Students Ask, and Rabbi Answers All

It was an intimidating assignment: Think of challenging questions to ask one of the most important religious leaders of Israel.

But the 150 preteens at Emek Hebrew Academy had some doozies--from one young girl’s inquisition on why she can’t have a puppy to a boy’s curiosity about the color of the world before the creation of the sun.

While some of the questions drew giggles from the audience of sixth- through eighth-graders, all drew serious, philosophically deep answers from Rabbi Ezra Basri, president of the Jerusalem Rabbinical Court, during his visit to the school Thursday.

In separate groups, boys segregated from girls, and the youngsters filed into the bais hamidrash, the circular third-floor study hall, to get answers from the Chief Justice himself, one of a series of Israeli leaders to visit the Sherman Oaks school, the largest and oldest Orthodox Jewish day school in the San Fernando Valley. In 1994, Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron dropped in just months after he was chosen as one of Israel’s two chief rabbis.

Basri was introduced as a man charged with answering questions so difficult that most other people would not want the burden of making a decision. Basri answered questions in Hebrew, which were then translated by school officials into English.

This day, decisions came easy.

For Amy Silver, an 11-year-old sixth-grader who asked about the dog, Basri had a long and multifaceted answer that encompassed the proper role of animals in relation to humans and ranged to the responsibilities of proper care and feeding of pets.

The simple answer, translated, was: No, Amy doesn’t get a dog.

Basri called the query by sixth-grader Gil Small about the pre-sun color of the world an “important question.” His answer explored religious versus scientific arguments about creation.

Daniel Lintz, 13, wanted a ruling on the Orthodox ban on medicinal practices on the Sabbath, as it applies personally to him. Basri said it was OK for Daniel to take out his orthodontic retainer on the holy day because he does not require assistance from a dentist. The eighth-grader smiled.