The "Rosh" speaks

HaRav Ezra Binyomin Shochet is the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Or Elchonon Chabad in Los Angeles, Ca. He is an alumnus of Ner Yisroel, Lakewood's BMG and Yeshivas Brisk in Yerushalayim. Here he is seen speaking this past Motzoei Shabbos at the annual Yarchei Kallah at Camp Gan Yisroel in Parksville, NY.

Rav Elyashiv's father was a "רב מטעם?" It seems not.

Source

In Russian Yiddish they called it a Kaziyaner Rov. It's funny that the blogger there was not dealing with that issue at all - maybe he overlooked it; He was dealing with the question of whether or not the Elyashivs changed their name only when they went up to Eretz Yisroel, and at the behest of the Chofetz Chaim. He brings this blurb in the Maskilic "המליץ" to prove that he had already taken his shver the בעל הלשם's name beforehand. (speaking "שפת קדשנו" in 1889 is pretty "advanced" if you ask me.) But no, our source tells us that it was another man with the same name, that it was a different Reb Avrohom Elyashiv. A cousin or uncle, perhaps. That the Reb Avrohom who is pictured here was born in 1880 and could be only 9 years at the time of this article. But was Rav Elyashiv's father also a רב מטעם? Even if he wasn't the one mentioned in the המליץ from תרמ"ט? Is it a coincidence that he was Rov in the same town as his relative? We need to get to the bottom of this. Another proof is a מזל טוב wish, also in המליץ, in תרנ"ט on the occasion of his marriage to Chaya Musha, daughter of Rav Shlomo Elyashiv (בעל הלשם).

  Wiki definition of רב מטעם

"רב מטעם" או "רב מטעם הממשלה" הוא כינוי שניתן לפקיד שמונה על ידי השלטונות ברוסיה הצארית החל משנות ה-40 של המאה ה-19 ועד ראשית המאה ה-20. תפקידו היה לשמש כרב רשמי של הקהילה היהודית וכנציגם מול הממשלה. עיקר אחריותו הייתה ניהול מרשם האוכלוסין של הקהילה (לידות, פטירות, נישואין וכו'). בדרך כלל נדרש "הרב מטעם" להיות בקי בשפת המדינה ובעל השכלה כללית. ידיעותיהם בענייני יהדות של המתמנים לתפקיד זה היו לעתים חסרות ובמקרים רבים כיהנו רבנים אחרים במקביל לרבנים הרשמיים מטעם הממשלה. בקהילות עניות שימש הרב לעתים גם כרופא וזאת על מנת לחסוך בהוצאות הקהילה.

"צי האט איר געזען מיין ציג?"

(Thank You, Chakira)

עפעס איז זי אונז נעלם געווארען לעצטנס. זי שרייבט ווען ס'לאזט זיך, כ'ווייס נישט צו ס'קען הייסן "געשריבן" בכלל. שרייבן הייסט מאכען א שטיקל מאמץ, זיך אנשטרענגן, זיך לאזען הערן. די ציג קלעבט בילדער, זאגט אפ א פאר ווערטער, און ווערט ווידער פארשווינדען. אמאל איז ער אויף וואקאנס, און אמאל איז שבת.יו"ט. י"ט כסלו. וויפיל איז די שיעור מאטערן זיך און זעהן צו ס'איז דא נייע מילך? מיר דארפען אפיר נעמען די ציג און איין מאל פאר אלעמאל מאנען וואס קומט אונז - פרישע קאלטע מילך מדי יום ביומו. פרייטאג, מוצאי שבת און זונטאג אויך. ערב שבת איז נישט קיין תירוץ. אויב קען זי נישט פארטראגען די היץ זאל זי מוחל זיין און ארויסגיין פון קיך.

נת' ות"ח

from the sefer "גנזים ושו"ת חזון איש"

מבצע תפילין של ר' עמרם בלויא

???איי, ר' עמרם, וואס איז מיט גוף נקי


MORE ABOUT THE NEW AND SOMEWHAT CONTROVERSIAL BOOK

More

עוד

I was away, sorry if comments weren't moderated properly.

"הפצת המעיינות" through the blog

An email I received a short while ago:

"I don't know if you remember, but a small investment on your part has reaped dividends in the last several weeks. Around two years ago, I expressed an interest in Chassidus to which you responded by giving me a whole package of paraphernalia, undoubtedly picked up in an undisclosed location. I gingerly opened the packet and I discovered several seforim along with discs for MP3. Me being a fartzaytishe guy I did not have an MP3 player, so I went straight to the traditional books. Much to my chagrin, the books were not up my alley, as they were filled with platitudinous one liners about Chabad being the pnimiyus, and all Misnagdim going to hell; or something to that effect, I don't remember the details - could be it was purgatory. Needless to say, my quest to discover the inner light of the Besh"t would continue, as I looked to other krayzen, spent a couple of days doing hisbodedus, tried out Rav Yitzchok Zilber, and even tried getting into Brisk - but nothing worked. That was until I finally got me a MP3 player, and I listened to over 100 shiruim during my monotonous driving over the last several weeks. You see, Reb Hirshel, you introduced me to the Tanya shiruim from Reb Yoel Kahan! Unbelievable, aza gevaltikeh bal masbir, with his inimitable Russian havurah, and (cigaretted) drag breaks to boot." עד כאן

These are some of the small things we accomplish. A fine בן תורה was made aware of תורת חסידות חב"ד through the blog. He might have otherwise never have known the geshmak of a perek Tanya or a parsha in Likutei Torah, and yes, Likutei Sichos as well. If only more of us would do that...Why do I brag here? simply because I often times get flack from Lubavitchers who tell me how I'm actually hurting "the cause" by writing. That may be the case sometimes, but the positives out weigh the negatives- I think. There are also countless email conversations and questions that I get and respond to, which you don't know about. All in all people see me as sensible and fair, even if we disagree. So I'd say that the opposite was true, that more often than not we accomplish good things.

א מופת פון פריערדיקען רבי'ן - Rabbi J.J. Hecht's Yohrtzeit today

Rabbi Hecht's untimely  - so to speak - passing on this day in 5750 shocked us all. See how he tells the story of he was saved from the draft during WW2 by a brochoh from the Frierdige Rebbe of Lubavitch. He also goes on to say that by extension every other Rabbi in the USA was thus exempt... And yes, you guys who know who you are can get in your daily fill of Lubavitch bashing by listening to the last 2 minutes of his speech here, which pertains to the story of ה' טבת. What a fiery speaker!

and then they davened מעריב.... for 29 (!) minutes

They say that הכל הולך אחר הסיום.... I'm sure we can make exceptions to the rule. If you try hard enough you can erase that from your memory. Eli Fink loved the event.  I too was very inspired. I danced like at a friend's wedding. I learned that I don't suffer from ADD and can sit through 6 hours of anything without getting up from my seat. If you closed your eyes and banished all the evil and impure and אומפארגינעדיגע thoughts in your mind you could be inspired. Which is what I did. But to their credit the Agudah did keep the kudos to themselves to a very bare minimum! Will I begin to "do the daf?" Maybe. Maybe Rabbi Frand - who looked like he was rehearsing in the mirror - inspired me as well, even if he was a paid speaker. I suppose they could've done without the Novominsker and Reb Shmuel K - but I'm not in charge. Reb Shmuel looks to me a little lost.

 The dancing was VERY nice.

 A VERY strong message was sent to the zealots when they gave Rabbi Lau a VERY strong and loud round of applause. I think the fact that he (and Rabbi Frand) didn't get a "HaRav" next to his name says something, no? Why didn't he get it? Is he less Rov then a Rosh Yeshiva? But at the same time the fact that the Chassidisher Oylam was not well-represented on the dais shows us how in the Chassidishe Velt the kanoyim have won. Everybody wants to be on Satmar's good side, unless you're Ger, Belz or Klausenberg. No Skulener Rebbe, no Vizhnitzer Rebbe, no Skverrer Rebbe. די סקווערע רבי איז געווען וואו, פונקטליך? I'm sure they had prior commitments to attend to... No Pupa either. Imagine if they would. Pretty impressive to pull that crowd together without the aforementioned groups. Oh, and Lubavitch too. The Klausenebrger Rebbe said it well when he referenced the פסוק of מים רבים לא יוכלו לכבות את האהבה. It takes a Chassidisher Rebbe to think of that.

 Welcoming the "5,000 Baalei Tshuvah" to the Siyum is sort of like welcoming 1,000 Blacks who came to the Republican National Convention. And I'm a Republican. If I was a BT I'd be downright insulted. Besides for the fact that it's probably not true. How would they know that?  The same day that the חק טל expired in Israel... Yet the only one to mention it - just barely - was Reb Malkiel Kotler in his very aydele way. But Rechnitz mentioned the '36 Olympics.. Don't get me wrong, I liked Rechnitz, he was well-spoken and even humble, but I guess the AI doesn't mix into Israeli politics... I respect that. We're in galus after all....

 And best of all -  NO mention of Dirshu! THANK YOU!!!

 א טרונק וואסער וואלט מען געקענט דערלאנגען..... People sat there for hours on end, they paid good money for their tickets, would it kill you to spend another $100k on water? maybe a bag of pretzels and a danish like they had in Citifield? Get some Chassidim in there doing the real organization of the event next time. I mean no disrespect to Reb Lazer Ginsberg, but it was just too much. Maybe he should've switched with the Mincha Baal Tefillah.

PLEASE CHECK BACK FOR UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE NEXT FEW DAYS...

is this a good seat?

I don't mean to brag, I'm just asking. With the rain and all...

answer to the yesterday's mystery

It's the original resting place of the Rebbe, Reb Yochanan of Lutsk/Karlin-Stolin, youngest son of the Rebbe, Reb Yisroel of Stolin, זצ"ל. This is the Stoliner Celkah in the Washington Cemetery in South Brunswick, NJ. A.K.A. Deans. Reb Yochonon was buried there "al tnei" after his passing in 5716, and a year or so later was moved to Tverya, Israel. There are lots of stories about that - maybe for another time.

חדב"נ ר' עזרא שוחט, father of the Karlin-Stoliner Rebbe. Interesting choice of words on the מצבה. I assume the Stoliner Rebbe authored it. The מצבה is off to the side, in deference, I suppose.

I chose this matzeivoh mostly because of the reference to the "חסידה מאדמו"רי קרלין-סטאלין" which is engraved here. You wouldn't see that on the matzeivoh of a Hungarian Jewish woman...

All that time and money to convince you NOT to learn.... געוואלד

32 pages of why not to learn the daf or go to the  - סיום הש"ס a.k.a. Kanoyim have lots of time and plenty of money. They're pulling out all the stops, really stretching it here. Is this the last cry of the zealot? Is he desperate because he sees this as a contradiction to his lifestyle and to what he's been taught all his life? I would suggest that he take the hits with a smile and continue anyway, otherwise he's letting us all know that his belief system is hanging in the balance. It's not like he's trying to save all those people from doing something terrible; it's more like "!לך לרחוב יפו" don't do it here. But I do sympathize with the קנאי just a bit. It's a bit much already.

דף היומי ואגודת ישראל

today's mystery

Can you guess what? where? and why?

My Tempest in a Teacup for today

Yeshiva World has a gallery of photos of the Australian Siyum haShas that took place today. Or was it tomorrow? I'm confused. Is it today in Australia now or tomorrow? so was this yesterday or today? In any case they had some guy named Danny Weiss take pictures for them and send them in, which they then posted on their site. It so happens that our man in Melbourne also sent me a picture of a Rov in Melbourne speaking at the same event. That Rov is a HaRav Reb Tzvi Telsner, dayan of the Lubavitcher Kehillah in Melbourne, and let me tell you, זיי האבען זיך נישט וואס צו שעמען from the other Kehillos there, שכבודם במקומם מונח. So after seeing that YWN had a gallery of their own I was curious to see if RZHT was also pictured there, or did I have an exclusive picture here? Lo and behold! The picture wasn't there. You figure that in small out-of-town places like Melbourne there would be some sort of achdus, but look at some of the faces here, the discomfort, the unease when Rabbi Telsner speaks; poor guys... SO why is it that davka his picture didn't make it to the official gallery? Was it the photographer who never bothered with Rabbi Telsner? did he take it and not send it in? did he send it in and it was rejected by YWN?

So, we're not part of כלל ישראל because among other things we don't attend events such as these, but when we do we don't get the coverage because we're not part of klal yisroel because we don't attend...

?קען א סאטמארע איד האבען מיט דעם א שייכות

?פרעג איך אייך



....קאמענטארען זענען איבעריג

א "חסידי'ישע" ווארט פון הגאון רבי מאיר שמחה זצ"ל

addendum - letters from the Rebbe Rayatz נ"ע to RYDS

Here's what I have so far. There are more, I just can't post them all. Smaller pictures can be clicked on. I bring a page from Rakeffet's book as well, since one of you asked for "proof." I believe it was Elchonon. Not all of the letters are proof, but they're very nice to see in any case.


   
From Rabbi Aron Rothkoff-Rakefet's book

 

קצת היסטוריה...

There's a whole lot of politics going on in Bnei Brak that truthfully none of us should know about. It's as dirty as any machlokes that ever happened in our circles, and even more so. I am nauseated by it, simply put. I cannot bring myuself to read the reports, to listen to the incriminating recordings or to read the pashkevillen from either side. It's bad because that Oylam is not really used to this kind of behavior, or at least it's never happened like this before. Yes, there were small inter-Yeshiva politics like in Ponovizh or Grodno-Ashdod, but certain things were totally off limits. You didn't speak out against the Z' kan HaRosh Yeshivos, something that we see now is happening by those who oppose Reb Aron Leib's opinion regarding the newspaper. He's too liberal for them, he doesn't hate Chabad or the Chilonim so he must NOT be the leader. It used to be that pashkevillen were thrown against others like Chabad, but now they're doing it to their own Gedolim, people who even Chassidim have the greatest respect for, like Reb Aron Leib. No, I won't post them here. Basically how the "Daas Torah" sausage was made all these years is now coming to the surface with the two Yeshivishe newspapers having out for all to see.

Most of the Oylam is behind the old guard of Reb Aron Leib Shteinman and Reb Chaim Kanievski and they support the changes that took place at the Yated. But many hard liners stand firmly behind Rav Shmuel Auerbach, who they say is the TRUE mamshich of the late Ponovizher Rosh Yeshiva, deceased now 10+ years. (while Rav Elyashiv zt"l was alive and well they respected him, despite the fact that he wasn't on the same page with the PRY, and they didn't dare fight like THIS, although there were plenty of smaller fights in his lifetime, never you mind.) They started their own newspaper, named הפלס (HaPeles, the level) which is loyal to Auerbach. Please don't take this the wrong way, but Reb Shmuel needs to smile more! That פארכמארעטע פנים is too much. We Lubavitchers,as usual,like to think that degel haTorah was founded only because of Lubavitch, that everything else was OK between the two factions in the Israeli Agudah, and that the יתד נאמן was founded ONLY to attack Lubavitch, something that the Israeli המודיע would not allow to happen. Of course you'll accuse us of thinking that the world revolves around us, but there's plenty of truth to it.

מלחמת הפשקווילען


Well, here's the story as it happened, with all the somewhat juicy details. Source unknown. Take it or leave it.

לצערינו הפילוג מאגו"י וכן הקמת עיתון מתחרה להמודיע אכן קם והיה בסופו של דבר על רקע החרמת עדה קדושה. (אם כי יתכן שהיה זה הקש ששבר את גב הגמל, וקדמו לארוע מאבקי כח קודמים), ומעשה שהיה כך היה, ארגון אגודת חסידי חב"ד ביקש כהרגלו מימים ימימה לקראת ערב חג הפסח הכניס לעיתון המודיע בגליון החג מודעה בתשלום המכילה איגרת קודש מכ"ק האדמו"ר מלובביץ'. בימים ההם היה איזון מקובע בעיתון בין עורך מייצג לחסידים ועורך מייצג לליטאים, הרב שך גילה ענין רב בעיתון והיתה לו השפעה רבה בעריכה הוא נהג לבקש עדכונים שוטפים מכל פרט, לקראת ההו"ל איש אמונו העורך ישראל שפיגל עדכן את הרב שך בפרט זה בן שאר הפרטים השוטפים לאותו גליון כתגובה קיבל הוראה נחרצת למנוע את הדפסת המודעה. העורך עמית משה עקיבה דרוק שייצג את הצד החסידי בעיתון עדכן את האדמו"רים מגור ו-ויזניץ שהורו לו נחרצות להכניס את המודעה בכל מחיר שכן "צינזור מכתב תורני מגדול בישראל יש בכך משום דין  בזיון ת"ח" כדברי הרבי מוויזניץ זצ"ל.

אך הרב שך עמד על דעתו והעלה את הנושא בהתבטאויות קשות בישיבת מועצגה"ת שהתקיימה בי"ב ניסן, יום לפני ירידת העיתון לדפוס. ראש ישיבת טשעבין הג"ר ברוך שמעון שניאורסאהן זצ"ל וראש ישיבת רוזי'ן הגר"פ בערנשטיין (צ"ל רבינוביץ'?) כמו גם גאב"ד ערלוי שליט"א ניסו להתווכח עימו וזכו לקיתונות רותחין, לידיעתך לדברי מזכיר מועצגדה"ת ר' אבישי שטוקהמר, הרבי מגור זצ"ל רק זימזם רוב הישיבה וכלל לא דיבר, רק כשהרב שך סיים דבריו הציע האדמו"ר מסלונים זצ"ל להעלות את הנושא להצבעה, התוצאה היתה שהרב שך נשאר בודד בדעתו בענין זה. האי נעימות היתה גדולה, או אז הרב שך איים שאם המכתב יודפס אין לו יותר מקום במסגרת זו. אחרי שקט ומבוכה שהשתררה אמר הרבי מגור רק 6 מילים "די תורה וועט שטיין אין צייטונג" = "האגרת התורנית תודפס בעיתון". אכן המודעה הודפסה, בעזרת גולדקנופף דרוק גבר על שפיגל, הסיפור דלף והיה לשיחת היום בימי הפסח. בהמשך הרב שך הרגיש פגוע פרש מהמועצה והניע את בעל הקה"י לפתוח את יתד נאמן ומכאן הכותרת לפילוג "החרמת עדה קדושה" כי אכן זה היה הנושא שגרם לפילוג, אנשים לא טיפשים וגור לא מכרו לוקשען לאף אחד, דווקא באסיפה ההיא עיקר הזעם על כוונת ההחרמה באה מכיוונו של האדמו"ר מוויזניץ, עכ"פ בחדר נוכחו יותר מדי אנשים שסיפרו על כך. הרב אבישי שטוקהאמר מזכיר מועצת גדולי התורה עורך הפרוטוקול מהאסיפה ההיא חי וקיים עימנו, באם לדעתך התאור לא מדוייק הוא הכתובת. זו האמת ההיסטורית הידועה לבני הדור ההוא.

תמונת הערב - ווען וועלט איז געווען וועלט

The Detroit Stoliner shul, Beis Aron V'Yisroel when it still was a shul.

Let's see who can identify the cars in the picture...


View Larger Map

About Stoliner Chassidim and shtieblach in Detroit, תובב"א

Beth Aron V'Yisroel shul at 2567 Elmhurst at Linwood (Detroit)

Received via email:


Tzig, I read your post from years ago regarding the Stoliner shuls in Detroit and what has become of them, and here's some additional information: 

First a bit about Stoliner chassidim in Detroit. The Rebbe Reb Yisroel Perlow ZY”A, known as the Yenuka, started sending chassidim to the US as early as 1880. Detroit was favored over other areas because it was easier to get jobs that did not require one to work on Shabbos. Stoliners organized a minyan/shul as early as 1905 in Detroit and one of the Rabbonim who served as Rov in their shul was Rabbi Yitzchak (Isaac) Stollman z”l. Reb Mendel Zeilingold (a Stoliner from Lutzk, who later lived in New York and then Yerushalayim) said over that the Yenuka once said; ווען מיר וואלטען געווען מיט צעהן יאהר יונגער וואלטין מיר געמאכט א נסיעה קיין דיטרויט". They say that at the turn of the century there were around 100 Stoliner chassidim in Detroit. The shul that you wrote about in the 2006 post was built by the chassidim themselves. Mr. Tzvi Strom is an einikel of Mrs. Chava Wainer, in whose house the “Detroiter” Rebbe was niftar. He remembers pounding nails into the floor boards on his way home after school in the ‘30s. That neighborhood in Detroit started going downhill in the 50’s. The decline was swift. Many of the older chassidim had died out and the younger crowd joined Young Israel etc. Few were left to care for the shul and the “chelka”, the cemetery area where the Rebbe is buried. Some say that the previous Rebbe, Reb Yochanan “shtelled avek" one memuneh to make sure that the shul would not be sold, or one version is, that it should not be sold to a church.

That story goes on to say that this man worked all the time to ensure this, He put clauses into the shul documents etc. But he was once hospitalized for a short period of time and came out to find out that it was too late. I also heard from an older chossid that the Stoliners would come every year and work on eitzos to keep the shul up and running. He said that there was a law at the time that a store within 2 blocks of a church, (not a shul) could not sell liquor. So there was one store 1 block away and another 2 and ½ blocks away. The chevreh went to the farther store and told him that the synagogue is costing a lot to maintain and it might end up being a church (which is what happened to many other shuls in the area), and that would result in the other, closer store being allowed to sell liquor and him needing to shut his store. The proprietor got very nervous and asked what he can do to help? The chassidim told him that if he helps pay for the maintenance of the shul then they won't need to sell it. The guy helped them out financially for a few years. Sadly, later on the Yeshiva in Boro Park received a phone call from the Detroiters that they are sending a large amount of cash for the Yeshiva. They immediately understood what happened, and they dispatched 2 or 3 people to Detroit and tried to “handel” with the buyer. They even offered him twice the amount that he had paid for it but to no avail. The buyer, though, was some sort of Boy Scout organization or something similar. It was not sold directly to a church. Brokenhearted the chassidim returned to New York. Either way, to say that the Stoliners SOLD the shul, and to a church nuch dertzu, is a fabrication.

Research is currently being conducted to try and find out more about the chassidim of that era, in Detroit and other areas across the USA. Anybody with information is asked to email stoliners.usa@gmail.com.