Friday, October 12, 2007

A tale of two Lazers


Shturem

Reb Lazer Plachinski passed on last week at the age of 96. He was a grandson of Der Alter Fun Slabodka, - His father Reb Leib was the Alter's and Alteh's son-in-law - as well as a son-in-law of the Tzaddik Reb Aryeh Levin. That in turn made him a brother-in-law of Rav Elyashiv, whose late wife was also a Levin. He also was one of those great Geonim who never "made it" as far as being known to the masses, whereas some of lesser caliber do, mostly because of the positions they held or the "noise" they made. A quiet, unassuming man, he accepted his lot, and "drowned" himself in the sea of Torah he so loved, never really to be heard of, presumably because he wasn't busy condemning this and that all day every day.

Many, many years ago two "Lazers" were vying for the same position as Rosh Yeshivah at the Yeshivah on the hill in Bnei Beraq. The Ponovizher Rov was in charge at that time, and he chose the one who'd eventually change the face of Charedi Jewry, not always for the better. Imagine if our Reb Lazer would've been chosen, things would've been different, that's for sure. Next he went to the other Yeshivah on the hill, the one named for his Zeide's shtetl, but there too he was forced out by a relative who arrived later, and couldn't have the both of them there. I guess that "Roshive" also had the Torah in mind, and that's why only he could be there........

So Reb Lazer went and started a Kolel and Yeshivah in Yerushalayim which he named for his Shver, Reb Aryeh, who was alive and well at the time, I might add. There he sat and taught, and Redt in lernen with people who appreciated his Ge'onus, and where he wouldn't be bothered with petty infighting. Years later, after Rav Srool Grossman left Tomchei Tmimim to run the Karliner Yeshivah he replaced him as Rosh Yeshivah in Kfar Chabad. This part of his biography was curiously omitted from the obituaries of all Charedi newspapers!!!! Not one of them mentioned this fact. I guess they figured that they knew better than the Niftar what should be publicized about his life. The teaching of Torah to thousands of Talmidim there doesn't count as far as they're concerned. (the above photo - taken at a Lubavitcher Talmid's wedding, where he dances with the Mashpia Reb Shlomo Chaim Kesselman o"h - they DID use, of course, without mentioning where and of whom the picture is, other than Reb Lazer and Reb Aryeh Levin.)

One such Biography

39 comments:

Anonymous said...

be fair...when lubavitch writes obits on people, they only write as it pertains to them- his kesher with the rebbe, how he signed on the letter to learn ramba'm etc. -they are plently one dimensiona, so why should the litvishe media pick up on things that don't realte to them?

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

Absolutely no comparison. Here they mention all his shtelles except for one. There's no excuse for it.

Anonymous said...

look on col at the story of his petirah and see if his name even evoked one nice comment from all his lubavitcher 'talmidim'. i am curious if they ever brought him shalach manos of stayed in touch with him; probably not!

Anonymous said...

IT looks like the write up on Shturem is really balanced. Besides his own yeshiva, it ONLY mentions Tomchei T'mimim! BTW I agree you that the revisionism is absolutely ridiculous.
In the words of the great Rodney King, "why can't we all just get along?"

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

I would imagine most of his students, in their 50's and 60's, don't surf the net.

Anonymous said...

look in any lubavitch publication, in the rare instance that they refer to yeshiva wolrd personalities, they wil only mention the statistics that pertain to 'ana'sh'-
anyways, the happy news is that no lubvitcher could care less if the t.t. job is referred to in the litvish media-

lastly, fifty of sixty year old lubavitcher men may not surf the net, but their kids sure do, and if they had heard nice things about him- or anything about him for that matter- they would have commented. he was simply a non-entity to lubavitchers, despite his gaonus-

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

again:

for the ones of the "moronic persuasion" I'll repeat:

His whole life's story, all his shtelles, and all his Chavrusehshafts were mentioned, except for one. That means that they revised his history, and made as if the Lubavitcher "job" never happened. A piece in the Kfar Chabad that would write a whole obituary like that would never omit that he taught in Ponovizh or Satmar, and there are countless examples of this.

Using a COL story as proof is beyond stupid. Most stories, unless they're politics or action get very few comments, if any.

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

P.S.

most Yeshivishers never heard of him, where of Rabbi Sheinberg they did. What does that say about him and his loyalty to the Yated cause?

Anonymous said...

There are 2 issues here that MUST be considered:
1) the sad reality is that the ENTIRE frum community is guilty of revising history that doesn't suite them. This is true for Litvish, Chassidic, mizrachi ...THE LOT. This sadly changes the face of our religion and community as a whole and ends up isolating our kids from the truth for the sake of their own safety. This includes such facts as, yes the Lubavitch Rebbe did NOT wear a cuple in the photo as a little boy - the Satmar Rebbe WAS rescued by a secular Zionist based org: R' Yakkov Kaminetsky did read secular novels : R' A Kotler did write love letters to his fiance: The Lubavitch Rebbe did say he is moshiach (on camera): Many of the Chassidishe Rebbes escaped WWII, while others stayed and died with their chassidim : The Netziv did read secular newspapers

2)The other issue that needs to be addresses is the way that almost the entire Charedi world both Litvish and Chassidish have for the last 10-15yrs been distancing themselves and outwardly removing any references to a relationship with Lubavitch. The sad reality is that to most Charedim (both Litvish and Chassidish) the chassidim of Chabad Lubavitch (on the whole) have lost their way and are no longer part of the Klal. THIS IS SAD - both in respect to how far the Chabad Chassidim have fallen since the Rebbe died and also how sad it is that the rest of the Charedi community have allowed this to happen and then not only hold out a hand to help the community (not that Chabad think that they have a SERIOUS problem), but cast it away as the ' closest relgion to Judasim'...unless they need a minyan or a kosher resteraunt in Hong Kong/ Thailand/ Lima or Antartica....

Anonymous said...

Though you are a hater and not reliable I''ll take your word that his job in Tomchei Temimim was not mentioned.So what?Do you think it pads his resume that he tauht in one of the weakest yeshivas in Eretz Yisroel?
I wonder how many 'talmidim' he had there?When it's good for Chabad they mention him.
Btw the pic at the chasunah was from a relative of his, Yakobowitch.
I would not be surprised that the fact that R'Dovid Povarsky was a magid shiur in Achei Temimim was also not disclosed.A uelogy is supposed to bring respect to the niftar, no need to remind people of unfortunate incidents.
Btw, apparently Chbskers are still angry at R'Dovid for stealing the best bochur there and taking him with him to Ponovich, a fact that led him to grow and become a son-in-law by one of the Gedoley Yisroel.
Do you know who I'm referring to?

Anonymous said...

Well, this much is true: I never heard of him until I read your post.

Anonymous said...

Read the obit. on Shema Yisroel. When exactly was he in Kfar Chabad?

Anonymous said...

In the new Artscroll English book by the late rabbi Nissan Alpert on the parsha, many interesting facts about his life are mentioned like his activities in Peylim , but they forgot to mention that he taught at RIETS in a high shiur for over 20 years with I sure the approval of his rebbe rav Moshe.
The Stoliner magazine Kovetz bais Aaron Ve Israel printed Tora from my late rebbe rav Shimon Romm a rosh here at RIETS for over 40 years and titled him as MiTalmidei Mir. As the Kotzker said der emes ligt in drerd.

Anonymous said...

Attention!
Pot calling frying pan!
Hey,Tzigalleh, have you ever heard of the 'Kherson Geniza'?The Indiana Jones like fabrication espoused ny non other than ...........
And you have a problem with a minor detail(yes very minor!)left out of an obit?
Go redo your i.q. test.

Anonymous said...

>>So what?Do you think it pads his resume that he tauht in one of the weakest yeshivas in Eretz Yisroel?

TOmchei Temimim in Bnei Braq is weak? Rabbi Eichenstein's yeshiva--I think that is where he is the R"Y--is a weak one? Is he weak, too? I cannot figure it out. He knows a LOT, but analytically, I just can't seem to feel it. . . Is he someone I can be somech on?

Anonymous said...

Who are you, by the way, to assume that one Lazer is greater than the other, you probably never learned in your entire life. Stick with mediocrity, like your "Rebbe-Moshiach-God" and leave the Jewish people alone.

Milhouse said...

Yes, "stop the blof!", the Kherson letters are genuine. It's true that the letters are not the originals in the Baal Shem Tov's own handwriting; those were stolen and replaced with copies. But the contents are genuine. And I don't care what the Menachem Friedmans of academia say; we've just seen how reliable they are.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Hirshel, you should be happy these nice Snags allow you to walk their sacred earth!

- sarcasm intended -

Anonymous said...

Lazer Yudel-

I think we've had this conversation before and his name is Rabbi Eisenbach. And Tomchei Temimim in Bnei Brak would be considered "weak" {what a dumb word to describe a Yeshiva} relative to most Yeshivas in Israel. It's got about 60 Bochurim and generally not the top Bochurim in Chabad/Israel.

Anonymous said...

Well,well Mr Millhouse!
So the Kherson Geniza is genuine?
Guess that tidbit should be enough for anybody to see we are dealing with a cult.
Time to call the cultbusters!
(So we have the long live the rebbe crowd and that's ok, the rebbe is moshiach is ok, cuz even Jews for J are ok, then we had the Boreinuniks, and that's ok, cuz...,cuz a lubab said so, and now we have the big Kherson fraud that turns out to be ok too.The kool aid must be gooooooood!)

Anonymous said...

>>I think we've had this conversation before and his name is Rabbi Eisenbach. And Tomchei Temimim in Bnei Brak would be considered "weak" {what a dumb word to describe a Yeshiva} relative to most Yeshivas in Israel. It's got about 60 Bochurim and generally not the top Bochurim in Chabad/Israel.

And his seforim . . . are they "weak" too? Or, is he someone I can be somech on when I learn? (He knows a lot of acharonim, obviously, I am talking about his sevaros. . .).

Anonymous said...

. . . I don't recall ever talking about him with anyone . . .

Guravitzer said...

Cherson Geniza=cult?

What, the alien mothership "Chersoner Geniza" will arive from the sixth dimension of the seventh astral plane to take away all the believers?

The Chabad position is that the papers themselves are copies, not forgeries, and copies made in haste, hence the incidental errors. Disagreement is allowed you know. It isn't heresy to believe one way or the other.

Milhouse said...

STB, you are a liar. Probably the same liar who posted at guravitzer under the name "Foleh", because you tell the same lie. I have never written that J4J are OK, and I have never written that "Boreinuniks" (who essentially don't exist) are OK; you just made that up out of whole cloth.

Anonymous said...

Plenty of Boteinuniks are out there. Stop lying.

Milhouse said...

The proportion of "Boreinuniks" in Lubavitch is statistically equal to zero. There are probably just as many people, per capita, in the Litvish-Yeshivish world who think that they are the Moshiach, or the Creator, or the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

baalbatish said...

From Dei'g Vedibur:
Vishki, Latvia, a shtetl near the city of Dvinsk, the hometown of HaRav Meir Simchah Hacohen, author of the Ohr Somayach, and HaRav Yosef Radin of Rogotchov.
----------------------------------
Rabbi Yosef Radin?

Anonymous said...

>>The proportion of "Boreinuniks" in Lubavitch is statistically equal to zero. There are probably just as many people, per capita, in the Litvish-Yeshivish world who think that they are the Moshiach, or the Creator, or the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

(yawn). Lies, lies and more lies. That is all you are programmed to do. How boring. All you believe he was the moshiach. Most believe he is coming back. Some believe he is God, and there is no other equivalent to this phenomonenon in any part of the Jewish world. Not since Shabbetai Tzvi.

And stop making this about chassidim and misnagdim, as the Rebbe-God, shlit"a indoctrinated you to do. This is about your flawed system and the fact that lies will not get you out of this hole.

Anonymous said...

Millhouse,
You are a very partisan person and as such very unreliable.
Re:Kherson Geniza.It is used today as a classic case of fraud,which has been very clearly documented, same is true about the conversion of Alter Rebbes son Moshe.In Lubavitch you hear the same tune.
The non Lubavitch world has always viewed their 'history', especially the last two generations as 'fantasies'.The Sorbonne case proving that it's quite shocking when there is any kernel of truth in any Lubavitch claim.
As for you and your Lubavitch chevra:Why should you care what the 'heimishe' world thinks? Lubavitch has long ceased to being part of this world and the feeling is quite mutual.

Guravitzer said...

If the feeling was mutual, you wouldn't be here.

You use words as if they are meaningless, things for you to throw in the air and see where they land.

A fraud is something perpetrated purposeful, with the intent of fooling someone into believing this is true. It doesn't matter what and where this is used and how, the question is: what is truth? But you don't care about the truth, you care about finding weaponry to use.

Similar to Reb Moshe. Do you truly believe that documents provided by a church which was a moshel bekippah and could declare at will that all Jews had converted (as was done in Spain to many children) are reliable in any way? Only if it provides you with a weapon.

It's very possible that the Mormon church RIGHT NOW has you on their list as having converted to Mormonism. Proof positive that you did, as it is documented?

Anonymous said...

Hirshel,

Of course they omitted Lubavitcher Yeshiva from his resume. It's assur to say loshon harah about a niftar. (That comment was just to get your blood flowing and clear out some cholesterol from your arteries. $25 please).

The Cherson geniza has been proven false by scholars. Lubavitch believes in it because the great Rebbe Rasha"b mistakenly thought that it was true. R. Chaim Lieberman knew the person who forged it because he needed money.

That Moshe, the son of the alter rebber shmad himself, has been proven by David Asaf in his book. But that means nothing because Moshe was insane.

R. Aharon did not write love letters to his kalla. That's based on a misleading passage in "The Making of a Godol". The author, R. Noson Kaminetzky, explained himself in "The Making of a Ban" the he meant that R. Aharon discussed philosophy in his letters to his Kallah, the content of which disturbed R. Isser Zalman Meltzer.

Yes Litvaks fabricate history but Lubavitcher chassidim are bigger fabricators. Even the Rayatz's memoirs and history have been shown by contemorary historians to be fictitious. It may just be that chareidim don't think that historical accuracy is important. The lesson to be learned is what counts.

Anonymous said...

I am not getting it, why is the Chersoner Geniza billed as a Lubavitch fraud? it was bought by the Rebbe Reshab from 1 of the Ruzhiner Rebayim it was not created in the 770 basement.
And the only sin of chabad that they try to defend the purchase that some of the tochen looks legitimate, so what? have you proven it to be different?

Btw, The holy Piacezner quotes it in his seforin. he was as a maven of Chassidus as any rebbe of today.

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

where is it mentioned in the Piasecner Seforim?

Can you give me an exact source, please?

Anonymous said...

The Rasha"b committed no sin. He was mistaken, as human beings are occasionally. The intellectual sin is that they keep on defending against all evidence, although perhaps that's what a chassid should do.

Just read up on some of the scholarly literature and you will see that it's been shown to be a fraud. No one else besides Lubavitch believes in it.

Hirshel Tzig - הירשל ציג said...

How nice of you to allow the Rebbe Rashab to err. Very benavolent.

Anonymous said...

How BENEVOLENT of the Torah to allow for a korban when the Nosi does an aveira.'Asher nosi yechto'
How benevolent that all of Tana'ch mentions some mistakes and aveiros of even the biggest of men.
I guess the Lubavitcher nesiim are even higher than Moshe who sinned and was threfore not allowed to go into Eretz Yisroel.
Lubavitch would have long ago rewritten that history.

Anonymous said...

Btw, who is Lubavitch always 'defensive'?
Why do we have blogs and blofs all trying to 'defend' Lubavitch?
Why don't other Chasidic groups see the need to 'defend' themselves?
Why doesn't Oilem Hayeshivas need to 'defend' themselves?
I guess something is not quite right.Too many defense lawyers make you smell a rat.

Anonymous said...

Chersoner genizah is such an obvious fraud that even those who admit it's use for "greater good" do so with a huge disclaimer.

But it is, at the end, a bunch of blatant lies and fabrications and not a single word of it can be trusted. Not even names and dates in it are correct. The fact that it has a "haskama" from ... is disturbing.

Anonymous said...

Hirshel
the Chersoner Letters are mentioned in the Hachsoras Avriechim as an example for ahavas chaveirin of early talmidie Habesht.