Forum
FORUM American Jews Have A Conflict of Interest Theodore Mann's article, "Should American Jewish Organizations Publicly Criticize Israel on Peace Issues?— We Must" (March 1988), overlooks three...
...The fact of intermarriage may not be the most pleasant in modern Jewish life, but it is a fact nonetheless...
...They can counsel only compromise, never adherence to Jewish principle...
...The answer is self-evident...
...R. Hugh Uhlmann Kansas City, Missouri Harold Ribalow's True Character Your recent article on Henry Roth ("The Awakening of Henry Roth—A Generation After Call It Sleep," April 1988), contains a misleading error...
...Second, most American Jews and the organizations that represent them are not qualified to publicly debate these issues...
...James O. Freedman is actually the second Jew to be President of Dartmouth, although he is the first to be openly identified...
...Greenberg sees the issue in reverse, putting him in conflict with mainline Orthodox thought...
...However, many of us perform marriages between Jews and non-Jews given certain conditions...
...The vast majority of American Jews and the organizations that represent them are too concerned with non-Jewish opinion to form an unbiased judgment on whether Arab rioters should be treated harshly or whether Israel should rule Judea and Samaria...
...A nekhliker log...
...The overriding interest of the vast majority of American Jews is to fit into American society and avoid social and economic discrimination...
...Go live in sin...
...This Committee, formed by my predecessor, Rabbi Michael Paley, has undertaken to raise upwards of S2,000,000 in order to expand the program in Hebrew language and Jewish studies...
...Henry Roth's Call It Sleep is an old favorite of mine ("The Awakening of Henry Roth—A Generation After Call It Sleep,"April 1988), but how can you pay any attention to a man who did not discover that communism was a false god until 1956...
...They are forcing their beliefs on us rather than helping us to understand ourselves...
...Those of us who officiate at intermarriages see this as a positive step for Judaism...
...Modern Orthodoxy does not need to justify halacha in the modern world...
...The survival of the Jewish people is at stake if we do not encourage a wide variety of Jews to participate and pass on their Jewish heritage...
...718) 463-4143...
...This is totally untrue...
...How can they deny these people that which is rightfully theirs...
...Have you forgotten about circumcision...
...Intermarried children are made to feel outsiders by their outreach programs...
...I cannot understand a purported synagogue desecrating the Sabbath openly in such a manner...
...Diane Levenberg writes of the late Harold U. Ribalow: ' 'Ribalow received a large finder's fee when he convinced Pageant Press to reissue Call It Sleep in a new hardcover edition...
...Rabbi Daniel Siegel Jewish Chaplain Dartmouth College Hanover, New Hampshire...
...First, American Jews have a conflict of interest...
...These de-Judaized Jews cannot give serious consideration to Jewish sovereignty over the whole Land of Israel or laws against public desecration of the Sabbath...
...After his untimely death five years ago, the Harold U. Ribalow Prize, awarded annually to a work of Jewish fiction "Deserving of Recognition," was established precisely because Ribalow spent most of his life as writer, critic and anthologist discovering and encouraging the work of gifted Jewish writers whose talent he was among the first to recognize...
...He has continued the support which his non-Jewish predecessor gave to the development of Jewish studies and has spoken to the Alumni Advisory Committee on Jewish life at Dartmouth...
...Given the creative abilities to reform Judaism in the Reform movement, there is no conflict...
...that is, we see it as a way of pulling both the Jewish partner and the non-Jewish partner into the fold of Judaism...
...Today it causes American Jews to distance themselves from Israeli policies that arouse the displeasure of non-Jews...
...Ronald S. Lauder Former Ambassador of the United States to Austria New York, New York Jewish Life at Dartmouth I began to read the little item, ' 'Jews as University Presidents" (Notes and News, January/February 1988), with great interest and then growing disappointment...
...Advise Israel all you want, Mr...
...Jeff Bernstein Bayside, New York But How to Draw Jewish Women...
...Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, an accomplished secular scholar as well as the intellectual leader of modern Orthodoxy, has said...
...He speculates that fewer and fewer of the recent Reform ordinees perform intermarriages because of the year they spend in Israel and Reform's increasing emphasis on ritual and practice...
...Have they forgotten that they are teachers, not missionaries or evangelists...
...Rabbi Greenstein ("Welcoming Intermarried Couples," Forum, April 1988) warmly, longingly says that he may disappoint these children because they disappointed him (and the Jewish people...
...For the past nine years a crrjss-denominational group of Jews, "young and old, single and married, have gathered for a week of study and celebration...
...That is why they choose to attend the services at Georgetown because only there do they feel welcome...
...When that venture dissolved, Uncle Muchic founded Mogen Dovid Kosher Meat Products Corp...
...Finally, Dartmouth College supports the Tucker Foundation, a unique institution whose purpose it is to raise moral and ethical concerns within the College community...
...One must confess that it obligates everyone to realize its demands in all times and under all conditions, social, political or cultural...
...I suppose that is when the Berger family acquired it and somewhere along the way Dovid became David...
...at 968-70 Longfellow Ave., Bronx, N.Y...
...A few years later, an older colleague confided in me that the reason he was changing his position—and beginning to officiate at intermarriages—was that he was not doing any of the weddings in his congregation...
...But Roth, aware that his newfound success had occurred only through Ribalow's selfless efforts, insisted that Ribalow keep at least an agent's percentage of the novel's earnings...
...Flushing—Flea market Is held by sisterhood of Temple Beth Sholom, 171-39 Northern Blvd., 5:30-10 p.m...
...March 27, 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m...
...He and my mother's brother, Ben Seltzer (Uncle Berish) started K & S Kosher Provision, Inc...
...They have been given the title by us, not God...
...However, I—and most of my classmates—are all products of this form of Reform rabbinical training...
...But we are the parents...
...He was changing his position so as not to be left out of the life of the congregation...
...For more information on the 1988 Havurah Summer Institute which will be held August 15-21 at Princeton University, contact the National Havurah Committee, 270 W. 89 Street, New York, NY 10024 or call (212)496-0055...
...Many of us keep kosher...
...Methinks the honorable gentlemen from Washington, Rabbis Fred N. Reiner [of Temple Sinai] and Daniel G. Zemel [of Temple Micah] ("A Cheap Shot at Synagogues" and "A Free Ticket For the Holidays," Forum, April 1988), protest too much and, perhaps, too fiercely...
...However, there was a tremendous concern that other people not mistake our intentions...
...After all of this I can use a glass of Dr...
...I understand that individual Reform Jews do not observe the Sabbath...
...David Katz Oak Lawn, Illinois A Synagogue Flea Market On Shabbat Your April 1988 issue contained an amusing Spice Box item concerning a ' 'special Passover brunch of shrimp Creole" at a Temple Beth Israel, which I assume from the name is a Reform Temple...
...And yet, I wonder about one of his comments...
...All had decided, but all were concerned that others not regard it as an anti-religious decision...
...I remember one class during my senior year when we discussed this issue...
...I cannot help but believe that the wide international outrage his statement engendered hastened his resignation...
...I understand his embarrassment, because in the never-ending fight to gain the respect and acceptance of Orthodox rabbis, intermarriage is one of the most difficult points...
...A dedicated group of teachers have provided courses which meet different levels of Jewish knowledge...
...my father's brother, Max Kaplan, did...
...We wear kippot and talli-tot...
...Ribalow did not receive—or ask for—any such fee, and it distorts the truth to imply that his tireless efforts on behalf of the book were motivated to any degree by money...
...Brown's Cel-ray...
...Halacha, to be accepted only in part, is impossible...
...And are you not foolish to think you will forge a stronger goldeneh kayl and stop even one intermarriage by not officiating at the ceremony...
...Greenberg may be a missionary to the non-Orthodox, but his ideology is not Orthodox...
...Third, the only reason why a Jewish organization would publicly air a disagreement with Israel is to rally non-Jews against other Jews...
...is not a question to the committed Orthodox Jew...
...Not forever, though, because I also remember going to Coney Island with my friends and while they ate "treyfe" hot dogs at Nathan's, I ate at the Hebrew National stand across Surf Avenue...
...A nation sanctified by God above all others (that is the notion of chosenness, after all) and commanded to follow divine law demeans its nationhood and desecrates the name of God when it asks outsiders to resolve its differences...
...His father did not found Mogen David...
...Bayme's question, "Why be Jewish in a world in which the claims of the modern culture are so attractive and skepticism towards traditional values so rampant...
...I wonder if the current troubles in Israel, which have made American Jewish criticism of Israel respectable for the first time, will not have a similar result...
...As a little kid, Uncle Muchic brought me to his factory to cure me of my crazy passion for "deli...
...But I have had it with those who think that Jews are the "chosen people...
...This self-interest silenced American Jews during the Holocaust...
...one must unconditionally accept the sacredness of the halacha in its eternal and absolute character...
...Your feeble response was, ' 'How to indicate these people were Jewish—not Americans as a whole...
...Carol Cohen Program Director National Havurah Committee New York, New York The True Origin Of Mogen David Deli The "Salami Wars" (March 1988) may be serious business to Hebrew National, Shofar, et al., but after reading all the somewhat sober articles in MOMENT I found it a delightful change of pace...
...Roth gave Ribalow a half-interest in the novel to aid Ribalow's successful attempt to get it republished so as to retain the copyright for Roth...
...Another example of a popular program is the Havurah Summer Institute run by the National Havurah Committee...
...To a person, as we went around the room, each student explained his or her decision to officiate at intermarriages and explained with great care the pain and difficulty that went into making the decision...
...The primacy of halacha is the essential principle of Orthodoxy...
...My amusement is tempered, however, by my knowledge that in Queens, New York City, where I reside, several Reform temples actually do things as outrageous, and certainly not as amusing, as the Spice Box item...
...Bayme writes that Modern Orthodox rabbis who disagree with Rabbi Greenberg's concept of Modern Orthodoxy "are expressing their own failure to confront modernity seriously...
...Jewish World," Forum, April 1988), quite rightly, to your generic cover drawing showing Jews wearing kippot, which Reform Jews do not use...
...To suggest otherwise is not only inaccurate, it does a disservice to the justly honored memory of Harold U. Ribalow...
...Mann—privately...
...Rabbi Stevens is apparently embarrassed—as are many members of the Central Conference of American Rabbis—by the fact that many Reform rabbis perform intermarriages...
...The only symbol we could come up with was a kippah...
...What a bunch of hypocrites—asking for conditions before they would condescend to do what they were trained to do, given the power by the state to do and what they should do without question...
...M. Z. Ribalow New York, New York Another Scholarly Feast Your report on "A Scholarly Feast" (Perspective, March 1988) is an excellent example of the positive efforts being made to encourage Jewish learning...
...While it is true that Dartmouth's Jewish enrollment is only about 13 percent, this is no reason not to print even one sentence descriptive of Jewish life there...
...Oscar Grushkow Sliver Spring, Maryland Keeping Judaism Alive by Officiating at Intermarriages The letter from CCAR's Elliot Stevens in the April MOMENT commenting on your article on Reform ' 'Rabbis Who Perform Intermarriages" (January/ February 1988) is as interesting as the original article...
...Their outspoken, lively commentaries pitifully missed the point of my article ("Night of Awe—A Mother at Kol Nidre," January/February 1988...
...Isn't parentlove unconditional...
...But as the years went on, and as we came face to face not only with Israel, but with the realities of American Judaism, most members of my class changed their minds...
...I would never repudiate my Jewish-ness under any circumstances...
...Thank you for a stimulating time...
...However, the very last paragraph requires a bit of historical correction...
...Can they respect you and feel you are reaching out to them after your rejection of them by refusing to marry them...
...Few American Jews respect or even understand Jewish religio-national aspirations...
...In addition, the College has just completed renovating the kitchen in the Hillel lounge so that we will be able to maintain a fully kosher eating facility for Jewish students...
...I suggest Barry Berger, president of Mogen David, research his memory and/or records...
...Both officiating at intermarriages and the observance of many traditional customs are seen by us as being pro-Judaism...
...The ignorance of most American Jews makes them and their representatives unworthy participants in a public debate over the future of Israel...
...Knowledge and education are the most effective assaults on prejudice...
...Uncle Muchic was a kosher wholesale butcher in the Bronx...
...This is what they told me...
...Modern Orthodoxy must be concerned with what extent we allow the modern world to impact upon our lives as Jews...
...His conclusion does not seem accurate to me...
...Those of us who officiate at interfaith marriages, by and large, do so because we feel it is a step in the direction of keeping Judaism alive...
...Documenting fact, unraveling myth and righting distortions—all of these neutralize the threat of anti-Semitic thinking...
...To suggest otherwise is not fair, nor is it accurate...
...Let them in through the door as Georgetown does, instead of extending a limp hand through the third window...
...In turn, the Tucker Foundation engages a Christian and a Jewish Chaplain, both of whom are part of the administrative staff of the College, with all of the responsibilities and opportunities which go with such a position...
...He did this not for money, but because he felt passionately that these writers should receive recognition...
...Is not parentlove broader, wider, deeper, more accepting, than the love of a child for the parent...
...As Americans, to preserve our own heritage, all of us have a responsibility to condemn persecution, atrocity and cultural annihilation wherever it occurs...
...Are they "holier than thou...
...some of them never recovered...
...By sharing a week in the spirit of havurah Judaism, the participants are able to go back to their communities all over the country renewed for another year...
...On a more serious note, the intellectuals of the 1930s and 1940s found that their disillusionment with communism destroyed a very central part of their life...
...The Jewishness of most American Jews was bleached out of them in public schools and replaced by a smattering of watered-down Judaism in after-hours Hebrew schools...
...After Uncle Muchic's sudden death in November 1959, his widow Aunt Sadie sold his holdings...
...Dear Rabbis, if you are reaching out, open yourselves and your synagogues to ALL our children wholeheartedly and honestly as Rabbi Harold White [of Georgetown University] does...
...Rabbi Amy Eilberg from Indianapolis objected ("MOMENT Ignores Half the...
...He is assuming that interest in ritual trappings makes a person more Jewish and that performing intermarriages is something that makes a rabbi less Jewish...
...Where do these rabbis get the idea that they have the right to say no because one is not Jewish...
...He promoted the work of many subsequently celebrated writers in addition to Roth...
...When I saw the unappetizing manufacturing procedures of those days, I have been told I stayed away from deli for a long time...
...They are just people who happen to be Jews...
...What they say is "Go find your own kind...
...When Call It Sleep became unexpectedly popular (in paperback, after the Pageant reissue) Ribalow freely returned to Roth all of the rights with which Roth had invested him, since Ribalow felt that all the rewards should be Roth's...
...Do you really expect these intelligent, highly educated, thinking individuals to enter your programs where they know you rap their knuckles with rulers and do not sanction their very quintessential core, their deepest act of love and commitment...
...halacha justifies itself...
...Rabbi David E. Ostrich Congregation Mickve Israel Savannah, Georgia Is Outreach to Intermarried Couples Possible When You Won't Officiate at Their Weddings...
...We went to Israel...
...Karl Kaplan East Brunswick, New Jersey Halacha Justifies Itself I must take issue with Steven Bayme's defense of Irving Greenberg ("Modern Orthodoxy's Loss of Nerve," Forum, March 1988...
...several, including Ozick, Potok, Schaeffer and Wiesel, have recently been Ribalow Prize judges...
...I noticed that when we first entered rabbinical school and began the program in Israel, almost everyone in the program was against officiating at inter-faith marriages...
...FORUM American Jews Have A Conflict of Interest Theodore Mann's article, "Should American Jewish Organizations Publicly Criticize Israel on Peace Issues?— We Must" (March 1988), overlooks three points...
...the Torah commands us...
...on Saturday...
...It is commendable that Washington synagogues have been able to include some intermarried couples...
...The young men and women I spoke with on Yom Kippur eve, however, also seek Jewish identification and sanctity, but they cannot come because they feel you have closed your gates to them...
...Lawrence M. Reisman New York, New York Hoedl Has Resigned In "Notes and News" (December 1987) you made an important reference to the letter sent by the Deputy Mayor of Linz, Austria, to Edgar M. Bronfman, the president of the World Jewish Congress, in which he equated the Jews' "persecution" of Austrian president Waldheim with their "persecution" of Christ...
...Either one believes in Torah min haShamayim (the divine origin of the Torah) or one does not believe in this basic principle, and rejects it entirely...
...The flea market begins approximately two hours before the end of Sabbath...
...Deputy Mayor Carl Hoedl has subsequently resigned his post...
...Enclosed is a page from the March 25, 1988, issue of the Jewish Week, announcing a Flea Market to be held at Temple Beth Sholom, a local Reform temple, at 5:30-10:00 P.M...
...Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan Brooklyn, New York Rabbis Who Refuse to Perform Mixed Marriages I read your articles ("Rabbis Who Perform Intermarriages—Who They Are and Why They Do It," January/February 1988) on rabbis performing (or not) mixed marriages with more than casual interest—my wife is not Jewish...
...telephone DAyton 9-1817...
Vol. 13 • June 1988 • No. 4
