KOSHER

INVESTIGATOR
How Rabbi Berel Levy built
the OK and transformed the
world of kosher supervision

Dovid Zaklikowski

With an epilogue by
Rabbi Menachem Hacohen

HASIDIC ARCHIVES New York

 RABBI BEREL LEVY93

One of Rabbi Levys greatest accomplishments at Torah Umesorah was the orga-
nization of successful fundraising dinners. Here, he (extreme right) appears at a
Torah Umesorah dinner. Courtesy of Torah Umesorah

office for intensive study. Rabbi Levy will be in touch with expert advis-
ers and will visit your school as soon as possible to recommend further
economics and the like. We will do all we can to trim the budget down
to the barest minimum, I assure you.

The schools appreciated Rabbi Levys efforts immensely. When the

director of an Ohio school heard that Rabbi Levys visit had been de-
layed so that he could prepare for an upcoming conference, he replied,
I would much rather see Rabbi Levys talents applied where they are
most needed; although selfishly speaking, I certainly would like to see
him come here.

Common Ground
Over the years, Chabad and Torah Umesorah had their fair share of
94THE KOSHER INVESTIGATOR

conflicts. Our school-building initiatives out of town sometimes met

with resistance among local Lubavitch representatives, Dr. Kaminetsky
wrote in his autobiography. They had preceded us as pioneers in some
places and must have looked upon us as carpet-baggers, strangers med-
dling in local affairs.

(In one unusually aggressive move, after the passing of the Rayatz,
several Torah Umesorah activists made efforts to quash the Chabad
schools in their areas, hoping that the movement would crumble. Those
efforts were quickly put to a stop by Dr. Kaminetsky, and peace reigned.)

The central staff at Torah Umesorah clearly had no axe to grind. Be-
tween Rabbi Gurary and Dr. Kaminetsky there was a cool, though cor-
dial, relationship. Several times Dr. Kaminetsky noted that he could not
find common ground with Rabbi Gurary, though he had made every
effort to.

When Rabbi Levy joined Torah Umesorah, he made a concerted ef-

fort to improve relations between the two organizations. He encouraged
Dr. Kaminetsky to discuss the challenges facing Torah Umesorah with
the Lubavitcher Rebbe and his chief aide, Rabbi Chaim Hodakov.

Dr. Kaminetsky took advantage of this new channel of communica-

tions to resolve issues when they arose. I would write the Rebbe or take
up the matter with Rabbi Chodakov [sic], and after some difficulty, we
would manage to work out a modus vivendi, he wrote.

After Dr. Kaminetskys first private audience in 1962, he wrote to

update the Rebbe on what they had discussed, and proposed that To-
rah Umesorah and Chabad should join forces in organizing the national
Parent Teacher Association. The Rebbe reviewed all the material that he
sent with the letter and replied, I was glad to read the good and tangi-
ble results in connection with our conversation, and surely there will
be even more improvements in all of your holy work in education, and
surely you will not withhold the good news and inform me.
 RABBI BEREL LEVY95

During another audience, the Rebbe asked Dr. Kaminetsky what the
day schools in his network did about textbooks that contained problem-
atic information from a Torah perspective. We tear out the pages, the
director answered. The Rebbe told him that it was not a good idea: It just
makes the kids more curious to seek out what it says there. He suggest-
ed that Torah Umesorah should produce its own accredited curriculum.

Over the years the relationship grew stronger. During a controversy

over whether a particular school in the Midwest should be supported by
Torah Umesorah, a local philanthropist suggested that the Rebbe decide
if the school had merit. Dr. Kaminetsky had a long conversation on the
matter with Rabbi Hodakov, which he then relayed to the philanthropist.

In general, the Rebbe does not give hechsharim [stamps of approv-

al], the head of Torah Umesorah wrote in 1963, neither for foods nor
for schools. But if somebody would come to him and say, for instance,
that a school uses a Kitzur Chumash [an abridged version of the Torah,
which the Rebbe decried at the time], then, naturally, he cannot accept
this as part of the Torah program.

In another letter, Dr. Kaminetsky quoted the Rebbes advice on fight-

ing negative reports in a newspaper: It is worthwhile to work with the
people who have mimeographs in their basements.

Dr. Kaminetsky and other members of the Torah Umesorah faculty

visited the Rebbe during the 1968 teachers strike in New York City. The
strike lasted for more than a month, and left thousands of public school
students, including many Jewish children, without schools.

There are so many Jewish children walking around the streets, the
Rebbe said. Why hasnt the aggressive stance been taken that we will
offer children a 50 percent discount on day school tuition? We need to
enroll them into Jewish schools. Once you have them in the schools and
the public schools reopen, some will leave, but many will not.

The Rebbe also made comments on the various Torah Umesorah

96THE KOSHER INVESTIGATOR

publications. Dr. Kaminetsky recalled that the Rebbe would send point-
ers for how to make the [ Jewish Parent] magazine more effective. He
advised them to make the magazine livelier, so that the Jewish mother
would want to read it before she went to sleep.

The Rabbinic Board

As a part of his duties, Rabbi Levy attended the meetings of Torah
Umesorahs rabbinic board, in which Rabbis Aharon Kotler, Mordechai
Gifter and Yaakov Kamenetsky, among others, participated. Rabbi Levy
would report back to the Rebbe about the meetings, and occasionally
he would convey the Rebbes position on an issue to the board. Once
he asked the Rebbe why he didnt attend the meetings himself. Surely
if the Rebbe would go, he said, it would have much more influence on
them

In response, the Rebbe said that the fifth Chabad Rebbe, Rabbi Sha-
lom Dovber Schneersohn, had a large following in Russia, and his views
were widely respected and accepted. When his son, the Rebbe Rayatz,
left the Soviet Union and came to Poland, he left many of his followers
behind, and his influence diminished accordingly. If he wanted to ad-
dress a certain issue, he would express his views through others, great
rabbinical leaders such as Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski.

I do like the shver [father-in-law] does, the Rebbe said, stating a

principle that guided much of his conduct.

The rabbinic board knew that Rabbi Levy was speaking to the Reb-
be about the meetings. Rabbi Gifter, the dean of the Telshe Yeshivah
in Cleveland and one of the leading figures of Orthodox Jewry in the
United States, once said to him during a meeting, Ask by the Lubavitch-
er Rebbe. He will know what to do. Dont ask him in my name, but he
would know.

Rabbi Levys presence did not prevent the rabbis from making crit-
ical remarks about Chabad on occasion. When Rabbi Levy repeated
 RABBI BEREL LEVY97

The rabbinic board was an integral part of Torah Umesorah. Here the organiza-
tions founder, Rabbi Aharon Kotler (right), is seen at a Torah Umesorah fund-
raiser. Also pictured (from right to left): Samuel Feuerstein, president of Torah
Umesorah; Rabbi Leo Jung, rabbi of the Jewish Center of New York; and Rabbi Dr.
Samson R. Weiss, national director of Young Israel. Courtesy of Torah Umesorah

these, the Rebbe never said anything, simply ignoring the negative talk.

One issue on which the Rebbe sought to influence the board was
summer vacation. I dont understand why they closed the schools
during the summer, the Rebbe told Rabbi Levy, but now that they
closed the yeshivahs, we have to make sure that the children should go
to camp and not roam the streets. (As a direct result of that conversa-
tion, the OK maintains a camp fund until this day.)

At the request of Dr. Kaminetsky, Rabbi Hodakov wrote a letter

outlining the Rebbes approach to summer vacation. It was published
in the winter 1964 issue of Hamenahel, a publication geared to Torah
Umesorah school principals, with this introduction: The following let-
ter from Rabbi M. A. Hodakov, secretary to the Lubavitcher Rebbe and
director of Merkos LInyonei Chinuch, Inc., will undoubtedly be of great
interest to our principals.

The three-page letter included eight suggestions for educators on

making the most of the vacation period. It included, It is necessary that
the teachers, in good time, before the summer recess begins, convey
98THE KOSHER INVESTIGATOR

to their students what the purpose of the summer recess is, so that
they should derive the utmost benefit from it, in accordance with the
purpose. The summer is also an investment for success in the coming
school year.

Not Your Father!

In the mid-1960s, Rabbi Levys son Don Yoel was studying at the Tal-
mudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia. In honor of his birthday, he traveled to
New York for a private audience with the Rebbe. Dont ask the Rebbe
permission for your father to also go in, Rabbi Leibel Groner, one of the
Rebbes aides, warned him. Rabbi Groner knew that if Rabbi Levy went
in, all those scheduled for an audience would be kept waiting for hours
as the Rebbe discussed Torah Umesorah with him.

Your father is here? the Rebbe asked as soon as the young man
entered his office.

Don Yoel did not know how to respond. The Rebbe saw his hesita-
tion and asked, What is the matter?

He told the Rebbe that he had just been told that there was no per-
mission for his father to enter the Rebbes office. I am scared of him
[Rabbi Groner], he told the Rebbe.

The Rebbe smiled and said, Its okay, tell your father to come in.
Don Yoel walked out of the office and told the aide that he was going to
get his father, who was waiting in one of the rooms. When Rabbi Groner
gave him a sharp look, Don Yoel said, I didnt do anything. The Rebbe
asked me to call my father in.

Rabbi Groners prediction proved accurate. After speaking to the

young man, the Rebbe spent hours talking to Rabbi Levy.

Possible Merger
In one New England town, the staff of the Torah Umesorah school
 RABBI BEREL LEVY99

felt that the Chabad school there should close and join forces with them.
We had a day school, and there was also a Lubavitcher day school, Dr.
Norman Lamm later recalled. My concern was that there was competi-
tion for very few students.

Dr. Lamm discussed the issue in a private audience with the Rebbe
in the late 1950s. The Rebbe had long held a definite opinion on such
questions. He felt that it was not a good idea, because when it came to
Torah, competition was a good thing. He took a halachic [Jewish le-
gal] stance that there is no hasagas gevul [encroachment], recalled Dr.
Lamm, no encroachment when it comes to disseminating the Torah.

In the early 1960s, after Dr. Lamm left, the Torah Umesorah school
in question was once again on the verge of closing, with insurmountable
debt. The situation in has us all down here [worried], Dr. Kaminetsky
wrote. It is one of the toughest problems we have come across, and we
are working hard to help solve it.

After a board member visited the school, the organization gave the
school a staggering loan, equal today to $115,000. Were it not for the
emergency loan which was extended to us by your bank, there is no
doubt that our school would have, G-d forbid, closed, the director wrote
in September 1963.

The administration of the school and the local clergy felt that the
situation of two schools competing for funds and children was unbear-
able. They were unaccommodating to the Chabad school, and made ev-
ery effort to torpedo the purchase of a local synagogue for its use. There
is simple [sic] no justification for maintaining an institution which pro-
duces nothing but a pinpoint on a map, the Torah Umesorah schools
principal wrote.

In a letter to the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Dr. Kaminetsky described the

situation. The present day school is in a precarious position. It needs all
the help it can get. The merger with Lubavitch however few their forces
in my humble opinion will give real Torah a chance to thrive.
100THE KOSHER INVESTIGATOR

He requested that the Rebbe tell the local Chabad representative that
he should merge with the Torah Umesorah school. But the Rebbe sel-
dom involved himself in the network of Chabad schools that was estab-
lished before the sixth Chabad Rebbe passed away, leaving the schools
under the directorship of Rabbi Gurary.

Rabbi Chodakov [sic] called me on Thursday to tell me that the

whole matter is really out of the hands of the Rebbe, himself, he wrote
to the principal. It belongs to Rabbi Gurary of the Tomchei Tmimim
Yeshivos, which is part of the network.

Rabbi Levy was in the Midwest when the issue flared up again in
September. He reached out the Chabad representative in question to
help mediate the conflict. The Lubavitchers believed that the goal of the
merger was simply to swallow their school. Rabbi Levy conveyed the
message to headquarters: there would be no merger. Even if there will
be only five children in the Lubavitch school, they will not give up an
institution, Rabbi Levy said. This is a matter of principle with them.

After receiving another derogatory letter from the schools principal

about the Chabad representatives, Dr. Kaminetsky replied, It is not for
me to question the procedures of the Lubavitchers. They are chassidim,
and they have different ways of looking at matters. I would not be con-
cerned with them. If I were you, I would devote all of my energy to build-
ing up a bigger and better school.

Both schools continued to struggle for many years. In the end the
day school cut ties with Torah Umesorah, and the Chabad school main-
tains a small but steady enrollment.

Not Just Kids

During his time at Torah Umesorah, perhaps more than anyone
else, Rabbi Levy came to see what the Jewish day school movement was
achieving. [It has] to its credit some awe-inspiring achievements, Rabbi
Levy later wrote. It is now giving a basic Torah education to more than