National Scholar Updates

To our members and friends

All of our educational programs and projects continue apace. I sent out my six-month summary last month, and here are some upcoming programs and projects for January:

The Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals is proud to co-sponsor a new ten-part series of weekly classes with Lincoln Square Synagogue in the First Book of Samuel (68th Street and Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan). The classes are taught at a high level and accessible to people of all learning backgrounds. Ten Wednesdays from 7:15-8:15 pm from January 29-April 2. Registration for the entire course costs $150, or it costs $20 per class if you register in advance/$25 at the door per class. You can register at lss.org/RabbiAngel. If you have any registration questions, please contact Ms. Elana Stein Hain, [email protected].

Shabbat Jan 3-4: Shabbat scholar-in-residence at Keter Torah (Roemer) in Bergenfield, New Jersey. This Shabbat will have a strong biblical focus.

Monday Jan 13, 3:40-4:20 seder, 4:20-5:10 shiur, “Megillat Esther: What They Didn’t Teach Us in Day School.” At Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in Riverdale (3700 Henry Hudson Parkway). Students and alumni free, adults $50, students $36 for day. You can register at yctorah.org. This class is part of a Bible study-day conducted by Yeshivat Chovevei Torah.

This month, my newest book, A Synagogue Companion, will be published and distributed to members of the Institute and to interested synagogues and others. It is published by the Institute, in lieu of Conversations issue 18. If you are interested in ordering multiple copies for your school or synagogue at a very reduced rate, please contact Rabbi Marc Angel, [email protected].

The regular Conversations schedule is on track, with the next regular issue scheduled for publication in May.

I have recorded my classes on the Book of Samuel, and will be recording my classes on the Book of Esther for the Aleph Beta Academy. Their video editors will then create the educational videos that will be put on their website. Check out alephbeta.org to see my courses on Joshua, Judges, and Lamentations, as well as many other classes by other educators in this engaging format.

I will be continuing my teacher-training sessions at the Ramaz High School in New York on January 2. We are working with their Bible faculty in reviewing aspects of their curriculum. This session is open to the Ramaz faculty only.

I am beginning four new undergraduate courses at Yeshiva University: Samuel, Haggai-Zechariah-Malachi (an Honors course), and two sections of Jeremiah. These course are open to students at Yeshiva University.

In addition to classes to adults and college students, teacher training, and publications, part of my role as the Institute’s National Scholar is to be a resource, and I regularly correspond with many people on important issues in Jewish thought and education.

I recently received a note from a student who lives in Israel. This is a very lightly edited and abridged version of what he wrote: “I am currently in my fourth year in a hesder program. I recently finished my mandatory service in the army and during my service your online classes on Tanach and your books kept Torah alive for me. During a time in my life when Torah learning was not as accessible as one would want, your teachings made it accessible for me…Again I wanted to let you know just how much I enjoy listening to your classes and reading your books, they have really helped me learn Tanach in an entirely new fashion, and I owe my passion for Tanach study to you.” Needless to say, I was deeply moved by this note. This heroic young man who serves our nation took whatever free moments he had to learn Torah. I thanked him for sharing his thoughts and referred him to our Online Learning section on our Institute’s website so that he may access a growing number of our lectures online and perhaps find other materials and articles of interest.

My father, Rabbi Marc Angel, often receives far-away inquiries and comments through our Institute from every corner of the globe. Thank you for your support and encouragement in making all of this a reality, and we look forward to expanding our scope and reach in the coming years.

Thank you for your support and encouragement, and I look forward to building this vision with you and the broader community in the coming year and beyond. I welcome your ideas and suggestions. Please feel free to contact me at [email protected].

Rabbi Hayyim

Angel National Scholar

The Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals has been co-sponsoring my ten-part series of weekly classes with Lincoln Square Synagogue in the First Book of Samuel (68th Street and Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan). Ten Wednesdays from 7:15-8:15 pm from January 29-April 2. Registration for the entire course costs $150, or it costs $20 per class if you register in advance/$25 at the door per class. You can register at lss.org/RabbiAngel.

Some other teaching highlights from February include:

Shabbat Feb 7-8: scholar-in-residence at Yeshiva University. Shiurim on the interrelationship between traditional and academic methods of Tanakh study (this is primarily for students there)

Shabbat Feb 15: Shabbat morning class at Congregation Ohav Shalom after morning services (84th between Broadway and West End Avenue, NYC): "Hur and Pharaoh's daughter." Around 11:00am

Sunday Feb 23: class on Megillat Esther at the Kingsway Jewish Center in Brooklyn. 9:30-10:30 am, Kingsway Jewish Center 2810 Nostrand Avenue Brooklyn NY 11234

Shabbat Feb 28-March 1: scholar-in-residence program at Cornell University (for Cornell students). I will be giving a four-part series at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in Riverdale, NY beginning March 5 on the Book of Jeremiah, for students at YCT.

Thursday March 6: I will be conducting a teacher training session on the Book of Jeremiah for Tanakh faculty at the Ramaz Upper School in New York.

Shabbat March 7-8: scholar-in-residence at Congregation Shaarei Orah in Teaneck, New Jersey. This Shabbat will feature several talks on Sephardic and Ashkenazic liturgy and philosophy and how a study of both deepens our appreciation of tradition. 1425 Essex Rd, Teaneck, NJ 07666

National Scholar One Year Report June 1, 2013—May 31, 2014

Rabbi Hayyim Angel National Scholar, Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals [email protected] jewishideas.org

To our members and friends, I am pleased to report that I now have completed the first year of working as the National Scholar of the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals. We have hit the ground running, and it has been an honor and privilege working to promote our vision nationwide primarily through teaching, and also through writing and creating internet classes.This report summarizes my various projects and activities over the past year.

Overall, I gave over 220 classes, spoke in dozens of communities and campuses, published four books (including two through the Institute), and created a series of online classes. I thank the supporters of the Institute, as well as all of the interested communities and campuses, for making this explosion of learning possible.

The major areas of focus are:

• University Students:

o Teaching four courses per semester to undergraduates at Yeshiva University forms the heart of this educational element. Many of my students have gone on to rabbinical school, graduate school in Jewish Studies, and careers in the rabbinate and in Jewish education, and many others form the lay backbone of communities nationwide and in Israel. I remain in touch with a sizable number of former students. More significantly, a growing number of rabbis and educators who were not my students have found an address for their questions at the Institute.

o In conjunction with our University Network, I have given classes at Columbia University, New York University,University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University, Brandeis University, and University of Chicago. It has been a valuable experience learning together with students on various campuses, exchanging ideas, and connecting them with our vision.

• Community Education:

o There is a serious thirst for the kind of learning represented by our Institute, and a sizable number of communities have invited us. Through a combination of scholar-in-residence programs and lectures in different communities, we reached thousands of interested adults directly in the past year.

o I have developed a series of lectures on the worldview of our Institute. This past year I gave several individual lectures in different communities, and look forward to offering a full series in the New York area in the coming year.

• Teacher Training:

o One of our central goals is to train other rabbis, community leaders, and educators to spread Torah to schools and communities. In this manner we create bridges with many people in the field to work together. o Last year I taught a year-long course in “How to Teach Bible in Synagogues” to honors rabbinical students at Yeshiva University. This past year I taught a one-semester version to the women in the Graduate Program for Advanced Talmudic Studies at Stern College for Women of Yeshiva University.

o I participate annually as faculty in Yeshiva University’s graduate program in Experiential Education. o I taught a course to rabbinical students at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in Riverdale, NY, with an emphasis on both content and methodology.

o I gave teacher-training seminars to Bible faculties at the Ida Crown Academy (Chicago) and the Ramaz High School (New York). Given the complexities of Bible and Jewish Studies our graduates are likely to encounter on secular university campuses, our training focuses on how to equip Jewish Studies high school faculties to prepare their students for the University setting.

• Internet Learning: o We have created an Online Learning section on the Institute’s website, jewishideas.org. You can find links to a growing number of classes of mine there.

o I have developed a new kind of onlinevideo class with the Aleph Beta Academy (alephbeta.org). Thus far my classes on the Books of Joshua, Judges, Lamentations, and Esther are online, Samuel and Kings are in process, and more is yet to come.

• Publications:

o The Institute published my Synagogue Companion this past January. It was distributed to Institute members and interested synagogues, educators, and laypeople across the country. This volume makes accessible comments on the Torah, Haftarot, and Shabbat morning prayers. Additional copies are available at the Institute online store and at amazon.com.

o I published a revised second edition of my first collection of essays on Bible, Through an Opaque Lens. It is available at amazon.com.

o I published a new collection of essays on Bible with a focus on methodology, Peshat Isn’t So Simple. It is available at amazon.com.

o I am in the editing stages of a Jewish Holiday Companion that will be published through the Institute. It contains commentary on the holidays and their major themes and readings.

Below is an itemized listing of the various classes and programs over the past year, as well as some upcoming highlights.

• May 31-June 1: Scholar-in-residence, Young Israel of Jamaica Estates, Queens, NY.

• June 10: Teachers’ in-service at the Ida Crown Jewish Academy (High School) in Chicago.

• June 21-22: Scholar-in-residence, Young Israel of Stamford, Connecticut.

• June 26 Lecture in the Experiential Education program by Yeshiva University, “Teaching the Book of Job.”

• July 19-20: Scholar-in-residence, Mashadi Persian community in Great Neck, NY. • July 26-27 Scholar-in-residence, Lincoln Square Synagogue in Manhattan.

• August 16-17 Scholar-in-residence, Lincoln Square Synagogue in Manhattan.

• September 10: Stanley Rudoff Memorial Lecture at the Drisha Institute for Jewish Education: “Introduction to Kohelet: confronting religious challenges.”

• October 6: Speaker at Book Reception for new commentary by Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik: Chumash Mesorat HaRav: Chumash with Commentary Based on the Teachings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Young Israel of New Rochelle.

• October 9: Queens College Annual Sephardic Lecture, “A Sephardic Approach to Tradition and Modernity.”

• Oct 13, 20, 27:Young Israel of Jamaica Estates. Three-part series on Biblical Wisdom (Proverbs, Job, Kohelet).

• October 27:Columbia-Barnard Hillel/Institute University Network. “Learning Faith from the Text, or Text from Faith: The Challenges of Teaching and Learning the Avraham Narratives and Commentary.”

• November 17:Young Israel of Jamaica Estates, “The Books of the Maccabees and Rabbinic Thought: Getting to the Roots of Hanukkah.”

• November 21: Teacher training session, Ramaz Bible faculty, New York.

• November 25: Lecture at New York University, “Orthodoxy and Confrontation with Modern Bible Criticism.”

• October 16-December 18: Nine-part series on the Book of Judges at Lincoln Square Synagogue in Manhattan.

• October 2-December 11: An eight-part course on “How to Teach Bible in Synagogues” to the Graduate Program for Women in Advanced Talmudic Study at Stern College for Women of Yeshiva University.

• December 8: Lecture at University of Pennsylvania, “The Book of Chronicles: a window into how the Bible was written.”

• Shabbat December 13-14: Scholar-in-Residence, Congregation Chovevei Tzion in Chicago.

• January 2: Teacher training session, Ramaz Bible faculty, New York.

• Shabbat January 3-4:Scholar-in-Residence, Congregation Keter Torah (Roemer) in Bergenfield, New Jersey.

• January 13: A class on Megillat Esther, at the Yemei Iyyun of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in Riverdale, New York.

• January 29-April 2: Ten-part series on the First Book of Samuel at Lincoln Square Synagogue in Manhattan.

• Shabbat February 7-8:Scholar-in-Residence, Yeshiva University.

• Shabbat Feburary 15: Scholar-in-Residence, Congregation Ohab Shalom in Manhattan.

• Shabbat February 28-March 1: Scholar-in-Residence, Cornell University.

• Shabbat March 7-8: Scholar-in-Residence, Congregation Shaarei Orah in Teaneck. This was a Sephardic-themed Shabbat, and lectures throughout the weekend focused on great Sephardic thinkers and ideas that are good for all Jews.

• Thursday March 20: Book Reception for my books: Vision from the Prophet and Counsel from the Elders, and A Synagogue Companion.

• March: Four-part series in the Book of Jeremiah at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School.

• May-June: Seven-part series on the Book of Samuel at Lincoln Square Synagogue in Manhattan. Coming attractions include:

• Shavuot, June 3-5: Scholar-in-residence, Young Israel of West Hartford, Connecticut.

• Monday, June 16, 7:30 pm: Book Launch for my just-published book, Peshat Isn’t So Simple. At Lincoln Square Synagogue, 68th Street and Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan. Free and open to the public. Copies of the book will be available at a discounted price.

• Shabbat, June 20-21: Scholar-in-residence, Young Israel of Oceanside.

• Tuesday, June 24: Lecture on the Book of Job, Yeshiva University Graduate Program in Experiential Education (open only to participants in their program).

• Sunday June 29-Monday June 30: Three lectures on Tanakh at the yemei iyyun of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, held this year at Manhattan Day School, 310 West 75th Street in Manhattan. Registration forms and more information at http://www.yctorah.org/content/view/895/17/ All are welcome.

• Wednesdays in July: Five-part series on the Haftarot for Lamdeinu. The classes will be held at Congregation Beth Aaron, 950 Queen Anne Road. The course costs $75 and is open to the entire community. For more information and other offerings, please contact [email protected].

Thank you all for your support and enthusiasm, and I look forward to promoting our Torah vision for many years to come.

Rabbi Hayyim Angel

National Scholar Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals

September, 2014

To our members and friends, As we approach the New Year, we look forward to another robust season of educational programming. Here are some of the major highlights thus far in place, and more will continue to develop throughout the year. I will be the Rabbinic Scholar at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York City (85th Street between Park and Lexington Avenue) for the coming year. This will involve eight Shabbatot in the KJ community, as well as High Holy Day sermons to their Sephardic minyan on Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur.

This coming Shabbat, September 20, I will speak on Sephardic and Ashkenazic Liturgy. That will take place around 11:00 am after services at the Sephardic minyan. All are welcome.

KJ Shabbat dates: October 18 December 20 (Hanukkah) January 17 February 21 March 7 May 9 June 6

After the holiday season, I am excited to offer a brand-new eight-part series, entitled Creating Jewish Unity. This course, sponsored by our Institute, outlines some of the most important areas of developing a religious worldview that is authentic to Jewish tradition, reasonable, and relevant to life in the 21st century. A wide range of opinions is considered, seeking those approaches that best address our complex contemporary reality. These classes present some of the core values of our Institute. It will be held on Tuesday mornings, from 8:40-9:30 am, at the Apple Bank on 73rd Street and Broadway in Manhattan.

Creating Jewish Unity Dates: October 21, 28, November 4, 18, 25 (not Nov 11, Veterans Day) December 2, 9, 16 ADVANCE REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED: if you wish to attend, please let us know by emailing [email protected] We also will continue with our in-depth Tanakh learning at Lincoln Square Synagogue (68th Street and Amsterdam in Manhattan). This year we are learning the Second Book of Samuel. These classes will be on Wednesday evenings, 7:15-8:15.

Second Samuel fall dates (eight sessions): October 22, 29 November 5, 12, 19 (not 26, Thanksgiving weekend) December 3, 10, 17 These classes are co-sponsored by our Institute and Lincoln Square Synagogue. For registration information, please go to lss.org. In addition to these regular offerings, I will be a scholar-in-residence at Anshei Sphard Beth El Emeth in Memphis, Tennessee; Beth Israel Abraham and Voliner in Overland Park, Kansas; Young Israel of Woodmere-Cedarhurst; Ahavath Torah in Englewood, New Jersey; Young Israel of Century City, in Los Angeles; and a four-part series for Lamdeinu, Teaneck New Jersey. Details to follow as these events get closer.

Finally, we are putting the finishing touches on my upcoming book, A Jewish Holiday Companion. This book, a sequel to my Synagogue Companion, will be published in November by our Institute. I am deeply grateful to the book’s co-sponsors, who made this project possible. They will all be thanked on a dedication page and in the introduction. The books will be distributed to members of our Institute, and will also be available at amazon.com.

As always, I thank our members and friends for their support and for enabling us to spread our Institute’s vision through teaching and writings throughout the country and beyond.

I wish you all a Shanah Tovah, a year of peace for us all, Israel, and the world.

The Kosher Bookworm
The Study of Bible Commentary--Fascinating
by Alan Jay Gerber

This past week the Young Israel of Lawrence Cedarhurst hosted one of America's
leading interpreters of the Bible text and commentaries, Rabbi Hayyim Angel.
Rabbi Angel's presentments that Shabbat to a total of over 700 attendees was
both impressive as to their attentiveness of the listeners as well as to the
comprehensiveness of the content of his message. As reflected in his literary
output over the past decade Rabbi Angel's message is to parse the inner workings
of the text of the holy writ, to define to "amcha" the methodology of peshat and
derash, so as to enable the average layperson to better understand the basic
content as well as the hidden theological message of the divine text.

This review is intended to serve as a literary followup to Rabbi Angel's message
through bringing to your attention a sample of Rabbi Angel's literary works for
your edification and hopeful use. This review is not intended to be an
analytical study, just a "taste" of the wisdom and gifted thought of Rabbi
Hayyim Angel.

Recently, Kodesh Press published Rabbi Angel's "Peshat Isn't So Simple" Essays
on Developing a Religious Methodology to Bible Study", a collection of twenty
one essays spanning the entire Bible dealing with some of the most interesting
chapter of Bible narrative. Within these pages are reflected Rabbi Angel's
method of analysis wherein we get a first hand up front view of what constitutes
real Bible commentary. Among the commentators whose commentary is given the
"Angel treatment" are Rambam, Abarbanel, Sforno,Moshe Shamah, and Leon Kass.
Rabbi Angel's method in defining parshanut envelops much of this work making for
some interesting and truly informative teachings.

From the very outset, Rabbi Angel defines for us his method for us to
understand and to hopefully ultimately apply in our future study of the Bible.

Consider the following:

"Developing a religious methodology for learning Tanach requires many
ingredients. Foremost, the belief in Revelation, that the sacred words of the
Bible reflect G-d's word speaking directly to us, lies at the very heart of
learning. Tanach shapes our religious worldview, our religious and moral
behavior, and our core values and ideals."

This is as plain and as straight as one can write on a subject that has been the
source of questionable theological takes among our people for over two
centuries. The blunt honesty of the writer is a refreshing change of pace from
those of his more liberal contemporaries who use the Bible as a whipping post
for their questionable beliefs.

Further on in his introduction Rabbi Angel notes the following:

"Although peshat often is translated as the plain or simple sense of the text,
there is nothing plain or simple about it when we take it seriously. Sifting
through many centuries of scholarship and methodology coupled with pursuing
contemporary approaches and research is a life-long endeavor, as we continue our
attempts to refine truth and approach G-d's word through our eternal sacred
texts."

Among the more interesting chapters in this work that relate to the current
Torah readings, you will surely find the following to be of must interest:
"Joseph's Bones: Peshat, Derash, and in Between", and "Learning From and living
our History: Lessons from the Exodus in Tanach".
Both of these two essays will give you a broader understanding as well as
appreciation of the inner meanings and messages of Torah text, as well as the
various nuances of Torah commentaries.

Related to these essays, in a previous work by Rabbi Angel entitled, "Revealed
Texts, Hidden Meanings" [Ktav 2009] we find a short yet fascinating essay, "The
Genesis-Exodus Continuum: What Happens When They Are Viewed As A Larger Unit"
that details the thematic links between the first two books of the Bible that
further enhance their theological as well as literary messages. This chapter
alone would make for some interesting conversation as the Seder table, indeed a
warm thought for this time of year.

Rabino Alfredo Goldschmidt of Bogota, Colombia, describes his rabbinic work

Israel’s new political reality—with the two main Ultra-Orthodox or Haredi political parties, the Sephardic-based Shas party and the Ashkenazi-based United Torah Judaism, inside the government won’t help the next generation of Haredi young people—in fact, on the contrary, it will perpetuate a broken system. While Shas and United Torah Judaism have negotiated financial windfalls for their constituencies, as well as a pull-back on the demand that Ultra-Orthodox young men serve in the Israeli Defense Force, this old style of conducting business could be harmful to our community’s young people. That’s because the reality is that education—not political power--is the key to the future for the Haredi community in Israel, especially if the government doesn’t put advancing Haredim through education and employment at the core of the agenda.

“Educate each child according to his own path,” the Book of Proverbs teaches us, “and he will not stray from it, even when he is old.” And yet, when it comes to educating Haredi youth in Israel, we still have much to learn. Quite honestly, there is nothing short of an education crisis in our community. Rather than providing real choices, our leaders have traditionally insisted that Haredi students have only one path: a formal, rote curriculum dominated by intensive Talmud study, with no option for students to take general studies or complete an Israeli matriculation certificate. This is the path that is likely to dominate the agenda right now—and it is not the path that our young people need or deserve.

The reality is that in the absence of a meaningful alternative, nearly a third of Haredi teenage boys will continue to become alienated from both mainstream Israeli society and the traditional ways of their community. Many drop out of school, spend their time on the streets, or are lost to the Haredi community altogether. They are unable to build families and successful lives.

Those yeshivas that do offer secular matriculation (and there are only a handful in the entire country) are far too expensive for most Haredi families to afford.

By creating Hachmey Lev Yeshiva High School, my aim is to do nothing short of transforming the Yeshiva model. We offer teens who are under stimulated in classical Yeshiva settings the opportunity to maximize their social, educational, and cognitive potential all while still maintaining a Haredi lifestyle. We are teaching the boys Gemara at the highest standards, in Hebrew and without compromise, and to live a Haredi lifestyle that will also allow them to earn a good living for themselves and their future families.

I was inspired to create Hachmay Lev based on my own family’s experience when our son reached seventh grade and boredom got the better of him. He showed little interest in his traditional yeshiva schooling. As a product of this schooling myself, I know the value of its rigor, but this model simply is outmoded for today’s young people.

Our students combine study of Talmud (32 hours each week) and general studies (20 hours each week), giving them a broader education than any other Haredi institutions in Israel. They study the core curriculum like English, math, history, Bible, civics, computer science, and Hebrew, while also enjoying music and sports. Students sleep in Jerusalem during the week and return home on weekends. Once the model has been fine-tuned, Hachmey Lev will be replicated in other locations across Israel.

I spent ten years putting Haredim into the workforce and that’s why I know that education is the core issue. After spending a lifetime of activism in the Haredi community on a variety of pressing issues, including making sure that our men serve in the IDF, and find gainful employment, I am convinced that unless and until we transform our educational system, there will simply never be the systemic change that we need.

North American and British donors know the necessity of getting the 20% of Israeli society that is Haredi into the workforce—and are supporting efforts to increase employment opportunities in the Haredi community, so that our young people can have new models to emulate. Philanthropists outside of Israel also know that Israel is the global exception, since nowhere else in the world are young people exempt from learning a broad range of studies or from working. But, money for employment without strengthening and expanding serious alternative educational models won’t create the type of workers for a 21st century workforce that Israel needs.

Philanthropists who want to impact the Israeli economy need to invest in educational models that will recast the pattern of poverty in our community. Now, more than ever, those of us who trying to change Haredi society from within need to show that our model can work for a broader segment of our community.

www.kidum-edu.org.il/en/education-campuses/hachmey-lev-yeshiva-high-school

The Kosher Bookworm
Pirkei Avot As An Intellectual Challenge
by Alan Jay Gerber

With Shavuot now behind up, we once again commence our learning of Pirkei Avot starting with the first chapter. Thus, it is most opportune to bring to your attention a new commentary by a former classmate of mine at Yeshiva University and the Director of The Institute For Jewish Ideas and Ideals, Rabbi Marc Angel. This commentary entitled, "The Koren Pirkei Avot" features a translation by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, and a publisher's preface by Matthew Miller. In this preface Miller asks and answers the following question:

"Why is Pirkei Avot so widely studied ? Of all the books of the Mishna, it is the one that directly touches scholars and lay people alike; it requires little background, yet it offers the collected wisdom of our sages in a manner more accessible than any other book."

This brief observation by Miller informs us right at the start of the historical importance of this work.

Rabbi Angel, in his introduction informs us of the following as background to his commentary:

"Pirkei Avot, popularly translated as Ethics of the Fathers, is a collection of rabbinic teachings, mainly from the Tannaitic period. It is included at the end of the Talmudic tractates dealing with business law and torts [Nezikin]. The first chapter presents teachings of the early sages in chronological order; the next four chapters provide assorted teachings; the sixth chapter is a later addition to the original. This final chapter, transferred to Pirkei Avot from the eighth chapter of the tractate Kalla, was added due to the widespread custom of studying one chapter of Pirkei Avot on each of the six Sabbaths between the festivals of Pesach and Shavuot."

In a most perceptive statement sent for publication for this week's essay, Rabbi Angel further extends to us his teaching as to the background and importance of Pirkei Avot to our faith.

"Many thinking people today are searching for authentic wisdom that can deepen their lives, and put their lives into a spiritual perspective. Over the centuries, the Jewish people have been able to draw on the wisdom of Pirkei Avot to contemplate basic ideas in faith and ethics. Each generation of Jews sees and experiences the world with different eyes, and our generation today represents the latest chapter in the Jewish adventure. While earlier commentaries on the Pirkei Avot were -- and continue to be -- highly important, each generation needs to study the ancient texts with contemporary eyes. We need to draw on the insights garnered from the past; but we also need to draw on insights derived from modern perspectives in literature, psychology, and philosophy. My commentary does not attempt to 'reinvent the wheel' by simply reciting what earlier commentaries have already stated. Rather, it attempts to confront the ancient texts with modern eyes, in a manner that will empower modern readers to find new insights and inspiration from the Pirkei Avot."

Throughout this work Rabbi Angel cites numerous citations, teachings and admonitions from "outside" sources that serve to buttress the teachings of our sages. Each citation is not a passing partial one sentence quote, but an extensive citation that will give you the full flavor of the author's intent and justification for its use together with the sacred text.

This work is different from others on Pirkei Avot. You will not be disappointed in the content, and the intellectual challenge will be a joy to experience.

May, 2015

To our members and friends, I hope you are all well.

As summer approaches, we still have several important upcoming Institute programs in store:

On Sunday, June 7, from 10:00am-1:00pm, I will be running our second symposium, co-sponsored by Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in Manhattan: “Extremely Religious without Religious Extremism: Perspectives within Jewish Tradition.” This symposium will feature three talks:

· “Who Are You Calling a Fundamentalist?: The Taxonomy of Contemporary Orthodoxy,” by Dr. Rivka Press Schwartz, Director of General Studies at the Frisch School.

· “The Binding of Isaac: An Extreme Narrative with the Keys to a Non-Extremist Religious Life,” by Rabbi Hayyim Angel, National Scholar, Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals; Rabbinic Scholar, Kehilath Jeshurun; Bible Faculty, Yeshiva University.

· “Between Piety and Extremism: Talmudic Insights,” by Rabbi Ozer Glickman, Rosh Yeshiva, and Adjunct Professor in the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and the Sy Syms School of Business, Yeshiva University. It will be held at the Ramaz Middle School, 114 East 85th Street (between Park and Lexington Avenue). Light refreshments served, and it is free and open to the public.

Here are some other upcoming Institute programs:

Kehilath Jeshurun (114 East 85th Street, between Park and Lexington Avenue in Manhattan): I am pleased to announce that beginning June 1, I will be participating more robustly as the Rabbinic Scholar of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun, with a greater Shabbat presence (primarily at the Sephardic minyan). I also am making a New York home for our Institute classes and programs at Kehilath Jeshurun. Stay tuned for future announcements.

May 22-25 (Shavuot): I will be the scholar-in-residence at the Young Israel of Century City, Los Angeles (9317 West Pico Blvd). Free and open to the public. For more information visit their website, http://www.yicc.org/.

April 15-June 3: My eight-part series on The First Book of Kings continues at Lincoln Square Synagogue (68th Street and Amsterdam in Manhattan). Newcomers are always welcome. Classes meet on Wednesday evenings, 7:15-8:15pm.

Remaining dates for the spring semester are: May 20, 27, June 3. Classes are co-sponsored by our Institute and Lincoln Square Synagogue. Registration is required, please go to lss.org/RabbiAngel.

June 28-29: I will present three papers at the annual Bible Study Days of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. The two-day event will be held at Manhattan Day School, 310 West 75th Street (between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive) in Manhattan. Open to the public, registration is required. For brochure and registration information, http://www.yctorah.org/content/view/957/17/

On April 19, 26, and May 3, I gave a three-part series on the Book of Ruth at the Young Israel of Jamaica Estates. These classes are now available online, along with many other lectures of mine, at http://www.jewishideas.org//online-learning.

As always, I thank our members and friends for their support and for enabling us to spread our Institute’s vision through teaching and publications throughout the country and beyond.

Rabbi Hayyim Angel

National Scholar

My remarks are dedicated to my paternal cousin, Shlomo Guttman and to my wife’s paternal uncle, David Teitlebaum, who both fell in Milchemet HaShichrur. May their memories be for a blessing.

I would also like to thank Dr Jeffrey Gurock, professor of American-Jewish history at YU for his leads and encouragement in my research.

This presentation will focus on two Americans, who each had a significant role in the establishment of the State of Israel. David (Mickey) Marcus served as a military advisor to David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister. He was given the title of aluf, the first Jewish general since Yehoshua ben Nun. Charles (Charlie) Winters, a Protestant, who sold two cargo planes to Palestinians, i.e. Israeli agents and flew one of them from the U.S. to Czechoslovakia, where they were turned into fighter planes before flying on to Palestine. His activities in helping the fledgling state first received wide notoriety when President George W Bush issued a posthumous pardon in his name. Without the assistance of Marcus and Winters, along with many, many other Americans, it is doubtful that Israel would have emerged victorious from its War of Independence

I remember always being interested in the subject of how Americans, both Jewish and others assisted Israel in its War of Independence. As a teenager and in later years, I would see references to gun smuggling operations associated with the gangster, Meyer Lansky and how Paul O’Dwyer, a lawyer, who would become the president of the NYC Council, would defend some of those who had been arrested for such activities. In addition, there was MACHAL (mitnadvei chutz la’aretz or volunteers from abroad), for which approximately 5,000 volunteers from abroad came to help defend the future Jewish state.

However, at the time I never came across any comprehensive account of the activities of the above. It was only when I began to research this area that I found out why. What was being done in the case of sending war material was outright illegal under U.S. Federal law at the time and what American MACHAL volunteers had to consider was the potential loss of U.S. citizenship. This however, did not deter the approximately 1,500 U.S, volunteers, many of whom were WWII vets who did go to fight and played a crucial role in Israel’s winning the war.

David Marcus was born on New York’s Lower East Side in 1902 and was accepted at West Point in 1920, graduating four years later. He left service in 1927, earning a law degree and working in the U.S. Attorney General’s office and later under NY’s Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in the department of corrections, where he was appointed to Commissioner of Corrections in 1940. However, with the outbreak of WWII, Marcus re-enlisted in the army as a lieutenant colonel, with duties as a division judge advocate. Later he was commandant of the army’s ranger school in Hawaii. Marcus parachuted into Normandy, France on D-Day, June 6, 1944, which was the major allied offensive of the war, and essentially marked the beginning of the end of the Third Reich. In 1947, Marcus left service with the rank of colonel, having been awarded a number of U.S. and British decorations.

Shortly after November 29, 1947, when the United Nations voted to partition Palestine, dividing it into Arab and Jewish states, the Haganah sent Shlomo Shamir to recruit high-ranking U.S military officers and technical experts in order to create a modern army for what would become the State of Israel. Shamir contacted Marcus, who began to look for such individuals. To his chagrin, he found none were willing to go, citing the need for assurances that their military status, citizenship or careers would not suffer as a result. This led Marcus to conclude, ‘I may not be the best man for the job, but I’m the only one willing to go.’

The Haganah was in no way prepared to fight the type of war it would be confronted with once Israeli statehood was declared. Aside from lacking sufficient arms for its troops, it also did not possess the organizational structure required to be successful in such an endeavor. Most of its leadership was composed of veterans of the Jewish Brigade, who did not have any training in large-scale operations. Therefore, before going to Palestine, Marcus memorized information from U.S. Army training manuals. While this material was not classified, it would not pass the scrutiny of British customs when he arrived at Lod. In addition, to avoid causing a diplomatic flap between the U.S. and its British ally, Marcus travelled incognito, under the alias of Michael Stone.

Unfortunately, David Marcus was killed by ‘friendly fire’, when he did not respond to a sentry, who addressed him in Ivrit, asking for the password. Aluf Marcus’ remains were returned to the United States and interred in the cemetery at West Point. The only American soldier buried at the military academy who died while in defense of another country.

On December 23, 2008, The New York Times ran the following headline: ‘Jailed for Aiding Israel, but Pardoned by Bush’. The article went on to describe the circumstances under which the 43d President of the United States took this step. What made this action unique is that it is only the second time that a presidential pardon has been issued posthumously. The pardon was issued on behalf of Charlie Winters, who was involved with the smuggling of three B-17 bombers to Palestine on behalf of the Haganah. At the time, this was in violation of the United States Neutrality Act along with an embargo on weapons to what was to become the Jewish state.

At this point, I’d like to give some background information that will help you understand what was going on in this country, right after WWII. The United States had been at war for four years and had converted its industrial complex to the making of materials for that purpose. Now with the end of hostilities, all these manufacturing facilities needed to be switched back for peacetime use. In addition, companies had huge inventories of war goods that they had no use for and began selling them at greatly reduced prices to anyone who could show the requisite paperwork and pay for them.
Realizing that, agents from Palestine (remember this is before the State of Israel came into being) came to the U.S. and recruited American Jews to assist them in this endeavor along with a number of other operations in preparation for what everyone knew would be a war, once the Jewish state was declared.

Charles (Charlie) Winters was born in Brookline, MA on February 10, 1923. He was the son of Scotch-Canadian and Irish parents, and at a young age contracted polio, which left him with a limp. This impediment prevented his performing military service and instead he worked for the government as a purchasing agent.

After the war, Winters went into the produce export business, buying two decommissioned B-17 bombers, which were converted to cargo planes and planned to use them in transporting fruits around the Caribbean. At that time he was living in Miami, FL. This plan was not working as he had hoped, so when his friend of his, Al Schwimmer, who was a flight engineer for TWA and also assisting the Haganah in obtaining war planes, asked Winters if he would be willing to sell the planes and ‘consider guiding them to somewhere in Europe’, Winters told Schwimmer that he would think it over.

In the end not only did Winters sell the planes to Schwimmer, he also flew one of them, with another pilot in the second plane Taking off from Miami, with a third B-17 that had been purchased in Oklahoma, the aircraft refueled in Puerto Rico, as if completing a normal shipping route and headed for Palestine by way of the Azores and Czechoslovakia. The Czech government was perfectly willing to provide landing facilities along with armaments for a price. These three planes, which were retrofitted to warplanes, constituted the only heavy bombers that the Israeli Air Force had during the war, but were reportedly essential in turning the tide of the war in Israel’s favor. In his diary on July 16, 1948, David Ben-Gurion, the Israeli Prime Minister noted their arrival in Israel and that they had already been used on several bombing runs in Egypt. They became the 69th Squadron Bombing Group of the Israeli Air Force, known as ‘the hammers’.

For his part in this enterprise, Charlie Winters, along with Al Schwimmer and several others were arrested, tried and convicted in U.S. Federal Court in Miami in January, 1949. While his co-defendants were not given prison sentences, on February 4, 1949, Winters was sentenced to 36 months in a federal penitentiary along with having to pay a $2,500 fine. This was due to his being found in violation on two counts of Title 18, section 88 and Title 22, section 452 of the U.S. Code. These citations deal with ‘conspiracy to export implementations of war’. Winters ended up serving 18 months of his sentence before being released. As a result of his sentence, he became the only American to go to prison for helping Israel!

When I originally began the research for this presentation, I contacted the federal archives in Atlanta, GA to see if they had a transcript of Charlie Winters’ trial. Unfortunately, they did not. However, they were able to supply me with court documents related to the trial, which gave me a sense of what went on in the courtroom. For example, initially Winters pleaded ‘not guilty’ to the charges against him. Then for some reason he changed his plea to ‘guilty’. While I didn’t see anything to explain this change, maybe some kind of deal was in the works. If that was the case, apparently it didn’t work out as subsequently Winters’ tried to change his plea back to not ‘guilty’, but the judge would not allow it.

Another bit of information that I received from these same papers and other sources is that just prior to Winters’ and his co-defendants being put on trial, there was a similar case in California, in which the defendants, although found guilty, did not do any jail time, having to pay a fine of $10,000 each. ‘unnamed friends of Israel’ provided the money for this. Perhaps these individuals also paid Winters’ fine as I was not able to find any information on this. After being released, Winters established a small export business in Miami.

At the time of his death on October 30, 1984,Winters had told his current wife, Joan about this incident. His two children from this marriage, Lisa and James along with Charles Todd and Charles Jr. from a prior one were totally unaware of their father’s activities in support of Israel. However, there were clues. According to his son, James, as a teenager his father refused to let him go hunting with his friends. This was because as a result of his criminal record, the senior Winters was not allowed to purchase weapons or keep them at home. The real tip off came at Winters’ funeral, when James found the setting decorated with blue and white flowers, Israel’s national colors along with Israeli officials in attendance. Afterwards, Israel flew Joan Winters to their country, where some of his ashes were interred at the Templars Cemetery in Jerusalem and the remainder spread over Har Tavor, located in Emek Yazreal, near Haifa.

Bibliography

Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 11, pgs 722-3 and 945-6, Keter Publishing House, Jerusalem Ltd. 1972.

“Jailed for Aiding Israel in ’48, But Pardoned by Bush in ’08”, New York Times, December 24, 2008, pg. 1.

Medoff, Rafael. Militant Zionism in America: The Rise and Impact of the Jabotinsky Movement in the United States, 1926-1948. The University of Alabama Press, 2002.

Newspaper clippings, undated; MACHAL[Mitnadvei Hutz LaAretz] and Aliyah Bet Records; I-501; 16; 39; American Jewish Historical Society, Boston, MA and New York, NY.

Porath, Zipporah, Col. David (Mickey) Marcus, ‘A Soldier for All Humanity’. American Veterans of Israel Legacy Corp. 2010.

Slater, Leonard, The Pledge. Simon and Schuster: NY, 1970.

Weiss, Jeffrey and Weiss, Craig, I Am My Brother’s Keeper. Schiffer Military History, Atglen, PA, 1998.

Wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Winters