Magic carpet, SatMar-Style

YIDDISH
YEMEN
IN
Rabbi Yitzchak Freund (top left) with Talmud Torah students in Yemen:
“We’ve been supporting them for years”
The covert rescue of sixty Jews from the Amran province in Yemen and their transfer to the United
Aryeh Ehrlich
States — under the auspices of Satmar chassidim and backed by the United Jewish Communities and
he babble of languages in the arrivals
terminal at Kennedy Airport was, as
usual, almost deafening. The busy
New York international airport bustled with
the noisy routine, but in a corner, a drama
of utmost secrecy was in the process of
unfolding.
A handful of bearded, bespectacled
chassidim conversed in urgent whispers with
US State Department personnel, waiting
nervously for the arrival of their guests. These
guests, remnants of a poor and war-torn land,
were about to enter the United States after a
US State Department — has raised the ire of the Jewish Agency. The JA claims that Satmar forbids
the Yemenites from moving to Eretz Yisrael, and has undermined their decades-long efforts; Satmar
activists counter that the Israeli government’s promises for a smooth absorption have been empty. In
an exclusive interview with Mishpacha, Satmar activist Rabbi Yitzchak Freund — who has traveled to
Yemen dozens of times — reveals the details of secret operations in Yemen, exposes the challenges of
integrating old-world Yemenites into the modern world of Monsey, and defends his community against
anti-Israel accusations
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Magic Carpet, Satmar-Style
24 Cheshvan 5770 11.11.09
T
covertly orchestrated, round-about itinerary
through several other countries. “Here
they are,” one chassid whispered to his
friend. “Zei huben gekimmen, b’shoh toivah
imitzlaches.” (They have arrived.)
Excitement combined with fear
flickered on the dark, solemn faces of the
group that had just disembarked from a
complicated journey. They looked around in
bewilderment. Their eyes, which had only
known primitive village scenes, had just
begun taking in the modern world for the
first time. This group of Jews had just arrived
from Yemen, with not much more than the
rucksacks in their arms.
They drew closer to the group of
American chassidim, residents of Monroe,
Williamsburg and Boro Park. Some
members of the welcoming committee were
familiar to the new arrivals. The men with
the tightly curled peyos shook hands with
the members of the delegation that had been
anxiously awaiting their arrival. “Bruchim
habaim besheim Hashem,” they exclaimed
in their American chassidic accent. “Bruchim
hanimtzaim,” the guests replied with their
equally unique Yemenite pronunciation that
has been uncorrupted throughout the ages.
Until now.
This was the fifth and final group that
23
Learning Torah in the ancient dialect: is this the
end of Yemen's glorious jewish community?
has emigrated from Yemen to the United
States in the last year. After the coldblooded murder of Moshe Yaish Nahari in
Raida, Yemen, earlier this year, the gates of
the country have been secretly opened for
Jews wishing to leave. The revised 2009
version of Operation Magic Carpet was
organized swiftly and secretly; but this time,
the carpet took the refugees to the “holy”
land of New York. Virtually none of them,
with the exceptions of Yaish Nahari’s own
family and community leader Rabbi Said
Ben-Yisrael, chose to live in Eretz Yisrael.
They bid a final farewell to Yemen, the land
of their birth and ancestors, and traveled
to America, where they were warmly
welcomed by the Satmar community.
Behind the secret rescue operation was
a small group of American activists, Satmar
chassidim who have worked for years among
Yemenite Jews. The State Department
cooperated with them in arranging visas.
Only after the operation was completed,
and the sixty Jews were safe on US soil,
was the Wall Street Journal allowed to
report that they had been smuggled out of
Amran in northwest Yemen, due to a rise in
anti-Semitic incidents in Yemen in general
and in Amran in particular.
The first group of seventeen landed
in New York on July 8, after traveling
from Sana’a to Frankfurt, Germany. They
were followed by another four groups
totaling sixty people. Official American
government sources have also revealed that
an additional one hundred Jews may arrive
in the U.S. in the near future.
This latest operation to extricate the
remaining Jews of Yemen effectively puts
an end to a community that has survived,
and thrived, for the past 2,500 years —
preserving original biblical Hebrew, liturgy
24
24 Cheshvan 5770 11.11.09
When the Jewish Agency in
Israel heard the reports of the
operation, they grew furious.
Satmar won this last round
in the bitter, ongoing fight
and cantillation throughout centuries of
change and upheaval.
Yeshiva University Professor Hayim
Tawil issued the death certificate. “This is
the end of the Jewish Diaspora of Yemen.
That’s it,” Tawil, an expert on Yemeni
Jewry, told the Wall Street Journal.
When the Jewish Agency in Israel
heard the reports of the operation, they
grew furious. Satmar won this last round in
the bitter, ongoing fight between the Aliyah
Department of the Jewish Agency and
organizations in the United States affiliated
with the chassidic sect.
War In Yemen At least half of Yemen’s
The Jewish Agency continues to claim
that while they punctiliously adhere to
requests by the State Department not to
publicize anything regarding the emigration
of Yemenite Jews, so as not to endanger those
who remain behind, the State Department
violated its own secrecy rules in this case.
Moreover, they claim that cooperation with
elements close to Satmar defied an unwritten
agreement of understanding between the US
and the Israeli government.
The Jewish Agency couldn’t decide
on whom to vent their fury first, especially
since the United Jewish Communities
(formed from the 1999 merger of the United
Jewish Appeal and the Council of Jewish
Federations), which identifies with Zionist
causes, stood behind Satmar in this case and
took part in the transfer operation. “We are
resolutely opposed to transferring Jews to
the United States. The place for Jews is in
their homeland, the Land of Israel, and like
all the Jews of the world, the Jews of Yemen
have to make aliyah to Israel. That is their
destiny,” a JA spokesman said.
Jews who left their native country in the last
three years have chosen the United States
as their destination, where they received
the status of refugees, with support from
the almost magical influence that the
Satmar askanim have had on the Yemenite
community. What the Jewish Agency can’t
forgive is that the UJC, headed by Howard
Rieger, was involved in their resettlement.
But UJC officials were unruffled by the
accusations. “We decided to help with the
immigration, resettling and absorption of
the Yemenite Jews whose lives are in danger
due to the rise in anti-Jewish violence in
the country,” the organization said in a
statement, adding, “We work together with
the Jewish Agency to encourage those
Jews remaining in Yemen to emigrate to
Israel. With that, we will work to ensure
the safety of those who have chosen to
come to the United States.”
Still, the battle of the authorities in
Israel against the Satmar influence became
so desperate that the Finance Ministry was
willing to release huge sums of money that
it doesn’t have toward Yemenite absorption.
According to recent reports in Israel, a deal
has been reached between the Absorption
the success of the Satmar
activists, a group not backed
by a single official body or
organized federation, has
become a huge headache
for veteran, well-heeled
institutions that have
brought Jews from all
over the world to Israel
and Finance Ministries, under which Jews
from Yemen who decide to come to Israel
will receive grants of hundreds of thousands
of shekels to purchase apartments, in order
to entice them away from going to America
and joining the Satmar enclave.
According to the agreement, every
Yemenite family will receive between five
and seven hundred thousand shekels as a
mortgage loan for an apartment, 90 percent
of which will eventually become a grant.
“The Jewish Agency believes that
these people belong in Israel and that their
absorption conditions must be improved,
because they come without any money
or possessions,” JA sources state. “In any
case, this is not a major expense. It would
be a huge crime to leave these Jews in the
hands of Satmar.”
The battle is over the soul of every Jew
in Yemen who is a candidate for emigration.
Both groups have targeted each and every
person to try and gain their confidence.
And the success of the Satmar activists,
a group not backed by a single official
body or organized federation, has become
a huge headache for veteran, well-heeled
institutions that have brought Jews from
all over the world to Israel. The Jewish
Agency giant, however, was no match
for the chassidim from America, whose
opposition to Zionism and everything
it represents has led them to fight on the
Yemenite front — and win.
The Committee for the Rescue
of Yemenite Jews is the organization
behind the recent wave of emigration. It
is comprised of a small group of veteran
askanim, most of whom have made the
New York-Sana’a trip dozens of times. This
Innocent eyes adjust to the light
upon arrival in the US
25
group subsists on donations by chareidi
businessmen, primarily those who identify
with the anti-Zionist doctrine of Rav Yoel
of Satmar, ztz”l.
The issue of Yemenite Jews was very
close to Reb Yoelish’s heart. He made sure
his chassidim were actively involved in
their salvation, and was the inspiration for
all the activities currently undertaken by
the Committee.
The Committee divides its activities
into three primary areas: helping Jews
live and subsist in Yemen; transferring
Jews from Yemen to the United States;
and establishing kehillos for Yemenite
immigrants who were brought by Satmar
chassidim to London. The London
community is headed by Rabbi Meir
Schlesinger, a Satmar activist and native
of Jerusalem, who lives in Stamford Hill,
London, and leads the Yemenite refugee
community that has settled there. He is
assisted by Reb Eliezer Lev.
The head of the Committee is Rabbi
Yitzchak Berel Hershkowitz, who lives in
Kiryas Yoel, Monroe. For the past thirty
years, Rabbi Hershkowitz has been active
on the Yemenite scene, and he has been
involved in every initiative on behalf of
that community. He has made the trip to
Yemen dozens of times since his first visit
in 1994. “I go to Yemen twice a year,”
Rabbi Hershkowitz tells Mishpacha. “Next
Motzaei Shabbos, I’m heading back.”
In today’s heated political climate,
how are the Jews faring there?
“The situation is very tense,”
Hershkowitz states. “Since they killed
Reb Moshe Nahari, Hy”d, all the Jews
know that they have to leave. There are
about thirty families left in Yemen, some in
Sana’a and some in Raida.”
Are you connected with the
operations that smuggle Yemenite Jews
out of their native country?
Rabbi Yitzchak Freund: “They are
in danger. They don’t know about
immodesty, video or internet”
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24 Cheshvan 5770 11.11.09
Unusual benefactors. Yemenite children
wear jackets donated by chassidim in
Monsey over their traditional garb
“After Nahari was murdered, we private people took the reins.
We began to lobby Americans to bring the Jews over
from Yemen to America. The American government agreed,
but conditioned it on secrecy”
Reb Yitzchak Berel Hershkowitz says
he is not. “I am there as long as they are
there. I have built two mikvaos there, a
Talmud Torah for boys and a school for
girls.”
It is Rabbi Yitzchak Freund who is
behind the immigration operations to the
United States. He is the real headache
for the Zionist aliyah entities. Since he
was appointed by Eida Chareidis Dayan
Moshe Aryeh Freund, ztz”l, to head the
Committee two decades ago, he has dealt
his Zionist counterparts no small number
of disappointments. He has been the
subject of incisive investigations by Israeli
media outlets, and efforts have been made
to neutralize his activities.
“I received a brachah from Rav Moshe
Aryeh Freund, ztz”l, who urged me to
get involved. I started in 1992; we were
together in Russia on behalf of Russian
Jews at the time. I told him that there was a
possibility of smuggling Jews out of Yemen
and the question was where to send them
to. He told me that under no circumstances
should they go to Eretz Yisrael.”
He has been to Yemen twenty-five
times since 1994. He visits members of the
shrinking community and arranges their
exit from Yemen. Officially, he serves as a
regular member of the Committee for the
Rescue of Yemenite Jews but in truth, he is
the fire behind it.
We caught up with Rabbi Freund
between trips to Yemen. He was on his way
to the offices of the immigration authorities
in New York, to settle the status of several
refugees who had just arrived in this final
stage of the secret operation. He explains
his approach:
“The group that we just brought is the
fifth, and in the meantime the last, group
that is coming,” Freund reveals. “We
brought in five groups but we had to keep
it a total secret. The US Department of the
Interior didn’t allow us to talk about it.”
Why the secrecy?
“The Zionists were opposed to the
operation,” he explains. Rabbi Freund
isn’t shy about exposing his constant
battles with the Jewish Agency and
its affiliates. But he concedes that that
wasn’t the only factor.
“The Yemenite government has a
friendly relationship with the United
States and it does not want a head-on
confrontation. There is also military
cooperation between the two countries.
The United States defense establishment
has been assisting the Yemenite prime
minister, Ali Abdullah Salah, subdue
the activities of Al Qaeda in his country.
The prime minister comes to the US
frequently and meets with government
officials. These relations began during
the second Gulf War in 2003.”
Over the past few years, however,
Yemen’s remaining Jews have been
victims of escalating persecution by their
Muslim countrymen.
“The media reported that the Jews
who lived in the village of Garhir were
expelled. The local non-Jews threatened
to kill the Jewish families who refused to
leave. They fled to Sa’ada, but there, too,
“The Yemenite government decided to transfer the nine
families to Sana’a by helicopter. The trip by car takes
five hours, but there was a fear that the Jews
would be killed en route”
there were death threats. The local mayor
called the prime minister and begged
him to take them, to relieve him of the
responsibility of the fate of the Jews. The
Yemenite government decided to transfer
the nine families to Sana’a by helicopter.
The trip by car takes five hours, but
there was a fear that the Jews would be
killed en route. The Garhir refugees were
transferred to a safe location in Sana’a
where they are under round-the-clock
protection. These nine families have
been there for three years.”
But if the Yemenite Jews felt
protected, that illusion was shattered by
the murder of Moshe Yaish Nahari last
December.
Mori Moshe Nahari left his house in
Raida on his way to the Talmud Torah,
where his students awaited him. In the
courtyard he was confronted by Abed
Al Aziz Abadi, a deranged Muslim who
had been jailed for killing his own wife.
The Arab demanded that Nahari convert
to Islam, saying that he had a religious
document signed by Muslim scholars
according to which if a Jew refuses to
convert, he can be killed. The murderer
pulled out his Kalashnikov, shot five
bullets and snuffed out Moshe Yaish
Nahari’s young life.
Freund relates that eight months
before Nahari’s murder, the United
States sent two envoys from Washington
to evaluate firsthand the situation of
Yemen’s Jews. “In the report they
Yemenites at a traditonal wedding
wear talleisim donated by Satmar
chassidim: “Can I help it if they
choose America?”
“When the Zionists heard about this
cooperation they pressured HIAS to
stop helping us. It came to the point
that HIAS told the government, ‘We
have a problem. We can help, but Israel
doesn’t let us.’ As a result, the American
government decided that no one was
allowed to discuss these activities”
compiled they explained that the Jews are
in great danger. The American authorities
discussed how to smuggle them out
without causing a diplomatic incident with
the Yemenis. They didn’t want to offend the
prime minister, who considered the Jews
under his protection. He could get offended
and refuse. So it dragged out for months.
“After Nahari was murdered, we
private people took the reins. We began to
lobby Americans to bring the Jews over
from Yemen to America. The American
government agreed, but conditioned it on
secrecy. The Yemeni government agreed.
The Americans told the Yemenis that they
would take the Jews out slowly, as long as
the Yemenis provided exit visas. And we
began to work.
“But, as soon as the Jewish Agency
found out about our plan to take the Jews
to the US, they began pressuring the
Americans not to accept them, and to send
them against their will to Israel.”
On whom was pressure applied?
“When the American government
brings refugees it assigns special people to
help with the absorption. HIAS (Hebrew
Immigrant Aid Society) handles Jewish
refugees. And although they are pro-Israel
and operated by secular Jews, they help
Jews settle everywhere. Because they
have experience in the field, they were
summoned to handle the Yemeni refugees
as well. Baruch Hashem we managed to
establish cooperation with HIAS and they
worked together with our organization in
Monsey.
“When the Zionists heard about this
cooperation they pressured HIAS to stop
helping us. It came to the point that HIAS
told the government, ‘We have a problem.
We can help, but Israel doesn’t let us.’
“As a result,” Freund claims, “the
American government decided that no one
was allowed to discuss these activities.
That’s one reason for the secrecy.”
Rabbi Freund relates that during that
period he secretly flew to Yemen, with the
blessings of the American government.
How do you know this?
“It was all over the media. It was
reported in the Jerusalem Post that
the Zionists were applying pressure to
prevent the Yemenite Jews from being
taken to America.”
Did you know about the transfer?
“I was very involved in all the details.
But when I came to the shtieblach or the
mikveh I told everyone that I don’t know a
thing. There were whispers, but I responded
with a raised eyebrow.”
And did they leave?
“Three of Moshe’s daughters left
Yemen even before I got there. In Shevat
I sent the Naharis $12,000 from America
to cover their outstanding debts and their
father’s burial expenses. The money was
also used to erect a respectable headstone
on his grave. Of course, most of the money
was used for procedural matters related to
getting them out of Yemen.”
Rabbi Freund continues to describe
his activities from the time Nahari was
murdered. “I knew him well,” he says.
“He was a special person, whose Jewish
purity and wisdom were his outstanding
character traits. He was a talmid chacham
who knew both how to learn and how to
teach,” Rabbi Freund eulogizes, adding, “I
No wedding is too far: chassidim
escort the chasan in Sana’a
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24 Cheshvan 5770 11.11.09
What did you do there?
Freund ponders for a minute, and then
says, “I can’t tell you. It’s secret.”
Nevertheless, perhaps just a hint…
Freund gives in and says, “I took care
of the bribery arrangements for the Jews
who were having difficulty obtaining
passports. I spoke with twenty-five Jewish
families privately and persuaded them to
leave. They all wanted to leave, but none
of them wanted anyone else to know about
it. Each one warned me that everything we
discussed must remain under wraps. That’s
the kind of fear they live in; everyone is
afraid of everyone else. Simultaneously, I
helped take care of Moshe Nahari’s widow
and children so that they could be sent out
of the country.”
contacted the police in Yemen and insisted
that they fully investigate the murder.
“At the time we decided that it was
worthwhile to send a relative from Eretz
Yisrael to be with the widow during this
awful time for her. Moshe’s three sisters
came from Israel to Yemen, through a
third country. Likewise, I sent money to a
member of Nahari’s family who lives in
Rechovot, so he could travel to Yemen and
stay for six months, to help the widow and
Moshe’s aging, ailing parents.
“Moshe Nahari left behind two sons and
seven daughters; Sasson was twelve at the
time and Daniel is eight. We made intense
efforts for them to leave Yemen, but it was
very difficult. They could not obtain exit
visas because of the international ruckus that
the murder had generated. The Yemenite
immigration authorities used delaying
tactics: once they said the computers were
down, another time the family was sent
away and told to come back a different time.
This dragged out for four months.
“And then I realized that I had to go
there myself in order to see what was going
on. I traveled to Yemen, bribed the necessary
persons, and arranged for Nahari’s two
sons to be sent to Eretz Yisrael so that they
could say Kaddish for their father. There, in
The new mikveh: “As long as Jews are here, we are here”
Yemen, there is no tefillah betzibbur. The
Jews are afraid to gather to pray together.
“On Rosh Chodesh Elul the boys arrived
in Eretz Yisrael. Today they both learn in
Sephardi yeshivos in Bnei Brak. Two days
after they arrived, the older son celebrated
his bar mitzvah.”
Smear Campaign The mountain of
claims against the Satmar organization for
Yemenite Jews does not originate solely with
the Jewish Agency. Even people who are not
flag-waving Zionists claim that the Satmar
chassidim conduct smear campaigns against
Israel, that they slander the Land, and that
they are ready to send a fortune of money
to every Yemenite Jew who chooses the
United States or Britain as their destination
for emigration.
Those not familiar with the internal
Satmar hierarchy might heap these claims
on the doorsteps of both factions of the
Chassidus. But those in the know say
there is a more specific address: that of
Rabbi Yitzchak Freund. He is the one who
travels frequently to Yemen, persuading
the Jews to leave.
But Yitzchak Freund is unruffled by
these charges. He says some are based
on unfounded myths, and denies that he
continued on page 54
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YIDDISH IN YEMEN continued from page 29
unequivocally opposes the emigration of
Yemenite Jews to Eretz Yisrael.
They say that you do everything to
ensure that Yemenite Jews don’t come
to Israel…
“That’s absolutely not true,” he declares.
“If there’s an organization or institution in
Bnei Brak or Beit Shemesh that is ready to
help them spiritually, then I don’t object
to them making aliyah to Eretz Yisrael.
The problem is that most Yemenites have
already visited there once and saw how the
Yemenite Jews are nothing more than a
floor to be trampled on, so to speak.”
What makes you say that? Don’t
they have an absorption package? Just
recently huge grants were announced
for Jews from Yemen who choose to
immigrate to Israel.
Freund snickers. “You can’t trust
promises. Just look at Said Ben-Yisrael,
whose aliyah to Israel was widely covered
by the media because Nahari’s murderer
was really targeting him as the leader of
the community. Said decided to flee. He
wanted to go to America but the visa did
not come through. He called me on Tu
B’Shevat, telling me that he was in danger
and in hiding while waiting for a visa.
‘There’s a Jewish Agency representative
who promised me that if I come to Israel
I’ll get $100,000 to buy an apartment, and
other benefits.’ I told him to go to Israel.
“When he arrived he was sent to Beer
Sheva, even though he wanted to go to
Beit Shemesh. We exerted a lot of pressure
until the JA agreed to pay his rent in Beit
Shemesh. I told the Jews still in Yemen to
contact Said and ask him if he got all that
he was promised. So they called him and
he told them the truth. Can I help it if they
choose America over Israel?”
You told the Jews in Yemen that it’s
not worth it to go to Israel?
Freund denies the charge. “I didn’t tell
them where to go. I told them that they
should each choose where they want to
live. I urged them to make inquiries among
their relatives to see what’s best for them.”
And what do you offer them in the
United States?
“Here they have everything. We built
them a shul in Monsey. We appointed a Rav,
Rav Shimshon Chatuka from Bnei Brak.
He is very successful and works well with
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24 Cheshvan 5770 11.11.09
people. All the Rabbanim in Monsey—and
there are 120 Rabbanim from all streams—
respect Rav Chatuka. We want them to
have Rabbanim and leaders of their own.
We don’t want the Ashkenazim to be their
leaders. We just help them with money.”
“The Jews of Yemen are
so pure that they are weak
when it comes to facing
challenges. That’s because
they have never faced
anything. They don’t have
challenges of immodesty,
or videos, or Internet. The
level of modesty is high,
even among the Arabs.
They are very innocent”
Does it bother you that the Israeli
media slanders you?
“It’s a long story,” Rabbi Freund sighs.
“We’d have to sit on that for hours. But
briefly let me tell you that Satmar chassidim,
myself among them, have helped Jews from
Iran, Russia, Syria, Argentina, Morocco,
and even Yemenites from Eretz Yisrael
whose parents emigrated there years ago.
“Nineteen years ago, when I was asked
to get involved on behalf of Yemenite
Jews, I could have refused or said that
I was unable to help them. The Jewish
Agency and their allies would have likely
been happy had I refused, and then they
could have brought all of Yemen’s Jews to
Israel. But who knows what would have
happened had they fallen into the hands of
the anti-religious element?”
But you prevent them from coming
to the Holy Land…
“That is not true,” Freund exclaims. “I
personally paid for Moshe Nahari’s boys
to go to Eretz Yisrael. They didn’t want
to take money from the Jewish Agency,
because then they would never be allowed
to return to Yemen to visit their mother.
“There’s a family in Israel that also got
money from our organization so that they
could go to Israel. But we conditioned
giving them the money on their living
in Bnei Brak, and not in Rechovot or
Ashkelon.
“There’s a big problem in Eretz
Yisrael,” Yitzchak Freund says after a
prolonged pause. “There’s one askan
in Bnei Brak who said to me, ‘I want to
open a yeshivah for Yemenites, but I
have no money.’ I told him that there are
many askanim, and he should ask them
for money. Nothing came out of it. Why?
Because there is no one to help there. We
work very hard. We collect money, build
shuls, establish kehillos, and pay the
salaries of the Rabbanim. That’s why the
conditions in America, both spiritually and
materially, are better.
“Anyone who’s really looking for
Yiddishkeit can go to Eretz Yisrael,”
Freund remarks after another moment of
thought. “There was one rebellious person
in Yemen who said to me, ‘Give me money
to go to Israel or I’m converting to Islam.’
I told him that I won’t help him, because if
he’s not looking for Torah, I have nothing
to help him with.
“You have to realize something,” he
points out. “The Jews of Yemen are so pure
that they are weak when it comes to facing
challenges. That’s because they have never
faced anything. They don’t have challenges
of immodesty, or videos, or Internet. The
level of modesty is high, even among the
Arabs. They are very innocent. That’s why
in the first years after they leave Yemen,
they are in great danger. Their minds cannot
withstand so many challenges. They need
a lot of support in those first years.”
Vindicated Rabbi Freund describes a
moment he experienced after returning
from one of his dozens of journeys to the
Middle East. Jet lag notwithstanding, he
pulled himself together for a pre-dawn
mikveh.
There he met a young Yemenite youth
who was exiting the mikveh at that early hour,
his curly simanim (peyos) dripping water
and a small Gemara under his arm. He was
murmuring the morning Birchos HaShachar
with the rich Yemenite pronunciation, and
whispered “gut morgen” in an American,
chassidic accent — no less rich.
At moments like these, Freund forgets
about all the problems, all the attacks. He
knows that his efforts of so many years
have paid off. n