President Shazar Greeted at Impressive Functions;
Welcomed by American Jewry, President Nixon
son. It was Shazar's second visit dearer to me than this grand-
monies were Naomi Chinn, presi- said, adding: "Now I know why to the shul as head of state, the father. From my early childhood,
I
came.
I
found
the
warmth
in
whenever I looked at him sitting
dent of the Student Council, Stern
been five years ago.
Shazar responded with a request College for Women, and Harvey the hearts of the Jews in Amer- first having
at the head of the table, I sensed
bearded
hasidim
waited
500
Some
for a similar encyclopedia on the Bennett, president of the Student ica. I came here and searched for expectantly in the chilly evening with wonder a sort of spiritual
God and I found him in the heart
American Zionist movement, and Council, Erna Michael College of
at 6:10 p.m. radiance shining from his high
of each Jew in Greater New air for him to arrive
Dr. Neumann promised to turn his Hebraic Studies.
cameramen at- forehead. His learning had become
York and the United States."
Patriarchs and
wish into reality.
Bowing his head to receive the
tempting to follow him into his throughout
part of me,
chants
echoed
our his
house,
and his
ardor
On the Sabbath, President Sha- traditional hood from Dr. Belkin,
Stating that he knew that Jew-
zar attended services at the Shazar told the audience that the ish people everywhere will do their meeting with the Rebbe created a was to sustain me for many long
Fifth Avenue Synagogue and was reason he was receiving this honor utmost to see that Israel "keeps crush that slammed this corre-
spondent against a wall. American searching
years in of
all my
the life
wandering
. . . From and
my
honored with Maftir.
was not for his own merits, but going and establishes peace," he secret servicemen, Israeli secret mother, his daughter, I learned
said
that
the
"understanding
re-
was
greeted
there
by
Rabbi
"because
of
the
central
position
in
He
Emanuel Rackman as "a man of Jewish life held by the state of sponse" of the Jews of America servicemen (Shin Bet). and New that the death of his rebbe had left
York City policemen put up a solid him terribly depressed and that he
wisdom, scholarship and kindness. Israel which I serve to symbolize." will enable soldiers in Israel to
resistance. The patriarchs, in the was growing more and more eager
"guard
the
lives
of
the
Jewish
peo-
The grey-haired leader accepted
On March 11, Shazar welcomvi
true spirit of Eretz Yisroel, re- to leave Russia for Hebron, the
a group of scholars from the Drop- the honor and told the audience ple in Israel and the Jewish people fused to give up a single inch of Chabad center in the Holy Land
wherever
they
are."
The
president
that
he
prayed
for
the
day
"when
sie University, Philadelphia, led by
occupied territory until negotia- where his brother, too, had gone in
Dr. Abraham I. Katsh, president the spiritual radiance of the Holy commented that time was so short tions resulted in the admission of old age . . . In the summer of 1911,
for
him.
"There
are
so
few
days
of the postgraduate university, City of Jerusalem will shed its
those cleared by the secret serv- I was at last able to go to Pales-
and Dr. Solomon Zeitlin, professor unifying blessing upon all our here, and not enough hours in each ice. .The usual police pass was not tine . . . Half a year later I re-
of postbiblical literature and insti- scattered people, whatever their day."
sufficient even for -a JTA corre- ceived the news of his death."
tutions. Dropsie is the country's particular creed or shade of
Shazar, who entered and depart- spondent, who required the verbal ("Morning Stars," Jewish Publica-
only nontheological, nonsectarian opinion." He begged those "en- ed from the grand ballroom under intervention of Israeli Consulate
college devoted to Hebrew, biblical dowed with the gifts of learning, a heavy security guard and accom- official Gabriel Padon and the phy- tion Society, 1967.)
After his meeting with Rebbe
and Middle Eastern languages and talent and understanding of the panied by officials of the Bond sical protection of a large law-and-
cultures and to Jewish higher edu- I eternal values of our people and organization, was greeted by a order Lubavitcher to reach the Schneerson, Shazar, now 81, went
downstairs in the small elevator
the present-day needs of this gen- standing ovation at his entrance
cation.
small inner room.
with his military escort, a uni-
to
make
aliya
to
Israel
-
eration
and
departure
and
at
the
conclu-
I
In the group of Dropsie notables
Inside, Shazar and the Rebbe formed lieutenant colonel; the
who met with Shazar were Prof. and "give it their wisdom and sion of his speech. Earlier in the
evening, Rehaveam Amir, Israel's spoke in Yiddish, head to head, for Rebbe; and two secret servicemen.
Harry Orlinsky of Hebrew Union scholarship."
The ceremonies ended with the consul general in New York, asked half an hour, discussing past holi- The wood-paneled auditorium was
College-Jewish Institute of Reli-
days and mutual friends. The already filled with the Hasidim who
gion, and Joseph Handleman of singing of the Israeli national an- the dinner guests "not to let the Rebbe wore his black caftan,- the had been waiting outside. It is a
them
"Hatikva."
Members
of
the
newspapers
make
peace
for
you.
Detroit, who established the center
President his black overcoat and curious combination of old and new
for communications studies at recessional stepped lively to the
Sam Rothberg, general chairman both wore black hats. They spoke —the women, set off in an upper,
popular tune "Am Yisroel Hai"
Dropsie.
("The Nation Israel Lives"), of the Israel Bond Organization, quietly.
glass-partitioned tier, looking down
Shazar also received Gov. Nel- played with "soul" by the Yeshiva reported $4,500,000 in advance sub-
The two dozen privileged patri- on a hall lit by fluorescent bulbs
son A. Rockefeller on March 11, University band, called "The scriptions had been raised by the archs listened silently and intently. and cooled by air conditioning. The
and on March 12 he met with a Chosen Ones." Greater New York Bond Organiza- The Rebbe presented Shazar with Purim service—the familiar story
tion prior to the dinner, for a total a sidur, two silver megila scroll- of Esther and Mordecai, Ahasue-
delegation of the Conference of
Without the generosity of Amer
of Bond sales in the U.S. in excess holders, and a copy of a newly pub- rus and Vashti, and of course Ha-
Presidents of Major American
ican Jews which is so significant of $107,000,000.
Jewish Organizations.
ished manuscript by the original man—was recounted for an hour
Shazar conferred with Mayor to Israel's need, nothing would
Lubavitcher Rebbe. Shazar in turn by a rabbi whose sing-song recita-
mean
anything,
even
if
the
So-
10.
John V. Lindsay on March
gave his host a small megila that tion was repeatedly interrupted by
viet Union opened her gates to
More than 1,500 persons
had belonged to his grandfather, the traditional stamping and noise-
her Jews, President Shazar said,
crowded into the Nathan Lam-
a student of the original Lubavitch- making at mention of the wicked
speaking in Yiddish, to an au-
port Auditorium of Yeshiva
one's name. The service over, a
er Rebbe in Russia.
dience of 500 attending the open-
University March 9 to witness
ing dinner of the Greater New
Shazar has written of his Chabad smiling Shazar shook hands -with
By
GEORGE
FRIEDMAN
the conferring of an honorary
York Israel Bond campaign at
Hasid grandfather; "Though he the Hasidim up front as the hu,n-
JTA Staff Reporter
doctorate upon President Shazar,
Hotel Pierre. Shazar said that
learned
to forgive his granddaugh- dreds of others pushed forward for
NEW YORK—President Shazar
At a special convocation, Dr.
this was the first time any presi-
ters
much,
he could not pardon my a closer loo_k or a touch. At least
of Israel, who has written "I was a
Samuel Belkin, president of the
dent of Israel had come to Amer-
Zionist enthusiasm and my odd one Hasid almost fell from his
university, conferred the honorary ica to raise funds. He was glad child of the shtiebel . . . It was my companions, and he hever ceased wooden bench, and at least one
second home," spent Purim eve in
to accept the invitation to help
doctor of humane letters degree
trying to bring me back 'to the well-worn prayerbook fell to the
upon Shazar, who received an en- raise $400,000,000, almost double Brooklyn as the guest of the Luba- right path:' Yet there was no one floor and broke in two.
thusiastic and prolonged standing the amount raised in 1967, he vitcher Rebbe, Menahem Schneer-
ovation from the audience.
Shazar noted thai many scholars
who had been trained in the uni-
versity have been "successfully
City of Jerusalem, Israel's capital,
absorbed into the cultural and com-
lem, from Tel Aviv University, I am very well aware of the rea- will shed its unifying blessing upon
(Continued -from Page 1)
son
for
my
receiving
this
varied
munal life of Israel" and expressed
after that from Yeshiva Univer-
all our scattered- people, whatever
his hope that a branch of the uni- in the Land of Israel itself. Though sity's younger sister, Bar-Ilan, and group of honors : it is not for my their
particular creed or shade of
the
old
Yishuv
was
faithful
to
the
own
merits
or
my
family's,
but
versity be set up in Israel. The
before all of these from the New
opinion.
honor accorded Shazar, who also tradition, the new waves of immi- York Jewish Theological Seminary. because of the central position in
In consequence of the ingather-
holds honorary degrees from He- grants did not see continuation of This year the heads of Dropsie Jewish life held by the state of ing of exiles in our state, of com-
brew University, Tel Aviv Univer- halakhic studies as a focal point University in Philadelphia came to Israel, which I serve to symbolize. pulsory education, and of the .rise
sity, Bar-Ilan, the Jewish Theol- of our cultural revival. The heads Jerusalem and conferred the de- Thus, once again, it is with the of new and vocational yeshivot,
ogical Seminary in New York and of the great European yeshivot gree upon me, and today I have greatest appreciation and in all whole new groups have entered
Dropsie University in Philadelphia, waited very long to come, and it bowed my head to receive this humility that I accept the honor into the study of Torah—new links
came after same eight years of took many years indeed till Hasidic hood from the president of Yeshiva you so graciously bestow upon me, in' that golden chain of ours, links
"seeking to match schedules" ac- "Admurim" made their way to University, heir to the legacy of and with all my heart I pray for that were long dulled or that shed
cording to Dr. Belkin. Since May Israel. In the United States as the "Gaon" of blessed memory, the day when the spiritual radi- their light only within limited con-
1963, when Shazar was elected well, particularly since the estab- Rabbi Yitzhak Elchanan of Kovno. ance—the shekhina—of the Holy fines, without mutual influences
president, the Israeli leader and lishment of the state, great
among the various parts of our
the university sought the one day changes have occurred, unfore-
people. Today every new first
they might join together, Dr. Bel- seen both by the distant observers
grade in our educational system
kin related. The warm emotional and by those at the very heart of
opens new and surprising possi-
exchange between the Israeli pres- American Jewish life.
bilities for diffusing knowledge of
From veteran heads of yeshivot
ident and those who came to honor
Torah. .
in
Israel,
themselves
bred
in
Po-
him climaxed the eight-year wait-
Those of our people who thirst
neviz
and
Slobodka,
I
have
heard
ing period.
for such knowledge are now
—to
my
profound
gratification—
The convocation began with a
streaming to Israel, concentrating
processional of Yeshiva University that in their judgment the brilliant
there, and the stream shows every
administrators, trustees and facul- scholars reared in Israeli yeshivot
sign of future enlargement, des-
ty members who marched down are neither fewer nor scholastically
tined to emanate even from sources
the aisles to the strains of the inferior to those they themselves
we have not taken into considera-
popular Israeli melody, "Yerushal- knew in Poland and Lithuania .. .
tion . . .
We
in
Israel
have
been
happy
to
ayim shel Zahav" ("Jerusalem of
Let not spiritual leaders in the
see how scholars trained in your
Gold").
Diaspora fear that their aliya to
An invocation was offered by great institution have been ab-
Israel may empty the Diaspora of
Rabbi Ephraim Kolatch, Temple sorbed into the cultural and com-
spiritual content. On the contrary,
Beth El, Long Beach, N.Y., and munal life of the country. There
whenever a scholar settles in Is-
are
indications
that
a
branch
of
president of the Alumni Associa-
rael, whether to carry on his own
your
university
is
to
be
set
up
in
tion of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan
studies or to impart knowledge to
Israel,
as
has
been
the
case
with
Theological Seminary. The cere-
others, he enriches the environ-
monies were led by Dr. Sidney B. other American Jewish institutions
ment of the community which he
Hoenig, chairman of the faculty, of higher learning. It would seem
left. The very fact of his aliya
Bernard Revel Graduate School, that before the realization of the
intensifies the desire of his col-
prophecy that ultimately the syna-
who opened the exercises.
leagues and students to live in a
gogues
and
academies
of
the
Dias-
Dr. Israel Miller, vice president
radiance similar to his, for in our
pora
will
be
transferred
to
the
Land
for student affairs, presented Presi-
time the aliya of a spiritual leader
of
Israel,
we
are
likely
to
see
dent Shazar, and Dr. Belkin con-
is powerful proof of the- earnest-
ferred the degree upon the presi- their great .scholars, each in his
ness of his relationship to, and
President Zalman Shazar of Israel addresses more than 2,000
dent, who then delivered his own framework, firmly and pro-
identification with, the Judaism he
ductively
implanted
in
the
land
of
American
and
Canadian
Jewish
leaders
at
the
international
inaugural
address in Hebrew. (Major por-
preaches. Every man of the spirit
our
fathers
and
our
children.
conference
in
Miami
at
the
launching
of
the
campaign
for
the
sale
tions of his address appear on
who goes up to the Land as an
I
have
had
the
privilege
of
re-
of $400,000,000 in Israel Bonds in 1971. Sam Rothberg, general chair-
Page 1 in this issue of The Jew-
oleh and dedicates himself to the
ceiving honorary doctorates from man of the Israel Bond Organization (seated at left), announced a
ish News.)
unity of our people in the Land,
Also participating in the cere- our Hebrew University in Jerusa- record-breaking initial total of $107,200,000 in Bonds resulting from
will surely reap a blessed harvest.
the
intensive
pre-conference
activities.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
48 Friday, March 19, 1971
(Continued from Page 1)
-
Shazar and Rebbe
Celebrate Purim
Shazar's Evaluation of Jewish Cultural, Traditional Ideals
Shazar Opens Israel Bond Drive
-
—