Avodah Mailing List

Volume 04 : Number 109

Thursday, November 4 1999

• Re[2]: Bekius/B'Iyun - CD ROM = Red Herring
• Re: Avodah V4 #99 and Hm's scurrilous comment about Chabad-Lubavitch
• Administrivia
• stigma of baalei batim
• Hinini Muchan UmZuman...
• M.G.I.B.T.Y.G.
• Drash/Pshat
• Enjoying Things That Are Mutar
• Pleasure
• Re: Bekius/B'Iyun - CD ROM = Red Herring
• CD-ROM
• Re: Avodah V4 #108
• CD-ROM
• Re: Rambam and Asceticism
• Re: Rambam and Asceticism
• Re: Drash/Pshat
• Re: Drash/Pshat
• Re: Shabbos Guests
• CD-ROM
• Fwd: OPERATION JEWISH EDUCATION/THE 5% MANDATE

my spin on the Breslvoer technique is as follows:

We havea termendous resistance to starting.  Kol hashcolos koshos.  By simply 
reading torah at a very low-level, we have overcome a very siginficant chuynk of
resistance of yetzer horo.

Instead of readin l'olom habo lieterally, see it as leosid lovo.

The Breslvoer I think are advocating reading Torah w/o havono as an "ice 
breaker"  Later on, even in this life, we hope and pray that when we get back to
that piece of Torah, we have already overcome resistnace and we have moenmntum 
to now go into deeper.

Lemoshol, some people delve into the deep end of the pool by diving in.  Another
peson might first get thier toes wet.  Then come back and get wet up to hteir 
nakels, then theri waste, etc.  They overcome their fear of water, or the shock 
of the water's coolness by a gradual process.

I think this is the kavvono of the Breslov, to avoid frustration starting out 
with our aim very low, jsut read it!  once we read it we have momentum to just 
translate it.  Then udnerstand it.  Then absorb it.  Then master it.

Breslov has similar writing re; kavvono in davening.  do NOT attmpe to daven all
bekavvono.  Focus on ONE bparagraph, (eg one brocho in shmone esrei) then 2, 
then 3.   Build step by step gain mometnum.

I think it's a very clever technique with a tremendous pssycholigcal impact on 
overcoming resitnace to what we feel is overwhelming!

Rich Wolpoe

______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________


What do you think of the other extreme: I heard that Breslovers 
believe that one should read through Shas even if one doesn't 
understand it because one will be able to understand it in olam haba.
 (Can anyone confirm or deny this ascription to Breslovers?)

Kol tuv,
Moshe

In a message dated 11/4/99 2:23:48 PM US Central Standard Time, 
syaffe@juno.com writes:

<< there are many Gedolei Torah in Lubavitch who's
 Beliius, Amkus, and Charifus match those of ANY Gadol in the world today
 
 >>

"Match those of ANY Godol"? The choice of the word "match" is interesting. 
Who says observant Jews shun competitive sports? I can guess how we'll keep 
score: We'll measure which gadolim ascend the highest after sudden-death 
overtime.

David Finch

Someone recently wrote (and I'm sorry to do this because even with the
"someone" many of you are going to realize who I'm quoting):
:    .... I don't have the [XYZ] ... with me at the moment, so I can't quote
: exactly, but ...

I recently mentioned the overwhelming volume we've been having lately. A
number of days we exceeded 100 emails!

Part of the reason why is that too many people are replying to emails as
soon as they see them, instead of taking the time to make this a "High
Level Torah Discussion Group".

The unnamed poor soul I quoted above is an example. If you don't have
the sefer with you, why not print up the email and reply tomorrow?
I'm not saying we need formal articles, but there's a sh'vil hazahav.

If you check the email folder where your Avodah email lands and find 20 emails,
why not check all 20 before replying to any? It will minimize (although not
eliminate) the number of times multiple people repeat the same idea.
It'll also allow you to combine your replies to multiple emails on a single
subject and make a more coherent construction of your opinion.

While I'm at it, why not whittle down citations? All but possibly one or
two new subscribers saw the email once already -- you only need to quote
the minimum necessary for people to understand what you're commenting on.
(Accidental missends of too much material aside.) These new emailers make
it FAR too easy to just append the entire text on the bottom of your post
and send it without looking. (Often they just append it automatically when
you hit "Reply".)

Last, it will be easier for people who search the archives if you keep the
subject line meaningful. This includes keeping each email to one subject.
Also, if you're replying and use the same subject line as the original (with
a "re" in there somewhere) your reply will show up in the index right after
the original and said searcher is bound to find it.

I don't insist on this last point, however, the easier it is to find your
thoughts in the archive, the more people you're sharing them with. It's
in your best interest.

-mi

-- 
Micha Berger (973) 916-0287          MMG"H for  4-Nov-99: Chamishi, Sara
micha@aishdas.org                                         A"H 
http://www.aishdas.org                                    Pisachim 63b
For a mitzvah is a lamp, and the Torah its light.         

 From: harry maryles <hmaryles@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Educational diversification in a Torah schools and the 5% 
> solution

> 1. Each individual will be able to serve G-d in a way
> that is best suited to his talents (e.g. MD's or
> Accountants) w/o the stigma of "not having made it in
> learning" and 
	I think this is a course correction.  Some years ago anyone who went
into chinuch or rabbonus was looked upon as someone who did so,  in your
words, not having made it in a "real" field.  The joke went that rabbonus
was "nisht kein parnasa far a Yiddish kind",  translation on request. 
The fact that now learning is the standard and doctors and accountants
are what they are because they didn't make it in learning is a swing of
the pendulum .

> As for the 5% solution, this is an effort by an
<snip>
> (Ortho, Conserv, and Reform) to pledge 5% of the net
> worth of their estate and formalize it in a will.
	I got the piece describing the program in detail, which I presume you
had sent to me.  Are members of the lst interested in the details?

Gershon

--- "Yosef Gavriel and Shoshanah M. Bechhofer"
<sbechhof@casbah.acns.nwu.edu> wrote:
> 
> While we are on the topic, leaping to a related
> thread, I was most amused by
> R' Lamm's contention that his model of  TUM was a
> Chassidic one. Chassidim
> themselves would be abhorred by the comparison. They
> would find it analagous
> to arguing that one should serve bacon at a tisch.

It's been a while since I read Dr. Lamm's book but if
I recall correctly, his comparison was not in the
lifestyle of the chasid but in the philosophic
underpining of Hechsher Mitzva having the same value
as  the mitzva itself, i.e. doing it for G-d. The idea
being that when G-d gave us the mitzvos, he didn't
mean for it to be the only way to serve him.  The goal
is devaikus which can be done with Hechsher Mitzva (
think of how much effort and kavana is put into the
Hinini Muchan Umzuman by a Chasidische Rebbe, almost
more than the bracha itself) or even leisure activity
if one does it L'Shma. And this is where Mada comes
in. If one does it L'shma it is raised to the level of
mitzva. The Bacon analogy is no good because it is
assur and a nonstarter.  One can only achieve Dvaikus
with divrei and darcay  Reshus.

HM

=====

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> From: Shlomo Yaffe <>
> Subject: Re: Avodah V4 #99 and Hm's scurrilous comment about 
> Chabad-Lubavitch

> This is completely libelous propoganda: Maybe because of the 
> chassidic doctrine of the virtue of Bittul Lubavitchers are disinclined
to 
> play the "I'm a Gadol" trumpet
	I suggest in the name of many who are tired ot the "my Gadol is bigger
than your Gadol" which has been going around the track for a long time
here and elsewhere, that we treat this re-enactment to a swift and sure
death.  In that spirit,  I will even resist replying to the rest of this
post. 

Gershon

> From: Moshe and davida Nugiel <friars@aquanet.co.il>
> Subject: blurring distinctions
 
<< How's this for an example of the insidious blurring of the 
> distinction between pshat and drush which plagues our generation's
approach to
> Torah.  In his "Drasha Parshas Chayai Sora" which is sent out under 
the
> auspices of Project Genesis, Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky offers us  the
> following (note the use of QUOTATION MARKS):
> "Avraham turned to Eliezer, the elder of his household, who ruled  over
all
> his possessions," and asked him to go find a wife for Yitzchak 
(Genesis 24:2).>>

	I confess to not understanding your objection.  Please explain.
 
> We ought to be less fuzzy-headed about our Torah.
	I likewise do not understand why you do not approach Rabbi Kamenetsky
directly instead of on this list.

Gershon

--- richard_wolpoe@ibi.com wrote:
> I don't know which Chassidim said this but....
> 
> R. Yosef Weiss, my rebbe for Yoreh Deio, taught us
> sepcifically that his 
> hashkofo re: food was to davka enjoy things that are
> mutar. 

I heard an interesting anecdote about RSRH. 

When asked why he wanted to see the Alps, His answer
was that when he arrived in the Olam HaEmes, he didn't
want to respond negatively when asked by Hakodosh
Baruch Hu, "Nu, Reb Shamshon, have you seen my Alps?"

HM

=====

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> I do not know of Chassidim that pushed "pleasure". Certainly not in the
>  realm of OC 240, and not even in inyanei achila, except in the context of a
>  tisch etc.

I haven't yet seen anyone quote the Yerushalmi at the end of Kiddushin, in 
which R' Elazar was concerned about being judged for any Mutar pleasure he 
could have experienced, and he eschewed.

Certainly, R' Elazar was "min haChasidim veAnshei Maaseh!" :)

Mordechai Torczyner
HaMakor! http://www.aishdas.org/hamakor Mareh Mekomos Reference Library
WEBSHAS! http://www.aishdas.org/webshas Indexing the Talmud, Daf by Daf
Congregation Ohave Shalom, Pawtucket, RI http://members.tripod.com/~ohave

     Moshe Feldman wrote:
     
     >>What do you think of the other extreme: I heard that Breslovers 
     believe that one should read through Shas even if one doesn't 
     understand it because one will be able to understand it in olam haba. 
     (Can anyone confirm or deny this ascription to Breslovers?)>>
     
     I can confirm it.  It's in one of those little pamphlets that they 
     give out.  [Did I just admit to reading one?  Oy vey!]

Moshe Feldman wrote:
> Why do you assume that the goal is learn as much of kol hatorah kula
>  as possible, if that would be accomplished on a low level?  On the
>  contrary, I would assert that once one has bekiut in the concepts in
>  Shas the goal is understand be'iyun as much as possible.  You
>  conceded that a CD Rom could be useful in that regard.  Therefore,
>  from the point of view of learning iyun, amoraim needed much more
>  memorization as a precurser than we do today.

Rava (Avodah Zara 19a) and others may have disagreed, although interpreting 
the statement requires Iyun itself. Rava said one should read even if he 
doesn't understand (obviously, this refers to someone who doesn't have the 
option of reading and understanding).

There is some value to getting down the basics and then going to Iyun, but I 
believe (and others here have indicated likewise) that the "basic concepts" 
requires a good deal of Shas (and, yes, Yerushalmi).

Mordechai Torczyner
HaMakor! http://www.aishdas.org/hamakor Mareh Mekomos Reference Library
WEBSHAS! http://www.aishdas.org/webshas Indexing the Talmud, Daf by Daf
Congregation Ohave Shalom, Pawtucket, RI http://members.tripod.com/~ohave

Rich Wolpoe wrote:
> Question: If that learning didn't stick or even if it did but was totally 
not 
>  understood, wouldn't it be like a "chamor nosei Seforim?"

Look at Rashi Berachos 6a, on "Agra dePirka Rihata." Rashi appears to hold 
there is no Sechar Talmud Torah unless a person remembers what he learns, and 
is able to repeat it after a while.

Nonetheless, look at Rava on Avodah Zara 19a, which I have mentioned in 
another post.

>  Couldn't leraning for the sake of covering ground be a ruse by the Yetzer 
> horo to avoid really working at learning and engagin our full faculties?

Yes.

Mordechai Torczyner
HaMakor! http://www.aishdas.org/hamakor Mareh Mekomos Reference Library
WEBSHAS! http://www.aishdas.org/webshas Indexing the Talmud, Daf by Daf
Congregation Ohave Shalom, Pawtucket, RI http://members.tripod.com/~ohave

Rich Wolpoe wrote:
> Question: If that learning didn't stick or even if it did but was totally 
not 
>  understood, wouldn't it be like a "chamor nosei Seforim?"

Look at Rashi Berachos 6a, on "Agra dePirka Rihata." Rashi appears to hold 
there is no Sechar Talmud Torah unless a person remembers what he learns, and 
is able to repeat it after a while.

Nonetheless, look at Rava on Avodah Zara 19a, which I have mentioned in 
another post.

>  Couldn't leraning for the sake of covering ground be a ruse by the Yetzer 
> horo to avoid really working at learning and engagin our full faculties?

Yes.

Mordechai Torczyner
HaMakor! http://www.aishdas.org/hamakor Mareh Mekomos Reference Library
WEBSHAS! http://www.aishdas.org/webshas Indexing the Talmud, Daf by Daf
Congregation Ohave Shalom, Pawtucket, RI http://members.tripod.com/~ohave

     >>While we are on the topic, leaping to a related thread, I was most 
     amused by R' Lamm's contention that his model of  TUM was a Chassidic 
     one. Chassidim themselves would be abhorred by the comparison. They 
     would find it analagous to arguing that one should serve bacon at a 
     tisch.>>
     
     Since we're on the subject, R. Lamm has a relatively new book out on 
     Chasidus called "The Religious Thought of Hasidism : Text and 
     Commentary."  I know nothing about it except that it's green and 
     Amazon.com is selling it for $29.50.

--- "Yosef Gavriel and Shoshanah M. Bechhofer"
<sbechhof@casbah.acns.nwu.edu> wrote:
> The Piasaczner has a very instructive discussion, in the Mavo
> ha'She'arim,
> of the difference between the pre-Besht mekkubalim and the
> Chassidic
> approach, and how sigufim and the like are no longer necessary in
> the same
> manner. Some of this is in my Forks essay on the aishsdas website.
> 
> But I do not know of Chassidim that pushed "pleasure". Certainly
> not in the
> realm of OC 240, and not even in inyanei achila, except in the
> context of a
> tisch etc.

Here are some excerpts from your essay showing the value of pleasure
as part of Avodat Hashem (not "pushing" pleasure): (By the way, it
would explain why R. Y Zirkind, a Chabadnik, is not a fan of using
pleasure towards Avodat Hashem.)

<<Both schools of thought sought to define what it would be like to
experience a taste of Gan Eden in this world. Chabad held that it
could be experienced in the pleasure of knowing and understanding
Hashem's illumination, while the mainstream of Chassidus defined it
as the pleasure of experiencing fervor and emosion in Avodas Hashem.
Chabad, with its emphasis on bringing illumination down to our
realms, feels compelled to deal with reality and existence - even if
only to clarify its illusory and temporal nature. 
<snip>
Chabad, with its emphasis on the intellect, bore some resemblance to
the old Kabbalistic schools. The Ba'al HaTanya still saw some value
in perishus (abstinence) - fasting and asceticism - the old
modalities. The mainstream, with its emphasis on fervent,
experiential Avodas Hashem, represented an almost complete break with
the past. It saw little or no value in perishut. Abstinence, by its
very nature a lack of experiences, contributed practically nothing to
the pursuit of experiential proxiMisy to G-d.
<snip>
The Rebbe's tools, in this system, consisted of both material means,
such as shirayim (literally: "leftovers" - the practice in which the
Rebbe partakes of a morsel of food from a dish and then distributes
the remainder among those assembled at the "Tisch" - the Rebbe's
table), and spiritual means, such as the Rebbe's discourses.
Precisely because the goal was to inspire the heart and stimulate the
deed, the means were often material. (In Hachsharas HaAvreichim 61b,
the Piascezner explains the significance of mashke - the partaking of
alcoholic beverages - in Chassidus as an additional means of
achieving dveykus. Higher states of consciousness - reached for the
sake of Avodas Hashem - are helpful in this quest.) 
<snip>
In Chabad, however, shirayim were an anathema. They were derided as
"nahama d'kesufa" (literally, "bread of shame," or, colloquially,
"something for nothing.") The Rebbe's task was not to inspire and
provide kedusha but rather to educate, to provide the Chochma and
Bina that the Chassidim would learn, internalize and utilize to
achieve their own, personal Da'as. 
>>

Kol tuv,
Moshe

=====

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In a message dated 11/4/99 4:52:06 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
gershon.dubin@juno.com writes:

<<  "Avraham turned to Eliezer, the elder of his household, who ruled  over
 all
 > his possessions," and asked him to go find a wife for Yitzchak 
 (Genesis 24:2).>>
 
    I confess to not understanding your objection.  Please explain.
  
 > We ought to be less fuzzy-headed about our Torah.
    I likewise do not understand why you do not approach Rabbi Kamenetsky
 directly instead of on this list.
  >>

The objection is that It is not Eliezer to whom Avraham turned. We only know 
it is Eliezer because of the Midrashic interpretation.
I am very sensitive to this issue, but more from a pedagogical point than a 
content point. If we decide on a consensus that this unnamed person always 
working with Avraham is Eliezer, I don't think that it's such a big deal. But 
if we get in the habit of allowing our students and children to read Chumash 
and just assume its Eliezer, without understanding the process by which we 
get to that point, then I think we have a problem.

Jordan

--- Gershon Dubin <gershon.dubin@juno.com> wrote:
> > From: Moshe and davida Nugiel <friars@aquanet.co.il>
>>Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky offers us
>  the
> > following (note the use of QUOTATION MARKS):
> > "Avraham turned to Eliezer, the elder of his household, who ruled
>  over
> all
> > his possessions," and asked him to go find a wife for Yitzchak 
> (Genesis 24:2).>>
> 
> 	I confess to not understanding your objection.  Please explain.
>  

During the entire parsha, the reference is only to "eved Avraham" or
"ha'eved." Nowhere does the Torah identify this eved as being
Eliezer.  It is the Midrash which does so.  I once heard a dvar Torah
suggesting that the eved was really not Eliezer.

Kol tuv,
Moshe

=====

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In message , Carl M. Sherer <csherer@netvision.net.il> writes
>So what do we do? How do we make these kids feel at home?
>
You may be able, by being sensitive, to ameliorate the situation, but I
don't think you are going to be able to solve it, as for that a deep
rooted societal change would be needed.

The real heart of the issue is the extremely low level of self esteem
among frum girls (almost across the spectrum) - which show up any
time any such tests are done, almost regardless of in which community,
or where in the world,  they are done.

The deeper cause of that, IMHO is the linkage between the expectations
on frum girls linked with the shidduch system.  Frum girls are brought
up to believe (as per Micha) tbat their aim in life is to build a bayis
ne'eman b'yisroel.  However, that means they cannot begin on their task
in life until they find a shidduch.

Some people on here have made comments (some perhaps half jokingly)
that they have children to marry off, and hence cannot be seen to be
espousing certain positions.  You yourself have acknowledged your
concerns for the shidduch chances of your other children from the
illness of one.

Everybody is concerned not to do something that will jeopardise those
chances, but the pressure on parents is minor compared with that felt by
teenage girls at the least confident time of their lives.  Boys, at
least, can get stuck into learning as way of relieving that kind of
pressure, and doing something positive.   With girls, there is no such
easy outlet, it is just constant criticism, explicit or implied, with
the implication that if you are not "the sort of girl who clears the
table after the shabbas meal" or who knows what other infractions, you
are clearly not suitable shidduch material.

To illustrate the point - my Bnei Brak relatives (who are really very
nice) once told me off for going out with a shirt that was a bit creased
(it had come out of a suitcase and had not been ironed). Why?  Because
she had spoken to her neighbour upstairs for me, and *what if she had
seen me going out with a crumpled shirt*  the implication being that a
slightly creased shirt could ruin my shidduch chances.  

Now, part of the reason I am who I am and have the courage to do what
I do is that my parents (and even grandparents) have never put that kind
of pressure on me.  My mother always took the attitude that it would
happen when it would happen - and in fact, one time when I was in
Israel with my grandparents, and these same relatives were talking
shidduchim, my grandmother was emphatically saying "she is too young
yet" (I think I was 25 at the time).   I asked my mother about it
afterwards, because most people would not have said I was in any way too
young, and she said she thought it was my grandmother's way of trying to
protect me from feeling pressured.

But most of your Sem girls are fully within the system - and unlike me,
they generally do not have, and do not expect to have, any other
interests in their lives besides their home or any other identity
besides wife and mother.  So, especially once they finish high school,
effectively their lives are on hold until they find a shidduch and they
can start their real task in life.   And yet there is so little they can
actually do to speed up the process, while one bad word might cause an
irretrievable setback.

And don't forget, given this week's parsha, that the model held up to
Sem girls is not Ya'acov and Rachel but Rivka.  And how do they not know
that you have not taken it upon yourself to be Eliezer.  Can you
understand that in a world populated entirely be potential Eliezers,
leaving the security of the Sem for a shabbas out is an intimidating 
experience?  On the one hand they need the Eliezers of this world,
otherwise they will never find their beshert, on the other hand, what if
they fail the test?  

In this kind of an environment, what you ask for, a way to make these
girls feel comfortable, is not IMHO fully possible to give.

Kind Regards

Chana

>- -- Carl

-- 
Chana/Heather Luntz

I think CD ROMs are perfect for people with memories like mine. I tend to
remember ideas, but cloud the details, the mekoros (I recently confused
Targum Y'lmi with Shas on the "Yehei Sh'mei raba" thread), etc... I also
tend to confuse what was said with my own extrapolation from the actual quote.

My bekius (whatever little I do) still leaves me with a need for CD ROMs.

-mi

-- 
Micha Berger (973) 916-0287          MMG"H for  4-Nov-99: Chamishi, Sara
micha@aishdas.org                                         A"H 
http://www.aishdas.org                                    Pisachim 63b
For a mitzvah is a lamp, and the Torah its light.         

I have been asked to forward this to list.

HM

--- GDH48@aol.com wrote:
> From: GDH48@aol.com
> Date: Thu, 4 Nov 1999 15:52:28 EST
> Subject: OPERATION JEWISH EDUCATION/THE 5% MANDATE
> To: HMARYLES@yahoo.com
> 
> 
> 
> DUPLICATE AND DISTRIBUTE THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYONE
> YOU KNOW.
> HOW WOULD CONTEMPORARY JEWISH LIFE BE DIFFERENT,
>  IF DAY SCHOOL WAS TUITION FREE?
> 
> OPERATION JEWISH EDUCATION/THE 5% MANDATE
>         
>  GEORGE D. HANUS - CHAIRMAN
>  NATIONAL JEWISH DAY SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE
> 333 WEST WACKER    CHICAGO,ILLINOIS
> 60606-------312-332-4172
> 
> Currently, the organized Jewish community and its
> various philanthropic 
> agencies are racing about in a frenzied fashion,
> forming task forces and blue 
> ribbon commissions to study the problems of
> assimilation and intermarriage 
> and their impact on Jewish continuity.  The answer
> to these and many other 
> questions was given 4,000 years ago at Mount Sinai. 
> If we want Jewish 
> continuity, it is our Biblical mandate to Jewishly
> educate our youth.  It is 
> that simple.  The Torah dictates the obligation of
> v'shinantam l'vanecha.  It 
> is recited  three times daily in the Shema.  It is a
> communal obligation to 
> furnish affordable (or better yet, free) intensive
> Jewish education to all 
> children who seek it, irrespective of  family
> financial status or stream of 
> religious commitment.  
> 
> The American Jewish community is bifurcated into two
> camps.  Approximately 
> 80% of our children (about 800,000) get no intensive
> Jewish education, while 
> approximately 20% (about 200,000) are in some form
> of yeshiva or day school 
> setting. The current high cost of tuition has given
> rise to an unconscionable 
> state of affairs. For those that are not in the
> system, the current high 
> tuitions have created an economic barrier of entry. 
> Except for the wealthy 
> or the extraordinarily committed,  young families
> cannot afford to pay the 
> tuition or are not willing to make the necessary
> financial  sacrifices.  With 
> tuition currently at $7,000 - $10,000  in after tax
> dollar per child, one can 
> quickly calculate the devastating financial impact
> of having more than one 
> child in school.  It is also absolutely predictable
> that the current tuitions 
> being charged  will increase by double within the
> next seven years.  A 
> community that does not educate its youth is doomed
> to extinction. 
> 
> For those 200,000 children that are in the day
> school environment, the price 
> of familial strife and sacrifice is extraordinary. 
> Local rabbis across the 
> country can attest to the terrible levels of tension
> that exist in day school 
> families trying  to balance their stretched finances
> at the end of the month. 
>  The schools are facing annual increases in
> scholarship requests,  while 
> annual  tuitions are increasing exponentially.  The
> system is on the verge of 
> financial collapse.  Teachers are not being paid on
> time or nearly enough.  
> Quality teachers must go elsewhere because their
> families cannot live on the 
> meager salaries currently provided by the day
> schools.  Each year the 
> situation worsens and the hole keeps getting deeper.
>  In order to live within 
> their fiscal constraints, many schools are
> increasing  class size to reduce 
> per pupil educational costs.  The current crisis
> must be averted.  It is our 
> duty.  The solution is more money.  It is outrageous
> that the wealthiest 
> Jewish community in the history of the world is not 
> providing affordable 
> Jewish education for all who seek it.
>     
> Operation Jewish Education/The 5% Mandate is a very
> straight forward and 
> easily understood concept.  For 4,000 years Jewish
> communities have imposed 
> upon themselves Kehillah taxes to fund essential
> communal services.  
> Notwithstanding  that contemporary America is not an
> organized Kehillah and 
> that the American Jewish Diaspora is  structured
> around voluntary 
> associations, I still believe that a Kehillah tax
> can be implemented.  This 
> mandate will be fulfilled if enough rabbis, lay
> leaders, literary figures, 
> and notable personalities all recite in a unified
> choir that the marshaling 
> of massive amounts of our  capital resources is a
> necessity to fulfill the 
> Biblical mandate of educating our children.  We must
> create a "standard of 
> normative behavior" that every Jew in the Diaspora 
> set aside and donate 5% 
> of his assets either inter vivos or by will to any
> Jewish educational 
> endowment fund of his choice.  Every Jew must share
> a piece of his worldly 
> possessions for the next generation of children. 
> Everyone must give 
> something, somewhere to someone.
> 
> How do we foster communal mores that will mandate
> this rigorous and demanding 
> standard of behavior?  Answering this question with
> another analogous 
> question helps  to provide additional insight and
> perspective.  When a man 
> goes into a business meeting or a formal occasion,
> he puts on a necktie. Why? 
>  It seems the placement of an extraneous piece of
> silk fabric tied in a 
> precise knot hanging in a vertical direction is a
> most absurd and 
> supercilious act.  Why do men do it?  Not only does
> the color and pattern of 
> the necktie have to match the color and pattern of
> the shirt and suit, but it 
> also must be the proper width.  Men purchase
> neckties in a certain width 
> knowing full well that within two years that width
> will be unfashionable. 
> Even though the necktie is perfectly fit, it will be
> replaced by another 
> whose width is then considered acceptable.  Why? 
> Who dictates the width  of 
> neckties, or even their very existence, as being a
> societal requirement?  
> This may seem  a silly analogy, but I believe it is
> indicative of how 
> individuals respond to perceived mandated standards
> of societal behavior.  If 
> every pulpit rabbi, every religious leader,  every
> literary personality, 
> every board president and every organizational
> trustee demanded that in order 
> to save the Jewish people, every Jew must leave a
> portion of the bounty of 
> the present for the children of the future, many
> people will comply.  Since 
> we are dealing with the very essence of the
> continuity of the Jewish people 
> and the fulfillment of the Biblical obligation, the
> 5% Mandate would be each 
> person's final mitzvah on this earth. There are no
> atheists in foxholes (as 
> you articulated in your manuscript), and every human
> being must reach a final 
> settlement with his maker.  Leadership must clearly
> set the bar  of 
> individual responsibility for funding essential
> communal services.  The 
> mitzvah of sharing a portion of one's material gains
> in this world with the 
> next generation of children is very compelling.  It
> must be clearly and 
> forcefully articulated.  
> 
> The most successful campaign is one that is fueled
> by grass roots  
> participation.  Operation Jewish Education/The 5%
> Mandate has furnished the 
> initial momentum for a program that can succeed if
> leadership steps forward 
> and leads.  Currently, hundreds of rabbinic and lay
> leaders representing 
> constituencies and organizations of tens of
> thousands of Jews have signed 
> Declarations of Leadership which affirm the 5%
> obligation, requiring every 
> Jew to give to the day school or yeshiva endowment
> fund of their choice. To 
> date, millions of dollars have been contributed to
> local endowments funds 
> across the diaspora and many more millions have been
> pledged. Dr. Milton and 
> Lois Shiffman have contributed $5 million to make
> Jewish day schools more 
> accessible for Jewish children in Detroit. The
> Detroit Jewish Federation has 
> agreed to match this donation and together this
> endowment will generate 
> approximately $800,000 a year in scholarship aid.
> Dr. Michael Rosenzweig, 
> President of the New Atlanta Jewish Community High
> School, has announced the 
> receipt  from an anonymous donor of a $2,250,000
> gift to establish an 
> endowment fund. The Ida Crown High School in Chicago
> now has an endowment 
> fund approaching $2,000,000. The Hillel Torah Day
> School in Skokie has 
> recently received several hundreds of thousands of
> dollars in cash and 
> assignments of life insurance policies for its newly
> formed endowment fund. 
> Many national leaders as well as the executive
> committee of the Rabbinical 
> Council of America and the National Council of Young
> Israel, among others, 
> have also endorsed this initiative.  If enough
> leaders repeat this statement 
> often enough, to the point that it becomes a mantra
> of Jewish survival, it 
> will become a reality.  If the Diaspora Jewish
> community can be made to 
> understand that the very survival of the Jewish
> people hangs on each 
> individual's participation, this will succeed. 
> Every individual understands 
> that no one can take his material possessions with
> him to the world to come, 
> and participation in this 5% mandate is a small
> economic price to pay for a 
> final mitzvah.  The success or failure of this
> initiative is entirely in the 
> control of each individual. 
> 
> The other important aspect of this mandate is that
> it achieve the 
> universality of a "half shekel" tax,  which is
> applicable to both the poor 
> and the wealthy.  The underlying premise  is that
> everyone must participate.  
> Honor rolls must be published with the names of
> every individual who signs 
> the Letter Of Intent to memorialize the performance
> of this final mitzvah of 
> each individual's life.  These honor rolls will
> become living testimonials 
> for posterity, recording each Jew's position as to
> this mitzvah.  It is a 
> clear yes or no.  There is no wiggle room, fence
> sitting, or uncertainty.  
> Since we have no sheriff to enforce this initiative,
> we must rely on other 
> means of compliance.  The absence of one's name from
> this honor roll would 
> create a sense of peer pressure and disapprobation
> that few individuals would 
> care to experience. When this mandate becomes a
> reality, within a few short 
> years there will be ample monies in endowment funds
> across the Diaspora so 
> that every school can survive, just from the
> interest earned.  To fully 
> appreciate the feasibility of this project, consider
> that Harvard University 
> has approximately $14 billion in its endowment fund,
> which is the largest in 
> the United States.  If the 5 million Jews of the
> Diaspora could, over time, 
> match this capitalization on an aggregate basis for
> locally controlled funds 
> across all the cities in the country, the interest
> generated by these 
> endowment funds alone would fund every day school
> and yeshiva in perpetuity.  
> This is doable, if leadership will unite and focus
> on solving this problem.
> 
> Each of the 14 Chicagoland day schools has now
> created its own endowment fund 
> to provide the mechanism to fulfill its goals.  A
> separate umbrella fund, 
> entitled the Jewish Day School Guaranty Trust Fund
> of Chicago, is managed by 
> the Finance Committee of the Chicago Jewish
> Federation, which will distribute 
> earned income to all day schools pro rata.  The
> underlying premise is that 
> only a portion of the interest accrued will be
> distributed and the principal 
> will never be invaded.  The stated goal for the
> Chicagoland initiative is to 
> raise $300 million within the next 7-10 years.  (If
> 300 individuals 
> designated $1 million life insurance policies or
> 3,000 individuals designated 
> $100,000 life insurance policies, this alone would
> fulfill the $300 million 
> goal.)  The income from these investments would be
> sufficient to fund day 
> school education in Chicago in perpetuity. Hundreds
> of billboards have been 
> erected in front of synagogues and day schools
> advertising Operation Jewish 
> Education/The 5% Mandate.
> 
> Operation Jewish Education/The 5% Mandate is
> attempting to help day schools 
> help themselves.  We are attempting to have every
> day school and every 
> synagogue in the Diaspora open its own endowment
> fund.  We are encouraging 
> each school to appoint seven members to its own
> fund's board of trustees, who 
> would in turn have donated funds  managed by a
> professional independent money 
> manager.  We are seeking to encourage each endowment
> fund to never spend more 
> than the first 7% of annual earnings from its
> principal so that each fund 
> will grow from retained earnings, in addition to
> ongoing contributions. We 
> further are seeking to forge partnerships between
> day schools, federations 
> and synagogues so that a myriad of endowment funds
> are established, enabling 
> every Jew to give to the institution to which he
> feels the closest.
> 
> We must recognize that  leadership of day schools
> across the Diaspora is 
> consumed with trying to figure out how to meet the
> payroll every month.  Day 
> schools, with their very existence is in daily
> jeopardy, do not have the 
> luxury of planning for the future.  In attempting to
> promote local 
> implementation of Operation Jewish Education/The 5%
> Mandate, we are 
> establishing regional offices nationally.  The staff
> in these offices will 
> help local day schools' leadership help themselves. 
> The staff personnel will 
> do no fund-raising.  It is important to clarify in
> every community that our 
> initiative will not  take money out of the community
> to staff another 
> organization.  The mission of each office will be
> clearly articulated as 
> follows:
> 
> I.  Assist each local day school to establish its
> own endowment fund which 
> will be supervised by an independent board of seven
> trustees (this will give 
> each school the opportunity to bring back seven
> formerly active members of 
> their parent body to be the guardians of that
> institution's endowment fund).  
> These funds would be managed by independent
> professional money managers.  The 
> Jewish Federation of each community should be
> willing to perform this 
> function with no fee for services.
> 
> II. We are also asking every Jewish leader in the
> Diaspora to explain the 
> nature of the crisis and its solution, "Operation
> Jewish Education/The 5% 
> Mandate," to their own constituency and obtain
> pledges.
> 
> We must inculcate in all communities that "Operation
> Jewish Education/The 5% 
> Mandate" is a Mitzvas Aseh - an affirmative
> obligation of every member of the 
> community, the rich and the poor, the young and the
> elderly.  This is the 
> "machtzit hashekel" (half shekel tax) of our
> generation.  It is every Jew's 
> obligation to provide for the education of the next
> generation of young 
> people.
> 
>     A.  Have community rabbis and lay leaders sign
> the Declaration of 
> Leadership.
> 
>     B.  Start a public relations campaign which
> includes:
>     
>         1.  Establishment of parent calling
> committees;
>     
>         2.  Mailings to parents and the general
> community;
>     
>         3.  Erection of billboards (sample layout
> available) in front of 
> every           synagogue and school in the
> community;
>     
>         4.  Asking every community rabbi to speak
> from the pulpit about the 
> 5%          Mandate.
> 
> III.    Have each day school circulate individual
> Letters of Intent and 
> obtain signatures from every member of the
> community.
> 
> The initial signature drive should start among the
> parents, then the 
> grandparents, then the aunts and uncles and extended
> families, and then 
> friends, utilizing the concept of concentric spheres
> of contact, starting 
> with the most committed and gaining critical mass 
> to bring in the less 
> committed.
> 
> Publish quarterly, in the Anglo-Jewish press, a list
> of names of everyone 
> that has signed Letters of Intent and fulfilled
> their communal 
> responsibility.  The publication of this list is an
> effective vehicle for 
> creating communal accountability.
> 
> The national day school community is a powerful
> political force that has 
> never been harnessed.  There are approximately
> 200,000 children in the day 
> school system, which translates into a corresponding
> adult population of over 
> 1 million Jews.  This day school family includes
> parents, grandparents, aunts 
> and uncles who are associated with all  religious
> streams of affiliation, all 
> of whom are keenly concerned with solving this
> crisis.  This 1 million Jewish 
> population constituency is already organized into a
> readily accessible army 
> which can be broken down into easily contactable
> units.  Every day school has 
> its own organizational hierarchy with a president
> and board of directors.  
> The mailing list of each organizational constituency
> is the basis for a 
> national grass roots contact list.  Our intent is to
> initiate the 
> mobilization of all of these like-minded individuals
> that can change the 
> course of events in the Diaspora.  If sufficient
> individuals say often enough 
> that there is a 5% Mandate, it will become a
> reality.  That which must be 
> done, will be done.  Over time, it will become a
> "standard of normative 
> behavior."
> 
> We must seize the moment for Klal Yisrael and devote
> our utmost efforts to 
> promote the funding of these endowments and
> fulfillment of the obligation of 
> v'shinantam l'vanecha.  We must stand and assume our
> responsibility and not 
> squander this singular opportunity.
> 
> In the tradition of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Gamla, our
> leaders have declared that 
> it is every Jew's obligation to act now for Jewish
> education and fulfill the 
> mandate of this new concept in financial support for
> day schools, "lest Torah 
> be lost to Klal Yisrael" ( Bava Basra 21a).
> 
> 
> 
> NATIONAL JEWISH DAY SCHOOL SCHOLARSHIP COMMITTEE
> 333 W. Wacker Dr., Suite 2750
> Chicago, IL 60606
> 312-332-4172
> Fax: 312-332-2119
> 
> 
> AN OPEN LETTER TO THE JEWISH COMMUNITY
> By George Hanus, Chairman
> 
>     Recognizing that intensive Jewish education is
> the essential guarantor of 
> Jewish survival and continuity in the face of the
> pervasive cultural forces 
> that foster rampant assimilation, intermarriage and
> other destructive trends 
> among our people, our Rabbis and national Jewish 
> lay leadership have adopted 
> a formal Declaration establishing: 
> 
> "OPERATION JEWISH EDUCATION-THE 5% MANDATE."
> 
>     Affirming the proposition that it is a
> fundamental obligation of the 
> entire Jewish community and each individual Jew to
> provide intensive Jewish 
> education to all who seek it, irrespective of family
> wealth, our leadership 
> has unequivocally declared that:
> 
> "IT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY."
> 
>     The Declaration therefore imposes upon each of
> us the sacred obligation 
> to dedicate at least 5% of ones estate to any Jewish
> Day School Endowment 
> Fund that one chooses, either by will or during ones
> lifetime.  A portion of 
> the earnings of each such Fund will be applied to
> defray the extraordinarily 
> high day school tuitions that are a serious entry
> barrier to nearly all but 
> the most affluent and most committed young Jewish
> families, and threaten 
> bankruptcy for many families currently in the
> system.  Our goal is to make 
> day school tuition affordable, or better yet,
> absolutely free.
> 
>     If the current day school funding crisis is
> permitted to continue, we 
> will witness in our lifetimes the substantial
> decimation of the Jewish 
> population of the Diaspora.   On the other hand, if
> significant numbers of 
> Jews fulfill the mitzvah of the 5% Mandate,
> perpetual endowment funds could 
> well generate sufficient annual earnings to enable
> every Jewish child to 
> attend the day school of his or her family's choice
> tuition-free.
> 
>     There is considerable precedent for the 5%
> Mandate in Jewish history and 
> tradition.  Throughout our existence as a people,
> Jewish leadership has 
> boldly risen to the challenges of crises that
> threaten our communal 
> well-being or survival by mandating and implementing
> defensive measures.  In 
> our day, our leaders are again acting in this
> time-honored tradition by 
> imposing the 5% Mandate and declaring every Jew
> equally responsible to 
> participate in the mitzvah of saving our people.  
> Jewish religious and lay 
> leaders representing organizations with tens of
> thousands of constituents 
> from around the country have signed the Declaration
> endorsing "Operation 
> Jewish Education-The 5% Mandate".   This display of
> unity and concerted 
> action is extraordinarily rare in our time.  We are
> currently in crisis.  We 
> must now act.  If we don't, we only have ourselves
> to blame for the 
> consequences.
> 
>     The Honor Roll of Guardians of the Jewish
> Education Trust Funds   will be 
> published annually in local community newspapers and
> school/synagogue 
> newsletters which list the names of every individual
> who has signed the 
> Declaration of Intent.  This will document for
> posterity the name of every 
> Jew who is participating in this communal mandate by
> devoting a portion of 
> today's  G-d given bounty to secure the future of
> our people.
> 
>     Please sign the attached DECLARATION OF INTENT
> and return it to the day 
> school of your choice or to the National Jewish Day
> School Scholarship 
> Committee, 333 West Wacker Drive, Suite 2750,
> Chicago, IL 60606.
> 


=====

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