Reading the new book on
Rav Gifter got me thinking; I got nostalgic for a
Telshe that I only know through those candles they send me a week after
Chanukah - with the pictures of boys from the stone age. You see, true a
Telsher might be a little stiff/rigid by contemporary standards, he might enunciate his words (diction, syntax) in a way that grates under the skin – but still, you got to give them something. At least a
Telsher is a
Telsher; is (or was) part of a group, a team, actually had a
Rebbe that he prays that his kids should emulate. His
Rebbe wasn’t just a guy who knew how to learn better than the next guy, knows a couple of
blatt, Shaar Daled if you’re lucky, but nothing else. IOW: his
hasogoh and depth of
neshamah hasn’t changed much since he sat by
Avrum Yishua’s shiur. No,
R' Gifter and
Telshe b’chlal, whether you believe that
Reb Chaim Shtayn was really a
ba'al moyphes or not, had depth, nuance, loyalty to a specific
mehalach hachaim [not just being
mivatel di velt –
vedal – even though they did some of that too]. Just take a look at
R’ Gifter’s stuff on
Chumash, [something that oddly that was sponsored by a graduating eighth grade class in Far Rockaway that donated their ‘yearbook’ money for the cause.
VAKM”L] and you will see what I mean. It is not just a regular
mussor vort recycled by
Malkiel’s underpaid speech writer, if you get my drift.
Oh, yeh, the book. I will not get into if Rabbi
Chee-lee Speiro was the right man for the job, particularly with the
Telshers with their intellectual bend that will be reading this book. Personally, I think they should have went with Jonathan on this one, and made a book with impressive footnotes (citing which coffee room the
maysah was said in) and long paragraphs. From what I understand,
Reb Yonasan has his hands full, as he is already working on Artscroll’s bio of the late Philadelphia
Rosh Yeshiva Zatzal, hence
Rav Speero had his debut as an author of a long story. With regards to the content of the book; it did manage to capture, somewhat of R’ Gifter’s uniqueness of both being a
kano'i, and someone who would cry at the sight of some flower, of some sort. It also, conveyed somewhat, that
R’ Gifter was very “
brayt” and wasn’t ashamed to quote explicitly from
Izbitz [Reb Elya Meir, z”l, cited the
Sfas Emes publicly] and how he encouraged his congregants of the
Chabad of Waterbury to make the trek into Brooklyn for the
farbrengens, and how he saved Artscroll
gemaras from doom, etc. Yes, the book conveyed some of what
Rav Gifter was all about, although it omitted his imitable form of expressing his opinions on many of his contemporaries,
kiyoduah.IMHO, the biggest problem with this book was not just that is (glowingly?) published Rav Gifter’s criticism of
hayntigeh yeshivaleit – although he NEVER voiced those critiques to the
fargrebteh belly-patting,
balhabatim. Or how they made a big deal over some speech he gave in a college that no one heard of, to an interesting crowd…. Whatever… my main problem is simply this:
They had a golden opportunity to actually inspire the readers, to grow, and to emulate R’ Gifter in some way, his ameylus, yegioh, something. Oh no, they couldn’t do that; instead they stressed over and over again, that “Max” was already from the greatest in the world in his mere twenties!!! After that, it was just all on auto pilot (or the magnet from that moshol), and no mention of any yegioh from the time he got married on… 
An excerpt from the book, courtesy of Artscroll[Disclaimer: any seeming lack of respect towards Rabbonim, Roshei Yeshiva and Mesivta Rebbis is that of the author of the post, a very strong "Yeshivaman."]
