Principaled Lies?

No, this is not a personal attack against Rabbi Hertz Frankel. It is what you might call simple question that comes to mind when you read his weekly article in Ami magazine. It may have reached the climax - or low point - depending on how you look at it, this week, with the bombastic headline you see here. In honor of 21 Kislev we were all told that we all owe a great deal of gratitude, and we're forever indebted to the Satmar Rov. That were it not for him we'd all still look like we did in the 40s, the 1940s, that is, and we'd eat Hershey's chocolate and Entenmann's cakes. Our wives would not wear sheitlech, even our Roshei Yeshiva's wives, and our daughters would go to mixed beaches. Shtreimlach? מאן דכר שמיה. Children speaking Yiddish? fugedaboudit!!! We had RaSHBI in our midst and we never even knew it. So you might say that after seeing that article I had seen enough! I just wonder why RHF didn't send his own kids to that euphoria if he loved it so... Is this his opinion since when he worked there, אין בית רחל, or has this been happening to him only lately; this idea that it's all Satmar, and always has been/will be. I've read the series that RHF writes since its inception. Not every week, but often, as often as I see it, which is often. I try and buy the magazine every week when I do the grocery shopping. Until this week the series didn't garner any negative responses, at least we didn't get to see any. [Now, in this week's issue, one week after the issue discussed here, Ami went ahead and printed a letter to the editor which took RHF to task for printing what they saw as untruths. So it seems like I'm not the only one who sees the series what it's really for.

Question 2 is where does the editorial board - notably the published, Reb Yitzchok Frankfurter - stand with all the Satmar pushing that goes on EVERY, SINGLE, WEEK. No, I do not expect to see a PR piece from Lubavitch every week, and I would be surprised to see an Agudah/Torah U'mesorah/Chinuch Atzmai piece every week, Avi Shafran not withstanding. So why is Satmar allowed to have one that is repackaged as memoirs? At first glance it would seem that the reason is RYF's allegiance to Satmar, which is fine. His family is very close to the Rov there. I have no issues with it. I'm not here to call him out and to "expose" anything. That's not what I do here. But then we need to remove the mask. If all RHF has to say about his tenure in BR of Williamsburg is that the SR was the Savior to Yiddishkeit post-WW2, then don't make it about being principal. Then, if that wasn't enough, Frankfurter starts being all diplomatic and makes sure to plug both Satmars. As if. C'mon, don't insult our intelligence, brother! If you want your magazine to be a cut above don't talk down to us. Otherwise you're no better than the others, and we know that if that were the case there'd be no need for Ami in the first place, right?

Pages 84-87- Ami-issue 50.Rabbi Hertz Frankel