Emes Ve-Emunah

Rav Aharon Lopiansky

Rav Aharon Lopiansky is one of the reasons I insist that there ought to be Achdus between Charedim and Modern Orthodox Jews. I am a fan. Not because we agree on everything. I’m sure we don’t. But because he exudes respect for opposing points of view within Orthodoxy.

Rav Lopianky is the son in law of famed Mir Rosh Yeshiva, R’ Beinish Finkel. And the brother in law of R’ Beinish’s other more famous son in law, Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel. He is also the Rosh HaYeshiva of the Yeshiva of Greater Washington in Silver Spring, Maryland.

My first encounter with him is when I heard the beautiful eulogy (Hespid Sheloshim) he gave for his brother in law, R’ Nosson Tzvi, in Skokie Yeshiva, R’ Nosson Tzvi’s alma mater. I later met him at a wedding in Chicago where he was the officiating rabbi. My impression of him then was that he was a wise and a humble human being, a Rosh Yeshiva with strong convictions and yet respectful of the beliefs of others. This was again corroborated by an article he wrote in last week’s Mishpacha Magazine.

Rav Lopiansky tries to actually answer some of the questions I have publicly asked about the current Charedi opposition to drafting Charedim into the army - and their opposition to requiring a core curriculum for the continuation of government funding to Charedi schools. Instead of the harsh rhetoric and cynicism that is so typical from Charedi politicians, some Charedi rabbinic leaders, and the Charedi media he actually deals respectfully with the issues raised. Here is how Rav Lopiansky puts it:

The questions hurled at us from the Israel arena are powerful and cogent: How long can the chareidi public shirk their responsibility to serve in the army? Is their blood more precious than the non-chareidi’s blood? And why can’t they add a little math and English to their curriculum? How much can it impact their Torah study? Don’t many yeshivos in America offer a richer secular curriculum without affecting the caliber of ben Torah products?

These questions need to be addressed head-on; not only for the sake of a response to “them” but for ourselves. We would be dishonest and insensitive if we did not ponder these questions with the gravity they deserve.

How wonderful it is to see a Charedi rabbinic leader speak in terms like this! Not to mention the fact that as a student of R’ Chaim Shmulevitz he shows tremendous gratitude in this article toward the brave soldiers of the IDF. Something he points out R’ Chaim constantly did.

In the process of answering these questions he describes eloquently what the ideals of a Charedi Jew are in contra-distinction to those of the Dati or Modern Orthodox Jew. He does so not by putting down the latter two, but by describing the sublime nature of the Charedi. He paints a beautiful picture. One we should all respect and admire

It is from that context that he tries to explain Charedi opposition to the draft. The army, he says, is the great equalizer. The conformity and obedience to the chain of command which he concedes the army requires in order to be effective is counter to the ideals the Charedi tries to live by. The culture of the army is designed to remove all previous loyalties and replace it with loyalty to the army and the State. Add to that the coarseness and values that are part of the army culture – and the army becomes anathema to the Charedi.

They are in essence fighting what they see as a forced assimilation away from the Torah. Rav Lopiansky cites evidence that people who go into the army are negatively affected religiously… especially if they go in at the critically impressionable ages of between 18 to 23. And shows that it has little if anything to do with the effectiveness of Charedi Chinuch and much more to do with a not fully matured and set Hashkafa being impacted with an onslaught of ideas foreign to everything he has been taught to that point.

I completely understand this. But what Rav Lopiansky does not do is answer the very question he began his article with. Even with all of this, how can a Charedi justify to a grieving mother who lost a son in battle why all Charedim should be spared from that possibility? I have yet to hear an answer to that. All the talk about the army not needing Charedim – that they already have enough people fighting still does not answer that question. If one is going to be fair about it - the possibility of being put in harm’s way in defense of one’s country should indeed be shared equally by all segments.

I would also suggest that the fears that Rav Lopiansky do not justify opposition to a draft. What they justify is being drafted into the regular army. If Charedim were truly only afraid of assimilation, they would not oppose the draft, but instead insist that Nachal Charedi (or some modified version of it) be expanded to accommodate Charedi recruits so that their values would not be compromised. That would be something I would support. The logistics of how this would work can be worked out.

The other problem Rav Lopiansky addresses is the core curriculum issue. He says that it isn’t so much secular studies themselves that Charedim object to. It is the idea that a secular government will be dictating what to teach. Even if the current government would be respectful of Charedi sensitivities about what can and can’t be taught, there may arise another government with a different anti Torah agenda.

I understand this fear. But I do not believe that this alone is the problem. The problem is that Charedi rabbinic leaders have no interest in educating their male students in anything other than pure Torah (mostly Gemarah). If they had any interest in secular studies they would have offered them by now.

That they are not opposed to a core curriculum on a religious basis is evidenced by how Charedi girls are educated. They actually have a core curriculum much better than the minimal one proposed by the government. The same thing is true for Maarva, the Chofetz Chaim Yeshiva that bucked the Charedi system and offers a curriculum that requires taking the Bagrut - the national test required for an official high school diploma.

If Charedim were truly only afraid of what the government would mandate – let them look to the girl’s schools or Maarava and implement that. If they had anything like that until now, is there any question that this would not be an issue? Instead of fighting a core curriculum they should be saying OK, we’ll have one but we will decide which subjects they will teach. I don't think the government would object if the boys would have the same secular studies program as their girls do.

So even the I admire and respect what Rav Lopiansky has tried to do here – and the way in which he tried to do it, I do not think he succeeded in answering the very real "powerful and cogent" challenges he concedes are being asked by the secular and Dati/MO side.

That said, if all Charedim were of the caliber of a man like Rav Lopiansky, I truly believe we could work things out.

Rav Yisroel Beslky, RY of Torah VoDaath
Will an apology be forthcoming?

I hope the victim and his family can take some solace from this letter. On June 4^th a letter was written by Rabbi Dovid Epstein apologizing profusely for the damage he caused the family of a victim of sex abuse by a Yosef Kolko. Kolko was a ‘Mechanench’ (educator) who confessed to that crime both privately and later publicly during his trial when the evidence for it became overwhelming.

I don’t know who Rabbi Epstein is. But it is clear from his letter that he was part of a move to treat a major Talmid Chacham in Lakewood as a pariah. They accused him of being a Moser (someone who informs secular authorities about the illegal activities a fellow Jew – which is considered a major crime).

I am not going to get into whether Mesirah applies today. There is ample precedent among major Poskim – both past and present - that in a country where there is a fair system of Justice, Mesirah does not apply. I agree with them – as does just about all of the Poskim that I value. But the fact is that there are some Poskim that still feel it does apply in societies like ours. These are the people I am addressing.

The Lakewood community of which Rabbi Epstein is a part - is a community that seems to feel Mesirah applies even here and now. I’m sure that the Talmid Chacham whose child was sexually abused probably believes that too. Or at least feels that one should factor in the possibility that it does. To that extent the father (let’s call him Rabbi S) played by the rules, as one would expect a Talmid Chacham of that stature to do. Rabbi S went to some of Lakewood’s city elders and a Beis Din was convened to examine the facts of the accusation. Apparently they felt that there was enough credible evidence to require Kolko to seek counseling.

(At this point they probably should have gone to the police… and not just asked for counseling. The standard for doing so was established by no less a Posek that R’ Elyashiv who famously said that any suspicions of sex abuse that had Raglayim L’Davar (credible evidence) should be reported directly to the police. It was the Charedi rabbinic establishment that decided that such evidence could only be weighed by rabbis trained to do so. But nowhere in R’ Elyashiv’s Psak (Halachic decision) did he make that a condition of Raglayim L’Davar. But… for the sake of argument, let us say that the Charedi rabbinic establishment makes a legitimate point in fearing that innocent people will be accused by people with vendettas against them. Rabbi S listened to his Daas Torah and went to a Beis Din and did not immediately report this to the police.)

Kolko failed to honor his commitment to psychotherapy after a couple of sessions. He instead went about his business of teaching young children Torah. Rabbi S was outraged by this – believing that Kolko presented a danger to the community. But even then he did not go directly to the police. He asked another respected rabbi – a Dayan – if he should. He was told that he could do it. A reliable source tells me however that this respected Dayan wanted plausible deniability and told Rabbi S that if he did go, he would not get any public backing from him. If true it is a shameful display of cowardice in my view.

Rabbi S then went to the police. Kolko was arrested and put on trial. At that point all hell broke loose. Rabbi S was hounded by some of the more important rabbinic leaders of the Lakewood community (mostly via surrogates). He was vilified and called all kinds of names. He was implicitly accused of sexually abusing his own son and blaming it on an innocent Jew (Kolko)!

Nasty letters were published by anonymous rabbis in Lakewood that treated him as though he was lower than garbage. One of the most sickening letters was written by Rav Yisroel Belsky, a very popular and brilliant Talmid Chacham who is a highly respected Rosh Yeshiva at Torah VoDaath; and who is also the primary Posek for Kashrus at the OU.

Rabbi S and his family were eventually pressured to leave town. He and his family ended up in a midwestern city where the Charedi community there accepted him graciously. And courageously by going against the flagship community of Charedim in America that had basically condemned him. They believed him. He lives there now and has the respect of that entire community – despite Lakewood’s treatment of him.

Back to Rabbi Epstein. I do not fault him personally for his original behavior. He is a victim of his own Chinuch. This does not mean to say that I accept his apology. It is not mine to accept. Only Rabbi S and his family have the right to accept it. I cannot imagine the torture they must have gone through – and are probably still going through. Not only from the abuse but from the way his family has been treated by the Lakewood community that once greatly respected him.

Despite all this, I believe that Rabbi Epstein is an Ehrilche (sincerely religious) Jew. He acted in accordance with what he thought was God’s will. And he would probably do it again if not for the ‘serious error’ he realized that he made. He thought Rabbi S went to the police after being told by Poskim not to go – thus violating a Psak. He now realizes that Rabbi S actually went to a Posek and got a Psak to go.

Being the Ehrliche Jew that Rabbi Epstein is, that devastated him. He realized his part in mentally torturing an innocent man; and the role he played in ruining this man’s reputation, perhaps never to fully regain it. The remorse he expresses in this public letter of apology is very evident and very sincere. He has now too become a victim of the system - as he will probably go to the grave with this on his head. It will haunt him the rest of his life. And will likely give him no peace. He even blames his recent double by-pass heart surgery on God’s Divine judgment of him for inflicting heartache upon that family.

This letter is a good start – but unfortunately it is well short of what needs to be done here. First, all parties to Rabbi S’s destruction must come forward and apologize the way Rabbi Epstein did. This includes any and every individual including rabbinic leaders in Lakewood - no matter how prominent.

Rabbi Belsky must accept a good deal of the blame for this upon himself. It is hard to fathom how he does not lose any sleep over this. It is hard to fathom that it does not haunt him any less than it does Rabbi Epstein - even if he were to apologize. But he has not apologized and still maintains Kolko’s innocence. I do not see how he can still say that without bringing some exculpatory evidence. I don’t think any exists or it would have been brought by now. Why is he doing this?!

Ultimately the problem is not so much with the errors that were made, but by the system that generated them. There are lessons to be learned here. And no one is beneath learning them

The fault lies with good intentions gone terribly wrong. Intentions based on a combination of fealty to Halacha, influenced by misplaced human compassion for the accused. These are not evil people. They believed they were all acting L’Shem Shomayim – as did Rabbi Epstein.

The Kolko that they ‘knew’ was not the Kolko that existed in reality. Kolko’s public persona was a facade by a man who had a mental illness and hid it from all but his victims. I know how difficult it is to see someone who is otherwise a religious man of exemplary behavior - guilty of heinous sex crimes. Human nature can easily pre-condition you to see his accusers as liars. Especially if they have gone ‘Off the Derech’. Which they often do after they have been abused and rejected by their community. They instead see a now irreligious accuser as someone with a likely vendetta against religion. As such they have set up a system of hoops and hurdles to make it nigh impossible to prosecute a religious sex abuser for his crimes.

Unfortunately if the rabbinic leaders of Lakewood and similar communities do not change this paradigm, this will surely happen again.

Rabbi Dov Lipman

I cannot speak for him or predict the future. But I will go out on a limb here and say that Jonathan Rosenblum will apologize to Rabbi Dov Lipman. He is an honorable man of great integrity and will not let religious politics get in the way of doing the right thing.

In what can only be described as a justified reaction, Rabbi Dov Lipman responded in a Times of Israel article of his own to all of Jonathan’s assumptions and accusations in his Yated‘hit piece’. I think it was masterful – if a bit harsh. But understandably harsh. He was hurt and insulted. At the end of that article Rabbi Lipman asks for an apology. I believe he will get one.

The only real question to be answered here is why did Jonathan do this? Why the harsh accusatory and derogatory rhetoric? I have to assume that his environment is responsible for that. The angry hateful rhetoric about Yair Lapid and Dov Lipman coming out of the Charedi world is filled with exaggeration and falsehood. It becomes difficult for anyone in that world to separate truth from fiction – fact from fantasy.

I understand the Charedi anger. What is about to happen to them is unprecedented. If all goes forward as planned - it will change the face of the Charedi world in Israel… to look a bit more like the Charedi face in America.

Rabbinic leaders who are not accustomed to these American standards are afraid of them. Why are they afraid? One can find the answer to that in Jonathan’s article. The rhetoric they use about Yair Lapid and Dov Lipman is the same kind that their rabbinic predecessors used about Czarist Russia and the Maskilim who collaborated to strip Judaism from the Jews. They see the same thing here

They see the same insidious track - a slippery slope of at first installing harmless subjects into the Charedi curriculum and then later adding not so harmless subjects thus slowly weaning Jews away from Judaism as. Yair Lapid equals the Czar. Dov Lipman equals the Maskilim.

Why do not realize that things are not quite the same here and now as they were there and then? As I’ve said many times, they tend to focus only on their own Charedi world and have reactionary responses and feel the very essence of Judaism is being threatened when forces outside their world become involved. They do not bother to listen to explanation of people from the outside – even Charedim whom they feel have betrayed them.

Jonathan Rosenblum

Jonathan lives in that world, too. He of course knows that things are not quite the same now as they were then. And he is very aware of the problems in the Charedi world. But when one is so immersed in that culture it is almost impossible not to occasionally get caught up in the rhetoric. It has become almost an article of faith to look at any attempt at change that does not come from within as having evil intent. No explanation in the world will be granted any legitimacy. They will not listen to it. The minute one tires to effectuate a change from the outside – it’s Czarist Russia all over again.

Why do I think Jonathan will respond with an apology? Aside from the above mentioned fact about his honor and integrity – he has proven himself by having done it before. And in a way that took a lot of courage.

A few years ago on Erev Yom Kippur Jonathan called Rav Aharon Rakeffet and apologized to him for a similar dressing down in another article. After reading a critical post I had written about it - he realized his error, and did the right thing. He even went to the trouble of letting me know about it. I truly admire a man who can admit his mistakes.

It is my sincere hope that at the upcoming RCA convention where both Jonathan Rosenblum and Dov Lipman were invited to speak – that they will be able to interact at length and learn to respect each other. Both men are high minded, idealistic Bnei Torah with similar goals – if not similar methods.

They are men of both courage and action. This may be the best opportunity yet for moving forward in a positive way towards a goal where the Charedi world, the Dati world, and the secular world will have its cake and eat it too. Nothing would make me happier than ridding Israel of the extremist attitudes that are so pervasive and so divisive. Working together toward the same goal might just begin to do the trick.

What about Daas Torah and Jonathan Rosenblums loyalty to it? It is true that as long as the strident opposition to the draft and core curriculum in the schools persists - there can be no ‘working together’.

But as I have said before I have detected a ‘crack in the wall’. There is no longer unanimity among Charedi Gedolim about what the right course of action should be. This was evident again last week when two of Israel’s most venerated Charedi rabbinic leaders, Rav Chaim Kanievsky and Rav Aharon Leib Steinman opposed an anti draft demonstration in contradistinction to Charedi rabbinic leaders who strongly supported it.

Perhaps after the two men encounter each other and learn the truth about each other at the RCA convention - then in the future when Jonathan presses for change he will see a man like Dov Lipman as an asset instead of a liability. Is that too much to hope for?

Rabbi David Stav - photo credit: Tablet

What is happening to my people? I am not giving up hope. But I must admit that I am discouraged by the level of animosity we observant Jews have descended into - towards each other.

We were making some progress. At least as far as some semblance of Achdus in Orthdoxy is concerned. Charedim and Centrist Jews as represented by organizations like Agudah and the RCA have found common ground on many issues and there seams to have been a meeting of the minds on issues that in the past were divisive. Not that the two organizations agreed with each other on everything. But I detected a far more collegial relationship between us.

But the tide has turned and the hateful rhetoric now being heard is disturbing. And it seems mostly to be coming from the right.

I don’t know much about Rabbi Stav other than what is available in short bio. He is a Religious Zionist graduate of Mekaz HaRav, a Hesder Rosh Yeshiva, and the head of Tzohar.

Last week Rav Ovadia Yosef called Rabbi Stav, who is in the running for the Chief Rabbi of Israel, a Rasha (evil man) and a danger to Judaism. (And from Ynet: …appointing him to the Chief Rabbinate was like bringing idolatry into the Temple.)

That generated the predictable.

Form the Jerusalem Post:

Rabbi David Stav was subject to physical and verbal intimidation Sunday night while attending the wedding of the daughter of Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, Rabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy places.

Stav said that during the proceedings, several youths shoved him and attempted to hit him and pour water on him.

As he left the wedding, the youths also called him “an evil man” and “sheigetz,” a derogatory Yiddish term for a non-Jewish male.

The RCA responded to all this with a statement (translated from the Hebrew in Tablet) directed to Rabbi Stav which in part said the following (from Tablet):

We trembled when we heard the terrible words which Rabbi Ovadia Yosef expressed regarding you this past Saturday night, and also of the events in Bnei Brak at the wedding of the daughter of Rabbi Rabinowitz. Is this Torah and its students? “Woe to this one who learned Torah, woe to his father who taught him Torah, woe to his rebbe who taught him Torah. Such a person who learned Torah, see how crooked his deeds are, and see how ugly his ways are.”

Rabbi Aryeh Deri, who heads Rabbi Yosef’s Sephardi political party, Shas, said that Rabbi Yosef has nothing personal against rabbi Stav. He just meant that if he were elected Chaeif Rabbi - his controversial non mainstream Psak on various issues would be harmful to the Jewish people.

I don’t know… it’s kind of hard to fit that meaning into Rav Yosef’s words. But even if I were to accept these apologetics to be true, it does not explain all the acrimony against other observant Jews, like Rabbis Dov Lipman and Shai Peron (or Rabbis Natan Slifkin and Nosson Kamenetsky). Nor does it explain the kind of rhetoric one hears from the right about – even religious Jews – who support the idea of making the draft laws in Israel fairer; and requiring Charedi schools to have a core secular curriculum. It seems the fear generated by this phenomenon has caused us - two observant and idealistic factions - to be a people apart… with no possible avenue for rapprochement.

The wedge is getting deeper… and if it continues along these lines, what will Judaism look like in the future? Demographics are in favor of Charedism. Even if Centrists can maintain a community of their own, they will eventually be marginalized by the right.

The way things seem to be going - Centrists will be seen as the latest version of Conservative Judaism. It won’t even surprise me if Rav Hirsch will eventually be seen in the same way as Moses Mendelsohn! That the Hirschean Torah Im Derech Eretz approach is considered a B’Dieved by Charedim - means that the process of Rav Hirsch’s de-legitimization has begun.

What kind of people will this growing demographic be? Aside from a nation of poverty, it seems to already be spawning violent reactionaries. Although Chareedi rabbinic leaders call them hooligans - not representative of real Charedim – it is clear that the motives of these ‘hooligans’ are clearly generated by the kind of rhetoric heard from Rav Yosef about Ravi Stav.

And this is just the latest in a long line of such rhetoric from the right… and the youthful (and occasionally not so youthful) expressions of violence in the name of their cause. Whenever and where ever this kind of violence happens, Charedi leaders, politicians, and journalists say that it does not represent them. That the perpetrators are just a bunch of juvenile delinquents clothed in the trappings of ultra-Orthodoxy.

Sorry, I don’t buy that. These are people who are simply taking the words of their leaders to the next level. They may be few in number relative to the whole. But they are not delinquent. They are zealots for their cause. And they are located all over Israel and the Unotred States in places like Meah Shearim, Bnei Brak, Ramat Bet Shemesh, Williamsburg, and New Square. And they are all acting in the name of their particular Daas Torah. A Daas Torah whose hateful rhetoric (like Rav Yosef’s words about Rav Stav) fuels their violence.

This morning I was ‘treated’ by CBS News to the spectacle of Barbra Streisand commenting on this whole scene. She is in Israel on a concert tour and performed yesterday at a celebration for Shimon Peres’s 90^thbirthday. She complained about what she read in the media regarding violent religious activism on women’s rights issues. Specifically mentioning sex segregated (Mehadrin) buses, the Women of the Wall (WoW), and public performances by female singers. This was accompanied by visuals of youthful Charedim at the first ‘peaceful’ protest of WoW doing their best to look like a bunch of screaming radicals bent on doing innocent people harm – just because they disagreed with them.

That she is not religious and has intermarried is not the point. Nor is the point whether one supports or opposes these issues. The point is that she is representative of what the world sees. They see people trying to assert their religious rights peacefully - being treated the way the Taliban treats infidels. Those images are not that different from the images of Islamic fundamentalists rioting because somebody dishonored the their Prophet Mohamed.

Is this our future? Will we become the Jewish version of the Taliban? These are the images they now see with a Jewish American icon condemning it. The more strident the Charedi leaders become in promoting their ideals while vilifying anyone in opposition, the more likely things like this will increase. And as their demographic grows, so too will the image of Judaism become more like the image of the Taliban.

I sure hope I’m wrong.

Rabbi Pinchos Lipshutz

(I want to apologize in advance for the following harsh rhetoric. I do not usually resort to posts like this. But after reading the latest editorial in the Yated, I had no choice. I almost did not write about it because I am afraid my anger would overwhelm my message. But I cannot let this editorial go without comment.)

I recall a few years ago having a discussion about media reportage of Charedim with a very Charedi fellow who is one of my closest friends. Needless to say, his attitude was very negative. When the subject of the Yated came up, he went into a tirade.

I wondered about that since the Yated is supposed to be the newspaper written by and for Charedim espousing the Charedi point of view on all matters. He could barely contain his anger in condemning that paper. I asked him why he felt that way and if other Charedim agreed He said they abosultely do. “Never believe a word your read in that paper”. Those were his approximate words.

After reading the latest editorial by Rabbi Pinchos Lipshutz, I have to say that I disagree with my friend, although I can understand why he felt that way. In my view his condemnation of that paper was way too mild. If I were to tell you that toilet paper was to be considered holy in comparison to this rag, I would not be exaggerating.

Rabbi Lipshutz has reached a new low – even for him. The drivel he wrote about people whose motives are entirely L’Shma is pure Motzi Shem Ra. This is worse than Lashon Hara, which is evil but can nevertheless be truthful. One is not allowed to speak evil about a fellow Jew. Being Motzi Shem Ra is a purposeful lie about an innocent man. It is usually told in order to destroy reputations. You can’t get much lower than that. Especially if you publish these lies in a mass circulation paper. Asking Mechila from all his readers may prove to be an impossibility.

His words should not be thought of as merely misguided, they are evil. It doesn’t matter that he thinks he is saying them as a defender of the faith. Nor does it even matter that he thinks the people and institutions he attacks are wrong.

What matters is that he actually thinks he is being L’Shma… that he is acting like Yehoshua, Moshe’s trusted successor in defending the Gedolim and Daas Torah with such venom. But the only thing he has in common withYehoshua is Yehoshua's overly zealous behavior asking Moshe to kill Eldad and Meidad. He is in fact acting more like Korach – without Korach stature as a Gadol of his time (until he challenged Moshe’s authority).

Instead of the respectful attitude one should have when in disagreement with others whose motives are also L’shma, Rabbi Lipshutz has written a screed that can only exacerbate the enmity between Charedim and the rest of the Torah world. And in the process he fuels the kind of zealotry that often harms innocent people and almost always causes a Chilul HaShem. This article is the grand-daddy of this kind of Chilul HaShem.

Rabbi Lipshutz thinks he is speaking on thebehalf of the Gedolim and Daas Torah. But as my friend so incisively notes, the Yated is worse than garbage in the eyes of even the most right wing Charedim and one should never believe a word they read in it.

I am not even going to bother refuting Rabbi Lipshutz. I have written extensively on these issues recently. I am not repeat myself here.

That Rabbi Lipshutz has to ask personal Mechila from each and every person he vilified in his piece, is the grand-daddy of understatements. Not only should he do that, in my view he has to ask Mechila from the very Gedolim he thinks he is representing . And all the Charedim who have been tarred by being associated with him by virtue of being Charedi. What an embarrassment he must be to them.

In fact I think he needs to ask Mechila from every single Jew who has ever encountered any of his words… for the infamy he has brought to his own people- the Jewish people! In the unlikely scenario that he was actually told to write these words by a rabbinic leader, I would posit that such a leader forfeits any right to be considered as such. He has contributed to a climate of hatred among Klal Yisroel as well as increased exaggeration, increased lying, increased violent behavior, and increased Chilul HaShem.

The only real Teshuva would be if Rabbi Lipshutz shuts down that publication permanently. There are other Charedi publications out there that easily serve that community’s needs.

Contrast that with the words of Rabbi Berel Wein in his weekly column. I could not have said them better myself. Here is an excerpt:

The current debate about Charedi society’s participation in the general obligations and tenor of Israeli life is a case in point. Most of the Charedi media and its political representatives and spokesmen have expended their efforts in personally attacking those individuals who have proposed legislative and social changes that will undoubtedly affect Charedi life here in Israel.

Politics in this country is a rough game and religious politics is an even rougher game. The Charedi defense to the message being sent to them – that the rest of Israeli society is unwilling to condone their lack of participation in the defense of the country and in their abstention from the workforce – is to accuse the bearers of this message as being “haters” and “blasphemers.”

Yair Lapid, Naftali Bennett, Dov Lipman may be the messengers and they bear the brunt of the personal attacks being leveled against them by the Charedi world’s spokesmen. But let us ignore who the messengers are and listen to the message. The current social and economic situation of the Charedi society in Israel is no longer tenable. There is a limit as to how many generations can consecutively be raised in poverty without there being a breakdown in that society.

I am quite certain that there are thousands in the Charedi world who secretly desire that this cycle of poverty, unemployment and dependency be broken. I personally know many Charedim who have expressed this to me. It is time to deal with the message and ignore the messengers completely and finally.

I only wish Rabbi Wein published a newspaper designed for Charedi readership. That is the message they should be hearing!

Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger - Photo credit: Jerusalem Post

Oh No! Not again! Please… not again… not with this man. I have to presume innocence. Not only because of western democratic principles of ‘innocent until proven guilty’. And not only because of the major Chilul HaShem this would be – if true. But because of an impeccable record of service to the nation as Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel and because of his service as a soldier for the IDF. There is not a hint of any wrongdoing in his entire life. Until now that is. Apparently now... there is a hint.

Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Yonah Metzger has been placed under house arrest in Israel after ten hours of interrogation by the police about corruption allegations. From the Jerusalem Post:

Police from the National Fraud Squad raided the home and offices of Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yonah Metzger on Thursday, and questioned him under caution for hours, as part of a bribery, fraud, money-laundering and breach-of-trust case. Metzger was released to five days house arrest on Thursday night following some ten hours of questioning.

Metzger is forbidden to enter his offices, leave the country or make contact with any of the other suspects in the case.

Metzger and three other men are suspected of being involved in the pilfering of hundreds of thousands of shekels from a number of charities.
Metzger and three other men are suspected of being involved in the pilfering of hundreds of thousands of shekels from a number of charities.

Following an undercover investigation, officers went public on Thursday, arresting the three suspects and seizing documents, computers and other materials from Metzger’s home and office they believe may be linked to the allegations.

The suspects include Haim Nissan Eisenshtat, who worked for years as Metzger’s driver and personal assistant.

Eisenshtat is accused of taking bribes, fraud, breach of trust and money laundering.

Rabbi Metzger denies everything. I hope that’s true. But after so many high profile people have been arrested and convicted of crimes like this in the not so distant past, I have to admit that my confidence in his innocence is a bit tenuous at this point. Especially as he is now under strict house arrest after an undercover investigation and a 10 hour interrogation.

I don’t know what it is about so many high profile people who have spent their lives doing good things ending up as criminals. Perhaps the old adage about people who attain a certain level of power is true in far more cases than we would admit: Power corrupts – Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Maybe the temptation for even good people to cheat the system when opportunities are thrust at them constantly by unscrupulous people - overwhelms their ethical sensibilities. Added to that is their erroneous belief that having so much power and influence makes them invincible.

Perhaps if all of us were tested that way (most of us never are) many of us would fail. Even those of us who believe we have inviolable ethical standards. I don’t know. I hope that I would never succumb to that kind of temptation but haven’t been tested that way. I hope that I never am!

In any case, I will say no more about this case until more of the truth about it is made public. I will give the Chief Rabbi the benefit of the doubt. I hope he will somehow be exonerated of these accusations. But I’m afraid that after so many other cases like this – where undercover police investigations were involved and people went to jail - that I may once again be disappointed. We shall see.

Jonathan Rosenblum

I erred. Big time.

These are the opening words of Jonathan Rosenblum’s apology in Cross Currents to Rabbi Dov Lipman.

(For those who question why I use the honorific ‘Rabbi’ for Dov Lipman and not Jonathan Rosenblum – it has nothing to do with prejudice. I remain a fan of Jonathan’s. It is simply the fact that Jonathan told me that he is not a rabbi and does not have Semicha. Rabbi Lipman does and I usually apply a title to anyone who has earned it.)

This apology is something I predicted would happen. I can tell from his words that he meant it and that he is embarrassed by his error. Here is more of that apology:

I had no business to make any assumptions, and certainly not to publish them, without clarifying the situation. For a Torah Jew, “We regret the error” is insufficient.

I apologize to Rabbi Lipman and Mrs. Wolfson for wrongly characterizing their actions as provocative, and for not having done adequate research.

THAT HALACHIC AND JOURNALISTIC failure was a double patch in panim [smack in the face], resulting not only in a loss of credibility but serving to distract attention from the very real issues that divide me and Rabbi Lipman…

This is the mark of a true Mentch. As I have said, Jonathan is a man of great integrity. That he still continues to disagree with him is a measure of that integrity. It shows that he has not veered from his core Charedi beliefs. This should not be held against him… no matter how much we may disagree with him.

That said, I am left with the feeling that even after this apology, Jonathan seems to still have a degree of animosity towards Rabbi Lipman - without ever having met him. He continues to attack him for joining a political party ‘committed to legalizing homosexual marriage’; questions whether he consulted ‘Daas Torah’ about joining such a party; questions his motives; questions what the Halachic basis is for some of his controversial opinions and he rhetorically asked what he has accomplished for Judaism so far as a member of Yesh Atid… while indicating the damage his party and their political decisions have done to the very causes he supports.

Even as these are fair questions asked by Jonathan from the Charedi side - I believe that Rabbi Lipman can provide good answers for them. Not that Jonathan will change his mind. But at least he will come to learn that that Rabbi Lipman is motivated by the highest ideals of Judaism.

Just to answer a couple of those ‘questions’.

It is true that (as Jonathan contends) that the push for drafting and Charedim has caused a backlash by Charedi zealots against Charedim who have joined the military in Charedi units. Until now they had been more or less accepted by their Charedi communities. Now they are taunted.

But the real responsibility for this does not belong to Yesh Atid, Yair Lapid, or Dov Lipman. It is being caused by the vile rhetoric about it from some of their rabbinic leaders, their politicians, and their media. They are the ones responsible for fomenting the backlash in my view.

What has Rabbi Lipman accomplished? I will quote from something sent to me by Menachem Lipkin. It was from Rabbi Lipman’s office about an e-mail sent to him from a secular Jew:

1) “True Story: I met on Friday afternoon with two successful young Israeli entrepreneurs — both secular IDC graduates and IDF special forces veterans. The issue of them having a meeting on Saturday (as they were leaving NYC Sunday morning) came up — and one said that he would not meet on Shabbat.

He explained that he usually would have done so, as religion to him was personified by the haredi who did not share his values and with whom he did not identify at all. Then, he explained, Yesh Atid came along, with the Rabbi Dov Lipman — and showed him that he could embrace Judaism…that it was now owned and controlled by those with whom he disagreed so profoundly.”

2) Yesh Atid started the weekly Bet Midrash for MK’s – the first in the history of the Knesset. Every Tuesday at 3:00p.m. religious and secular MK’s study a section of Torah together and Dov is a regular contributor.

3) After a speech in a Jerusalem bar a girl raised her hand and said to Dov – “I just want you to know that you make me want to be more Jewish.”

4) Dov speaks a few times a week to secular students visiting the Knesset and each time he emphasizes the value of Torah study and he emphasizes the message of secular people respecting religious and vice versa.

5) After speaking in a bar in Tel Aviv, the young college students said that they never met someone chareidi who respected them and Dov explained that most chareidim would not force their ways on them. The outgrowth of that event was a Knesset taskforce for dialogue between chareidim and chilonim which Dov chairs.

It is very obvious to me - as it should be to any fair minded individual - that Dov Lipman is L’Shma. Despite my previous post about politicians who fall short of their stated ideals (to put it mildly), there are some idealistic politicians out there that are not corrupted by power. Rabbi Lipman is one of those.

That Jonathan Rosenblum does not yet see that is in part a function of his Charedi Hashkafos – but probably more so because he has not met him.

The opportunity now exists for that to be remedied. Both men have been invited to address the RCA convention. My hope is that they will sit down with each other and have a fruitful conversation where Jonathan can learn the truth about Rabbi Lipman’s motives. And that he will be able to respect him enough to disagree with him respectfully.

I believe that Rabbi Lipman is generous of heart and will hopefully accept the apology. Let these two good men sit down and make peace so that the goals of change they both advocate can be worked on together – even if done from different perspectives.

Update:
I agree with those who say that this apology should have been published in the Yated. It is my impression that the Yated refused to publish this apology. (Big surprise!) One cannot blame Jonathan for that.

But one can blame the Yated for sheer arrogance of using a falsehood to bolster its position. I sometimes wonder if the editor and publisher is truly a Shomer Torah U'Mitzvos. M'Davr Sheker Tirchok. I guess he doesn't believe in that Mitzvah. He is a chameleon! He picks and chooses which Mitzvos to observe, just like the Reform Movement - while looking and sounding as Charedi as possible.

Edward Snowden

How many people are upset by Edward Snowden? I certainly am. He is a traitor. Snowden’s the guy who decided that the government anti terrorist policy monitoring the periphery of cell phone communications of all Americans was a violation of our civil rights. It is the sort of ‘Big Brotherism’ that the public has a right to know about.

This was a legal process approved by the Bush administration that has continued under Obama to much success in preventing terrorist attacks. It was approved by the courts and congress and supported by both political parties. In other words all three equal branches of the government the Executive, Legislative and Judicial that were created as a system of checks and balances agreed that this was a legal,constitutional, and perhaps most importantly effective way of protecting its people.

I hope Snowden is brought to justice. But it occurs to me that the circumstances here with respect to divulging American secrets to a foreign nation (or the whole world in this case) are not dissimilar to what Jonathan Pollard did.

Jonathan Pollard

Those who feel that Pollard got hung out to dry by getting such a severe punishment ought to feel the same way about Snowden - should he be convicted. Altruistic reasons have been attributed to both men. Pollard thought he was acting in the best interests of Israel, one of America's closest allies . Snowden thinks he is acting in the best interests of all Americans who have a right to know that the government is watching them.

In my view the basic circumstances are the same. Divulging secret information to outsiders – even friendly ones – compromises our ability to protect ourselves from all enemies – foreign and domestic. Both Pollard and Snowden did that. And both deserve to be treated equally.

For me that means that if Snowden gets a life sentence for what he did, then Pollards life sentence was justified.

That said, I still think Pollard has served long enough and ought to be released. And Snowden – if convicted (which he will be if captured) ought to be released after a similar amount of time in prison.

Just sayin…

Rabbi Moshe Meiselman

I have been faxed a published interview in the Yated of Rabbi Moshe Meiselman by someone who reads my blog. Therein Rabbi Meiselman espouses the almost verbatim argument constantly heard from the Charedi side in opposition to the draft and to the government requirement of a core secular curriculum to qualify for continued funding.

These arguments have been rehashed dozens of times in the media. They center on the evil intent of the founding fathers (carried on to this day) to use the army to dissuade religious Jews from Torah observance... and the terrible consequences of giving up control over education to them

I am not going to rehash all the reasons why these views are so terribly misguided other than to say that Rabbi Meiselman is living in the past, attributes motives to others which are biased and untrue in most if not all cases and vilifies other observant Jews who are acting L’Shma - just because he disagrees with them.

I understand the fear. If these new policies are implemented it will change the face of Charedi Israel to look more like Charedi America. Charedi leaders in Israel consider that a tragedy of major proportions.

What I would like to focus on here is how Rabbi Meiselman has departed from his own family Mesorah. I’m sure he would vehemently disagree with me. But his interview is filled with the same anti Zionist (religious or otherwise) venom as the most right wing of Charedim.

He actually quotes his great uncle, Rav Velvel (as the American Briskers refer to the Griz, R’ Yitzckok Zev Soloveitchik) as the authoritative voice of the world in which he lives. The Griz was a Kanoi that was opposed to army service. That was because of Ben Gurion’s stated purpose of creating the new non observant Israeli via assimilation through the army. Ben Gurion saw army service as a way of forced assimilation away from observance – to create the new secular Israeli disabused of the ghetto mentality of the religious Jew. So opposed was the Griz to the army, says Rabbi Meiselman, that he said Yehoreg V’Al Ya’avor (be killed rather than transgress!) about even males serving, not to mention females!

Rabbi Meiselman is someone that I know, although admittedly not that well personally. He was a Rebbe in Skokie Yeshiva (HTC) when I was in the Semicha program of his uncle, Rav Ahron Soloveichik – who brought him in to Chicago to teach. He did not look anything like he does now. He wore a regular suit, was clean shaven, and had no peyos. He also had the distinction of having a doctorate in math from MIT. This was something the Yeshiva used to brag about – a Rebbe with a Ph.D.

He later served as a Rebbe in Yeshivas Brisk followed by a stint as a Rebbe in Yeshiva University of Los Angeles (YULA). Thereafter he made Aliyah to open a Yeshiva with Rabbi Daniel Lehrfield (Beis Yisroel) - later to split off and open up his own Yeshiva, Toras Moshe (named for his grandfather, R’ Moshe Soloveitchik).

Rabbi Meiselman is also known to be a Talmid (student) of the Rav, R’ Yoshe Ber Solovietchik. If I understand correctly he learned much of his Torah directly from him - taught privately for many years.

He happens to be a brilliant man. He reveres his uncle, the Rav and teaches the Rav’sTorah in his Yeshiva. In fact one of his faculty members is R’ Michel Shurkin who has written Seforim containing the Rav’s Torah. I actually own this two volume set of Harirei Kedem which contains the Rav’s thoughts on the Moadim (Jewish holidays).

But that is where his devotion to his uncle ends. He has learned the Rav’s Torah but has rejected his Hashkafos… and those of his own parents.

One need not go far to see what his parents Hashkafos were. His mother, Shulamis Meiselman (The Rav’s sister) wrote a wonderful memoir entitled The Soloveitchik Heritage. Therein she described her family’s history and Hashkafos.

I recall hearing that Rav Meiselman was not all that thrilled with that publication and said something like ‘My mother always wanted to tell her story and she finally got it out of her system!’

This (among other things) indicates to me that he has left the family Mesorah. Either that or he must think his mother is wrong about it. I tend to think it is the former. Not because I choose to believe his mother over him. But because the American Briskers are diametrically opposite of their Israeli cousins in their views about the State of Israel . The Rav was the titular head of the Religious Zionists of America. And Rav Ahron said Hallel on Yom Ha’atzmaut.

How sad this turn of events is. Rav Meiselman is a conflicted man who accepts the Torah of his uncle, the Rav who was nonetheless been declared an near Apikores by Rav Shach, a man who has been posthumously elevated to near godlike status by his Charedi constituents. Rav Shach’s tomb is a mausoleum – complete with a roof; places to sit and say Tehilim; and places to light candles. By comparison the Chazon Ish’s gravesite a few feet away is a simple one - no different than anyone else’s there. Needless to say, the Rav’s Torah is not exactly studied in mainsytream Charedi Yeshivos in Israel.

As I said Rav Meiselman seems to have rejected his family Mesorah. He may claim otherwise and point to specific things he does that are part of his Mesorah. I’m sure that’s true. He probably follows all of his family Minhagim on matters of Halacha. But on matters of Hashkafa the words in this interview say otherwise. One should definitely factor that in when evaluating his opinions. Anyone who thinks that Rav Meiselman reflects the views of the Rav, would, I think, be mistaken.

Rabbi Aryeh Z. Ginsberg

I would like to thank Rabbi Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer (and many others) for pointing out an important article to me in last week’s 5 Towns Jewish Times. Barry Jacobson the author of that article is apparently a good friend of his. That he recommended this article means that he probably agrees with a good portion of it.

The title of that article is The Mesorah of Chesed . Mr. Jacobson describes himself as a proud Charedi who represents a growing part of that community that is getting sick and tired (and angry – I might add) of the rhetoric of the Charedi leadership and the extremist self centered attitude they express with respect to issues of the day that impact on them.

The article was generated by a community meeting sponsored by Mishpacha Magazine held in the 5 Towns dealing with the current situation in Israel. He said he was ultimately very disappointed by it. I don’t blame him. Direct questions from the audience were not permitted.

All questions had to be submitted in advance and screened. The claim was made that since the event was held on Motzi Shabbos - the lateness of the hour prevented a lengthy question and answer period. That of course made it very convenient to ignore the tough questions. In effect it seems like this presentation was nothing more than a propaganda moment to further bash dissenting views – wherever they come from.

The rhetoric at that presentation was what we have all come to expect from the right. We’ve heard versions of it before. Many times. The presenters sounded the alarm once again how the very essence of Judaism is at stake and that the forces of evil (read: Lapid, Lipman, and Zionism of any stripe) have declared war on Charedim. Using quotes from Chazal to ‘prove’ their point - they argued that anyone who supports the government on these issues is a heretic.

They used the same litany of canards against the government heard repeatedly from the right which amount mostly to vilifying Zionism in all its forms from its inception to this day. They characterized it as though it were the worst thing that ever happened to the Jewish people. It apparently was one huge harangue… and a plea for the American Orthodox world to support their Charedi brothers in Israel in their holy fight against the evil decree!

Nothing new here. But Mr. Jacobson’s heartfelt cry (which is apparently shared by many Charedim in increasing numbers) was something new. It is the first time that a proud Charedi has said what needed to be said in such an emotional way. He listed many of the problems I have dealt with here expressing how upset it made him and he then virtually condemned the way the Charedi world has dealt with them. Issues like their unrelenting harsh condemnation of the founders of the State of Israel - bashing them and their political heirs that are in government today.

You could see the pain in his words. Mr. Jacobson is a Charedi by choice. He saw the beauty of the Charedi way of life and jumped right in.. He sent his children to Charedi schools for that reason. But what he now sees is an attitude of unbridled hatred of all and vilification of anyone who dares to see things differently than themselves. A hatred that refuses to see or recognize any value in the State of Israel nor grant any real recognition for all it does for them. A hatred that begins at the top eshelons of Charedi rabbinic leadership and spreads its way across much of Charedi society. It begins with Theodor Herzl himself. Instead of recognizing the benevolent hand of God via His messenger they see only a pure Rasha with a motive to destroy the Jewish people.

Why did God choose an irreligious Jew to be His messenger? I don’t know. Maybe it’s because the religious community wasn’t doing anything themselves about returning to Zion. Herzl accomplished what no one else could in over 2000 years. And yet not a peep about all that he accomplished. Not a word of praise for him and all of the benevolence God granted the Jewish people via the creation of the State of Israel that Herzl envisioned. No Barcha for the Medina. Not even a MiSheberach for the soliders in the IDF many of whom risk their lives daily. Nothing. Only hatred and criticsm. Is it any wonder that Datim and seculars are so angry now? The only real question is why did it take them so long to react?

I haven’t even scratched the surface of this man’s plaintive cry. A cry from the depths of his heart. He ended by saying the what Charedi leadership ought to be doing instead is following a Mesorah of Chesed – in the tradition of people like R’ Aryeh Levine and Rav Gustman. That is sorely missing form the Charedi narrative.

Unfortunately the only reaction I saw to this was from Rabbi Aryeh Z. Ginzberg. The title of his response should tell you all you need to know. “Misguided Mesorah”. It was more of the same. “He feels Mr. Jacobson’s pain” and calls him a friend. Then he goes about trashing him for daring to speak from the heart about what he sees from Gedolei Yisroel. He explains away all their negative rhetoric by listing all the same old canards about how evil they really are bringing ‘proof upon proof’ from anecdotal sources. Thus concluding that they deserve no better than what they are getting from the Charedi side.

I am frankly sick of the big lie filled with half truths being repeated over and over again. Rabbi Ginsberg has no credibility with me. Hopefully the truth will continue to spread in the Charedi world and the Rabbi Ginsbergs of the world will finally lose all their credibility - even among their own people. If there are more Charedim like Barry Jacobson, that will surely happen

I don’t know how all of this will end. I suspect that at the end of the day there will be some sort of compromise that all will be forced to live with. If one wants to see a decent projection of the future - and an overview of who believes what… and why, Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein has done a pretty good job of sizing things up over at Cross Currents.

The problem is that even if things settle down, I do not see the enmity changing. It will continue to fester beneath the surface only to rear its ugly head the next time a crisis comes up in the Charedi world. Unless more ‘Barry Jacobsons’ speak up… and realize how badly the Charedi Leadership is failing its own people.

Lord Sacks and Prince Charles - Photo credit: Times of Israel

Miriam Shaviv has penned one of the most important articles in recent memory. It highlights what we will truly be missing when the current Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom officially enters retirement in September.

This may sound a bit fawning or overblown. But I don’t think it is. Rabbi Sacks is all that is right with Judaism. He is a brilliant thinker who has written numerous books on Jewish thought. His efforts in Jewish education for the masses has increased enrollment in religious schools to record numbers .

Those items alone makes his retirement regrettable. But in perhaps one of his most important functions as a Chief Rabbi - he has done the ultimate Kiddush HaShem. He has made Judaism among British leadership something to look up to. Something to respect and admire. A religion that more than any other has taught lessons about ethics and leadership to world leaders. In short he has done a lot to spread the light of Torah.

His final farewell dinner was attended by not only British government leadership, both past and present, it was attended by British royalty. From the Times of Israel article:

The guest of honor was Charles, the Prince of Wales, who in a deliberate misquote of the prophet Isaiah, called Lord Sacks “a light unto this nation.”

...Prince Charles admired Lord Sacks’s “lightness of touch and elegant wit,” and said that he had personally benefited from his advice.

“Your guidance on any given issue has never failed to be of practical value and deeply grounded in the kind of wisdom that is increasingly hard to come by,” he said.

The heir to the British throne actually read his books to much acclaim. The effusive praise did not stop there:

In a video message, former prime minister John Major said, “As a student of your books over many years you have absorbed more hours of my time than I can possibly remember,” while Labour’s former prime minister Gordon Brown, with whom Sacks was reputed to have had a particularly close relationship, praised his book “Politics of Hope” for suggesting a way “between markets and state… He saw that the ethics of markets were an issue long before the financial crisis.”

Prime Minister David Cameron said that “The Home We Build Together” “had a significant influence on my own mission to build a bigger and stronger society right here in Britain,” which was a cornerstone of his platform in the early years of his premiership.

Lord Sacks had an excellent relationship with clergy of other faiths as well, particularly with the Chief cleric of England, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

It is also a tribute to Lord Sacks that clergy of other Jewish denominations attended this event too:

In a rare display of solidarity amongst Britain’s Jewish religious leaders, there were representatives from all the denominations, including Reform’s Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner and the Liberal movement’s Rabbi Danny Rich.

The only ones apparently not in attendance were England’s Charedi establishment rabbis.

The well deserved accolades from the distinguished speakers were far too many to quote here. But aside the huge Kiddush HaShem that Lord Sacks has made during his 22 year tenure, another important issue was addressed that evening. It was on the subject of the shrinking moderate center at the expense of the growth of Ultra- Orthodoxy. He considers this phenomenon ‘worse than dangerous’:

Lord Sacks drew an equivalence between assimilated Jews “who embrace the world and reject Judaism, and those who embrace Judaism and reject the world.”

“It is an abdication of the role of Jews and Judaism in the world. We are here to engage with the world, to be true to our faith and a blessing to others regardless of their faith.”

It is important to point out that Lord Sacks does not reject the philosophy of Charedim. I’m sure he supports their right to interpret ‘Talmud Torah K’Neged Kulom’ as learning Torah full time and leading as holy a life as possible. What he rejects is their isolationist approach to the world. This is something we should all reject.

Rejecting the world is much of what the extreme right wing in Judaism is all about. One need not go far to see this in action. Take a walk in Williamsburg, Kiryas Joel, Square town, or any Charedi neighborhood in Israel. The ‘walls’ separating these communities from the rest of the world are getting higher every passing day. There is no effort spared to assure that outside influences do not penetrate ‘holy’ ground. Any and every device, electronic, print, or otherwise that can enable a connection to the outside world is condemned and banned with serious consequences for violations.

These bans are spreading. Last year’s internet Asifa at MetLife Stadium is a case in point of how the right eschews any contact with the outside world. And by outside, I mean outside their own Charedi environment. Anything outside of that is vilified, including Centrist Orthodoxy. Let’s be honest. The purpose of that Asifa was not only to prevent coming into contact with pornography. It was also to prevent coming into contact with other Hashkafos.

I have been lamenting this trend for some time now. Lord Sacks is right. The right is growing by leaps and bounds – simply by virtue of their much higher birth rate. And the center, though growing as well, is shrinking by comparison. That is not a good thing. Isolationism is not what Judaism is about. Isolationism is over-protectionism. And yet, because of the nature of the right to see the world only through the eyes of their leadership – whether it is a Chasidic Rebbe or ‘Daas Torah’ - and because of their naturally high birth rate, the isolationist philosophy may very well prevail.

All is not lost, however. One of the reasons I write this blog is to counteract that trend and influence those who may waiver between Isolationism from the world and interaction with it. (Although it’s kind of like spitting in the wind compared to the much wider influences outside of the web.)

But there is another phenomenon that is hopeful. I have mentioned this before - many times. The truth is that, at least outside of Israel in places like England, America, Canada, and Australia there is a vast and growing middle class that consists of moderate Charedim and Centrists like myself. Although our Hashkafos may be different, our lifestyles and values are not all that different. It is this center that should be listening to Lord Sacks lament. They should follow that up by engaging with their environment rather than shrinking from it.

For Centrists, that is a natural path. For moderate Charedim… well let us just say that they need a bit more convincing that engagement with the outside world will do more good than harm. Look what Lord Sacks engagement with the world has wrought. Would that any of us could accomplish in our entire lives - a fraction of what he accomplished his 22 years as Chief Rabbi.

I do not envy Chief Rabbi Elect, Ephraim Mirvis. Lord Sacks’ shoes will be hard to fill.

As for what Lord Sacks will do next… I don’t know. But wouldn’t it be nice if he were to become the next Chief Rabbi of Israel? That would be a mind blowing event that would restore the integrity and confidence in that institution to what it once was – giving it the respect it had under the first Chief Rabbi, Rav Avrohom Yitzchok HaKohen Kook. And it would change the direction of the Chief Rabbinate from the right - back towards the center where it belongs.

A public display of homosexual behavior - Photo credit: Washington Post

I completely understand and even sympathize with those in the homosexual community who declared victory yesterday. The Supreme Court of the United States struck down key provisions of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Taking us one step closer to the societal normalization of behavior that the Torah forbids.

There are two competing forces here.

One is the democratic force of fairness. It is indeed unfair to discriminate in any way against people who are different . This should apply to any differences that do not harm others. Same sex attractions (SSA) is one such difference. People with SSA who are consenting adults should be allowed to do whatever they want with each other in private without fear of sanctions or any other negative consequences.

The other competing force is the biblical prohibition against such behavior no matter how private… no matter whether there is mutual consent or not.

In a democracy that separates church from state, it makes sense to not allow biblical prohibitions to impede freedom to those who do not believe in the bible. So as much as my religion tells me that such behavior should not be sanctioned, I don’t blame the court for voting as it did – albeit in a split (5-4) decision.

What is interesting for me is the fact that the majority of Americans are basically a religious people. Americans by and large believe in the bible… and yet they support homosexual marriage. I think their acceptance goes beyond the mere technical grounds of church state separation. I think they buy into the argument that there is nothing wrong with homosexual sex and that it should be accepted in the same way as heterosexual sex.

That means that they actually reject a clear biblical teaching in favor of our evolving standards of morality. In America of 2013, if one leaves out the bible, Homosexual sex is just fine. What happens in the bedroom between 2 consenting adults is nobody’s business. In other words, the American sense of fair play over-rides biblical prohibtions

Why is that? I think it is because perceptions of homosexuals have changed drastically over the last 20 or 30 years. As late as the 1960s homosexuality was considered a psychological disorder. Homosexuals hid their sexuality and were even ashamed of it. The embarrassment of being discovered and the stigma attached to them and their families was unbearable.

But once the homosexuality was redefined as an alternative lifestyle and no longer considered a disorder, things began to slowly change. Celebrities came out of the closet. Many of them are very nice people. They look and act normal and many of them are people of high moral character in ways not relating to their sexual attractions and behavior.

When people think of a gay person the image of comedienne Ellen Degeneres comes up. She is one of the nicest and kindest people in the entertainment industry. And she is as normal as could be in every perceivable way. No longer does one picture the flaming effeminate homosexual man. Hollywood has indeed contributed to the Ellen Degneres image in the dozens if not hundreds of TV shows and movies that featured homosexual people. They are portrayed as completely normal in every way that a heterosexual is. The TV series Will and Grace comes to mind. And the truth happens to be that homosexuals run the gamut of human behavior from good to bad, just like heterosexual people.

So - for example - when two homosexual men or women go before a camera and complain bitterly as to why society and the government so badly discriminates against them, the public understandably sympathizes with that. I can’t really say I blame them. I often feel the same way – for a moment. But then I remember that I am an observant Jew. And that no matter how good a person with SSA might otherwise be, there is no way I can consider an act of sex that (in the case of men) the Torah finds repugnant and forbids – the same as an act of sex that the Torah permits.

How do I reconcile my two conflicted feelings? I pretty much agree with the OU statement that reacted to the Supreme Court’s decision yesterday which in part reads:

(W)e reiterate the historical position of the Jewish faith, enunciated unequivocally in our Bible, Talmud and Codes, which forbids homosexual relationships and condemns the institutionalization of such relationships as marriages. Our religion is emphatic in defining marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman.

We are grateful that we live in a democratic society, in which all religions are free to express their opinions about social issues and to advocate vigorously for those opinions. The reason we opt to express our viewpoint in a public forum is because we believe that our Divine system of law not only dictates our beliefs and behaviors, but also represents a system of universal morality, and therefore can stake a claim in the national discourse. That morality, expressed in what has broadly been labeled Judeo-Christian ethics, has long had a place in American law and jurisprudence.

We also recognize that no religion has the right to dictate its beliefs to the entire body politic and we do not expect that secular law will always align with our viewpoint. Ultimately, decisions on social policy remain with the democratic process, and today the process has spoken and we accord the process and its result the utmost respect.

As tolerant and compassionate as I think we ought to be towards people with SSA, as a bible believing Jew, I am nevertheless opposed to equating forbidden behavior to permissible behavior. Which is the end goal of homosexual rights advocates. There is really no other position to take if one is an observant Jew and a proud American.

Rabbi Shmuel Bloom

“Rabbi Shmuel Bloom (!) attacking my friend Barry. Gratuitous anecdotes, ad hominem innuendo and no substance. You would think Barry is the sitra achra! In reality, if the Ginzbergs and the Blooms of the world have no more cogent and coherent responses for an oved and mevakesh and a tamim like Barry than to taunt, insult and belittle him, then Charedi Orthodoxy is in deeper trouble than one would have imagined in one's most negative moments!”

These are not my words. They are the words of Rabbi Yosef Gavriel Bechoffer taken directly from his blog.

I met Rabbi Bloom when he was the Executive Vice President of Agudath Israel (since replaced by Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zweibel) at a wedding a few years ago. He is seemed like a very nice man - a true gentleman. And yet yesterday in a Yated article he spared no words of condemnation against a fellow Charedi Jew who described his pain at the state of Charedi affairs in the world today.

What makes Rabbi Bloom’s condescending condemnation particularly troubling is that he clearly bases it on assumptions about someone he has never met. He seems to justify doing that by citing the words spoken to him by former Ner Israel Rosh HaYeshiva Rabbi Yaakov Weinberg from almost fifty years ago. In a reaction to a conversation Rabbi Weinberg had with a state accreditation official he told Rabbi Bloom, “Listen to what he means, not what he says”.

How someone is supposed to know that for certain is beyond me. Nevertheless here is the key paragraph where rabbi Bloom really goes off the reservation with respect to bashing someone who Rabbi Bechhofer knows to be a religious man of high integrity; is sincere and pure of heart:

And then, with what some describe as the “Haman complex,” it bothers them to no end when “kol zeh ainenu shoveh leh,” none of this is worth anything to them when the Mordechais of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah and the chareidicommunity refuse to bow down to this spirit of kochi ve’otzem yodi - when they refuse to say the tefillah for themedinah or Hallel on Yom Ha’atzmaut or sing Hatikvah.

I cannot think of a more grossly inaccurate reading of Barry Jacobson’s words than this.

Just as Rabbi Ginzberg’s response was made in defense of Daas Torah, so too was the defense of Daas Torah the motivation behind Rabbi Bloom’s inexcusable attack against Barry Jacobson. I completely agree with Rabbi Bechhofer here. It is as though the minute anyone utters a word of disrespect - no matter how slight - about a rabbinic leader, all sense of proportion, reason, and even sanity goes out the window. Defenders immediately see red. And out comes comparisons to Haman who, like Hitler, wanted to annihilate the Jewish people. Is this how they really see Barry Jacobson?

This is not to defend any public defamation of a rabbinic leader. I don't. But based on his own later response to Rabbi Ginzberg I know that defamation was not Mr. Jacobson’s intent. He clarified what he meant and regretted some of his harsh rhetoric. Rabbis Bloom and Ginzberg refuse to grant any legitimacy to the pain that generated the emotional reaction to the events of our day that Mr. Jacobson had! They will cut him no slack.

This is yet another indicator of the unbelievable wedge between Orthodox Jew and Orthodox Jew that is getting deeper by the moment. That is what pains me most of all. The right wing refuses to see another point of view on these matters. They will only take the position of their Daas Torah and argue it to death without answering legitimate challenges posed by sincere Orthodox Jews outside of the Charedi orbit. And in the case of Mr. Jacobson – even within that orbit. They will put forth all manner of argument to promote their positions and ignore these challenges as though they were never asked.

Rabbi Avi Shafran

Which leads me to a recent Cross Currents post by Rabbi Avi Shafran. Although - as I've said many times - I am great admirer of his and agree with him on most issues, this is one area in which we disagree. He cannot apparently see just how far off his comparison of the welfare check received by a single mother is to the welfare check received by an able bodied Charedi in Israel

Cindy (Rabbi Shafran’s fictional name for that welfare mother) though no fault of her own needs the money and does not have the ability to work for it. She has no where to go but the government. The threat of having them take it away – even if it is for the good of society as a whole - seems cruel; even abhorrent.

But this in no way reflects the circumstances of an able bodied Charedi who chooses to learn Torah full time instead of working. He has been indoctrinated to do so practically from birth. And has therefore been kept from preparing for the workplace. This makes Charedi society an institutionalized welfare society. Charedim in Israel are indigent by choice, not by unfortunate circumstance.

The compassion that one has for Cindy and her circumstances does not translate well into compassion for the Charedi in Israel and his circumstances. Charedim are living their ideal (of learning and not working) by choice. No democratic government should be expected to fund that ideal if it is not shared by a large number of its citizens. Cindy is not living her ideal. She is not there by choice. Unfortunate circumstances brought her to this situation. That is where compassion comes in.

Rabbi Shafran also repeats the argument one constantly hears from the Charedi side in opposition to the draft. By their own admission, he says, the IDF doesn’t really need Charedim to serve. Therefore the move to draft them into the military is really a nefarious plan to assimilate the ‘hated’ Charedim into the secular melting pot - disabusing them of their traditions.

He bolsters his views - citing with the following comment that one might hear about welfare mothers:

(T)o top things off, there were the relentless media and public assaults on “welfare” single parents like her, the newspaper editorials and talk-show hosts labeling of them as “freeloaders,” “unpatriotic” and even “parasites.”

His point of course is that this unfair attack against Cindy is exactly how Charedim are attacked by Israel’s own newspaper editorials and talk-show hosts.

The problem is that these epithets are not the motives behind opposition to draft exemptions or the unconditional funding of Charedi schools – even if in a moment of heat someone might say something like that. Although I'm sure that there are some people who can't help seeing them that way, that does not mean that the motivation behind all of this animosity is based on pure hatred.

I truly believe that the motivation at least as far as supporting the draft is based on the simple lack of fairness in matters of life or death.

That is really the core issue – and I have not heard a single Charedi respond to the essential unfairness of exempting an entire class of people (Charedim) from being put in harm’s way for non security reasons. (Israeli Arabs are understandably exempt as a class for security reasons).

How does one respond to a bereaved secular or Dati mother who lost a son in combat and who asks a Charedi mother why she has the privilege of never having to worry about that? This question must be answered! Being afraid of a melting pot does not suffice. And the truth is that if that’s the real fear, then Charedim should not oppose the draft but instead insist on an expansion of Nachal Charedi.

I cannot imagine that Rabbi Shafran has not struggled with this issue. But in reflecting the views of his rabbinic leaders he has - to the best f my knowledge - never tried to answer it. The suggestion that Charedim should show a sense of respect, admiration, and gratitude for the sacrifices of secular and Dati soldiers - though important and right - is not an answer. Not that there is all that much gratitude expressed in any case - although there are notable exceptions like Rav Chaim Shmulevitz. Meanwhile the inequities remain. That the army does not need Charedim to serve is not an answer.

Rabbi Daniel Korobkin, Rabbi of BAYT

The Video below is being presented as a public service. Rabbi Daniel Korobkin - the Rav of BAYT, a large Orthodox Shul in Toronto sent me a link to it and asked if I would post it on my blog. I am happy to oblige. It is an interview of Rabbi Dov Lipman, MK (Member of the Keneset in Israel).

This is the right way to even begin to understand what Rabbi Lipman is all about. It is clear from the interview that Rabbi Lipman’s values are sourced in the Charedi ideology that he absorbed from his mentors in Ner Israel.

That others deny this and claim that his values are anathema to Charedi ideology, is simply a function of their own subjective perspective. One that has been influenced by the current Charedi Zeitgeist of the concept of a Daas Torah that discourages questioning what rabbinic leaders in Israel decide is Torah dogma. Disagreement is therefore looked at as rebellion.

The Charedi narrative about Daas Torah is that even though their leaders are human, not infallible and indeed subject to error, nevertheless their superior brilliance, Torah knowledge, Yiras Shomayim, and the wisdom gained thereby about what God wants, it would be a Chutzpah to disagree. Thus anyone who does is considered at best foolish and possibly even a Rasha.

Rabbi Dov Lipman, MK

This includes Charedim. So when Rabbi Lipman dared to disagree based on his Hashkafos and 10 years worth of experiences in Israel and private consultation with his own rabbonim, he was vilified by virtually all segments of Charedi Jewry, both in Israel and abroad. This included even the current Rosh HaYeshiva, Rav Aharon Feldman who at first called him a Rasha and then after finding out a bit more about him, called him simply misguided and in no way reflecting the views of Ner Israel as he (Rabbi Lipman) claimed.

Rabbi Feldman was probably referring to not listening to the Daas Torah of Charedi Gedolim who have universally condemned what Rabbi Lipman promotes. Apparently this is how he defines being a Charedi.

It is time to let Rabbi Lipman speak for himself and explain what he is doing and why. It should also be noted that he is a Charedi despite those who deny him that appellation. He clearly states in the interview that he is Chareid L’Dvar HaShem and that is how he is raising his children. What he is not is a lemming who parrots the Charedi line of being anti Israe; anti general studies; anti working unless you Nebech can’t make it in Torah learning; or necessarily wears the ‘black’ uniform of the typical Charedi.

This is a fair interview with hard questions asked from the perspective of the right. I would invite, in fact I would urge those who consider themselves Charedi, listen to Daas Torah, and believe all the garbage that has been flung against him by some Charedi rabbinic leaders, their surrogates in the Kenesset, as well as their surrogates in the Charedi media to see for themselves who this courageous man is and what he is all about. The video follows.

A guest post about abuse that appeared here earlier this morning has been removed. Although I completely sympathize with the sentiments expressed, there were some parts of it that I believe could inadvertently hurt good people - innocent people. I do not want to be responsible for that. I apologize for any inconvenience.

Gust Post by Rabbi Shalom Gold

Rabbi Shalom Gold

I have been following the Barry Jacobson - Rabbi Ginzberg exchange. Since I lived in West Hempstead when Barry was growing up I was particularly moved by the sensitive and intelligent piece he has written. I have some comments to make about Rabbi Ginzberg's first reply.

His dressing down of Barry on the Herzl "prophecy" statement was unbecoming. It is clear to any fair-minded person that Barry was stating the obvious. Herzl's vision, dream, hope of a Jewish state, his creating the organization to carry it out, his bearing as a statesman who was welcomed in the highest level of European aristocracy and his precise prediction that in fifty years there will be a state, is nothing short of awesome.

He saw what no one else was capable of seeing. The only one who came close was Rav Kook who, in 1907, wrote a masterful near-prophetic (I am being very careful with the "p" word) call to Eretz Yisroel where he predicted with uncanny accuracy what would happen to European Jewry, and pleaded with them to come to Eretz Yisroel.

Rav Moshe Feinstein finds no fault with salvation that comes through the non-observant, non-religious, etc. Don't tell Hashem who He should choose to do His bidding.

Rabbi Ginsburg, your question to Barry whether he or his friends "feel the same giyul nefesh when they hear chareidim called parasites, et." Is completely irrelevant. We are deeply hurt when those we feel closest to spew forth an ongoing torrent of hatred – didn't you get that? We expect Torah Jews to be examples of ahavat Yisroel – not the purveyors for 65 years now with certainly no let up in sight of gross and crass ugly criticism. They have always found fault with the State.

Rabbi Ginzberg, your swipe at Barry about Satmar raises a question that has troubled me for the longest time. Even a brief perusal of the Rebbe's seforim makes it quite clear that he believes that anyone who participates in the Israel government, voting, etc., transgresses many sins of the most serious order yehoreg v'alyaavor. He repeats it time and time again.

Time out for a relevant story.

I arrived in Eretz Yisroel for the first time toward the end of June 1955 on board an Italian liner called The Messapia. I was part of a group of Torah Vodaas bochrim (I personally was then already in Ner Yisroel) that included Nosson Scherman, Joey Weinstien, Yankel Goldberg, Chaim Liebel, Arum Landesman – did I get it right? The memory ain't what it used to be.

On the boat was the Satmar Rebbe and an entourage on the way to campaign against voting in elections to be held that summer. Reb Aharon also came to Eretz Yisroel and barnstormed the country, exhorting all to go vote. I can see him now from a balcony in Mea She'arim, crying out "men darf vuten gummel-daled," time and time again. The letters represented Agudah and Po'alei Agudah that ran as one party.

The Rebbe makes it clear that voting or urging people to vote or in any way be involved with the government is a certified apikoras, kofer beikar, min and the like. The Rebbe thus accuses all the Gedolei Yisroel of the last 65 years of being the lowest of the low. Now Barry didn't say anything like that. I would have expected Lakewood to dump the Rebbe's seforim in the closest body of water, ban the Rebbe's seforim, and stand up for the honor of all Gedolei Yisroel. The Rebbe's sefer could be entitled, "The Unmaking of all Gedolei Torah."

It mystifies me why didn't the whole chareidi, Torahdik, yeshiva community stand up and roar in defiance against Satmar blasphemy. Yet you write so respectfully about "'the shita'" that is based on a comprehensive and deep understanding of Torah." Your words. I am certain that the Ribboneh Shel Olom has "paskened" not like Satmar. His shita was grossly mistaken. Rabbi Ginzberg, don't fly off the handle. I can prove it. But that's not for now.

I have only one further observation to make at this point. The Chareidi community:

1. despises the national anthem (the drunk author);

2. has no use for the flag. "A shmmateh on a shteken" (translation, a rag on a stick);

3. doesn't pray for the State;

4. nor for the soldiers who defend them;

5. does not celebrate Yom Haatzmaut;

6. does not celebrate Yom Yerushalayim;

7. does not go to the army;

8. spews forth hatred (a grandson came home from yeshiva ketaneh relating that his rebbe told the class, "The worst thing that happened since Creation is the establishment of the State of Israel (you have to let that be absorbed in your kishkut).

9. considers Yom HaShoah and the siren anathema;

10. pays no attention to the two minutes of silence on Yom Hazikaron.

Now look again at this composite picture of chareidi conduct. Rabbi Ginzberg will certainly explain, justify, find solid sources for every one of those positions. But one question about the total picture. Who else agrees and embraces all the above? The answer is obvious and should shake chareidi society to the core.

The Israeli Arabs and the post-Zionist Left. Not such pretty bedfellows. That should set off warning bells that you think you're right. You can explain everything, yet you remain dead wrong. It is now fifty years since I experienced Barry's "guyel nefesh" absolute disgust with the constant fault-finding and bashing the State that I consciously dropped out of chareidi hashkofoh and never looked back.

Jews have always been loyal citizens in all the lands of their dispersion except in their own country. If you would have pulled this shtik in Czarist Russia, in Cossack Ukraine, in the Germanic states, Poland, they would have expelled you, shot you, burned you at the stake. But in your own country you are big heroes because you know these wicked Zionists won't do those things, and their soldiers will protect you. You spit at the state but you demand that the State support your lifestyle – what chutzpah!

I will rest my case until round two.

Sholom Gold

Har Nof, Yerushalayim

P.S. In 1955 Rav Shach took me into Ponevez Yeshiva and had me sit near him for a whole zeman. That tidbit is just to establish a little credibility. I was also Barry's Rabbi in West Hempstead before I went on Aliyah. Please don't hold that against him.

Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm - Photo Credit: YU via the Forward

If anyone ever had any doubt about the character of this great man, this should completely erase any trace of it. Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm has resigned his post as Chancelor and Rosh HaYeshiva of Yeshiva University in one of the most poignant retirement statements I have ever read.

What was exceptional about this is his admission that - although he thought he had acted correctly at the time - he now realizes that he had made some grave mistakes in handling accusations of sex abuse by a teacher and principal in Yeshiva University’s high school, MTA. The following is the pertinent part of his statement:

I recognize now that when we make decisions we risk, however inadvertently, the tragedy of receiving that calamitous report: tarof toraf Yosef, “Joseph is devoured,” all our work is in vain, all we have put into our children has the risk of being undone because of a few well intentioned, but incorrect moves. And when that happens—one must do teshuvah. So, I too must do teshuvah.

True character requires of me the courage to admit that, despite my best intentions then, I now recognize that I was wrong. I am not perfect; none of us is perfect. Each of us has failed, in one way or another, in greater or lesser measure, to live by the highest standards and ideals of our tradition — ethically, morally, halakhically. We must never be so committed to justifying our past that we thereby threaten to destroy our future. It is not an easy task. On the contrary, it is one of the greatest trials of all, for it means sacrificing our very egos, our reputations, even our identities. But we can and must do it. I must do it, and having done so, contribute to the creation of a future that is safer for innocents, and more ethically and halakhically correct.

This is the kind of leadership that is needed in Klal Yisroel… the ability to recognize error, to realize just how serious and possibly even damaging that error is, and to learn from it. How different is this response to the way Satmar, and Lakewood have reacted to their own errors on this same matter. In Satmar’s case convicted sex abusers are nonetheless glorified as innocent people that evil people with nefarious motives lied about and put in jail. In Lakewood’s case the prominent Rabbonim, Poskim and Dayanim signed a vicious attack against one of their own Talmidei Chachamim because he did what he was supposed to do by reporting a sex abuser to the police. As Rabbi Daniel Eidensohn points out:

(T)hese expert rabbis apparently also didn't bothering checking out the fact that the father had in fact received a letter from Rav Sternbuch telling him that he was required to report the abuse.

They were apparently ignorant of the elementary fact that even without receiving a psak from Rav Sternbuch and other gedolim the father not only had the right to report a child abuser but was obligated according to the views of the gedolei hador including Rav Eliashiv, Rav Wosner, the Tzitz Eliezer and Rav Moshe Halberstam. Their ignorance of the halachos dealing with child abuse - as clearly described in Yeshurun volume 15 - is truly shameful and embarrassing.

Dr. Lamm is a Gibor… a mighty man who has the courage to do what lesser men cannot or will not do. It does not matter how much Torah they know, or how brilliant their erudition of it is to their students. It doesn’t even matter how many Seforim they have published. The matter at hand is their character. They have willfully destroyed another man’s character using their Torah knowledge as a spear to skewer him.

The man they skewered had the courage to do what’s right. It superseded his own sense of self preservation. A man whose character runs circles around those who are supposed to be Torah leaders and are probably still seen that way by most of their constituents in Lakewood and Satmar.

Those men could learn a thing or two from one of their own, R’ Dovid Epstein, who upon realizing the truth - made a public and heartfelt apology, begging for forgiveness for his part in hurting an innocent human being.

Asking them to look at Dr. Lamm as well would be what is called in the Charedi vernacular, a Bracha L’Vatalah. Which is a euphemism meaning waste of breath. They have no doubt vilified Dr. Lamm in the past every bit as much as they have that Talmid Chacham (if not more).

But who represents Torah more? ...Dr. Lamm or these respected men of Lakewood and Satmar? For me it is an easy answer. The Torah of Chesed is on Dr. Lamm’s lips.

Anyone who reads my mini bio on the right margin of this blog will note just how much of an influence Dr. Lamm has been on me. It was his classic work, Torah U’Mada (along with the other influences I mentioned) that formed the basis of my own Hashkafos.

His contributions to Yeshiva University both materially Hashakficly will be hard to match. As will his Hashhkafic contributions to the entire Jewish world as was so ably described by Alan Nadler in a Forward article.

Dr. Lamm is a Talmid Chacham, a scholar, and a brilliant thinker - who recognized both the primacy of Torah and the high value of Mada as indispensible in our search for Emes. His efforts in saving the financially sinking ship of YU when he took over (eventually turning its financial condition to one of solvency and surplus) is unique in the annals of Yeshiva fundraising. It was due much to his hard work and diligence that YU’s crowning glory is now a ‘thriving bet midrash’ - ‘a top-ranked university’ with even higher ranking professional schools - like Einstein.

Yeshiva University was not just a job for him. Here is how he puts it:

Yeshiva University is not only an institution. It is a faith, a vision, a dream, a destiny. It has been my faith, my vision, my dream, and my destiny.

Dr. Lamm’s did not have an easy time of it. He was harshly criticized for some of his decisions. Not only by the right who vilified him (as did Rav Elya Svei in misunderstanding a speech he gave) but was even strongly criticized by Rav Soloveitchik who strongly disagreed with some of his decisions.

One can agree or disagree with him on any of his decisions. But one would be foolish to dismiss or downplay his contributions to Judaism because of such disagreement. History will be the final judge. But in my view, his place in history as one of the greatest architects of Jewish education in the modern era is assured. I will just end with the words of YU President Richard Joel whose sentiments I echo:

I would like to express my appreciation to Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm for his half-century of service to Yeshiva University. During his tenure he helped guide the University with steadfastness and vision. Dr. Lamm’s contributions to the Jewish world as a distinguished rabbi, philosopher and scholar are unparalleled. We wish Dr. and Mrs. Lamm health and fulfillment into the future.

The fallout of good intentions often amounts to what people call unintended consequences. In the case of the current ‘crisis’ facing the Charedi world in Israel, those unexpected consequences were more than predicable.

The government’s attempt to equalize the burden of military service in all segments of Israeli society - and qualifying financial aid to their schools based on the requirement of a minimal ‘core’ curriculum has generated one of the strongest push-backs in Israel’s history. The entire Charedi rabbinic leadership is vehemently opposed to it. In some cases the rhetoric coming out of the Charedi side borders on incitement. As do foreign mass rallies in support of Charedi resistance to these new proposals.

The backlash is coming in the form of attacking Charedi recruits. In fact this was one of Jonathan Rosenblum’s arguments against the government current attempt at forcing the issue. He said that Charedim had been quietly and increasingly enlisting in the IDF to no one’s particular attention… and that these new recruits were pretty much left alone in their respective Charedi communities. The government’s threat to subject everyone to the draft has caused the following reaction from the usual gang of suspects. From Ynet:

According to the data presented, since the Peri Committee began to take steps towards equality of burden, haredi soldiers have experienced increased isolation, violence and harassment. The harassment includes physical assault, spitting at synagogues, slashing of tires and vandalism.

Kol Haskalos Kashos. All beginnings are hard, the sages tell us. One might call them birth pains. But just because birth is painful, does not mean we should be discouraging people from having babies. The fruits of giving birth are surely worth the pain involved. If that were not the case, women would stop having children and it would be the end of the human race.

The birth of the democratization of Israeli service to the military is surely worth the pain we now suffer. There should be no reduction in the resolve to complete this task.

That said, the physical and mental pain being hurled at Charedi recruits by the zealous Charedi youth acting upon the rhetoric they hear should not be left unchecked. They should be dealt with swiftly and judiciously by Israeli authorities.

As I have said in the past... These birth pains are generated - not by the government’s desire to equalize the burden, but by the rhetoric of some Charedi leaders, politicians and media in response to it. Those reactions are further exacerbated by foreign protests like the one sponsored by the Satmar Brothers in Manhattan a couple of weeks ago and the one held a few days ago in Brussels.

Adding fuel to that fire is when two feuding brothers unite in common cause and then mainstream Roshei yeshiva who generally reject their approach to Israel nonetheless participate with them in protest. This gives the ugly encounters these zealots have with Charedi recruits - if not legitimate cover - then at least sympathy for their motives.

The attitude among even moderate Charedi journalists does not appear to be changing. The rhetoric remains and there are no attempts to see the view of the other side. And the ‘other side’ in this debate are not only secular Jews, but observant ones.

Case in point from YWN:

The developments in recent months in Eretz Yisroel have left many of us in the American Torah community confused. In recent weeks, Mishpacha Magazine has made it a priority to conduct a dialogue within the American Torah community regarding these issues, giving the opportunity for people to voice their questions and get solid answers.

A pilot event was held in Lawrence, where a candid and compelling conversation equipped participants with facts, figures, perspectives and insights from those in the thick of the discussions.

This week, Mishpacha will be hosting two more such events- tonight (last night), at the home of Yitzchok and Devorie Fuchs in Flatbush at 8;00 pm, featuring Mishpacha’s publisher Eli Paley and respected columnist Reb Yonasan Rosenblum, moderated by Eytan Kobre. Tomorrow evening (tonight), Wednesday, these two panelists will be in the Catskills, in the Twin Oaks colony, at the home of Rav Aryeh Zev Ginzberg, who will offer divrei pesicha.

Dialogue with the American Torah Community? Really? From Rav Aryeh Zev Ginzberg? I’m sorry, this is not a dialogue. It is a presentation of the Charedi side of the issue without any attempt to present a dissenting view from even a religious perspective. This is not dialogue. It is indoctrination… presented as dialogue!

If they truly wanted dialogue, they would have someone like Dov Lipman there to answer some of their challenges… and correct some of distortions and even outright lies the right has been telling its public about the situation.

Like the ‘big one’ about how Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party is out to destroy the Charedi world via the assimilationist tactic of army induction. They have either not read the party platform or conveniently ignore it so they can vilify Lapid, the 2 sincere Charedi members of his party, and anyone else who disagrees with them. From the Yesh Atid website:

Yesh Atid's plan for "equal service for all," not only aims to solve the problem in a systematic manner, but, in doing so, also takes into account the needs and sensibilities of the ultra-orthodox population . In fact, ultra-orthodox were involved in formulating the plan. The Yesh Atid plan states plainly and simply: For the next five years, open the doors for 18-year-old ultra-orthodox young men to go to work with no requirement to serve. During those five years the National Authority for Civilian Service will identify the differing needs throughout Israeli society and arrange to address those needs by harnessing those who will enter National Service after the initial five year period. Furthermore, during those five years, a payment plan will be established for combat soldiers who serve for a full three years.

During those five years, the army will develop programs to facilitate the service of much larger numbers of ultra-orthodox citizens to serve in the army, and national service models will be created to be specifically geared to the needs of the ultra-orthodox (and Arab)populations. These options will include serving in hospitals and homes for the elderly, enhancing the security of neighborhoods in conjunction with the police, assisting Magen David Adom/Hatzalah/ZAKA, and providing much-needed support in educational institutions with a focus on easing the burden of those engaged in special education.

So much for Yair Lapid’s nefarious agenda of assimilating Jews out of religious observance – or even their Charedi lifestyles. And yet the big lie continues. They use Lapid’s calls for integrating Charedim into society as proof that he is out to destroy Charedi values and replace them with secular Israeli values. There is nothing further from the truth than that accusation. When he says integrating – he means financial and social integration. Not an abandonment of Charedi values.

A challenge to the Charedi masses who so rarely get an opportunity to see both sides of an issue because of bans on non Charedi news media and isolationism: Go outside of your box …go outside the comfort zone of a one-sided Mishpacha sponsored event and seek some objective truths. You have nothing to lose but your chains.

Typical Charedi Classroom scene - Photo: REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen

The gauntlet has been thrown. It’s war! Charedi MK, Rabbi Moshe Gafni has exploded at a bill sponsored by MKs Ruth Calderon and Yafit Kariv that would codify the inevitable. Funding of Charedi schools to continue at present levels the evil subjects math, Hebrew and English must be added to the curriculum.

Only evil people would sponsor a bill that mandates evil subjects in order to get government funding. From the Jerusalem Post:

During the session, senior UTJ MK Moshe Gafni was so incensed with the proposals that he denounced committee members MKs Ruth Calderon and Yifat Kariv as “evil” who came to the Knesset to do evil.

Gafni said during the hearing that if the bill was passed he would recommend that exempt institutions cut off all contact with the Education Ministry, while Shas MK Nissim Ze’ev said the bill represented a “culture war” being waged against the haredi community.

MK Ya’acov Asher, also of UTJ, said, “We’re talking here about a process of elimination, not a gradual process. The purpose is to eliminate the [exempt] institutions, and there is no intent here to find common ground or to help [the haredi community].”

A culture war?! Yes. This is how they see it, despite the fact that the MKs sponsoring the bill are from a party that clearly states that it is not their goal. And despite the fact that math, English and Hebrew are not in any way subversive to a Charedi lifestyle. Charedi MKs see any attempt at change no matter how sincere or accommodating to their sensibilities as evil. An evil that must be fought in a battle of a culture war.

What is different about these proposals than what is in place now?

Well, currently Charedi schools are required to teach 6 hours per week of secular studies. Those studies can be comprised in part of gym class. The current bill requires 11 hours per week and must include the above mentioned evil subjects. The government would then fund them at a 55% rate (compared to 100% rate of the government schools system.) If they refuse to implement that plan, their funding will be reduced to only 30%.

What Charedim want here is to perpetuate the status quo of sheer entitlement without any responsibility. They want their independence and want to get paid for it. What is at issue? Less than an hour a day of additional secular studies that can only benefit their students in the future. To call evil those people who desire to correct a financial situation that is quickly deteriorating is itself evil! And it is precisely the kind of rhetoric that fuels the extremists among them to protest in violent ways.

Furthermore, whose fault is it that there is no common ground sought? Not the government. Not Yesh Atid. Not the MKs who presented or support that bill. It is the fault of Charedim who refuse to even meet with a Charedi MK in the person of Dov Lipman whom they vilify as ‘sleeping with the enemy’!

And what kind of compromise do they seek, anyway? Do they want to negotiate down an extra 55 minutes a day to 30 minutes? 5 minutes? Do they want to eliminate the study of English? Or math? Or the Hebrew language? The truth is they do not seek compromise at all. They seek victory. They demand it all - educational freedom and the money to pay for it.

Although there are some in the Charedi world who would like to see change, the majority of this community constantly points out the unfairness of even the current arrangement that does not fully pay Charedi schools at the 100% level that a government schools get. ‘Unfair’ they say. Why should Charedim be treated as second class citizens?! And now this?! They are apoplectic with anger and outrage.

What they apparently refuse to see is that in a secular democracy the high value they place on Torah studies is not shared by the public. They simply do not understand why Torah study is so important. The public may grant some importance to it, but secondarily to the study of subjects that will make them more financially productive citizens instead of relying on other people’s money to survive - much of it coming from the taxes collected from the working pubic.

Just to be clear. I am not the one making this argument. I agree with the primacy of Torah study. I am simply trying to reflect what a secular Jew in Israel sees. But just as I agree to the primacy of Torah study, I also see an inherent value in secular study – not to mention the practical value of preparing them better for the workplace.

Unfortunately Charedi rabbinic leadership – as reflected in the outrage expressed by Rabbi Gafni sees little to no value in secular studies… at least not enough to take away even a moment of time from studying Gemarah.

True, as many moderate Charedim have been claiming - the facts on the ground have been changing. But only in peripheral ways. More Charedim are working. There are even programs being set up to train Charedim - helping them transition them from the Beis HaMedrash to the workplace. But this is like scratching your right ear with your left hand... when your whole body itches.

The argument by Charedim that this new bill is anti Torah does not wash. They see it as taking away control over their own education. They interpret any attempt at it - no matter how slight or even beneficial - as a blow to Judaism itself akin to what happened in Czarist Russia. They will fight it tooth and nail. And they will call out the troops to help them resist it - screaming at the top of their lungs the worst kind of rhetoric to vilify good people. Some of those troops have been shown time and again to be violent.

The bottom line for me is - I have no problem with any community to teach whatever they want… and to not teach what they don’t want. As long as that does not contribute negatively to society at large.

But in the case of the Charedi school system. It isn’t only about teaching what they want. It is about getting paid to do it by a society that does not understand or value Torah they way Charedim do. Added to that is the fact that the continuation of a school system that does not prepare its students for the work place does affect society at large negatively. It lowers the tax base while increasing the welfare rolls.

I know that there are plenty of Charedim that do work. Some of them have good jobs. Some are even university trained professionals… doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc. But my uneducated guess is that none of them are native Israeli Charedim who have gone through their educational system. They are either American Olim (immigrants) or Baalei Teshuva.

But the fact that no Charedi who has gone through their system has had the minimal secular education that every non Charedi in Israel automatically gets. Which enables them to get further training for better jobs.

The Charedi has to ‘catch up’ with his secular and Dati counterparts before he can do that. Not every Charedi is capable of it. Studying secular studies is nothing like studying Gemarah. New skills have to be learned… skills that others have learned in non Charedi schools from their very first day in school. Those who can’t catch up are the ones who get the low paying jobs and struggle to make ends meet even at the poverty line level.

This is what Rabbi Gafni and company wants to preserve. The future financial welfare of their children is not their concern. They want them to know as much Torah as can be studied full time without any distractions. That is their ideal.

Parnassa (livelihood)? Well… the Eibishter Vet Helfin. Don’t worry about it, they preach. God will provide. Your job is to Shteig …(accomplish greatness in Torah)!

Yes, Parnassa comes from God. No question. But maybe… just maybe this new bill is God’s way of helping provide it!

Rav Elya Svei

Joe Maryles (my cousin)

Two classmates in high school. One famous. One not so much but a relative of mine. These are their high school yearbook pictures. Can you guess which is which and the identity of the famous one?

Update
OK. Time for the 'Big Reveal". The picture on the left is Rav Elay Svei. The one on the right is my father's first cousin who currently lives in lakewood.

A Rational but Insufficient Charedi Response

A Heartfelt Apology

Rabbi Dov Lipman Responds

Achdus - A Turn for the Worse

Rabbi LipShutz's Vile Editorial

Can This be True?

Jonathan Rosenblum’s Public Apology

Two Traitors

Departing from the Family Mesorah

The Truth Will Set You Free

A Light unto This Nation

The Supreme Court Decision on DOMA

Unmasking the Truth

Must See TV (Video)

Post Removed

Barry Jacobson vs Rabbi Aryeh Ginzberg - Rabbi Shalom Gold Responds

The True Character of Great Leaders

Collateral Damage and Truth

Parnassa Comes From God

Guess who