Juuust to be sure...

As a young whipper snapper I heard the following from my dear father zg"z: (If I once wrote it here I apologize)

There was once a very frum yiddene who would daven and say tehillim and learn צאינה וראינה all day. She would fast and do chesed and feed the old and sick. She was there in sight doing the right and holy thing. It's just that every day she'd go missing for a few minutes. Maybe even the same time every day. Nobody could find her. So they decided they'll follow her and find out once and for all. At the usual time the old lady descended into a basement where there she had set up - נישט מיר נישט ווייניגער - a tzeylem and all other paraphernalia and proceeded to bow down and do all other services associated with that religion! The people were in shock! So they asked her: סורי נעיני, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be this big tzadekes, and here you're worshiping another Getshke?! Suri Neni had a very simple answer; And what if they're right? I need to make sure and worship their Getshke too! Just in case.

My friends, I'm not c"v comparing our brothers from Lithuania to another religion. I leave that to them to do. But it seems like their once-solid belief in their system alone is beginning to crack, or at least show signs of wear and tear. They're not JUST going to Volozhin and Vilna, they need to go to Lizhensk and Lublin, just to be sure. Like Reb Boruch Mordche going to Lizhensk to sing ואפילו בהסתרה. It's good to see. Maybe all those years in bnei Berak and Yerushalayim had some sort of effect, after all. Maybe the Roshei Yeshiva taking kvitlach had an effect. Maybe they'll believe in G-d after all. 

Maybe.

Thursday Morning Links

a Trip to Kletzk and Volozhin
Maybe we can start sending some bachurim back to Kletzk? Start the freezer there, make them be there for 6 months. There it's REALLY cold, so it would actually be a freezer. Maybe at the same time do some community service, help out old Jews in Belarus. Like on Friday afternoons and such, not cholileh during seder.
How Satmarish is Haredi Satmar Yiddish?
עלייה להר הבית בימינו במשנתו של הגר"מ אליהו זצ"ל
Was Prof. Saul Lieberman Orthodox?
Montreal: Outrage to put time limits on Sukkahs, critics say

when רבי חיים וואלאזשינער sent RebYitzchok Zev Solowejczyk הראשון to the Heiliger Rizhiner זצ"ל for help with a גזירה...

A very kind reader Upon reading about RAYS reading the תנאים at the Sadigerrer תנאים מאהל, took the time to send me links to the sefer זכרון יעקב by Reb Yaakov HaLevi Lipschutz which discuss a connection that Beis Brisk had to Rizhin, the fore bearer to Sadiger, back in the 19th century. Knowing Reb AvromYeshua and his knowledge of Brisker history I'm sure he knows this chapter of the family history as well, but I couldn't say if there was some kind of ongoing connection בין בריסק לסאדיגורא today as well. Although the fact that the Shapiras are somewhat affluent would help... A brief synopsis: The year 1826 was when the Czar Nikolai I decided to take Jews for military service. It seems from Rabbi Lipschutz that these rumors already started soon after the defeat of Napoleon over a decade before, but 1826 was when it was confirmed that the idea was being seriously considered in the halls of power in the Russian capital. What seems normal now - says RYL - was considered unjust in '26 and an effort was made to try and stop it. By "stop it" we mean that instead of paying with bodies the Jews would pay their share with a heavy tax, since long-term conscription into a Christian army was a death sentence to the Jewish future - which is why the Czar wanted to do it in the first place. But in the end the idea of a tax did not work and army service became mandatory, even for Jews.

As far as what hishtadlus was done; Being that Reb Yitzchok Zev was Reb Chaim Volozhiner's eynikel he was asked to travel to Rizhin to see Reb Yisroel, זצ"ל, who "had connections." He had gevirim who knew and had influence with the Russian ministers and could do something  about the decree. RYZS told Rabbi Lipschutz about his visit to the Rizhiner and how he would take "kvitlach" with pidyonos in his prave shtieb. But the tzaddik could do nothing for him. "I have done all that I can," were his words, "I can do no more. I have already sent two letters to the מומע לאה, what more can I do?"  Alas, the gates of heaven were closed and the decree would be carried out. Who? Mume Leah? Who was this, and how would she help? We've heard of the Mume Sarah, but who was the Mume Leah? Lipschutz tells us that the Mume Leah was the Jewish wife of the Russian Admiral of the Black Sea fleet of the Imperial Navy who lived in Nikolayev, Ukraine - [ birthplace of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, זצוקללה"ה נבג"מ זי"ע.] She was a very frume Yiddene, despite being married to a Russian admiral and was very active in Jewish causes, helping her brethren with parnosoh, as well as klal issues. She was a big chasidis'te of the Rizhiner, and would often send kvitlech to him. The greatest hishtadlus he could do was to send her two letters בכתב יד קדשו - you hear that David Assaf? - and since there was nothing she could do then the decree was sealed, אין להשיב.


 [ It seems like this was done several years before 1826, since Reb Chaim Volozhiner, RYZS's zeide, was the one who sent RYZS, and he passed away in 5581/1821, which would make the Rizhiner 25 years old at most!]




Brisk-Ruzhin From Y Lipschutz

.....וזרח השמש ----- עד שלא

The handwritten note written by Reb Chaim Kanievski yesterday, passes the torch from his shver, Rav Elyashiv, who is very ill, r"l, to Reb Aron Leib Shteinman, zol gezunt zein. It's not clear if Rav Elyashiv himself told his son-in-law to pass the torch, or if it was done on his own, since RYSE has not been conscious, as far as we know, for some months now. Sources close to the matter say that is closely related to the fact that Rav Elyashiv is gravely ill, and the clamor to replace him has already begun. A recent sign of that change has been at the Israeli Yated Ne'eman, no relation to the American newspaper of the same name, where the old guard that was close to the late Ponovizher Rosh Yeshiva was unceremoniously thrown out and replaced by Rav Shteinman's people. Reb Aron Leib is not considered a follower of the true "Torah Haskafah" that the late Ponovizher Rosh Yeshiva handed down over the years. Neither is Rav Elyashiv, for that matter, but his leadership was uncontested, now that he's sidelines the fights can begin. The factions here are many, ואי אפשר לפורטם, and you can give yourself a migraine trying to figurer it out. I was asked how can I be "sleeping" at a time like this? You all know that I don't just report the dry news, I need to have an "angle," something to set me apart. Which is why I waited until this fell into my lap. It doesn't reflect on how I fell about Reb Aron Leib, whose tzidkus is undisputed, it just gives you a feeling as to what others feel, even if they claim to be respectful of Torah and talmidei chachomim...

 The following is a true story about the נצי"ב of Volozhin, זצ"ל, as told by הרב אברהם יהושע סאלאווייציק of Yerushalayim:

The Netziv, Rav Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin, lived in Lithuania during the 19th Century. Him and his brother-in-law, Reb Yitzchok Fried, were sons-in-law of Reb Itzele Volozhiner, son of Reb Chaim Volozhiner, the Yeshiva's founder. After his first wife passed Reb Hirsh-Leib Berlin married the daughter of the בעל ערוך השלחן. He was one of the most famous Rabbonim of his generation, and it's said that in the 40 years he headed the yeshiva in the town of Volozhin, some 10,000 students studied there. Many of them went on to lead communities and Yeshivos of their own. (a list of famous alumni can be seen here) The Netziv wrote commentaries on all parts of the Torah, and once, when he'd published a particularly difficult work, called "HaEmek Shayla," he called together his friends for a special celebration, where he told them the following story:

"When I was a child, I never paid attention in school. I was lazy and did not want to concentrate. Then one day when I was 11 years old, I came home from school and heard my parents talking. My father was explaining how he'd spoken to my teacher and together they'd concluded that I'd never amount to anything in terms of scholarship. So, my father explained, he was arranging to enroll me as an apprentice shoemaker as soon as I became Bar Mitzvah. "I was so shocked by this conversation that I ran to my parents and exclaimed: 'I'm sorry I've been so negligent with my studies. Please give me one more chance to prove that I'm a good student.' And from that day onward, I applied myself to the study of Torah with tremendous vigor and dedication. Since then I have not wasted a moment and it is that devotion which has enabled me to write the commentary which we are celebrating today." Then the Netziv continued: "But just imagine what would have happened had I not overheard my parents' conversation. I'd probably have ended up as a shoemaker. And I'd have been a pretty good shoemaker besides! But think of what would have happened at the end of my life when I'd get up to the Heavenly Court and they'd ask me: 'Naftali, (or Hirsh Leib - HT) show us what you've done with your life.' And I'd proudly show them my beautiful shoes: the fine workmanship, the quality leather and the exquisite design. "And then they'd ask me: 'But Naftali, where are all the books you were to publish? Where are your 10,000 students?'" The Netziv continued: "And what would I possibly respond??" Reb Avraham Yehoshua said that when Rav Shteinman reaches heaven, they'll ask him "Where are the shoes?!"

And this is where today's best and brightest end up. In Brisk...