[This is from Rabbi Elias' edition of the 19 Letters] In the Israelit, on March 22, 1906, Rabbi Naftali
Hertz Ehrmann published an account of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter's stay in Berlin about thirty years earlier and of his desire
to meet Rabbi S. R. Hirsch. Translation from (The Light, on 14 Nisan 5738):
At about this time, Rav Shimshon (ben R'foel) Hirsch arrived
in Berlin. He often came to Berlin at
the beginning of the 1870's in order to
prepare the way for the" Austrittsgesetz, ,,' which was finally passed in 1876. Three years older than Rav Yisroel,
he was always under great strain and
beset with many different types of work which made great demands on him at all hours of the day
and night throughout his stays in
Berlin. He sought out ministers, ministerial advisers, and influential representatives in every area and,
through personal representation of the case, tried to win over the
authoritative factions in favor of the
law. In the evenings, his correspondence and writing awaited him, and this often kept him occupied until
well into the night. Rav Yisroel had a
great longing to become acquainted with Rav Hirsch and to hear his views on the measures for
consolidation of traditional Jewry in
Russia. He had great respect for the regenerator of German Jewry, and no one else was more deeply convinced of
the desperate need of Russian Jewry for such a personality.
Questions of etiquette-regarding which
of the two was to visit the other first-did not exist for Rav Yisroel. He asked me (as I was taking care of
a few small duties for Rav Hirsch during
his stay) to ask Rav Hirsch when would be the most convenient time to visit him .... When I saw how the time of
this great man was so completely taken,
up, I hardly had the courage to mention Rav
Yisroel's wish, for I knew
that its fulfillment would cost him more precious time ... I therefore ventured to
remark that the matter was not so urgent
and the visit could easily be postponed for a few days. However, Rav Hirsch refused to hear of it, and
asked me to ask Rav Yisroel to honor him
with his visit the very next evening ...
More than 30 year have passed since the memorable evening.
But the overwhelming impression of the
meeting between these two great personalities
has remained with me until this day. Their similarities and their differences; the overflowing wisdom of
their thoughts, and the restrained
modesty of their spoken words. The expression in Rav Hirsch's eyes from which his great, noble soul
seemed to pour forth, and the flashing
sparks which shot out from the gaze of Rav Yisroel and blazed around his great learned brow. All
that and so much more all of it remains in my memory as vividly as if it had
just happened yesterday. How different
were the two great men in speech and bearing, and in various other external
aspects which draw the attention; and yet
how similar and related were they in their thoughts and their spiritual life-in short, in everything which
makes a man a Jew. Never have I sensed the binding
and brotherly strength of the Torah l'tzaref es hab'riyos more deeply than in the moment when the two men reached out their hands to each other. Rav
Yisroel who, even in general
conversation, never let a word leave his lips which had not been carefully considered from all sides, and
who knew in addition how precious Rav
Hirsch's time was - particularly then - came straight to the matter which lay on his heart more than
on anyone else's. He explained the
dangers which he believed threatened the future of Russian Jewry and asked Rav Hirsch for his
views on how best to combat them. Rav
Hirsch, in his modesty, thought that he was not familiar enough with Jewish life in Russia to
be able to express an authoritative
opinion. Rav Yisroel however, he reasoned, must surely have thought about the problem a great deal himself,
and he
therefore asked him to first state his
opinion. Rav Yisroel pointed out that the best means of preserving the younger
generation for Jewry - to win back their
respect - was through literature in the Russian language permeated with the true Jewish spirit. The
exceedingly salutary results which would
ensue from writings of this nature were to him quite indisputable. The tragedy was, however, that
those Russian Jews who were permeated with
the truth of Judaism could not write Russian, and those who had acquired a secular education and
had mastered the Russian language had
broken with traditional Judaism. So that the production of such writings seemed
unimaginable. Rav Hirsch suggest ed
that if this was the case, then perhaps it might be proper to translate into Russian works written in the German
language for this purpose. The
translation, if necessary, could even be done by a non-Jew. This idea met with Rav Yisroel's full approval, and
he asked Rav Hirsch to specify a few
suitable works for this purpose. Rav Hirsch suggested the works of Salomon Plessner. At this point, I
allowed myself to enquire whether the
writings of Rav Hirsch, himself, would not be especially qualified, particularly such a work as The 19 Letters. Rav Hirsch replied that it would naturally please him
greatly if, through a translation of his writings, this great undertaking could
be accomplished. Neither was
fundamentally opposed to a Hebrew translation. I later heard this from their own mouths. But they believed
that the great benefits which they hoped
would result from the propagation of the spirit of these writings could be effected
more easily and more permanently if the remedy was given in the same form as
the disease had been transmitted. On the
way home, Rav Yisroel asked me to procure for him that very evening a copy of The 19 Letters and to read through it with him so that he might be able to form
an opinion for himself. That was,
however, easier said than done. At that time, Rav Yisroel had hardly begun to read German, and so we
read until deep into the night and for
still another few days after that, until we finished the first letter. Another few weeks passed before we
finally completed the book. Rav Yisroel
summed up his opinion of it, "The book must not only be translated
into Russian, but also into loshon ha-kodesh."
Rav Seligman Baer's position was more nuanced than commonly assumed. In many cases he was pro separate kehilot. In fact, he had been invited to Frankfurt by separatists to promote their cause, not by the anti separatists.
ReplyDeleteIt would seem that Rabbi Elias's opinions about Rav Hirsh cannot be trusted, so how can this account be trusted?
ReplyDeleteIf you read a bit more carefully you would have realized that this account is not from Rabbi Elias.
Delete"In the Israelit, on March 22, 1906, Rabbi Naftali Hertz Ehrmann published an account of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter's stay in Berlin about thirty years earlier and of his desire to meet Rabbi S. R. Hirsch. Translation from (The Light, on 14 Nisan 5738)"
This was also published in Tenuas Ha-Musar (I, pp. 199-200), . It is widely cited and accepted as accurate.
Wow! what a fascinating account!
ReplyDeleteDo we know the end of this story? We know R' Yisroel started to translate the Talmud, but what about the nineteen letters? Do the works by Solomon Plessner get printed in Russian?
To your questions: this account itself seems to paint an interesting picture.
It seems that R' Yisroel's primary purpose in Berlin never was to be "mekarev" the local German Jews. He was there to find a way to turn the tide of assimilation back "home" in Russia. He spent time inspiring the Russian Jews in Germany but that wasn't his main objective. He felt that the source of the great decline in observance was a scorn and disregard for tradition developed in the culture centers of Europe. So he set out to Berlin (and later Paris) to understand the new and prevalent culture. Only after understanding the source of this raging fire can he attempt to counterbalance with Torah spirited programming. Those other great generals you mentioned (The Malbim and R' Hidesheimer and Rav Hirsch) were battling for German Jewry, a different war, and totally different set of players.
The comparison nowadays would go something like this. Suppose Lev L'achim felt that the biggest obstacle to their work, was influences originating in Los Angeles California, or New York City. The negative affect it had on their students was undoing much of their work, and enticing them to move to America and fall even further from Torah. And suppose further, that they sent a committee to come to LA or NYC to get a better feeling of what they are up against. While they are here, would they get involved in the American kiruv scene? Surely, they would spend time learning and interacting with the "yordim". They might even sit down once or twice and compare notes with an "Oorah" or other American kiruv organizations. But a joint program working together to combat assimilation would probably not happen.
The approach of combating assimilation locally by traveling abroad, as this account seems to describe, is ironically the the exact opposite of the "shitah" famously attributed to the Chofetz Chaim Zatzal.
The Chofetz Chaim would relate the following story. A Rabbi who traveled to Paris to give sermons to bring back large numbers of Jews to yiddishkiet. After a long journey from his little town in Poland, he rented a large hall and put up signs all over Paris. No one came. Figuring that the problem was that he wasn't a Frenchman, he traveled back to Poland. He went straight to the big city of Warsaw and tried again. No one showed up there either. So he went to his hometown to try, surely there that he's well known he'll have no problem drawing a crowd. He was wrong again and no one came. So he tried with his immediate family and was disappointed there too. Finally he just focused on bettering his own observance, and lo and behold observance in Paris was positively affected.
If in fact R' Yisroel went to Berlin to combat assimilation in his backyard, that would be the polar opposite of the message in this story.