A benefit of
writing articles for the Where What When is
the opportunity to meet interesting people. Recently, Rabbi Dovid Katz asked me
to interview one such person, Yair Halevy, who was in Baltimore garnering
support for Yeshivat Shavei Chevron. When he is not abroad working for the
yeshiva, he is doing post-doctoral work on “Chareidim in Israeli Culture.” Yair
has a Ph.D. in Jewish history and thought from Hebrew University. This sounded
like an unusual and intriguing combination, and I learned a lot from getting to
know him.
Yair told me that
he has been coming to Baltimore for 10 years, and he spent over a week here.
Perhaps it shows how large and diverse Baltimore is that I had never heard of
him before. I asked him his impression of our Jewish community. His response
was the same as I have heard from others: “People in Baltimore ‘notnim et halev’; they give their
heart.” He and others have told me that they are impressed with the kavod and derech eretz shown to them in Baltimore. “Maybe there are some
cities where we raise more money, but Baltimore is tops when it comes to ahavat Yisrael,” he said.
We are living
through very rough times. It is clear that those who rally against the Gaza War
calling for an immediate ceasefire are, in reality, declaring that the State of
Israel has no right to exist. The false idea that Medinat Yisrael is the product of “settler colonialism” and has no
place in the Middle East is very popular on college campuses and is believed by
far too many progressives. “From the river to the sea” is not a call for a “two
state solution”; it means the same as this newer slogan: “We don’t want no two
states, we want 1948” – that is, the entirety of Israel. I have a granddaughter
at NYU, and this is immediate for me.
* * *
Yeshivat Shavei
Chevron is located in the middle of the older area of Chevron and not in any
residential neighborhood. One might ask, why on earth would someone locate a
yeshiva in such an area. Yair’s answer reminds me of what Chaim Weizmann, who
later became the first president of Israel, said when he was a chemist living
in England and president of the World Zionist Organization.
Weizmann had invented
an artificial substance that replaced natural rubber, and this helped England
win the First World War. He was offered any title or reward he desired.
Weizmann answered that he did not want a title; what he wanted was a homeland
for his people.*
I recently read that
a senior British official asked Weizmann why he was so insistent on Palestine.
Weizmann replied with a question: “I hear that you drive out to the country
every weekend to visit an elderly woman. There are plenty of old ladies much
closer. Why not visit one of them? The British gentleman was taken aback and
replied. “The person I am visiting is my mother.” Weizmann then declared, “That
is why we want Palestine.”
As Jews, we
understand our connection to Chevron, Ir
Ha’avot, the city of our Forefathers, the burial place of the avot and imahot, the first location of David’s kingdom. Many less-committed
Jews and quite a few non-Jews just don’t get it. Now, we come to Yeshivat
Shavei Chevron.
* * *
Yeshiva Shavei
Chevron is located in Beit Romano in the heart of the old city of Chevron. Beit
Romano was originally built in 1876 by a rich merchant from Turkey, Avraham
Romano. It was used as a Torah center from the time of Rav Chaim Chezkiyah
Medini, zt”l, the Sdeh Chemed. He
lived in the building and established a yeshiva on its premises.
Around 1912, the
Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rav Sholom Ber Schneerson, zt”l, purchased the building from the Romano family and established
the first Chabad yeshiva in Eretz Yisrael, Yeshiva Torat Emet. Unfortunately,
the outbreak of World War I came a few years later, and the British
commandeered the building for a police station, paying rent to Chabad.
In 1929, after the
Arab uprising and the murder of students of the Chevron yeshiva of Slabodka,
the survivors of the massacre were congregated in the building prior to their
expulsion from the city. During the Jordanian occupation, from 1948 to 1967, the
building was used as an Arab school, and the Israelis allowed it to remain so.
In 1981, after
David Kapulsky was stabbed near Beit Romano, the Israeli government evacuated
the Arab school. This is the story of how a vacant building became available
and was acquired by the yeshiva. In 1982, the Lubavitcher Rebbe gave the
permission to establish the yeshiva and return the kol Torah, the voice of Torah,
to the city of Chevron.
Yair Halevy told
me that, in 1982, the yeshiva was established with nine students from Mercaz
Harav and the Rosh Hayeshiva, Rav Moshe Bleicher. That first zman (semester), they only had a minyan
if everyone was present. Since then, the enrollment has grown to over 400
students, including 80 married students. To this day, the yeshiva, dorm, and
dining room are in Beit Romano, but the building has grown exponentially.
In 1990, the
building had two floors and 150 students. They got permission to build three
new floors. In order to do this, the workers had to dig down to secure the
foundation. They discovered that there was another floor totally covered. Now
they had three floors and were building three more. An Arab worker dug up the
original entrance and brought it to the administration. It was engraved with
the Hebrew year for 1876 and stated that it was a hachnasat orchim – a
place for pilgrims to stay while visiting the holy sites.
Yair Halevy told
me how the yeshiva later got permission to build another addition, a multistory
dormitory attached to the side. “Ehud Barak was the minister of defense at the
time, and he wasn’t giving anyone permission to build anything in the middle of
Old Chevron,” he said. “A friend of the yeshiva invited a totally secular retired
general to spend a day in Chevron and convinced him to come. The general
brought along his friend, the actor Chaim Topol, who had starred in Fiddler on the Roof and the film Salah Shabbati. They spent the day and
of course got a warm welcome at the yeshiva. Chaim Topol was very touched. He
said, ‘I have played Avraham Avinu, but this is the first time I have visited Me’arat Hamachpela – the burial place of
the Forefathers.’ The result was that the retired general became our advocate.
He called his friend, the prime minister Ehud Barak, and convinced him to
approve the large addition.” As the saying goes, “If you know the right people,
you don’t need proteksia.”
About Yeshiva Shavei Shomron
The founding Rosh
Hayeshiva, Rav Moshe Bleicher, is a talmid
of Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook, zt”l, and the
yeshiva follows Rav Kook’s philosophy: “Veshavu
banim ligvulam – The sons return to their border.” This idea of redeeming
the Land of Israel is what motivates them to come learn in a beautiful, modern
yeshiva in the middle of a very uninviting area.
Many years ago, an
Israeli gentleman showed up unannounced at the front desk of Ner Israel’s Beren
Administration Building. I was the only person who recognized who he was. Rabbi
Chaim Druckman, zt”l, was a prominent
rosh yeshiva, a member of the Knesset, and a leader of the Religious Zionists.
He told me that he had heard that Ner Israel had some Persian students, and he
wanted to check up on them. That was fine, and I escorted him around the
campus.
I took Rav
Druckman in to see Moreinu verabbeinu,
the Rosh Hayeshiva, Rav Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman, z”tl. They had a very interesting conversation in Yiddish. The Rosh
Hayeshiva knew many of the people who had influenced Rav Druckman. I told the
Rosh Hayeshiva that Rav Druckman was a leader of those who were settling in
Judea and Samaria. The Rosh Hayeshiva asked him one question: “Du host nist moire? (Aren’t you afraid?)”
Rav Druckman replied, “Ich hob moireh nor
far di Ribbono Shel Olam. (I fear only G-d).”
That, in a
nutshell, sums up the motivation of those who insist that the yeshiva should be
davka (specifically) in Chevron. I
asked Yair the same question. Was he afraid? He gave me a “comeuppance.” He
said that Baltimore is no safer than Chevron.
Yair told me that
there is a difference between danger and fear. Twenty years ago, during the
Intifada, there was shooting from Bethlehem into the southernmost neighborhood
of Yerushalayim, Gilo. People were afraid. Some refrained from entering
Yerushalayim. Others did not enter Gilo. In reality, the only dangerous place
was one street, Rechov HaAnafa, which faced Bethlehem. Furthermore, the only
dangerous place was the third floor of those buildings, as that is where the
bullets would land. The people on the third floor got bullet proof windows, and
the problem was solved. This is how Yair explains how he lives in nearby Kiryat
Arbah, as do the 80 married students. The yeshiva students come and,
apparently, do not see a reason to fear. This is really a part of their way of
thinking.
Chevron has seven Jewish
neighborhoods, each with small numbers of dwellers. If you have been there, as
I have many times, you see, for example, the Avraham Avinu shul and the limited
number of families living there. The much larger town of Kiryat Arbah is next
to Chevron and is an all Jewish city. Yair tells me that one can walk from one
town to the other under heavy army protection.
What about Army Service?
The knotty problem
of drafting yeshiva students is in the news now and is very much on the minds
of many of us. Interestingly, Shavei Chevron is not a hesder yeshiva. That means that students do not do concurrent army
service and yeshiva studies as they do in Yeshiva Kerem B’Yavne and others.
Some students learn for two or three years and then enter full army service.
Others do service first. Many of the married students have learned both before
and after army service. But, they all go to the army.
After discussing
the yeshiva, I asked Yair about his academic life. It is not surprising that
most universities in Israel, the U.S., and elsewhere are more partial to left
wingers than to right wingers. That is a fact of life. But post-doctoral
studies are remunerated and, at present, the Yad Ben Tzvi, a secular
foundation, has commissioned him to do a major research report on how the
religious world has changed since the Yom Kippur War until today. This includes
both the yeshivish and chasidish communities, as well as the various streams of
Religious Zionism. It’s a big topic, and Yair told me that a lot has changed.
We all know that, here
in the United States, the accepted practices of frum Jews have not remained the same. You can fill in the blank of
things that were perfectly normal and acceptable in the past generation but
aren’t acceptable today. There is also a huge difference between what goes for
normal in one place and another, here in the U.S.
The same is true
in Eretz Yisrael. Yair, at present, is working on chareidim and health. The chareidi
communities are very organized. In Israel, where he is studying, there are
numerous health organizations for almost every illness. Health advisors, people
who give you advice and get you in to see the best doctor, proliferate. The kupot cholim (HMOs) love the frum
people because they have large families and bring in lots of business, so they
hire people to get you to sign up. Organizations like Yad Sarah and the Israeli
equivalents of Bonei Olam and Renewal as well as United Hatzalah, etc.,
demonstrate that the frum communities
are very health conscious – except for
one area!
Preventive
medicine is the weakest point for many chareidim.
They are not accustomed to regular testing to catch a malady before it is
evident. Once it’s evident, however, there is no shortage of people to help you
get treated. But what prevents them from getting shots, and why is there so
little exercise?
How have chareidim of various kinds changed in
Israel since the early 1970s is the subject of Yair’s massive research paper.
Here are a few nuggets: In Europe and in the early days of the State, most chareidim did not learn or go to school
past bar mitzvah. Many went to the army. Only a select few learned past that
age. There were fewer yeshivos. Much has changed since Rav Shach took charge.
Yair gives him credit for many of the changes in the chareidi world.
Yair did some of
his research by reading issues of the Hamodia
newspaper from 1952 until today. For example, the tenth anniversary edition of Hamodia had a full page spread devoted
to Yom HaAtzmaut and the military parade on that day. Over the years, there has
been less and less coverage. There have been many changes as the chareidi and chasidic communities have
grown much larger and developed so many institutions. A tremendous amount of
funding came about when Menachem Begin became prime minister. Much change has
occurred in the Religious Zionist world also, and that is part of his research.
Conclusion
In this article, I
have tried to steer clear of ideological or political controversy, although
there is much that is not in agreement among our many camps. Yair came to
Baltimore to help his yeshiva, not to engage in political discourse. I have
recently seen the following slogan: “We are a small nation but a large family.”
But here is
something that I think needs mentioning: You may know that I have four children
and their families who are citizens of the State of Israel. My son Yoni served
proudly in the IDF, and there are those close to our family who are serving
now.
One of my chareidi einiklach (grandsons) turned 10. For some reason, he is very
interested in the Gaza War, to the surprise of his parents. They asked one of
our Israeli grandchildren to have a chayal
(soldier) make a short video wishing him a happy birthday. When he saw it, my
grandson was ecstatic. Why am I adding this? Since the war began, I have felt
that we need to unify and love one another and stop fighting over philosophical
issues that time has resolved. In 2024, am
Yisrael everywhere is in danger, and we must be one family. Cease nitpicking and show love.
That’s my belief, and I think it needs to be said loudly.
* My father, Meyer
Oberstein, told me this when I was a young child. He said that is how we got
the Balfour Declaration. Perhaps Rabbi Katz will dispute the exact facts, but
that’s how I was raised, and I’m sticking to it.
