"בדרך כלל זה רק מחסרון ידיעה"

Hirshel: I just saw Rav Shteinman's Sefer on Brisk that Reb Chaim had the same view like the Chazon Ish. This has to be promoted and made public for all to see. Especially the Miller guy from the Sefer on that subject who is coming up with all kinds of chumrahs.

למען טובו, למען כבודו, למען רצונו

Photo Source

Tzig, Great job with the blog. A question that you may be able to help with - If you don't mind: Listen here to the story starting at 53:00. It's the story he wrote in Ish Hahalacha about if Hashem created the world lemaan tuvo or lema'an kvodo, and Rav Chaim said lema'an retzono. Except here he mentions that the Chabad sefer was a sefer of the Homiler, a point which is absent from Ish Hahalacha. You and your chevra obviously would know the Homiler's seforim better than me, any idea where this is referring to? I wouldn't mind if you make a post out of this, so more people can potentially provide the answer.

 Thanks

Says the Tzig: 

I seem to remember hearing this, or maybe even writing about it in the past. I'll allow more knowledgeable people than me answer the actual question posed here; אבער ס'האט מיר געבאדערט ווי דער רב זאגט איבער די מעשה, די זלזול אין ר' אייזל, אין תורת חב"ד - k'ilu Torah only exists by them. I assume he's saying it like the zeide said it, and maybe the audience at the shiur took it the wrong way ---- but the fact remains, it was a zilzul. ר' אייזל האט זיך נישט געדארפט שעמען פון קיינעם ניט, אי אין לימוד הנגלה און אי אין לימוד הנסתר.

האט איר אמאל געהערט פון רעב כאים סאלאווייטשיק, דער בריסקער ראוו?

דא קענט איר לייענען איבער אים

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....


 

.....אבל אשמים אנחנו

:מ'דערציילט א מעשה אזוי

One can imagine what took place at the wedding bar mitzvah of the young Reb Chaim Soloveitchik (Brisker.) He was the son of the Slutzker Rov, Reb Yoshe Ber, and a descendant of Reb Chaim Volozhiner. He was marrying the daughter of Reb Refoel Shapira, and she was the granddaughter of the Netziv of Volozhin. It was Yeshivishe royalty all around. They had their own yichus too. In short, the young groom bochur, for all his genius and humility may have been quite proud of the passing scene, had he stopped to take it all in. The groom bochur's father may have read his mind - and said the following: מיין נישט אז די אלע חשוב'ע רבנים און גאונים זענען דא צוליב דיר, זיי זענען געקומען צוליב מיר און די מחותן און די זיידע, so please don't get any ideas into your head. So the young groom bochur is said to have answered, "So why is so-and-so not here?" To which his father answered "That's where you're to blame. They weren't so impressed with you so they decided to pass. That lesson must've really been נושא פירות, because Reb Chaim's humility, his simplicity when it came to material matters, and his kindness despite his greatness was legendary.

Why do I say this to you today?

I get these nasty, unprovoked e-mails from the dredges of society trying to poke fun at me on this auspicious day. Auspicious because we're taught by our Rebbes that especially so on the days of הסתלקות Tzaddikim look down on those who try and follow in their ways and simply put help them in their material and spiritual needs. That may be difficult for the Hungarians and Yeshivaleit among you to understand, but that doesn't change the מציאות. Years ago I may have been hurt and disgusted by such comments; "How dare they?" but by now, with age and experience, all you feel is pity for these poor souls. They probably suffered at the hands of parents and melamdim who suffered under Hitler and his henchmen, and they cannot do anything but hate on others. They cannot stand the fact that other Jews, who may not look exactly like them, or speak Lh"K with same accent as them, are inspired on this day and by this Tzaddik. They grind their teeth, cursing under their acrid breath and rip down posters while walking the streets. They are bitter, bitter people. But we must love them too! We have no choice; G-d commanded us so. So one good deed for today would be to tell them that despite our differences and the way you feel about me we still love you, because you're still a member of Klal Yisroel, no matter what you say or how you feel. Don't turn the other cheek, but don't let him get to you, he's just in great pain and needs an outlet to express that hurt. That's why we say אלע שונאים זאלען פלאצען. Now that I've said that I may have negated the point I was about to make.....

What I was trying to say was that we are at fault. That we never took the time to do what we had to do as far as הפצת המעיינות is concerned. We never told the world properly about the great chesed that the eibershter did when he gave us the Rebbe. We assumed that all those who don't realize the Rebbe's attributes and qualities are haters. We believed that those who cling to their old-world beliefs and customs are fools, instead of respecting their beliefs but trying to show them that this generation needs a new approach. We figured that if we get it then the whole world should too! Just sell them cheap seforim, or just give it away! and they should be on their way... Organizations like Heichel Menachem - to their great credit - try to change that. They may get looks from the "geborener" but they have nothing to be ashamed about, because this is exactly what the Rebbe wants. Just like we realize that we need to "tweak" certain things for the unaffiliated, and we will defend with a vengeance - (you know what I mean...) So too can we realize that we can tweak it למעליותא if so necessary. True, some people may never be reached, but there are still plenty of good people who yearn for what Chassidus and the Rebbe have to offer, and they're waiting for you to come and teach them, to share with them about the Rebbe's Ohel and that he's פועל ישועות בקרב הארץ עד היום הזה ועד בכלל. Maybe on their level and their way, but they're still waiting, and we cannot let them wait any longer! Let this be one החלטה טובה on this great day.

(If I ever expressed these thoughts in the 8+ years we're doing this, please forgive me)

דעת תורה פון הרב ר' חיים בריסקער איבער די אגודת ישראל- מפי ר' מאיר בערלין

R' Meir Berlin writes about the First Agudah Conference in Kattowice, 1912. Click here for full PDF on Scribd. This is בהמשך to last week's post about the current Agudah's ad in the paper using Reb Chaim's image.

Is the Agudath Israel misusing Reb Chaim Brisker's name here?

After all, Reb Chaim did rescind his support from the Agudah. So despite the fact that he originally supported the idea of an Agudah of Charedim, in the end he didn't. So to say, 100 years later, in an ad for the CURRENT Agudah, that Reb Chaim supported them, is somewhat disingenuous, no? Reb Chaim's picture is second from the left.

"???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

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