Jewish Life May-June 1967

H O L O C A U ST W R IT E R S CHAIM

A N D TH E M R JT IC S

O ZER G R O D Z E N SK I

TH E | C H A L L EN G E

OF

P R A Y E R ^ B r E A L IST IC ,

CHANGE OR NOT?

AM I MY B R O T H E R ’S K E E P E R ?

TH E P R O F E S S O R SIVAN.TAMMUZ 5727 MAY-JUNE 1967

AS

M O DEL

for an unequalled experience in Torah Living—-we invite teenagers to attend the exciting and unforgettable fourteenth annual

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Thursday, June 22 thru Sunday June 25, 1967: $51.00

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Sunday, June 25 thru Tuesday June 27, 1967: $26.00

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Vol. XXXIV, No. 5/May-June 1967/Sivan-Tammuz 5727

lewisk

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J rrlije

THE EDITOR’S VIEW

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S aul B ernstein , Editor R abbi S. J. S harfman L ibby K laperman P aul H , B aris

Editorial Associates D vora M inder

Editorial Assistant

ARTICLES AM I MY BROTHER’S KEEPER?/Samuel A. Turk........... 6 HOLOCAUST WRITERS AND THE CRITICS/ Irving Halperin ...................................................

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PRAYER: REALISTIC OR N0T?/Davld Jacobs...............23 JEWISH LIFE is published bi-monthly. Subscription two years $4.50, three years $6.00, four years $7.50. Foreign: Add 40 cents per year.

Editorial and Publication Office: 84 Fifth Avenue New York 10011, N. Y. ALgonquin 5-4100 Published by U nion of Orthodox Jewish C ongregations of A merica J oseph K arasick

President

THE PROFESSOR AS MODEL/Irwln S. Borvick __ 33 CHAIM OZER GRODZENSKI/Aaron Rothkoff................. 40 THE CHALLENGE OF CHANGE/Frank M. Loewenberg. 50

BOOK REVIEWS WITH OR WITHOUT “ DERECH ERETZ” / Herbert Goldstein ................................................................. 57 MENTOR TO THE GENERATIONS/Jason Jacobowitz. 58

H arold M. Jacobs

Chairman of the Board B e n ja m in K o e n ig s b e r g , Nathan K. Gross, David Politi, Dr. Bernard Lander, Harold H. Boxer, Vice Presi­ d e n t s ; M o r r is L. G reen , Treasurer; Dr. A. Abba Walker, Secretary; Michael Kaufman, Financial Secretary.

DEPARTMENTS AMONG OUR CONTRIBUTORS ............................................... 2 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR........................................... ................62

Dr. Samson R. Weiss Executive Vice President Saul Bernstein, Administrator Second Class Postage paid at New York, N. Y.

Cover and Inside Drawings by David Adler ! ©Copyright 1967 by UNION 0F 0RTH0D0X JEWISH CONGREGATIONS 0F AMERICA

May-June 1967

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among our contributors

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RABBI AARON ROTHKOFF writes in this issue on the life and work of a Torah sage, Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzenski. Our readers will recall his previous article (Nov.Dee. ’66) on another Godol, Rabbi Shimon Shkop. A Rosh Yeshivah at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and spiritual leader of a, suburban New Jersey congregation, Rabbi Rothkoff recently completed his Ph.D. dissertation on “Vision and Realization: Bernard Revel and His Era.” DR. IRVING HALPERIN, who is professor of English at San Francisco State College, has spent a year in Israel researching the literature of the Holocaust at Yad Vashem Archives. Recently he was awarded a grant by the Na­ tional Foundation for Jewish Culture for the preparation of an in-depth paper on the Holocaust literature. In “Hol­ ocaust Writers and the Critics,” Dr. Halperin examines contrasting approaches to the portrayal of Churbon ex­ perience.

DR. SAMUEL A. TURK, who is rabbi of Kingsbridge Center of Israel in the Bronx, is a Musmoch of Yeshivath Torah Vodaath. He is a founder of the Rabbinical Al­ liance of America and was editor of its first Torah and Sermon Manual. His other literary pursuits include fre­ quent contributions to Hadarom, Torah journal published by the Rabbinical Council of America.

DAVID JACOBS is a graduate of the Teachers Institute of Yeshiva University and has done some graduate work at the Bernard Revel Graduate School. Interested in prob­ lems of Jewish religious thought, he has engaged in ex­ tensive research on the problems of prayer.

DR. FRANK M. LOEWENBERG is currently assistant professor at the School of Social Service of St. Louis Uni­ versity. He has worked and taught in the fields of sociol­ ogy and social work throughout the United States. Active on the St. Louis Vaad Hoeir, where he serves as chair­ man of the Education Committee, Dr. Loewenberg has written articles and reviews for various professional jour­ nals.

RABBI IRWIN S. BORVICK, in collaboration with a dis­ tinguished non-Jewish sociologist, is engaged in a major study of the state of Jewish belief among Jewish mem­ bers of college faculties. His article in this issue reveals some of their findings, which give further indication of a situation which has become a subject of wide concern.

Rabbi Borvick is spiritual leader of Congregation Degel Israel in Lancaster, Penna.

JEW ISH LIFE

THEEDITOR’S VIEW

Wa r ? k S these lines are being written, the military forces of the United Arab Republic and Syria stand poised to attack Israel. Once again, the young, much-tried Jewish State is put to the test. In this instance, other nations, many other nations, are also subject to test. Nasser’s announced blockade of the Tiran Strait, defying the rights of every maritime nation, ex­ poses in all its starkness the global dimensions of the unfold­ ing threat.

Will the test reach the point of life-and-death finality? The answer to this question on the lips and in the hearts of multi­ tudes lies in the complex negotiations taking place among the world powers. For all the appearance of irretrievable commit­ ment to war on the part of the rulers of Egypt and Syria, there re­ mains hope that those who manipulate them will draw back from the abyss. Without full Soviet backing, the Arab countries would court yet another defeat at Israeli hands. With it, they become At the complete vassals, a matter of cutting off their own noses to spite Abyss Israel’s face. Moscow, on its part, once astride the Suez Canal and with at least the eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea in its hand and control of the Indian Ocean within its reach, would become master of the entire Near and Middle East. For Soviet ambitions, this offers a tempting prize—but at a formi­ dable risk. It is inconceivable that the Western powers—whether or not disposed to implement their commitment to protect Israel against aggression—could yield to a takeover which would give the Soviet Union effective dominance of the entire world. Not for Israel’s sake but in defense of their own security and po­ sition, the United States and the other Western nations would have no option but to react with everything in their power.

Their power is very great. Hence, the Soviet rulers may conMay-June 1967

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elude that the price of the adventure is more than they are prepared to pay.

Should Moscow reach this conclusion, the question then will arise whether the crisis will be definitively resolved or merely postponed. To achieve the first would require clear delineation of the bounds of East and W estland of the terms of their re­ lationships. This in turn cannot be fully accomplished without eliminating once and for all the Arab-Israel question. Any­ thing less than that would insure a recurrence of the present eruption. It should be clear to all that the Arab-Israel question cannot be disposed of at Israel’s expense. Israel seeks nothing that the Arabs have. The Arabs must be made to understand that what Israel has they can never get. So long as the Arabs seek the destruction of Israel, world peace remains endangered.

A MIDST the thunderous clamor of war preparations, it is A not easy to envision prospects of resolving the deeper as well as the surface issues. Should the Western powers fail to make crystal clear their intent to resist, there is every reason to suppose that the Kremlin leaders will proceed just as Hitler East-West did, utilizing the Arabs for their purpose. Should the West eviShowdown dence determination to resist, there is as good reason to believe that the other side will back away. While the initiative has fallen, via U.A.R.-Syrian interplay, to the U.S.S.R., the ulti­ mate power of decision as to what shall transpire lies with the West.

Was it perhaps with the deliberate intent of precipitating an East-West showdown that UN Secretary General U Thant em­ barked on his otherwise inexplicable course? That one or an­ other Arab country, or a combination of these countries, would one day venture to cross the line from overt aggression to open war against Israel was to be expected. What could never, in anybody’s wildest fantasy, be expected was that they would be cued to the fateful step by, of all men, the head official of the United Nations.

For the past ten years, the United Nations Emergency Force has stood as a moral rather than a military barrier to any at­ tempt by Nasser to invade Israel. Insignificant as a military force, it was yet the guardian of the Middle East peace, bespeak­ ing by its presence the will and authority of the international community. It was a presence that Egypt’s dictator dared not confront. But now he has found that he no longer need fear such a confrontation. At the precise time when Nasser hastened 4

JEW ISH LIFE

to overtake his Syrian rivals in war threats against Israel, U Thant chose to announce—at his own instance—that were the "Les UN — U.A.R. but to request it, the UNEF troops would be instantly C est M o/ ' withdrawn. Nasser could not fail to ignore this astounding sig­ nal. The request for withdrawal was made forthwith—and ac­ ceded to and implemented forthwith. This, upon the solo de­ cision and self-assumed authority of one whose appointive office, eminent though it be, was surely never conceived as arrogating to itself the policy-making rights and powers of decision and action of the Security Council, General Assembly, and other organs of the United Nations.

The world has stood aghast and bewildered by U Thant’s ac­ tions. As taken aback as any were the Arab countries, and not least of all Nasser himself, who has perhaps found events pro­ pelling him farther and faster than he had intended to go. In Cairo, the visiting U Thant has been given somewhat of a hero’s welcome, but in a gingerly style that seems to say : “This man has been a bit too good to us.” Elsewhere around the world, public figures and the man in the street alike remain baffled by the shocking contradiction between the UN Secretary Gen­ eral’s moral duty and his course of action.

T J E U Thant’s purposes what they may, his present maneuvers “ have helped bring the world face to face with catastro­ phe. May the Almighty grant that this be averted. May it be the will of Heaven that reason prevail and that the nations of the world be led from the pit of destruction to the mount of peace. And to us the Jews of the Diaspora and to all who cherish the ideal of human sanctity, let inspiration and cour­ age come from the example of the Jews of the Land of Israel, who stand steady and resolute before gravest peril. They shall fulfill whatsoever tasks shall fall to them. So must we all.

------ S. B.

May-June 1967

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A m I M y Brother's Keeper?

The Need for a War on Crime on Many Fronts

By SAM U EL A. TURK

HE rise of the crime rate in this country has become so menacing that the President devoted a significant part of his annual message to Con­ gress on the need to embark on a program for insuring public safety.

He cited the startling results of a sur­ vey made in two of our largest cities: 43% of those interviewed stayed off the streets at night and 34% did not speak to strangers. “The fear of crime has eroded the basic quality of life of many Americans,” he declared.

This was followed by a special mes­ sage to Congress urging specific legis­ lation treating lawlessness like a plague, with measures to be instituted for its prevention as well as its con­ trol. These recommendations were based largely on the findings of the President’s Special Commission on Crime, which made an eighteen-month comprehensive study of various as­ pects of the subject and offered ap­ proximately two hundred recommend­ ations to reduce the incidence of crime.

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The proposals are for the most part highly constructive and if properly implemented would serve to launch a vigorous war on crime, which we so desperately need. The magnitude and complexity of this project are selfevident. The recommendations design­ ed to eliminate the conditions which breed crime include removing slums and ghettos, improving education, providing vocational training, job counselling, and employment oppor­ tunities. Stricter controls on the sale of all firearms is urged. Special hand­ ling of alcoholics and drug addicts is proposed. Numerous suggestions are offered for the development of more effective techniques for detecting crime and apprehending criminals and for the improvement of the calibre and training of all law enforcement personnel. To intensify the program, proposals are made for creating a special youth service bureau, a special organized crime unit, and a National Criminal Research Foundation to study the problems of criminal adJEW ISH LIFE

ministration. There is certainly a great And he said: I know not; am I my need to streamline the procedures in brother’s keeper?” G-d, however, in every branch of law enforcement, and asking Cain about his brother’s where­ to introduce a bold new approach abouts indicated that it was Cain’s towards dealing with this challenging responsibility to protect his brother’s national menace. life. When we contemplate the appall­ Although the effective execution of ing number of people killed in cold these recommendations would result blood here in the United States, in a great step forward, it is to be should we not have the feeling that noted that there are two aspects of G-d is addressing himself to us with the problem about which the Presi­ the same question concerning these dent’s message and the Crime Com­ murdered innocent souls? Can we just mission’s Report are either silent or glibly respond that we are not respon­ evasive, namely (1) the recent Su­ sible for preserving the lives of our preme Court decisions limiting the brethren? interrogations of suspected criminals To protect human life and to bring by police and (2) the need for taking those who have destroyed life to task positive steps to improve the moral is a primary duty of man. Negligence climate of the country. In both these with regard to this important duty areas we could benefit much by analy­ jeopardizes the safety of all commun­ zing the concepts outlined in Jewish ity life and imposes upon society a criminal law which have been success­ collective responsibility. One of the ful throughout the ages in establishing seven Noahide laws which Judaism a high respect for public order and regards as the minimum standard to in keeping crime and violence amongst be accepted by all mankind is the Jews at a relatively low rate. I believe establishment of courts to bring crimi­ that the underlying principles of these nals to the bar of justice. laws should be studied today and ap­ According to Maimonides (Yad plied to our current problems so that Hachazakah, Melochim 9:13) the sons the Jewish community in this country of Jacob were justified in killing the will be a positive force in the cam­ menfolk of Shechem because they al­ paign to prevent crime and promote lowed their leader’s son to go un­ law enforcement. Indeed, the Presi­ punished after h§ raped their sister, dent’s message emphasized that “con­ Dinah. Other scholars however (e.g. trolling crime is the business of every Ramban on Bereshith 34:13), differ American citizen” and he particularly from this view and maintain that the urged religious institutions to co-oper­ action of Yaakov’s children was un­ ate to the utmost in this effort. justified, as is indicated by Yaakov’s anger at their impetuous and terror­ EFORE discussing the issues out­ istic behavior;^ nevertheless, all are lined above, a few comments re­ agreed that the people of Shechem lating to traditional Jewish thinking were morally responsible for a great in this field would be in order, com­ violation of justice in their midst. mencing with the callous query posed A society which does not mete out by history’s first murderer. In Beres- justice to its criminals is guilty of hith (4:9) we read “And G-d said to shirking a basic responsibility of man­ Cain: Where is Abel thy brother? kind and is encouraging crime. In

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May-June 1967

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Pirkey Ovoth (I, 18), we are told: “Rabbi Simeon, son of Gamliel, said ‘The world rests upon three pillars; truth, justice, and peace as it is written (Zechariah 8:16): You shall adminis­ ter truth, justice and peace within your gates’.”

OCIETY can only survive by vir­ tue of proper administration of S justice; otherwise anarchy would pre­ vail. The Rabbis ordained that we “Pray for the government, since were it not for the fear of it men would swallow each other alive.” A judge who hands down a proper decision is considered to be a co-partner with G-d in the world’s creation. (Talmud Bavli, Shabboth 10a) G-d created the world so that it shall endure; the wick­ ed who rob, steal, rape and kill, de­ stroy it by their evil deeds. G-d’s decision to exterminate humanity in the generation of the Flood was final­ ized because of the robbery practiced in their midst, and it is written: “And the earth was filled with robbery and violence” (Bereshith 2:11). A judge

who “breaks the arms” of the wicked and takes from them what they have acquired illegitimately and returns it to its rightful owner helps the world to endure. Avrohom was recognized by the Almighty because of his great passion for justice: “For I have known him, that he will command his chil­ dren and his household after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and righteousness.

(Bereshith 18:19) Jews have a moral obligation to cooperate with non-Jews in a campaign to reduce all crime. This can only be achieved if the government indicts the violators and metes out punish­ ment to suit the crime. In the light of the tremendous and continuing in­ crease in crime, the recent Supreme Court decisions expanding the rights of suspected criminals have caused consternation and fear in many hearts and minds. It behooves us to study the implications of some of those con­ stitutional interpretations carefully be­ cause they have a direct bearing on law enforcement in this country.

EFFECT O F C O U R T R U L IN G S

N June 13, 1966, the United right. They must be informed that States Supreme Court in Esco­ they are under no compulsion to O bedo vs. Illinois handed down a far- answer any questions put to them. reaching 5-4 decision which drastic­ ally affects the apprehending of criminals throughout the country. The Court ruled that neither a suspect nor even someone caught committing a crime may be interrogated by the police until he is apprised of his right to counsel. Poor criminal suspects must be provided with attorneys be­ fore they may be questioned by the police unless they positively waive the 8

Confessions obtained without observ­ ing the above-mentioned restrictions cannot be used as evidence for con­ viction.

Justice White, one of the four Supreme Court justices who dissented in this case, said that the Court’s ruling “has no significant support in the history or language of the Fifth Amendment and in some cases will return a killer, a rapist, or other crimiJEW ISH LIFE

nal to the streets to repeat his crime whenever it pleases him. As a con­ sequence, there will not be a gain but a loss in human dignity.” A young probationer in Cleveland admitted killing another youth. Because police did not advise him of his rights, Judge Angelo J. Gagliardo had to let him go free. The judge said: “There is no question in my mind that this is any­ thing but a willful deliberate act of murder without any justification.

Someday members of the Supreme Court will engage themselves in the practical problems of life in a modern urban society, and deal with realities rather than theories that place in­ dividual rights far above the com­ munity.”

On the basis of this decision* a court threw out an indictment against the young man who confessed to start­ ing the fire in the Jewish Community Center of Yonkers, a fire which snuff­ ed out the lives of twelve children.

In another case, newspapers on Feb­ ruary 21, 1967 reported that Jose Suarez, who signed a statement ac­ knowledging that he murdered his wife and five children, walked out of a Brooklyn courtroom free, because the only evidence against him was his own confession. Justice Kern cited the Miranda case, decided on June 13, 1966| in which the Supreme Court also ruled that a defendant in custody must be informed of his right to re­ main silent if he wishes to, the right to consult a lawyer, and the right to a warning that anything he says may be used against him at trial. Suarez had not been advised on these points, since the New York law at that time did not require it, but the Miranda decision applied to him because it was retroactive, covering all defend­ ants who had not yet been tried. In May-June 1967

rendering the decision, State Supreme Court Justice Michael Kern stated: “Even an animal such as this one, and I believe this is insulting the animal kingdom, must be protected with all legal safeguards. This is a very sad thing. It is so repulsive it makes one’s blood run cold and any decent human being’s stomach turn to let a thing like this out on the street.” District Attorney Aaron Koota’s comment was: “The United States Supreme Court has weighted the scales of justice heavily in favor of the criminal suspect. I am not a prophet, but the handwriting on the wall indicates a trend on the part of the Court to outlaw all confessions made to police. If and when that melancholy day comes, the death knell of effective criminal law enforcement will have been sounded.” During the previous month, three men in New York who were confessed murderers were freed on the same basis.

HILE the rights of those sus­ pected of crime are being ex­ panded, society is being plagued by bloodshed, rape, theft, prostitution, drug traffic, and assault more than ever before. America is being made safer for criminals but unfortunately, more dangerous for law-abiding citi­ zens. To make it possible for known criminals to go scot-free because of what some regard as technicalities in the law is to endanger the peace and safety of society. The judicial policies promulgated by recent Supreme Court decisions would be understandable if the moral climate of our society were greatly improved. With morality and ethics at its lowest, such legal ab­ stractions pronounced by the judges add up to absurdity and evince a callousness to a dangerous reality.

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As Jews we have a moral obliga­ tion to combat the spread of crime and to do everything to bring the guilty to the bar of justice. “So yes shall not pollute the land wherein ye are; for blood, it polluteth the land; and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood which is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it” (Bemidbor 35:33). The Rabbis maintain that “The sword comes into the world for the delay of justice and for the perversion of justice.” (Pirkey Ovoth 5, 2) A judge who hands down a legal decision ac­ cording to given testimony of wit­ nesses and who knows that he is exonerating one who is in fact guilty is responsible for a miscarriage of justice. A judge is obligated to probe and investigate until the actual facts are revealed (Talmud Bavli, Shovuoth 30b). Indeed, this obligates a judge to concentrate upon the objective of ascertaining the truth of a man’s in­ nocence or guilt rather than merely complying with the letter of the law (Tur, Choshen Mishpot 1, D’rishah 2 ).

The Rabbis maintain that Jerusalem

was destroyed because the judges ren­ dered decisions in criminal and civil suits strictly in accordance with the letter and not the spirit of the law, allowing the city to become riddled with crime (Talmud, Bova Metziah 88a). While the laws of the Torah are eternal and immutable, the crimi­ nal statutes provide for flexibility. It is the duty of judges and government­ al authorities to consider the incidence of crime and the moral climate of the times and to make the criminal and civil laws of the Torah effective in reducing crime and violence. The Torah is, of course, at the same time vitally concerned that the innocent be protected against a miscarriage of justice. The aim is to strike a sensible balance between the protection of tha accused and of society. Similarly, the late Justice Cardozo’s wise injunction expressed this thought aptly when he said “Justice, though due to the ac­ cused, is due to the accuser also. The concept of fairness must not be strained till it is narrowed to a fila­ ment. We are to keep the balance true.”

P R O T E C T IO N O F THE A C C U S E D IN J E W IS H L A W

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have accomplished by so scrupulously interrogating the accusing witnesses that flaws in their testimony would be found. (Mishnah, Makoth, 1, 10) According to Jewish statutory law it is most difficult to convict someone of a crime punishable by death or flogging. No one, according to the Rambam, may be convicted by his own confession or by circumstantial evidence. One is not to be condemned to death or flogging unless he was

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JEW ISH LIFE

HE statutory laws of the Torah as expounded in the Talmud and the codes were meant to elicit posi­ tive proof of the guilt of the defend­ ant and to keep to a minimum the number of people who would be con­ victed to death or corporal punish­ ment. Rabbi Tarphon and Rabbi Akiva maintained that if they were judges in the Sanhedrin they would never have rendered a decision involv­ ing the death penalty. This they would

warned immediately before the per­ formance of the crime in the presence of at least two witnesses. The crimi­ nal must be informed at the time as to what law he is violating and he must respond that he is aware of it and yet is doing it nevertheless. This is true even if the criminal is a scholar and knows the law; for the purpose of such warning is to make it im­ possible for him to claim that he did not know the facts involving his deed.

No one may be condemned to death or flogging except by testimony of two witnesses whose veracity and reli­ ability meet the requirements of Torah law. These qualified witnesses must testify before a qualified court of twenty-three ordained judges.

(Maimonides, Yad Hachazokah, San­ hedrin 18:6, 20:1, 12:2) Laws concerning qualifications for witnesses and judges are numerous and complicated and are beyond the scope of this article. It should be noted, however, that the qualifications are stringent and very difficult to meet. No testimony may be accepted from a) relatives, b) minors, c) wo­ men, d) a deaf person, e) a blind person, f) anyone convicted of vio­ lating a negative commandment pun­ ishable by death or flogging who has not sincerely repented, g) the untutor­ ed, h) the mentally disturbed, i) apostates, atheists, and extortionists, j) robbers and all who are suspected of dishonesty in connection with money, k) professional gamblers, 1) lenders of money on interest, m) slaves, n) anyone who has a personal interest in the case, and a number of others (Yad, Eduth 9:1). Witnesses were subjected one by one to thorough cross-examination and investigation.

The questions concerned the time and place of the crime. They were asked May-June 1967

“In what Sabbatical year did the in­ cident occur. In which year? In which month? On which day of the month?

On which day of the week? At which hour? At which place? Did you know this man whom you charge with the crime? Did you warn him?” (Mishnah, Sanhedrin 5: 1) Testimony which could result in capital punishment had to be given by at least two wit­ nesses who had seen the crime from one place at the same time (Yad, Eduth 4, 1). Witnesses could be quizzed for the slightest details, Ben Zakkai, the great Tannaitic scholar, received his name which means “son of the innocent one” because he labor­ ed extraordinarily to establish the in­ nocence of the accused. At one mur­ der trial as told in the Mishnah (San­ hedrin 5:2), he questioned the wit­ ness about the thickness of the fig tree under which the crime was alleged to have been committed in order to prove that the evidence was false or inaccurate. According to Jewish statu­ tory law, death may be meted out to one person only for having killed someone directly. If he caused some­ one’s death indirectly the court may not convict him. For example, binding someone so that a wild beast could tear him apart or that he would die of starvation, cold, or heat, is not punishable by death; neither is hiring someone to kill. (Yad, Rotzeach 2:2 and 3:10) One can readily see that every effort was made to safeguard the rights of the accused.

Jewish Law has set forth numerous provisions favoring the exoneration of those charged with crime. In a trial involving capital punishment a charge is to be addressed to the witnesses to warn them of the gravity and serious­ ness of their testimony. The Mishnah (Sanhedrin 4:5) records the declaraII

tion which was given to the witnesses as follows: “Perhaps the evidence which you are about to give is based on conjecture or hearsay, or some­ thing said by a person in whom you had confidence. Perhaps, also you are unaware that we shall subject you 'to a searching cross-examination. Take heed that criminal cases are not like civil cases. In the latter a man forfeits his money and makes atonement but in criminal cases the responsibility of his blood and the blood of his seed rests upon him until the end of the world. Thus do we find it in connec­ tion with Cain who killed his brother of whom it is said [Bereshith 4:10] T he voice of thy brother’s bloods cried unto me from the ground.’ The text does not read ‘thy brother’s blood’ but ‘thy brother’s bloods’

meaning his blood and that of his seed. For that reason was man first created a single individual, to teach the lesson that whoever destroys one life, Scripture ascribes it to him as though he had destroyed a whole world. You may say perhaps, why should we take this trouble upon us?

But it has been said [Vayikra 5:1] ‘He being a witness, if he do not utter it, he shall bear his iniquity.’

Or perhaps you may say ‘why should we be responsible for the blood of the accused?’ But it has been said [Prov­ erbs 11:10] ‘When the wicked perish, there is rejoicing.’ ” So careful were Jewish courts required to be in prose­ cuting capital offenses that a court ordering an execution once in seven years was branded in the Mishnah (Makoth 10) as a destructive court.

E M E R G E N C Y P O W ER S

A LTHOUGH the rights of the suspected criminal were to be scrupulously guarded in regular judi­ cial procedures, both the judicial and the executive authorities of the Jewish Commonwealth were vested with em­ ergency powers to be used to protect society from a dangerous increase in crime. The King could order the exec­ ution of known murderers who could not be prosecuted in accordance with regular judicial procedures. So too could the courts if it was felt that extraordinary conditions of the times required it in order to establish public safety, law and order. For example, if the King or the courts saw that there was a great increase in the num­ ber of murders by indirect methods for which according to statutory law no one may be convicted, they could 12

either execute the criminals or subject them to physical punishment in order to dissuade others from attempting similar actions and emerging un­ scathed (Rambam, Rotzeach 2:4 and 2:5). To give another example, in a case where two witnesses saw the ac­ cused kill someone but where he was not warned immediately before the crime or where the two witnesses saw the crime from different places, the court was not supposed to inflict the regular death penalty. However, such criminals were placed in cells and forcibly fed what the Talmud calls “bread of adversity and water of afliction” which resulted in death (San­ hedrin 81b). The courts had the power to issue decrees punishing peo­ ple with flogging for deeds which according to statutory law did not JEW ISH LIFE

merit it. The courts could likewise decree the death penalty for acts for which the Torah did not demand death. This they could do in order to put a fence around the law and to check an avalanche of laxity (Yad Sanhedrin 24: 4). The Talmud cites a case of a man who had sexual inter­ course with his wife under a fig tree in public. He was brought to court and was flogged even though statu­ tory law does not demand such pun­ ishment (Sanhedrin 46a). The court believed that such drastic punishment was necessary to check the moral lax­ ity which prevailed at the time.

We see from the above references that the regular statutory law which gives the suspect maximum rights are suspended when the executive and ju­ dicial authorities are confronted with a general breakdown of law observ­ ance and moral depravity. Indeed if the courts do not suspend the statu­ tory law in such situations and con­ tinue to decide cases in accordance with it, they are guilty of causing the devastation of the world. As noted earlier, our Sages contended that the Jews were driven into Exile because the judges and governmental authori­ ties did not interpret the law in order to reduce crime.

crime to a minimum and to help im­ prove the observance of the law. The rights of people are not considered to be absolute. They are granted and enjoyed if society is not jeopardized.

The rights of the individual cannot be protected at the expense of the safety and welfare of the community.

Why did the statutory law of the Torah make it so difficult to condemn someone to death or flogging? The Torah was concerned that such dras­ tic punishment be administered only in rare cases. When crime is a rare occurrence, every legal technicality prescribed in the statute had to be scrupulously observed before penalties were imposed. When crime became commonplace, society in self-defense curtailed some of the legal provisions in its efforts to assure that the guilty would not escape penalty. The Torah in its wisdom provided for the great­ est elasticity in criminal procedures.

It recognized that not all societies are equally moral and law-abiding. The major function of society is to create a climate of law and order. If this can only be accomplished by temporarily restricting some freedoms, abstrusely interpreted recently by the Supreme Court, this may have to be done,

INCE the destruction of the Tem­ ple, the Jewish courts are not empowered to administer any penal­ ties in accordance with the statutory procedures of Jewish criminal law.

Nevertheless, if the courts find it nec­ essary to render such decisions in or­ der to check extreme lawlessness, they should make recommendations to the civil authorities. Any Jewish Kehillah or community today has the powers of a court. It is the duty of every Jewish community to help reduce

/^ R IM E has reached such dangerous v^4 proportions that it would seem timely for Congress to declare a state of emergency and to pass emergency legislation which would enable the authorities to apprehend and prose­ cute known criminals who spread terror and fear in the country. Ab­ normal situations require drastic ac­ tion. There is ample precedent for the restriction of freedoms and rights during periods of emergency. There are those who are not alarmed, saying that crime exists in every society.

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13

This, of course, is also true of disease.

Nevertheless, when disease reaches epidemic proportions, the public health authorities are empowered to establish a quarantine or to utilize other emergency measures which in­ fringe on our personal freedoms. The same reasoning should apply with re­ spect to crime. “Crime,” said the Pres­ ident in his special message to Con­ gress, “has become a public malady. . . . It is our duty to seek its cure with every means at our command.”

As indicated above, indictments of avowed criminals all over the country are being rescinded because of the Supreme Court decisions in the Esco­ bedo and Miranda cases. Suspects are consistently refusing to answer ques­ tions put by police. As a result, many more crimes will remain unsolved. It is interesting to note that an eminent criminal lawyer, Percy Foreman, in testifying before a Congressional Com­ mittee urged that the privilege against self-incrimination in the Fifth Amend­ ment to the Constitution should be eased to require suspects to answer questions posed by judges, Mr. Fore­ man, a Houston attorney with a na­ tional reputation for winning murder cases, predicted that the Supreme Court would eventually rule out all questioning by the police, which he characterized as “inherently coercive.”

He added that too many defendants would go free unless judges or magis­ trates were permitted to question them under non-coercive circumstances, as is done in most European countries.

If suspects refused to answer, the ju­ ries could draw their own conclusions as to their guilt.

Another official testifying before the Congressional Committee was Col. Homer Garrison, Director of the Texas Rangers. He charged that the 14

Supreme Court decisions provided for giving the poor defendants the same loopholes as the rich, rather than at­ tempting to see that both were pun­ ished when they deserve it.

It would seem most desirable, there­ fore, that Federal legislation be con­ sidered to allow the police and the courts greater latitude in interroga­ tions and the use of confessions.

This may necessitate a constitutional amendment. Such a proposal received impressive support from seven of the nineteen members of the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement, among them three past presidents of the American Bar Association.

A NOTHER federal law, Section J \ . 605 of the Communications Act of 1934, buttressed by Supreme Court rulings, prohibits the interception and divulgence of a telephone or wire message. The Court has ruled that wiretapped information obtained by federal agents is illegal and therefore not admissable as evidence in court.

It is believed that these rulings have seriously weakened the power of law enforcement officials in combatting organized crimè and that Congress should authorize wiretapping by fed­ eral agents under strict safeguards and only with court approval. It is signifi­ cant that a majority of the members of the President’s Crime Commission endorsed the view that “legislation should be enacted granting carefully circumscribed authority for electronic surveillance to law enforcement offi­ cers.” The report said a great majority of law enforcement officials consid­ ered electronic surveillance techniques “indispensable” to the fight against organized crime. Senator Robert Ken­ nedy, as Attorney General, had pro­ posed that a bill be passed to authorJEW ISH LIFE

ize wiretapping in cases of extortion, ary 9, 1967, an editorial commented: organized gambling, narcotics dealing, “The message’s sections on organized and other offenses which fall within crime are weak. The President ack­ the business of organized crime syn­ nowledges the Federal responsibility dicates. Nothing came of it. In New for dealing with crime syndicates that York as well as some other states, ignore state lines, but he is vague in the courts have admitted evidence ob­ defining the new weapons the Justice tained by wiretapping provided the Department will be given to intensify tap has been placed pursuant to an its attack on gangster penetration so order signed by a judge. insidious that in some localities it has President Johnson apparently disa­ become a form of government within grees with this viewpoint. In his re­ the government. . . . We have long cent message to Congress on Crime, favored a total ban on taps for indus­ he recommended the Right of Privacy trial or other private uses, but the Act of 1967 outlawing all police wire­ case is far less plain for complete pro­ tapping and eavesdropping except in hibition against the use of wiretaps instances involving the national secur­ by law-enforcement agencies.” The ity and then only under the strictest right to privacy is certainly a cher­ safeguards. It is hoped that Congress ished freedom but we may have to will hold hearings on this issue and restrict it somewhat with appropriate call upon experienced law enforce­ safeguards, if we are to preserve so­ ment officials to explore the relation­ ciety’s right to self-defense. ship between bugging and apprehen­ Yet we must always recognize that sion of crime. It would appear that a progressive abridgement of consti­ at least during this emergency period tutional rights could lead to a police when we are presumably embarking state and we must always be vigilant on a war on crime, law enforcement officials should have the benefit of and take precautions against such a every reasonable device to facilitate development. If we continue to be the successful execution of their work, alert to the perils of such a contin­ provided they abide by all the legal gency and circumscribe all restrictions safeguards. on such rights with appropriate safe­ In the New York Times of Febru­ guards, such danger would be averted.

M E E T IN G T O D A Y 'S PROBLEM

A LTHOUGH the President’s message to Congress and the Crime Commission’s report both conclude with general statements urging the greater involvement of private citizens in this war against crime, it would seem desirable to outline more speci­ fically what positive steps can be taken to stimulate such public co-op­ eration with law enforcement authorMay-June 1967

ities. Certainly a vigorous program of enlightenment and education must be undertaken to restore respect for law and order. Such a program should begin in the home and in the primary schools of the country.

Youth is apparently responsible for a substantial and disproportionate part of the national crime problem. It was frightening to read in the Commis15

sion’s Report that the incidence of crime is highest in the 15 to 21 age group. Fifteen-year-olds commit more of the serious crimes than any other age group, with 16 year-olds close behind. More than 50 percent of ar­ rests for burglaries are of youths un­ der 18. The Commission’s Report em­ phasizes that the steady decline of parental authority, and particularly of paternal authority in the home in re­ cent years, has been a significant con­ tributing factor towards this lawless­ ness. Children acquire their funda­ mental attitudes towards life, their moral standards, in their homes. If parents fail to guide and supervise their children closely during their im­ pressionable years, if the parents are afraid to discipline them and inculcate a reverence for law and a sense of ethical values, then we are bound to be confronted with a staggering num­ ber of juvenile delinquents who bra­ zenly flaunt the law.

Similarly, there is a need for more discipline in the country’s schools. In­ stead of serving as a training ground for good government and a vehicle for implanting a sense of respect for law and ethical values, our schools are plagued by rowdyism, narcotics, and delinquency in many areas, school au­ thorities seem to be helpless in the face of these mounting disciplinary problems.

In addition to better training of children in the home and in the schools, we should enlist the active participation of every organization with which children and parents come into contact, especially religious insti­ tutions, social service agencies, adult and youth groups, in a campaign to emphasize the urgency of citizen par­ ticipation in promoting law enforce­ ment to insure public safety. Every \b

means of influencing public opinion, including the radio, television, and the press, should be utilized to enhance the success of such a campaign.

OREMOST among the volun­ teers to join this army to curb crime should be members of the Jew­ ish faith. The Torah requires all Is­ raelites not to stand by idly at the scene of a crime. “Neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neigh­ bor. I am the Lord’’ (Vayikra 19:16). We are obligated to take the life of an assailant even as in selfdefense. This obligation, according to Maimonides, applies to the extent of hiring people to save the person being assailed.

Under Jewish law, it is our duty to reveal planned crimes and to alert the intended victim about them. One must also do everything in his power to dissuade anyone from carrying out a crime. A person is duty bound to testify about any crime he has wit­ nessed. No one is permitted to aid criminals directly or indirectly. It is prohibited, therefore, to buy stolen goods because in doing this we en­ courage the thieves to continue their lawlessness.* Recent events have shown that crimes have been com­ mitted in a number of places with the full knowledge of neighbors who did not even take the trouble to inform the police. The infamous Genovese murder in Queens, New York is a case in point. About forty people ad­ mitted that they heard the woman’s cries without calling the police.

Known criminals are walking the streets freely because of the refusal of people to testify against them. Such callousness on the part of the public

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* Maimonides, Yad Hachazokah, Rotzeach 1, 13 and 14, Eduth 1, 1, G’nevah 51.

JEW ISH LIFE

contributes to the growth of crime. A laissez-faire attitude is certainly of no assistance in combatting crime. Un­ less the Justice Department together with leaders of education and religion employ extraordinary measures in their campaign to alert all citizens concerning the importance of this is­ sue, America will become corroded from within by lawlessness and vio­ lence.

It is becoming more and more ap­ parent that a moral breakdown is tak­ ing place in our society. Excessive drinking and drug addiction have be­ come fashionable even among the teenagers. The attitude towards crime in the press, on television, and in mo­ tion pictures as well as by people at large has become exceedingly toler­ ant. We are no longer incensed when brilliant attorneys skillfully use some legal technicality to have known crim­ inals escape with little or no punish­ ment. Instead of righteous indignation at the widespread violence and brutal crimes committed daily, sympathy is bestowed upon the perpetrators, who are given undue recognition and pub­ licity. We may well be reminded of the Talmudic admonition which Rabbi Yehoshua, the son of Levi, gave: “All who display mercy to the barbarous wind up being barbarous to the merci­ ful” (Yalkut Shim’oni on Sh’muel 121 ) .

EING our “brother’s keeper” does not merely involve penalizing criminals. It entails an obligation which goes much farther; it implies taking positive steps to develop a moral climate where crime will be forestalled. In this connection, the or­ der in which the Ten Commandments is presented should be noted. The first five commandments require that we

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sanctify our lives, our homes, and our society by believing in G-d, shunning idolatry, not taking the name of G-d in vain, sanctifying the Sabbath and revering our parents. These are fol­ lowed with the admonitions not to kill, not to commit adultery, not to steal, not to bear false witness, and not to covet. This order in the Deca­ logue is most significant since it im­ plies that the most effective deterrent against the latter five sinful acts is a firm belief in G-d, who is a symbol of justice and truth; the observance of the Sabbath, which is a call to sanctify human life; and reverence for parents, whose relationship is a sacred one. Parents who permeate their homes with the spirit of G-d’s holi­ ness establish the fortresses against bloodshed, theft, and adultery.

It is to be recognized, however, that there are many factors in the environ­ ment outside the home which influ­ ence children adversely and it is in­ cumbent on government authorities to take positive steps to maintain mini­ mum standards of morality and de­ cency. The Crime Report does em­ phasize the importance of introducing more effective measures to fight alco­ holism and drug addiction and also of having stricter control over the sale and shipment of firearms. These are cardinal teachings in the Jewish tra­ dition. Jews are obligated to refrain from drunkenness. According to Jew­ ish law, it is wrong to place any weap­ ons in the hands of any person whose moral integrity is questionable. (Yad, Rotzeach 12, 12).

In addition, many religious and community leaders believe that the rise in the circulation of pornographic and erotic literature amongst teen­ agers contributes to the increase in sex crimes and bloodshed. Jewish tra17

dition holds that drunkenness and por­ nography lead to sex crimes and vio­ lence (Yad, Issurey Biah 22, 21), and the scene of today bears this out all too well. Millions of young minds are poisoned by the lurid tales and pictures of sexual excesses and per­ versions. Here again we encounter an absolute interpretation of a cherished constitutional right, i.e. freedom of the press. We believe that all rights entail obligations and that it is a re­ sponsibility of society to uphold cer­ tain minimum standards of decency.

The current “sex revolution” which seeks to tear down time-honored re­ straints and mores concerning rela­ tionships between the sexes is rapidly undermining the family institution.

The breakdown of the family is con­ sidered to be the single most danger­ ous development contributing to ju­ venile delinquency. Religious leaders of all faiths should gather and pool

18

their resources for the purpose of fighting the spread of corruption, por­ nography, and indecency which breed criminality in our midst; fighting alco­ holism and drug addiction; and con­ sidering constructive measures which should be taken to strengthen and re­ inforce family life in this country. A broken home is the most fertile ground for growing young criminals.

The Jewish religion has always em­ phasized that we are our brother’s keeper and Jews today should be ac­ tively supporting those forces in our community which are dedicated to the development of a moral climate where crime will not flourish. We must ve­ hemently oppose the weakening of our moral code. The corruption of man and society is the great challenge facing us. We should meet it coura­ geously, armed with the weapons of Torah.

JEW ISH LIFE

Holocaust W riters and the Critics Are the current canons of literary art applicable to the ex­ pression of the most searing chapter of human history?

By IR V IN G HALPERIN A WIDESPREAD critical point of ■f*- view asserts that the most telling way for fiction writers to express the horrors of World War II is to do so obliquely, dryly, cleverly, and, above all, coolly. Supporters of the “cool” method say, in effect: the suffering and atrocities of World War II can­ not be rendered by direct emotional involvement; therefore* let the writer employ indirection, irony, casual wit, and a heightened prose style. Hence some reviewers have reacted predict­ ably to Holocaust writers like Elie Wiesel and Josef Bor, whose works evoke Whitman’s “I am the man, I suffered, I was there.” A. Alva­ rez (Commentary, November 1964) judged Wiesel’s “Night” a defective book because it fell back on rhetoric and overstatement. He was equally hard on Josef Bor’s “Terezin Re­ quiem,” finding it overwritten and a “bit journalistic.” How much better, he argued, is Piotr Rawicz’s “Blood from the Sky,” because there the writer uses “diversionary tactics to convey intensities which he could not otherwise express.” Elsewhere in the article he praised Rawicz for finding May-June 1967

“imaginative ways around the atroc­ ities.” Another reviewer, Theo­ dore Frankel (Midstream, December, 1964), concluded that Wiesel’s novel “The Town Beyond the Wall” is spoiled by “overwriting, sentimentaliz­ ing, and a maudlin philosophy whose shallowness too often contrasts oddly with the terrible misery which evoked it.” Joseph Friedman (Saturday Re­ view, July 25, 1964) found the “para­ bles and moralizing passages” of “The Town Beyond the Wall” “diffuse and lacking in narrative pressure” but he admired the non-realistic aspects of the work, especially the “impression­ istic opening sequence, a fragmented, hallucinatory abstraction.” 1 Even re­ viewers who like Wiesel’s work have found it necessary to state that his novels are not “well constructed.”

Against the background of these re­ views, it is noteworthy that Jakov Lind’s recently published novel, “Landscape in Concrete,” has been praised for its style, fantasy, grotesque characters, lunatic humor, PinterBeckett atmosphere, and artistic distancing.

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OW it is true that a sufficient artistic detachment between the writer and his work is necessary to fiction. But there is an excess of dis­ tance, an excess of icily manipulated technique in a work like “Landscape in Concrete”; and the result is an atmosphere of chilling lifelessness which ultimately repels the reader.

But apparently it is precisely this gelid condition which impresses critics who favor the “cool” approach in the writing of Holocaust fictional litera­ ture. That is why, for example, they have celebrated Jakov Lind’s “Soul of Wood.” In that story, one of the main characters, Wohlbrecht, a cripple, at the point of being executed by two Nazi doctors, pleads for his life. “I’m human too,” he cries to them. But the Nazis shoot him anyway, and to further degrade his death, they tear off the corpse’s wooden leg and stick it into the earth beside a tree. Hence, too, A. Alvarez has admired the^ treat­ ment of the realm of the inhuman theme in Tadeusz Borowski’s short story “This Way for the Gas.” Here the “less than human” are not the Nazis with their “shiny, brutal faces” but, unfortunately, the prisoners them­ selves—in this case, some prisoners assigned to a special work detail whose function it is to strip fellow Jews of their food, valuable belong­ ings, and money, and turn the “loot” over to the Nazis. Despising them­ selves for submitting to this assign­ ment in order to save their own skins, these prisoners pathologically hate the victims they betray. Altogether, their deplorable situation is represent­ ative of what may be called the con­ nivance, the perverse identification, between the persecutor and the per­ secuted. So it is that a member of

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this special work detail, referring to his victims, cries out: I am furious, furious, unreasonably furious at these people—that I must be here because of them. I don’t feel any pity for them. I’m not sorry that they’re going to the gas. Damn them all! I could throw myself at them with my fists.

Again, the “less than human” ones are to be found in Jerzy Kosinski’s “The Painted Bird.” In that novel a Jewish boy is driven from village to village in Poland, because the villag­ ers see him only as the “stranger,” the outcast. They suspect him of be­ ing either a Jew or gypsy, because his complexion is dark and because, in general, he looks different from other children of their environment. So they beat, execrate, and exploit him. The end result of such continuous persecu­ tion on the boy’s personality is pre­ dictable: he becomes dehumanized.

HERE is no denying the view that the realm of the inhuman is an appropriate and significant theme for Holocaust literature. But certainly this theme does not tell the whole story. It is too bad that these critics have not pointed out, with equal en­ thusiasm, the abundance of impres­ sively human relationships which are recorded in this same body of litera­ ture. Here I have in mind the high order of response among human be­ ings registered between Viktor Frankl and his fellow prisoners (“From Death-Camp to Existentialism”); Eugene Heimler and the sixteen chil­ dren he protected in Buchenwald (“Night of the Mist”); Micklos and Weinstock (“The Seven Years” ); Primo Levi and an Italian civilian (“If This Is A Man”); Tania and Eva (“Tell Me Another Morning”);

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JEW ISH LIFE

Raphael Schächter and his musicians (“Terezin Requiem”); Henriques and Hirsch (“Breaking-Point”), and Daniella and Fella (“House of Dolls”).

The abundance and achievement of these relationships, despite the condi­ tions of the concentration camps and walled ghettos, offer support to the belief sounded in the last lines of Camus’ “The Plague” : “. . . what we learn in a time of pestilence: that there are more things to admire in men than to despise.” ..

Moreover, if one puts a practitioner like Lind beside Elie Wiesel, Bor, or Schwarz-Bart, writers with whom he may properly be compared, he seems rather unsatisfactory. Wiesel’s books are powerful, painful documents of moral force. They sear through the cerebral defenses of the reader and strike at him like blows. They can leave one hurt, depressed. There are moments in “Night”—the mass burn­ ing of children at Auschwitz, the body of a boy, still alive, dangling from a gallows in the camp’s courtyard— when the reader is immersed in an atmosphere of unbearable horror. In short, Wiesel, who himself survived the concentration camps, has no less black a vision of the recent past than Lind; and yet the former’s protagon­ ists Elisha - Eliezer - Michael - Gabriel, though they have been witness to the workings of absolute evil, do not settle into emotional cul de sacs. Wanting to exorcise the holocaust past and to live more at peace with themselves in the present, these survivor-protagon­ ists look to the possibilities of existen­ tial improvisation. Hence the state­ ment in Wiesel’s third novel, “The Accident” : “Man must keep moving, searching, weighing, holding out his hands, offering himself, inventing himself.”

May-June 1967

Further, Wiesel’s novels derive much of their thrust from the actions of characters who attempt to demon­ strate their belief that men have a chance to protest against human suf­ fering by alleviating it. Thus Guyla in “The Accident” says to Eliezer: “It is man’s duty to make it [suffering] cease, not to increase it. One hour of suffering less is already a victory over fate.” Such a commitment, Guyla be­ lieves, takes a man away from his own self-involved concerns and directs him toward other human beings; in­ deed, to be human is to respond to another human, to his suffering, his very existence— “I suffer, therefore you are.”

N the case of Josef Bor, what ac­ counts for the appeal of “Terezin Requiem” is not the narrative tech­ nique, which is fairly conventional, but rather, as in Wiesel’s fiction, the book’s powerful moral statement. The novel deals with an actual incident— the eighteen-months-long efforts of the well-known conductor, Raphael Schächter, to put on a performance of Verdi’s Requiem in 1944 within the Theresienstadt Ghetto of Czecho­ slovakia. What continually frustrates the conductor is that the Nazis keep selecting members of his 500-member musical group for deportation to the concentration camps. But in the end he manages to produce a triumphant performance; and hence the spirit of creativity prevails over the destructive spirit of the Nazis. The conductor and his group have succeeded in showing up

I

the mendacity of perverted ideas of pure and impure blood, of superior and inferior races, to expose them precisely in a Jewish camp, and pre­ cisely through the medium of art, in 21

the field where a man’s true worth can best be recognized.

Given the power of this novel, it is curious that some critics have evaluated “Terezin Requiem” as over­ written and melodramatic. They have particularly objected to the charac­ terization of Schachter, contending that he is not “real,” hot plausible However, their criticism is far wide of the mark. Granted, Schachter is not “real”; actually he was intended to be a mythical-symbolic representa­ tion of all men who exercise creativity in the midst of destruction. And the important thing is that the spirit which informs the work is “real” and in­ tensely alive, as witness the memorable ending: Like the stroke of a bell, Maruska’s crystal voice rang out: “ *Libera meV ” Everywhere the bells pealed in an­ swer; “ ‘Libera meV ” resounded the voices of the choir. | ‘Deliver us!

22

Deliver us!’ ” clamored altos and tenors, sopranos and basses, from all sides. “ ‘We want liberty!’ ” the or­ chestra replied to them. And the kettle drums rolled and thundered: “ ‘Libera nos! Libera nosY ” Ultimately, then, Wiesel and Bor have attempted to probe into the moral center of the Holocaust experi­ ence. It is an undertaking which takes audacity and certainly involves artistic risk—the risk of being sentimental, rhetorical, journalistic. So given the extraordinary content and achieve­ ment of Wiesel’s and Bor’s books, it is ill advised to raise the question about them posed by critics support­ ing the “cool” approach: “But are they art?” Wiesel and Bor are im­ portant writers not by the rules of contemporary fiction but because they excite the reader to intense reflection.

Clearly, they have suggested some of the most crucial, if unanswerable, questions pertinent to the Holocaust.

JEW ISH LIFE

Prayer: Realistic, or N o t?

Can belief in the potency of prayer be squared with the causeancf-effecf tenets of modern science? A contemporary question addressed— and answered— in more than contemporary terms.

By DAVID JA C O B S

RAYER is a universal human ac­ tivity. From time immemorial, man has prayed. He has prayed for help in time of hardship or danger.

Not only has he prayed for himself, but for his friends and loved ones.

Prayers have likewise been on the lips of those desiring to express their thankfulness for deliverance from dan­ ger, as well as those awe-inspired by the wonderful panorama of nature.

Last, but far from least, man prays for ethico-religious blessings: forgiveness of sin, the capacity to do the right and shun the wrong, and that exalted feeling that sincere prayer brings the pray-er. It is man, of all creatures on this planet, who feels a distinct need to find p-d. G-d, to be sure, has responded to this need of man, by means of Revelation, or prophecy.

The most unique Revelations ever vouchsafed to man are those received

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by Moses; their sum total equals the Torah he communicated to Israel over the forty years he led Israel as G-d’s spokesman.

Why do we pray? As Jews, we are obligated to do so. Jewish teachers have differed as to whether this obli­ gation is of Torah-itic or of Rabbinic origin; the latter opinion has pre­ vailed. On both opinions the actual formulations of the prayers constitut­ ing our liturgy represent developments whose roots are Rabbinic; the differ­ ence between them would be in whether a person fueling himself in need of help is obligated to petition G-d for such aid. However, even if no obligation to pray existed, we would nonetheless do so. Man’s emo­ tions, and the vicissitudes of his life, as well as his fundamentally religious nature, impel him to pray. Man’s con­ cept of religion has varied from the 23

most primitive animism and fetishism, to the sophisticated monotheism of Judaism. Nonetheless, prayer is a fun­ damental aspect of religion in action.

Even if we affirm belief in G-d, we are not truly religious unless we pray.

The thesis that prayer is an aspect of religion in action leads to the ques­ tion as to whether there is very much real religion to be found nowadays among us. There is no dearth of liter­ ature extolling the virtues of prayer today, but some do not really pray.

As best, some individuals mouth pray­ ers with their lips. Lips move, but hearts and minds sometimes remain inert.

IRST steps are usually the most difficult, and this applies to prayer as well. The most elemental form of prayer is petition; in it, we ask G-d to either grant us given boons, or save us from given trials and misfortunes.

While prayer is far from limited to petition, it can hardly make sense to us unless we believe in the efficacy of prayer. Prayer indeed serves the same purpose as those religious exercises we term ritual; it creates in us a devo­ tional mood, and brings us into com­ munion with the Lord of the universe.

However, unless we feel that G-d is interested in us, and that His universe is essentially beneficent, we will not feel impelled to commune with Him. If prayer in its elementary sense can­ not in any way change the course of events, what basis have we to believe that wfiat we call the good life is not a mere accident? How can we achieve hithlahavuth, fervor, if prayer is merely a hope, or aspiration that per se has no effect on reality? The effi­ cacy of prayer is a problem that no thinking religious Jew can afford to

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ignore. Hence, we devote ourselves here to this problem.

The obstacle to belief in the efficacy of prayer is both scientific and theo­ logical. Science has demonstrated time and again that the universe is governed by law, whoso basic prin­ ciple is causality. A given event or phenomenon tends to produce another in its train. If man is part of the uni­ verse, the events characterizing his life are governed by laws integral to the general scheme of things. Whatever is to befall us is necessarily the result of anterior factors. How can we hope to change the course of events? Is this not a futile attempt to abrogate laws which are inexorable in their oper­ ation?

The theological aspect of the prob­ lem is essentially similar. It may be objected that religion and science are opposed to each other on the matter of whether the universe is determin­ istic or non-deterministic, but careful thought soon disposes of this “easy” solution. A beneficent universe must be characterized by law and order.

This necessarily implies that events transpiring within the universe do so in terms of cause and effect. As be­ lieving Jews, we can have no quarrel with this. Indeed, integral to Judaism is the extension of this principle be­ yond the realm of the material or physical to what may be termed the extra-material, or metaphysical. Sci­ ence, for the most part, is limited to the physical, but this does not, by any means, limit reality to the physical alone. The belief, basic to religion, that there exists non-material reality is supported by psychology and psy­ chosomatic medicine. Emotions are non-material, but their effects on man are just as real as those of physical JEW ISH LIFE

agents. Indeed, some have gone so far as to maintain that whether a person succumbs to an infection such as a cold or influenza depends not merely on physiological factors but on psychological factors too. It is not unwarranted to assume that other situ­ ations that befall us involve non-ma­ terial as well as material factors.

Still, the term “universe” connotes a unity of being or existence. Both the material and extra-material as­ pects of G-d’s Creation are governed by laws of His ordaining, which oper­ ate in terms of cause and effect. This is the basis of reward and punish­ ment, a doctrine basic to the faith of Israel.

C A U S A L IT Y IN M E T A P H Y S IC A L D IM E N S IO N

EASON and experience tell us that the laws governing the uni­ verse preclude a person’s performing certain acts without incurring destruc­ tive consequences. A person eating in­ fected food is very likely to suffer deleterious results. They may or may not be immediate, but come they will.

The same applies on the extra-mate­ rial, or metaphysical, level. Ethical and moral laws may not be demon­ strable in quite the same sense as what we term scientific laws, but they are just as integral to the structure of reality as the latter. Every so often, we succumb to the illusion that if no physical impediments lie in our way, we are free to do as we please, but an examination of our own life his­ tories, and that of the human race as a whole, should disabuse us of this.

Sooner or later, dishonesty, thievery, sexual infidelity, and the like lead to disastrous consequences both individ­ ually and collectively. Nations ignor­ ing the basic requirements of ethics and morality have perished, and those that seem to get away without paying the penalty are not escaping at all.

Sooner or later, they will reap dis­ aster. As in the case of the physical, the violation of metaphysical laws does not always produce immediate dramatic consequences. They may

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come about slowly and insidiously.

Most of us, after a few painful ex­ periences, learn to respect the physical laws of the universe. Even so, we oc­ casionally act contrary to them, hop­ ing to escape unscathed. It is more difficult for reason to win out over rationalization in the realm of the extra-material laws governing G-d’s creation. For this reason, it was neces­ sary for the Creator of the universe to inform man in no uncertain terms that the laws of His creation are not limited to the physical alone. All man­ kind has received the Seven Noahide Precepts. The second aspect of G-d’s plan for teaching man how to live involved the designation of a specific community of men who would exem­ plify just how man should live. That community is Israel. To insure that Israel would play its all-important role, it was provided by G-d with a set of teachings and laws: the Torah.

Unless we choose to affirm that the launching of the universe, and its struggles to bring forth life and per­ fect it, have no purpose, we must posit that man has an important role to play in the universe. The same applies to whatever equivalents of man that may exist elsewhere than on this planet. Since Israel is an instrument of G-d for the education of man, 25

Israel’s role and that of the Torah are integral to the plan governing all creation.

N the Amidah of every Festival, we state: “Thou didst choose us from among all nations; Thou didst bestow Thy love and grace upon us.”

Love is integral to all existence. Psy­ chologists tell us that serious devia­ tions from normal human develop­ ment can occur when a person is de­ prived of love. The person who fails to acknowledge or reciprocate love, be it Divine or human, fails to con­ form to a law integral to all existence.

The Jew who does not observe the Mitzvoth rejects G-d’s love; the de­ gree of rejection is commensurate with the transgression committed.

This is the nature of the laws govern­ ing G-d’s universe: he who conforms to them, directly or indirectly, is af­ fected beneficially by them. We term this G-d’s blessing, reward, o r vG-d causing His face to shine upon us.

If, directly or indirectly, we fail to conform to the laws governing G-d’s universe, they affect us negatively. We call this G-d’s curse, punishment, or G-d hiding His face from us. We speak of G-d as we would of a par­ ent or teacher who rewards us when we behave and punishes us when we misbehave because being human, we cannot but speak in terms of human experience. Human language shall never succeed in coining terms that describe accurately the essence of G-d’s being, or His relationship to His creation. We therefore speak of G-d as if He were a person to the nth degree. However, He is not that at all. We must not take anthropo­ morphisms, human terms used to de­ scribe G-d, literally. G-d does not literally pat us on the back when we

I

26

are good, or literally fetch the whip when we are bad. It is we who by our conduct determine our own fate.

We can bring upon ourselves bless­ ings, or, Heaven forbid, curses. The Torah tells us this in Devorim 11:26, 30:19.

0 return to the subject of causal­ ity, this concept is as essential to a mature religious faith as to science.

Physical or metaphysical, certain an­ terior factors necessarily are respon­ sible for whatever situation happens to befall us. The laws governing the course of events are Divinely or­ dained. We may call it necessity, or G-d’s will in action, but the implica­ tion is the same. How can action, let alone prayer, change the course of events? How can prayer, repentance, and righteous deeds avert the evil de­ cree to quote the “Unsaneh Tokef” prayer recited on Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur? Is such belief real­ istic, or illusory?

Most of us, when speaking of a universe governed by law, equate this with iron determinism. The notion of predestination, that it is decreed at a person’s birth whether he will be righteous or wicked, dates from an­ cient times. Judging from the Rambam’s polemic against it, it must have enjoyed great popularity among the people of his day. The idea of John Calvin that some people are born to damnation and others for salvation is but another version of religious deter­ minism. Judaism has from its very inception rejected this thesis. Jewish teachers have recognized that many factors go into the molding of man’s conduct; they would have no quarrel with psychology on that score. They would reject those schools thereof

*

JEW ISH LIFE

which would totally eliminate human initiative from the picture. Similarly, Judaism, while recognizing the im­ portance of causality, rejects the thesis that this means a “cast-iron” universe.

Until some decades ago, science was almost unequivocally committed to the view that the universe is a ma­ chine whose processes are rigidly cir­ cumscribed. Today, there are scien­ tists who regard the universe not as a machine, but as a great thought or living organism. This is a very logical position, for that which is not alive cannot bring forth life. A living or­

ganism is necessarily subject to caus­ ality, but there is also some degree of contingency in its function. We cannot view it as something whose behavior can be regarded as a matter of absolute certainty; we can only speak in terms of probability. There is always the possibility of the unfore­ seen, the unique, the “once in a blue moon.” The reign of law in the uni­ verse does not necessarily rule out the possibility of some degree of free will for man, or, for that matter, the effi­ cacy of action or prayer in a given situation.

THE ELEMENT O F C O N T IN G E N C Y

rf^ H E concept of evolution is familX iar to most of us. The universe, according to science, has developed from crude to more complex stages, and continues to do so. Central to evolution is the emergence of the new from the old at appropriate stages in the process. If causality is ironclad in nature, evolution is impossible. What­ ever energy and matter came into be­ ing when the universe was launched would then have to reproduce itself to the nth degree. There have emerged not only various forms of energy, but an infinite variety of matter, including that which we call living matter. What of man who has emerged from among other species, and yet is the most unique of all inhabiting this planet?

Now if all this were accomplished via natural laws, they must include in themselves the possibility of the new, the unexpected, the un-hoped for, ap­ pearing every so often so as to permit the continued development of the uni­ verse. The universe represents the concretization of a Divine plan; the May-June 1967

Divine Planner has included in it an element of contingency, as well as causality. The physicist speaks of emergents, or contingents; the biolo­ gist of sports, or mutations. The reli­ gionist speaking of miracles is on equally solid ground. What we term the miraculous is not a suspension or violation of universal law, but a utili­ zation of principles inherent therein which for some reason are not utilized as often as others more familiar to us.

Why some principles inherent in na­ tural law should be utilized only in­ frequently may well be beyond us; “The hidden things belong to the Lord our G-d.” Having come this far, we are in a position to understand how an answer to prayer is possible within the scheme of a law-abiding universe.

A universe that operates in terms of causality, and yet includes in itself an element of contingency is, to a good extent, flexible. Events do not follow an inexorable course, but de­ pend to a good extent on conditions prevailing at any given time. A person 27

stricken with a life-threatening infec­ tion may be saved by means of anti­ biotics. One entering a dark room at night can make that room daylightbright by switching on an electric light. Neither situation involves the nullification of universal laws, but a changing of the conditions under which they operate.

What applies to the physical applies to the metaphysical as well. For all existence possesses an essential unity.

Hence, the belief that the universe is governed by law does not rule out the efficacy of prayer. Prayer may well have some bearing on the situation of the pray-er and by altering certain factors integral to same, change the conditions under which the laws gov­ erning the course of events operate.

NY situation may be viewed as A consisting of N, or any number of factors. Some of these are intrinsic, while others are extrinsic to the per­ son (s) involved. Given a situation of N factors, we may reasonably say that a certain outcome is more probable than others. Should any of these fac­ tors be altered, the same may well be true of the probability of a given out­ come. The act of turning to G-d in sincere prayer orients the pray-er more positively to the laws governing G-d’s creation. They may then affect him more positively, so that the prob­ ability of his securing whatever it is that he petitions for is greater than might otherwise be the case. The per­ son who sincerely entreats G-d for something he genuinely needs, and is, in terms of his situation, rationally and morally justifiable, does not emerge from his prayer quite the same person as before. His situation is no longer quite the same; the re­ sult may well be that a boon previ­

28

ously unobtainable may now be within reach, or a misfortune previously un­ avoidable may now become avoidable.

Integral to our discussion is the belief that an answer to prayer constitutes not a suspension of the laws by which G-d governs His creation^ but a utili­ zation of principles inherent in those laws which otherwise go unused and unsuspected. Prayer is not meant to replace action, but it operates on prin­ ciples analogous to those underlying the latter. When we act against that which troubles us, we do not abrogate the laws governing the coiirse of events, but try to create conditions wherein they will be more likely to produce that which we seek. Both prayer, in the sense of petition, and action are attempts on our part to do this, albeit in different ways. They are two sides of the same coin.

RAYER, of course, is limited P neither to petition nor to our­ selves. Praise and thanksgiving, both for the benefits bestowed upon us and those bestowed upon others, represent another important aspect of Jewish prayer. We do not truly enjoy boons conferred upon us unless we are able to say “thank you.” The person who cannot respond with appreciation for a good he has received has not reaped the full benefit thereof. The Torah tells us that when we have eaten and are sated, we are to offer praise to G-d. It is the act of thanking the Cre­ ator of the universe that completes our satisfaction. He does not need our praises; it is we who need to praise Him. The effect this has upon our­ selves not only creates conditions en­ abling us to fully enjoy what we have received, but qualifies us to receive benefits in the future as well. Simi­ larly, the effect of prayer upon the JEW ISH LIFE

pray-er when he prays in a congre­ gation is often stronger than when he prays as an individual. Unfortu­ nately, this is often lost in some con­ temporary houses of worship, where the atmosphere may be anything but devotional. Nevertheless, when a con­ gregation prays with devotion, the mood is contagious. The greater the Hithlahavuth, the greater the effect of the prayer upon the person uttering it, and the greater the degree to which it can qualify him to receive the bene­ fit sought. Needless to say, prayer, in terms of a religious exercise, accom­ plishes its aim to a greater extent when it is collective.

When we pray congregationally, we simultaneously pray for ourselves and others. However, there are times when we pray exclusively for another, such as a sick person. Can such pray­ ers be efficacious? The answer is in the affirmative. Just as we can success­ fully act in another’s behalf, so we can help him through prayer. When we pray for another, his situation be­ comes our own as well. Factors in­ trinsic to ourselves are superimposed upon the N factors originally present in the situation that is the subject of our prayer. The change that a prayer for a fellow man creates in the pray-er is likewise of import; it certainly ori­ ents him more positively to the laws

governing G-d’s creation. This is why a person who, in need himself, prays for another is answered first. When more than one person is involved in a situation, factors inherent to one can affect the situation as a whole. Since in praying for another, we become part of his situation, and by virtue of the effect of prayer upon us, alter the factors constituting the situation as a whole, the probability of a given out­ come may be altered. Whatever we may ask in behalf of the person may as a result be more likely to take place. All this applies when a person is not aware that he is being prayed for. Should he be aware of our prayer, it can work more directly. To be prayed for is to be the active con­ cern of another. The knowledge that another is concerned with one’s fate has a positive effect on him; it gives his ego an inestimable boost. A person who is made to feel that he is worthy of another’s prayer is likely to actu­ ally become a better person. This will orient him more positively toward the laws governing the course of events and render more probable whatever it is he may be in need of. We should also reckon with the possibility that the stimulus to the one in whose be­ half prayer is offered will induce him to use both prayer and action to solve his problem.

U N A N S W E R E D PRAYER

E now come to that question of all religious people: Why, at times, is prayer not efficacious? Un­ fortunately, this, like all ultimate questions, cannot be answered by us in full. A person standing atop a

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mountain cannot obtain an objective view thereof; he must view the moun­ tain at a distance. Unfortunately, we cannot do this vis-a-vis such questions as the fact that prayer does not al­ ways work; by definition, we are in29

terested parties. Nevertheless, a par­ procedure calls into question the sin­ tial answer is possible, and to this we cerity of his prayers. If indeed he is sincere, it is for him to work and now turn.

Firstly, we have stated that prayer study, as well as to pray. Prayer may can work because the universe in­ .very well create conditions under cludes in itself an element of contin­ which his study will prove efficacious. gency that renders it somewhat flex­ By the same token, study may en­ ible. This consideration governs action hance the efficacy of prayer. It is less as well. However, if to either pray or than reasonable to lay down blanket act were a guarantee that we would rules as to when to pray and when to secure whatever we seek, the universe act. They are not diametrically op­ would no longer be flexible, but “cast- posed to each other, but are two sides iron” in nature. The notion of iron of the same coin. The Torah tells us determination renders either praying that Jacob, facing the possibility of an or acting in any situation meaningless. attack by Esau, utilized both prayer When we pray or act in order to ob­ and action to meet the possible emer­ tain relief from circumstances that gency, and successfully avoided it. trouble us, we are using our initiative This is often true in our case as well. in an attempt to solve our problems.

A THIRD consideration of releBy and large, it is possible for us to vanee in this matter is the man­ solve our problems, but the very con­ ditions that make this possible neces­ ner in which prayer enables us to re­ sitate that there be exceptions. For ceive whatever it is we seek. It ac­ reasons known only to Him, G-d complishes this not by virtue of any chose to endow His creation with that change in G-d, or the laws by which characteristic. Should our prayer be In He governs the course of events, but behalf of another, its efficacy cannot by virtue of its effects upon us. It but depend to some extent on him. orients us more positively toward the If consciously or subconsciously, he laws governing life. Sometimes, the does not really want to be helped, very effect of prayer upon ourselves this can negate our efforts to help precludes our securing that which we him by means of either prayer, or petition for; what we seek would be action. Can a sick person expect a baneful to us. As miserable as we are doctor to help him if he refuses to without it, we would be as badly off, follow his instructions? We likewise or worse, with it. Sometimes, the cure cannot depend on another’s prayers might be worse than the disease. In­ if we do not ourselves pray and act. deed, both prayer and action may, at Both prayer and action are two-way times, secure for us things we regret bitterly later. “Lord of the universe, streets.

Another reason for apparent failure fulfill my petitions for good,” is a of prayer to secure its objective is prayer we should all take seriously. that it may not be a sufficient solution To obtain something that is a very to our problem. We may need to act mixed blessing or, G-d forbid, an out­ as well. A student at school is hardly right curse, is to fail in prayer in the likely to do well if he fails to do his worst way.

Fourthly, if turning to G-d in sin­ work regularly, and merely says Tehillim before exams. Indeed, such a cere prayer orients us more positively 30

JEW ISH LIFE

toward the laws governing His crea­ tion, the degree of re-orientation nec­ essarily depends on the previous de­ gree of orientation to these laws.

Hence, the prayers of a religious per­ son are more likely to work than those of an irreligious person. The lat­ ter, by virtue of his non-conformity to G-d’s will, is disoriented toward the laws governing His universe. Prayer may not be sufficient to get him out of a difficult situation. He needs Teshuvah, repentance, as well. Like prayer, repentance effects a change in a person, orienting him more posi­ tively toward the laws governing all existence. The degree of re-orienta­ tion depends on the degree of Teshuvah; Teshuvah based on disinterested motives is more potent than that stem­ ming from fear or anxiety. However, let no one deprecate the latter. Ideally, one should not neglect his health, but should he do so and incur the conse­ quences, a physician can still help him remedy his situation. If we are in “hot water,” let us not give up, even if we are not Tzaddikim. Let us pray to G-d for help; let us do Teshuvah, even if it be motivated by fear. Let us not succumb either to the idea that our problem is too trivial to consti­ tute a fit subject of prayer. Not to pray when troubled is as unreason­ able as not to kindle a lamp at night when electricity is available. Both of these, in different ways, utilize prin­ ciples inherent in universal law; prin­ ciples G-d meant us to utilize. “The Lord is near to all who call upon Him; to all who call upon Him sin­ cerely” (Psalm 145:18).

AST, but far from least, the pur­ pose of anything we do tran­ scends, to some extent, the purely practical. Important as the practical

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results of either action or prayer are in any situation, they do not com­ pletely exhaust their significance.

Many of us, for example, rate a stu­ dent successful solely on the basis of his grades. This is a great error. The purpose of education is not merely to obtain high grades, but to develop one’s intellectual capacities. A student securing high grades may merely be memorizing by rote without really giving himself a mental workout. On the other hand, a student doing his best, but failing to make the grade may yet have gained something. In attempting to grasp material in a course he fails, his mind gets neces­ sary exercise; his intellect is stimu­ lated to further development. Similar considerations apply to prayer.

Education and intellectual develop­ ment should not end with graduation from school. They must continue throughout life. The same is true of spiritual development. Every sincere prayer we address to G-d, be it one of petition or praise, be it concerning material or spiritual needs, contrib­ utes to the development of our spiri­ tual capacities. Even if the prayer fails in its immediate objective, it constitutes an exercise in spiritual growth which should not be underes­ timated. Prayer, like other religious disciplines, constitutes a means of act­ ing out the values upon which we base our lives. The ethico-religious propo­ sitions which add up to religious faith cannot be memorized by rote and then taken for granted, as are the contents of a multiplication table. We must re-instill them in ourselves con­ stantly. When we observe any Mitzvah, be it Torah-itic or Rabbinic, we act out a basic idea. We thus re-imbue ourselves with basic beliefs and 31

concepts. To observe Shabboth prop­ erly is to act out our belief that G-d is the Creator, Ruler, and Sustainei of the universe. To read the Megillah on Purim is to proclaim through ac­ tion our belief that Divine Providence operates in the affairs of men, and that even when things are‘dark, help may be on the way. By the same token, to pray is to reiterate to our­ selves in a concrete, tangible way that G-d’s universe per se, and our lives in particular, are governed neither by mere chance nor by iron determinism.

The religious life, as indeed life it­ self, makes sense only on the thesis that events are governed by laws that operate in terms of causality, yet are possessed of a sufficient degree of flex­ ibility to allow us to change their course in our favor. To affirm the Living G-d is to give life logic and meaning, and the only way to affirm

32

Him in any real sense is to pray to Him. E have by no means solved all the problems relating to prayer.

W The limitations of the human mind preclude this. It should also be noted that the person who will not dispose himself to believe is not likely to find our words of much interest. Our re­ marks are addressed primarily to those who seek a religious faith that is en­ lightened, and yet Jewishly authentic; a faith that satisfies both the heirt and mind. Hopefully, we may have suc­ ceeded to some extent in formulating a reasoned view of prayer. May the Bestower of knowledge and under­ standing imbue us with the discern­ ment to know that “the Lord is near to those of a contrite heart; He grants deliverance to the humble of spirit” (Psalm 34:19).

JEW ISH LIFE

The Professor a s M odel: A Study in Jewish Identity

By IR W IN S. BO RVICK

HE common denominator amongst It is at this stage that he is most sus­ T most Jewish parents today is the ceptible to the current thinking and desire to see their children receive a ideology discussed on campus by fel­ college education. Their success in achieving this aim can be measured by the 350,000 Jewish students now on campus. According to Hillel Foun­ dation statistics, approximately seven­ ty per cent of the total Jewish youth population are now in college. Certain studies have shown that the reason most frequently articulated for pur­ suing higher education is to prepare for entrance into the professional and business worlds. A secondary reason, attributed to parents of coeds, is the desire to provide opportunity to meet potential mates.

The religious Jewish parent realizes by now, however, that the college campus is more than a mere profes­ sional school or conglomeration of Jewish fraternity and sorority houses.

The college campus is the setting in which minds are molded and new attitudes are adopted. The college years are the most formative in the educational experience of the student.

May-June 1967

low students and teachers.

It is difficult to gauge how great an impact college teachers have on their students. One is most concerned about the possible influence of Jewish col­ lege professors, whose numbers are increasing and escalating at a rapid rate. Marshall Sklare, the noted socio­ logist, states in his perceptive article “Intermarriage and the Jewish Future” that college teachers, amongst other professionals, “serve as models to their younger contemporaries who in increasing numbers are forsaking the Jewish business and community ties of their parent’s generation and are seeking careers in the professions.

Thus, the influence of, say, the inter­ married college teacher in legitimizing intermarriage can far outweigh the fact that his importance is statistically very small in relation to the total lewish population.”

The need to understand the possi­ ble influence of Jewish professors and 33

especially their attitudes toward Juda­ ism led to this study which I con­ ducted on the campus of a small, dis­ tinguished liberal arts college for men on the East Coast. The school has a full time faculty of 125. I interviewed 16 of the 17 Jewish faculty members to ascertain the state of their Jewish belief and observances.* This paper also deals with their thinking on the relevance of Judaism to modern life and their negative and positive anxie­ ties about their religious identity. Fi­ nally, I attempted to depict the poten­ tial model for the thinking and life style of our Jewish college youth of today.

The study whose findings are dis­ cussed here, of limited scope though it is, will nonetheless, I hope, be of relevant value. So far as the writer is aware, it is the only study yet made of the Jewish attitudes of Jewish col­ lege faculty members as such.

N order to chart a general picture of Jewish observances amongst the faculty we might begin by report­ ing that of the sixteen Jewish faculty members interviewed only two claim to keep kosher homes. Not one davens daily, whether at home or at syna­ gogue, and in fact not ope custom­ arily or even occasionally attends Sabbath morning services.

One of the group attends on the first days of Pesach, Shoyuoth, and Sukkoth. Only four claim to attend a “late Friday night Service” and then only occasionally. A late Friday night goer remarked, “It reinforces my sense of belonging to the group. I have strong feelings of being Jewish, and being part of the Jewish com-

I

* Complete questions and responses, without personal identification, are available from the author.

34

munity. I get a good feeling to see the synagogue filled with people and so I go twice a year or so.” Two others claim that they attend rarely.

As one stated, “I am at the Temple when I am the guest speaker.”

Even as regards to Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur, only five of the group regularly attend synagogue services at these times. Another four attend High Holy Days services “oc­ casionally.”

Only three faculty members felt Shabboth to be more unique than any other day of the week. One professor stated, “My Saturday is different from the rest of the week. For example, I do not wash my car, I do not cut the grass.” However, the interviewee in­ dicated that he did not observe the Sabbath according to Jewish law and practice. A second professor informed me that he recites Kiddush on Friday night and the family sits down to a Shabboth meal. A third professor re­ lated that on Friday night the men of the family don yarmulkas. They recite a blessing on the wine (not the full Kiddush) and the Motzi on the Challah.

Only five of the entire Jewish facul­ ty fast on Yom Kippur * and but four refrain from eating bread on Pesach.

It is interesting to note that thir­ teen out of the sixteen Jewish pro­ fessors have some form of a Seder on Passover. One respondent re­ marked, “The rest of the family would want it (the Seder) just to be a dinner. But I insist on going through the entire Haggodah. I do it because to me it seems significant and it heightens the occasion.” Even the one of the group whose home had a Christmas tree conducted some kind of a Seder, for the following reason: “We make a Seder for our gentile JEW ISH LIFE

faculty friends. We have just a mini­ mum of ceremony.”

HE one ritual that is practiced en T masse among the group under study is the kindling of the Menorah on Chanukah. Only three did not ob­ serve this ritual, two of whom are single and the third is married but has no children as yet. All three an­ ticipate kindling the candles in the future. Out of the thirteen who do mark Chanukah, half claimed that they did so for their children’s sake.

As mentioned previously, one pro­ fessor customarily had a Christmas tree at his home in addition to his Chanukah candles. He explained, “They are both ceremonial experien­ ces in a cultural sense. If I knew any ceremonies of Buddhism which 1 could accept I would observe them too.” He smiled enigmatically while relating the last thought. This young man grew up in the community of Boro Park in Brooklyn, New York.

When the faculty was asked how they expressed their Jewish identity, many replied, “through Synagogue affiliation.” All families with children joined a synagogue or temple when their children reached school age.

Only two families with children of school age did not. All the others, except for one, planned to join a synagogue or temple when their chil­ dren reached school age.

The two professors who do not af­ filiate with a synagogue and do not send their children to religious school were asked how they expressed their Jewish identity. One professor stated “I am a Jew. No matter what I do, I will be a Jew, the denial of it gets one into trouble.” The other expressed an­ other sentiment. “I feel being Jewish is more logical than being Christian. I am a Jewish atheist.” But then he con­ tinued in the same vein as the former, “In America it is totally impossible to be a nonentity and to have no iden­ tity;”

"W H Y I A M A JEW "

OT ONE of the entire Jewish fac­ the question of relevance he was not N ulty was prepared to renounce alone. There were eleven others who his Jewish identity. But there were voiced similar sentimènts. various forms and levels of its expres­ sion. One respondent said, “The ideas which I live by daily are, I feel, the derivations of Jewish ideals.”

The Interviewee also replied when asked whether Judaism was relevant to modern man, that “it was only rel­ evant in the humanistic traditions and ethical relations which govern men and nations.?V He limited the Jewish heritage to one of humanism and the rights of the individual while rejecting all other Torah values. In his reply to May-June 1967

Jewish identity also meant a feeling of fellowship with other Jews. As one professor stated, “I prefer the com­ pany of Jews, that is a matter of im­ plying shared identity which makes communication easier.” This feeling was expressed by six other respondents as well. As one remarked, “I associate with Jews more than non-Jews. I relax with Jews more than non-Jews.” And when I inquired of him as to the rele­ vance of Judaism he replied, “Insofar as Judaism makes assertions about 35

G-d it is moribund and dying out.

Insofar as Judaism has provided a sit­ uation for testing various moral ques­ tional it is relevant.” Surprisingly, the same professor then made the follow­ ing observations about traditional Judaism, “if it were to cease to func­ tion I am afraid there would be a total assimilation and there would be no Jewish culture which would be unique. Growing up in a Reform home would be identical to growing up in a Unitarian home. I am reluctant to see that happen.” He exhibited a polarity of feelings. On the one hand he rejected fhe traditional concepts of G-d and on the other hand he wished to retain traditions rooted in these very concepts of a personal G-d.

HE Jewish faculty were questioned also on their attitude toward mixed marriage. Referring to their own mar­ riages, ten replied it made a great dif­ ference whom they had married while five answered that it had made some difference. Only one replied that he had strong views in favor of inter­ marriage. “I encourage it.” This pro­ fessor is still single.

The Jewish faculty members were also asked, “Would it make any differ­ ence to you if your children married outside the faith?” Nine replied it would make a considerable difference, three answered it would make some difference and four claimed it would make no difference at all. Within the group of those who would oppose their children intermarrying were two professors who themselves were inter­ married. In one of the marriages the wife had converted to Judaism and keeps a Kosher home. In the second case, there has been no conversion but the husband is deeply concerned about retaining his Jewish identity.

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These two professors are two of five who fast on Yom Kippur, attend High Holy Days Services each year, and eat Matzoh in place of bread on Passover.

From their life histories i t appears that their observances were retained from childhood and were never rejected.

Their intermarriages did not appear to be a rebellion but were based on propinquity or the inaccessibility of Jewish mates with common interests.

However, it is possible to view their retention of certain Mitzvoth as rooted in guilt feelings. As one remarked, “I know my son can never be the Moshiach.”

The results of the questions to the faculty on intermarriage indicate there was considerably less concern about their children’s possible intermarriage than there had been for their own mar­ riage. Of the ten interviewees who said it had made a great difference whom they had married, only seven said it would make a difference if their chil­ dren intermarried. Of the five profes­ sors who said it had made “some dif­ ference” whom they married two of whom actually did intermarry, in the case of their own children they were opposed to intermarriage.

One of the professors who had chosen a Jewish wife and was against his children intermarrying said: “It would bother me if my child would intermarry. My great concern is the retention of Jewish identity for my children and grandchildren.”

The three professors who did not care if their children intermarried ex­ plained as follows: “I married a Jewish woman because of my background, but as for my children it is not neces­ sary. It would make no difference at all to me.” Another stated, “As for myself it would have been a major JEW ISH LIFE

problem, mainly because of my family.

When the faculty wafc asked if they As for my children the same condi­ wanted their children t to survive as tions would not exist ” He continued Jews fourteen answered in the affirma­ to explain that the only difficulty in tive. No one replied ill the negative intermarriage would be if his child and two were indifferent. There seems would marry a mate who would have to be an apparent contradiction be­ strong religious commitments to an­ tween their indifference to their chil­ other faith. He added, “It could even dren’s possible intermarriage and their make a difference if my child married desire for them to survive as Jews. a very committed Jew.” The third pro­ However, it appears that they believe fessor followed the identical line of that intermarriage does hot necessarily reasoning. “I preferred to marry a nullify Jewish identity.! A number of Jewish girl. As for my children it professors realized the ihherent fallacy would make some difference but not of this, as one remarked, “It is dif­ much. It would even make a difference ficult for two mates with opposite re­ if she or he married a pommitted Jew. ligious thinking to live under one This too could be a problem.” roof.”

G-D, T O R A H A N D ISRAEL

N CONTRAST to the generally strong expressions of Jewish iden­ tity, the faculty voiced doubt about the existence of G-d. When asked, “Do you believe in G-d” only three re­ plied in the affirmative. Six were sure there was no G-d and the rest were in doubt. It is significant that not one of the physical scientists was quick to deny the existence of G-d. The six who boldly said there was no G-d were all social scientists. One social scientist exclaimed, “I am intellectu­ ally convinced there is no G-d.” An­ other declared, “We know too much today from science that there can be no G-d. G-d depends on mystery and enchantment, science robbed G-d of enchantment and mystery.” In con­ trast to this so-called “scientific view­ point,” a professor of physics replied, “Yes, I believe that G-d is the Creator of the universe and that He is con­ cerned with the world.” Another phys­ ical scientist said, “I know from my May-June 1967

scientific data and I conclude there is an order in the universe. I believe in a G-d who is a Creator!” I Only one faculty meifiber replied in the affirmative when asked if the Torah is the revealed word of G-d.

He wavered, however, between revela­ tion and inspiration. TWo others con­ tended that the Torah had sanctity and was inspired by G-d. The non-believ­ ing and negative attitudes were varied and often borrowed from the jargon of their own specific disciplines. One commented, “The Torah is a beautiful expression of myths which is common to all primitive cultures.” Another claimed, “Torah is a sociological ex­ pression.” Yet another replied, “It is certainly nothing more than the New Testament and it is nothing less.”

What is most disturbing is that only one of the entire group interviewed ad­ mitted and regretted his lack of knowl­ edge in the discipline of Torah. Only one of the group was sufficiently con37

cerned to search and inquire into Jew­ ish philosophy. He is now studying Maimonides’ Guide to the Perplexed.

Unfortunately, and significantly the overwhelming majority of these men do not apply the same enthusiasm and spirit of enquiry tpwards Judaism as they would to any other significant matter. As one respondent remarked, “I see no one on the faculty concerned in the philosophical aspects of our re­ ligion seen apart from ritual. They may be over-reacting to original en­ vironmental circumstances and condi­ tions.” Their analyses of Judaism are usually extemporaneous as one profes­ sor commented, “the faculty rejects Judaism for they reflect the age of skepticism. It’s an American form of skepticism—they are not searching.” , HE professors do not reject their Jewish identity, but they are re­ T luctant to accept any responsibilities which it may entail. When questioned if they felt that Judaism has a mission in the world, almost all replied no.

Those who did accept a mission saw it purely in humanistic terms. A num­ ber stated, “All religions share the same responsibility.”

By their replies the faculty seemed to indicate that they were not willing to play a distinctively Jewish role.

Their observances were minimal; lighting the Chanukah candles and participating in a Seder. These observ­ ances coincide with the major Chris­ tian festivals. Those who observed more Mitzvoth were in a very small minority. The majority retain their Jewish identity because they had been raised and influenced by the environ­ ment in the large centers of Jewish population. They feel that they must express some form of religious or ethnic identity and so they are Jews.

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But they are bereft of belief in G-d and the efficacy of prayer. They deny the authority of Torah and the Divine­ ly ordained role of holiness for the people of Israel.

These then are the models who are available to Jewish college youth on the campus studied. Most respondents related that they did not make a prac­ tice of discussing their personal at­ titudes toward Judaism with Jewish students. However, they had no qualms about so doing, and could not gauge the extent of indirect discus­ sion in this area. As models to our youth they have but negative influence to offer. Of course, a study of so lim­ ited a scope as this, conducted at one small college, is not to be taken—and is not offered—as representative of the Jewish faculty of the general campus scene, however, at the very least suggests that the prevailing char­ acteristics among this group are not untypical of what can be found else­ where. Other studies dealing with re­ lated areas seem to corroborate these findings.* Undoubtedly, there are some Torah-committed individuals who have entered college teaching, but they are as yet scattered and re­ latively few in number and do not constitute a significant force.

NE last thought must be ex­ O pressed. Though such apathetic and alienated Jewish college profes­ sors appear to be most dubious mod­ els for Jewish college youth, we must realize that they constitute a great reservoir of superior minds who must be reached lest their spark of Jewish identity die out. Some may be in­ fluenced experientially, while others * Leonard J. Fein. “Studying Jewish Identity: Observations.”

JEW ISH LIFE

must be convinced intellectually.

“The Lonely Man of Faith,” an es­ say by the great Talmudic scholar and Jewish philosopher Horav Joseph B. Soloveitchik, is the beginning to the answer. Simultaneously, the Syna­ gogue, which is often viewed with suspicion by the academicians, must return to its traditional function— The House of Learning.

There is much to be said for the widely shared view that a newly ar­

ticulated philosophy of orthodox Judaism, “relevant to the problems of modern man,” can be the catalyst to reverse the present trend on the col­ lege campus. But there is also some­ thing to be said for the view, now slowly emerging, that a newly articu­ lated philosophy of contemporary life and ideas, making these relevant, rel­ evant to the timeless truth and infinite meaning of T orahljis the way to achieve this necessary goal.

C haim O zer G rodzenski Portrait of the sage-mentor-statesman who was the last in the immortal line of Vilna's giants of Torah.

By A A R O N ROTHKOFF

HEN Rav Chaim Ozer Grod­ zenski passed away on 5 Av 5700/August 9, 1940, Poland had been overrun by the Nazi hordes and the clouds of war were rapidly en­ gulfing all of Europe. Until his death, leaders of European orthodox Jewry still clung to the hope that the evil decree could be averted and that normalcy would soon return to their homelands. With the death of their patriarch and mentor, they intuitively sensed that all was lost and that their accomplishments and visions would soon crumble to dust and ashes.

Chaim Ozer was bom on Elul 9, 5623 (1863) in Ivia, a small city near Vilna. His grandfather, Rav Moshe Aryeh, had previously served as the Rabbi of this community for thirty-seven years, and his father, Rav David Shlomo, was to be its spiritual leader for close to fifty years.

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As a youngster, Rav Chaim Ozer al­ ready displayed his keen mental abil­ ities. Blessed with a photographic memory, he remembered all that he studied. He was later to remark that everything he heard or saw only once was not forgotten until his old age.

Before the young Chaim Ozer be­ came Bar Mitzvah, his father sent him away to study at the “Kibbutz” in Eishishok. This comprised a large group of young scholars from sur­ rounding communities who, sup­ ported by the Eishishok Jewish com­ munity, dedicated themselves to ad­ vanced Talmudic study. Here, Chaim Ozer celebrated his Bar Mitzvah. In­ stead of the customary Bar Mitzvah pilpul dissertation, he told the as­ sembled guests that he would recite by heart any passages they requested from the abstruse scholarly works K'tzoth Ha-Choshen and Netivoth JEW ISH LIFE

a

m

Ha-Mishpot. Great was the astonish­ ment of those present when the youngster correctly recited passage after passage from these difficult writ­ ings of the Acharonim.

After his Bar Mitzvah, Chaim Ozer’s father sent him to the worldfamous Volozhin Yeshivah, which was then enjoying its golden period.

Here he met Rav Chaim Soloveitchik, who was later to become the famed Brisker Rav. At this time, Rav Chaim already had developed his unique method of Talmudical analysis and study. At Volozhin, the leading stu­ dents eagerly gathered around him to listen to his chiddushim. The young “Ivia Illui” soon joined this select group, and Rav Chaim greatly be­ friended and guided his young com­ panion, who he felt was destined for greatness. In later years, as the re­ spective spiritual leaders of Brisk and Vilna, they were to cooperate in many joint ventures for the well-being of the Jewish people.

A T the age of twenty, Rabbi Chaim Ozer married the grand­ daughter of Rabbi Israel Salanter, the founder of the Mussar Movement, under whom his father had previous­ ly studied. Rav Chaim Ozer settled in Vilna, and continued his studies in the home of his father-in-law, Rav Eliyahu Eliezer, a member of the local ecclesiastical Court. His first im­ portant act in Vilna was to organize study sessions for advanced yeshivah students. His lectures were soon at­ tended by leading young rabbinical scholars, and this school became known as the Kibbutz of Rav Chaim Ozer. Among the contemporary scholars who were later to study under Rav Chaim Ozer’s tutelage are Rabbis May-June 1967

Eliezer Silver of Cincinnati, Chaim Ben Zion Notelevitz of Brooklyn, and Yecheskel Abramsky of Jerusalem.

Deceased disciples of Rav Chaim Ozer include Rabbis Moshe Avigdor Amiel, Chief Rabbi of Tel-Aviv; Reuven Katz, Chief Rabbi of Petach Tikvah; Sh’muel Hillman of London, fatherin-law of the late Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog; and Solomon Polachek, “the Meitsheter Illui.”

Upon the demise of his father-inlaw in 1887, Rav Chaim Ozer was in­ vited by the Vilna community to suc­ ceed him as one of its three Dayyonim, judges of the community’s ecclesi­ astical court. The other members of the Beth Din were the well-known Rabbis Shlomo HaCohen and Bezalel HaCohen, who were popularly called the “Kohanim Ha-Gedolim.” Both men were famed for their knowledge and their ability to render decisions in the most complicated of Halachic questions. Nevertheless, it was felt that the twenty-four-year-old Rabbi Chaim Ozer would be a worthy col­ league for these scholars. With the passage of time, it became apparent that Rav Chaim Ozer was more than just one of the Vilna rabbonim but rather the chief rabbi of Vilna. Upon the death of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Spektor of Kovno in 1896, Rav Chaim Ozer was gradually acknowledged as Rabbi Spektor’s successor as the lead­ ing scholar-respondent-statesman of the orthodox Jewish world. Later, the Vilna Jewish community decided to officially elect him as its Chief Rabbi.

However, he refused this title as he wished to continue the Vilna tradition of not designating a Chief Rabbi, and Rav Chaim Ozer retained his previous title of “Moreh Tzeddek.”

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In later years, he and his followers regretted this decision as the Kehillah elected Rabbi Isaac Rubinstein to the position of Chief Rabbi during World War I. Previously, in 1911, Rabbi Rubinstein had been elected to serve as the government-approved rabbi of Vilna as he possessed a formal secular

education in accordance with govern­ mental requirements. His designation as “Chief Rabbi” by the Kehillah was considered by many to be an affront to Rabbi Grodzenski. Caustic contro­ versy followed and resentment against Rabbi Rubinstein remained part of the Vilna scene during the ensuing years.

M IN IS T E R IN G TO THE N E A R A N D FAR

IS STUDY at his residence served voth, the appointment of Rabbis and as his office, and here Chaim Roshey Yeshivah to various positions, Ozer received his numerous visitors and Jewish relationships with the civil and authored responsa to the many in­ government were constantly themes of quiries that were sent to him. In his consultations in his study. In addition, Hebrew biography of Rav Chaim he had to advise individuals concern­ Ozer, Shmuel Rothstein described the ing their personal problems. It is re­ activities in his Vilna residence. Well lated that a widow was deeply troubled before 11 A.M., the official time for because she could no longer generous­ receiving visitors, the anteroom was ly contribute to the local yeshivah already crowded with people. Leading since the death of her husband. Rav Rabbis, Roshey Yeshivah, students, Chaim Ozer encouraged her to sup­ and businessmen were all waiting to port the yeshivah by aiding in the su­ discuss their problems, needs, and mis­ pervision of the dormitory and its fortunes with Rav Chaim Ozer. If physical appearance. members of the Vilna Beth Din or Insight into Rav Chaim Ozer’s per­ local shochetim arrived, he took care sonality may be gained from the fol­ of their problems immediately, since lowing episode. Before their wedding, he felt that his main obligation as a yeshivah student and his fiancee Vilna’s Moreh Tzeddek was to re­ visited him to receive his blessing. solve local needs. At eleven o’clock, In the course of their conversation, the doors to his study were officially he learned that the couple had no opened, and he began to receive visitor relations living nearby. He asked the after visitor. Between the interviews, bride whether she knew the laws of he glanced at the numerous letters family purity. When she did not re­ which were delivered to his residence spond and confusion was mirrored three times daily. Many inquiries were in her face, Rav Chaim Ozer related answered immediately, while the more to her, “Do not be ashamed, my difficult questions were put aside for daughter. These laws are the basis of Judaism. At home, your mother contemplation later that day.

Many of Rabbi Grodzenski’s guests or older sister would have detailed came to discuss communal problems them to you. Since you are alone in with him. The distribution of Joint this country, I will explain them to Distribution funds among the Yeshi- you.”

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JEW ISH LIFE

He called the young lady aside, and for the next half-hour he patiently described these laws for her. Although his office and anteroom were filled with prominent people waiting to see him, Rav Chaim Ozer was only con­ cerned with teaching a daughter of Israel the laws of Family Purity. After he finished his explanation, he gave the young couple a gift, and he re­ quested that his wife participate in their wedding celebration.

sky related that after World War I, when Vilna was assigned to Lithuania, a delegation from Kovno came to Rav Chaim Ozer to consult with him. Be­ fore their departure, they asked him whether he needed anything from Kovno. Rav Chaim Ozer replied: “I have two requests, one minor and one major. The minor one is that I need some medication which is not avail­ able in Vilna. The major one is that our maid needs new shoes which are not obtainable in Vilna.”

AV CHAIM OZER possessed a Rabbi Grodenski had a positive at­ saintly personality, and his ac­ titude towards Chassiduth. It is related tions reflected his simple, complete, that when a colleague degraded the all-sustaining faith in G-d. His wife Lubavitcher Chassidim for introduc­ bore him one child, a daughter, who ing new celebrations such as “the was his pride and joy. He looked “Nineteenth of Kislev,” Rav Chaim forward to the day that she would Ozer replied: “It seems that Chas­ marry and establish a “true house in sidim are constantly adding to Juda­ Israel” to continue his family tradi­ ism, while we are constantly diminish­ tions. At the age of sixteen, she was ing our observances.” stricken with an illness which finally On another occasion, a visitor pre­ claimed her life four years later. This sented a copy of a Lubavitcher tragedy not only upset those who were Yeshiva publication to him. Later, he close to Rav Chaim Ozer, but all who was asked for his opinion regarding learned that the Rabbi of Vilna lost the Chiddushey Torah in the period­ his only child were grief-stricken. ical. Rabbi Grodzenski replies, “the Only Rav Chaim Ozer retained his Chiddushey Torah are quite good, composure. He comforted others, con­ however, we are accustomed to good tinued his communal work, and un­ Chiddushim. However, I found the remittingly answered the ever-increas­ section on Chassiduth and Chassidic ing amount of inquiries he received. tales quite fascinating. The section I t is related that when he went to was a revelation to us.”

Druskenik, a health resort near Grodno, he and his friends preferred A FOND WISH of Rav Chaim Ozer one of the two available residences. Z*- was to see Eastern European However, Rav Chaim Ozer hesitated orthodox Jewry organized into one to rent it. He explained that “this mass movement. Orthodoxy would cottage is quite attractive, but it has thus have a united front to safeguard one major shortcoming as the living its interests and to negotiate with gov­ rooms are quite distant from the kit­ ernmental authorities. In 1909, a mass chen. Since the maid will be affected meeting was held in Vilna for this by this problem, we must ask her con­ purpose. Participating in this assembly sent before renting this residence.” were the Chofetz Chaim, Rav Chaim The late Rabbi Hezekiah Mishkow- Soloveitchik, Rav David Freedman of

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May-June 1967

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Karlin, and the Chassidic Rebbeim of Lubavitch, Sochev, and Ger. The sage from Karlin was chosen as the honor­ ary president of the assembly, while Rav Chaim Ozer was elected the presi­ dent. The new organization was named “K’nesseth Yisroel,” and its prime goal was to aid orthodox Jewry in Russia and Poland. However, soon after its inception, the Czarist Russian govern­ ment forced its disbandment as it feared that the new organization would engage in revolutionary activi­ ties.

In 1912, Chaim Ozer eagerly par­ ticipated in the organizational meeting of the Agudath Israel. Here he estab­ lished contact with the German ortho­ dox leaders who joined the new move­ ment. During World War I, when Poland was overrun by German troops, many German Jewish chap­ lains cooperated with Rav Chaim Ozer in aiding yeshivoth and other Jewish institutions in their areas. After World War I, Rabbi Grodzenski helped to spread the ideals of Agudath Israel throughout Europe. He participated in the first two Knessioth Gedoloth which were held in Vienna. As presi­ dent of the Moetzeth Gedoley Hatorah of the Agudah, he was the supreme spiritual leader of the movement.

In the 53 years that Rabbi Grodzen­ ski served the Vilna community, he rarely left the city for an extended period of time. Although the Jewish communities of Saint Petersburg, Kovno, Grodno, Bialystok, and Jeru­

salem requested that he minister to them, he felt that he must remain in Vilna. He felt a special devotion and responsibility to Vilna, the “Jerusalem of Lithuania.” However, after the Russian Army started its World War I counterattack against Germany, Jew­ ish leaders were exiled as they were accused of being responsible for the initial Russian defeat. The exiled were sent to communities as distant as Siberia, and they endured great hard­ ships. Rav Chaim Ozer was warned that he too would soon be exiled and he was urged to flee. He refused as he felt that he must remain with his community. However, when the Chofetz Chaim ordered him to depart, he settled in the Russian city of Homel where the Jews numbered close to sixty per cent of the total population.

From here Rav Chaim Ozer directed the rescue and aid of the thousands of starving refugees from the war areas of Russia, Poland, and Galicia.

He collected funds and organized committees throughout Russia to care for these war victims. The funds he distributed sustained the famous Euro­ pean yeshivoth during this trying period. Although many of these in­ stitutions relocated in new areas for the duration of the conflict, Rabbi Grodzenski succeeded in enabling them to continue their classes. He continually visited Kiev, Moscow, and St. Petersburg in order to raise the necessary financial aid from those who were affluent and influential.

R E B U ILD IN G J E W IS H LIFE

ITH the overthrow of the Czarist government and the subsequent withdrawal of Russia from the war,

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Rav Chaim Ozer returned to Vilna in 1918. Although ill and exhausted, the next two decades were to be the most JEW ISH LIFE

important in his life. Upon his shoul­ ders fell the main responsibility for guiding the resettlement of the Jews in war-ravished Europe, and sustain­ ing Torah institutions during the diffi­ cult interbellum period.

In Vilna, he found his community spiritually desolate. The yeshivoth had ceased to function during the war years, and the irreligious parties gain­ ed almost complete control of the local Jewish communal structure. He imme­ diately began to raise the funds neces­ sary to reopen the Vilna religious schools. In addition to providing in­ struction, these schools now had to clothe and feed their students in order to successfully compete with these practices in the secular schools. Under his guidance, the leading advanced E u r o p e a n yeshivoth re-established themselves in Lithuania and Poland, as the Communist regime made it in­ creasingly more difficult for these in­ stitutions to function in Russia. To facilitate these ventures, Rav Chaim Ozer received the support of his American colleagues through the Ezrath Torah Fund and the Central Re­ lief Committee. He also had the full cooperation of the Joint Distribution Committee which soon opened a cen­ tral office in Vilna. Rav Chaim Ozer also turned to his friends in England and South Africa to aid the refugees and institutions seeking to rehabilitate themselves. His efforts met with suc­ cess, and the voice of Torah soon reverberated throughout Lithuania and Poland. He not only aided the yeshi­ voth financially, but their spiritual ac­ complishments were also under his guidance. Roshey Yeshivah constantly consulted with him before making faculty appointments and delineating curriculum.

To assist him in his multitudinous May-June 1967

activities, he appointed a committee of recognized scholars, consisting of Rabbis Shimon Shkop of Bryensk, Avrohom Gelbard of Grodno, Yehudah Leib Fine of Slonim, Chizkiyah Mishkowsky of Krinik, and Mosheh Shatzkes of Lomza. Later this group expanded into the “Committee to Aid Rabbis and Religious Institutions.” By 1924, overseas aid subsided as it was felt that Polish and Lithuanian Jewry must support itself. Simultaneously, the financial needs of the yeshivoth constantly increased as they expanded and accepted more students. To solve the new problem, a conference was held in Vilna during July, 1924. The main speakers were the Chofetz Chaim and Rav Chaim Ozer. Under their guidance, the Vaad Ha-Yeshivoth was formed. It was decreed that every Eastern European Jew would be taxed a minimum of one dollar every six months for the support of the Yeshi­ voth. This decree was announced by the Chofetz Chaim in the presence of hundreds of rabbis and thousands of laymen in the main synagogue of Vilna.

The rabbis present agreed to visit various cities to establish branches of the Vaad and to raise the necessary funds. Despite his advanced age and his frail health, the Chofetz Chaim deemed the functions of the nascent Vaad so vital, that he personally visit­ ed the important communities of Bialystok, Grodno, and Dubnow. Dur­ ing the ensuing years, the Chofetz Chaim and Rav Chaim Ozer issued many pronouncements for the Vaad Ha-Yeshivoth. The Chofetz Chaim only agreed to be the first signatory on these documents because he was a Kohen, and on the condition that Rav Chaim Ozer’s signature would appear on the same line as his own.

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In 1930, at a joint meeting of the American Central Relief and the Euro­ pean Vaad Hà-Yeshivoth it was sug­ gested that Rav Chaim Ozer’s visiting America would result in substantial contributions to the Central Relief.

However, Rav Chaim Ozer’s physi­ cians advised him against undertaking this strenuous journey. When the Chofetz Chaim learned of his. negative reply, he apologized to Chaim Ozer for suggesting the trip. The Chofetz Chaim stated, “If I had known that this projected trip could in any way worsen your health, I would never have suggested it. In my opinion, you are the equal of all the Jewish people.”

After the death of the Chofetz Chaim in 1933, the entire responsi­ bility for the Vaad fell upon Rav Chaim Ozer’s shoulders. To aid the Vaad, it was decided to have a Sepher Torah written for the Radin Yeshivah, in memory of its founder, the Chofetz Chaim. This project was a great suc­ cess, and at a public convocation in Vilna, Rabbi Grodzenski purchased the first sentence of the newly written Torah scroll.

recorded in this final volume. It ap­ peared during the ominous days pre­ ceding the outbreak of World War II. In his introduction, the Rabbi of Vilna tragically portrayed this period as he wrote: How desperate is the plight of our people. Even during the Middle Ages, persecution of the Jews did not reach the current level. The entire Diaspora is aflame, and houses of study and Sifrey Torah are being burned on every street. New laws are promulgated by our enemies which aim to completely annul the Jewish religion. Entire Jewish communities are being uprooted and they caiinot find a new haven. Families wander throughout Europe attempting to flee from the ever-increasing waves of hatred. We have become an object of derision for our neighbors. Even the light that emerged from Eretz Yisroel ¿Jfs now dimmed, as the Yishuv no longer knows what tomorrow may bring. We are completely enmeshed in tribulations, persecutions, expul­ sions, and murder. The entire Jewish nation is sinking in seas of blood and oceans of tears from the oppressed and tortured. Oh, what has befallen us!

With Hitler’s march on Poland in URING the years after World War I, Chaim Ozer gradually September, 1939, scores of yeshivah D published his responsa, keyed to rele­ students fled to Vilna which had once vant sections of the Shulchon Oruch, the authoritative codification of Jew­ ish law. The first volume, entitled Achiezer, appeared in 1922, and it dealt essentially with Even Ha-Ezer.

The second volume of Achiezer, dis­ cussing Yoreh Deah and Kodshim, was published in 1925. The final pub­ lished volume of Achiezer appeared in 1939. This volume consisted essen­ tially of pertinent responsa on all four divisions of the Shulchon Oruch. Im­ portant rulings regarding gelatin, con­ traception, and sperm-analysis are 46

again been annexed by Lithuania sub­ sequent to its seizure by the Poles in 1920. Rav Chaim Ozer also felt that the yeshivoth would find refuge here and he dispatched emissaries to urge the schools to emigrate to Vilna.

Gradually, the students and Roshey Yeshivah from Mir, Kletzk, Radin, Kaminetz, Baranowicze, and Bialystok reached Vilna. Now in his seventysixth year, grief-stricken and ill, the Rabbi of Vilna energetically directed the rescue operations. He divided the various yeshivoth among the Vilna JEW ISH LIFE

synagogues, and he provided for their material needs. When Rabbi Aaron Bakst of Shavel asked how he could aid, Rav Chaim Ozer responded, “Send us a truck filled with grain.”

Rabbi Grodzenski also appealed to his acquaintances in the United States and England, and soon shipments of clothing arrived from these countries.

He insisted that each yeshivah retain its unique atmosphere and method of study, and that no attempt be made to amalgamate the institutions. He even established Vilna branches of the Yeshivath Chachmey Lublin and the Tomchey Temimim of Lubavitch as large numbers of Chassidic students arrived in Vilna.

A M ID S T SEA S O F B LO O D A N D TEARS

HE Lithuanian government soon Holy Land. He was concerned about T objected to the concentration of the rabbis of Lodz and Warsaw, and the refugee masses in Vilna, and it particularly worried about the welfare requested that they disperse through­ out the country. Rav Chaim Ozer and the refugee Roshey Yeshivah acceded to this request, and most of the yeshi­ voth scattered to various neighboring Lithuanian cities. In response to Rav Chaim Ozer’s urgent appeals to rescue Eastern European Jewry, the Vaad Hatzalah was organized in the United States under the aegis of his devoted student, Rabbi Eliezer Silver, the president of the Agudath Horabbanim.

The Vaad Hatzalah began an organ­ ized program of aid to sustain the network of yeshivoth now functioning in Lithuania.

In addition to the uncertainties and worries of this period, Rav Chaim Ozer was also grieved by the death of his colleagues Rabbi Shimon Shkop of Grodno and Rabbi Boruch Ber Leibowitz of Kaminetz. Their deaths resulted in additional responsibilities for Rabbi Grodzenski. He was also anxious about the fate of the rabbini­ cal leaders who remained in Poland.

He rejoiced when he learned that the Gerer Rebbe. Rabbi Avrohom Mordechai Alter, left Poland and had reached Trieste on his way to the May-June 1967

of Rabbi Menachem Zemba of War­ saw. He unsuccessfully attempted to rescue Rabbi Aharon Levine of Reisha and the Bobover Rebbe, Rabbi Ben Tziyon Halberstam, who were close to the Lithuanian border.

During these months, Rabbi Grod­ zenski suffered greatly from an incur­ able ailment. He, nevertheless, con­ tinued his desperate hatzolah work.

On July 17, 1940, the Soviet Army entered Lithuania and the Baltic coun­ tries, annexing them to Soviet Russia.

This caused great alarm and fear among the Jews, for it was anticipated that the Communists would not only confiscate their homes and possessions but would also disband the yeshivoth.

The story of the Soviet officer who appeared in the Kletzk Yeshivah upon its relocation in Vilna was constantly repeated. It was related that he stated, “Your Yeshivah is well known to us.

When the Communists took over Slutzk, the Yeshivah escaped to Kletzk in Poland. Now that Kletzk is con­ quered, the Yeshivah has escaped to Vilna. When we conquer Vilna, there will be no place left for your escape.”

Great was the consternation in 47

refugee circles, and Rav Chaim Ozer was particularly dismayed as he felt responsible for their welfare. He no longer left his bed, and only his in­ timate associates were permitted to enter his room. He was transferred to Magistratska, a summer resort near Vilna, and from there he directed his activities. He aided those who were attempting to get visas to» Dutch Curacao, Japan, and China. When it was suggested that he obtain a visa to Palestine, he replied, “I’m only seeking a visa to the world of life;” On another occasion, a friend com­ forted him by recalling that despite the bleak horizons, G-d had promised that the Jewish people will never for­ get the Torah. Rav Chaim Ozer re­ plied, “It is this promise which com­ forts me.”

HE last few days of his life were filled with activity. When he wrote a letter to Rabbi Eliezer Silver, it was suggested that he conserve his strength and only dictate the letter. He refused, stating, “When Rabbi Silver sees the letter in my own handwriting, he will realize the seriousness of the present situation, and will seek additional means of aiding the yeshivoth.”

When a limited number of visas were issued for Palestine and America, Rabbi Grodzenski was asked to rule whether the younger yeshivah gradu­ ates or the older, established rabbis should be sent abroad. After a few minutes thought, he ruled that the older, well-known rabbis should be given preference as they would be able to accomplish more for the salva­ tion of those left behind.

The late Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin visited Rav Chaim Ozer a few days before his demise. Rabbi Grodzenski related that he received an inquiry

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from Switzerland concerning the in­ jecting of animals with shock-produc­ ing serum before their slaughter. In the past, even though kosher slaugh­ tering had been forbidden in Switzer­ land, the Jews imported kosher meat from Germany, France, and Denmark.

Now that the Nazis conquered these countries, Swiss Jews could not obtain meat except if they would slaughter in this fashion. They stressed that this injection did not kill the animal. In response, he stated: The Jews are an ancient people, de­ spite all the persecution they have endured. In the era in which we live, it is obligatory to risk our lives even to retain a Rabbinic observance. Par­ ticularly is this so in a case such as this where there is a possibility that we will violate a Torah law. We must not; yield even one iota of our herit­ age. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of G-d shall stand forever.

His physical strength progressively ebbed away, and by Friday morning, August 9, 1940 ( 5 Av, 5700), it was obvious that death was near. That day at 11 A.M., Rabbi Moshe Shatzkes of Lomza, and Rabbi Michael Kossovsky, his sister’s grandson, sat at his bedside. They spoke and Rav Chaim Ozer listened, as he lacked the strength to speak. Suddenly, he closed his eyes as if he wished to sleep, and thus he returned his noble soul to its Creator.

HE news rapidly spread through­ out Vilna. A meeting was hastily called at the Vaad Ha-Yeshivoth to arrange the funeral and to notify Jew­ ish communities throughout the world.

It was decided to conduct the funeral on Sunday so that the proper final respects could be displayed for the deceased. Although the Soviet Army

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JEW ISH LIFE

did not permit any public assemblies without its permission, the leaders of the Vaad also decided not to consult the authorities.

On Sunday morning, tens of thou­ sands of Jewish Lithuanian citizens and refugees crowded around his resi­ dence. Although Soviet officials also were present, they did not attempt to stop the services. Speaker after speaker eulogized the deceased. All stores, even those of non-Jews, were closed during the funeral. Late that day, Rabbi Grodzenski was put at eternal rest in the Vilna Jewish cemetery, between the final resting places of two

May-June 1967

earlier Vilna rabbinic leaders. The eulogies at graveside continued into the night.

Throughout the Jewish world, memorial assemblies were held, and yeshivoth, charity funds, and Holy Land settlements were named in his memory. The mourning for the last great Rabbi of Vilna was intense, for it was the loss of a great leader at a time of great calamity. Intuitively, perhaps, the Jewish world perceived that he would be one of the last gedolim to die of natural causes and to receive a Jewish burial before the advent of the Hitler inferno.

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The Challenge of C han ge

By FRANK M. LOEWENBERG

VERYBODY recognizes the fabu­ the other hand, change is rapid and E lous changes which have occurred almost instantly noticed. Thus, it took during our lifetime; the science-fiction centuries for the invention of printing fantasies of yesterday have become commonplace today. Those who can remember the dark days of World War II and the Holocaust have wit­ nessed the disappearance of the world into which they were bom and the birth of a radically new world. The fantastic technological changes have been accompanied by a series of thoroughgoing social, political, and economic changes. Prohibition and repeal, depression and inflation, war and peace, McCarthyism and civil rights, all these and other experiences have produced a continuous sequence of crises and emergencies. To say that our society has been changing is, therefore?^obvious. What else could it do?

Change has been inevitable since the beginning of time but until re­ cently this change has been gradual and generally unnoticed; only in retro­ spect did people become aware that things were no longer what they used to be. In the contemporary world, on 50

to make an impact on large portions of the Western world, while the im­ pact of television took only a few years.

Change can not be isolated to one area of life or to one area of the world. Our modern life styles insure that any one change will start a chain reaction which will reach into areas often far removed from where the change started. Pharmaceutical and medical advances, for example, have resulted in a dramatic decrease of infant mortality and in added years of life; the impact of these changes, started in a laboratory or in a hos­ pital, are reflected by such change items as social security and Medicare, overpopulation and birth control, hun­ ger and revolution. we have been wopt IandNtotoAMERICA identify the new with the good equate change With progress Though change used to be welcomed, many have begun to question the wisJEW ISH LIFE

dom and purpose of change when they observe the chaotic consequences that change has produced. Today peo­ ple are less certain about the direction of change and its desirability than their grandparents were. Yet change, np matter how it is evaluated, is in­ evitable; it can be deplored or em­ braced, but it cannot be ignored.

Neither ghetto walls nor iron curtains can offer a haven from social change.

Adaptation to change is a prerequi­ site for living in the contemporary world; everybody must respond or react to change in some way. Some­ times, it is true, change affects areas involving traditional life styles and basic values. Is there some way people can prepare themselves for these changes? Or must our response al­ ways be late and defensive?

With this question before us, we will attempt to examine some of the major changes which will affect life in this last third of the twentieth cen­ tury. Because of their nature and scope, because their impact is so wide­ spread and so dramatic, we style these changes as revolutions.

K N O W L E D G E R EV O LU TIO N

EVER BEFORE has man known N so much about so many different things; in no previous age has man been able to apply what he knows so effectively to manipulate and change his environment at will. Today man can destroy his world, prolong life almost indefinitely, move moun­ tains, reverse the flow of rivers, water the desert and grow food in the oceans; there appears to be no end to what man’s knowledge can accom­ plish. The number of new inventions, May-June 1967

many of them highly useful, has been increasing at a geometric rate; during the decade of the 1950’s more patents were registered in Washington than in the previous 150 years. New knowl­ edge nowadays is generated so fast that physicists generally ^retire” from knowledge development positions by the time they are thirty years old because they can no longer be ex­ pected to be familiar with the new knowledge in their field.

New scholarly fields blossom forth every year; the constantly increasing number of professional specializations is no longer a status symbol but a necessity because no one man can ac­ quire and use all the new knowledge available. New techniques make it possible to explore areas of knowledge previously inaccessible to human ob­ servation and understanding. Our un­ derstanding of the genetic base of man, for example, has been vastly increased by new instruments which simply did not exist a few short years ago. With these new knowledge areas opening up, man is on the brink of new and radical discoveries which will indeed revolutionize his life and the world he lives in.

The knowledge explosion has re­ quired the development of new tech­ niques for acquiring and disseminating knowledge. Information retrieval and programmed instruction are not mere­ ly new words to describe updated versions of older teaching methods but represent new and radically differ­ ent ways of handling knowledge and information. The instantaneous selec­ tion of relevant diagnostic informa­ tion, for example, is beginning to introduce revolutionary changes in medical practices, changes which may be more significant than the introduc-

51

tion of anesthesia was a century ago.

The impact of the knowledge revolu­ tion, however, is not limited to the professions or to higher education. Its greatest impact is perhaps felt in our elementary and secondary schools; not only has the entire curriculum been rearranged, with subject matters pre­ viously taught in college now making their appearance in the early grades, but the very manner of , teaching which once stressed subject matter now emphasizes conceptual thinking.

The “new math” is only one of many such changes. Today’s sixth graders often have a better grounding in the scientific method than graduate stu­ dents. No wonder that today’s parents are bewildered and wonder what be­ came of the schools they used to know.

What happens to the relation be­ tween parents and children when al­ ready at an early age children know more than their parents? Traditionally, in all societies, it was the family which transmitted wisdom and knowl­ edge to the young; with knowledge changing as rapidly as it does, this function has been transferred to the school—but with what consequences?

Has the knowledge gap between par­ ents and children become so wide that it cannot be bridged? In previous eras knowledge was always related to morality; today this connection is of­ ten severed. Within our own Jewish sphere, who can help our children relate contemporary knowledge to the eternal Jewish values? Can those who are immersed in Torah but unac­ quainted with the world of science do this effectively?

A MONG the most electrifying but potentially most terrifying changes which man is about to master 52

is skill in influencing the genetic make­ up of his progeny. The time is not far off when man will be able to deter­ mine the sex of his unborn offspring or change the biological composition of the fetus. Artificial insemination and chemical reduction of infertility are already commonplace procedures; sperm banks and test tube reproduc­ tion may not be far away.

Revolutionary advances in biologi­ cal knowledge and skill occur at a time when human society has, to all intents and purposes, placed human reproduction and sexual activity in different compartments. The perfec­ tion of the Pill and other contracep­ tive devices has already provided radically new dimensions to family planning and population problems.

The consequences, positive and nega­ tive, of these developments are many.

Among the general populace, the rela­ tion between husbands and wives, for example, has changed greatly; divorce statistics mount constantly higher, yet when marriages last, the emotional and psychological bond between mates is evidently stronger than it has been in previous generations. Yet it must be recognized above all that grave social, moral, and legal problems have resulted from the “new morality.”

Easy and early sex threatens the men­ tal and physical health of large popu­ lation segments; reports from the college campus do not suggest that today’s college students are happier or better adjusted than their predeces­ sors.

Of special relevance to Jews is the disastrous drop in the Jewish birth­ rate. The general acceptance of birth control practices among almost all people in the Western world, has ob­ viously been shared by wide elements JEW ISH LIFE

of Jewry. At the present time Jews are not reproducing themselves even when the world’s population is in­ creasing at the rate of one million new people every week.

all foodstuff, increasing the chances of food contamination and, incident­ ally, raising Kashruth questions which previous generations would have found difficult to comprehend.

The role of pills and drugs in our daily life only underscore the distance we have moved from an earlier way of life, one that those over fifty still remember quite vividly. Laxative pills and tranquilizers, diet pills and pain killers, sugar substitutes and antibio­ tics—these and many more have become commonplace in our medicine cabinets and our pantries; and an ever larger proportion of the population needs stimulants and/or depressants to help them adjust to stresses of modern life. Indeed, for more reasons than one, this has been called the Age of the Pill.

HE biological revolution is, how­ ever, not limited to sexual activity and reproduction. Transplants and artificial organs have made it possible to prolong life, to restore those pre­ viously considered hopeless, even to “bring back” those whose heart has stopped to function. But these lifegiving discoveries have often presented Halachic and moral problems which are difficult and painful to face. How to select the one person who will behefit from an artificial kidney when ten patients could use it? How to determine when a person is dead since transplant of vital organs must take place within minutes after death? How long must one keep a person “alive” E C O N O M IC R EV O LU T IO N if he lives only on artificial machines?

Scientists report, for example, that it NE of the most sweeping changes is possible to keep the heart of a of our time is occurring in the headless person going indefinitely with an auxiliary motor; presumably, economic area. While it is still too a headless person is dead even if his early to predict the eventual outcome, heart is ticking. The problems are the outlines of some of the conse­ many and they must be faced. The quences are already becoming visible. danger here lies that solutions will be Automation and cybernation threaten worked out and institutionalized by to overthrow the basic economic and scientific experts not committed to industrial structure of our society; Torah—unless Torah authorities con­ automation and cybernation are not sider these and similar questions at merely improved versions of the in­ dustrial revolution but are entirely an early stage of their development.

At the very time when scientific new approaches to production and discoveries enable man to prolong consumption. By eliminating the hu­ perhaps even to “create” life, man man factor in most industrial opera­ has seemingly lost control of his phy­ tions, a very small proportion of our sical environment. Air and water pol­ population can now produce more lution are a daily threat to the urban than enough to meet all needs. Scarci­ inhabitants of our land. Convenience ty, once the guiding principle on foods and newer ways of marketing which the free enterprise system was require the processing of practically organized, is not functional when

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there is too much of everything. As The economic revolution presents long as finding people to operate ma­ new problems as well as new oppor­ chines was a major problem, the profit tunities. Increased leisure time and motive was an efficient incentive. To­ many additional years of non-work day, when the problem has been re­ in every individual’s life time can versed, when the problem is one of either lead to higher levels of com­ finding jobs for people * economic mitment and creativity or will result rewards are of limited utility. Jobs, in apathy, mental and social break­ especially for unskilled and semi­ down, and eventual physical Annihila­ skilled labor, are disappearing. But tion. For the Torah community, automation and cybernation' also af­ these changes also present great op­ fect non-industrial employment; even portunities but planning will be neces­ middle management positions will be sary to take advantage of them. eliminated in the foreseeable future by responsive machines. It is estimated that by 1970 as many of fifty per cent W E A P O N R Y R E V O LU T IO N of all high school graduates will be unable to find employment unless en­ HE potential use of the hydrogen tirely new types of jobs can be developed. bomb and of guided missiles by A new relation between productive all large nations makes modern war work and income will emerge in the qualitatively different from what it workless and wantless world of to­ was prior to 1945. “Conventional” morrow; already today there are large wars are no longer feasible because categories of people other than relief conventional weapons have become recipients whose income does not de­ uncontrollable; even precision bomb­ pend on “working”; thus, most uni­ ing with ‘‘old fashioned” bombs versity graduate students receive nowadays results in destruction far fellowships and persons over 72 years beyond the military targets.

The military events in Korea and old receive $35 monthly from the Federal government even if they have Viet Nam suggest that “limited war” never worked in their lives. Within is no longer effective as a strategic the past few years financial programs device; today the military alternatives which a decade earlier were generally hover betwe£n primitive individual branded as idealistic or socialistic combat and wholesale scientific de­ have been passed by Congress— Medi­ struction. Anti-missile missiles, we are care, AFDC-U, Title XIX. Some told by the Secretary of Defense, no provisions for guaranteed annual in­ longer afford protection. In fact, it comes will undoubtedly be enacted becomes clearer every day that war within the next decade. Beyond that can no longer be used to settle inter­ our society will need to develop a national disputes. Yet a warless world will not be a problemless world. New variety of institutions which will keep techniques must be developed to stop people creatively occupied but out of aggression and new structures erected the labor market; the burgeoning to protect individual rights. Here the community colleges represent only the eternal teachings of Sinai can make first of many such attempts. an invaluable contribution.

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JEW ISH LIFE

THE A G E O F R E V O LU T IO N S

rf^RAVEL in outer space is no longer JL a fantasy; trips to the moon and other planets are only years away.

These and other technical accomplish­ ments force man to reevaluate his position in the universe. How relevant is an earth-bound belief system for a generation that has mastered the skill of escaping from earth’s gravity? In this area as in the rest the Jew is posed with distinctive problems. Is today’s world reconcilable with the traditional Jewish values and prac­ tices? How shall Jewish religious in­ stitutions be addressed to a world where space has shrunk and where time has become instantaneous? How shall these institutions come to grips with the problems of today and to­

May-June 1967

morrow without tampering with the eternal Jewish values?

Our world is a new world. It will never again revert to the world we once knew. How we approach these new conditions will in no small mea­ sure influence the future. Torah Jews must demonstrate the vitality of Torah by manning leadership positions and by dealing with the important issues and problems of the new world. We must restrain ourselves from expend­ ing all our energies on inconsequential matters; instead we must deal forth­ rightly and openly with the questions that do matter. Here is an opportunity to demonstrate that Torah-ideals and ideas are vitally meaningful guides which can effectively help individuals and communities in dealing with the complex problems of the modern world. To do any less is unthinkable.

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JEW ISH LIFE

B ooh R eview s With or Without ‘Derech Eretz’

By Herberf Goldstein

THESE AND THOSE. By Rabbi Simon Schwab. Philipp Feldheim, Inc. 1967, 47 pp. $1.40.

N THIS short pamphlet Rabbi Simon Schwab, one of the spiritual leaders of the famed K’hal Adath Jeshurun of Washington Heights, examines the role of secular studies in Jewish education.

He presents us, as it were, with a de­ bate in which he successively takes both sides of the question. On the one hand is the “Torah Only” school of thought which holds as its ideal “exclusive Torah study, neglecting all secular disciplines and pursuits.” The author identifies this school with the Eastern European herit­ age, and contrasts it on the other hand with the viewpoint of “Torah im Derech Eretz”;—the Hirschian (Western Euro­ pean) Weltanschauung—combining Torah learning with so-called secular studies.

I

D r . H erbert G oldstein is professor of Nuclear

Engineering at Columbia University and past president of the Association of Orthodox Jew­ ish Scientists.

May-June 1967

In a succession of dialogues, Rabbi Schwab marshals the arguments and counter-arguments of each side. Although by training and position he obviously belongs to the Hirschian school, he takes great pains to present both viewpoints as objectively as possible. Clearly he feels that the arguments of both prota­ gonists have merit, for his conclusion is given in the classic language of the Gemora—“Teko!”—the controversy re­ mains unresolved. In the phrase of Gittin 6b, from which the title of the pam­ phlet is taken* “both these and those are the words of the living Lord.” Let each one be free to choose one of the alter­ natives, so long as the choice be “in the name of Heaven.”

If criticism of Rabbi Schwab’s, presr entation may be offered, it is that he has been too successful in imitating the for­ mat of a debate. The arguments pre­ sented occasionally show the same weak­ nesses often characteristic of “live” de­ bates. Viewpoints are necessarily sim57

plified and drawn over-sharply; the Baruch of Sklov, to have said “One lack­ thrust and riposte of argument are not ing knowledge of the other wisdoms will always to the point, and phrasings are lack a hundred-fold more in the wisdom at times chosen more for rhetorical ef­ of the Torah, for the Torah and the fect than for a dispassionate analysis of [other] wisdoms are entwined together.” the roots of the problem. Both the na­ One would like to see Rabbi Schwab ture of the format and the limitations give his exposition of this quotation. of space prevent more than a glancing In the last analysis the basic question look at some important issues—e.g. is not one of a simple choice between which type of education is* more likely “Torah Only” and “Torah im Derech to attract the uncommitted and keep Eretz.” The problem before us is how him—-and his children—within Yiddish- to devise a system of Jewish education keit. One also seeks in vain for an ex­ that will produce a generation properly amination of the implicit assumption that balanced in all its components—leaders, the future “g’doley hador” should re­ scholars, teachers and intelligent baaleyceive solely the “Torah-Only” type of battim, a generation which is both desir­ education. It is at least arguable that it ous and capable of bringing up their is especially the “g’doley hador” Who children in the same path. There have been few moments in the long chain of need some exposure to secular studies our history when it has been more im­ and who are best qualified to receive it. portant to find the optimum solution to As is well known, this point of view this problem. Rabbi Schwab’s essay is has the authority of the Vilna Gaon essential reading for all who are con­ who is reported by his disciple, Rabbi cerned with the problem.

Mentor to the Generations

By Jason Jacobowitz MESILLATH YESHARIM. The Path of the Just. By Mosheh Chayim Luzzatto. English translation by Shraga Silverstein. Boys Town Jerusalem, Yaakov Feldheim, Israel, 1966, 339 pp., $5.50.

ORN in Padua, Italy two hundred and sixty years ago, Mosheh Cha­ yim Luzzatto lived but a brief forty

B

R abbi Jason Jacobowitz is Assistant Registrar

at Yeshiva University.

58

years. His was a stormy life, full of strife, contention, and unhappiness. Of the many books he wrote, the one which aroused the least concern during his life­ time has become his major work, one which has been studied and restudied by observant Jews in every generation in­ cluding our own.

Rabbi Mosheh Chayim Luzzatto, often referred to by the acronym RaMChaL, received the education of a rich man’s son, mastering the culture of his day toJEW ISH LIFE

gether with traditional Jewish learning.

His brilliant and sensitive mind impelled him to delve into poetry and drama along with Kabbolah and mysticism. At the youthful age of 15 he formed a study circle for probing into the mysteries of Kabbolah. His first literary efforts were in the discipline of poetry. Outstanding among his poems is his famous epithalamium, Migdol Oz, which he com­ posed at the age of 20 as a wedding gift for the son of his master teacher, Rabbi Yehoshua Bassani. The interest in Kab­ bolah, however, soon engulfed all of his time and energies. The years . 1727 until 1730 were entirely devoted to the pur­ suit of mysticism. During this period he wrote the Second Zohar and other Kabbalistic works.

Rabbi Luzzatto lived under the ten­ sions which followed the debacle of the pseudomessiah Shabbethai Tz’vi and thus all study of Kabbolah was looked upon with suspicion and trepidation. The Rabbis of Venice, though at first lenient with Rabbi Luzzatto, were forced to ad­ monish him, obtaining a written promise that he would abstain from the use of Kabbalistic formulas and the writing of books on Kabbolah. Eventually, though he received permission to publish some works, this resulted in a ban of his writ­ ings in 1736. RaMChaL left Italy for Amsterdam, stopping off in Germany.

Here his works on Kabbolah were con­ fiscated and eventually buried, to thus be lost forever.

In Amsterdam Luzzatto produced his second allegorical drama La-Yeshorim Tehillah as well as his classical work on ethics, Mesillath Yesharim.

ESILLATH YESHARIM was orig­ M inally published in 1740 during the lifetime of the author and subsequently many editions have appeared. The first English translation by Professor MordeMay-June 1967

cai M. Kaplan appeared in 1936 as part of the Schiff Library Classics of the Jewish Publication Society of America.

It was out of print for some time but has recently been reprinted. In that edi­ tion the title is translated as “The Path of the Upright.”

A new Hebrew text “according to the first edition complete with vowel mark­ ing and source references” has now been published in Israel, with an English translation on parallel pages by Shraga Silverstein. It is published by Boys Town Jerusalem and Yaakov Feldheim as part of the Torah Classics Library. It con­ tains a very brief introduction by Rabbi Avigdor Miller as well as a brief Trans­ lator’s Preface. In addition there is a foreword in Hebrew, not translated and without signature, which indicates that this edition is meant to be an “exact­ ing” popular but not scholarly work. In this newest edition of Mesillath Yesha­ rim the title is translated as “The Path of the Just.”

Peculiarly, this volume provides no introductory material on the life of RaMChaL, the era in which Mesillath Yesharim was written, or concerning the concept of ethics delineated in this sefer which is so different from the general concept of ethics. Though sources are copiously cited by the author, no foot­ notes or elaborations which would help clarify passages are given. For example in Chapter 13, Rabbi Luzzatto cites the midrosh concerning the four species of the lulov by simply stating “let these come and atone for these® A footnote by the editor or translator elaborating on the meaning of this would have been helpful. Immediately after this quote we read, “And we find in relation to the in­ cident of Ulah bar Koshev that when R. Yehoshua ben Levi asked Eliyohu of blessed memory ‘Is it not a mishnah?’

The latter replied ‘But is it a mishnah 59

for saints?’ ” Here again, unless one is familiar with the incident mentioned in the Yerushalmi, the entire episode loses its impact and in fact its meaning re­ mains unknown.

The translator has, as promised in the introduction, been very exacting in his rendition. It seems to me that this trans­ lation is especially geared to the reader who will read the Hebrew text with the help of the translation. The Hebrew and English lines almost always face each other, thus enabling an easy transition from the Hebrew to the translation and vice versa. It is noteworthy that in Ka­ plan’s translation the pages are read from left to right as an English text, for the translation is the mainstay. In the present case, the translation follows the Hebrew text and thus the pages are read from right to left.

HE text itself is of course a classic.

It was accepted by Chasidim and Mithnagdim alike. The Besht School found in it many of its fundamental principles, and it is reputed that when the Vilna Gaon read this sefer he ex­ claimed “Oh, were RaMChaL alive, I would walk to his side to study from him musar and midoth.” Out of respect and in reverence for this book RaMChaL earned the epithets of “the Tzaddik,” “the Chossid,” “the Kodosh.”

The book is based on the Boraitha (Avoda Zora 20b): “From this Rabbi Pinchos ben Yoir adduced: ‘Torah leads to Watchfulness; Watchfulness leads to Zeal; Zeal leads to Cleanliness; Cleanli­ ness leads to Separation; Separation leads to Purity; Purity leads to Saintliness; Saintliness leads to Humility; Humility leads to Fear of Sin; Fear of Sin leads to Holiness; Holiness leads to Revival of the Dead’.”

It is written in simple language with many pithy quotes from the Tanach, the

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Talmud Bavli and Yerushalmi, and the various Midrashim. In explaining a mul­ titude of ideas he employs a profusion of excellent illustrations and similes thus making it more interesting and inviting.

In the chapter on the Divisions of Watchfulness, page 41, there is a beau­ tiful analogy comparing one who is un­ der the subjection of the evil inclination to one in a garden maze.

Moshe Chayim Luzzatto is not neces­ sarily original in this work. The way in ethics was paved by Yehuda Halevi, the Rambam and specifically by Bachya Ibn Pakuda in his classic, Duties of the Heart. RaMChaL’s contribution is the clarity of expression and the feeling which pervades every phrase and chap­ ter. He makes the accomplishment of each level sound difficult but not im­ possible. A sense of encouragement wrought by the rewards of success is ever present. At the end of the chapter of “The Trait of Cleanliness” page 111, Luzzatto states: “This trait is certainly difficult to acquire for a man’s nature is weak. His heart is easily won over, and he permits certain things to himself by utilizing the opportunities for self de­ ception which they present. One who has attained to the trait of Cleanliness has unquestionably reached a very high lev­ el of achievement, for he has stood up in the face of a raging battle and emerged victorious.” A similar encour­ aging passage is found on page 173. is the fact that the items and even expressions are as applicable today as they seemingly were in the beginning of the 18th Century.

On pages 79-80 we read: “ ‘It is very hot outside,’ ‘It is very cold,’ or ‘It is raining too hard’ and all of the other ex­ cuses and pretenses that the mouth of the fools is full of.” Again on page 113^ “Although we see that most people are

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JEW ISH LIFE

not manifest thieves in the sense of open­ ly confiscating their neighbors’ belong­ ings and depositing them among their own possessions, most of them get the taste of theft in the course of their busi­ ness dealings by allowing themselves to gain through their neighbors’ loss saying ‘Business is different’ (I’harviyach sho­ rn).”

The table of contents is limited to the headings conforming to the ideas of Rabbi Pinchos ben Yoir in the Boraitha.

The twenty-six chapters include four on Watchfulness, four on Zeal, three on Cleanliness, and so on. It would be help­ ful if, in future editions, these listings were expanded torinclude the other prin­ ciples discussed in each chapter. The chapter on The Particulars of Cleanli­ ness, for example, includes discussion on cleanliness of deed, sight, speech, hearing, and thought. Verbal oppression, misleading advice, tale-bearing, taking revenge, falsehood, and many other top­ ics are also included in this chapter and in all chapters. Thus if there were an index or an elaborated table of contents one could immediately see the depth of this book and realize that it is not an abstract theoretical academic work but

May-June 1967

a very practical important work for read­ ing, studying, and constant review. It would also enable the student to go di­ rectly to subjects of interest in each chapter and thus find desired topics more readily.

This, and information about the au­ thor and explanatory notes, certainly will be sought when the book is reread and restudied, as the reader matures and grows intellectually. Too, exegetical value abounding in this would make an Index of Sources Cited useful and might give an impetus for future research into another aspect of the prolific Rabbi Chayim Mosheh Luzzatto.

Luzzatto’s position as the Father of Modern Hebrew Literature is being con­ tested nowadays. His books on Kabbolah were destroyed. Mesillath Yesharim, however, his book on ethics and moral­ ity—between man and man and man and G-d—continues in importance. This new translation, dedicated to Rabbi Dr. Jo­ seph Breuer, is a worthy companion and a welcome addition to every Jewish home where Kedushah is a sought-after goal.

Indeed, Mesillath Yesharim, The Path of the Just, leads one to the smooth high­ way of righteousness and holiness.

61

L e tte rs to th e E d ito r RIGHT, LEFT— NEW STYLE

tional movements. But if the scope of the R.C.A.’s activities is being analyzed, Bayside, N.Y. then there is merit to the comparison.

Does vitality mean public demonstra­ In his article that appeared in the January-February issue of J e w is h L i f e , tions against the State of Israel or long “The New Style of American Orthodox and tedious negotiations designed to Jewry,” Professor Marvin Schick divides reach a desired goal? How can one American Orthodoxy down the middle, weigh the tens of thousands of dollars “the right wing” and the “new Orthodox raised quietly for our less fortunate left.” In the former category, he lumps brethren in countries where religious the Yeshivah sphere and the Chassidic freedom does not exist? Hadarom is groups while way out in left field, vul­ probably the most significant Torah pub­ nerable to the jeers of the fans in the lication in America and Tradition is a bleachers!J he places the Rabbinical source of pride for all American Jewry.

Council of America. In his projection The self discipline accepted by members into the future, Dr. Schick is led astray of the Rabbinical Council in prohibit­ by his ramblings in the present. While ing private “hechsherim” and associating it would be futile to cross swords on with the © are significant and unparal­ what may or may not happen, even with­ leled in American Orthodox annals. in a decade hence, it is important to set There is an undercurrent in Professor the record straight on the present.

Schick’s article which seems to imply that The very division of right and left is “chinuch” is an accomplishment of the an arbitrary one in Jewish life. These “right.” While giving the “right” the terms are relative and depend on the di­ credit it so richly deserves for its work rection one travels and from where one in Jewish education, there is hardly a starts. Semantics can be misleading, as day school in America, particularly out­ can be an unproved and so unsubstan­ side the old Jewish areas in Brooklyn, tiated a statement that the “locus of vi­ the remaining enclaves of the “right,”r tality within the Jewish religious com­ where members of the Rabbinical Coun­ munity today is found in the Yeshivah cil are not involved, body, heart and sphere and the Chassidic groups.” It is soul, in the promotion and maintenance a grudging compliment to equate the of the Day School. They are in exposed Rabbinical Council, by nature a group areas where they carry, singlehandedly, of limited membership, with national the brunt and burden of Jewish educa­ congregational bodies and even interna­ tion.

62

JEW ISH LIFE

“The new orthodox left—whose new­ ness is more a matter of personalities than of ideological development—is an interesting and often challenging phe­ nomenon,’’ says Dr. Schick. One won­ ders how any student of contemporary American Orthodoxy can complete a long article on this subject without men­ tioning Yeshiva University or Israel. Yet both concepts are conspicuously absent from Dr. Schick’s treatise. It is precise­ ly those ideals, in their broadest con­ cepts, which unite the Rabbinical Coun­ cil and give it a strong and definite ideo­ logical direction. The future seems to in­ dicate that these ties will become even stronger whereas forces of the “right” have not yet recognized Israel de facto and as for Yeshiva University. . .

The Rabbinical Council has no desire to alter the image of the “right” or its goals. Professor Schick is correct in as­ suming that on several occasions it has taken the initiative in seeking reapproachments with the “right” to no avail. He may be wrong in his future speculations.

The next generation of Rabbinical Coun­ cil leadership is basically American-born and trained, removed from European tra­ ditions. The age gap has been equalized.

Attacks, personal attacks upon the presi­ dent of Yeshiva University, and the chairman of the R.C.A. Halochah Com­ mission, have served to polarize unity in a manner unprecedented in the history of the Rabbinical Council.

Professor Schick is correct in analyz­ ing the Rabbinical Council’s position as a difficult one. The middle path between extremes which are belligerent is essen­ tially such. It is made even more diffi­ cult by the fact that the “right” talks to the press and is more concerned with its mass meetings than by talking to others. This, however, does not diminish from the correctness of the Rabbinical Council position nor will it alter it. The May-June 1967

choice is not only that of the “left” to make. The “right,” too, has a responsi­ bility to history and posterity and may yet create a complete de facto, if not de jure, division in American Orthodoxy —not over issues of substance but rather because of stridency and belligerency. It emphasizes the negative and ignores the positive and on common ground. It is a source of chagrin and disappointment to the entire Jewish community that the image of Orthodoxy’s “right” is frequent­ ly reflected by uncouth zealots rathei than by its revered rabbinic leadership and policy is dictated by a fierce compe­ tition to be the Tightest of the right.

Dr. Schick is most correct in assert­ ing that nothing the Rabbinical Council could ever do would appease the right.

Were it conceivable that the Rabbinical Council should unqualifiedly strike its colors and embrace the Satmar ideology without a single qualification and there was no room remaining to move to the right, then the “right would move up and down and sanctify those directions in order to have some dead horse to play. , Today’s Orthodoxy’s “left” is the sec­ ond and third generation of the “right” of less than two decades ago. On the basis of this past experience, it is not unreasonable to assume that the same pattern will follow, especially since Eu­ ropean centers can no longer replenish and reinforce. An increasing awareness of the American scene, thè impact of Israel, the technology of the Twentieth Century will have their impact on the “right” One can not possibly conceive that orthodox Jews will support programs of the Conservative party for any length of time and it is the support of such programs,. i as indicated by Professor Schick, by some orthodox circles that is the most self-damning conviction of the “right.” When faced with the choice of 63

receiving the benefits of the Great So­ ciety such as increasing benefits for day schools and the Conservative party ideol­ ogy, the “right” will turn “left” on a dime. The more the “right” becomes in­ volved on the American scene, the more obligations it will have to assume, such as the chaplaincy program which it as­ siduously avoids. The “left” would wel­ come such involvement. At that time, the ideological lines will be blurred and perhaps the institutional ones obliter­ ated.

R abbi L ouis B ernstein

DR. SCHICK REPLIES: It is hard to comment on Rabbi Bern­ stein’s letter, particularly because it is doubtful whether he understands my ar­ ticle. Interestingly, such criticism as has been directed to me has come primarily from right-wingers who feel that I was unfair to them. At any rate, nothing in the article suggests the criticism of the Rabbinical Council of America that he finds.

Since it was not my intention to ana­ lyze the program of the orthodox organ­ izations, most of Rabbi Bernstein’s com­ ments are irrelevant. But I find it both noteworthy and sad that he finds it nec­ essary to shrilly attack a major segment of orthodox Jewry. Of course, he is con­ forming to the current “style.”

Finally, Rabbi Bernstein’s confidence that the historical pattern will repeat and that today’s right-wing will inexorably move leftward suggests that he does not sufficiently appreciate the new mood within Orthodoxy, which, if nothing else, means that Orthodoxy’s right-wing of today is not the same as that of a gen­ eration ago and that history may not repeat itself.

64

G R O SS M ISSED ROTH Bayside, N.Y. I have read with avid interest Mr. Reuben E. Gross’ article: “We Were Not Slaves in Egypt” in your Mareh-April 1967 issue wherein he states: “The translation of all (italics mine) the Haggadahs distinctly say in the response to the Ma Nishtanah, We were slaves to Pharoah in Egypt’.” He further urges that the correct translation of “Avodim hoyinu” is “We were bondsmen.”

You will note that Cecil Roth’s Haggadah (Soncino ed. 1934) uses the trans­ lation “bondsmen.” Szyk’s illustrated Haggadah edited by Roth likewise adopts “bondsmen.” However, Roth’s transla­ tion of Ben Shahn’s illustrated edition (1965) employs the term “slavery.”

In Philip Goodman’s Haggadah at p.

112 we note “house of bondage” and his chapter VII, p. 99 is headed by “Israel in Egyptian bondage.”

I have enjoyed reading your maga­ zine for many years. May it continue for many years.

H arry B. R ichard MR. GROSS REPLIES: I checked dozens of Haggadahs be­ fore making the statement. If I erred in overlooking Cecil Roth’s Haggadahs, I am happy to note that that eminent scholar agreed with me two out of three times.

C O R R EC T IO N Miami Beach, Fla. Relative to my article “Ecumenicism and Dialogue—1263 C.E.,” I would like to offer the following correction which JEW ISH LIFE

inadvertently crept into the article. On page 38 I state that “The Ramban stated that he did not consider himself bound by the Agadoth of the Midrosh.” In the footnote at the bottom of page 38, the word ^Midrosh” should again be sub­ stituted for the word “Talmud.”

Rabbi B erel W ein

its of the Editor's view of Jewish stances in the Viet Nam debate. The following letters, each disputing this view, would seem to characterize effectively the con­ scious rationale—and perhaps the sublim­ inal motivations—of those among us who condemn the U.S. side—only—of the Viet Nam war.—S. B.)

Woodmere, N.Y. I seize the right to dissent from your New York, N.Y. “Right to Assent.” I never lose an op­ I found Dr. Hillel Seidman’s “Encoun­ portunity to make my dissent known to ter in Buczacz” (Jan.-Feb. 1967) most any of my friends who swallow the illuminating and informative. All the Johnson - Rusk - MacNamara - Ky-General other people who have written on their Staff line on Vietnam. personal contacts with Agnon refer ei­ After all, what is the value of feeling ther to the period in Palestine/Israel or deeply on a cause if you do not make to that in Germany. Dr. Seidman’s piece your position known? Is that not the is the first one I have seen that goes very charge we make against the Ger­ back to the important Buczacz back­ mans who looked the other way while the Nazis were slaughtering our people? ground.

T heodore Schocken We are guilty of giving our finan­ Schocken Books Inc. cial and military backing to outrageous racketeers like Ky, who would be thrown to the wolves by his own people if NOTE OF TH AN K S American guns did not protect him. (On that point nobody dissents.) We are Flushing, N.Y. guilty of risking World War III, with Just a note thanking you for many the possibility of ending the human race. hours of reading pleasure. Jewish L ife We are guilty of cruel, vicious suffering has been timely, interesting, and pro­ brought to innocent victims by napalm, vocative. Hatzlachah rabbah. phosphorous bombs, chemical horror, and all the fiendish inventions of our H erbert A. K avan Merchants of Death.

In my book, Vietnam and Lidice be­ long in the same chapter. The Nazis THE R IG H T TO ASSEN T found justification for Lidice, too. Thank (As was to be expected, our Editor's G-d, so many intellectual leaders of View observations on uThe Right to As­ America feel as I do. Thank G-d so sent" in the January-February issue many Jews have come out against John­ evoked a good deal of discussion. As son on this issue. Only your organiza­ was likewise to be expected, the com­ tion and the Jewish War Veterans repre­ ments received indicate a sharp division sent Jewish “hawkdom.” Some bedfel­ of opinion among readers as to the mer- lows! Imagine the descendants and purBUCZACZ

May-June 1967

65

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ported followers of Isaiah suffering the disease of Pentagonnorrhea.

When religious bodies can sanction murder . . . regardless of the fancy rhet­ oric . . . I prefer to stand aside. Happily there are Jewish groups who have made their indignation known.

Orthodoxy had better rethink the is­ sue or it may find its most idealistic youth straying far away. You saw the play, “The Deputy,” I imagine. A reli­ gious leader managed to close his eyes to horror in that play too.

Joshua S. E pstein Brooklyn, N.Y. The “right to assent” is not being challenged by opponents of the United States policy in Vietnam. It is just that the right to dissent is being exercised well. Perhaps what worries the editor so much is that the dissenters are so ar­ ticulate, knowledgeable, and convincing in their arguments for change.

Of course those opposed to the Ad­ ministration’s policies are not all isola­ tionists or pacifists. The dissenters are people from all walks of life and of all age groups who cannot comprehend the continuation and steady escalation of a war that has no end in sight and is so destructive in nature. It is difficult to be enthusiastic when no progress toward peace or victory is made; when a tre­ mendous chunk of the economy is poured into the war, thus harming con­ structive domestic projects. How can a policy that results in the bombing and destruction of villages, in the killing of innocent women and children, and in effect the disruption of a whole society, be applauded? Can anyone condone the use and the horrifying consequences of napalm?

The editorial proudly states that the UOJCA is among the few major Jewish May-June 1967

organizations to publicly support the Government. It looks unfavorably upon Jewish spokesmen and organizations that openly criticize U.S. policy in Vietnam.

To follow blindly is often simple. At times it is equally convenient to refuse to accept the majority view. A position that is taken on the basis of true conviction and awareness is admirable and com­ mendable. It is somewhat presumptuous to imply that subjective considerations other than the dictates of conscience ac­ count for the majority dissenting Jewish positions.

As Jews our first duty is to be faithful to our ideals. These ideals may well jus­ tify our dissent from Vietnam policy.

(M rs.) M alka Schick

Downsview, Ontario, Canada I feel impelled by your editorial “The Right to Assent” to assert the duty to dissent. I hope that your editorial was written in haste, under the impact of some temporarily blinding pressure. I hope too, that before the next issue of J ewish L ife is due to appear, the Viet­ nam war will be over and the issue no longer real. In the meantime, though, I cannot refrain from expressing my shock and revulsion at the horrifying implica­ tions of the glib statements with which you dismiss the moral issues at stake in Vietnam and condemn all those whose hearts ache at the sight of American power prostituted.

Certainly, it is in order for the Ortho­ dox Union to express confidence in the Administration’s endeavors to achieve peace. This confidence is shared by mil­ lions, in and out of America. Inspite of the growing -‘credibility gap,” many, including myself, regard it as unthink­ able to suspect President Johnson of evil motives.

67

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JEW ISH LIFE

But, does this entitle you to suggest, albeit obliquely, that there is some kind of conspiracy “promoted by pressures from interested parties” which reaches into “highly influential sources” to dis­ credit the United States and serve the cause of “the only remaining colonial empire”? If Jewish L ife can write like this about Senator Fullbright and some of the most distinguished Americans of our time, what is left for the John Birch Society?

On a more fundamental level, does confidence in the motives of the Presi­ dent preclude the exercise of independ­ ent judgment on matters plain for all to see? Strategic considerations and secur­ ity needs obviously are beyond the ken of most of us, but the methods used to meet those needs are subject to respon­ sible examination.

War is cruel and terrifying by its very nature. Yet this much civilization has accrued to mankind through the years, that some means of warfare are regarded as “uncivilized.” Are we to turn our eyes away at the sight of little children be­ ing burned by napalm? “For three trans­ gressions of Moab, yea, for four, I will not reverse it: because he burned the bones of the King of Edom into lime.?

(Amos 2:1) Surely, wholesale burning of villages and rice paddies is hardly in ac­ cordance with American character! This would be so even if the enemy used napalm too, which he doesn’t.

While we admire the restraint that has kept American bombers from many ci­ vilian centers in North Vietnam, can we refrain from crying out when the unfor­ tunate Vietnamese are used as guinea pigs on whom to try out new and more fiendish inventions of warfare? And what are the policy reasons which move zeal­ ous State Department officials to reach into Canada to prevent Quakers from May-June 1967

sending medical supplies to war-torn Vietnam?

Is our memory so short, that we no longer recall the prewar era when Hit­ ler fed and grew on the fear of Com­ munism? Shall we close our eyes to the nefarious associations into which Amer­ ican arms are drawn when they are allied with the worst elements in Vietnam and a host of other countries? Even the Ad­ ministration’s most ardent spokesmen shrink from speaking well of Ky and his ilk!

Surely, the last paragraph of your edi­ torial must be read in a different light.

“Strategies will shift, tactics will change, alignments will alter. We Jews, like everyone else, will be buffeted by the moving currents. Let none of us again mistake our course. Of all people in the world, we can least afford to do so.”

Rabbi N. L. R abinovitch Brooklyn, N.Y. Last weekend I happened to come across your issue for Jan.-Feb. 1967. At the same time I was engaged in reading a biography of Senator J. William Fulbright. This turned out to be a strange coincidence because your editorial “The Right to Assent” struck me as not only conflicting in certain details with aspects pointed out by Rabbi Norman Lamm in the article following your edi­ torial and entitled “The Private Lives of Public Figures” but it also stood in glaring contrast to important events and principles discussed in the book I was reading.

On page 9 of your magazine Rabbi Lamm states in connection with medical experiments performed on the poor and mentally retarded: ;^iSuch deeds are outrageous, they scan­ dalize the most elementary sense of mo­ rality*!and no possible benefits which 69

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JEW ISH LIFE

tant factor—the lack of communication between those representing Halochah and the medical profession. If Rabbi Stolper feels I have overstated the case for the medical profession and under­ stated the anguish and alarm of religious Jewry, that is a personal, feeling that no words of mine will change. What, howH ever, I can rebut are misstatements of fact The statement that “Israeli hospitals and the medical profession accept post mortems as a routine matter” is untrue.

That some post mortems may be unnec­ essary, that some physicians misconduct themselves, I have never denied, but that is a far cry from condemning the whole profession or making a blanket charge which has no basis in reality. The Albert Einstein Medical School performs more autopsies per patient than Hadassah Hos­ pital in Jerusalem, and this in spite of the fact that in the U.S. the law for­ bids them unless permission from family is obtained. In the'U.S.,' a hospital must perform at least 40% autopsies in order to qualify, without further inquiry, as a teaching hospital. The answer to the puz­ zle is simple. The law in the U.S. is a formality-|-very few people object or go so far as to sue the hospital.

In one thing I agree with Rabbi Stol­ M rs. Jenny B rooks per—the “political Labelling.” Political capital to be made out of this issue has definitely aggravated the situation, not the least of which is the campaign in the AUTO PSIES U.S. One thing is certain—we cannot In reply to Rabbi Stolper’s letter condone the “Shabboth goy” mentality in (Nov.-Dee. 1966) attacking my article on Israel. If a religious Jew wishes to benefit Post Mortems (Sept.-Oct. 1966), I want from the achievements of modern med­ icine, including those obtained by post to state: All the facts are clearly set out in my mortems, he cannot expect to claim the article—the abuses committed by some privilege of immunity from such post members of the medical profession, the mortems, if pikuach nefesh is involved. deep feelings aroused on either side, the At present, permits are given by Rab­ Halachic and present legal position in binic authorities in this country surrepti­ Israel and—to my mind the most impor- tiously for the conducting of post mor-

may accrue to society from such experi­ ments are sufficient to permit us to risk the life or limb of a single individual.”

Your editorial, on the other hand, praises—one might say uncritically—the U.S. involvement in the Viet Nam con­ flict and appears to pay no thought to the lives of the poor or to the rights of the individuals, be they American or Vietnamese.

As for the matter of the war itself, it appears to me that your editorial gross­ ly oversimplifies a highly complex issue by reducing it to questions of doves and hawks, of Communism as an abstrac­ tion, of a quasi-messianic drive by the U.S. as the “good guys” and her oppo­ nents as the representatives of evil. Such simplistic thinking on an issue which not only has a long historical and political background of great complexity, which concerns the lives and fates of a vast number of suffering and struggling peo­ ple and which ultimately might even de­ cide the very future of this globe, seems to me highly dangerous, as it might well induce many of your readers to accept these statements unquestioningly instead of trying to come to a realistic and de­ tailed view of the situation by investi­ gation and study.

May-June 1967

71

terns not in religious hospitals (which do not conduct them) in order to benefit patients in those hospitals. In other words, hospitals like Hadassah act as the “Shabboth goyim” of religious hospitals such as Shaarey Zedek.

The problem is to restore confidence between the physicians and the rabbis and neutralize the extremists in both camps—a situation which will not be achieved by arousing passions.

A ryeh N e w m a n

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H e in z C h ili S a u c e ! ; T a n g ya n d rich!

A nother (y) Variety.

S ix K o s h e r H e in z S o u p s —Five ar& M ilchigATorhato) T om ato w ith Rice, C ream o f M ushroom, C ream o f Celery, C ream o f Pea— O ne pareve soup^-Vegetaridn Vegetable.