Thursday, March 30, 2006

Why Tomchei Tmimim?



Listening to some people you would think that there really was no need for the Yeshivoh that the Rebbe Rashab founded in Lubavitch, the existing houses of learning were more than fine.

Why all it did was to stir up more controversy amongst Frum Jews at a time when they had no time for infighting, right?

The secular movements that flourished in the great Yeshivos of Lithuania were just a small minority, and as long as the few Gedolim came out of those Yeshivos who cares about the others, right?

All they did in Tomchei Tmimim was waste hours upon hours on "Kabboloh" and Tanya and drink vodka, right? They never reached the Gadlus baTeyreh that they did in Mir and Slabodka, let alone Telz, right?

Lots of Zionists and secularists came out of Lubavitch too, so what's the difference, Chassidus is no cure to anything, it's just embellished Mussar, right?

The Baal Shem Tov and Reb Yisrel Salanter both had the same name and they both started "movements", so they must be of equal stature, right?

No Godol ever came out of Lubavitch, so what did they accomplish, right?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

No gadol came out of TTL! Chas veshalom. What's a gadol ? Because of the Holocaust few of the Baale Nigle that TTL produced were fortunate to become well known in the general Tora world people like rabbis Yudel Ever, Berel Kurenitzer and my uncle Zalman Kurenitzer were all " well versed" in Talmud and had they survived they would have been geone Olam.I heard a story that when the Slutzker rav (Rabbi YA) was released from prison in Russia he lived in Leningrad, and asked around in the Choral shulfor a chaver zu reydin in lernen , peoplep ointed out my uncle and he laughed at a Lubavitcher yungerman , but bles breira he went over to Reb ZK and came back every day in the Leningrad shul looking for him
Lets not forget Rabbi Yankev Landau who die velt recognized as a posek, Reb Moshe Ber Rivkin, Rabbi Rivkin (Manchester) Rabbi Akselrod(baltimore) Rabbi SZ Harelik (Kfar Chabad) and others .
But given the Communsit take over in 1918 and the Holocaust few Tmimim had the opportunity to either grow in learning or become well known in the broader yeshiva world.
too tired to touch a few other aspects of TTL.

Anonymous said...

Tomchei Tmimim kept Yiddishkeit alive in places nobody dreamed that there were even Jews there, besides for all their other advantages.

The others put their tail between their legs and ran vi fin di teyt.

Anonymous said...

The others "hoben geloffen vi did hint". Only Lubavitch stayed.I must admit some yechidim of the yeshiva world stayed like Rav Zimbalsit in Minsk, a group of Breslever chassidim in Southern Ukraine, the old Monoshtritzer rebbe Rav YH Rabinowitz , and others. But as a UNIT only the Rayaatz stayed and said beresh gli Ivri anochi ves ... Years later the Heilike Chofetz Chaim said that his greatest regret was leaving the USSR and not staying to fight the new order.Proof that what Chabad did was correct.

Anonymous said...

IOW The mesiras nefesh