Insiders and outsiders in the Torah world

From comments I wrote on Avodah in 1999

 I think a rather inaccurate and naive black and white picture is being presented of the nature of information transfer in the Orthodox world. There are those who feel that if we only have Artscroll biographies - then future talmidei chachomim will inevitably repeat the errors of their predecessors. This is contrasted with the narrow minded rosy view of the right wing that halacha requires focusing only on the positive and perhaps even lying c.v.. I once asked one of my sons who was learning at Ponevitch about this issue. He replied, "the rosy stories are presented for the masses. The fact is that anyone who is going somewhere in the Torah world has full access to the stories - but it is kept as Torah Shebaal Peh. It is simply a question of to'eles. For someone who is an outsider and is not immersed in learning - the raw stories are harmful because they will be misunderstood. For the insiders - those who come in contact with the big people - the stories are understood in context." Thus for those historians (and baalei batim) who rely primarily on written material - there is a great disparity of what is learned compared to one who has close relationships to gedolei Torah - who pass down information concerning these issues. It is rather naive to think that someone who has studied world history, Jewish history and American History and regularly reads the New York Times, Jewish Press as well as participating in internet discussion is more sophisticated in understanding the dynamics of Torah and Torah politics than the elite who devote their lives to study at the main yeshivos whether it is Lakewood or Yeshiva University. This filtering of information relates to the problem of the letters published by the Tora UMaddah Journal. Aside from the halachic question of publishing these letters is the question of what information Rav Weinberg wanted publicized. There is no question that the harsh condemnations stated in the letters are stated nowhere else in his large numbers of published letters and tshuvos. Did he not publish them elsewhere because he simply felt that they would not be properly understood in written form or did he conceal them because he was legitimately afraid that he would be condemned for these views? Did he strongly exaggerate his views to Prof. Atlas as a way of empathizing with his correspondent's views or were these in fact his actual personal views that he expressed to anyone he felt he could trust? The bottom line is that the publication of the letters severely damaged his reputation in the Orthodox world where he has been acknowledged as one of the major talmidei chachomim of the 20th century. If the views are accurate then he and his halachic opinions will be discounted or ignored - if they are not accurate then his name has simply been besmirched. So what was gained? Did someone think that there would be a movement of talmidei chachomim to legitimize the harsh statements found in the letters? Did someone fantasize that Rav Weinbergs standing is so absolute that it would influence and bend the whole world in his direction?! 

I am sorry for the upset that my last posting caused but it *is* an accurate statement of the Litvak point of view. (I believe that there is a totally different dynamic in the chassidic world.) Let me mention two solid sources expressing the elitist litvak view. The first is Rav Dessler's famous essay (vol 3 page 355) stating that there should be only two options - full time learning or a low status job. The second is Rav Moshe's (Igros Moshes Y.D. IV 36.15 page 233) adamant refusal to give a baal habayis the status of a ben Torah. Thus in the litvische yeshiva world - those who are not major league talmidei chachomim or on their way to being such are outsiders and deliberately so. This puts tremendous pressure on people to learn - swim or sink. But even someone learning full time in kollel - but not regarded as going somewhere is also an outsider. In contrast I was told (by one of the Bostoner Rebbe's sons) that in the chassidic world being a chasid is itself adequate status. "As long as you cling to the Rebbe it compensates for the fact that you are not a tzadik or talmid chachom". He further stated that the chasid is more likely to learn in a gentlemanly way while the litvak's concern is to defeat his opponent - the result being that the litvak takes his learning much more seriously and personally. [I am aware that there are chasidim who learn like litvaks - but as a generalization it seems to be true] Bottom line. There are insiders and outsiders in the Torah world. (Something which I had thought was obvious to all.) The insiders have access to information which not available to the outsiders. This is related also to the issue of midgets and giants.

Hanukkah gelt

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukkah_gelt

 Rabbi A. P. Bloch has written that

"The tradition of giving money (Chanukah gelt) to children is of long standing. The custom had its origin in the 17th-century practice of Polish Jewry to give money to their small children for distribution to their teachers. In time, as children demanded their due, money was also given to children to keep for themselves. Teenage boys soon came in for their share. According to Magen Avraham (18th century), it was the custom for poor yeshiva students to visit homes of Jewish benefactors who dispensed Chanukah money (Orach Chaim 670). The rabbis approved of the custom of giving money on Chanukah because it publicized the story of the miracle of the oil."^[1]

Ba'alei Teshuvah

 https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/baalei-teshuvah

In the second half of the 20^th century, the words ba'alei teshuvah took on new significance. Beginning in the 1960s in the U.S., the rise of the counterculture in general American society together with the search for new meaning and spirituality led an increasing number of college-age Jews to explore Jewish observance, many for the first time. For most of these young Jews, the exploration led them to Orthodoxy, of one form or another.

 

The Baal Teshuva Movement - Agudath Israel of America

 https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjYou-Umb30AhUJh_0HHaQZCvYQFnoECBYQAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fagudathisrael.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F1980%2F09%2FJO1980-V14-N09.pdf&usg=AOvVaw13PQz_W4zuGSgcCh65G8rZ

 1 heard from Rabbi Yoseif Kahaneman, the late Ponevezher Rav 7"~n, that in the course of the Hitler holocaust a million pure souls of innocent Jewish children,cheder children, were lost. Since then, their souls hover in the world, trying to find bodies into which they can enter in order to continue their interrupted lives. Thus pure Jewish souls are transfigured in the chozrim biteshuva of our days.

 

The Baal Teshuva Movement

 https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-baal-teshuva-movement/

 BTW one of the saddest respondents I encountered was Rav Ephraim Buchwald, who was a leader at YU’s TLS and then founded and led National Jewish Outreach Professionals. I know, like and respect him very much. This is what he wrote to me:   

The rise and decline of the Baal Teshuva movement, particularly the rise and decline of the non-Orthodox synagogues in the U.S. Conservative and Reform synagogues were the primary feeders of the Baal Teshuva movement. With their collapse, the religious return of their youth has ceased. With few exceptions, the Baal Teshuva movement has sadly ended.

Baal teshuva movement

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baal_teshuva_movement

Appearing as an identifiable movement in the 1960s, a growing number of young Jews who had previously been raised in non-religious homes in the United States started to develop a strong interest in becoming a part of observant Judaism; many of these people, in contrast to sociological expectations, became attracted to observant Judaism within Orthodoxy.
Rabbi Yosef Blau the mashgiach ruchani of Yeshiva University has noted:

A baal teshuva movement has emerged with a significant number of Jews from non-traditional homes returning to the observance of grandparents and great grandparents. In fact one of the challenges facing modern Orthodoxy is that many of these returnees are attracted to a European Orthodoxy.^[6]

Is Modern Orthodox Kiruv Possible?

 https://www.thelehrhaus.com/commentary/is-modern-orthodox-kiruv-possible/

 In theory, the Modern Orthodox community is in the best possible situation to take on this challenge. No other branch of Judaism is so firmly rooted in Torah and mitzvot while simultaneously being full participants in contemporary culture. Many Jews who are not yet observant would likely be able to strongly connect to Modern Orthodox Judaism and find an ideological home within the Modern Orthodox community if such an option were to be presented properly.

In spite of this, much of the kiruv (roughly translated as “outreach”) world is dominated by those representing various shades of a more right-wing Orthodox Judaism, including organizations such as Chabad,^[4] Aish HaTorah, Chazaq, Olami, and more.^[5]

One of the biggest issues that prevents Modern Orthodox kiruv from being successful is that Modern Orthodoxy tends to be perceived as unattractive to those who are searching for a legitimate religious outlet. One need only look at the traction of Eitan Gross’s now infamous article in which he argues that the Modern Orthodox world is full of “glaring hypocrisy and internal contradiction.”^[7] Similarly, Noah Feldman of Harvard Law (who himself left the Modern Orthodox community), assessed the following:

Orthodox leaders slam popular 'Kiruv' rabbi

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/221450

 A number of leading rabbinical figures in the Orthodox world have issued a stern rebuke of one of the most prominent ‘kiruv’ (outreach) rabbis in the United States.

Sixteen rabbis penned a letter, publicized on Wednesday, rejecting the behavior and comments of Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi, calling his teaching methods “superficial”, “deceptive”, and “dangerous”.

“As rabbonim and mechanchim (teachers), we are greatly concerned about the popularity in some circles of a ‘kiruv’ approach that does not bring honor to the Torah…but on the contrary, creates considerable chilul Hashem (desecration of God’s name),” the statement reads.

 Among others, the 16 signatories to the letter include Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz, head of the Beis Din of American and the Chicago Rabbinical Council; the Bostoner Rebbe, Rabbi Mayer Alter Horowitz; Rabbi Yitzchok Alderstein, editor of Cross Currents; Rabbi Avi Shafran, a senior member of Agudath Israel of America; Rabbi Shalom Baum, President of the Rabbinical Council of America; Yeshiva University Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Daniel Feldman; Rabbi Shaya Karlinsky, Rosh Yeshiva of Darche Noam in Jerusalem; and Rabbi Joseph Dweck, Senior Rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish communities in the UK.

A Time to Build,” Rabbi Chaim Dov Keller

https://agudah.org/the-jewish-observer-vol-35-no-5-may-2002sivan-5762/

 

 There is another aspect to the "with us" syndrome: Give us what we want. "We want spirituality," so we give them spirituality. "We want meditation," so we respond with lectures on meditation. "We want Kabbala,"and we deliver Kabbala. This, it can he argued, is only used as a means of attracting them. But then we have to "bait and switch." And"bait and switch" does not always work. A person coming into Judaism searching for mysticism and Kabbala may not be so happy to be sold the halachos of Shulchan Aruch. And when he's not satisfied with ourbrand of mysticism, he may explore other forms of mysticism. Our goal is not to produce Mitzva Machines, but to make bnei Torah, andto spread Torah, which is the lifeblood of the Jewish People. "Spirituality"seekers are in reality "hungry to hear the words of Hashem." When people are hungry and thirsty, you do not feed them potato chips and diet cola with cotton candy for dessert. And when they really want to hear the word ofHashem, you do not feed them puffand platitudes and pop Kabba/a before you teach them the basics of Torah'. Otherwise, the result can be a hybridization of Judaism - "feel good,'' and do-it-yourself religion, and in the worst scenario, introduction into messianic cults. Not all outreach is kiruv.

Out to Save the World

https://mishpacha.com/out-to-save-the-world/

Warmly eulogized by the entire Torah world after his passing, in his lifetime he was both ridiculed as “Noach the meshugener” and subject to sharp criticism. Despite being the seminal figure in the modern baal teshuvah movement, he was rarely invited to address the general chareidi public, and a major rosh yeshivah once took to the pages of the Jewish Observer to attack the “religion of kiruv.”

No one who had such a vast list of things he wished to change could have failed to arouse critics. The Novominsker Rebbe, Rav Yaakov Perlow, in his eulogy for Rav Noach — a boyhood friend — hinted at the source of some of that opposition: “Often, those who burn with passion to right every wrong make others nervous.” The Rebbe confessed that in later years he would often cross to the other side of the street when he saw Rav Noach coming to avoid being confronted with questions about what he was doing to solve the problems of Klal Yisrael.

 

 

Rebbetzin Jungreiss Class Pinchas- Hineni

Heard from the Shomer Emunim Rebbe

About 15 years ago I had the opportunity to spend a number of hours with the Shomer Emunim Rebbe. The following are samples of our conversations. 

I asked him what it was like being a rebbe? He replied, "In the old days when the chassidim needed the rebbe it was good. But now the rebbe needs the chassidim and it is not so good."

He mentioned a well known rebbe in Europe who had one daughter but many sons. The rebbe made all his son's rebbes but not his son-in-law. His daughter was hurt by this and asked her father why he didn't make her husband a rebbe also. The father replied, "Your husband is a tremendous talmid chacom. A talented leader - he will have no trouble with parnosa. Unfortunately your brothers are not so smart or talented - at least they can be rebbes.

I have a son who at that time was a strong kanoi. I asked the Rebbe what I should do about it. He told me to bring my son to him. The Rebbe talked with him - and my son criticized one group after another as not being "proper Jews". The Rebbe pulled out a sefer - Derech Mitzvosecha" and pointed out a paragraph. It said, "You can not be a kanoi if you enjoy it. Being a zealot is only for those who find it distasteful." My son lost all interest in criticizing other Jews at that meeting and totally changed his perspective for the good.

Rabbi Kanievsky says children 5 and up should be vaccinated

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/rabbi-kanievsky-says-children-5-and-up-should-be-vaccinated-686971

 Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, one of the most senior haredi (ultra-Orthodox) rabbis in the world, said that children over the age of five should be vaccinated against corona, a ruling that should bolster the vaccination drive among young children in the haredi sector.

The rabbi, 93, met at his Bnei Brak home on Thursday with senior medical officials and doctors, who informed him of new developments regarding the vaccine, rising case numbers, and the recent approval by the US Food and Drug Administration for administering the Pfizer vaccine to children from the age of five.

Of the haredi population, 678,000 are age 0-19 of whom 200,000 are five to 11, so the vaccination drive for this cohort is of high importance for the national child vaccination drive in general.

A prison commander says female IDF soldiers were ‘pimped’ for terrorist prisoners

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/prison-commander-admits-idf-soldiers-were-pimped-for-terrorist-prisoners/

Gilboa Prison commander Freddy Ben Shitrit appears to confirm reports from 2018 that female IDF soldiers who were doing their military service in the prison as guards were “pimped” and forced to have sex with Palestinian terrorists.

Ben Shitrit says the prison “pimped soldiers” and “they handed over female soldiers… to terrorists for sexual purposes.” The incident allegedly happened before Ben Shitrit served as commander in the prison.

The allegations were first reported in 2018 by Channel 20 and firmly denied by the prison services.