YNET
In public statements, haredi website managers attempt to avoid confrontation with religious leaders, align themselves with traditional views. Off record they say campaign against them led by hypocritical lobbyists concerned with threat to newspaper
The ultra-Orthodox websites have not given up their fight in the face of the senior rabbis' campaign against them. Following the first harsh condemnation document published by the rabbis, all website managers declared their devotion to the "great ones" on Sunday.
However, despite the desperate attempts to align themselves, the websites have had a particularly rough weekend. One of the managers of the "Behadrei Haredim" website resigned his post immediately after the publication, whereas other reporters and editors are also reconsidering their future in the internet.
In public statements, haredi website managers attempt to avoid confrontation with religious leaders, align themselves with traditional views. Off record they say campaign against them led by hypocritical lobbyists concerned with threat to newspaper
The ultra-Orthodox websites have not given up their fight in the face of the senior rabbis' campaign against them. Following the first harsh condemnation document published by the rabbis, all website managers declared their devotion to the "great ones" on Sunday.
However, despite the desperate attempts to align themselves, the websites have had a particularly rough weekend. One of the managers of the "Behadrei Haredim" website resigned his post immediately after the publication, whereas other reporters and editors are also reconsidering their future in the internet.
Rabbi Eidensohn:
ReplyDeleteSo how does it feel to be on "the other side of the fence"? With your posts over the past year with the climax, over the past few days, you have flung yourself away from the the thousands who once respected you for the useful mafteachos you published.
Now you are a role model for the anonymous blogger world. Was it really an even trade? To give up the respect you commanded amongst mainstream yeshiva circles, in return for the awe of blogging am haraztzim and apikursim with a few bored souls in between?
Sad....But it was your choice.
Just one other thing that I wonder-did you grow up with a Rebbe or Rosh Hayeshiva? Or is Rav Shternbuch Shlita, the first Rav you claim to receive advice from?
The only "narrow" view is the from the narrow minded big mouth who is trying to intimidate Rav Eidensohn into silence. Rav Eidensohn has brought plenty of sources in halacha to back up what he does. But gedolei haposkim are not politically correct enough for the bullies who are more Pravda than they are Torah umitzvos.
ReplyDeleteThere Rabbi Eidensohn you have it:
ReplyDelete"observer," a precise example of your new misfit following.
Woe to a Rabbi who was once accepted by the Yeshiva masses, and is now scorned by them.
Woe to a Rabbi who was once ignored by the am haraztim and apkiorsim, and is now praised and honored by them.
For every pathetic poster like "Narrow View" - who is apparently either an amharetz or an apikoris, according to his own comment - there are 100 who disagree entirely. It's to the great shame of the Charedi leadership that they are attempting to stifle criticism by banning the internet. Kudos to all people wo stand up to such tyranny. That's the whole story of Chanukah - standing up to the bullies.
ReplyDelete(Agav, many people are saying the reason this ban came out is because of the Tropper scandal that was about to break.)
Yes, absolutely. We need to sweep all these scandals under the proverbial carpet. Let's stop the lashon hara, hotzaas shem ra, bizayon talmidei chachamim, mesirah, bittul torah, chillul hashem, etc. We need to look the other way every time another one of these scandals break. How dare we question our gedolim who have advocated this stance for decades? The collateral damage of more children being molested, more women being exploited, more financial improprieties, more teenagers going OTD, more suicides, more negative publicity in the secular press, etc., is definitely worth the price for listening to such "gedolim".
ReplyDeleteSo shut down all these blogs, shut down all your thinking minds and shut down all sense of human decency. That's REAL Daas Torah. How dare these blogs besmirch the reputations of such talmidei chachamim, manhigim and mechanchim as Rav Leib Tropper, Rav Avrohom Mondrowitz, Rav Yehuda Kolko, Rav Avraham Mordechai Leizerowitz, Rav Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin, Rav Yossi Kolko, Rav Lipa Margulies, Rav Moshe Eisemann, Rav Yonah Weinberg, Rav Gershon Nathan, Rav Yechiel Brauner, Rav Heshy Worch, Rav Mordechai Tendler, Rav Aaron Tendler, Rav Yehuda Nussbaum, Rav Stefan Colmer, Rav Moshe Rubashkin, Rav Leib Pinter, Rav Mordechai Gafni, Rav Yisroel Shapiro, Rav Samuel Juravel, Rav Matis Weinberg, Rav Emanuel Yegutkin, Rav Yaakov Weiss, Rav Avrohom Reichman, Rav Yisoel Weingarten, vechuleh, vechuleh? All these distinguished rabbonim need to be returned to their respective positions and given their proper kavod, ish k'fi maalato. We need to learn to respect such men who are moiser nefesh by wearing beards and hats. The least we can do at this point, (besides shutting down the blogs), is to contribute to a pidyon shvuyim fund to these blog victims.
We need to lobby Albany for a bill that will further protect the anonymity of these men and will protect them from any more frivolous accusations based on tawdry tales and anecdotal evidence. We must preserve the kedusha of all of our kehillot by muzzling, threatening and intimidating all those that attempt to breach the fence and speak evil against such holy servants of g-d. We must preach the teachings of such gedolim as Rov Avrohom Levin, shlita, and Rov Dovid Niederman, shlita, who work to protect "everyone" and do the utmost to cover up all such frivolous accusations. We must mechazek our spokesmen, the mouthpieces of our gedolim, hence the voices of Daas Torah, Rav Avrohom "Avi" Shafran, shlita, and Rav Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, shlita, of that holy organization Agudath Israel of America. These men have taken the brunt of the vitriol and accusations hurled by these evil blogs. We must continue to fight hand in hand with our staunch allies at the Catholic Church to defeat any such legislation as the Markey Bill that aims to destroy our holy mosdos and to expose and embarrass other heilige rabbonim and mechanchim for their minor indiscretions. We need to silence the enemies of Torah such as Yosef Blau, Asher Lipner, Mark Dratch, Sherree Belsky, Elliot Pasik, Eli Greenwald, and Benzion Twerski. These modern day Hellenists are responsible for this insurgency that has been fueled by the evil blogs. So, yes, as soon as you finish reading my post, Rabbi Eidensohn should effectively shut this blog down! We need to go back to the good old days. Chadesh Yameinu Kekeidem!
Tropper's wife: www.fredwarner.com/images/laurel.jpg
ReplyDeleteThe Sages teach that Torah is the blueprint of reality. The reference is to the secrets of Torah. Do not conclude that the codifications of Halacha encompass everything. Obviously, neither ethics nor truth can be completely codified. The mistake is no small matter. It is Gasut Ruach cloaked in holiness. Who thinks that ethics can be completely codified might well become a Naval Birshut HaTorah, one who justifies evil in the name of Torah. One who thinks that truth can be codified in a halachic fashion, will come to denounce Truth in the name of Torah.
ReplyDeleteDo not be deceived by the prevalence of this Gasut Ruach among the "great" rabbis. B'Chasdei HaShem, a vessel arose that exposes them: the Internet. Do not be dismayed by the revelations. This is good, very good. This paves the way for the Truth.
The comments of Steve are WAAAY over the top, and I distance myself from them. THIS episode with Leib Tropper is indeed a scandal. By contrast, the allegations of Steve and others, who breathlessly claim that every rebbi is a pedophile, remain nothing more than allegations. Likewise the silly comment of "women being exploited", when in fact in the secular courts the men are exploited - the beis din system is the only system actually fair to both parties.
ReplyDeleteBut again, what L. Tropper has done is undoubtedly a scandal, and I dont take kindly to attempts to silence these things. It is truly a shame that a result of this will also be foolish people who try to turn everything into a scandal, but the answer to that is not blanket censorship
Observer,
ReplyDeleteWhen did I ever say that "every rebbi is a pedophile"? In fact, when did anyone ever say that "every rebbi is a pedophile? You're the one who has gone WAAAY over the top, not me. My satirical post is exactly the way the Agudah and those banning the blogs view the scandals that are happening around us. You can call it whatever you want, but the truth hurts.
Exactly. The truth hurts. The orthodox world is far from eprfect, but I will take it any day of the week over people like you who want to attack anyone, god forbid, who has a beard, just as your post says. It's virulent over-reactions like yours that ensure groups like the Agudah will only become stronger. Kol hakovod
ReplyDeleteYou obviously lack any reading comprehension skills. I do not look to attack anyone who wears a beard. In fact, who says that I don't wear a beard myself? My point was that those criminals are being protected, defended and enabled simply because they wear beards and hats. There is so much emphasis on chitzonyus and no objectivity when it comes to major crimes that are committed by these "charedim". The hypocrisy is sickening. THIS is the main cause of the chillul hashem, not the crimes and the criminals themselves per se. Every community worldwide has its share of blue collar and white collar criminals. The charedi world is no different. Whether it's more prevalent or less prevalent, I will leave that to the statisticians. It is immaterial. However, our community leadership (headed by the Agudah) which condones, protects, defends and thus enables such crimes, is what makes the chillul hashem so great and which encourages more criminals to commit these crimes. Only the Catholic Church has such a record of protecting its criminals.
ReplyDeleteIf all those rabbonim and their askanim put as much effort into fighting against the criminals rather than the bloggers, there would be no need for the bloggers. If the Agudah dedicated its plenary session in 2006 to ending child molestation in the community rather than ending UOJ and other bloggers, then UOJ would have stayed retired. They need to stop attacking the messengers and to start attacking the criminals. A good place to start would be to issue a kol koreh declaring that all child molesters must be reported to the police.
ReplyDelete