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38

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1988

Philosopher-Chasid

Continued from Page 36

to accept, at first. However,
the Bostoner Rebbe, with
whom he still has a very
strong Rebbe-student rela-
tionship, smoothed things
over with them. Rabbi Gott-
lieb credits his wife, Linda,
with completing the process.
He married her at the age of
22.
When he was 25 years old,
Dale Gottlieb began teaching
philosophy at Johns Hopkins
University, where he was to
remain for nearly ten years.
He had worked himself up to
the position of associate pro-
fessor at one of the country's
most prestigious universities.
In the circles of academia, he
seemed to "have it all." But it
-still wasn't enough. In
January 1981, he and his
family made aliyah. His wife
had long been committed to
living in Israel. In fact, they
got married with the agree-
ment that they would some-
day live there.
Today, Rabbi Gottlieb lives
with his wife and their six
children in the Maalot
Daphna section of Jerusalem,
across the street from Ohr
Somayach, where he teaches.
"I feel very strongly about liv-
ing in Israel," he said. "I'm
happy with my work and I
have ample time to study
Torah. That's very important
to me." He studies with Ohr
Somayach faculty members.
Though he's received job of-
fers to teach philosophy at
universities in the United
States, he's turned them
down. He said, "I don't think
it matters if a person knows
a little more logic or a little
less logic. A university educa-
tion doesn't teach you to
think — just to memorize and
spit back. It's rare to find a
university student who
follows through with his
ideas."
"But yeshiva students are
alive," he continued. What
they're learning is important
to their lives. They often don't
like what they hear — it goes
against the grain — so they
fight back. They're alert and
awake.
"The best place to learn
Torah is in Israel," he noted.
"You can't reproduce the
spiritual atmosphere and
quality of Israel.
"In the States," he explain-
ed, "if someone wants to
learn, it's difficult. Young peo-
ple are accustomed to bars,
discotheques, beaches and
singles weekends. The strug-
gle is immense. If a guy gets
a call from a friend who
wants to go to the beach, it's
hard to say no. But in Israel,
you have a different mental
set. Often the person who
goes there is just traveling
and is open to new ex-

periences. If someone asks
him if he wants to learn
Torah, he thinks, 'Why not?
I'm gathering new ex-
periences.' So we'll ask the
fellow if he wants to learn
with us. So what if he doesn't
go to Nepal!"
According to the rabbi, go-
ing to one class is usually not
enough to change the course
of a person's life. "If a fellow
stays with us (at Ohr
Somayach) for a year," said
Rabbi Gottlieb, "there's an 80
percent chance that he'll
become frum (observant). If
it's less, it's risky. We're try-
ing to undo twenty years of
prejudice, stereotypes and an-
tithetical principles. In less
than a year, it's difficult to
give him a sense of identity to
help him withstand the
pressure he'll get when he
returns to the States?'
Why is it so important for a
Jew to learn torah?" I asked
the rabbi.
"Because it's his roots?' he
said, "and he should know
where he came from:'
He followed this up with a
riddle which someone had
once told him. He asked, "If
you're lost, and you see a four-
directional pole lying on the
ground, what do you do?"
He answered his own ques-
tion. "You pick up the pole.
Then you take the arrow
which shows where you just
were, and you point it in that
direction. It's very simple. In
order to know where you're
going, you've got to know
where you came from?'
That seems to be the story
of Dovid Gottlieb's life.
Listening to his lectures,
it's easy to believe he was a
philosophy teacher. His talks
are organized and structured.
The Bostoner Rebbe, Grand
Rabbi Yitzchok Horowitz,
said from Boston that Rabbi
Gottlieb's "unique talent" in
doing outreach work is that
"he combines the original
idea of na'ase and nishma
("we shall do and we shall
understand"). This represents
both the emotional and the
intellectual. He represents
the world of logic — the
nishma — and at the same
time he conveys in the logic a
certain feeling and sensitivi-
ty. This is important, because
as a Ibrah Jew, you must do
the mitzvot (commandments)
whether or not you under-
stand them.
Rabbi Gottlieb will be in
Detroit Feb. 19-21 for the
Machon IfIbrah, Jewish Lear-
ning Network of Michigan's
winter retreat at the
Southfield Hilton. The
weekend will be in conjunc-
tion with the Tannenbaum
College/Ohr Somayach of
Jerusalem.

