Anonymous comment to "Chabad - Chasidim - not just Litvaks - are upset":
The Rebbe's argument was unfounded, poorly thought out, led only to greater dissension between him and the rest of Charedi Jewry, and, in the final analysis, silly. He basically insulted a dead gadol in public because he is idealogically driven to one point of view.
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p.s. Yoni suggested viewing the video of the Rebbe discussing sleeping in a Sukkah. The transcript appears on the blog - Emet/Truth
Rabbi Oliver wrote:
"The point of the story regarding learning Tanya was not to bash any true godol ch"v (note that the Rebbe didn't refer to him by name) but to bring out the greatness of learning Tanya, that someone who has learnt it, even a beginner, attains a certain level that even a great gaon who hasn't learnt Tanya doesn't attain. So what, what's the big scandal. What's the "sinister" "evil" "grave insult" over here. It's along the lines of a clear maamar Chazal: "Each tzaddik will be scorched by the 'canopy' of his fellow." (Bava Basra 75a) See Maharsha."The Rebbe suggested that gemara in the very begining of his apologetic. The reason why its inappropriate is because it is, simply put, an ideological argument. The Rebbe could have easily said, "we in Chabad learn Tanya. That is our way. They have theirs." But he did not do that. He justified a comment made by a man in his drunken stupor about the jealousy a gadol b'yisroel in shomayim feels toward little children because they learn Tanya and he did not. The Chazon Ish was well versed in all of Torah, nistar included. The percieved benefits of learning Tanya would be akin to the benefits of the Rebbe learning, in addition to Rambam with its nosei kailim, all Brisker Torah. I could argue, based on his tortured logic, that since Brisker Torah is the amkus d'pashtus (according to THEM, not you--you have to appreciate how utterly wrong his comment actually is!), and since the Rebbe did not learn it, then, obviously, the Rebbe is jealous of any mesivta shnook learning a Brisker Rav! I would add that the Rebbe is profoundly jealous of me as I am certain he did not touch certain brisker seforim that I have learned cover to cover. I would add that he never learned anything from the Ahavas Yisroel. For this reason, he is PROFOUNDLY jealous of, you've got it, ME. After all, in my opinion, the torah of the Ahavas Yisroel is what Chazal mean by "talmudo."
The Rebbe's argument was unfounded, poorly thought out, led only to greater dissension between him and the rest of Charedi Jewry, and, in the final analysis, silly. He basically insulted a dead gadol in public because he is idealogically driven to one point of view.
>>Also, the Rebbe had great respect for the Chazon Ish, as recorded in the sefer Mishvochei Rebbi, Mordechai Menashe Laufer, p. 126, where the Rebbe says, "He appears to have been a yerei Shomayim". Someone commented "he was also a lamdan". To this the Rebbe responded, "this too was with yiras Shomayim."A lamdan? A Yorah shomayim? Well, let me tell you, I think I have a GREAT shevach to say about the Rebbe: He had a beard. It was nice, white and robust. In fact, the beard was worn with yiras shomayim.
Why didn't the Rebbe just say that the CI did not pish in the mikva? That, too, is a "compliment."Gedolei Yisroel like the Chazon Ish do not NEED such so-called respect. But the Rebbe NEEDED to be respectful of gedolei yisroel. If this is your best example of respect, the Rebbe has more to worry about than his canopy being scorched by another's.
>>Anon., why not investigate a bit better before jumping to conclusions about Tzadikim, do they not also have a chezkas kashrus?I am not jumping to conclusions, I was aware of the great "shvachos" the Rebbe heaped on the Chazon Ish before I wrote this post. I still believe the Rebbe was a reverse misnagid, so to speak--not (like the original misnagdim) to protect the holy Torah from any breaches, c"v--but the misseh kind, the kind which hated because they believed their way was superior. And that notion of ethnocentrism and superiority is precisely what the Rebbe advocated in this apologetic.
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p.s. Yoni suggested viewing the video of the Rebbe discussing sleeping in a Sukkah. The transcript appears on the blog - Emet/Truth