At the Agudas HaRabbanim convention in the 1920s, Slabodka alumnus Rav Yosef Konvitz addressed the crowd and made an ominous prediction. “American boys will never be bnei Torah. Der gantze maaseh is Dodgers udder Yankees! — the whole thing for them is the Dodgers or the Yankees!”
Hearing this, Rav Dovid Leibowitz [father of Rav Henoch ztz"l, the RY of Chofetz Chaim] leaped up. “Yossel!” he cried, “Hust meshugeh gevuren — have you lost your mind? Der Americanishe bochur is mer mesugel tzu zein a ben Torah fun der Litvishe bochur — The American bochur is more fit to become a ben Torah than the Lithuanian bochur!”
