Jewish Life Feb-March 1969

A N N U A L N A T IO N A L D IN N E R of the

U N IO N OF O RTH O D O X JE W ISH CO N G REG ATIO N S OF A M E R IC A

to be held

SUNDA Y EVEN IN G , MA Y 18, 1969 - S I VAN 1, 5729

at the

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Please Reserve the D ate EMANUEL NEUSTADTER, Chairman For reservations and information, phone or write: N a t io n a l D i n n e r

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a m

Issues of searing social concern demand appraisal drawing upon direct experience as well as outward perspective. This applies not least of all to a problem of primary concern today, the seeming lack of direction

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among the rising generation. Affecting all society, the problem has

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distinctive impact on Jewish life. Two specific areas of attention, the teenager and the campus, herein come under sharp analysis by minds

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experienced from participation in the worlds of which they speak: RABBI PINCHAS STOLPER, National Director for the past ten years

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of the National Conference of Synagogue Youth, youth arm of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, reflects upon emerging patterns, still unsurfaced except to the practiced eye, inherent

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in segm ents of the teenage population; and MENACHEM B. GREENBERG, full-time student at the Telshe Yeshivah in Widdiffe,

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Ohio, and graduate of Brooklyn College, where he was active in

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Yavneh, the National Religious Jewish Students Association, brings his lens up close in a scrutiny of the college scene*descriptions so obvious they usually remain unnoticed . . . Always distinguished by perceptive insight on the key developments of our time, RABBI DR. NORMAN LAMM, Rav of The Jewish Center in New York and Erna Michael

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professor of philosophy at Yeshiva University, explores in this issue the spiritual implications of the crowning achievement of modern tech­ nology. . . .RABBI DR. AARON ROTHKOFF, Rosh Yeshivah at Yeshivah University and author of a soon-to-be-published biography of Rabbi Dr. Bernard Revel, contributes here another in a series of por­ trayals of Torah luminaries of a generation p a s t. . . JEWISH LIFE is happy to present a second installment of poems by BORUCH YITZCHOK HYMAN, teacher of general studies in the Belzer Yeshivah

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in Brooklyn, New York.

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JEWISH L IF E

V ol.XX XV I, No. 3 / February-March 1969 / Adar-Nisan 5729

THE ED ITO R'S VIEW BIRTHDAY PRESENT FOR SOVIET JEWRY............................................6 ANTI-SHECHITAH: A LESSON FROM ABROAD....................... 7 S aul B ernstein , Editor

A R T IC LE S P aul H . B aris L ibby K laperman D r . M arvin Schick R abbi S olomon J. Sharfman

Editorial Associates E lkanah S chwartz

Assistant Editor JEWISH LIFE is published bi-monthly. Subscription two years $5.00, three years $6.50, four years $8.00. Foreign: Add 40 cents per year.

Editorial and Publication Office: 84 Fifth Avenue New York 10011, N. Y. (212) ALgonquin 5-4100 Published by U nio n of Orthodox Jewish C ongregations of A merica J oseph K arasick

President H arold M. Jacobs

Chairman of the Board Benjamin Koenigsberg, Nathan K. Gross, David Politi, Dr. Bernard Lander, Harold H. Boxer, Lawrence A. Kobrin, Vice Presidents; Morris L. Green, Treasurer; Emanuel Neustadter, Secretary; Julius Berman, Financial Secretary.

Dr. Samson R. Weiss Executive Vice President

YOUTH’S POSITIVE REVOLT / Pinchas Stolper.............................................. 10 COLLEGE AND THE ORTHODOX STUDENT / Menachem B. Greenberg......... ..... .22 THE LUNAR PERSPECTIVE / Norman Lamm..................................

RABBI MOSHEH MORDECHAI EPSTEIN / Aaron R othkoff.......... ......................

43 .47

PO ETR Y MEDITATIONS / Boruch Yitzchok Hyman.......38

BOOK REVIEW S ANTHOLOGY OF SOVIET ANTISEMITISM / Shmuel Littm an............................................61 DIARY OF THE SIX DAYS / Philip Zimmerman.............................

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POINTS OF ORDER / David Kranzler................ 65

DEPARTM ENTS CASES FROM THE RESPONSA LITERATURE / David S. Shapiro.............. ....54 FROM HERE AND THERE..................................56 AMONG OUR CONTRIBUTORS...........................4

Saul Bernstein, Administrator

Cover and drawings by David Adler Second Class Postage paid at New York, N. Y.

FEBRUARY-M ARCH 1969

© Copyright 1969 by UNION OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA

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fhe EDITOR'S VIEW Birthday Present For Soviet Jewry A PPARENTLY as a sop to public opinion, the Soviet authorif \ ties have chosen to mark the 75th birthday of Moscow’s Chief Rabbi Levin with a widely advertised public celebration. No one, of course, is expected to assume thereby that Soviet leader­ ship rejoices in the survival of a rabbi to an advanced age after a half-century of Communist rigor. The question then arises: Is the move a device to cloak a continuing policy of extermination of Jewish life, or is it meant to signal an abatement of that policy?

Future events alone can provide the answer. In the meanwhile, the world cannot fail to welcome the seeming displacement of the era of the show trial by the era of the show birthday. All the more so since the need of Russia’s rulers to resort to this new expedient points to the impact of public opinion, and hence to better possibilities of relieving Soviet Jewry’s terrible plight.

Through the long decades since the Bolshevik Revolution, Soviet policy with regard to the Jewish populace has varied only in the degree and manner of its de-Judaizing course. There is no reason to believe that now, with Russian Jewish life in direst straits, those in control of Soviet affairs have seen a new light.

Slowing More realistic is the surmise that some in Kremlin circles call for a the tactical modification of anti-Jewish policy. It has proven imPace? possible to conceal the actuality of this policy and the effects of constantly mounting condemnation are undoubtedly much felt.

As against those who favor tactical change, however, there appear to be others in key positions who press for the Communist equiv­ alent of the “final solution.” The resultant pulling and hauling is indicated in the making of minor concessions which are thereafter voided and by such maladroit turns as the refusal to grant visas to rabbis of various countries who had previously been tendered official invitations to attend the celebration of Rabbi Levin’s birthday.

S the fate of the Soviet Union’s three million Jews then to be determined within the bounds of a contest between those seeking the swiftest extinction of Jewish life and those who prefer a more devious path?

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Message of Endurance

Here too events will provide the answer, but in this case the question will not be resolved by the masters of Communist Russia alone. World conscience is a force which, for all its past failures, is still to be reckoned with. A crime monstrous in character and monstrous in proportion is being committed; unceasingly, unre­ mittingly, every ounce of Jewish effort must continue to be ex­ erted, night and day, to awaken and keep awakened the one human force that can bring a stop to this crim ell the force of aroused public conscience.

In the course of his troubled life, Chief Rabbi Levin has seen the remorseless destruction of a great Jewish community, once abounding in spiritual riches. He has shared, through a half century of darkness, the subjection of three million Jews to silent terror. And from amidst the blackness, he has seen the will to Jewish life spring forth even from those reared in ignorance of the Jewish word. In his having endured through nightmare years, one of but half a handful bearing the proud title of Rav where once Torah scholars and sages numbered in the thousands, surely there is to be seen a message of Netzach Yisroel.

Anti-Shechitah: A Lesson From Abroad HE recent introduction in the British Parliament of another bill - subsequently defeated - to ban Shechitah may have served a purpose not sought by its sponsors. Hopefully, those in this country who have taken in good faith the claims of “humane slaughter forces will now be jarred into realizing the facts of the situation. The British anit-Shechitah proponents are simply a step or two ahead of their American counterparts. Unlike the latter, they have moved beyond the stage of dissembling their real objec­ tive.

The key clue to the unfolding pattern is the issue raised over pre-Shechitah hoisting and shackling. In England some years 3go as in America today, those parading under the humane slaughter banner found difficulty in combatting overwhelming scientific evidence that Shechitah is most humane. They therefore turned to attack on the existing method of positioning animals for kosher slaughter. Their purpose, they then declared, was not to impede the right to observe a sacred religious law but to protect it by eliminating the “cruel” procedure of preparatory hoisting and shackling. The spuriousness of the charge laid against hoisting and shackling was evident then as now to the informed but seeds of doubt were planted in the public mind. Britain’s

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Before and A ter the Weinberg Pen

FEBRUARY-M ARCH 1969

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Jewish community therefore undertook the development of a positioning device which would dispose of all objections and thus presumbly lay the issue to jest. The new facility, called the Wein­ berg pen, met every test. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which had fallen and has since remained under humane-slaughterite control, was obliged to agree that the pen was unexceptionably humane. The Weinberg pen has since been in universal use for kosher slaughter in British abattoirs, eliminating all hoisting and shackling. But this notwithstanding, the British humane-slaughterites, far from desisting from further moves against Shechitah, proceeded to the most virulent agitation towards its abolition. Year by year, the attack has become more brazenly replete with falsehood and distortion, more open and vicious an instrument of Jew-hate.

T IS hardly necessary to point to the lesson this experience offers to the American Jewish community. Here, the humane-slaughterites have not succeeded in moving beyond the initial stages. Their attempts to have restrictions on Shechitah incorporated into the Federal Humane Slaughter Act were frus­ trated, thanks largely to the efforts of the Orthodox Union, and they have met with small success on the state legislation level.

Familiar Their strategy follows the precedent of oblique attack —ostensPloy ibly recognizing the humaneness of the act of Shechitah while centering agitation on hoisting and shackling. As in Britain, the desire to foreclose the maligning of the positioning procedure resulted in the development of an unimpeachable restraining pen.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals itself assumed the sponsorship of the new holding pen, apparently hoping to head off the multiplicity of new-born humane slaughter groups which have been crowding out legitimate animal welfare endeavor. Thereupon various American Jewish organizations per­ mitted themselves to be jockeyed into withdrawing opposition to proposed legislation which recognized the humaneness of the act of Shechitah while making its practice subject to the elimination of hoisting and shackling. Beset, under pressure of the humaneslaughter campaign, with fear that the country would be aflame «with charges of “Jewish cruelty,” they yielded to the delusion that passage by state legislatures of “worst possible” bills was sure unless “best possible” bills were supported.

Fortunately, other American Jewish organizations did not fall into the trap, nor have most legislators or the American pub he as a whole fallen victim to the agitation. The humaneslaughterite onslaught, after the initial breakthroughs, has been

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Illusions held at bay. That there is nothing “inevitable” about the passage Exploded of “humane slaughter” legislation has been well demonstrated.

With the British development leaving no further room for illusion, what must now be demonstrated is the readiness of all agencies of the American Jewish community to act in accordance with the realities.

While several abattoirs have installed the ASPCA pen, th& rest have been loathe to do so. Apparently these recognize the pressure against hoisting and shackling as simply a step towards further restriction of Shechitah and accordingly feel that the ex­ pense of installing the new pen and revising their mode of opera­ tions may be wasted.

FEELING has emerged that the policy of some nonorthodox Jewish organizations in yielding to the pressure has had an undercurrent of indifference, or worse, to Shechitah and all it implies in terms of Jewish belief and practice. It is hard to reconcile an all-too-eager adoption of the doctrine of “the inevitability of some kind of humane slaughter legislation” with the inexperienced sophistication of these agencies in dealing with political affairs affecting religious or civil rights. They could Why the surely not fail to perceive that the “humane slaughter” program is Ready shot through with sham from beginning to end, self-exposed as it Compliance? is by the advocacy, as^fhumane,” of methods such as stunning and shooting by captive-bullet that are among the most cruel that misdirected human ingenuity could devise.

It is difficult indeed to believe that the organizations in question could fail to see the anti-Jewish drive in the “humane slaughter” phenomenon. Was it then the case, as some surmise, that —whether because of ideological predisposition or in the hope of sating the attacker’s rabid urge —they were ready to throw Shechitah to the wolves?

Whether or n6t such be the case, there can be no further excuse now for temporizing with the humane-slaughterite. The only kind of humane slaughter legislation which could have valid claim to humanitarian purpose would be one that would permit only Shechitah and such, if any, other methods of animal slaughter as can be proven to be as humane as Shechitah. Any­ thing other than this is to be recognized for what it is —a decep­ tion of the public serving only the ends of religious bigotry, a weapon aimed against the Jewish community and religious free­ dom. The bogus “humane slaughter” agitation must be dealt with accordingly.

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YOUTH'S POSITIVE REVOLT

By PINCHAS STO LPER

ANY students of society feel that in today’s America com­ munications between youth and adults have become tenuous —and for some have broken down completely. View­ ing the impact of this problem on American Jewish life, let us bear in mind that a key to Jewish strength through the ages has been the ability to bridge the generation gap. When at given times the gap seemed to widen, it was bridged by entrusting to youth themselves the task of communicating values and traditions.

According to Daniel Sisson, a college student writing in “The Civil­ ization of the Dialogue,” a publication of the Center for the Study of Dem­ ocratic Institutions (December, 1968):

vital dialogue as the conventional bar­ riers drop away. Into a culture long characterized by suspicion and alien­ ation, youth, with its emphasis on love and “flower power” is injecting a disarming freshness. When people trust in one another, or even pretend to love one another, they will at the least communicate, and at best they will teach each other. Force inhibits the dialogue and makes constructive conversation impossible; love and re­ spect promote it.

If the alienation of youth from the society of their elders is in the very air of contemporary American civiliza­ tion, American Jewish life is surely ex­ posed to this danger. We who depend upon the transmission of learning, Many young people have simply values, and laws through a chain of tra­ turned the adults off. With their peers, dition for our very existence as Jews on the other hand, they are more must discover ways of circumventing open, more trusting, more able to con­ the society of elders who have de­ verse uninhibitedly together. The re­ spaired of their ability to be transmit­ jection of the gray-flannel suit may ters of tradition, or who have aband­ herald the beginning of a new and oned the very tradition they would

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JEWISH L IF E

hope to transmit, for many if only to B’nei Akiva, too has made an invalu­ keep their offspring physically within able contribution in protecting its the fold.

Torah V’avodah ideology on the re­ The task of this generation, cons ligious youth scene. Others also, such fronted with the general break in nor­ as the youth movements of Mizrachi« mal dialogue across the generation gap, Agudath Israel, and Poale Agudath is to give the lion’s share of the task to Israel, have offered meaningful appeal youth themselves. By creating a cadre within the terms of particular ideology of dedicated, committed, articulate to young people from religious fam­ y o u th that can communicate the ilies. These meritorious efforts, though values and concepts of the Torah to at one time addressed also in some their peers by using the many methods measure to the masses of non-commitof communication that put them “in ted youth, are today concerned almost touch,” we can avoid the pitfalls of exclusively with the established ortho­ th e non-communicating generation dox Jewish community. Now that and avert the total breakdown that American Orthodoxy has largely con­ might lead, cholilah, to oblivion. solidated itself behind the protective That great numbers of American walls of its own institutions and neigh­ Jews have fallen away from the Torah borhoods, our attention is focused on way of life was due in large measure to those masses whose fate,SJewishly, the inability of the hard-pressed im­ hangs on balance. We must ask our­ migrant generations to transmit the selves if they are permanently lost or if Jewish heritage in a way that would an effective approach to restoring their make its values meaningful to their loyalty to the Torah life stands a American-reared progeny. The one chance. Unfortunately most of us have generation just didn’t know how to resigned ourselves to accepting what is communicate with the other. Many iii called the inevitable. fact gave up before trying.

The National Conference of Synagogue Youth - popularly known HE American Jewish community by its acronym NCSY - the youth has witnessed a number of ap­ arm of the Union of Orthodox Jewish proaches to the challenge of bridging Congregations of America, has during the gap between the immigrant genera­ the past decade waged a relentless tion and their native American child­ struggle to prove that the thesis of de­ ren. In the area of education the Day spair is unfounded. NCSY is largely S chool movement, which extends noted for the hundreds of young through the high school and beyond, is people who have been inspired to the crowning achievement of Ortho­ enter yeshivoth and live the Torah life. doxy. As soon as we depart from the It is known too for its widespread or­ arena of formal education the picture g a n iz a tio n a l structure and manyis less clear. The Young Israel move­ faceted program of activities all of ment must be credited with a pivotal which are true to the Halochah. In my role in creating wholesome synagogues own partial view, its major achieve­ where native youth have felt at home. ment has been to prove that “it can be

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FEBRUARY-M ARCH 1969

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officer — have not only become Sab­ done.”

In numbers NCSY speaks of 400 bath observant but have also con­ chapters, 15,000 members, 70 regional tinued (or begun!) their Jewish educa­ events each year with over 10,000 tion.

Of the past eight presidents of youth participating. What does this sig­ nify? Other organizations are bigger, in the Region, seven come from nonsome technical ways possibly better. Sabbath-observant homes —yet all But let us look beyond statistics, to eight (none of these are Hebrew day the core questions. Have we succeeded school products) S have gone on to in creating more than organizational yeshivoth or Stern College. Out of 45 noise? Have we developed channels of members who served on the regional com m unication acceptable to the board over the four year period be­ y o u n g er generation? As an inter­ tween 1963 and 1968, thirty-seven ested —a very interested party, my members —no less than 82% i*1“ own affirmative answer to the ques­ eluding all chapter presidents, con­ tion is naturally suspect. But let me tin u e d their Jewish education at cite some points that illustrate the pro­ schools of higher Torah studies. Dur­ ing the past five years, 75% of the blem and the answer.

A former NCSYer from Miami, regional officers came from nonthe most outstanding math mid in Telz, Sabbath-observing homes —but 87% recently married a regional officer are now Sabbath observant. And of from Ellenville. I attended the wed­ those from non-observant homes who ding, where I was introduced to his served on the board during 1965-1968, brother —a long-haired hippie from every single one, with but one excep­ outer space. How typical is this one tion, has continued his or her Jewish education on the college level. incident?

The exceptional percentage of Recently we conducted an indepth study of one of our regions, to NCSYers at Yeshiva University’s Stern determine if an orthodox Jewish of­ College —some 30% of the student fensive can accomplish anything signif­ body —and James Striar School of General Jewish Studies reflect a large icant.

The Upper New York State number of Upper New York NCSY R egion, ranging from Buffalo to members.

While not every NCSY Region Albany, takes in nearly every ortho­ dox synagogue in the area, fourteen can equal the Upper New York State chapters in all. While less than ten per­ record, the pattern applies throughout cent of that Region’s members (nearly the movement. There is hardly a major all from one city) come from relig­ yeshivah in the country that doesn’t iously observant homes, some sixty have its “ dorm room” of former NCSYers. percent of these members are now This is a “nachas” and a far cry Shomrey Shabboth. From 1961 to the present, several hundred members of indeed from alarming statistics of in­ this one Region — and every regional termarriage.

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Y what methods was this ac­ complished?

Unlike the secular world whose social and educational goals are to socialize youth in the expectation that they will adjust comfortably within t h e fram ew o rk of n o rm al so­ ciety 18 the aim here is to build within youth a resolve to reject that which is false in society and to identify with the Torah people through a commit­ ment to the Mitzvah life in practice and ideal. In this sense the approach promotes and is associated with the natural rebelliousness of youth. Since their surrounding society is not re­ ligious, a healthy manifestation of the maturing process is channelled in favor of religious ideals and goals. Educa­ tio n a lly , it functions as an allencompassing youth society that seeks to capture the total person intellec­ tually and emotionally, and to evoke the crucial decision to identify with Jewish life. The contra distinction to the atmosphere of formal schooling must be noted.

Even where the Jewish class­ room has met with success, it is too often severely limited because of the inevitable gap between school and life.

The school, with its formal structure, often does not mirror or pierce the d eep er p erso n ality and identityseeking struggle of the student. The demands and inducements of peers, home, gang, or the mass media often outrun the best efforts of even the better schools, so that students who may excel in subject matter are, un­ beknown to their instructors, failing in faith and commitment.

In contrasty emphasis on ex­ perience, identification, peers and en­ FEBRUARY-M ARCH 1969

vironment has worked not only with young people from secular or indiffer­ ent home and school backgrounds, but also with yeshivah students, many of whom have admitted that they first became “religious” in NCSY. Far too many yeshivah students have achieved no ideological sophistication, they know but don’t understand, they have information but are weak on convic­ tion.

Any adolescent who has not re­ fined his religious convictions in the crucible of the scoffers of teenage society is destined for a rude awaken­ ing in college where professional and amateur cynics abound. Intellectual probing is one of the few weapons that are of value to a youth society that disdains arbitrary and unreasoned dog­ matism. It is for this reason that many “yeshivah dropouts” have found them­ selves Jewishly in NCSY, where think­ ing and questioning are encouraged in­ stead of being avoided.

A teenager recently wrote: I have been an average student throughout all my school years. Three reasons stand out for this “average”. l)average “brain power,” 2)no urge to accomplish,^and therefore a lack­ adaisical attitude towards work, 3)no sense of being, of belonging. As of the last day of the convention I have re­ solved myself that I will work, and work hard. I have been struck by an indescribable feeling. A feeling that shouts, “you have wasted your life for eighteen years, now get moving;” T must be recognized, however, that informal education, youth, and social group work, when best em­ ployed, are techniques for adapting

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the classic Jewish educational con­ cep ts, the “ Rebbe-Talmid,” Beth M edrash re la tio n s h ip , and th e Rebbe-Chosid,” Chassidic relation­ ship. These associations have always been the foundation of any successful Jewish educational enterprise.

Traditional Jews never speak of “student and teacher.” These terms imply a relationship circumscribed by curriculum and book learning in the fo rm al classroom of the secular society, which has no purposes of its own, other than to “insure domestic tranquility by suitable medication.”

The apparent function of much of the secular educational enterprise is to “keep young minds and hearts in custody till they are without passion.”

The R ebbe-Talm id, mentordisciple principle, on the other hand, views the “rebbe” in loco-parentis, charged not simply with imparting in­ formation to his pupil, but with ed­ ucating him in the full sense®- mold­ ing his character and his mind. He is not restricted to texts; all the world is his text. He is a living example, he teaches through deed, conduct, and at­ titude. He sets a tone; his actions are determinors of values. He represents the ^“do as I do, live as I live phil­ osophy.” He is a text person,not a text book.

Too many young pupils of Jew­ ish schools have never observed their teacher under daily living conditions outside of the formal classroom. Too frequently they fail to relate to him as a human being, as a Jew. A second educational principle is that of experience and environment.

Lacking a Jewish environment at home or in the street, parents send their 14

children to a Jewish school. All too often this is a weekday experience, in contrast to thè historical pattern of Jew ish life and Jewish schooling, which were ever “vacationless.” Both the environment and school related to the student during every day of the year. If education fails to reflect life, its joys and sorrows, ups and downs, of what value is it? Chumosh and Siddur have minimal force in the life of the young person who never shed a tear on Tisha Be’av or was freilich on Purim.

A third and possibly overriding principle is the fellowship of one’s peers. Many of life’s strongest impres­ sions are formulated in the presence of young friends —especially in a society which communicates on the level of age strata. To the young the real world is apt to consist only of the young.

One dynamic, articulate, and popular adolescent can influence more young people that a roomful of rabbis. In the context of American Jewish society this can happen only if the rabbis are prepared to swallow their pride and support the existence of a Torah youth sub-society with a spirit and di­ rection of its own. But there is no longer any question that were ex­ tensive means and efforts invested in th is proposition, the face of the American Jewish community could be changed. To a youth in search of ideals, goals, commitment and iden­ tity, there can be brought the most meaningfully dynamic and satisfying way of life. And the tens of thousands of American Jewish youths who are at odds with their parents, who challenge the hypocrisy and injustice of society, who leave home, or who assimilate in JEWISH L IF E

the nihilistic and hedonistic atmos­ phere of our campuses, might find a cause which for once would lead to fulfillment.

HY can even a single experience fo rged o u t o f such under­ standing of youth’s search evoke so p o w e rfu l a response from young people? Why does one weekend in such a setting often accomplish more than years of formal Jewish educa­ tion?

Adolescents —especially Jewish adolescents —tend to be passionate and uncompromising, they are pos­ sessed of a penetrating intuition and an ability to perceive hypocrisy and falsehood. They are quick to sense what is sham and they recognize the genuine article. They are searchers after truth, and are capable of pursu­ ing truths with their newly discovered sense of Idealism and devotion. Teen­ agers are often intensely mystical.

They are willing to emulate a good adult model, but primarily look to their outstanding peers for leadership.

Above all, their growing maturity and independence makes them respecters and p u rsu e rs of competence, of ability, of work, and of responsibility.

The teenager is not yet set in his ways.

He can be molded, influenced, in­ spired, taught and directed.

Our premise here is that the Jew­ ish teenager is hungry for Torah, un­ aware of this though h e a n d his elderspj- may be. But will young people actually accept a program of maximum commitment to Jewish be­ lief and observance?

The answer, as indicated by the distinctive experience I am appraising, FEBRUARY-M ARCH 1969

is: yesm- if the program is presented within the context of their own teen­ age world. YesH if programming is keyed to the highest, not the lowest, denominator, refusing to treat youth like children, respecting their matur­ ity, their questioning and inquiring minds. Thousands of boys and girls have proved through their intense re­ sponse that this was precisely what they were looking for, that this was what they really wanted —a program for Jewish living, an environment of Torah, a path to the eternal life mean­ ings which their parents in so many cases had forgotten or perhaps had never known.

HE past few years have validated th e thesis that youth work steeped in educational content and re­ ligious purpose, rather than vacuous diversion, will win youth commitment.

The year-round Mitzvah and Torah study programs which are so central a part of the NCSY concept, together with the much-remarked appeal of the movement’s many local, regional, and national get-togethers, have won a re­ sponse which warrants much reflec­ tion. The demanding, uncompromis­ ingly Jewish character of this program has not gone unchallenged —but by their elders rather than by the partici­ pants themselves. For them, the event found in this channel is a real life event, the setting is warm, friendly, in­ vigorating. The faculty, whether rab­ binic or lay, live with the young people, eat, sing, pray, and dance with them. They let their hair down, open their collars, unstuff their shirts, and relate as real people. The Shabboth is lived, not taught. Hundreds of teen-

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agers have responded to a moving ex­ perience with, “I never knew Shabbos could be like this.”

In the eyes of the young, too many synagogues are places where youth feels estranged and excluded.

Even where efforts are made to wel­ come them, the pace and outlook is that of mature, slow-moving, settled adults. But here they find the dy­ namic, fast-moving joy of youthful­ ness. Here exciting themes, bursting with Jewish values, interpenetrate the pattern of daily life. Here, in this com­ ing together in a world of their own, is fo u n d th a t inexpressible “ruach” which bespeaks an inner universe dis­ covered.

The entire experience promotes a sense of belonging and identification.

The participant is involved on every level —rarely is he a spectator. Shiurim and discussion, “What it’s all about” and “What to do —and how” sessions, soul-stirring niggunim and exh ilira tin g ¿‘C h assid ic” dancing, thoughtful tales and contemplation and introspection to bring a sense of self discovery, awakening —and the “Jewish decision.” Seudah Shelishith and Havdollah are dramatized for their mystical, messianic character —these are emotional highpoints that leave an indelible impression.

The result is a pride in Jewish­ ness. “All the things I learned about, now I do, and in the presence of my friends.” Shabboth, Tzniuth, Tefillin cease to be strange, for they have be­ come one’s very self. “Now I have a place in Je.wish life, am identified through a fellowship of youth commit­ ted to Torah living and purpose. I am no longer isolated,. I belong - and 16

there are others from all over who be­ long too.” * At the variety of events which puncture the NCSY calendar, the faculty is rarely concerned with formal instruction. The emphasis is on in­ formal discussion groups, on searching, probing questions and answers. No questions are ever barred. Very often the answer is in itself less important than the realization that answers do exist. At our “Ask the Rabbi” ses­ sions, participants are encouraged to ask any question in writing without signing their names. Generally we shun sermonizing and preaching, the em­ phasis is on environment and free, open discussion — discussion that brings understanding and knowledge, not guilt.

The younger advisors, older than the participants by but a few years, co n cern them selves with asking questions, creating friendships, show­ ing that they care. They listen to prob­ lems whether in the group or in­ dividual setting. Faculty and advisors are always accessible and available.

EST it be supposed that the undertaking has been of no more than test-tube scope, it should be noted that in the past year, over seventy events of two-to-fourteen days duration each were conducted for a total of 10,000 young people. Each single participant joined in Shacharith, Minchah, and Maariv services; fer­ vently recited the grace after meals; if a boy, donned Tefillin; attended study sessions; “ washed” before meals; scrupulously observed the Sabbath; and participated in exhuberant, soulpiercing, ruachdik social events —all JEWISH L IF E

marked by the absence of social danc­ ing, beach parties, or the type of public social intimacy that American teenagers often take for granted. The aim is for the whole person; the appeal is to mind and soul, to intellect and emotion alike.

Over the years strenuous objec­ tions have been repeatedly expressed to the advisability or feasability of NCSY’s strictly enforced ban on social dancing at regional or national events.

Stormy meetings of adult leaders have considered the entire question of con­ tinued affiliation with NCSY because of it. In a few instances, the adults, unable to decide, left the question to the kids, who invariably —and to the utter amazement of many —voted in favor of the policies of National NCSY. This may reflect youth’s in­ stinctive feeling that social dancing, with its sensuous overtones, is out of place in a Jewish religious setting, for few of them have much insight info the Halachic rationales for this posi­ tion. Often it is a matter of loyalty, consistency, or honesty. Dances are “a dime a dozen,” NCSY events are gems to be savored in unblemished form.

This policy, like others, is now accepted and observed as a matter of course in every one of NCSY’s regional events. Ten years ago it was regarded as the Achilles heel that would pre­ clude the possible success of an ortho­ dox Jewish youth movement outside of the big cities of the east.

A m id s t th e A m erican at­ mosphere of ideological benzadrine drabness, then >there can be generated Jewish passion and conviction. The re­ sults of such a program, year by year through the past twelve years of in­ FEBRUARY-M ARCH 1969

creasingly intensive development, speak for themselves. * IOT too long ago the orthodox /V i synagogue in America was thought of as an Old World institution transplanted on new soil. Few, if any, of the transplants were expected to take. Indeed, a good many as recently as twenty-five years ago still regarded O rth o d o x y as a European phe­ nomenon which would die as the older immigrant generation passed away.

They dismissed the orthodox syn­ agogue as the refuge of the aged, “ Old Country” in atmosphere and outlook.

Most devastating of all, Orthodoxy appeared to have little faith in its own power to lead its youth. Hence to many it seemed that Orthodoxy spoke to but one generation, the aged. Too few saw that this was a spurious gen­ eralization.

And when the “ conservers” and “reformers” set their sights on captur­ ing the Jewish loyalties of the younger generation, the massive, technically ad­ vanced, and well-financed apparatus of youth activity they brought to bear seemed sure to sweep the field. Their temples catered to young people and became the centers for vouth activities in the community. Yet today, after the passage of some decades of such endeavor, Conservatism and Reform n e ith e r have th e allegiance of Am erican Jewish youth nor have themselves the color of youth. Already aged, their appeal has tarnished. To­ day’s movement of youth in the Jew­ ish community is Orthodoxy, and to­ morrow this movement will surely take on mass force. By and large, wherever youth is to be found in the 17

synagogue it is in the orthodox syn­ Some day it may be possible to agogue. Often this youth find its own fully document this dramatic story. It way, unaided by parents or teachers. would be replete with examples of In a large measure, this return of lives revolutionized, and of communi­ youth to the synagogue is being ac­ ties brought to new life. Well may one complished through the comparatively ponder on what will be the next chap­ recen t Orthodox Union’s National ters in the stories of those nonConference of Synagogue Youth. In its Mechitzah synagogues whose NCSY unique ability to sink “grass roots” in chapters sponsor regular Minyonim America’s great backyard, NCSY has with Mechitzah. The picture we see is demonstrated that American youth is th a t of V en a ’ar K o to n Nohaig Bo Ij “A lad will lead the elders,” In in search of Torah. the main sanctuary sit a few elderly HE most valuable facet of the persons, trying their level best to be undertaking is the forging of an real Americans, while in the Beth Medapproach and process which have rosh met “annex” sit their children struggl­ the test of experience and may very ing against all odds to become Jews. well hold the key to the future of the There are thousands of these young Jewishness of many communities. people for whom Shabboth, Kashruth, The experience gained through and Limud Hatorah have become the the past ten years substantiates the beacon of a new life. They have be­ th esis th a t w hen working with come a movement of Baaley Teshuvah American Jewish youth, particularly with a contagious electric quality. with those from non-observant back­ Young people , we have found, are grounds, not only is the strict adher­ prepared to respond when the call is ence to Halochah in Torah and Mitz- uncompromisingly clear. voth-focussed programs their raison d’etre; but in a very pragmatic, prac­ HE stranger than fiction fact is tical, and unsentimental sense the ad­ that more and more of today’s herence to the classical Halochah is the youth are prepared to accept the underlying factor in their success. moral and religious postulates their Youth instinctively will choose elders and society have rejected. They integrity and honesty above bogus sub­ seek to become what their elders have stitutes. Every teacher or youth work­ often ceased to be. They seek clarity er will attest to the fact that youth where their elders are satisfied with possesses a supersensitive geiger b lu rre d fuzzings. S atiated with counter, a veritable sixth sense which material plenty, youth has found no detects compromise or dishonesty and inner life or purposeful significance in rings an automatic warning signal. prosperity. The upheaval among the Furtherm ore, these high standards youth of the universities is an expres­ tend to rally a youth strong in charac­ sion of disgust with a society that has ter, high in leadership ability, and sens­ made “business as usual” —no matter itive to values. Our unique different­ what the social or ethical implica­ ness as Jewish Jews provides healthy tion —its standard. In their search for outlets for youth’s natural rebellious­ certitude and values, young people in­ ness. stinctively sense the ageless vitality of

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a tradition that has stood the test of they were afraid to give their youth time and years to unlock its treasure- precisely that which deep down they house of recipes for the kind of life yearn for most.

Some of the young people who they crave to live. Their self-discovery, joined in vista with the vitality and volunteer their time to staff these self-sacrifice of the people of Medinath events tell us that it takes them half Israel, gives daily proof that Judaism is the week to unwind but the results are its eternally iconaclastic, catalystic, there to be seen. An old Yiddish ex­ pression has that “Fieish oif a fire muz and cataclysmic self once again. veich veren.”

Who is it who questions these standards? Who has raised objections T IS no longer news that among to this heavy diet of Jewish content, claiming that we are too demanding, committed Jews, children are that youth will rebel or be repelled? o fte n m ore observant —more in­ Invariably when such resistance arises tensely Jewish, observing the law with it comes, as mentioned earlier, from greater fervor and vigor than their adults, rarely if ever from youth. elders. Many of us have experienced in When a community new to NCSY first our own lives the American phenom­ hosts a regional event such objections enon that (by and large) our children are invariably heard, accompanied by tend to be more “from” than we are. the refrain that “our community is dif­ This rule, I contend, could and does ferent from others, wait till you meet apply to the as yet unreached masses our young people,” If it is an “out-of- of American Jewish youth who are in to w n ” community, there follows: the suggestable years. Much more than “You people from New York don’t recreational games and fun, they seek really know what out-of-town is like.” a behavioral framework, an answer to If it is a big-city community, the cor­ the question of being Jewish, a form­ responding charge is that “You people ula for growing into Jewish adulthood used to dealing with the ‘province’ just in a society which has no ideological don’t know the score in the city.” But goals but is busy breaking down the they are soon awakened to the realiza­ “old moralities.” tion that after countless missions to I emphatically disagree with Dr. communities near and far, large and Benjamin Kahn, national B’nai B’rith small in ten years and a history of Hillel director, who, speaking of Jew­ some six hundred major youth events, ish youth, stated: a know-how —and know-what — has Young people today find it extremely emerged which offers an insight on difficult if not impossible to accept and approach to their own youth that the validity of inherited mores and fractures complacent defeatism. Fol­ standards. Our society is not able to lowing the event, community, adults provide them with satisfactory and youth alike are left transfixed by a answers to questions of the adolescent new vision and, on the part of the for­ such as Who am I? Where am I going? mer, with a realization that all along

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He and those of his outlook ought surely to have learned by now that youth has little interest in a watered down, compromised, inert, impotent Judaism that is not Judaism at all. The irreligion of youth is but a reflection of the irreligion of their eld ers. In th e mood of today’s A m erica masses of Jewish youth would accept the authentic Jewish tradition if parents and teachers would have it to give. Too many adults give sermonic lip service to G-d and re­ ligion, but are fearful of teaching youth to be religious. They just refuse to “tell it like it is” and kids only hear it that way. The young generation is cold to organized religion when it is a reflection of the failures of the adult community, when it is a cold shell of outward form. Youth expects religion to be courageous and personally de­ manding, to have the stamina to reject compromise, to be sufficiently ideal­ istic not to be completely taken in by the pragmatism that has overtaken so much in our lives.

To say that American Jewish youth has rejected religion is absurd; the apikores of yesteryear was able to chooseB but most of our youth has never had enough Jewishness to enable them to make any choice at all.

living Jewish values or practice. While paying lip service to Torah, they all but ignore it. Their products learn a few Hebrew words, hear a few naive, childlike Bible stories, but know shockingly little about how to live as a Jew. They have never so much as heard of Rashi, Shulchon Oruch, or the Mishnah.

The classic example is that of a six teen -y e ar-o ld Philadelphia girl whom I overheard tell a fellow NCSYerP^ “I went to Talmud Torah and learned many things i l but they never taught me any religion. This I discovered and learned in NCSY. I never bentshed once, before I came to NCSY.” Not untypical is a letter I re­ ceived from another of our girls: “I don’t know whether I should continue to accept this concept fof Moshiach] in view of what I’m taught at Gratz College in Philadelphia. In reading the Jewish ideals and thoughts section of the NCSY Aims and Objectives, I found three basic concepts stated: a) Holiness, b) Revelation, c) Moshiach.

The third has lately become a doubt in my mind. Could you please tell me NCSY’s reason for this basic con­ cept?”

ITH the exception of the Day School movement and a few choice Talmud Torahs, the Jewish school is stale and sterile. Most have not yet emerged from their enslave­ ment to the anachronisms of the H askalah. Too many schools ac­ complish very little in transmitting

HE thoughts we have expressed, based on an intimate experience with tens of thousands of young p e o p l e , d raw also u p o n tw o stu d ies —including the ones cited earlier —of attitudes of teenagers to various aspects of their Jewishness.

While this article does not permit a de­ tailed analysis of these studies, it can

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be stated that the results make it clear that American Jewish youth want to know, they crave insights, knowledge and commitment. They probe, que­ stion —and demand answers. Most troublesome of all is their complaint that the great problems that concern them have never been tackled.

Over a third of the questions emerging from these studies concern ideology. The younger generation wants to know about Science and Re­ ligion, the Messiah, and life after death. They are concerned with the differences between Jew and non-Jew, between orthodox and non-orthodox.

They want assurance of the reality of a caring, personal G-d. Ten percent of the questions related to explanations of the laws of Shabboth, twelve per­ cent related to the synagogue and prayer. Over thirty percent relate to sex, boy-girl relations, and inter­ marriage. Many complain that little attempt at explaining the Jewish view on these issues has ever been made.

While nearly all say they believe in G-d, they are concerned with “who G-d is —and what He does.”

FEBRUARY-M ARCH 1969

O U TH is a re v o lu tio n a ry moment in life. Our Rabbis de­ scribe the agitation and unsettled per­ sonality of the adolescent as being like fireB at the boiling point.

The reconquest of the Kothel Hama’arovi and the Temple Mount, mark the inception of a revolutionary epoch in the life of the Torah people.

Like our youth, we are a people agitated, unsettled, and at the boiling point. Like youth, we are confronted with basic choices. Will we continue to act as the aged —to leave things as they are, to be satisfied with what we have done? Or w ill we be as youth —dynamic, creative, permeated with idealism and revolutionary fer­ vor?

If we chose right —and do more and more for those who need us m ost —Isaiah’s vision will become reality: Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale. For when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, they will sanc­ tify My name, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe o f the G-d of Israel

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COLLEGE AND ORTHODOX STUDENT

by MENACHEM B. G R EEN B ER G

HE question of American Jewish fication as Jews, is a seemingly insur­ college age youth is certainly mountable problem that points to one of the most-discussed topics in the mass spiritual annihilation, a disaster general Jewish community. Nearly no less serious than physical annihila­ every major problem faced by the tion. That the Conservative, Reform, community directly involves the col­ B’nai B’rith, and secularist Zionist lege-age generation, as for example movements have failed dismally in mounting rates of intermarriage; con­ their attempts to stem the erosive tide tinued domination by assimilatory continually washing away whole sec­ trends despite the concurrent growth tions of our people is a fact abundant­ of Orthodoxy; and anti-Jewish atti­ ly clear to all but the most selftudes resulting from increased Jewish deluding among their leaders. involvement in protest movements O ur Sages’ attitude toward which revive the old image of Jews as human efforts to improve the human revolutionaries and troublemakers. c o n d i t i o n is “ K ’s h o t a t z The bulk of our youth are grand­ m ’cha’tfr “ decorate” yourself before children and great-grandchildren of im­ you decorate others. The orthodox migrants, and their parents grew up in Jewish community, before it attempts a society which looked upon Torah, to use its unlimited spiritual but the Sabbath, and Kashruth as a yoke meager physical resources to solve the of the Old World, to be cast off in free problems of K’lal Yisroel, must be cer­ America along with physical and eco­ tain that its own house is clean. A bulb nomic persecution. The distance of so with an opaque glass radiates no light. many of these youths from Jewish be­ Only a fte r Orthodoxy itself has lief or practice and the gradual dis­ mastered the problem of the pressures appearance of any form of their identi­ that drive college students toward lax-

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ity in belief and observance, loss of Jewish values, and mental assimilation, can it hope to influence for the better the community at large.

Mustering our objectivity and freeing ourselves of self-righteous de­ fense mechanisms, let us then engage in som e introspective analysis of American college youth of orthodox Jewish background.

the evening, usually carrying smaller college programs than day-session stu­ dents.

We wish here to discuss how col­ lege attendance affects the orthodox Jewish youth, how he copes with the religious problems he encounters on campus, and how the orthodox Jewish community should react. The prob­ lem s affecting the aforementioned “beginners” are generally not directly HE subject is in itself unwieldy dependent on the college situation, al­ because of the many types of or­ though the campus might be a con­ thodox Jews in colleges. There are the venient contact point between the b a ’aley teshuvah —youngsters from b a ’al t es huvah and the traditional non—Orthodox homes, usually with community. Similarly, for the student insignificant or no formal Jewish ed­ who has gone through public high ucation, who through various channels school after having graduated elemen­ become attracted to Orthodoxy during tary Hebrew day school, the problems adolescence and who are “beginners” begin in high school, when he en­ on the uphill road towards a religious counters the secular world at a much life; there are the students of tra­ younger age, and with four years’ less ditional home background whose Jew­ Jewish education, than the graduate of ish education has been limited to the a yeshivah high school. Consequently, afternoon Hebrew school or Talmud each of these groups is outside the Torah; there are graduates of eight— realm of this discussion. Nor shall we year day schools who attended public deal with those attending the colleges high schools and remain religiously ob­ under orthodox Jewish auspices, since servant; and there are yeshivah high fheir situation, although by no means school graduates. Of the last group, free of the problems to be discussed, is some terminate their formal Jewish a unique one involving only a small studies with their graduation from minority of the nation’s collegiate high school; others enroll in a p a rt- y e s h i v a h h i g h s c h o o l g r a d ­ time program of Jewish studies; some u ates.

Remaining then as the attend the institutions combining col­ principle subjects of discussion are the lege with Torah learning —Yeshiva young men and women who after U n iv ersity , its Stern College for twelve years of religious and secular Women, and Hebrew Theological Col­ education in an orthodox Jewish en­ lege; others enroll in all—day yeshivah v iro n m en t e n ro ll in non-Jewish programs at such yeshivoth as Ner American colleges.

Israel, Torah Vodaath, and Rabbi Chaim Berlin or in teachers’ training ERE we come to the obvious programs at such schools as Beth distinction between the out-ofJacob Seminary, and attend college in town college student and the one who

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lives at home while attending a local institution. And in taking note of this differentiation, we must address our­ selves to one of the most widespread misconceptions in this entire area — that tangible danger to a yeshivah high school graduate’s religious adherence exists only when he or she attends ,an out-of-town college. Such belief is en­ couraged by the fact that the heart­ breaking stories usually involve boys or girls who leave home as Sabbath ob­ servers and return after long periods of absence with non-Jewish schoolmates whom they wish to marry. These radical changes seem sudden because of the relative lack of parent-child con­ tact during the college term and the lack of communication during vaca­ tion periods. Parents and home com­ munity, unaware of the changes taking place, retain their mental image of the fine veteran of twelve years of Torah study and religious associations, and are, of course, stunned when the change is revealed to them in such a shocking fashion.

If parents allow their son or daughter to attend an institution with­ out first making practical arrange­ ments for kosher meals and without first conducting a thorough investiga­ tion of the college community to de­ termine that it is conducive to Sabbath observance and association with other orthodox Jews, then they are woefully deficient in their parental duties and are little justified in their surprise when their David or Miriam comes home a mechalel-Shabboth; by such neglect they condemn their child to a non-orthodox life for the four crucial years which determine the course of the remainder of his life.

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But even if he is satisfied that Sabbath and Kashruth observance and friendships with others of like commit­ ment are possible on the out-of-town campus, *the parent who sends his child there places his youngster’s religious adherence in danger.

When a person jumps out of the first-floor window of an office build­ ing, he usually escapes unharmed. But, if he takes the leap after climbing to the twentieth floor, death is a near certainty.

A youngster who has graduated fr om a yeshivah high school has climbed to the twentieth floor. He lives in a vibrant religious home and community where Sabbath and Kash­ r u t h observance are matters of second-nature, taken for granted. His friends are usually his schoolmates.

Nurtured in a Torah environment, his soul has been uplifted by thè perform­ ance of Mitzvoth, as well as by the allimportant daily study of Torah.

What a contrast to this home en­ vironment is that which the religious Jewish student newly encounters in the out-of-town college. There he is usually faced with a struggle to ob­ serve th e Sabbath and Kashruth.

Kosher meals are difficult or incon­ venient to obtain; the student is forced to exclude himself from student dining halls and cafeterias, a test of moral strength much more difficult than it appears on the surface. He encounters difficulties with required classes, lab­ oratory sessions, field trips, convoca­ tions, and examinations which are held on Friday afternoon and evening and on Saturday. Even if his parents have previously determined that these probJEWISH L IF E

lems can be solved, rarely are they solved without considerable difficulty, red tape, and mental torture for the student. The presence of a Yavneh chapter on campus is a great asset, but even under optimal circumstances —a strong Yavneh chapter, a cooperative university administration, and a local o rth o d o x Jewish community —the student, after all is said and done, must continually make choices and un­ dergo hardships to cling to religious observance.

Some youngsters, it is true, grow religiously from the hardships and abundant examples can be found of in­ spiring conquest of the daily spiritual challenge. But for every success story there are two tragedies; most freshmen have neither the emotional nor re­ ligious maturity to withstand and over­ come the difficulties. The religious mortality rate from these twenty-floor leaps is awful. May the parent right­ fully take the chance by pushing his own child off the roof?

As long as one is not completely certain that his son will not drift away from wearing T’fillin and Tzitzith be­ cause of discomfort in the presence of non-orthodox or non-Jewish room­ mates or locker-room classmates; as long as one is not completely sure that his daughter will not be embarrassed in to accepting an invitation to a campus social event the program and activities of which are expressly pro­ hibited by Torah law; as long as one is not totally certain that his son will not capitulate and attend that laboratory session on Shabboth (this time he at­ tends just to sit in, without pen and notebook; but what happens the next time when he must light the Bunsen FEBRUARY-M ARCH 1969

burner or the professor asks him to write a problem on the blackboard?); as long as one is not altogether sure that his daughter will not surrender to persistent invitations to join her class­ mates in the cafeteria for a lettuceand-tomato sandwich and a cup of coffee 9 cut with a knife which has just cut a ham sandwich, served in t’refah dishes, and eaten without prior n't Hath yodoyim and b ’mchoth; as long as one is not convinced beyond all doubt that his teenager is equipped to resist four years of continual, re­ lentless pressures —and no parent can be so sure —how can he thrust him into this abyss of danger?

The attractions of the out-oftown college are strong and manifold, to be sure. But the parent must con­ sider whether " he will derive greater nachas from a son who earns a thous­ and dollars a year more because his en­ gineering degree is from a prestigious out-of-town university but who traded his Orthodoxy for an Ivy League sheepskin, or from a son who as a re­ sult of attending a local college is not such a smashing success in the worldly material aspects of Olam Hazeh but who married a religious girl, leads a Torah life, and eventually sends his own children to yeshivoth. It is astonishing that there can be such fuz­ ziness over such a clear-cut moral de­ cision.

Throughout history, Jews have preferred to be murdered rather than endanger their children’s Olom Habah.

Why is it that today a Jew who would never think of carrying a handkerchief in the street on the Sabbath sends his teenager off to an out-of-town college with so few doubts or reservations?

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Even if the student remains Sabbath- and Kashruth-observant and even if he finds that he prefers the company of the limited number of ob­ servant fellow-students to the vast number of other social opportunities on campus, the youngster, particularly the young man, is still endangered by a hole in the parachute for his twentystory jump. That hole is the relative void of Torah study in his daily sched­ ule. He has leaped from a rigorous yeshivah high school program of sev­ eral hours of daily study of Chumosh, Nach, Talmud, and Dinim to, at best, a Yavneh program of a weekly shew and a weekly lecture. On a Yavneh-less campus, the opportunities for oncampus Torah studies are generally nil.

This is not the place to expound on the absolute indispensability of co n tin u o u s, u n in terrupted, daily Torah study in the life of the Jew (be­ yond the fact that several Mitzvoth specifically require it). Let us just say, in rather primitive terms, that the Jew must fulfill the Divine will and acquire a G-dly outlook and value system. The raw material for this acquisition was our people’s great gift at Sinai, but it remains for us, through learning and diligent “toil” in Torah, to study the revealed ways of G-d and thus acquire these assets. The acquisition is auto­ matic with every hour of study by every boy who learns Chumosh or Halochah or other limmudey kodesh.

If the youngster suddenly cuts off such regular study, he stunts his spir­ itu a l g r ow th and makes himself susceptible to spiritual disorders and atrophy. A person who stops eating will not suffer only from hunger. A physical body either grows or decays, 26

depending on the ratio of newly-born cells to dying cells. Neither can a spir­ itual being remain static; like a hurled object, if it is not going up, it is surely coming down. Moreover, the yeshivah high school graduate is not sufficiently knowledgeable in practical Halochah to be able to fulfill all his Mitzvah obli­ gations properly.

A cessation of Torah study at this critical juncture is thus nothing less than inconceivable and inde­ fensible, as far as the young man’s spir­ itual welfare is concerned. Attending an out-of-town college almost assures the reduction of his regular schedule of Torah study to near-zero, or, at best, a far cry from fulfilling the commandment to set aside a fixed por­ tion of each day and each night for Torah study.

N the surface, it seems that the problems of Sabbath and Kashruth observance which are acute at the out-of-town college are much less serious at home. The student can easily avoid food problems by taking a home-packed lunch with him when he commutes to the campus; breakfast and dinner are eaten at home. In cities with large Jewish communities, prob­ lems involving Sabbath classes and ex­ aminations have usually long since been settled —although often not solved —by previous classes of re­ ligious students. On many campuses Yavneh has worked out arrangements with college administrators to excuse observant students from Sabbath pro­ gram requirements or to allow them to make them up at other times. The presence of a significant number of or­ thodox Jews on campus generally

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makes the administration more amen­ able to making special arrangements.

Yomim Tovim which fall on weekdays, however, are a universal problem. Students must simply absent themselves from classes on these days and make up the work missed by prior consultation with their professors and post-Yom Tov consultation with nonJewish classmates who were present.

To walk to the college to sit in on classes is in itself a violation of our Sages’ injunction on Yom Tov observ­ ance, and experience has proved that it is a sure stepping-stone to the commis­ sion of Biblical transgressions. Yet many students who live within walking distance of their campuses, unable to resist the pressures of keeping up with their college work and unwilling to take the extra trouble required to keep up without attending, do walk to school and attend classes on Yom Tov. Parents who approve of or re­ main silent in the face of such prac­ tices by their student children are again failing in their duties as Jewish parents. In a society relatively free from persecution compared with pre­ vious hosts to Jewish habitation, youngsters must be taught that it is at times still shver tzu zein a Yid and that the real test of their moral strength comes when the going gets rough.

Making the practice of Judaism easier is certainly an admirable goal of the community, for it helps to promote Jewish observance; but it cannot be done to the exclusion of training youngsters to be uncompromising even when observance is not easy, not pop­ ularly widespread, not inexpensive, and not free from personal sacrifice.

To an extent, children can be taught FEBRUARY-M ARCH 1969

this lesson in schools; but the bulk of such training is accomplished in the home, mostly through the example set by parents in their own day-to-day re­ ligious conduct.

Invitations to dine in the college cafeteria and Sabbath and Yom Tov inconveniences are not totally absent in the at-home college situation, but the incidence of difficulties and the pressures to acquiescence are not as great as in the out-of-town situation.

Nor, in most instances, does the stu­ dent living at home find a scarcity of orthodox friends. Many of his or her high school acquaintances probably attend the same college or other local institutions, thus facilitating the con­ tinuation of old friendships. In a large dty like New York, students from many different yeshivah high schools and neighborhoods become acquainted for the first time on the city’s private and municipal college campuses.

ARLIER we asserted that the belief that a student’s religious life is endangered only in an out-oftown college but not when he attends a local college while residing at home is a mistaken one. The facts stated thus far tend to confirm this belief.

That the facts are, however, not yet complete is illustrated by disturbing, often shocking, observations of yeshi­ vah high school graduates on the athome campus.

Let us take one example: each year about one-third of the graduating class of a prominent New York yeshi­ vah high school enroll in a local munic­ ipal college where a heavy majority of the student body is Jewish and where orthodox students number in the

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hundreds. The wearing of the yar- one religious observance after another, mulke on this campus is so widespread each in stages; first the cafeteria salad, and accepted that non-orthodox stu­ then the cheese sandwich; first taking dents have been known to complain a late Friday afternoon class and rush­ that some of their classmates wear yar- ing home a minute before sunset, then mulkes only to gain favor with the in­ staying at a non-orthodox friend’s structor! Like all New York City pub­ home for a weekend, then arriving lic schools, the college is closed on the .home after sunset^first joining a High Holy Days because of student campus social organization of old high and faculty non-attendance. In fact, in school buddies more advanced in their one recent year the entire college ‘4liberation’^ from Orthodoxy then schedule was changed and the term ex­ attending the club’s dances, then en­ tended one week into the summer at gaging in those other activities at the the request of one parent to the Dean club’s quarters which veteran members of Administration, to make the spring alw ays brag about in rib-poking, (Easter) vacation coincide with Pesach. chummy fashion.

Yet with all these advantages, by The factors which bring about October of their freshman year, a large these changes are present in every col­ proportion of the graduates of the lege, and every student, regardless of high school referred to cease wearing whether he is out of town or at home, yarm ulkes on the street and on is exposed to them daily. campus at a college where the ortho­ dox are identified more than anything ITH or without yarmulke, the else by their yarmulkes. On this student commences a course of campus the removal of the yarmulke advanced instruction by professors and signifies the decision to be no longer textbooks that do not teach history or publicly identified as an orthodox Jew geology in the vague, simplistic, in­ and the desire to become indistinguish­ nocuous terms used in high school able from the masses of students. By studies. The first half of his world the end of the four years a majority of history course is a comparative-religion that school’s graduates on this campus study which portrays Judaism in rela­ go bareheaded in public. Figures for tion to Christianity and Islam in a the graduates of other high schools manner that would make any rabbi vary in both directions. shudder ^ja rabbi, but not a teenager who has not reached a level of sophis­ HE y ar m u l k e v io la tio n is tication in Jewish studies to deal with stressed here because usually it such subjects or to recognize distor­ marks a process of erosion which tions. His required philosophy course washes away the fertile topsoil of re­ is chiefly occupied with presenting the ligious practices and the nutrients of classic cosmological and ontological belief beneath them. proofs of G-d’s existence and then If one follows each of the t o t a l l y and derisively demolishing yarmulke-removing students as a case these proofs. The stories told of re­ history, he can trace the shedding of ligious Jewish students contradicting

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the professor and winning the class promiscuity and perversion and will battle are in all but rare cases “fish defend and delve into modern por­ stories” ; the yeshivah high school grad­ nography as “art.” Would-be censors uate is not sufficiently knowledge­ will be scorned as fuddy-duddies who able —not in Jewish philosophy and seek to limit free expression. not in techniques of debate —to win The student’s natural science an argument with an experienced courses begin with the inculcation of atheist or agnostic; most often the the “scientific method” of discovering youngster creates a gross chilul ka- truth, a method which excludes from Shem through a humiliating defeat at acceptance as fact any assertion which the hands of the instructor, with dis­ c a nn o t be proved physically. His astrous effects on the religious beliefs biology and geology studies are based of the Jews in class including the per­ on theories which write off the Bib­ pl exed o r t h o d o x youth himself. lical account of G-d’s creation of the Having eliminated G-d as a factor, the world and of man. course will proceed to swim through various theories of how to base a sys­ UDAISM does have replies to tem of morals and values. Prominent theories and assertions which among them is the “X is good or just=I conflict with its tenets and teachings, like X” theory. but the yeshivah high school graduate The student’s psychology course generally has not. Most Yavneh chap­ will teach as accepted fact the theory ters sponsor lectures by orthodox t h a t t he human adult’s behavior, rabbis and other personalities designed rather than being characterized by to explore just such conflicts. But the b ’chirah c h o f s h i t h I freedom of lecture system is inadequate for several choice to ¿do good or evil —is deter­ reasons. One is that the student is ex­ ministically controlled by his infantile posed to conflicts at a much more psycho-sexual history. His sociology rapid pace than occasional lectures can course will assert that persons afflicted handle. Moreover, the lecture topic by abnormal socio-economic condi­ rarely coincides with the problem the tions cannot be held responsible for student is currently wrestling with; anti-social and criminal behavior. Also more often it deals with the one which advocated is the theory of cultural confronted him last year or which will relativ ism , which preaches under­ not be encountered until next year. standing and toleration of other so­ Still worse —and this is where cieties’ mores. A practical application the greatest danger lies - the student of this theory is toleration of cannibal­ is engaged in a day-to-day routine of ism and incest in those societies which classes and textbook study, and his sanction them. mind is therefore concerned with His literature courses will study, learning the subject matter, assimilat­ as landmarks in Western civilization, ing it, and exhibiting a mastery over it “classical” works which outdo pres­ through papers and examinations. He ent-day paperbacks in their graphic de­ does not view every day as a potential scriptions and glorification of sexual challenge to his religious beliefs nor is

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he on a four-year daily alert to detect contradictions. Consequently, he does not usually stop to evaluate every unit of learning he absorbs on the basis of its status with regard to Jewish value and beliefs. Even if he does, his c om mand of the relevant Jewish knowledge is so inadequate that he will not recognize conflicts with Juda­ ism when he encounters them. In either case, he will involuntarily assimilate the a-Jewish and anti-Jewish values or beliefs into his own ethical system.

There are several ways in which s t u d e n t s react to the intellectual “revolution” which they experience in college. Some students manage to escape the four years without a faceto-face intellectual confrontation in which they see their religious values under attack and see a need to recon­ cile the inconsistency between the ideas emitted from the college lecture hall and the tenets and ideals of ortho­ dox Judaism. Even these students, however, do not escape the harmful effects of the involuntary seepage mentioned above.

Most students, however, do undergo such a challenge sometime during their college careers. Many, be­ cause of their already- discussed lack of sophistication in Jewish ideology and infrequency of contact with a knowledgeable source, lack the tools which would enable them to decide the case in favor of their religious her­ itage. The results are either a sudden, “clean” break with religious practice or, more likely, a gradual disengage­ ment from Jewish observance over a period of time, ranging from a few months to a few years. The latter pro­ 30

cess, which appears to the parents of an out-of-town youngster to be a sud­ den break, often goes tragically un­ noticed or ignored by the parents of the at-home student until after it is too late to nip it in the bud through the assistance of a rabbi who can com­ municate with the youngster on a level much higher than is used in “baalebatish” sermons. Some parents whose youngsters become lax in observing Sabbath and Kashruth while living at home remain so blind to the facts that they will indignantly take shocked in­ sult to an intimation thereto.

Another type of student is like­ wise unable to manage an intellectual victory, but being more deeply rooted in Torah practice, he suppresses or re­ presses the challenges and remains ob­ servant.

And, fortunately, there are the students who make the confrontation, score sound victories, and emerge strengthened in their Jewish commit­ ment; their number is small because they are the few who either are sufficiently equipped for the challenge or have ready sources of assistance.

HE intellectual difficulties en­ countered in the classroom do not in themselves complete the pic­ ture. Spending four years on campus, th e s tu dent cannot help but be affected by the extra-curricular —the intellectual and the social —spirit of the college student body.

Many are attracted by student organizations devoted to idealistic causes such as civil rights, peace in Vietnam, and the war on poverty.

They find in such clubs outlets for natural youthful idealism as well as

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practical application of inspiration re­ ceived in the classroom.

Un­ fortunately, however, justified dis­ satisfaction with existing conditions often becomes the instrument of un­ justified extremism. Antisémites are quick to point out the prominence of Jews among the leadership of the “ student revolt.” Perhaps even more distressing, many of the leftist organ­ izations have swallowed the Soviet propaganda line which characterized Israel as the imperialist-expansionist aggressor of the Six-Day War. How heartbreaking it is to find Jewish stu­ dents as anti-Israel voices among the American people, pleading the cause of dictators whose announced aim was to murder two million Jews. As if it were a consolation, very few of these campus extremists are of orthodox Jewish background and these man­ ifestations thus demonstrate more the failure on the campus of Zionist pubheists and organizers than the failure of Orthodqxy to hold its own.

More pervasive, as far as ortho­ dox students are concerned, is the m oral and social climate of the campus. Conditions vary widely, of course, from college to college, but even in the most innocuous of them the atmosphere is impure, and this of course is a euphemistic understate­ ment. These pages need not be des­ ecrated by a detailed account of the complete breakdown of sexual re­ s tra in t am ong college students, especially since mass-circulation publi­ cations have all-too graphically de­ picted it. While this situation has taken much less toll of orthodox Jewish stu­ dents by and large, than of other stu­ dents, they are exposed to the prevail­ FEBRUARY-M ARCH 1969

ing climate.

The phenomenon of the fra­ ternity (and its smaller variety, the “house-plan”) has unfortunately not gone unemulated by orthodox Jewish students. At one New York college, for example, there exist approximately ten such social clubs (already alluded to above) which officially meet on Wednesday nights instead of Friday nights, since they are composed of yeshivah high school graduates.

C am pus social organizations occasionally engage in fund-raising activities (for such causes as disease re­ search organizations) in order to help justify their existence, but aside from providing on some campuses a con­ venient team framework for intra­ mural athletic activities, the fraternity and house-plan are organized boymeet-girl operations. Boy meets girl during male-female fraternity coop­ erative preparation for college func­ tions such as the annual carnival or song-fest; at mutually-sponsored dances; and at visits to each other’s or­ ganizational quarters —usually a base­ ment apartment in a small house.

There are those who criticize some Yavneh activities on Halachic grounds because of the male-female social contact which sometimes pre­ vails at its functions. Even the most liberal among orthodox circles, how­ ever, recognize the frivolous and p h y sical male-female contact pro­ moted and sponsored by these social organizations as a clear violation of Halachah and a serious desecration of Jewish sanctity. Perhaps American or­ thodox Jewry has not yet found an appropriate method of courtship-formarriage, but abdication to non-Jewish 31

methods that clearly violate Jewish re­ ligious law is intolerable.

As one might expect, some of these collegiate “Shomer Shabboth” social organiza­ tions are distilleries for the various aforementioned means of religious dis­ orientation, and one is hard-pressed to fin d b o n a fid e Sabbath-observers among the older members. Sad illustra­ tions abound. One scion of a dis­ tinguished family, a graduate of a prominent yeshivah high school, was describing to a non-member and fellow- graduate the amorous accom­ plishments of a fraternity brother the previous evening. When the listener displayed shock, the story-teller inter­ preted it as surprise, chided him for his non-membership, and added, with mock sympathy, “you religious boys are missing out on all the fun.’^ M HE student’s religious character, then, can be whittled away by the social and moral conditions on campus, with or without the assistance of the intellectual atmosphere. To re­ tain his integrity, as an orthodox Jew, the student must healthily adjust to the realization that he is different from the overwhelming majority of his fellow students. Learning to feel that his standing out from the crowd car­ ries great spiritual justification and beauty assists him in resisting the temptation to experience a release of the pressures by conforming. The in­ sistently religious student need not manufacture an artificial sense of superiority as a mental crutch, for it is a plain fact that he is leading the life o f d isc ip lin e ; he exhibits moral strength in crowning his yetzer hatov king over his yetzer harah or, to bor­

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row popular sociological terms, m postponing immediate gratification for long-range goals.

The student who is not master of his soul and is successfully enticed by the comfortable pleasures of mod­ em Western, materialistic, restrictionfree young society is bound to lose basic Jewish belief along with religious observance. In his already classic “Essay on Faith,” Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman, Z t”l, asks how there can be a commandment, a Mitzvah, to be­ lieve in G-d; do not all Mitzvoth pre­ suppose belief in G-d? Moreover, what purpose is served in commanding one to believe when his. conscience does not? He answers that the fundamentals of Jewish belief are clear and logical; their attainment requires only a clear and logical heart and mind. What the Jew is commanded is to develop his character, to guard his midoth, to con­ trol his impulses in order that he should not contaminate his heart and thereby make it incapable of accepting even the simplest truths. It is this timtum halev, an affliction acquired by failing to master one’s desires, that re­ sults in non-belief.

Rav Wasserman’s explanation is well-illustrated by the campus situa­ tion. Loss of faith does occur in the classroom in the ways already de­ scribed; but those who lose it have most often been preconditioned by failure to meet the challenges in the non-intellectual areas of college life — fa ilu re caused by lack of moral strength of character.

This deficiency is perhaps, again, a product of the childhood and adoles­ cence of today’s orthodox youth, free as it often is from moral training in JEWISH L IF E

preparation for the religious challenges to come. The student has neither prac­ tical nor learning experience to draw upon when he suddenly encounters crises that require it. He may have an example set for him by his parents in their day-to-day behavior.

which stress secular studies and stu­ dents who do not continue Jewish studies following high school gradua­ tion are most likely to be adversely affected by the a-religious college social and intellectual atmosphere.

Graduates of the intensely-religious schools and those who engage in full­ time Jewish studies are least likely to be affected, although recent history proves that they are not as invulner­ able as some may think. The latter group is largely composed of the stu­ dents who win, suppress, or never en­ counter the intellectual conflicts and who remain socially removed from ex­ tracurricular college life.

UR yeshivah high schools vary in the intensity of religious studies and stress of religious values. Some, notably the institutions with co-educational classes, stress the college-pre­ paratory secular studies and offer re­ ligious studies in a fashion which de­ mands Jewish cultural interest rather than strong religious commitment on the part of student and parents. Other high schools stress both equally, or, to HE reader may scoff at these in­ be more accurate, stress neither; but dices and ask, Are not the in­ usually the student who is most con­ tensity of the high school which the cerned with secular studies feels more youngster attends and of his subse­ at home in this school than does the quent Jewish studies both dependent one whose religious studies are his on the religious intensity of the home prime concern. A third type of school and parent, and is not the student’s stresses the religious studies and con­ Yiddishkeit in and after college there­ siders the secular department as a fore simply a function of the intensity necessity -Sajbeit not so evil a neces­ of his religious upbringing at home? sity -im p o sed by state minimum ed­ The answer is: Only sometimes. ucation Jaws and by the youngsters’ Often a youngster from a not intensely need to know basic skills to get along religious home attends a moderate or in the world. There are variations of intense school; sometimes a youngster these three types; many schools fall from an intense home attends a mod­ somewhere between two of these cat­ erate school and does not very actively egories. continue Jewish studies after high A close look at yeshivah high school. Several other combinations in school graduates in college will quite the home-high school-subsequent Jew­ predictably reveal that the likelihood ish studies triangle are to be found of shemirath hamitzvoth increased among collegiate youth. with the intensity of stress on religious But the question can be an­ studies by the student’s alma mater swered even if high school and sub­ and with the intensity with which he sequent Jewish studies always coincide pursues religious studies while in col­ in intensity with the religious environ­ lege. Graduates of the high schools ment at home, which they most defin-

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itely do not. For the facts show that even youngsters from religious homes go astray in college. The question which should rather be asked is: How is it conceivable that so many veterans of twelve years of yeshivah education can emerge with religious lifeboats which capsize under the waves of col­ lege and the current of secular society?

The frequency and ease with which such a costly, long-term invest­ ment goes down the drain is utterly shocking and cause for the most serious chagrin, consternation, and self-examination by the nation’s Jew­ ish secondary schools and educators.

Yet most exhibit no such concern.

Not long ago students at one of the New York colleges with large re­ ligious enrollment prepared a circular letter to be sent to yeshivah high school seniors who planned to attend that college, informing them of the re­ ligious difficulties that would be en­ countered and suggesting means of coping with them. The attitudes of most of the yeshivah high school prin­ cipals who were asked to distribute the letter was one of apathy and reluctant consent; only one or two expressed appreciation for the free service, ac­ knowledged the great need, and sug­ gested revisions which would improve later editions of the letter.

OST yeshiva high schools are overcrowded and primarily con­ cerned with expansion to accommo­ date the many day school graduates who are rejected for lack of space. Too few are concerned with how their graduates fare. Shouldn’t four addi­ tional years —significant adolescent years, at that —in orthodox educa­

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tional hands make a lasting difference?

Shouldn’t every single stu d e n t^ ^ re­ gardless of his home’s religious en­ vironment — who has had twelve long years of Torah education remain a Torah Jew for the rest of his life? Is this such an unreasonable demand or far-fetched expectation?

In one respect it is. All through elementary and secondary school the level of the student’s secular know­ ledge rises at relatively the same pace as his Jewish knowledge. Then, sud­ denly, he enters college and takes large strides in maturing his intellect sec­ ularly, but leaves his Jewish knowledge behind at the early adolescent stage.

Faced with a conflict, the battle­ ground of the student’s mind consists of huge artillery on the secularist side and a toy pistol on the Jewish side. To achieve just an even match requires serious pursuit of Jewish studies while in college; to achieve a clear victory, the Jewish side should be equipped with armament that will put it ahead of the secularist side. To gain the lead, our young men and women, upon graduation from yeshivah high school, should be permitted to immerse them­ selves in Jewish studies before entering college.

Actually, a substantial number already do so.

A good many American girls attend teachers’ seminaries either the domestic ones or those in Israel or in Gateshead, England. This course of study is highly recommendable even for those with no teaching aspirations.

It provides a thorough grounding in Bible, laws vital to the Jewish home, H ebrew language, and pedagogical methods —training which is invaluable^ JEWISH L IF E

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to the modern Jewish homemaker and have meaningful Musar or Hashkofah mother. programs built into the religious cur­ More and more boys, before riculum. If teachers and rabbis would entering college, now attend a yeshi­ devote, say, twenty minutes of each vah gedolah, either out-of-town or in day’s class session to textual study of Eretz Israel. There they spend a year Luzatto’s Mesilath Yeshorim, Rabbenu or two swimming all day in the sea of Yonah’s Sha’arei Teshuvah (both avail­ Talmud, joining the chain of Torah able in Hebrew-English editions), students and expounders extending O rchoth Tzadikim, or one of the back to Moses at Sinai. Through en­ other classic works in this area, they grossed study of G-d’s laws and ways, would find that mountains previously the powerful rays of Yiddishkeit’s thought unmovable would begin to source drench the ben Torah with budge. Add an old-fashioned Musar their warmth and color his being in the talk every Friday, combining, for ex­ Divine light. ample, the moral lessons of the week’s As far as his moral maturity and Torah portion with timely tochachah faith are concerned, what Torah study (constructive criticism designed to in­ will accomplish will certainly be given spire spiritual improvement), and the lasting force by the Musar and Hashko- mountains will move. Top it off with fah programs now prevalent in every frequent talks with students on an in­ yeshivah gedolah of quality. dividual basis and in a personal tone, T here are fre q u e n t musar- and still further improvements will be shmooesen;^personal spiritual contact seen. Students previously considered between rebbe and talmid; and, not lost causes will respond to this new least important, a musar seder —about treatment; mediocre spiritual speci­ half-kn-hour a day —when Musar mens will be moved out of their leth­ works are studied. argy into a drive for self- improve­ “He who wishes to fear the ment; even the conscientious Jews L-rd,” say our Sages, “should delve in­ among the students will make new to the Aggadic portions of the Tal­ strides toward excellence. mud.” Musar talks and works expound Merely adding “religious guid­ on the inspirational insights of Aggadic ance counseling” to the duties of one lore; while Halachic studies teach the of the teachers and assigning a Musar law in more legalistic fashion, Musar book for outside reading are unaccept­ supplies the imperative — the drive to able, fruitless substitutes for the real serve G-d by performing His mitzvoth thing —giving the yeshivah high school and emulating His midoth. Musar sup­ a genuine atmosphere of striving for plies a moral conscience, provides in­ spiritual and moral elevation through tensive training in making moral and an indigenous Musar program. spiritual decisions in times of stress.

N all these discussions only pass­ EREIN, perhaps, lies at least a ing mention has been made of partial solution to the yeshivah Yavneh, the National Religious Jewish high schools’ deficiency. Few, if any, Students Association. At certain “ out-

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of-town” campuses, this organization has made major breakthroughs in mak­ ing religious life on campus easier for the student. Foremost among these is Princeton University, where there is a Yavneh house offering dining, resi­ dence, minyon, sheu? and lecture*facil­ ities and services.

Columbia University is a big-city campus, but most of the Yavneh mem­ bers reside in the college dormitories.

Columbia’s Yavneh chapter offers minyonim, a once-a-week supper-lecture, Sabbath programs, sheurim, and an arrangement with a local Young Israel rabbi who gives regular Talmud classes to Yavneh students.

Yavneh’s biggest problem has been at colleges where students live at home. Unlike the out-of-town situa­ tion where almost every orthodox stu­ dent takes part in Yavneh activities, most students who live at home do not recognize their need for Yavneh’s ser­ vices. Some are engaged in part-time or full-time Jewish studies programs and have little need or time for Yavneh sheurim. Many are not interested in pursuing such studies. And Yavneh’s specialty — lectures tying in Jewish subjects with matters studied in the college class — attract surprisingly few listeners. Analyses of “psychology and Judaism” or “Camus and Koheleth” stimulate the intellectual student who seeks to relate his college studies to his religion; but, as stated previously, such students are a small minority. Even within Yavneh, membership question­ naires have revealed sharp internal disa g r e e m e n t o n “ o v er-in tellectualization” ; the Yavneh Review, an annual magazine containing scholarly articles on such topics, has drawn com­ 36

ments to the effect that the academic achievements of the four or five con­ tributors were very impressive but that nobody reads the magazine.

The Yavneh aim of relating modern secular attainments to Jewish tra­ dition is an admirably lofty one, but it seems to be failing to win the mass of orthodox students, perhaps, as some feel, because it is not attuned to their real needs as well as the needs of those who are Yavneh members. At the a fo re m e n tio n e d big-city campus attended by hundreds of orthodox stu­ dents, Yavneh counts only a fraction of these as members, and Yavneh of­ ficers are often hard-put to gather ten students to attend a lecture or sheur.

Neither does the chapter reach those yeshiva high school graduates who are on the down-hill road from Ortho­ doxy. Clearly, Yavneh chapters on athome colleges must re-evaluate their programs in terms of the needs of the orthodox campus population, broad­ ening their active membership base by scheduling activities which meet these needs. has pointed with pride to its youngsters .who emerge from higher education as frum lawyers and doctors, engineers and scientists, professors and administra­ tors. But the community has been be­ set by lack of awareness and of action with respect to the large numbers who disappear from Torah ranks during their college careers. Opportunities and re sp o n sib ility for corrective measures along the lines herein dis­ cussed rest with the youngsters them­ selves, their parents, their yeshivah high schools, their Yavneh groups, and

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the orthodox Jewish community at large, through its synagogues and com­ munal organizations.

At the risk of anti-climax, one fin al parenthetical point must be made. Orthodoxy’s aforementioned pride in its religious professionals is sometimes manifested in statements to the effect that the future and the sur­ vival of Orthodoxy rest with these vet­ erans of higher secular education. Such over-enthusiastic declarations are in­ accurate. The continuity of orthodox Jewry is dependent on the perpetua­ tion of Torah in its pure form as it has been preserved and landed down through the millennia. And this, our Sages have told us, is itself dependent on the continued development of out­ standing Torah scholars - Poskim, Roshey Yeshivoth and Rabbinic leaders of K’lal Yisroel. Lay leadership pro­ vided by religious professionals and

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businessm en is essential, but not enough; again and again our Sages have taught that the Torah level of a genera­ tion is inextricably tied to the level of that generation’s Gedoley ha-Torah.

Where are the next generation’s Torah personalities?

Where, moreover, are the young­ sters who are immersing themselves in Torah today to become the Torah ed­ ucators in tomorrow’s day schools, yeshivah high schools, Yeshivoth Gedoloth? — and the rabbis in tomor­ row’s synagogues?

How to keep the yeshivah high school graduate religious as he be­ comes an accountant is one problem; but how to convince him to choose the service of G-d and of Torah per­ petuation as a full-time career, instead of accounting, is still another — and the latter problem may be the far more serious of the two.

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by BORUCH YITZCH O K HYMAN

Shed the mists and come - speckled with the dawn, gems on black velvet.

I give you . . . forsake you n o t . . .

Rivers of tears run down mine eyes because they keep not Thy Law.

I am in almostness, a being on the border of existence. Little lights pop and flicker, finely shredded. I hear the sound of tinfoil rustling Come.

Come and see.

Come and see the little men. They chitter. Once there was . . .

My G-d is in the wind.

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Rise up, leap . . . boundless . . . lost among the stars, ashes of the dead. Turn and count them - pale, dim w onderm ent. . . wandering, wondering, distant, dim, and dimming. Up the hill, over the hill, down the h ill. . . why, oh . . .

I WILL OPEN YOUR GRAVES I move, I sway, I cry - Save us, gather us. There is a fire, shimmering, swaying, leaping out of time. We are on a wheel, now under, soon to rise.

AWAKE AND SING, YE THAT DWELL IN DUST Here in the mists, here in the dust swirls, fires descend.

They shudder. Phantoms form and incantate and fade, meaningless, apeing meaning. Fires send out smoke and die. Others lash out, rising, free, serene.

WHEN SHALL I AWAKE? I WILL SEEK IT YET AGAIN Calm are the hills, the hills of the Binding, calm and bare.

Only the shadow tendrils twine and crawl and reach, wanting nothing, sensing nothing, knowing nothing, where once the upper and the lower worlds were joined.

THEY DID CRY THERE, PHAROAH KING OF EGYPT IS BUT A NOISE; HE HATH PASSED THE TIME APPOINTED They pause, stunned. The wheel, the wheel is moving!

BEHOLD, I WILL SEND YOU A light descends among the lights, shielding, binding, raising.

Shadow forms that once were lights gasp, groping, voiceless, pleading, swaying . . . burning.

BEFORE THE COMING

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The sea is warm and limpid. Ripples rise and scurry toward the dusk and fade. Flowing murmurs lap the stones, touching, sinking.

Redness sears the*little waves and falls and dances - startled splendor.

Carry me, carry me, longing, soothing. So ¡¡»falls the world away, the fire and the love.

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The masters come, wild and free, wheeling, screeching, hardly known.

Night rolls in, fusing the sea and the sky.

I move, but nowhere, never, a shadow enshrouded, formless, bound.

In the darkness, from the dimming, lights appear. They sharpen, piercing the upper world, now domed and frosted, droplets of the dew, opulent beckonings. I wake, ascending, joining, one.

The years come and the years go.

The years come and go.

The years go and the years come.

Going and coming the years sigh, drifting and swirling.

The vanities and the delusions and the shimmering obscenities mask but cannot hide and cannot change and cannot annul

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JEWISH L IF E

their laugh was slivers of light paper-thin tinkling on the windows falling over silvered fields

The rain is falling all around me —, pattering on my little, black, portable roof, bouncing on puddles, sliding down happy, swishing grasses. An elfish breeze blows raindrops on my face. They are warm and welcome. From far away beyond the willows and across Caver’s field comes the subdued whistle of a train. These are the times that have no time.

Cascading, crashing thunder! A touch of cold . . . the puddles shiver.

The world leaps near, but only for an instant.

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Revered be the majesty Honored be the glory Extolled be the power of the One All will say Great is the Name Great and uplifted is the Name of the G-d of Heaven L-rd of the worlds Ransomed will be the children of light and gathered will be pure and upraised the nation of tears Known is this all the men bloated with pride who shattered and trampled the chosen vessel shall descend cursing and screaming covered and fading to the pit in which is no substance and in which is no end and in which are woven chaos and the void Who will rebel The rebels shall stand shame-faced and trembling alone and unaided Praise Him Praise Him Who comes Praise Him 42

JEWISH L IF E

The Lunar Perspective

by NORMAN LAMM

HE recent historic telecast of the clearly.

For those sensitive to history, moon’s surface by the three American astronauts who orbited this it, was more than just an occasion for the telecast which concluded with the understandable pride by religious folk. recitation of the first words of Gen­ The Jewish tradition teaches that esis, no doubt brought great satisfac­ Abraham emerged from a family and tion to religious earth-dwellers. In society which were ovdey kochavim their address to Congress, the space-ex­ u-mazaloth, pagans and heathen who plorers commented upon the “ecu­ worshiped the stars and the planets. menical nature” of their recitation: it Modern archaeology has not only cor­ was a Catholic who read from the King roborated this tradition, but has pin­ James Version. What they omitted to pointed more accurately the exact mention was that the words camé idols worshiped by the pagans of that from the Hebrew Bible. Indeed, relig­ time and place. We know today that ious Jews were especially delighted the great metropolitan centers of Ur that the first verses of the Chumash and Haran, cities well known to us were chosen for this memorable mes­ from the biblical narratives about sage transmitted across one quarter of Abraham, were centers of moon wor­ a million miles of the great void. ship, a religion which left its imprints More im portant, it brought even on the names of early biblical home to us that this latest technologi­ personalities. Thus, the similarity of cal triumph somehow has religious im­ the name of Abraham’s father Terach plications that we intuit only vaguely to yeracln (m onth) and yareiach and that ought to be spelled out more (moon), and that of Laban, Lavan,

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which is the masculine form of levanah inhabited?” In other words, seen from (moon). Bible scholars have pointed to another heavenly body, the earth pre­ similar influences in the names of cipitously reduces in significance and Sarah and Milcah. It is from this back­ appears as just another small ball ground of moon-cult that Abraham whirling about aimlessly in space. emerged to proclaim to the world the From this perspective, man’s ambi­ message of one G-d. tions suddenly appear puny, his loves It is, therefore, a divine irony and his hates picayune, his triumphs that, 3,500 years later, the first men to and his failures petty, his endeavors approach the vicinity of that celestial and his aspirations frightfully trivial. body once worshipped as a deity All that engages our attention on should call out the words Sf‘In the earth ’^ fh e clash of world blocs, the b eginning . . . . ” — one G-d, as problems of nations, the conflicts be­ Abraham taught, created both heaven tween communities and families, in­ and earth and all their hosts. Girdling dividual difficulties and dreams and that lifeless, forlorn heavenly body, disappointments —all this becomes like some ancient gladiator with his meaningless when viewed from the foot on the neck of his enemy, man­ Lunar Perspective. kind has thus proclaimed through This L u n ar P ersp ectiv e is those three American astronauts the therefore a good antidote for human final triumph of Jewish monotheism superciliousness, when men take them­ over paganism, the victory of the re­ selves altogether too seriously. Man’s ligion of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob herculean scientific achievement, the fruit of his genius, paradoxically robs over that of Terach and Laban. him of a sense of worth and signif­ UT the relevance of this latest icance. He conquers space technol­ ^ ^ f e a t of technology to religious ogically, and this puts him in his place thinking is more than that of historical psychologically. This is not an unwel­ vindication. Even more significant for come side-effect of his historic ac­ the religious contemplation of this complishment, and tends to confirm technological triumph is what might the mood Jpeven more than the phil­ be called the “Lunar Perspective” of osophic view —of Maimonides in his life on earth.

Guide: Man is king over all the earth, One writer for a large metropoli­ but earth is so trivial in the scheme of tan daily offered a psychological in­ Creation that he has little to boast sight that appears to have been shared about. by many people: the orbiting of the moon impressed earth-dwellers with OW EVER, th is Lunar Per­ the uneasy awareness that our celebra­ spective can prove very danger­ ted planet is just another globe, and ous indeed. When man views himself that the astronauts viewing the earth and his society against the larger cos­ from the moon might have had oc­ mic backdrop, he tends to be over­ casion to ask themselves, as if they whelmed into ignoring the infinite pre­ were voyagers from outer space: “is it ciousness of every human being, the

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infinite sanctity of the individual per­ sonality — which is not only a cardin­ al teaching of Judaism, but a precondi­ tion of man’s psychological health and social integrity. When dealing with the vastness of inter-stellar space, man re­ duces to insignificance as the earth it­ self is considered but a speck whirling aimlessly in the endless, empty oceans of the cosmic abyss, and all of life ap­ pears meaningless and pointless.

It is for this reason that great thinkers throughout history were care­ ful to go beyond the contemplation of nature as the source for religious in­ spiration. Thus, King David divided the nineteenth Psalm into two parts: The firs t half begins with: “the heavens declare the glory of G-d,” the firmament and the revolutions of the cosmos are the testimony of G-d’s greatness. The second half deals with torath ha-Shem temimah, “the law of the Lord is perfect,” G-d’s revelation and man’s ability to obey the Will of G-d and the moral law. To leap over the centuries and from the world of the sacred to the world of the profane, the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, in the conclusion of his “The Critique of Pure Reason,” wrote: “Two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing wonder and awe: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.” Nature alone is inadequate for the inculcation of re­ ligious feeling.

In fact, to return to the Bible, the one Psalm where one would most expect a religious celebration of the wonders of nature makes almost no mention of it. Psalm 92 is Mizmor Shir L e’Yom ha’Shabbath, “a song for the Sabbath day.’- The Sabbath commem­ orates the Divine creation of the FEBRUARY-M ARCH 1969

world, and one would ordinarily look to the Psalm for this day for the poetic elaboration of the mysteries and grandeur of nature as reflecting the awe and wisdom of the Creator. Yet this Psalm which, in the beginning, seem s to go in just that direc­ tion fV“how great are Thy works .. . .h o w v e r y d e e p a r e T h y thoughts” —suddenly reveals what its author means: the futility of wicked­ ness and the ultimate prosperity of the righteous who “will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.” It is G-d’s moral reign, not His creation of nature, which re­ veals His wisdom and of which the Psalmist sings.

Both the sensitive souls of Juda­ ism and the wise men of philosophy thus understood that while a con­ templation of the heavens alone, of the glories of nature, can lead us to an appreciation of the awesomeness of the Creator, this phenomenon is often accompanied by an awareness of the nothingness of the creature, of man as beriah ketanah shefelah-afelahy “ a small, dark and dismal creature,” as Maimondes put it (Hilchoth Yesodey Ha’Torah, II). Looking at life from the point of view of the heavens alone can make the distance between G-d and man so great, so infinite, that man’s worth vanishes. It is therefore import­ ant to add, and to emphasize even more, the moral law, the ability of man to abide by “the Law of the Lord” which is “perfect.”

The Lunar Perspective is, hence, a healthy one •% but only when taken in moderation.

NDEED, this Lunar Perspective is new only quantitatively, not qualitatively. It is novel only in de-

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gree: never before have men been able to view their home planet from this distance and in this grand a manner.

But it is not new in kind. Whenever men have dealt with large numbers, with great masses, they have tended to overlook and to derogate the indi­ vidual. Single human beings are im­ perilled by statistics, by which they are often reduced to mere ciphers.

Social thinkers from Marx to Fromm to Reisman have commented upon and analyzed the deep depersonalization and fragmentation of man in the massproducing society. Not surprisingly, many talented individuals today often refuse to work for large corporations, because they do not want to end up as but a file in someone else’s cabinet.

Similarly, students in the mass uni­ versities, the ‘‘multiversities,” fre­ quently revolt, because they do not want to become depersonalized incar­ nations of an IBM card without ever relating to professor or administration.

Our ancient forbears, it is said, were frightened by the eclipse o f the moon. If we are to remain moral and sensitive human beings, we must be­ come frightened of the eclipse by the moon —the eclipse of all human inter­ ests and social concern by over-atten­ tion to the great problems of space.

The United States is today suffering enough from the agonies of revolution because for three hundred years we were too busy building up our country and did not care about the plight of the black man or the poor man. It would be sheer lunacy for us to be­

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come so obsessed with colonizing the moon and conquering the rest of space, that we continue to ignore the pressing social problems confronting us. Certainly Jews more than anyone else can appreciate the importance of care and concern for individuals in the face o f “larger problems.” During the last great war, the leaders of the “free world” were generally too busy and preoccupied with the gigantic prob­ lems of the war and diplomacy to pay attention to the fate and the destiny of a few million Jews.

The Lunar Perspective is all to the good if it brings man to his senses when he is over-obsessed with his own importance. But when it threatens to diminish his worth, to encourage him to indifference and apathy to his fel­ low men, it is good to recall that this Lunar Perspective was secured only be­ cause human beings conceived of this flight,' because they paid for it, be­ cause they engineered it. It is good to remember that the Lunar Perspective was taken by —human beings, for it is they who first gazed at the earth from the moon. And it was a human re­ action to this Lunar Perspective that prompted the American astronauts to recite to us, from literally another w orld, th e Divine proclamation: Bereshith barah . . .Alfln the beginning G-d created the heaven and the earth” —a passage which ends, so ap­ propriately, with the words: “And G-d saw ki tov that it was good” and in­ deed, it can yet be good.

JEWISH L IF E

by AARON ROTH KO FF

ITH the Israeli liberation of associated with the renowned Frank Hebron, the minds of many family of Alaksat, near Kovno. Reb turned to thoughts of the heroic Shraga at­ Feivel Frank was a leading lay tempts to establish the Hebron Yeshi- disciple of Rabbi Yisroel Salanter, vah in 1924. One of the pioneers of founder of the “Mussar” movement of the Hebron epic was the illustrious ethical-moral perfectionism. Blessed S lo b o d k a R osh Yeshivah, Rabbi with wealth due to a thriving leather Mosheh Mordechai Epstein, known factory, he gave the attic of his home throughout the Jewish world by the to Rabbi Salanter. Here Rabbi Salanter title of his published writings, the spent many months in solitude and “Levush Mordechai.” seclusion with his most competent rab­ He was born in 1866 in Bakst, binical students. His disciple, Rabbi near Vilna, where his erudite father, Yitzchok Blazer, was later to solitarily Rabbi Z’vi Chayim, served as the Av- spend the months of Ellul in this attic.

Beth-Din of this community. Early dis­ After Frank’s untimely death, his four playing keen intellectual ability, the daughters all married brilliant Torah young Mosheh Mordechai became scholars. One daughter married Rabbi known as the “ Bakster Illui.” In his Boruch Horowitz, who later became early teens he entered the Volozhin the Rav of Alaksat and a Rosh Yeshi­ Yeshivah and became one of its most vah in the Slobodka Yeshivah. An­ highly regarded students. By eighteen, other daughter married Rabbi Sheftel he was considered to be completely Kramer, who was to serve as a Rosh conversant with the entire Babylonian Yeshivah in the Slutsk Yeshivah; after­ T alm ud and the Shulchon Oruch wards, he emigrated to the United Choshen Mishpot.

States where he organized the ad­ In 1889, Rabbi Epstein became vanced Yeshivah of New Haven, which

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la te r re-located to Cleveland, and whose branch in Baltimore developed into Yeshivath Ner Israel. Rabbi Isar Zalman Meltzer, the famed Slutsker and Yerusholayim Rosh Yeshivah, was th e th ird son-in-,law. A fourth daughter,WChayah Menuchah Frank, married Mosheh Mordechai Epstein.

The daughters continued to operate the family business while their husbands devoted their efforts to con­ tinued Torah study. Rav Isar Zalman and Rav Mosheh Mordechai developed a particularly close relationship and they daily studied together. Having be­ come closely acquainted with such dis­ ciples of Rabbi Salanter as Rabbis Yitzchok Blazer, Naftali Amsterdam, and Simchah Zissel Ziff, all of whom frequented the Frank home, Rabb Epstein himself became identified witl the Mussar movement.

quested the aid of Rabbi Finkel in this project. Rabbi Finkel sent fourteen of his brightest disciples, headed by Rabbi Meltzer, to serve as thè nucleus of the new school. Rabbi Meltzer was to achieve fame as the Rosh Yeshivah of this new school which was to func­ tion in Kletsk, Poland, in the period between the first and second World Wars under Rabbi Meltzer’s son-in-law, Rabbi Aharon Kotler. After the War, he re-established it in Lakewood, New Jersey, where it continues to function today as the Beth Medrash Govoha of America.

Upon Rabbi Meltzer’s departure, R abbi Epstein remained the sole Slobodka Rosh Yeshivah. The remain­ ing Slobodka talmidim intensified their diligence and their religious de­ portment while they strove to fill the ranks of the Slutsker departees. Rabbi Epstein’s lectures were warmly re­ URING the early years of his ceived by the student body since their m arriag e, Mosheh Mordechai analytical method resembled that of Epstein twice visited the Holy Land, Rav Chayim Brisker, his mentor at and together with other activists aided V olozhin. His preoccupation with in establishing the colony of Haderah.

Maimonides’ code also continued the In 1893, Rabbi Yitzchok Rabinowitz, Volozhin tradition. With the enhanced later the Rav of Ponevez, resigned status accorded the “Rav,” the appel­ from his Slobodka Rosh Yeshivah lation by which his Slobodka talmidim position to assume the rabbinate of affectionately called him, the Yeshivah Grozod. Rabbi Nothon Z’vi Finkel, a started to enjoy a period of unparal­ leading advocate of Mussar and the leled growth. Since the Volozhin founder and head of the Slobodka Yeshivah had closed on January 22, Yeshivah, then decided to appoint the 1892, rather than comply with a two brothers-in-law, Rabbis Isar Zal­ Russian governmental decree that it in­ man and Mosheh Mordechai, as the stitute three hours daily instruction in Slobodka Roshey Yeshivah. One lec­ tured on Mondays while the other gave secular studies, the Slobodka Yeshivah his discourses on Thursdays. In 1896, now partially filled the gap left by its Rabbi Yaakov Dovid Willowski, pop­ termination.

In 1897, the Slobodka Yeshivah ularly called “the Ridbaz,” desired to open a yeshivah in Slutsk. He re­ was caught up in the rapidly spreading

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controversy which engulfed the Mussar movem ent. Some prominent Lith­ uanian Torah leaders opposed the Mus­ sar ideology since they felt it placed excessive stress on the study of ethical texts instead of advocating full-time devotion to Talmudic study. They also felt that the Mussar movement was at­ tempting to create a new sect con­ sisting of the elite few capable of ful­ filling the vigorous demands of the Mussar doctrine. This, they felt, would result in the creation of a new aristoc­ racy and would disrupt Jewish unity.

The Yeshivah was thus required to leave its location in Slobodka’s “ Old Beth Medrosh,” finding a new home in the “Butchers’ Beth Medrosh.”

The Slobodka Yeshivah was now renam ed the “Yeshivath Keneseth Yisroel,” in memory of Rabbi Yisroel Salanter, to differentiate it from the new yeshivah,lÿ‘Keneseth Beth Yitzchok,” which was organized to replace it in the Old Beth Medrosh. The lead­ ers of the new yeshivah approached Rabbi Epstein and offered him the po­ sition of Rosh Yeshivah in the new school. However, Rav Mosheh Mordechai chose to remain with Rabbi Finkel and he refused their request.

The new yeshivah, named in memory of Rabbi Yitzchok Elchonon Spektor, later secured the services of Rabbi Boruch Ber Leibowitz, a beloved dis­ ciple of Rav Chayim Brisker. Under his tutelage, this yeshivah also became world-famous, and it later relocated in Kamenitz, Poland, during the interbellum period.

In its new Beth Medrosh, the original Slobodka Yeshivah, Keneseth Yisroel, continued to expand. Rabbi Epstein supervised all the external and FEBRUARY-MARCH 1969

monetary affairs, while Rabbi Finkel was responsible for the internal and spiritual matters. Rabbi Epstein also accepted a communal appointment to serve as a dayon, ecclesiastical judge, in Slobodka. Although Rabbi Epstein was hesitant about this appointment, Rabbi Finkel urged him to accept it since it would guarantee that an advo­ cate of the Mussar movement would be in this influential position. Later, in 1912, Rav Mosheh Mordechai became the Chief Rabbi of Slobodka when he was elected to succeed the late Rabbi Mosheh Danishefsky in that post.

USILY engaged though he was with his yeshivah and communal responsibilities, Rabbi Epstein did not permit his own studies to flag. He re­ viewed all of the Shas each year, and every month he completed the entire six divisions of the Mishnah. He penned responsa to the many legal questions submitted to him, and he edited the novel thoughts and interpre­ tations he proposed during his twicew eekly lectures. These Talmudic studies found publication under the collective title “Levush Mordechai.”

His first major publication, the initial “Levush Mordechai,” was his glosses on the Talmud tractate Bova Kamma, which appeared in 1901. This volume was acclaimed throughout the Torah world and it placed its author — thenceforth referred to by the title of his work — on a par with the Torah luminaries of the generation. This was followed by the “Levush Mordechai” on Bova Metziah, which appeared in 1929. Posthumously, the “Levush Mordechai” on Zevochim and Menochoth was published in 1937, his re-

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sponsa on the Shulchon Oruch ap­ peared in 1946, and his elucidations on Yevomoth and Gittin were printed, in 1948.

With the growth of the Yeshivah, the budgetary responsibilities fell upon Rabbi Epstein’s shoulders. Deter­ mined that the institution should be housed in its own structure, he suc­ ceeded in raising the necessary funds to construct a suitable building and in 1901, the new home of the Slobodka Yeshivah was dedicated. Great was the “Levush Mordechai’s” joy that the Yeshivah no longer had to depend upon the voluntary consent of the lay­ men who administered the local Beth Medrosh which previously housed the school. He also built his own home ad­ jacent to the yeshivah edifice. Often, he looked through his window and happily observed his students lernen in their new quarters.

The additional facilities provided by the new building had enabled it to accept many new students. Soon, how­ ever, the Mussar controversy once again returned to plague the Slobodka Yeshivah. Some of the new talmidim resented the dominant Mussar atmo­ sphere and the student body split into two groups. The advocates of Mussar sat on the northern side of the Beth Medrosh while its opponents occupied the southern section. Rabbi Epstein re­ fused to side with the rebels and he supported Rabbi Finkel’s policies. He too insisted that definite sessions be devoted daily to the study of Mussar works. Nevertheless, the Mussar dis­ pute lingered on, and presently be­ came enmeshed with a new problem that arose.

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With the outbreak of revolution in 1905, Jewish participation in the R ussian rev olutionary movement reached its peak. The ideals of social justice and human betterment were of paramount concern even within the Yeshivah world. Spiritual unrest pre­ vailed throughout the Lithuanian yeshivoth. Many students were fas­ cinated by the new ideologies, and they envisioned plans whereby these secular ideologies could be merged with the Torah outlook. These new issues further strained student rela­ tions in Slobodka.

In accordance with his Mussar principles, Rabbi Finkel refused to act severely with the quarreling students.

Despite the fact that this attitude en­ abled the Slobodka unrest to continue for the ensuing years, the “Levush Mordechai” supported Rabbi Finkel’s administrative policies. o l l o w in g the outbreak of W orld War I, the Slobodka Y eshivah fled from its exposed Slobodka location. After first re­ locating in Minsk, the academy then moved to Kremenchug where it re­ mained for the duration of the con­ flict. Rabbis Epstein and Finkel con­ tinued to guide their yeshivah and talmidim during this most difficult period. Although it was literally dif­ ficult to obtain bread, the voice of Torah remained vibrant while the Yeshivah was in exile.

In the meantime, Slobodka was conquered by the Germans. The oc­ cupational government permitted local rabbis to open a yeshivah in the now empty school building. Rabbis Boruch Horowitz and Nisson Yablonsky de-

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livered the Talmudic lectures while the European and Palestinian yeshiRabbi Yerucham Levovitz served as voth. The “Levush Mordechai,” Rabbi the spiritual director of the nascent Avrohom Yitzchok Kook, the Ash­ school. kenazic Chief Rabbi of Eretz Yisroel, After the war, Rabbi Yablonsky and Rabbi Avrohom Dovber Kahaneemigrated to the United States where Shapiro, the Chief Rabbi of Kovno, he became a Rosh Yeshivah in Chica­ were designated as the members of this go’s Hebrew Theological College. Rab­ rabbinic delegation. Early in 1924 bi Levovitz left for the Ponevez Yeshi­ Rabbi Epstein arrived in New York, vah and he was later to achieve fame as accompanied by Rabbi Yaakov Lessin the Mashgiach of the Mirrer Yeshivah. an organizer of the Slobodka Kollel.

Rabbi Horowitz joined the faculty of He was later joined by the other mem­ the original Slobodka Yeshivah when bers of the delegation, and together it returned to Slobodka in 1921 and they toured the United States and merged with the new yeshivah which Canada. They raised over $400,000 for occupied its building. The rejuvenated the overseas yeshivoth. This financial Slobodka Yeshivah now entered upon aid enabled all the leading academies its golden period, expanding rapidly to successfully discharge their respon­ during the 1920’s. Two new units were sibilities. In 1927, Rav Mosheh Mor­ added: a preparatory school, named dechai once again visited the United “Or Yisroel” in memory of Rabbi Yis- States to raise funds for the Slobodka roel Salanter, and a Kollel for post­ Yeshivah.

In America, Rabbi graduate study, headed by Rabbi Epstein’s new acquaintances were not Finkel’s son-in-law, Rabbi Yitzchok only impressed by his superb Torah Isaac Sher. During this period, Rabbi know ledge, b u t were also over­ Avrohom Grodzenski assisted Rabbi whelmed by the warmth and sincerity Finkel in administering the Yeshivah. of his personality. When he entered a Manhattan synagogue and observed a HE rapid expansion placed ad­ Chevrah Tehillim in session, he insisted ditional financial responsibilities on becoming a member of this sacred upon Rabbi Epstein. Funds were dif­ group. He paid the annual dues for this ficult to obtain from local sources due privilege and had his name inscribed to th e strained post-war Eastern on the membership list as simply Europe economy. He finally decided Mosheh Mordechai Epstein without that a fund-raising trip to Great Britain any of the titles he so richly deserved. and the United States was the only so­ On a n o th e r occasion, during his lution to the financial problems of his American sojourn, his niece showed y e s h i v a h . C o in c id e n ta lly , th e him the engagement ring she had just American Central Relief Committee received. To sanctify the event, he concluded that it was necessary to smilingly advised her to partake of a sponsor a visit of leading rabbinic new fruit so she could make the bless­ luminaries to revitalize the enthusiasm ing of “ Shehechiyanu” for both hap­ of American Jewry for the support of penings.

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URING this period, a historic step was taken by the Slobodka Yeshivah. It was during the time fol­ lowing the Balfour Declaration which resulted in an increased aliyah to Pal­ estine. The “Levush Mordechai” de­ clared that the Jewish homeland must be built spiritually while it was being constructed physically. The idea of transfering a division of the yeshivah to the Holy Land was spurred into reality by a Lithuanian Government decision in 1924 to discontinue its pre­ vious practice of exempting all yeshi­ vah students from military service. The government now decreed that the yeshivah students also attain a secular education in order to qualify for the draft exemption. Those who did not possess a secular education could only be exempt until their twenty-sixth year. They could then be drafted un­ less they accepted rabbinical positions.

Fearing that ultimately even these limited exemptions would be nullified, it was decided to implement the idea of an Eretz Yisroel branch. The loca­ tion chosen was Hebron, the sanctified home of the Patriarchs, and there the new unit was opened in 1924. The aged Rabbi Finkel headed the new school while Rabbi Epstein divided his time between Hebron and Slobodka.

The vision of a world-famous yeshivah in Hebron soon attracted over 150 dedicated students from all over the Jewish world, including an American contingent of youngsters.

Upon the death of Rabbi Finkel in 1927, Rav Mosheh Mordechai decided to permanently settle in Palestine.

Rabbi Yitzchok Isaac Sher assumed full responsibility for the Slobodka home of the Yeshivah, and Rabbi

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Epstein left for Hebron in 1928. He was warmly received and the yeshivah c o n tin u e d to grow and prosper.

On F rid a y and S habboth, August 23rd and 24th, 1929, the noble Hebron venture was brutally ended by a vicious Arab massacre.

Scores of armed Arabs arrived in Heb­ ron and proclaimed the baseless charge that the Jews had rioted and slain prom inent Jerusalem Arabs. Soon, masses of Arabs gathered and clam­ ored for revenge. The Jewish section of Hebron was attacked, and by the time order was restored by the British authorities, fifty-nine Jewish inhabi­ tants of the city were slain. Twentyfive of the dead were Yeshivah stu­ dents and seven of these were Ameri­ cans who had come to study in Heb­ ro n . Among the dead was David Epstein of Chicago, the ‘‘Levush Mordechai’s” nephew. He had just arrived in Hebron in April of 1929. Also murdered were Z’vi Forman and Jacob Wechsler from Chicago’s Beth Medrosh Latorah. The slain Rabbi Zev Berman, Benjamin Hurwitz, and Aaron Scheinberg had previously attended divisions of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theo­ logical Seminary. Zev Greenberg repre­ sented Mesifta Torah Vodaath among the Hebron martyrs.

During the riots, Rabbi Epstein was in Hebron. He and his family miraculously escaped the wrath of the mobs since his home was also sur­ rounded during the outbreaks. After­ wards, when the British evacuated the surviving Jews to Jerusalem, they wanted to remove Rabbi Epstein and his family with the first convoy to leave. The “ Levush Mordechai” re­ fused to depart until all his remaining JEWISH L IF E

students had safely left. He was the the tutelage of his three erudite sonslast Jew to leave Hebron during that in-law , R abbis Yecheskel Sarna, sad week.

Mosheh Hebroni, and the late Aharon Cohen. His youngest son-in-law, Rabbi ROKEN by the tragic ending to Yoseph Sussmanowitz, remained in th e H ebron venture, Rabbi Europe and he became the Rav of Epstein nevertheless had the foresight Vilkomir. Here he met his untimely to reopen the yeshivah in Jerusalem. end, martyred in the Holocaust that His own solace and consolation was consumed the communities that nur­ that he was able to comfort the many tured the “Levush Mordechai.” visiting relatives of the deceased With Today, though the school that the vision of a brighter tomorrow. On gave immortality to Slobodka is no November 20, 1933/2 Kislev, 5694, more, it lives on in the Hebron Yeshi­ Mosheh Mordechai Epstein returned vah of Yerusholayim and the Slobodka his soul to the Almighty and was Yeshivah of Bnei Brak, to which city buried on the Mount of Olives. In trib­ th e original school had relocated, ute to his vision, the Hebron Yeshivah vibrant and fruitful in the spirit im­ in Jerusalem continued to thrive under planted by its great creators.

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¿K M it tá c

by DAVID S. SHAPIRO

DEVOTION UNTO DEATH (Responsa Sha’ar Ephroyim i 91) A tender story of true devotion and love emerges out of an episode recounted in a volume of Responsa from the middle of the seventeenth century. The period was one of interminable warfare and brutality. The ThirtyYears War raged in Europe between 1618-1648 and ravaged the continent.

Poland and the Ukraine became a battlefield in the years that followed. It was apparently during these tragic years of carnage and plunder that the episode referred to took place.

As was customary in those days of ceaseless wars, captives were sold as slaves. Fortunate was the lot of a captive if he fell into the hand of a Jew, who would grant him humane treatment. Among the slaves sold at this time in Poland, Moravia, or Austria (we cannot be sure where this happened), a male and female slave were sold to a Jewish couple. The latter treated the captives most gently, and, instead of retaining them as slaves, educated them, taught them the principles of Judaism, so that finally the servants decided to convert. Moreover, the master arranged for their marriage into Jewish families. The emancipated slaves were deeply grateful to their masters and remained loyal to them through­ out their lives.

In the course of time the husband and wife passed away and their former slaves were deeply grieved over their deaths. In each case they wanted to observe the mourning rites traditional with Jewish people for the loss of parents. But were they actually duty-bound to do so? The Jewish couple were not actually 54

JEWISH L IF E

their parents. If they were not obligated to observe the mourning rites, could they do so voluntarily?

The question was forwarded to the great Gaon of his day, Rabbi E phroyim ben Yaakov Ha-Kohen (1616-1678), who served as rabbi in Vilna Prague, and Ofen. During which period of his life the question was sent to him we cannot know.

Rabbi Ephroyim Ha-Kohen answered that according to the Mishnah in Bova Metziah 33a (see also Moed Katan 26a), the emancipated slaves are obli­ gated to rend their garments as a mark of mourning for the deceased just as one is required to do for a teacher. The teacher is to be honored even more than the father because he has brought his student to the portals of eternal life. The former slaves who were taught and converted by their masters are to regard them as teachers. However, as far as observing the period of Shivah or Sheloshim or the year’s period of mourning, this is in no way obligatory, except for true parents. The ruling cited in the Shulchon Oruch Yoreh Deah 242,25 requires only part of one day to be set aside for mourning in the case of a teacher, but not more. As to the right to carry out a voluntary period of mourning, no answer is contained in the responsum, either because it was not completed or because it is obvious that such practice may not voluntarily be undertaken, since it might lead to complications (see Berochoth 16b, in Tossafoth).

FEBRUARY-M ARCH 1969

55

RESU RG EN CE O F YIDDISH LANGUAGE Dr. Mordkhe Schaechter, visiting assistant professor of Yiddish at Yeshiva University, New York City, said, “All this talk about a dying language is cruel and misinformed. A language with eight dailies published on three continents is not dying. Hebrew was also supposed to be dead 100 years ago. The revival of Yiddish has been long overdue, and the question now is how deep and farreaching is this reinvigorated interest.”

Dr. Schaechter of 3328 Bainbridge Avenue, the Bronx, attributes this renewed interest to a “longing for Jewish identity” by American Jews “who were previously interested only in their Biblical past but who have now turned to their immediate past.”

Yiddish linguistic research is being funded by Federal agencies: the National Science Foundation as well as the National Institute of Mental Health.

The college campus and the graduate school has been another area where interest in Yiddish has grown. Yiddish is taught at Columbia University, Brandéis Uni­ versity, the Hebrew University, etc. According to Dr. Schaechter, additional Yiddish courses are being offered at 18 college campuses.

- From a publicity release from Yeshiva University

The Arab Governments oppose any United Nations investigation o f the oppression o f Jews in their lands because o f the extent o f that oppression. They have banned U.N. representatives from looking into the problem, claiming that their treatment o f Jews is an internal matter. They have also refused to allow delegates o f the International Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations to visit the prison and concentration camps in which the Jews have been detained. p,om “f acts Relating to the Baghdad Executions, ” published by the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C. 56

JEWISH L IF E

In 1862 another issue came to his (Bernhard Behrend’s) attention. Pres­ ident Abraham Lincoln had issued the following “General Order Respecting the Observation of the Sabbath Day in the Army and Navy” : The importance for man and beast of the prescribed weekly rest, the sacred rights of Christian soldiers and sailors, a becoming deference to the best sentiments of a Christian people, and a due regard for the Divine will demand that Sunday labor in the Army and Navy be reduced to the measure of strict necessity.

Bernhard Behrend addressed a letter to President Lincoln regarding the order. The letter published in the Occident was preceded by a four page editorial entitled, “Are We Equals in this Land?” It refers to Behrend as “our old cor­ respondent.” The full text of the letter follows: To His Excellency the President of the United States: By your order of the 16th day of November, 1862, you recommend that the officers and men of the army shall observe the Sabbath and do no work on Sunday, because we are a Christian people, but a free, sovereign people with equal rights, and each and every citizen of the United States has the right and liberty to live according to his own consciousness in religious matters, and no one religious denomination, be it a majority or minority of the people, can have a privilege before the other under this our beloved constitution. Now by the order of your Excellency you give the privilege to those officers and men in the army who by their religious creed do observe the Sunday as a holy day and a day of rest; but you make no provision for those officers and men in the army who do not want to observe the Sunday as a holy day, (as for instance those Christians called the Seventh-day Baptists and the Jews, who observe the Saturday as a holy day and a day of rest) that they may enjoy the same privilege as those who observe the Sunday as a holy day, as well as for the heathen or the so-called infidels, who do not want to celebrate either the Sunday or the Saturday as a Sabbath, but choose perhaps some other day as a day of rest.

Now I stand before you as your namesake Abraham stood before G-d Almighty in days of yore, and asked, “Shall not the Judge of all earth do justice?” so I ask your Excellency, the first man and President of all the United States, shall you not do justice? Shall you not give the same priv­ ilege to a minority of the army that you give to the majority of it? I beseech you to make provision, and to proclaim in another order, that also all those in the army who celebrate another day as the Sunday may be allowed to celebrate that day which they think is the right day according to their own conscience; and this will be exactly lawful, as the Constitu­ tion of the United States ordains it, and at the same time it will be exactly FEBRUARY-M ARCH 1969

57

according to the teaching of Jesus, as recorded in Mark xii.31: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” I gave my consent to my son, who was yet a minor, that he should enlist in the United States army; I thought it was his duty,, and I gave him my advice to fulfill his duty as a good citizen, and he has done so. At the same time I taught him also to observe the Sabbath on Saturday, when it woujd not hinder him from fulfilling his duty in the army. Now I do not want that he shall be dragged either to the stake or the church to observe the Sunday as a Sabbathr Your Excellency will observe in this my writing that I am not very well versed in the English language, and if there should be found a word which not right, pardon it, and never such a word shall be construed so as if I would offend your Excellency or the people; for I love my country, the Constitution, ancl the Union, and I try to be always a loyal citizen.

I remain, respectfully, your most obedient servant and fellow-citizen.

B. Behrend Narrowsburg, Sullivan Co., N.Y., December 4, 1862.

—from The Record, Publication o f the Jewish Historical Society o f Greater Washington (D.C.)

POLAND FROM A FRONT PAGE ARTICLE: Ian Mather travels from Warsaw to Vienna to report on a campaign of persecution by the Communists: Heartbreak train: Jews flee from Iron Curtain.

The Chopin Express pulls out of Warsaw’s Gdansk Station each night with a heartbreak consignment of people.

Thirty shillings. Before they can board it they must renounce their Polish nationality, surrender their passports, tell the authorities they want to emigrate to Israel, and hand over all documents showing their professional qualifications and all their money except thirty shillings. In return, they are given a travel voucher allowing them to go to Vienna.

Hunted animals. Those who survived the Nazi era and the de-Stalinization purges in 1956 have looked upon themselves as Poles. Now, bitter and be­ wildered, they find themselves the victims of a Polish Government-inspired witch-hunt which is forcing them out of jobs, homes and country. As we walked through Warsaw’s snow-covered streets, away from the walls that have ears, many of these Jews had the look of hunted animals.

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JEWISH L IF E

Jewish writer Alexander., who fled the country on December 21, decided to get out when he lost his job. The police charged him 150 pounds for fictitious repairs to his flat. Then he had to go to Warsaw railway station day after day while the Customs men went through his library of 10,000 books, which they finally confiscated along with 200 files and the manuscript of his latest book on Nazism.

Since the anti-Semitic campaign got under way last year 15,000 of Poland’s 30,000 Jews have applied to leave the country and between 100 and 200 are getting out each week. All are forced to declare they are emigrating to Israel thus providing evidence for First Secretary Wladyslaw Gomulka’s claim that Polish Jews are all Zionists who support Israeli agression’ against the Arabs and are also friendly to anti-Russian ‘Zionist counter-revolutionaries’ in Czechoslovakia.

Joint or Hias. Once they arrive in Vienna their troubles are over. All are of­ ficially received by the Jewish Agency acting on behalf of the Israeli Govern­ ment, as all are officially going to Israel. But only one in five eventually goes there. Most are taken over by the American Joint-Services Committee or the Hebrew Immigrants’ Aid Society, which specialise in helping Jewish refugees.

Moczar. Poland’s anti-Jewish drive is run by a special Jewish Affairs section of the Ministry of the Interior. Directing the campaign is Major-General Mieczyslaw Moczar, 55-year-old railway worker’s son and head of the Polish War Veterans’ Association who worked his way up on an anti-Sem itic platform to be Min­ ister of the Interior and Chief of Police. Moczar, now Central Committee sec­ retary, is Gomulka’s chief rival, and is using anti-Semitism in a bitter power struggle with the veteran Polish leader.

DAIL Y MAIL, London, 5th February, 1969.

INCREASING SCALE POSSIBLE. A new Jewish refugee problem might arise on account o f the open anti-semitism now in evidence in Poland, the SecretaryGeneral o f the Norwegian Council on Refugees, Mr. Boe, said in Oslo.

He for cast the possibility that the number o f Jewish refugees might rise sharply because o f the situation in Poland; and a similar development was noticeable in Czechoslovakia. Many Czech refugees who were asking for asylum in Norway were Jews, he said.

THE EX-SERVICEMAN, London, February, 1969.

- from a Press Survey published by the London office o f the World Jewish Congress

FEBRUARY-M ARCH 1969

59

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JEW ISH LIFE

B ooh R eview s ANTHOLOGY OF SOVIET ANTISEMITISM

By SHMUEL LITTMAN lining the disabilities suffered by Soviet Jews, Ronald Rubin, the volume’s editor and an orthodox Jewish political scientist, has brought together a number of deeply moving eyewitness accounts, mostly dealing with manifestations of suppressed relig­ N the process of rebuilding after the iosity. Related to this genre is Michael Kauf­ Holocaust, preoccupation with the man’s “Visit to Babi Yar” (originally pub­ domestic and Israeli scenes distracted the at­ lished in JEWISH LIFE), thé ending of tention of most American Jews from the which is so poignant it etches directly on massive tragedy that has befallen their core­ the Jewish psyche. Another unforgettable ligionists in the Soviet Union. Aiming at the excerpt is from the pen o f the anonymous heart of the Jew’s remarkable capacity to Israeli traveler Ben Ami. In a touching, brief endure, Moscow had undertaken a diabolical piece called “The Ships That Will Sail to campaign to crush the Jewish spirit by bull­ Jerusalem,” he captures the profound but dozing synagogues, outlawing Jewish educa­ frustrated Zionist yearnings of Russia’s tion, and prohibiting or obstructing the ful­ Oriental Jews by relating an ancient legend fillment of such essential Mitzvoth as cir­ that he heard at a Seder. The tenacious hold cumcision and T’fillin. of tradition despite all odds becomes even Only in the last few years has there been any significant awakening to this situa­ more apparent in Elie Wiesel’s powerful re­ port o f the ecstasy that marked a Simchath tion, perhaps best evidenced by the ever­ Torah celebration by Moscow’s Jewish growing literature appearing on the subject. youth.

Yet, despite the plethora of published material, no single work existed covering all N addition to the selections dealing dimensions of the issue. With the appear­ with the strangulation of religious life, ance of “The Unredeemed,” an anthology articles deal with such topics as the relation­ of the most important articles and book ex­ ship between Israel and Soviet Jewry, pop­ cerpts on Soviet Jewry, this deficiency has ular, crude antisemitism, arid the response been filled in a gratifying manner. to th e Soviet anti-Jewish policy from Aside from the expected surveys outabroad. Rubin is clearly in favor of protest and notes in one of his own essays that con­ MR. LITTM AN is em p loyed in the S ch o o l cessions made by the Soviet Union (e.g., in­ Planning and R esearch D ivision o f N ew York C ity’s Board o f E ducation. creased availability of matzoth, discontinua-

THE UNREDEEMED: ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE SOVIET UNION, edited with an intro­ duction by Ronald I. Rubin; Chicago: Quad­ rangle Books, 1968, 317 pps., $10.00.

S

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FEBRUARY-M ARCH 1969

61

tion of executions for alleged economic measure. This time Jews in America can not crimes, more lenient emigration laws up to even plead, “We did not know.” To save the Six-Day War) are undoubtedly a reflec­ fully one-fourth o f our people, no stone can tion of sensitivity to foreign pressure. On a be left unturned, no means o f attaining res­ local level, the experience of the Phil­ cue unavailed. Until now, this simply has adelphia Jewish community protest, dis­ not been done. cussed here in some detail, suggests a Rubin’s Introduction to “The Unre­ number of important outcomes to such deemed” implies all this, but the indictment activity. should have been more explicit. This short­ Acutely cognizant of our special role coming notwithstanding, his anthology is as the generation after the Six Million, the most comprehensive work: on the sub­ Rubin comments, “A quarter of a century ject, essential reading for all concerned with after the ovens o f Auschwitz have been the plight of this silenced people of three cooled, the hunting o f the guilty - whether million. Just how urgenf®is the message of by action tor inaction - goes on. What better Mr. Rubin’s book can be gathered from a way for free men to honor the dead than to picture it contains o f a time-worn building, guarantee that the Jews of Russia, the princ­ described as the “last remaining synagogue ipal survivors o f the Holocaust, endure.” in Odessa.” The printer’s ink was barely dry But the mesiras nefesh the devotion and on these words when Soviet authorities shut self-sacrifice necessary to achieve this end, down this last remnant o f the once proud has not been forthcoming in sufficient Jewish community.

DIARY OF THE SIX DAYS

by PHI LIP ZIMMERMAN THE 28th of IYAR, by Emanuel Feldman; New York: Bloch Publishing Company, 1968, 148 pps., $4.50.

he elected to remain with his brethren in a “time of trouble.” During his stay he ac­ complished two things connected with the written word. He acted as a volunteer post­ ABBI Emanuel Feldman of Atlanta, man in B’nei B’rak while almost all the Georgia, was in Israel with his family other mailmen were on military duty, and during the period just before the Six-Day he kept a “day by day journal in which are War, as a guest lecturer at Bar-Ilan Uni­ recorded the emotions and moods and sights versity. Although urged by relatives, friends, and sounds of a people hovering on the and the U.S. Government to return home, brink of disaster, and in the^ space o f sixty sudden hours, soaring on the wings o f tri­ RABBI ZIMMERMAN, a form er chaplain in umph.” On both counts, we can be happy the U .S. A rm y, is a ch em ist in N ew Y ork that Rabbi Feldman decided to remain. He City. is a sensitive and literate observer, as well as

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62 JEWISH L IF E

a talented author, and has used his abilities to draw a picture, primarily o f B’nai B’rak, in those dramatic days.

What, we must ask, are the central chiddushim to be found in this book, not presently available in the extensive literature which has grown out o f that epic conflict?

One of the major concepts which emerges from this work is that the members and the leaders o f the religious community met the great crisis which faced the State. One o f the most touching stories in the diary (p.

19) tells o f the fateful knock on the door of a citizen o f B’nei B’rak, who was reciting Kiddush with his family. A soldier enters, joins in the Kiddush, motions to the master of the house, who blesses his children, kisses his wife goodbye, and dressed in his Sabbath finery, leaves with his kit-bag, ready for ser­ vice. For so had the Rabbis of the town decided - all those called up should leave on the Sabbath H even taking their Tallith and Tefillin along.

Let one further read the moving words uttered to hundreds by the venerable Rabbi Chatzkel Levenstein on Friday night just before the War, in the Ponevez Yeshivah - and he will see that we are still blessed with spiritual giants in our midst. One can only wish that this “mussar shmuess” would be made mandatory reading for such diverse elements as: members of the Conservative clergy who endlessly roll on (usually in the New York Times, it seems) about the stature o f Orthodoxy in the Holy Land, in­ terested only in “worn-out” customs; Jew­ ish intellectuals o f the “New Left,” who are moved by the plight of every suffering group but their own people; secularists, here and in Israel, who insist on seeing the War as an event without any deeper spiritual mean­ ing. “What we face,” Rabbi Levenstein said, “is serious, extremely serious. But its gravity is not only the physical danger that con­ fronts us, but the spiritual opportunity as well. All this —the mobilization, the emerg­ ency, the danger -¡¡¡has not occurred hap­ hazardly. It is an opportunity for us to FEBRUARY-M ARCH 1969

cleave to G -d.. . . ” A n oth er im p ortan t fa c t which emerges from “The 28th of Iyar” is that the general population of the State was moved by a deep religious outpouring in those dra­ matic days. There does remain in the Jewish heart B even in those who have moved or been removed from our ancient and evernew Torah —some mysterious element of Yiddishkeit. It sometimes takes massive events to unlock that essence —but it is there. A leading Israeli general reported, “You will be amazed; not a single soldier left for battle without praying. Even the most hardened cynics prayed.” (General Y. Gavish) Finally we come to the question of questions - what is the ultimate evaluation of the great events o f Iyar, 5727, from the viewpoint of Jewish eternity? As Rabbi Feldman put it, “Have we, the generation o f Dachau and Auschwitz, been witness to a miracle?” Ness —miracle —is not a word to be invoked lightly. Still the events after the war — the lack of progress towards peace, the sinking o f a major Israeli warship, the loss of a submarine, the French embargo, the slow but steady toll o f soldiers and civil­ ians lost in various actions seem to show that during those Six Days Israel was guided and protected by more than fhe force of human arms. Would that those Six Days had been crowned by the Seventh Day ^ the Sabbath o f Peace for which we all pray! One fact stands out clearly - the Yishuv was saved in a time o f great peril. There recently appeared in the newspapers an advertise­ ment for a work of fiction which purports to tell what would have happened had Israel lost the war (chas v ’shalom!).This advertise­ ment took the form of a newspaper describ­ ing the crushing o f the Jewish state, in graphic and gory details. Whoever read it without a shudder lacks an awareness of what might have happened. It is precisely the merit o f works like that o f Rabbi Feld­ man that show us that, however important the physical aspect of the victory was, we

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63

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J E W IS H L I F E

dare not overlook the spiritual aspect as well.

This is a book to be read and re-read.* It has pathos (sometimes a bit of bathos, too) and humor; deep wisdom and trivia.

There are many enlightening references to various aspects of Jewish tradition bearing on the great confrontation faced by the people of Israel. Perhaps most amazing is the commentary of the Malbim on Ezekiel *A m inor point: th is reviewer recalls that som e p o rtio n s o f the w ork have appeared in a Jew ish m o n th ly (n o t the present o n e.)

Journalistic eth ics w ou ld seem to call for ack n ow led gem en t o f this fact, w h ich per­ haps future editors can carry.

32:17 where there is mention of a pact be­ tween the Soviets and the Arabs against the Holy Land.

There is a school of literature which holds that the telegram should be held up as a model o f style. Rabbi Feldman has pro­ vided an example o f this school in his story of the telegraphic clerk who corrected and edited each outgoing telegram so as to brighten the picture to the outside world.

One text which the clerk held up as a model, needing no correction, was that of a lady - and this may serve as a summation of the book as well: “ENEMY IS DEFEATED. ALL ARE WELL. G-D HAS REVEALED HIMSELF TO ISRAEL. DO NOT WORRY’.’

POINTS OF ORDER

By DAVID K R A N ZLER A CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM FOR LIBRARIES OF JUDAICA, by David H. Elazar and Daniel J. Elazar; Detroit; Wayne University Libraries, 1968, 192 pps., $5.00.

T

HE mere appearance of a book o fte n discloses more of the nature of a society than tomes of sociological analyses. A case in point is the recently published “Classification System for Libraries of Judaica” by David and Daniel Elazar. Its appear­ ance is indicative of the tremendous growth of interest in and dissemina­ tion of books of Jewish interest on the MR. K R A N Z LER is librarian at Q ueensboro C om m unity College in N ew Y ork C ity.

FEBRUARY-M ARCH 1969

American Jewish scene. This is sub­ stantiated by the proliferation of pub­ lications fib o th reprints and newly published —of Judaica and Hebraica as well as the concomitant growth of Jewish libraries from the synagogue adjunct to the college and graduate level. However, anyone familiar with some of these libraries has realized the long-overdue need for a simple yet comprehensive scheme for organizing their collections, whether they be of a general or specialized nature.

Ever since the Anshe K’nesseth Hag’dolah finalized the canon of the Written Torah and Rabbi Yehudah Ha-Nasi arranged the Six Sedorim of the Oral Torah, attempts have been 65

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Rashi is distinguished by his simplicity and directness. His masterly use of brev­ ity, his skill to make dear the meaning of the most difficult passages, is unrivaled.

The present edition, designed for teach­ ers and students as well as synagogue use, consists of the five books of Moses with Targum Onkelos, an English translation of the Torah, and the entire Rashi com­ mentary vocalized and translated into English.

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made to come to grips with the prob­ lem of organizing Jewish books and/or knowledge. Among the Rishonim one finds such endeavors by Bachya ben Yoseph Ibn Pakudah in the introduc­ tion to his Chovoth Halevavoth, or by the Rambam’s favorite student Yoseph Ibn Aknin in his Arabic work Tabbul-Nufus. A while later, about three hundred years ago, the father of Jew­ ish bibliography, Shabtai ben Yoseph Bass, published the first real class­ ification of over two thousand seforim in hisSiftheyYeshenim. More recently, librarians at such institutions with huge holdings in the fields of Judaica as the Stadtbibliothek of Frankfort A.M., the New York Library, the Library of Congress, and the Hebrew University (See “ Studies in Jewish Bib­ liography and Related Subjects in Honor of Abraham Solomon Freidus”) have devised schemes for classifying their collections. Since in each of the above mentioned libraries such collec­ tions were merely part of their larger holdings, their methods had to fit within their general classification for the entire library.

We are therefore indebted to David and Daniel Elazar for providing an entirely new system of classifica­ tion of Judaica set within the frame­ work of the familiar Dewey Decimal System and adaptable for both small and large libraries.

N order to fully appreciate the new classification scheme it might be in order to give a brief de­ scription of its framework, the Dewey System. Melvil Dewey based his sys­ tem upon the division of all knowledge into ten major classes, to each of

I

FEBRUARY-M ARCH 1969

which he assigned 100 numbers. Thus, all of the history books fall within the 900’s or those on literature among the 800’s etc. Each of the ten major classes is divided into ten subdivisions with ten numbers allocated to each* For example, the Science class (500’s) contains such subdivisions as Math­ e m a tic s (5 1 0 -5 1 9 ), A stro n o m y (520-529), Chemistry (530-539), etc.

In this manner Dewey provided for 1,000 numbers representing this many minor subdivisions. Since there might be many books on any one of these subjects in a library, Dewey provided a means of further expansion of his numbers by means of a decimal. For example, since 973 represents U.S. his­ to ry (9 0 0 -H isto ry ); 70-America; 3-U.S.), a book on one aspect of U.S. History, e.g., the Civil War, is 973.7.

Instead of using number 296, assigned by Dewey to Judaism, or even using, e.g., the literature and history sections for books of Jewish contents, as is the practice in many libraries, our authors scrapped all the categories, re­ taining only the numbers and method­ ology of the Dewey System. This was done, as the authors point out, since books of Jewish interest cover such a wide variety of subjects that they justify their own full classification system.

One of the reasons for our author’s selection of the Dewey Sys­ tem over that of the other major class­ ification scheme (the Library of Con­ gress System) seems to be that the lat­ ter utilizes essentially a more prag­ matic approach in its arrangement, since it was devised from an already existing, large collection at the Library of Congress at the turn of the century.

67

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In Jerusalem: Five months’ studies, Hebrew, Israel, Judaic, sociology, other social sciences. College credit.

Optional Ulpan.

In Netivot: Applied community, edu­ cation, and youth work in religious de­ velopment city in Negev, area popu­ lation 10,000, Moroccan and Tunisian origins. Continued studies. write:

Mizrachi Hatzair, Inc., Suite 734 150 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10011

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J E W IS H L I F E

It also lacks many of the mnemonic devices and much of the logic in the re la tio n s h ip and interrelationships found in Dewey. In other words, the Dewey system was planned along more theoretical lines and is so arranged that wherever practical, each subject is pre­ ceded and followed by its most closely related subject. These characteristics enable library users and students to assimilate the system more readily and helps account for its widespread pop­ ularity. Its main drawback, however, is the limitation of its use to libraries of up to moderate size, as compared to the feasibility of the L.C. System for th e large college and university libraries.

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look at the ten major classes listed be­ low and a few examples of the sub­ divisions will reveal the internal logic applied by the authors as well as some of their basic assumptions.

001-099 BIBLE AND BIBLICAL STUDIES 100-199 CLASSICAL JUDAICA: HALAKHA AND MIDRASH 200-299 JEWISH OBSERVANCE AND PRACTICE 300-399 JEWISH EDUCATION 400-499 HEBREW, JEWISH LANGUA GES AND SCIENCES 500-599 JEWISH LITERATURE 600-699 THE JEWISH COMMUNITY: SOCIETY & THE ARTS 700-799 JEWISH HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, BIOGRAPHY 800-899 ISRAEL AND ZIONISM 900-999 GENERAL WORKS

HE authors, in devising their scheme, went still further in their attempt to relate the subject mat­ ter in all classes to each other. The aim O ur disagreements with this of their system, the authors maintain, scheme center about the gulf separat­ is not merely to provide an efficient ing some of the categories as well as means for arranging and retrieving of the contiguity of others. An example books. “A good system has an educa­ of the former becomes evident upon tional function to serve as well. A observing the distinction drawn be­ good Judaica classification system tw een th e 100 Class - Classical must give the average librarian and the Judaica —Halakha and Midrash and general reader some directions for ap­ the 200 Class ^Jew ish Observance proaching Jewish materials as well as a and Practice. This dichotomy in the re­ co n v en ien t way to fin d th ese lationship of the subjects becomes materials.” readily established in the minds of It is quite natural then that such both the librarian as well as the library a system of classification, even more patron. A closer look at the more de­ so th a n th o se mentioned above, tailed tables will emphasize this point evinces a particular outlook that pro­ even further. Thus within the 100 vides the framework and guides the re­ Class, numbers 125-131 represent the lationships of the subject matter. The p erio d s of Post-Talmudic Halakha results so based make parts of this very from, e.g., the Gaonim, Codes (126.4) excellent scheme unacceptable —un­ thro u g h the Aharonim (16th-19th altered —to any library run by an or­ cent.) with no. 131 — Contemporary thodox Jewish institution. Even a brief Jewish Law. One would imagine that a FEBRUARY-M ARCH 1969 69

km at todt....

What Brocha Do I m ak e------on Bagels, Blintzes, Rice Krispies, Waffles, Knishes???

Carry the Pocket Size Alphabetical guide for easy reference.

Your guide to blessings for all foods (almost 600 listings): $1.00 post paid.

UOJCA Publications / Eighty-four Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10011 Enclosed please find $ , . . ..............f o r .............. . .copies of the new revised edition of “A Guide to Blessings” @$1.00 per copy. (.75 in quantities of 10 or more /.60 in quantities of 100 or more) Mail to: NAME......... ......................... ......................................... ....................................

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logical extension of this category and its commentaries and linguistics. would be Laws, (Halakhot) Customs The next no. 005 is assigned to Mod­ and Ceremonies, including such sub­ ern Biblical Criticism (e.g.,- works of divisions as Kashrut, Tefilin, Brit Wellhausen and Kaufman [examples, Milah, Brakhot, etc. These categories, th e irs ]) including books of Nonhowever, do not appear for some Jewish Orientation. It is understand­ time —which in the case of the book able for some orthodox Jewish institu­ arrangement in a library can readily tions to keep such books for research mean several book stacks away. One purposes. One may ask, however, must first plough through such classes whether anyone who sets eyfen a mini­ as Jewish Thought, Jewish Theological mum standard of Kedushah to our Concepts, Aggadah, Kabbalah, etc., .K ithyey Kodesh would place the each in turn with further subdivisions. above-mentioned categories; alongside Only when one reaches 220 does one the Tanach or its Meforshim? Similar­ find Guides to Jewish Living M in­ ly, do books on Comparative Religion, cluding the aforementioned categories Paganism and Christianity have to fol­ such as Kashrut, Tefilin, etc. Obvious­ low the Jewish Months and their ly, according to the authors’ frame of Svecial Occasions? mind, certain subjects such as Classical These criticisms become all the Halakha through Contemporary Law more significant in view of one of the are not synonymous, or better, an in­ authors’ aims of making their scheme tegral part of Contemporary Guides to serve “an educational function,’’ One Jewish Living, but are relegated to the can well imagine the “education” stu­ historical development of Jewish Law den ts will absorb while browsing with little relation to Contemporary through the stacks in the Library of the United Hebrew Schools in Detroit Jewish Living. where the authors originated their N example of the second aspect system. They need not even pick up of our disagreement with this any of the books in order to develop a system revolves about the juxtaposi­ distinctly un-traditional concept of tion of two categories found within a Jewish history and values. subdivision of the major class in, e.g., Thus, the only way a library in th e 1 0 0 ’s — B ible and B iblical an orthodox institution can utilize this Studies —for which the authors assign really worthwhile tool is by emending nos. 001-004 to represent the Bible certain classes to suit its own sense of proportion.

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FEBRUARY-M ARCH 1969

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YAVNEH

Religious Student Association Presents SUMMER SCHOOL PROGRAM

UN DERGRADUATE PROGRAM

at

BAR I LAN U N IVERSITY

BAR I LAN U N IV ERSITY

RAMAT GAN for the year 1969—70

YAVNEH ISRAEL INSTITUTE FOR JUDAIC STUDIES AT MACHON GOLD IN JERUSALEM THE YAVNEH ISRAEL INSTITUTE for the year 1969—70 NAME........... ......................................

ADDRESS (home).............................

CITY/STATE/ZIP.............. ...............

TELEPHONE........................... ..........

PLACE OF BIRTH............................

DATE OF BIRTH..............................

NAME OF SCHOOL..........................

YEAR OF GRADUATION...............

I am interested in receiving: __ Formal application for summer school program.

— Further information on the year-long Machon Gold Program for Judaic Studies.

Yavneh 84 Fifth Avenue New York, N.Y. 10011 Phone: 212/929-5434 212/929-2828

__ Further information on Yavneh’s year-long under Graduate study program at Bar Ilan University.

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J E W IS H L I F E

Gefiltefish like mother

Mother’s Gefilte Fish. An American Passover tradition.

Only the freshest fish. Just the right amount of spices.

Slow-simmered to bring out the delicate flavor. For the holidays, for any day, serve what Mother's knows best. Gefilte fish. (Traditional Old-Fashioned, Whitefish and Yellow Pike, or All Whitefish.) In jars or cans. And remember Mother's Margarine. And

Borscht. And Schav.

And Matzo Balls.

All Pareve and Kosher for Passover.

For low sodium diets: M o th e r's new

U n s a lte d G efilte Fish, U n s a lte d B orscht, a n d U n s a lte d S o ft or stick M a rg a rin e . All P areve a n d K osher fo r Passover.

Only if your mother made great gefilte fish.

These Heinz varieties are Not Kosher for Passover The Heinz Varieties pictured here all bear on their labels the © seal of approval of THE UNION OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS OF AMERICA. For every week of the year but one, the © seal is your guarantee of Kashruth. The one week, which is an exception, is Passover. The © on many Heinz labels doesnot apply to Passover.

To be certain that nobody is confused by our year ’round advertising, we make this, our annual statement of clarification.

We wish you and your family a happy Passover.

H. J. HEINZ C O M PAN Y