By BRUCE GINSBURG

Though degrees of emphasismay vary among Orthodoxand non-Orthodox rabbini-

cal schools, there is a widespread,unstated pecking order in the cur-

riculum for the modern rabbinate.Pride of place goes to Talmudicstudies, followed in descendingorder by legal codes, responsa,midrash, Biblical commentary, his-tory, philosophy, and liturgy.Modern Jewish narrative literature— if it appears at all among

required courses — ranks dead last.A person can easily receive rab-binic ordination without ever hav-ing read Mendele Mokher Sefarim,Y. L. Peretz, Chaim Nachman

Bialik, Sholem Aleikhem or S. Y.Agnon.

Isn’t that ironic, given the factthat over the Jewish nation’s firstthousand years, narrative prosedominated its literature, while law,poetry, and commentary (howeverimportant) assumed a supportiverole? Four of the Five Books ofMoses, all the Former Prophets,

broad sections of the LatterProphets, nearly half the Writingsand much of the Apocrypha arenarratives rather than legal codes orphilosophical treatises. They tellthe stories of feeling, thinking,three-dimensional human beings— with their flaws and strengths,failures and triumphs, jealousiesand romances — making theirpersonal marks within the contextof our national story and God’soverarching plan.

Ibelieve the reason narrative lit-erature flourished when Jews

were sovereign in their own land

and languished when they were inExile is that a people must be in aposition to shape its own story fig-uratively in order to write it liter-ally. National sovereignty pro-

vides a culture with a sense ofcontrol over its future, a practicalstake in the issues, and a burden ofresponsibility for its actions. Itbestows upon it an awareness thathuman beings are too complex tobe easily typed and that compet-ing ideals vie for favor. It grants apeople humility and an apprecia-tion of ambiguity. All of these are

essential ingredients in the mix ofsophisticated plot, theme, and char-acter so necessary for good story-telling.

When Jews exercised sovereign-

ty over the ancient Land of Israel,they were capable of writing theBible. Once they lost it, literaryinspiration accompanied them intoExile, but, like the Shekhinah, it

was largely confined to the fourcubits of halakhah.

Caught in an enduring limbobetween a Paradise Lost and one

Jews Were Story-TellersRestoring the Jewish Narrative Tradition

JEWISH WORLD • NOVEMBER 1-7, 2019 13

Isn’t that ironic that, over a thousandyears, law, poetry, and commentaryhad a supportive role to narrative?

Inside, Outside: A novelby Herman WoukBack Bay Books (reprint), 1995656p., $18.99

PERSPECTIVE

continued on page 28

not yet regained, the Jewsfocused on three things: the glori-ous past, the unbearable present,and the utopian future. That iswhy they respectively put theirbest efforts into recording theircollective memory and behav-ioral code in the legalistic tomesof the Mishneh, Gemara,midrash, and responsa; pouredout their souls, lamenting thetragedy of Exile in liturgy andpoetry; and longed for messianicredemption in philosophical(especially mystical) writings aswell as in lyric verse.

But as Jews slowly evolved

from centuries of subjugation —first to greater autonomy duringthe Golden Age of Spain,Renaissance Italy and theEuropean Enlight- enment, thento the revolutionary freedoms ofAmerica and ultimately to fullsovereignty in Israel — theirremarkable capacity to craft sto-

ries returned. It is no accident thatthe greatest masters of Jewishnarrative literature since Biblicaltimes have emerged over the lastcentury and a half. Rabbis shouldnot be blind to this miracle.

So while — like many of mycolleagues — I conduct a

weekly Talmud Shiur, a weeklyhalakhah lesson, a monthly classon Biblical commentaries, and aspring series on Jewish history, Ihave made it my business over thelast forty years to focus on modernJewish short story writers, novel-

ists, and memoirists each fall. In addition to the luminaries I

mentioned earlier, I have had theprivilege to devote courses to thework of Isaac Bashevis Singer,Bernard Malamud, Chaim Hazaz,

Cynthia Ozick, Rabbi David WeissHalivni, Amos Oz, Rabbi JosephPolak, Primo Levi, Rabbi HaimSabato, and Aharon Appelfeld,among dozens of others. A fullthird of those attending these ses-sions are not my congregants, but adiverse group of Orthodox,Conservative, Reform and unaffili-ated Jews thirsting for the authenticJewish insight and inspiration thesewriters offer.

Currently, I am conducting aseries on Herman Wouk’s novelInside, Outside — the story of fourgenerations of Jews migrating fromRussia to America to Israel. Wouk— who passed away earlier thisyear just ten days shy of his 104thbirthday — was one of America’sleading authors over a span of sev-enty years. Recipient of the Pulitzer

Prize and the Library of Congress’first Lifetime Achievement Awardfor the Writing of Fiction, hedescribed Inside, Outside as the onenovel — among all his spectacularbooks — “closest to my heart.”

The series, which is offered freeof charge and is open to the generalpublic, meets Tuesday even- ngs,November 5 and 12 and December10 and 17, 8:30 p.m. at Congre-gation Sons of Israel, 111 IrvingPlace, Woodmere. I would love foryou to join us in this celebration ofrestoring the Jewish narrative tradi-tion.

Rabbi Bruce Ginsburg is thespiritual leader of CongregationSons of Israel, Woodmere and aPast President of the Union forTraditional Judaism.

Tellerscontinued from page 13

28 JEWISH WORLD • NOVEMBER 1-7, 2019

It is no accident the greatest mastersof Jewish narrative emerged recently.Rabbis should not ignore this miracle.

where military service was thenorm. As a result, such youthsfound themselves “between a rockand a hard place.

“That was the situation,” he said.“That was not a good situation.”

Then around 21 years ago, amashgiach (kosher supervisor)from a yeshivah in Jerusalem wasintroduced to a retired brigadiergeneral who was working for theDefense Ministry, and who was incharge of youth programs.

The officer sought to learn aboutthe haredi sector, and the two menbegan cooperating. The eventualfruit of their cooperation was theformation of the Netzah Yehudabattalion.

“The army had to essentiallycompromise on two major issues,”explained Klebanow. The first and

most critical of these was women inthe military environment.

The IDF, he said, committeditself to creating an environment “inwhich a haredi young man couldserve a meaningful combat or sup-port service without having to com-promise on his religious way of life.

That translated itself to an environ-ment without any women. Thatmeans no women soldiers, com-manders or instructors. That’s actu-ally easier said than done, becausein the army, 95 percent of instruc-tors are women. For them to makethat commitment was pretty much atelltale sign that they were reallyinterested in making this happen,and they did.”

The second major obligation wasmaintaining stringent kashrut stan-dards for the battalion. Over time,the IDF placed soldiers in its foodbase who inspected trucks carryingfood to bases that had haredi sol-diers stationed in them.

In addition to these steps, the IDFpermitted a civilian organization

— Friends of Nahal Haredi — toaccompany the soldiers throughouttheir service. The organization hasofficial IDF recognition and per-mission to help the soldiers transi-tion from civilian life into the mili-

tary, ensuring a successfulmilitary service. Theorganization also has aprogram to help the sol-diers transition back intocivilian life.

“None of those are triv-ial,” said Klebanow. “Eachone is a challenging transi-tion.” The organizationrecently appointed one ofits graduates — a reservesofficer named Yossi Levi— as its CEO, which is anindication of its success.

In addition, the NetzahYehuda battalion willreceive its first home-grown battalion com-mander in the comingmonths, a developmentKlebanow described ashistorical.

Due to the lack of anyfamily military legacies,

“it’s very necessary that there be anorganization that really validates tothem that their decision to come tothe army was the right decision,”

explained Klebanow. “We providethe backing they need to rise whenthey fall down. Our mission reallyis making sure these young menhave a successful service and a suc-cessful life.”

Although the organization does

not deal with recruitment — that’s ajob left to the IDF — as soon as aharedi youth makes the decision toenlist, Friends of Nahal Haredi arethere, waiting to provide assistance.That includes a staff of around 25rabbinic mentors, who visit the sol-diers on their bases daily, and spendShabbat and holidays with them.

Beyond the Netzah Yehuda bat-

talion, the IDF has opened haredicompanies in the Givati andParatrooper infantry brigades, andis set to do the same in the GolaniBrigade. However, those companiesare part of regular battalions, unlikeNetzah Yehuda.

Another important role playedby the organization is accom-

panying the number of lone haredisoldiers, many of whom are alonebecause their families excommuni-cated them for enlisting.

While lone soldiers make uparound 5 percent of IDF soldiers, inthe Netzah Yehuda battalion, thefigure stands at 30 percent. “Manyof these young men, when theydecide they want to go into the

army, can’t go home. So the organ-ization also provides to the best ofour abilities. We have apartmentsfor these young men. We don’t takeany money for them; we just givethem homes.”

Asked about the political

firestorm that continues to rage overthe issue of drafting ultra-Orthodoxyouths, Klebanow said, “Our opin-ion, having experience of doing thisfor 20 years, is that we would notlike to see a blanket recruitment ofharedi youths. I think it’s morepolitical. I don’t think the armywants to see that. First of all, youcan’t force people to be soldiers.

You wouldn’t want to serve next tosomeone who didn’t want to bethere. What they should be doing iscreating more options for harediyouths to be able to, if they leaveyeshivah, to be able to find venuesfor them, which contributes some-thing positive and attractive tothem.”

Haredi youths have also taken upother key military roles in recentyears, including air-force base secu-rity and logistical truck driving.

“We have soldiers on many of thebases fixing tanks; there are all sortsof different programs. The armyjust has to continue to be creative inmaking attractive openings. Youcannot compare the situation of theharedi community vis-à-vis theirparticipation, education and work towhat the situation was 10 years agotoday. There is no comparison,”affirmed Klebanow.

“We have to remember, there isno quick fix,” he emphasized. “Thisis a program that is dealing withsocietal change, and it takes time.It’s not a five- or 10-year program.It’s a program of a few genera-tions.”

Yaakov Lappin writes for JNS.JNS. org

Soldierscontinued from page 25

“If a haredi doesn’t find his place inthe yeshivas, it could be that he just

simply needs something else.”

The organization assists lone haredisoldiers because many are alone andexcommunicated from their families.

Soldiers of the Neztah Yehuda Battalion with hardened faces and under a lightening skycomplete the final stages of a 40-kilometer journey through the night on February 16, 2010.