14

Friday, February 15, 1985

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

A

nd the American-
trained rabbi, a founder
of the 'Mal teshuva'
yeshiva movement in
Israel, is hoping people
will ask him the questions.

BY GARY ROSENBLATT

Editor

Craig Terkowitz

NOACH
WEINBERG
HAS THE
ANSWERS

Like the Marines, Rabbi
Noach Weinberg is looking for
a few good men. His mission: to
save the Jewish people.
Weinberg's "army" is in fact
several hundred students in
Israel, the U.S. and Canada'who
study at Aish HaTorah (the fire
of Torah), the yeshiva he found-
ed in Jerusalem in 1974 and
which now has branches in Los
Angeles, St. Louis and Toronto.
To Rabbi Weinberg the task
at hand is as simple as it is com-
pelling: "We have to be Paul
Reveres, shouting 'assimilation
is coming,' he says. "Some-
one's got to wake up the Jewish
people. I am dedicated to Jewish
survival. The way to achieve
that is to make our children
proud to be Jewish."
A large, handsome man of 55
with an engaging smile and
bright eyes behind his full gray
beard; Rabbi Weinberg, better
known to his students as "Rav
Noach," exudes the confidence
of a man who has The Answers.
All he needs is an audience, the
people to ask The Questions.
He is in America this month,
seeking recruits and, resources
for his yeshivas, and eager to
share his views — and be chal-
lenged on them — by anyone in-
terested. (He will be in the
Detroit Jewish community this
weekend making several ap-
pearances. (See sidebar for
schedule.)
Rabbi Weinberg is perhaps
best known for founding the
first baal teshuva yeshiva in
Israel, a school specifically for
young American Jews on a spir-
itual quest and with little or
no Jewish education or back-
ground. That was back in 1966,
and "we started with five kids.
Everyone thought I was nuts,"
he says with glee. The success of
the yeshiva was followed by the
creation of other such programs
and the beginning of a renais-
sance in Orthodoxy, with a
growing number of young
people from non-observant
homes choosing an Orthodox
lifestyle. Rabbi Weinberg's ex-.
pertise is in appealing to young
people's intellect and their
dissatisfaction with materialism
as an end unto itself.
"Reb Noach marches to his
own drum, to the degree pos-
sible within the framework of
the halacha (Jewish Law),"
notes Janet Aviad in her book
Return To Judaism: Religious
Renewql In IsraeL She describes
him as distinctive in his style
and the force of his personality,
"a titan in the development of

baal teshuvah institutions" who
has "mastered the techniques of
salesmanship."
Indeed, in an interview with
the rabbi, one can see how he
has developed his technique,
posing questions whose answers
lead to an inevitable conclusion.
For instance, he'll ask: "if you
had a perfect father who loved
you and had all the wealth in the
world, would you keep in touch?
From there he quickly explains
that God, our Father, asks only
that we keep in touch with Him.
He stresses the importance of
definitions in any theological
discussion. "What do you mean
by words like 'love' or 'belief' —
it's important to be clear and set
the ground rules."
Rabbi Weinberg begins with
the assumption that the West-
em world is ill, that society is af-
flicted with confusion, loss of
purpose and a lack of ethical
standards. Judaism, 'he believes,
is the island of sanity in an in-
sane world. If he can only show
people the confrontation be-
tween modernity and Jewish
tradition, a contrast in black
and white, he is certain he can
set them on the proper path.
The sad fi-dt, he believes, is
that modern Jewry is caught up
in the false values of the West.
According to the rabbi, despite
the clear signals from sociolo-
gists and demographers as well
as rabbis and scholars that Jews
are falling victim to assimilation
through inter-marriage and iner-
tia, there is a lack of desperation
in the organized Jewish com-
munity to save our past and our
future. "Secretly, there's a lack
. of self-confidence among our
Jewish leaders," he says. "They
don't know how to deal with the
problem, perhaps they don't
understand how serious it is."
It is so serious, he maintains,
that if no solution is found, the
Jewish people may disappear
completely.
"Young people today don't
see a relevance to Judaism, it's
not a source of pride. They view
it as a backward form of Chris-
tianity. Our job is to instill in
them a source of pride in being
Jewish."
To accomplish this, Rabbi
Weinberg combines a unique
blend of Talmudic logic and
Madison Avenue jargon in
stating his case and cause.
"Judaism had a monopoly on
education for centuries," he
says. "Our people were always
literate when the rest of the
world was not. But when you
have a monopoly, like we did,