Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By simmons on July 6, 2017

By: PTI | Jerusalem | Published:July 4, 2017 11:39 pm Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visit the tomb of Theodor Herzl, in Jerusalem, Israel on Tuesday. PTI Photo

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday made an impromptu visit to the grave of Theodor Herzl, who is considered as the founding father of Zionism, at the suggestion of his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu. Modi, who visited the Yad Vashem Museum and honoured the victims of the Holocaust, was suggested by Netanyahu, apparently spontaneously, that they visit the grave of Herzl born Benjamin Zeev Herzl which lies adjacent to the memorial.

Prime Minister Modi agreed on the suggestion and the two leaders visited the marble tomb at Mt. Herzl. Modi placed a small rock on the marble tomb as Netanyahu watched with a smile.

PM Netanyahu and @PMOIndia Modi visited Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem, and paid their respects to the founder of modern Zionism, Theodor Herzl, the official Twitter account of the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel tweeted. It also posted a brief video that showed Modi placing his hand on the tomb.

Before departing the Yad Vashem complex the leaders visited the Grave of Theodor Herzl Chozeh HaMedinah (lit. Visionary of the State), Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Gopal Baglay tweeted. Herzl was an Austro-Hungarian journalist, playwright, political activist, and writer who is considered the founding father of Zionism a movement to establish a Jewish homeland.

He died in 1904 at the age of 44 and buried in a cemetery in Vienna. In 1949, his remains were moved from Vienna to be reburied on the top of Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, named in his memory.

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Posted By richards on July 6, 2017

May these words of Torah serve as a merit leiluy nishmat Menachem Mendel ben Harav Yoel David Balk, ah.

This week we learned Bava Batra 158 and 159. These are some highlights.

Bava Batra 158: The air of the Land of Israel makes you wise. Why, then, is Halacha in accordance with the Babylonian Talmud? Shouldnt the Jerusalem Talmud win the disputes?

Our daf relates that Rabbi Zeira moved from Bavel to the Land of Israel. In Bavel, he had one opinion about a law. After he settled in Israel, he reversed himself and arrived at a different conclusion. He explained his actions. The air of the Land of Israel makes one wise. Living in Israel had made him wiser and it had led him to a new conclusion. In Bava Metzia (85a) the Gemara relates that Rabbi Zeira fasted one hundred fasts to forget his learning that he has absorbed in Bavel and to merit to successfully acquire the Torah from scholars in Israel. In the Midrash (Bereishit Rabba 16:4) we are taught, Ain Torah keYorat Eretz Yisrael, There is no Torah like the Torah of the Land of Israel, Vlo chochma kchochmat Eretz Yisrael, and there is no wisdom like the wisdom of Israel.

We possess two Talmuds. There is a Talmud that was put together in Israel under the leadership of Rabbi Yochanan, the Jerusalem Talmud, and there is a Talmud that was put together by Rav Ashi in Babylonia, the Babylonian Talmud. The Babylonian Talmud is studied far more than the Jerusalem Talmud. When we have a dispute between the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud, Halacha accepts the rulings of the Babylonian Talmud. This is true even when the Babylonian Talmud is more lenient than the Jerusalem Talmud (see Rif end of Eruvin, Introduction to the Talmud by Rabbi Shmuel Hanagid, and Semag Lavin 65).

Why was the Babylonian Talmud accepted so broadly? Dont the Sages in Israel benefit from the holy air of the Land of Israel? Why, then, does Halacha follow the rulings of the Babylonian Talmud and not the rulings of the Sages of the Holy Land?

Rav Hai Gaon (quoted in Sefer HaEshkol Hilchot Sefer Torah) gives an answer. The Sages of Israel are wiser than the sages of Babylonia. However, Israel was a place afflicted with challenges when the Talmud was composed. There were many persecutions from the Romans and Christians. In Babylonia, the Sages were under the rule of the Persianswho were tolerant and allowed for the free practice of our faith. While the air and Sages of Israel were more gifted, the persecutions in Israel prevented the scholars there from reaching the heights of knowledge that the scholars of Babylonia reached. In Babylonia they were able to better their learning. Halacha therefore accords with them.

Maharik (Shoresh 91) gives another reason for the centrality of the Babylonian Talmud. The Babylonian Talmud was composed by Rav Ashi many years after the completion of the Jerusalem Talmud. Rav Ashi had in front of him the Talmud Yerushalmi when he composed the Talmud Bavli. He knew the conclusions of the Sages of Israel, and yet he sometimes chose to rule against them. In Halacha we usually accept the last point of view. When later Sages argue with their predecessors, we accept the view of the later authorities. Earlier Sages were greater scholars. Yet, the later ones knew their arguments and still reached different conclusions. We usually therefore accept the later conclusions for they took into account the earlier proposals and rejected them (See Rosh Sanhedrin 4:6, Tosafot Kiddushin 45b s.v. Hava, Rama Choshen Mishpat 25:2). (Meorot Daf Hayomi)

Bava Batra 159: Does a grandson inherit the rabbinic position of his maternal grandfather?

Our Gemara has a fascinating discussion about the law that a grandson inherits the assets of his grandfather. How does this law work? Is it that the assets come to the domain of the son, in the grave, and the grandson then receives them from his deceased father, or do the assets move directly from the grandfather to the grandson since the son is not alive? The difference between these understandings would be in regard to people who lent money to the deceased son. If the assets of the grandfather first go to his son and then to the grandson, the creditors would be entitled to seize assets. They had been in the domain of the son, the son owed them, so the lenders could seize the property for their debts. But if the assets move directly from grandfather to grandson, then the lenders to the son would not be entitled to take any of the assets. The properties were never owned by the person who owed them money and therefore they could not seize anything. Our Gemara mentions that there is a point of view that holds that a grandson inherits directly from his grandfather.

If Rabbi Yaakov gets appointed as the rabbi of a city and then passes away, Rama (Yoreh Deiah 245:22) rules like Rivash (Siman 271) that his son should inherit the position. What about a rabbi who only had a daughter? She had a son. Does a grandson inherit the rabbinic position of his maternal grandfather? If the inheritance of a grandson comes through his father in the grave, in our case, the grandson should not inherit. His mother is not entitled to the rabbinic position of her father. But if the grandson inherits directly from the grandfather, perhaps a grandson can inherit the rabbinic position directly from his maternal grandfather.

Poskim discuss the law of a son-in-law. Would a son-in-law inherit the rabbinic position of his wifes father? Shut Avodat HaGershuni (Siman 49) rules that a son-in-law does not inherit his father-in-laws rabbinic post. A husband can inherit his wifes property. However, a wife has no claim to serve as the rabbi. Judaism does not allow for women rabbis. Therefore, if the father-in-law died, the son-in-law has no claim to the position. Shut Beit Yitzchak (Yoreh Deiah Chelek Bet Siman 69-70) disagrees. The son claiming a position of his father is not normal inheritance. It is not money or an item of value moving from one generation to the next. The Torah commanded that when a rabbi passes away his son should receive the position. A son-in-law can fulfill this task as well. If the son-in-law is deserving, the son-in-law is the one the community should appoint. Beit Yitzchak argues that in the case when the son-in-law passed away and there is a grandson, even Avodat HaGershuni should agree that the grandson inherits the position. Our Gemara taught that a grandson might inherit directly from his grandfather. A daughter is not entitled to her fathers position; however, the grandson has a direct link to his zayde. The community should appoint the grandson if the grandfather passes away. Shut Simchat Yom Tov (Siman 6) disagrees with Beit Yitzchak. He argues that according to Avodat HaGershuni a grandson is not entitled to the position of his mothers father. (Mesivta)

By Rabbi Zev Reichman

Rabbi Zev Reichman teaches Daf Yomi in his shul, East Hill Synagogue.

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Posted By admin on July 6, 2017

Amos Oz and Fania Oz-Salzberger wrote memorably in their book Jews and Words that ours is not a bloodline, but a text line. But how many of us make the effort to claim our enormous inheritance of centuries of Jewish writing? Fortunately, four excellent recent books help us approach this shared text line.

Joseph Skibells Six Memos from the Last Millennium: A Novelist Reads the Talmud is a series of extended reflections on a handful of short but rich talmudic tales. Skibell is far less interested in the legal and theological material that composes most of the Talmud than in its storytelling specifically, in the tales chronicling the lives of the sages whose teachings are preserved in the Talmud.

As a novelist bringing little baggage to the endeavor and not feeling bound by how tradition regards these figures, Skibell brings fresh eyes to these stories. The most significant application of his background as a novelist may be his attention to a larger arc of character development. Incorporating episodes from disparate tractates and squeezing the juice out of the very terse style of the Talmud, (which does not go out of its way to express characters internal states), Skibell forms rich psychological portraits of the rabbis that give the stories added power.

The opening tale is an extraordinarily tragic one. Resh Lakish and Rabbi Yochanan have come from drastically different circumstances to become friends, study partners and brothers-in-law. After Yochanan makes an insult reminding Resh Lakish of his previous life of crime, their relationship becomes undone, and Resh Lakish essentially dies of heartbreak.

Grief and guilt then drive Yochanan mad, and he soon follows his friend in death. The pathos in the relationship of two giants of Jewish thought reflects how the Talmud insisted on preserving the humanity, imperfections and complexities of the rabbis, transforming lives into stories that teach.

Barry W. Holtz, who teaches at the Jewish Theological Seminary, does a related sort of character study on a much larger scale in Rabbi Akiva: Sage of the Talmud, one of the newest titles in Yales wonderfully diverse Jewish Lives series.

Holtz muses aloud on the peculiarity of writing a biography of Akiva, as we know nothing of Akiva outside of what we can glean from rabbinic sources. The book may be more a feat of talmudic interpretation than it is a conventional biography. But even if there is no outside corroboration of his life, Akiva is painted so fully over the course of classical Jewish texts that one understands why he can be considered as the hero of the Talmud (with sagacity being the superpower of the rabbinic world).

Part of Akivas appeal is that he was, in Holtzs words, a self-created sage. The descendant of converts, he grew up poor and uneducated, and did not begin a life of study until he was 40 years old. And his humane vision seems to reflect these humble beginnings.

If Akivas life of learning and teaching was a model for future generations, so, tragically, was his death. After being arrested for defying Roman-imposed law by teaching Torah in public, Akiva used even his own execution as a teaching moment. His martyrdom is conserved in the liturgy of Yom Kippur and became the model for those who opted for death rather than defiling Gods name.

Holtz is best known for his popular 1984 book Back to the Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts, which can be considered the precursor to the following two books that delve into major Jewish texts written across time.

Adam Kirschs The People and the Books: 18 Classics of Jewish Literature is an ambitious exploration that spans millennia, effectively offering a chronological survey of the Jewish people through some of its finest books. Kirsch is known as a literary critic, but the only strictly literary text being considered here is Sholem Aleichems Tevye the Dairyman. The other books are primarily religious texts but also include memoir, history and philosophy.

Kirsch notes that reading the Jewish past can help us to escape present-mindedness. I understand him to mean that although there is a certain privilege we give to our present state of affairs, we need to recall that Jewish communities have been dealing with similar issues theological, philosophical and social for centuries. And we can learn much by seeing how our concerns have been addressed over time.

A project of Yeshiva University, Books of the People: Revisiting Classic Works of Jewish Thought similarly provides a survey of major Jewish books, although the works are strictly religious in nature.

Written by scholars, the essays, on a dozen books from the 10th to 20th centuries, are more demanding than Kirschs but very compelling. I particularly benefitted from Ariel Evan Mayses essay on the Tanya, a book compiled in 1797 by Chabad founder Shneur Zalman of Liadi that has come to to be studied and appreciated by an increasing number of people outside the sphere of Lubavitcher Hasidism.

The collection seeks to whet our appetite to revisit these titles, but the odds are that most educated Jews will go their lives without reading most of them even once. Although I have mixed feelings about relying on others to encapsulate and interpret books for me, I have been made wiser by the insights I gained from these erudite tour guides through classic Jewish texts.

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Four new Jewish books are tour guides to old ones - Jweekly.com

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Posted By admin on July 6, 2017

Dear Rabbi Zahavy,

I recently asked my friend how her young grade-school kids a boy and girl were doing. She replied that they are fine, and they have new names. The boy now has a girls name and the girl has a boys name. I asked why? She matter-of-factly replied that they both are transgender.

I was dumbfounded to hear this. I said nothing to her. Should I ask her more about this? Should I discuss this with a responsible authority?

Worried About Trans Kids

Dear Worried,

Yes, you have every right to ask the parent for more details, and to seek out, with sensitivity, more information on this topic from friends of experts or from your own counselors. The mother makes no secret of the facts. She is open and proud of her children and their gender identities.

Gender dysphoria is a seriously hot topic this year in social and political discussions, and in the media. You will find many experts and pundits out there willing to share advice and counsel on the subject.

Complex gender anomalies are as old as human culture. The Torah sets forth strict lines of demarcation in this area, banning what it considers to be divergent behavior such as cross-dressing and homosexuality. The Talmud dealt with gender ambiguities when it addressed the status of the Tumtum, whose physical genitalia were indistinct, and the Androgyne, who possessed genital traits of both male and female. Todays discussions of gender identity delve more into the inner states and statuses of someones personality.

We all do understand that sexual preferences and gender identity are personal to each one of us, across a rainbow spectrum of options. And to many of us, the motives and drives in our own gender preferences and sexual appetites are mysteries when we are young and first discovering them, and for some of us they can remain confusing and evolve throughout life.

Gender proclivities may be evident in young children. We conventionally presume that sexuality and sexual preferences emerge later, during puberty. The revolutions in psychology in the twentieth century helped remove our inhibitions about the public discussion of sexuality and more lately of gender identification.

Yet, even in our frank and open age its odd to us to hear that a parent publicly announces that her younger children are transgender.

Since 2014, Amazon has broadcast the Emmy award-winning series Transparent, about a parent who comes out to his family as transgender. Because it had so much Jewish content, Ive watched a bunch of episodes. For sure, though, that does not make me any kind of expert in the area.

Yes, to put your own mind at ease, you ought to discuss this situation with people who have greater expertise in this area, so you can better understand your friends choices as she navigates through the biological and societal challenges posed by her childrens transitions.

People on the whole spectrum of gender identity existed throughout history, but lived often in the shadows, in denial and in emotional stress. We should be happy to live in an era where this no longer has to be the case.

Dear Rabbi Zahavy,

My neighbors daughter is having a bat mitzvah soon. I heard from her friends that she is going to have an added enhancement for the occasion. She will go to the mikvah and accept the commandments. That seemed odd to me. When I asked her mother, she told me confidentially that her daughter was adopted as an infant from a non-Jewish family. As is the practice, a beit din court accepted Judaism on her behalf at the time. Her parents never have told her that she was adopted. And now the familys rabbi asked about the circumstances of the childs conversion. When told that the court had a woman rabbi as a judge, he ruled that she must be reconverted in the mikvah with a new court of three men present.

First, I am startled that the parents have not told the child that she is adopted. And second, I am upset to hear that a rabbi demands a redo of the conversion.

Should I express my concerns to the parents or to the rabbi?

Concerned About A Covert Child Conversion in Closter

Dear Concerned,

I am still shaking my head in disbelief. First, I cannot approve of, or even imagine, not telling your child that she is adopted at an appropriate early age.

And beyond that I cannot sanction or envision a rabbinic charade that supports requiring a new conversion and promotes keeping the child in the dark on this significant personal fact of life.

Why would parents hide this information? Are they fearful that an adopted and converted child will be treated differently in our community? Are they worried that a child who knows she is adopted will not love her parents?

No matter what the motives, I cannot condone this parentrabbi conspiracy to hide these realities. Moreover, its customary to have a child who was converted as an infant reaffirm her Jewishness when she reaches adulthood. If she does not know the facts, how can that confirmation take effect?

Yes. The critical particulars will come out in public at some point in this familys future.

No. Its not your job to be the catalyst for that to happen. However, you certainly should feel free to express your reservations and opinions discreetly to the parents or to the rabbi.

Dear Rabbi Zahavy,

I read in the Jewish Standard two weeks back that you published your fiftieth Talmudic advice column. I am a huge fan. I wonder if you have one column that you consider your favorite?

Talmudic Admirer in Tenafly

Dear Admirer,

Thanks for asking and for your kind words. I choose as the favorite my column about neckties in shul, published in June 2013, because it was so down-to-earth in looking at an issue that displayed a friction between an individual and an institution, and it generated a good deal of discussion and controversy in our town. Im reproducing it below.

Dear Rabbi Zahavy,

I am sad for my good friend, a respected community leader and a member of a local Orthodox synagogue for many years, who does not like to wear a tie. His synagogue follows an idiosyncratic rule that no matter how nicely dressed he may be, a man who does not wear a tie cannot receive an aliyah to the Torah on a Shabbat or a holiday. So my friend has not received an aliyah to the Torah on any of those days for many years, even on the special occasions of his parents yahrzeits. It hurts me to see him suffer this arbitrary form of petty ostracism and humiliation. What should I do?

Fit To Be Tied in Teaneck (June 2013)

Dear Fit,

Common sense would dictate that you and your friend not go to places where you feel uncomfortable, even if it is a mere trifling practice that creates a sense of annoyance and intimidation for you. You know that an Orthodox synagogue must follow the many laws and customs that govern who should receive an aliyah. For example, a kohein receives the first aliyah, and a Levite gets the second. A man who has a yahrzeit often gets precedence, and so does the father of a newborn child and a groom before his wedding. Major donors to a synagogue get some preferential treatment, as do important rabbis. Ive noticed also that the gabbai who allocates aliyot gets his fair share of them too. And a woman is not called to the Torah at all.

You may know that some non-Orthodox Jews find the exclusion of women from this process of public honors to be troubling or even offensive. Orthodox spokesmen point out that women receive due respect and honor in their community, just not by receiving aliyot.

Forty years ago, when I asked Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik about the possibility of women receiving aliyot in an Orthodox minyan, he quipped to me, When women write the checks, then they will receive the aliyahs. The Rav dodged my inquiry. I understood his reply to be a clever observation or a social comment, but not any halachic guidance.

Now, the synagogue that you describe in your question definitely created for itself a heightened odd character when it adopted an additional tie rule to further govern its members roles and aliyah rights. Even if its eccentric practice is an approved requirement of synagogue committees, officers, and boards, it still fits the category of a socially undesirable because-we-say-so intimidation.

That said, you and your friend may be able to ignore and rise above this nonsense if you keep in mind that Moses, King Solomon, Jeremiah, Rabbi Akiva, Maimonides, the Vilna Gaon, and many other great non-tie-wearing-Jews would not be offered a Torah honor if they somehow, via time and space travel, showed up in your suburban shul.

The Dear Rabbi Zahavy column offers mindful advice based on Talmudic wisdom. It aspires to be equally open and meaningful to all the varieties and denominations of Judaism. You can find it here on the first Friday of the month. Please mail your questions to the Jewish Standard or email them to zahavy@gmail.com.

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Posted By admin on July 6, 2017

Photo Credit: Jewish Press

Last months column dealt with Jewish education from 1786 to 1879. This month we deal with the years 1880 to 1916, a period during which several pioneer yeshivas were founded.

The years 1881-1923 constitute one of the most fascinating eras in American history in general, and in the American Jewish experience in particular. It was an era during which approximately twenty-five million immigrants, primarily from Eastern and Southern Europe, arrived in this country. Of the many groups that came, Jews were second only to Italians in number.

In 1880 the Jewish population in the United States was approximately 250,000, most of whom were immigrants or descendants of immigrants from Central Europe. Before 1869, very few Jewish immigrants arrived from Russia, but between 1869 and 1880 an estimated 30,000 came to the United States. The major stimuli for the increased emigration from Russia at that time were the cholera that plagued the northwest part of that country in 1868 and the famine in the same area a year later.

In March 1881 Czar Alexander II was assassinated, an event that sparked anti-Jewish riots and massacres in scores of Jewish communities. Laws that restricted the lives of Jews were passed. The combination of economic, political, and physical persecution generated a massive move of Jews out of Eastern Europe; the overwhelming majority of them came to the United States.

Immigration (at the end of the nineteenth century) brought talmudically trained Jews to the United States. These were dissatisfied with the Jewish education they found in America, especially with the total absence of provision for the study of Talmud. They opened Talmudical Yeshivoth.[i]

Yeshiva Etz Chaim

The founding of yeshivot in this country seemed inevitable with the arrival of immigrants fired with spirit of traditional Jewish learning. The first yeshivot Yeshibath Etz Chaim (1886), the Yeshibath Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan (1897), and those established in the first decade of the twentieth century were schools of learning patterned after the parent institution in Eastern Europe.

In addition, however, the first yeshiva in America was organized as a dual program school. According to the Constitution of the Society of the Machzike Jeshibath Etz Chaim, The purpose of this Academy shall be to give free instruction to poor Hebrew children in the Hebrew language and the Jewish religion Talmud, Bible and Shulhan Aruk during the whole day from nine in the morning until four in the afternoon.

Also from four in the afternoon, two hours shall be devoted to teach the native language, English, and one hour to teach Hebrew Loshon Hakodesh and Jargon (Yiddish) to read and write. The Academy shall be guided according to the strict Orthodox and Talmudic Law and the custom of Poland and Russia.

The general studies, which included grammar, arithmetic, reading and spelling, were incorporated into the curriculum because of the apprehension of the older generation regarding the atmosphere and influence of the public school on religious youths. The addition of secular subjects was little more than a concession to the demands of the day. Nevertheless, the new educational formula was to pave the way for the integration of the two streams of cultural values that the immigrant Jews in America were being called upon to preserve.[ii]

The yeshiva was able to give both quality limudei kodesh and a secular education. By the age of 12 most boys had progressed from beginners Chumash to the study of Gemara with Rashi and Tosafos. Also, the scope of the secular studies curriculum widened over the years to the extent that many in the highest classes were able to pass the tests given for admission to City College.

The Jewish Communal Register, a publication of the kehillah of New York City, noted in 1918:

Yeshibath Etz Chaim (The Rabbinical College of America). In the same year that the Seminary was organized there was incorporated in this city the first American Yeshibah, under the name of Yeshibath Etz Chaim. On the one hand, it differed from the usual American Talmud Torah in that it laid greater stress on the study of the Talmud, and also in the fact that it offered secular studies together with the Jewish curriculum. On the other hand, it differed from its European prototype in that its pupils were young boys rather than advanced students, the school being an intermediate Talmud Cheder rather than a Talmudical academy. But the year 1897 saw the origin of the first higher American Yeshibath, the Yeshibath Yitzchak Elchannan, or the Rabbi Isaac Elchannan Theological Seminary. It arose as the result of the desire on the part of a number of immigrant young men to continue their Talmudic studies in this country. After a separate existence for almost twenty years, these two Yeshibaths combined in 1915 into the Rabbinical College of America, with Dr. Bernard Revel as its president.

The Rabbinical College, situated at 9-11 Montgomery Street, is a Jewish parochial school, with elementary, high school and collegiate courses. In its elementary and high schools, both Jewish and secular studies are taught. In its more advanced grades, only Jewish studies are offered, the students being given the opportunity to attend at the same time one of the colleges of the city. It has a total enrollment of 170 pupils, of whom 90 are in the elementary grades, 40 in the high school, and 50 are pursuing more advanced studies for the rabbinate.

Other Yeshivas

Three additional yeshivas were founded during the first decade of the twentieth century in New York City the Rabbi Jacob Joseph Yeshiva (about 1902), Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin (1906), and the Talmudical Institute of Harlem (1908). In 1916 The Jewish Communal Register reported:

There are four Jewish parochial schools in America, all of which are situated in New York City. Whereas the weekday school supplements the public school, the Jewish parochial school substitutes it, teaching both Jewish and secular subjects.

The Jewish studies are taught from 9 A.M. to 3 P.M., and the secular subjects are taught from 3 to 7 P.M. All of the 985 pupils of these schools are boys.

The secular curriculum in these schools, consisting of 4,800 hours of instruction, provides for fewer hours than does the minimum public school curriculum of New York, which calls for 7,190 hours for the seven-year course. But this difference is chiefly due to the fact that the parochial schools do not teach certain of the subjects, such as elementary science, manual training, music, etc. In the fundamentals (English, mathematics, geography, penmanship, etc.), the parochial school provides for practically as many hours as does the minimum public school curriculum.

The Jewish curriculum, giving over 10,000 hours of instruction during the seven years of the course, is much more intensive than the curriculum of the weekday schools, in which about 2,600 hours of instruction are given. The central subject of the curriculum, especially beyond the fourth year of study, is the Talmud, to which 20 percent of the total time is devoted. The Jewish teaching staff consists of 54 teachers, whose language of instruction is Yiddish. The annual cost of instruction is $70.00 per child.[iii]

Lack of Support for Early Yeshivas

Unfortunately, many in the Jewish community of New York did not enroll their sons in the four yeshivas mentioned above. There were probably three reasons many early Jewish immigrants were reluctant to accept the day school idea:

(1) The recent immigrants faced serious problems of adjustment to America, and, in view of their compact Jewish environment which was reinforced by their traditional home life and by the synagogue, they did not consider Jewish education a serious problem.

(2) Although the majority of the Eastern European immigrants had strong religious orientation they preferred public schooling for their children. Thus the Russian Jew who for years had been excluded from the educational instructions of his native land found himself free to send his child to public school an opportunity that he eagerly seized and widely used.

(3) The early immigrant was so overwhelmed by economic difficulties that he could not entertain the thought of financing an all-day school system of education.

When these conditions no longer prevailed for the majority of Jews in the United States, the Jewish day school movement began to demonstrate remarkable growth.[iv]

____________________

[i] All Day Schools in the United States, 1948-1949, Uriah Z. Engelman, New York, American Association for Jewish Education, 1949, p. 4.

[ii] The Jewish Day School Movement in America, Alvin Irwin Schiff, Jewish Education Press, 1966, page 30.

[iii] Ibid. page 34.

[iv] Ibid. page 35.

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History of the Day School Movement in America (1880 1916) - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com

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Posted By admin on July 6, 2017

This originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. To read the previous chapter.

As soon as they settled at their table, Leah looked at him and asked:Whats your fathers relationship with God?

She sat facing him in some colorful thing, something fuzzy it seemed. His eyes roamed the room and then settled back on his tea mug. But now with this surprising question, his hands which had been wrapped around his mug, broke apart. Excuse me?

Yes, with God. What kind of relationship does he have with theEybershter?

This question made Yankel angry though he couldnt say why. He never thought about this. Maybe because he didnt think much of the Eybershter as she called Him at all. He felt humiliated.

I suppose its a legitimate question but Yankel stumbled, grasping for words and then somehow found them: I believe for my father,Israel, the State of Israel,is his God. Yankel was surprised he was saying this.Eretz Yisrael Shleimah, Yankel went on. The Greater Israel, theshtachim, the settlements, young men with tanks, guns, with flyingtzitzit, tefillin,Nimrodsandalim this is the God of my father.

Yankel looked broodingly into his tea mug. It never before occurred to him in such stark terms, that his God and the God of his father were not the same. In fact, they were very different.

Leah fell silent and fidgeted with her purse. She looked abashed as if to say, had she really asked that question? Had she really gotten that answer?

Leah excused herself to the washroom, but he noticed that she went to the payphone.Who would she be calling up, some kind of cupid, a confidante perhaps?Women were inscrutable. He hated himself for caring so much what was on these girls minds. It was a kind of torture. Thoughts of recent dates came to him. All of them humiliations; one after the other. There was Mindy just last month who told the matchmaker that he was a good guy but that he ran the date like a Keystone cop. (So what if he forgot his keys at the restaurant and had to walk back a few blocks?) Then there was Yocheved a week or two ago, who kept asking him why his mother was so old when she had him. Forty is not old, he nearly snapped at her. Word got back to Yankel that she told the matchmaker that he was testy and crabby. Its true that women could bring out impatience and surliness in him, but were they such angels? And yet now with Leah, even as he felt uncomfortable by the conversation, he was, strange to admit, comfortable with her.

He watched as she hung up and returned to the table.He noticed how she smoothed her dark hair.Her hair was beautiful. To him it looked like a surfers wave.

That was a pretty neat question, Yankel said in a way that surprised him, and for the first time he looked at her directly across the table.I liked it very much. Why dont we take a walk?I think it stopped raining.

Barely two hours after he had first come to Leahs door, Yankel parked the Buick in front of her house. During their time at the restaurant and their walk, what had happened? All they did was talk of this and that but something had changed, something was happening between them. He could feel it like a cold or a virus coming on, but in this case it was the opposite something good. He struggled to discount it; feelings like these only fizzle out on the runway of desire before it could take off. He suddenly felt a desperate need to keep this feeling going, to nurture it along. But how?

I had a nice time, Leah saidin a hesitant voice as they walked up the steps to her door. He wanted to say something, but didnt know what.

The next morning Yankel woke up with uneasiness. He didnt know what to make of what happened. Why on earth hadnt he said the truth: He did have a good time! Maybe he did need to see a psychologist. It was the 20thcentury after all. A man had where to go to feel better or at least to set himself straight. Mostly though, he felt ashamed for his incompetence.

It was Sunday morning, still Chanukah. Much of the yeshiva had gone away, but where did Yankel have to go? To a mother living on Bay8thstreetin Bensonhurst in a tenement that smelled of yesterdays supper; dull fluorescent lighting in the hallways, an elevator with a round window and big black buttons to push? By this time on Sunday mornings, one could see a procession of elderly and not-so-elderly people shuffling along with their laundry carts, a plastic jug of liquiddetergentnestled on top of the laundry headed down to the room in the basement with the washing machines and dryers. In the lobby of the apartment building would be an electric menorah with orange bulbs next to a Christmas tree and a light-up Santa. No, it was better to be learning Talmud in the study hall, in the bais medrash any bais medrash.

Even though Yankel was still a bokher, asingle man,he had a seatat themarried menstable at breakfast a sign of the esteem in which he was held. Although he did not give full-fledgedTorah lectures, he did lead an informal study group. Today, there were few people even among thefull-timers. It was Chanukah break, after all. He decided to skip the special French Toast Chanukah breakfast. Instead, he grabbed a hard-boiled egg and went straight to the Talmud.

One of the younger students in the bais medrash, an illuyi, a whiz kid, came over to Yankel. Let me learn with you this morning, he said. Theres no one here.

He couldnt have beenmore than fourteen, but one look at him and you got the feeling that the world of learning Talmud was created especially for him. Not only did he have a sharp mind, but he looked like the best of the pre-Holocaust Roman Wishniac photos cheeks round as oranges, and freckles sprinkled lightly under his eyes like frosting.

There they were: the oldest guy in the bais medrash and the youngest in the empty room; around them books piled high the Ran, the Rosh, the Shulchan Aruch, medieval explicators of the Talmud.They began discussing the question whether doing one mitzvah exempts you from doing another. The boy had nicknamed Yankel the snow plow as Yankel moved through the Talmudthoroughly and with all deliberate speed like an ice-breaker in theNorthwest Passage.

An hour or two passed until they went downstairs to munch on jelly donuts set out in honor of Chanukah. Slowly, though, Yankels feelings of desperation returned and the mornings enthusiasm waned, at first slowly, then more rapidly. Later that night, Yankel was again in the grips of an agonizing loneliness when theshadchantecalled.

I havent heard from you, she said flatly. I didnt know what to think.

It was a strange experience, Yankel said.

Strange?

Well, he shrugged, I dont know how I feel.

Did you feel like continuing your conversation with her?

I dont know. Shes very smart and resourcefulshe knows how to fix windshield wipers. This part he threw in for want of anything better to say.

She chuckled. So whats the matter?

He paused, swallowing, his mouth dry. He could still taste his hard-boiled egg from breakfast. I felt like an idiot. I didnt know what to say to her at the end of the date.

And now?

Now I dont know. Im confused.

Shall I tell her then to move on? I can set her up with someone else.

He felt a quickening inside him. No, tell hertell her Ill call her tonight.

It was with a mixture of dread, self-coercion, and dare he say anticipation, that he againdialed the number. This time, Leah answered.Hello?

Hello again.

He tried to picture her but for the life of him couldnt remember how she looked. A flash of pale skin, dark hair, brown eyes, or were her eyes green? How could a man sit in front of a woman for two hours and not remember her face? He had a moment of panic and papered it over with a formal tone by wishing her a happy Chanukah:A freylekhn un likhtikn Chanukah.

Oh my goodness, you sound like my father with your Yiddish! Where did you learn to speak it? she said in a bright voice.

Thats just the way I way I speak, with a little Yiddish here and there.If she only knew the rest of what was inside of him, thought Yankel. How tormented he was by his thoughts!

But your words sound so nice!

I dont know much. If we get to know each other, you will find out. Speaking of which, he cleared his throat, are you available this Motzoei Shabbes? Saturday night was a big time dating night. He hoped he had given her enough notice.

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Yankel and Leah (Chapter 3): Learning Torah is Easier Than Dating ... - Forward

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Posted By simmons on July 6, 2017

There is a very moving episode in the Talmud about a man named Elazar Ben Dordaya. This man lived his life with an uninhibited desire to fulfill all of his promiscuous cravings, leaving no stone unturned in his pursuit. He was an addict of the worst kind.

In one particular encounter, the Talmud describes his travel to a distant land when he became aware of a woman he had not yet visited.

After paying a fortune for her services, she sighed and said, As this breath will not return to its place, so too will Elazar Ben Dordaya never be received in repentance.

She basically said to him Elazar, you are doomed you have a one way ticket to hell!

Shaken by her statement, the Talmud relates, Ben Dordaya panicked and searched for a way to redeem his life.

He sat between two mountains and hills and said, Mountains and hills, request mercy for me.

They couldnt help him. There was silence.

He said, Heavens and earth, request mercy for me.

There was silence. They couldnt help him.

He said, Sun and moon stars and constellations, request mercy for me.

There was silence. They couldnt help him.

The Talmud continues the story.

He then said, This matter depends solely on me.

He put his head between his knees and began to tremble from crying and remorse until he died. A heavenly voice came out and declared, Rebbi Elazar Ben Dordaya is ready to enter the world-to-come.

What does this story mean? Why is he asking mercy from mountains, stars, the sun and the moon? What did Elazar Ben Dordaya seek to achieve by turning to the heaven and earth, stars and constellations, mountains and hills for help? How are they going to assist him in repairing his promiscuous addiction?

My friends, what he was really saying is this, Heaven and earth, my addictions, my problems, they are not my fault. They are the fault of my environment, my surroundings, my neighborhood. I blame heaven and earth. I grew up with no friends, no good support system; I was ridiculed. My heaven and earth, my surroundings, were cursed. Of course, I cant be a good husband I cant be a good wife Its not my fault. I cant be a mensch. Of course, I am an addict.

There was silence.

Then he tried, Mountains and valleys, Harim Vegvaot. [Harim also means Horim, parents; Gevaot are mountains, referring to our matriarchs, Migvaot Ashureynu.] Its not my fault; I had a dysfunctional home, terrible parents, and an awful upbringing. Yes, my father was a gambler and an alcoholic whom my mother was dependent. What do you want from me?

There was silence.

And then he said, Kochavim Umazalot stars and constellations, sun and moon, help me. Some people say, I dont have a good karma, I have no mazal no luck. Look at my astrological signs and you will see that I am prone to all bad things. My brother, he has a great job; he has good life. If I were like him, things would have been different. I would be such an understanding husband, a mature human being, a happy person, a calm person, a committed person, but my Karma really did me in. My zodiac ruined me!

But again there was silence.

You know why? Because I am responsible for my life and my decisions. Because the buck stops here. I may have endured serious challenges, but I have the power of my divine soul to choose a good path in life. I cannot blame other people and situations. Happiness, goodness, kindness is my choice in life. I have the choice not to be dictated by fear and addiction, but rather by the desire to do the right thing.

So the end of the story is that Elazar Ben Dordaya gave out a tremendous cry and he said, This is my fault; this matter is not dependent on anybody else, not my environment, not my school, not my teachers, not my parents, not my karma. Its me.

He gave such a scream that his soul left him, and a heavenly voice came out and said, Elazar Ben Dordaya, no more will your name be Elazar Ben Dordaya, but Rabbi Elazar Ben Dordaya. You are now a Rabbi, a teacher. He has taught you and I, and all people, a lesson that no matter how hopeless a situation may be, I can change it, by taking responsibility for my life.

Rabbi Tzvi Dechter is the director of Chabad of North Broward Beaches, located in the Venetian Isle Shopping Center at 2025 E. Sample Rd. in Lighthouse Point. For all upcoming events, please visit http://www.JewishLHP.com.

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CLERGY CORNER: The Buck Stops Here - Observer Newspaper Online

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Posted By richards on July 6, 2017

Erfurt is a jewel-box of a city. Nestled along the banks of the Gera River in the heart of Germany, Erfurt boasts a beautifully preserved medieval center, replete with the storybook spires of a fortress and cathedrals. The Krmerbrcke, or Merchants Bridge, is lined with lovely half-timbered houses which are still in use as cafs and apartments, much as they were centuries ago. In terms of history, Erfurt has strong associations with Martin Luther, the father of the Reformation, who studied and became a monk at the citys Augustinian Monastery.

All this, as they say, would be enough. But Erfurt has a rich Jewish history as well. The more recent part of the story begins with a fascinating discovery or rediscovery. In 1998, archeologists were excavating the cellar of a house on Michaelisstrasse, a charming medieval street in the city center. The archeologists were astonished to find, beneath a basement wall, a proverbial buried treasure some 28 kilograms, or 60 pounds of gold and silver that lay hidden for 650 years.

The Erfurt Treasure, as it would be known, is comprised of 3000 silver coins, fourteen silver ingots, and some 700 works of goldsmithing, such as belt buckles and brooches. Perhaps the most spectacular piece is a gold ring adorned with a miniature Gothic tower and engraved with the Hebrew letters for mazel tov meaning good luck, or in this case, congratulations. Scholars believe that it is a Jewish wedding ring, the tower a representation of the Temple in Jerusalem.

In its former life, Erfurt was located on the Via Regia, a crucial trading route through the Holy Roman Empire. This explains why Erfurt was a wealthy city in the Middle Ages, and why it had a significant Jewish population. Michaelisstrasse, where the treasure was found, is right smack in the middle of Erfurts former Jewish quarter. Researchers believe that the treasure likely belonged to one Kalman von Wiehe, a merchant who lived in Erfurt in the mid-14th century.

Erfurts Old Synagogue, where the treasure is now displayed, has a similar story of re-discovery. The synagogue is old indeed, with parts of the structure dating from the 11th century. But over the centuries, as the local Jewish population declined, the building was used as a storehouse, an armory, and even a dance hall. Few people remembered that it had been a synagogue, so the building escaped destruction in World War II.

The 1990 German reunification brought with it a renewed interest in Germanys Jewish history, the Old Synagogue included. After painstaking restoration, the building was reopened in 2009 as a beguiling museum. Today, the Old Synagogue is literally one of the most important and best-preserved examples of Jewish architecture in Europe.

With its slim Gothic windows and elegant rosette, the building is a moving reminder of the simplicity of many medieval synagogues. Inside, the exhibitions evoke the variety and richness of Jewish life in Central Europe. The Erfurt Treasure now occupies the Old Synagogues lower floor. Its a surprisingly poignant display of Jewish life, the ingots and coins sharing space with gleaming Kiddush cups. The ground floor focuses on the fascinating construction and architecture of the synagogue itself. The upper floor boasts a display of rare and precious Hebrew manuscripts including Torah scrolls, a medieval prayer book, and the oldest extant copy of the Tosefta in Europe.

The Old Synagogue evokes the lives of medieval Jews in marvelous detail. Visitors are treated to an unforgettable lesson in Jewish life and worship, as well as a deeper understanding of the inextricable links between Jews and Christians in this part of Europe.

Its important to note that the Old Synagogue is not the only Jewish site in Erfurt. Archaeologists have also excavated a nearby 13th century mikveh, or ritual bathhouse, which can be visited. The Erfurt Synagogue and Jewish Community Center, also known as the New Synagogue, attests to the rebirth of a Jewish presence in the city; kosher meals are available.

The tragic history of Jews in Germany is well known. Whats less well known is that Erfurt is a prime example of how Germany is working to preserve and honor the long history of German Jewry. The Jewish sites of Erfurt, along with its many streets of uncommon charm and beauty, make this jewel box of a city well worth a visit.

For more information visit Germany For The Jewish Traveler.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Forward.

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Explore Germany's Erfurt Old Synagogue - Forward

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Posted By simmons on July 6, 2017

The two candidates standing to become the next president of the United Synagogue say this weeks report on declining membership is a major cause for concern for central Orthodoxy.

Michael Goldstein, who oversaw a growth of membership as president of Mill Hill Synagogue, said: It is worrying in terms of attrition. But I would like to understand how that compares to the total Jewish population.

It is sliding to the right and, to a lesser extent, the left too. The US needs to be widening its ambit, and making sure we offer an attractive membership. The US has not done enough to make membership attractive. It is an endemic problem but we are making it more severe than it needs to be.

Russell Kett, his opponent and a former US vice-president, highlighted the move of members to the right, suggesting they may be attracted by smaller communities.

He said: We have not been attracting new members in sufficient quantity to overcome the rate of decline.

Whatever we do, we will need to provide both value for money and value for membership. But we need to move quickly.

The experience of the US professional team will help bring these to fruition more quickly and more effectively.

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'This is an endemic problem': United Synagogue presidential ... - Jewish Chronicle

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Posted By admin on July 6, 2017

South Florida Business Journal

Exclusive: Office building proposed on former synagogue in Kendall South Florida Business Journal Galloway Road Partners, owned by Juan C. Mas and Albert J. Perez, filed a pre-application with county officials June 20. The pre-application process allows the developer to gather feedback on the project from county staff before submitting an official ...

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Exclusive: Office building proposed on former synagogue in Kendall - South Florida Business Journal

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