The first significant winter system of this season has recently struck Israel, bringing in its wake blessed rains throughout the country and snow in the Hermon. Concurrent with the mounting snow up north, much rainfall was registered along the coastal area and the center of the country. The local authorities were duly prepared for it.

There is much to be said, and then more, about the greatness of prayer in general but we will touch only upon several points in order to reinforce this exalted subject which is one of the pillars upon which the world stands.

Prayer is one of those exalted things which have supreme importance, as the Alter of Kelm noted, since prayer elevates a person. He explained that 'the world' actually refers to the person. Man is considered 'the world.' Prayer is designed to uplift a person and draw him near to the Master of the world. The Mashgiach, HaRav Yechezkel Levenstein used to say this repeatedly.

HaRav Shmuel Edelstein quotes the introduction to the Cuzari regarding the power of prayer. "The same way that the body needs nourishment, so does the soul require three meals a day. In the same way the soul needs replenishment three times a day, and prayer constitutes nourishment for the soul. This is the reason why Chazal instituted the three daily services for the soul.

e do not need many sources to know what goes on in the Israeli army. Suffice us to hear from the top men of the Hesder institutions of the National Religious camp in order to understand how the army treats those young idealists who volunteer to serve their country with a staunch determination to keep the mitzvos, only to face opacity of their officers, with a harsh blow to the values in which they believe and their need to struggle against phenomena of which no one warned them in advance.

And now they come to convince chareidim that the army is prepared to accept them to its ranks and to assure them that they will emerge the same chareidim as they entered. We have already written in this column about the value of such promises.

Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to hear what someone has to say from the 'inside' who knows far better than us how the army relates to such chareidim who are prepared to reside under its protection.

Part Two: Heir to the Rabbonus of Altona

The three communities of Altona-Hamburg-Wansbeck (known by their Hebrew initials, AHU), situated in the territory between Denmark and Prussia, had been combined and their rabbonus held by a single rav, since 5404 (1644), shortly after Jews received permission from the king of Denmark to settle in Altona.

Over the years, a succession of some of the greatest gedolei Torah of Europe occupied this prestigious position. In the mid eighteenth century, the town saw the first flare-up of the bitter controversy surrounding HaRav Yonoson Eibeschitz zt'l, over the kameyios which he gave out.

After the union of the three communities dissolved in 5572 (1812), the first rav to be appointed over Altona was HaRav Akiva Yisroel Wertheimer zt'l of Breslau who served there for twelve years.

Several months after his petiroh, a letter of appointment arrived for HaRav Ettlinger, requesting him to accept the position. In richly lyrical loshon hakodesh, the lengthy, ornate letter (it was arranged in the shape of two luchos) provided a detailed survey of what the rav's authority and duties would be, as well as of the salary he would receive and additional remuneration for the other tasks which accompanied the post.

The letter's third paragraph dealt with the Altona beis din, at whose head the town's rav stood, which, for close to two hundred years, had enjoyed a concession granted it by the Danish monarchs of the exclusive privilege to judge monetary disputes between Jews. This meant that the verdict of the dayanim was enforced by the civil authorities.