Wednesday, July 18, 2012



נפטר הגאון הגדול רבי יוסף שלום אלישיב זצ"ל

Yair Hoffman calls it "the end of an era"

COL has a nice writeup

פרק ראשון מספר השקדן

37 comments:

tibi lotzi said...

Hirshel
Can you get some person that can describe the uniqueness of Rav Eliashev Z"L, so far I see only fluff and propaganda... was he a Boki? A Baal Sevora? or both?

R' Elyashiv's Uniqueness said...

I recently heard that R' Azriel Auerbach (son of R' Shlomo Zalman, son in law of R' Elyashiv), said it wasn't until he met R' Elyashiv that he understood what it meant for someone to know dalet chelkei shulchan aruch with all the nosei keilim completely baal peh.

From someone who grew up in the surroundings that R' Azriel Auerbach grew up in, that is certainly a tremendous statement of R' Elyashiv's uniqueness.

Boruch Dayan Emess said...

AP reporting that an al Qaeda or Iranian suicide bomber blew up a Bulgarian bus full of Israeli teenagers.

Fluffman Watch said...

Hoffman is really silly sometimes. Rav Elyashev's psak to report molesters was not a "game changer".

Besides that al pi Hatorah it's poshut, it was already poskened that way by R' Shlomo Zalman & the Tzitz Eliezer.

And it changed nothing because the corrupt mosdos like Agudah & Satmar are not following the halacha anyway.

Tachlis Hayeduya said...

Uniquness
"said it wasn't until he met R' Elyashiv that he understood what it meant for someone to know dalet chelkei shulchan aruch with all the nosei keilim completely baal peh."
could you detect this Bekius in his Teshuvahs?

Ende Tsadik said...

What is his legacy is of far greater interest than what R' Ezriel Auerbach may or may not have said.

Will he be remembered for his lomdus like the Chazon Ish? No, since he didn't delve into that area at all. Will he be remembered for his psokim like Reb Moishe or Rav Weiss? Again no, since his written tshuvos have been around for decades and are barely heard of. Will he be remembered for any Yeshive he founded or led like Reb Aaron Kotler? No again, because he didn't do either.

He will be remembered by the Artscroll masses and their Hebrew equivalents for his 2 room apartment and for not living like gedoilim worshipped by the same publishing houses, for entertaining the shales of every Flatbush and Five Town moron, Wachsman will pound the lectern recounting his 'mesiras nefesh' for skipping a breakfast over some triviality while he will have added zero to the intellectual sphere.

No mussar sefer from him, no institutions, no chidushim and most importantly no attempts even to answer the problems of his time. His unreasoned verbal rulings will undoubtedly fill the footnotes of every future likutei dinei peter chamor but will serve little purpose elsewhere.

As a friend wrote to me today, his output is a very good barometer of where Charedi Torah learning in Israel is up to. Absolute mastery of the material, most conservative application possible, with every hetter hedged and wedged to irrelevancy, and no evidence of original thought or joie de vivre.

קו"ק'ניק said...

See Here

Askan said...

Ende is no tzaddik. Not only do you have chutzpah, but your description is inaccurate.

R' Shlomo Zalman's seforim came out mostly at the end or post mortem. His pesokim in print have spread to become larger than life. The exact same thing is likely to happen here.

Rav Elyashev did NOT apply the most conservative translation to everything. He was lenient even in areas that might surprise you like some of his lesser known rulings in gerus. He was also a big maykil in hilchos Shabbos where the consensus in the yeshivishe velt was to be machmir.

And his eidims are from the biggest marbitzei Torah around.

chusid101 said...

He will be remembered for his tremendous hasmodoh, aber going full speed at age hundered giving shiurim, till a year ago! Those who will not find it amazing and awesome, are definitly apikorsim! Mei ahani Lin rabonon...

One trick pony said...

Hoffman's shtick is every time an Adam Gadol is niftar, he rushes to be the first to put a eulogy on the Internet. I almost get the feeling he wants these sad events to make himself relevant. Me redt nisht fun boich. I once saw him sniffing around for information vegen a Yid, a zokain muflag, a talmid chochim. He's also not as yeshivish as VIN makes him. He was a Young Israel rabbi in Yehupitz and now has a shteller at a modern orthodox school

sinah mekalkeless common sense said...

"Will he be remembered for his lomdus like the Chazon Ish? No, since he didn't delve into that area at all".

so foolish! See his pssaqkim in Piskey Din Harabanim.

"Will he be remembered for his psokim like Reb Moishe or Rav Weiss? Again no, since his written tshuvos have been around for decades and are barely heard of"

this is hatred gibberish that blinds one's common sense. He was revered and respected by Gedoyley Haposkim precisely because of koach hapssak..

deep thinker said...

he lived till 102, if he would have died at age 70, some thirty years ago in 1980?

when dd he change his hat style?

dovy in jersey said...

ende tzadik,
i don't think a bigger jerk than you exists in the world.

it's intersting that this hoffman is Rov when his concept of pesak is obviously political.

Yeled tov california said...

3 thick volumes of WRITTEN thsuvos collected from 100 sources in אשרי ה איש...

Joe said...

Askan
I am very curious- what were R eLiashiv's psokim in geyres?

Askan said...

Rav Elyashev holds that a giyores from a more frum (lehavdil) background (eg. the Amish) has neemanus on besulim which is a nafka mina for kesuba and other things.

Tantzen bei alleh chassunos said...

Hoffman is a similar shnit as Gil Student, left leaning modern orthodox at heart but dressing and acting yeshivish when it suits them because it's good for busine$$. When with his modern crowd he is known as Rabbi Jordan Hoffman. He was head of the modern 5 Towns school "Tiferet", affiliated with YU & Lookstein and located in Temple Israel of Lawrence, the Reform place that was allegedly caught with shrimp & chazir in their "kosher" kitchen. It seems like Tiferet just got rid of Hoffman because they placed an ad for his position a month ago. Hoffman is a hack for the OU who gets paid to write their propaganda in the 5 Towns Jewish Times published by lapsed Lubavitcher "Larry" Gordon. Gordon gets plenty of ad dollars from the OU and their affiliates which is why no mention is made of Hoffman's partiality and when they want to go on the attack against their critics, Hoffman uses an alias or no name at all. Hoffman puts on a black hat and goes to darshan for a few minutes btwn Mincha maariv in a Far Rockaway shul where the rov was niftar. I'm not aware of any shul with a Mara d'asra that lets Hoffman give a shiur or speak.

Anonymous said...

האחיין החב"די של פוסק הדור: "הוא אהב את כלל ישראל"
הרב אליהו יעקובוביץ', ר"מ בישיבה חשובה בחב"ד ואחיינו של מרן פוסק הדור הגאון רביו יוסף-שלום אלישיב זצ"ל, מספר על מערכת יחסים קרובה עם הרב: "הוא אהב את כלל ישראל, היה חשוב לו לדעת על דברים פנימיים שהתרחשו בחסידות חב"ד". בתגובה לשאלתו של האחיין מדוע קיימת מחלוקת בין חסידות חב"ד לבין הציבור הליטאי, הגיב הרב בפליאה והתבטא "אני לא שונא חב"ד".
מענדל גרוזמן - חרדים | כ"ט בתמוז תשעב 13:34 19.07.12
האחיין החב"די של פוסק הדור מדבר
(צילום: ארכיון)

התסלקותו של מרן פוסק הדור הגאון רבי יוסף-שלום אלישיב זצ"ל מכה גלים בכל החוגים. הרב אליהו יעקובוביץ, ר"מ בישיבה חשובה בחב"ד ומחבר ספרים, הינו נין אחותו של הרב זצ"ל.

בשיחה ל"כיכר השבת" הוא מספר על מערכת יחסים קרובה שהייתה לו עם הרב. "כבן משפחה, מגיל 15 הייתי בא אליו ושואל אותו שאלות בלימוד. תמיד הייתי נדהם מהבקיאות העצומה שלו. הוא מפורסם אמנם כפוסק, אבל הוא היה בקי בכל ספרי השיעורים של הלומד'ס, כולל אלו של דורנו ממש".

דמותו של הרב זצ"ל הצטיירה תמיד כמופרשת מענייני העולם, אך כבן משפחה, מספר הרב יעקובוביץ', כי חכמתו הרבה הקיפה הכל: "בדרך כלל שוחחתי עמו בענייני לימוד. מהשיחות המועטות שנהלתי עמו שלא בלימוד, נוכחתי לדעת כי הוא פיקח וחכם גם בהוויות העולם. כל פרט שרלוונטי לדיון הוא ידע. עצותיו היו תמיד מחכימות ומאירות עיניים".

עוד מספר יעקובוביץ: "הדיוק היה נר לרגליו. הוא לא הוציא מתחת ידו שום דבר שאינו מתוקן. כשבאתי לבקש ממנו הסכמה לספרי הוא אמר כי אינו מביא לי הסכמה רק כיון שהוא מאוד דייקן, לכן אין צורך שיכתוב מחדש הסכמה נפרדת, אלא יצטרף לדבריו של הרב שמואל אויערבאך שליט"א, ומתוך כך יבינו כי הוא סומך את ידיו על הספר".

כמנהיג הרוחני של הציבור הליטאי, היו שחשבו כי הוא מתנגד לחסידויות בכלל, ולחסידות חב"ד בפרט, אך משיחות אישיות שקיים עמו הרב יעקובוביץ' עולה תמונה אחרת לגמרי: "ראיתי תמיד שכל מה שנוגע לעם ישראל, על שלל חוגיו, היה חשוב לו. לא אפרט, אבל הוא התעניין אצלי על דברים פנימיים שהתרחשו בחסידות חב"ד".

סיפור נוסף מספר לנו הרב יעקובוביץ': "זכיתי לערוך סיום מסכת על-יד הרב זצ"ל. כשאמרתי את הקדיש נהגתי כמנהג המקום ולא הוספתי 'ויצמח פורקניה'. הרב זצ"ל, שמעולם לא פספס פרט, אמר למשמשיו: 'הוא הרי חבד"ניק, מדוע לא אמר ויצמח פורקניה?!"

"פעם אחת אזרתי אומץ ושאלתי אותו מדוע קיימת מחלוקת בין חסידות חב"ד לבין הציבור הליטאי. הוא הגיב בפליאה והתבטא "אני לא שונא את חב"ד".

psokim said...

Some of his psokim would have wreaked destructive havoc on American Frume Yiddn, despite the fact that his rise to Chareidi prominence is the result of being "meikil" in the Langer case.

1) He paskened that if one of the 3 members of the Beis-Din was the Rabbi or Chazan in a O Shul without a mechitza (or C Shul in the 40's and 50's), of which there were many frum men who took the jobs because of parnoso, that the giur is possul!

2) He paskened L'Chumra that if one of the 3 is a Ger Tzedek that the giur is possul. Recently discussed at Gil's blog.

3) He paskened that a non-frum Jew B'zman Hazeh who knows frume yiddn cannot be considered a Tinok Shenishba.

Askan said...

The dishonest spin is on from the miserable people who hate Rav Elyashev almost as much as Scotty the shmatta yms.

1) RYSE poskened that any rabbi taking a Conservative pulpit - without the tenoyim l'heter of R' Yaakov Kaminetzky - is indeed possul l'edus. Who needs a mechalel Shabbos rabbi who talks in a microphone and is machshil the rabim veiter in their blindness?

2) There are serious halacha issues about a ger serving as a rov and dayan. This is no chiddush of RYSE

3) What is the exact wording of the psak?

bochur said...

Come on Col.org.il has a nice write up?!
Collive.com has something, I liked it, though some people took them to task about the Chabad connection, as if that's all there was to him, but I disagree, Lubavitchers are always interested in hearing Chabad connections of Gedolim because NO ONE else will mention them if we don't, since we are not a Chelek of Klal Yisroel... (See R Malkiel for more info).

needs ur pshat and if u have it, post it said...

http://www.bhol.co.il/forums/topic.asp?cat_id=4&topic_id=2968887&forum_id=771

משגיח said...

http://www.bhol.co.il/forums/topic.asp?cat_id=4&topic_id=2968862&forum_id=771

vichtig said...

http://www.idi.org.il/PublicationsCatalog/Documents/PP_89/%D7%9E%D7%9E89%20-%20%D7%9E%D7%9C%D7%90.pdf

tibi lotzi said...

Deep thinker

"when dd he change his hat style?"

your shallowness amazes me

Yanover said...

Rabbi Akiva was megaiyar, he was rov and dayan and gadol hador. as were shumaya and avtalyon. Why cant a convert be a Ruv? im curious, I want a mekor for that.


As for the tinuk shenishbu issue, whats the mekor for this teshuva? As every chabad holds that you can count the frei in a minyan because theyre tinuk shenishbu.

emes meeretz tizmach said...

And part of the deep hatred towards him by many (including some lubavitchers) is that paskened that gerus without kabbalat mitzvot (when it was clear that they never intended to keep mitzvot) is totally invalid!

dovy in jeresy said...

yanover,
rebbe akiva was a descendent of geirim not a geir himself. it is a machlokes if shmaya and avtalyon were geirim or descendents of geirim (in the story in the gemara with king yannai he calls them "sons of geirim")

the mekor that a geir can't be a dayan is the gemara that says a geir can't be a gabbai tzedaka or hold any "serara". it is ruled like that in shulchan aruch.

Gerim said...

Rebbi Akiva was the son of a ger tzedek, not a ger himself. Shmaya and Avtalyon were not geirim themselves, rather they grew up amongst them.

Mesorah said...

I think there is a common denominator with Hoffman, Gil Student & Steinzaltz. People who become BTs later in life generally do not have a rebbe to get a mesorah from in learning & hashkofos. Steinzaltz grew up on the Communist kibbutz Shomer Hatzair. Gil Student was Conservative & went to YU in his 20s. I might be wrong but I don't think Hoffman was very young either when he became frum. These people might all mean well but without proper rebbeim & mesorah, episs felt to say the least

Azoy vee shtait in Rrrambam said...

Rambam (Hilchos Melachim 1:4): Do not appoint a king who is a ger – even after many generations – unless his mother is a Jew from birth. This is learned from Devarim (17:15) that he must be from your brothers. Not only does this restriction apply to appointing a king but it applies also to any position of authority over others. Thus it applies to being an officer in the army or being a leader of 50 men or even 10. Even the supervisor of an irrigation pond must be a Jew from birth and not a ger. And surely a judge or political leader must be a Jew from birth because (Devarim 17:15) says “from amongst your brothers.” Therefore all positions of power can only be from Jews from birth – who are called your brothers.

Anonymous said...

in chabad there are gerim shluchim and even a Rosh yeshiva

Yanover said...

Thank you to all above who answered my questions.

Denver said...

According to R' Hillel Goldberg writing in the Intermountain Jewish News, Rav Elyashev never had a rebbe or a chavrusa. R' Zelig Bengis once got upset at him over it when Rav Elyashev was a yingel but after farhering him and seeing that he knew maseches Kiddushin better than he did, he softened his position. R' Hillel says he was told by R' Meir Chodosh that when Rav Elyashev sat on a beis din together with Rav Zolty and Rav Ovadya Yosef, they always ended up poskening like Rav Elyashev's hashkofah rishonah.

J said...

"People who become BTs later in life" "Hoffman is a similar shnit as Gil Student, left leaning modern
orthodox."

No. Hoffman is a FFB - and a shpitz Chofetz Chaim guy. You need to get your non-heimishe sects straight.

getting my sects straight said...

There are multiple indications that if Hoffman's family was "frum" at all, they are the most extreme left of modern orthodox, maybe just barely shomer Shabbos. There is by the way a subculture of Young Israel people who consider themselves "orthodox" even though they do not dress the part at all and are mechalel shabbos befarhesya. There are numbers of these types even around the NYC area. Not sure where the Hoffmans fall in the spectrum.

Lie detector said...

Denver
". R' Hillel says he was told by R' Meir Chodosh that when Rav Elyashev sat on a beis din together with Rav Zolty and Rav Ovadya Yosef, they always ended up poskening like Rav Elyashev's hashkofah rishonah."
another Yerushalmi lie.... Was Rav Chodosh by every Moshav Bies Din?