Friday, May 31, 2013

"אוישוויץ יארצייט"



















Photo: Yad Vashem

כ"ב סיון is when my paternal grandparents' town was liquidated at Auschwitz. My bubbe o"h would fast for her sisters who were gassed on that day - until she passed away at the age of 87. See what we wrote in the past about that day.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

אפשר פאר דעם האט מען א נאמען געגעבן דעם ספר "התעוררות תשובה" ווייל ער האט מעורר געווען אידן לתשובה























The holy Erlauer Rav, son of the Ksav Sofer, who was killed at Auschwitz at the age of 94, sent a shliach to the Neology Rabbi in Budapest to speak about Shmiras Shabbos. Had he not been the z'kan hoRabbonim and a grandson of the holy Chasam Sofer - and had it been in the age of the internet - it would've gotten him into a whole lot of trouble with the more zealous factions of Hungarian Jewry, who forbade any contact with the Neologues. This kind of reminds of me of what the holy Lubavitcher Rebbe would do years later, realize that unaffiliated Jews are still Jews, even if they were ostracized, and as such need to keep the Torah and Mitzvos. And if they don't they need to be told about it.



































HERE

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

"?איר קענט עס אראפשרייבען"


















Story Here

 It has its ups and downs, I tell you. Even when times are tough I use a credit card, otherwise you never know where your account is up to. And then you have kids going in and writing down without their parents' permission. And no, it's not all high praise for us frummies; they get their jabs in at our exclusiveness and our dislike for alternative lifestyle people and such. And the OTDers have their say too. [Why do I say that? why not leave good enough alone and be happy with a mostly-positive article/feature? I guess I'm just a glass-half-empty kind of guy.]

You can't win 'em all...

'דף השבוע חגיגה ג:ב ב

Monday, May 27, 2013

a letter from the "אם הבנים שמחה" to the Munkatcher Rov defending "extravagances" of Rebbishe weddings...

A reader writes:

These pages are from sefer תל תלפיות printed in 5766/2006 at the occasion of the בר מצוה of the Munkatcher Rebbe's אייניקל. Rabbi Teichtel's excuse for the Munkatcher Rov making a big wedding could serve as an answer for the Belzer/Gorlitz/Dezh/Teichtel wedding, where Rabbi Teichtel's daughter is now a grandmother. [The mechutan's shver was the Gorlitzer Rebbe in Bnei Brak - hence, Gorlitz, and he is a grandson of a brother of the patriarch of the Dezher lineage, the מראה יחזקאל. - I would think that comparatively - based on what people had and didn't have in those Great Depression days - it was alot more extravagant than the Belzer wedding. - HT] I heard that by the בדחנות of the מצוה טאנץ they called the באבע the "אם הבנים שמחה" of this שמחה, that this is the זכות אבות. I guess that even בעלזא can not go official with the holy משנה שכיר... So back to the letter, the holy משנה שכיר couldn't come to the wedding, he had to watch the שוחטים, - which is a lesson in and of itself - so he flatters the holy רבי with the newspaper reports and gives him his 2 cents of what he answered the critics of the extravaganza mega חתונה. It seems the משנה שכיר was under the spell of his great Rebbe, who was the big גאון and בעל מקובל, which was obviously the reason why he didn't question his Rebbe's anti-Zionist/Agudah/Mizrach עסקנות, which was basically a קול קורא במדבר in that region and in that era. I'm not saying he was a Zionist, just saying that knocking Zionism wasn't accomplishing much.

See clip of the Munkatcher wedding at USHMM site



























Sunday, May 26, 2013

Famous Selective Service registrations - לכבוד מעמאריאל דעי
















Rabbi Avraham Kalmanowitz





















Rabbi Shraga Feivel Mendlowitz
















The Lubavitcher Rebbe

















Harav Reb Moshe Feinstein


















R' Jacob Joseph Herman



















Rabbi Judah Levenberg of New Haven

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Kamenets-Podolsk Massacre and Horav Boruch Rabinovitch's Testimony in יד-ושם

















Photo source

by Mark H. David

Hirshel: I was surprised by your article here. I have been studying off and on for years the Kamenets-Podolsk massacre of Jews in 1941, of which Horav Boruch Rabinovitch is thought to have been one of the few who were actually saved through somewhat official channels. This is documented briefly in a non-obscure book, Sefer Marmarosh, which is also online now I read your article somewhat superficially, so I apologize in advance if I missed anything. But I found some pretty major inaccuracies.Thought I should try sending you two examples, see if any response comes, and what could be done.If no response, I’ll just have to ignore it.If there’s interest, I could try to work with you to improve this. You say: He was rounded up with thousands of other Polish and Foreign Nationals and delivered over the border to Kamenetz-Podolsk in the Ukraine. Literally just dumped there. Only by a sheer miracle was he rescued from the massacres that the bastard Ukrainians carried out on would when the Nazis overran the Ukraine in the summer of '41. You say: Truth be told, there isn't much information out there about RBR's wartime activities. They say that he wrote a book and still saw it published right before his passing on Chanukah 5758. Before that time he wouldn't discuss what he did.


On (1), the Kamanets-Podolsk massacre of the Jews deported from Hungary is generally not very well known by the average man in the street, but there has been plenty of studies of it.  Every study says the same thing: these Jews were brought there as prisoners of joint German-Hungarian military teams. The US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s website has one variant of the story, and I’m sure a very well researched one. I’m not aware of any account that has the Jews massacred directly or primarily by Ukrainians. At worst Ukrainians may have been aids and helpers of the killers, but not the killers themselves.Note that there are obviously numerous massacres by Ukrainians of Jews, both before and during the Holocaust. I’m not interested in making up new ones, and I am interested in having historical events conveyed in accord with facts as they are actually known, and that is the reason to bring this to your attention.Note, too, that there’s no account of Jews “literally” being dumped in this area.  They were under military guard the whole time.Also, this is generally considered to have been the first mass-killing of Jews by German milltary (SS), and is considered a precursor to the Babi-Yar massacre, which is much-better known and with many more estimated victims, which happened fairly soon afterwards in the same year (1941).

 Further on (1), the article in Sefer Marmarosh specifically states that the Rabbi was one person who was actually saved through “shtadlones” (intercession, mediation). It is surprising to simply refer to this as a “sheer miracle”. What justifies calling this a miracle There were people who crawled out of pits, from under dead bodies, missed by bullets in the mass killings that were the Kamenets-Podolsk massacre; I can see someone calling such cases of survival to be miraculous, and I wonder how a negotiated release through shtadlones rises to that level. Also, note that most of the people deported were actually born in the region from which they were being deported, not from Poland, but they just couldn’t find their papers: nobody had any papers. It was just arbitrary. I didn’t know the part about the rabbi being actually a Polish national, but in most cases the people deported were born there, with brothers, sisters, parents, etc., who were not deported. It was very random. Finally, on (2), the account in Sefer Marmarosh specifically states that the Rabbi gave testimony about the whole experience at Yad Vashem, and it was recorded and transcribed. I would really like to hear and read a transcript of this testimony. I hope to find it some day. In that testimony, according to Sefer Marmarosh, the Rabbi gives his opinion that the Nazis intentionally conducted the massacre openly as a way to test out the theory that the Allies would not react. I’ll put the Sefer Marmarosh account at the end. It’s in Yiddish.  Thanks for listening,

דער ערשטע און גרעסטער מאסן־מארד איז דורכגעפירט געװארן אין 27־סטן און 28-סטן אויגוסט 1941 - ד' באלול תש״א - נעבן קאמענעץ־פאדאלסק. אין יענע צוויי טעג זענען 23,600 אידן דארט דערמארדעט געווארן, מערהייט 14,000 - 16,000 אונגארישע, די אנדערע ארטיקע. ווי עם שטרייכן די שואה־פארשערס איז די קאמינעץ־פאדאלסקער שחיטה געווען די ערשטע פון נאצישער "ענטגילטיקער לעזונג" װעמנס קרבנות עס זענען דערגאנגען צו די זיבן ציפערן. ווי עם גיבן איבר עדות וואס האבן צוגעזען די דאזיקע מאסן־שחיטה, האבן די דורכפירער אירע זיך נישט געמיט צו באהאלטן זייערע מעשים פון דער־־ארטיקער באפעלקערונגדער. מונקאטשער רבי הרב ברוך ראבינאוויטש וואס אויך איז געווען צווישן די דעפארטירטע און דורך שטארקער שתדלנות האט מען אים צוריקגעברענגט קיין אונגארן, האט דערציילט פאר אן אינטערוויוער פון "יד ושם" זיין יסורים-וועג. זיינע רייד זענען רעקארדירט און פארשריבן געווארן ווערן אפגעהיט אין ארכיוו פון דער דאזיקער אינסטיטוציע .03/3822 הרב ראבינאוויטש דריקט אין זיי אויס זיין סברא, אז מיט כוונה האבען די נאצים נישט פארבארגן זייערע מעשים כדי אויסצופרואוון און זען ווי אזוי עם וועלן רעאגירן די פארבינדעטע מלוכות און אז קיין רעאגרוגג איז נישט געקומען - ווי מיר אלע ווייסן. האבן דערפון רוצחים־פירערס פארשטאנען - און ליידער מיט רעכט - אז אידיש בלוט איז הפקר. קיינער וועט זיך פאר דעם נישט אננעמען און קיינער וועט נישט מאנען דערפאר. די אמינירטע דורכצופירן שחיטה איבער אידן האבן מיט מוט און חשק פארגעזעצט דעם מארד לויט דעם סיסטעמאטישן פלאן פון דער ״ענדגילטיקער לייזונג״

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

S H O C K I N G ------- מבית היוצר של חצר הקודש סקווירא























ס'איז נישט ווייניגער ווי אן ערד-ציטערניש לדעתי, ולדעת גדולים וטובים ממני הק'. סקווירא זאל מודה זיין אז א בן רשע ביים סדר איז נישט קיין בושה???? מ'שיקט דאך דארט אוועק פון טאטע-מאמע נישט קיין געזונטע קינדער וואס ללידען פון דאון-סינדארם וכדומה כדי עס זאל שאטען פאר די אנדערע קינדער. און יעצט זענען זיי גרייט דרוקען אז א  בן רשע  ביים סדר(!) איז נישט נאר אויסגעהאלטען נאר עס דארף אזוי צו זיין? איז דאס אלץ צוליב דעם רבינ'ס אייניקל? קען איין אייניקל ווירקן אזא שינוי אינעם אייזענעם פארהאנג אין ספרינג וואלי? ימים יגידו

שלום רוקח האט שוין חתונה געהאט - now back to your regularly scheduled programming...

















See how it's reported on in the secular press....


Monday, May 20, 2013

"כי שניהם יחי' בערך אחד"

This letter was published on "respectable" sites like HydePark's closed BeChatzros forum, so I have no issue with publishing it, especially since the recipient didn't do what the the Shotzer Rebbe asked of him.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

...א קלוגער איד וואלט געמעגט זיין רואה את הנולד
















Photo source

I might have known when I saw this story last week on VIN that it would come to something like this. From their very modest beginnings in 1943 they sure have come a long way. Surely Aron Kotler didn't think it would go unnoticed? $10.6 Million is nothing to sneeze at, and in this day and age, when we're constantly under the microscope, you can bet your bottom dollar they'll hoot and holler about it. And that $10.6 mil is just for the library! Now don't get me wrong, I don't for a second think that the comments on that news site are justified. Those people are either anti-Semites or self-hating Jews who are just miffed that the Ultra-Orthodox are getting funded by the Government. But it's one thing to sit back and take it on the chin from the towns and counties that שינד די הויט when it comes to property taxes and give you nothing in return, and it's another to use political influence to get such a direct grant. I don't begrudge them the money, but please, let's not do it at the expense of the rest of us. BMG has enough donors that would want a library on their name.

Once upon a time (5630/1870) in Bukhara.....

I forget where these are from, so I can't give credit.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

...למרות שכמה פעמים גיליתי לו ששמעתי ממרן ....... שליט"א

We see that Rav Hutner was quite the independent gadol! He made up his mind and stuck with it. And the reason why וויתור על שטחי א"י is forbidden is quite a novel one; a Slabodker Chiddush, if you will. You might say you'd think the Rebbe and Rav Hutner would have the opposite opinions, with the Hutner opinion more of a Chassidishe derher, and the Rebbe's more of a nigleh'dige one. But it wasn't so on this matter. I just wonder if Lorencz bacsi was so adamant to give land in return for peace because it was the will of Maran, or was it because there was a genuine concern for Jewish life? Or maybe he was just a left-winger? In 1975 it was still relatively quiet, even if the Yom Kippur War was not the greatest of victories. In any case, see for yourself. The relevant shtikkel is in the הערות, if you will. We do applaud Rabbi Lorencz for keeping it in the sefer, even if it does show the schism between the Rabbonim. We thank RYH for giving Lorencz the "רשות להשמיע את דעתי" as well...

  Box.com link




Saturday, May 4, 2013

It's nice to see that the Charedi world is standing by shliach Rabbi Yehuda Teichtel of Berlin























There are letters from the בד"צ עדה החרדית ובראשם הגאב"ד הרב ר' טובי' ווייס, the frum newspapers wrote about it, albeit some censored Reb Tovia's letter, and in general, there's much applause from the proponents of דרך ישראל סבא. They have no qualms about supporting a Chabad shliach. Some frum people would rather it just go away, and that's to be understood, it's unsettling to talk about, especially when non-frum people do the talking. If you haven't heard about it, Rabbi Teichtel, a great grandson of the Baal mishnas sochir HY"D, and a long-time shliach in Berlin, is under investigation by German authorities for keeping mitzvas milah as it's been kept over the millenia. A certain Rov in Moscow, affiliated with the "Litvish" camp, didn't help Teichtel when he told a German newspaper that MbP is not required by Halochoh.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

'דף השבוע חגיגה ג:א ג

We finally get to hear from our side about the East Ramapo School District



After a nasty, untrue hit-piece in in NY Rag, I mean Mag, that would make Julius Streicher proud, followed by an appearance by the author of that piece on Mr. Lehrer's show, Aron Wieder, former member of the much maligned ERCSD school board was given some time to rebut the lies. That's right, lies. And they continue to get away with them, again, and again, and again. You think any other group would have a headline like this written about them? Not even OBL or the Taliban. And the comments? man, they scare you to death, knowing there are so many people out there that hate you for no reason other than they're prejudiced against you. They may give you that weird smile or frown when they see you in the stores, but they'd just as soon see you hanging from a tree or loading into a boxcar. You think I'm over the top here? read the comments. Most of them don't live there and have no idea about what goes on there. They just believe the lies because they want to. Shame on you, Mr. Benjamin Wallace-Wells for adding fuel to the fire and for feeding the haters.

 H/T:Alexander Rapaport of Masbia

what do you do when you need to write about a VERY embarrassing topic on your blog, namely that one of your mentors is a fraud?

You close comments. Which is what Reb Gil Student, who has no problem condemning people like SMR and allowing the dissenting comments to flow fast and steady, did when it came to write about the Michael Broyde fraud fiasco. Intellectual honesty, anyone?