Monday, August 27, 2012

The next Brisker באלאגאן

RECEIVED VIA E-MAIL: 

Someone had the great idea of combining all of the chidushim on Maseches Sukkah from the various Brisker family members. However, he did two major aveiros, from a Brisker perspective:

 1. He brought chidushim from the American branch.

 2. He brought chidushim from AJ's talmidim -- they are extremely makpid about unofficial shiur transcript. I'm holding my breath until the first pashkevil. סוכת הלויים

62 comments:

קאמארנער said...


הקאמארנער ז"ל כמדומה בהיכל הברכה כותב שהמניח תפילין בחוה"מ הוא בכלל המבזה את המועדים, המהרי"ט ז"ל הי' אומר רק להבחורים להניח תפילין בחוה"מ ובצנעא

Thurston Howell III said...

Shvach to call R' Moishe the "American" branch. He was fort a Europeyisher and eidim by the adam gadol R' Elya Feinshtein.

It's not just AJ with hakpodos vos me tor nisht ibberzoggen. R' Dovid shreyed on Meller after he realized he was hoodwinked into writing the haskomoh

Chacham Ovadia said...

Komarner
"הקאמארנער ז"ל כמדומה בהיכל הברכה כותב שהמניח תפילין בחוה"מ הוא בכלל המבזה את המועדים, "
I think its a Bies Yossef in the name of zohar

tibi lotzi said...

Howell
"It's not just AJ with hakpodos vos me tor nisht ibberzoggen. R' Dovid shreyed"
Reb Duvids chidushim are officially printed and available in every decent seforim gesheft..I dont know what he screams for...

tibi lotzi said...

Howell
"Shvach to call R' Moishe the "American" branch."
but the source is triefe, its from the sons sefer...
FYI, Reb Moshe was a rosh in the Mizrachi Yeshiva in Warsaw and then in YU before the son was there...obviously he had a different mesorah then the self crowned Matikie Shemuah of Brisk

Thurston Howell III said...

RMS was really a Volozhiner talmid who became the rosh yeshiva of Rasin. Because of the chaos of WWI he was displaced as Brisker Rov by the younger brother Velvel. He needed parnossa so he took the shteller in Tachkemoni.

YU was a real yeshiva until the late 1930s. R' Shimon Shkop was also there before it became an ooniversitta.

..עובד יוסף said...

Chacham Ovadia : "I think its a Bies Yossef in the name of zohar"

אבי ז"ל הי' מחסידי זיידיטשויב.. ולמד בכל שבוע ההיכל הברכה על הסדרה, והוא אמר לי כן - אולם זה הוא כמו חמישים שנה שעבר מאז


Anonymous said...

The bottom line is:

Brisk controls the world.
Parts are in Israel - with the Frummis
Parts are in America - with the not so Frummies.
Parts are in Europe - with so many....

Nevertheless, Brisk is a household word 'in alle shichtin'

Anonymous said...

Can anyone verify if there was ever a beis din in boston of which JB was the Gaava"d, as he is called in the shar blat of shurkins sforim?

dovy in j said...

1. Rav Dovid quotes the fetter Rav Moshe in shiur all the time.

2. Rav Moshe was r"y of yry"e before it was a university (thus he was never r"y of y.u.)

3. rav dovid never shryed at meller. he's still on very good terms with him (some talmidim were upset that he was taking up so much of rav dovid's time)

Tibi Lotzi said...

Howell
I think that RMS till 1942, so it was a real yeshiva till 1942?
what kind of yeshivshe nonsense

Ish Brookline said...

Moshe moshel
yes, reb yoshe Ber was the rav in Boston and he gave hasgocha on shechita, which he had mesiras nefesh for it.
Since we are in the month of Elul,I would like to notify you By your doing bizu talmid chochem you are not diminishing the ravs image, you just get yourself a din apikoras according to the rambam

Ish Brookline said...

Dovy
"
"2. Rav Moshe was r"y of yry"e before it was a university (thus he was never r"y of y.u.) "
is it a fact ?or yesveshe wishfull thinking?

Ish Brookline said...

dovy
"1. Rav Dovid quotes the fetter Rav Moshe in shiur all the time. "
a Lamdan like you should of know that the Griz quotes Ochi Hora"m many times...

Tibi Lotzi said...

Rav Ovadia
"אבי ז"ל הי' מחסידי זיידיטשויב.. ולמד בכל שבוע ההיכל הברכה על הסדרה, והוא אמר לי כן - אולם זה הוא כמו חמישים שנה שעבר מאז"
there was still a Zidichov before the war?
the last Zidichover that was still a tzadik was reb moshele of Zidichov....that resided in Munkach

Feh Feh Feh said...

R' Dovid is the rosh yeshivish equivalent lehavdil of the President with the nuclear codes. He has a talmid at all times keeping an eye on the chiddushim of Bais Brisk in his possession, ad kedai kach that you would think of the talmid as the Secret Service agent handcuffed to the codes in the briefcase.

R' Dovid did in fact shrey about Meller according to edim present when he first saw the sefer post-publication. Meller was not present during this episode.

dovy in j said...

ish b, i do know that (although many times may be a guzmah)also rm"s quotes the rov in his sefer more than a few times.

feh feh feh, i was with meller by rav dovid many times after the book came out. he never had any tainos on him.

Brisker said...

The Meitstchetter Iluy was also a major Volozhiner & Brisker who followed this path. He was rosh yeshiva of Lida, then Tachkemoni, then Rabbeinu Yitzchok Elchonon BEFORE it became YU. I don't think R' Chaim had any taynos on him when he took the shteller in Tachkemoni.

Alpha Zulu Foxtrot said...

That's takka funny the moshol of nuclear codes. A lot of people heard someone bragging in America that he was there for R' Dovid's high pitched squeal on Meller. Did R' Dovid get over it or was the witness a wannabe Brisker who is full of it?

Alpha Zulu Foxtrot said...

Surprisingly, Haaretz had a very accurate article on Brisk about 10 years ago. They quoted a rosh yeshiva requesting anonyminity that to be popular with bochurim nowadays, your focus has to be "all Brisk, all the time"

JJJ said...

You decide

1923:

http://archive.org/stream/elchanitenewyork1923unse#page/10/mode/2up

1934:
http://archive.org/stream/elchanitenewyork1934unse#page/4/mode/2up

Dikduk said...

There are no Alephs in Balagan. It is Ivrit, not Yiddish.

marcus IV said...

Where is the bizayon in the question, which was not answered about a beth din?

Ephraim said...

"R' Shimon Shkop was also there before it became an ooniversitta."

RIETS was a college when RSS was RH there. (Consider the roster of other top-notch RHs there in that era and beyond. Fact is, outside of Lakewood, there is no greater center of Torah outside of Israel that RIETS)

And by the way, the Bais HaLevi was a Zionist. This was, of course, before Herzl. He wanted to create a frum Zionist organization but didn't get enough support.

YU - Torah Madua said...

Vos cholomt der Why-Younik Ephraim? RIETS is a krumma joke except for the 15 guys in Kollel Elyon who are all heimishe anyway because the modern orthodox don't have lamdonim who can pass the 7 farhers to get in.

"outside of Lakewood, there is no greater center of Torah outside of Israel that RIETS"

This joker is going to mach aveck Bais Hatalmud, Gateshead & many other real yeshivos with some weak, tainted learning in RIETS?

Litvak said...

Brisk is not into issuing pashkevilim, only reading them (even if R' Dovid's son Velvel had to strain to read without glasses on Shabbos & got a black or blue nose from the ink). Brisk is also not into throwing bochurim out of yeshiva. They will only tell the oylam to shun yechidim sometimes.

זידיטשויב said...

Tibi Lotzi : "the last Zidichover that was still a tzadik was reb moshele of Zidichov....that resided in Munkach"

לשיטתך איז נישט דא קיין צאנז, חב"ד, גער, בעלז, אין נאך אויך נישט, זידיטשויב איז א שם כולל פאר מאנכע חסידישע רביים וואס זענען אדוק אין זידיטשויבער גזע אריינגירעכט'ן אפילו סאטמאר וואס דער מהרי"ט אין זיינע עלטערן האבן מחשיב גיווען, אין אפילו אדאפטירט איטליכע מנהגים, אין הלכות אויך! אוודאי איז דא אייניקלעך יר"ש אויך ר' שלום פראכניקער ז"ל וואס האט באקומען כסדר די שענסטע כיבודים אין סאטמער האט אסאך אייניקלעך אנדערע אויך, ער פלעגט 'מיך' רופ'ן 'אונזערס א קינד'!

מ'פלעגט זאג'ן
אין זיידיטשויב ברענט א פייער אין קיינער קאן עס נישט פארלעשן

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

it just became a Yiddish word.

RWMO said...

Who wrote this sefer?

For the record, R Moshe was Rosh Yeshiva at YU from 1929-1941, and the college began in 1928.

And the Kollel elyon is not full of "heimish" anyone. Most of the yungeleit are YU talmidim, from the MO world. Once every few years someone will come from outside.

Naygerik said...

Please don't leave us hanging. Did the Brisker Rov say apshetel? Did his father end up teaching him or ?
Please,don't keep us in suspense.

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

so the Briskers don't put on tefillin on chol hamoed?

Thurston Howell III said...

Of course the Briskers don't lay tefillin Chol Hamoed. If it's minhag EY not to altz the Gra, the Briskers certainly would not either. The Bais Halevi's elter zaydeh was R' Chaim Volozhiner.

dovy in jersey said...

rav chaim wore tefillin on chol hamoed. the rov did not wear them publicly in y-m. (see the blue brisker hagadah)

Ish Brookline said...

Howel
you are a little naive the brisker don't respect no Minhag...

tibi lotzi said...

Zidischov
So he was A
Spinker?
Kosonyer?
Tosher?
Mate Salker?

Kenst nishr reden vi a Mench?

Anonymous said...

What's with all this YU is Treyf BS? Have you been to YU? Did you notice the full treyf Beis medrash? The treyfa kollel? The treyfa Rabbonim giving shiur in the apikorsus called Mesechta Bava Kamma? How about the treyfa glatt kosher food? Or the tryefa posek hador HaGrat"z Schachter shlita? How about the treyfa bochurim who finish shas?

There's a lot more religion at YU than in many (more coercive) mosdos.

Lonely Man who's shpait said...

"YU is Treyf BS"

You may have said it with nivul peh, but at least you admit it

An Ailmesher said...

Of course באלאגאן is Yiddish. The Poilesher use it.

Why You said...

"Have you been to YU? How about the treyfa glatt kosher food?"

I visited years ago when there was no hashgocho in dining room. The more frum bochurim were putting up warning signs that the microwave is treif. The others were tearing down the signs. There are bochurim in YU who do not wear a yarmulka off campus. Some are not frum at all.

"Or the tryefa posek hador HaGrat"z Schachter shlita?"

"Posek hador"? That's very funny when HaFeminist Schlechter is so krum. Can anyone verify what's said beshaim the Steipler that feminist rabbis are "royeh zoynos"?

"How about the treyfa bochurim who finish shas?"

At the same time I visited, the bochurim were saying that YU had just instituted a rule that being caught with porn videos in dormitory results in expulsion.

Anonymous said...

The cafeteria at YU is under the OU. There are various microwaves around YU for peoples convenience. You can double wrap food and use the microwave. In other yeshivas they have the same thing
There was a bochur who finished shas two years ago on his own.
RHS is not a feminist. Get your facts straight. He has a book lambasting feminism called בעקבי הצאן
Some people aren't frum in Lakewood, Ner Israel and Torah Vedaas. They just either pretend or leave. In YU they don't kick them out for not being frum. What does this have to do with the Beis Medrash culture? Should we evaluate BMG by Minyan Shelanu, Shaar Yashuv by Priority 1? Plenty of drug addicts come from all these places, their parents just disown them.

Watch Your mouth said...

YU is like Emipre Chicken.
The frummeh have this block in their head to keep away from it and they keep on ploppeling about the factory and its standards. THEN they learn a bit of Yoreh Dayah. They want to see a chicken plant. Empire welcomes ALL. So grudgingly they go to observe and see the action. Then they come back home and something strange happens.

They stop talking. They are shell shocked that what they heard all these years is not exactly EMES LA'MITO. They still won't bring it into the house but they'll eat it outside the house, maybe at a restaurant or a wedding etc.

Now to YU.
A lot of talk. A lot of stories from the media. A lot of hearsay tales. A lot of "Shalash Seudos" and Melaveh Malkeh" maysehs. Until one day they "fall" into YU's BM due to some great "onesh" that was coming to them.
And they can't believe what they see. They pinch themselves to make sure its not a bad dream.

Now lets get something VERY clear.

No one is saying that YU is the most Yeshivish place that you should send your children there. It is true that the student body in general is a mixed bag, to say the least. And YU will be the first to admit that. But its time to stop talking about YU especially if, like most frum people from Brooklyn, Monsey And Lakewood etc. , you never stepped foot into the place.
An alternative to stepping foot into YU is to hear a shiur or 2 from 2 or 3 Rosh Hayeshivahs who teach in YU. Most of them are Rabbonim in Heimishe Shuls (Surprise, surprise) and are exceptional "talmiday chachomim".

You'll be surprised.

Why You said...

Your shilling for YU just doesn't cut it.

I don't believe that YU when I visited was under the OU or any other recognized hashgocho. That came later. I saw with my own eyes how YU students were putting unwrapped food in the microwave in the main cafeteria. At the time I was there the treif warning sign was up. They simply ignored it. They did not even use Rabbi Heinemann's trick to "kasher" with a cup of water which most poskim hold is useless. They were definitely eating at least basar becholov (or maybe even treif depending if outside food was brought in by non-frum students), so it is NOT the same as yeshivos.

There was a bochur in Lakewood who much before he came to Lakewood not only finished Shas but at 18 years old could pass the "pin test" in ALL of Shas - ON TOSAFOS!

Hershel Schlechter IS a Feminist. Get YOUR facts straight. He always sides with the women in gittin. He backs that nefarious ORA organization run by that nutty kid Jeremy Stern who is mevazeh befarhesya with his bullhorn, elderly big poskim who follow the halacha in gittin.

Strange you harp on at-risk kids from yeshivishe homes when much of YU's high school & other modern orthodox high schools have a major drug problem with active students using & selling narcotics to one another. This is almost non-existent while kids are still in yeshivos. The modern high schools have over half their student bodies texting each other on Shabbos while this is virtually non-existent in yeshivos.

Why You said...

I used to defend Hershel Schlechter. I used to think he was only being knocked because some yeshivishe tummlers couldn't stand how much bekius he knows for someone in a moderner institution. Then I investigated his involvement with ORA and I lost respect for him.

And I did go in person to YU.

Empire Poultry is no moshol. Most of the yeshivishe world is eating it save for a few greaseballs from Telz and one chynik hocker in Lakewood.

YU cannot claim to own every respectable heimishe talmid chochom & rov who happens to draw a paycheck from YU.

tibi lotzi said...

Why You
"At the same time I visited, the bochurim were saying that YU had just instituted a rule that being caught with porn videos in dormitory results in expulsion."
Its more frum then Satmar Queens and Kj, they dont expell they just send to the Mikvah...

kashrus said...

The big joke is that years ago when the OU was trying to prevent Star K from becoming their competition on an international scale, they were attacking Star K shechita as being no good due to goyishe part ownership (there are other - real - problems with Star K shechita which surprisingly the OU did not get into)

So when Empire Kosher Poultry was bought 100% by a goyishe investment firm, the Star K had a field day making choyzek of the OU. (There are also other - real - problems with OU shechita which the Star K did not raise)

Qveens said...

Satmar has a yeshiva in Glendale, Queens, near the Bushwick, Brooklyn, border. Did they close down their other yeshiva in Bayswater, Queens? You don't see anyone with the levush anymore draying zich arum in the nearby 5 Towns.

Anonymous said...


There was a bochur in Lakewood who much before he came to Lakewood not only finished Shas but at 18 years old could pass the "pin test" in ALL of Shas - ON TOSAFOS!

whoop de frikkin do!

Just knowing Shas like a kid in YU did now makes you a shaygetz feminist deorayasa! In lakewood עיר הקודש והמקדש תובב''א just to get in you need to know all of tosfos including the ones in manuscripts not on the side of shas. You need to take the new pin test, where they stick a pin in you and you bleed R Boruch Bers. Everyone else is a drug dealer from breaking bad with a bullhorn going to insult rabbis and eating from a dirty microwave.

In terms of the pornography, I see many people from the חסידיש'ע עולם openly looking at it in the library when they come to find the כתבי יד of the Rogatchover. At least the MOs can keep it in the dorm room. And they have less of a faction that isn't shayach to such things וד''ל

Stormin' Norman said...

Despite your attempt to mach avek the YU critique, your cynicism & poor attempt to imitate Jay Leno's humor falls very short.

Schechter has shown up with Jeremy Stern & his ragtag mob of screaming women & loser men to roar through the bullhorn at choshuvah zekainim talmidei Chachomim. They were also mevazeh an elter Yid in a wheelchair coming to visit a rov by yelling all kinds of bizyonos at him & accusing him of faking his disability. This has been posted to YouTube and linked on the anti-ORA blogs.

The MO do not just "keep it in the dorm room". When Rav Gifter slaughtered Lamm for Pesach 30 years ago over YU's gay toiaivah club, he was not aware of another metzius. The internal dating system between YU boys & Stern girls was not filtering out who wasn't Jewish. Both divisions have a minority of goyim. The right wing MO were complaining that there could be freya Jews dating goyim facilitated by the YU system.

There have also been postings on hookup sites of YU students looking for Dominican women in Washington Heights. Are the posts real or pranks? Mistam at least some of them are real. A reporter asked Dr. Rabbi Moses Tendler about a different posting from Brooklyn that was more prust sounding and did not ask him about the YU ones.

Hate Reducer said...

Kashrus
"The big joke is that years ago when the OU was trying to prevent Star K from becoming their competition on an international scale, they were attacking Star K shechita as being no good due to goyishe part ownership (there are other - real - problems with Star K shechita which surprisingly the OU did not get into)

So when Empire Kosher Poultry was bought 100% by a goyishe investment firm, the Star K had a field day making choyzek of the OU. (There are also other - real - problems with OU shechita which the Star K did not raise)"

I am amazed of your rechilas production.....OU said Loshen Hora but they could of say more... Star K said Loshen hora but they could of say more... hashem yerachem....

Anonymous said...

I'm wondering based on a microwave and a fake craigslist ad if you'd be מלשין a different yeshiva such as פונויז' וכדומה. Let's deal with facts which are few and far between in your yeshiva dorm room talk.

1 There's no "internal YU shidduch" service.

2 When there was a "Gay at YU" event, the ראשי ישיבה made a giant machoh in public which is documented here: http://www.torahweb.org/audioFrameset.html#audio=rtwe_122809

3 The YU Cafeteria is under the ou, you could've checked this here
http://yu.edu/dining/

4 R Hershel Schachter, besides being a distinguished Talmid Chacham, has made feminists angry with this statement: http://www.torahweb.org/torah/2004/parsha/rsch_dvorim2.html

His book בעקבי הצאן is named for a teshuvah on women's prayer groups which he unequivocally rejects as ziyuf hatorah because of feminism. Read that here
http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=13131&pgnum=130

5 I am not aware of any policy on pornography at YU. I will say that in מתיבתא that I went to, there was plenty of that around and a "heimishe" bochur who'd go get some for you at the local store (this is before smartphones) to be מזכה את הרבים. And there was a kid who left that wonderful yeshivish מתיבתא to become a drug dealer. I didn't encounter such things at YU.

6 its fine for you to disagree with RHS on the issue of Get Meusah assuming you're a Talmid Chacham. Obviously he takes these sources seriously and you don't. Perhaps his רחמנות outweighs his restraint. Because he is not an אכזר and he thinks the Torah is supposed to be אילת אהובים ולוית חן he may be more activist than you think is appropriate. In my mind, even if he isn't right, and I don't decide these weighty questions, his values are in the right place and thats wonderful. In general its a leap for sane educated people from "has a different conclusion on hilchot gittin" to "trief." The גמרא would say מילתא תליא באשלי רברבי. You take an argument between RYSE and RHS and make it into מקוה נייע'ס instead.

7 Yes some bochurim aren't frum or don't wear kippot. Most are frum and do wear kippot. But understandably YU won't kick you out for going OTD. Should they? Is that a success story of yeshivoth such as Chaim Berlin thats worth emulating? Is it better that they go to secular college than take required Bible class which is Torah study? Or a morning Halacha shiur? Or eat kosher whenever they eat on campus? People change and some people become less or more religious in their formative years. You're implicitly saying to cut them loose. That might be a way to create a purer religious community such as Lakewood but why do you say the other approach is "treif" and bad? YU isn't Lakewood. Both have their issues? Why is there just one model?

The theme of this blog is not to bash Lubavitch. They might not be the same as you, but Lubavitchers are good kosher Jews. The same is true of YU. You don't need to go enroll, and its damn expensive. But what do you gain by insulting a Beis Medrash filled with תלמידי חכמים, בחורי חמד and a tremendous קול תורה? Why do you feel the need to insult good, Shomer Shabbos, honest Jews? Seriously? Get Meusah and a microwave? Funny Yechi Kippahs? Maybe think about trying to be positive and thoughtful rather than being מקטרג בחודש אלו''ל.

kashrus said...

What the OU & Star K did say was lashon horah & maybe even motzee shem ra. What they could have said but didn't would have been l'to'eless and permitted. Rav Sternbuch wrote a letter that bnei Torah should not eat anything from Star K & especially their shechita. The OU is misquoting a non-existent heter from R' Moishe and which no one else has ever been mattir to make shechita more efficient.

Bergerite said...

Is anonymous one of the Lubavitcher yechidei segulah enrolled in YU?

Reading comprehension for dummies said...

1. There might not be an internal YU dating service now, but there was when Rav Gifter slaughtered Lamm as was stated. Maybe it was disbanded after the chorus of complaints from right wing MO grew louder.

2. If the YU roshei "yeshiva" were so upset about toyavah, why didn't they resign? Dr. Norman Lamm decided the money was more important than Torah values. They could have really showed how they felt by walking out. This was just more lip service like when YU issued their lame & whisper-quiet "condemnation" of Steve Greenberg while spinelessly refusing to revoke his semicha.

3. As was stated, the YU cafeteria was not always under OU.

4. It's nice to hear that Schlechter does not ALWAYS side with radical feminists

5. You are either dishonest or extremely naive to think that at yeshivishe mesivtos who constantly inspect & raid dorm rooms and there is still porn, that there would not be any at YU when there is a lot less breathing down their backs.

6. "Perhaps his רחמנות outweighs his restraint. Because he is not an אכזר "

You say you are not big enough to disagree with Schlechter but you evidently think you are big enough to argue on Chazal who say that misplaced rachmonus leads to achzoriyus.

7. The Steipler was asked regarding the seeming contradiction between two sources in Chazal whether or not you throw a bochur out of yeshiva. He said it is tzvay dinim. You keep the bochur who you can influence for the better as long as he is not mashpia l'ra on others.

"a Beis Medrash filled with תלמידי חכמים, בחורי חמד and a tremendous קול תורה"

Are those sounds drowned out by the gay events approved by "Mashgiach Ruchni" Joe Blau?

Vye U said...

Norman Lamm told a newspaper a year or two ago that he would like to see women rabbis, but unlike Avi Weiss, he thinks it is still too early to push it on the public.

This kind of sick thinking has infiltrated several Vaadei rabbonim that have YU rabbis among them. This includes Barry Kornblau of the Queens Vaad, Yehuda Septimus of 5 Towns Vaad as well as a large portion of the OU, RCA, Young Israel, etc.

makeover said...

because of the rampant racism in israel against moroccans there have been americanized ones learning in kollel by brisk & elsewhere who have legally changed their names to something ashkenazic. it's not just petty stuff they are afraid of. there are yeshiva administrators who actually don't allow kids to enroll in chadorim if they have moroccan names

Anonymous said...

reb hershil how is it that you and others call the brisker roshhayeshiva who has housands of talmidim by a nickname homichane shaim lchaveiro ain lo chelek liolam hoba ibifrot a talmid chochon&marbits torah lirabbim

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

I don't call him by a nickname, even if all Yeshivishe types were מכנה שם to his father's cousin who was a much greater Talmid Chochom and מרביץ תורה. All I did was copy the email from the person who sent it.

nickname said...

Calling someone by his initials is not in the geder of nicknames assered by the Gemara Bava Metziah. Kach shemati in shiurim. It can still nonetheless be considered disrespectful. R' Yaakov Kaminetzky held you must put "Rav" in front of J.B., that it is crossing a line to just call him plain J.B.

"A.J." shtams from a time when R' Avrohom Yehoshua was so young that some of his talmidim were older than him and because there are gedolim who hold he does not have the derech of the Brisker Rov or even any derech that they hold of and therefore no one should learn by him.

Anonymous said...

The dorm talk attitude evinced by the commenters here is a major reason people don't take Orthodox Jews seriously. You've taken a nice fine yeshiva with some very talented bochurim and made it into a gay club where people watch porn and eat treyf. You've taken the serious issue of get meusah and made it into an occasion to call big Rabbis mean names. To be honest, in lambasting Rabbis, you've outdone the Jewish Week and the Failed Messiahs of the world. Much like Scotty, you pretend to pasken shailos which are of the most complicated and strict nature and then laugh at someone who went through all the posekim and didn't come to the maskanah you made up in your head. You ask ridiculous and unfair questions-- "why not resign?" When you know that they are stupid and childish. Why doesn't everyone quit their job if something goes wrong? Why aren't institutions perfect? These are great questions when you are 12. The other commenters line calling equality for women "sick thinking" betrays a lack of awareness that yes, the world has changed and maybe we should change with it. Does Halacha ever change? Again a good question when you are 12. Those of us who are not 12 and don't live in South Fallsburg dorms are aware that Halacha incorporates a range of pragmatic considerations and that women rabbis might not be the move right now but it isn't a "sick thought." Besides the fact that Lamm in the quote you mentioned wasn't evincing substantive support for female ordination but only throwing them a bone; and forgetting the fact that Rabbi Lamm is no longer the president of YU, you have taken it upon yourself to slander and defame a man who hit the pavement for years raising more money for Torah than anyone else. Who opened the super kollel? Who hired most of the current RYs? I know that R Gifter thought he was doing something leshem shamayim and I have deep respect for his genuine and heartfelt admonitions. But R Gifter, bemechilas kevodo, never ran a giant university and yeshiva. He never trained a doctor or a lawyer or 1000 rabbonim. Its easy for someone from the outside to bash lamm over some ideological scruples. What R Lamm did was navigate the waters of faith and law in a way that R Gifter never had to. Its a sui generis accomplishment that allowed 1000s of erliche Jews and Torah scholars to live and thrive.

Anonymous said...

back to the topic of the sefer:
where can i buy a copy?

Avremele said...

Sefarim on the way to NY, will be available @ Z. Berman end of this week, or early next week

YU - Torah Madua said...

Where does this guy get off making fun of pre-bar mitzva bochurim in Fallsburg and belittling Rav Gifter while shilling & lying on behalf of YU?

After Richard Joel was appointed as the new President of YU, Norman Lamm was promoted to Chancellor and he still carries the title "Rosh HaYeshiva" of RIETS.

Norman Lamm absolutely advocated for women rabbis, just don't push it yet he says. He is a disgrace to his grandfather Rav Baumol, one of the founders of Torah Vodaas.