Jewish Observer
May 1997
Summer camps serve as an extension of our chinuch efforts. We
select a camp for our children
based on the caliber of its staff, its reputation and ruach. There is one practice
engaged in by even the finest Torah-oriented camps, however, that is a carryover from the past which deserves
revisitation and reevaluation.
Every year, during the Nine Days culminating with Tisha B'Av, I receive the
same report from my daughters: A rabbi
comes into the dining hall, mumbles
some words into the microphone which
nobody understands, and they all sit
down to a fleishig dinner like any other.
At home, my wife works hard to balance
milchig/pareve menus so that we properly observe the words of the Rema to
abstain from meat during these days.
I have been affiliated in various
capacities with many camps, and my
talmidim attend many others; the
reports from the field are the same. Our
camps, which boast of their learning
programs and adherence to rules of tzenius, are cutting corners and compromising our children's chinuch nonetheless with these so-called siyumim! In
some situations the children will tell you:
"The director tells some kids to make a
quick siyum or he does it himself
because it's easier for the cook to make
fleishig."
As a kitchen staffer, I recall being
told to ask the cook which days he wants
us to "make the siyum"! This past summer, the second trip of a major girls'
camp commenced in the week of Tisha
B'Av. The girls were welcomed with a
fleishig meal, despite the stringency of
the actual week of the ta'anis. The girls
were told that the decision was made on
the grounds of "nutrition." (Was that of any concern when the same camp
served franks and french fries.)
How the Situation Arose
Originally, this practice was sanctioned by America's leading
gedolim. Based on conversations with people who were involved in
the early days of American frum camping, I have pieced together the history.
Under the guidance of such great
mechanchim (Torah educators) as the
late Reb Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz,
many children of the 1940's and 1950's
were literally taken from the streets and
placed in yeshivas. This nurtured their
Yiddishkeit for ten months of the year.
Faced with the potential threat of losing them back to the streets over the
long, hot summers, the original Camp
Mesivta, Camp Yeshiva, Camp Agudah
and others were founded to host these
youths in a positive summer environment. Girls' camps were quick to follow.
A generation was saved.
Besides being starved spiritually,
many of these young people came from
homes that were unable to provide
much in the way of physical nourishment. Poverty was still common among
the new immigrants; often the yeshiva's
lunch was the child's main meal.
In those days, very few options were
available to maintain a non-meat menu
for a week. The multiple, prepared,
frozen delights that line our store's freezers did not exist. Some cheese, bread,
potatoes, plain noodles and, on rare
occasion, high-priced fish were the
only choices. If the Kosher yeshiva
camp could not provide a varied menu
and keep these children happy and excited about camp, in short order they
would likely become discontented and
return to where they came from ... a loss
to the Jewish community.
In conjunction with other gedolim of that time, including Rabbi Aharon
Kotler and Rabbi Moshe Feinstein ztz"l a decision was made to rely on the Rema
in Orach Chaim 551: l 0, who permitted
the eating of meat at a siyum during the
Nine Days. Besides granting the children
the balanced menu which they so sorely needed along with a pleasing camp
experience - also sorely needed - the
opportunity to emphasize the greatness
of Torah learning was utilized.
A careful study of the Shulchan
Aruch and its commentaries (see Mishna Berum, ibid) clearly indicates that this is not the ideal course of action. Like a
bris, if the siyum just so happens to fall
out during these days, the actual celebrants and those normally invited may
partake of meat and wine. It's almost
uncanny that we don't hear of too many
camp-wide siyumim outside of the
Nine Days, nor do we hear of Bais
Yaakovs celebrating the completion of
Mesechtos at any other time of the year.
On many occasions, I have heard
Rabbi Shimon Schwab declare this practice as "scandalous" when children of his Kehilla
would tell him of it. There was a time
when a specific situation arose, and the
Gedolim of that generation addressed it.
Nowadays, Baruch Hashem, the reality has
changed. Malnutrition and lack of available variety of foods are no longer issues.
Virtually nobody will go "off the derech"
for lack of meat. Yet, we content ourselves
to satisfy our own convenience in a manner less than ideal. Can we still justify this
practice in light of current reality?
Every camp is staffed with talented
head counselors and activity directors.
Their gifts can be utilized to develop creative ways to serve a week of milchigs:
sandwich nights, plan-a-menu contests, supper bars, etc. If there are to be
siyumim, be sure to schedule some during Tamuz and after Tisha B'Av, as well
(and invite the cook too!).
If we are to raise a dor muchshar, an
upright generation, ready to serve
Hashem in the best possible fashion, we
must be careful to start with the basics:
Chosmo shel Hakadosh Baruch Hu emes
- the signet of Hashem is Truth!
----------------
An article
in The Jewish
Observer strongly protested the practice
of making siyumim during the Nine
Days so as to allow meat to be served.
This custom is especially prevalent in
summer camps, where it was sanctioned
by Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (see
Rabbi Eider's Halachos of the Three
Weeks) and the long-time manhig
ruchani of Camp Agudah, Rabbi Yaakov
Teitelbaum. Given the
fact that this practice was instituted by
Gedolim (who, incidentally, made no
mention of the fear of malnutrition as
the basis for doing so), it should be difficult to condemn it so strongly without pointing out a second side to the
issue. A response is therefore in order.
Granted, the anonymous author
does raise many legitimate concerns. In
fact, I too question whether these
poskim permitted a "guest siyum" (made
by someone who arrives just to make a
siyum and then disappears into the sunset), or an "express siyum" (made by
someone who races through a mesechta because he was told that the camp
needs a siyum). These abuses notwithstanding, however, much can be said in
defense of a true seudas siyum. As
mechanchim will testify, a siyum is a
strong motivator and a powerful tool for
encouraging limud ha-Torah. From
Abaye's statement to this effect (Shabbos 119) through our present-day experience with the Siyum HaShas of Daf
Yomi, we have seen that someone with
a goal such as a siyum will study more
deliberately and will be more persistent
in his effort. This is certainly so for a
teenager, where his "prize" is the chance
to make a siyum before his friends and
bunkmates, in front of a few hundred
people. I know - during my years as a
staff member in camp, I was in this position. The fact that I was planning a
siyum for the Nine Days helped motivate me to spend time learning, where
camp distractions may otherwise have
pulled me from the Beis Hamedrash.
As far as the chinuch of our
campers is concerned, indeed, the
"spirit" of the Nine Days is
muted when fleishigs is served in the
normal manner. It is difficult to weigh
whether the benefit of the mesayem's
learning outweighs this. In defense of the
siyum, however, a few points can be
made. First, my recollections (from my
camper years) of a dining room which
is hushed while a teenager solemnly
completes his mesechta is a powerful
one. I can safely assume that the impressions made by a milchig meal (especially
a delicious meal of latkes or fried fish)
would not be as strong. Second, as a
matter of halacha, the original prohibition on meat consumption, as quoted
by Rambam, applies during "sh'vua
shechal bo" - the week of Tisha B'Av.
Our custom extends this abstinence back
to Rosh Chodesh. It certainly seems
worthwhile to allow a siyum during this
less-stringent period, just as siyumim are
universally scheduled on Erev Pesach to
allow bechorim to eat on a day of fasting for them.
One last point: the author points out
that siyumim that are made outside of
the Nine Days do not usually carry a
fleishig menu. Why, then, allow fleishigs
to be served at a siyum during these days?
This question is a halachic one and
has nothing to do with the camp setting.
Jn fact, there is no halachic obligation
to eat meat at a siyum - or at a bar
mitzva meal, for that matter. Why does
the halacha permit this during the
Nine Days? I once heard a beautiful
explanation of this practice:
The aveilus of Bein Hametzarim
(the Three Weeks) is not over the loss
of the Beis Hamikdash of wood and
stone. We cry over something far
greater: "השליך משמים ארץ תפארת ישראל" - "The glory of the Jewish People has fallen". Our loss is one of spiritual building blocks, not physical ones.
At a siyum (or bar mitzva), the glory
of the Am Hanivchar is present, it shines
proudly. On such an occasion, there is
no place for aveilus at all. Chazal
allowed meat to be served, not because
of an obligation to do so, but because
the reason to refrain from meat is temporarily overshadowed by the glory of
the m'sayim haMesechta.
When the siyum is a proper one, it does
radiate glory and Kavod Ha Torah.
-----------------
When my father, Rabbi Yaakov
Teitelbaum permitted the serving of meat at a siyum mesechta in
Camp Agudah during .the Nine
Days when he was Manhig Ruchani
there, it was in accordance with the
explicit p'sak of Hagaon Harav Meir
Arik ztz"l a reknowned halachic
authority. When I questioned my
father (a talmid muvhak of the
gaon) to find out if this was just a
hora'as sha'ah issued under specific
conditions, or could be relied upon
under all circumstances, he dearly
indicated that his Rebbi encouraged
it even when health was not a factor.
RABBI ELI TEITELBAUM
Brooklyn, NY
