The visit of Rav Moshe (among other gedolim) was the brainchild of Dr. Shimon Askovitz
After Rav Aharon Kotler’s passing at the end of 1962, the torch of Torah leadership of US Jewry passed to Rav Moshe Feinstein and Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky. Soon afterward, Rav Moshe visited Philadelphia, where he toured the local mikveh, delivered an in-depth shiur at the nascent Talmudical Yeshivah of Philadelphia, and gave a pre-Yamim Noraim drashah at Congregation Raim Ahuvim. The visit was arranged by the Philadelphia chapter of Agudas Yisrael, led by Dr. Shimon Askovitz and assisted by other local Agudists Isaac Friedman, Erwin Weinberg, and Dr. Joseph Brown.
While the Agudah apparatus in Philadelphia was small, its tireless efforts to raise the standards of Yiddishkeit in town saw much success. Interwar Philadelphia was teeming with recent immigrants, struggling to make ends meet in the crowded South Street Jewish quarter. Pushcarts, the wholesale food market, the garment trade, and even a Yiddish theatre all became components of the Jewish immigrant experience. Within this milieu, religious practice often fell by the wayside.
Chaim Uri Lipschitz, son of the “Philadelphia Rebbe,” Rav Moshele Lipschitz, inaugurated a chapter of Zeirei Agudas Yisrael in the late 1930s. One of the group’s successful endeavors was a shemiras Shabbos campaign conducted along with the Young Israel in 1942. The youth conducted weekly marches, encouraging Jewish storekeepers to close their businesses on Shabbos. Canvassing the city throughout the week, they prevailed upon local housewives to sign a petition not to shop on Shabbos. The campaign’s success prompted local non-Orthodox clergy to write an op-ed criticizing the efforts of the “Jewish pranksters.” This Agudah chapter also joined the efforts to raise funds for the Vaad Hatzalah during the war, and maintained an annual ma’os chitim campaign for the community’s needy.
The visit of Rav Moshe (among other gedolim) was the brainchild of Dr. Shimon Askovitz. A Philadelphia native, he achieved local renown winning chess competitions as a young child. He breezed through medical school and had articles published in prestigious journals. At 19 he was on the math faculty at the University of Pennsylvania. While he was an ophthalmologist by profession, his home and office were strategically located near the Philadelphia Yeshivah, where he spent much time engrossed in Torah study.
Create a free account to keep reading.
