INSIGHT

"MARCH INTO SPRING"

The Rabbi

Continued frm preceding page

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tional budget for Orthodox
projects. According to MK
Avraham Verdiger of
Agudat Yisrael, that
amount will more than
double next year.
Leaders of both the Likud
and Labor have also made it
clear that they will not force
a change in the current elec-
tion laws. Such a change,
which both major parties
nominally support, would
weaken religious influence,

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Who Is Rabbi Schach?

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and is opposed by the Or-
thodox factions.
"Nobody wants to take on
the black hats [right-wing
Orthodox] right now," said a
senior Likud politician pri-
vately. "Politically, we need
them. But the truth is, they
belong to a different culture
than we do. We may be a
little better in their eyes
than Labor, but I think that
Rabbi Schach considers us
all goyim." ❑

Who is Rabbi Eliezer
Schach, the 92-year-old
Orthodox leader able to
make or break an Israeli
government coalition?
According to Rabbi
Herman Neuberger, ex-
ecutive vice president of
the Ner Israel Rabbinical
College of Baltimore, the
venerable rabbi is a hum-
ble, highly respected
Torah scholar whose mind
"is as sharp as an 18-
year old's."
Rabbi Neuberger, who
meets with Rabbi Schach
whenever he visits Israel,
says the longtime Rosh
Yeshiva (dean and presi-
dent) of the Ponavitch
yeshiva would much pre-
fer to spend all of his time
on Torah study. "But he
feels he was given long
years to assume a leader-
ship position in the Torah
movement," says Rabbi
Neuberger, "and he has a
sense of responsibility."
Rabbi Schach's word is
virtually law among Or-
thodox circles in America
as well as Israel on
matters of Halachah, or
Jewish law.
This week, Rabbi
Schach's critical
statements about the
Labor Party for not being
supportive of traditional
Judaism appear to have
crushed Shimon Peres'
latest effort to form a
Labor-led coalition
government. Peres needs
the support of several re-
ligious parties who follow
Rabbi Schach's guidance.
Ironically, Rabbi
Schach espouses views
regarding peace with the
Arabs that are more akin
to Labor than Likud. He
feels that peace is essen-
tial and he is not opposed
to trading certain Israeli-
held territories for peace.
But on a pragmatic level,
he believes that only a

Likud-initiated peace
effort could be successful
for the same reason that
only Richard Nixon could
make inroads with China.
Rabbi- Schach regards any
Labor peace initiative as
doomed to failure.
He reportedly does not
favor a Palestinian state
and feels Jordan must

Rabbi Schach's
word is virtually
law among
Orthodox circles
in America as
well as Israel on
matters of
Halachah, or
Jewish law.

play a prominent role in
taking responsibility for
territories Israel may
relinquish for peace.
Rabbi Schach is a pro-
duct of his native Lithua-
nian yeshiva world. He
came to Israel before
World War II and has
headed the Ponavitch
yeshiva in Bnai Brak, an
Orthodox city near Tel
Aviv, for more than 30
years. While other Torah
sages like Rabbi Aaron
Kutler and the Chazon
Ish were alive, Rabbi
Schach deferred to them.
In the last two decades,
though, he has spoken
out.
According to Rabbi
Neuberger, Rabbi Schach
is a man of great integrity
who lives in quite primi-
tive quarters, attended to
by his grandchildren.
Although frail, his
memory is sharp and he
attends prayer services
three times a day. ❑

— Gary Rosenblatt

