A friend of mine, a mechanech in Eretz Yisroel, spoke with me earlier this week. He told me a frightening story: A relative of his is a cheder rebbi, and there is a student in the class (around 8 years old) that committed a very violent act of molestation on a younger (around 5 year old) sibling. The yeshiva asked one of the foremost – if not the foremost – gedolim in Israel (I guess I shouldn’t say the name) what the yeshiva should do, if anything, as a result. This Gadol told them not to do anything, it’s the only offence, and it was probably a one-time thing.
Now I can’t imagine how he could have said that, but my friend told his relative to seek professional help for this child. This behavior is NOT normal behavior, and in all likelihood this 8 year old is himself a victim of molestation and it is imperative that the school get to the bottom of the matter (and my understanding is that that is what is being done).
Now, I’m not here to talk about molestation at all, and don’t think I’m jumping on the molestation bandwagon either. The reason that I mention this is really to talk about the unbelievable and unprecedented lack of leadership we have. Our leaders are completely at a loss and out of touch with the common man – in such a complete way that I am very afraid of where we are headed. I do believe that they all mean well, but honestly, do they have any ideas other than the use of their seemingly only weapon – banning? Let’s see… we ban sheitlach, cell phones, internet, working for a living… is this supposed to be working?
And that’s not to mention that all the bans only help those who probably don’t need them. What about those who are at risk? They aren’t even listening. If leaders continue to use the last-resort banning card, more & more people will tune them out until it’s just a joke anyway. It seems to me that we just don’t have anyone to talk to; as a mashgiach in a certain Yeshiva told me, “It is very hard to be in my position. I can help bochurim with Limud HaTorah, but they come to me for personal advice and I haven’t got a clue what to tell them.”
Perhaps the problem is that our leaders are the metzuyanim. They succeeded in the system, it worked for them, how can they relate to those who didn’t? They have very limited knowledge of the real world life of the man on the street “amcha” Yid or of the problems, struggles and realities that people live with every day.
Actually, this may not be entirely new. I think the Litvishe lived this way for quite some time. There was a two-tier society – the B’nei Torah in their ivory towers and the hamon am, tzuklapte Yidden. It was the Baal Shem Tov and the Chassidic Rebbes after him that reached out to the masses and led them. And this is probably the #1 reason for Chassidus spreading like wildfire across Europe. So is this all just the return of the Litvishe structure because chassidus has for all intents & purposes stopped serving the people?
A Rebbe used to walk the streets and live in the world of the common everyday Jew. He knew people’s cows by name. He knew of their worries, their struggles, their problems, their sins. He understood life in all its glory, and could relate to them. Who is like that today? Chassidic Rebbes grow up with everything handed to them on a silver platter. Do they venture out of their palaces to visit the world of the average Yankel struggling to get by? Where are the leaders that have experienced life as you or I? Who can relate to the common Jew?
Sigh.
An orphaned generation…
Your blog might be banned after that posting. It is now under review.
ReplyDeleteA guest post from Harry Maryles.....
ReplyDeleteDr
ReplyDeleteit's actually a post by Mekusher
Harry couldn't hold a candle to this, so spare us the comparisons, please.
In all fairness, the issue addressed by the mentioned Godol was limited to what sanctions the yeshiva should take on the student. I doubt he was recommending they just ignore the whole affair. Indeed, if the yeshiva is now trying to "get to the bottom of the matter" that would just confirm that suspicion. This is quite undeserving the "sweep it under the rug" accusations we see flying from Failed Messiah and others of that ilk.
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of issues on which the leadership of our Kehillos can be called on. However, let us please not fall into the easy trap of lambasting our "leaderless" generation because of misinterpreted anecdotes.
I'm not on the molestation issue here, that was really besides the point... and the Yeshiva is perusing the issue against the gadol's advice not to worry about it.
ReplyDeleteReally I don't see the gedolim to have been too useful on any issues, but maybe that's just me.
Mekushor
ReplyDeleteSince when do Lubab see any value in any non Lubab, non tuchas lekker rabbonim.Can't you write a post with 'new' stuff, like how the Rebbe saved the world in yet a new version, or how 500 lubab boys starved in Shanghai because of the evil Snag(S)or how 'terrible' the supervision of the CRC is.How about a 'new' post about the importance of parroting Rambam yeimi, or what a Genius yisroel areyeh leib was...
Waiting.....
I see it doesn’t take much to get past the "censor" here.
ReplyDeleteCareful about your critique of the gedolim though. They ARE the gedolim G-d gave us, and as Chazal have warned, "He who opposed the gedolim of his time is as if he opposes Moshe & Aharon"...
Leibel,
ReplyDeleteSigh.
I have the utmost respect for these leaders as indivuals, but not as leaders - it seems that they aren't prepared to carry out the basic roles that they are supposed to serve.
I imagine that this is just the time we are living in though, because there seems to be a great lack of leadership among everyone everywhere... Jewish, non-Jewish, political, religious, etc.
But I just woulda thought that they would TRY to get some idea of the life of the average Jew that they are supposedly leading. But for some reason that dosent seem to happen...
''Really I don't see the gedolim to have been too useful on any issues, but maybe that's just me. ''
ReplyDeleteMekishar, there is a Gemorah that may be of interest for you:It's in Sanhedrin 99b a few lines from the end of the page. it says there and I quote:" Umar Rav Yosef cegoin hanu deamri mai ahanu lon rabunon ledidhu koru ledidhu tonu' Rav Yosef interprets Apikores - as someone who claims that the Rabbanan do not benefit us in any way. They only learn for themselves (providing us with no material benefits).Rashi explains that they don't know that the chachomim are the reason for the worlds existence.
Don't get swept away in the Apikorsus movement and think before you write
This thinking that once upon a time was better is fantasy,
ReplyDeletefind me a psak from a Godol of previous genaration that a say on this subject, Mollestation was never brought up to the forefront eventough it happened in prewar hungarian yeshivos.
For the sake and respect of your readers please censor the people that verbaly mollest your site as DR.....
The reason Pollard gets all the attention is simply because he's being held by the US, a Malchus shel Chesed, whereas in the Baumel case there's nobody to talk to. But he too deserves to at least be in our Tefillos.
ReplyDeleteI see anonymous picked a name!
ReplyDeleteboropark, let them sit and learn, we don't need their advice.
"Careful about your critique of the gedolim though. They ARE the gedolim G-d gave us, and as Chazal have warned, "He who opposed the gedolim of his time is as if he opposes Moshe & Aharon"... "
Really, Chazal said that?
Hmmm,
ReplyDeleteSounds like you need a look/see of that gemorra in Sanhedrin.
'we don't need their advice'
We as in Lubavitch?Probably, because in ever other kraiz that I know of we ask advice from talmidei chachumim.
I couldn't find the exact quote you brought in my Gemoro, it must have been censored. Can you tell me where I can find that exact quote?
ReplyDeleteIn other words, you finally figured out that the actual Gemoro is Yiftach Bedoro Kishmuel Bedoro etc., and is about Neviim, not Gedolim or Ketanim?
ReplyDeleteYiftach a novi?He is not one of the 48 male nevi'im (brought down in megillah 14 in Rashi).About your 'pshetel':Look up the gemorah, please.It's rosh hashna daf 25a at the bottom going over to 25 omed bais.You are totally wrong, the gemorah says even a kal shebekalin, once he is your leader is considered 'abir shebabirim'
ReplyDeleteLook it up and come back to us
"Keivan shenismane parnas al hatzibbur"=Godol? I had no clue they had actual communal responsibilities! Care to share some of them with me?
ReplyDeleteYou were the guy who in an earlier post mocked and rediculed the idea of a new rebbe in Lubavitch.'Nobody can fill his shoes' etc..This gemorah shows very clearly that Yiftach is compared to Shmuel,who himself is considered equal to Moshe and Aharon(!)Even so, Yiftach has the din of 'shoifet bayimim hoheim'.
ReplyDeleteThe gemaro sees Yiftach in an unfavorable light(the mayseh with his daughter etc)and still says so!
FROM 5 TOWNS JEWISH TIMES:
ReplyDeleteThe fact is that the term and the concept of da‘as Torah is not found in the Gemara, Rishonim, or the earlier Acharonim. It originated at the very end of the 19th century, became popular as a political slogan that Agudas Yisrael used when it campaigned in elections in Poland, and was not used on a regular basis until after WW II.
For a further discussion on the development of da‘as Torah, please see the article by Dr. Lawrence Kaplan that appears in the book Rabbinic Authority and Personal Autonomy, commissioned by the Orthodox Forum of Yeshiva University.
Also, “emunas chachamim,” which does appear in Pirkei Avos, can in no grammatical way be translated as “faith in the chachamim”; it means the faith of the chachamim, a sophisticated belief system including awareness of the problems that are raised by Iyov, and not the childish beliefs of simple people who believe that G-d has a body and limbs.
Those are facts; now my opinion: Eighty-one gedolim signed the letter to boycott El Al. What about all those who did not sign? Does the fact that they did not sign automatically disqualify them from the ranks of gedolim? And how does one become a gadol? It seems to me that you can be born to the right set of parents, marry into the right family, or, like the Israeli Supreme Court, be chosen by those who are already in.
Of course, if you step out of line, you can lose your status as a gadol. Rav Yosef Dov Halevi Soloveitchik, zt’l, was considered a gadol in the early 1940s, when he was vice-president of Agudah, but when he left Agudah to head the RZA, he lost all status and was scoffed at. Of course, now that he is no longer with us, his status and prestige have gone up again, and his words are used in ways that he would not accept were he able to protest.
If it led to further antagonism between the dati community and the average secular Israeli, then the boycott was a chillul Hashem. We are not in an era when we can stone people for chillul Shabbos, as much as some people might want to. It is our job to lead people to Torah and mitzvos. “Deracheha darchei noam”—the Torah’s ways are ways of pleasantness. We are defeating our own purpose if we bluster and bully. Even if we win in the short term, we lose in the long run.
Who am I to stack my opinion against the 81 gedolim? I am by no means a gadol, but I have never banned a book written in a language that I cannot read. Remember, when Jabotinsky traveled all across Europe before WW II, begging the Jews to get out while they could, it was the gedolim of that generation who insisted that the Jews should stay put. When Rabbi Hildesheimer wanted to relocate his famous seminary to Yerushalayim, he bowed to the opinion of Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky, who insisted he stay put. It seems that history has issued a verdict on the wisdom of da‘as Torah.
There is a rule in rabbinic interpretation: “Chas HaKadosh Baruch Hu al mamonam shel Yisrael,” G-d values and worries about the financial status of the Jews. Had the boycott been declared for future purchases, exempting tickets already paid for, I would have accepted the boycott as a legitimate tool of leadership, even if I disagree with its long-term implications. But to cause the massive financial loss incurred by people who paid for their tickets in advance—who lost their own money, without any loss suffered by El Al—was an act of theft against the Jewish community. They should be ashamed of themselves.
These opinions are my own and in no way are associated with my cousin, who has the same name and is a rebbi in the Five Towns.
Rabbi David Alan Willig
Bayside Jewish Center
Thank you Harry for posting the above.
ReplyDelete"Also, “emunas chachamim,” which does appear in Pirkei Avos, can in no grammatical way be translated as “faith in the chachamim”"
ReplyDeleteThis is incorrect.
boropark, what chutzpah you have to compare your gedolim (ketanim) to Yiftach! They have been appointed by no one!
Chutzpah??
ReplyDelete'Keivan shenismaneh parnos al hatzibbur'
Who appointed your rebbe?People, that's who.
Listen,it's time that Oholei Torah disconnected your internet connection, you are making a fool of them
I have never claimed the Rebbe to be a Godol, a parnas al Hatzibbur, or Abir SheBeabirim. You provided that source, not I. I will disregard your other foolishness.
ReplyDeleteHT and mekusher,
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I am wholeheartedly agreeing with you. Moshiach must be on his way. And with so called Gedolim –all of who are truly special people on an individual level- he must be coming fast. Although I wonder what your Rebbe would have said about these issues. Because the older generation had a European ‘sha shtill’ attitude towards such issues, one that (in this issue) I am not sure is necessarily wrong in some instances.