Monday, October 18, 2010

Pride of Yeshiva


Louis Ben HaRav Yosef Eliyohu zt"l Henkin

I'm no scholar, but if the Times gushes over him, and from the quotes they bring in the article, it doesn't look good. I didn't particularly like the last line in the Obit. America is what made him who he was. It may not be perfect, but judging from the fact that he escaped Russia in 1917 and came here - it must be alright. He was six when he came here, so it's not like he had a choice, I know.

Then again; who am I to judge?

On a separate, but related note I'd like to bring to your attention the absence of Reb Schneur, the resident scholar of Circus Tent. His input would be very helpful here. He was insulted on the blog and has made good on his promise never to return. I have tried contacting him, but to no avail. I ask that you join me in asking his forgiveness and inviting him back here.


הרה"ג רי"א הענקין זצ"ל

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

He was an eidel, fine mentch who hosted (in his office), and participated in the law school's mincha minyan for many years. Tehei Nishmoso Tzror Betzror Hachaim.

yossi said...

Can you post a pic of Rav Henkin?

Anonymous said...

their is a Henkin out their that wrote some Teshuva seforim quite controversial, whom son is he?

Anonymous said...

lets see you do a write up like this on the rebbes brother or brother in law, your a shameless piece of chabadsker drek

Anonymous said...

Eliezer Henkin was born on Nov. 11, 1917, in present-day Belarus, where his father was a rabbi and Talmudic scholar. In 1923 the family immigrated to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where Lazar, as his family called him, acquired the nickname Louie. By the time he began studying mathematics at Yeshiva College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1937, he had adopted the first name Louis.

he was amongst yu's first victims in yiddishkeit

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

anonymous 7:15

what's bothering you, honey?

yossi said...

Thanks for the pic.They look very similar without the beard.
RabbiYehuda Hetzl Henkin is a nephew of Louis/Lazer Henkin, son of Rabbi Hillel Henkin and he is a Modern Orthodox rov who wrote ShaILOS uTESHOVOS Bnei bonim and he lives today in Yerusholyaim.
He studied for years with his zeyda

dov said...

Anon 7:15
I"m usually not on the Tzigs side, but what do you want from him, now??

Anonymous said...

you are shamelessly using him to denigrate rav henkin

Anonymous said...

That Henkin is a kal, who doesn't care that his pleitzus are not as big as he likes it to be, and he quotes his zeydah at his convenience.

Some held that Rav Henkin was the posek hador and was bigger than Reb Moshe. The Rebbe obviously didn't think so, however, because he wasn't at Rav Henin's funeral. Wait! He wasn't by Reb Moshe's either.

Shneur shouldn't be so sensitive. He has an unhealthy disdain and degridation for the Satmar Rov and talks about him with a kalos. Also, look how he wrote about the Chazon Ish and medical advice - with such zilzul (he wouldn't speak about the Rebbe like that, if the Rebbe advised doctors).

Fech.

yehupitz said...

I don't think Tzig is doing this to denigrate Rav Henkin. If anything, it's in Tzig's interest to promote Rav Henkin as a godol because, like the Rebbe, Rav Henkin was not part of the Agudah godol clique. AND Rav Henkin was friendly to Chabad (even wrote a letter in support of bor al gabei bor that Tzig posted a while back). Rav Henkin alone is one of those people the pro-Chabad camp likes to claim as a chaveir.

Professor Henkin was a fascinating figure in his own right, and the familial connection, and left-wing internationalist policy-making
credentials is worth the hoopla all by itself.

I do wish Schneur was here to add his two cents, which are worth far more than two cents. Tzig, what did you do to him?! Whatever it was, apologize! He's worth it.

Anonymous said...

Tzig, We want Shneur back ask mechila and tell us what you did, so its chal?

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

I never said anything to hurt him. I've emailed him several times and begged. I can do no more. It's up to you now!

oldtimer said...

shneur as a chosid of the blog id like to tell you that the main reason i look thru all the comments is to see if you have contributed any pearls of wisdom pls let bygones be bygones and come back and be mehane us thanx.

itchiemayer said...

Yes, R' Schneur has so much to share with us. Reb Shmaryahu Gourary, the late Yisroel Freedman of Boyan, and generally speaking, he has a wealth of information at his fingertips on so much that I want to read.

Anonymous said...

All that is left to bring R' Schneur is to polish the buttons...

R' Schneur is here ...but not lemato measoro.....we want him here beguf gashmi ....vhu yigoleinu.....

If we dance on street corners and eat on asara beteves with that bring R' Schneur back ?

Can I print his posts and find answers to my problems in his posts ??? Should I make a shiduch or change jobs based on putting my Pa'n into a printout of his posts ?

Anonymous said...

Rules of Tzig's blog:

1)BASH:
Chasam Sofer
Satmer Rebbe
Kanoim
Ungarisher Rabonim
Litvakes (Gdeilim)
Peilisher Rebbes

2)PROMOTE:
Kalim
Tsiyonim
Yidishisten
Apikorsim
Chabad


And the most important rule:
LET SHNEUR BASH EVERYBODY AND EVERYTHING, BUT NOBODY TOUCHES SHNEUR!

Anonymous said...

Anon
you forgot one more person in the Bash list
the Holy of holiest the Lubavicher Rebbe Zy"a, their is no other site on internet where so much drekk his hurled on the Lubavicher Rebbe

Anonymous said...

Anon Fech
"That Henkin is a kal, who doesn't care that his pleitzus are not as big as he likes it to be, and he quotes his zeydah at his convenience."
are his teshuvahs written with sources? did you ever try to refute them? are you capable? what makes you the authority to belittle him? are the quotes of his Ziedes bogus?

Anonymous said...

Anon Fech
"(he wouldn't speak about the Rebbe like that, if the Rebbe advised doctors)."
FYI, he wrote the same on the Rebbe, are you sleeping better now

Anonymous said...

Anon Fech
"Some held that Rav Henkin was the posek hador and was bigger than Reb Moshe."
it seems that you have a different view,
I think that reb moshe himself held that view

Anonymous said...

Anon Fech
"Some held that Rav Henkin was the posek hador and was bigger than Reb Moshe."
it seems that you have a different view,
I think that reb moshe himself held that view


Don't think to hard. Most people have a "differnt view".

Anonymous said...

I am a Columbia University alumnus, and I remember Prof. Henkin's Mincha minyan well.

I refused to attend except to help a friend who needed a minyan for shiva because Prof Henkin, a misguided child of his times, had a picture of FDR YMS in the office where we davened.

In general I would no sooner daven in a room with that pic than I would daven in a room adorned with a picture of Arafat YMS.

His children are all OTD and OTW (Off the Wall).

But given the times in which he grew up, what happened is understandable.

At least Prof. Henkin AH held on to something - but he could not pass it on to his children, if for no other reason other than the fact that his wife was not frum.

Klainer Anonymous said...

To reb Anonymous of 1:58 pm:
A greiser yasher keyech far di capital letters. It makes a big reishem. By the way, zait azei gut and take a look if R. Schneur was ever above criticism. It seems to me that his pieces elicited very heated debates.Nobody treated him with zeidene hentchikes. By the way, it is possible to disagree with someone based on facts and interpretation without getting involved in personal insults. Maybe our yeshives should take notice.

Anonymous said...

Reb Klainer Anon,

I had carefully read the posts. One thing i can tell you - Shneur got very personal with Russian Chusid. I f you know yidden from Ukrain, his reaction was normal(look carefully at that posts-mimicking the way Ukrainians talk, saying why they became frie etc.)

bpunbound said...

Hirshel,

Well done.

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

It's not like I did much, BPU...

but thanks anyway

Klainer A. said...

Re: Anonymous of 11:17
"His reaction was normal"
Is it a "normal reaction" to call someone an "upgefresener amerikaner" and then imply that Schneur was quite satisfied that there were no Ukrainian Hassidim because they were killed in the "three" holocausts. This "normal reaction" speaks for itself.
By the way Schneur has no monopoly on sarcasm and irony on this blog. Boruch Hashem, it's a nachalas haclal by heimishe Yidn.

snag said...

I see that there is a listing for the Henkins on the Misaskim shiva list with times for tefillos, so it seems that the portrait above may be somewhat lacking.

I recall reading the name of someone with the name Henkin as having shaychus with Yeshiva of Flatbush in recent years, directing the choir or something like that, ken zein it was bikesher their celebrations of Yaym ha'atzmaus.

Anonymous said...

That choirmaster would be Daniel, the Henkin son whom I actually knew.

He is to the left of MO and to the right of Conservative, kind of YCT-lite. He spent summers at Ramah and also taught music at a Solomon Drechter.

The Misaskim shiva listing is for the many frum people who knew Professor Henkin, not for his wife and children.

Anonymous said...

Dear Kleiner A.

again, there are different definitions of normal. for some people it is normal to sit in the comfort of America , bash gdoilim and tsadikim because of freedom of speech (non-existent by a frimmer yid)and decide why Ukrainisher yidden became frei , and for some people it is normal to get upset with it.

By the way, in Lyubavitch they would use even worse language , so a Lyubavicher (if Shneur is one)should not be pushed away by the language use.

Klainer said...

Anonymous of 5:15
You say thatbashing gedolim is nonexistent by frime yidn.What was the Sakmerer Rebbe's relationship with the Kloizenberger and Vizhnitzer Rebbes? What kind of relationship did he have with the Lubavitcher Rebbe ? What did the Hungarian world have to say when the Belzer left the Eidah Hahareidis? What do they say in Skver about the baal Likutei Moharan?The Yid could hardly
bring itself to call Reb Moshe Feinstein with the title of horav hagaon when the whole world recognized his gadlus.
So the untershte shureh is that what you're saying is Schneur can't criticize anyone but everyone else is free to do as they wish. One last word: the old Belzer Rebbe and the CIsh both voted in the Israeli elections. I guess they also disagreed with the Sakmerer Rebbe.
This is not personal,we are simply discussing historical facts. Zeit gezunt.

thanbo said...

I went to pay a shiva call on Louis Henkin's family, having grown up with his sons. They're certainly concerned with finding minyanim where they live (well, the youngest has no problem, as he teaches in the same yeshiva where we all went to school, but the others live "out of town"). They had the full Misaskim set of stuff in the house.

R Yehuda Herzl Henkin is their first cousin. R Yosef Eliyahu Henkin may well have been the posek hador for America before Reb Moshe. You can find his teshuvos on hebrewbooks.org. I think he was the first to come up with the "chalav hacompanies, under USDA supervision, is chalav yisrael" idea, later reiterated by Reb Moshe. Yes, I know chasidim disgree, but be that as it may, it's a widely accepted psak.

Anon 22 said...

Hello,
Trying to find the original blog where he became insulted. What is the blog heading ? Thank You.

Anon 22 said...

Found it "Happening Near You".
How about trying a full piece devoted to asking Reb Schneur mechila only, instead of as an afterthought included with other stuff ?

UD said...

Tzig,

Congratulations on chasing away yet another interesting contributor.

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

UD

i assume you consider YOURSELF to be one of those "interesting" contributors that I chased away? huh?

It was one of your landsleit that did it, by the way.