Below is the first page of the Novominsker Rebbe's strong denunciation of R' Eliach's three volume work on the Gra. R' Eliach's book has been banned by the Chassidim - and many stores will not carry it. Among other things it notes that most people are not aware of the issues so why bring them up and that since the Gra was seriously mistaken "maaseh satan" it is disrespectful of the Gra to mention his mistakes. He also asserts that R' Eliach does not present a balanced picture but only the nasty extreme statements said at the height of the controversy which later died out and everybody came to love and respect each other. The review goes on for another 10 pages. The violence of the attack on R' Eliach was such that one of the Novominsker's old friends Rav Katzenstein wrote and published a small volume of his correspondence with the Novominsker regarding this review.
Similar considerations prevented R' Betzalel Landau from publishing a chapter on the conflict in his work on the Gra. Ironically this was corrected when Artscroll published an English translation of the work and added the missing material with the aid of R' Jonathan Rosenblum. The Novominkser supported Artscroll in publishing this material in English.
[See also the opposing view of Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky, zt"l]
Similar considerations prevented R' Betzalel Landau from publishing a chapter on the conflict in his work on the Gra. Ironically this was corrected when Artscroll published an English translation of the work and added the missing material with the aid of R' Jonathan Rosenblum. The Novominkser supported Artscroll in publishing this material in English.
[See also the opposing view of Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky, zt"l]
It is available from Hebrew Books Yeshurun vol 10 page 831
Who is "Rav Katzenstein" that he should be taken seriously and what did he write? What is his booklet called and what is it about? Has anyone read it? When was Katzenstein's book written?
ReplyDeleteWait, wait. So today's Gedolim don't make mistakes. Chas v'shalom you should even think it when you're all alone at night. But the Gr'a did?
ReplyDelete