Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Kaminetsky-Greenblatt Heter: The shameful reality is they think we are stupid

As mentioned yesterday, R Sholom Kaminetsky wrote a letter in which he acknowledged that Rav Dovid Feinstein had paskened that the heter was worthless and that he accepted this psak.

Some people felt that this was news worth celebrating - after all didn't the forces of good triumph over the forces of evil? The answer is no! The situation is much worse than before.

What was Rav Dovid Feinstein doing for the last 6 weeks? Apparently he was given one job and that was to decide whether the heter was good or not. Why did he do this? He apparently did this because the Novominsker and others convinced him that he was the only one that Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky would listen to - as in fact Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky wrote to Rav Weiss when he asked him not to protest against the heter. 

Thus Rav Feinstein was paskening solely for the sake of Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky regarding the heter. He was not dealing with what Tamar Epstein should do, nor was he deciding whether Aharon Friedman should give a Get. He was not dealing with the corruption of the halacha in this case with a phony seruv issued by Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky. He was also not dealing with whether Rav Nota Greenblatt was wrong in paskening based on a flawed psychiatric report based solely on Tamar Epstein's biased views about a case where Rav Nota didn't bother to speak to both sides or even verify that the information he was spoon fed by R Sholom Kaminetsky was true.

In short - Rav Dovid Feinstein was used to save the hide of the Kaminetskys. With his psak about the heter he gave Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky and son a ladder to climb down from the branch that they were precariously hanging from that was being sawed off by the major rabbonim around the world who have explicitly condemned the heter.

That is why the heter was not announced publicly but was sent to R Shalom Kaminetsky. It was only his response that was published and that done through the strange publication in Matzav - not the normal channel for such an important notification. There is no written psak from Rav Dovid Feinstein and there is no official letter of response from Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky. It is simply smoke and mirrors. I was told that if there had been an official written psak, that the Kaminetskys would have been subject to direct criticism by the Rabbonim and  by the media and they would not have retracted. Rav Dovid Feinstein and the Aguda avoided this spectacle by making a virtual announcement. This way the Kaminetskys were allow to make it appear that they were innocent bystanders - without Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky actually saying anything. 

Ah but you are saying - but Rav Dovid did invalidate the heter. Isn't that progress? The answer is no. Primarily because Rav Greenblatt has not retracted his mistaken psak. Thus Rav Dovid Feinstein was suckered into making this a machlokess haposkim. It is now his view versus Rav Greenblatt. Tamar can simply say that she received the heter from a major posek and that the heter is still in place. Nothing has changed,

What needs to happen is that Rav Dovid Feinstein has to issue a written psak -  as has been done by major figures such as Rav Shlomo Miller and the Baltimore Beis Din. He needs to explicitly criticize the process of the heter - otherwise it will open a floodgate of phony heterim. Rav Dovid has done nothing to protect us from anyone with mail order smicha doing away with the need for Gittin.

He needs to write that Tamar needs to separate from Adam. Without addressing the status of Tamar and what she has to do - it remains simply a public relations move to save the Kaminetskys.

Finally Rav Dovid Feinstein needs to directly criticize Rav Nota Greenblatt for issuing the heter and trying to deceive everyone that he had nothing to do with the heter. He needs to make public condemnations so that no one in their right mind will think of doing this again. As it stands there is absolutely no downside of privately telling a woman he she doesn't need a get because if she had only known what she knows now she would never have married him. This is the Rackman mechanism - which has gained a foothold through this heter.

Bottom line, Nothing has been done to clean up the stinking garbage of corruption and trampling on our holy Torah. We need the restoration of Torah leadership - not more "leave it to the gedolim to decide" announcements.

42 comments:

  1. Politically IncorrectMarch 23, 2016 at 12:34 PM

    Da'as Torah, Bim'chillas k'vodchem I think it is all pretty evident. It is ridiculous to expect such a strong reaction from Reb Dovid as we would probably scratch our heads when in the world has he ever made such a move.

    I asked him to sign a letter regarding some matrimonial controversy to which he responded that he doesn't do such things.

    On a different occasion, also in a matrimonial dispute, he signed on behalf of someone, attesting that that person was honest and that person told me that it was the ONLY time he signed on behalf of someone's character!

    Finally, I attended a shloshim seudah and the rov who spoke after Rav Dovid spoke sharply about the cause of tzoros in Klal Yisroel and mentioned that things like talking in middle of kaddish and wearing see through stockings, to which Reb Dovid gasped as if in shock, like how can one even think of saying such a thing...and it was clear that he didn't disagree with that speaker (My written description may not prove it, but from watching it with my own eyes, it seemed pretty evident...)...

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  2. First of all, sorry that the Gedolei Torah are not following the marching orders of you and your ilk; that must be aggravating to you. Second of all, I don't understand what you mean by saying that R' Dovid must "write that Tamar needs to separate from Adam." If he has written that she is still married to the first husband, it is patently obvious that she needs to separate from the second one. Third of all, who said that he did not write this or that he did not communicate this to the people in question? The fact that he did not share his pesak with you does not mean that he didn't write one. Maybe he agrees with R' Aharon Feldman that the issue should not be addressed through the blogs. And BTW, I guess it stings to be scooped by Matzav.

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  3. You must also consider the many talmidim of the Yeshiva.
    To clarify, I never believed this HETER at any stage and it appeared as an obvious attempt to distort the halocho. However considering the status of RSK it is not practical that everyone will say the whole truth. In this case it is clearly the duty of this blog and many others to do just that and Rabbi Feinstein will do his job which is to allow an honorable climb down for RSK.

    Yeshar kochachem

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  4. It is not necessary for Rav Dovid to directly criticize a naive old man like Reb N. Greenblatt. Thanks to the video by Rabbi Hershel Schachter everyone knows the psak was not arrived at properly. The only thing that needs to be done now is to publicize that false information designed to get a specific result was spoon-fed by Shalom Kaminetzsky to a rabbi 1,000 miles away to get what a spoiled little rich brat could not get in the Northeast.

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  5. “There is no written psak from Rav Dovid Feinstein and there is no official letter of response from Rav Shmuel Kaminetsky.”

    Terrible. That leaves that Rabbi Greenblatt gave a heter for Tamar to marry her boyfriend. The feminist supporters should be ecstatic. They can claim that Rabbi Greenblatt sees how evil Aaron is and nothing else is making Aaron budge. This supports Mendel Epstein et al claim that they do a mitzvah knocking teeth from a recalcitrant husband. True, we need Rabbi Greenblatt to cancel his heter.

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  6. Shame on you Yehoshua - you are trying to turn this into petty psychological squabbles.

    This is a major disaster that has a large audience and they are waiting for the matter to be handled in a clear and transparent manner. Remember many of the psakim written by the rabbonim have stated that Tamar needs to separate. No it is not obvious what Rav Dovid holds.

    The mere fact that he did not tell Tamar to separate prior to his investigation was because he felt she had gotten a valid psak that she could hold by. It seems at this point Rav Dovid accepts that the issue is a halachic dispute between himself and Rav Greenblatt.

    No it doesn't sting to be scooped. Matzav is part of the carefully orchestrated whitewashing. It is part of the story not an observer.

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  7. I am not trying to turn this into anything. The fact is that you performed a valuable service by bringing this issue to the attention of the public. But since then, you have criticized every gadol baTorah who has not acted in line with the way you would want. R' Aharon Feldman says to handle things quietly, you blast him. R' Dovid Feinstein chooses to handle things quietly, you blast him. You don't know what his pesak was, I don't know what his peask was, and there is no reason for you or I to know.

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  8. I strongly disagree. You are missing the point. A public scandal involving questions of propriety of major rabbinic figures whose actions have been strongly condemned world wide by major rabbonim - is not resolved by tellling everyone that it will be resolved quietly behind closed doors and not to worry about it.

    If the major concern is to silence all criticism and awareness of this scandal - it will be a pyhrric victory. The emunas chochamim which has been lost will not be regained by demands to stop asking questions.

    The fact that Rav Dovid Feinstein has not publicized his psak is not a reason to remain silent nor is it reason to assume that "everything has been made nice" Again we are being treated as being stupid and incapable of knowing what is important.

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  9. I think the reason Rav Dovid did not tell Tamar to separate prior to his investigation was simply that he did not want to give her an excuse to later claim that he ruled against her as retaliation. She would not have listened to Rav Dovid to separate from her "husband". She had a heter and she was following it. Any psak Rav Dovid would rule against her after that, she would say was out of spite for her not listening to him.

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  10. The crux of the issue is that your statement of "major rabbinic figures whose actions have been strongly condemned world wide by major rabbonim" just does not hold up. At least in terms of the people generally considered the "major rabbonim" in the Litvish olam haTorah, there has not been condemnation of the actions of the rabbis Kamenestsky, there has been disagreement, even vehement disagreement, with the pesak. You may want him banned from the moetzes and he and his son removed from the yeshiva, but that call has not come from anyone other than R' Gestetner.

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  11. According to Greenblatt, Aaron Friedman was never Tamar's husband so what justifies Mendel Epstein claim to do anything at all to him? He's not withholding a get, so why does the Silver Spring community still persecute him. Greenblatt says he's mentally ill! Shouldn't he be treated with kindness due to his affliction?
    Which way does the community want it?

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  12. Matzav is owned and run by Pinchos Liphshitz of Yated USA and a close talmid of Philadelphia and RSK.

    that says everything

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  13. Once again, as so many times before, Daas Torah and Rabbi Eidensohn, has shown to be the protector of Torah and Halacha. The commentary you present above hits the nail on the head.
    Please continue and continue -
    AD BIAS GOAIL ZEDEK BIMHAIRA BIYAMAINU

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  14. Note I said "actions" not people - so it does hold. I am not asking for anyone to be banned or crucified. I am simply asking for transparncy and honesty.

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  15. No one ever cared about r nota. He's not big enough to have to protect. He's a very learned and fine person, but also very naive. The same naivety that he was just being used when they called him a bar samcha. The same naivety that he didn't realize he would be dropped like a hot potato when he became a liability.
    Maybe this should be a lesson for those who think it's ok to do the dirty work of the 'gedolim' and they will be protected.

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  16. One also has to consider it unlikely k suddenly changed their minds after 30 rabbanim condemn them just because r dovid also joined the party

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  17. Asher Kaufman says “According to Greenblatt, Aaron Friedman was never Tamar's husband so what justifies Mendel Epstein claim to do anything at all to him?” No, Rabbi Greenblatt and Mendel Epstein et al and Goldfein etc did what they did to help agunot. We do need Rav Dovid to pronounce what they did as evil. Without such a pronouncement, we can expect more similar actions of Greenblatt, Epstein et al and Goldfein---in the name of the mitzvah of helping agunot. We do need Greenblatt, Epstein et al, goldfein, Susan Aranoff etc to announce what they did as evil.

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  18. Rav Dovid shlit"a does as Reb Dovid always does. He interprets the holy sources and decides on a halachic stance.

    Most commenters are not okay with his decision that the heter is invalid BUT demand him to issue directives, use hateful rhetoric & spread poison throughout the Torah World.

    The Satmar Rebbe & his Chassidim hated the pasock of Reb Moshe ztl on birth control & rendered him incompetent - guess this blog is doing the same, either MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY!!!

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  19. Disagreeing with someone halachic understanding and their mistaken understanding of Psychology as well as their manufacturering of lies is not inherently hateful rhetoric or spreading poison to point this out.

    Your presumption that all questioning and criticism is hateful is pretty silly - but is par for the course - as the only defense that has been mounted for the Kaminetskys.

    Why not stick to the facts instead of attacking the messenger of information that displeases you.

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  20. ORA is a RASHA organization of bandits that needs to be disbanded and brought to justice. There is no indication in R' Dovid's psak on his stand against them, of which is part and parcel of the issue at hand. Why should Bnei Yisrael be at the mercy of Baaalei Egrofin pochzim vereikim. What would R' Akiva Eiger say on such anoshin nitzim? RESHOIM OLECHO YISRAEL. According to the Torah, va'asisem lo ka'asher zomam... veheim kolim me'eilehem. Mr. rabbi what's his face with his bullhorn can go blow.

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  21. This blog is the protector of Torah & Halacha, wouldn't you say that is the role of our leadership, manhigim & Rabbanim?

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  22. Yated, Hamodia & others will stay as far away as possible from this plague!!

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  23. Once again, Rav Dovid will never issue a "seperation demand". That is not his way & you know that!

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  24. Reb Dovid probably gasped in disgust!!!!

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  25. Birth control? Huh, I think your confused

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  26. No, they have proven useless

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  27. Sure , since they are doing the bidding of these shitless gedolim

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  28. And that is one of the unfortunate circumstances we have today. Maybe it's time to send out postcards again like I did with this one a while back. Unfortunately my resources were limited so It didn't get as much distribution as needed.

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  29. Sure. But when our leadership, manhigim & Rabbanim do something dishonest and corrupt someone has to speak up. Zimri ben Salu was a leader &, manhig too.

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  30. He's not big enough to have to protect.

    Rav Dovid wants to protect him. But it is only Rav Dovid, as opposed to Aggudah etc who wants protect RSK Sr.

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  31. Hey, but Pinny Lipshutz has claimed many times that "he has nothing to do with Matzav.com". Well, I guess he's been lying for quite a while.

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  32. There was a different case that I am aware of where he told a person that a get was not valid - but he refused to relay this to anyone else.

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  33. When somone goes asking a bossor becholv shaila from a rov, does he measure his words in reply, such mutar - ossur or does he answer in full as to the fate of the cooking vessel as well? I will not believe that R' Dovid did not respond in FULL and in it's entirety. However, this is too much laundered and not disinfected airing it out in the sun. Mechasse tefach umchasse tfochayim. I would also add that I take it for granted that R' Dovid directed to separate from Adam while yet in session, pun intended.

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  34. Politically IncorrectMarch 24, 2016 at 10:23 PM

    To TE - if she abides by Reb Dovid's p'sak. ..

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  35. “Kaminetsky-Greenblatt Heter: The shameful reality is they think we are stupid”

    Greenblatt, Mendel Epstein, Goldfein, Susan Aranoff etc break the halacha law in the name of a higher good, in their opinion, to free an aguna, Tamar. Sad to say, seems Rav Dovid is following, with his silence, in this vein. In the gamara a husband must work to free his wife if she’s held captive by bandits seeking ransom money. This is the husband’s basic obligation. I can bring quotes. Greenblatt, Mendel Epstein, Goldfein, Susan Aranoff etc view the husband as the chief bandit!! Absurd! Ridiculous! The husband wants his wife to return to the beis din and to follow the bei din. Nothing less than the husband divorcing his wife will ever satisfy Greenblatt, Mendel Epstein, Goldfein, Susan Aranoff etc.

    Our approach must be that breaking the halacha law in the name of an opinion of a higher good is evil. Yes, in the name of saving a life or serious injury. I’m wondering if the Mendel Epstein et al appeal to a higher federal court could possibly lead to the higher federal court to increase punishment for the offenders and to possibly punish Goldfein for his obvious lies.? This would serve warning to all feminist supporters not to break USA criminal laws in the name of a helping an agunah.

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  36. I've shown the letter from Matzav written by Mr. Shalom Kaminetzsky to several people and all of them say it sounds to be deliberately muddling and confusing. The impression I get is that he was told by Rav Dovid Feinstein to write something public that would remove the embarrassment to Reb Shmuel. I am almost certain the letter "leaked" to Matzav was not what Rav Dovid had in mind. Mr. Kaminetzsky though is a clever boy who knows how to obey the letter of instructions given to him without fulfilling the intent.

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  37. Does anyone here know the source in the writings of the Chazon Ish for this statement?

    "By way of preface, the Chazon Ish writes that when it comes to
    examining the conduct of Gedolei Yisroel there is no Issur of Loshon
    Horoh. The Chazon Ish explains that when it comes to Gedolei Yisroel,
    Klal Yisroel needs its Gedolim just like an ordinary individual might
    need a plumber or a tailor. Just like Lashon Harah is Muttar Litoleles
    when discussing a tradesman so too it is Muttar when examining the
    conduct of Gedolim. In other words, if somebody otherwise reputed to be
    a Gadol is behaving inappropriately, Klal Yisroel has a need to know
    since it affects his status as a Gadol and thus how the Klal should
    treat him. There is certainly no shortage of examples of people who one
    part of Klal Yisroel revered as a Gadol whereas others did not and were
    not shy in stating that. Such conduct is not only permitted but
    required, since the failure to advise that someone is not considered a
    Gadol will inevitably result in people following his erroneous path."

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  38. It is in his letters and is posted on the blog - I have cited it a number of times

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  39. Wow! Some of the items that came up on that search are quite enlightening.

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  40. Politically IncorrectMarch 28, 2016 at 5:27 AM

    As they say inFrench, "voila" - there you go. ....

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  41. Politically IncorrectMarch 28, 2016 at 5:32 AM

    But Stanley, I was there and it is difficult to interpret the scenario like this, as I such anticipated that you or anybody might argue (as alluded in the parentheses at the end of the comment that you are responding to. ....)

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  42. Politically IncorrectJuly 6, 2016 at 5:31 PM

    And as I type, 3 months later, the lack of outcry continues to be a problem, for one, because they didn't separate. ..

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