Kikar Shabbat (my rough translation from the Hebrew)
The Rosh Yeshiva of Chut shel Chesed - one of the most important Breslov rabbis - announced that he is discontinuing meeting with women who are seeking advice. He explained that this is because the yetzer harah of rabbis is greater than other people.
As a result of the serious allegations related to the case of Ezra Sheinberg that were made public this month in Tzfas, Rav Arush anounced that he will no longer meet with women as part of his regular meeting with the public. He told Kikar Shabbat that he stated that with the explosion of allegations of serious irregularities in Tzfas he has told his chassidim and students he has firmly decided that from now he will not meet with women. He told his students that the reason was "the yetzer harah of rabbis is greater than other people." Therefore it is prohibited for rabbis to meet with women to provide them with advice...
He also stated that even if the husband comes together with his wife to seek advice he is not willing to meet with the wife. Consequently from now on - women who seek his advice can only get it through the means of a written note brought by the husband.
This seems extreme. The daughters of Tzlaf'chad asked their question directly to Moshe. Women with Kashrus questions have traditionally brought their questions to the Rav. Women with family questions of all types address their questions to their Rabbi.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, I admire a man who knows his limits. The Rosh Yeshiva has gained my respect.
Easy way out doesn't solve a yetzeh harah problem.
ReplyDeleteAmerican evangelical minister reverend billy graham was extremely careful to never meet in private with a woman.
ReplyDeleteWhy ever not? That's the point behind the issurei yichud and negiah -- prevent the sin, i.e. fight the yetzer hara, by eliminating the opportunity.
ReplyDeleteSo is any serious rav worth his salt. The door to his study remains open, his wife is home and can walk in etc.
ReplyDeleteGood job there are women rabbis now isn't it - problem solved!
ReplyDeleteI think Rav Arush specializes in Emuna and Shalom Bayis (and his student bestselling author Rabbi Brody writes books based on RA's lectures. See here http://www.jewishtimesasia.org/one-to-one-topmenu-45/rabbi-lazer-brody). Women come to him for guidance which includes sympathy which can lead to the problems he's afraid of.
ReplyDeleteDoes Rav Arush answer questions of dry halachah and will he take phone questions from women of dry halacha? Finding that out should shed some light on what this latest move of his is all about.
There are also priests and Imams and they don't make a difference either.
ReplyDeleteI know RaP doesn't want/need my support in his arguments, but i will elaborate on what he is saying , at my own risk.
ReplyDeleteKabbalah,as a discipline, was something traditionally hidden. It is obviously a very powerful field, and not something to be handed out like candy. In the past, the level of Tzaddikim involved in Kabbalah was astonishing - the Arizal, R' Moshe Cordovero, R Yosef Karo, the Ramchal, the Gra etc. Even so, at times, even this level of Tzaddik/Gadol had to be restrained from publicly disseminating their Kabbalah, such as was the case with the Ramchal, who had a ban from R' Moshe Hagiz. In times when there was a breakout of Kabbalah hysteria and public marketing, it led to troubles. We often mention how Shabbetai Zvi /Nathan of Aza started out frum, but look where it ended.
Today, we do not even have Gedolim who are akin to the Arizal , the Ramchal, or Gra. yet every Tom, Dick and Chaimy delve into these areas. it has become a big industry, where goyim and celebrities go to the Berg Kabbalah industry, giving millions to the Berg dynasty (who originally studied under R Ashlag).
Chabad, started as a frum Chassidic group, and were opposed by the Gra, and eventually ended up with false claims of Meshichus, and caused the greatest fracture in Orthodoxy in the last 100 years.
Now, anyone who becomes a Rabbi can get additional income and prestige by pretending to have super-powers, and doing "miracles". Many of these make big money from the rich Israelis, who go them for advice. of course, the poor ones can neither afford the advice, nor do they become rich once they receive it.
Abuse of power is nothing new - we see that the sons of Eli abused their power with married women, although this was not kabbalah, but they had priesthood and controlled the sacrifices.
The yeshiva in Tzfat was for israeli teenagers before going to the army. What kind of yeshiva teaches kabbalah to these kids? it was previously reserved for someone over 40, married and learned.
So this whole industry has to be seen for what it is. It is a perversion, and quite the opposite of how Kabbalah was originally practiced by the true masters. But it is difficult to put the genie back into the bottle. Everyone today studies kabbalah, yet nobody is really qualified (or very few).
The daughters of Tzlafchad were not Aishes Ish and might have been tahor, (I assume they kept tumaah and taharah in the Midbar and as such even a pnuyah would go to the mikvah.) There was also no gezeras Yichud on a penuyah until after David and they were technically mutar to Moshe (who as a melech could have taken them as a pilegesh l'kol hadeios). The issue would have been that they were proscribed from marrying out of the Shevet so their heirs would not take away the from Menashe's inheritance, but from the simple reading of the pesukim that halacha was not given until after they met with Moshe. .
ReplyDeleteI'm late to this conversation, but i'll say kvittel = $$$` you can't get rid of the personal face to face meeting.
ReplyDeleteHow do you know this Rosh Yeshiva takes kvitlach? How do you know Rebbehs don't take kvitlach through a messenger?
ReplyDeleteEach to his own. Two top Israeli Gedolim who passed away in the 1980s would not see women. (Others, or I might say, the rest, did.) It's ludicrous to challenge those Gedolim from Moshe Rabbeinu, other Gedolim, and everyone in between.
ReplyDeleteRav Arush isn't the first one to do these things. It's a joke to be certain he's doing it for the show.
Does he have a wife? Why not meet with a woman with his wife present, or in the next room with the door open? That is the way most rabbanim deal with it.
ReplyDeleteAnd seriously, his yetzer hara is so strong who would be lead astray even when meeting with a woman and her husband together? What would he do, try to seduce the woman with her husband right there? (The halacha for yichud is that baalah be ir is enough to deter anything improper -- it is enough that the woman's husband is in town. And he says it is not enough for him if the husband is sitting in the same room!?!)
The whole thing sounds phony.
Don l'kaf chov much? (during the 9 days even)
ReplyDeletewow.
ReplyDeleteYichud doesn't prevent meeting with women, it prevents meeting with women solely. Instead Rabbi Arush have your wife, secretary, daughter, in the room with you.
ReplyDeleteNegiah prevents any desirous touching & it doesn't eliminate women from your life circle. Once again... Study mussar, build a strong foundation of Yiras Shamayim & tackle life. Avoiding sin is not accomplished through sitting in a locked closet.