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December 12, 2003/Kislev 17 5764, Vol. 56, No. 12
Fervently Orthodox reach out
URIEL HEILMAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
NEW YORK - Fervently Orthodox Jewish leaders see a call to arms in the results of the recent Jewish pop-ulation survey: As American Jews' last greatest hope, they say, they cannot stand idly by while American Jewry dis-appears.
In a speech last week at a conference of Agudath Israel of America, Rabbi Avi Shafran, the group's director of public affairs, said fervently Orthodox Jews must set out on a "rescue mission" of American Jewry.
"We're the Zaka of North American Jewry," Shafran said, referring to the Israeli rescue organization that deals with victims of terrorist attacks. "The threats to Jewish souls are no less dangerous - in fact, they're more dangerous - than threats to Jewish bodies."
"We, our community, is the last chance for the American Jewish community," he said. "The question here is one of pikuach nefesh," or saving Jewish lives.
Shafran's call was both a recognition of the success fervently Orthodox Jews have had at preserving their own numbers and their failure in extending that influence to the American Jewish com-munity at large.
The speech also was a sign that Chabad-Lubavitch's focus on outreach to non-Orthodox Jews is gaining currency among other fervently Or-thodox Jews, or haredim.
"I think there's a lot to learn from Chabad, to be honest," Shafran told JTA in an interview after the conference, which was held in Stamford, Conn. "There are many Orthodox Jews that have complaints about aspects of the Chabad movement and some are valid ones. But the idea of active outreach that Chabad pioneered has, over recent decades, become very much part of the mainstream stance of mainstream Orthodox American Judaism."
Chabad says it welcomes other fervently Orthodox Jews taking up the mantle of outreach.
"By all means, it's a wonderful development," Chabad spokesman Zalman Shmotkin said. "It's just becoming increasingly ev-ident how crucial it is for the Jewish people as a whole and each specific Jew to reach out to other Jews."
Agudah is not the only segment of the American Jewish community looking to Chabad as an outreach model. At last month's Reform convention in Minneapolis, Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, said Reform Jews had a lot to learn from Chabad's example.
"It is hard for me to say this but I will say it nonetheless: We must follow the example of Chabad," Yoffie said. "I disagree with Chabad about practically everything and I am appalled by the messianic fervor that has flared up in their midst. But I envy the selflessness of their young men and women who fan out across the world to serve Jewish communities in distress."
Shafran outlined his own vision for the future in his speech to the Agudah audience of about 1,000. He said he dreams of the day when there will be "Telzers in Topeka, Gerers in Green Bay, Mirers in Muskogee," a reference both to various fervently Orthodox sects identified by their cities of origin in Eastern Europe and to American cities with virtually no Orthodox Jews.
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