Welcoming the capacity crowd at Agudath Israel of America’s 85th Annual Dinner—held this past Sunday evening at the New York Hilton –- dinner chairman Shlomo Werdiger urged his listeners to “become Agudah ambassadors and spread the word”  regarding Agudath Israel’s vital work on behalf of Klal Yisroel. 

“Not a day passes that Agudath Israel is not called upon to provide advice, assistance and advocacy on behalf of individuals, groups, and institutions on matters of critical importance to our community,” the speaker declared. “The offices of Agudath Israel at 42 Broadway continue to be the central address for the resolution of any and all issues facing our people… it has been so for 85 successful years and has become even more so in the complex society we live in today.” 

Drawing the crowd’s attention to the new legend –- “Klal Yisroel Working Together for Klal Yisroel” — adorning the banner behind the dais, Mr. Werdiger assured the assemblage that Agudath Israel still is and always will be the  “Keepers of a Sacred Trust,” the organization’s slogan for many decades. But the time has come, he averred, to  get the message out that “the only way the Agudah can  continue to be  the preeminent voice for Klal Yisroel is by having the koach hatzibbur behind it, acting together as a unified force  with achdus and ahavas Yisroel.”

The short audio-visual presentation that followed the chairman’s remarks reinforced that message. Produced by Aryeh Gelbard, the film focused on a number of Agudath Israel’s many achievements in the past year and some of the volunteers — individuals from a wide range of Torah observant backgrounds and all walks of professional life — who helped make them a reality.

The evening’s special guest speaker, the Honorable Zalmay M. Khalilzad, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations was then introduced by Agudath Israel executive vice president for government and public affairs Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel.
After mentioning Dr. Khalilzad’s previous positions as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq and Afghanistan, Rabbi Zwiebel took the occasion to express Agudath Israel’s appreciation of the Bush Administration’s efforts, after the events of September 11, 2001, to wage war against “the forces of terror and evil that seek nothing less tan total world dominion.”  He pointed out that American Jewry, especially, owes President Bush its hakoras hatov; “without question, he is one of the greatest friends Israel and the Jewish community have ever had in the White House.”

Ambassador Khalilzad devoted his remarks to an analysis of the situation in the Middle East, the source of “so many of our security problems.”

The defining challenge of our time, he asserted, lies in strengthening moderates in the region, and turning a region characterized by “instability, violence and terror to one characterized by peace and progress.”

And it is, he declared, “vital that we succeed.”

The first area of Mr. Khalilzad’s focus was Iraq, where, he said, the order of the day is “reconciliation among Iraqis,” something that the United States “is helping to bring about.”  But Al Qaida in Iraq, Iran and Syria, he said, are working to do the opposite.  The situation in Iraq is a difficult one, he admitted, but with ongoing efforts to provide incentives to Iraqis to make faster progress toward broader healing among the country’s various factions, he asserted, “we will succeed.”

The Ambassador then turned to Iran, which, he said, persists in “its dangerous and destabilizing policies.”  Its regime, he averred, has stood against the community of nations “by pursuing nuclear weapons capabilities, supporting militants opposed to the Middle East peace process, rearming Hezbolla and engaging in Holocaust denial.”

Mr. Khalilzad disclosed that Iran had just admitted that it is holding a prominent Iranian-American academic, Haleh Esfandiari, a “67-year-old grandmother” who had traveled to Iran on a personal visit to see her own ailing mother.  In fact, according to the following morning’s newspapers, she has been incarcerated and accused of spying for the United States and Israel.

The Ambassador’s final focus was on Israel.  The need is pressing, he said, for the “completion of the peace process” between Israel and the Palestinians, in the form of a “two state solution” to the conflict. 

The United States, he declared, “is committed to Israel’s security and to its identity as a democratic and Jewish state.”  The U.S., he said, “envisions the creation of a Palestinian state not only as the fulfillment of Palestinian aspirations but also as a source of stability and security for Israel and the region.”

Rabbi Yaakov Perlow, the Novominsker Rebbe and Rosh Agudath Israel, next addressed the assemblage.

Each year before the Agudah dinner, the Rebbe mused, he wonders what more there could be to say about Agudas Yisroel. But, he continued, even what is – or should be – obvious bears repeating, as it is all too easy, as the Mesilas Yesharim writes, to forget some of the most important things in life.

Such things, Rabbi Perlow explained, are forgotten “only when their necessity lies dormant in the mind.”  But when one focuses on them, he readily recognizes their indispensability.

Agudas Yisroel, he declared, is just such a necessity, indispensable to the Torah-faithful community.  Its accomplishments, actions and good deeds may not be taken for granted.  Nor, he added, the fact that it takes its advice and direction, in things large and small, from Torah authorities.

“And this itself,” the Rebbe averred, “is a Kiddush Hashem.  For the Torah is the only valid criterion for Jewish life, Jewish thought, Jewish behavior, for the individual and the community alike.” 

The dinner was also an occasion, as it is every year, to pay tribute to a number of outstanding individuals for their efforts on behalf of Klal Yisroel. Major awards were presented by Agudath Israel executive vice president Rabbi Shmuel Bloom to Abish Brodt, who received The Rabbi Moshe Sherer Memorial Award for lifelong devotion to Klal Yisroel; Moshe Gold, who received the HaGaon Rav Aharon Kotler Memorial Award for distinguished service to Torah; Abraham Roth, who  received the Reb Elimelech Tress Award for preservation of the legacy of the Shearis HaPleitoh; and Dr. Martin Katzenstein, who received the Moreinu Yaakov Rosenheim Memorial Award for distinguished service to Agudath Israel.

Avodas Hakodesh Awards in recognition of the efforts and accomplishments of  individuals from a variety of communities were presented to Rabbi Eliyahu Hoberman, Rabbi Ephraim Levi, and Eitan Vahab.  The Wolf Friedman Young Leadership Award was presented to Naftali T. Leshkowitz.

“The dinner offered an eye-opening overview of Agudath Israel of America’s  involvement in every aspect of Jewish life,” observes  Dr. David Diamond, who, together with Ralph Herzka, served as dinner co-chairman. He noted that, in his speech, Mr. Werdiger had predicted that, after the evening was over, participants would no longer be asking “what does the Agudah do?” but rather, “how can the Agudah possibly do so much?”

“Based on the accuracy of that prediction alone,” says Dr. Diamond, “ I’d say the dinner was a tremendous success.”