The Brisker Rov wanted the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe to come live in Brisk in 5691/1931

stay tuned - full coverage iy"h tomorrow

....נו, לסבא הי' מותר לפרש כך

בבריסק תמיד ידעו ש"משפחה שאני", נכון? כן

ערש"ק Links

A Chasidic weding in Dynow, Poland
Reb Velvelle Soloveitchik was mechalel YomTov for a סטודענט/Apikores (from 25:15)
In California שטאפ גענז are legal again
כך נמנע את ה"יציאה בשאלה" של השדרן המפורסם הבא
Relatives of Jewish family sent to their deaths in Auschwitz are reunited with treasured photographs

....פלוגתא דר' דוד ור' אברהם בהגרי"ז

בהמשך להמדובר לעיל about Reb Moshe's psak to be מצרף any Jew to any דבר שבקדושה; here's what the Brisker Rov is to have said about this: Not so clear to you? well, it's a pretty murky situation. That's the problem here. Each one has his story with the BR and each one has a nice lomdus to go with it! I guess it depends on who was asking, what was going on a the time, and בכלל - the general מצב רוח. You can only wait so long for a צענטער... I'm just glad we're not meant to pasken halochoh leMa'aseh from Meller's books. Were there any comments about Reb Moshe from the Brisker Rov, or did that start post the המ"ר?

לפי דעת ר' שמעון יוסף מלר איז אין בריסק געווען אן ענין טיילען פעטש פאר די קינדער

אזוי איז משמע פון דעם נייעם ביכל וועלכע איר זעהט דא אינעם בילד. און דער מלקט/מחבר ברענגט עטליכע ראיות פון דריי דורות  - אנהייבענדיג פונעם בית הלוי ביז צום בריסקער רב הגאון ר' יצחק זאב. אפשר אז ער וועט נאך אמאל שרייבען וועגן זיין רבי'ן רבי משולם דוד הלוי וועט ער ממשיך זיין די הנהגה צו א פערדן און פינפטן דור...  

I don't know אדון מלר, I've never met him. As you can see his latest work is on Reb Chaim Brisker. I borrowed this book for a few days, until he owner finishes his thousands of other new books and gets around to reading this. Lots of nice pictures, many of them thanks to the world wide web and frum forums. Lots of agenda too, in this case wannabe קנאות like in his other Brisker books. Like he'll quote extensively from Reb Meir Berlin (Bar-Ilan) but never by name. Just בנו הצעיר של הנצי"ב זצ"ל. Reb Yoshe Ber from Boston is respected, but mostly in the footnotes, not in the פנים. Reb Yehuda Leib Don-Yichye, the Chabadsker Mizroch'nik who has a talmid of RCS in Volozhin is just all the other great talmidim, quoted extensively despite his Zionist sympathies. What am I saying "sympathies?" he was a full-fledged Tziyoni! So go figure! Like most other biographies published these days, many, many pages are devoted to the "times" of the protagonist. In this case there's tons of material on the Volozhiner Yeshiva, of which Reb Chaim was a part of for several years and where he taught his new derech haLimud.

 So there's biography and there's dissection of character, or whatever that's called. Basically the author deciding on a topic and then deciding how Reb Chaim fits into that mold. For some reason there was a need for the author to tell us how both the Beis HaLevi, RCS and the BR all needed to hit their children in order for them to keep on learning and chazzering all the time from a very young age. And how the Rov supposedly condoned that behavior, referring to himself and saying "We obviously see that it worked!" Other than prove to those that say that the extreme hanhogos and shiurim stem from נערווען.... what does that add to the story? Reb Aron Leib Steinman, the more liberal יליד בריסק, doesn't buy all the hitting in the chinuch and he says that the only time that the BR got petsh from his father was when he disrespected his zeide Reb Refoel Shapira as a young lad of 13 at his Bar Mitzvah pshetl. Which is more in line with "normal" chinuch, especially of children of Rabbonim who had good heads and took to learning from a very young age. But we all know what the Briskers think of RALS. "Real" Brisker chinuch includes a good dose of petsh! But I will say this much for Meller: He manages to make all others and their mesorah of derech haLimud totally inferior to Reb Chaim and Brisk! As if until they חלילה almost wasted their time on pilpul and sevoros....


 

"???וואו זענען זיי ווייטער אזוי פארקרומט געווארען"

דער שטיקל וועלכע האט ביי אונז געהויבן די אויגענברעמען איז דארט - אויף עמ' 2 צום סוף - ווי דער סאטמאר רב רעדט וועגן דעם דרך הלימוד און פרעגט "וואו זענען זיי ווייטער אזוי פארקרומט געווארען,?" מיינענדיג אז די היינטיגע ליטאים, ובתוכם כנראה זיין זון ר' חיים, זענען אוועק פון דעם אמת'ען דרך, דער דרך וואס די בית הלוי אליין איז נאך געגאנגען דעראין. דאס אז ר' חיים האט מחדש געווען א נייעם דרך דאס ווייסען אלע, אבער איך גלייב אז די בריסקער קינדער היינט וואלטען אייך געזאגט אז ס'איז באמת נישט קיין שינוי פונעם דרך אבותינו, און ס'איז מיוסד אויפ'ן אלטען, אויסגעטראטענעם דרך

זקניך ויאמרו לך

דער חסיד'ס געבעט

Received via e-mail

This Brisker guy goes to bake matzoh - he drives the whole place nuts. The water is too warm, the flour is too wet, the oven is too cool. Every chumra and then some is on this guy's list. Finally he gets a teygel of dough and it's moist, so he throws it out, followed by 23 more teyglach. After a while he gets the dough he wants, rolls it perfectly to shiur, and repeats this 15 times and produces 15 matzos, of which he decides 12 are not worthy. So he leaves with his 3 matzos and heads to the Griz's (Der Rov) house for final approval of his charred ash matzos. On the way he meets a chusid who has a box of freshly baked matzos. He says to the chusid: "nu, which chumros did you use in baking your matzos?" The chusid looks at the Brisker and admits that he had no chumros, but he says "this morning I said tehilim that Hashem should make sure I get only kosher matzos." The Brisker is so touched by the chusid's faith that he says "Gevalt, I want such holy matzos please switch with me." The chusid gladly obliges the Brisker and swaps with him. Later the Brisker tells the Brisker Rov the whole story to which the Rov replies: "the chusid davened well so he got your kosher Matzo, you on the other hand have chametz."

א כשר'ן פרייליכן פסח

....דער בריסקער רב'ס מבצעים

A recent "HaMevaser" story on Reb Gedalia Segal, editor of "Der Yiddisher Shtral" in Yerushalayim and some of the stories that happened with him over the years. It seems like the Brisker Rov (Reb Velvel) was involved in all aspects of Jewish life in the Holy Land, even trying to minimize the Chassidishe influence in the literature of the day, and even revising a Chassidishe Mayse with the Holy Tchortkover that was not to his liking...

More Brisker Notes...

Have you ever noticed how the zealots use all the extra terms of endearment when writing? How you can feel the "love" in every word they write? How you can sense the blood rush to their heads when mentioning people they dislike, for whatever reason? Page 2 speaks of the time that the BR sent Menachem Porush to speak to the FR about the law of Chok Chovah that was about to take hold in Israel. There too you can see the "love." No credit is given after they succeeded to stop that law from going into effect.

All of it.

UPDATE 3:39pm - here's the rest - all of it.

Brisker "Wikileaks" - only because you asked so nicely.

It was probably written by Schlesinger of London, grandson of Moreinu Rosenheim, who's known as "Saba" in these pages.
Hanhagas Brisker Rov

Brisker "Wikileaks"

There are 9 more pages of this...

If you're nice to me I'll post them all.

Thanks to an anonymous benefactor for sending me this. They say that this might be the work of one of the Schlesinger Bros. from London, reknowned 'Kanoyim'. I bring you this page now to show you that despite it all there was still the same old misnagdishe approach to Chassidim and their Rebbes. Not the Rebbes of today, but even the Alter Rebbe, Reb Nachman and the Sfas Emes. The fact that he says that Chassidim removed shtiklach from Tanya because of what Reb Chaim Volozhiner wrote later on to counter that shows us that -------- whatever.

.....גוטע פריינט מיט'ן אייבערשטען

From the Marmuresh/Carpathen Yizkor Book (1968)

Free Translation:

We know that Reb Mordchelle from Nadvorneh would daven very late every day. Before beginning to daven he would say with a nigun, full of devotion, that would arouse the hearts of those present - I imagine he davened with a minyan, even that late -

"Ribbono Shel Olam, leybediger (how do you translate "Leybedig?") king and Creator. I've tardied, but you know that I wasn't playing cards, nor was I at the theater, and that I only served you."

They say in the name of the last Brisker Rov that he was "unimpressed" with those who are in the realm of Tzaddik Goyzer veHKB"H Mekayem. HKB"H Goyzer VeHatzaddik Mekayem was more to his liking - he liked those Tzaddikim who did what the A-mighty asked of all Jews. If I may say so - this is one of those fundamental differences we see between the disciples of the Besh"t and those that did not take on his ways. Reb Mordchelle Nadvorner was one of the Rebbes of Reb Shayelle Kerstierer and one of those who pushed him to be a Rebbe and "helf Yidden" like he did. Reb Mordchelle may not have done Chesed on the "farnem" that Reb Shayelle did, which was stand on his feet and cook and prepare and serve food and drink to poor and tired Yidden, but in his hoyf a Jew was helped, and that may have been the number one activity there too. His travels all over Rumania, Hungary and Galicia were for that puropse too, to help Yidden. And it was from him that Reb Shayelle learned how to do what he did for 50 years. Reb Mordchelle also invited him to come to B'Kerestur after the heirs of Reb Hershelle Lisker weren't happy that he was praving Rabbisteve in their town and made it known so. Imagine that happening: A Rebbe inviting another Rebbe to a small town to set up shop there... That's what many of you don't like about Chassidim in general. They think that have some direct line to G-d and don't need to "wait on line" like everybody else. Why did Reb Mordchelle think that G-d would forgive him, just because he said that cute line every day, that he wasn't playing cards or going to the theater? Couldn't he do what he was doing later in the day, just like the Brisker Rov did?! And the Chazon Ish?! And the Chofetz Chaim?!