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© Copyright 2003

November 2003 VOLUME XXXVl/NO. 9

Cheshvan 5764 • November 2003 U.S.A.$3.50/Foreign $4.50 ·VOL XXXVI/NO. 9

CONFRONTING THE DANGERS OF THE INTERNET

10

14

16

21

Dealing With Some Major Moral Hazards in Contemporary Society, Rabbi Yaakov Perlow, ,. .. V>7w

Staying Away From The Cybe!"-Slums, Rabbi Leib Kelemen

A Ubiquitous Challenge, An Insidious Trap, Rabbi Aaron Twerski

The Dangers of the Computer and the Internet, a Compendium

The Electronic Maakeh, Rabbi Yitzchak Adlerstein

The Chazon lsh 7--~1, Fifty Years Since His Passing, Rabbi Shimon Finkelman

3 6 Post Yom Tov Reflections: Back to Normal? Rabbi Aryeh Zev Ginzberg

SECOND LOOKS

40 Answering the Call, Avi Menashe

BOOKS IN REVIEW

4 2 Zorei'a Tzedakos: Contemporary Stories of Divine Providence, by Dr. Meir Wik/er, reviewed by Rabbi Labish Becker

4S Letters-to-the-Editor

46 Black on White, a poem by Mrs. Faygie Borchardt

T he invasive and corrosive effects of the Internet on Jewish homes and individuals has proven to be a cause of deep concern to our community's

leadership. This problem was the subject of several sessions in last spring's Torah Umesorah National Convention, where hundreds of Torah educators and a number of prominent Roshei Yeshiva gathered to discuss pressing educational matters. Since then, Torah Umesorah issued a letter to be sent to all Day School parents

warning them of the irreparable harm that can result from allowing their children access to computers and the Internet.

In addition, the Agudath Israel Conference of Synagogue Rabbonim sponsored a meeting this past September on the topic of "The Enhancement of Kedushas Habayis," specifically as regards home use of computers and the Internet. More than 60 prominent rabbanim from throughout the New York Metropolitan Area and beyond were in attendance. This gathering was

NEGOTIATING WITH AN ALIEN ENVIRONMENT

These times of chevlei Moshiach -the stonny era prior to the advent of Moshiach - are fraught with

dangers everyvvhere. But \Ve have cer­tain guidelines taught to us in the Torah, which enable us to invoke n1axin1u1n racha111i1n v'chassodiln -Divine mercy and con1passion - in our lives. "fhe first thing to do is to con1-mit ourselves to live fully Jewish lives, uninfected by the virus of alien value systems. Yes, we all adjust to certain demands of our host society, and \'Ve accomn1odate ourselves to many ele­nients in the prevailing culture. VVe do this technologically, even socially! But David HaMelech ren1inds us, he V\'arns us, "Vayisarvu vngoyiin vayilindu n1a'a­

scihe111- They mixed \Vi th the gentiles and learned their ways" ( Tehillim 106, 34). If accommodation is necessary in order to econon1ically survive, vve may feel that we must adjust in certain ele1nents of our lifestyles; we niay not, however, allt)\V their spirit or their norn1s to invade our thinking, and cer­tainly not our behavior.

This, then, is the crucial test of liv­ing in our co1nfortable galus. How much goyishkeit, how much alien cul-

8

Recognizing And Dealing With

Some Majo1 ture, are we consciously- and uncon­sciously - absorbing? Are we careful enough, sensitive enough, to prevent foreign values from penetrating our Torah lifestyle?

ORTHODOX MODERNITY: ACCOMMODATION OR

CAPITULATION?

The defenders and promoters of Orthodox modernity would make it appear that we're suc­

cessfully meeting the challenge, at least most of the time. But we are not. Modernity, unless constantly rein­forced with strong Torah values, with n1ussar and yiras Shamayim and strict behavioral parameters, is 1naking serious inroads in our fam­ilies, in our youth, in many ways that we tend to sweep under the carpet, pretending not to notice that the yiras Shamayim is slowly ebbing away. Worse yet is that recently, accommo­dation with modern technology has created a spiritual 1nonster, a ravaging disease that is destroying the very foundations of our kedusha. I mean specifically the computer, and more specifically, the Internet. We all know the rationale that is commonly given -- that one's business cannot be main-

tained without the use of the com­puter and Internet, that the Internet is a basic living aid which saves peo­ple money, and provides necessary information; even divrei Torah. An office cannot function without a computer, and this is the way children are being trained to learn, to play, to study, to do homework.

TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES

All this may be true, to one extent or another. \'\That, however, are the consequences of this wonder

of technology? You may or may not be aware of all the gruesome facts that are festering as a result of Internet use, or a computer with a little gadget called a modem. Our families, both children and adults, have open access to the worst pornography. The finest people, other­wise frun1 and observant, have fallen vic­tim to the ugly attraction of gilui arayos (promiscuity). The Internet, with the flick of a button, invades a Jewish home, a Jewish soul, and makes moral disaster. And it is happening all the time.

One may think that this is an exag­geration, but the rabbanim who are unfortunately privy to the facts, who must deal with the forbidden relation­ships that have developed, Rachmana

The Jewish Observer, November 2003

addressed by Rabbi Yaakov Perlow ~""""1 (the Novominsker Rebbe and Rosh Agudas Yisroel) and Rabbi Yosef Rosenblum ~~. as well as by several men of vast experience in various professional and business fields, with much hands-on experience in computers and the Internet.

In response to the urging of our rabbinical leadership to assume an active role in countering this affront to Kedushas Yisroel, we present, in the pages that follow, observations, insights, and some suggestions from people with expertise in

this field. We are keenly aware of the sensitivity of some of these discussions and recognize that people who have succeeded in sheltering their lives and environment from destructive influences may find some of these references gratuitous and even distasteful. We publish these discussions under the guidance of our rabbinical leadership, because of the critical gravity of these problems, and in the hope that these articles may call the readers' attention to these issues and perhaps contribute to their solutions.

Moral Hazards In Contemporary Soci

Based on excerpts from an address by the Novominsker Rebbe ~-~, Rabbi Yaakov Perlow, at the recent Lei[ Hisorerus on September 21, '03,

the first night of Selichos

litzlan, know the bitter truth, more than most people do.

DEALING WITH THE THREAT

The time has come that the general public know it too. If there is any one single area that needs tikkun

- control, irnprove1nent, and yes, change - in our tzibbur, it is the pervasive dis-ease known as the Internet. If your busi­ness cannot get along without it, you must create the strictest controls around yourself and your staff. Create fences, strictures, around its use. Do not give it free rein! Re1ne1nber that you are deal­ing with a force that contains spiritual and moral poison.

Ask yourself further: must it come into your home- openly accessible to yourself

The Jewish Observer, November 2003

and your chil­dren? I think that in most cases, the hon1e can eas-ily survive without the computer-Internet hookup. And why must children be exposed to all this, and do their school assignn1ents on a con1puter? Why must they waste many precious hours in the batala of playing games? Why not teach them to tl1ink, and write, and gather infor­mation in the way their parents did, and not be subject to sakonas nefashos?

Parents who are not careful about this destructive instru1nent and allow it to be accessible to children are being oveir'(Lo sa'amod al dan1 rei'echa" every day (trans­gressing the prohibition: "Do not stand by as the blood of your friend [spills]") ... - not to speak of the sakana (hazard) in

which the adults place themselves. Some­thing must be done about this.

Permit me to say, in closing, that noble intentions are not enough. V\That is needed in those areas of our lives that need change is resolute action, an uns,verving determination to be Jews who are committed to lead Torah lives and conduct ourselves like the Am Kodesh that we are meant to be. Keep the elohim acheirim (alien influences) out of our lives and restore the kedusha v'ta­hara (sanctity and purity) to the neshama that yearns to be close to the Ribbono Shel Olam. II

9

Rabbi Leib Kelemen

Staying Away from IHf G'(Bfr<-SLVMS

A CONFUSED WORLD

Like most public libraries in the United States, the Central Phoenix Library provides

adults and children with Internet access. When Toni Garvey, the chief librarian, recently spotted three sep­arate men and a group of giggling girls viewing pornographic material on the library's terminals, she had no idea how to respond. She says she feels uncomfortable providing such material for the public, but so far, fed­eral courts across the country have ruled that banning the Internet from public institutions or even filtering its contents "offends the guarantee of free speech" and "restricts First Amendment rights." Garvey com­plains, "For me, this has been one of the most challenging issues of my career. We all want to do the right thing, but it's not clear what the right thing is." 1

Garvey, like most people of con­science in the secular world, is moral­ly confounded by the technology that links together nearly half a billion peo­ple in a "Worldwide Web" - a global city - allowing instant, anonymous exchange of uncensored text and images. Anyone in this virtual-metrop­olis can put anything online, and once it is there anyone can access it. Rabbi Kelemen is a rebbe at Neve Yerushalayim seminary in Yerushalayim, and a prominent counselor, author and lecturer. His most recent book is What They Don't Want You to Know About Television and Videos (Targum/Feldheim, 2003). He is a frequent contributor to The Jewish Observer.

10

THE SEEDIER SIDE OF CYBERSPACE

Like any metropolis, the Web has neighborhoods, some safer and some horrific. Unlike any other

metropolis, the Web lacks a government, laws) or a police force. There are uni­versally acknowledged economic cyber­crimes like the intentional spreading of computer viruses - infectious software programs that could impair the expe­rience of other cyber-tourists. Beyond this, there are no moral guidelines. A turn down the wrong cyber-street guar­antees exposure to information or images at least as corrosive as anything available in the streets of New York, Paris, or Tokyo - and often even worse.

For example, the Web hosts thousands of pornographic sites - offering materi­al that is as explicit and generally more violent than what is found in print pub-

lications2 - and these sites are heavily traf­ficked. In response to academic surveys, 25-50% of men with Internet access admit spending time online viewing explicit material.3 While most visitors to porno­graphic sites are married college gradu­ates4, a Canadian survey reveals that 44°/o of men who visit these sites admit that they began doing so before age 16.5 A British survey reported that over half of all word searches on the Internet are aimed at locating pornography. The top eight word searches are all pornography related.6 Although much of the explicit material available online is free, through fee-per-view services and advertisements the online pornography industry cur­rently generates about $1 billion annually. 7

Researchers explain that it is the web's "Triple-A Engine" - access, affordabil­ity, and anonymity - that drives the online pornography industry:'

Access. Unlike material sold in x-rated stores and through mail-order services, online images are available instantly and from the privacy of one's home or office. There is no time for mature contem­plation to overcome childish impulses -"and [the yeitzer] knows that if men would give a moment's thought to their ways, they would certainly begin to regret their actions" (Mesillas Yesharim, ch 2).

Affordability: Unprecedented supply minimizes prices, and much of the obscene material is entirely free.

Anonymity: Users have the (false) impression that their web activity is untraceable. The Vilna Gaon writes that taava rages when a person feels no one is watching. 9 The reality is that servers - the companies providing

The Jewish Observer, November 2003

Internet connections - possess records of every site visited by every user (and have consistently provided these records to investigators tracking down those who spread viruses). But the feel­ing that "no one knows" corrodes nor­mal inhibitions.

V\lhile 1nen outnumber wo1nen 6: 1 in their online use of explicit material, women slightly outnumber men when it comes to the "Chat Room" and "Multi-User Domain" (or MUD). 10 A Chat Room is a public or semi-public site dedicated to facilitating social inter­action among total strangers - the cyberspace equivalent of a singles-bar. Logged-in users introduce themselves and join a live, theme-based group dis­cussion. MUD sites provide public or semi-public, interactive gaming and are also engineered to facilitate friendships between strangers. Studies reveal that about 90% of Chat and MUD users form personal relationships; about one­third of these relationships result in a face-to-face meeting; and about a quar­ter of these relationships evolve into romantic involve1nents. 11

A large study of American teens just revealed that close to 60°/o have received an instant message or email from a total stranger, and 63% of those teens who have received such instant messages or emails say they responded but never told their parents. 12 In the last three years there have been several infamous cases of abduction, rape and murder in which the victim was first approached and lured through a Chat or MUD site, instant messaging, or emails. There are, no doubt, many more cases in which Chat, MUD, instant messaging, or email inter­actions led to spiritually or psychologi­cally destructive relationships. These are the harsh realities of cyber-streetlife.

The Ramban13 describes how indul­gence in one taava (desire) creates a drive for another, more depraved taava, and so forth, in a potentially unending downward spiral towards total degra· dation. In a nightmarish scenario, a hen Torah could thus wake up to find him­self on one of the web's many sites explicitly dedicated to facilitating illic­it activity. Thousands of sites offer 24/7

The Jewish Observer, November 2003

the web, destroyed mutual trust and ripped the marriage apart. Sadly, our community has been touched by this plague as well.

online gambling, and researchers say upwards of fifteen million people visit these sites annually and leave several bil­lion dollars of their family's funds there. 14

A GLIMPSE AT THE DAMAGE: AN ACADEMIC PERSPECTIVE

cent surveys identify a bur­geoning trend of lnternet-relat­d divorces. 15 In most of these

tragedies, v1s1ts to explicit sites, or extramarital relationships forged over

In a landmark study, published in Anierican Psychologist, researchers from Carnegie Mellon University examined the amount of time people spent inter­acting with other family members before and after installation of a com­puter with Internet access. During the two-year longitudinal study, family interaction declined dramatically, and the drop was directly proportional to the

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increase in Internet use. Ironically, many study participants justified their increasing time online, saying they needed to "stay in touch" with more dis­tant friends and relatives, while they

increasingly ignored those they were liv­ing with. 16 In 1ny counseling practice, I hear complaints weekly from spouses, parents, and especially children who feel the Internet has robbed them of their loved ones.

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As Internet involvement increases, so do loneliness and depression - espe­cially among middle- and upper-class males. 17 There are many theories about the relationship between Internet use and depression. For example, some researchers argue that productive peo­ple have only limited time to develop and maintain their most significant rela­tionships, and moderate-to-heavy Inter­net use necessarily siphons hours off this precious reservoir, leaving people social­ly isolated and sad. Other researchers remind us that the mere act of sitting still in front of a computer display can trigger a biochemical chain-reaction that ends in depression. 18

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A whole genre of studies describes the damage Internet involvement can wreak on academic performance. Although

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many parents help their children get online in order to bolster grades, research reveals that more time spent online translates into less time spent reading books and worse study skills. 19

The Internet cultivates impulsive jump­ing from web page to web page, but real learning requires still concentration. At a large New York university, the dropout rate among freshman rose proportion­ally as their involvement in computers and Internet access increased.20 Business analysts also note associations between employee Internet-access and decreased productivity.21

All these academic studies touch only on the concerns of the general popula­tion. They say nothing about the bittul Torah or spiritual degradation bnei Torah experience when they visit the cyber-slums.

STAYING AWAY FROM THE CYBER-SLUMS

((There is nothing new under the sun;' Kohelles teaches." The Internet is just novel

packaging of an ancient threat- a threat to which we have always responded the same way.

On erev Rosh Chodesh Nissan, 5735, Rabbi Yaakov Yisroel Kanievsky, Rabbi Elazar Menachem Man Shach, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, and Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky 'rlll, issued a joint letter against television. Before this proclama­tion, television had made its way into many Torah homes, but bnei Torah exhibited wondrous strength and effec­tively banished television from our midst.

Today, the Internet has penetrated our community, but with the same strength we will uproot it, too. Baruch Hashem, unlike our neighbors in the sec­ular world, we are not confused. We rec­ognize the danger; we see the inadequacy of partial protection; and we know what needs to be done. We possess a vacci­nation. "Barasi yeitzer hara, barasi lo Torah tavlin - I [Hashem] created the yeitzer hara, and I created 1(lrah as the antidote."23 Just as those who clung to the Tree of Life survived the yeitzer's attacks over the last 3,300 years, so too

----···· .. -- --- ----·-·-----12 The Jewish Observer, November 2003

will we survive the era of the Internet by clinging to daas Torah. Mesi/las Yesharhn warns, "It is obvious that if the Creator only created this cure [Torah]

1 Michael Janofsky, "What Would Dewey Do? Libraries Grapple with Internet," The New York Ti111es, 2 Dec '02. 2 Jennifer Lynn Gossett and Sarah Byrne, "Click }fcre: A Content Analysis of Internet. .. !Violation] Sites," Gender and Society, Vol. 16(5), ()ct. '02, pp. 689-709. 3 Amanda Lenhart, Lee Rainie, and ()liver Lewis, ICenage Life Online: The Rise of the Instant Mes­sage Generation and the Internet's Jinpact on Friendships and Family Relationships (\Vashing­ton, D.C.: Pew Internet and American Life Pro­ject, 2001 ), p. 33; Sylvain C. Boies, "University Stu­dents' Uses of and Reactions to Online Infonnation and Entcrtain1nent: Links to Online and Offline Behavior," The Canadian Journal of Hurnan Sexuality, Volume 11(2), Su1n1ner 2002, p. 82. 4 Mark Griffiths, "[hn1norality] ... on the Inter­net: ()hservations and In1plications for Internet ... Addiction;' 111e Journal of Research, Vol. 38( 4), Nov. '01, p. 338. 5 Boies, p. 82. 6 Mark Griffiths, "Excessive Internet Use: Impli­cations for ... [-Illicit] Behavior;' C..)'berpsyclwlogy and Behavior, Volume 3(4), 2000, p. 541.

for that disease [yeitzer hara], one can only recover by taking the prescribed inedicine; and one who thinks he can survive without this prescription is

7 Griffiths, 200 l, p. 333. 8 A. Cooper, "Surfing into the New Millcniun1;' Cyberpsychology and Behavior, 1998( 1 ), pp. 181-187. 9 Likutin1 M'peirushei HaGr"a 7,a"l B'inyanei Ii1ava v'Chernda, p. 122. 10 Boies, p. 79; Griffiths, 2001, p. 336, 338. 11 M. Parks and L. Roberts, "!vtaking MOOsic: The Development of Personal Relationships Online and a Comparison to their Offline Counterparts," Journal of Social Personal Relation, 1998( 15), pp. 521-537. See also K.S. Young, E. Griffin-Shelley, A. Cooper, J. Omara, and J. Buchanan, "Online Infidelity: A Nevv Di1nension in Couple Rela­tionships vvith hnplie<itions for Evaluation and Treatment," Sexual Addiction a11d Co111pulsivity, in press. 12 Lenhart et al, p. 19. 13 J)evarin1 29,18 14 Mark D. Griffiths, "The Social Impact of Inter­net Gambling," Social Science Computer Review, Vol. 20(3), Fall '02, pp. 312-320. 15 J.P. Schneider, "Effects of Cyber[- J Addiction on the Fan1ily: Results of a Survey," in A. Cooper (ed.), Cyber[-j: The [)ark Side of the Force (Philadelphia: Bruner Routledge, 2000), pp. 127-144.

mistaken, and will ultin1ately recognize his error when his sin kills him:'24 Our gadolin1 have advised us to remove Inter­net from our homes, and so we will do.•

16 Robert Kraut, Vicki Lund1nark, Michael Pat­terson, Sara Kies\er, Tridas Mukopadhyay, and \Villiam Scherlis, "Internet Paradox: A Social Technology that Reduces Social Involvement and Psychological \Veil-Being," American Psy­chologist, September 1998, Volume 53 (9), pp. 917-1031. 17 Ibid, Kraut, et al. 18 For a detailed outline of this process, see Leib Kelen1en, What They Don't \Vant You to Know About Television and \!ideos (Southfield, Ml: Tar­gum/Feldheim, 2003).

!CJ K. Young, Caught in the Net: Hon' to Recognize the Sig11s of lnten1et Addiction and a \Vinning Strat­egy for Recovery, (New York: John VViley, 1998). 20 A. Wallace, The Psychology of the Internet (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999). 21 Keith Beard, "Internet Addiction: Current Sta­tus and Implications for Employees," Journal of E1nployment Counseling, March 2002, Volume 39(2). pp. 2-10. 22 Kohelles 1:9. 23 Kiddushin 30b. 24 Mesi/las Ycshariin, ch. 5.

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BLACK CLOTHING, AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

Reb Illai the Elder said: If a person sees that his evil inclination is overwhelming him, he should go to a place where they do not recognize him and clothe himself in black, cover himself in black, and he should do as his heart desires. He should not desecrate the Name of Heaven openly (Kiddushin 40a).

Reb Illai's intent was not to give advice or succor to a person con­templating immoral conduct.

Tosafos comments on R' Illai's dictum: Rabbeinu Chananel explains: Chas

V'Shalom [Heaven forbid] that [R' Illai] permits one to transgress [under the stated conditions J. Rather R' Illai said that traveling long distances as a wayfarer and clothing oneself in black will serve to break the hold of the Evil Inclination and prevent one from transgressing ( Kiddushin 40a). Sadly, today it is no longer necessary

to travel long distances and clothe oneself in black to attain anonymity A user of the Internet can travel worldwide by several clicks on a mouse and visit the most immoral of sites and the most amoral of people under the blaclcness of almost total anonymity. By locking the door to one's room or office and by utilizing a person­al password, the likelihood of being ~~~-·-----~-~~~-------

Rabbi Twerski, a member of the Editorial Board of The Jewish Observer, is a professor in Brook­lyn Law School and serves as chairman of the board of Agudath Israel of America's Commis­sion on Legislation and Civic Action.

14

farnmcd '' ~~ relatively remote. The "place where they do not recognize him" is no longer hundreds of miles away. It is the next room. The "black clothes" are the locked dom and the password. The bar­riers that R' Illai envisaged as protection against immoral conduct have been almost totally obliterated. The yeitzer hara has been given a weapon of almost unparalleled power and it has inflicted mortal wounds upon the weak and unsuspecting.

PERSONAL PEEPHOLE INTO PURGATORY

Let me begin by confessing that I am neither a con1puter nor an Internet maven. The reader will

find in this issue excellent articles by those knowledgeable in this technolo­gy. They deserve your careful attention. What I bring to the table, so to speak, are my discussions with families devas­tated by the Internet, and observation of professionals who have shared with me cases very much like the ones to which I have been personally privy. • An anguished spouse called to say that her husband had become distant and remote over the past several months. He had either locked himself up in his home office professing to be working or returned to his office after hours. When the spouse suspected that something was seriously wrong, the

Rabbi Aaron Twerski

husband confessed that he

had become ad·dicted to viewing immoral sites and cannot break the addiction. Expo-sure to these sites began quite inno­cently when an image came across the screen and he clicked onto the forbid­den site. Aside from the very difficult problem of breaking serious addictive behavior, the wife is convinced (with considerable justification) that her spouse's moral compass has been dam­aged for life. He will never be the same person she married. • Teenagers or adults using the Internet for seemingly legitimate purposes begin surfing the net. Material that would never find its way into any self-respecting Jew­ish home is read and then clicked off. Since each exposure is a mere fleeting minute or two, it does not seem to be based in reality. It, so to speak, exists only in the air. But heart-rending discussions with those who have been exposed tell a very different tale. "I am confused and I can't get my head straight. I was the frumest girl in my class and I will never get back there again. I feel violated. How did this happen to me?" • One spouse (either husband or wife) experiences some dissatisfaction with some aspect of the marriage. The cause of the dissatisfaction may be inattention (e.g., long hours at work), lack of warmth, or general malaise. Instead of seeking counseling) either professional or rabbinic, one of the spouses enters

The Jewish Observer, November 2003

into chat roon1 relationships with anonymous correspondents of the opposite gender. Persons to whom the spouse would never talk to in a real per­son-to-person encounter becon1e con­fidants from whom nothing is witl1held. The respondent need not be Jewish nor pay homage to any religious or moral values. But they offer a comforting shoulder and advice on any and all aspects of marriage. Spouses have shown me correspondence between iliem and chat-room friends. At best, it was stupid. At worst, its immorality would shock the conscience of even a primate. I can attest to the fact that some have acted on cyber-advice with hor­rendous consequences.

CHAT ROOMS: EVEN WORSE

But the story gets worse, much worse. Chat-roon1 relationships are serious relationships. Emo­

tional entang1ements with anonymous partners can have a profound impact on the psyche of the correspondent. The anony1nous correspondent is not a real person with warts and faults. He or she is a fantasy: compassionate and caring. The cyber-partner trumps real life human relationships by a country mile. Not only does a troubled marriage not get the attention it needs, it can be destroyed beyond repair by a phantom person who is neither identified nor identifiable.

Some will say that what I am describ­ing is the result of over-sheltering our children and even ourselves from the real world. If we would only be more open and less protective and insular, we would be less vulnerable. There are sev­eral responses. First, a huge body of sec­ular literature finds these problems to be universal. Internet addiction in gen­eral, and addiction to immoral sites in particular, is not limited to the frum Jew­ish world. But even if they were so lim­ited, we would have to address it. The very essence of kedushas Yisroel is at stake. The entirety of Torah rests on the rejection of the kind of immorality that pervades our society. This is a battle that cannot be lost.

I have no easy solutions. The ubiquity of e-mail, the undeniable fact that thou­sands of our brethren conduct businesses on web sites, and thousands 1nore must utilize the Internet for their business or professions, make total rejection of the Internet in1possible. But every Internet user must understand the profound dan­gers that this new medium presents. Every safeguard available must be used. One must in1pose the most stringent lin1itations on oneself and one's children to prevent access to improper sites. Chat

THEVORT

• The Vort celebration is to be discontinued. The L'chaim (held at the time that the engagement is announced) should also not turn into a Vo rt.

THE WEDDING

• Only 400 invited guests may be seated at the chassuna seuda.

• The kabbolas panim smorgasbord should be limited to basic cakes, fruit plat­ters, a modest buffet, and the caterer's standard chicken or meat hot dishes.

rooms should be considered chazar treif without exception. How we meet iliis challenge will be determinative of the tzura (image) of Kial Yisroel for gener­ations to co1ne. Vigilance, vigilance and more vigilance is our only recourse. •

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• The menu for the seuda is limited to 3 courses followed by a regular dessert.

• No Viennese table and no bar.

THE MUSIC • A band may consist of a maximum of 5 musicians (one of the musicians may act as a vocalist) or four musicians and one additional vocalist.

• A one-man band is recommended.

FLOWERS & CHUPA DECOR

• The total cost of these items for the entire wedding should not exceed $1,800.

FOR THE FULL VERSION OF ,THE SIMCHA GUIDELINES AND THE ACCOMPANYING KOL KOREH,

please email info@simchaguidelines.com or call 212-612-2300

We the rabbinical signatories - barring familial obligations - and unusual and extraordinary circumstances - wilt not participate in or attend a wedding celebration that disregards these guidelines. (Rabbinical Listing in formation)

Rabbi Shmuel Birnbaum Rosh Hayeshiva, Mirer Yeshiva

Rabbi Elya Svei Rmh He yeshiva, Ye>h!Va Gedo/a of Philadelpluii

Rabbi Shmuel Kaminetzky Rosh Hayeshivo, \'\'Shiva Gedo/a of Phi/adelphic

Rabbi Yaakov Perlow Novominsker Reblx!

Rabbi Eli Simcha Schustal Rash Hayeshiva, Bais Binyomin, Stamford

Rabbi Yisroel Rokowsky Rabbi Yisroel Simcha Schorr Rmhei Ha Yeshiva, Yeihiva Ohr Somcyach

Rabbi Aryeh Malkiel Ko~er Rmh Hayeshiva, Beth Medrcsh Govoha, lokewood

Rabbi Elya Ber Wachtfogel Rmh Ha Yeshiva, Ye1-hiva Gedo/ah of

South Fallsburg

Rabbi Chaim Boruch Wolpin Rosh Hayeihivc, Yeshiva Karlin S!olin

Rabbi Zecharia Gelley Rav. Kha/ Ada> Jelhurun

Rabbi Yisroel Tzvi Neuman Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Feigel stock Rosh Hayeihiva, Beth Medraih Govoha, Lakewood Rosh Ha yeshiva, Yeihiva of Long BNdi

Rabbi Lipa Margulies Rmh Ha yeshiva, Ye>hiva & Me11fta Torah Temimah

Rabbi Dovid Kviat Rabbi Moshe Wolfson Mashgiach, Yeshiva Torah vodcai

Rabbi Aron Moshe Schechter Rosh Hayeihiva, Yeshiva CMim Berlin

Rabbi Yosef Rosenblum Rosh Hayeshivc, Yeshiva Shaarei Yosher

Rabbi Dovid Tzvi Schustal Rmh Ha yeshiva, Beth Medra>h Govohc, Lakewood

Chairman, Conferem:e of Synagogue Rabbonim of Agudaih Israel

Rabbi Yeruchem Dlshin Rabbi Shlomo Mandel Rosh Hayeshivo, Beth Medrash Govoha, Lakewood Rosh Hayeshiva, Yeshiva of Brooklyn

Rabbi Mattisyahu Salamon Rabbi Ephraim Wachsman Mcshgiach Beth Medrash Govoha, Lckewood Rosh Ha yeshiva, Mesivta Meor Yitzchok

·------·--·----·--·--··----The Jewish Observer, November 2003 15

At the recent meeting sponsored by the Agudath Israel Conference of Synagogue Rabbonim, several business executives and professionals presented a demonstration on the hazards inherent to common use of computers and Internet in the workplace and the home. This article, focusing on home use, is based on the information conveyed to the Rabbonim on that occasion.

The Dangers of the Computer

I. A SIGNIFICANT INVENTION, A SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGE

The computer and the Internet are two of the most significant inven­tions in human history. They

make possible the heretofore unimag­ined, and have been responsible for rev­olutionizing human activity, which has resulted in many-fold increases in pro­ductivity. At the same time, however, the computer and the Internet pose the greatest challenge we have faced in a long time in protecting the sanctity of our minds, our homes and our families. There are only imperfect solutions to the problems that arise; no matter what we try, we cannot devise a foolproof method to be immune from the dangers. There are partial solutions that we must implement to the extent possible, but an enterprising individual can find a way to get around any solution yet devised. Tak­ing security steps should not lull us into a false sense of security. The usefulness of the medium should not make us oblivious to the very real dangers.

The first step in protecting ourselves

16

and the

Internet

is understanding the problem and rec­ognizing its severity. We are referring now explicitly to problems that these tech­nologies raise in the home. We do not dis­cuss their use for business purposes, where computers and, often, the Inter­net are essential tools for competitiveness and survival. Yet, even in business, there is a need to limit access to these tools for legitimate business uses only. Certainly, there is a need to separate between busi­ness use and home use. If a business com­puter is essential in the home, the use of the computer for business purposes only must be strictly enforced by limits on physical access to the computers for other purposes. As we will see, physical limits (that is, keeping the computer under lock and key) are the only ones that are effective in insulating the new tech­nologies from making pernicious inroads in the lives of a frum family.

Today, the computer and the Inter­net are pervasive in the homes of our yeshiva children:

A class in a yeshiva bought an impressive present for their Rebbe for Purim - a new computer. The Rebbe,

who appreciated his students' inten­tions, but who was dubious about let­ting a computer into his home, was curious as to how his students had selected what to him was such an odd gift for a Rebbe - especially from stu­dents of such a prestigious yeshiva as theirs. He decided to ask them how many had a computer in their own home. Of 27 boys in the class, 27 hands shot up. The Rebbe asked further, 'jtlnd how many of you have unre­stricted access to the Internet?" 17 hands went up. Now the Rebbe under­stood why the boys thought that a com­puter was a perfect gift. They could not appreciate living without one. Yet the computer, and especially the

Internet, present serious problems in the chareidi Jewish home.

There are five levels of problems with computers and the Internet. The first two of these refer to the personal computer itself, even if it is not connected to the Internet. The other three are problems that arise when a computer is connect­ed to the web of communication that is the Internet.

The Jewish Observer, November 2003

II.GAMES

The lowest level of serious prob­lems comes from computer games. Games on computers are

becoming more and 1nore realistic, with characters that are life-like and adopting modern Hollywood-style standards of dress and behavior. They draw the players into the complicated tapestry of images they weave, and play­ers often lose the1nselves for hours on end in the imagined worlds they create. Bittul z'man, wasting time, is the least of the problems with these games. Players can become divorced from real­ity, living for the thrill of imagined worlds, and the joy of the action that envelops them when they are enthralled with the game and its play.

The games have tremendous power over children. There are children who are addicted to computer games. Rabbe'im of children in the 7'h through 12•h grades tell of children who come into yeshiva in the morning, talking only of their game experiences the night before, and swapping stories with their fellow students. Their minds are com­pletely taken over by the thrill of the game, with little room left for concen­tration on the "boring" dikduk or abstract Gemora. After all, Lashon or Gemora has few monsters and close calls, little color, and few enticing characters; one must think, painfully and deeply, rather than have thoughts thrust at you from all sides to which your brain has merely to submit.

Once the Internet is added to a com­puter, there are games that you can play interactively with other people far away, adding another dimension of thrill and co1npetitiveness. These strangers with whom you are playing can remain anonymous, but can just as easily iden­tify themselves, and, buoyed by the com­mon game experience, develop into close friends over whon1 parents have not the slightest awareness, let alone approval. These friends can come from all cultures and all religions, or lack thereof-not the kind of friends a par­ent would choose for their budding yeshiva bachur or Bais Yaakov student.

The Jewish Observer, November 2003

III. MOVIES/VIDEOS

0 ur community has struggled mightily, with some success, against 1novies, television and

videos. Many of our homes no longer have a television or even a video play­er, because of the dangerous effect of these modes of"entertainment" on our own thinking and the thinking of our impressionable youth. But our homes do have co1nputers, and every com­puter sold today can be used as a DVD player and as a television screen. When

parents are out, it is a sin1ple 1natter for our children to rent or buy a DVD movie and pop it into the computer. I recently went into a local outlet of a national pharmacy chain, and for $4.99 I was able to purchase a movie on DVD. The computer obligingly understands the code in which the questionable movie content is etched onto the metal disk that spins in the drive, and an image appears on the computer screen sharper and more realistic than most television or film. It is no difference to the computer

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17

whether the film is a harmless cartoon or a depiction of the worst filth, whether it is a trivial comedy or a thought-provoking romantic drama. (Is even the trivial comedy of today truly trivial?) And what thoughts are pro­voked by modern conceptions of cul­ture and lifestyle choices? And how are the actors and actresses dressed?

Moreover, students actively trade movies and games with each other. ''I'll lend you this one over the weekend, if you'll lend me yours when my parents go to a chasuna on Thursday night. I guess I can miss mishmar one week if the movie is as good as you say."

A DVD leaves no trace on the machine that it has been used. Pop it in, view its content, remove it, and no one can ever know that the computer was used for an entertaining evening by the apple of his parents' eye.

Again, we are talking here of any modern computer, without connection to the Internet. A connection to the Internet allows on-line and pirated access to almost any movie ever made, without the bother of trading with a friend or entering a store and actually making a purchase. While such access is illegal due to copyright laws, it is freely available in the nether world of the Internet, and a determined teen­ager can certainly figure out how to bring whatever he wants to the com­puter screen.

18

IV. THE INTERNET

We now come to the dangers of the Internet, dangers that do not exist in a lone, dangerous

unconnected computer. A word of cau­tion, however, is in order if you think it is easy to escape the unique nisyonos (temptations) of the Internet by mere­ly keeping your computer disconnect­ed. Almost every computer sold today comes with a built-in modem. A modem is a device that lets a comput­er communicate over a phone line. Once such a connection is established, the world of the Internet lies at your feet. Most readers, I an1 sure, have received a disk in the mail, inviting you to put the Internet on your computer for free. Thousands of such disks are sent out gratis each inonth to entice com­puter users to sample the pleasures of an Internet connection. Your children can easily get one of these disks. With the disk, and a modem on their com­puter, they are in the world of the Inter­net, with all its useful functions and all its insidious dangers. Often, a new computer comes with a certain number of Internet hours already pre-loaded, so even the disk is not necessary.

If you try ordering a computer with­out a built-in modem, the computer company will likely give you a very hard time, as though it cost them extra for not giving you the modem. It is so absurd

FORA MOST

ENJOYABLE AND ENTERTAIN p CHANUKAH GIFT ....

to them that someone would order a computer without the ability to connect to the Internet, that their entire assem­bly process is built with insertion of the modem as an integral step. It therefore would take a special order and added expense notto include the modem. This is but one symptom of how essential the Internet has become to the American ways of business and leisure.

Perhaps you want to remove the modem from your computer after you receive it, and hire a special technician to do just that. It is still possible to buy an external modem that can simply be plugged into your computer and do the same job as an internal modem. A bright teen-ager can get such an external modem, plug it in when be needs it and remove it when he is not using the Inter­net, with no evidence of it ever having been plugged in (However, there may be evidence of Internet use within the files of the computer that a computer-savvy parent can locate, but that a computer­savvy child can erase.)

V.EMAIL

The first level of Internet use is email. 1'his is where one person at a computer can send another

person at a computer an electronic let­ter. The sender types out the letter, clicks on a Send symbol, and the letter is deliv­ered to the receiver's computer. The receiver can compose a response and send it by simply clicking on a Reply symbol.

Email has three properties that make it particularly enticing and dangerous: instantaneousness, asynchronicity, and relative anonymity. Instantaneousness, refers to the fact that, like a telephone, an email message is received almost as soon as it is sent.· Asynchronicity means that, unlike a telephone, the email recipient need not be at his computer, ready to receive, in order for the mes-

·"··~·~---

~A cell phone is even worse in this regard, because the conversation must be immediate, while you can wait before responding to an e1nail. It is not entirely wise for yeshiva bachurim and fru1n young ladies to have unrestricted access to a cell phone either. But email is even worse than a phone because of its asynchronous nature.

The Jewish Observer, November 2003

sage to be delivered. The message is instantaneously available to the receiv­er's computer (if the computer is off, it beco1nes available as soon as the recip­ient signs on), and, subsequently, the intended recipient can look at it when­ever he wants. If the recipient is not at his computer now, the message will be waiting for hi1n when he returns. Rela­tive anonyn1ity means that it is not always obvious fro1n an email n1essage who the sender is. The initial recipient can be corresponding with someone who is very different from whom he (or she) says he is. There are few clues to identity in an email message, such as accent, manner of speaking, or imme­diate reactions, that are present in a tele­phone conversation.

A phone conversation can only take place if both people are available to talk simultaneously. People are busy and have different schedules; it is not always easy to arrange a two-way conversation. By contrast, your email to me will wait until I'm ready to read it, and my response to you can take place at any time, and can be read any time after rve sent it. ''fhus, it beco1nes far more con­venient for a stranger to initiate a con­versation. The sender can rely on the natural curiosity of the receiver to insure that his message, which may be full ofunwanted and inappropriate con­tent, will be read, without going to the trouble of locating a postage stamp, going to a mailbox, and waiting sever­al days.

Finally, because of relative anonymi­ty, a sender can disguise who he really is, and, because of asynchronicity, can take the time to plan his response for n1aximal impact and nefarious effect. There are many stories of inappropri­ate romances started by email, and of unwitting young people being lured into all sorts of illegal, immoral, and count­er-hashkafa attitudes and interests. Young people, without a mature and wary picture of the world around them, may be particularly susceptible.

Of course, email has n1any advan­tages. My correspondence for the ben­efit of many mosdos is almost exclusively via email. It may be very difficult to

The Jewish Observer, November 2003

ment to realize what is junk and is to be ignored, and what is valuable and worth spending time on. A child often does not have such discernment, and has a far stronger curiosity in things that he never yet experienced.

reach me by phone, to ensure that my correspondent and I are both available at the very sa1ne time; but if someone sends me an e1nail, it will wait patient­ly until I am available and can look at it and reply. It gives me the freedom to communicate (both in receiving a com­munication and sending one) when I want to and have the time. To set up a meeting, or even a phone call, may take days; to have a two-way conversation by email can take only hours, if not min­utes.

An adult hopefully has the discern-

There is another problem with email that is referred to as spam. Spam is when some person or organization collects email addresses and sends out a message to thousands and even millions of recipients. For example, one company may send out messages to reduce mort­gage costs, another to allow people to

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19

order prescription drugs without exam­ination by a physician, another to entice people to visit a pornographic web site. The cost of sending millions of messages is negligible, and even if only one of a thousand recipients responds, the sender makes a tidy profit. Even some­thing as innocent as an advertisement for clothing can entice a young person to break through the gidrei tzenius, as has happened on a few occasions. The insidiousness of this method of com­munication is that the email message itself can allow you to click on a line in the message, and thereby go to a total­ly forbidden series of images or to order undesirable books or merchandise.

VI. WEB SITES

Aweb site is a collection of screens accessible through the Internet that any individual can set up

using a standard encoding process. (The stress is on "any individual.") Many peo­ple set up websites describing their fam­ily, their hobby, their vacation, or their resume, for anyone in the whole world to look at. Many organizations or com­panies set up websites for publicity rea­sons or to enable others to purchase goods from them. Other individuals set up websites with the worst porno­graphic images, some requiring a pay­ment, and others for free with the mis-

sion of spreading their particular brand of filth as far and as wide as possible.

Moreover, the websites are accessi­ble via keyword searches. You can type in the word "shul;' and a list of websites comes back listing shuls from all over the world, Yiddish stories that use the word" shuf' or the website of a Mr. Jim Shul from Plano, Texas. You merely click on one of the items listed to go directly to that website. Of course, children can imagine much more interesting terms to enter into a website searcher than the word "shul:' Even if you list the word Judaism, you will get back a listing that includes Con­servative and Reform organizations and texts) as well as those from missionar­ies and Jews for J. Once, I entered the word Torah, and the first item on my list was a Moslem diatribe allegedly proving the falsity of the Torah, chas mi'lehazkir.

With such a tool, it is also unfortu­nately easy to find the thousands of web­sites devoted to pure pornography of absolutely the worst type. There have been numerous stories of people arrest­ed for having on their computer images of child pornography taken from web sites on the Internet.

Websites not only have affected young people; they have ruined whole families in which the baal habayis has become addicted to offensive images and spends

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Rebbetzin M. Ishee, Menaheles Mrs. T. Yanofsky, Asst. Principal

hours looking at them. What is at stake is nothing less than kedushas Yisroel.

VII.CHAT

The final problematic capability of the Internet is Chat. This refers to the ability to communicate with

anyone in the world about any subject of mutual interest. You can click for a group of people interested in mathe­matics, or chess, or romance, or movies of a certain type, etc. Once you find your group, you can have an on-line conver­sation with everyone in the group so that the whole group can chime in, or you can "take the chat private," that is, enter into a private conversation with a sin­gle individual, male or female, or some­one pretending to be male or female. The subjects can be the worst possible topics for a yeshiva student. There have been cases of a suitor enticing a young­ster over the Internet to meet and even to run away with him.

A very bright Bais Yaakov high school girl with a strong interest in a certain kind of music got onto the Inter­net in a chat room for that type of music. She began a conversation with a gentile boy with similar interests, and they found that they had a connection with each other. They made up to meet in person. She then became frightened by the whole enterprise and came to her mechaneches (mentor) and told her the story. The mechaneches logged into the chat room and corresponded with the boy. Fortunately, the boy was an hon­orable person, and when she explained to him that the relationship could not continue, he let it go. But there are other cases where separation did not occur, leading to disastrous consequences. Another incident is related by a

frum clinical psychologist: He was seeing a very bright eight­

year-old girl. She had been in a perfectly innocent chat room. One day she told the psychologist: "Someone wants to marry me." They got on the computer, and her correspondent immediately saw that she was on the machine and began a conversation with her. The cor­respondent thought she was a

The Jewish Observer, November 2003

teenager and wanted to 1neet with her. There have also been problems with

adult men or women beginning corre­spondence with strangers and ulti­mately breaking up large families. It has been also found that children who drop out of our society invariably correspond via the Internet.

In chat rooms, you are imn1ediately inforn1ed when son1eone you have cor­responded with before is on the syste1n, and you can use an Instant Messaging capability to hold a real-time conversa­tion with that person.

The dangers of the Internet are many and diverse. The Internet should be kept out of chareidi homes because it represents a very real danger to kedushas Yisroel and everything we hold dear.

The simplest solution is to ban com­puters from the home. Many of us may think that is impossible, but 40 years ago, many of us thought that banning tele­vision from the ho1ne was iinpossible. We learned that not only was it possi­ble, it was essential.

r[b the extent con1puters remain in the home, there are several steps we can take:

•The computer should be placed in a well-trafficked part of the home, where everyone can see what is being displayed on the screen.

• No one should spend too much tin1e at the computer. Do your business and leave. Spending too much time at the computer should automatically be considered a suspect activity.

• Most systems allow the owner to set parental controls. Use them. They are not foolproof, but do offer some pro­tection by limiting access to certain web sites and filtering incoming email. Unfortunately, children are often far more computer-savvy than their parents, and have a knack for getting around any controls imposed.

• It is possible to set up email-only access. This will at least eliminate the problems with web sites and chat rooms.

•There are some commercially avail­able solutions. CyberSitter is a software package that filters out much of what is

objectionable. )-Net is an Internet serv­ice provider that is useful in the business environn1ent and has some value in the home. Also: Yeshivamail provides email without internet. Look into this type of solution.

[The readers is referred to a si1nilar list at the conclusion of Rabbi Adler­stein's article, which follows.]

But re1ne1nber, none of these solu­tions is perfect. They are all bedieved, and you should still be aware of what goes on at your computer. B

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Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein

THE ELECTRONIC Can Technology Make the Internet Safer?

A talmid of Rabbi Eliyahu Lopian?"t reconnected with his rebbi after a sepa­ration of some years, and informed him that he had found employment in a field that involved mixing freely with men and women in a relaxed atmosphere. "You would be proud of me, rebbi! I think of your mussar all through my working hours, and never once had any inap­propriate thoughts."

Rabbi Lopian asked thetalmid for his name. The student was taken aback. His rebbi certainly must remember his name! Rabbi Lopian corrected him. It was his mother's name he really want­ed, so that he could make a Mi She­beirach for him. Puzzled, the student asked why he needed a Mi Shebeirach, when he wasn't ill.

"I am an old man. Yet, I can hardly walk to the bus stop from my house with­out fighting off some unwanted thought. You claim that as a young tnan in the prime of life, you entertain no unholy thoughts? Surely there must be something wrong with you! I will make a Mi She­beirach for you to have a refua sheleima (complete recovery )f'

ARETHEREANY RELIABLE SAFEGUARDS?

We pride ourselves on our hon­esty. We know our weakness­es, and do not hide from them.

When we consider our te1nptations, we do not pretend that we are not tempted, but find ways to distance ourselves from them, erecting barriers and safety zones in front of them.

Rabbi Adlerstein directs Project Next Step, an educational outreach program of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and also serves as a faculty member at Yeshiva of Los Angeles and its High Schools. He is a contributing editor to Jewish Action, and a frequent contributor to many Jew~ ish and general publications. His English~lan­guage rendition of Be' er Hagolah, the Maharal of Prague's classic defense of rabbinic Judaism, was published by ArtScroll/Mesorah Publications.

22

Access to all there is on the Internet is a temptation that no one frum should have to face. While other communities are also concerned with the easy availability of all kinds of degradation on the Inter­net, most of them see this as a problem of exposing employers to lawsuits, or of exposing children to material inappro­priate to their age. The kedusha of Kial Yis­roel teaches us that some things are objec­tiouable at any age.

For various reasons, good and bad, many people will decide to introduce online access to their homes. AB more and more businesses switch to Internet access, son1e even exclusively, a greater number of members of the observant communi-

ty will likely make similar choices. Must we make an all-or-nothing

choice? Must we either disallow the Internet entirely in our domestic sanc­tuaries, or have to live with an open door­way to the good, the bad, and the ugly? ls there a middle ground? Are there tech­nological solutions and software packages that can make Internet use safe for the frum family?

Sadly, the answer is no. None of the devices operates in full measure of our expectations and standards. All of them are also flawed and imperfect. There is no magic bullet that will fix the Internet to make it work al taharas hakodesh. There are devices and measures, however, which can make a had situation somewhat bet­ter. We will consider here what is available,

* Hebre_;-for-~-p~~t~~ti~~b;;;;~;t~ prevent ~--d~-~= gerous fall (see l)evari111 22,8).

why they don't work the way we would like them to, and make recommendations about the best remedies possible.

THE SAFETY FILTER

The most essential piece of protec­tion is a software package some­times called an Internet "safety fil­

ter." Filters come in two basic varieties: whitelist and blacklist. Whitelist filters come with (or allow you to construct) lists of"good" sites, and block everything else. Because the Web is so vast, and because most people who feel they need Internet access cannot predict which sites they will need to visit, whitelist filters are not as popular as the other type.

Blacklist filters use various strategies ;to find sites that are objectionable, and

revent you from accessing them. Typ­ically, developers of these filters both col­lect information about "bad" sites that are already known, plus look for new ones by searching for ce11ain buzz words. These devices suffer from two kinds of errors. Because they search for words without really understanding context, they will sometimes act a bit overzealously. Looking for informa­tion about Middlesex, New Jersey, or an Internet provider named Conexxxion, might end in blocked failure. (My filter blocked me from accessing articles dealing with Internet safety! Filters are good, but not terribly smart, so they produce unexpected results. The first site that my filter blocked belongs to the Society for Humanistic Judaism. On sec­ond thought, maybe it was smarter than I thought!) Their errors are infrequent enough, though, that frum families should be prepared to make the small sacrifice in order to enjoy the protection when it works.

More worrisome are errors of the opposite nature: material slipping through when it shouldn't. There are several reasons why filters are not

The Jewish Observer, November 2003

perfect, or at least better - and that they are unlikely to ever become good enough for us to rely upon. One is the enormous quantity of filth - commer­cial and private - that is out there. No commercially feasible group of people could track all of them, with hundreds more pepping up every day. (A heimishe company, thejnet.com, combines the blacklists of several commercial providers for maximum effect.) Any the­oretical group that attempted such a job with American sites would have to repeat their efforts on British, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Swedish, etc. sites. There is no end. Lots of sites sim­ply do not incorporate some of the tell­tale marks of pornography, and are not flagged by the antomatic processes. Providers switch servers and addresses often, making it hard to track even some of the larger smnt peddlers.

PROBLEMS OF LIMITED FOCUS

Filters are also limited by focusing on only certain parts of the problem. They can examine subjects of email

messages, and look for titillation in Web addresses. But they cannot open attach­ments and evaluate the text or photos. They will also not block images that are embedded in a webpage, like the banner ads that pay for many of the most pcp­ular sites. (Households that try to keep The New York Times away because of increasingly provocative advertising will have an even greater problem with web­sites that offer similar images - only in color!) Pop-up ads that piggy-back onto otherwise innocuous webpages are also unwanted guests. (Yes, you can use a tool to turn off all images, including the ban­ner ads. Microsoft offered one for !ES. I've kept it without problem while using IE6. Easily available utilities like Pop-up Stop­per will banish the pop-up ads. But these are not lockable. They can be undone as quickly and easily as they are pressed into service. Practically, they offer no protec­tion at all.)

And just what is the smut that the fil­ters are supposed to block? Contempo­rary definitions are certainly nowhere as inclusive as halachic ones. Some filters ask

specific questions about blocking partic­ular modes of body attire. None of the cri­teria I have seen is as strict as we would want; those that are don't work very well.

The best I can point to is CyberSitter. I can vouch for its generally reliable per­formance. (I have had conflicts with newly installed software. It also has staged work stoppages at times, and needed to be either fixed, through a utility that comes with it, or even reinstalled.) !twill allow you to select the kinds of sites it shonld block, with options that can be set in many areas. Any attempt to access a blocked site will bring up some sort of message denying access, or something similar. It keeps tabs on user activity, and allows tbe program's administrator to view a summary of either all sites visit­ed, or all objectionable sites attempted. It will show exactly how long a viewer spent time at this site. If someone really does stumble into something he did not expect and quickly exited, the log will show this too, so no one need fear being "framed" by the program. Parents can control the exact times of the week that they will allow different children access to the Internet, assuming all users have their own password-coded user names. Once set up, CyberSitter works unob­trusively in the background. Its develop­ers did their homework well in making it impervious to attack by those who wish to disable it.

PARENTAL CONTROLS, ANYONE?

OL users have a built-in option in sing the Parental Controls ptions, whicb AOL, to tl1eir cred­

it, are constantly refining. Assuming that your children each have unique sign-in names, you can tailor profiles for each. It will keep track for you whicb sites they visited and attempted to visit. If a child has a reason to use a particular site that he is locked out of, he can request one­time permission to unlock it. You will receive a notification, and can respond even from a distant computer. Teens old enough to use the Internet for shopping can do so in a supervised manner, with­out giving them your credit card. AOL Cash Card Online allows you to create a virtual credit card by depositing a given amount of credit in their account - and then shows you exactly what they have purchased with it.

Let's say that you will only allow your kids to use the Internet with a parent's active participation. You still wish to allow them to communicate with friends through email. Parental Controls will allow you to ban every otl1er function of the Internet - chat rooms, web access, ftp downloads - while allowing mail in and out. Moreover, it will allow access to a small number of sites chosen for their suitability to children, including some of the research tools that they may claim

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for the sixth consecutive year PROJECT RISHUM: The Campaign to Enroll Children in Torah Schools in Eretz Yisroel has surpassed all expectations. Thousands of newly registered

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orkers, who actually brought the children to . ~chools, have been retained to continue

•working with the children and.their families. This will help the students acclimate to

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pressures being exerted upon them by the enemies of Torah.

they need for their homework. It is far from perfect. AOL is infamous for pushing material at at you whenever you start up. The children's homepage is no different. Among other things, it offers its users quick links to select pop music fare. These videos are simply not for our children.

Filters work poorly in monitoring email, other than blocking it entirely. CyberSitter even recommends that you turn its email filtering option off if you receive attachments and photos - and who does not? Do not spend your time worrying about inappropriate refer­ences your kids may receive from less scrupulous classmates. A much darker problem looms large - spam. Users observe that when they move to a new provider and a new address, unscrupn­lous merchants have their email address within hours, and flood them with unsolicited material, much of it porno­graphic. There are separate tools to block this spam - unwanted email sent in bulk. The best is a nifty program called Qurb. AOL users can take advantage of an increasingly more vigilant anti-spam

capability. AOL, however, employs a slash-and-burn policy. It views any mail coming from a mailer who sends out large numbers of messages as suspect) and usually blocks it. Much (but by far, not all) of the material coming from large spam merchants is blocked, but you may also lose a weekly shiur sent out to thousands of subscribers! Several Torah­by-email senders have been stymied by AOL. Some have been able to resolve the problem quickly by communicating with AOL, but it has taken others weeks to do so.

I will have little to say about chat rooms, and all of it is negative. Our kids should have nothing to do with them. At best, they are places where boys and girls do an end-run around the barriers we have carefully built to prevent casu­al fraternization. At worst, they are vehicles to put them in contact with predators who can endanger their lives. When you use any filter, look for the way to disable chat rooms for the kids, and think no more about it.

What about denying access to the Web altogether, and retaining email

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capability? In the old days, Juno offered free email service, without providing a connection to the Web. No longer. It sim­ply comes with the territory. If you try to remove the Internet browser (the application that gives you full access to the Web) from your operating system, you will fail - at least if you use Windows XP. There are reported ways in which to disable Windows Internet Explorer (IE), but they do not remove it from your machine. These methods just get Win­dows to pretend that the browser is not there! (Yes, I know that the Department of Justice ruled that Microsoft cannot make IE a fixed part of the system, but they effectively got around this. It is reported that XP will not function with IE removed entirely.) I could describe ways to prevent Explorer from working, but they vary from version to version, and are oflimited application. Whatev­er you do can be quickly reversed by any­one with a bit of computer knowledge!

TAMING THE LION?

What, then, are we left with? After years of trying, I can come up with no better set of

suggestions than the following: • Computers with Internet access

must be placed where there is least pri­vacy and most traffic by other family members. This greatly cuts back on the anonymity factor, since the user can be intruded upon at any time.

• A filter must be used, and its administrator should be an adult female.

• Users should be told that the admin­istrator can and does use a device to 1non­itor which sites have been visited.

• Internet use must be limited to cer­tain hours, and should be on a need basis, not as a form of diversion and entertainment. Access to the computer should be password protected, so that children cannot use it at all when there is no adult to supervise.

Will these suggestions tame the lion? The answer is a qualified "somewhat." Families have very different responses, for example, to children using secular lit­erature. Some ban it entirely. Others will take their children to the public library,

The Jewish Observer, November 2003

and help them choose books they think appropriate. Each family takes into account the needs of the individual child, and the guidance of its own Torah advi­sors. Yet very few families, if any, move to a neighborhood where there is no public library, simply to escape the temp­tation. They rely on the rules they have set, and the trust they have that their children will not openly defy them. They also know that if, somehow, a child was really bent on obtaining salacious mate· rial, nothing could stop them. Standards of chinuch are established to guide and train children who are basically good -not to act in place of military sentries with fixed bayonets.

LEAVING AN ELECTRONIC TRAIL

well thought -out marriage of echno1ogy and corn111on sense an vastly cut down on the Inter·

net's threat by removing its two n1ost insidious dangers. Co111puters are so easy to use, and they seen1 to be so anony­mous. One who is tempted to look in the wrong place can do so without fear of discovery. No human is watching, and no one (people think, somewhat naive­ly) is keeping a paper trail, ready to embarrass the user later on. Almost all people have moments of greater and less­er spiritual strength. Easy, anonymous fulfillment of a passing desire or curios­ity is a nisayon that no one~ parent or child - should have to live with. When users know that their Internet where­abouts are recorded and checked, much of the nisayon diminishes. The danger is still there, but is it really so inviting to go through all the trouble? When users are told up front that 95% of the "bad stuff" is being filtered out, and that their keystrokes and mouse-clicks have beco1ne visible and transparent tooth­ers, the Internet could becon1e no more threatening than the neighborhood library around the corner.

Unfortunately, the analogy breaks down. As we showed, the devices do not work as well as they should, and unscheduled periods of spotty supervi­sion will happen. And the computer is in your home, not around the corner.

Still, for those homes that will allow the Internet in, some protection is better than none at all.

There is yet another problem asso­ciated with the Internet, one that impacts even those who do not own computers. Kohelles warns us to be cir­cumspect in our speech, because "of hashamayim yolich es hakol - a bird of the sky will spread the sound." The bird has sprouted new wings, and now trav­els at the speed of light, and to all cor­ners of the globe at the same time. Never has there been more opportunity to cre­ate kiddush Hashem by reaching large numbers of people cheaply and effi­ciently. (Shiur-givers on Project Gene­sis, the Web's largest portal for entry­level Tnrah, can take pride in reaching literally across the globe, as the sub­scriber list includes the most remote places on Earth, like McMurdo Station in Antartica.) But the opposite is also true. There are no secrets anymore. What you think happens within the pri­vacy of your own comn1unity will not stay there very long. A single, disgrun­tled individual can be heard around the world, letting all kinds of people in on the faults and foibles of a community. It is not only the kind of news that used to wind up on the front page of a news­paper that is shared with others today. The smallest subtleties, the nuances of our language, our hu1nor, our diet and our purchase preferences - all of these are open to easy inspection by the rest of the world. We live in a fishbowl, and the lights never go out. Whether we use the Internet or not, we 1nust be far more conscious of our behavior today than ever before, if protecting Hashem's Nan1e is important to us.

Our Torah instructs us to place a maakeh - a protective fence -in every well-frequented place where people might inadvertently fall. The maakeh need only be ten tefachim high, or about 38 inches. Such a short fence cannot itself provide an absolute guarantee against a person falling off, ifhe ventures too close to the edge. But the Torah recognizes that a small gedder, a small fence, can help. Internet safety tools should be seen in the same manner. •

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The Chazon Ish J"~~ 'Fifty 'Y eal!s Since ll.is 'Passing

15 Mal!cbeshvan 5714

( ( Every neshama has its own unique mission .... There are those who are destined to

accomplish out in the open. My lot, however, is to sit in my sn1all roon1, and from there perform chessed for my fellow man:'

The above statement by Rabbi Avraham Yeshaya Kare-litz, known as "the Chazon Ish" (the name of his classic, multi-volumed Talmudic work), was reflective of his modest nature. Yes, he per­formed countless acts of lovingkindness for his fellow man, but 1nuch of his time was devoted to kindness of another sort. As Rabbi Chaim Volozhiner taught, the continued existence of the world is dependent on Torah being studied somewhere in the world at every moment of the day and night' - and it was to this pursuit that the Chazon !sh devot­ed his life from an early age.

Almost from the day in 1933 that he set foot onto the holy soil of Bretz Yis­roel until his passing twenty years later, he was an acknowledged leader of his people and poseik hador - a prime authority of halacha of his time. From his humble dwelling in Bnei Brak, this unassu1ning giant, who never held any official position, guided his generation. He rendered halachic decisions in all areas of Torah; wrote seminal works of halacha and hashkafa (Torah outlook); spearheaded the development of Bnei

Rabbi Pinkehnan, a rebbe in Yeshiva Darchei lOrah, Far Rockaway, NY, is a frequent contrib­utor to these pages, including "Rav Pam's Spe­cial Friend" (October '02). He is the author of several biographies published by ArtScroll Meso­rah Publications, including The Chazon !sh: '11ie Life and Ideals of Rabbi Avrahan1 Yeshaya Kare­litz, ('89).

The Jewish Observer, November 2003

Brak as a city of Torah; was intimately involved in the founding of mikva'os, development of religious agricultural settlements and expansion of Torah con1munities throughout Eretz Yisroel; and was available to hundreds of men and women from all walks of life who sought his sage advice, encouragement and blessings.

How did he merit all this? Rabbi Yis­roel Yaakov Kanievsky '>"Yl, better known as the Steipler Gaon, was the Chazon Ish's brother-in-law, and his suc­cessor in many ways. He once remarked: "Shortly before his [the Chazon Is h's I

passing, it became obvious to me that he had forgotten none of his learning [despite his advanced age and failing health]. He was as fresh in what he had

learned decades earlier as if he had studied it just now. I know with cer-

tainty that it was in the merit of his tzidkus, for he studied Torah lish­ma (for its own sake, without any ulterior motive) and he possessed the 'forty-eight qual­ities [through which Torah is acquired]'" (see Avos 11,6).

FOR ITS OWN SAKE

The opening Beraisa of the sixth chapter of Avos2 enumerates the

rewards of one who studies Torah lishma. In fact, that

Beraisa actually describes the quintessential gadol be Yisroel.

" ... It [the Torah) makes him fit to be righteous, devout, fair and

faithful. ... From him people enjoy counsel and wisdom .... The Torah gives him kingship and authority, and analytical judgment ... he becomes like a steady strengthening fountain [of Torah knowledge J and like an unceas­ing river:' On the day when he became a bar

mitzva, the Chazon !sh resolved to devote his life to the study of Torah lish­n1a, his sole motive to acquire a knowl­edge of Hashem's commandments and to strive to fulfill them. For the next forty years, he studied with unsurpassed dili­gence and self-sacrifice, in seclusion and as a virtual unknown. He submitted chiddushei Torah anonymously for pub­lication, signing them: "\lr>N (an

1 Ne.fesh HaChai1n 4:13 2 The final chapter of Avos is actually a collection of Beraisos (lit., outside), Tanaatic teachings that were not selected for inclusion in the Mishna.

29

acronym for 'VW'cm:JN) from Kossowa:' Even his first volume of chiddushim, which made waves in the Lithuanian Torah world, was published anony­mously under the title Chazon (Vision of) Ish.

He engaged in ameilus beTorah,

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relentless toil in Torah study, to the very limits of his strength. He once remarked that when he wrote in Sefer Chazon lsh, "A copy of Rashba is not presently at hand;' this did not necessarily mean that he did not have a Sefer HaRashba in his possession at that time. It could have meant that at the time of that writing, he simply did not have the physical strength to rise from his chair and walk to his bookcase to take the sefer.

In his eulogy of the Chazon !sh, Rabbi Aharon Kotler '>"'~!said:

He enriched the generation with his

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30

Torah and chiddushim, for he merit­ed to draw, reveal and propound in all areas of Torah. His being was entirely sanctified for diligent toil in Torah, without any personal inclinations or obligations ....

To our teacher {the Chazon Ish], all areas of Torah were the same [i.e., many of his writings pertain to factual areas of mitzva observance such as meas­urements and computations, and which are not conducive for pro­pounding dazzling chiddushim ]. For all his toil in Torah was simply to know it le'amita (in its quintessential truth). When laboring in any topic, he plumbed the matter to the full extent of his capabilities.3

HIS LIGHT IS REVEALED

The Chazon !sh might have re1nained unknown his entire life, had Providence not arranged

that he should relocate to Vilna, where he developed a relationship with the leaders of Lithuanian Jewry - Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzensky (the Rav of Vilna) and the Chofetz Chaim, who often visited Vilna to meet with Reb Chaim Ozer on Kial matters. These luminaries came to appreciate not only the Chazon's Ish's genius and piety, but also his proficiency as a poseik and his astuteness in communal matters, and they prevailed upon him to attend meetings of rabbanim and communal leaders.

At one such meeting, the Chofetz Chaim bemoaned the generation's weakened spiritual plight, and he declared that the hour demanded every­one's casting aside feelings of modesty to act for the sake of Kial Yisroel. He con­cluded, "Every nistar(hidden personage) is obligated to reveal himself!"

Reb Chaim Ozer, who was sitting at the Chofetz Chaim's side, turned him­self completely around to face the Cha­zon !sh and asked, "To whom do these words apply if not you?" The Chofetz Chaim then rested his gaze on the Cha­zon !sh and added, "Even I - do you 3 Mish~·;;;-;R~v Aharon:-M~ainari111 V'Si~h:ls Mus­sar, VoL Ill.

The Jewish Observer, November 2003

hear? - even I could develop into a gaon were I to cast aside the yoke of com­munal responsibilities and dwell solely within the walls of the beis mid rash!"

After that incident, the Chazon !sh often took the initiative in involving himself with communal issues. He worked behind the scenes, avoiding any sort of recognition or official position. He wanted desperately to remain unknown.

In the summer of I 933, his aspiration to settle in Bretz Yisroel was realized. Reb Chaim Ozer wrote to the rabbinic lead­ership in the Holy Land, informing them of the Chazon Ish's impending arrival. "My dear friend, the outstanding gaon, is on his way to you. For us, it is a great loss. Bretz Yisroel, however) will reap great benefits from this."

From then on, when questions were sent from Bretz Yisroel to Reb Chaim Ozer or his illustrious brother-in-law, Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman, they would suggest that the Chazon !sh be consulted. Within a relatively short time, he was recognized as a quiet but very effective leader of the Land's grow­ing Torah community.

THE FORTY-EIGHT QUALITIES

As 1nentioned above, the Steipler stated that the Chazon !sh pos­sessed "the forty-eight quali­

ties." He was referring to another Beraisa in the sixth chapter of Avos which lists forty-eight qualities that the student of Torah must develop within himself to truly attain bis potential in Torah study and make it part of his very essence. The Beraisa refers to these qualities as kinyanim, literally translated as methods of acquisition, a tenn usually associat­ed with the mechanism through which the halacha makes it possible for one to acquire a given item.

Rabbi Aharon Kotler wrote: It is well known that Rabbi Chaim

Volozhiner taught: one's attainment of Torah knowledge is in exact proportion to his prior efforts in developing the forty-eight qualities through which Torah is acquired. This means that just as with the Torah's monetary laws of

The Jewish Observer, November 2003

acqu1s1t1on, a given item can be acquired [only] through its designated kinyan and no other, so it is with 'I'orah .. .. To attempt to acquire Torah without these qualities ... accomplishes nothing. This applies to all the quali­ties listed, even those that seem to have no direct connection to Torah know[­edge.4 Below are a few of the forty-eight

qualities, and illustrations of how the Chazon !sh embodied them:

A Good Heart

One Erev Pesach, the Chazon !sh asked a young married man to conduct a Seder for a group of girls who had been orphaned in the Holocaust. The young man replied that he and his wife were

looking forward to spending the Seder with family. The Chazon !sh responded, "A great mitzva has come your way. One cannot imagine the pain those girls will suffer if they will have to conduct a Seder by themselves. If you will not join them, I will!" The young couple heeded the Cha­zon Ish's request.

One Yam Tov, he was walking in Bnei Brak when he chanced upon a man weep­ing openly. The man explained that he was ager tzeddek, and he felt that others looked down upon him and treated him like an outcast.

The Chazon !sh asked the man to sing a niggun, and as he sang, the Chazon !sh danced in front of him as one would before a bride and groom. The man's spir­its were revived. 4 Mishnas R' Aharon, Vol. I, p. 62.

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Happy With One's Lot

From the time that he arrived in Eretz Yisroe~ the Chazon Ish subsisted on the meager income from the sale of his sefarim. His apartment had the very barest of furnishings. He refused many offers of assistance from grateful visitors who benefited from his counsel, concern and blessings.

He would discourage individuals from purchasing his sefarim if he felt that the person would not make use of the sefer. "I want buyers who are bnei Torah, not benefactors who seek roundabout ways to support me. This is not the proper way."

To Love Hashem

His love of Hashem was evident in his self-sacrifice for a mitzva.

Shortly before Succos during the First World War, he found himself in a town where there was not one set of arba min­nim (lulav, esrog, etc.) Travel was fraught with danger, but this did not stop the Cha­zon Ish from heading/or Minsk, where he succeeded in procuring the species. When someone asked him why he had gone to such lengths when the halacha clearly freed him of his obligation, he replied, "If you found yourself without matza before Pesach, would you resign yourself to not eating on Yorn Tov?" Mitzvos are food for the neshama, and the Chazon Ish could not live without them.

Purity, Limited Physical Pleasure

He once remarked that he never felt a need for food. He relied on those who prepared his food to decide when and what he should eat.

Once when his meal was interrupted by visitors a number of times, he said that apparently he was better off not eating at that time, and he put the food aside. It was later discovered that the food had not been properly tithed (as required of produce grown in Eretz Yisroel). His sister, Reb­betzin Miriam Kanievsky, testified that similar incidents occurred many times.

He once remarked, "I wish to learn Torah lishma, therefore I am extremely careful as to what enters my mouth."

Sharing Another's Burden

A few days before his passing, when he was alarmingly weak, his confidants attempted to turn away those who came to his door seeking his help. They asked him, "How can one accept visitors under such conditions?" to which he replied, "How can I turn away those who come to me with broken hearts?"

It is noteworthy that in his Emuna U'Vitachon, the Chazon !sh explains that character refinement impacts not only on one's success in 1brah study, but on his fulfillment of all mitzvos bein adam laMakom (between man and Hashem):

. .. There is a misconception that a person can be wholesome in his per-

formance in mitzvos relating to G-d alone, though his middos are wanting and he is deficient in his dealings with others.

One who sees to the core of this mat­ter perceives the hollowness of this belief A Jew who has not refined his middos ... is in the clutches of his evil inclination. As such, it is inconceivable that he will be wholesome in matters between man and G-d. The fact that he fulfills these mitzvos in grand fashion is only because their observance does not run counter to his negative traits. When such conflict does occur, howev­er, his yiras Shamayim will not be enough to weather the storm.5

HIS POWERFUL FAITH

Emuna, faith in Hashem, was deeply ingrained in the Chazon Ish's soul from his early youth. He

wrote that already in his youth he had evaluated the circumstances of his life through the lens of the Thirteen Prin­ciples of Faith as formulated by Ram­bam. He added that his constant aware­ness of these principles infused him with a boundless love of Torah.

His confidant, Rabbi Shlomo Kohen, wrote:

"And a tzaddik lives by his faith" ( Chavakuk 2,4 ). Our master's strength and power were rooted in his pure

5 Chazon Ish, E111una U'Vitachon 4:5.

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The Jewish Observer, November 2003

emuna. This man was weak and afflict­ed with serious illnesses and condi­tions -whence did he draw such pow­erful determination and decisiveness? From where did he acquire the broad shoulders needed to bear the burden of thousands of communal and per­sonal matters, to involve himself with all sorts of dilemmas, as if the respon­sibility for the entire generation rest­ed upon him alone? Not once did he seek to remove himself from a prob­lem or ease his load .... Without a doubt, it was his pure

emuna that enabled him to attain what he did. It was this that uplifted him to his sublime level of service of Hashem.

SHEMITTA

An area where the Chazon lsh's faith found great expression and influence was Shemitta obser­

vance. Almost from the time that he arrived in Bretz Yisroel, four years before Shemitta of 5698 (1938), he was engaged in monumental efforts to restore this n1itzva to its original glory.

In 1937, he published Sefer Chazon !sh on the laws of Shemitta, and in it he elucidated his firm opposition to sell­ing land in Bretz Yisroel to non-Jews as a means of circumventing Shemitta requirements. At the sa1ne time, he directed the legendary Reb Yaakov Hal­pren of Bnei Brak to found the Keren HaShemitta fund to raise money for farmers who would let their land lie fal­low during the Shemitta year. And he inspired religious farmers to co1nmit themselves to faithful observance of this 1nitzva.

In succeeding Shemitta years, the Chazon !sh continued to seek every means for spreading and facilitating observance of Shemitta. During Shemit­ta of 5705 (1945) and 5712 (1952), it became extremely difficult to procure Arab and foreign-grown produce for consumption. The Chawn Ish conceived and implemented the idea of opening stores in every community that would market Shemitta-grown produce in a halachically acceptable way. He detailed instructions on how the stores would

operate, and wrote the text of a halachic document that was the basis for the stores' functioning within the parame­ters of halacha.

He rarely participated in public gatherings. In 1945, however, he par­ticipated in a gathering held at Bnei Brak's Ponovezher Yeshiva for the ben­efit of Shemitta-observant farmers. The Ponovezher Rav implored the Chazon !sh to address the assemblage and he obliged with three words: mir.i><n>rnr.i01v '>~.All my limbs will say ("Hashem, who is like You?"] (Tehillim 35:10).

With every fiber of his being, a Jew must sing Hashem's praises. The Cha­zon !sh was saying that the farmers had accomplished this, by demonstrating their firm en1una and bitachon that Hashem would not forsake them as their fields lay fallow.

ALL-ENCOMPASSING TORAH

((Delve in it [the Torah] and continue to delve in it, for everything is in it" (Avos

5:26). All the world's true wisdoms are hidden in the Torah, the "blueprint" of the world. But this can be perceived only by the most exalted tzaddikim, who have refined their spiritual vision through a lifetime dedicated to service of Hashem and especially to relentless toiling in Torah.

The Chazon lsh's knowledge of med­icine and his counsel in health-related matters was truly incredible. He was as familiar with the human anatomy and its remedies as any professor of medi­cine, and he routinely rendered medical decisions in cases where the patient's life hung in the balance.

His nephew, the late Rabbi She­maryahu Karelitz of Brooklyn, lived with the Cbazon !sh in Bnei Brak for a num­ber of years. He testified that the Cha­zon !sh never read medical books of any sort; all his knowledge came from Torah. Rabbi Karelitz recalled the fol­lowing incident:

After undergoing major surgery, a boy did not regain consciousness for some time. The doctor said that if twenty-four hours would elapse without the patient's regaining consciousness, all hope would be lost. After hearing all the details of the case, the Chazon !sh declared that the doc­tor's ominous prognosis would be true only if a seventy-two hour period of uncon­sciousness would pass.

The boy awoke after twenty-four hours, but before seventy-two hours. In response to someone's inquiry, the Cha­zon !sh explained, "I knew it from a Mish­na in Maseches Oholos." No one but the Chazon lsh saw any connection between that Mishna and medicine.

In an interview with biographer Rabbi Aharon Sorasky, a renowned

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Israeli neurosurgeon, Doctor Hadran Askenazi, related:

always new problems to resolve. Day after day, I am faced with decisions upon which a patient's future hinges. It is n1any years since the Chazon Ish's death; yet, when faced with difficulties, I still often think: if only I could discuss this with the Chazon Ish ... .''

34

"I was always profoundly impressed by the Chazon Ish's inquiries. They revealed a clarity of mind, a penetrat­ing insight into the human anatomy and its cures. Brain surgery was often our topic of discussion. His questions were always on the mark and proper­ly formulated. He attacked the heart of the matter, shedding new light on the situation - causing me, in many instances, to alter my opinion.

"In the world of medicine, there are

THE STATE

The Chazon !sh Jived for five years following the founding of the State of Israel in 1948. His pres­

ence during that period was crucial in

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molding a Torah stance toward the sec­ularist government and its policies, for his and future generations.

The very creation of the State caused a wave of confusion among religious Jews. How was a Jew faithful to Torah to understand this earth-shattering event? The Chazon Ish's opinion was unequivocal: "We are not witnessing the as'chalta dege'ula (beginnings of the Redemption), but the conclusion of the galus." On another occasion he remarked, "Perhaps this [the State] is the final test before Moshiach."

Torah education was among a number of major issues in the State's early years. 6 The Chazon !sh was not opposed to yeshivas accepting gov­ernment funding - as long as the gov­ernment had absolutely no say in for­mulating school policies. But this could only happen if the religious schools would not rely solely on gov­ernment money. Thus, the Chinuch Atzmai (lit., Autonomous Education) school system came into being and developed imto an ever-growing, highly successful network of yeshivos and Bais Yaakovs. To Rabbi Aharon Kotler, founding Nasi (President) of Chinnch Atzmai, the Chazon !sh remarked, "Without Chinuch Atz1nai, it would be impossible to live in the Land."

BEN GURION'S VISIT

In the fall of 1952, Prime Minister David Ben Gurion asked to visit the Chazon !sh at his home in Bnei Brak.

Ben Gurion was well aware of the Cha­zon Ish's leadership role within the Torah community, and he thought that his visit would achieve a better relationship between his government and its religious adversaries.

While many viewed their meeting as a momentous occasion, the Chazon !sh placed little hope in it. He made it clear to Ben Gurion that there was 6 Other inajor issues included: religious freedom for soldiers, draft deferments for full-time yeshi­va students, and exemption for religious women fron1 compulsory national service. The Chazon Ish was deeply involved in resolving these issues, particularly the last one, until his final day.

The Jewish Observer, November 2003

no room for compromise on any of the issues affecting Torah life. In a well-known exchange, Ben Gurion asked, "The majority of our country's people are irreligious. You are in the minority. Who should conform to whon1?"

The Chazon !sh replied by citing the Talmudic law (Sanhedrin 32b) that when two ships, one laden with cargo and the other completely empty, travel towards each other down a strait scarce­ly wide enough for one, the empty ship must back up and allow for the full one to pass. The Chazon !sh continued, "Our ship is laden with three thousand years of history, heritage and tradition. Yours, however, is empty, devoid of any real substance. Confrontations are inevitable. Who, then, should step back for whom?"

Just as his conden1nation of secular­ist Zionis1n was total, so was his Jove and compassion for the individual who had been led astray. In his writings, the Chazon !sh clearly differentiates between secularism as a moven1ent and as a way of life for the tinok shen­ishba, the Jew whose environn1ent has caused him to reject Torah. Of our way­ward brethren, he writes, "It is incum­bent upon us to draw them to us with bonds of love, so that the light of truth will illuminate their ways to whatever degree possible:''

We conclude with a quote from the Chazon Ish's brother-in-law, Rabbi Shmuel Greineman 7"~t:

The Chafetz Chaim would say that the answer to every problem lies in Torah. However, one must know where in Torah to find a given answer and then approach the matter with a pure Torah outlook, which is absolute­ly free of any foreign attitudes or per­sonal interest .... It is for this reason that so many, including scores of roshei yeshiva, sought the Charon Ish's counsel. Always, they came away with the definitive Torah viewpoint.

He sought to conceal his awesome ways. He revealed an inch and con­cealed two. So much remains hidden

The Jewish Observer, November 2003

forever. Who will replace his countless acts of charity? At the funeral, one yeshiva administrator wept, saying that without the Chazon Ish he sees no way to maintain his institution. The Cha­zon Ish)s deeds were so concealed that even those closest to him were often unaware of them.

Rabbi Chaim Volozhiner once compared his rebbe, the Vilna Gaon, to the Rishonim who lived centuries earlier. Rabbi Elchonon Wasserman asked the Chofetz Chaim why Heav­en decreed that a soul such as the Gaon's should descend to a generations in which it did not belong. The Chofetz Chaim explained as follows: In every generation, the presence of Torah leaders serves to impede that generation's spiritual decline.

In certain generations, however, the risks of spiritua1 decadence are greater than usual. Heaven may then deem it necessary to send to this world a soul that actually belongs to an earlier, more sublime period. Such a soul can single-handedly uplift an entire gen­eration and raise its spiritual heights.

Such was the Chazon !sh. A soul that belonged to an earlier generation was sent to preserve Torah life in our time. He planted the seeds of Torah throughout the Holy Land, combated ignorance and secularism, illuminat­ed the world with his Torah wisdom,

and raised the sights of an entire gen­eration.

It is incumbent upon us all to strive to emulate his ways in at )east some small way. May his merit shield us from Above, just as it did during his years on this world. May Hashem have mercy on the remnants of our nation and may we soon merit the Redemp­tion, Amein. •

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But, still ... a revolution.

35

POST YoM Tov REFLECTIONS

A MESSAGE FOR THE NEWYEAR

During the Rosh Hashana season, every G-d-fearing Jew's mind was preoccupied with thoughts

of introspection and teshuva. The role of a Rav is to articulate appropriate mes­sages to the men and women in his charge. And so each year, in the weeks and days before the Yamim Noraim, I, as well as many of my colleagues, discuss, debate and try to analyze what the theme of this year's drasha should be. Most of the Rabbanim who shared their thoughts with me agonized over the difficult year that just ended, and they were searching for the right words of chizuk ( encour­agement) to share with others. While we all desperately need chizuk, I felt that chizuk alone would just not be enough. I approached my own revered Rebbe, Rabbi Henoch Leibowitz N .. """'1, as well

Rabbi Ginzberg, founding Rav of Ohr Moshe Torah Institute in Hillcrest, NY, is currently Rav of the Chofetz Chaim Torah Center of Cedarhurst (Long Island), New York. He is a fre­quent contributor to JO, most recently with "The Sacrifice of Leadership" (June '03 ).

36

as other Gedolei Yisroel for their thoughts on what the message should be.

TWO CONVERSATIONS

Then, two innocuous conversations with baalei battim within minutes of each other underscored for me

what this year's Rosh Hashana message should be. I had officiated at the levaya (funeral) of a congregant from my old community. After the burial, I returned with the aveilim to the shiva house to deal with any questions that they might have. After I explained some of the rel­evant laws of shiva, one of the mourn­ers began to question me regarding the date of the yahrzeit, and the ending of the twelve-month mourning period. A little puzzled, I asked him why he needed to know at this time, when we had just completed the burial. He responded matter-of-factly, "Rabbi, I just want to know when things are going to get back to normal."

The significance of that statement did not register with me until minutes later.

Rabbi Aryeh Zev Ginzberg

As I exited the shiva house, my cell phone rang. It was one of my congre­gants from my new community calling with news that he and his wife just had a baby girl.

After the "Maze/ Tov" was fully expressed, the new father had several queries regarding choice of a name, when to give that name, and so on. After several moments on the phone, I was told that the new mother also had a question. She asked, "Rabbi, I was told that a person should not leave the house until she goes to shul after giving birth. Do I have to conform with that?"

I responded that it should be done, but asked why this was on her mind only hours after giving birth to her first child. She responded, "But Rabbi, I just need to know when things will get back to normal."

Hearing the same phrase twice with­in minutes from two people dealing with opposite ends of the life cycle, I knew that I had my message for this Yorn Tov season.

After such a painful year of tragedies

The Jewish Observer, November 2003

in Eretz Yisroel, of terrible accidents here, of so many people in the community without a source of parnassa (incon1e), the message is that things cannot go back to normal!

The stream of events should have changed us, should have made us dif­ferent. We are not the san1e, and we can­not return to where we were before all this started. We cannot go back to when things were just plain normal.

As the Midrash comments, when­ever an episode in the Torah begins with the word, "Vayeishev - And he dwelt;' it is a sign of foreboding. Thus, when the Parsha in Bereishis begins with" Vayeishev Yaakov," it spells trou­ble. Why is that so?

The Maharal (in Gevuros Hashem) explains that when a Jew sits and re1nains in one place, he invites calami­ty. Jews are not made to sit still. A Jews has to be constantly growing, adapting, and changing. After a year like the one that we just had, each and every one of us has to be changed - as individuals, and as a tzibbur. And more important, we cannot go back. Things in Kial Yis­roel are not normal, and therefore our lives cannot be normal, either.

WHERE DO WE START?

If we are called upon to change our­selves, where do we start? With so many areas of the collective soul of

Kial Yisroel in need of mending, where do we begin? The first step is to fully understand that no matter how difficult the situation, we cannot afford to give in to despair.

Among the many talents possessed by Rabbi Moshe Sherer 7-,,1, the late unforgettable leader of Agudath Israel of America, was his extreme insight­fulness. I recall how years ago, after the passing of several Gedolei Yisroel in close succession, there was a pervasive sense of loss and desperation in the air. I called Rabbi Sherer, and suggested that a gathering be convened to give n1uch-needed chizuk to the communi­ty at large.

He responded that feelings of doom and despair are misplaced and inap-

The Jewish Observer, November 2003

propriate. Chazal say (Beraclws 32a) that the "gates of tears" are never closed. Rabhi Sherer pointed out that while they might never close, they are locked shut for anyone who sheds copious tears when he could be taking action instead. "We do not have the luxury today of hand-wringing and despair." Rather, every man, woman, and child should assume some type of action, whether in the form of a mitzva, a chessed, or an extra tefilla.

"fhese, too, are not normal times, and we cannot permit things to continue in the normal fashion. One young woman commented to me on Rosh Hashana that this year, for the first time in her life, when hearing the chazzan sing the powerful tefilla of "Unesaneh Toke{,' detailing all the possibilities of Divine judgment - life or death, tranquility or anxiety, wealth or poverty, she shed tears and could not regain her composure for several moments. She was disturbed by it, and asked me what I thought it meant.

I shared with her the words of the Ari z"l, that "one who does not shed at least a few tears during the period of the Asseres Yemei Teshuva possesses a flawed soul:' He adds, "When one suddenly find hin1self aroused to tears during these days, it is a sign that his soul is being judged in the heavenly court above, and in anticipation and trepidation of the judgment, he is overwhelmed by tears:' I explained to her that according to the Ari z"l, that moment of tears was her time of judgment, and that no doubt, due to those tears, she would be judged favorably for the coming year.

STILL TIME FOR TEARS

The Ari z"I's words should con­tinue to stir us and guide us. Many of us are perhaps a bit too

complacent, too set in our ways to 1nake any changes in our daily lives, even in the slightest fashion. But we can all shed tears. If they are hard to come by, just think of Nava Appelbaum ·pn whose life was snuffed out by a suicide bomber on the eve of her wedding; or think of Mrs. Goldie Taubenfeld , .. ,n, mother of 13 children from New Square murdered

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in the attack on the Kosel bus several weeks ago.

And if all of that still does not bring us to shed a tear during this "post-sea­son of tears," then join me in shedding a tear for an event that took place in our community last month, on Selichos night. A local Five Towns synagogue invited a special guest speaker to start this year's Selichos service - the most Reverend William F. Murphy, Bishop of Rockville Center. Remember: this was

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that special magical night of Selichos when, Chazal tell us, Hakadosh Baruch Hu sits and is metzapeh (waits with anticipation) for Bnei Yisroel to turn to Him with those special words of Selichos that were formulated by Moshe Rabbeinu himself.

Most shuls have the minhagto begin Selichos after chatzos (midnight), for the Zahar says that it is the most opportune time for such an important tefilla. It is an "Eis ratzon - Hour of Divine Response" - and despite the lateness, we all go, so we can usher in the High Holy Days season with a powerful tefilla at just the right moment. What a disservice to so many good Jews who had come to such a service for inspiration, and instead were treated to words of" teshu­va" from a Catholic bishop!

This has nothing to do with the issue of Judeo-Christian theological dia­logue, which has long been prohibited by our Gedolim. It also has nothing to do with the sensitivities of our elder brothers and sisters from shtetlach in

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Eastern Europe, whose youthful mem­ories are filled with Church-led pogroms against the Jewish populace, particularly during the Jewish holiday season. It has only to do with taking the opportune moment of Selichos, reserved for thousands of years for introspective prayers and tefilla, and instead feeding the people a completely misguided form of inspiration.

In an interview with a local secular newspaper, the host of the evening's ses­sion was asked by the reporter about possible backlash from "some religious Jews" who might be upset by a bishop delivering a high holiday sermon at a synagogue. He responded that he was not at all concerned. What I would share with him is that he need not be con­cerned about any backlash, or public protest, which would be inappropriate. I had hoped, however, that he would have been concerned should he have heard that "some Jews" were brought to tears at the misuse of such an oppor­tune time as Selichos night for such a forum. Tears for the many Jews who were not given the opportunity to experience a true Selichos moment that captures the essence of what a Yid­dishe tefilla is all about.

Rabbi Shimon Schwab ';··~r shared a painful story with me years ago. On a visit to London, Rabbi Schwab was waiting at a bus stop in front of a large church.

An elderly woman exited the church and stood next to him at the bus stop. Noticing the large Magen David around her neck, he asked her if she was Jewish. She responded, "Yes, I am. And you are probably wondering why I just came out of a church."

Rabbi Schwab said, "Yes, I was wondering just that."

She explained, "Rabbi, for years and years I regularly went to a synagogue to pray, but then I decided to go to a church, because there, when I pray, I know someone (a priest) is really lis­tening to me!"

Rabbi Schwab began to cry, and said, "Someone listening to you? Why, he is mere flesh and blood, while in a shul, none other than the Ribbono she! Olam

The Jewish Observer, November 2003

Himself listens to your every word!" To that, rabbinical host, I cry: Haka­

dosh Baruch Hu - He is metzapeh, He sits and waits for that moment when we begin Selichos and you bring a bishop to tell us how to do teshuva! Is this not reason enough for all of us to sit and cry our hearts out until there are no more tears left?

NOW THATIT'S OVER ...

W: have said farewell to the entire

estival season with the cele­bration of Simchas Torah, and

we are now well into the mid-autun1n month of Cheshvan. But before reverting to our old routines, we should take stock: Things are truly not back to normal. And until they are, we cannot go back to being normal, either. We need to be different. Different in how we speak, different in how we act, in how we do mitzvos, and most important, in how we daven.

On Rosh Hashana in 1942, in the Warsaw Ghetto (several months before the final liquidation of the Ghetto), only a few Jews remained. Amongst them was one of the great Gaonim of the time, Rabbi Menachem Ziemba i~. A small group was organized in one of the remaining bunkers, so Reb Menachem could daven with a minyan. Towards the end of the davening, a student of Rabbi Ziemba approached him and asked, "Rebbe, what do you think the coming year will be like?"

Rabbi Ziemba replied, "One thing I can guarantee you is that next year will be a better one than the year that just ended."

The student persisted, "But Rebbe, how do you know?"

Rabbi Ziemba is rumored to have replied, "How do I know? It's simple. There are no longer three and a half million fews in Poland for the Nazis to kill next year, so it has to be a better one than the last one!" We have just completed a most dif­

ficult year for Kial Yisroel. We would like to say with clarity that it will be a bet­ter year than the last one, but do we real­ly know? It could be more of the same, or maybe even, chas v'shalom ... ! All we

The Jewish Observer, November 2003

have left is our teftllos and our tears. We do not need bishops nor "nights of dialogue." All we need is what our forefather have taught us through their example, their commitment, and with their blood, that" ein lanu l'hisha' ein ella al Avinu shebashamayim (we have nothing to rely on other than our teft/­los to our Father in heaven).''

These are not normal times, and they require of us not to revert to our "nor­mal lives.'' Only through our collective efforts, tears, and teftllos will we be zocheh to join together in the year ahead with one heart and one mind in greet­ing Moshiach Tzidkeinu. •

DVIR BEN CHANA DEVORAH

-update Remember him? The yeshiva bochur who was injured in a terror blast. With thanks to Hashem, Dvlr's recovery has been nothing short of remarkable. Thank you to all who have davenedfor him. His treatment is by no means over, however. He recently underwent major surgery, and more ls on the hori­zon. If you are still able to daven. for him, among all the yiddishe victims terror and other cholei Yisrae/, your efforts will be appreciated.

- Dvir's famlly

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39

I SECOND 'LOOKS

nswerin

In this land of unlimited personal freedom, the invasion of our col­lective privacy by telemarketers has

inspired a backlash of total annoyance. Finally, in response to public outcry, leg­islation has been enacted making it ille­gal for a telemarketer to call anyone whose name appears on the special "Do Not Call" registry.

Within a month and a half of its availability, more than fifty million homes had joined the list and telemar­keting industry analysts predict that most of the nation will sign on before too long. It would seem that no longer will you be disturbed during dinner by cable TV salespeople or be interrupted from learning with your children to hear a pitch extolling the praises of yet anoth­er long-distance telephone carrier.

Forgotten amidst the celebration of our newfound freedom is the fact that charities will still be allowed to make telephone solicitations. One can only imagine the reception these legitimate telemarketers will be receiving now that the public has become so militantly pro­tective of their privacy.

We all know that many of our Mos­dos Torah V'Chessed rely on maintaining -~-~-------- ~-~

Avi Menashe is the nom-de-plume of the direc-tor of one of the leading tzeddaka organizations in An1erica. His byline appears often in the Amer­ican Yated Nc'e111a11.

a steady link with the general public to keep themselves financially viable. Let us take a moment to consider what options for fundraising are available for our insti­tutions and what severing the telephone link will mean to them ... and us.

A Fundraising Perspective

Perhaps while growing up, some decades ago, you lived in one of the major Jewish population cen­

ters. If so, you might recall the follow­ing scenario.

It is evening at your house and a knock on the door heralds the arrival of an honored visitor. His white beard and black attire underscore the image of the Orthodox Jewish institution he represents.

He was the "Pushka Man" and his bi-annual appearance was as much a harbinger of the passing seasons as the first snow of winter or the blooming of the crocuses in Spring.

Clearly in awe of her distinguished guest, Mama would quickly retrieve the pushka from its special spot. On the way back to the dining room a few more pennies would be hastily added as the "Pushka Man," squinting through thick lenses, surveyed his record book for the total amount retrieved when he visited last.

Avi Menashe

The tally was duly recorded, the coins swept into the leather bag, and the parting ritual began. With a solemn handshake for Poppa and a stream of blessings for Mama, the "Pushka Man" bid farewell and made his way to the next house on his list. Eventually, the meager sums collect­

ed and long hours of work ate away at the cost-effectiveness of this system and rendered it obsolete.

Tzeddaka Value -Are We Getting Bang For Our Buck?

Today's high cost of living calls for methods of fundraising that will produce substantially more

money per man-hour than pushka col­lections. Professionalism and graphics are the hallmark of the new tzeddaka world of today. We have witnessed a giant leap in sophistication and a con­current skyrocketing of fundraising expenses. The question of how that money is being spent is more relevant than ever and it behooves us all to demand greater respect for our tzedda­ka dollar.

Obviously, in every fund raising effort, the individuals and mosdos involved have done their arithmetic. It's worth it for them. But again, the ques­tion remains; is it worth it for us?

----··-~------- ------------40 The Jewish Observer, NOvember 2003

The Telemarketing Solution

The fact is that we are rarely self­motivated to support an institu­tion. If not for all the various

methods of getting our attention and holding it for a few minutes, many a mosad would have to close its doors.

Mailings yield a notoriously low return ( 4% is considered good!) and are no alternative to the personal touch. One of the more cost-effective ways of indi­vidually reaching a large donor base is through legitimate telemarketing. A carefully planned campaign will maxi­mize the time spent and even one caller can speak to twenty-five potential donors in the space of just one hour.

The best firms in this field have this down to a science. They take a flat fee per caller hour and pay their callers by the hour. With no commissions on pledges, there is no incentive for a caller to fab­ricate pledges where they don't exist.

"We monitor our callers to ensure that the people on the other end of the line are not hassled," says the head of a prominent Brooklyn telemarketing company. "If the ti1ne is inconvenient, the caller politely asks as to when they might call back. We have a double responsibility toward the institutions we represent. We must maxin1ize their income and maintain their positive rela­tionship with the public."

Another respected fundraising con­sultant interviewed for this article con­curs. "We never forget that as far as the giving public is concerned, we are the voice of the Yeshiva or charity we are calling for," he declared. "That is an achrayus we don't take lightly:'

Thanks to firms like these, we can hear a pitch, respond immediately, or just ask for some literature in the 1nail, all within a minute. No caterers, no expensive prizes or advertising cam­paigns; just a quick call and a statement in the mail within a day or two. Neat, pleasant, and above all, cost-effective.

You don't have to pick up the phone during dinner, and even when the expectation of an important call pro1npts you to answer, you can ask the telemarketer to call back later. Indeed,

The Jewish Observer;. November 2003

if you just wish to say No, no one is stop­ping you and it will have cost the organ­ization less than a dollar to ascertain that you are not a candidate. No mail, no gifts, no guilt. There is no reason to get upset, the caller is just trying to help our 1nosdos and deserves a civil response for performing this unenjoyable task.

Naturally, human error being what it is, there wil1 be mistakes and 1nisun­derstandings. A negative response might result erroneously in a bill; a pledge of $18 may be recorded as $50; and so on. The proper response is to inform the mosad of the mistake immediately and

not allow them to churn out reminder statements needlessly. If a caller comes across as a bit too aggressive, let the organization know. They cannot correct a troublesome situation without your input.

So let us not allow ourselves to be swept away by the euphoria of the anti­telemarketing movement. The few sec­onds you will graciously spend on the phone will make a great difference. Your parents treated the "Pushka Man" like visiting royalty. The least you can do is treat the telemarketer like a human being. •

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41

Zorei'a Tzedakos: Contemporary Stories of Divine Providence, by Dr. Meir Wik­ler (published by Feldheim, Nanuet, NY, $19.99)

The Gemorain Meseches Sota (3a) tells us that forty days before the formation of a child, a bas kol

(heavenly voice) issues forth and pro­claims "the daughter of so-and-so is des­tined for so-and-so.'' Chazal are inforn1-ing us that each and every shidduch is "bashert," that marriage is not a matter of chance hut of destiny. Imagine how much easier life would he if everybody heard this bas kol and knew who his or her bashert was! Unfortunately we do not actually hear the bas kol. If so, then, what is its purpose?

Perhaps the answer lies in the many remarkable "coincidences" -the ins and outs, ups and downs and just plain odd happenings - that seem to he part and parcel of every shidduch. If we recognize that all of the disparate events and ele-1nents that transpired were engineered by the Ribbono Shel Olam to bring together a man and woman destined to be husband and wife, we truly "hear" the bas kol.

Dr. Meir Wilder's latest book, entitled "Zorei'a Tzedakos," chronicles a number of such extraordinary '(coincidences" that shape our lives. It is a marvelous compendium of stories of Hashgacha pratti~ of the Divine intervention that imbues all aspects of our existence. They range from heartwarming stories of tzeddaka and chessed to tales of adven­ture and intrigue.

Each episode is followed by an explanatory paragraph demonstrating the twists and turns of Hashgacha in the story, and how the Divine hand of the Zorei'a Tzedakos has manipulated events.

The book concludes with a valuable postscript that might well he read even

Rabbi Becker is Associate Executive Director of Agudath Israel of America.

42

before the book is commenced. The question posed there is why a book like this one is valuable and why it is important to bear and tell over stories of Hashgacha prattis. A number of interesting answers are set forth to explain the benefits of hearing and repeating stories of Hashgacha prattis. Below is an edited sampler:

•Your emuna (belief and faith) will be strengthened. It is well-known that Rabbi Yechezkel Levenstein,., .. ,,,, the legendary mashgiach ruchani of the Mirrer Yeshi­va in Shanghai and Brooklyn, and of the Ponovezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, fre­quently encouraged his talmidim to keep personal Hashgacha prattis diaries to intensify and reinforce their trust in Hashem.

•You will become moreawareofHash­gacha prattis in your daily life. When you are shopping for eyeglasses or a new hat, you suddenly notice everybody else's glasses and hats. Being involved in any 1natter makes your more aware of that subject. This heightened awareness of Hashgacha prattis can lead to your being more appreciative of the many other blessings you receive from Hashem. That increased appreciation can in turn raise your overall level spirituality.

• You will become a happier, more opti­mistic person. Focusing on the positive events in your life will deemphasize the negative, unpleasant misfortunes of life. As any mental health professional (including the author) will tell you, adopting a positive attitude can vastly improve your overall mood every day. 1'hinking more positively, in turn, can result in improved coping with all the

Reviewed by Rabbi Labish Becker

vicissitudes of life. • You will know what to say to non­

believers, skeptics, and potential ba'alei teshuva. Your personal examples of Hashgacha prattis will provide you with convincing evidence of Hashem's handi­work with which to support your case that the world is not hefker, ownerless, and that Hashem not only created the world but is also still very much running the show.

• You will know how to inspire your children. Your Hashgacha prattis journal will provide you with a repertoire of entertaining and educational stories to tell your children at bedtime and at the Shabbos table. Nothing drives home the timeless lesson of emuna and bitachon more to children that hearing true stories of Hashgacha prattis that happened to their parents.

• You will have abundant material to include in speeches. Your Hashgacha prattis journal will become a rich source from which to draw inspirational sto­ries to include in your public speeches - at a shiur, if you are a Rebbe or a teacher, or at a simcha, if you are invit­ed to say a d'var Torah.

Dr. Wikler makes the excellent sug­gestion that people keep their own jour­nals of Hashgacha prattis to record those occasions when they were zocheh to see the Hand of Hashem in their own lives. (For a person sensitive to these "hap­penings;' this could be a very heavy tome indeed.) These memories will inspire them for the rest of their lives, and con­tinue to inspire their children and grand­children for many generations to come. [The reader should be advised of a sim­ilar suggestion by the late Mashgiach of Ponevezh, Rabbi Chaim Friedlander 7""1, author of Sifsei Chaim, to keep such a journal, as recorded in his sefer, Hava Nireh es Yad Hashem. - N.W.]

This is an appropriate hook for a family to read and discuss at the Shab­bos table. Its lessons of Hashgacha are appropriate for all ages. A great exam­ple is the final story, entitled "Tzedda­ka Tatzil Mi'maves," which begins with a dvar Torah about this passuk. The story that follows is an absolutely incredible tale of Hashgacha prattis spanning

The Jewish Observer, November 2003

seventeen years, which helped save a father's life. As Dr. Wikler writes:

So much tzeddaka, so n1any years ago, leading to so many blessings for so many people at just the right time,

could only have been sown and culti­vated by the Zorei'a Tzedakos Who is Matzmi'ach Yeshu'os, sprouting sal­vation for us every day of our lives. As to the story itself, it begins on page

DIVINE PROVIDENCE It was Yorn Kippur. I was in the midst

of the Amida. Suddenly a strange thought entered my mind: "How do I know that there IS a G-d?"

I shuddered; but I had an answer. There have been many instances in. my life when I KNEW that G-d was per­sonally directing me. There were too many such times for them to be coin­cidental. Armed with this answer, I con­tinued to pray. One such time follows:

Tonight, I was on they way home from work. I had left twenty minutes early so that I could be on time for Min­cha. As I was driving down Devon Avenue on the bridge over the Des Plaines River, my car lost power. I turned toward the side of the road and momentum got me out of the middle lane. I stopped. I turned on my flash­ers and hoped that a tow truck or squad car would soon pass by. Traffic continued on as usual with al I the cars passing me on the left.

Finally, a car pulled over and stopped behind me. The driver got out.

.

It was my son Shmuel! And he had his cell phone! He c_alled the Shell Motor Club and was assured that a tow truck would be by in less than an hour. Baruch Hashem!

An officer of the Rosemont, IL police department came by and suggested that we leave the street as it was rush hour. He pushed my car into a near­by forest preserve entrance. Shmuel waited with me. I told him what had happened on Yorn Kippur and sug­gested that he was another example of Hashgacha Prattis.

Shmuel and I prayed Mincha in the forest preserve. Finally, the tow truck arrived and towed the car to the Shell station, a block from home. When they did not have the resources for the engine repair, I had the car towed to McCormick Auto Care Center (Shomer Shabbos). Now, baruch Hashem, the engine runs beautifully!

Sender Leib Aronin Chicago, fl ·

(-from a letter to the Editor of JO)

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The Jewish Observer, November 2003

• We make skirts and jumpers, solids and plaids, from size 5 thru junior and pre-teens

• Bais Yaacov blouses made from our own custom made (extra heavy) material

227, eyin sharn v'timtza nachas. As Rabbi Shlomo Brevda writes in

his letter of approbation, "Dr. Wikler has done a great service to us all with his new sefer 'Zorei'a Tzedakos: Con­temporary Stories of Divine Provi­dence' in bolstering our emuna. His work should be truly appreciated, and he and his family should be blessed by the Almighty." To that we say, "Amen."

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43

ALTERNATIVE OPENINGS

To the Editor: I read "Alternative Closings:' in the

Tishrei/September JO, describing how the yeshivas that help struggling boys become bnei Torah suffer from lack of enrollment because of the fear of stig­ma, and I would like to share with the readers some of my thoughts and experiences.

I have been zocheh to run an insti­tution for weaker 7th and 3th graders in Israel. The boys are subsequently main­streamed into the regular yeshiva sys­tem. The institution is called a "Mechi­na" (prep school) and we have had dozens of boys whose lives have liter­ally been turned around. Many now excel in their yeshivas. They boys come from regular chadarim of B'nei Brak and Kiryat Sefer. They also come from all types of homes. Some are from fam­ilies who are considered the "Who's Who" of Kial Yisroe/, and many are from "Amcha YisroeZ:' Some boys come from warm supportive homes, and for some, their home life is also problem­atic.

What they have in common is that most of them can be helped to become true b'nei Torah, if they are helped while they are pre-Bar Mitzva - elementary

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The Jewish Observer, November 2003

school age, and the earlier the better. We, too, suffer from the fear of stig­

ma, i.e., many who need the Mechina don't come because of'(What will it say about our son, our family?" In one of our first years, the parents of a ta/mid were considering taking him out because of stigma. I said to the father, "Let's go ask Rabbi Aharon Leib Stein­man N"V>':>'el." When Rabbi Steinman heard the question, he immediately retorted to the father: "Do you want your son to be a ba' al mum (handi­capped)?" The boy stayed, and baruch Hashem today is flourishing in yeshiva.

Once a prominent American mechanech advised me that if l am get -ting a letter from Gedolim, I should ask them to write that it is important for us to also worry about the weaker or problematic talmidim. When I related this to Rabbi Nissim Karelitz N"V>':>"1, he looked at me as if I were asking to write the obvious.

I am enclosing a letter signed by Gedolei Yisroel ,. .. ..,,.,..,, written for the Mechina which states that having such an institution in a city is part of the mitz­va incumbent on each city to have Torah

Unde·Moishy, Dedi Avrohom Fried, and other leading Jewish entertainers are available to visit seriously ill children ". ..,,, thanks to •

~~HAS CHAVA ·~. ~.~ fl''P-:i.PV" ·i-ronm ~ A Chessed project run by Agudath lsriiCt of America' in ronjuncfion with Suki & Ding Productions To set up_an appointment, call: (212) 797"9000 Ext.235

schools to teach children. [Copies are available from J.O. office upon request.]

A few years ago I was talking to Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky N"V>':>'el about the Mechina. Rav Chaim said to me that all the efforts and money invested in the Mechina is worthwhile if even one child will succeed in becoming a hen Torah. Bechasdei Hashem Yisborach, dose to l 00% of our talmidim become main­stream bnei Torah, and many become metzuyanim (outstanding).

In the spirit of Rav Chaim's words, I am writing this letter. Perhaps someone amongst the readers will overcome his or her fear of stigma, and help their child.

May we be zocheh that one day Kial Yisroel will be emancipated from mis­guided ideas of «status," "stigma" and "competition,,, and return to the Torah­true ideals of the community working together to raise each child to Ahavas HaTorah and Yiras Shamayim. It is up to us. Certainly, if we really want to, then we would merit the Siyata Dishmaya to do so.

May Hashem Yisborach grant us the zechus to raise all our children to Ahavas Ha Torah and Yiras Shamayim.

(RABBI) AVROHOM EHRMAN

Bnei Brak The writer of the above letter is the

author of several sefarim, including Jour­ney to Virtue, published by ArtScroll. He can be reached at 011-972-03-570-5108.

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45

46

No longer children, we've grown up seen the burning of the house,

scattering of brothers the madness of tyranny, unbridled unbelievable, transformed to real. Babes no more, we've reached the fog-encrusted precipice of

disillusionment, the dazed point of being shocked by nothing.

Sally, Dick and Jane say, "Run, Spot, runl"

But Dick and Jane's world runs away from us.

High price tags on those books, today as people seek their childhoods wanting to be, again, enveloped needing to believe that walls, already crumbled,

cannot fall.

Once-bright covers show Father raking amber autumn leaves swept into a pile for Sally to race through in her new red wagon pulled by Jane.

Run, Spot! Run. Run. Stop. Run. Running has become a modus operandi

0 "WHITE looking-over-the-shoulder instinct adding up miles, oceans, lands trains traveling monster track ships crossing to new, uncertain harbors add the miles that put the toughest of marathoners to shame.

It's a grown-up marathon, now for the sophisticated, the jaded. Now running from, now chasing after. Toys, big people's baubles searching for the one to fill or anesthetize, at least the gaping hole. The deep, aching hole.

No nnkerbell now, to wave it all away with sparkling wand.

Perfect pasta, piece of the rock, band rhodium-dipped climbing higher, running faster. Why does running seem so much harder than when we were little smiling up at Dick and Jane certain they lived just around our corner and would so want to be friends?

It is harder, now. We whoosh! to catch our breaths, step hard to keep our balance, teetering on platform shoes,

-----·---·-·----··---- --·

Faygie Borchardt

very, very, very grown-up shoes .... they do not fit.

For we are Children! Young, vulnerable,

dependent. Lights leave, power fails, water trickles -and we are lost.

"It was there we learned to survive in the woods and to conquer the ...

wild-eyed [reflex] that charges, not out of the dark

woods. But out of one's own interior, and goes by the name of fear."

Heat soars, skies darken. We find comfort in comradeship,

support in open-handed togetherness, and both those gifts tied with glorious, glittering ribbons of

hope and trust -In our newborn awakening. Awakening to the powerful, fearsome, delicious, feather-soft reality of our utter dependence, our fragility, our childhood essence. Children are we, all All power, Hashem's All action enabled by One Master Generator. A privilege, it is to be children, beloved children. Suddenly, in the very knowledge of our vulnerability we are strong.

And the lights go on.

Mrs. Borchardt of Brooklyn, who teaches limudei kodesh in several Bais Yaakov high schools, has had her writings published in Hamodia, Horizons as well as in The Jewish Observcr("Best Wishes;' Dec. '02).

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The Jewish Observer, November 2003

New Gefen Granola Cereals are excellentsources of fiber and they're low in saturated fat. They're the perfect snacks

for when you're on the go- anytime and anywhere. iT~:::""'~~ ~~,N.,Nn~f

Available in three crunchy and delicious varieties: .. ~,. •Raisin &Almond •Harvest Berry Crunch

•Chocolate & Pecan

The Cereal Thatts Good For You Anytime!