Thursday, November 10, 2005

renewing old acquaintances



?וואס האט מען גערעדט



?וועגן וואלאזשין



?וועגן בריסק

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Begin was from Brisk(Alas a large percentage of Brisk were of chasidic stock)
Where do you get the pics from?The blog is really dumb and partisan but the pics are good, maybe you should keep to the pics...

Anonymous said...

Vos vilt eihr aroisbrengen?
Zint ven is is nit oisgehalten tzu reden mit sarei hamelucha vegen klal yisroel?

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

!חברה
!ביטע ניט שטעלן ווערטער אין מויל
Where did I say that מ'טאר זיך ניט טרעפן מיט שרי המלוכה?

You must all relax.

Yes, Begin was a Brisker and Reb Chaim was his Sandek.

Sometimes pictures do say more than a thousand words, and they're better than a long post.

Anonymous said...

It does seem like they were quite relaxed and comfortable in his presence. ער איז דאך געווען א לאנדסמאן

Anonymous said...

The real question is why the Kanoyim didn't yell and scream when Begin met the Rabbonim here. They went to his hotel suite and met him there. The Rebbe was adamant about meeting on his "own turf", which was a major kiddush Hashem, yet the zealots went ballistic.

Anonymous said...

Menachem Begin was a traditional man and deeply respectful of Rabbonim/Rebbes. He spoke to them in Yiddish, or so I've heard. Other Israeli politicians who met with Rabbonim were not. I believe even Golda Meir spoke only Hebrew to them, even though she was quite fluent in Mamme loshen.

Anonymous said...

HT,

I've always wondered why Lubavitch is mefarsem the pictures of the Rebbe with MB when the man went to Camp David and basically ignored the Rebbe's opinion

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

Friend
the fact that he came and consultyed with the Rebbe is a credit to him. The fact that he "ignored" the Rebbe is to be judged considering the pressure put on him then to concede.

Anonymous said...

גיב נאר א קוק, זעה די דרך ארץ וואס די ראשי ישיבה גיבען אים, אחוץ הרב הוטנער, מ'שטעלט זיך אויף פאר אים.... פשששש

Anonymous said...

the Rav, although he was from the Brisker family, probably did not know Begin from his childhood, being that he grew up in Khaslavitch where his father Reb Mayshe was Rov.

mnuez said...

Accounts have it that Begin reminisced with RJB about how Begin's father (and Sharon's grandfather) had to break open the doors of the shul to eulogize Herzl after R' Chaim had locked them).

BTW, you can see all of these pics and more at http://www.begincenter.org.il/gallery.asp?subject_id=12.

For the record, Begin never saw himself as anything other than a Jew fighting for Jews. When asked on the first day of his taking office what sort of leadership style he would exhibit as PM, he responded simply, "a Jewish style".

I wouldn't say that he saw any of the Rabbis in the magical ways that their followers did and he certainly didn't view their statements as binding in any way shape or form but he saw them as fellow leaders of the Jews, as people more knowledgeable in Judaism than he and as symbolic authority figures that he would always respect in private and public. In fact he famously bowed his head for a "laying on of the hands" blessing from R' Ovadyah Yosef - something no other PM (before or after) would ever dream of.

So far as Begin's personal religious practices are concerned, he appeared to be a Torah observant Jew without ever really taking the current form of halacha so seriously as to arouse in him any "frum" yiras cheit.

When he used to smoke, he did not on Shabbat. When at Sadat's funeral (and after Begin had had a heart attack and a broken hip, etc) he walked for miles rather than ride in a car on Shabbat. And the clincher? I happen to know second hand (not first hand, but not an urban legend either: I heard it from an Orthodox Rabbi/Psychiatrist reporting from his friend who ran Sharei Tzedek) that Menachgem Begin used to ask sheilot relating to taharat hamishpacha.

And all of this religion was something that he never trumpeted for gain (who was even offering gain?) and didn't do because he was part of "the frummeh velt". He wore no kippah and had few shomer shabbat friends but he kept torat mosheh as a faithful jew and as a somewhat private (though not secret) matter between him and his God.

How much I miss him.

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

MNUEZ

beautiful!

Anonymous said...

was Rabbi Soloveitchik part of the same meeting with Rabbis Kamenecki and Hutner?

Anonymous said...

Mnuez - zeier shein- yasher kayach !