Almost exactly a year to the day since shock and sadness
permeated Agudas Yisroel of America's 76th Anniversary
Dinner, more than 1,500 who gathered at the New York Hilton
last week for the organization's 77th fete were overwhelmed
with fond memories and deep appreciation for Rabbi Moshe
Sherer zt'l. A special hard-cover volume entitled
Rabbi Moshe Sherer: His Life and His Legacy was
published in his honor, and copies presented to those in
attendance at the dinner.
The Rosh Agudas Yisroel, Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah member Rav
Yaakov Perlow, the Novominsker Rebbe, paid deep tribute to
Rabbi Sherer, noting the wonderful fruit of his labors so
evident in the wide-ranging projects of Agudath Israel and
the large crowd of Agudah supporters stretched out before
him.
Quoting the Ohr Hachaim, Rav Perlow pointed out that
no Jew can do all the Torah's mitzvos, if only because
some are particular to men, or to cohanim, or to other
specific groups of Jews. How then does every Jew have a part
in the entirety of the Torah's commandments?
The Ohr Hachaim's approach, explained Rav Perlow, is
that the Jewish people are essentially intertwined and each
Jew can act "in the name"--for the credit, so to speak--of
all other Jews. Thus, each Jew acts on behalf of every other
one.
That, said the Novominsker Rebbe, is the very underpinning
and greatness of Agudas Yisroel.
Part of the movement is focused on assisting yeshivos and
other mosdos chinuch, part on helping Jews find
employment; part of it assists older singles get married,
other parts on other important concerns, like Daf Yomi and
other Torah projects, or the spiritual and physical welfare
of Jews overseas.
And the merit of all those endeavors, the Rebbe said, accrues
to every Agudath Israel activist and supporter.
Rav Perlow also addressed the "time of anguish" the Jewish
community is facing in Eretz Yisroel, born of the
dangers "from without-- Arab nations and Palestinian elements
that would like to see Israel obliterated--and from within:--
Jewish forces in Israel society bent on destroying the
essence of the Jewish people."
"Our voice must be heard to proclaim that this Torah shall
never be compromised," he said. "Here in America our mandate
must be to intensify Torah-study and observance, and to be of
the students of Aharon, loving peace and pursuing peace."
We must, he said, reach out to all Jews, and "strive, as we
approach Shavuos, the holiday commemorating all Jews' unity
`as one person with one heart,'" to recapture that unity, and
to implore Hashem to "return the hearts of fathers to
children and the hearts of children to their fathers."
Earlier in the evening, Agudas Yisroel executive vice
president Rabbi Shmuel Bloom addressed the gathering, and
explained how the degree of "forgetting" that, according to
Jewish sources, sets in at the expiration of a year-long
period of mourning, refers to a diminishment of pain, not of
memory.
"It is now time," he said, "to remember the benefits we
reaped from the neshama of Moshe ben Chaim Yehuda, and
realize how he left this world to a better place because of
his efforts."
Rabbi Bloom went on to give much-deserved recognition to "the
individual who more than anyone else, suffered the
personal loss of Rabbi Sherer the `secret weapon' that
enabled him to create his legacy": Rebbitzen Sherer.
He then made a special presentation to the Sherer family of
an especially encased copy of the special pictoral album
created for the occasion.
Rabbi Shimshon Sherer accepted the presentation on behalf of
his mother and family, and then addressed the gathering
himself.
"We are here," he said, "to pay tribute to a man of history.
You knew him as a beloved nasi, I as `Daddy', ovi
mori." Rabbi Sherer paid tribute as well to his mother--
"this" he said, gesturing over the large crowd, "is all your
merit"--as well as to Mrs. Elimelech Tress, the widow of the
great Agudah activist who helped bring the elder Rabbi Sherer
into Jewish public life and the supporters and staff of
Agudas Yisroel.
Just as Moshe Rabbeinu's song, he continued, "lived on beyond
him, so will my father's song never be forgotten." And his
song, he concluded, was the refrain he used so often, the
need for Jews to stand and work "together, together,
together!"
Also offering a tribute to Rabbi Sherer, from the perspective
of a government official with whom the Agudas Yisroel leaders
had worked on many shtadlonus missions over the course
of more than 20 years, was United States Senator Charles
Schumer.
The Senator reminisced about his relationship with Rabbi
Sherer, whose "warmth, intelligence and integrity," he said,
"made a deep impression on me." He recounted Rabbi Sherer's
advice, decades earlier when there was deep concern about a
Brooklyn neighborhood's future, to help strengthen the
community's yeshivos.
That suggestion, the Senator confided, had turned out to be
wise counsel indeed. "Rabbi Sherer," he said, "will remain
with me for all my life."
The gathering included a film about the Agudas Yisroel
leader's life. The film included scenes of Rabbi Sherer
speaking to the Israeli press on the Am Echad mission that
turned out to be his final public undertaking. Produced by
award-winning cinematographer Menachem Daum, the film
portrayed many images of Rabbi Sherer throughout the years,
and many images of his accomplishments, from his
groundbreaking testimony before Congress on aid to religious
schools to the mammoth Siyum HaShas gathering of two
years ago.
A number of well-known personalities also appeared on the
film recounting their memories of Rabbi Sherer. Among them
was Rabbi Shimson Sherer, who told of how his father, whose
immune system was suppressed after a serious illness, visited
Camp Agudah and simply could not manage to heed his doctor's
orders to avoid contact with others.
As the younger Rabbi Sherer's words captured the viewers'
ears, their eyes watched a clip of the camp visit, where the
elder Rabbi Sherer walked through the crowd of boys and made
his way to a small group of children at the back of the room
and shook the hand of each one. "They are my children," he
later explained to his son. "You can't deprive a father from
hugging his children."
The Agudas Yisroel dinner, chaired by Mr. Hashi Herzka, was
an occasion, too, to honor others who have worked and
accomplished on behalf of the Jewish community.
Mr. Yaty Weinreb received the HaGaon Rav Aharon Kotler
Memorial Award for his extraordinary service to Torah; Dr.
Marcel Biberfeld, the Moreinu Yaakov Rosenheim Memorial Award
for distinguished service to Agudah ideals; and Reb Dovid
Moskovitz, the Reb Elimelech Tress Memorial Award for the
preservation of the legacy of Shearis HaPleitah.
Avodas Hakodesh awards were presented to Mr. Yitzchok Farkas,
Mr. Heshy Grunberger, Mr. Arnold Kalish, Mr. Zvi Mermelstein,
Reb Yehuda Olewski, Mr. Yaakov Pretter and Mr. Dovid
Tanenbaum.
Mr. Sheya Greenberg received the Wolf Friedman Award for
Young Leadership.
