Torah Sages Urge Torah Study to Halt Tide of Assimilation

“The only practical approach to halt continued losses of American Jewry to assimilation is the massive effort to involve every Jew in Torah study,” was the central message of three of the nation’s leading Torah sages at the 60th national convention of Agudath Israel of America last Saturday night.

Speaking to more than 3,000 people from nine countries and 25 states, and to a live radio audience, Rabbi Mordechai Gifter, dean of the Telshe Yeshiva in Cleveland and a member of the organization’s Council of Torah Sages, said that “Jews who study Torah must shoulder the burden of raising the personal integrity of the Jew in general.”

Gifter added: “The success of the Orthodox community in reaching out to unaffiliated Jews is beyond question a positive force in Jewish life, but for every Jew returned to the ‘fold,’ ten are being lost through intermarriage and assimilation. Involving every Jew in Torah study, including observant Jews who fail to study, must be a priority of the organized Orthodox Jewish community.”

Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, dean of Mesivta Tifereth Jerusalem, the chairman of Agudath Israel’s Council of Torah Sages, in a filmed address, joined Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetzky, dean of Mesivta Torah Vodaath, in stressing that “Orthodoxy can only secure its goals through the power of community. Although Judaism teaches every Jew to be responsible for his fellow Jew, only a collective force such as Agudath Israel can have any hope of genuine success with the Jewish masses.”

Rabbi Moshe Sherer, who was reelected president of Agudath Israel of America, declared that “because of the ravages of living in a diaspora society, much of Orthodox Jewry is suffering from a loss of spiritual appetite.” He called upon Orthodox Jews to “lift their sights to apply traditional Torah values to every phase of personal and national Jewish life; the choice faced by Jews today is clear: either total acceptance of Torah law or chaos will reign supreme.”

ATTITUDE TOWARDS ORTHODOXY IN ISRAEL CHANGING

In a special report on religious-secular relations in Israel, Rabbi Shlomo Lorincz, Aguda MK and chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee, said: “New positive attitudes towards religion in Israeli society are a dramatic by-product of Aguda Israel’s swing vote role in the coalition of Prime Minister Menachem Begin.” Lorincz said that even opposition Labor members in his committee now see the benefits of the Israeli government’s increased funding to yeshivos.

A noted Jewish educator and the author of a popular Judaica series in a symposium entitled “American Orthodox Unity: Is It Possible?”, agreed that despite differences among various groups, the quest for authentic Jewish values males such unity possible. Rabbi Nachman Bulman, an American author and lecturer now in Migdal Heemek, Israel, said: “Despite the apparent elusbre broad Orthodox unity, there are growing signs of unity, especially when the Orthodox community is threatened, and in the growing network of philanthropic activities.”

A resolution adopted at the convention urged the Aguda Party in Israel to counteract efforts of Conservative and Reform groups to make inroads in Israel and urged Orthodox groups to immediately leave the Synagogue Council of America because their continued affiliation with mixed religious agencies in the U.S. encourages the growth of the Reform movement in Israel.