Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Quality, not Quantity (book review, too!)


Reb Michoel Ber Weissmandl zt"l is a personality that seems to have found favor amongst Jews of all circles, Chassidic, Litvish, and Hungarian. They know him mostly for his efforts to save Jews during WWII, and for his establishing the Yeshivah Farm Settlement in Mount Kisco, aka Nitra Yeshivah. However, the layman knows little about his personality and about his opinions unless he reads up about him. For the Hebrew reader that opportunity has just knocked, in the form of a book ",איש חמודות" the book that tells of the life and times of a leader who passed on in his prime, a broken and devastated man. I too was immediately pulled towards the book when I saw it in the book store, and I knew that I need to have this all-important biography, for myself, and to share with you, the readers. I'm happy to report that although the author, as many these days seem to do, for some reason needs the support of the Satmar Rov z"l to approve of his zeide, and takes a very "Satmarishe" position on many issues, painting RMBW as a quasi-Satmarer, he does not disappoint in other areas, and has done a fine job.

There are many, many quotes attributed to RMBW that are taboo today, you'll never hear them repeated, at least from the people who really know, and were there when they were made. Quotes he's to have made about Rabbonim and Roshei Yeshivah who became the Gedolim in America and elsewhere after WWII, and mostly related to the efforts, or lack thereof, made to save Jews during the war years. He never forgave them, much as he never forgave the secular Zionists who refused to cooperate with him. He would lay away awake at night and cry bitterly over the vanished world of Jewish Europe, all the while trying to rebuild, although he believed that it'll never be the same as it was, no matter how many Shtraymel-Machers there are in BP and W'burg. One such speech was probably made to the Bochurim in the Yeshivah after Kol Nidrei 5708, when the Yeshivah was still in its original location, in Somerville, New Jersey. Reb AC Spitzer of Boro Park, the former Viener Dayan, is quoted as saying that those present will never reveal much of what was said at that 4-hour speech. The tears and screams at that speech will never be forgotten. There's much more to be said about the book, but I'd like to focus on one short story there.

KeYodua; after the war the West German Government decided to make good to all those who survived the atrocities, and pay them a monthly stipend called Wiedergutmachung. All of my grandparents would get that monthly check in that very distinct envelope. The Government of Israel also was supposed to get a large sum from the Germans, besides for the money that went to individuals, and if I recall correctly Menachem Begin and the right-wing parties in Israel were adamant about not accepting any money from the murderers who think that they can pay us off for a few dollars. Yeshivos in America were also given monies at that time, and the amount given was decided upon by a board of Roshei Yeshivah. RMBW didn't want to take the money, saying that since he needs to sign the back of the check, where it says that you forgive them for all crimes they committed, how can he sign? For a few dollars we should forgive and forget? He also said that he doesn't want that the gold they pulled from his mother's (HaYad) mouth should end up in his hands in the form of a check. Rabbi Leo Jung, who was instrumental in helping the Yeshivah move to the location in Mount Kisco, asked RMBW why he doesn't take the money, after all it'll benefit Torah? The answer was simple: Yes, Chazzer is Muttar BeSha'as Pikuach Nefesh, but is there an Isser to eat excrement? no. Would anyone dream of eating it just because it's not Treif?! That was RMBW.

During Aseres Yemei Tshuvah of 5714 there was a meeting of the representatives of Yeshivos, where it was decided how to divide the monies, and how much each Yeshivah should get. The end result was that the Mirrer Yeshivah was to get twenty percent, Lakewood was to get twenty percent, and Nitra Yeshivah only five percent. RMBW was beside himself and demanded an explanation. "If we go according to what the Yeshivos were before the War, then in Mir there were 100 students (that's what the book says, I'm not sure where he got that misinformation from - HT) and in Nitra there were 200 students, BeMeila kumt zich unz mer fun zei. If current number of students are used to determine which Yeshivah gets what, then Lakewood has 150 Bochurim, and so does Nitra! Why then the discrepancy in money allocated to us?! One of those present answered: Rav Weissmandl, מען גייט ניט לויט די כמות, מען גייט לויט די איכות.......... We go according to quality, not quantity...... After that he was quite and said no more, seeing it as a sign from heaven that this was his lot.

Shein?

A short biographical sketch

39 comments:

Anonymous said...

take a look at his reason for the holocaust and see footnote on bottom from chasam sofer and also from R' Yonah Furst zt"l and we should rethink our position of today!

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

you read the whole post already? impossible!

which "position of today" are you referring to?

Anonymous said...

"take a look at his reason for the holocaust" and then rethink our current position-how we are acting today 65 years later
GREAT BOOK
(just pointing out a very important piece-fits into your observation of "There are many, many quotes attributed to RMBW that are taboo today, you'll never hear them repeated, at least from the people who really know, and were there when they were made."

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

Tell me where he says it, I don't know where to find it. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

towards the end of the book (maybe תס"ח

Anonymous said...

R'Michel Ber actually learned in The Mir in Poland, so it's inconceivable that he'd make the mistake to think Mir had only a hundred boys.
Sounds like the book is not very reliable when it comes to numbers(can't imagine why the writer did not realize he was off either.Bichlal unfortunately, frimmeh bichlal and chasidim bifrat are very unreliable when it comes to history)

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

Shua

I'm not sure "learned in the Mir" is the correct term. He was in his late 20's/early 30's (and unmarried!) when he visited Lita and Poland, including the Yeshivos and "Gedolim" there. I don't think he was considered a Talmid in Yeshivah.

Anonymous said...

And now Lakewood has kamus too, ka"h

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

I see my point is totally overlooked by the readers. Maybe it's me, but people need to pay more attention to the whole thread.

Anonymous said...

You mean the argument between Rabbon Gamliel and Rabbi Elozor Ben Azaryoh?

Or this: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3458194,00.html

Anonymous said...

Where can I find the book?

Anonymous said...

>>"Gedolim"

With this nasty little use of quotation marks, are you including the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the smallest of the individuals Rav Weissmandel met? Or do you only include those your movement has indoctrinated you to hate?

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

no, I'm not including the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

Do youhave anything to say about the anectode with the money, or are you just here to jab?

Anonymous said...

Excuse me, but the use of quotation marks was incredibly inappropriate. Don't demand anormous deference for a highly controversial figure if you canno do the same for great kedoshim. You have no argument.

Anonymous said...

What anecdote about the money? Do you have anything to say on the fact that the Rebbe was motzi shem rah on a couple of gedolei yisroel? How about the fact that he encourage ignorant fools to believe he was the Messiah when they sang Yechu? Or are you just jabbing?

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

read the last paragraph.

Anonymous said...

Riiiiight. And I should believe a story written by an anti semite like yourself because. . . ?

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

no, you fool. It was written by a grandson of Reb Michoel Ber Weissmandl, and published in his biography. Then again, I'm not sure why I expected you to understand that.

Anonymous said...

. . .and why should I believe him? He wasn't there.

Idiot.

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

because someone who was there told him.

moron.

Anonymous said...

. . . that's what he says

evil anti semite

Anonymous said...

I didn't read the book and I don't plan to buy it, but I am amazed that in this day and age people still print some non political correct anecdotes, the lakewooders are probably on a Jihad to ban it as they banned the Kaminetzky books.I think that in his quarrels with Lakewood there is worse stories, as the money he used for the Shas printing on the back of saving Jews.

The time limit of the 4 hour Derosha could possibly be a Rav Spitzer fiction.

The anti isreal bashers are using Weissmandel as a springboard for the arguments that Ben Gurion wasnt helping enough in helping Jews,

1) The people that were most instrumental in his work were ultra Zionist as Kraus of Budapest And Flieschman, Brandt etc..

2) Wessmandel believes that orthodox Jews are also to blame too for not helping.

3) The Jabotinsky party (Herut Likud) were working in the states forcefully to bring the story to the broad world

Lucky Wolf said...

I heard that rav Michol Ber said that if he saw a certain very popular litvisher gadol (I’de rather not mention his name) walking in the streets he would rip out his hair from his head.

also there was a story about RMBW and a yechidus he had with the freidiger Rebbe. He poured out his heart to the rebbe telling him all the tzoris and the frustrations he had with not being successful in saving Yidden. the Rebbe just sat there with him and cried along for a little while.
RMBW said, that alone calmed him down a lot. as it was known that they were mamosh afraid he would almost suffer from RL a break down from all the agony.

Maybe someone knows more details of this story.

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

Lakewood probably doesn't know about the book, and probably doesn't wanna bring attention to it, although the attacks on Lakewood are indirect and minimal.

I'm not sure if the "4 hour" time span allocated to the Droshoh came from Rav Spitzer, although I can understand why you'd say that.......

He does mention that Gizi Fleishmann was "the former head of the Joint before the War" but says that she too was terribly disappointed in their efforts. Then again we'll never know for sure if she had a change of heart, since she too was killed Al Kiddish Hashem.

The leadership of all things Zionist was the left, with them hating Jabotinsky just as much as they hated frum Jews.

His testimony is the main evidence against what the Zionist leadership and people like Stephen Wise did and didn't do during WW2. Statements like "better one cow in Palestine than 1000 Jews from Europe" were made at that time. The Satmar Rov saw him as a partner in his fight against Zionism, and used his testimony extensively in his anti-Zionism seforim.

Anonymous said...

Hirshel,

Lakewood and Mir had gedoeli yisroel in their 30s learning there while Nitra had young boys. Of course the eichus was more.

Anonymous said...

" Jews of all circles, Chassidic, Litvish, and Hungarian."

Those categories encompass all Jews ?

"The end result was that the Mirrer Yeshivah was to get twenty percent, Lakewood was to get twenty percent, and Nitra Yeshivah only five percent."

And how much did Lubavitch get ?

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

Ashkenazic Jews.

the book doesn't mention Lubavitch.

Anonymous said...

The Tzig and his 'dark' implications!
The Tzig as usual is parroting the crud he heard from his 'mashpim' at the headquarters of Lubavitch inc.
He is trying to imply that the head of Lakewood did not do his outmost to save Yidden during the Holocaust.However, anybody with any basic knowledge of this History knows that the Vaad Hatzolo worked feverishly day and night, including chilul shabbos to their outmost.And they did....
Another group however did nothing.Nada.Oh wait a sec, they saved the Rebbe.... and the entourage.... and the library in Warsaw!(while Warsaw burned)
(Look, there may have been good reasons for not being able to help.Maybe.But prizes you get for doing, not for excuses!This chip on the shoulder is something that explains this groups anger and jealousy ad hayoim)
And you think the R'Michel Ber did not know this???

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

anonymous people are so angry, I wonder if it's got something to do with not having a name.......

Ay, Reb Michoel Ber, how we could use you today!

Anonymous said...

Daloy
Please take a look at the book put out by Berel Levin on the work of the FR for Swedish Jewry this is only one aspect of his work,and besides have you heard of the Belzer Rov reb Aron Ztl ? who was hard at work for his Hatzola, I think he was not Anash.

Anonymous said...

I've never heard what the FR did for Swedish Jewry, though Sweden had a very small community and almost everyone was saved.So its probably another of your Chbsker Babbeh maysehs.Besides for a Bobroisker talmid who happened to be a big talmid chochom, Rabbi Zuber and another rov who's name escapes me now (his daughter Chana is a tour guide to Sweden).They may have played some role in the hatzolo movement.
Besides that Lubavitch did basically diddly.
Maybe they could not?Maybe.But when it came to saving the Rebbe and his pamalyo they moved mountains!Again that's ok.When it came to saving the library in Warsaw while Warsaw was bombed they did their outmost, so I'm not sure they could not have really done,had they wanted badly enough.
One thing I do know:There was one yid running around America, desperately trying to save yidden, being mechalel shabbos, raising funds.And somebody else was......working in the Navy Yard!
I was not around than to judge, what makes my blood boil is the chutzpah to dare criticize!
Where mistakes made-Probably, but doing they did!Another group that did nothing (haroitzeh leshaker yarchik edusoi le Sweden, where the matsav was infinitely better than 6 million burning!)is the one doing the hate mongering!
Talk about redoing bios.Was the Navy Yard mentioned?
Tzig, you deserve your name, you are indeed a KOZEH!

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

it's tough being a snag, it really is. The big accomplishment, saving 300 Yeshivah Bochurim is parroted again, and again, yet what about the others? where was all the life-saving that they supposedly did? Why then was RMBW so angry at the VH of the AI after the war if they "were Mechalel Shabbos and ran around saving Jews?"

Unknown said...

http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2007/08/he-was-a-moral-.html#comments
Read the comments for information on what Chabad activities at the time.

Anonymous said...

'Saving three hundred boys'
Tell me am I wasting my time trying to talk to an imbecile?
You know nothing, besides the rubbish you were fed by the great pretenders.

Anonymous said...

daloy snags saying daloy!

Following your logic we can assume that:

1) Rav Aron Kotler deserted his Yeshivah and saved himself. They all perished or were sent to Siberia.

2) The Brisker Rov ran to Vilna straight from Krenitz where he was vacationing with 2 of his sons and didn't even go home to get his family. His wife and some kids eventually perished, as did most of the Brisker Jews. Nowhere do we see that he tried to save Jews.

3) The Gerrer Rebbe, the Imrei Emes, was snatched from Poland and taken to E Yisroel, leaving some 100,000 Gerrer Chassidim to perish. His son Reb Yitzchok also didn't merit being saved.

4) The Belzer Rebbe and Bolgorajer Rov were snatched from the Bochnia Ghetto and taken to relative safety in Hungary. In 1944, they made it to the Holy Land, leaving a half million Magyar Jews to die with the false hope of the Holocaust never coming to Hungary.

The only one who did - according to the warped logic being presented here - is Mike Tress, Reb Aron Kotler, and a couple of guys in an office on the Lower East Side. Oh, and the Reichmanns in Tangiers, and maybe Griffel. Hundreds of Thousands of Jews were saved due to their efforts. We just don't know about it.

Anonymous said...

. . .what you DON'T know is that the Rebbe did not save ONE Jewish soul. . .after all, they were not lubavitch, and would not have thought him to be the Rebbe-God that he indoctrinate you evil turds into thinking him to be.

Antisemetic mamzerim. That's all you have become. Leave the Jewish people alone!

Guravitzer said...

Wow! Di elementen zeinen tzurik.

Anonymous said...

adey bring raya from Failed messiah! lol,I have to admit that Moron Tzemach is better than these anonymous klipedike monsters creatures.They have to look back in their ancestors if an hospital temurah

Anonymous said...

Daloy
When you are talking about the FR, you should take off your shoes, He was in the forefrunt of the Michamath Hashem in USSR while they were cutting still Tzibelech Shabos Kodesh in the morning in Poland and Hungary,
Btw there is a letter From Reb Aron Kotler thanking the FR for his aid to his Yeshiva.