How Was Judaism Doing before WWII?

A simple reminder from Yonoson Rosenblum:

The devastating impact of the opening of the ghetto walls in Western Europe is well-known. In the early decades of the 19th century, nearly 90 percent of Berlin Jewry made its way to the baptismal font. By the time of the Holocaust, Eastern Europe was headed in the same direction, argues Appelbaum based on electoral and census data.

In a 1922 election for the lower house of the Polish parliament, for instance, the combined seats of Agudah and Mizrachi were less than half those garnered by the Zionist and nonreligious parties. And that is not even taking into account the Jewish Bundists (probably the largest Jewish movement in Poland at the time) and Communists, who voted for the general Socialist and Communist lists.

A Polish school census of the late ’30s shows 100,000 children registered for primary schools associated with Agudah or Mizrachi versus 400,000 attending primarily secular schools (with some in secular Zionist schools). Of the four-fifths who attended nonreligious schools, most of their parents were raised in Shabbos-observant homes, according to Appelbaum.

A Time to Throw Stones

A Chavrusa of mine studied under Rabbi Hillel Zaks zatzal. He once told me of an interesting psak halacha of his.

It is widely accepted one may not purchase a “Toto/Winner” lottery ticket since this enables the Chillul Shabbos of the Israeli sports industry. Rabbi Zaks felt buying a “Mif’al Hapayis” ticket was even worse since the money helps build government schools for heresy (aside from not being correct Hishtadlus).

What if one already bought a lottery ticket? Is there a way to rectify the deed? Yes, answered Rabbi Zaks. Find a Mif’al Hapayis school, and smash a window (or windows, depending on the number of tickets purchased)!


Disclaimer: Of course, any anti-government material found here on Hyehudi.org is pure satire, as always.