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How
a trckle
Stream
became a
40 M I S H PAC H A
M I S H PAC H A
41
He felt that
deciding on a
yeshivah is the
second-most
important decision
a person can
make, he made
it his business
to make sure the
parents were on
board, and that
the child got into
the right place for
him and thrived
bi Ephraim Galinsky, his fathers family history left him well placed to
interact with Jews of every stripe. My grandfather Yehuda Dov Galinsky came from Lita, from the town of Astryn near Grodno, which was
the home of Rav Shimon Shkop, he says. But he came as a young child
to the US, where he learned under Rav Simcha Soloveitchik (brother of
Rav Chaim) at Eitz Chaim Yeshivah.
Surprisingly, a shidduch was suggested between Yehuda Dov (a Litvack) and
the daughter of Rav Ephraim Zalman Halpern, a chassidic rav sent to Denver by Rav Yisroel of Tchortkov to serve the citys chassidic kehillos during
and after World War I (and perhaps best-known for establishing the Central
Committee for Taharas HaMishpachah after moving to Jerusalem in 1935
and building hundreds of mikvaos all over Eretz Yisrael).
After the couple married, Rabbi Yehuda Dov became the rav in Colchester,
Connecticut. He stayed there from 1931 to 1944, whereupon he was offered
the rabbinic position at Sharei Tzedek, a large congregation in Coney Island.
My father-in-law was recommended for the position on the condition that
he also open a yeshivah, recalls Mrs. Sonia Galinsky, Rabbi Malles wife. But
that wasnt an easy proposition: It was a time when most people were trying
hard to assimilate into American society rather than affirm their Jewishness,
and it was a middle-class and poor neighborhood. But he went from door to
door begging people for support, and succeeded in opening the yeshivah.
42 M I S H PAC H A
Rav Ephraim Zalman Halpern (L) and his sonin-law Rav Yehuda Dov Galinsky, rabbis in
the challenging world of Jewish Americana
M I S H PAC H A
43
Rabbi Galinsky was a man who lived his philosophy. With close friend Rabbi Zevulun Charlop (L); at a Russian Melaveh Malka with
refusenik Yuli Edelstein (C); with mechutan Rabbi Yehuda Paley zl
popular in his own right as a polished speaker
with an engaging personality. He was American, but he spoke an excellent Yiddish, his wife
Sonia says. Many people who listened were
convinced he was an elderly European rav.
Thousands of people at that time would
listen to his Friday shows, says his friend
Rabbi Zevulun Charlop, rav of Young Israel
of Mosholu Parkway and faculty member of
YU. He was also, by the way, an equally gifted
speaker in English, and spoke an exceptionally fine Hebrew.
Mrs. Hisiger, who used to help type announcements for Rabbi Galinskys radio show
as a college student, says people used to be so
thrilled to hear him announce their names
on the radio. He had a kind of fan club, she
says. People would call in with their family
news, and hed read it over the air.
It was in Coney Island that he received his
first on-the-job training in running yeshivah
dinners and fundraising. Rabbi Galinskys
famous wide smile, organizational gifts, and
winning personality made him well-loved
among his congregants and talmidim. A lot
of the people became frum because of Rabbi
Galinsky, Mrs. Hisiger says. Today, those
people have produced generations of frum
Jews that give us all a lot of nachas.
But the Coney Island shul did not endure;
the area declined precipitously in the 1970s,
as public high-rise housing projects changed
the character of the neighborhood. The shul
emptied out almost overnight, Sonia says.
We tried to hold on, but it wasnt meant to be.
Meanwhile, with the reawakening of Jewish pride following the 1967 Six Day War, the
Torah Department of the Jewish Agency began looking for someone to organize Jewish
44 M I S H PAC H A
Rabbi Galinsky accumulated many a frequent-flyer mile visiting Israeli yeshivos and
working with them to accept American bochurim. One of his early partners was Rav
Nosson Kamenetsky, the son of Rav Yaakov
Kamenetsky and the rosh yeshivah of Yeshivas ITRI. He also worked with Rav Meir
Schlesinger of Yeshivat Shaalvim to create a
program especially for Americans, and later
brought Yeshivat Har Etzion and Yeshivat
Hakotel on board.
Despite the wave of pro-Israel sentiment at
the time, the Jewish Agencys early efforts met
with much resistance. They were all against
it the parents, the principals, even Yeshiva
University, Rabbi Eliach says. But why would
YU object? Because they hoped these young
men would go straight to them after high
school, he replies. But in the end, many of
those students came back and continued their
studies at YU anyway, and its because of those
returnees that the beis medrash there grew into
a thriving, serious beis medrash.
Rabbi Galinsky didnt simply make the
arrangements and sit back he followed up
with his unique, personal touch. He felt that
deciding on a yeshivah is the second-most
important decision a person can make, says
Rabbi Jay Marcus, who later took over Rabbi
Galinksys position. He made it his business
to make sure the parents were on board, and
that the child got into the right place for him
and thrived. He handled any malfunctions
that would arise.
In the early days, the Jewish Agency recruited mostly from Modern Orthodox yeshivah high schools, he continues. This was
before the baal teshuvah movement, before
going to Israel after high school became a
rite of passage. In those years, living in Israel
required a dramatic adjustment. Although
American students back then were used to
lower levels of comfort than students today,
they still had to get used to Israeli dorms and
showers, Israeli food, living away from home.
In those days, calling home was a rare
and expensive enterprise involving handfuls of phone tokens. Air conditioning was
undreamed of, and security less developed.
Some of the yeshivos were still situated near