Concern for Kevod Shomayim and Eretz Yisroel Marks Agudath
Israel 78th National Convention
Modzitzer Rebbe, Special Guest from Eretz Yisroel, Delivers
Message to Diaspora Jewry
For four days beginning last Thursday, Orthodox Jewish
religious leaders -- roshei yeshivos, admorim and
rabbonim representing a broad spectrum of those dedicated to
Torah from across the country and around the world --
admonished the thousands of Jews who attended Agudath Israel's
78th national convention at the Garden State Exhibit and
Convention Center in Somerset, New Jersey, to strive for a
higher level of personal ethics, to intensify their prayers, to
increase their Torah-study and to deepen their concern for
others.
The ethical mandate, indeed, was the main thrust of the
addresses of two Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah members at the
convention's Thursday night plenary session -- HaRav Avrohom
Pam, rosh hayeshiva of Yeshiva Torah Vodaas; and HaRav
Yaakov Perlow, Novominsker Rebbe and Rosh Agudas Yisroel of
America. It was also one of the subjects addressed by a third
Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah member, HaRav Elya Svei, rosh
hayeshiva, Yeshiva of Philadelphia, at the Motzei Shabbos
Keynote Session. The three senior sages all bemoaned the great
chillul Hashem that has resulted over recent years from
lapses of ethical behavior, real or imagined, in the Orthodox
community.
Thursday Session
The Bostoner Rebbe from Har Nof was the first speaker on
Thursday, the first day of the Convention, speaking on this
year's theme: "Making a Difference: The Role of Reb Yisroel in
Klal Yisroel." He dedicated his speech to the place of the
individual within the community, explaining how individuals
build the community and how the power of the community, in
turn, influences every single individual. One may try to
summarize his words, somewhat freely, by saying: Ein beprat
elo ma shebeKlal -- there is nothing in the individual that
is not reflected and is a reflection of what is in the
community as a whole, and this is the power of Agudas Yisroel
in America.
HaRav Aharon Dovid Dunner, a dayan in the Hisachdus
Kehillas HaChareidim in London, spoke next about the vital need
to seek the guidance of the gedolei haTorah and the
halocho in all aspects of life, especially about strengthening
and building a Jewish home. Rabbi Dunner fascinated the
participants with a series of anecdotes about various Jews who
sought the advice of a Torah sage, and received pointed replies
which they had not anticipated, and which demonstrated the
degree of the crystal clear vision of our Sages.
At this session, the gedolei Yisroel ztk"l who were
niftar this past year were remembered. HaRav Yitzchok
Ehrenfeld, rosh yeshiva of Beis Shmuel in Jerusalem,
spoke about HaRav Binyomin Paller. Rav Yechezkel Besser, a
member of the presidium of the American Agudas Yisroel, spoke
about the Bobover Rebbe, and Rav Dovid Weinberg, director of
the Beis Avrohom institutions in Jerusalem, spoke about the
Admor of Slonim. The chairman of the sessions was Rabbi Shlomo
Gertzulin, vice President of Agudas Yisroel of America, who
spoke about various issues of administration and finances.
Thursday night's plenary session was opened by HaRav Shmuel
Kamenetsky, rosh yeshiva of the Philadelphia Yeshiva,
who brought the blessings of the Presidium. He spoke about the
importance of public and private tefillah especially in
our current time when the Jews of Eretz Yisroel are in
danger.
Sometimes, he said, a person despairs in advance and thinks:
what avail are my prayers? What value is there to the prayers
of a single person? However, it is impossible to know what the
prayers of the yochid can effect Above.
He said that his father, HaRav Yaakov Kamenetsky, once met two
students who were standing outside the beis medrash
while the rest of the yeshiva said Tehillim. In response
to his question of why they were outside, they said: "When
hundreds of students are staying Tehillim, what can the
prayers of one or two more bochurim add?"
HaRav Kamenetsky heard their words and replied: "Cholilo
vechas! You should not think so lightly of your own
prayers. Perhaps it is just your perek Tehillim, with
your kavono and attention, that will make a telling
impression Above."
At the end of his address, HaRav Kamenetsky, asked that each
one of us resolve to strengthen himself in some aspect of
tefillah and supplication, to add on five minutes to his
tefillah and daily recitation of Tehillim.
Afterwards HaRav Avrohom Pam, the rosh yeshiva of Torah
Vodaas and a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah in America,
gave the main address at that session. Although HaRav Pam could
not attend the convention and he addressed the gathering via a
prerecorded video presentation recorded especially for the
occasion, his divrei his'orerus made a deep impression
on the Convention.
HaRav Pam spoke at length about the obligation to conduct one's
business and financial affairs according to the halocho and
mussar, reminding his listeners that the gemora
says that the first question a Jew is asked in the World to
Come is, "Did you conduct your financial dealings with
emunah?" or integrity. "Emunah, he went on to
explain, also means "faith," an allusion to the fact that faith
in the fact that HaKodosh Boruch Hu is the source of our
daily bread is antithetical to acting dishonestly.
He said that one of the intentions of the first question a
person is asked when he comes to the beis din shel
maalah, "Did you do business conduct your business affairs
with integrity," is that one should conduct his business
affairs out of the belief that HaKodosh Boruch Hu
provides and sustains all.
Money, therefore, must be obtained honestly and in a
trustworthy manner. A person cannot pasken for himself
in such matters, because the saying that "a person doesn't see
a problem (chov) of his own," includes not only a person
who is not well-versed in the details of the laws, but even to
a talmid chochom, who is well-versed in the entire
Choshen Mishpat.
Every deed one does, he stressed, must be weighed on the scales
of the halocho. In every dispute between a worker and his
employer, a merchant and his clients, one must turn to a
moreh horo'oh or to a beis din so that if he
loses, he will nonetheless feel happy and relieved over not
having been nichshal in theft.
The beloved senior Rosh Hayeshiva took pains to state clearly
and unequivocally that it makes no difference whether one is
acting as an individual or on behalf of an institution, or
whether one is dealing with a Jew, non-Jew or government --
meticulous honesty is the mandate of every Jew and must
certainly be the hallmark of every observant Jew.
Some people, he noted, are not careful in their business
dealings with non-Jews, or in their relationships with the
secular authorities on financial matters. He cited the Rambam
in Hilchos Geneivoh Ve'aveidoh who applies the
posuk Ki so'avas Hashem kol osei ovel as fully to
one who deals dishonestly with gentiles as with Jews. He also
cited the Rambam in his Commentary on the Mishnayos in
Keilim where he discusses and criticizes at length the
common misconception of the right and wrong in these
matters.
This all applies to the letter of the law and the ikkar
din. Yet beyond this there is an element of chillul
Hashem, and acquiring of corrupt middos. "There are
Jews," he said, "who are very scrupulous in the mitzvos between
man and Hashem, yet are lax in these issues. Some were even
caught, tried and imprisoned. They thought that nothing would
happen to them; that they would not be caught. But tragedies
ensued and terrible chillul Hashem as well."
He added that the chillul Hashem is even greater when
the those who deceive non-Jews are Torah and chesed
institutions and not private individuals. The non-Jews
regard this as the Torah's derech, chas vesholom,
causing them to look down at Torah. "There is no way to permit
the deceiving of non-Jews to preserve Torah institutions.
People act lesheim Shomayim, and they are mechalel
sheim Shomayim. They seek to maintain Torah using methods
which contradict Torah, and they end up disgracing it."
Bnei Torah must also be careful about taking grants from
the American government which they do not deserve, and one who
is in financial distress and wants to support his family should
rather approach donors and take charity, because that is the
derech haTorah. In asking donors for assistance, bnei
Torah also benefit the tomchei Torah, but not if it
is done in ways which do not fit the truth of the Torah.
"It is impossible to understand how people dare to take such
risks when chillul Hashem is involved. Would they act
that way in matters of pikuach nefesh? The Torah says,
"Do not desecrate My sacred Name," when previously it says,
"And you shall observe all of My mitzvos," to teach us that
even one who is scrupulous in all of the mitzvos must be warned
about chillul Hashem. One must love the Creator,
"bechol me'odecho," with all of one's monetary assets,
because Hashem made man upright, and integrity is kevod
Shomayim. Hashem is emmes, our Torah is emmes
and the seal of Hakodosh Boruch Hu is emmes. Let
us all resolve to strengthen ourselves, and in that manner to
merit the yeshua in Eretz Yisroel and in the
Diaspora."
HaRav Pam's words had a tremendous impact on the audience.
Echoing HaRav Pam's remarks, HaRav Perlow sounded the very same
theme shortly afterwards in his Thursday address, after
observing that Orthodox Jews flock to Agudath Israel's national
convention not to be entertained but to be guided.
Always, but especially "in these frightful times when our
brethren in Israel are in such frightful danger," he said, it
behooves us to seek to improve ourselves, "to act nobly. to be
worthy of divine mercy and kindness." Honesty in all matters,
including financial ones, he averred, results in "the
sanctification of the glory of Heaven" -- something, he
explained, quoting the Rambam, that Jewish religious law
requires of "`kol Beis Yisroel' -- every Jewish man,
woman and child." Such sanctification of the glory of Heaven,
HaRav Perlow continued, is "the overriding challenge and the
basic underpinning of Jewish life." And its opposite, G-d
forbid, he went on pointedly, is Jewish life's "ultimate
failure."
It is a desecration of G-d's name, Rabbi Perlow continued, when
apparently observant Jews engage in questionable practices or
seem to differentiate "between glatt kosher and glatt yosher" --
between meticulous observance in realms like kashrus, on the
one hand, and similar stringency in the realm of financial
"straightforwardness" on the other.
While he was careful to note that many cases of Orthodox Jews
accused of wrongdoing have turned out to be media exaggerations
or even outright fabrications others, he admonished, have not.
And the very fact that government and the media have come to
consider Orthodox Jews suspect is itself, the Rebbe argued, an
indictment -- an indication that whereas once observant Jews
were automatically seen as "paragons of ethical virtue," they
no longer are.
Both HaRav Pam and HaRav Perlow cautioned against being
judgmental of others, and noted the extreme financial pressures
that bear heavily on so many Orthodox families and
institutions. And both prescribed greater determination on the
part of those in the community who are financially secure to
assist their less fiscally fortunate brethren.
Heart in the East
The dire situation in Eretz Yisroel was a major focus of
speaker after speaker at the four-day gathering. Indeed, the
motzei Shabbos plenary session, which was attended by
thousands, was dedicated to addressing the situation in the
Holy Land; its theme was: "Libi BeMizrach: Uniting With Our
Brothers Under Siege in Eretz Yisroel."
The keynote address was delivered by Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah
member HaRav Elya Svei, rosh hayeshiva, Yeshiva Gedola
of Philadelphia, who provided a historical perspective to the
current "eis tzoroh leYa'akov." (The rest of the
motzei Shabbos program is described below.)
As Jews reestablished themselves in Eretz Yisroel and other
countries around the globe after the Second World War, the
Philadelphia Rosh Hayeshiva noted, "people talked themselves
into thinking" that the scenario of the Jewish people as a
solitary "sheep among 70 wolves," was no longer descriptive of
reality. Recent events, however, have started to disabuse them
of their misplaced optimism. "The hatred is incredible."
We must, he stressed, take the happenings to heart and learn
from current events that only the protection extended us by
Hashem has protected us in the past, and only it can do so in
the future. And yet, he continued, so many of us don't
adequately absorb the import of that vital message. Citing
Pharaoh's choice to ignore the makkos and the refusal of
some of the Jews enslaved in ancient Egypt to want to leave
despite seeing the hand of Hashem, HaRav Svei contended that
people are capable of witnessing the most powerful potentially
life-changing realities and yet ignoring them and remaining the
same.
Like the sons-in-law of Lot, he said who, laughing at their
father-in-law, refused to leave Sdom pointing, as the
Midrash describes, to the atmosphere of joy and
celebration in the city's streets, "we too regard the world and
think we see that all is fine."
But it is not, the Rosh Hayeshiva asserted. "When the Ribono
Shel Olom's protection of His people seems to falter, we
have to realize that we can, chas vesholom, lose it
entirely."
Creating a Ruach of Kedusha
How we can merit that protection was the essence of the balance
of HaRav Svei's address.
As the Torah's recounting of Avrohom's attempts to save Sdom
demonstrates, even a place of utter evil can be protected by
the presence of tzaddikim. It is not only the influence
such righteous people might have on their neighbors, he
submitted, that provides such security, but the protective
power of the spirit of kedusha engendered by their
presence. The sheep can only exist safely among the wolves,
HaRav Svei declared, through the protection provided by such a
spirit of kedusha. And that spirit today, he contended,
is generated by places of Torah study.
The resurgence of Torah over past decades in America, HaRav
Svei said, is a miracle to be sure, but one produced
nonetheless by a method: mesiras nefesh. And not only
the mesiras nefesh of the legendary roshei yeshivos
of the post-Holocaust years, he explained, but that of
their talmidim, who lived lives so austere "we would
never believe it today."
In his remarks, the Rosh Hayeshiva also focused on the decrepit
state of the larger culture in which we live today, a culture
that celebrates the immoral, whose amusements occupy the lowest
level of decadence and that considers the pleasures of this
world to be the essence of human life. That culture, he
maintained, seeps into our world as well and must be pushed
away at every turn.
Other issues on which HaRav Svei touched included Shmittah,
as he called upon his listeners to support the efforts of
Keren HaShevi'is; and the importance of financial integrity, as
he reiterated the urgency of conducting our affairs in a manner
that promotes kevod Shomayim, not chas vesholom,
its opposite.
A Special Guest
A visiting luminary from Eretz Yisroel, HaRav Yisroel Don Taub,
the Modzitzer Rebbe, delivered an address as well, on the topic
of Eretz Yisroel and what Jews in chutz la'aretz can do
to help the situation.
The Rebbe, known for both his sharfkeit and his
varmkeit, spoke about the urgent need for American Jews
to speak up in a loud and clear voice against all attempts to
whittle away at the holiness of life in the Holy Land. He
suggested that special committees be established for this
purpose.
Tehillim and Brochos
The motzei Shabbos program opened, fittingly, with the
heartfelt recitation of Tehillim by all present on
behalf of the safety and security of acheinu Beis
Yisroel in Eretz Yisroel and around the world.
Opening remarks were delivered by Agudath Israel of America
Presidium member Rabbi Chaskel Besser, who shared reminiscences
of conventions past -- including those long past, when tens of
Jews rather than thousands comprised the gathering -- and read
words of brochoh from a number of prominent gedolei
Torah in Eretz Yisroel, including the Vishnitzer Rebbe,
HaRav Aharon Yehuda Leib Steinman, HaRav Yosef Sholom Eliashiv,
the Gerrer Rebbe and the Belzer Rebbe.
Reaching Out and Saying Thanks
The beloved and respected Agudath Israel askan then
introduced the convention chairman Eddie Betesh, who spoke
movingly about his youth, and about the tremendous power of
caring and reaching out to disaffected youth. He described the
Gedolei Yisroel as the "loving arm of Klal Yisroel" and of
botei chinuch and yeshivos as "the heart of our people."
(See accompanying box.)
The evening's first guest speaker, introduced by the motzei
Shabbos plenary session chairman, HaRav Yitzchok
Margareten, manhig ruchni, Cong. Shomrei Shabbos,
Cleveland, was a young one, with a short and to-the-point
message: 18-year-old Tuvia Grossman, the boy whose image,
battered and bloodied as a result of a vicious attack on him
and friends by Israeli Arabs, was splashed across the pages of
newspapers around the world, courtesy of the Associated Press.
The photo had been described as depicting a Palestinian youth
being beaten by an Israeli policeman; after a torrent of
protests from Jews, the New York Times and other papers
set the record straight.
Mr. Grossman, who had been studying in a yeshiva in Israel at
the time of his attack and has been undergoing physical therapy
in his native Chicago in recent weeks, attended the convention
session on his way back to Eretz Yisroel, a fact that brought a
loud round of applause from the convention audience. He
described his ordeal, his uncanny escape and the tremendous
outpouring of Jewish concern that followed in its wake. "The
Beis Hamikdosh was destroyed because of sin'as chinom,"
he said. "I've been the recipient of an amazing amount of
ahavas chinom."
Meriting Mercy
The Novominsker Rebbe, in his capacity as Rosh Agudas Yisroel
of America, then delivered a message to the gathering. Focusing
on the evening's theme and the need for Jews to merit Hashem's
salvation of our people, he posed the question of how we might
best evoke Hashem's mercy. Echoing a proclamation by gedolim
in Eretz Yisroel endorsed by their counterparts in America,
he urged the daily recitation of Tehillim after
Shacharis and the setting aside of the coming (last)
Monday, Yom Kippur Koton, as a half-day fast.
"Our brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisroel are looking to us
for chizuk," he said. "We must provide our tefillos . .
. and show that our hearts beat together with theirs, `like
one person with a single heart'."
He went on to urge that Israeli soldiers, entrusted as they are
with protecting their fellow Jews and endangered as they are as
front-line targets of Arab violence, should occupy a special
place in our thoughts and tefillos.
Curious Coincidences
The Rebbe noted as well the "curious coincidence" that the
recent violence in Eretz Yisroel broke out at the very dawn of
the Shmittah year -- when the idea of Hashem's ownership of the
Land, as a symbol of the fact that all is His, is meant to be
paramount in Jewish minds. The Rosh Agudath Israel stressed the
importance of supporting Shmitta-observant farmers, "who
have, at great sacrifice, dedicated the year to Hashem,"
through Keren HaShevi'is.
Another non-coincidental "coincidence" to which the Rebbe
referred was the way Israel's Prime Minister's declaration of a
"secular revolution" -- as it was dubbed in the press -- "was
so quickly followed by an Arab revolution." One of the
casualties of the recent violence, he averred, is the breakdown
of many Israelis' legendary commitment to their country and
morale. "Many feel there is nowhere to turn, nothing to believe
in, nothing worth fighting for."
All bnei Torah, including those of us in chutz
la'aretz, the Rebbe charged, must "carry the message to the
secular community in Eretz Yisroel that now is the time to
return" to Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
Pain Alleviation
Rabbi Shmuel Bloom, Agudath Israel's executive vice president,
delivered his message on the theme of alleviating the pain of
Klal Yisroel and the pain, kevayochol, of the
Shechina itself. He invoked not only the pain of Jews in
Eretz Yisroel but of those elsewhere too, and the pain caused
Hakodosh Boruch Hu by "secular revolutions" in Eretz
Yisroel, raging intermarriage among American Jews and the
falsification of Torah by "new Judaisms."
Agudath Israel, Rabbi Bloom declared, "a movement charged with
solving the problems of Klal Yisroel in the spirit of Torah,"
must endeavor to "alleviate some of the pain of both Yidden
and of Hakodosh Boruch Hu."
Hearkening back to the convention theme -- "Making a
Difference: The Role of Reb Yisroel in Klal Yisroel" -- the
Agudath Israel leader contended that the secret of how that
pain might be alleviated lay in the words of HaRav Yaakov
Kamenetsky, zt"l, at an Agudath Israel convention 21
years earlier. At that point, a film clip of the godol's
words, stressing the role of individuals, comprising a new
sort of "shevet Levi," was presented on screens
throughout the hall. Rabbi Bloom then noted how the imperative
of creating an effective volunteer force had finally reached
fruition, with the creation of a special "Agudah Volunteer
Program" designed to "channel the energy and talents" of each
askan who contacts it, to a service or organization that
can most benefit from them.
"That," he said, "is the path toward alleviating the pain of
Klal Yisroel, and the pain, kevayochol, of
Hakodosh Boruch Hu Himself."
Rabbi Bloom announced the formation, as a result of a
discussion at a Friday morning roundtable at the convention, of
a committee to promote kedushas beis haknesses and
enhance davening in shuls. He also announced a
Yarchei Kallah for American ba'alei batim, to take place
in Yerushalayim. Such a trip -- "not to tour or see the sights,
but to study Torah" -- would, he said, be a truly meaningful
demonstration of solidarity with our fellow Jews in Eretz
Yisroel.
Front-Line Report -- and Advice
The evening's final speaker was another Eretz Yisroel guest,
HaRav Shimshon Pincus, rav of Ofakim. HaRav Pincus fully
acknowledged the crisis at home, but took pains to stress that
"tova ha'aretz me'od me'od." He noted the proliferation
of yeshivos and shiurim, that Jews once alienated from
their heritage are returning to it and that the populace is not
unduly fearful. "The real crisis," he contended, "is not in
Eretz Yisroel per se, but in the entire Jewish people -- Eretz
Yisroel is but its heart." He suggested that a message lies in
the fact that the current strife is not a battle between
governments but between peoples and the threat is not so much
against a country as against individuals.
"There is a contrast," he said, "between what people build and
what they are." Perhaps, he continued, we need to more
carefully apply to ourselves as individuals the very same
concern that we so strongly translate into community efforts,
the building of yeshivos and kollelim and the quality of
our children's education.
"The bnei Yishmoel," he noted, "are claiming that it was
their ancestor, not Yitzchok, who was chosen as Avrohom's heir,
what Hashem called "yechidcho." We must all act as
meyuchodim to Hashem. No matter how old, each of us is
His ben yochid. Our behavior as such will prove that we
are deserving of that honor."
Aditional comments about the Aguda Convention
U.S. Aguda Convention 2000: Reflections
From Hollywood to the Holy Land
Excerpts from Remarks of Eddie Betesh, Convention Chairman
The Success Story of Dallas, Texas
