Breslov III - Secret Breslov view of Moshiach - finally deciphered

Haaretz reported:

Messiah in all but name

by Immanuel Etkes

"Megilat starim: hazono hamishikhi hasodi shel reb nachman mibratslav" ("Scroll of Secrets: The Hidden Messianic Vision of R. Nachman of Bratslav") by Zvi Mark, Bar-Ilan University, 253 pages, NIS 99

The tension between the urge to reveal and publicize secrets, and the necessity of keeping them secret and concealed from the public eye is one of the dominant features of mysticism in general and Jewish mysticism in particular. In early Hasidism, there is nothing that embodied this tension more than the character and spiritual legacy of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav (1772-1810).

As Zvi Mark, author of "Scroll of Secrets: The Hidden Messianic Vision of R. Nachman of Bratslav," writes: "Secrecy plays a central role in the world of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav ... We know of one manuscript that Rabbi Nachman hid away, another that he burned, and tales that he forbade his disciples to reveal to outsiders." But it was the secret of redemption that he worked hardest to keep from the world, including most of his followers. [...]

While the prolific literature of the Bratslavers was influenced by the very existence of this scroll and allusions to what it says, the scroll itself has been a closely guarded secret for 200 years. Mark's impressive achievement starts with convincing the Bratslavers to show him the secret text and to allow him to publish it. No less impressive is his ability to recruit knowledgeable individuals to help him decode the scroll, which is written in enigmatic abbreviations and acronyms. The text is now presented in Mark's book, along with a detailed analysis of the messianic era as envisioned by Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav. [...]

Mark's first important conclusion is that the Messiah referred to in the scroll is a tzaddik (pious scholar) in Rabbi Nachman's own image. The messianic times portrayed here are "a perfect fulfillment of the Bratslav code of values." Indeed, Rabbi Nachman's personal messianic pretensions emerge loud and clear from various remarks attributed to him in his lifetime, particularly the statement that "everything the Messiah does for the benefit of the Jewish people, I can do, too. The difference is that the Messiah can carry out his mission ... whereas I do not yet have that capability."

Rabbi Nachman regarded himself as having all the necessary qualifications to be the Messiah. What kept him from fulfilling his messianic potential was a lack of recognition. The tremendous gap between his self-image and the public's failure to recognize his eminence was something that haunted Rabbi Nachman all his life. In his own eyes, he was not only the greatest tzaddik of his day, but the greatest tzaddik of all times. Even when his health deteriorated and he knew the end was near, he did not despair: He might not fulfill his messianic mission in his lifetime, but his teachings would continue to have influence after his death. "My fire will burn until the coming of the Messiah," he poetically put it.

As Mark points out, this statement was interpreted by his followers as more than a prophecy. It was a will and testament that they were obligated to fulfill. Another Rabbi Nachman saying that fueled the messianic mindset of his followers was "the whole world will be Bratslav one day." Recognition of Rabbi Nachman's supremacy and the importance of his message and messianic redemption are thus two sides of the same coin.[...]

Breslov II - Dispute in Tsfas over growing influence of Breslov

YNET reported

Storm: They hurt Rabbi Nachman

Haredi world in turmoil over pamphlet published by Rabbi Yermiah Cohen of Safed, in which he accuses idolized Rabbi Nachman of Breslav of insanity, attacks his followers, calling them 'sinners and those who cause the masses to sin.' Counter attack follows swiftly

Over the years, numerous controversies and heated arguments have rocked the hassidic world. In time, the assorted haredi sects learned to get along with each other, more or less. Apparently, however, old resentments die hard, as evidenced by the latest scandal involving Breslav hassidism.

The first shot was fired by Rabbi Yermiah Cohen, head of the Or HaYakar Yeshiva in Safed, with the publication of a pamphlet attacking Rabbi Nachman of Breslav, who passed away 196 years ago, at age 38. The reaction was immediate. By last night, the walls of haredi neighborhoods were plastered with blistering condemnations of Rabbi Cohen, signed by the heads of the Breslav community in Safed, as well as other leading rabbis.

“How can we stand still when God’s angels are insulted and His words are scorned and His prophets are defamed with words of vanity, lies and slander,” read one such notice.

Another sign was even harsher. "Evil has descended from the north. Soul-searing blasphemy, profanity and pollution against God and His messenger emanated from a man of evil deeds known as Yermiah Cohen of the city of Safed. Let the lips that dared to haughtily and scornfully utter lies against the world's righteous ones be silenced."

'Sinners who cause the masses to sin'

Even in the early days, Breslav chassidism was controversial and susceptible to attacks from major hassidic personalities. In his pamphlet, Rabbi Cohen repeats the old accusations.

He notes that in the past, "Breslav chassidim were insignificant. They barely managed to bequeath their master's teachings to their own children and were saddled with excommunications and ostracisms. It was said about them that 'it is a good deed to repulse, hunt and confound them'. Also, their books were burned and trampled."

Rabbi Cohen even quotes from one excommunication attempt, attributed to the Savraner Rebbe, in which Breslav chassidim are referred to as "sinners and those who cause the masses to sin".

In the pamphlet, Rabbi Cohen scorns the newly religious who embrace Breslav and describes how "even before each newly religious individual opens his eyes, he discovers that his hands are full of multicolored booklets".

He criticizes the chassidic custom of traveling to Uman for Rosh Hashanah and claims that they "waste a lot of money… for naught".

In addition, he accuses Rabbi Nachman of Breslav of insanity and quotes incessantly from Rabbi Nachman's writings as proof. Rabbi Cohen cynically writes that should one "choose to defend (Rabbi Nachman), what can be said? That (Rabbi Nachman) was righteous but somewhat arrogant? One can only say: He did not err intentionally. Rather, mental sickness caused him to hallucinate."

With respect to the behavior of Rabbi Nachman's followers, Rabbi Cohen remarks, "an outsider can see how ludicrous it all is".

'Once it starts, it becomes more extreme'

According to one rabbi of the Or HaYakar Yeshiva, when Rabbi Cohen realized that Breslav hassidism was growing and gaining momentum, he decided to confront the phenomenon. This rabbi claims that Rabbi Cohen's discourses "were not meant for general consumption. It was in the framework of an internal course in the Yeshiva. Also, it was only addressed to certain specific students and not everyone."

The Or HaYakar rabbi explained to Ynet the reasoning behind the attack on Rabbi Nachman.

"There is the paved road which is clear: Torah study and other paths that have been accepted for years. But all of the sudden, this type of awakening? Seclusion, less learning, and once it starts, it becomes more extreme. The student no longer carries standard religious texts but only one of Rabbi Nachman's works. This is not the paved road that the head of the Yeshiva and his teachers received. Each person does what they want in their own homes, but either you are here and continue in the path or you are not here."

The rabbi is well aware that Breslav is the most widespread chassidic sect in Safed. “There are many of them. Some are crazy or insane,” he avowed. When asked if Rabbi Cohen is now concerned about walking around the city, the Or HaYakar rabbi replied negatively. “Although there were students who thought about guarding or remaining on alert, as far as he himself is concerned, he walks around freely.”[...]

Breslov I - Praises Rebbe Nachman said of himself

In order to broaden the range of discussion I am presenting material from non-mainstream sources regarding the nature of Yiddishkeit. One of the most controversial figures was that of Rebbe Nachman. The following material is from a Breslov website - Yeshivat Tikun Ha'midot

(Rebbe Nachman said that no one merited receiving from him, except for Reb Nosson and Reb Naftali, who merited a small amount.)

"I am a great, beautiful, and awesome, tree with very awesome leaves and below I am well rooted in the earth."

" An innovation like myself - there was none and there will be no more."

"They will yet say in the days to come 'How wonderful was Rebbe Nachman!' because they will miss me very much"

"The whole world needs me...you yourselves know how much you need me. Even all the other Tzaddikim need me because they also need to be returned to the beneficiary."

Once he was pacing back and forth in his home, grabbed a staff in his hand and said: "the staff of G-d is in my hands", meaning he merited being in full control himself.

"I am a man of wonder and my soul is a great wonder."

He said that he alone reached the absolute highest level.

"I am the Greats of the Greats."

He said that he did not begin doing anything in the world until he first understood its secret.

He said: "What will be done with me, I don't know. But, what I do know is that Mashiach will come from me."

He said that he feels the pain and suffering of the nation before other Tzaddim because "I know baseness and know the great level of the holiness of Jews, how precious they are. They are exalted because they are pulled down and taken from the high and lofty place above...therefore I know all in advance".

One Rosh Hashana, he said: "I have a tune to sing in the future which will be the 'Olam Haba' of all the Tzaddikim."

He said: "I have already astonished the world that wherever there is true good in the world, it will come to us." And, he said that he knows the roots from which the Holy Torah comes from.

"I am a new vessel; not old." In his own handwriting, he wrote "I am the eldest (greatest of those) in the holiness who reveals things which were hidden from ancient times until now."

He said that if he wanted to reveal and show his fear of Heaven - people would not be able to stand within 3 feet of his house. Therefore he purposely hides his fear of Heaven. He said "I am the treasury of fear of Heaven."

"The Shabbats which are spent with me are higher and greater than fasting seven times a fast from Shabbat to Shabbat."

He said that the power King David had to raise up his son, Avshalom, from the seventh gate of Hell and place him in the Garden of Eden by saying "Avshalom, my son, my son" eight times is the same power he possesses. He can also raise a person from the fiery furance of Hell and put then in the Garden of Eden by his words.

"My fire will burn until the Mashiach."

"I personally have nothing to do in this world...I only came to this world in order to bring back the souls of Israel to Hashem."

"I am a river which cleanses of all stains...in the future, the whole world will be Breslov Chassidim."

I can now say that all the sages of Israel are like the outer layer of garlic on me. However, I have no outer layer. This is where I end it, there is nothing to continue."

He said: "How many people were in the dirt that I took them out of the dirt. By means of (me taking them out), they came closer to Hashem to (a point) that they don't have to be embarassed in front of great Tzaddikim."

"The world still hasn't tasted me. If they would hear even one lesson I teach with its corresponding song and dance, the world would give up and sacrifice greatly, even the animals and grasses, and all which is in the world would come listen to my lessons."

He said that he knew regarding all the Tzaddikim from Adam until his time: from where their souls were, from where they took their ideas and concepts, and where (level wise) their soul remained at their time of passing.

He said that if the Ba'al Shem Tov would hear his original lessons, he would agree that they were also original for his time.

"Even if the Ba'al Shem Tov and the Arizal would be in the world, they wouldn't be able to compare with me."

Israeli yeshivas to receive government funding without teaching basic subjects

Knesset approves bill granting ultra-Orthodox education institutions funds without requiring them to uphold Education Ministry curriculum, including subjects such as math, English. Meretz: New law scandalous

Neta Sela YNET

The Knesset approved a bill on Wednesday underlining the independence of the ultra-Orthodox yeshivas and supplying them with funds without subjugating them to the Education Ministry and its teaching curriculum. The bill was passed by a majority of 39 MKs, and was opposed by just six.

According to the new law, the ultra-Orthodox community, as a "unique cultural group", will be permitted to operate post-primary learning institutions as long as the values of those institutions do not contradict Israel's values as a Jewish and democratic State.

The Education Ministry will not pedagogically inspect the yeshivas on issues that are not technical, yet the yeshivas will receive funds equal to 60% of those received by learning institutions that are loyal to its curriculum.

The bill was proposed by six members of the United Torah Judaism faction and six members of the Shas Party faction – after the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism petitioned the High Court of Justice with an appeal to fund institutions according to the amount of material it adopts from the basic studies curriculum, and withhold State funds from ultra-Orthodox schools.

Education Minister Yuli Tamir, who supported the bill, explained to Ynet that "this law regulates a process that for a long time had been conducted under the table. It regularizes the budget in a clear fashion… It is the lesser evil." She added that had the sides reached an agreement without involving the law, it would have been beneficial to both sides, but the involvement of the High Court of Justice left no choice.

"We did our best under the current circumstances," she said. "A culture war would not have been beneficial to anyone."

Shas Chairman Eli Yishai expressed satisfaction at the new law, and said that "the reformers have waged an ongoing battle against anything that has to do with holiness, Torah, and Judaism. It's too bad people are fighting against the Torah of God. The holy yeshivas do not teach secular studies, and this attempt at involvement in the laying down of Jewish values will not succeed."

'State-funded ignorance'

Meretz Chairwoman Zahava Gal-On claimed that "this is a scandalous law. For the first time ultra-Orthodox ignorance is being funded lawfully. I support cultural autonomy, but if a community requests State funds it must be willing to honor and respect its civil and cultural values.

"Does the study of mathematics and English threaten Judaism? The Knesset has succumbed to Rabbinical and ultra-Orthodox terror. The issue depends on the High Court of Justice, and the Knesset has essentially legislated behind the judges' backs."

Rabbi Dr. Gilad Kariv of the Center for Reform Judaism said that "the bill officially negates the natural expectation that the Education Ministry will be involved in the curriculum studied by 50,000 students. Rather than evolving and becoming more involved in ultra-Orthodox education following the High Court of Justice's discussion, the State is becoming irrelevant to everything that's happening with these students."

Referring to the government's support of the bill he said, "For the first time in the history of Israel, the State is going to relieve itself of the responsibility over thousands of students, and become apathetic to the fact that they will not receive basic life skills, or be able to support themselves in the future."

Conversion crisis - R' Angel, R' Weiss & R' Riskin try to bypass Chief Rabbinate

Fed up with the Chief Rabbinate, Orthodox rabbis try an end run

_{By Yair Sheleg Haaretz}

Orthodox rabbis from the United States and Israel intend to set up an Orthodox court system as an alternative to Israel's rabbinical courts and to the rigorous norms for conversion to Judaism imposed on U.S. rabbis.

Rabbi Marc Angel, past president of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), and Rabbi Avraham Weiss spearheaded the initiative following Israel's Chief Rabbi shlomo Amar's restrictions on Orthodox conversions in America.

Angel and Weiss founded the International Rabbinical Fellowship (IRF) to set up an alternative Orthodox courts system, which will also have a branch in Israel.

Several prominent Israeli rabbis have joined this initiative, prompted by the conversion crisis in Israel.

Some three months ago several Israeli rabbis attended the IRF's founding conference. Among them were Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, of the West Bank settlement Efrat, Rabbi Yuval Sherlo and Rabbi Seth (Shaul) Farber, founder and director of ITIM, a non-profit organization that helps potential converts.

Weiss told Haaretz this week that the new organization was founded not because of the conversion crisis in Israel or the U.S. but due to the need for a "free discussion among Orthodox rabbis."

He conceded, however, that conversion will be at the top of the organization's agenda.

Riskin was more resolved. "This rabbinical court system is required to deal with conversions and divorce, two issues whose handling by the Supreme Rabbinical Court is appalling. We plan to set up several branches, including in Israel, or operate a mobile rabbinical court that will hold hearings in various places around the world as required," he said.

Weiss said he did not believe the Chief Rabbinate would boycott the new rabbinical courts' conversions "because we have numerous important rabbis behind us."

"If they don't accept our conversions, we'll go to the High Court of Justice," said Riskin. "In any case, I'd rather be part of a court system that reflects my belief, even if it is not accepted by the Chief Rabbinate."

Both Riskin and Weiss demand that each municipal rabbi in Israel have the authority to perform conversions. A proposal to this effect has been submitted to the Knesset by MK David Rotem (Yisrael Beiteinu).

Rabbi Amar's aide commented: "We don't operate courts overseas.

If the rabbis in the new organization are recognized by the Chief Rabbinate, there will be no problem. If not, they will have to undergo tests in order to be recognized."

Asked about an alternative court in Israel, the aide said: "In Israel there is no possibility of having a rabbinical court outside the rabbinical court system.

The ultra-Orthodox community has a special permit from the prestate era to operate a court that is recognized by the state.

Past attempts to set up additional courts failed, and they will not be approved in future either."

R' Leib Tropper - Meets with Gedolim to solve Israeli intermarriage crisis

Kiruv XIII - Entering the final closing stage of kiruv

Recipients and Publicity wrote:

MODERN KIRUV'S HISTORICAL PARADOX

or

KIRUV a VICTIM OF ITS OWN SUCCESS!

or

KIRUV'S TROUBLED AGE FROM THE 1980s TO THE 2000s VERSUS KIRUV'S GOLDEN AGE FROM THE 1950s TO THE 1980s.

or

ENTERING THE FINAL CLOSING STAGE OF KIRUV.

I am not disputing Dr. Eidensohn's craving for sources and I will be glad to read all the sources he can come up with. But the following comments relate to something more serious than searching for sources (somewhat like looking for a flight data recorder "black-box" after a catastrophic plane crash) when analyzing the flight, what went wrong, why the crash took place and how to help any survivors if there are any is very beneficial.

The small comment by Tzurah that: FFB's have an attitude that "...In fact, they were always taught not to proselytize, so kiruv looks like it might be a little assur (esp. if one might end up teaching Torah, even inadvertently, to actual non-Jews). Also, one has to go out into the non-frum world and expose oneself to myriad spiritual dangers. If it might be assur, and it might endanger your neshama, why take the chance? ..."

The problem is in fact far deeper than it seems. One thing to note is the success to which kiruv rechokim has been "mainstreamed" and has won a lot of recognition in the frum world. Much of it lip-service but impressive nevertheless. Even the Reform and Conservative movements have launched "keruv" (with an "e") drives aping the Orthodox and Haredi "kiruv" (with and "i").

But as has been stated and reported in earlier posts on this blog, kindly posted by Dr. Eidensohn for which I give him a big public thank you!, the first age of Kiruv, from about the 1950s to the 1980s is over.

It was a type of golden age with all the excitement of something new coming out of the social dislocation of the 1950s and 1960s and the remorse of the Holocaust on many people's mind.

And in those days the MAJORITY of Jews were not intermarried so most youth and young adults who joined Orthodoxy and some of its earliest outreach programs came from reliably Halachicly Jewish backgrounds with a Jewish mother and Jewish father.

However, symbolically and practically with the Reform movement's official acceptance of patrilineal descent, meaning a Jewish mother was not required to be called a Jew and just having a Jewish father was enough, and with the vast majority of Jews remaining secular and unaffiliated and slipping into mass assimilation, intermarriage and even apostasy to Christianity (hundreds of thousands of them joining the new so-called "Messianic movements"), as proven by the USA National Jewish Population Surveys of 1990 and 2000 the MAJORITY of those born from the 1980s onwards are coming from interfaith unions and many people who think they are Jewish, born as they are from only Jewish fathers or converted by Reform and Conservative, are not Jewish Halachicly, and this then creates our present TROUBLED AGE OF KIRUV from the 1980s to the present times, with so many people in kiruv programs not being Halachicly Jewish and the numbers keep on growing EVEN CREATING A LARGE DEMAND AND MARKET FOR ALL SORTS OF QUESTIONABLE CONVERSION, so that kiruv efforts fuel demands for conversion.

Thus in a span of roughly sixty years, since after the Holocaust, the KIRUV MOVEMENT HAS EXPERIENCED TWO STAGES: A GOLDEN AGE FROM THE 1950s TO THE 1980s AND A TROUBLED AGE FROM THE 1980s TO THE 2000s.

What do I mean by this?

Basically that the Baal Teshuva Movement that started after the Holocaust and took off in the 1950s and 1960s surprised EVERYONE because the religious world was as surprised as the secular world that it was happening at all. Very few took it seriously at first and many thought it was a passing craze, like the hula-hoop or bell-bottoms. And very few would have imagined or dared to say that it was a fulfilment of ancient Jewish prophecies in the Tanach that one day the Jewish people would return to BOTH its land in Zion and to its Torah heritage and then some. But it was all dream like.

In the early days Chabad rabbis rabbis were welcomed guest-speakers in Reform and conservative synagogues to talk about "Hasidism" and "Kabbalah" but when synagogue members took them seriously and the Lubavitchers had the audacity to then set up their own Chabad shuls next door all hell broke loose and they were banned from the Reform and Conservative places. The same thing happened to the Aish HaTorah people when they played their Discovery seminars at Reform and Conservative places to packed houses in the 1980s until they started influencing too many people and then they too were banned.

The point is there was so much SPONTANEOUS success with people becoming frum, with real professional kiruv workers being trained and encouraged to do it, that few realized that this would all change with new circumstances. Incidentally, many who would become leaders of the Baal Teshuva movement were themselves Baalei Teshuva from the Golden Age of Kiruv.

But then things changed and the with more assimilation and intermarriage there were less real Halachic Jews then there had been BUT that did not stop people, all people including gentiles and non-Halachic Jews, from wanting to learn more, and here is where a GREAT PARADOX kicks in, that in the newer TROUBLED AGE OF KIRUV the Halachic questions went deeper than ever before, that KIRUV WENT BIG TIME "CORPORATE", and it was no longer a case of lone ranger Chabad rabbis and a handful of NCSY rabbis doing kiruv, in their place arose KIRUV CONGLOMERATE BEHEMOTHS WITH HUGE FUNDS AND PRACTICED METHODS with all this experience, and organization and funding being poured into kiruv rechokim at a time when the texture and make-up of the rechokim had changed from a majority who came from two Halachic Jewish parents to a majority who came from intermarried homes or were intermarried themselves. (That is why Rabbi Leib Tropper's EJF efforts are so cutting edge, because he is showing that he understands, and is working with, the new "kiruv paradigm" and why he was also shot down by the BADATZ who sent out letters to rabbis who were Recipients and making Publicity that such as Rabbi Tropper and the EJF planned, was not to be done nor encouraged, and THAT KIRUV PROGRAMS MUST NOW DISCOURAGE GENTILES FROM JOINING THEIR PROGRAMS AND CERTAINLY FROM WANTING TO CONVERT TO JUDAISM.

So it is again the tides of society and history that are forcing the hands of some leading rabbis, leading to a literal "mekarev beyemin umerachek besmol" ("bring close with your right hand and reject with your left hand") situation.

And that is why there is presently so much confusion in the field and in general, that while some talk rosily and dreamily about "kiruv" in our times, it is not related to reality and the facts on the ground, since they think or assume conditions are like it was in the Golden Age of Kiruv in its first sate from the 1950s to the 1980s when it is NOT

Or maybe some resort to the false logic that "the more people who are married to gentiles the more kiruv must be done", which is a dangerous game to play, because what will be done with those gentiles if they are brought into Jewish communities, and it is reported that in some Reform temples the majority of board members are not Halachic Jews!

While others are confused why there are these protests by other rabbis who object to "reaching out" to Jews when they are objecting to those who are gentiles according to Halacha from being brought into Judaism for the wrong reasons.

It is a very confusing and unsettling situation that will clarify itself in time, as people choose to go into one direction or another over the next generation or two.

It will probably not take more than another 30 years to accomplish the FINAL STAGE OF KIRUV once the Kiruv workers can get it through their heads that the gates are closing quickly and only those Halachicly Jewish should be mekareved.

That will take another 30 years or so and then the total span of the kiruv era will be over, having lasted no more than about 100 years (one hundred years) stretching from the 1950s into about the middle of the 21st century, that will be marked and recalled as unique era in Jewish and Torah history!

To be continued...

Kiruv - Useless Scholasticism to ask for Torah source?! II

A possible insight into the strange assertion that looking for sources for kiruv is useless scholasticism is provided by Tzurah's comment below. He says in essence that the search for sources might be misunderstood as implying that the obligations were the sole cause of the kiruv movement.
I did not deny the significance of the factors RaP cited as bringing about the kiruv movement. However that doesn't obviate the need of a Jew to understand the halachic and hashkofic aspects of the phenomenon in order to clarify the guidelines and goals needed to develop and enhance it. The criticisms expressed of kiruv programs have to analyzed as to whether they legitimately point out problems that need to be changed or whether they are the result of the rejection of the goal of increasing religious observance by fellow Jews.

Tzurah commented to "Kiruv - Useless Scholasticism to ask for Torah sou...":

I believe RaP has an interesting point to make. He has a question: what drove the creation of the Baal Teshuva movement and its institutions? RaP holds, not unreasonably, that the movement arose out of spontaneously, min hashamayin, out of the interplay of countless historical and social forces.

By quoting numerous rabbinic sources going back hundreds of years, an opposing impression can potentially be made, that the Rabbinic establishment engineered the "Teshuva Revolution" into being, and imposed it onto the Jewish masses to enable their repentance.

To counter this possible impression, RaP pointed out that except for a few, those in the Jewish religious establishment were playing catch-up to social forces beyond their control.

I think that the need perceived by R' Berkowitz for a list of sources actually supports RaP's view, rather than oppose it. R' Berkowitz and his Jerusalem Kollel are focused mainly on getting Yeshivish FFB' to be involved in kiruv (as opposed to the Aish model of getting their BT graduates back out to the field).

Since the current mode of ACTIVE kiruv, going "out there" and promoting Yiddishkeit, is rather unprecedented, there has been a natural hesitation among many FFBs, who 1) never felt a need for it themselves, 2) may have never seen it in action, 3)and have never heard of their tattes and zaydes doing it.

In fact, they were always taught not to proselytize, so kiruv looks like it might be a little assur (esp. if one might end up teaching Torah, even inadvertently, to actual non-Jews). Also, one has to go out into the non-frum world and expose oneself to myriad spiritual dangers. If it might be assur, and it might endanger your neshama, why take the chance? One could reasonably argue that loving G-d and loving other Jews is important, but those halachos do not expand, in the larger halachik calculus, into making kiruv rechokim in the current active style a requirement.

I believe that's why R' Berkowitz had to prepare a list like this, to reassure those who take the conservative approach and take Halachic precedent VERY seriously, that kiruv is, in fact, nicely supported by the sources.

In the end, though, isn't this how many chiddushim are created? A new social situation arises that raises halachik questions, and our Chachamim look into the writings of their predecessors to try to determine what should be done in this new situation. In addition, I agree with Chizki that going back to the sources can only help in guiding those who are involved in kiruv and bringing much needed insight into the manner in which one ought to pursue its fulfillment.

Kiruv - Useless Scholasticism to ask for Torah sources?! I

The following comment by RaP is interesting in two aspects 1) He is correct that the kiruv or Teshuva movement did not start from an explicit derivation from Torah sources 2) He is decidedly wrong in asserting that it is a meaningless exercise in scholasticism to clarify the nature of the halachic obligation.

RaP seems to have had no experience in yeshiva education - either chareidi or M/O. - or simply has no interest in the standard Orthodox approach that everything is at least hinted in the Torah. I can not conceive of Rav Soloveitchik dismissing the question as merely of scholastic interest nor would Rav Moshe Feinstein take such an approach. The standard approach to understand one's obligations as a Jew is to work up from the Torah through the gemora through rishonim and achronim. It is irrelevant how something got started - it is still governed by ascertainable halachic considerations. RaP has repeatedly objected to my request for sources for his many pronouncements - and he typically retorts that there is no need for explicit sources or that it is obvious or that his view is inherent in a Torah verse.

Thus we all know that one must honor parents or not speak lashon harah - but that doesn't obviate the need for investigating the full range of halachic obligation. Would you dimiss the Beis Yosef or the Chofetz Chaim as mere exercises in scholasticism? Have you ever learned gemora?

In regard to the current issue of kiruv, it is necessary to clarify the halachic obligation to know which actions need to be done and the hierarchy of values. For example if the basis of kiruv is that it brings about love of G-d, any program which got a person to be observant by threats or deception would not be acceptable because it doesn't produced love of G-d. Similarly if presenting darker aspects of Orthodox society would interefere with love of G-d than they should not be presented. If the prime basis is the chesed of keeping a Jew from sinning - it is relatively unimportant how this comes about.

Even the article he cites later on regarding Rav Hutner quotes Rav Hutner as saying

"Our new understanding of the essence of our era allows us some comprehension of the phenomenon of our 'age of baalei-teshuva' "

In other words analysis of a phenomenon - whether in historical or halachic terms - provides us with a deeper understanding which enables us to help it develop it properly.


In sum, RaP's assertion that these matters are so obvious that it is unhealthy (or meaningless) scholasticism to be concerned with them shows that he has no concern or understanding for Torah scholarship as has always been understood and practiced in the Orthodox world.
------
משה לרמן made a similar criticism - though in far less words

"I agree that a request for sources for Kiruv is a thoroughly misplaced demand. You seem to think that all of life is embeddable in legalism."
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Guilty as charged - I do believe that Torah and halacha is the basis of life. I am not aware of anybody who views himself as Orthodox who believes otherwise.

====================================

Recipients and Publicity said...

THE BA'AL TESHUVA MOVEMENT/REVOLUTION GAVE BIRTH TO KIRUV RECHOKIM, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND!

Dear Dr. Eidensohn: By asking for "sources" to do kiruv you are slipping into your old mindset that shows that you don't get it, that kiruv does not require "sources" as such since it's as basic as 1-2-3 that just as all Jews must show and practice Ahavas Yisroel ("love thy fellow Jew"), do hatzolas nefashos ("save a Jewish life"), and be melamed ("provide for Jewish education"), and help by tzedaka ("Jewish charity") for BOTH their children and those of their fellow Jews ANYWHERE (why else do Jews contribute to Jewish educational institutions all over the world), likewise kiruv is an expression of all the mitzvas and Torah literature that are the basis for Ahavas Yisroel, Hilchos Chinuch, Pikuach Nefesh, Tzedaka and much more.

And now that kiruv is so widespread you will of course find ample sources and writings that dredge up all sorts of sources from here and there but that effort is essentially all lemafrei'a (retroactive) because the Baal Teshuva movement and the related field of kiruv rechokim did not come to be and is not sustained and practiced because of any of these sources.

It is somewhat like asking what are the sources for the mitzvas of Yetzias Mitrayim (the Exodus) when all the mitzvas and Torah related to the events of the Exodus come about because of the events and not the other way around. Similarly (as we are in the Three Weeks), the observances and Halachos of Tisha Be'av are not because there are sources but rather there were cataclysmic events during this time and therefore a day and series of memorial observances were established backed by some sources and citations to support the remembrance of the days and not the other way around.

Thus the Baal Teshuva Movement, also known as the Baal Teshuva Revoltion was something that happened ON ITS OWN MIN HASHAMAYIM as part of social, political, cultural and historical upheavals in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, it was NOT "invented" by rabbis or scholars, but it was secular or vaguely Jewishly traditional young Jewish people who started to search for their uniquely Jewish roots, AS PART OF A GENERATIONAL SHIFT when young people openly rebelled against the past and wanted to find MEANING IN THEIR LIVES and became open to SPIRITUAL ANSWERS, unlike their parents' generation, and gaining steam with each decade after the Holocaust so that by the 1950s a SMALL handful of visionary Orthodox rabbonim like the last Lubavitcher Rebbe, and a few Rosh Yeshivas in America (by the way, the Baal Teshuva Movement was essentially shaped and instigated in America), and you can count them on one hand hand, like Rav Yaakov Ruderman of Ner Israel in Baltimore, Rav Yitzchok Hutner of Chaim Berlin in Brooklyn, and Rav JB Soloveitchik of Yeshiva University took note of it, and sent the first crop of outreach rabbis, only later called kiruv rabbis, to work with the Baalei Teshuva (as the secualr teens and young people became to be called once they turned Orthodox) and hence the field of kiruv started to take form.

To those rabbonim it was a natural continuum of ahavas Yisroel, hatzolas nefashos, and chinuch and obviously all halachos that would go with that would naturally apply and then some, but there was also something deeper at work, they were "social scientists" of the times and they were perceptive enough to see a new changing of the tide IN THE WORLD and that it would be possible to start a process of returning the youth to the past Torah glory and heritage of the Jewish people. No great lomdus, just pikchus ("insightful smartness") and chochma ("wisdom").

So that by asking for sources NOW as you are, you are barking up the wrong tree because there is no shortage of sources.

It's actually very funny that you do so! Did Avrohom Avinu ask for "sources" when he faced his ten tests in life? He just wanted to hear from God. Did Moshe Rabbeinu ask for sources to start the ten plagues, split the sea, take out Bnai Yisroel from Egypt, and to go up Mt. Sinai to get the Torah, and then how to deal with all that happneed in the wilderness besides asking God for help and mercy? Are sources required to know if Jews should have been saved from the Holocaust? All efforts should have been based on pikuach nefesh and the laws of humanity. And I will touch on it delicately, when Jews are flooding Israel from all corners of the world for the last 100 years, do we need sources, or do we just say, look, the gates of Israel have been opened for any Jew to enter unlike the way it was for the previous 2,000 years. Oh yeah, there are plenty of sources about yishuv ha'aretz and even for not coming to Israel if you muct, but in the face of the tides and realities of history no one in Iraq or Yemen or Morocco was going around saying what are the sources justifying going to Israel when frenzied Arab nationalistic Islamic mobs were run after their Jewish blood. And so on and so forth.

So go easy with your questions, you may be self-defeating yourself with your penchant for tiresome scholasticism.

Here is what Rav Yitzchok Hutner had to say about the birth of the modern Baal Teshuva Movement in a rare article he published in the Jewish Observer, " 'Holocaust'--A Study of the Term and the Epoch it is Meant to Describe. The Jewish Observer, October 1977, pp. 3-9."

Rav Hutner states that the rise of the Baal Teshuva movement is a result of the internal disappointment the Jewish People felt in the gentiles of the world as a result of what happened during the Holocaust:

From http://www.jpi.org/holocaust/hlchp9a.htm

"As recorded in an article " 'Holocaust'--A Study of the Term, and the Epoch it is Meant to Describe"(1977), Rabbi Hutner "focused on significant aspects of the Churban that were hitherto either little known or studiously avoided. " 13 The response revealed an insight into the world of yeshivah leaders as they viewed the war and its significance for Jewish life and Jewish education. Rabbi Hutner states: "By placing the Holocaust in its historical perspective, we shall uncover two new directions in recent Jewish history with reference to the gentile persecution of Jews." What is of interest to us is the statement that:

The first of these epochal changes involves the shift from generations of gentile mistreatment of Jews, which, if unwelcome, was nevertheless expected and indeed announced by our oppressors--to an era where promises of equality were made and then broken, rights were granted and then revoked, benevolence was anticipated, only to be crushed by cruel malevolence. 14

Citing historical examples, Rabbi Hutner shows that France after 1789, Russia after 1917, and England with its Balfour Declaration of 1917, held out the hope to Jews that their plight was finally being addressed, only to end in disappointment. "Although these reversals are dramatic and telling enough of themselves, they pale in the face of the retractions and total turnabouts made by the Germans in the 1920's and 30's." Thus it came to be that following a period of trust, the culmination of this historical period was "the Holocaust, the largest scale annihilation of a people in history, yet resulting not from lawless hordes but flowing directly from legalized and formal governmental edicts." 15

What did this do to Jews? We have already noted Hilberg's conclusion in The Destruction of the European Jews (1973): "The effect of the German destruction process on the position of Jewry within Christianity has been twofold: the Jews have been forced into a reappraisal of the past, and they have simultaneously developed apprehensions about the future. " 16 Rabbi Hutner's conclusion is similar, but writing from within the world of Orthodoxy, he begins to reach out towards specific conclusions:

The end-result of this period for the Jewish psyche was a significant--indeed, crucial--one. From trust in the gentile world, the Jewish nation was cruelly brought to a repudiation of that trust. In a relatively short historical period, disappointment in the non-Jewish world was deeply imprinted upon the Jewish soul. 17

Rabbi Hutner goes a step further: "Our new understanding of the essence of our era allows us some comprehension of the phenomenon of our 'age of baalei-teshuva' ", 18 literally, "age of 'returnees' ". Davidowicz has noted that this phenomenon "became a commonplace phenomenon", and that when the "counterculture began to seduce young Jews, the Habad movement of the Lubavitch Hasidim undertook to save their souls. Other sectarian Orthodox groups followed suit. They . . . tempted them with authenticity, with a return to wholeness by way of their own tradition and a community of love among their own people." 19 Rabbi Hutner emphasizes, that it is not a single movement or group of movements that have created this state of "return", but it is rather the mark of an era or epoch:

It has oft been noted that teshuva seems to "be in the air", and indeed the many movements currently succeeding to an unprecedented degree in bringing Jews closer to Judaism are but a reflection of the fact that the very climate is permeated with a kind of teshuva-readiness. This climate is the result of the disappointment in gentiles which demolished the first stumbling-block to teshuva, and forced the recognition that "it is because my God has not been in my midst" that the awesome events of recent times have occurred. 20

The second of the two new directions in Jewish history in relation to gentile persecutions, according to Rabbi Hutner, has to do with the meeting of "East" and "West" in seeking the downfall of Jews. Beginning with the Mufti's close relationship with Hitler, a new trend emerges whereby "the nations of the Occident join forces with those of the East for the purpose of destroying Jews." 21 This served to increase the sense of betrayal, and enhanced the prospects of Jews"'returning" to their traditional cultural and religious heritage."

Gra's knowledge of mathematics - correction?

rabbi sedley comments to "Gra's derech in Halacha & Hashkofa I - not mainst...":

Sorry to jump in to your conversation about halacha with a trivial point, but it is highly unlikely that the Gaon wrote a mathematical formula. The mathematics that is contained within Ayal Meshulash (which allegedly the Gra had translated from the Greek) is pre-Newton, which was way behind the times by the 18th century. There is no evidence to suggest that he knew modern mathematics.
Also Kramers' Law was only derived in 1923, which would have been a bit difficult even for the Gra.
I've checked wikipedia and the rest of the web and haven't found any scientific sites which give any evidence of the Gra's contribution to mathematics.
(Ralbag on the other hand .... )
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D.T. replied:

Apparently what is being referenced is Cramer's rule - not Kramer's Law. I still don't know of any evidence that links the Gra to this

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cramer's rule is a theorem in linear algebra, which gives the solution of a system of linear equations in terms of determinants. It is named after Gabriel Cramer (1704 - 1752), who published the rule in his 1750 Introduction à l'analyse des lignes courbes algébriques, although Colin Maclaurin also published the method in his 1748 Treatise of Algebra (and probably knew of the method as early as 1729).^[1]

Computationally, it is inefficient for large matrices and thus not used in practical applications which may involve many equations. However, as no pivoting is needed, it is more efficient than Gaussian elimination for small matrices, particularly when SIMD operations are used.

Cramer's rule is of theoretical importance in that it gives an explicit expression for the solution of the system.

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RaP has made a lengthy comment which is published below. Unfortunately he has totally missed the simple valid point that Rabbi Sedley has made concerning historical reality. Rabbi Sedley did not comment on the validity of secular studies at all. Neverthess I am publishing RaP's comment simply because he does make some valid observations - even though they are the result of a total misunderstanding of Rabbi Sedley's comment.

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Recipients and Publicity responded:

The present day Haredi world is very insular. It is still fighting the cultural wars against the Haskala of past centuries. Secular studies and those who study it are despised and banned. Many children in many Haredi yeshivas and Bais Yaakov are barely taught the 3Rs, if at all.

So is it any wonder then that when the very simple idea is brought up that the Vilna Gaon valued the study of mathematics, that those closest to the Haredi mindset simply short-circuit and resort to that all-time favorite psychological mechanism of denial and lying.

When someone says they have "searched the web" and makes it sound so authoritative I get very suspicious because the web consists of tens of billions of web pages, more than even Goggle can handle, so how on earth can anyone claim definitive results on a web search alone?

For example just a simple search on Google for "Vilna Gaon secular learning" yields many interesting articles worth further research (yes it takes time, lots of it, to get good results) but in this case, here's an article by Dr. Yitzchok Levine from the Jewish Press (and of course he is grinding his own axe) but he starts his article of "The Case for Secular Studies in Yeshivas" (November 17, 2004) with:

"When I was in the illustrious city of Vilna in the presence of the Rav, the light, the great Gaon, my master and teacher, the light of the eyes of the exile, the renowned pious one (may Hashem protect and save him) Rav Eliyahu, in the month of Teves 5538 [January 1778], I heard from his holy mouth that according to what a person is lacking in knowledge of the "other wisdoms," correspondingly he will be lacking one hundred portions in the wisdom of the Torah, because the Torah and the 'other wisdoms' are inextricably linked together ..."
(From the Introduction to the Hebrew translation of Euclid's book on geometry, Sefer Uklidos [The Hague, 1780] by R. Barukh Schick of Shklov, one of the main talmidim of the Vilna Gaon.)"

and while I do not agree with Dr. Levine's hysteria and advice to yeshivas, but he does point out that R. Barukh Schick of Shklov was into mathematics because of the GRA.

So do we all have to freak out and launch into revisionistic denial, projecting our own fears about Haskala and secularization onto the GRA's life?

No doubt this is what happens, instead of thinking, well, if the GRA taught one talmid the importance of math, he surely taught it to a number of others, and with that the GRA was not passive, he was mechedesh in whatever he studied.

In any case, the private life and secretiveness of the GRA is a two-edged sword that while it allows for some "plausible deniability" theories by narrow-minded yeshivish revisionists who are stuck in their mental ghettos (afetr all there are no gedolim nor "da'as Torah" today that tells people in the yeshiva and Chasidik world to study mathematics as a pure science in depth), there is another side to the coin that may just be too frightening to contemplate and that is that Vilna Gaon was truly a real GAON (peshuto kemashma'o) who had mastery over ALL spheres of knowledge, secular and holy, and in those days secular knowledge was centered on the "queen of science" which was mathematics and the study of philosophy which was more related to theology than to anything else. That is why university granted doctorates are still called a "PhD" meaning a "doctor in/of philosophy" and the GRA's penetrating mind grasped it all including nigleh and nistar -- and I can see some bright spark standing up and saying that GRA was not really a mekubal either because not too much is known about what he taught about that subject either except by a rare few talmidei chachomim.

The GRA lived by the maxims of "dai lechochom beremiza" and "yishma chochem veyosif lekach" and given the times he lived in, with oppression from the Cathlic Church and being surrounded by enemies, much of what he said was in whispers and was known to few, but it does make it an excuse to come up with theories that the GRA was just another narrow-minded Charedi rabbi!

One thing all know, is that the GRA opposed Chasidism. But as for what he held about most other subjects in life, it is much tougher to discern his position and policies and pesakim.

Conversion crisis - Olmert promises to intervene

Recipients and Publicity wrote:

JTA's Jacob Berkman (the "Fundermentalist") writes:

"July 21: Olmert responds to UJC’s plea to intervene in conversion crisis

Ehud Olmert has apparently responded to a letter earlier this month from the leaders of the United Jewish Communities in which they asked the prime minister to intervene in the conversion crisis in Israel.

The UJC’s chair, Joe Kanfer, and president and CEO, Howard Rieger, had sent the prime minister a letter July 9, imploring him in fairly strong language that they expected him and his government to step in to help the country settle the dispute over what conversions to Judaism are considered legitimate.

It is a longstanding conflict that was reignited earlier this year when Israel’s Rabbinical High Court dismissed Rabbi Haim Druckman, the head of the Conversion Committee that was established to facilitate the conversion process. In dismissing Druckman, who was considered relatively lenient on conversion, the court said it would annul thousands of conversions of immigrants from the former Soviet Union that he had approved.

Olmert wrote back to the UJC last week – and one can assume his response was not a form letter — saying that the conversion issue was one of utmost importance to him and that he values the relationship between UJC and Israel. Help is in the works, he added.

The prime minister said that he would discuss the issue further when the UJC holds is annual conference, the General Assembly, in Jerusalem this fall.

“It is my hope that the two strategic decisions made byt my Cabinet in the past six months related to this issue will begin catalyzing the conversion process in Israel,” the letter said. “I expect that, in the coming weeks, the new directorship of the Conversion Authority will begin to tackle the complexities of this issue, and that by the time we meet at the General Assembly in November, we will see concrete results.”

(We’ll say this … not everyone with Olmert’s sagging popularity and mounting legal problems would have the confidence to say he’d still be around in November. Of course, the other possibility is that he’s punting because he knows he’ll be out by then.)

Read the rest of the olmert letter.

Thanks to Rabbi Seth Farber, the director of ITIM: The Jewish Life Information center, an Israeli based organization dedicated to making Jewish life accessible, for alerting the Fundermentalist to Olmert’s letter.

Because he saw it first, I’ll give Farber first crack at responding. (For the annotated version – he isn’t satisfied):

“ITIM has received hundreds of phone calls in the past two months from converts concerned about their status and individuals who were hesitant to convert. The PM’s comments are an important first step in restoring confidence in the conversion authority. but words are not sufficient. There must be actions as well. IN the past few weeks, very little has moved forward with little direction from the Prime Minister’s office. The search committee to appoint a new director of the conversion authority has not met, and the tender for the assistant to the director went unfilled.

It is my hope that this letter will be followed by concrete steps to rebuild the conversion authority and give it the power to move this issue forward in Israel"."
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See the original official "Dear Joe and Howard" letter from PM Olmert, dated July 16, 2008 at

wherein Olmert concludes: "...I expect that, in the coming weeks, the new directorship of the Conversion Authority will begin to tackle the complexities of this issue, and that by the time we meet at the General assembly in November, we will see concrete results..."
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(It would help if the pdf copy of Olmert's letter could be reposted for its importance because if Olmert is still in office in November, his stated intentions will have major ramifications for all concerned with the issue of Halachic vs non-Halachic, or less than Halachic, conversions.)