It is not for plain, simple, members of the community to publicly question the religious rulings of the Rabbis of congregations. The role of entering into these Halachic discussions is the perogative of the great scholars of the generation.
We hold, however, that it is the obligation of every good man -- Jew and Gentile alike -- to protest when Rabbinical leaders promote lawlessness.
Therefore, we wish to go on the record as saying:
(1) No more incitement to riot in other people's Shuls.
(2) No more incitement to snatch husbands and violently attack them.
Rabbis involved in this incitement are
The Rabbis of the Washington Vaad;
Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz; and
Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky.
We call on these Rabbis to rescind their inflammatory rhetoric and act to restore calm and peace to the community.
We cannot emphasize enough that we have no personal enmity against these Rabbis. If their car were to be stuck, we would come to their aid; in their respective domains, they are each Mora D'Asra, and all who choose to enter there should exhibit respect to them.
But when these princes of Our Nation venture into the public realm and trample the common values of Man and G-d, what citizen with any shred of feeling can remain still?
If they want to stir up others to beat their own followers, or foment a riot in their own Minyan -- by all means! But they have not limited their thuggery to those who willingly submit to them.
Therefore, with reluctance and regret, we unsheathe from our First Amendment scabbard the same weapon of the word that these men have wielded against us. We will go to the streets and online and trumpet the alarm to awake our unwary friends and neighbors.
Know that these kind, smiling, educated men we've collectively hired and/or elevated to "Gadol" status can also be nasty, arrogant, and bullheaded when it comes to placing their honor and selfish interests above the integrity of the Torah. That innocent people standing in their way get hurt seems to mean nothing to them.
We want to express Hakaros Hatov to fellow community members Mrs. Sara Barak, Dr. Jeremy and Mrs. Erica Brown, Mr. David and Mrs. Sharon Butler, Mrs. Avraham Rubin, Mr. Nathan and Mrs. Elizabeth Diament, Mrs. Sara Elikan, Dr. John Golin and Trish Weissman, Dr. Jacques and Mrs. Susan Gorlin, Mr. Dean and Mrs. Devorah Grayson, Mr. Ed and Mrs. Lori Greenberg, Mrs. Elanit Rothschild Jakabovics, Mr. David Janus, Mr. Avi Kaplan, Miss Rella Kaplowitz, Rabbi Ira and Mrs. Rachel Kosowsky, Mr. Neil and Mrs. Fran Kritz, Mr. David Levin and Ms. Debbie Rosenbloom, Rabbi Avi and Mrs. Debby Levitt, Mr. Avi Litwack, Mr. David and Mrs. Giliah Litwack, Mr. Maury Litwack, Mr. Moshe and Mrs. Rose Litwack, Dr. Jonathan and Mrs. Michelle Schneck. Mr. Joseph and Mrs. Orlee Turitz. Their groundbreaking and pioneering letter five years ago paved the way for us to openly and boldly state our position.
RDE & Readers:
ReplyDeleteDo your know whether what R. Ralbag writes in the following letter from his beis din regarding the Halacha, especially his citation of the Igros Moshe, is halachicly correct and whether it's applicable in the car referred to?:
http://media.wix.com/ugd/e5498d_4992b077f0d14147af2072e5fd596ed4.pdf
http://www.getora.org/#!velvl-butman/c5
You left out Rabbi Hershel Schechter - Rabbinic head of ORA
ReplyDeleteWhen was there a riot in a shul?
ReplyDeleteORAPhA, the Organized Resistance Against Phony Agunas, is a local DC area group. Our goal is to get the local Vaad to back off. We included Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky because the Washington Vaad specifically relied on a letter that Rabbi Kamenetsky signed to justify going on the offensive against us. We included Rabbi Breitowitz because he lived, worked and taught here for many years, and has followers here. Rabbi Breitowitz's statements to a U.S. Court, through the documents he authored, lent apparent support for the Bais Din that planned and implemented an attack on a community member.
ReplyDeleteKOL HaKavod for your boldness, eloquence and devotion to emes l'amito.
ReplyDeleteThese middos amongst the faithful and thoughtful of Am Ha'Nivchar need to be asserted for the hegemony of gadol-worship and other superficial political winds to stop determining the course of the klal.
A man in our community was singled out by the Rabbis of the Vaad and by others to be demonized. This man had done nothing wrong to deserve such treatment. He was effectively banned from all Vaad affiliated Shuls. We invited him to our Shul. He attended on Shabbos. He came for some weekday Minyanim the following week. The next Shabbos, at Kabbolos Shabbos, some of the people attending the service, realized this man was in the Shul. It should be noted that this group of people included members and non-members of the Shul. Despite the man being there with the permission of the Rabbi, their was an attempt to disrupt the Minyan. I was not there. I was told, however, that some people walked out, others prevented entry to the Shul, at least one person blocked the man's path as the man himself attempted to leave the Shul to assist in restoring order, and the man described this person who positioned themselves in his way as seeming to want to provoke a confrontation. The man had to choose a different path in order to exit peacefully. In a word, there was havoc. All in the middle of Davening.
ReplyDeleteAnd when I asked Rabbi Rosenbaum recently if I could have some assurance there would not be a repeat of this scene if the man attended a Minyan I would put together for him, Rabbi Rosenbaum explicitly refused to give such assurance. Rabbi Rosebaum is the current president of the Washington Vaad.Our Shul is not part of the Vaad.
These Buffalo stampeding bullies have also a network of messengers bishlichus, of whom to harass. Their MO is to follow and stalk the victim 24/7 to know all his ins and outs and whereabouts, collecting the hours of operation, destinations and routines, doctors appointments, recruits for unlimited time and a unit of spy foot soldiers as many as they want. They recruit kol tzarua vekol zav that have ample time on their hands, from laydig gayers pochzim vereikim, to goyim workers, even hatsala members, shomrim, chaveirim and chazeirim, mikol asher bo leyodom, that have more than enough time on their hands. They relay the messages to the shamosim of Shuls to alert them and perform their ma'asei ta'atuim undercover in trying to stay clean free from revenge, they involve the shopkeepers wherever you turn. They do character assassinations all over the place wherever they can using all the gathered and collected information, and do it with the rabbis blessings and recommendations to besmirch you and assassinate you, making up stories. One of their favorite is to denigrate as if a mental case having even Witch Doctors beilum shem a yahr eidus, true or made up anything goes. This RA eminating from ORA vecholera have psokim from their so called rabbis bullying you over the internet, and this is what they have been doing leading into and up to the False and forced Gittin. Now B'H' that all came to light through the feds, these ongoing harassments should also be made known to the GEDOILEI UPOSKEI HaDOR of the tsarot these RESHAIM SHARYA YMSV'A inflicted al acheinu bnei Yisroel. Koele veKoele hosifu bnei avlo. The fish starts to stink from the head. Let everything be aired out in the sun. Let them eat whatever they served for the NIRDOFIM. May they all go Epstein's way!
ReplyDeleteTorah respecting Jewish men must withdraw attendance and support from allegedly Orthodox shuls that engage in feminist persecution of decent Jewish men. If necessary, a new movement of non-feminist Orthodox shuls will have to be created.
ReplyDeleteIts time to publicly identify and isolate allegedly Orthodox shuls operated by rabbis or officers who engage in feminist activism and deny Jewish men their God given halachic rights under Torah law.
Those shuls who continue to publicly ban or harass AF demonstrate their double standards, hypocrisy and vindictiveness. If TE has a halachically valid annulment then what is their justification for banning AF, other than feminist persecution of an innocent man? If TE does not have a halachically valid annulment, then why aren't TE and her boyfriend banned from Orthodox shuls for being halachic adulterers?
Great posting Joe, keep up the good work!
Hi Joe, just curious, what is the name of the rabbi of your shul?
ReplyDeleteAiriing it out in the sun is the best disinfectioner. Kudos. TY
ReplyDeleteRabbi Herzel Kranz.
ReplyDeleteI have chosen not to name the man who has been demonized, although most readers know who it is. This is part of my effort to dial down the unjustified outrage at him.
The man is still welcome in our Shul. He has used good judgement in not attending the Minyanim here.
It bothers me that some wild members of the community can throw a tantrum and get their way. What next will tick them off? My forming ORAPhA is a way of "heading them off at the pass". Since writing this post I feel like a weight has been lifted off me. Thank you to all the commenters on the post. I am looking forward to printing out copies of the ORAPhA missiin starement and distributing them outside Vaad affiliated Shuls.
Yeyasher kochacho. This is exactly what theTalmud expounds of TZODKO MIMENI! Mutav sheyapil es atzmo letoch kivshon haesh veal yachlim es pnei chavero berabim. It is a mitzvah to rather sacrifice yourself like TAMAR letting to be cast into a burning oven, but DO NOT EMBARASS YOUR FELLOW JEW IN PUBLIC. Come these so called GEDOILIM, and DO JUST THE OPPOSITE bechol hahidurim. Kivan sheovar veshov na'asse lo keHETER. It is in line, if you are matir EISHES ISH LASHUK, what is the big deal to sacrifice your fellow JEW, to HARASS, EMBARASS, YORED LECHAYOV vechol hachamuros sheBATORAH? This has been going on for far too long, and if the so called manhigim didn't repent, then HASHEM mesavev kol hasibot had to take care of it BIFLILLIM. ELE MANHIGECHO YISRAEL, HUH? B'H' we now have the involvement of TRUE GEDOILEI UPOSKEI HADOR SHINING IN VEYOMAR LETSOROISENU DAY!!! We shall not and will not sell out the TORAH haKDOSHA for KESSEF SHALMOINIM. Thank you so much Mr. ORLOW for doing such a GREAT MITZVA and MOICHEH al ELBOINAH SHEL TORAH BARABIM, helping leheishiv Torah al tilah veATARA LEYOSHNO. May HASHEM pay you back asseres moinim for the shlichus and the sake of veHOELOKIM YAVEKESH ET HANIRDAF in the name of acheinu bnei Yisroel vechol hanirdofim R'L'. THUS will be a great Kiddush HASHEM Leeinei kol Yisroel, uleinei kol ha'amim that LO ALMAN YISROEL, and when a fellow JEW wants to be mispallel in a MIKDASH ME'AT these RABINERS and RABINCHIKES have no shlita. The SHUL'S and batei midroshim are the property of the PUBLIC, financed by the PUBLIC, to be WOSHIPPED BY THE PUBLIC. NO MORE, NO LESS. If you do not comply, HARBEH DROCHIM LAMAKOM!!! Again, Dear Mr. ORLOW, We the People cannot, i repeat, cannot thank you enough for doing such a Gevaldige mitsvah. Many thanks for Rabbi Doniel in lending a helping hand for KEDUSHAS YISROEL veal kvod HaTorah, veal kvod Acheinu Bnei Yisroel hanesunim baTsoroh ubaSHIVYAH. AMEN veAMEN.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I'm familiar with the Silver Spring community, and reading your post, I wondered which rabbi was brave enough to stand up to tyranny. Kol Hakavod to Rabbi Kranz!
ReplyDeleteWhile you don't name the man who was demonized, you did mention in a different post that you were considering making a private minyan, where the gentleman in question could attend. Did that ever get off the ground? Practically speaking, does he have a place where he can worship freely on Shabbos? Weekdays? or is he "The Man Without a Shul"?
Can Rabbi Kranz throw out these instigators so that the person in question who they were harassing in shul and making a scene can daven in peace?
ReplyDelete