See this and more at Eilat Gordin Levitan's site
To all you "myth-busters" and Kool-Aid drinkers: I guess when they taught you about Reb Elchonon HaYaD being the Rabbon Shel Kol Bnei HaGolah, and at least in full control of Baranovitch, and Lita being chock full of Shas Yidden wasn't qute true. Some slipped through the cracks. Actually some DIDN'T slip through the cracks, most did. About 85 percent of them. So, just a block or two from the Yeshivah Ohel Torah in Baranovitch, where Reb Elchonon gave shiurim and wrote the Kovetz Shiurim material, and where Reb Yisroel Yaakov Lubchansky preached Mussar to the Bochurim, this is was what going on. Shirtless lads were doing their best young Abe Lincoln impressions, splitting logs like nobody's business. If that's what you call control then so be it.
LeChaim.
16 comments:
Mai kamashma lan !
Check out the Belz Yizkor buch , most of the town was not religious.
Check out the new beautiful Sighet memorial volume, there were maskilim there, Zionistin and Mizrachistin. The same was true in many of the Holy cities in HOLY MOTHER Hungary that DER YID glorifies.
You think everone in Zandz was frum ?
Munkatch had a Gymnasium that was famous throughout the region .Its headmaster was even elected by the Munkatch Jews to the national Congress !
Check out the Vitebsk volume, most of the youth of Vitebsk before the Revolution had left serious religion.
Not to be spiteful, but do you really think that all the jewish youth in Klimowitch , Nevel and Schederin were frum ? A nechtike tog.
My father's town Kurenitz an important center of Chabad in Western White Russia hardly had any frum youth by 1939 except for a few dozen teens who studied in yehivas.The same was true in neighboring places like Gluboke, Dokshitz and Dahlhinev all with Chabad people there.
But truth be told, Baranowitz WAS among the most religous of White Russian cities , because of the residence of the Slonimer rebbe and the Koidenower rebbe and the town had many Slonimer Chassidim. It also had a Beth Jacob school and an active branch of the Agudas Israel. Reb Moshe Midner a Zaddik of a Slonimer chasid was the Ruach Hachaim in Baranowitz. By the way both Koidenow and Slonim had yeshivas in Baranowitz.The Yeshiva of Reb Elchonon (a Navaradok yeshiva be-mekoro !) added to this.
Firstly, Heshy, nobody teaches history bichlal
Secondly the few of us that are interested in Jewish history knew that Eastern European Jews especially between the Wars were much less religous than their forefathers.
Baranovitch was better off than most places as Shneour has already stated because of R'Elchonon, his yeshiva, Slonimer Rebbe and yeshiva and R'Moshe Midner who was very close with R'Elchonon.
Why do you seem so happy that some Jews in Baranovitch were irreligous?What's the l'chaim about?
Just so you know:R'Elchonons yeshiva had quite a number of chassidim in full levush!That means a langeh rekel and peyos.(something they don't even have in Lubavitch today.Unless jeans, brown shoes and a seude kappel are chasidishe levush)
I probably should stp visiting this site, it makes me feel dirty reading all your negativity.
Shouly
please take the time to re-read what I wrote. In no way was I happy with what was happening there. Many if not most of the Bochurim were probably from out of town.
The LeChaim Vuntsh was a poke at myself.
I know what I am going to say may not be popular here, but its the type of people in the picture who left to Palestine and built the country , fought its early wars and created a Jewish state. Not bad for a bunch of shtetel kids.
Hey! Where'd you get that picture of the corner of Kingston & Empire? heh heh...Seriously though, see what great miracles the Eibershter does for us? Throughout history there's been a "fry-out" rate of between 81 and 98 percent, at which rate there should be...oh, about 3 or 4 frum yidden left? but there are more, See? It's nissim veniflo'eis hanir'eis be'enei bosor! moshiachdike tseiten mamesh!
Sounds JUST like Chabad / Crown Heights.
Just a block away from where the Rebbe was leading a Farbreingin on Succos, the streets on Kingston Avenue were filled with trash-talking, slutty girls and boys flirting and getting all cozy.
We all know what goes on on Succos in those alleys on Kingston Chol Hamoed nights.
Oh yeah. I almost forgot....ALL those lowlife bums are all snags who come to CH to hang out......
NOT.
Lechayim.
I wonder how a pure snag like yoursself would know that?
That's so beautiful my snag friend. As the Berditchever would say "Even while the Whores were getting it on in the alleys, the Rebbe was leading a Farbrengen"
Seriously though I agree that at that period of time (as now?)this was a widespread problem, not just by the Litvaks, though I don't see that Tzig was necessarily indicating otherwise and thus I don't get the whole fuss.
Anyone today can go to Flatbush or Crown Heights and see the same thing today. Although perhaps splitting logs would be preferable to some of what goes on today. Why should it have been different then?
SO negative. No one ever denied that sadly, there were drop-outs in Baranovitch, just as there were in 9999999cubed other places. Why do you gloat so? Sickening.
I don't gloat. Now go away.
I am not taking sides, but there is a book "Avremshe" on the Chofetz Chaim's town Radin that has the same crowd as Branovitz
Schneur
You are not getting it with the Hungs, all these Friet Out Jews, are not jews so they never had that problem. So their cities were squeaky clean.
R. Meyer Berlin relates the following. He was walking to shul in Budapest Shabbes morning with the shdot rav rav Kopel Reich ZT"L. As they passed the main avenue Rav Kopel was saying how all the Jews are frum, but reb Meyer noted that many of the stores open had Jewish names, so he asked rav Kopel for peshat. rav Kopel retorted these are not Jews they are Neologen...
Tzig, nobody ever said he was in control of the town of Baranovitch; even the Artscroll book about him describes a confrontation that took place in the Yeshiva with some "fineh chevra" like those pictured.
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