March 2015 • Nissan 5775 אין התורה נקנית אלא בחבורה (ברכות סג:) Volume 49 • Number 2

CHAVRUSA A PUBLICATION OF THE RABBINIC ALUMNI OF THE RABBI ISAAC ELCHANAN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY • AN AFFILIATE OF YESHIVA UNIVERSITY

A Lifetime with Sefarim: A profile of Judaica Librarian Zalman AlpertPage 19

Yeshiva Celebrates 38 years of Rabbi Dr. Rosensweig’s servicePage 6

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Page 4 In PicturesChanukah in Yeshiva, Rabbis Alumni Yarchei Kallah

Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary

Richard M. JoelP R E S I D E N T, R I E T S

Rabbi Dr. Norman LammRO S H H AY E S H I VA E M E R I T U S , R I E T S

Joel M. Schrieber C H A I R M A N O F T H E B OA R D O F T RU ST E E S , R I E T S

Rabbi Menachem PennerM A X A N D M A R I O N G R I L L D E A N ,

R I E T S A N D U N D E RG R A D UAT E TO R A H ST U D I E S

Rabbi Kenneth BranderV I C E P R E S I D E N T FO R U N I V E R S I T Y A N D C O M M U N I T Y L I F E

Rabbi Zevulun CharlopD E A N E M E R I T U S , R I E T S

S P E C I A L A DV I S O R TO T H E P R E S I D E N T O N Y E S H I VA A F FA I R S

Rabbi Robert S. HirtV I C E P R E S I D E N T E M E R I T U S , R I E T S

Rabbi Yaakov GlasserDAV I D M I T Z N E R D E A N , C E N T E R FO R T H E J E W I S H F U T U R E

A N D U N I V E R S I T Y L I F E

Rabbi Chaim BronsteinA D M I N I ST R ATO R , R I E T S

Rabbi Adam Berner • Rabbi Binyamin Blau Rabbi Kenneth Hain • Rabbi Elazar Muskin

Rabbi Moshe Neiss • Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Rybak Rabbi Shmuel Silber • Rabbi Perry Tirschwell

Rabbi Elchanan Weinbach • Rabbi Howard Zack Rabbi Eliezer Zwickler

Y E S H I VA U N I V E R S I T Y R A B B I N I C A LU M N I A DV I S O RY C O M M I T T E E

CHAVRUSAA P U B L I C AT I O N O F R I E T S R A B B I N I C A LU M N I

Rabbi Aryeh CzarkaE D I TO R , C H AV RU S A

Noson WaintmanE D I TO R , C H AV RU S A

Mrs. Keren (Simon) MoskowitzA S S I STA N T E D I TO R , C H AV RU S A

Rabbi Robert ShurG R A P H I C S A N D L AYO U T, C H AV RU S A

CHAVRUSA is published by the Rabbinic Alumni of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, through the office of Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future. Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future serves as the

community service arm of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS). It continues the work of the Max Stern Division of Communal

Services which, for over 60 years, has served as one of the premier service organizations for the Jewish community.

5 0 0 We s t 18 5 t h S t . S u i te 419 • N ew Yo rk , N Y 10 0 3 321 2 - 9 6 0 - 5 4 0 0 ex t . 6 8 2 6

c h av r u s a m a g a z i n e @ y u . e d u • w w w. r i e t s . e d u / c h av r u s a

Editorial contributions and submissions to CHAVRUSA are welcome. This publication accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or photographs. All submissions are subject to editing and are used at the editor’s discretion. Opinions expressed in this publication do not reflect

official Seminary and/or University policy.

In This Issue

Page 5 NewsCommunity Siyum of Seder MoedGrunstein Family Dedicates Torah to YeshivaYeshiva Celebrates Rabbi Dr. Bernard Rosensweig’s ’50R 38 Years of Dedicated ServiceYeshiva Presents Dec. 25 Yarchei KallahYeshiva Offers Online Child Abuse Prevention Course for Rabbis

• CHAVRUSA will consider articles and letters for publication. • Books authored by musmakhim that are reviewed by musmakhim will be considered for publication

as well. • Obituaries about and authored by musmakhim will be considered for publication. • CHAVRUSA aims to maintain the Hebrew pronunciation style of the author of the article.

Transliterations follow the author’s preference i.e. academic, Ashkenazic, modern Hebrew or the like. While we will remain consistent within articles, each author will be afforded to transliterate within his comfort level.

• CHAVRUSA reserves the right to edit articles received for publication, and will make every effort to show a draft form to the author prior to publication.

• Contributions may be sent to chavrusamagazine@yu.edu.• In addition to CHAVRUSA magazine, articles and divrei Torah may also be submitted for publication

in the weekly Rabbinic Alumni e-newsletter. Please e-mail them to rabbinicalumni@yu.edu.

Editorial Policies

Page 16 Musmakhim in the LimelightRabbi Ira Kronenberg ’72RRabbi Elie Tuchman Ed.D. ’92R

Page 19 Special FeatureA Lifetime with Sefarim: Judaica Librarian Zalman Alpertby Rabbi Shmuel Landesman ’93R

Page 22 Divrei HespedIn Appreciation of Rabbi Jacob Rabinowitz ’48R zt”lby RIETS Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Eli Baruch Shulman

Page 24 Recently Published Books

Page 25 Life-Cycle Events

Page 10 Pesach InsightsEchad Rasha: The ‘Wicked Son’ According to the Vilna Gaonby RIETS Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Aharon Kahn ’69R

Teachings from Rav Soloveitchik: Sippur Yetziat Mizrayimby Rabbi Nisson E. Shulman ’55R

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From the Dean’s Office

The population explosion in Egypt seems to come about following the death of the generation of the shvatim:

וימת יוסף וכל אחיו וכל הדור ההוא: ובני ישראל פרו וישרצו וירבו ויעצמו במאד מאד ותמלא

הארץ אתם:ספר שמות א:ו-ז

Seforno seems to focus on the direction taken by the people—rather than their size. He comments on the words paru ve’yishretzu: After the seventy souls died, they strayed to the path of sheratzim.

Maharal, in Gevurot Hashem (12), suggests that the numerical increase simply couldn’t happen until the generation of “the seventy” had passed

away. There was a certain shleimut that existed in the previous dor. Only the new dor, which was lacking in some way, could grow in such a remarkable fashion.

In a greater sense, what the Maharal is telling us is that it is only with the realization that we are not yet whole that we can yearn for something more. And it is only when we yearn for something more that we can truly grow.

It is in this spirit that we continue to develop our Yeshiva. RIETS, along with Yeshiva University as a whole, is yearning for something more. While we take great pride in the generations of rabbanim, true talmidei chachacham, who have come through the walls of our Yeshiva, it is only

with an understanding that we have what to improve that we can take RIETS into the future. We look forward to partnering with you to create that beautiful future. n

Building Our FutureRabbi Menachem Penner ’95R Max and Marion Grill Dean, RIETS

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Chanukah 5775 in YeshivaStudents marked Chanukah this year with special programing including a chagigah, seudah, siyum hashas, concert, group lighting, and shiur klali from Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Yitzchok Cohen.

Purim 5775 in Yeshiva Once again, the festivities at the Yeshiva in celebration of Chag Purim seem to have outmatched previous years. Many of the Roshei HaYeshiva, as well as President Richard M. Joel, joined the Talmidim in the Max Stern Athletic Center for a night of dancing and singing. The Talmidim dressed up in many different types of costumes projecting the exuberance of purim in Yeshiva. In addition, the Yeshiva had a special learning seder on Purim day, where hundreds of Talmidim joined Roshei Yeshiva in filling the Glueck Beit Midrash with the sound of Torah Study.

In Pictures

Rabbis Alumni Yarchei KallahFebruary 23-25, Boca Raton, FL35 pulpit rabbis from across North America gathered for three days to study a variety of Torah topics with Rabbi Dr. Jacob J. Schacter. The Yarchei Kallah focused on cutting-edge questions of medicine and halacha and explored some of the challenges in Rabbis’ personal lives including stress and raising children in the public eye. In addition, much time was devoted to discussing the many areas of social challenges that have arisen in their respective communities and how they can be addressed from a halachic, social, and policy perspective.

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News

Community Siyum of Seder MoedOn Sunday, October 5, the Daf Yomi cycle finished the first complete seder, Seder Moed, and RIETS celebrated the accomplishment with a communal siyum in the Glueck Beit Midrash on the Wilf Campus.

The program featured Rabbi Hershel Schachter ’67R, RIETS Rosh Yeshiva, Nathan and Vivian Fink Distinguished Professorial Chair in Talmud and Marcos and Adina Katz Rosh Kollel, who gave a shiur on the last Daf in Chagiga; Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz ’06R, magid shiur of YUTorah.org, program director and magid shiur of DRS High School and rabbi of Beis HaKnesses of North Woodmere, who delivered the hadran and words of chizuk and inspiration about Daf Yomi; and Rabbi Daniel Z. Feldman ’98R, RIETS Rosh Yeshiva and rabbi of Ohr Saadya, Teaneck, NJ, who gave an overview to Seder Nashim, the second complete seder in the Daf Yomi program.

Rabbi Yaakov Glasser ’01R, the David Mitzner Dean of CJF emceed the program and welcomed the participants, and Rabbi Menachem Penner ’95R, Max and Marion Grill Dean of RIETS, closed the program with words of praise for all those who completed Seder Moed. The program was attended by hundreds both in person and online via a live webstream on the Marcos and Adina Katz YUTorah.org website, and participants left with a feeling of accomplishment and excitement for starting the next seder in the Daf Yomi cycle, which will be completed on June 1, 2016.

“For many people, completing the daily Daf Yomi learning is very difficult and required lots of self-sacrifice in order to fit it into a busy schedule day in and day out,” said Rabbi Robert Shur ’05R, manager of the Marcos and Adina Katz YUTorah.org website. “We wanted to create a large celebration to give them the recognition they deserve.” In addition to the program, there was spontaneous singing and dancing after the hadran, which reflected the excitement of those at the siyum. “Having the opportunity to hear words of Torah from RIETS Roshei Yeshiva, as well as from Rabbi Lebowitz, who delivers one of the Daf Yomi shiurim on YUTorah, was such a treat,” remarked one of the participants, “a great way to start the year the day after Yom Kippur!” n

Grunstein Family Dedicates Torah to Yeshiva The family of Leonard Grunstein dedicated a Sefer Torah to Yeshiva University in memory of his father, Morris Grunstein, z”l. The gift was celebrated in an all-day ceremony on December 7, featuring a march through the streets with family, University administration, Rebbeim and students.

“Leonard Grunstein has always been a valued member of the Yeshiva University community, and we are humbled by the generosity he has shown to our school,” said President Richard M. Joel. “Their family’s kindness is truly a model for Yeshiva University’s students.”

After a shiur by RIETS Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Yaakov Neuburger ’79R, students and family had the chance to fill in the final letters of the Torah. The Torah was then carried under a chuppah through the streets surrounding YU’s Wilf campus, accompanied by singing and dancing. Leonard Grunstein and his wife Chanie, as well as their three children, are all alumni of Yeshiva University. A long-time supporter of the school, Grunstein was named a member of the Board of Overseers of the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies in early 2013. n

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News

Yeshiva Celebrates Rabbi Dr. Bernard Rosensweig’s ’50R 38 Years of Dedicated Service

After 38 years of molding students’ minds and expanding their Torah horizons at Yeshiva College, Rabbi Dr. Bernard Rosensweig, visiting professor of Jewish history, literature and philosophy at Yeshiva University, retired at the end of the fall 2014 semester. On December 11, some 100 friends, relatives and colleagues came to pay tribute and celebrate the beloved educator’s career at a reception held at Weisberg Commons on the Wilf Campus.

“Rabbi Dr. Rosensweig has touched thousands of talmidim with his warmth, wisdom, wit and passion for Jewish history and the Jewish community,” said Rabbi Menachem Penner ’95R, Max and Marion Grill Dean of RIETS. “He is beloved by students and colleagues. I, myself, was a talmid several decades ago, and have never ceased being a talmid.”

Rabbi Rosensweig, a native of Toronto, Ontario, earned a bachelor’s degree from Yeshiva College in 1947, a master’s from Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies in 1967 and a doctorate from Revel in 1970. He was ordained at RIETS in 1950, receiving his semikha from the Rav, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, zt”l. Former YU President Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm ’51R, Rosensweig’s roommate for three years, conferred an honorary doctorate upon Rabbi Rosensweig at Yeshiva’s 63rd commencement.

President Richard M. Joel praised Rabbi Rosensweig as a “Torah Umadda Renaissance Man” and for exhibiting “pride without pridefulness,” and thanked him for being a “rav, friend and guide.”

A brief slideshow was presented with photos of his early years at Yeshiva College, as well as photos with the Rav, Rabbi Lamm and other YU personalities, Israeli politicians, and family. Rabbi

Rosensweig also received a plaque marking his four decades of service. Rabbi Rosensweig called the retirement presentation “humbling,” adding, “I do not know if I am worthy, but I do know that I am grateful.”

Rabbi Rosensweig’s vivid recollections span the course of modern Jewish history, intertwined with his lifetime connection with Yeshiva University.

“From the time I was a little boy I wanted to be a rabbi,” Rabbi Rosensweig said in an interview before the reception. His parents wanted him to be a doctor. “When I got my doctorate I flew my mother in from Toronto,” he said, adding that he told her he was now a doctor, but not the kind she had envisioned.

“[As a child] I read about Yeshiva College,” he said. “It intrigued me, to be able to learn during the day and get a college degree [as well].” He came to Yeshiva College after high school and soon was in the Rav’s shiur. “It was

awesome, inspiring, my great merit that I was able to establish a relationship with him. He was my guide and mentor the rest of his life. I miss him to this day.”

He mentioned that as a teenager, the community of Toronto was unaware of the extent of the Holocaust in 1940, but recalled his father crying in 1942 when he found out that his sister and brother-in-law were killed in the concentration camps.

Rabbi Rosensweig also recounted the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948. It was a Friday and he and the other students were in the dormitories, all tuned in to the radios. “When they proclaimed the Jewish state,” he said, “all the boys sang Hatikvah spontaneously … It was most moving. I still get choked up.”

He is proudest of his family, with all of his five children graduates of Yeshiva, his three sons students of the Rav; his son Michael ’80R, a RIETS Rosh Yeshiva and Rosh Kollel. Two of his grandsons and one grandson-in-law have semicha from

Max and Marion Grill RIETS Dean Rabbi Menachem Penner ’95R handing the award to Rabbi Dr. Rosensweig ’50R.

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News

RIETS, he said proudly. He noted that he was married for 61 years to Miriam Rosenberg Rosensweig, z”l, who taught math at the Samuel H. Wang Yeshiva University High School for Girls.

He commended the “inner strength of the Roshei Yeshiva” for the continuity of YU. “It never flourished more in numbers and qualitatively as today; both Dr. Lamm and President Joel deserve a lot of credit and the Roshei Yeshiva maintained the level to draw excellent boys to come to this place. And I see it in the quality of students that I have.”

Even in retirement, Rabbi Rosensweig will still be available on campus, keeping his office in the Glueck Center. He sees “good things” in the future of YU, citing the Israel

Experience and students coming back to study at Yeshiva. “It’s a good combination; a great deal of vigor, religious and secular study.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to be part of this institution as student and teacher, to be able to share what I achieved with others and be an integral part.” n

Yeshiva Presents December 25 Yarchei Kallah RIETS presented a day-long community Yarchei Kallah on December 25 focusing on current issues facing the Land of Israel.

Topics included shemittah, Har Habayit, halachic ramifications of Israel’s proposed conversion bill, archeology in Jerusalem, as well as communal and social matters. More than a dozen Roshei Yeshiva and faculty members participated, including RIETS Roshei Kollel Rabbi Hershel Schachter ’67R, Nathan and Vivian Fink Distinguished Professorial Chair in Talmud; Rabbi Mordechai Willig ’71R, Rabbi Dr. Sol Roth Chair in Talmud and Contemporary Halacha; CB Neugroschl, head of school at YU High School for Girls; Dr. Rona Novick, dean of Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration; and Dr. David Pelcovitz, Gwendolyn and Joseph Straus Chair in Psychology and Jewish Education at Azrieli.

A continuing legal education class with RIETS Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Daniel Z. Feldman ’98R and Avi Lauer, Esq., Vice President for Legal Affairs, Secretary and General Counsel, on “Secular and Halachic Issues at the Workplace” was also offered.

“This Yarchei Kallah brought the amazing world of YU Roshei Yeshiva, rabbis and faculty to the community,” said Rabbi Menachem Penner ’95R, Max and Marion Grill Dean of RIETS and a presenter at the event. “We hope to see more them coming soon.” n

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News

Yeshiva Offers Online Child Abuse Prevention Course for RabbisEarly each Monday morning, from 1:30 to 3:30 a.m., Rabbi Alon Meltzer ’15R wakes up and logs on to his computer, joining 20 other rabbis from countries around the world who are participating in a new online Yeshiva University course designed to help rabbinic leaders identify and protect their communities from the dangers of child abuse. As rabbi of the ACT Jewish Community, Inc., in Canberra, Australia, he considers the sleep loss a small price to pay.

“It’s imperative that we, as rabbis in the Orthodox world, understand as much as we can about child abuse if we are going to navigate the complexity of emotions and pain of congregants, or anyone who has experienced an atrocity like this, as they seek guidance,” said Rabbi Meltzer. “Continuing my education is paramount and the opportunities afforded to me through YU grants me, and by extension my community, access to the brightest minds in an array of fields.”

Jointly offered by CJF, RIETS, and the Gundersen National Child Protection Training Center, the course, “Addressing Child Abuse: Defining Roles, Enhancing Skills,” takes place over 12 weeks and features experts in fields that run the gamut from synagogue safety to emotional healing.

“Rabbis engage the issues relating to child abuse on multiple levels,” said Rabbi Yaakov Glasser ’01R, the David Mitzner Dean of the CJF. “They play a crucial role in educating the community regarding awareness and prevention, they contribute to setting policies in local institutions to prevent and address issues of child abuse, and they are often on the front lines of guiding families through these extraordinarily difficult

circumstances and counseling them through the complexities of the situation.”

“The rabbi is in a unique position,” said Rabbi Naphtali Lavenda ’09R, director of online rabbinic programming at the CJF. “The rabbi has to be this Superman: he’s the first responder for all crises in the community and bears the weight of every person’s pain, suffering and troubles. This course seeks to provide rabbis with the skills, resources and relationships with presenters so that they have a full toolkit to draw on, both in terms of knowledge and being able to connect to people and consult with them as these issues come up.”

The course was developed after a one-day intensive workshop offered last year met with overwhelming demand for further exploration. “The response from the one-day seminar was this feeling that it had been both incredibly eye-opening and incredibly unnerving and scary,” said Rabbi Lavenda. “Victor Vieth, founder and senior director at Gunderson, will be leading many sessions, and he has a background in working with faith-based institutions, clergy and chaplains. But we also have our own community experts that provide real, relatable experiences about what’s really going on in our shuls, our schools and our communities.”

Lectures in the course are tailored to the dilemmas of dealing with abuse in religious communities, with presentations from Dr. David Pelcovitz, the Gwendolyn and Joseph Straus Chair in Psychology and Jewish Education at YU’s Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, on the unique presentation of child abuse in Orthodox Jewish communities, and Dr. Shira Berkovitz, director of Youth Department Consulting, on implementing effective

policies in synagogues. Sessions with Vieth cover everything from the dynamics and long-term effects of child abuse to how spiritual communities can help victims heal and how rabbis can care for their own mental and emotional health as they work with difficult and painful cases.

Other presenters include Debbie Fox, director of the Magen Yeladim International Child Safety Institute; Alison Feigh, director of the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center; Rabbi Mark Dratch ’82R, executive vice president of the Rabbinical Council of America and founder of Jewish Institute Supporting an Abuse Free Environment; and Amy Russell, executive director at Gundersen.

For many of the participants, one of the most difficult and eye-opening elements of the course is confronting the prevalence of abuse in religious communities.

“We tend to assume that folks inside faith communities are moral, upstanding, and would never violate a child,” said

Victor Vieth, Founder and Senior Director, Gundersen National Child Protection Training Center.

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News

Vieth. “Just accepting the likelihood that most communities have survivors and people who prey on children is hard. Participants will leave this course with state-of-the-art knowledge about what kinds of protection policies should be in place, how to respond to child abuse, and how to work with criminal justice professionals and mental health professionals, as well as a deeper appreciation of the spiritual questions survivors have.”

For Rabbi Yaakov Weiss ’05R, a chaplain from Omaha, Nebraska, facilitating that healing is one of the most important skills he hopes to gain from the course. “One of the jobs of the rabbi is to be there to support those that have been hurt, and the best way I know to help people is to understand them,” he

said. “I want to serve as a resource to the synagogue and Jewish community about how to deal with cases of abuse and create safeguards to prevent future offenses. I am looking to hear ideas of how to help victims regain their comfort with themselves, humanity and God. There is tremendous pain that survivors have on their shoulders—my heart breaks for those that have been affected.”

He added, “Abuse affects the whole person and the whole community. Those who survive it need the support of the whole community behind them.”

Vieth noted that the depth and scope of YU’s 12-week course showed unprecedented initiative and commitment to improving community safety and awareness. “There are studies showing that undergraduate institutions

and universities don’t know much about child abuse,” he said. “I think this YU course is historic and could be a model for other faith-based communities as well.”

Upon completion of the course, participants will receive a certificate in recognition of the significant time and resources they have dedicated to developing expertise in the area. “The role of continuing rabbinic education is something that Yeshiva University takes very seriously,” said Rabbi Kenneth Brander ’85R, YU vice president for university and community life. “It enables us to convene our academic and spiritual resources assuring the rabbinic couple and their community that Yeshiva’s engagement is a lifelong experience.” n

Bring world-renowned scholars from our campus to your community!

For more information please email speakersbureau@yu.edu or visit

www.yu.edu/speakers

Plan your 2015-2016

speaking events now!

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Pesach Insights

He is the Rasha, the “Wicked Son.” He is there, at the Seder table. He wants to be there, he wants Pesach. Why, then, is he antagonistic? Because he wants Pesach his way. He throws the question at us: Mah ha’avodah hazos lachem. He does not ask, he demands. He criticizes, he mocks. “Why the burden, why the toil?” He refuses to mention Hashem’s name. He rejects commandment, he will not be put in a straight-jacket of mitzvos and takonos, of gezeiros and minhagim. He wishes to undermine our resolve, to force us to admit to folly and absurdity. Pesach is, after all, a festival celebrating freedom. Is it freedom to be so fettered, so shackled to an unending series of commandments, of do’s and don’ts that bind us intractably to another’s will? He looks upon us and our punctilious observance of every “jot and tittle,” of all the minutiae of the Law and he laughs a horrible laugh full of contempt and arrogant disdain.

The Rasha reflects the ancient complaint that is heard in the desert: We remember the fish that we ate in Mitzrayim for free. The Rabbis teach: What is meant by “for free?” Free of commandments. The Rasha continues: “You have made of your Yiddishkeit a prison. You have escaped one slavery only to inflict upon your own selves a worse slavery. The very name: ‘Seder’ proves my point,” he argues. “How can freedom be organized? Where is the autonomy, the looseness? Can there be freedom without the experience of freedom? Do your own thing, as they say. Express yourselves and your uniqueness. Be different. Don’t copy, invent! Don’t follow the old and the jaded, be creative!

Chazal determine that he is one of the four sons mentioned in the Torah in the context of mitzvas sippur yetzias Mitzrayim, yet the Rambam makes no mention of the “Wicked Son.” Why not? And, how do we answer him? How do we react to his arrogance?

Let us look into the mitzvah of sippur yetzias Mitzrayim more closely. By mentioning the mitzvah four times in the Torah, each in a different way, with different emphases from the other, we are instructed to convey yetzias Mitzrayim according to the capacity and comprehension of the “audience.” To each “son” the story is conveyed according to his level. If the son is young and is not yet capable of formulating the question, the father must initiate the lesson and teach simply and with little embellishment. If the son is wise, the father is obligated to delve into the subtleties and the details of the story. He must teach of the whys and the wherefores, of the raison d’être of the Exodus.

We are presented by the Torah with three distinct levels of intellectual capacity. Chacham, Tam, She’eno Yode’a LiSh’ol. Yet we find four “sons!” The fourth, teach Chazal, is the Rasha. Is this a fourth level of intelligence? Perhaps this is exactly what Chazal are telling us. Yet how did Chazal know that the fourth son is the “Rasha?’’ Many answers are offered.

(l) Ki yomru aleichem beneichem . . . Yomru. He is not asking, he is demanding and insistent. It is the slap of the glove ordering a duel. (2) Mah ha’avodah hazos lachem. Ha’avodah. He calls it a burden; he stresses the exactness, the strictness of Pesach night. [See Yerushalmi Pesachim

10:4.] (3) Lachem. He severs the bond. He separates and segregates. Lachem velo lo. [This diyyuk, which is in our Haggada, appears in Mechilta deR’ Yishmael, Bo, Masechta D’Pischa, Bo 17, d’h vehigadta levincha. See also Rashi Shemos 13:5.] (4) In contrast to the ben chacham, he fails to mention Hashem. (5) There is no response to this son. Thus, argues the Gaon of Vilna, the Torah does not say: “And you shall say to him…,” but rather: “And you shall say…” How can we not answer the question? Obviously, if there is no response there is a reason. The reason is: he is the Rasha. This explains the comment in the Haggada, which at first seems to address the Rasha, of “ilu haya sham lo haya nigal.”

Why “haya” in the third person rather than the second person “hayisa?”

(Actually, Mechilta deR’ Yishmael, [Bo, Masechta D’Pischa, Bo 18, d’h vehaya] is the source of our Haggada statement of keneged arbah banim dibra Torah. There we say: li velo lecha, eelu hayisa sham lo hayisa nigal. Yerushalmi Pesachim 10:4 however, reflects our own

Echad RashaThe “Wicked Son” According to the Vilna GaonRabbi Aharon Kahn ’69R

Rosh Yeshiva, RIETS • Joel Jablonski Professor of Talmud and Codes at RIETS Rav, Knesseth Bais Avigdor, Brooklyn, NY

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Pesach Insights

nusach in the Haggada shel Pesach.) The Gaon of Vilna, however, takes

our nusach (in the third person) to mean that we do not respond directly to the Rasha. Instead, when we speak to the She’eno Yode’a Lish’ ol we point to the Rasha and say: If he was there (in Mitzrayim), he would not have been redeemed. This explains well why, in the Haggada the answer to the Rasha is the same as to the She’eno Yode’a Lish’ol. The response to the Rasha is oblique. There is no dialogue. In fact, the reaction to the Rasha is to make a clear statement to the She’eno Yode’a Lish’ol, in spite of his tender age. The Rasha would not have been redeemed from Egypt. It is never too early to make clear the fundamental truths of the Torah.

To buttress the point that there is no

answer to the Rasha, we must take note of the total absence of yetzias Mitzrayim in the statement that appears in the Torah as the response to the Rasha. But there cannot be any sippur yetzias Mitzrayim if yetzias Mitzrayim is not mentioned altogether! The answer is clear. There is no response of sippur, there is only reaction.

We allow the Rasha in, we do not reject him. We do reject dialogue with him until he is ready to listen. We make clear to all present our rejection of his views. And we strengthen our own resolve that the halacha is truly redemptive. We talk halacha throughout the Haggada and we punctiliously observe the halachos of Pesach and measure every matzah and cup of wine for the proper shiur. This is freedom. Charoos is Chayroos! The halacha sets us free because it binds us to

Hashem. We transcend ourselves and our pettiness and our mortality. We become bnei chorin. n

We allow the Rasha in, we do not reject him. We do reject dialogue with him until he is ready to listen. We make clear to all present our rejection of his views. And we strengthen our own resolve that the halacha is truly redemptive.

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12C H AV RU S A • N I S S A N 577 5

Pesach Insights

On Erev Pesach we are required to perform three Torah commandments and one rabbinic commandment. The three Torah commands are: bringing the korban Pesach; eating matzah; and sippur yetzias Mirzrayim. While the Holy Temple stood, it is possible that maror was a separate fourth Torah mitzvah. So says Tosfos. Rambam, however, holds that maror was never a separate mitzvah but was always dependent on the korban Pesach. In his Sefer HaMitzvot, he explains: Do not be concerned that I am not counting maror as a separate mitzvah. It does not exist by itself. The mitzvah is to eat the Korban Pesach. But there is a law that Pesach should be eaten al matzos umerorim. Consequently, when there is no Korban Pesach there is no maror. Thus, if someone could not bring the Korban Pesach, whether he was lame, or bederech rechokah, he was also exempt from maror. Tosfos disagrees, and holds that maror, during the time when the Korban Pesach was brought, was a separate mitzvah. At that time, if a person was unable to bring a Korban Pesach, he would still be required to eat maror. Vezar lo yochal bo—bo eino ochel, aval ochel bematzah umaror. Thus, an aral who was disqualified from eating the Korban Pesach would still have to eat maror as well as matzah. The reason maror today

is only a rabbinic commandment is because of a separate halakhah that when the Holy Temple would be destroyed, the Torah commandment to eat maror would disappear. Today, the Torah commandment of korban Pesach as well as maror have fallen away. So maror, even according to Tosfos, remains today only a rabbinic commandment. The issue is really the nature of the maror commandment: is it the same kiyum as the korban Pesach, or is there a separate kiyum which is dependent upon the time of the korban Pesach?

Nowadays, since maror according to everyone is only a rabbinic commandment, there remain two Torah mitzvot on the seder night: matzah and sippur yetzias Mitzrayim. Matzah really has two kiyumim; the first, like maror, is dependent upon the korban Pesach, al matzos umerorim yochluhu. The second is a Torah mitzvah by itself, Baerev tochlu matzot. This latter mitzvah applies nowadays as well.

Let us examine the nature of the mitzvah of sippur yetzias Mitzrayim. Every day we are required to perform the mitzvah of zechiras yetzias Mitzrayim, to remember the deliverance from Egypt. What does sippur yetzias Mitzrayim add? There are several differences between the two mitzvot. Zechirah is fulfilled by

a mere mention of the Exodus. Sippur must be in detail and at length. Zechirah is fulfilled if a person merely mentions yetzias Mitzrayim to himself. Sippur must be to another, as the Torah states, vehigadeta levincha. A third difference is that zechirah requires no additional performance. Sippur requires praise and thanksgiving, shevach vehodaah. That is why we recite Hallel as part of the seder, Lefichach ananchnu hayavim lehodot…

How must the mitzvah of sippur yetziat Mitzrayim be performed?

The principal is stated in the Gemara, Matchil bignus umesayem bishevach; We must begin with shame and finish with praise. Shmuel holds the shame is the servitude, avadim hayinu, and the praise is that God took us out of Egypt. Rav holds the shame is that our forefathers were idolaters, Mitchila ovdey avoda zarah hayu avotenu, and the praise is that now we are in God’s service, Veachshav kervanu hamakom la’avodato…apparently Rav held that idolatry is tantamount to spiritual slavery.

Rambam accepted both opinions, holding there was no disagreement between them. One statement compliments the other; we must begin with physical and spiritual shame and finish with praise for freedom as well as service to God.

Teachings from Rav Soloveitchik

Sippur Yetziat MitzrayimTranscribed and summarized byRabbi Nisson E. Shulman ’55R

13C H AV RU S A • N I S S A N 577 5

Pesach Insights

The phrase, beginning with shame and finishing with praise is, therefore, a statement of the theme. The details must follow. Vedoresh mearami oved avi ad sof kol haparsha; He expounds the entire portion (Devarim 26:5) from arami oved avi until the end.

When you look carefully at that portion, it appears to mirror Shmuel’s opinion of physical shame and freedom, and altogether overlooks Rav’s opinion of spiritual transformation. If we examine the portion more closely, however, we see Rav’s opinion reflected in the phrase uvemora gadol zu giluy shechina, so that the revelation on Mount Sinai is indeed mentioned.

It is remarkable that, when the Sages wanted to detail the story of the Exodus, they chose a passage in Devarim which deals with bringing bikkurim, and overlooked the whole story told in

the book of Shemos. The citations from Shemos are merely to elucidate the declaration found in Ki Tavo. Why?

Apparently the fundamental theme of the mitzvah is not merely to recount what once took place in the Exodus. The requirement is that we should relive the Exodus in such a way that in each generation every Jew should feel that he himself was taken out of Egypt; Bechal dor vador chayav adam liros es atzmo keilu hu yatza miMitzrayim.

If we were to attempt to fulfill our obligation of sippur yetzias Mitzrayim by citing only the passages from the book of Shemos, we would actually be telling only what happened to our forefathers many generations ago. The Sages therefore selected the portion from Ki Tavo which is a declaration made by a Jew who was living at peace in the Land of Israel, bringing bikkurim, many generations

after the Exodus. This Jew is dwelling under his own fig and date tree, declaring his thanks for the Land you gave me. This Jew was never in Egypt, and yet he is required to feel as if he himself was redeemed from that land. He himself must feel the Geulah. That is precisely the feeling that we ourselves must experience. That is why the Haggada is not satisfied with the bikkurim portion alone, but illustrates each phrase with the events in the book of Shemos, transporting the Jew back in time as if he actually relived those events.

Furthermore, our sages wanted us to tell the story of the Exodus, not only with the written Torah, but also with the Torah Sheba’al Peh. The citations in the Haggada are therefore quotations from the Sifri, expounding the written account together with the oral tradition. n

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Rabbi Abraham Zimels • Rabbi Samuel P. Zimmerman • Rabbi Myron F. Zundell

We recognize the following Rabbinic Alumni for their annual dues gift of $100:

Rabbi Daniel Alter • Rabbi Leon Aronsky • Rabbi I. Nathan Bamberger • Rabbi Simon Basalely Rabbi Solomon Berl • Rabbi Richard C. Bieler • Rabbi Eli Ciner • Rabbi Isaac Mayer EhrenbergRabbi Asher Finkel Ph.D. • Rabbi Omri Y. Flicker • Rabbi Jeffrey Frankel • Rabbi Isaac Furman

Rabbi Dr. Gershon C. Gewirtz • Rabbi Shmuel S. Gold • Rabbi Michael Elimelech GoldbergRabbi Micah Greenland • Rabbi David Halpern • Rabbi Mitchell Neal Harris • Rabbi Ari Israel

Rabbi Jason Jacobowitz • Rabbi Eliezer Kaminetzky • Rabbi Aaron M. Kaplan • Rabbi Marshall KornRabbi Yaakov G. Krakower • Rabbi Dr. Moses N. Kranzler • Rabbi Daniel M. Kroll • Rabbi Jonah C. Kupietzky

Rabbi Moshe Kwalbrun • Rabbi Daniel L. Lehmann • Rabbi Barnet Liberman • Rabbi Arieh E. ListowskyRabbi David E. Miller • Rabbi Jeffrey L. Muehlgay • Rabbi Dr. Israel Rivkin • Rabbi Bernard E. Rothman

Rabbi Benjamin J. Samuels • Mr. Joel M. Schreiber • Rabbi Simeon SchreiberRabbi Dr. Jonathan Adam Schwartz Psy.D. • Rabbi Charles H. Sheer • Rabbi Yeshaya D. Siff

Rabbi Bertram Simon • Rabbi Carl Steinhart • Rabbi Elihu Turkel Psy.D. • Rabbi Mark Eric UrkowitzRabbi Sam Vogel • Rabbi Ira H. Wallach • Rabbi Marvin Waltuch • Rabbi Isaac Weinberger

Rabbi Zvi Israel Weiss • Rabbi Stanley Wexler • Rabbi Naftali Michael Wolfe • Rabbi Lawrence Zierler

We recognize the following Rabbinic Alumni as members of Amudei HaMusmakhim for their annual dues gift of $180:

As of 3/19/2015

Join us in supporting our Yeshiva and its vital activities, please visit: yu.edu/riets/alumni

We recognize the following Rabbinic Alumni as members of Amudei HaYeshiva for their annual dues gift of $360:

Rabbi Pinchas M. Gelb • Rabbi Jacob S. Jaffe • Rabbi Michael J. Rosenthal Rabbi Yonah N. Gross • Rabbi Kenneth S. Pollack

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Musmakhim in the Limelight

CHAVRUSA: How does the avodah as a chaplain differ from all other forms of rabbanus you have encountered?

For an Orthodox rabbi, military chaplaincy differs greatly from the rabbinate or even civilian chaplaincies. For one, most of your work is with non-Jews. Even when you work with Jews, the vast majority are not only non-affiliated they are true tinok shenishbes. Having said that, when you’re holding services in a combat zone, people are davening with more kavanah then you find in a yeshiva minyan. For me, saying Tifilat Haderech before going out on a convoy through the streets of Bagdad was infinitely more spiritual than saying it in the car going to the Catskills.

CHAVRUSA: What life lessons have you learned from the military?

I grew up in an Orthodox home, with mostly Orthodox friends, and went to yeshivas. In the military I had to learn to deal with people, and as a rabbi serve people, who had vastly different outlooks on life. I had to learn to maintain my religious standards and at the same time be non-judgmental. I also had to realize that for better or worse I represented Orthodoxy to many people and therefore had the responsibility to act accordingly. As someone once told me, an Orthodox chaplain in the military can be a Kiddush Hashem or Chilul Hashem, it’s a fine line.

CHAVRUSA: Can you tell us a little about your career?

I joined the United States Army as a chaplain candidate while I was still in the semikhah program, and I went on active duty one week after the final bechina. In 1975, after being in active duty for three years, I left to become the director of Religious Services at the Daughters of Miriam in Clifton, NJ—at the same time, I entered the United States Army Reserves. I served various Army and Army National Guard units for the next 28 years until January 2003, when I was mobilized back to active duty at Fort Dix, NJ for five years. There I was the deputy installation chaplain at Fort Dix with the primary responsibility of preparing reserve soldiers spiritually for going into a combat zone. During that time I went five times to Iraq and Afghanistan for yomim tovim. I retired from the Army in 2008, and since then I have been the chairman of the RCA Military Chaplains Committee.

CHAVRUSA: How did your RIETS training help you as a chaplain?

My father a”h came to the United States in 1948 after surviving the Holocaust. My sister, brother and I went through yeshivas on financial scholarships. When I graduated Yeshiva College in 1969, I realized that semikhah was only three more years, and I felt that I should complete a full yeshiva education even if I would not make the rabbinate a career choice. I also wanted to give something

back to the Jewish community as a hakrat hatov. I asked Rabbi Israel Miller, z”l where there was a need for service in the Jewish community; he told me there was a shortage of Jewish chaplains, so I volunteered.

My entire YU training, both secular and Limudei Kodesh helped me as a chaplain. I also feel that RIETS training today better prepares musmakhim for chaplaincy then it did in the past. Most important is the year of shimush that RIETS graduates have today.

CHAVRUSA: What would you tell musmakhim contemplating joining the military chaplaincy?

We would love to get RIETS graduates applying for the chaplaincy. When I joined, the majority of Orthodox rabbis were RIETS graduates. Today, unfortunately, there are few RIETS musmachim in the military. Military chaplaincy is a way of serving your country and a hakarat hatov for how America has treated the Jewish people. One does not have to be on active duty to serve. One can have a shul and serve part time in the reserves. You can go on active duty for a few years and the join the reserves. The chaplains candidate program allows you to join while still in Yeshiva, go to training (and be paid), and then decide if this is something you want to do. For more information, you can contact me at rabbik1@juno.com or Rabbi Robinson at the Jewish Welfare Board. n

Lessons from the miLitaryAn Interview with Rabbi Ira Kronenberg ’72RChairman, RCA Chaplaincy Committee

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Musmakhim in the Limelight

CHAVRUSA: What do you enjoy most about teaching?

Making connections with students over discoveries. Many teachers talk about the “lightbulb” moment—seeing and helping students get to that point. I think that’s an important part of teaching; however, there is more to it than that. It’s precisely sharing in the joy of discovery of knowledge. One of the greatest joys in life is learning something new; the discovery of new information, of some new insight, or of something clicking in a way that it didn’t before. Helping other people to get to this moment of discovery is a big deal for me.

CHAVRUSA: Why did you choose to teach and what inspired you?

Through informal teaching experiences during my year in IsraeI, I had opportunities to meaningfully connect with people and to help them learn and grow. I realized that for me (and I imagine that for many people) the year that I had spent in Israel was a time of great introspection. For a 17 or 18 year old to suddenly have this moment of “Hey—wait a minute—I really love doing this and I’m really very good at it,” while trying to figure out why God put you on this Earth, is a one plus one equals two moment. These experiences led me to get further involved in programs like NCSY and eventually make chinuch my field of choice.

CHAVRUSA: How did your education at RIETS impact your work?

The co-requirement at RIETS is brilliant because it sets the stage for real future professional leadership. Coming out of semicha with Yoreh Deah was of relatively little use to me—certainly in my early days as an educator, before I became a principal. How often did I get questions of Issur V’heter or Niddah? But the idea that, if you’re going to be a rabbinic leader you have to have professional training, is very powerful. The interrelatedness of RIETS, Azrieli, Ferkauf, Wurzweiler, and the ability to have real professional training to be a rabbinic leader has really influenced my career. It’s also obvious that studying at Yeshiva has many benefits which you probably don’t need me to enumerate.

CHAVRUSA: What did you enjoy most about your tenure as a student in Yeshiva?

I very much appreciated the time I had to focus when I studied at Gruss. The opportunity that I had then as a semicha guy to go and spend a year learning in Israel as part of semicha (which for me was a third year learning is Israel), was an incredible experience and a big deal for me.

One of the things that I think is very good is that there is a certain degree of flexibility in terms of exactly what you did, when and how. And that made a big difference in a number of ways.

IN the Classroom aNd BeyondAn interview with Rabbi Elie Tuchman Ed.D. ’92R Head of School, Yeshiva at the Jersey Shore

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First of all, different people appreciate different things. Semicha for somebody who’s planning to be a shul rabbi is by nature going to be somewhat different than for somebody who’s planning to be a mechanech, certainly an elementary school one. Also, there are people who are “shiur people” or “iyun people,” and on the other hand, there are people who are more “bekiyus people” or “chavrusa people.” The opportunity to have all of those experiences, which I think are all necessary, but to put your own focus and your own emphasis on the one that was most meaningful to you, mattered to me a lot. I spent a lot of time in the Beis Medrash, but for me it took me a long time to find a shiur that was just right for me. I was zoche to learn with Rav Dovid Lifshitz, z”l for two years and that was an incredible experience.

CHAVRUSA: What message do you have for teachers in the classroom and beyond?

First of all, in terms of thoughts, attitudes, and approaches: teaching is a labor of love and working with children is a labor of love. It is sometimes the case that people go into a field because they think it’s what they’re supposed to do, they think it’s the right thing to do, it’s a mitzvah to do it, etc. I suspect that this is not good advice for any field, however I can tell you that

for teaching it is an awful idea if you don’t love teaching, if you don’t love being with kids—do yourself a favor and do the kids a favor and don’t teach. The best teachers are those who really genuinely love learning and love sharing learning with others. And that love of learning and love of children can really drive you and that’s really the reward. You know, sechar mitzvah, mitzvah can also mean that the sechar of the mitzvah is that mitzvah. To a certain degree the reward of teaching is having taught. Anybody who’s thinking about going into teaching, the question to ask yourself is: “Why am I thinking about going into teaching? What’s my motivating factor?” And if it’s something that you’re going to love and you’re going to enjoy, and it’s a talent that Hashem gave you, then I think that you’re well on your way. Now you just have to figure out how.

For someone who is thinking about going into administration, again it’s not a good idea to go into administration because it pays better than teaching. Now for me, I thought about it a lot. I had the good fortune that Hashem sent me to have my first teaching position in Rabbi Dr. Chaim Feuerman’s classroom. Rabbi Feuerman had been my mentor and I had the ability to learn from him and to watch him. At some point he said to me, “I think you’re ready to go be an administrator.” So if Rabbi Feuerman says that to you, you

just don’t say no. You think about it. The question becomes: Why would I want to do that? I love teaching. And the answer to that really is that I very much still see myself as a teacher. That’s what I do, I teach, I’m an educator. The difference is that I don’t only educate eighth graders. I educate parents. I educate prospective parents. I educate board members. I teach teachers. I have the opportunity to help people learn on a broader scale. And I think that that’s what it means to be a school leader—to be an educator on a broader scale.

I’ll add one caveat to that. We know now in education what Chazal said long ago: U’mitalmidai Yoter Mikulam—the teacher isn’t the source of all knowledge, we learn from our students as well. It’s not just the sharing of knowledge and the sharing of learning and watching others have that moment; in that sharing I’ve learned an awful lot and that is becoming more obvious as an administrator. As somebody who has spent a lot of time building community and helping people understand more about education and more about what is involved in a high-functioning school, in a high-functioning board, and helping teachers understand what methods are going to work well with students, I have learned an enormous amount from the many many wise people I have the opportunity to work with. n

Musmakhim in the Limelight

Anybody who’s thinking about going into teaching, the questionto ask yourself is: “Why am I thinking about going into teaching? What’s my motivating factor?” And if it’s something that you’re going to love and you’re going to enjoy, and it’s a talent that Hashem gave you, then I think that you’re well on your way. Now you just have to figure out how.

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A Lifetime with Sefarim: Judaica Librarian Zalman AlpertBy Rabbi Shmuel Landesman ’93R

Too many of us do not enjoy what we “do for a living.” We toil away at our parnassah to support our families, and then during our limited free time, we try to do what we enjoy. Reb Zalman Alpert has lived his life in the exact opposite fashion. He has always loved reading, learning, studying, and writing. He has always loved Torah, sefarim, books, Jewish history, Chassidus and helping others. That is why spending his working years as a Judaica librarian has added immeasurably to his simchas hachaim. He recently retired from his “job” at Yeshiva University’s Gottesman Judaica library, where his related tasks consisted of being immersed in a world that he loves.

Family History

The Alperovich family (the name was Americanized to Alpert in 1949) have been Chabad Chassidim for almost a quarter of a millennium.

In the early twentieth century, the Alperoviches lived in the shtetl of Kurenitz, located between Vilna and Minsk. For many generations, the rabbanus of Kurenitz belonged to the family of Harav Yaakov Landau, founding Rav of Bnei Brak, who was also briefly Rav of that shtetl. Zalman’s uncle and namesake, Harav Schneur Zalman Alperovich, was born at the beginning of the twentieth century. Before World War I, he went to learn in the famed Tomchei Temimim Yeshivah in Lubavitch, under Harav Sholom Ber Schneerson, the Rashab. The young Schneur Zalman learned diligently despite frequent displacements, the war years, and the Communist takeover of the country after World War I.

Jewish Life in the Soviet Union

As is commonly known, the Communists were atheists determined to eradicate religion. (Unfortunately, a disproportionate number of Communist officials were Jews.) They were especially determined to eradicate Torah and Yiddishkeit in the country that had been its primary home before WWI (Czarist Russia). Yeshivos were outlawed, and the crime of teaching Torah, or even Hebrew, to Jewish children was punishable by death or prison in Siberia. To give a small example of the fear that Yidden were living with, Harav David Feinstein, shlita, was not taught how to read Lashon Hakodesh until he was 9 years old, when the Feinsteins were finally able to leave the Soviet Union. Until then, Hagaon Harav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, had been afraid to teach his young son Torah Shebichsav.

The Mesirus Nefesh of Zalman Alpert’s Uncle

In 1924, the young Rav Alperovich, uncle of Zalman Alpert, was appointed

by the Rayatz to be Rosh Yeshivah of the Tomchei Temimim Yeshivah in Charkov. Subsequently, the illegal Chabad Yeshivah Gedolah system was reorganized, with Rav Alperovich becoming a R”M (technically, the maggid shiur) at the Central Yeshivah in Nevel. (There were several smaller branches in nearby towns.) By 1927, the other hanhalah members were arrested or had to flee. So Rav Alperovich became the Rosh Yeshivah of Nevel and the head of all the (illegal) Chabad yeshivos gedolos in the Soviet Union. Incredibly, there were 400 full-time bachurim still learning in those yeshivos. The Rayatz, who had been expelled from the country, was clandestinely, and with great siyatta diShmaya, supporting the yeshivos in impoverished Communist Russia through money supplied to him by the Joint Distribution Committee in America.

Unfortunately, in 1929 the Communist government succeeded in closing those yeshivos as well. They also did not allow Jews to leave the “workers’ paradise.” Therefore, Rav Schneur Zalman

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Alperovich had to spend the rest of his life out of the public eye due to the crime of teaching Torah to Jewish children. He lived under aliases and kept moving between Leningrad and Moscow to avoid arrest. Unbelievably, his Rebbe in New York was still able to send him money to distribute, as well as instructions for the others. At one point, the Rebbe procured sewing machines for him so that Rav Alperovich and other Rabbonim in hiding could have parnassah without working on Shabbos. In 1932, after his release from Siberia, Hagaon Harav Yechezkel Abramsky, zt”l, spent time in Leningrad before immigrating to England. The Chazon Yechezkel met Rav Alperovich in the former Russian capital and was very “impressed with his learning.” They spoke in learning a number of times.

The life of Rav Schneur Zalman Alperovich, presumably, the last Rosh Yeshivah in the Soviet Union, ended tragically: The Rav, his Rebbetzin, Freidel, his son, Itche Michoel and daughter (name unknown) starved to death during the Nazi siege of Leningrad, along with tens of thousands of other Yidden. There is no photograph of him. As Zalman Alpert relates, “I have no extant photo of my uncle. He was an underground figure, so pictures were not possible.”

Zalman Alpert’s Parents

Zalman Alpert’s parents, Reb Menachem Mendel and Shaina, z”l, were born after World War I in small Belorussian towns, then part of Poland. Young Mendel learned in an Achei Temimim Yeshivah in Vilna. Mendel was a conscript in the Polish army when Nazi Germany invaded Poland in September, 1939. His battalion soon surrendered to the formidable German army. As official POWs (prisoners of war), they were treated quite decently. For the first six months, none of the gentile Polish soldiers snitched to the Germans that there were Jews in their ranks. However, by the spring of 1940, the Jewish soldiers were separated

from the gentiles, but though they were treated worse, they were not killed. In July 1941, the Jewish soldiers were sent to the Budjan concentration camp, near Lublin, Poland. Budjan was a slave labor camp, not an extermination camp. While many Yidden were randomly killed or died due to the horrendous conditions, the Jewish soldiers maintained a camaraderie and unity that helped them survive. Of course, it was only due to Divine Providence that Mendel survived more than five years in Nazi lagers (camps), ending the war in Theresienstadt.

Coming to America

In late 1945, Mendel married Shaina Magid, a fellow concentration camp survivor, in the American-occupied zone in Germany. Zalman’s older brother, Yaakov Yitzchak, was born in the DP (displaced persons) camp. The Alperoviches immigrated to the United States in December, 1949, where their relatives Americanized their name to Alpert. They moved to New Haven, Connecticut, which then had a Jewish population of 20,000, because they had family there. Zalman and his younger brother Nechemia were born in New Haven.

The senior Alperts lived in New Haven until their passing in the 1990s. Reb Mendel Alpert worked as a kosher butcher. He davened at the Orchard Street shul, where nusach Ashkenaz was followed. Rabbi Moshe Hecht (of the well-known Hecht family) was the Mara d’Asra. The Alperts maintained a Yiddish-speaking household, and Zalman did not learn English until he started elementary school.

Zalman and his brothers attended the Achei Temimim New Haven Day School. He went on to graduate from Yeshiva University for Boys — Manhattan (MTA). Subsequently, he majored in history at Yeshiva College, earned an MLS (Masters in Library Science) from Columbia University, and completed most of his work toward a doctorate in

Jewish History at New York University. Reb Zalman recently retired from

Yeshiva University, where he worked as a librarian starting in 1977, and was then at the Mendel Gottesman Judaica Library from 1982 until his retirement. Because Zalman always loved sefarim and books, he decided to dedicate his professional life to them.

Positive Developments in Sefarim

When asked what has changed at Judaica libraries over the past three decades, Zalman laughs because the changes have been enormous. To quote Reb Zalman, “Libraries have totally evolved. Everything is now automated. There no longer are card catalogues. The available electronic resources are beyond belief.” He continues, “Between the databases, electronic books and electronic journals, one now has the unprecedented ability to search texts and, more importantly, to get full texts. It gets more and more advanced every year.” As Reb Zalman explained, “With the Otzar Hachochmah or Bar Ilan database, one can find the specific Torah information one is looking for within minutes, if not seconds.”

Asked to describe changes in the world of sefarim since the 1970s, Reb Zalman begins with the obvious explosion of new sefarim and reprints of old ones (which are usually reformatted or re-typeset). “The main genre of new sefarim being written in our generation,” Reb Zalman explained, “are likutim—anthologies going back to earlier sources for material and bringing the material together. Computers and databases make compiling likutim much easier than in previous generations. Obviously, it requires energy to put together sophisticated halachic likutim, but one also does not need to be a gaon.”

Reb Zalman notes that despite so many new Haggados being published, there are very few new peirushim or commentaries on the Haggadah, such as the work of the Aruch HaShulchan,

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Harav Yechiel Michel Epstein (1829-1908). Instead, relevant divrei Torah are anthologized and placed throughout the Haggadah, as in the popular Brisker Haggados.

More Positive Developments

Reb Zalman happily points to “the explosion of sefarim by Sephardic mechabrim in Eretz Yisrael over the past thirty years. There are very many responsa and halachah sefarim being written and published by contemporary Sephardic Rabbanim. Additionally, they are reprinting the responsa and halachah sefarim of Sephardic chachamim from the past five centuries. Harav Ovadiah Yosef, zt”l, started this continuing trend.”

Reb Zalman opines that ours is the most learned generation of Chassidim since the start of the movement over 270 years ago. He relates that this explains the remarkable number of new chassidishe sefarim being published (and purchased). There is an important and popular series that has been coming out, titled Sefarim HaKedoshim. The series has over 100 volumes, each containing ten or eleven titles that are reprints of chassidishe sefarim and kuntreisim originally published in Eastern Europe. Additionally, many dynasties are printing the “Torah” of

their Rebbes, both past and present. For example, Belz alone has put out over 100 sefarim in recent years. The writings of the previous Slonimer Rebbe, the Nesivos Shalom, zy”a, are particularly popular with the Yeshivish crowd. Additionally, in recent years there has been a renewed interest among Chassidim in their roots, sefarim describing chassidic life in Eastern Europe: the minhagim, clothing, food and all the arcane details of what the previous Rebbes did.

When asked to describe changes in the world of English sefarim over the past thirty-five years, Reb Zalman states, “The improvement is even greater than that of Hebrew sefarim, and not just in terms of quantity. The quality has greatly improved, whether in regard to the layout, typography, or the translations. They are also much better sourced and easier to use. There is a multiplicity of translations being published, whether it’s Talmud Bavli, Mishnah Berurah, Ramban on Chumash, etc.”

Negative Developments

A negative development noted by Reb Zalman is that actual books have much less importance today. However, he pointed out, “Sefarim are still viewed as chashuv in and of themselves.”

With the prevalence of Jewish databases, far fewer people trek to Washington Heights to use the Y.U. library, where baalei batim used to come to research the Holocaust or life in prewar Eastern Europe. Chassidishe Talmidei chachamim came to look up information in rare or out-of-print sefarim. To be topical, twenty years ago, a chassidishe Rosh Kollel from Boro Park came to do research for the Lashon Hakodesh sefer he was writing on metzitzah b’peh. Also years ago, a chassidishe Rav from Boro Park came to research designs of historical aronei kodesh for the new shtiebel he was building.

The Gottesman Library

The Gottesman Library has in its archives fifty incunabula sefarim. (Incunabulum refers to a book printed before the year 1501. Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1450.) They consist of Talmud Bavli and Mikraos Gedolos. Additionally, they have all the documents of the Vaad Hatzalah from WWII, plus hundreds of original letters (she’eilos) written to the Rogatchover Gaon. (The contents of the library archives require a separate article.)

The two types of books the Gottesman Library does not contain are self-help, or “pop psychology,” books and children’s books. Reb Zalman bemoans that there is no specialized library for Jewish kids in New York City. He points out that in prewar Warsaw, the Imrei Emes, zy”a, was cognizant of the need for children to have appropriate reading material and literature exclusively suited to their needs.

Currently, Reb Zalman Alpert is spending his retirement doing what he loves most—reading, discussing and writing about sefarim and books. Perhaps he has not really retired after all. n

First appeared in “At Home With Inyan,” Hamodia’s weekly magazine of November 26, 2014. Reprinted with permission.

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Divrei Hesped

In Appreciation of Rabbi Jacob Rabinowitz ’48RBy RIETS Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Eli Baruch Shulman

Rabbi Rabinowitz had a long chinuch career as a rebbi at Yeshiva Rabbi Jacob Joseph, a lecturer at Stern College, dean of students at YU, dean of undergraduate students at YU-Stern, Dean of Erna Michael College at YU, chairman of the Board of Education of Shulamith for two decades, chairman of the Middlestates Licensing Panel for three decades, member of the board of Ohel, rebbe at Erna Michael College of Hebraic Studies, and co-founder and educational director and camp rabbi of Camp Morasha for 16 years.

Rabbi Rabinowitz gave daily Chumash shiurim at the Agudah of Avenue H and Daf Yomi during the summers. He completed all of Shas more than seven times, wrote two seforim on Chumash titled Yemin Yaakov, and lectured worldwide on various chinuch and hashkafah topics.

He learned daily at the Lakewood Minyan of Boro Park, was a co-founder of Congregation Ahavas Chessed, and was sought after for his advice in all areas of formal and informal education.

He is survived by his wife, Toby, his two sons, R’ Baruch and R’ Dovid, and two daughters, Mrs. Esther Shulman and Mrs. Fayge (Safran) Novogroder. He was pre-deceased by his son R’ Yosef Bezalel, z”l.

Most of us have several faces. The face that we show at work is not the same face we show to our friends and neighbors, and then again the face that we show them is not the face that we show at home. It’s not hypocrisy; it’s part of human complexity that we put on different personas for different roles.

My father-in-law was not that way. He was the exact same person everywhere. In that sense he was a poshuter yid—not poshut in the usual sense of unremarkable; he was quite remarkable in many ways. But poshut in the way we speak of a matzoh pshutah, or of a shofar poshut: something that is straight as an arrow, without anything crooked or different on one side that on the other.

He was a caring father at home, and a caring father in yeshiva; a master mechanech in yeshiva, and a master mechanech at home; everywhere the same very remarkable and at the same time very straightforward man.

He was one of the builders of Torah in this country. He toiled in the fields of Jewish education and the dissemination of Torah for fifty years, as a teacher, as a dean, as a camp rabbi who conveyed more feel for Yiddishkeit to his charges over a summer than perhaps they

absorbed the whole rest of the year, as the head of a chinuch network, as a leader of Ohel, as a maggid shiur in many settings, as an author of seforim. And in each one of those roles he was innovative, and indefatigable, and inspiring.

He was a pioneer, and he had the warm and rugged personality of a pioneer; a personality that combined unshakable faith, dogged persistence, passionate commitment, and enormous good will.

His faith was absolutely remarkable. He was very fond of describing a Yiddish newspaper from pre-war Europe, and how it reported the weather: Heint zun, morgen regen, v’hameshaneh itim ya’aseh k’retzono; sunny today, rainy tomorrow, but the One above does as He wills.

That was the motto of his faith: hameshaneh itim ya’aseh k’retzono; in good times and in tough times. In all the years I knew him I never heard him express worry or complaint. Even in his darkest hour, when he was told of the untimely passing of his son, R’ Yosef Bezalel, his first words were: geshenkte yoren, the fifty-odd years we were given with him (after a serious childhood illness) were Hashem’s gift.

And this past year, when he felt his powers diminishing, he told me so many

times that we have to accept whatever Hashem gives us.

My father-in-law was a man of strong character; perhaps you might even call him stubborn. But not unreasonable, and he could be persuaded by a good argument to change his mind. But once he decided on a course of action he was a rock. He undertook Daf Yomi many cycles ago, and he would come home late from work, tired out from a hard day, but no matter what the time he sat down and did the Daf. And his ability to reach a firm decision and see it through was part of what made him such an effective leader and administrator; especially since it was wedded to his good sense and wisdom.

In those many years that he served as a dean at YU, he earned the respect of scholars and of students alike. They knew that he was an ehrlicher, and a kluger.

To his children and grandchildren, to his many students and admirers, he was indeed the very model of an ehrlicher yid, and of a kluger yid, of integrity and of wisdom. Unassuming and yet forceful, respectful and yet of an independent spirit, broadminded and yet simple in his pure faith, he brought together so many different qualities. For all of us he was a treasure house of experience and guidance. Whether the issue was

23C H AV RU S A • N I S S A N 577 5

Divrei Hesped

professional or personal, he always brought to it a unique insight and quick intelligence.

His faith and his firmness were a remarkable combination. In the family we all know the story of how he was almost finished his PhD in chemistry, when Dr. Belkin approached him and told him that he needs his help at YU. “Rebbe,” he said, “give me a few months to finish my degree.” “But I need you now.” And that was that. Duty called, and he responded. There was no question of finishing his degree first, so that at least he would have a safety net if chinuch didn’t work out. That was his emunah. Nor was there a question of finishing because that was what everyone expected of him—that was his strength of will.

He had a true and a deep love of Torah. When someone spoke to him in learning his face lit up. When he learned the Daf the love of Torah reverberated in his voice. I remember how he looked forward each summer to R. Berel Povarsky’s shiurim at the Yarchei Kallah, and how much pleasure he took in them.

Even during this past difficult year, if you wanted to catch a glimpse of what he was like in his prime the surest way was to learn with him. He would suddenly be transformed, becoming animated and invigorated. That is not a trait one suddenly develops late in life. That takes a lifetime.

And that love of Torah overflowed into abiding love of Talmidei Chachamim; real love, remarkably free of the taint of party spirit. He spoke with

same love and reverence of the Rov, of R’ Aharon, of R’ Chaim Zimmerman, of the Bluzhever Rebbe, of R’ Mendel Zacks, of R’ Aharon Kreizer, and of course of R’ Dov Schwartzman, with whom he had a particular bond.

When he heard of a young rising star he was so unstintingly happy that lo alman Yisroel. He was a true rachim rabanan, and dachil rabanan, someone who loves and reveres talmidei chachamim.

Abba was a great speaker and, actually, an incredible maspid. He had a gift to speak in a way that offered real comfort to his listeners. It was almost uncanny. One wishes he were here to do justice to our shared grief, and to comfort us in that warm voice that he used on these occasions.

But since we can’t have that, I will share something I once heard from him that I think is so appropriate now.

Abba used to preside every year over the Pesach seder. And his whole focus was on the grandchildren; he would tell them the story of yetzias Mitzrayim, and he would tell them, too, about the sedarim that had attended as a little boy, which were presided over by his zeide. You could see how he lived and breathed the mitzvah of v’hodata l’vanecha v’livnei banecha. That was why those sedarim were so important to him; he wanted to instill those same kind of memories that had nurtured him, in his own grandchildren and great grandchildren.

At one of those sedarim he asked one of the children what she would like for her afikomen present. “A chapter

book!” she answered. “What,” he asked, “is a chapter book?” “You know; a book that doesn’t have a lot of little stories, but chapters that are connected to make one long story—that’s a chapter book.”

Later, at a family celebration, he spoke to us and used that story—absolutely brilliantly—to teach us a lesson. He recounted that conversation, and then he said to us: “Isn’t that what we all want? That our life should be like a chapter book—not a series of disconnected episodes, but one continuous story, in which each part of our lives leads us to the next, in a way that feels connected and purposeful.”

He lived a long life, with many chapters. There was the Lower East Side chapter, the Yeshiva College chapter, the chemistry chapter, the RJJ chapter, the YU chapter, the Boro Park chapter, the retirement chapter.

But it was a chapter book. It was one continuous story, held together by a golden thread, and that thread was v’hodata l’vanecha v’livnei banecha, to pass on the mesorah of Sinai to the next generation, and the next, and the next after that. And that unity of purpose gave his life, and his persona, an unmistakable integrity and wholeness.

One last point. The gemara in Shabbos teaches that rekev atzamos kinah, that the petty jealousies we harbor in our lifetime disturb the body’s rest after death. There is no one I can think of more certain to rest in peace than my father-in-law. He had such a generosity of spirit. Never, ever did I see him evince jealousy of anyone, in any sphere. He had the rare capacity to be happy for others, and in others’ accomplishments. And therefore assuredly he lays himself down now as peacefully as in a bed, resting b’shalom al mishkavo, as his neshamah ascends al kanfei ha’shechinah, to learn his beloved Torah in the mesivta d’rekia, until that time when death will have no more sway, when bila hamaves lanetzach u’macha Hashem dimah me’al kol panim. n

Isn’t that what we all want? That our life should be like a chapter book—not a series of disconnected episodes, but one continuous story, in which each part of our lives leads us to the next, in a way that feels connected and purposeful.

24C H AV RU S A • N I S S A N 577 5

Recent Books

Pathways to the Heart: Opening the Teachings of the House of Izhbitz

Rabbi Reuven Boshnak, LMHC ’04R

Unlocking the Torah Text: Devarim

Rabbi Shmuel Goldin ’76R

Jewish Holiday Companion

Rabbi Hayyim Angel ’95R

הגדה של פסח: לילה של אחדותRabbi Aaron

Goldscheider ’94R

Derashot Ledorot: A Commentary for the Ages:

DeutoronomyRabbi Dr. Norman Lamm ’51R

Of Mirrors & Apple Trees: The Lomdus of Peru u-RevuRabbi Ephraim Meth ’12R

Bible 4 Community: Hebrew Root Dictionary

Rabbi Eric (Nahorai) Kotkin ’07R

Masorah and Text Criticism in the Early Modern

Mediterranean: Moshe Ibn Zabara and Menahem De

LonzanoRabbi Jordan S. Penkower ’69R

תכנית בית המקדש השלישיRabbi Dr. Elihu

Schatz ’57R

Avd’cha Dovid Avi: A Guide to Honoring Parents and

Treating Them ReverentiallyRabbi Eliyahu W. Ferrell

’99R

The Holocaust As Seen Through Film With

Bibliography Rabbi Dr. Bernhard H.

Rosenberg ’74R

Collected Essays, Vol IIRabbi Dr. Haym

Soloveitchik ’62R

25C H AV RU S A • N I S S A N 577 5

Life-Cycle Events

25C H AV RU S A • N I S S A N 577 5

Mazal TovRabbi Gershon ’12R and Meira Albert on the birth of a daughter, Sarah Hodaya, and to grandparents, Rabbi Perry ’89R and Miriam Tirschwell.

Rabbi Shimon ’76R and Sharon Altshul on the marriage of their daughter, Esty, to Hillel Garcia Austria.

Rabbi Alon ’14R and Riva Amar on the birth of a son.

Rabbi Aharon ’73R and Sara Angstreich on the marriage of their daughter, Devora, to Gadi Yedidovitch.

Rabbi Hanan ’84R and Barbara Balk on the marriage of their daughter, Eliana, to Spencer Moore.

Rabbi Jeremy ’12R and Sarah Baran on the birth of a daughter, Elisheva Tzipora, and to grandparents, RIETS administrator Rabbi Chaim ’72R and Brenda Bronstein.

Rabbi Gedalyah ’98R and Miriam Berger on the Bat Mitzvah of their twin daughters, Racheli and Sheindl, and to the grandparents, Dean of Bernard Revel Graduate School Rabbi Dr. David ’68R and Dean of Yeshiva University Libraries Dr. Pearl Berger.

Rabbi David ’01R and Chana Rochel Blum on the birth of a daughter, Sheindel Chaya.

Rabbi Irwin ’60R and Judith Borvick on the birth of a great-grandson, Michael Baruch Tzvi, born to Esther and Rafi Offenbacher.

Rabbi Asher ’92R and Batyah Brander on the birth of a grandson, Yakov, born to Esther Malka and Eliyahu Heller, and to great-grandparents Rabbi Aaron ’59 and Ellen Brander.

Rabbi Asher ’92R and Batyah Brander on the marraige of their son, Avraham Tuvia to Elisheva Yardley, and to grandparents Rabbi Aaron ’59 and Ellen Brander.

Rabbi Michael ’90R ’93YY and Channah Broyde on the birth of a grandson, Joseph Levi, born to Joshua and Suzanne Broyde.

Rabbi Michael ’09R and Ora Davies on the birth of twin sons, Moshe and Shmuel.

Rabbi Dr. Hillel ’75R and Rock Davis on the birth of a grandson, Adir Zechariah, born to Ezra and Leora Blumenthal, and to great grandparents, Rabbi Simon ’46R and Belle Eckstein.

Rabbi Adam ’12R and Shoshana Dubin on the birth of a son, Moshe Shimshon.

Rabbi Yitzi ’14R and Rachel Ehrenberg on the birth of a daughter, Aderet Liat.

Rabbi Shaul ’07R and Sara Libby Epstein on the birth of a son, Ephraim Shmuel.

Rabbi Yitzchak ’65R and Marcia Frank on the Bat Mitzvah of their granddaughter, Na’omi. And on the birth of a grandson, born to Uriel and Le’a Frank.

Rabbi Shaanan ’06R and Tziporah Gelman on the birth of a son.

Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Ozer and Ilana Gickman on the birth of a grandson, born to Avigayil and Dr. Yonah Heller.

Rabbi Yoni ’12R and Alise Gold on the birth of a son, Moshe Chaim.

Rabbi Efrem ’01R and Yocheved Goldberg on the Bat Mitzvah of their daughter, Leora.

Rabbi Aviad ’05R and Natalie Goldwicht on the birth of a son, and to grandparents, Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Meir and Hilla Goldwicht.

Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Meir and Hilla Goldwicht on the birth of twins, a grandson and granddaughter, born to their children Elimor and Rafi Ryzman.

Rabbi Jonathan ’04R and Miriam Gross on the birth of a son, Meyer Israel.

Rabbi Yaakov ’12R and Devorah Grun on birth of a daughter, Shaindel Yaffa.

Rabbi Dr. Aton ’06R and Rachel Holzer on the birth of a son, Aharon Levi, and to great-grandparents, Rabbi Emanuel ’50R and Norma Holzer.

Rabbi Dr. Henry ’69R and Frieda Horwitz on the Bar Mitzvah of their grandson, Yonatan Refael Catriel.

Rabbi Shimshon ’10R and Ashley Jacob on being honored at the Sinai Schools Dinner.

Rabbi Avraham ’83R and Liora Kelman on the birth of a granddaughter, Annaelle Haddasa, born to Tova and Moshe Lehrer.

Rabbi Effie ’12R and Tamar Kleinberg on the birth of a son.

Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Eliakim ’92R and Tova Koenigsberg on the birth of a granddaughter, born to Devorah and Chaim Zev Feder.

Rabbi Aaron ’09R and Lynn Kraft on the birth of a son.

Rabbi Yiztchok Lichtenstein ’82R on the birth of a grandson, Baruch Dov, born to Nechama and Moishe Kaiman.

Rabbi Elchanan ’76R and Ruth Lipshitz on the birth of a granddaughter, Hadar Eliraz, to Batya and Yonatan Kolitz.

Rabbi Haskel Lookstein ’58R on receiving the Rabbinic Leadership Award from the Manhattan Jewish Experience (“MJE”).

Rabbi Chaim ’99R and Lea Marcus on the Bat Mitzvah of their daughter, Rivka, and to grandparents, Rabbi Jay ’71R and Barbara Marcus.

Rabbi Avi ’14R and Sarah Miller on the birth of a son, and to grandparents Rabbi Jeffrey ’88R and Enid Miller.

Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Dovid ’71R and Miriam Miller on the Bar Mitzvah of their grandson, Aryeh Miller.

Rabbi Elie ’07R and Rebecca Mischel on the birth of a son, Uriel Shlomo.

Rabbi Shalom Morris ’06R on being honored at the Jewish International Connection of NY (JICNY) Annual Gala.

Rabbi Levi Mostofsky ’03R on his marriage to Yifat Raz, and to his parents, Rabbi Dr. David ’55R and Rita Mostofsky.

Rabbi David Moster ’10R on his marriage to Rachel Gorman.

Rabbi Elazar ’81R and Ruchama Muskin on the birth of a grandson, Moshe Tzvi Yosef, born to Dina and Daniel Goldberg.

Rabbi Gary ’67R and Ann Pollack on the Bar Mitzvah of their grandson, Hillel Gedalia Neuman, son of Liba and Heshy Neuman, and the Bat Mitzvah of their granddaughter, Zipora Rachel Balter, daughter of Dubby and Yekutiel Balter.

Rabbi Meir ’90R and Esther Orlian on the birth of a grandson, Matanya, born to Zvi and Zuria Orlian.

Rabbi Baruch ’01R and Leah Shifra Price on the birth of a son.

Rabbi Zvi ’99R and Shira Romm on the Bar Mitzvah of their son, Aharon Shmaya.

Rabbi David ’94R and Devorah Rosenbaum on the marriage of their daughter, Leah, to Adam Mali, and to grandparents, Rabbi Yitzchak ’62R and Judith Rosenbaum.

Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Michael ’80R and Smadar Rosensweig on the marriage of their son, Avigdor, to Devora Schreiber. And to the grandfather, Rabbi Dr. Bernard Rosensweig ’50R.

Rabbi Joshua ’91R and Daniella Rudoff on the Bar Mitzvah of their son, Shmuel.

Rabbi Melvin ’62R and Sharon Sachs on the marriage of their son, Dr. Ephraim Sachs, to Nofar Hanan.

Rabbi Benjamin Samuels ’96R on being honored by Congregation Shaarei Tefillah for his service to the community for the past 20 years.

26C H AV RU S A • N I S S A N 577 5

Life-Cycle Events

26C H AV RU S A • N I S S A N 577 5

Rabbi Mordechai ’12R and Meira Schiffman on the birth of a son, Yosef Eliezer.

Rabbi Shay ’14R and Rina Schachter on the birth of a son, Michael Simcha, and to grandparents, Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Hershel ’67R and Shoshana Schachter.

Rabbi Dr. Mordecai Schnaidman ’52R on the birth of a great-granddaughter, Yael Chava, to Ephraim and Rivka Schnaidman.

Rabbi Allen Schwartz ’86R on being named as Guest of Honor at the American Friends of Bet El Dinner in NY.

Rabbi Dr. Jonathan ’99R and Tammy Schwartz on the Bat Mitzvah of their daughter, Eliana.

Rabbi Shmuel ’08R and Leah Segal on the birth of a son, and to grandparents, Rabbi Gershon (AA) and Tovah Segal.

Rabbi Chaim ’08R and Tova Sendic on the birth of a daughter, and to grandparents, Rabbi Jeff ’67R and Yocheved Bienenfeld.

Rabbi Dr. David ’09R and Monica Shabtai on the birth of a son.

Rabbi Gideon ’97R and Bonnie Shloush on the birth of a son, Kalman Elisha.

Rabbi Gidon ’02R and Miriam Shoshan on the Bar Mitzvah of their son, Meir, and to grandparents, Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Mordechai ’71R and Faygie Willig.

Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Baruch ’89R and Melanie Simon on the birth of a son, Avraham Simcha.

Rabbi Yigal Sklarin ’11R on receiving the Covenant Foundation’s Pomegranate Prize.

Rabbi Adam Starr ’02R and the Young Israel of Toco Hills on their recent Chanukat Beit Haknesset.

Rabbi Steven ’73R and Chana Stein on the birth of a granddaughter, Gefen Rivka, born to Eliana and Shlomo Lachiyani.

Rabbi Ya’akov ’12R and Malka Trump on the birth of a daughter, Leora Rachel.

Rabbi Mark ’80R and Esther Weiner on the marriage of their son, Aryeh Dov, to Rivkah Leah Kunin.

Rabbi Jay ’09R and Sharon Weinstein on the birth of a daughter, Talia Esther.

Rabbi Yaacov Meir Weisenberg ’06R on his marriage to Naomi Lewis.

Rabbi Ben ’97R and Shafrira Wiener on the marriage of their daughter, Aliza, to Yair Wimpfheimer of Beit Shemesh, and to grandparents, Rabbi Barry ’72R and Debby Eisenberg.

Rabbi Simcha ’10R and Sari Willig on the birth of a son, Roey, and to grandparents, Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Mordechai ’71R and Faygie Willig.

Rabbi Avraham ’02R and Elisheva Willig on the Bar Mitzvah of their son, Dovid, and to grandparents, Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Mordechai ’71R and Faygie Willig.

Rabbi Andi ’02 and Rivka Yudin on the birth of a son, Dovid Yair, and to grandparents, Rabbi Benjamin ’69R and Shevi Yudin.

Rabbi Robert ’81R and Marilyn Zeiger on the birth of a grandson, Yosef Mordechai.

Rabbi Lawrence ’85R and Berni Zierler on the marriage of their daughter, Dorona, to Gadi Braude of Toronto.

Rabbi Dr. Mordecai ’62R and Charlotte Zeitz on the marriage of their grandson, Ari Zeitz, to Chavi Mayer.

Rabbi Eliezer ’01R and Sharon Zwickler on being the Guests of Honor at the Congregation AABJ&D Shul Dinner.

Rabbi Michoel ’10R and Rachel Zylberman on the birth of a daughter, Yehudis Chedva Bayla.

CondolencesRabbi Dr. Aharon Adler ’76R and Rabbi Yossi Adler ’76R on the passing of their father, David Adler, z”l.

Sharon (and Rabbi Shimon ’76R) Altshul, on the passing of her brother, Rabbi Gil Marks ’79R, z”l.

Rabbi Moshe Ashen ’80R on the passing of his sister, Devorah Kauffman, z”l.

Rabbi Eli Belizon ’10R on the passing of his father, Dr. Yitzchak Belizon, z”l.

Rabbi Samuel Berger ’59R on the passing of his brother, Rabbi Sidney Berger ’55R, z”l.

Family of Rabbi Meir Bilitzky (AA), z”l.

Rabbi Jeff Bienenfeld ’67R on the passing of his mother, Bertha Bienenfeld, z”l.

Rabbi Darren Blackstein ’86R on the passing of his brother, Kenny (Yisroel) Blackstein z”l.

Leah (and Rabbi Menachem ’83R) Brick on the passing of her father, Eliezer David Rosman, z”l.

Shoshana (and Rabbi Robby ’13R) Charnoff on the passing of her father, Rabbi Arnold Shuman, z”l.

Rabbi Matthew Clark ’56R on the passing of his sister, Beatrice (Clark) Miller, z”l.

Rabbi Ari Cutler ’02R on the passing of his mother, Mrs. Ellen Cutler, z”l.

Coordinator of YU’s Program for Rebbetzins, Meira (and Rabbi Eddie ’70R) Davis, on the passing of her father, Erwin Katz, z”l.

Rabbi Moshe Davis ’09R on the passing of his father, Dr. Barney Davis, z”l.

Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Daniel Z. Feldman ’98R and Rabbi Jonathan Feldman ’01R on the passing of their father, Rabbi Dr. David Feldman, z”l.

Rabbi Jason ’14R and Pessie (Feigenbaum) Finkelstein on the passing of their son, Chaim Gavriel Finkelstein, z”l.

Rabbi Tzvi Flaum ’74R on the passing of his wife, Rochel Flaum, z”l.

Family of Rabbi Aaron Fruchter ’63R, z”l.

Rabbi Isaac Furman ’57R on the passing of his brother, Rabbi Moshe Furman z”l.

Family of Rabbi Menachem “Emanuel” Gettinger (AA), z”l.

Family of Rabbi Louis Ginsburg ’48R, z”l.

Family of Rabbi Philip H. Goldman ’56R, z”l.

Rabbi Maury Goldsmith ’14R on the passing of his mother, Barbara Goldsmith, z”l.

Rabbi Shaya Greenwald ’84R on the passing of his father Rabbi Emanuel (Menachem Yehuda) “Manny” Greenwald ’50R, z”l.

Rabbi Alan Greenspan ’61R on the passing of his sister, Doris Wind, z”l.

Rabbi Shlomo Horowitz ’74R on the passing of his father, Ezriel Horowitz, z”l.

Rabbi Micha Landau ’83R on the passing of his wife, Rivi (Weiss) Landau, z”l.

Rabbi Dr. Zalman Levine ’94R and Chavie (and Rabbi Stephen ’01R) Knapp, on the passing of their sister, Mrs. Batya Levine Weiner, z”l.

Rabbi Steven Pruzansky (AA) on the passing of his father, Wallace Pruzansky, z”l.

Esti (and Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Eli Baruch) Shulman on the passing of her father, Rabbi Jacob Rabinowitz 48R, z”l.

Barbara (and Rabbi David ’66R) Radinsky on the passing of her mother, Frieda Abelow Cooper, z”l.

Associate Dean of Undergraduate Torah Studies Rabbi Dani Rapp ’95R, and Debbie (and Rabbi Ari ’93R) Jacobson on the passing of their father, Mr. Jack Rapp, z”l.

27C H AV RU S A • N I S S A N 577 5

Life-Cycle Events

27C H AV RU S A • N I S S A N 577 5

Rabbi Charles Rudansky ’88R on the passing of his father, Dr. Sheldon Rudansky, z”l.

Rabbi Robert Saffer ’54R and Rabbi Barak Saffer ’92R on the passing of their wife and mother respectively, Yetta Saffer, z”l.

Family of Rabbi Adrian Skydell ’43R, z”l.

Family of Rabbi Moshe Solow ’75R, z”l.

Rabbi Gershon Sonnenschein ’91R on the passing of his mother, Terry Sonnenschein, z”l.

Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Mayer Twersky ’85R on the loss of his brother, Rabbi Moshe Twersky, ztk”l, Hy”d.

Faygie (and Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Mordechai ’71R) Willig on the passing of her mother, Rebbetzin Chaya Sarah (Harriet) Heisler, z”l, widow of the late Rabbi Yaakov Aharon Heisler ’41R, z”l.

Rabbi Shimon Wolf ’71R on the passing of his mother, Rebbetzin Elaine Wolf, z”l.

Rabbi Yaakov Zev ’59R on the passing of his wife, Chany Zev, z”l.

Family of Rabbi Abraham Zigelman, z”l.

Space is limited so register now at www.rabbanan.orgEmail RabbinicProgramming@yu.edu with any questions

Rabbinic Fundamental$ of Fundrai$ingA Continuing Rabbinic Education Mini-Course4 Weeks Beginning April 19, 2015The first session will be in real-time on Sun., April 19 from 9:30-11:00am EDT. The remaining sessions will be flexible learning sessions, available to accommodate all schedules.

Topics Include:• Understanding Why and When People Donate• Top Tips for Fundraising & Cultivating

Relationships with Congregants• Major Fundraising Campaigns• Fundraising in Smaller Communities• Fundraising Halachic and Ethical Considerations

Participants will receive:• Collaborative page of fundraising best

practices• Resources and supplementary materials• Access to fundraising experts• Certificate of participation

Cost: $150 (RIETS Rabbinic Alumni $140)

ShavuosSPEND

WITH YESHIVAJoin the Yeshiva family at our

Fifth Annual RIETS Shavuos Yarchei KallahMay 22–25, 2015 (Memorial Day Weekend)

Westchester Hilton - Rye Brook, New York

Spend Yom Tov with President Richard M. Joel, RIETS Roshei Yeshiva and dynamic scholars from the esteemed faculty of Yeshiva University.

Day camp and babysitting available

Save the Date

2015 • 5775

For more information 646.592.4021 shavuosyk@yu.edu