A Patriotic Note

There is a famous letter from George Washington to the first synagogue in America, the Touro synagogue. Less known is the letter the Jews of Touro sent to Washington on the occasion of the first President's visit to Newport, RI to celebrate the ratification of the US Constitution. First comes the synagogue's letter, followed by Washington's answer.

Note the many reference to Tanach from these driven refugees, and the interesting term "Babylonish Empire".

To the President of the United States of America.
Sir:
Permit the children of the stock of Abraham to approach you with the most cordial affection and esteem for your person and merits ~~ and to join with our fellow citizens in welcoming you to NewPort.
With pleasure we reflect on those days ~~ those days of difficulty, and danger, when the G-d [ed] of Israel, who delivered David from the peril of the sword, ~~ shielded Your head in the day of battle: ~~ and we rejoice to think, that the same Spirit, who rested in the Bosom of the greatly beloved Daniel enabling him to preside over the Provinces of the Babylonish Empire, rests and ever will rest, upon you, enabling you to discharge the arduous duties of Chief Magistrate in these States.
Deprived as we heretofore have been of the invaluable rights of free Citizens, we now with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty disposer of all events behold a Government, erected by the Majesty of the People ~~ a Government, which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance ~~ but generously affording to all Liberty of conscience, and immunities of Citizenship: ~~
deeming every one, of whatever Nation, tongue, or language equal parts of the great governmental Machine: ~~ This so ample and extensive Federal Union whose basis is Philanthropy, Mutual confidence and Public Virtue, we cannot but acknowledge to be the work of the Great G-d [ed], who ruleth in the Armies of Heaven, and among the Inhabitants of the Earth, doing whatever seemeth him good.
For all these Blessings of civil and religious liberty which we enjoy under an equal benign administration, we desire to send up our thanks to the Ancient of Days, the great preserver of Men ~~beseeching him, that the Angel who conducted our forefathers through the wilderness into the promised Land, may graciously conduct you through all the difficulties and dangers of this mortal life: ~~ And, when, like Joshua full of days and full of honour, you are gathered to your Fathers, may you be admitted into the Heavenly Paradise to partake of the water of life, and the tree of immortality.
Done and Signed by order of the Hebrew Congregation in NewPort, Rhode Island August 17th 1790.
Moses Seixas, Warden

Washington's reply:

To the Hebrew Congregation in Newport Rhode Island.
Gentleman.
While I receive, with much satisfaction, your Address replete with expressions of affection and esteem; I rejoice in the opportunity of assuring you, that I shall always retain a grateful remembrance of the cordial welcome I experienced in my visit to Newport, from all classes of Citizens.
The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger which are past is rendered the more sweet, from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity and security. If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we are now favored, we cannot fail, under the just administration of a good Government, to become a great and happy people.
The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.
It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my Administration, and fervent wishes for my felicity. May the children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy.
G. Washington

We have benefitted, from that time to this, from the freedoms this chasid umos implemented, right up to and including the freedom to write this blog.

Daas Torah II, or The Danger of Crying Wolf

Another interesting and thoughtful take on Daas Torah - accepting authority of Daas Torah but cognizant of the self-limiting nature of mass production prohibitions - appears here.

The posting has one vignette of a chareidi talmud chacham who after a 'kol korah' against radio was asked if he still had a radio.
He shrugged embarassedly.

While 'v'yaaminu b'Hashem v'b'Moshe ovdo' would seem to indicate acceptance of Daas Torah, the many statements of Gedolim of previous generations on the many paths to Hashem would seem to be contrainidicated by the 'my way or the highway' message we are getting today.

Targum Yonasan in Yisro (chapter 20 posuk 15) states that each person heard an individual and separate voice on Har Sinai to indicate there are individual paths to Hashem - not a cookie cutter approach which ultimately results in undermining the authority of the Gedolim.

While there is definitely an appropriate place for prohibitions, there is no justification for using these in a manner which stifles individuality. One person's avoda is to closet himself from the world. Another's is to gather and use knowledge for higher purposes.

Today, knowledge is found right here, on the internet.
Check out the link.

Al Yisroel v'al HaRobbonon

A former boss of mine who was 80 years old at the time once told me that the Rebbe in his home town in Poland ran a grocery by day and was a Rebbe in the evening.
I was young, and laughed.

Yes, post war, working in a grocery would be a major blot on a Rebbe's stature. But in my opinion there is a decided advantage to a Rebbe who is always on the same page and struggling in the same universe as his chassidim.

My goal here is not to write about Rebbes, Rabbonim or Roshei Yeshiva. My concern is the much larger population of mechanchim, melamdim and mashgichim busily tunnelling their way into a parallel but distinct universe.

50 years ago everyone read the Times and listened to the radio (yes, I mean it).

Over time, especially in the last 10-12 years radio became graphically worse, and over the same period know-nothing forces seized the opportunity to gain the upper hand in our community while the rest of us were out to lunch.
One example? 20 years ago many chassidishe mesivtas had Regent's diplomas. Now even many litvishe mesivtas don't. Progress? I think not.

Denizens of the daled amos and straphangers now exist in a spiritual apartheid.

The internet, and the bans on same, have accelerated and aggravated this trend. I daven in a Bais Medrash where melamdim, mashgichim and menahelim are the majority. I also get together regularly with friends who are roughly the same age as myself for some learning, and some discussion. These friends are largely mechanchim, and they set the atmosphere. I respect the Torah and hashkafa they bring to the table. However, it is increasingly divorced from the reality I see - the reality Hashem created.

I myself am firmly rooted in the 'haimishe' world as well as the outside world. My married children (who are all learning), are well acquainted with news, thought, science, politics and computers despite the fact that they are very chassidish and accomplished learners, and are all 'yirai shomayim' k"ah.

Looking around myself, I feel like the last of the Mohicans. I cannot discuss the typical things I discussed years ago with my 'klei kodesh' friends because of the inevitable "where did you hear that? where did you get that? How did you see that? (referring to family pictures in an e-mail)", etc.

I feel that the baalei batim and the non-baalei batim are more and more ships passing in the night with their own language, halachos,and ideology. While there was always some room for maneuver between them, there is now a crevasse widening into a canyon.

Is this healthy for either group? For our children?

Traditionally each group has cross fertilized the other with ideas and information.


But now, when I hear al yisroel, al harobbonon I really am starting to believe that chazal knew exactly what they demarcated in kaddish. Chazal meant 5765. Today, the latter has become a different ethnic group than the former - similar, in a parallel universe, but not the same species. No longer willing or capable of cross germination to produce fertile seed. And this cross germination of ideas and of information has always been a source of strength to our people.

And then there's al talmidahun.

What will become of them and of yiddishkeit in our brave new Luddite world?

A Guten Chodesh!

Why Not ?

I don't know whether there is any truth to this - but at least they claim to be trying to solve a problem using the internet.
Saudis Reform Militants on Web

Are we trying to help our own problem?
Internet 'addicts' trapped against their will???
Or are we opening an umbrella against a tsunami with public proclamations rather than help???
Look around, and judge for yourself.

Daas Torah

Marvin Schick provides an enlightened and intelligent look at the various trends in acceptance of Das Torah (read the comments as well, for alternate views).

The posting pertains to the l'affair Slifkin , but the underlying logic pertains to Internet bans as well.

While one may not agree with every opinion re Daas Torah, the honest attempt to grapple with the issue of subjugation of oneself and one's options and speech to gedolim vs independent thought and speech and action is an important issue.

Here it is.

Maginot Line

In the 1/29 gathering on 'Dangers of Internet Access' covered in the 1/31 Hamodia (we can't link because kosher news is trayfe on the 'net), a certain Mr. Richard Altabe, General Studies Principal @ Yeshiva Darchei Torah, Far Rockaway, spoke.

Parenthetically, and before my main point, I must express my encouragement that the General Studies Principal of a 'frum' Yeshiva is able to have his opinion taken seriously by Daas Torah, as evidenced by his speaking at a rabbinical and mechanchim assemblage. I presume that what he says goes inside the Yeshiva as well. If more Yeshivas adopted this attitude, we would have more efficient use of the time spent in secular studies, and hopefully more ability for alumni to have an adequate knowledge base to earn a living in an honest and honorable manner without government handouts.

Mr. Altabe, however, seems to compare the Torah to the Maginot Line (the speech and/or the reporting of it seem garbled). If so, this is an unfortunate analogy, and one which I hope does not indicate the level of academic rigor of yeshiva secular education.

Part of The Maginot Line

The Maginot Line was constructed by the French post WW I, to protect against a German invasion. The French then proceeded (characteristically) to deconstruct their army, particularly its mobile capacity, depending on the static defense of the Maginot chain of fortifications. In WW II the Germans easily flanked the Maginot line by coming through Belgium and Holland, as well as through forests the French considered so thick as to be impenetrable. The 'blitzkrieg' took France in a short time, since they left themselves with little internal defense capacity or flexibility. (An historical aside: the French reconstructed the line after WWII, then abandoned it when they left NATO's military command. Go figure!)

Is Orthodoxy's defensive strength like that of the Maginot line?
I believe Torah Judaism is deeper, more mobile more dynamic, and more flexible than a fortification which was obsolete before it was built.

More importantly, the so-called 'enemy' is already deep behind the line. If the internet could have been stopped, it had to be done in 1994. Unfortunately, a move to seize the internet's positive aspects and capitalize on them should have also been done 10 years ago - but there is still time for much positive action which will produce protection and new strength.

In short, it is not only insulting and embarrassing to Torah to compare it to a renowned failure, it is also after the fact and misleading.

Mr. Altabe, please spare us such facile and inaccurate comparisons. I hope they are not indicative of the psychological mind-set of the organizers.

The burning question remains whether we will actually do something, or just create a PR flak attack to confuse the radar, enabling our community to say "we tried!".

Another Week, Another Asifa, More Feel-Good While Rome Burns . . .

Front Page News!

Hamodia (1/31/05 pgs 1 and 7) reports a meeting was held on January 29 to address the 'growing problem of internet usage' (not abuse).

The meeting was chaired by a philanthropist whose fortune derives from computer related business. (Attention: Sanctimony Alert!)

The 'Seeking Solutions' column by Rabbi Dr. Twerski referred to in our posting of January 20 was distributed at the meeting as an example of internet usage (?).

Since Hamodia is not on the internet, I quote verbatim from the conclusion of the article about the gathering:

"The askanim resolved the issue would be addressed on three fronts:
(1)when internet use is unavoidable it is crucial to make its usage as safe as possible through utilization of filter systems.
(2) to create greater community awareness through a large-scale public relations program, which will require extensive fund raising
(3) to obtain guidance and participation from mechanchim, rabbonim and professionals on how to extricate those already ensnared in its net

The evening concluded on a note of urgency."

Commentary:
1. Should we not be using 'extensive' funds raised to subsidize and improve filtering, and prepare for new developments such as neighborhood wireless connections rather than for PR? Further,is advancing and subsidizing filtering not an investment which will last longer than advertising?
2. Does blanket condemnation not in reality undermine those dedicated and idealistic individuals trying to keep us safe by developing filters, and losing money doing it? Their ISP's need a critical mass of customers to succeed and keep up with technological advances - a critical masss they do not yet have . (Historical Note: In pre-war Europe individuals were encouraged to subscribe to Orthodox newspapers even if they did not read them regularly in order to supply minimum circulation.)

3. Are we dealing with reality by banning when even students today find it necessary to use the internet, and are we merely attempting to create the appearance of not using it?

We must indeed help those needing it most, and those who may need it in the future. How will advertising do that?

This writer has observed gedolim who have dealt with the basest instincts of man successfully. They did not do it through PR, or Kol Korahs. They did it by getting down into the mud and trenches and lifting people out of the quagmire, one by one. Let's follow their example.

(To be continued)