Friday, August 10, 2018

Towards a Working Theory of American Gadolim in the Post-truth Era

The study of Torah is built on a fundamental bedrock concept that the Torah is knowable. This underlies the whole institution of Gadolim. Moshe Rabeinu received the Torah and he knew the Torah. This is why it was possible to ask him a question about the Torah and he would answer it. This is why, when he couldn't answer a question, as by Pinchas, that the whole nation was in peril.

In every generation there are leaders, who study the Torah and know the Torah. Collectively, they are the Moshe of that generation. If there is only Torah scholar leader, then he, individually, is the Moshe of that generation.

Moral relativism has undermined that concept.

Moral relativism means that there is no absolute right or wrong. Thus, a moral relativist will maintain that the Torah is unknowable.

Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky appears to be the synthesis of Torah with moral relativism. He studies Torah. But ultimately, he holds it's unknowable. He is unwilling to state, for example, who Tamar Epstein is married to. He points to Rabbis who have different answers.

Rabbi Kamenetsky represents a new kind of Gadol. What shall we call him? Perhaps we will coin a new term: Apikoros Gadol, or Api-Gadol.

An Api-Gadol can never be reasoned with nor swayed by Halachic arguments. An Api-Gadol holds that Torah is unknowable. He embodies this unknowability. His pronouncements are thus perfect because they can never be challenged. His statements are "true" by dint of coming from him, not because of any Mesorah.

What crystallized this idea of Api-Gadol for me was a series of stories I received from multiple sources about the power that Rabbis in a certain city hold over many of the Torah observant inhabitants there.

The Rabbis apparently wield this power in an arbitrary fashion to suit themselves. There is no formal mechanism to challenge, question, or in any way change their decisions.

True Gadolim can be challenged. The daughters of Tzlapchod challenged Moshe. Respectfully, with great deference, asking but not demanding -- yet, still with all that, challenging. And that is because G-d Himself can be challenged, as Avrohom challenged G-d regarding the Five Cities. The right to challenge a Gadol stems from the very belief that the true Gadol knows the Torah, the Word of G-d.

And the unchallengeability of an Api-Gadol stems from his not knowing, by definition, the Torah. For if an Api-Gadol claims to know the Torah, he would cease being an Api-Gadol. An Api-Gadol's status rests on his refusal to be challenged.

The stories told to me about this certain city were nigh unbelievable to me. I will share one, and only in vague outline. I was told that this city allowed the Yeshiva where these Rabbis hold sway to obtain some city land. Part of the land was then given over to build a ballpark. Some complained that the Yeshiva had contributed to a ballpark in the midst of the city that might draw in Jewish kids.

So the Yeshiva issued a letter that if a child in any family was caught going to a ballgame in the ballpark, then the child would not be welcome in any school associated with the Yeshiva. Furthermore, none of the siblings of the child would be welcome in any of the schools.

Collective punishment.

This ruling could be challenged in many ways from a Halachic perspective. But apparently, the leaders of this Yeshiva are Api-Gadolim, the pseudo-Moshe of the city.

These are just some of my thoughts. My intention in sharing them is to explain the necessity for pulling back from communities where Api-Gadolim rule. This is not sepsrating from the Tzibur. It is the opposite. This is creating a Klal that has rid itself of Apikorsos and that clings to true Gadolim.

44 comments :

  1. What nonsense. A lot of fallacies and fantasies in this article.

    1) The study of Torah is built on a fundamental bedrock concept that the Torah is knowable.

    That is in itself true, but Rabbonim teach the opposite - that Torah is not knowable, and that you need to follow the interpretation of Rabbonim or the Sages. they say that the torah is not knowable, and it is only through received wisdom that we can understand, and only then when we listen toe very word of the rabbis.

    2) "Collectively, they are the Moshe of that generation. If there is only Torah scholar leader, then he, individually, is the Moshe of that generation."

    I have heard this statement but what is it based on? There are generations when the leaders do not know what they are doing - like the parable in the gemara of the shepherd who blinds his lead goat to lead the flock of the cliff.

    3) "Moral relativism means that there is no absolute right or wrong. Thus, a moral relativist will maintain that the Torah is unknowable."

    So what does the Tannur of Akhnai teach us about truth? Or about knowing the Torah? More practically, what was the case of R' Yaakov Emden vs. R' Yonathan Eybeschutz? Who was right and who was wrong? Or Rav Moshe Hagiz vs. The Ramchal?

    There is a difference of opinion on the Korabn Pesach between the Rambam and the Raavad. The raavad says he would not go near the Korban Pesach that rambam describes, and calls it treif. So whow as right and who was wrong? Are you suggesting that one of these gedolim were absolutely non-orthodox?

    4) "True Gadolim can be challenged. The daughters of Tzlapchod challenged Moshe."


    This may be the case in Biblical Judaism, but apparently not so in some aspects of Rabbinic Judaism. The Mishnah tells us about the Gadol hador Rav Akavya ben Mehalelel. He had a valid tradition from a majority that a certain act by previous generation of Rabbis was based on personal interest. however, for stating this view, he was threatened and also given a carrot of becoming Av Beis Din. When he refused, he was put in Nidui, and then he dies, with stones being thrown at his coffin. So even the greatest and most honest Torah leader who had a received majority opinion was not able to challenge previous gedolim because of non-truth mechanisms, and nothing to do with intrinsic halacha. i.e. he was only stating the truth that he heard it from a majority, yet this view was shunned because of kavod due previous Gedolim.



    Why did Moshe accept the claim of the daughters of Tzelopachad, but in Akavya's case, his claim was not even countenanced?


    Who defines apikorsus? Each group calls the other apikorsim. And it always happens to be "your" group that is "right" .

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  2. I think some of your points can be addressed by this parable.

    A group of men set out to climb a mountain. As they approach the summit, the path becomes more and more difficult.

    Finally, they break up into groups. Each makes the final segment of the climb from a side opposite to the other.

    With the Torah, we are all in agreement about most of it. Nobody disputes that Shabbos is the seventh day of the week. Nobody disputes which day is Shabbos. What do we argue about? Where the International Date Line is. As we dig down further and further, as we ascend higher and higher, the way becomes less clear.

    Given, then, two or more choices of how the Halacha should be, what do we do? By consensus we select one man, and we ask him to choose.

    That's what happened at the time of the Shulchan Aruch being written, and why we are bound by the rulings of the Shulchan Aruch till this day.

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  3. Shulchan Aruch was opposed by many, including the Maharal of Prague. We are bound by what we choose to be bound by. Some follow Rambam, some the Aruch hashulchan. Maharal said its better to learn from the Talmud and risk errors, than to rely on one book. Raavad also wasn't too happy with the Yad.

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  4. If a man converts to Islam, for example, can his wife have the kiddushin annulled?

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  5. That's a whole discussion in the Shulchan Aruch whether a Get can be forced in that type of case. But, no, in general, the Halacha is that marriages cannot be annulled.

    Many women have difficulty with the idea of needing a Get to be divorced. The way forward is to have Pilegesh marriages which do not require a Get to be dissolved.

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  6. Who made lists in the post Talmudic era? Is Rambam reform for mocking geonim? Is Raavad or anyone else reform for not agreeing with Rambam? Art scroll lists are worthless, as is Yated.

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  7. What are you talking about? Rabbis disagreeing is not necessarily an indication of disrespect.

    There are lists that are thorough. Give me a call some time.

    202-251-3866

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  8. The cases I brought were where the positions were mutually exclusive. You did not address a single case , instead singing about harmony etc.

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  9. Mutually exclusive does not mean one must be wrong. I spelled that out.

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  10. When I get my free calls to America 😁.
    I'm not talking in particular about rsk. Look at emden/eybeschutz dispute. Probably bigger than Rav Shach/Lubavitcher dispute.

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  11. I agree “. He is unwilling to state, for example, who Tamar Epstein is married to. He points to Rabbis who have different answers. Rabbi Kamenetsky represents a new kind of Gadol. What shall we call him? Perhaps we will coin a new term: Apikoros Gadol, or Api-Gadol.”
    My reason is that Rabbi Kamenetsky is required to show the fake/phony PhD psychology letter to Aaron, so Aaron could defend himself and block his wife Rabbi Greenblatt remarrying her to another without Aaron giving a get.

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  12. Don't speak in generalities. What was the specific Halachic disagreement between two Rabbis that leads you to believe the Torah is unknowable?

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  13. "Torah is unknowable" is not my idea. But i have been told we cannot do anything or learn anything by reading the Torah - we must ask a Rav.


    The examples i gave :


    Tannur of Akhnai - Rav Elazar reaches a Bat Kol, ie he is 1 step away from Nevuah, and knows what he is talking about, but chachamim cannot follow his logic, . Chachamim don't actually "know" the truth, it is just a procedural rule that we follow the majority. So torah is not knowable in this case, and the one who does know is put in nidui.


    Akavya has a reliable tradition he heard about Shemaya and Avtalyon. he didn't make it up. But he is put in nidui for knowing this and telling the truth.


    Rambam and Raavad disagree on how to prepare the Korban Pesach. They each consider the other to be treif. So how do you know which one to follow if it became practical?

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  14. "There are lists that have been made of Rabbis in each and every
    generation, each receiving the Torah from the generation before. That
    chain has never been broken. To assert otherwise is Apirkosos."


    There is in Avot and in Rambam, the chain of transmission to Chazal. That is not being disputed here.


    I am saying that after the closing of Shas, we don't know who was the leader of each generation. Even in Rambam's time, not everyone considered him to be the leader, many opposed him. In Lubavitch, yes they have a rebbe, so they dont accept the Litvishers, and vice versa.

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  15. We cannot discuss this on this blog. We are using words but we are not speaking the same language.

    Someone who has studied the Written and Oral Torah under a Rav and accepts it as originating from G-d know the Torah.

    That's the definition of knowing the Torah.

    Now, going back once again to my climbing the mountain analogy. Sometimes in narrow areas there is a disagreement about what the Torah is. That does not mean we don't know the Torah.

    A Rav who has studied the Torah to the extent he knows it can pass it on to others. You are capable of knowing the Torah, Eddie.

    Both the Raavad and the Rambam are right about preparing the Korban Pesach. When we prepare the Korban, we will ask those who have studied the matter to give us a decision which one to follow or they will tell us some other way consistent with the Halacha. We will follow the decision. We will prepare the Korban and have fulfilled a Mitzvah.

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  16. Yes we do know the leaders were. The Gaonim. Rishonim.

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  17. If you go the Pilegesh truer, then a man can have multiple Pilegeshs.

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  18. No, it doesn't mean that.

    Rabbi Dovid Eidensohn has studied the Pilegesh Halacha in great depth. He is the one allowing Pilegesh in this generation. By the same token, he is the one limiting its use.

    If another Rav wants to take the responsibility of allowing Pilegesh, including multiple Pilogshim, that's on him.

    As for me: it seems to me that the Cherem Rabeinu Gershom comes into play for both Pilegesh marriages and Kidushin marriages.

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  19. I read Rabbi Dovid Eidensohn here and I agree: “This is not Gedolim, and it is not apikorsim. It is a Torah of today with nothing out there except "me." The few of us who believe in the Torah of HaShem have our task of telling it like it is. And those who are silent, will speak up like it or not when they are judged in the Higher World.”
    I quote Judge Freida Wolfson on Pacer: “I do find that the criminal conduct for which Epstein was convicted was heinous, regardless whether the act was committed in a religious context. More importantly, Epstein engaged in kidnappings, for the purposes of forced gittin, years before he was arrested; this was hardly a one-time, aberrational act on Epstein’s part.”
    The heinous conduct of Rabbi Kamenetsky is the fake/phony PhD psychology letter he refuses to show to Aaron. Aaron needed that letter to block Rabbi Greenblatt from marrying Tamar to Tamar’s lover without Aron giving Tamar a get. See, Mendel Epstein et al supporters feel they do a mitzvah in forced gittin. So what a few electric shocks or punches? The trapped women are freed. Tamar supporters feel they do a mitzvah using the fake/phony psychology letter to nullify Aaron’s marriage. So what if the letter is a fake/phony? The trapped Tamar is freed. This is like my case with Susan. So what if the Rigler 1995 Order of Separation is a fake/phony? Susan got her ridiculous NYS Civil divorce 9/10/2013 Judge Prus signed based on the fake/phony 1995 Rigler Order of Separation. This week’s parsha: “You shall appoint magistrates and officials for your tribes, in all the settlements that the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall govern the people with due justice. You shall not judge unfairly: you shall show no partiality; you shall not take bribes, for bribes blind the eyes of the discerning and upset the plea of the just. Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” (Deuteronomy 16:18-20).

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  20. I read again your article, assuming it is yours.

    I agree with you - one needs to study under the correct tradition, ie a Gadol who knows and had learned with major scholars.

    An interesting example is here, http://traditionarchive.org/news/originals/Volume%2025/No.%204/Learning%20Gemara%20In.pdf
    Rav Aharon Feldman takes issue with the Steinsaltz Talmud. He shows Steinsaltz is somewhat of a bluffer, makes errors in his presentation and misleads the public. I actually heard directly , I asked Steinsaltz about Moshiach and Hilchot melachim - he was just making up his own nonsense and falsely misrepresenting Rambam.


    Regarding "knowing" the Torah says "Lo B'Shamayim Hi" so the Torah is not beyond our grasp. Nevertheless, errors are possible that is why there are shogegot, sacrifices for errors, we have mescheta Horiot that deals with this problem, and Hilchot Shogegot in rambam. So according to the Torah itself , no Judge is infallible.


    But you call anyone who disagrees with you an apikores, even though Rav Eidensohn says it is not apikorsus.


    Raavad and Rambam cannot both be right - that is an illogical statemnt you make. If Raavad is right, then Rambam is wrong, and treif on that one halacha, and vice versa.

    Regarding Pilegesh, this is not a solution to aguna problem, it is an ancient practice that the Torah allows. It is not for us to forbid what the Torah permits. RDovidE is saying that Pilegesh will prevent aguna problem for those who don't wish to risk it. But he is also giving other reasons. The understands that sexual restrictions are bad for people, and it is evil if you prevent someone from marrying, as all these humras do.

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  21. I don't see how he can limit a man to one pilegesh when there's no such halachic limit that is applicable.

    CRG has no application on pilegesh.

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  22. You are right insofar as anyone can take a Pilegesh without Rabbi Dovid Eidensohn's permission.

    For hundreds of years, though, Pilegeshmarriage has not been practiced within observant communities. What gives anyone Halachic standing to just say they are going to get married with Pilegesh?

    Rabbi Eidensohn has a solid basis for restarting Pilegesh marriages. Rabbi Eidensohn has Smicha from Gadolim of the past generation. In particular, Reb Elyashiv zt"l gave Rabbi Eidensohn permission to us Rav Elyasiv's name on Rabbi Eidensohn's Gittin Bais Din.

    Rabbi Eidensohn has set the parameters on how Pilegesh will be reinstituted.

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  24. "What gives anyone Halachic standing to just say they are going to get married with Pilegesh?"

    Anyone with smicha can take the same liberty Rav Dovid is taking to marry pilogshim. Without the self-imposed constraint that Rav Dovid chose of limiting a man to only one pilegesh.

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  25. Did Rav elyashiv approve of pilegesh? Rav David bar hayyim is permitting kitniot, and rde is permitting pilagshim.

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  26. I am curious how otherwise great rabbi's such as Rabbi Feldman in America can make absurd and Ludacris statements that's serving in the Israeli army is not Pikuach nefesh? What reality do these characters live in do they know anything outside of the four walls of their yeshivas?
    A while ago there was a fake news about the chazon ish, claiming he could have stopped the Holocaust if he had known about it but he was unaware. Presumably this means yochanan Ben zakkai could have prevented the destruction of the temple has he had knew about it and Rabbi Akiva could have defeated the Romans if he knew about the war but suppose he didn't know about it and that's why he decided bar kochba was the Messiah.
    I'm not denigrating Hazal, but the modern haredi Rabbi seem to be denigrating everybody with a ridiculous worldview.

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  27. I don't recall at the moment that he specifically told me a man can only take one Pilegesh at a time.

    He did say that he would not allow at this time a man to take a Pilegesh while remaining married to his Kiddushin wife, as the Yaavetz encourages when the Kiddushin marriage is childless.

    The whole point of Pilegesh at this point in time is to obviate the need for a Get to terminate a marriage. Not to open the door to every possible Pilegesh type marriage.

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  28. I don't see how one can open the door to piegesh only slightly without the door being opened all the way Halacha permits by the next guy.

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  29. There's stuff going on now that I will not publicize at this point here.

    Pilegesh with parameters will improve things.

    We're still struggling with how to teach non-married Jews about Pilegesh. Also, some community Mikvaos may not be open for Pilegesh use. We may need to establish our own Mikvaos.

    Stay tuned.

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  30. Your parameters or my parameters? Once you open the door to pilegesh with your parameters, that are more stringent than the halachos regarding pilegesh, there's nothing to preclude others from allowing pilegesh with different parameters that don't violate the halachos regarding pilegesh (such as permitting multiple women.)

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  31. Allow me to show you part of my letter today to the NYS Ct of Appeals, Susan, Judge Prus. See, my papers of August 5 are under review. I know from experience that the NYS Ct of Appeals mails back my papers fast if they reject them. Oh, they did that to me some 4 or 5 times.
    3.Myla Serlin, Susan, Judge Prus, and Marilyn Rothstein are required to show me the fake/phony 1995 Rigler Order of Separation. Why? I need that critical document to defend myself and to block/nullify the ridiculous NYS civil judgment of divorce Judge Prus signed 9/10/2013. Myla Serlin, Susan, Judge Prus, and Marilyn Rothstein don't have the prerogative to deny me access to that critical document. It's heinous for them to deny me access to that critical document. That critical document enables Susan to steal my house and my pension. I ask the Court to issue an immediate stay/freeze on my TIAA pension until the Court completes a judicial review. I quote the Bible Psalms 27:12 “Do not subject me to the will of my foes, for false witnesses and unjust accusers have appeared against me.”


    4.I turn to NYS highest court for justice, as stated in the Bible Deuteronomy 16:18-20 “You shall appoint magistrates and officials for your tribes, in all the settlements that the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall govern the people with due justice. You shall not judge unfairly: you shall show no partiality; you shall not take bribes, for bribes blind the eyes of the discerning and upset the plea of the just. Justice, justice shall you pursue, that you may thrive and occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”
    What Mendel Epstein et al did, few shocks and punches, was heinous. What Rabbi Kamenetsky did, not to show Aaron the fake/phony PhD psychology letter, was also heinous. Aaron needed that letter to block the ridiculous Rabbi Greenblatt marriage of Tamar etc.

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  32. You are living in a fantasy world.

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  33. there is no halacha of pilegesh - by defintion there is no kiddushin and no gittin involved, it is just a polite way of of having a live in girlfriend and/or concubine

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  34. The NYS Ct of Appeals accepted my papers and assigned me 2018-840 return date August 20, 2018. I can write all I want with affidavit of service that I sent Susan a true copy. My every letter will go to the judges. Will the judges finally rule in my favor? Will the judges free up my pension? Will the judges recognize that I divorced Susan 2/17/1993? Will the judges recognize that I did not abandon the house etc? Will the judges recognize that I’m a victim of Gerald Garson etc? What’s an issue of case law here that I want the judges to deal with? Anyone?
    In the K-G heter, there is an issue. Can a fake/phony PhD psychology letter free Tamar to remarry without a get? I say, can a fake/phony 1995 Rigler Order of Separation win for Susan a 2013 NYS civil divorce and the house etc?

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  35. Mazal Tov.
    Behatzlacha.

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  36. I agree “True Gadolim can be challenged. The daughters of Tzlapchod challenged Moshe. Respectfully, with great deference, asking but not demanding -- yet, still with all that, challenging. And that is because G-d Himself can be challenged, as Avrohom challenged G-d regarding the Five Cities.”
    I say we have to challenge NYS civil law similarly. I heard at a rally some 50 years ago Rabbi Lookstein, the son, say that the wife got a NYS civil divorce, so the man must now give his wife a get… We have to change NYS civil law to make the focus on preventing adultery of the 10 commandments, particularly keeping “A man takes a wife and possesses her. She fails to please him because he finds something obnoxious about her, and he writes her a bill of divorcement, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house; she leaves his household and becomes the wife of another man” (Deuteronomy 24:1-2).
    Angry wives today are vicious/mean to their husbands in state divorce laws, e.g. “In another case, he refused all applications by the father even though he was the custodial parent. He then jailed the father for failing to follow an oral order and caused his savings to be placed into escrow for many years – ruining him in the process.”
    See https://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/22599
    “They called her mean and “disruptive.” Nobody liked her around the White House. Nobody trusted her. Sure enough she went around snooping and secretly recording everybody. Why Trump picked her out of obscurity in the first place, and then gave her all these chances, is anybody’s guess. He must be kicking himself…Chuck Todd gave her the fullness of half an hour to vent her hatred of Trump. He never asked her, why the switch? She used to adore Trump. Well she did while she had her job in the White House. No, he never asked. Because the media are all about resisting Trump, as exposed in this thriller. To that end, they will dance with any witness, no matter how tainted, disreputable and unreliable.”
    This is how NYS civil courts run divorce cases today. The angry wives are mean and disruptive, vent their hate, never explaining why the switch, they bring fake/phony evidence etc.

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  37. Man, what is your game? Gemora. Rambam. Ramban. Shulchan Aruch and commentaries there. Yaavetz. What is your definition of Halacha that excludes these sources? You spout nonsense.

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  38. Door's been open for awhile without Pilegesh. I don't think there's going to be a flood of pent up desire cascading into polygamy on a massive scale. Just who are these Shomer Mitzvos Jews who will be building these types of families you hypothesize about?

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  39. Which door has been open for awhile?

    Just who are these Shomer Mitzvos Jews who will be building these types of families with a pilegesh?

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  40. The door of rampant immorality in regard to Halachos of family.

    Rabbi Eidensohn are aware of two women who are in a Pilegesh marriage. One in Eretz Yisrael.

    The other, in America, was married twice and divorced twice. She had difficulty getting a Get both times. She wasn't going to put herself through that again. Her Rabbi suggested she become a Pilegesh. She did. And now there four Kosher children who might not otherwise have been born save for her becoming a Pilegesh.

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  41. Rambam forbids it, as far as i recall.


    My game? Sorry, i should have been clearer. there is no kiddushin or gittin, ie you cannot have a pilegesh ketuba which will be validated by 2 witnesses. And there is no gett required either, again, so there cannot be a get me'usa in regards to a pilegesh. I should say there is an absence of the intricacies of halacha that apply to kiddushin.

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  42. That doesn't address my point that once you open the door to pilegesh, you only need up open the door a little wider to have polygamy. Both pilegesh with monogamy and pilegesh with polygamy fall within the came justifiable parameters of Halacha. If Rabbi A opens the door to pilegesh with monogamy, it doesn't take much more for Rabbi B to open the door and little wider to pilegesh with polygamy.

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  43. Can a pilegesh be non Jewish? Or shifchah, or eved canaanit?

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