Dov
Zakheim (right) with
Chaplain Col. Jacob Goldstein and
Larry
Spiewak. |
Rabbi
Israel Lau (center),
Rabbi Tuvia Teldon and Larry Spiewak. |
Rabbi
Tuvia Teldon and
Stanley Shuckman. |
Lubavitch assembly on Pentagon lawn.
|
AMERICAN FRIENDS OF LUBAVITCH
Rebbe Didn't Leave Legacy,
He left Marching Orders
Story
and Photos By Tim Boxer
 N
a recent flight to Los Angeles, Larry Spiewak of Brooklyn
found himself next to Bill Cosby.
"What do you do?" the actor asked. "I manufacture those
annoying little T-shaped plastic tags you find on merchandise,"
Spiewak said.
"From that you make a living?"
"I'm sitting with you in first class,
aren't I?"
Spiewak, who sports a stubble, found himself
last week in the thick of black beards and black hats on the lawn of
the Pentagon. He joined some 500 Chabad Lubavitch shluchim
(emissaries) from 40 countries who gathered to commemorate the
terrorist attack six months ago.
Actually they were in Washington to commemorate
the centennial of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson's
birth with two days of lectures and a bit of sightseeing, hosted by
American Friends of Lubavitch under the direction of Rabbi Levi
Shemtov.
Under Secretary of Defense Dov Zakheim,
who'd been briefly in the running as Yeshiva University president Norman
Lamm's successor, was one of the speakers at the Pentagon
gathering.
Calling America "the greatest country in the
world," Zakheim delivered a dvar Torah (sermon),
expounding on the halachic (Jewish law) requirements of a poor man
bringing a meal offering in the Temple.
Chaplain Jacob Goldstein, who's been
on duty at New York's Ground Zero since day one, said he joined
the Army 26 years ago at the Lubavitcher Rebbe's insistence.
Many of the Hasidim scrambled to have their
picture with Israeli Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau. When
his escort said it was time to get back to the car, Lau sighed,
"If they will let me -- I'm here as a hostage."
At lunch in the Capital Hilton, Max
Kampelman, chairman of the American Academy of Diplomacy, said
the essence of the Mideast problem is "political ignorance."
"To call the West Bank 'occupied
territory' is an outrage," he said. "No one refers to Kashmir
or Cyprus as occupied territory. These are areas in dispute.
"There is no legitimate excuse to call
Israel's presence on the West Bank as 'occupied.' Both Arabs
and Jews have historic claims to the area. Our task is to
educate."
Hadassah Lieberman said her husband,
Senator Joe Lieberman, could well appreciate the Lubavitch
global presence.
"My husband was in Tashkent and went out to
look for a minyan so he could say Kaddish. There was a minyan there
-- thanks to Lubavitch."
In a lecture in the Library of Congress, Rabbi Adin
Steinsaltz called upon the Jewish world to cast away petty
interests and prepare for "the big change, the coming of Moshiach."
"I'm talking about changing your life,"
he said.
"The Rebbe did not leave a legacy. He left
marching orders."
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