s a y s : “O G -d , I h a v e fa ile d , tra n sg re ssed , a n d sin n e d b e fo re Y o u , a n d th is a n d th is is w h a t 1 d id , a n d 1 h a v e c o m e to re g re t it a n d I a m a sh a m e d o f m y d e e d s a n d n e v e r w ill 1 re p e a t th e m .” T h is is th e ba sic s ta te m e n t o f th e V id u i.

(Rambam, Hilchoth T’shuvah, 1:1)

HE WORDS of Scripture, and thus man became a living being (Bereshith 2:7 ), are identically translated

by Rabbi Jonathan ben Uziel and Onkelos to mean that man became a speaking being. Man’s superiority above the other creatures, which are likewise denoted in Torah as nefesh chayah, as living beings, and his spe­ cific endowment with a soul breathed into him by the Almighty, is mani­ fested by his faculty of speech.

Man is graced by the Creator with intellect and perception, enabling him to organize in his mind the multiplicity of observables into a system, to recog­ nize their interdependence, to conceive their purpose within the cosmic frame.

He alone has also the capacity to choose his actions freely and to ac­ cept the resulting responsibility for them. True, these wondrous abilities elevate him above all other creatures

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upon this earth, justifying his appella­ tion as the Tzelem Elokim, as the im­ age of the Almighty. Yet, Rabbi Jona­ than ben Uziel and Onkelos the Trans­ lator see in man’s faculty to articulate, to communicate by speech, the highest manifestation of this G-d-likeness.

Articulation connotes the giving of utterance as well as its acceptance and assimilation in the mind of its ad­ dressee. It is not only the conveyance, the transmittal of inquiry and knowl­ edge, of thought, idea, and concept, but also the concomitant ability to be the recipient of such conveyance.

In man, even the eye shares in this astonishing process and thus language becomes expressed in writ. The sound and its symbol, the letter, join man with his fellow and with his G-d. The Almightly revealing Himself on Sinai gave his chosen people the Torah Shebik’thav and the Torah Sheb’al JEWISH LIFE

Peh, the Written and the Oral law.

They heard the Onochi Hashem and they saw it engraved on the Tablets of Witness and Covenant. They still hear it in every generation from the mouths of their teachers and see it written in ink on the parchment of our Sacred Scrolls.

HE SPEECH of man is akin to revelation. As the Creator in His T omnipotence and wisdom chose to bridge the ineffable gap between Him­ self and the creatures He evoked, by equipping them with the intellectual organs capable of receiving His mani­ fold revelations, of discovering Him in nature, in the history of nations, in the hidden miracle, the nes nistor, of one’s own personal fate, in one’s own joy and pain and, above all, in proph­ ecy and in Torah—so man, too, though alone in his innermost recesses, though separated by his very individuality from his fellow man and though ex­ periencing his life and the entire world in essential uniqueness, is endowed with the power of revelation. Impart­ ing of himself to his brother and shar­ ing in his brother’s uniqueness of existence, he crosses the chasm be­ tween them by the miraculous bridge of language. As a speaking being, as one capable of revealing himself to others and of comprehending their in­ tellectual and spiritual identity, man reaches the closest similarity to his Maker.

Within the complexity of the hu­ man being, the word is determining.

Thought and deed find form, direction, and fulfillment in the utterance. Even to the Almighty, before Whom all secrets of the heart are revealed and before Whose eyes naught is hidden, man turns in language—in blessing, in prayer, and in confession.

A gratitude not elevated to the level October, I960

of thanks-giving speech, remains a passing sentiment incapable of further motivation. A need which does not find its climax in the outcry before the One Who alone can grant requests, bespeaks the sterility of despair. A remorse and a repentance not poured out in cleansing, self-revealing suppli­ cation, merely confirm the barren doubt of continued vacillation. They have not reached the core of one’s being.

HE specific Mitzvah of Yom Kippur, the day we rest from all work T and which therefore is called Shabbath Shabbathon, the day on which we deny ourself all physical sustenance and pleasure, thus diminishing as far as possible the material barriers which divide man from his Maker—the spe­ cific Mitzvah of this holiest of days is the Vidui. Lest the Vidui be a lie and an abomination of falsehood, it presupposes true inner remorse. This Vidui, as Maimondes defines it, must contain four components. It must be addressed to G-d Himself to Whom all prayer must be directed and Who alone can grant the miracle of inner rebirth, of the radiant spiritual re­ juvenation of the true Baal T’shuvah.

It must further contain the enumera­ tion of one’s negligence, lustful trans­ gression, and rebellious disregard of the Divine postulate, for only by speaking the Chotothi, Ovithi, Poshathi will man truly clarify to himself the full impact of his weakness and de­ basement. It must further include the pronouncement of man’s remorse and guilt and shame, for only in such pro­ nouncement will he be shaken to the very essence of his soul. And finally, man must state before the Almighty the inescapable conclusion of address­ ing himself to Him with the enumera­ tion of his failures and the depth of his 33

repentance: he must vow to abstain forever from the evil he did and from the transgression he committed.

In the Temple of old, to be rebuilt again when Israel’s collective T’shuvah will merit it, the High Priest uttered the sacred words of the Vidui in the Holiest of Holies, asking forgiveness for himself, his house, and the entire^ congregation of Israel. Today, every­ one of us must give Vidui for himself and, in doing so before the throne of

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Divine Mercy, attain the upheaval of truth by which alone man can change and find betterment.

Our Sages tell us there was no more joyous day in Israel than the day of Yom Hakippurim. On Yom Kippur, in fulfilling the Mitzvah of Vidui, our people return to the G-d-nearness of the Tzelem Elokim. In creative freshness they rise to the highest kin­ ship with the Almightly and thus fath­ om depths of joy which only T’shu­ vah can unlock.

JEWISH LIFE

The Yeshivah Alumnus And The Synagogue

By R A L P H P E L C O V IT Z

The yeshivah trained layman as a factor in com­ munity life . . . is his leadership potential being fulfilled?

OR lo these many years we have been told from pulpit, platform, and the printed word that the yeshivah-trained layman, be he business­ man, professional, or artisan, would some day transform the face of the Jewish community. The fruits of the yeshivoth would bring an infusion of new blood into the anemic, weakened arteries of traditional Judaism’s insti­ tutions and organizations. To a cer­ tain extent this optimistic vision and prophecy has been fulfilled. There is today a vibrancy, a vitality, and a sense of fresh energy to be found in the orthodox Jewish communal struc­ ture. We are indeed beginning to reap the harvest of a few decades of yeshi­ vah plantings.

Concomitant with this welcome and heartening trend some serious stock­ taking is in order — a little cheshbon hanefesh. Let us ask some pertinent and challenging questions. What is the relationship of the yeshivah-oriented and trained baal-habayis to the com­ munity synagogue? To what extent is his presence felt in the shool? What

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October, 1960

impact has he made on community projects which are an integral part and by-product of the shool? What unique role, if any, does he play in the syna­ gogue? In what manner is the rabbi, together with the synagogue member­ ship, affected by the appearance of this new species on the American Jewish scene?

A careful study of various commu­ nities where a concentration of yeshi­ vah alumni is found will reveal some strange and startling facts. True, a goodly number of yeshivah-trained laymen, among them some former practicing rabbis, are congregants of synagogues and do take an active part in community affairs. A sizeable group, however, carefully avoid the syna­ gogue and are conspicuous by their absence in many areas of community endeavor. They establish smaller pri­ vate minyonim or patronize a local shtibel. They avoid the synagogue, both as congregants and participants, though it should be noted that many are members in name only for rea­ sons best kno\vn to themselves and/or 35

the energetic membership chairman of the local synagogue. This abstention of yeshivah graduates from the synagogue results in a two-fold puzzlement.

strange behavior of isolation. Let us also explain the reasons for the deep disappointment and frustration felt by rabbis and synagogue leaders as a re­ sult of this detachment a n d ' non­ involvement.

NE confused individual is the HEN a young man who has lived “simple” baal-habayis who can­ O not understand why the learned and Wmany years in a yeshivah en­

pious young family man who lives1 vironment moves into the newer city down the street has isolated himself neighborhood or suburbia, he brings from the mainstream of the commu­ with him views and attitudes molded nity and its heart — the synagogue. and fostered in that milieu. Among He finds it difficult to comprehend them is a certain bitul, a belittlement this resistance to becoming an active and disparagement of the modern member of the wider Jewish commu­ manifestations of the American Jewish nity. Indeed, he wonders why this in­ community. A major target of this dividual does not assume a role of attitude is the Synagogue-Center. The leadership considering his Torah evolution of the modern shool into a knowledge, standard of observance, social center, with religious activity shunted to the periphery, is an image and spirit of piety.

The other perplexed person is the firmly embedded in the mind-eye of very subject of this puzzlement, name­ the yeshivah student. His negative, ly the yeshivah-trained layman. This almost antagonistic attitude borders on nice “yunger man” cannot understand contempt, coupled with a determina­ tion to escape this distasteful com­ why he should affiliate himself with a munal affiliation and identification. community synagogue. In many cases This image is not dispelled, alas, in a synagogue is not part of his back­ most cases and the alumnus, strength­ ground and he is frankly ill at ease ened in his preconceived prejudices, within its walls. This is due to the fact shuns the shool and strikes his com­ that during his youth he patronized munity roots elsewhere. either a shtibel or davened in the Beth He would be pained and shocked Hamidrosh of his alma mater. if one would intimate that his point He is nonplussed at the occasional of view is one that could be termed admonition leveled by rabbi or lay “peace unto my soul and a plague on leader, which he feels is an invasion all your houses.” It is so, nonetheless. of his privacy and freedom of choice. Secession may grant him comfort and These demands, that he become a con­ a cozy sense of superiority but it gregant, threaten to disrupt his com­ creates more problems than it solves. fortable little world; convenient min- Above all it is a shattering of the fond yon, little coterie of limud Torah cha- dream entertained for years by re­ verim, and a cozy state of detachment. sponsible Jewish leaders; namely that Let us, therefore, address ourselves some day the yeshivah-trained layman to both parties to this dilemma. Let us would revolutionize our synagogue and attempt to analyze the motivations, change the face of our communities; conscious and otherwise, of the ye­ within, not without, the framework of shivah alumnus resulting in this the synagogue.

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JEWISH LIFE

In addition to the antipathy en­ gendered in some yeshivoth toward the modern synagogue, regardless of its traditional structure and spirit, there is a characteristic of the yeshivah alumnus which serves as an added bar­ rier between himself and orientation to a shool. This implanted yeshivah trait is an impatience with pomp and cere­ mony, formality, and ritual. One who has participated in a so-called “yeshiva-davening” for many years in the beth-hamidrosh finds the average syna­ gogue services quite uncomfortable.

This service, with its attendant con­ gregational singing, sermon, lengthy Torah reading and insistence upon decorum, to name but a few encum­ brances, is distasteful and tedious to the yeshivah-trained worshipper.

There are other motivations which are perhaps not as apparent or dis­ cernible, nor are they, in all candid­ ness, usually admitted or expressed.

There may well be an understandable reluctance to do so. The talmid chochom, American style, finds it & mite unpleasant to be part of the mass, to be submerged and thereby lose his unique identity. He is disinclined to become indistinguishable from other members of the community.

This is, indeed, a form of intellec­ tual snobbery, stemming from a sense of religious and academic superiority.

Nonetheless, it is quite understandable and should be commiserated with rather than condemned. The yeshivah alumnus hungers for a degree of recognition. If a niche can be found for his talents he will usually emerge from his glorious isolation to receive this recognition and honor.

One should also mention in this connection an inherent unwillingness to accept the prosaic role of baalhabayis, for it is somehow difficult for him to accept authority and disOctober, 1960

cipline. It is paradoxical that the per­ son who gladly accepts the authority and discipline of Torah finds it so difficult to accept the disciplines of society and the community. Since this discipline is perforce mandatory in any reputable, responsible syna­ gogue it becomes a difficult obstacle, in the path of the yeshivah-trained layman, to overcome and surmount.

Maturity is desperately needed to ac­ cept the role and rule of rabbi and lay leadership. Unfortunately, maturity is a rare attribute in today’s world.

HE yeshivah bochur (incidentally, a properly chosen appellation if one accepts the concept of “you can take the bochur out of the yeshivah, but you can’t take the yeshivah out of the bochur”) often laments that he has infrequent opportunity for Torah study since his departure from the beth-midrosh walls. There is so little free time to learn due to the insistent demands of parnosah. We therefore find that a major reason presented for davening with a quick, small minyon (short-order style) is to grant one a few additional precious Shabboth hours for limud Torah. In all fairness there are quite a number who do utilize this found time for the noble purpose of Torah study.

The embarrassing fact, which in quite a number of other cases trans­ forms this seemingly valid reason into a weak excuse, is the convivial weekly “home and home” Kiddush schedule.

This phenomenon, which unfortu­ nately is not rare, finds our scholar arriving home at a later hour than would be the case had he attended the synagogue with its lengthy services.

One final objection to synagogue participation, often heard, is that most synagogues are run by a few rich men which Would place the sincere, observ-

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ant layman in the untenable position of fighting a lonely, hopeless battle against these vested interests. The reasoning is that if he would attempt to introduce his unique high standards into the shod he would be in the unenviable position of being outnumbered, out­ weighed, and outvoted. Is it not true, the argument goes, that the majority, of synagogue members are not really interested in changing the mediocrity of standards and values as manifested in the synagogue of today? The secu­ lar, banal activity of Men’s Club, Sisterhood, and Couples Club will not allow itself to be replaced by Torah study, cultural activities, and strength­ ening of authentic Jewish practices within the Synagogue-Center. The needs of the elite few will be engulfed in the wants of the many.

Although these are strong and valid objections, they do not justify, in our opinion, the rejection of the syna­ gogue with the resultant establishment of splinter groups.

The yeshivah alumnus should con­ sider the possibility that in his abject surrender to the “inevitable” triumph of the mediocrity of the many and vested power of the few, he has made no real, concerted effort to revolution­ ize the modern orthodox synagogue.

This should be his special responsi­ bility, a challenge to be faced, not avoided. It is often true in a shool, as it is in the political area, that if one vote is not counted it is not neces­ sarily due to the fact that he is denied a vote, but simply because he has failed to register. He may well have disenfranchised himself!

In all affiliation one must realize that it is not the solemn assignment of rights and duties but the seizing of opportunities which result in the great­ est victories. This is no less true in a 38

synagogue than it is in any organized group. That today’s synagogues are rife with golden opportunities awaiting an elite, knowledgeable, dedicated, committed group, none will deny— unless he has refused to acquaint him­ self with the elementary facts of con­ temporary Jewish community life. It is difficult at times not to conclude that some of our fine religious Jews are innocent of what really is transpir­ ing in the synagogue world. The image they have created is oft a very be­ clouded one, resulting from lack of close observation and involvement.

Distance may well dim perspective; it should not be permitted to distort it.

E HAVE addressed ourselves now to the motivations, admitted or otherwise, prompting the yeshivah alumnus in his negative attitude to­ ward the community synagogue. Let us now present the case for the syna­ gogue. Why is the shool so important and why should the yeshivah graduate be congregant, member, and partici­ pant and leader?

With the destruction of the Temple and dispersion of the Jews, the Beth Hak’nesseth became the miniature sanctuary. For thousands of years the shool has been the center, the merkaz, the hub around which revolves all community activity. From it emanates all positive Jewish endeavor. It is the second home of the religious Jew; his meeting place, government house, club house, and study hall, all con­ centrated in one structure. In modem times the synagogue is still that vehicle which can best initiate, execute, and implement all positive projects. Chinuch, Tzedokah, Kashruth, Mikvah, these are all channeled through a united Kehillah functioning through the synagogue.

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JEWISH LIFE

Much criticism has been leveled lately against the modem synagoguecenter for relegating its authentic Jew­ ish activity to an insignificant comer, while the social, athletic, and quasicultural projects are granted priority and enjoy far greater popularity. This unfortunately is true in many cases.

This sad state of affairs will be cor­ rected, we submit, only if a group of intelligent, Jewishly-committed young

cep ted sense of the word. In the past, the affluence and social position of a synagogue’s membership set the tone and determined the status of that in­ stitution in the community. Today, however, we have the unique oppor­ tunity of establishing a new kind of prestige through the medium of the Jewish calibre and quality of a synagogue’s membership. Observant, learned, American-reared orthodox

men and women are prepared to make their voice heard and their presence felt. This is the first and foremost challenge which confronts our yeshivah products. Many have fortu­ nately risen to the challenge and successfully transformed the syna­ gogue into a miniature sanctuary.

Many more, alas, have unfortunately evaded their responsibility to the detri­ ment of K’lal Yisroel.

The presence of this elite element lends dignity and stature to a syna­ gogue, though not in the usual, ac-

Jewish men and women bring to a synagogue a unique character which cannot be duplicated by other “de­ nominations” in Jewish life. Our brethren in the deviationist camps can certainly surpass us when the yard­ stick used is that of wealth and social position. They cannot hope to compete with us, in terms of prestige, if we can present to the world a picture of synagogues comprised of dedicated, committed, and loyally observant Jew­ ish families. Therein lies our greatest strength. How heart-breaking, there-

October, 1960

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How often it comes to pass that the religious elements chastise and censure the rabbi for allowing certain ques­ tionable practices and innovations to be introduced into the synagogue. How tragic that these same pious, sincere HE mediocre standards of the individuals were not present or suffi­ modem synagogue, this source of ciently interested to be involved at the great lamentation and criticism, could1 moment of battle when these policies be elevated through the transfusion of were introduced. It is far more impor­ tant to participate in the righteous yeshivah-trained laymen. Their affili­ struggle than to strike a pose of selfation would emphatically enhance the righteousness after the battle has been dignity and set the tone for the syna­ gogue. Let us even be so bold as to lost.

What is so often overlooked by submit that the rabbi would also yeshivah graduates is the effect of grow in Torah and chochmah if he their detachment upon their own chil­ had to meet the constant challenge of dren. What attitude toward kehillah, a Jewishly intelligent, learned congre­ rav, communal responsibility, and gation. Too often does the promising unity is fostered when children are intellect and fresh thinking of the withdrawn from the main stream of young rabbi become atrophied, pre­ the Jewish community in which they maturely stale, and trite due to the live? Certainly this is an integral part lack of challenge from his congregants. of chinuch, on a par with formal Apropos of this thought, let us sub­ academic education. The self-suffi­ mit an argument which may not be ciency, real or imagined, which is the too readily appreciated by the ye­ “ blessing” of the father may not shivah-trained layman. I refer to the adequately be visited upon the sons. example which he sets for others in By this we mean, what guarantee is the congregation. The average layman there that those of the next generation looks to the learned element for his will be properly trained to take their cue in determining his degree of places in the Jewish community of derech eretz to shool and rabbi. If this their choice, once they leave the homes derech eretz is forthcoming from the and shtibelach in which they have elite element it has its beneficial effects been reared? Where shall they turn in upon the congregation as a whole. their shtibel-less suburbia for anchor­ Conversely, when the yeshivah alum­ age, affiliation, and identification? We nus is indifferent or at times even have already, unfortunately, seen the discourteous to the spiritual leadership glimmer of an answer in present-day of the synagogue he must accept the communities. It would seem that when onus of diminishing the respect of the child is not trained to have a others who look to him for guidance. healthy regard for an orthodox shool; The hands of the rabbi would cer­ when there is discrimination engen­ tainly be greatly strengthened in guard­ dered vis-a-vis the traditional syna­ ing the pristine traditional character of gogue, he cannot be discriminating the shool if there were but a nucleus when the time comes for his syna­ of strongly committed and articulate gogue choice. This has been proven orthodox laymen in the congregation. to the delight of the Conservative

fore, to witness this strength dissipated through fragmentation and splintering.

Only when united in the synagogue can this force be felt, heard, and re­ spected by the entire community.

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JEWISH LIFE

To anticipate the inevitable ques­ tion, “Is the shool really the most important institution in a community?”

NE FINAL, most important point. we hasten to state that there are The Jew who is a congregant of doubtless other areas more important a synagogue is constantly exposed to —education and Taharath Hamishideas, causes, and projects. He may pochah, to mention but two. However, react positively or negatively but he is our thesis is that the building and aware of the community’s problems, maintaining of a day school can best needs, hopes, and aspirations. Not be accomplished through an aware, only the community’s, but that of the dedicated group of men and women Jewish world—at home and abroad. who are guided and directed from and His very presence in shool compels his through the shool. A mikvah project involvement and this exposure makes emanates from synagogue leaders and him a responsible, sensitive, respond­ the rabbi. The atmosphere so neces­ ing Jew. How tragic to witness some of sary for the success of these projects is the finest material we possess delib­ created by and through the synagogue. erately withdrawing themselves into a The vehicle best suited for all impor­ ^'sound-proof, insulated, and isolated tant endeavors—religious, educational, group. They are not exposed to the or philanthropic—is still the shool. rabbi, to the appeals committee, the Support of yeshivoth, of Israel, of all youth, and limud Torah committees. Torah projects, is rallied through the The voice of Israel does not penetrate shool. Yes, there are more important their self-imposed barriers—and the institutions, but it is difficult to con­ community’s needs and problems are ceive of their establishment and main­ conveniently sealed out. What horrible tenance without the synagogue as the waste—the finest minds, the most sen­ central recruitment center of mo­ sitive ears, and the wisest hearts shut, mentum, money, arid manpower. closed, and dulled. The price for con­ venient, comfortable, self-righteous, WISE MAN once said, “Friends gracious living is a most exorbitant are not made, they are recog­ one! On the other hand the price for acceptance of responsibility and com­ nized.” An even wiser man, Solomon, munity participation would be small in said: As in water face answereth face; comparison—namely the sacrifice of so the heart of man to man (Proverbs 27:19). One’s reflection in water is vanity and pride.

Let it be made clear that the natural blurred and unclear, unless you bend desire for a continued chavruthah, for down and take a look. So it is if you companionship of yeshivah-leit, is com­ wish to see your reflection in the pat­ mendable and need not be abandoned. tern of the community. One must It is beneficial and laudable. It should bend down a bit and take a long, however not be to the exclusion of careful look. If he does so, he will the synagogue. It should supplement— recognize his many friends there—and not supplant. Better yet—the chav­ above all he will recognize and find ruthah could well be the means of himself. One is tempted to say to our bringing the beth-hamidrosh back into yeshivah products, “Bend down a bit, and come on in—the water’s fine!” the shool—to the benefit of all. suburban temples and to our chagrin and shame.

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VOICE OF THE SHOFOR "And the v o ice of the Shofor w a s w a x in g louder and louder."

This w a s a good om en, for w h erever the Shofor is m en tion ed in the S acred W ritings, it au gu rs w e ll for Israel. And a m on g hum an b e in g s, the more the sou n d of a v o ice is prolon ged the w ea k er it b ecom es; but at S in a i the v o ice b e c a m e stronger the lon ger it la sted . It w a s softer at first so that the ear m ight g et a c c u s­ tom ed to h earin g it.

M echilta TEN Rosh H ashon ah w a s formerly ob served b y the sacrifice of ten an im als, correspon ding to the ten d eclaration s b y w h ich the world w a s created , the Ten D a y s of P en iten ce, an d the Ten C om m andm ents. S in ce the destruction of the T em ple, w e su b ­ stitute in the A dditional S ervice ten v e rses con cern in g the Lord's S o v ereig n ty of the u n iverse, ten con cern in g H is rem em brance of all d e e d s, an d ten con cern in g the Shofar, so u n d ed at Sin ai.

P esik ta R abbati THE LIGHTED WAY "Keep, O m y son , the com m andm ent of thy father, and reject not thé te a ch in g of thy mother. Bind them upon thy heart con ­ tinually, tie them abou t thy throat. W hen thou w a lk est, it sh all le a d thee; w h en thou lie st dow n, it sh a ll w atch over thee; and w h en thou art a w a k e it sh a ll con verse w ith thee. For the com ­ m andm ent is a lam p, and the la w is light; an d the adm on ition s of correction are the w a y of life." (Proverbs 6:20-23) This is a n a lo g o u s to a m an w a lk in g on a path during the d e e p of night, afraid of the thorns an d the th istles and the pitfalls, of w ild b e a sts and robbers — and he d o e s not know w h ich road to pu rsue. S u d d en ly a lig h ted torch co m es into h is p o sse ssio n , an d h e is s a v e d from the thorns and the this­ tles and the pitfalls, but is still fearful of the w ild b e a sts and the robbers, and d o e s not know w h ich road to take. Then d aw n breaks, an d h e is s a v e d from the w ild b e a sts and the robbers, y e t h e still k n ow s not w h ich road to pu rsue — until he r ea c h e s the crossroad s (at w h ich there is a g u id e-p o st), and he is d eliv ered from all the d an gers. (R abbi N achm an bar Isa a c d e c la r es that the "crossroads" m e a n s a scholar w ho is sin -fearin g).

Talm ud, Sotah 21 a

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JEWISH LIFE

The Halochah

By D A V ID S. S H A P IR O

HE WORD “Halochah,” which purpose and meaning be imposed represents a concept central in upon the multitude of man’s deeds, T Jewish religious life, conies from the thoughts, and feelings? root haloch—to walk. It could best be translated as “walking” or “path.”

The Halochah has been the all-domi­ nating force in Jewish life for thou­ sands of years, and has fashioned the unique character of the historic Jew­ ish personality. Just as the creative word of G-d crystallized patterns and configurations out of the primeval chaos, separated between light and darkness, between the higher and the lower, and created vegetation, fruit trees, and an infinite variety of crea­ tures, so the word of G-d which embodied itself in the Halochah penetrates into the chaos of human experience, conquers its savagery, sub­ dues its tempestuousness, sets limits, bounds, and standards.

Man walks upon earth filled with passions and urges, drives and in­ stincts, spurred on by hopes and de­ sires, both demonic and divine, noble and sordid. This creature works, acts, and creates; he eats and drinks, he multiplies and increases; he rests and sleeps and seeks recreation; he loves and hates, he ponders and meditates; he talks and is silent; he believes and denies; he is fearful and impudent, elated and depressed. How can law and order be introduced into the con­ fusion of human existence? How can October, 1960

The Halochah bears this colossal task of subordinating the life of man, with its manifold manifestations under its rule, introducing order into man’s life, giving it direction, and making it meaningful. The Halochah raises man out of the confusion and disorder of the primeval wilderness to the breadth and expanses, the certainty and the clarity, of the eternal paths.

This is the meaning of “Halochah”— the “path,” the “road,” for without it man is lost and can find no path in life.

HAT great Jewish Sage, the Chofetz Chaim, used to say: “How happy is the Jew when he gets up in the morning and finds the Shulchon Oruch open before him to direct him and to show him the right course to follow during the day.” It might be objected that this way of life im­ plies a denial of freedom. Yet is not the fashioning of life in conformity with an ideal pattern in itself a sub­ lime artistic composition, the product of the highest human freedom? This is the task of man—to fashion and create by himself the image of G-d upon earth, to fill his life with the sublimest content.

The artistic creator, the author,

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must conform to the rules of his art.

The rules of composition and counter­ point must govern musical composi­ tion. The laws of painting and sculp­ ture must be mastered by the artist.

The poet also has rules of versification by which he must abide. Yet what are the sculptures of Phidias and Michaelangelo, the paintings of Raphael and Rembrandt, the symphonies of Bee­ thoven and Brahms, the dramas of Shakespeare and Goethe, in compari­ son with this supreme creation which links man and G-d and is so gloriously described in the immortal words of Rabbi Meir in Pirkey Ovoth: “Whosoever labors in the Torah for its own sake merits many things; and not only so, but the whole world is of worth for his sake: he is called friend, beloved, a lover of the All-present, a lover of G-d’s creatures; it clothes him in meekness and reverence; it fits him to become just, pious, upright, and faithful; it keeps him far from sin and draws him near to virtue; through him the world enjoys counsel and sound knowledge; it gives him sovereignty and domination and discerning judge­ ment; to him the secrets of Torah are revealed; he is made like a neverfailing fountain, and like a river that flows on with ever sustained vigor; he becomes modest, patient, and forgiving of insults; and it magnifies and exalts him above all things.”

If the categorical imperative of phi­ losophy is “Know yourself,” the cate­ gorical imperative of the Halochah is: “Re-shape yourself.”

HE TERM “Halochah,” it seems, has its origin in the Biblical ex­ T pression: To walk in the ways of G-d . . . walk after the Lord your G-d (Devorim 13:5), to walk in His statutes (Ezekiel 36:27), to walk in the fear of G-d (Nehemiah 5:9), to walk in His commandments (2 Chronicles 17:4). The reverse of this 44

“halochah” is walking after other godsf not walking in the way of G-d (2 Kings 21:22), walking in the sins (2 Kings 13:6). Halochah, then, is walking in thê ways of G-d, follow­ ing His commandments. The implica­ tion of this term is that there is a way of life (which, by the way, may be another way of translating Halo­ chah) which is ordained by G-d. To follow this path is “Halochah.” In following this path man walks after G-d, he lives up to the Divine at­ tributes and becomes most G-d-like.

The task of man is designated in the first chapter of Bereshith, where it is stated that man is created in the image of G-d. The statement implies not only a fact but a task. As Philo phrased it, “Hasten, my spul, to be­ come the image of G-d.”

The “creation in the image” simply implies a potentiality. To be like G-d means to be creative, to dominate the earth and build life and civilization upon it, to control the powers of na­ ture and divert them into constructive channels. But above all, the task of man is to subdue the pressure of his own demonic forces, to transform the savage into a man, and in every way to embody the divine qualities in his life. “After the Lord your G-d you shall go. How can man go after G-d?

Is it not written, For the Lord thy G-d is a consuming fire? What is actu­ ally meant is this: Just as G-d is mer­ ciful, so be thou merciful; just as He is gracious, so be thou gracious; just as He feeds the poor, heals the sick, clothes the naked, buries the dead, so do thou likewise. The Torah begins with deeds of graciousness and ends with deeds of graciousness. It begins with G-d serving as an example by clothing the naked, and ends with the example of G-d burying the dead” (Talmud Bavli, Sotah 14:2).

JEWISH LIFE

OW can man, the creature of selfinterest, who can never escape the vicious circle of the pleasure and pain principle, how can he learn to do godd? Whatever man does, even the noblest of his deeds, is grounded in self-satisfaction ?jfr whatever man does, even undergoing martyrdom, is based upon the satisfaction and pleasure it gives him above other things—how can he learn to escape the circle of self-interest in the nar­ row and destructive sense into a selfinterest which is broad and compre­ hensive and redounds to the greatest good to all of G-d’s children and all His creatures? Instead of the imme­ diate, to seek the far-reaching, and be ready to make sacrifices for the greater goal; to seek pleasure not in passing sensations but in seeking the good and happiness of all. All this is the purpose of education. However, unlike learning a trade, rather like acquiring proficiency in a profession or an art, education toward selfmastery is a task which is never com­ pleted. We must be on constant alert lest we slip. We are engaged in an endless struggle. The nearer we are (or think we are) to our goal, the greater the need for care, the more watchfulness is necessary, because we can be carried away with our own sense of self-importance. Our appre­ ciation of our virtues can lead us into disaster. “The urges of self-centered­ ness grow stronger within us each day, and the greater we are the more temptations confront us” (Sukkah 52:2) . Man needs not only a goal but a pedagogic medium. It is thus that Halochah becomes not merely the goal, “walking in the way of G-d,” but also the propadeutic, “walking in His commandments.”

Man is presumably the only crea­ ture who possessses conscious mem-

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October, 1960

ory. He can recall an event at will.

An annual responds mechanically to situations (or basically so). But be­ cause man’s memory is controlled by the conscious (as well as the uncon­ scious) he can also conveniently for­ get. He forgets what he wants to forget, just as he can recall what he wants to recall. Above all, the re­ sponsibilities that maturity imposes are most easily forgotten when the individual wants to fall back into the pattern of “walking in the way of his heart,” doing what he would like to do rather than what his obligations as a member of society require of him.

Man may strive to be like, G-d, and it is his duty, in the light of Judaism, to strive to the life of imitatio Dei. This aspiration, however, is also not free of hazards. The serpent also directs man to this goal: Then you will be like G-d (Bereshith 3:15).

When man thinks that he is on the verge of being G-d he opens his eyes and discovers that he is completely naked. Striving to be like G-d because man is G-d—this is stark paganism.

Striving to realize the utmost of man’s ethical capacities because G-d is ethi­ cal and holy—this is Judaism. Man in striving to imitate G-d as treading on dangerous ground. Holy shall ye be, for holy am I the Lord your G-d (Vayikra 19:2). The Rabbis take the last words as an admonition: “Re­ member My holiness is unattainable by you” (Sifra, ibid.). In striving to live the G-d-like life man must never forget that he is a creature of dust and ashes. Of this, man, who is proud, needs constant reminders.

HE HALOCHAH is not a set of counsels giving man advice. The T Halochah is an imperative. It is law tfi-whether enforceable by courts or not, G-d’s law for man. Halochah is 45

the goal and the medium. Man is free to accept or to reject it. But in ac­ cepting it he accepts life; in rejecting it he accepts death. Behold I place before thee life and death, good and evil, and thou shalt choose life (Devorim 30:19).

The Halochah is not easy; it is not always comfortable. But what disci­ pline is easy? And since when is life synonymous with comfort? Life means struggle and hardship, and the struggle with our own self to attain this mature control and mastery over ourselves is the most difficult of battles. To pre­ sume that the Halochah, the most important educational instrument in the hands of man, is to be easier than preparing for a career, easier than doing homework, is preposterous.

Man rises in the morning facing a long day ahead of him—a day of struggle and conflict. There will be many opportunities for lying, for de­ ceit, for self-advancement by stepping on someone, for biting remarks at someone else’s expense, for yielding to temptations, for running away from serious tasks to seek some cheap dis­ tractions. One false step may deflect an individual from the accomplish­ ment of life’s task. The false step in the life of King David is evidence of the truth of this proposition. The com­ ing day is full of promise and full of pitfalls, regardless of the weather.

How shall an individual face the day?

HEN there are emotional atti­ tudes. There may be one who arises with a heroic feeling: he is ready to conquer the world. Another person may be disheartened, discour­ aged. Another may be apathetic. The Halochah faces the individual with its iron, self-imposed discipline and directs him to his proper goals and sets him in a position to do his day’s

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task in a spirit of dedication, hope, and trust, knowing that he cannot con­ quer the world, but that he can do something with himself, and also per­ haps serve his fellows, and thereby perform the Will of his Father in Heaven. The Halochah thus opens up with a call upon man to ^strengthen himself like a lion and rise before dawn to the service of G-d” (Orach Chayim).

The Mishnah commences with die commandment to proclaim the unity of G-d every evening. In order for man to act he must know not only how to act but why he should act in a specified manner. The ideological grounds for behavior as well as basic loyalties must constantly be renewed.

The Halochah never contents itself with assumptions that everything is well with man and that we must let him rest content with the laurels he has acquired. Man’s memory must constantly be refreshed, his loyalties constantly strengthened. Otherwise there will be forgetfulness and falling into a routine of inertia. There must always be arousal and awakening.

The Halochah is concerned with action, with training, with discipline.

It stresses the effect of repetitive ac­ tion upon the personality. But above all it emphasizes the importance of study. The supreme duty of man is the study of the Torah, which means nothing other than the making of one­ self aware of one’s obligations as a human being. This awareness can be achieved by constant meditation over the problems of human life. The proper study of mankind is man, said Alexander Pope. The Halochah agrees but it adds: and man’s duties. The Halochah makes this objective the theme of man’s never-ending studies.

Halochah is not theology but rather anthropology—the knowledge of man, JEWISH LIFE

as Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch said of Judaism as a whole. Halochah thus means not only the practice of the life of discipline but also the study of how to lead a life of discipline.

The Halochah encourages the ask­ ing of questions for the determination of what is right and wrong, of how to conduct one’s life under varying circumstances. Thus Halachic prob­ lems which have seemingly been solved in the past are being constantly reviewed in the endless Responsa literature in every generation.

HE Halachic way of life is in direct contrast to the Christian notion that faith can of itself induce righteousness, benevolence, and love.

Faith is barren if it is not immediately put to the test of action, and talking about love cannot achieve love. Love grows rather through loving actions than through loving words.

The Halochah has succeeded in cre­ ating a people that embodied the dis­ ciplines of civilization in its life to an unprecedented extent. Through the technique of practice and repetition the Halochah has made Israel a people zealously devoted to G-d and the moral law.

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The story is told that Rabbi Joshua ben Hananya once had a discussion with the Rojpaan emperor Hadrian, who maintained that he was greater than Moses, for he was alive and Moses was dead. The Rabbi told him that the dead Moses was far more effective than the living Hadrian: the way to test this would be for the emperor to issue an order that no one in Rome kindle a fire for one day. The order was issued, and in the evening Hadrian went up to the roof of his palace and noticed lights burn­ ing in a number of places. Upon his enquiry^ different excuses were given as to why5the emperor’s order was not obeyed, “Do you not see,” the Rabbi told the emperor, “that the power of Moses is far more effective; for have you ever seen a Jew kindle a fire on the Sabbath?” (Midrosh Ruth Rabbah, 3) This story demonstrates effectively the power of Halochah, a voluntary discipline accepted by the Jewish peo­ ple, and its effect upon Jewish life.

That this Halochah has been the most powerful tool for true civilization— the embodiment of the Divine quali­ ties in human life—to that our history amply testifies.

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JEWISH LIFE

YEAR ... in books »

With the passing of summer and the advent of the New Year our thoughts turn once again to the “business of living” — Jewish living, which means (among other things) good Jewish reading. And once again, the UOJCA Book Service stands ready to bring you the best in both traditional and contemporary Jewish literature. . . .

1. GUARDIANS OF OUR HERITAGE (1724-1953) Edited by Dr. Leo Jung A collection of biographical essays on the life and work of 29 outstanding religious leaders, saints and scholars prominent in Torah-true Judaism. $6.00 2. VISTAS FROM MT. MORIAH

by Leo Levi An eminent contemporary Jewish scientist views Judaism and the world. Evaluates modern ideol­ ogies in the light of the Torah and presents analogous Torah approach to the same social and human problems; cites the attitudes of Jewish authorities on rationalism, science, beauty and art; describes the harmony between the Torah and this world. A thought-provoking work. $3.50 3. THE JEWISH FESTIVALS

by Rabbi Dr. S. M. Lehrman This book, by the well-known London rabbi, in addition to explaining the various laws and customs associated with each, stresses the ethical values and national significance of the Sabbath and the holidays. Fifth fully revised edition. $3.00 4. THE PENTATEUCH AND HAFT0RAHS Edited by Rabbi Dr. J. H. Hertz The complete Hebrew text of the Chumash, with an English translation and commentary prepared under the direction of the late Chief Rabbi of the British Empire. New Soncino edition, with Haftoroth for Festivals and Fast Days.

1 Volume $8.50 October, 1960

These are just a few of the exciting and useful works available to you through the UOJCA Book Service. For a complete listing of titles, send for our latest catalogue.

EXTRA ADVANTAGES • Convenience in ordering • 1 0 % discount on all orders over $10.00 • Prepaid orders shipped postage-paid • Special committee selects the best, most reliable, most informative and interesting material available to the traditional-minded Jewish reader today.

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49

A Story

Victory - Alm ost - A t P.T. A.

By S H O L O M

AM an efficiency expert. I fix things ¡J- like broken businesses, sick corporations—that sort of thing.

And, if I may say so without undue immodesty, I’m pretty good. I make a lot of money for the people I work for, but enough for myself, too. I know how to charge, and my services are worth it. .

I don’t really have to blow my own whistle. You can ask Rabbi Israel Isaacson, of the South Beach Day School. Rabbi Isaacson and I had a close relationship for a year or two, for until recently I was in the day school business.

If it seems strange to you to think of an efficiency expert in a day school, you have company. It seemed strange to me, too.

South Beach was a new school, a product of the fast-growing Island community where I had taken up residence. As our children reached school age, we decided to send them to a day school rather than public school. It was an advantage I had not had. The kids loved it—talked about it all the time.

Kids talk. You know how it is, with commuting, early to leave, late to get home, no chance to talk to your wife—you hardly hear what they are saying. But it so happened that

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S T A IM A N

I was between jobs. You get that way in my business, if you’re good. You work yourself right out of jobs. At any rate, I had time to listen to the children, and I heard things I didn’t like.

They were little things, but when they were added up there was a hint of disorganization and a suggestion of inefficiency; things that to a prac­ ticed nose smelled like trouble. The possibility that my children were not getting all they should in the way of education, added to a little leisure time, led me to visit the school.

WAS ushered into Rabbi Isaacson’s office. The principal dug himself out from under a mound of paper work to shake hands. He was short and plump, with white hair and a short white beard framing a round face. The face wore a jolly smile, but the smile hid a harried look. I was soon to understand why.

The troubles I had sniffed out were all too quickly evident, as Rabbi Isaacson proved eager to pour out his woes to a sympathetic ear. An excel­ lent educator, I was later to find, he found the tasks of running the school far too much in addition to his teach­ ing duties. Matters had somehow pro­ ceeded from awful to even worse, and

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JEWISH LIFE

the school was in a tangle that seemed, to him, impossible of solution. Rabbi Isaacson had called upon the Board of Directors for help but had suc­ ceeded only in getting them to share his worries. Good teachers are hard to get, and the problems seemed insurmountable.

The Rabbi finished his tale of woe.

“Maybe,” he turned to me with an im­ ploring smile, “you have a solution?”

Well, an efficiency expert without a solution isn’t much of an expert.

And I am, so I scratched my head just a bit and came up with an answer.

The answer was a little crazy, but it came out before I had too much chance to think about it. I offered to run the school for him and let him get back to teaching, provided the Board would see fit to pay me a reason­ able salary. After all, much as I’d like to, I can’t work for nothing. It would be beneath my professional dignity.

The Rabbi was delighted with the idea, but he shook his head sadly. He, of course, could not hire me. And the Board, having trouble enough with current budget problems, would never consent to another salary.

“Let me talk to the Board,” I told Rabbi Isaacson. So he set up a meet­ ing, and I briefly outlined my plans to the directors. I could see the in­ terest stirring, for the Board was cog­ nizant of the problems they faced.

Then the question of salary came up.

I named a figure. Came the explosion.

For a moment it looked as if our negotiations were to come to a sudden and untimely end. But this job had become a challenge that I could not pass up. I made an offer.

“I’ll tell you what,” I said. “You pay me the salary I asked, and if at the end of the year I haven’t saved the school twice that figure, I don’t collect a cent.”

October, 1960

That clinched it, of course. Nobody can pass up a deal like that, which is why I am able to keep on working.

This is a sales talk I use all the time, except that I don’t tie on that moneyback guarantee. And this is the first time I’d tried it with a non-profit or­ ganization. Oh, well, it is not the easy things that are the most worthwhile. I had a job.

HE SCHOOL hired me not as a principal, of course. While my arithmetic is pretty good, I know from beans about the rest of the subjects.

And if it had been academic anemia from which South Beach had been suffering, I was scarcely the man to rescue it.

On the contrary, Rabbi Isaacson, once given the opportunity to teach and to supervise teaching, proved to be a top-notch educator. And, with my new title of Administrator, I set out to make the South Beach Day School act like a going business.

I did a good job. I cut corners, I straightened out unnecessary curves, I played pirate when absolutely neces­ sary, and it all worked out very well.

There is no need to ply you with de­ tails, nor am I inclined to hand out too many secrets of my success, so much of the inside story must remain untold. But there is one example I’m rather proud of. I traded a left-hand pitcher for half a faculty.

Myron Bloom fancied himself a history teacher. He was one of the youngest members of the South Beach faculty, and not a glorious success as a teacher. He was, however, an abso­ lute whiz on the playground. His southpaw pitching was a sight to be­ hold. This is a kid that had it if I ever saw it—and I’ve seen it. I may not quite qualify as a scout, but base­ ball is one of my strong points.

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51

The strange thing about Myron was that he had absolute confidence in his teaching ability and no con­ fidence at all in his ball-playing. I tried to talk him into trying professional baseball as a career.

“Naw,” said Myron, time and again.

“I’m a teacher, not a pitcher.”

“Tell you what,” I countered, for it was time for a special something to dissolve the stalemate. “Myron, if I can get you a job in the big leagues with a bonus, will you split the bonus money fifty-fifty with the school?”

Myron Bloom guffawed. “You bet,” he said. “Just go ahead and get me the job.” Then he guffawed some more.

I pulled some of the strings I have hidden away for such purposes, and I got Myron two tryouts. He signed with the Boston Red Sox for $65,000 bonus. Actually, Cincinnati offered him $5,000 more, but Boston gave him written permission in the contract to be absent on Shabbos and holidays.

So the school lost $2,500, but in a good cause.

You’ve heard plenty of Myron since. He’s the new sensation of the American League, and the Yankees are still bitterly muttering something about “territorial rights.” In the mean­ time, our young windfall, while not a million dollar endowment, helped no end in attracting some real talent to the South Beach staff.

ITH the new teachers and the new procedures, our school was soon humming as a model of effi­ ciency. The Board has assured me that if ever I want another job, I shall have the highest of references. And needless to say, I did collect my salary.

Rabbi Isaacson had completely lost his harried look, and was happy in­ deed in his teaching duties.

It was at this time that he ap­

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52

proached me with the suggestion that I take over liaison with the ParentTeachers Association. “It’s nothing much,” he said, “they only meet once a month.” * I was full of magnanimity. My job had become easy—was almost done, if the truth must be told. I had lots of time, and the Rabbi had been pretty decent to me. “Why not?” I said. “One meeting a month can’t hurt me. Just tell me what I have to do.”

Rabbi Isaacson was visibly pleased.

“All you have to do is sort of keep parents happy and preside at the monthly meetings.”

“Preside?” I questioned with sur­ prised “Don’t they have a president?”

“Well, yes, they have a president, but we’ve found that it works out more satisfactorily this way. You’ll understand better when you have more experience—it’s a difficult thing to explain. And thank you, my boy, many times thank you. You have no idea how much I appreciate being re­ lieved of this little chore.”

I found out. I understand better, as he said I would. Really, it’s my own fault, I have no one to blame but myself. If as a parent I had bothered to attend a P.T.A. meeting, I would have known.

It’s a worthwhile experience, at­ tending P.T.A. meetings, at least at South Beach. Even if you’re not a member of the community, stop in some time, just for kicks. You’ll learn something.

Probably the first thing you’ll learn is what a zany gang we parents are.

No wonder Rabbi Isaacson wanted out. As a matter of fact, wishing this job off on me is the only devious thing I’ve known the old boy to do, and I hold no hard feelings. I’d have done it a lot quicker, given the least opportunity.

JEWISH LIFE

The first thing I found out is why the president doesn’t preside. It’s be­ cause they have greater need for a referee to keep the peace. And keep­ ing the peace in that group, armed only with a gavel, was, to put it charitably, a losing proposition. I think perhaps Rabbi Isaacson held them in check somewhat by means of his respected position. With a rookie in the chair, they went wild.

Y first meeting featured Mrs. M Solomon vs. the group, in the episode of the fleishige lunches.. We have a cafeteria, of limited sorts. We do an ample job of giving our students a good, nourishing dairy lunch. This is about the limit of our physical capa­ bilities in this direction. It should be rather easy to understand to the person of normal intelligence.

Mrs. Solomon was on her feet at the echo of “new business.” “I make a motion,” she solemnly intoned, “that we have fleishigs for lunch on Tues­ days and Thursdays.”

The chair—I, that is, and quite new to the job—smiled kindly and quite reasonably explained that the idea, however desirable, was most im­ practical, since it would require an­ other kitchen, for which we had neither space nor funds. I emphasized the latter, rather smugly feeling that the blow to the pocketbook would put out any remaining fires.

No such thing. Mrs. Solomon was quite unmoved. “Young man,” she said, “you have a lot to learn. The difficult we do today, the impossible we do tomorrow, and I am willing to wait until next week to start this program.

We are a young school, and we have to start off to do things right. My hus­ band and I, we like to eat fleishigs at noon on Tuesday and Thursday, and milchigs in the evening. Now if our October, 1960

children eat the opposite, we are go­ ing to be all mixed up at home. TTiis is not the function of a good school.

I demand action on my motion.”

The only reason the motion was seconded was that Mr. Solomon was present and rose to do so on the urg­ ing of a sharp elbow. Then Mr. Horowitz asked for the floor.

“You talk about kitchens and money,” said this financial pillar of our school. “This is not a question of kitchens or money. We can build three kitchens if we want. But we don’t want. Fleishigs at lunch time is poison.

It puts you to sleep. If we feed our children fleishige lunches, we will make dopey students. Nobody will ever graduate and the school will get overcrowded. Hurray for milchigs!”

This is for real. It went on and on, and louder and louder, Mrs. Solomon against the mob. I was to learn that this was standard operating procedure.

The question was finally resolved, and I give myself credit in effecting the compromise solution. Mrs. Solo­ mon’s children were to be allowed to carry their own fleishige lunches and eat them in the classrooms. The mo­ tion was passed and my first crisis was over.

A few weeks later I stopped by at lunch time to see how the Solomon children were making out. They sat in the corner of the classroom, ob­ viously enjoying their meal.

“What are you eating?” I inquired.

“Salmon croquette sandwiches,” they chorused.

I started. “Oh?” I said. “Something different today, eh?”

“Oh no,” they replied. “We always have this. We love it!”

I lost no time getting on the phone to their mother. “Mrs. Solomon,” I cried, “after all that fuss your chil­ dren are eating milchigs?”

53

“Not at all, they’re eating fleishigs.”

“Salmon croquette sandwiches?

Fleishigs?”

“Certainly, young man. I fry them in chicken fat, and put pareve mar­ garine on the bread.”

I was floored. This was something new to me, perhaps to the world. The kids did seem to be enjoying them­ selves. Maybe Jewish cookery was

about to present a new meichel to the world to stand alongside of chopped liver and bagels and lox.

“Oh,” I said, somewhat subdued.

“You mean they’re better that way?”

“No, they’re about the same.”

“Then why, oh why, bother to make them fleishig?”

Mrs. Solomon was utterly exas­ perated. “Young man,” she snorted, “can’t you understand anything? I spent a whole evening explaining to you that when I’m fleishig I want my kids to be fleishig, and by golly they’re going to be fleishig. Now try to get that through your head.”

It wasn’t easy but I did. The Solo­ mon children are still eating salmon 54

croquette sandwiches friend in chicken fat, and more power to them. After all, who am I to break up a happy home?

HERE wasn’t a meeting that didn’t have its moments. My second monthly get-together with the South Beach parents had^ Mr. Sam Jacobs as the main attraction. Mr. Jacobs is our unpredictable member.

You never know from one day to the next which side of a question he may be on. But whichever side he rhay be for, he is vehemently for.

“I want to make a speech,” said Mr. Jacobs. “We pay school taxes, we pay tuition. This is double jeopardy, and it is unconstitutional. We are paying for our own kids, let the others pay for theirs. After all, in the words of the very motto of our great coun­ try, taxation without representation is tyranny.”

I choked. Remembering last month’s session, I had to chop this thing off in a hurry. I emphasized our patriotic duties, and dwelt upon the fact that as a minority we had little chance of changing legislation to exempt our­ selves from school taxes.

Mr. Jacobs was unimpressed. ^N on­ sense,” said he. “We are no minority.

We have to form a coalition, then we have a majority. Look at the Catho­ lics, they have parochial schools.

They’ll be glad to go along. Look at all the people who don’t have kids at all; look at all the people whose kids have already finished school. It’ll be a landslide!”

Mr. Jacobs is a powerful speaker.

It almost seemed as if he were in­ fluencing the sentiment of the meet­ ing in his favor. I think the only reason that I was able to wiggle out was that it was already quite late and our early-to-rise commuting parents

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JEWISH LIFE

were yawning. I managed to get the motion tabled until the next meeting.

- The next meeting, however, was only a month away, so I had to act fast Fortunately, there was a higherup in a national Jewish fraternal or­ ganization who owed me a big favor.

It turned out somehow that this or­ ganization was presenting a scroll to Mr. Jacobs for outstanding service to the community. It turned out further that the date of the presentation was exactly the same as th3 date of our next meeting. I consider the favor fully returned.

At the next meeting action was dropped on the repeal of the school tax. And by the meeting after next the changeable Mr. Jacobs, mellowed by honor, was quite pro-school tax and had probably forgotten that he was ever on the other side of the question.

UR next rhubarb concerned, for O a change, a quite legitimate question, that of sex education in the schools. We had decided to include the subject in our course of study, feeling that it was a right and proper move. As elsewhere, there were those who felt its place was in the home.

The question quite naturally reached the floor of the P.T.A. meeting.

Discussion, for the most part, was reasonable. Although both viewpoints were expressed, it looked as if there would be no serious opposition to its being included in our curriculum. It looked that way, that is, until Joe Blosis (his real name, and don’t joke about it in front of him, he’s heard too much already) lumbered to his feet.

“Nothing doing!” he thundered.

“We don’t need teachers to tell our children about the birds and bees.

That’s the place for which is in the October, 1960

home, and we will tell them so. I don’t want anybody taking over my sacred duties.”

There was more to the speech, all repetitious. It was repeated again and again, in fact getting louder and angrier, until Mr. B. was interrupted by a voice piping up at his side. The voice was that of his wife.

“Will the Senator yield?” the voice inquired.

“You be quiet,” said Joe Blosis.

“I’m not yielding. I have the floor and I’ll see this thing finished.”

“Joe,” said the voice, quietly but a little ominously. ^‘Ach!” said Mr. Blosis. “All right, give her the floor. But I want it back when she’s finished with it. And not too long, you hear?”

“Mr. Chairman,” said Mrs. B., “are you serving refreshments tonight?”

“Well, of course,” I returned, “we always serve after the meeting.”

“Then I make a motion, knowing certain parties better than you do, and knowing that there is nothing at issue here that a half-hour of good food and no conversation won’t cure, that we recess the meeting for refresh­ ments and continue it afterwards.” .

Parliamentarily it was a little un­ usual, but taking Mrs. B.’s word that she knew her customer better than I did, I was ready to act on the motion, when Mr. Blosis exploded to his feet.

“Oh, no! No you don’t! You’re not going to trick me like that. I’m not selling my soul for a salami sand­ wich!” Mr. B. was silent for a mo­ ment, catching his breath. Then he continued, more quietly: “What are you serving, anyhow?”

I consulted very quickly with the refreshment chairman. “Cheese blintzes and sour cream, cake and coffee.”

Mr. Blosis grunted. “Cheese blintzes, eh? Well, all right, we’ll eat first.

55

But mind you, we’re going to finish the meeting afterward.”

We finished the meeting all right, very informally, over coffee. Mr. B. accepted the inclusion of sex educa­ tion in our curriculum without further question. The blintzes were good.

He did, however, perhaps to as­ suage his pride, inaugurate a minor, anticlimactical debate on the question of whether the hour per week to be devoted to the subject be taken out of Hebrew studies or secular studies time. This was rather easily com­ promised, on my suggestion, by allot­ ting the hour to secular time one week and Hebrew time the next. Mr. Blosis won a consolation victory by agreeing to this scheme only if the subject were to be taught on the alternate week in the Hebrew language. This may very well be the only course in the country of its type, but it seems to work out rather well.

HE latest problem I had to con­ tend with was the great tzitzis controversy. Let me preface this story by saying that the character of the day school, at least ours here out on the Island, may have changed some­ what in the past years. The movement is growing, and more parents are send­ ing their children. Take me, for in­ stance. I was no yeshiva-bochur myself, but I am glad to have the opportunity to send my children.

There are, I think, many more like myself. The result is a much wider group in the day school than a genera­ tion ago, or perhaps even than ten years ago. This is not to suggest that the newcomers are not religious or observant, but that the entire group is much more heterogeneous.

Mr. Mandelbaum, one of our eld­ ers, is suspicious of us newcomers.

He just doesn’t trust us, or our chil­

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56

dren. He apparently feels it necessary to establish some means of ascertain­ ing that the necessary standards are adhered to. That, I presume, is why he proposed daily tzitzis inspection.

As a matter of fact, the proposal slipped through the meeting very quiet­ ly. It was rather a dull and lightly attended meeting. It was only at the next meeting that the repercussions began to be felt.

The new rule went into effect with­ out too much furore. None of our people object to wearing tzitzis, not even Mrs. Fineberg’s little boy Pier­ son, who started all the trouble. He got a black mark every day for not wearing tzitzis.

And Mrs. Fineberg appeared at the next meeting to tell us why, in no uncertain terms. “Tzitzis tickle,” she said. “My boy can’t study when he’s being tickled. So he won’t wear tzitzis. It’s hot. When it gets cold, he’ll wear. Now, no. Period.”

This may sound confusing, but really it’s not, when you’re in a posi­ tion to understand. Little Pierson and I are in something of the same boat, so I can be sympathetic. Don’t mis­ understand me, I wear tzitzis. But comes the summer heat, I stop wear­ ing an undershirt—just can’t stand it.

And when you don’t wear an under­ shirt, tzitzis do tickle—Pierson is abso­ lutely right.

But in my position in the chair I could not be partisan. So I kept quiet and let them fight it out. Fight it out they did. Mrs. Fineberg’s lonely op­ position was quickly bolstered by a wave of support from a “human rights” faction, all tzitzis-wearers, of Pierson Fineberg’s constitutional right not to be tickled.

It got louder and longer and worse and worse. This South Beach P.T.A. had its brawls, but this one was the JEWISH LIFE

zeyda of them all. I couldn’t stop it.

I didn’t even try. At two o’clock in the morning they finally consented to go home, with a month of preparation ahead to sharpen their knives for the renewal of battle.

I must admit that this is one prob­ lem I didn’t get solved. As I said earlier, my work at South Beach was really accomplished, and I was ready to turn over the reins of administra­ tion shortly to young Don Harrison, head of the secular department. I had been training him to run the organiza­ tion I had set up, and he was about ready. And I decided that right now was the time to take my vacation.

HAT’S where I am right now, on vacation. On a camping trip, of all things. I really would have pre­ ferred a hotel or a cruise, but six of my pupils’ parents are in Miami, four

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October, 1960

are in Las Vegas, several are on tours of Israel, and goodness knows how many in the Catskills. I just can’t take a chance on meeting any of them. And camping really isn’t so bad after you develop a taste for it. I’m trying.

I’ve just mailed in my resignation to South Beach Day School. This may sound cowardly, but, believe me, that isn’t the case^t all. It’s just that my work is finished. Don Harrison is go­ ing to get two thousand dollars a year on top of his teaching salary to handle the administrative duties. That’s a goodly sum for what he’ll have to do.

So let him untangle the tzitzis.

As for me, I have a pressing en­ gagement to help a farmer in New Jersey. It seems for some reason his asparagus won’t grow. I really don’t know much about farms, or asparagus either, but I’ll find out. I’m sure I’ll be able to help him.

57

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1 1, N . Y. JEWISH LIFE

Careers in Architecture

By W A L T E R D U C K A T

CREATIVE, essential, challeng­ ing, and lucrative profession which has attracted a substantial num­ ber of Jews is architecture. Jews are in every form and function of this calling. In New York City, more than one fourth of the architects listed in the classified telephone directory are believed to be Jews. Most of them are engaged in small commercial practice and in the alteration of commercial dwellings. Some are among the leaders of the profession and engage in vast enterprises.

Jewish participation in architecture has had an interesting history. Ac­ cording to the Israeli scholar Karl Schwartz, ancient Jewish religious architecture influenced early Christian and_ Mohammedan religious structures.

Hellcjredits the Jews with “ changing the pagan style of profane architecture for rdfijgious purposes, in such a man­ ner. th at cleaning and form became a new unity.”

Then came a long period when ad­ verse political and social conditions limited Jewish architectural creativity.

Jews were unable to devote themselves to the basic concerns of architecture such as proportionality, a sense of space, and esthetics because too often

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October, 1960

they were denied the right to build any religious or communal structures.

When the right was grudgingly granted, Jews had to be content with cramped space which prevented artistic flowering.

In modern times, Jews entered the field of architecture in the nineteenth century. They soon became prominent in the profession and made signifi­ cant contributions to its development.

The Moorish style in synagogue struc­ ture was first introduced by the leading German Jewish synagogue architect Albert Rosengarten (1809-1893). Lat­ er it spread to various parts of Europe and the United States. With the steady growth of synagogue building in this country, gifted Jewish architects should find challenging opportunities to cre­ ate unique Jewish structures rather than the derivative work which has characterized much of our American Jewish religious architecture.

THER significant Jewish contribu­ tions to architecture include O many public buildings in Chicago cre­ ated at the turn of the century by Dankman Adler, a German Jewish architect who was a partner of the eminent Louis Sullivan. Adler created 59

many large hotels, synagogues, the­ The names of the Levitt Brothers in aters, and concert halls, including the suburban development and William famous “Auditorium” in Chicago.

Zeckendorf as master planner and real­ The first architect to impart a new tor are nationally known. note into business structures by using NE of the many attractive feav iron construction was Alfred Messel w tures of this profession is that (1853-1909). Another path-blazer in virtually all qualified Jews who have industrial construction was Eric Men­ sought admission into schools of ar­ delsohn who included glass in his chitecture have been accepted. In­ structures, emphasizing wall and win­ quiries revealed that the qualified dow strips that encircle the structure Shomer Shabboth should not encounter like a horizontal band. Mendelsohn severe problems in obtaining employ­ also gained fame for his construction ment, and if he becomes self-employed of a number of synagogues. he can regulate his own hours. A Other eminent Jewish architects growing number of orthodox Jews were Julian Flegenheimer, a Swiss- are to be found in the field of archi­ born Jew, who won a prize for his tecture. An outstanding example is design of the palace of the League of Sidney Eisenshtat of Los Angeles, Nations. Reformers of modern theater president of a distinguished orthodox and stage architecture were the Vien­ congregation and active figure in Pa­ nese Oskar Strnad and Oskar Kauf­ cific Coast Jewish affairs, who has de­ man. The former introduced the new signed many widely renowned busi­ form of open-air stage housing the ness and communal structures. David famous Salzburg Festival productions. Moed, member of the Board of Di­ The Hungarian Jew Bela Lajta rectors of the Union of Orthodox (1875-1920) was a pioneer of ultra­ Jewish Congregations of America and modern architecture based on cubic its volunteer architectural consultant, forms. His structures eliminated all is another example of professional dis­ ornamentation and are widely imitated tinction combined with traditional re­ today. Among the best housing for ligious dedication. workers was work done as early as 1911 The highest success in this profes­

by Michel de Klerk in Amsterdam. sion is generally achieved by private Radburn, the pioneer garden city, was practitioners, by dint of their profes­ designed by Clarence Stein. A distin­ sional talents and personality. Pro­ guished architect of hospitals in the fessional standards eliminate the worst United States is Isadore Rosenfield. effects of competition since architects Albert Kahn was the chief architect are usually invited by prospective and engineer for Ford’s River Rouge clients to submit portfolios and to plant and of many Detroit structures. present their qualifications personally.

Kahn came from a rabbinical home in Moreover, fees are fairly standard and Westphalia and arrived in America at usually are based on a percentage of the age of twelve virtually penniless. the cost of the buildings.

In time he became known as the Architecture is closely related to world’s leading industrial designer. one of our biggest industries—building Jews have also been leaders in public and construction. When construction housing, office building, apartment booms, architects are kept busy; when houses, suburban development, theater it dips badly, they also suffer. Never­ and department store construction. theless, the unmet needs in most 60 JEWISH LIFE

phases of residential and commercial and industrial construction point to a promising future for the architect who will be needed to plan homes, facto­ ries, offices, schools, churches, and many other edifices.

HE architect’s job is many-sided.

He not only helps to plan the many useful buildings needed to pro­ vide lodging and serve productive, cultural, recreative, and other social needs, but his planning and other activ­ ities are designed to make these build­ ings attractive as well as useful.

T

A good architect is required to pos­ sess the ability to draw, have aboveaverage intelligence, creative interests and abilities, good mathematical abil­ ity, and a sense of mass and proportion, harmony and balance. He must be aware of the function of light, shade, and color, and must train his imagina­ tion and develop his sensibilities.

Moreover, he is required to know how to interpret his clients’ desires and fashion them into three-dimensional solids of stone, metal, and wood. He is also expected to have some famili­ arity with building contracting, struc­ tural engineering, banking, and real estate so as to advise his clients.

The architect is expected to possess a knowledge of the qualities of con­ struction and the value of property financing and related matters to help October, 1960

the owner understand and forecast the value of his investment. From the be­ ginning to the end, he is the one per­ son in the building industry whose interest are identical with those of the owner whom he advises and represents.

Additional tasks which the architect assumes are planning, drawing up spec­ ifications, obtaining bids, drawing up contracts, and supervising progress of the work and construction accounts.

Because of his varied responsibilities, he should be able to get along with a variety of persons such as landscape architects, interior decorators, engi-

neers, and many other craftsmen.

He must also guard against work stoppages and make sure that all re­ quired tests be made until the building is ready for occupancy. He is expected to be aware of changing codes in zon­ ing, fire protection, health, sanitation, etc. In short, he must understand the arts and sciences which go into build­ ing, viz. paints, wood, concrete, glass, plastics, etc., and how they behave.

HEN the future architect enters one of the approximately sixtyW five schools of architecture in the United States and Canada, of which fifty are accredited, he will study de­ sign and construction, architectural design, and simple planning, which may include city planning. He will also probably study mathematics, physics 61

and structural design, chemistry, Eng­ lish, sociology, and the property of materials. Each school differs in its curriculum. Some concentrate heavily on mathematics, others stress design, while still others emphasize technique.

Individual expression is emphasized in most schools, which also require team­ work in specific problems. Field and inspection trips are frequent.

Most schools of architecture offer a five-year course for high school gradu­ ates. While most admit qualified high school graduates, some require two or more years of pre-professional train­ ing. Many schools offer scholarships.

Those interested in obtaining informa­ tion about scholarships should write to the American Institue of Architects, 116 E. 45th Street, New York City.

A few colleges offer cooperative courses combining school and work.

The most famous school abroad for graduate students is the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris.

In order to protect life, health, and property, most states require that the architect obtain a license. To qualify, most states demand that he be a grad­ uate of an approved architectural school and also have three years of experience. If he lacks a college edu­ cation, he may be required—depend­ ing on the state in which he resides &—to substitute up to twelve years of experience.

The examination is very taxing and usually lasts three or four days and includes design, engineering practice, and history and theory of architecture.

Those who pass receive a certificate from the National Council of Archi­ tects Registration Board which is hon­ ored in any state they wish to practice.

A few people enter architecture without attending college by taking courses in architectural drafting, fol­ lowing which they can obtain a job 62

in an architectural office. In high school they may have pursued an aca­ demic course with many courses in mathematics, drafting, and industrial art. Later, they may have taken courses in basic design and free-hand drawing. However, graduates of an approved architectural school usually advance further.

HERE are over 25,000 registered architects and about 5,000 un­ licensed working architects in the United States. About one half of all architects are self-employed either as individual architects or as members of a firm. Most of the others arc em­ ployed by architectural firms. Some work as engineers, builders, as mem­ bers of real estate firms and in other businesses. A small number work in various governmental agencies and as full-time teachers in schools of architecture. The trend is towards de­ centralization in the practice of archi­ tecture. The small office offers direct, personal service and is more typical today. Virtually every community in the country has one or more architects.

Although they are a minority, wom­ en are also engaged in architecture.

Many of them specialize in designing, remodeling of homes, institutions and residences, hotels, dress shops, tea rooms, schools and community build­ ings. The steady expansion of archi­ tecture in the past few years has provided more opportunities for both men and women. No longer concen­ trating exclusively on rich men’s palaces, architects apply their talents to every phase of building.

Civil Service also offers opportuni­ ties to architects in city, state, and federal governments at salaries rang­ ing from about $5,000 to $17,000 a year. In private practice, salaries for newly-graduated architects range from

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JEWISH LIFE

$80 to $100 a week. Draftsmen with three or more years of experience earn up to $150 a week. Job captains, speci­ fication writers, and other senior em­ ployees earn up to $200 a week.

Those engaged in private practice charge fees which depend on their standing, locality, experience, and the nature and cost of the job. Architec­ tural fees are often less than real estate brokers’ fees.

Because of the variety of activities in which they are involved, architects usually work as a team. The architec­ tural office usually includes a designer who does the general planning and layout of a project, a job of great re­ sponsibility. With him is also the senior draftsman — an experienced man who develops working drawings and large scale drawings. He also checks drawings and correlates the architectural drawing with the draw­ ing of structural and mechanical engi­ neers. Many firms also hire junior draftsmen who are usually recent graduates and who act as assistants to the senior draftsmen. They usually develop drawings begun by senior draftsmen and make tracings. Many larger firms also hire specifications writers who describe the materials and workmanship required by the project.

The average architectural office has from one to three architects so that the fledging may acquire a wide range of experience.

HOSE who are seriously consider­ ing architecture as a career should ask themselves the following questions: Has their scholastic average, been above average, especially in mathe­ matics and mechanical drawing?

C an th ey draw n ea tly and accurately?

Can they visualize in words and sketches buildings which they have seen?

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October, i960

Do they have a good eye for spatial relations?

Do they possess the capacity to handle many details?

Are they able to work effectively under pressure?

Do they possess the tact necessary to deal with diverse people?

Do they possess imagination, en­ thusiasm, and common sense?

If most of their answers are in the affirmative and they possess other re­ quirements, they may consider this vocation confidently.

Among the advantages of becom­ ing an architect is the possibility of transferring the skills acquired to re­ lated occupations such as city or re­ gional planning, designer of stage sets, interior decorator, model maker, equipment and furniture designer, and consultant on methods of construction.

Another branch of this profession is marine architecture, which deals with plans and basic design for the construction and rebuilding or repair of all types of ships. It involves the calculation of the over-all design of the ship as well as the arrangement of the ship’s interior, cargo, handling, equipment, steering and anchor gear, power, heating, ventilating, refrigera­ tion, piping, lighting, and fire protec­ tion systems. The marine architect must also be familiar with special hull equipment, commissary, laundry, hatches, parts, etc.

Marine architecture also includes plans and designs of piers, drydocks, marine railways, selection and specifi­ cations for shipbuilding materials, metallic timbre fibre, protective coat­ ing and insulation. Many naval archi­ tects specialize in certain types of ships or in research testing and de­ velopment, inspection, estimation and specification, writing, consulting, con­ struction of new vessels, remodeling, repair and design of ships, the man63

agement of marine architecture, and engineering. Minimum requirements are a bachelor’s degree in naval archi­ tecture and/or marine engineering. Be

it noted that the expanding naval and merchant marine service in Israel will require men who possess this background.

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

THIRD branch is landscape ar­ chitecture. For more than 3,000 years man has arranged the landscape to meet his economic and esthetic needs. In our time, landscape architec­ ture has sometimes been called site planning, land planning, and land­ scape engineering.

The landscape architect submits his plan for a particular project, talks with his client and by written reports, sketches,; models, and other tech­ niques offers his proposal as to the best solution of the problem posed. His work may involve topographical sur­ veys and maps, research regarding climate, soils, vegetation and water supply, traffic and population trends* land use studies, and property values.

The actual work of construction is carried out from grading plans and construction details, road profiles, and planting plans prepared for the project along with cost estimates. This work may also be performed in cooperation with architects, engineers, zoning ex­ perts and others. Since World War II, the relatively few colleges offering such professional training have re­ ported a steady demand for from two to four times the number of graduates available. Their salaries too have compared favorably with those of other architects. Positions may be ob­ tained with various agencies as well as with private sources.

To perform his duties effectively, the landscape architect should possess a knowledge of horticulture as well as of certain phases of civil engineering.

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Essentially, he deals with the land and objects upon it—walks, roads, plants, lawns, etc. His job is to make the land both as useful and attractive as possible. To achieve this, he modifies the site by the skillful use of line grads and materials which he adapts to his clients’ preferences.

X ANDSCAPE architecture first A J started in the United States as an independent profession with the work of Frederick Olmstead and Galvert Vaux—the men who designed New York’s Central Park in the 1850’s.

This professional person is either self-employed or works for a private or public organization. His services are usually acquired for such projects as residential grounds, land sub­ division, housing projects, commer­ cial centers, country clubs, shopping centers, airports, highways and park­ ways, parks, world fairs, schools and colleges', industrial sites, military in­ stallations, etc. He may also work for a practicing land architect, city planner, engineering architect, na­ tional, state, or city recreational agency, park or highway department, housing agency, planning commission, or conservation department.

Essential for this architectural field are good health, above-average in­ telligence, creative imagination, love of nature, an ability for drawing and design, and an interest in improving the surroundings. To qualify for this work, it is necessary also to graduate JEWISH LIFE

from a recognized college with a de­ gree in landscape architecture. It is also possible to obtain professional status with less formal education through a lengthy apprenticeship of progressive responsibilities in an es­ tablished office under an experienced landscape architect. This method is very slow and may not be accepted by public agencies. The professional agency of this group is the American Society of Landscape Architects, 9 Park Street, Boston 8, Mass.

OMEN are employed as instruc­ tors in gardening at colleges, as horticultural therapists in hospitals for mental diseases, as writers for horti­ cultural journals, as managers of dis­ play gardens, for large nurseries, as technical specialists, as superintend­ ents of private estates, and in private practice.

From sixty to eighty per cent of the landscape architect’s work is done outdoors. The remainder of his time is spent in his office drawing up plans or out in the field. Much time is spent in the greenhouse or laboratory. While he is outdoors a great deal, he need not be out in storms or blizzards or other inclement weather.

Those interested in this work should, while in high school, take all the sciences and math they can as well as biology, botany, and mechani­ cal drawing. Desirable too are good health, good intelligence, esthetic sense, balance, abilities in color har­ mony and structural design, and me­

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October, 1960

chanical aptitude.

Related fields are agriculture, rural teaching, city planning, conservation work, interior decoration, and high­ way architecture.

The work is healthful and challeng­ ing and may yield an excellent liveli­ hood. Sometimes, especially during rush periods, hours may be long and confining. There also may be exten­ sive traveling. Nevertheless, the potentive growth is considered to be great and the field of public landscape ar­ chitecture is regarded as a great area of opportunity.

A LTOGETHER, the various phases of architecture may beckon to the interested and qualified as a diver­ sified profession combining indoor and outdoor activities with opportunities to meet all kinds of persons. It is a highly respected, creative vocation offering wide scope to its practitioners.

It must be acknowledged that archi­ tecture is a difficult profession, re­ quiring long and arduous preparation.

The routine necessary to become a full-fledged architect is often dull and ill-paid. The volume of activity may shift from little or no work to occa­ sionally working around the clock.

Fluctuation in business conditions are quickly felt in building activities and in the lowered demand for his skills.

Few laymen have the background and understanding to fully appreciate his services. Nevertheless, architecture is one of our most essential, satisfying, and creative vocations.

65

E Z R A R E A D IN G T H E LA W It w as on the first day of Rosh H ashanah in the year 444 B.C.E. that the completed Torah w as first publicly read in Jerusalem. "A n d Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of w ood...and opened the b ook in the sigh t of all the people."

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October, 1960

67

The Israeli Synagogue

By A R Y E H

NEW M AN

Not least am ong the uncharted problems of the ingathering is the role of the Synagogue — its scope in the evolving Yishuv scene . . . its nusach . . . its diversity or unity.

66FTJ HE synagogues of the Diaspora are destined to be transplanted to Eretz Israel.” So runs an ancient Midrash which is often quoted today with reference to the ingathering of Jewish communities in modern Israel, each setting up its own house of wor­ ship according to its time-honored ritual. But in actual fact it is only in the barest literal sense, in the trans­ plantation of prayer ritual, that the synagogue in Israel bears some resem­ blance to its Diaspora counterpart. In all other senses, in the broader con­ text of its spiritual function, it is wholly different.

There are some four thousand syna­ gogues in Israel, all of which function quite independently of each other, belonging to no common organization, but all, of course, unequivocally ortho­ dox in spite of the differences in ritual which exhaust all the historical varia­ tions known to us. This has indeed led to attempts to set up some kind of roof organization in order to mobilize the synagogue worshipper in the de­ fense and strengthening of his beliefs in the arena of public life outside the

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synagogue. A conference of such an embryonic organization took place quite recently, but it is still premature to speak of an actual over-all syna­ gogue organization.

The difference between the Golah and Israel in this context may be ex­ pressed in the fact that, for the for­ mer, the synagogue represents the Jew’s main if not sole contact with Judaism, the embodiment and focus of his Jewish identity; for the latter, the synagogue is not more than a house of worship, a place to say one’s daily statutory prayers together with nine other Jews. For that, a four-byfour meter room will suffice, some benches and a Sefer Torah: in many cases the synagogue is nothing more than that. Jewish social life, education for children, the religious concomi­ tants of birth, death, marriage, and diet are all provided for by extrasynagogal bodies, usually within the framework of the local authority and government institutions as his of right, just like any other public service. The rabbi is the official registrar of mar­ riages, the judge of a local or supreme JEWISH LIFE

court; the shochet, a municipal em­ ployee just like the sanitary inspectors, the tax collectors, department direc­ tors, and garbage cleaners. It is even possible that a weekly or daily shiur in Gemora, Dinim, or Torah provided by the cultural department of the municipality which may take place, purely accidentally, on the premises of the local synagogue.

scribed. The fact that its supporters are few means that it cannot afford the luxury of buildings and external furnishings that might attract and im­ press the stranger. And if there are here and there in Israel some worthy synagogal edifices, these are usually the gift of some Diaspora benefactor.

Rothschild perpetuated his name and that of his family by erecting in the colonies he supported imposing but not ostentatious synagogues. The au­ thorities, through the Ministry of Re­ ligious Affairs, are making some contribution towards the erection of “representative” synagogues in the large urban centers. But finance, as a result of the other and more effec­ tive calls on the Israeli citizen’s purse, remains one of the greatest obstacles in the expansion and development of synagogue facilities.

HE advantages of such a situation in promoting essential religious facilities for the public painlessly and automatically are obvious. Their pro­ vision is guaranteed by the fundamental policies of all parties in Israel, including the extreme left. It would also be un­ thinkable that it should be otherwise, that the Jew returning to his home­ land should not find the requirements of his religious practice met by the State. Indeed, many are the com­ plaints, justifiable too, that Jewish T may be argued that we should observance is not sufficiently respected shed no tears over this circumscrip­ and furthered by authority. Neverthe­ tion of the function of the synagogue less this situation has left the syna­ in Israel. After all, there is no need gogue high and dry, depriving it of to deplore the lack of ornate and os­ its character as the focal point of Jew­ tentatious buildings and community ish life. The rabbi, if any, is purely centers when legitimate religious needs a distinguished and perhaps regular are in any case being met in a more worshipper like any other congregant natural way in the context of a Jewish and the synagogue is run and sup­ public life. At least those who attend ported by those directly concerned services in Israel do participate, come with daily public worship. to pray and nothing else. G-d is pre­ It would therefore be exceptional sumably nearer to the devout wor­ to find any synagogue board composed shipper in his humble surroundings of persons not fully observant, since than to the fashionable treader of the the half-observant, the proud possessor temple aisle abroad. of the Jewish heart but not the JewUnfortunately this is an oversim­ ish-stocked mind, the table Jew and plification of the situation. For there the Kaddish Jew (without minimiz­ is a problem and a serious one in thè ing in any way the value of their Jew­ Israeli synagogue. It is a problem of ish attachment) can find satisfaction integration, of the synagogue finding with his life outside the four walls its proper place in the hearts of the of the synagogue. The synagogue new generation, of both ensuring that circle is therefore select and its powers those whose parents regularly wor­ of attraction correspondingly circum- shipped or who themselves regularly

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October, 1960

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worshipped in their childhood will by conditions which prevent the set­ continue to do so, and striving to ting up of different minyonim and reach those who never worshipped. impel the worshipper to join forces.

Since the Israeli will never be brought In religious kibbutzim and educational to shool by such extraneous factors institutions, in the army as well as in as social prestige, basic Jewish educa­ schools, to which we already have had tion for his children, etc., it is much occasion to refer, we may well have harder to influence him. For what worshippers of varied origins, Euro­ faces the new immigrant when he pean and Yemenite, “Anglo-Saxon” arrives in Israel in this context? What and Syrian, and some modus vivendi ways are open to him? He may find must be found. The question of pro­ a service that is an exact replica of nunciation is comparatively simple— the one he was used to in his land of the spoken Sephardi. But what of origin, or he may be a part of a group prayer nusach? Should it be the who set up their own house of wor­ Lurianic-Ari that Isaac Luria be­ ship, following their time-honored queathed to his Kabalistic disciples in rites and tunes. This is the easiest line Safed, a variation of which is in vogue of action and one most often followed. in Diaspora Chasidic synagogues, and Its result is a multiplicity of inade­ the one accepted by most Sephardi quately equipped and attended prayer congregations? Or perhaps it should houses, and, if there happens to be a be the one popularized by the dis­ local and established synagogue in a ciples of the Vilna Gaon who settled suitable building, it may mean that in Israel much later—at the begin­ the latter remains likewise sparsely ning of the nineteenth century? attended.

There are of course other possibili­ Once the children and young people ties but the choice is usually between have become acclimatized to the coun­ these two; and at present in Israel it try and language, the Hebrew render­ is the Chasidic-Ari rite which is win­ ing of the service in these Diaspora- ning the day. Publishers print many type synagogues seems strange and more of this rite than the Ashkenazi, even amusing to them. In school, if and it has the advantage of being a religious one, they will learn all closest to the practices of the large about the prayer book, participate in Oriental Jewish population. It acts as school services conducted quite dif­ a bridge between Eastern and West­ ferently in the Sephardi pro n u n cia­ ern Jewry. But what of the cantillation accompanied by community sing­ tion? Should the Torah be read in ing. On Sabbaths they may find in accordance with the West or East their locality a youth club minyon or European niggun, the Lithuanian, a service more or less on the style of the Syriac, Yemenite, Persian, or what they find in school. But it is only Bukharan? The tendency is to adopt in a minority of cases that they are the Lithuanian tune for the Torah induced to follow the pattern in their and Haftorah, as many tourists will parents’ synagogue. perhaps have noticed.

Thus side by side with the preserva­ ERE and there, but particularly tion of all the nuances of Diaspora where necessity dictates it, at­ prayer liturgies, we have the develop­ tempts are made to evolve a uniform ment of a uniform Israel-style service Israeli type of service. This is prompted attracting mainly the young genera-

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JEWISH LIFE

tion, but they are the exception rather than the rule. Of course there is the natural and laudable feeling that it would be a tragedy for all the diverse historical patterns to merge into one dull uniformity, for the Yemenite, Bukharan, Persian, and other varia­ tions to disappear. The Israeli radio encourages this local communal pride by broadcasting services and cantillations of the different communities and it is a thrilling experience for the tourist to visit the different synagogues of picturesque Jewish communities in a whirlwind Friday eve tour of them in Jerusalem’s more exotic quarters.

HE problem is how to cater to T the needs of the new Israeli gen­ eration and where necessary for indi­ viduals of the older generation, without doing anything to cause the disinte­ gration qf existing patterns which have all the legitimacy of antiquity and Halachic precedent. It is here that Halochah shows the way, as its very meaning! is a “path” for us to walk by. The late Rabbi Tukatichinsky, the foremost rabbinic authority on the different rituals of prayer and the regularization of the Hebrew calen­ dar, has . touched on this problem in his manual of laws of Eretz Israel (Kitzur Divrey Eretz Israel). Though no one was more meticulous than him­ self with regard to preserving every iota of time-honored custom in pray­ ers, hp topked forward to the evolving of a “imiform prayer rite” for those to whom the duty of following in the customs of their fathers did not apply.

He referred to communities composed of a mixture of different Jewish groups where it was impracticable for each one to follow his own customs and where no synagogue existed with its own established ritual.

Rabbi Tukatichinsky also noted October, I9 6 0

down certain Eretz Israel customs which in his view were binding on all synagogues in Israel—to be followed irrespective of the rites of the particu­ lar community. The Halochah thus en­ visages the preservation of ancient rituals and variations by these com­ munities which continue as distinct, homogeneous entities with established synagogues after their own pattern, as well as the creation of new Eretz Israel mixed communities, where many groups have merged to form a new but generally accepted Eretz Israel pattern, distinguished by the Nusach Ari, in the majority of cases, the Hagra (Vilna Gaon) in the minority, the Lithuanian style cantillation, com­ munity singing—the heritage of the youth movement, the yeshivah and Chasidic milieu in which Eastern and Western melodies blend. It is probable that the modern Israeli pronunciation of Hebrew will conquer even the strongholds of the old type services, though it must be admitted there are many people, particularly under the influence of the yeshivoth, who prefer to perpetuate the pronunciation of their parents for praying, making a distinction between the secular every­ day Hebrew and the sacred tongue of their devotions. But the sabra will no doubt win in the end.

POINTER to the most fruitful policy, with all due respect to the desire to preserve the nuances of the past, may be had from the writer’s own experience. He is a member of a synagogue which is in effect a merger of several independent minyonim— Anglo-Saxon, German, Chasidic. All had gone the way of sentimental sepa­ ratism in an effort to recreate the type of service they were used to in the Diaspora and all found difficulty in maintaining themselves and in find-

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ing premises. The Chasidic element had the advantage of occupying the premises of the well-established syna­ gogue building. They were the “old timers” with a past, but unfortunately no present or future, since the num­ ber of their adherents had dwindled as different Chasidic shtiebelach were set up in the vicinity, took away one by one their own faithful followers, as each found just the “rebbe” or milieu he had been used to “at home.”

At a joint meeting of all these minyonim and all others who cared to attend, it was proposed to set up a service acceptable to all, but prin­ cipally to the children, without of course violating any of the require­ ments of the Halochah, which pro­ hibits deviation from ancestral custom.

The result was the acceptance of the Chasidic nusach, but with the service in the Sephardi pronunciation, com­ munity singing, no “shenoddering,” but with monthly synagogue dues, and various other improvements, incor­ porating ideas suggested by members hailing from different countries. The result was a remarkable increase in the attendance— so much so that the synagogue became far too small to hold the worshippers, who hailed from all backgrounds with the accent on young married people, youths, and children. The services of minority groups of Hungarian, Chasidic, Syrian, and others still continue to function in different rooms in the neighborhood in much depleted numbers, but cater­ ing to those who would be uncom­

72

fortable elsewhere and preserving their respective rituals and chants.

UTURE ideal development for the Israeli synagogue would point to the creation of buildings which would house a main synagogue and several smaller ones, the main one following the dominant or uniform rite of the neighborhood, and the smaller ones catering to minority elements. In addi­ tion, the synagogue must recover some of the function it has in the Diaspora as the focal point of other Jewish activities. Instead of creating so many separate youth and adult clubs and centers, it would be wiser for people with the interests of Judaism, at heart to join these centers to the synagogue, associating the latter with these other activities. There is no reason why the synagogue should not be associated with Jewish educational activities, why representative buildings should not be built in the towns and larger village communities in which the Beth Din . and Religious Council, though part of the general framework of public serv­ ices, could be housed in a complex of buildings adjoining the synagogue.

Much remains to be thought out and accomplished in this context, in the sense of “This is my G-d and I will glorify Him.” The synagogues of the Diaspora are indeed destined to be transplanted to Eretz Israel in the days of the Messiah, bringing with them all their positive aspects, but growing up and acclimatizing them­ selves to the peculiar conditions of the soil of the Holy Land.

F

JEWISH LIFE

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74

JEWISH LIFE

Book Bevietv From Many Pulpits

By G IL B E R T K L A P E R M A N

SABBATH SERMOfSTS, by Abraham Cohen, edited by Chaim Pearl and Alex Tobias. The Soncino Press; 265 pp., $4.

RABBINICAL COUNCIL MANUAL OF HOLIDAY AND SABBATH SER­ MONS, edited by Abraham N. AvRutick and Henry Hoschander. Rab­ binical Council Press; 372 pp., $6.50.

ERMONS are effective when they possess engaging style, suitable S delivery, meaningful content and time­ liness. Removed from the specific occa­ sion for which it was prepared and stripped of the fire and verve of good delivery, the written sermon is like a radio script or play which needs an in­ spired cast to bring it to life. Unless the preacher is a master stylist, what was an impressive golden flow of words turns into a flat, one-dimensional piece of prose which has as its only test what should have been its major concern from the very beginning—quality of content and inspirational value.

U n fo r tu n a te ly , m o s t serm o n s w h en a b str a c te d fr o m th e ir o r ig in a l s e t tin g r e v e a l in te r n a l w e a k n e sse s in c lu d in g a p ron ou n ced a b se n c e o f e te r n a l m e a n ­ in g , a n d a p le th o r a o f clic h e s a n d tr ite m e s sa g e s w h ic h le a v e a n o v e r w h e lm in g RABBI GILBERT KLAPERMAN is spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Sholom, Cedarhust, Long Island.

October, 1960

feeling of “didn't I heaj* this some­ where before?” Others which qualify on some points, nevertheless remain dull regardless of these virtues.

In short, what a sermon requires to justify publication is a sense of com­ pleteness and soundness and a creative and imaginative effort to present some­ thing new—either in terms of ideas or interpretations. If “there is nothing new under the sun” then it can at least be presented in a “new bottle.” And the criteria for publication might be ex­ tended to the oral presentation as well.

For when the fire and heat subside, a sermon should still be able to stand up in its written form.

All preachers should take to heart the old story of the minister who sought to bolster a flaccid statement in one of his homilies by writing a note to him­ self in the margin: “Argument weak.

Yell like —— .” The written sermon appears without the stage directions or sound effects and must be tight, trim, well-balanced, well-arranged and, above all, honest, simple, and to the point.

N EXAMPLE of calculated effort and structured sermon content is to be found in the selected preachings of the late Rev. Dr. Abraham Cohen of Birmingham, England. In his life-

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with commentary by

Samson Raphael Hirsch This classic commentary, which Hirsch consid­ ered one of his most important works, is now available for the first time in English. Superbly translated by Gertrude Hirschler, the book con­ tains the Hebrew text of Psalms, fully vocalized, an English translation of Hirsch’s German ren­ dering of the text in accordance with his inter­ pretation, and the Commentary itself, complete and unabridged.

A milestone in the history of the publication of Torah Literature, this work is the product of years of preparation. No effort and expense were spared in order to produce a book of the highest standard and value.

Volum e 1: Books 1 & 2, 530 Pages, $7 .50.

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THE STUDENTS GUIDE THROUGH THE TALMUD

by

THE LEB0WITZ FAMILY

ZEVI HIRSCH CHAJES

of the

tran slated from the H ebrew classic

t e l i j JTDtt

PINE VIEW HOTEL

edited a n d critically an n otated by

Fallsburg, N. Y.

Jacob Schachter Extend Wishes for a This profound work, long acknowledged as one of the landmarks in Rabbinic Scholarship, at­ tempts to formulate the nature, extent and authority of tradition.

Dealing with both the Halacha and Aggadah, this classic furnishes the serious student with a deep insight into the Talmud and provides an excellent basis of knowledge for further investigation.

320 Pages, $5 .00.

"The House of the Jewish Book“ PHILIPP FELDHEIM, INC. Publishers • Booksellers • Im porters 96

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JEWISH LIFE

time, Dr. Cohen had won universal esteem and distinction as the erudite general editor of the Soncino Chumash and the Soncino Books of the Biblel It is significant, then, that the fiftjfi or so sermons by this scholar collected in Sabbath Sermons by his successor, the Rev. Dr. Chaim Pearl, and by a de­ voted congregant, Dr. Alex Tobias, should be distinguished by simplicity and unaffected charm. Dr. Cohen made no effort to dazzle his listeners with a display of his amazing grasp of Bibli­ cal literature. Instead, a dignified current of still expository and quiet learning pervades the collection.

These sermons differ from the Amerj ican sermon, or more precisely, from the sermons of the American orthodox rabbi, in that they are focused pri­ marily on a text selected from the Sidrah of the week and that there is a very limited use of Midrosh and other supporting Rabbinic material.

Furthermore, these sermons are com­ pletely “Jewish” in that regardless what the theme or conclusion of the sermon may be, it is based on the Jewish point of view and supported by the Biblical proof-text.

Whether this is typical of the British ¡preaching technique as a whole, of course, is difficult to say. Perhaps Brit­ ish rabbis do not need as many “gim­ micks” to secure the attention of their congregations. Perhaps British Jewry is not so torn by the world that “is too much with us” that it cannot find spiri­ tual satisfaction in the simple and direct exposition of Torah. In any case, it was Dr. Cohen’s feeling that a ser­ mon th at was not “Jewish” in the above sense, regardless of its exalted theme, had no place in a religious service. As a whole, Dr. Cohen’s sermons are of uniform quality, meticulously edited, pared to essentials and written in clear, spare prose.

October, 1960

HE 18th annual Manual of Holi­ day and Sabbath Sermons pub­ lished under the auspices of the Rabbinical Council of America is of another category completely. This volume, which includes sixty-four ser­ mons and many more sermon outlines and sermon ideas, is not the work of a single rabbi or even a handful of rabbis. It includes contributions of about seventy different men holding pulpits in all parts of the country. As a result, it is spotty and understand­ ably uneven in all the desirable charac­ teristics. On the other hand, because of its varied authority, a wide variety of subjects are dealt with in a multi­ plicity of manners and approaches.

The only uniting thread in the volume is contributed by the general form of the book which is ably edited by Rabbi Abraham N. AvRutick and Rabbi Henry Hoschander, his associate edi­ tor.

Dr. Cohen’s volume serves as a source book of Jewish knowledge for the layman. The Manual, which is a prodigious undertaking, as its title in­ dicates and by tacit understanding, is compiled as a rabbi’s aid in creatively preparing sermons. Consequently, the heavy concentration is in the Holy Days and Festivals selections—where the need for sermon material is the most pressing. Here full-fledged and complete sermons are reproduced. The Sabbath and special occasion sections present only sermon ideas, leaving more room for the imagination of the rabbi. These are most valuable for their excellent illustrations, fine in­ sights, and rich observations on Juda­ ism and its modern problems and interpretations.

Both volumes will enrich the layman reader and rabbi alike, with the “peshat,” “derash,” and “remez” of our Torah and tradition.

T

77

5721

Rosh H ash an ah

1960-61

L’SH A N A H TO VAH TIKOSEVU! TO OUR M A N Y FRIENDS . . . . . . A nd to Jewish people everywhere we

send

our

most

cordial

Rosh

Hashanah

greetings. We join in the hopes and pray­ ers that mankind the world over will enjoy the

blessings

Milk

•

of

Cream

New •

Years

to

come.

Sour Cream

•

Butter

Buttermilk • Eggs • Cottage Cheese Chocolate Drink

S E A L T E S T S U G A R IN E is Kosher an d is A p p ro ve d

by The Union o f O rthod ox Jewish Co n gre gatio n s.

f

itrtctly It

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LEVINE

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L’shanah Tovcsh Tikosevu

DAGIM CANNED SALMON A N D TUNA supervised ® certified The newest additions to the top-quality D A G IM © Kosher Fish Products.

Look for DAGIM Tuna and Salmon at your grocer and for D A G IM F R E S H F R O Z E N F IS H F IL L E T S in the frozen food section

D A G IM T A H O R IM CO. 1644 - 52 St. Brooklyn 4, N. Y. October, 1960

Flounder 1 Sole • Cod • Haddock • Whitefish • Northern Pike i Walleyed (Yellow) Pike.

If these products are not yet available at your grocery or supermarket, ask the manager to order them for you.

79

T H E O N L Y P R E F A B R IC A T E D

PACKAGED SUKKAH T h e L ifetim e Ea&y-To-Assemble P o rta b le S u kkah design ed b y S p ero F oundation W A L L S : Made o f yellow DURA - HUE DUCK. Weight 10 oz. per square yard. Mil­ dew - Resistant and water-Repellent.

DECORATIONS are silk screened on up­ per four walls in maroon color, will not fade.

LIGHT: We furnish an ele c tr ic fix tu r e complete with 25 ft. w a t e r p r o o f w ir e , s o c k e t , p lu g an d plastic shade« ROOF : We furnish t h r e e w o o d e n or bamboo strips across the top to hold Fix­ ture and S’chach.

SIZE: 7 %' long, 5 wide, and 7%' high. Will accommodate up to 10 persons.

FRAME and FITTINGS: Made of an alloy of aluminum and magne­ sium, three-quarter inch diameter pipe which will not rust or corrode. No tools necessary with our patented fittings to ass e m b le or d i s m a n t l e , other than one small wrench which we fur­ nish.

PACKING

0N L Y

We pack and ship entire Suk­ kah in a heavy corrugated car­ ton which is 8 feet long by 8 inches square and this carton is used for storing your Sukkah.

.F.O.B. N. Y. Check With Order

ASSEMBLIES With each purchase we furnish you a very detailed assembly instruction sheet, which makes it very simple to put the Sukkah together.

Sukkah on display at 33 West 42nd Street, N.Y.C. Room 642

We also have plastic Sukkah decorations for your own home built Sukkah Write for brochure.

S’CHACH : We will also supply you with 80 bam­ boo sticks 1^4 inches in diameter by 6 feet long to cover entire Sukkah.

ADDITIONAL $18.00 COMMUNITY SIZE u y z FT. LONG — 10 FT. WIDE—7*4 FEET HIGH WILL ACCOMMODATE UP TO 24 PERSONS PRICE $212.00 F.O.B. N.Y. Bamboo S’chach for above.

ADDITIONAL $36.00

All other features as above.

80

1 , Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America * 84 Fifth Avenue ! New York 11, N. Y. i A i Gentlemen : J □ Please ship me one Packaged Sukkah designed by the , Spero Foundation. Check for the amount of $102 is i enclosed.

M I also want 75 bamboo sticks, which will cover" entire l Sukkah, and I am enclosing an additional $18.00.

J □ Please send brochure on Sukkah decorations. l Nam e.......................... .............................................................

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