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O Copyright 2000

June 2000VOLUME XXXIV/NO, 6

6 Facing Churban Europe: The Anguish,TheGrief... andThe Sense of Mission,

Nisson Wolpin

The Grand Escape From Lithuania to Japan,Dr. Dovid Kronzler

Notes From a Prison Cell in Villepinte, France,Eli Freedmon

Of Uniqueness and Unity: an Appreciation ofReb Tzadok of Lublin 2"xr Fishel Moel

Loors

Unsung Victims, Pnue/ Peri

I9

26

28

SecoNo

?4

PosrScRlpr

38 Curlo*eNWrrH Speclnl NEEDS

39

45

Pizza, Anyone!, Rondy Dorfmon

Schnorrer or Tzeddaka Gobbai in Training?Robbi loseph C. Kormel

lnternet Alert

4t Letters to the Editor

w$$%VI CTIyI$

n ecentlv, Rabbi Berel Wein wrote

P tn one of his spdicated weeklY

I\otr.ns on the tragedy of tne

Reform movement's institution of pa*ilrllri:i. 'lineal descent, and both the Reform'and:: ',"i 'Conservative movements' performance

of non-halachic conversions. People whobelieve that they are Jewish are beingdeceived, he lamented, and will suffer

when their legitimacy is questioned

beyond their Reform or Conservativecommunities or when they themselves

realize the halachic improprieties towhich they have been subjected.

Admittedly, his sense of tragedy was

lost upon me. The open door policies

of the Conservative and Reform move-

ments are, in essence, legitimizing inter-marriage. Is the gentile's role in thatmurderous crusade, I wondered, a

plight that rouses my commiseration?

eeks following that article'spublication, my family and Iwere privileged to host

Shalosh Seudos at an outreach center in|erusalem's Old City.

I spoke, and afterward, a Youngman wearing a knit yarmulkeapproached, warmly shook mY handand thanked me for what I had said,

adding that he had recently been think-ing along the same lines while standing

Pnuel Peri, a frequent contributor to these pages,

is a writer and translator living in Jerusalem. His

most recent essay to appear in /O was "Enemy

Lines" (Dec.'99).

by the Western Wall."Thank you so much for telling me

that," I said, genuinely moved."I want to ask you a question," he

said. "My mother had a Conservativeconversion before I was born. Before Iwas born. She's a leading member of ourcommunity back home and teaches inthe Sunday school program. Accordingto the State of Israel, I am a Jew. So I'm)ewish, right?"

I looked into his waiting, blue eyes.

They were so clear and vast and still. He

was not posturing. He was not setting

me up. He innocently expected affir-mation of his ]ewishness, his family and

community. What could I say?

"Before coming here," he added, "Ihad never even heard that there couldbe a problem."

I glanced nervously at the floor. "Have

you ever discussed this with anyone

else?" I asked, hoping to pass the buck'"No, you're the first," he said.

Lucky me, I thought, and wondered

where to begin. Cornetsion, of course;would be the beginning, but it seemed

absurd. If he believed himself to be Iew-ish, a mandate to convert could only be

perceived as a cruel, condescendingrejection. And even ii for whatever rea-

son, he would submit to Orthodox con-version, of what significance would be

his submission r^,'ithout a firm, matureconviction to live Jewishly? Could he

know what becoming Iewish meant?

Would he embrace Torah Judaism?"Where are you right now in Your

life?" I asked, hoping to gain a sense ofhis level of commitment.

"\\'e11, right now I'm in the armY," he

said.I looked at him, stunned. He had

made aliya. He was serving in a fewisharmy. An idealist, he had chosen a patheschewed by most of his Jewish peers

back home. And he, this gentile boy. Ithought, would die for me in Lebanon,a martyr to his bereaved gentile moth-er. I nearly shivered in disbelief.

34 The Jewish Observer, June 2000

"Where are you religious\E" I asked.He gazed at the floor. "I'm not reli-

gious," he said and shrugged. "I'msearching."

I both pitied and admired him,knowing what it means to search. |our-neying is hard on the soul that search-es, that internalizes the terrible knowl-edge that it is homeless and bravely,compulsorily roams.

"I could give you a cold, clinicalanswer," I said, finally addressing hisquestion, "but I don't think thatyou're ready for it. It would lack mean-ing for you, and I would want it tohave meaning."

He looked at me and nodded."You are right in that the State,

through the Law ofReturn, recognizesyou as a ]ew," I continued, "However, theofficial rabbinate here, which is Ortho-dox, does not. In short, this is becauseit maintains that the product of a con-version is valid only if those who per-form it are religious. Practically, you mayhave problems getting married, becausethe rabbinate, which oversees mar-riage, would forbid a union between a

few and someone whom it considersgentile."

He stared and slowly nodded,absorbing my words, which I carefullykept clear of absolutes. A child of theConservative movement in particularand of the modern West in general, heperceived religion as relativistic, as

devoid of absolutes. Statements such as"Orthodoxy maintains" connote onegroup's valid opinion amongst that ofmany, and falls within his safe, relativisticfield. Pronouncements, however, such as"You are gentile" would be utterlymeaningless. Absolute truth would belost on him.

"But does that really matter to you?"i asked rhetorically, my tone slightlychallenging. "You have no connectionwhatsoever with the Orthodox com-munity. You're not religious. And youcould always marry abroad and after-ward settle here."

He had to agree."You mentioned that you're search-

itg. Keep searching," I said andexplained that if the Orthodox position

comes to truly bother him, if it mattersto him that Orthodoxy will not accepthim, though he could always skirt it withloopholes like marrying abroad, thenheshould come and talk to an Orthodoxrabbi.

He seemed unsure of where our con-versation had brought him, but he gavea big, affirming nod and smiled.

"All the best," I said.We shook hands, and I watched him

leave, wondering if he would come tounderstand the only message that Icould give.

To hear the opinion of Orthodoxy

relative to that of other camps is onething. To consider the absolute will ofG-d is quite another. The latter demandsthat one search well the vast plain of rel-ativism, and if for all of its freedom, itslimitless possibilities, its many loopholesand broken fetters one cannot find a

home and is acutely dissatisfied with, ofall things, a tiny, immovable, impossi-bly stubborn Orthodox stone, perhapsone will then be ready to dig deep andunearth the truth beneath.

I showed him a narrow passageway.Perhaps he will take it. Perhaps he willnot.

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fhe Jewish Observer, June 2000 35

ne Shabbosjust before Pesach Iagain spoke, and he appeared ingreen fatigues and black boots,

armed with an M-16 automatic rifle.After the meal, he approached and asked

what he should do with his chometzdur-

ing Pesach, and we discussed what

should be discarded and sold."How's your mother?" I heard myself

ask."She's fine," he said and shrugged.

"They want her to run the SundaY

school program and have offered her

double the money."

"Really?' I asked, amazed."Yeah. But she'd rather not take on

so much," he said. "It's a tough decision.Double the money!"

"I'll bet," I said and laughed.We wished one another a good

Pesach, and he moved toward the doorwith a spring in his step, his massiveweapon slung, limb-like, at his side.

Watching him leave, the sense of lifecontinuing, u'ith all of its madness, was

overwhelming. His mother wouldweigh her opportunity. He would go

to Lebanon and defend me. And Iwould write and decry all that madethem.

Yet thinking back on Rabbi Wein'svexation, I now mart'el at the mature,responsive Torah mind that con-ceives of the humanity behindunscrupulous policies and dark sta-

tistics and would bemoan this moth-er and son and the lie that theY liveso richly, so unwittingly. TheY are

indeed victims, unsung even to them-selves, and their tragedy is all but lost

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