This is the reponse of by brother Rav Dovid Eidensohn to the claims made by Rav Yitzchok Breitowitz regarding the endorsement of violence in forcing a husband to give a get. It is part of a larger 17 page response
Rabbi Breitowitz arguments as well as my response are found in previous posts
Epstein-defense-of-torture/kidnapping
Statement of Rabbi Breitowitz regarding use of force
Rabbi Breitowitz is likely easily reachable. It would be worthwhile for someone to phone him and politely request his explanation as to why and how he justifies the positions he took in the letter he wrote to the court in Epstein's case.
ReplyDeleteRabbi Breitowitz is likely easily reachable. It would be very worthwhile for someone to phone him and politely request his explanation as to why and how he justifies the positions he took in the letter he wrote to the court in Epstein's case.
ReplyDeleteVery thorough, and very well said. Thank You Reb Dovid!
ReplyDeletezbeng,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your good words. If I keep banging away on my typewriter it surely is partially because people like you encourage me, at least sometimes! Again, thank you.
Moe Ginsburg,
ReplyDeleteOn my blog www.torahhalacha.blogspot.com I have attacks on major rabbis such as Rabbi Heineman of Baltimore who openly backs ORA in defiance of the Shulchan Aruch and all of the poskim EH 77 par 2 and 3, where the Gro says #5 that nobody disagrees. And I attack the Philadelphia Yeshiva that is backing a married woman, Tamar Epstein the wife of Aharon Friedman, to remarry with no GET, even though Aharon wants to give a GET after settling about custody. Her helper is Shalom Kaminetsky who surely does this with his father's permission, as the father could any time tell him to stop but obviously doesn't.
That is the world today. The major names are ignorant in the laws of Gittin. What do you expect from Rabbi Breitowitz?
It is interesting that Rabbi Breitowitz cites the 1992 New York "Get Law" in a positive light in this disposition, whereas he has opposed that '92 NY Get Law on halachic grounds:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jlaw.com/Articles/sec236b.html
This old article of his is also interesting in regards to some of R. Breitowitz's other points in this disposition.
Jewish Divorce and the Mamzer Issue
By Yitzchok Breitowitz
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2752766/jewish/Jewish-Divorce-and-the-Mamzer-Issue.htm
"Rav Dovid Eidensohn's rebuttal of Rav Breitowitz claim that forcing a get is a mitzva...This is the reponse of by brother Rav Dovid Eidensohn to the claims made
ReplyDeleteby Rav Yitzchok Breitowitz regarding the endorsement of violence in
forcing a husband to give a get..."
Everyone is entitled to a solid defense, including Rabbi Mendel Epstein, no matter how dark the situation may seem, BUT, it is a great mystery why a respected legal scholar and great talmid chochem of Rav Yitzchok Bretowitz's caliber, he was regarded as having the makings of a true Gadol when at Ner Israel Yeshiva, altogether gets involved in such a sordid case? It raises more questions than his involvement answers, such as:
* Why is did he choose to get involved all the way from far-off Israel where he now lives and serves as rosh yeshiva at Ohr Somayach?
* Who requested that he get involved and what were their reasons, what were his reasons for accepting?
* Is he connected to any of the parties in any way professionally or family or by way of friendship?
* As both an experienced former professor of law at Johns Hopkins University and as a well-known communal rabbi in Silver Spring, Maryland, and now as dean at a famous baal teshuva yeshiva that also has many regular talmidim, he can demand a hefty fee for his legal services and acumen coupled with an understanding of Jewish law, so is he being paid, if so by whom, and how much, and if not, is he performing his work here pro bono as an act of charitableness and chesed to a fellow Jew and talmid chochem in serious trouble and facing potential jail time?
* Is the faculty at Ohr Somayach supportive of Rav Breitowitz's legal position and do they endorse his points of view and his actions since he is their official dean and top resident talmid chochem, having taken over the slot of Rav Mendel Weinbach ZT"L the dean and founder of Ohr Somayach?
* Rav Breitowitz is personally one of the finest and kindest and gentlest people, very far removed from the image one would think of someone who supports the use of force to accomplish anything, so why is he endorsing here when he knows it is not a just a theoretical matter but something that has happened many times over and has the public ire up in arms over it?
* Since he supports the position of the parties accused of using brutal PHYSICAL tactics to attain their ends, that sounds and looks a lot like a mitzva haba'a be'aviera, would he then therefore also endorse it in other scenarios where how to "apply" and "interpret" Jewish law is in dispute such as when a prominent rebbe sent his gabbaim to beat up or burn down another Jew's house, or when a well-known frum activists is shot at and physically attacked for hunting down pedophiles in his kehilla, or when fanatics attack people who do not fit their notions of frumkeit in Yerushalayim for whatever reason they may have, is that okay too?
These are just a few serious questions that bubble to the surface as one thinks about this whole situation with Rav Breitowitz involvement as he surprisingly endorses the use of force in current modern day situations, "enforcing" the laws of the jungle aka "my way or the highway as a new paradigm for Halacha to "follow" in modern times!
Were does Rav Heineman back ORA?
ReplyDeleteAfter discovering that this whole fiasco was a sting operation, and he had
ReplyDeletebeen had big time, has been lied to, fed with false documentation's, why would
he depose a whole host of excuses that it was a mitzva. Residing so far away,
and getting personally involved from where he cannot verify whether anything
said is true, indeed the whole story is LO DUBIM VELO YAAR, not only he should
have stayed away to begin with, but he is throwing good money after bad. After
the facts, What is he trying to prove. This whole fiasco is MEZUYEF mitocho
umigabo. This is a classic example of Metaher sheretz bekif nun taamim, vetoivel
beyodo, in mikva posul without any water. Why didn't he say, this job is to be
done in your own turf? Haloy rechei milsa hi, huh? If he was trying to help out on previous beatings, tovoi imo utkaneach tzoas bito. Let those directly involved take responsibility and explain themselves!
ORA website.
ReplyDeleteLets assume that Beating an evil husband up is permitted, but even the Rambam says that you can only do that if there was a valid Beis Din and only as a LAST resort. What we have now with Epstein is complete opposite, as proven by the existence of the case itself. That he didn't do his due diligence,he didnt do any investigation or any trial, instead he took the money for the "hit" and did the crime. If he was trying to go according to even Rambam Halacha,and investigated he would never have been caught in a stint by the Feds - he would have figured that something is fishy.
ReplyDeleteThe issue of money is also very important it is not just some abstract number, if he really did the beating in the Name of Heaven took say 500 bucks for his trouble to beat the husband,he would have had a much better incentive to investigate each case and find a reason not to use violence, since he would be loosing time/money/and risking jail time for that, thus he would try to do it only as LAST resort. But since it became a for-profit business,of-course he will jump at any opportunity to make a buck, why find a way out?
Go on ORA's website and see his letter for ORA. The letter I believe i copied on my website in the article about R Heinemann go to www.torahhalacha.blogspot.com .
ReplyDeleteI don't think the faculty at Ohr sameach know as much as R' Breitowitz does. He is a very big talmid chachamim, and has a very serious reputation in halacha. His colleagues, in that yeshiva, are slick talkers but do not know much Torah, with the exception of perhaps R' Schiller.
ReplyDeleteA problem with this kind of yeshiva is that they are preaching to novices and it is more about show than substance, and often they just make it up as they go along, since the likelihood of being found out by BTs is very slim.
With his declaration to the US District Court, Breitowitz has served notice that he is actually a cruel, corrupt, feminist clergyman advocating brutal and violent violations of Jewish men's G-d give halachic rights, while demonstrating utter contempt for Torah law and ethics.
ReplyDeleteThe imposter "rabbis" with their thuggish jack-boot feminism pose a great danger to Jewish families and to the survival of Torah law and ethics.
If Jewish families are to survive, and if any semblance of authentic Judaism is to be preserved, all the imposter "Orthodox rabbis" such as Breitowitz must be defrocked and expelled from the community of Torah observant Jews.