No, we're not discussing I.I.I. Domb's book of that name, but, rather, the transformation that has occurred with Rabbi Manis Friedman over the last few years. And in this case it's to Lubavitch's benefit that this transformation took place. Here's how I see it: Years ago RMF was the property of the Baal Tshuvah, most notably the woman BT in Minnesota, by virtue of teaching at the Beis Chana up there. Yes, there were recordings of shiurim, lectures @ Oxford when you-know-who was still OK, and who could forget "Why doesn't anybody blush anymore," But it seemed to me like he was the property of shluchim. The Tanya shiurim cassettes were produced for Baalei Tshuvah and prospects, as was the above-mentioned book, as far as I could tell, and I believe that was the line back then as well. I don't believe BC exists anymore; maybe Mayanot has something to do with that, or maybe Minnesota lost some of its exotic appeal, which is what may have been the catalyst for this change - in case any of you were wondering. I remember a ג' תמוז event way back in תשנ"ו or so, a יום עיון that was organized by היכל מנחם of BP, where Rabbi Friedman spoke about חינוך במשנת הרבי in Yiddish; (!) I think he himself was tickled by the idea that here he was in Boro Park speaking Yiddish to a bunch of Chassidim, something he didn't remember he could do! After all those years perfecting a nice Mid-Western accent he still could do a Yiddish lecture too!
But recently Lubavitch has reclaimed Rabbi Friedman for themselves, and we're to be congratulated for that! He's become a very popular lecturer in the "inreach circuit," as well as other internal Lubavitch groups, and people have begun to rediscover one of Lubavitch's true treasures! And I'm no Galitzyaner, so I have no prejudice here. I had the honor and pleasure of meeting one of his sons last Shabbos - or was it 2 Shabbosos ago? - and after we'd been talking for a while the blog came up, at which time young Friedman asked me if I'd post a video of his father's lecture. Last week he sent me this clip, and now you'll get to see it as well. I think it'll take some getting used to; that is, for Rabbi Friedman to get used to his new clientele, but he seems to be doing a very good job at it. Adam and Eve is now אדם and חוה, and G-d and Moses are now the Aybishter and Moshe Rabbeinu. If you're not used to Rabbi Friedman's style it may take a little getting used to, but I assure you, you'll enjoy it and you will be educated! The only thing non-traditional is his style.
פון קרעניץ קיין ליובאוויטש
פון חרקוב קיין ליובאוויטש
ReplyDeleteHis maternal grandfather was the Charkover Rov.
חרקוב?
ReplyDeleteDo you have the spelling right?
To me that is חרקוב in Ukraine - Kharkov - and the last Rov there was Rav Aron Tumarkin, a Chabad rov whose grandsons (sons of his daughter) were the late and very much missed Chitrik brothers A"H. There is no relation between the Chitrik and Friedman families, not even through marriage AFAIR.
I believe that R' Manis has some yichus to the Divrei Chaim though. In any case the family were Sanzer chassidim of some branch or another before R' Manis's father, the late askan R' Yaakov Friedman, met up with Lubavitchers after the war.
afaik, BC exists in a different format. It used to be a fulltime BT girls' yeshiva, today it works on sessions (i think 6 weeks each). it's more a matter of adapting to their clientele. they attract today more professional career women who will take a few weeks sabbatical for self discovery.
ReplyDeleteRav Dombs book is takke much more interesting than this.
ReplyDeleteRabbi Friedman's maternal gradfather was Rav Yosef Reichwerger. He was not from Chabad, and was a rov in Charkov I think in the late thirties.
ReplyDeleteHis paternal grandfather was known as the Krenitzer rov. The grandfathers met in Tashkent after a spending a few years in Siberia.
Tzig, "The transformation - פון חרקוב קיין ליובאוויטש - Adam and Eve is now אדם and חוה, and G-d and Moses are now the Aybishter and Moshe Rabbeinu"
ReplyDeleteחרקוב sounds like הר חורב שירדה חורבה לעכו״ם
ר' שמואל חארקיווער
ReplyDeleteר׳ שמואל ווילענסקי (חארקאווער) זצ"ל?
ReplyDeleteyes
ReplyDeleteאז מ'רעדט שוין פון חארקאוו
Do you have the BM lecture. That's one recording I'd love to see/hear.
ReplyDeleteTzig, אז מ'רעדט שוין פון חארקאוו
ReplyDeleteWas he a litvak?
yes, a Litvak.
ReplyDeletewhat is the "BM lecture?"
ReplyDeletetzig, "I think he himself was tickled by the idea that here he was in Boro Park speaking Yiddish to a bunch of Chassidim,"
ReplyDeleteWhen in rome (BP) do like the romans do
Tzig, what is the "BM lecture?
ReplyDeleteIf i may BM sounds like Bris Milah lecture?
The real transformation is that the Bochurim and Yungerleit have become more feminine and are willing to spend time to "discuss" nekeivish style the big issues in their lives.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you haven't noticed, there has been endless pandering by Manis, through his cozy relationship with Collive and through his children, to sell him and make him relevant to the crowds.
he is trying to get more publicity as a pump for benny's new album!
ReplyDeleteGershon - The Rov in krenitz before the was was one of the Teitelbaums. Friedman's grandfather was a sheiner yid/klei kodesh back in Krenitz and only became the "Krenitzer Rov" after stettling in the US.
ReplyDelete"The Rov in krenitz before the was was one of the Teitelbaums. "
ReplyDeleteas usual the rebish kind was the Rav and the Shalaas were paskened by some Friedman Vieshet Krietzer....
I took the time to listen to the shiur and the taka peladik point is maybe some mama lashon but the content and level is the same for this so-called FFB version as for the BT crowd. Amazing commentary on the comparative level of learning.... or sad :( depending who you are.
ReplyDeleteIf they had not included the last 30 seconds or so in the clip, I would have a hard time distinguishing this from the hashkofa of Shabsai Tzvi, y"sh.
ReplyDeleteMenashe, I thought I heard it all...
ReplyDeleteand they say we're a עם חכם ונבון....
Either you're unfamiliar with the hashkofa of the aforementioned or you missed the point of his drosha.
ReplyDeleteWhere is his "haskofeh" published that you're so well-versed in it? And where do you see that in Rabbi Friedman's words?
DeleteR' YY Jacobson gave a shiur on the subject a few years ago. The MP3 is on his site. There's also a nice write up in the Jewish Encyclopedia of 1906.
ReplyDeleteR' Friedman discusses the advantage of a baal teshuva over a tzaddik. He explains why H' really wanted Adom and Chova to violate his words and in so doing create the possibility of a dira btachtonim.
At the very end he explains why, for the rest of us, echta voshuv is not a proper derech. Without this last detail, one could come away believing that echte voshuv, which is to say, elevating issurim, is the proper derech.
wow
ReplyDeletei like this Rabbi!
i never heard something like this! it makes a lot of sense!
i am becoming a Lubavitcher!
Chabad "hip" lecturers came in waves: First, in the 1960s, it was Zalman Posner; then, in the 1970s-80s, it was Manis; then, in the 1990s, it was Simon Jacobson. Now, it is Yossi Jacobson (or even Chaim Miller?). Manis, then, is in his revival stage.
ReplyDeleteTo his credit, I've seen Manis sit at farbrengens & let others ploider narishkayten a whole night without opening his mouth himself! Somewhere in there he has some real bitul. Though, when it comes to shutting up the meshichistim, he knows how to respond. (Quite a bunch of his own talmidim who he was mekarev & who are now meshichistim do now speak to him anymore because of this.)
-ZIY
This clip needs genizah at best, his theory has more holes than is worth plugging חמתה מרובה מצלתה
ReplyDeleteHe tosses out some deep meaning דברי חז"ל like the נתאוה שיהא לו דירה בתחתונים and builds on it a castle in the sky .. That no one ever will move into either for fear of collapse or for lack of illusionary vision that he can’t see the any existent castle to begin with.
הענין צמצום ושבירת הכלים, ותיקונה happened as a result שנתאוה הקב"ה שיהא לו דירה בתחתונים and he concentrated himself that it should seem there is a place void of his presence which created an illusion of void ness but that צמצום was transferred in to כלים שנשברו אח"כ and fell to the קליפות which became a fountain of ניצוצי קדושה בין הקליפות, שצדיקים מעלין אותן תמיד ומחזרתן למקומם So it seems there is קדושה בין הקליפות but only until true צדיקים will take it back and return them to their intended place בקדושה like it happened in מצרים, וינצלו את מצרים, עשאוה כמצולה שאין בה דגים
Explaining the קצת, הענין דשבירת כלים, ובדומה לה השברי לוחות that in theory and reality there is נצוצי קדושה מתערבת בטומאה one may think mistakenly that נתאוה שיהא לו דירה בתחתונים he הקב"ה wants the טומאה, דהיינו העבירות based on the הפי' מהר"ר ז"ל דלעתיד אחר התיקון הפי' תהי' ומעץ הדעת טוב, ורע לא תאכל ! But it’s not true yet, only לעתיד after that the time will be ביום ההוא יבוקש עוון ישראל ואיננו וחטאת יהודה ולא תמצאנה
And to understand אדם אין צדיק בארץ, אשר יעשה טוב ולא יחטא so it seems that sining is not avoidable? But in truth we also see ארבעה מתו בעטיו של נחש so is it than avoidable? Probably not, but just like there is מצות בשׁם כל ישראל meaning we are able to be מוצא with others doing the actual מצות the same is true with עבירות ואכמ"ל
To understand the concept of עבירות ותשובה how is it possible that אתמול הי' רשע ואחר התשובה ברגע חדא היא נעשה צדיק גמור to the point that the בעל עבירה he alone! Who did the תשובה גמורה will believe that the עבירה itself came from הקב"ה that’s impossible to explain to an amature before he did תשובה גמורה only afterward and in the spirit of
לכו חזו מפעלות ה', אשר שם שמות בארץ. בואו תראו מפעלות ה', שהוא שם שמות בארץ, דהיינו חורבן בארץ
כעין מה שאמרו על דוד המלך ע"ה לא היה ראוי דוד לאותו מעשה אלא להורות תשובה לרבים. וע"י אותו מעשה חזר בתשובה והקים עולה של תשובה
א"ר יוחנן ביקש יהודה לעבור, וזמן לו הקב"ה מלאך וכו' אמר לו להיכן אתה הולך יהודה, מהיכן מלכים עומדים, מהיכן גואלים עומדים ויט אליה אל הדרך בעל כורחו שלא בטובתו. ויכר יהודה ויאמר צדקה ממני אמרו חז"ל יצאה בת קול ואמרה ממני יצאו כבושים
There is many פסוקים ודברי חז"ל בענין זה, וכולם בסגנון אחד, מפרשים דהחטא הי' בא ג"כּ מהקב"ה, ולא נגלה הם רק אחר התשובה!
ודוד עצמו, שעל ידו נתעוררה עוד פעם השאלה של עמוני ולא עמונית - הוא בכח נשמתו, שאורו של משיח התגלה בה כבר בכל צביונו, גרם להוראה זו של היתר, שיצאה מדרשת עמוני ולא עמונית, מואבי ולא מואבית. וזה בא כבר אחר שמת ונתעלה תשובתו בעולם העליון ואז נתגלה שדוד לא חטא כלל
יש לדבר בענינה לארכה ולרחבה ואכמ"ל
The medrash says אדם הראשון חסיד היhe sinned and knew it! He had a יצה"ר because both היצה"ר וכ"כ תשובה נבראת בששת ימי המעשה, קודם האדם And that’s why when הקב"ה asked why he ate the fruit he answered ואכלתי אין כתיב כאן, אלא ואוכל, אכלתי ואוכל עוד which looks like חוצפה כלפי שמיא, but according to the seforim he was a tzadig! And his answer was like this, מה קודם שאכלתי ולא נהנתי מהיצה"ר עוד, אכלתי הרי עכשיו כ"ש שאכלי עוד, כי עבירה גוררת עבירה, והוא לא רוצה לשקר ויהי גונב דעת עליון , but when he met his son קיןand asked him מה נעשה בדינך?
ReplyDeleteHe answered:
עשיתי תשובה ונתפשרתי אמר ל ואדם כך גדול כחה של תשובה
פתח ואמר, מזמור שיר ליום השבת.. טוב להודות, כי מודה ועוזב ירחם
כי קין עשה תשובה למראית עין בלבד, והוא יצא כגונב דעת עליון
והתשובה אע"פּ שהי' ווידוי דברים בלבד נתקבלה, מזה למד אדה"ר
שגם הוא צריך לתשובה עכ"פּ בווידוי דברים
So yes it’s simple adam sinned because of chava’s arguments than after sinning he didn’t do tshuvah because he was honest and knew he must now sin again! But when his son rependent with ווידוי דברים בלבד and was accepted so did he do the same.. ואכמ"ל עוד
Tzig, "The transformation" by "Rabbi Manis Friedman"
ReplyDeleteIDK who this rabbi is or why he is lecturing on none relevant (barly known) subjects, than i realized he also has a beard like נחשון בן עמינדב therfore he is dipping into this מים שאין להם סוף
Two observations, Anon 9:16 AM is smoking some high quality schoirah, and he should at least be so kind and pretend to offer some to the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteAnd to Anon 1:56, dont give up your day job for stand up comedy. Please.
As to Manis's explanation, the concepts of bechirah chofshis, sinning and how ultimately even the aveiroh done with free will was not only foreseen but was part of a Master plan to raise the nitzutz dikdusha contained therein through tshuvah, is elaborated on in many places, in Chabad Chassidus as well.
Obvious disclaimer, the individual has has no right on his own to violate Hashems Toirah and make this a method of birur.
Rather in retrospect, l'acher hamaiseh, this philosophy comes into play.
Zvi Hersh 9:45 "-----"
ReplyDeleteall this and without high quality schoirah wow!
Zvi Hersh 9:45 "dont give up your day job for stand up comedy"
ReplyDeleteHirshel I haven’t heared lately of the בית וועד לחכמים..
Der Shygetz... russian chusid... snagville... M.M. (Mickey Mouse)...ענדע צדיק... Ende Tsadik... Kovner ... Free Lakewood... Anon HaNa"L... Free Lakewood... Anon HaNa"L... pitputim... בן בג בג... דאס און יענץ... Babruisker et al …
Must be some excitement in the kitchen before purim? Tommorow is תענית אסתר hopefully they will be back or is it ? אסתר-הסתר-עסטער
Zvi Hersh 9:45 "sinning and how ultimately even the aveiroh done with free will was not only foreseen but was part of a Master plan to raise the nitzutz dikdusha"
ReplyDeletethe רמב"ם leaves alone trying to understand סתירת ידיעה ובחירה but this ניצוץ הק will expalin it to you in one sentence an in plain english, By יהודה the medrash expained it happened against his will because he didn't feel the pain of טרוף טורף יוסף, by דוד it happened כדי שלא יאמר העבד נצח לרבו, by חט העגל it was done by the רק הערב-רב and להורות תשובה לרבים there are many more mentioned in חז"ל by all there was a prior סיבה, דהיינו חטא הקדום that was done בבחינת נורא עלילה על בנ"א to bring their attention to the first sin! but not to say it was forseen !? that's more like saying לית דין ולית דיין ח"ו which is כפירה read carefully 9:16 and 12:49 and you may start to understand something... not only name calling