Rabbi Arie Folger was elected Chief Rabbi of Vienna this week, with the Blessings of Leading Rabbis and Sages of Israel and of the heads of the Conference of European Rabbis. [...]
Folger will replace the outgoing Chief Rabbi Chaim Eisenberg, who is retiring from Vienna's chief rabbinate but will continue to serve as Chief Rabbi of Austria.
“With the blessing and encouragement of Torah Sages, Hassidic rabbis, yeshiva heads, Rabbis and Sages, I accept upon myself the yoke of the Chief Rabbinate of Vienna, the city in which great sages of Israel, great rabbinic geniuses, Hassidic leaders and rabbis," Folger stated. "I will do all it takes to inspire loyalty to the Torah and enhance its glory, increase Jewish education and enhance religious institutions, unify the community and belabor to continue the holy work of my esteemed predecessor, Chief Rabbi Chaim Eisenberg."
The 21 members of the Kultusrat, the Religious Council of the Jewish Community of Vienna, unanimously voted for him to serve as chief rabbi of the capital of Austria.
Folger will assume his post in June 2016, before the holiday of Shavuot. According to the community's constitution, he will serve for three months under the outgoing chief rabbi, as the senior rabbi of the community and will then take office as Chief Rabbi of Vienna. [...]
In his youth he studied under the late Rabbi Yehuda Aryeh Treger at Yeshivat Etz Chaim in Antwerp, Belgium, a son in law of the late highly respected senior halachic authority RabbiShlomo Zalman Auerbach. He then studied in Gateshead, England, with Rabbi Abraham Gurvitz. Subsequently he studied in Israel for three years, at Yeshivat Mir, where he became close to Rabbi Yitchzak Ezrachi.
He then emigrated to the United States, where he first studied at Yeshiva Mesivta Rabbenu Chaim Berlin, under Rabbi Aharon Schechter, a member of the Council of Torah Sages of the Agudath Israel of America. Finally, he studied for five years at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University, where he was ordained. The Hassidic Grand RabbiYaakov Yeshayahu Halberstam of Szmigrad also ordained him. [...]
Very eclectic yeshiva education to say the least. Not many people with such a résumé
ReplyDeleteWhat is the meaning of the title?
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing in the post about oppressed children
Any regular follower of this blog will be aware of the case of the Schlesinger twins. So many Rabbis around the world have expressed their disgust at the Vienna Jewish community, but so far not any of Viennas 27 Rabbis could care less about this injustice.
ReplyDeletehttp://helpbeth.blogspot.co.uk/p/endorsements.html
I guess we will find out soon whether Rabbi Folger is more interested in his job, than the lives of two innocent children.
Reputations are made and destroyed very quickly in our modern interconnected world of social media.
This is an allusion to the injustice perpetrated against Beth Schlesinger (nee Alexander) and her twin children. See here:
ReplyDeletehttp://helpbeth.blogspot.co.il/p/home-page.html
I doubt it.
ReplyDeletethere are basic Torah laws that a rabbi can be expected to enforce or at least try and enforce in his community. If there is a conflict between the welfare of the child and a secular court ruling - the welfare of the child takes precedence
ReplyDeleteWhat can a Rabbi do regarding the child arrangements if the court has ruled the opposite? The Rabbi seems powerless on it.
ReplyDeleteHard to believe he would aggravate all the rabbis so soon after he's elected
ReplyDeleteEven lending his name to a letter of support for Beth would be valuable.
ReplyDeleteThey could make Schlesinger persona non grata like they did too Ronald Lauder http://www.jta.org/2012/12/11/news-opinion/world/in-europe-charges-of-ron-lauder-tinkering-in-jewish-politics-causes-a-stir
ReplyDeleteTo suggest that Rabbi Folger carries no responsibility towards the Schlesinger twins as chief Rabbi is ludicrous!!
A "folger" means a "listener" or "follower" in Yiddish.
ReplyDeleteWho will he listen to and follow remains to be seen.
I doubt that Schlesinger will listen to a rabbi. If he does not listen, not much can be done...
ReplyDelete!!
ReplyDeleteHe has the responsibility but he is powerless to change the legal dynamics.
ReplyDeleteAs mentioned above, he could even add his name to one of the existing Rabbinic letters. That is a bare minimum.
ReplyDeleteThat is different. Lauder was starting up with local 'askanim'.
ReplyDeleteBesides, all that means is that lauder won't get an aliyah in shul, till this is settled.
The twins are still being deprived of their mother.
I doubt shlesinger will listen to rabbis. As long as one rabbi $upport$ him (the chabad rav) (and even if no rav), heis like T, and her rabbi,, the K's, and or RNG.
ReplyDeleteWhy has no Rabbi in Vienna put their name to any of the numerous public outcries from the international Rabbinic community? Even if Schlesinger did have one Rabbi supporting him, it doesn't explain the silence of all the others.
ReplyDeleteThe local 'askanim' should be extremely concerned about the Schlesinger case as it has brought international attention to a community that enjoyed privacy whilst neck deep in corruption for their own means. Now that the whole world is seeing the Vienna Jewish community as a sewer, their status as a community is brought into question. No one will trust their kashrus, semicha, mikvaot, etc. If I was on the board of 'askanim' in Vienna I would be making life as difficult as possible for Schlesinger until he gives in. If I was Folger, I would refuse to take on such a role without the means to properly address the Schlesinger situation otherwise all that lovely CV would become part of the huge volume of sewage that Vienna is so proudly growing.
ReplyDeletethe local rabbanus doesn't care if no one trusts their kashrut (besides locally sold food, what kashrut issues are there? wine. so what?)
ReplyDeletesemicha? do they even have a yeshiva or private smicha?
mikvaot? only applies to local families. maybe a couple of guests per year.
You'd be surprised. YU has a number of such musmachim.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Arutz Sheva, "Folger intends to travel to Israel to receive the blessing of the sage of the Lithuanian yeshiva world Rabbi Aharon Leib Steinman, who blessed him that “he shall not fail in halakhic matters and that he may be received most favorably by the public.""
ReplyDeleteSomeone should go to RALS before RF gets there and ask RALS to talk to him about it