Now before you think I'm being all defensive here, just remember that were his intentions pure as the wind-driven snow he'd write to the "Lubavitch World Headquarters' and not to the Jerusalem Post and Jewish Week. Also, saying that the cause is worthless because of the intermarriage rate that we have in America is just plain stupid.
(Rabbi D Eliezrie, Photo:Shturem)
Here's what Rabbi Dovid Eliezrie of California had to say about Part I. Admittedly, he does not address the entire article, but rather chooses to take the high road here, speaking about the philosophy that drives Shluchim today.
13 comments:
Eliezrie lost Dr. Laura, but that's probably a blessing.
come on friendly, stay on topic here, please.
From a previous post of Marvins:
"I conclude this week a series of twelve full-page messages in the Jewish Press ... Two Orthodox weeklies, Hamodia and Yated Ne'eman, rejected these paid messages."
I wouldn't get too worked up about the opinions of a man that has to PAY to get published, and even then, is rejected by two newspapers.
Dr Laura was never an Eliezri project - She was in Bryski's district...
I wonder what it is they objected to, I would think the Yated would be happy to publish the anti-Chabad piece.
Interesting that ANY and ALL critiscm of Lubavitch is always wrong! Notwithstanding the craziness and partisanship we see with our own eyes.
B'kitsur, Tzig, the guy who made you Lubavitch did a very good brainwashing job.
VML
no, you've got it all wrong! I know there's plenty to criticize, but it depends from who and why. It's sort of like a white guy making "black jokes", he may be right but he's doing it for all the wrong reasons. I have plenty to say but I won't say it here.
Let me remind you however, that you've yet to admit that "your side" whatever that is, has been mistaken either, and in your opinion Lubavitch has yet to do something right. I guess we were washed with the same rag, only with different soap.....
I loved this guy's post on Marvin Schick's blog.....
At 4:07 PM, Anonymous said...
Regarding Marvin Schick's column last week, entitled "Where is Chabad Heading, Part 2", I'd like to interject some relevant facts into his make-believe Alice-In-Wonderland universe.
First of all, let me state that I am not a Rabbi & have never attended a Chabad Yeshiva. I grew up with a typical spiritually dead Brooklyn Conservative/Reform background, and drifted away from Judaism into atheism & other belief systems. If not for the work of Chabad and other groups like the Jewish Heritage Center & Gateways, I would be even further away from Hashem, Torah & Mitzvahs than ever before. I know from experience that Chabad works its magic with thousands of other Jews raised like me, and are their only shot of returning to the Torah that Marvin Schick falsely believes Chabad doesn't adhere to.
Rabbit hole # 1 - He starts off with the statement that Chabad cannot escape the realities of massive continued Judaic abandonment and intermarriage in the former USSR. He elaborates further that since Chabad has started flourishing in the former USSR and that the intermarriage rate there is 80%, that it is clearly Chabad's fault that the intermarriage rate has not dropped. He then asks what has Chabad accomplished.
Answer - Chabad has over 300 Chabad houses in the former USSR. They are the only Jewish organization that had the chutzpah to conduct secretive Jewish operations before the end of the Cold War. They are now in the very difficult process of picking up the pieces of Soviet Jewry that Communism wrecked havoc on. The wall fell in 1988. In less than 18 years, Chabad has done wonders with the Jews in the former USSR. There are Seders held where there never was one before. There are mikvahs, with hundreds of Jewish women going that have never done so before. Thousands of Jews now wear kippot, don tefillin, daven daily and go to shul every Shabbos because of Chabad. And then there are the Yeshivas that will guarantee that our Jewish brothers & sisters in Russia actually will perpetuate halachic Judaism.
Rabbit hole # 2 - He states that Chabad should be called ahalachic Judaism, that there is a wide & growing behavioral disparity between the clergy & laity. Does Mr. Schick live in an Orthodox cave? What on earth does he think Conservative, Reform & Reconstructionsist Judaism are? To give credit where credit is due, Reform & Reconstructionistism are intellectually honest in that the clergy & laity all do not believe in halacha and therefore do not pretend to abide by it. Nowhere is the disparity so great as in the Conservative movement I had my Bar Mitzvah in. There are many "Orthodox" shuls around that are more "Conservadox", as well. In these places, the disparity might be slightly less as most of the members were Day-School raised, but they do not live a halachic lifestyle in any shape, matter or form whatsoever. They go there to daven & socialize out of habit. They know their "Orthodox Prayer Choreography" pretty well, and that's it.
In these places, the bar is held at ankle-level, where one can just come, join, pay dues and not be expected to learn, grow or to do anything to become more observant.
Chabad is the exact opposite. While they are extremely welcoming of any Jew, regardless of observance-level, they raise the bar way, way, way up there. There are classes, shiurs, group studies & farbrengens that make the Jewish neshama want to do more mitzvot, learn Torah & be proud to be a Jew. And if someone isn't ready, then Chabad still welcomes him or her. How dare Marvin Schick accuse Chabad of being ahalachic. It's exactly the way they treat non-observant Jews, the way the neshama is touched, that compels thousands of Jews to take up more mitzvot month after month. It may start with tefillin or Shabbos candles, but it doesn't end there!
Rabbit hole # 3 - He states that tefillin and Shabbos-lighting are minimal observances that appeal mostly to ex-Israelis in Florida & California, that it makes them feel that their observance is religiously meaningful. This really bugs me, Mr. Schick, as the ex-Israelis are simply the 21st century version of my great-grandparents who came here from Galicia and Kishinev. If Chabad was doing the identical work it does now, back in the early to mid-1900's, then I state with 100% certainty that Judaism wouldn't be in the state it is in today, with the high intermarriage rate, with multi-denominational confusion and barely any Jews besides the Orthodox keeping any of the halacha. If today's Chabad was around when my grandparents' generation in the 1920's & 30's and my parents' generation in the 1950's & 60's decided it was a much better & easier choice to assimilate and throw all halachic observance in the garbage can, they would have welcomed them into Chabad synagogues with the bar raised high, instead of other denominations watering down halacha to make everyone feel more comfortable. Those of us born after 1965 wouldn't be so spiritually confused.
Rabbit hole # 4 - Marvin Schick says that Chabad is today less of an outreach movement...than it is a missionary movement whose goal is to attract participants on their terms & not on the terms of traditional Judaism. This reminds me of the nonsense I read in the book "The Rebbe, the Messiah and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference" by Professor Berger of Brooklyn College. An example is that Professor Berger stated that since Chabad uses a differently shaped Chanukiah then it means they have started a new religion. What nareshkeit!
As I stated earlier, Chabad welcomes all, regardless of observance or affiliation. They make it very easy to join a class, to learn more, to take on a new mitzvah. No other Jewish organization offers so much on a daily & permanent basis.
Rabbit hole # 5 - He states that intermarriage is winked at within Chabad, and results in the children of intermarried intermarrying themselves. This is another nonsensical concept, as Chabad teaches about the Jewish neshama. Those halachachly Jewish children with last names like D'Agostino, Lopez & O'Connor are welcome with open arms (as are their parents) and will learn at Chabad that they need to marry Jewish. I doubt those same children would be so welcome at many other Orthodox synagogues. Talk about seeing raised eyebrows. Regarding non-halachach Jewish children, I know from personal experience that Chabad pushes those families to undergo a formal Orthodox conversion under the auspices of a non-Chabad Bet Din. They too are welcome, which I doubt would be the case in other places.
Rabbit hole # 6 - Mr. Schick believes that Chabad is reaching out to non-Jews and is becoming a universal religion. Chabad believes that all people are created in Hashem's image, not just Jews. They do awesome work helping out all of humanity while simultaneously teaching Jews how to be more Jewish. Whether it's rescuing tsunami victims in Thailand, hurricane Katrina victims in new Orleans, or saving the lives of non-Jewish & Jewish substance abusers in California, Chabad is the first to put their money where their collective mouth is. Regarding the ridiculous notion that Chabad is becoming universal, does he even know about Chabad's outreach to non-Jews? It's called the Noachide movement. One has to just do a simple Google search to see that Chabad is behind most of the Noachide work going on right now. Noachides are not to be Jews. They are to live their lives as Gentiles, according to Hashem's rules.
To finalize, Chabad treats everything they do to be worthy of consideration and self-reflection. Marvin Schick and his ilk would do themselves and the rest of Judaism a huge favor by learning the truth about Chabad instead of concocting ridiculous stories & fables. I urge Mr. Schick and those who believe as he does to visit their local Chabad on a Shabbos. But don't freak out when you see half the people driving into the parking lot, because I'll bet you that within a year or two, 90% of those drivers will no longer be doing so. They will be welcomed in as fellow Jews, loved and accepted whether walking, driving, bicycling or skateboarding in on a Shabbos morning. What other organization is available 24/7 that will accept non-frum Jews and yet will help to teach those Jews what Hashem, Judaism, Halacha, Torah & Mitzvot truly are.
Jeff Neckonoff
www.angelfire.com/theforce/oneishashem/
Here's what I posted at his blog:
"Mr. Schick, you say: "It is also important to ask what Chabad has accomplished if four out of five Jews continue to marry out."
Is that a reason not to try and stop it? Maybe if more Jews dedicated their lives to stopping intermarriage through educating unaffiliated Jews the statistics would look better!
To stand by and criticize is quite easy, but what about joining in?"
Here's what he answered in an e-mail:
"Thank you for your communication. I think I have joined in, in large measure through my own work involving yeshivas and day schools around the world and in other activity. I also join in regarding Chabad. I have a meeting tomorrow with a top Chabad person from the FSU who urgently needs my help and on Friday I will be out to see a Chabad school that has requested a
$1 million interest-free loan from a fund that I am responsible for. The school is constructing a new facility."
Marvin Schick
gee Marv, you're a real hero aren't you? (sarcasm meant)
You guys seem to think that Schick is some rabid misnaged. That is not so.
He used to have a column in the Jewish Week, but it was only once a month, and he had more to say, so they changed it to paid ads (maybe to escape editing too). He is a choshuva askan for many years.
Saying "I wouldn't get too worked up about the opinions of a man that has to PAY to get published", is like saying that if HT or friendly anonymous doesn't have a regular newspaper column, that shows they have nothing worthwhile to say and their opinions should be ignored. I doubt you would agree with that.
"...Two Orthodox weeklies, Hamodia and Yated Ne'eman, rejected these paid messages."....
Hirshel Tzig said...
I wonder what it is they objected to, I would think the Yated would be happy to publish the anti-Chabad piece."
What were rejected by them (but published by the Jewish Press) were a series of twelve full-page (or more) ads related to Yeshivas in general that were gevaldig. HT, write to Marvin and ask him to send you a copy of the series and then you can tell us what you think. The ads were rejected not because they were rubbish, but because they hit too close to home (at least to some), I'm afraid.
C
I do see from the e-mail exchanges we've had that he's not a rabid Chabad-hater. I thank you for bringing the 12-piece series to my attention, and I will iy"h ask him for a copy.
I have a PDF of ads by Shick but I do not know how to post them. Any ideas?
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