Response to "Burech" VeSayato

From Here

A Guest Post - Received via e-mail:

[EDITED FOR BREVITY, CLARITY AND CONTENT]

Dear Hirshel,

As a reader of your blog for some time, I’ve learned a lot about different types of people, though I cannot honestly claim to understand all of them. There is a particular type of guttersnipe your blog seems to attract whom, while interesting as a psychologically dysfunctional curiosity, is quite vile when masquerading as a ben-teyreh. It is to one of the latest example of same, posting with the moniker ‘Burech,’ that I would like to address a few comments. Hopefully your readership will find this entertaining, if not educational to some degree. After opening with what seemed like a reasonable question regarding the Lubavitch custom to generally avoid delivering a hesped, ‘Burech’ quickly showed his stripes with a series of juvenile insults and accusations. What seems to be bothering this imbecile are the facts that Lubavitch are generally respected as representing a branch of Torah / Yiddishkeit, as well as his inferiority complex, pathological jealousy, and plain old vicious nature. Of-course, like any good anti-Semite, ‘burech’ has a very convenient peg to hang his ignorant slander on, in this case his ‘problem’ being why Lubavitch doesn’t make a hesped…. Since ‘Burech’ is likely born of a Jewish mother, in which case we are commanded to love him, let’s help him get some sleep tonight by addressing some of his burning questions. There are medical treatments available for some of your other problems ‘Burech’, but I wouldn’t waste a prescription on you (mamesh baal tashchis), so this will have to do:


1. You need to hit the books in a big way. Perhaps you were prevented from attending yeshiva full time, or maybe you’re just as naturally unintelligent as you sound…- either way, you need to learn to read Hebrew post haste. The sources for the minhag in many kehillos not to be maspid are the easiest things to find, had you bothered opening a Shulchan Aruch. While I wouldn’t expect you to have ever heard of the Reishis Chochma, much less be familiar with his stringent warning regarding hespedim, you might have known both the reason for this minhag, as well as the fact that many communities other than Lubavitch follow it. You might practice keeping quiet about things you know nothing about, and while this would mean your being silent most of the day, you’d also save yourself considerable embarrassment.

2. If you can’t learn a sefer in the Hebrew original, I suggest you go to a library and try reading books in English. There’s a whole world outside Chelm that you obviously know nothing about, not to mention your astounding ignorance of Lubavitch (and likely most other) practice and history. This will be news to you, ‘Burechel’, but over 80% of all Lubavitcher customs are based on chumros in halochoh. That’s right, not al-pi-kabolo, derech hasod, or anything else, simply being choshesh le’daas hamachmirim. If you’d bothered learning the Shulchan Aruch HaRav, not to mention studying his siddur, this would all be very obvious, but you prefer hurling slanderous accusations to real information – what a surprise !!

3. You then, shamelessly (“shoteh aino margish…”) claim that;“What riled me was the Tzig (and this as an example of most Lubavitchers)had never,ever asked himself why Lubavitch sought to be "kliger" than the whole world.”. You mean smarter than you ?! What is immediately obvious to anybody reading your ignorant rants, is what it is about Lubavitch that really bothers you. What bothers you about Lubavitch is exactly the same as what has bothered generations of anti-Semites about Jews in general, i.e, “…”Why are you different – why can’t you be like us – Why do you think you’re better ?!” Well Burech, the answer in this case goes something like this. Lubavitch as a chassidus (and as a movement) is about doing things. No, not just things like visiting a few kvoorim once a year…. Lubavitch is about learning chassidus, teaching, reaching, building, understanding, changing….. you see Burech, Lubavitch is about achieving, so of-course you hate them. Their very existence showcases your failure. But is that their fault ? Your inferiority complex is not their fault. Does it bother you that Lubavitch has sources in Torah for their minhagim, and are honest about their reasoning, is that too much for you to handle? you can’t debate them in learning so you throw stones? Whatever’s eating at your kishkes about Lubavitch and their Rebbe would pale in comparison to other Chassidisen, in comparison to what’s written about the tzaddikim R’ Mendel Rimanover, the Noam Elimelech, or the Yismach Moshe – but a fool such as yourself wouldn’t know that, would you now?

4. Which brings me to another point. I recommend you apply for a refund to whichever yeshiva was lucky enough to steal your parents' tuition dollars. You see, the typical frumme-yid entrusts his children to a yeshiva to be schooled in ‘derech hamishneh ve’hagemoro’ with all the typically attendant benefits of this type of education. Not to mention our mesorah. You obviously got none of this. Did you attend a real yeshiva, or a jihad-factory? You run around ignorantly criticizing others in your elitist hate fest, but you don’t seem to realize what you sound like. Kach hi darko shel torah?!! Which ‘derech’ is this ? Not the derech of Hillel, nor that of R’Akiva ….. How dare you pervert Torah to justify your ignorant attacks? “Boshni mi’divreichem beis Shammai……v’hushcheru shinov mipnei hatzomos” (Chagiga22b). Or is R’ Yehoshua not good enough either. You claim the right to criticize Lubavitch based on your ignorance, yet you ignore the glaring distinction between how they learn Torah, and how you sputter hate. Open any sefer published by Lubavitch, (there are many hundreds of them) and you will notice the voluminous marei-mekomos. Yes ‘Burech’, mekoros, so one can see how the author arrived at his conclusion. That doesn’t mean that you must necessarily agree, but this is darko shel Torah – demonstrating ‘mino hani milli deomar kroh’. Contrast this with the fatwas banning other shittos / groups / derochim that have become a staple of the jihad-factories you attended, and the difference is clear. You don’t like somebody else’s minhag? - fine. But that doesn’t make it wrong. If you have a legitimate problem with it, naysi sefer venechezeh!

5. If you can’t manage any of the above, that’s ok, ‘Burechel’, there’s an easier way that might even work for you…. Go buy a plane ticket, leave the ghetto for a few days, and pretend you’re a decent human being. Stop into a Chabad House somewhere, and see the enemy up-close. What you’ll typically find is a nice guy. He’ll invite you for a free meal, yes- he’ll feed you for free – probably while realizing what aמ ingrate you actually are. You might also hear him give a shiur or two, and realize that he’s a שטיקל talmid-chochom as well. Maybe, just maybe, in spite of all the hate and brainwashing that are your staples, you’ll see the average Lubavitcher for what he likely is – hardworking, dedicated, learned, and happily devoting his life to helping other yidden. Yes, ‘Burech’, even yidden who love to hate, yidden like you!

6. Finally, to address what’s really bothering you, I recommend you take a look at the definition of a ‘machlokes leshem shomayim’ as given by the Meiri on Avos 5:19. You will then understand why Lubavitch keeps growing in Torah, operational success, and stature, while those institutions whose main exports seem to be pseudo-lomdus and jihad, are falling apart and imploding. ‘Sof ganev litliyeh’, and ‘derochim’ that thrive primarily on hate and criticism, will not last very long.

Try it, ‘Burech’, and you might surprise yourself. It’s not a mitzvah to remain in such misery. There’s a whole new world waiting for you to discover – the world of ‘Eili v’eilu divrei....’, limud haTorah, and Ahavas Yisroel!