The proposed West Side kindergarten: 1. Purposes. The plan is to establish a kindergarten for the academic year beginning Sept. 1953 and to follow it up progressively with grade school classes. The educational philosophy of this school will combine the most progressive of modern techniques with the most traditional Jewish spirit. This particular enterprise is aimed at two groups: A – All of the Manhattan residential Jewry, from the Lower East Side until the 70s and 80s, East and West. There is no All-Day School between Jacob Joseph and Ramaz. Many of those who live close to the Lower East Side yeshivos are reluctant to send their children to those schools. The Stuyvesant area in particular has to be exploited. B – There are, no doubt, many small businessmen, manufacturers and employers, and employees of all grades who spend the entire day in our area and who have young children of kindergarten age. It would be a valuable service for them if it could be arranged that the parents bring the children with them to the 4th floor garment area in the morning, and pick them up in the late afternoon. 2. Building facilities. The plan is that of the floor conv. It is contemplated to remove the folding partition between rooms 1 and 2 and use that for the kindergarten. The only real difficulty is that of height. Had there been an elevator, there would certainly be no problem today. City authorities would normally give their consent to our project only grudgingly because of this factor. However, they will be satisfied by the one mitigating factor which is the excellent roof which we have. The roof is only one flight above the school floor, is well tiled, and is well guarded by high parapets. Properly equipped, the roof becomes an excellent outdoor playground and the children do not have to climb the 4 flights more than once a day. The capacities of the rooms are as follows: Room 1 – 400 sq. ft.; Room 2 – 465 sq. ft.; Room 3 – 297 sq. ft.; Room 4 – 385 sq. ft. Rooms 1 and 2 combin…

Hatikvah: Kol ode balei-vav pni-mah Ne-fesh yehu-di, ho-miyah Ule-fa-a-sey Mizrach Ka-di-mah A-yin letzion Tzo-fi-yah. Ode lo av-dah tik-va-tei-nu Ha-Tik-vah shnot al-payim Li-he-yot am chof-shi bear-tsei-nu BeSeretz Tzion viye-ru-sha-la-yim. Torah: Torah Tzi-vah lanu Mosheh Torah–Torah–tainu Torah Tzi-vah lanu Mosheh Mo-ra-shah Kehilas Ya-akov Torah Tzi-vah lanu Mosheh. Yisrael V’oraita (Israel and the Torah are one. Torah is light): Yi-yi-yi-yis-ra-el Yi-yis-ra-e V’oraisa chad hu Torah o-rah Torah o-rah Halleluyah. Baruch Eloheinu: Baruch Eloheinu Shebaranu lichvodo Ode hapa’am Lichvodo V’nosan Lanu Toras emess Ode hapa’am Toras emess. Amar Rabbi Akiva: Amar Rabbi Akiva Ve’ahavta l’reyacha kamocha Sheli shelach Zeh klal gadol baTorah. Lo Yisa Goy el Goy Cherev: Lo yisa goy el goy cherev V’lo yilmedu od milchamah. Hinei Mah Tov: Hinei mah tov umah na’im Shevet achim gam yachad. Im Ein Ani Li: Im ein ani li, mi li U’cheshe’ani l’atzmi, mah ani V’im lo achshav eimatai. Chasdei Hashem: Chasdei Hashem ki lo samu Ki lo chalu rachamav Yenomar lefanav Shirah chadashah Halleluyah. V’karave Pizurenu: V’karave pizurenu Mibein hagoyim U’nefutzosenu kanes Miyarksei aretz. Aileh Chamda Libi: Aileh chamda libi Chusah na v’al tisalem. Mah Tovu: Mah tovu ohalecha Yaakov Mishkenotecha Yisrael. Hashiveinu: Hashiveinu Hashem eilecha V’nashuvah Chadeish yameinu kekedem. Hazorim B’dimah: Hazorim b’dimah Berinah yiktzoru. Achakeh Lo: Achakeh lo Bechol yom sheyavo. Utzu Eitzah: Utzu eitzah v’tufar Dabru davar v’lo yakum Ki imanu Kel. Eretz Yisrael: Eretz Yisrael bli Torah Hi keguf bli neshama Hey dun-dai. Na’aleh L’artzeinu: Na’aleh L’artzeinu berinah Yom gilah – yom rinah – yom menuchah – yom kedushah. Anu Banu Artzah: Anu Banu Artzah – Livnot u’lehibanot bah Anu, Anu, Banu, Artzah Livnot u’lehibanot, u’lehibanot bah Anu Banu Artzah Livnot livnot u’lehibanot bah. Emek Avodah: Emek, Emek Avodah, Emek, Emek, Horah Horah, Horah Emek Emek Horah. Artzah Alinu: Artzah Alinu K’var charashnu,…

תאר את שיטת הדיאיסטים הנוצרים באנגליה סל המאה ה18. באיזה אופן אין היא תואמת ליהדות? מה היתה תגובתו של ר׳ דוד ניטו לשיטה זו? הרמב״ם בהקדמה לפרוש המשניות שלו מונה חמשה פרושי חז"ל שלא נפלה בהם מחלוקה. הזכר ובאר שלשה מהם. בתורה כתוב: "כי יפלא ממך דבר למשפט בין דם לדם בין דין לדין בין נגע לנגע דברי ריבות בשעריך וקמה ועלית וכו'". הלא מזה מוכח שסמכות החכמים מוגבלת אך ורק ל"דם דין ונגע". איך משיב רד"ג על טענה זו, ומרחיב את סמכות חז"ל לכל מקצועות התורה? בטענותיו נגד הדיאיזם הנוצרי, מזהה הרד״נ אה הטבע עם האלקים. כתוצאה מזה, נחסד על-ידי כמה מאנסי קהילתו במינות. באר את החשד הזה, וגם את ההתנצלות סל הרד"נ. הסבר דין ערובי תבשילין. הרד"נ מניח שלשה עיקרים בבאור ענין המחלוקות בחז״ל. תאר את העיקרים האלה, והדגם את דבריך בדוגמא מדיני שבת.

I have found a certain number of glaring deficiencies in the training and background of Yeshiva High School students who have made their way to my Jewish philosophy classes in the course of the past decade and a half. The following very brief recommendations for standards are based upon this experience: Students should have a rudimentary knowledge of the outline of Jewish history, i.e., the sequence of periods, and the knowledge of some of the great names attached to each. Pirkei Avot. I find that fairly ignorant laymen who had the most elementary Jewish education in Europe are familiar with Avot. Our own students, however, who are initiated into some of the profoundest complexities of Talmudic reasoning, haven’t the faintest knowledge of what Pirkei Avot is all about. I would make the knowledge of Avot a prerequisite for high school graduation.Bible (Chumash). Chumash is taught in a very spotty fashion in our own high schools. Apparently, there is a feeling by certain members of the high school faculty that teaching Chumash is beneath their intellectual station (an attitude which, apparently, Moses did not share). Graduation requirements should list specific portions of the Chumash that a student must know thoroughly, including a limited number of famous passages from Rashi. English. I suppose this complaint is just another cry in the wilderness, but I am distressed at the incredibly poor training of so many students in the simplest elements of English composition. Probably this is part of the spirit of the times, but I do think the high schools ought to emphasize English writing — clarity, punctuation, grammar, vocabulary — a great deal more than they do.

Vignettes for Panel Discussion. Case 1: The Federation has invited the local rabbis from all religious streams to plan and participate in a program entitled “A Day of Jewish Learning.” The idea of the program is to have each of the rabbis teach three classes on topics of their choice and invite the community to sit in on whichever classes they desire to attend. You have been asked to participate, will you? What are the factors which enter into your analysis of this situation? Does it matter who sponsors the event? Does it matter where the event is held? What if the Orthodox and non-Orthodox rabbis will be teaching the same subject and the audience will rotate so that different views on a single topic are presented?CASE 2: As an avid reader of the Israeli press, you have noted that there have been several articles of late about non-Orthodox rabbinical students’ desire to pray at the Kotel in the way in which they are accustomed, but which is not within halakhic parameters. They argue that the Kotel belongs to the entire Jewish People, so why shouldn’t they be allowed access to pray at this holy site? On a visit to Israel you are at the Kotel and these very students are beginning to get together to pray. How do you analyze their behavior? What is your reaction? Several yeshiva boys begin to yell at the students, cursing them, throwing things at them, and chasing them away. What do you do? When you return to America you see that much of the American Jewish community is talking about the “disgraceful” behavior of the yeshiva boys. Do you respond? How? In reaction to what they perceive as an attack on Orthodoxy, a rabbi publishes a statement that anything outside the pale of halakhic Judaism is not Judaism at all. How do you react to this public statement? How do you react to the reaction of the many non-Orthodox American Jews who feel they’ve just been told they are not practicing Judaism when they go to pray at their synagogues?CASE 3: You are the principal of an Orth…

❖ What thoughts flow through your mind when you reflect on the words Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokaynu Hashem Echad? ❖ Let’s discuss Dr. Lamm’s definition of “spirituality” (page 6): “The intention we bring to our religious acts, the focusing of our mind and thoughts on the transcendent... a groping for the Source of all existence and the Giver of Torah.” What would you add or subtract from that definition? Why?❖ How do we attempt to achieve balance in our own lives between “spirituality” and commitment to Jewish “law?” Dr. Lamm suggests (page 6) that “spirituality” is “subjective” and Jewish law is “objective.” However, in our lives is there not a great measure of ”subjectivity” in our relationship with Jewish “law,” at least in terms of our selectivity — which laws will we take very seriously, or somewhat seriously; how we allow certain “laws” to impact on our lives?❖ If “we do not have the capacity for sustained attention (in prayer) for even one short paragraph” (page 10), how can we at all engage honestly in the enterprise of prayer?❖ “What was heard at Sinai was not a one time affair; the voice of God is ubiquitous and continuous. It is up to us to hear it.” (Page 14). Just how do we go about hearing that voice? How do we go about “understanding” that voice (page 15)? What role does *kavanah* play in this process?❖ What is the difference between a “doubter” and an “honest doubter”? Is it too much to ask to “put our doubts aside” even for one “sacred moment” and “stand before our Maker as children?” Can we “doubt our doubts” with integrity? (Page 17)❖ The recitation of the Shema helps integrate the individual into “the whole community of Israel.” (Page 19) Discuss the importance of that effort and other Jewish mechanisms for accomplishing that purpose. How important is “community” in our personal and individualistic search for “spirituality?”❖ How does Judaism, in its entirety, or in its parts, help us to cope with and to overcome confusion and despair “in an age …

As our undergraduate student body begins the second semester of the year 5760/1999-2000, it is a pleasure to greet you with what I hope is some sound advice. This advice is encapsulated in the two words of the title of this article. Let me explain. One of the great luminaries of pre-World War II Lithuania, R. Hayyim Shmulevitz, once told his students of his youthful days when he learned in the Yeshiva of Grodno. For a brief vacation, he went to visit the yeshiva of Navahrdok, headed by his uncle, R. Abraham Yoffen. In the Bet Midrash, he asked his uncle, "who is the best student in this yeshiva?" His uncle pointed to one young man engrossed in his studies and said, "he is the most profound of all." Then he pointed to another, also bent over his tome of the Talmud, and said, "he is the most industrious—the greatest masmid, of all." And so he identified several of the most prominent bachurim, praising each for his special qualities—such as piety, range of knowledge, etc. But the nephew pressed on, saying, "yes, but who is the best of all?" Whereupon R. Yoffen pointed to one young man in the corner of the room. "But if so, why didn't you mention him amongst all those you singled out?" The uncle answered: "you're right, but his qualities overshadow all the others, because he is the mevakesh, the 'searcher' of the student body." In the course of the years, this "searcher," who never ceased to search for God, for the truth of Torah, was none other than R. Yaakov Kaniefsky, one of the dominant gedolim of our times in Israel, known as "the Steipler."This quality of restlessness—intellectual, spiritual, psychological—is the key to great achievement. Those who train themselves to sacrifice rest and leisure to approach the truth—in any area, any discipline—while those who ask no in order to keep up the endless search, to keep looking, will more likely than not succeed in their aspirations. Those who are too lazy to ask questions, along with those who presume to have all the a…