S
.
Friday, May
6 1983
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
,
rt :odor Rabbt Comments on Fanaticism, Narrowness of Vision
3i111911.‘
R?,1. ARNOLD -AGES
(Cd/Aeiight 1983, JTA, Inc.)
scores of articles, mono- that event many Jews have
graphs and reviews in completely repudiated the
MILWAUKEE — Rabbi English and Hebrew, is an gentile world and have
David Shapiro, spiritual Orthodox rabbi who is both withdrawn exclusively into
leader of Cong. Anshei surprised by and concerned the Jewish one.
Sephard, author of "Studies with the growth of a home-
"This is a development
in Jewish Thought" and born fanaticism among cer- which has both positive
tain segments of Orthodox and negative aspects. On
lisH
Jewry in North America.
the one hand, it is com
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Shapiro, who has served forting to see the level of
as pulpit rabbi for 35 years Jewish observance rising
• Programs for Children of
in Milwaukee and is re- and it is something that
Parents with Computers.
garded by his peers as a we could not have pre-
• Subscriptions for IBM
"rabbi's rabbi," has an un- dicted when I was much
PC, Atari 800, and Apple
usual explanation for the younger."
II as low as $9.00 each
turn towards a strident
program.
Rabbi Shapiro makes the
• Write for more informa-
form of Orthodoxy now ob- point, however, that the ob-
tion on programs for
servable in the large met- servance of Jewish law
these and other, corn-
. ropolitan centers.
needn't involve a fanaticism
puter models.
"I think that part of the or narrowness of vision.
Post Office
Palo Alto
explanation is the
As an example of the lat-
vox 50144 w- CA 94303
Holocaust. As a result of ter, Shapiro spoke of the
phenomenal success of the
Artscroll series of books
prepared under the auspices
of certain adherents of the
Agudat Israel.
"Let me say right away
that there is much in that
WE HAVE BEEN HELPING
series that is to be admired
and recommended. In a re-
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cent issue of Tradition mag-
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one of the books in that
series and the ,reviewer
made what I thought were
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"Nonetheless, there is a
problem with the
Artscroll texts; they re-
present a narrow focus
and no one who is not
within the Aguda circle's
is considered an appro-
priate source for infor-
mation.
"An example: Zeev
Yavetz is an important
scholar and his studies
could be profitably quoted
since he is impeccably Or-
thodox. Yet his works are
• totally ignored by the
Artscroll people because he
is not a member of the
Aguda.
"That is typical of the
Aguda approach. You are
familiar with the honorific
) prefixes and suffixes which
are often attached to rab-
binic scholars. When the
Aguda people refer to their
own, the honorifics are al-
ways in place; when they
refer to those not among
their own; the only term
used is 'Ray.' " .
Rabbi Shapiro is a man
who might be described as
belonging to the extreme
center, It was logical, there-
fore, that he balance his
criticism of the Aguda with
some harsh comments
about the recent move on
the part of Reform Judaism
to legitimate the principle
of partilineal descent in the
case of mixed marriages.
"I really don't think
that the decision of some
Reform rabbis in Los
Angeles, who do not have
a thorough grounding in
Jewish texts, is going' to
affect the lives of the to-
SPOIL HER. FOR MOTHER' S DAY
tality of the Jewis h
"It seems to me that we
people.
have learned relatively
"The Talmud is qui to little from the past. This
clear in its prescription re- past year, after the Leba-
garding the determinatio n non war, there was an
of Jewishness through th e unbelievable amount of
matrilineal line. What th e propaganda against Is-
Reform movement has don e rael. Where were the
is simply introduce a ne w Jewish crowds scream-
element of dissension i n ing out against this out-
Jewish life."
rage? There were none. It
Rabbi Shapiro agree d was the same inertia and
that the Reform solutio n lack of response- which
will force the Israeli rabb i- paralleled Jewish be-
nate to seek an immedia te havior before and during
change in the "Hok Ha - World War II.
Shevut," the Law of Return
"At least in my genera-
stipulating that Jewishnes " tion, we didn't know what
be defined according t o was going on in Europe. I
Halakha.
had a pulpit in 1938 and in
While critical of Reform' 5 that period we were ignor-
decision on the issue of pat _ ant of the larger picture. It
rilineal descent, Rabb i w§s only in 1945, at the end
Shapiro is not in agreemen t of the war, that we first
with efforts on the part o f began to understand the
Orthodox circles in Israe 1 calamity that had befallen
and abroad to-block the de _ us. Now, however, we have
velopment of Reform an d no excuse."
Conservative synagogues in
We asked Rabbi Shapiro
that country.
what were his most pleas-
"Of course, that is not a ant surprises and gravest
new development but I disappointments during the
' do not think that it is four decades he had served
as a rabbi in America.
appropriate to deny
people the right to wor-
"The most pleasant, of
ship the way they wish.
course, was the creation of
Thus I cannot be opposed
the state of Israel."
to Reform or Conserva-
As for disappointments,
there were a number.
tive Jews praying in their
own synagogues in Is-
"The breakdown of
rael. What I am opposed
Jewish family life, par-
to is their attempt to
ticularly divorce, is an
change Jewish law in
especially ' bitter de-
such a way that it affects
velopment." As the man
the whole Jewish
in Milwaukee who ar-
people."
ranges the "Get," Rabbi
Rabbi Shapiro's concern
Shapiro has to deal with
for the Jewish people as a this problem on a practi-
cal basis.
whole is reflected in his
thinking on the difficulties
"Years ago, divorce was a
that have been experienced
relatively rare thing. In the
by the Holocaust investiga-
course of a year one might
tive commission headed by
be involved in one, maybe
Justice Arthur Goldberg.
two. Now it is not uncom-
mon to see 30 or 40 a year.
The rabbi believes that the
commission should pursue
When you add to this an in-
its taskof trying to under-
termarriage percentage of
stand what occurred in the
about 35 percent among
United States among
Jewish people,' it is quite
discouraging." .
Jewish organizations before
and during World War II.
On another level, Rabbi
"I am in favor of pursuing
Shapiro sees as one of his
the truth of the matter. It is
greatest disappointments
important to know just
the failure of some of the
exactly what happened and
leaders of Orthodoxy to
why in order to learn some-
come to grips with serious
thing about the experience
problems of intellectual im-
that might be helpfutfor the
port.
future. The cards have to
- "I find it unfortunate that
fall the way they may.
the great scholars in the Or-
"What I find disturbing is
thodox community have-
the resistance of certain
been reluctant to deal with
Jewish organizations to the
an issue such as modern bi-
prospect of a thormigh in-
blical criticism. Not only do
vestigation of their activi-
they refuse to encounter it,
ties during the period in
they do not even recognize
question.
its existence."
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Israel Scene
She gives her dog Koor
Yaffa gets up in the morn- pet food, locks her Koor
ing and gropes for her Koor door and goes down the
slippers on the Koor floor.
Koor cement steps to her
She washes her face with car. Then she drives on
Koor soap, brushes 'her Koor tires to work.
teeth with Koor toothpaste
Where? In a Koor factory, _
and puts on her Koor of course.
make-up in the Koor mirror
Yaffa is one of 31,600 Is-
over the Koor sink in the raelis who works for Koor
Koor-tiled bathroom.
enterprises. One out of 11
For breakfast she drinks working Israelis is a Koor
Koor orange juice, spreads employee.
Koor margarine on her
Koor crackers and eats her
Some 60,000 Jews lived in
Koor cereal from a Koor Salonika before the
bowl.
Holocaust.