Does R' Tropper view Rav Reuven Feinstein as a posek?

R' Tropper recently rejected the views of a prominent Midwestern Rav - who is opposed to EJF - as not being those of a posek but merely a talmid chachom. R' Tropper explcitly states that he views Rav Eliashiv and Rav Dovid Feinstein as poskim - but that he views most talmidei chachom as not being considered poskim - even those who answer halachic questions. Obviously he does not view himself as a posek. But this declaration - printed below - would imply that he does not view the head of his halachic committee - Rav Reuven Feinstein as a posek. That would mean that he is acknowledging the radical halachic changes of his organization are being certified by a prominent talmid chachom - but not someone that R' Tropper considers a posek! He also acknowledges that he has received words of encouragement from the great contemporary poskim - but does not mention a single letter explicitly supporting EJF halachic innovations.

If in fact he did not mean to imply that Rav Reuven Feinstein is not a posek - he should explicity state this and apologize for his unintentional slight to Rav Reuven's kavod.
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Rabbi Tropper's blog

Rabbi Tropper I heard that there is a Rav who is a Posek in the Midwest, who is strongly opposed to the EJF. Are you aware of this opposition?

Answer: Rabbi Tropper says:

No I am not aware. I am sure that who ever this Rav is he must be a Talmid Chochom. However I am not aware of any Posek in the Midwest at all.

I heard from the Great Gaonim Maran Harav Yisroel Gustman, zt’l and Maran Harav Yitzchok Hutner, zt’l on different occasions that not every Rav is a Posek. A Posek is one who knows Bavli, yerushalmi, Michilta, Tur bais Yosef, 4 chelkei Shulchan aruch in great depth. One who could analyze a halachic issue and bring proof from various places in Shas to the issue at hand.

These words are similiar to the Daas Torah I heard from the great Posek, Harav Yosef Eliyahu Henkin, zt’l. Rav Henkin, then went on to tell me a story about the Maharsham, zt’l who would bring 8 proofs from shas to support his Psakim.

One who knows all of Mishne Berura albeit by heart is a Rav not a Posek!

One who memorizes all of the Piskei Chazon Ish or the Psakim of the Tshbiner Rav or the Igros Moshe is NOT a posek.

I am not aware of any POSEK in the midwest. I know of a few respected rabbonim in the Midwest. Even great Talmedei Chachomim, but not Poskim.

In Eretz Yisroel We have 3 or 4 SENIOR Poskim, Maran Harav Yosef Sholom Eliyashuv, shlit”a, Maran Harav Shmuel Wosner, shlit”a (The Chazon Ish said about Maran Harav Wosner, shlit”a that if Moshiach would arrive during his time, he would be a Member of the Sanhedrin). Maran Harav Ovadia Yosef, shlit”a whose knowledge in all aspects of Shas and Poskim is legendary.

In the U.S. many Bnei Torah refer to Hagaon Rav D. Feinstein, shlit”a as a great Posek.

Many of the newcomers to Yiddishkeit ask a Shaila to a Rav.

They Believe that the most simple question answered by a Rav is from a “Posek”. We should educate them properly.

The danger in this confusion is that when Maran Harav Wosner, shlit”a or Maran Harav Eliyashuv, shlit”a issue a Halachic decision and a Rav in the Midwest or in NY argues, it becomes in their mind a “Machlokes haposkim”. That is Dangerous!

A Rav in NY or in LA or in the Midwest who argues with the above mentioned Poskim is not classified as a “Machlokes Haposkim”.

Hence, the Gedoley Haposkim and the Gedoley Horoah, shlit”a who strongly endorse the efforts of EJF to stop fraudelent conversion amongst Klal Yisroel, speak to those who respect Daas Torah.

As much as a Moreh Horoah can say, his words are secondary next to the words of the Poskei Hador.

A hand written letter of support for Netzach Mishpachas Yisroel was written by Maran, the great Gaon Harav Chaim Kanievsky, shlit”a and read at the conference held recently in Yerushalayim. Another letter of elaborate support came from the Zkan Rosh Hayeshivos in Eretz Yisroel.

Rav Sternbuch - between a blessing & curse

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Chareidi kids peacefully demonstrate for Shabbos

YNet JPost

Several thousands ultra-Orthodox children who attend the Haredi Community's elementary schools rallied on Wednesday near the Safra parking lot at the entrance to Jerusalem, in protest of what they view as the Shabbat desecration in the capital.

The rally began with a march from the Shabbat Square in the city towards Shiveti Tsrael Street. The children, some of them dressed in sackcloth, held up signs condemning the opening of the Karta parking lot on weekends. Several hundred adults accompanied the rally. [...]

British court rules Judaism is racist

Haaretz

Jewish schools are guilty of racial discrimination if they reject children on the grounds of their parentage, a British court has ruled.

In a decision that has shocked the country's 300,000-strong Jewish community, the Court of Appeal held that ongoing personal acts of faith, rather than birth or conversion, must define who is a Jew.

In doing so, the court overturned an earlier high court judgment upholding the decision of the JFS in London (the oldest and largest Jewish school in Britain) to deny a boy admission because it did not recognize his mother?s conversion.

The three judges, one of them Jewish, ruled that any selection criteria that gives ethnic priority to a Jew is showing racial discrimination. They cited the Race Relations Act 1976, which was introduced to prevent discrimination on the grounds of race.

The ruling means that Jewish schools of any denomination, whether privately or state funded, will be barred from giving priority to children who are born Jewish or who convert, and instead must consider how the children and their families practice their Judaism.

The move throws into disarray the admissions arrangements for Britain's 97 Orthodox schools and may force them to introduce "faith tests" - like church schools, which require fortnightly attendance at Sunday services. Such a radical intervention - unprecedented since the time of Oliver Cromwell - calls into question the relationship between church (or synagogue) and state. [...]

RaP - important conversion articles

"New rules have Diaspora converts waiting on Israel"

http://jta.org/news/article/2009/07/07/1006367/new-rules-have-diaspora-converts-waiting-on-israel

"Rabbi offers unorthodox solution to civil marriage debate"
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1098606.html
Religious Zionists war against Haredim on Conversions:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1245184921517

"Zionist rabbis break law for converts".

This is a really important article that covers the situation from the perspectives of the Haredim to the Religious Zionists in Israel, including mentioning EJF and responses to it. It is truly a Conversions War.

Rabbinate converts 60 active missionaries

Arutz Sheva

The Chief Rabbinate has been given a list of more than 60 recent converts to Judaism who continue to believe in Jesus – and are active missionaries.

Rabbi Shalom Dov Lifshitz, chairman and founder of the anti-missionary and anti-assimilation Yad L’Achim organization, met in recent days with Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar and provided him with the list. Rabbi Amar was reportedly “shocked” at seeing that the Chief Rabbinate had authorized the conversions

An immediate solution was found for the future, however. Rabbi Lifshitz presented Rabbi Amar with a list of 17 questions that should be asked of any prospective convert. Under the assumption that the missionaries will either not lie straight out, or that the specific questions will help detect the lies, it is hoped that missionaries will be spotted and weeded out from the conversion rolls.

Yad L’Achim had prepared the list of names, ID numbers and addresses of more than 60 people who were active in missionary groups before, during and after their long conversion process to Judaism. The "converts" were then accepted as members of religious communities, and their children were accepted into religious schools. [...]

Proselytizing - Purpose of countermissionaries

JPost

I am completely misunderstood. As a countermissionary, people think that it's my goal in life to make people miserable, to persecute poor Christians living in our country and to tell people what they should believe. Nothing could be further from the truth. People think that a countermissionary's raison d'être is to destroy freedom of religion and to create within Israel a state similar to that of the Muslim countries that surround us, where no one has any freedom to believe anything other than those beliefs held by the thugs who hold power. Again, wrong. Some people think I hate Christians. Wrong also.

Believe it or not, the purpose of a countermissionary is ultimately to improve Jewish-Christian relations. As it says in Robert Frost's poem, "Mending Wall," good fences make good neighbors. By teaching Jews why we are not Christians and by teaching Christians to respect our boundaries, we improve relations between the two faiths. Blurring the lines between the two faiths doesn't serve to bridge the gap caused by fear and misunderstanding; it weakens Judaism and causes Christians to have less respect for the Jewish people. Breaking down the walls breaks down the distinctiveness and the different callings of each faith system, and only fosters more hatred and fear.

The purpose of the countermissionary is to strengthen the Jewish people and to teach Christians that we have reasons for choosing to reject their faith. When they can understand and accept this, we can progress to a level of rejecting their faith without rejecting them as people, and the two peoples can live side-by-side in mutual respect and understanding, agreeing to disagree.

WHEN WE say that it should be illegal to proselytize in Israel, we are not saying that a Christian doesn't have the right to believe as he wishes or even to worship God as he sees fit. What we are saying is that a Jew has the right to live in the Jewish state in freedom, without needing to worry about being harassed by someone trying to convince him that his faith is not good enough, that he needs to accept Christianity's concept of God to be able to even have a relationship with God in the first place, or that his child will be convinced to abandon the faith of his forefathers.[...]

Conversion - What is a Reform ger?

Ora asks the following:

What is the difference between no Giur and a non recognised Giur?

A young man is fascinated by some aspects of judaism. However, orthodox judaism poses some problems of philosphical and of practical nature. (e.g. He does not want to oppose homosexuality, his wife is not jewish and he does not want her to convert because of him, he lives far from the synagogue he wants to attend and would have to drive to go there, he does not really believe in "exclusivity" of religion, i.e. that all other religions but judaism are false)

But he considers a reform giur, since reform judaism is the religion he would like to choose for himself, because it addresses the problems he has with orthodox judaism.

Now: anyway, a reform Giur is not recognised. So it will be considered null and void by orthodox rabbinate. So there is no problem that the person will not be shomer mitzwoth. Is it therefore legitimate for him to convert (reform), knowing that his reform giur has "limited validity"? In other words: Is reform judaism a legitimate way of being mekaim 7 mitzwoth bney noach?

Abuse - Secular knowledge is from ruach hakodesh

The need and importance of consulting psychologists and doctors and other experts in secular knowledge should not be regarded as against Torah. Aside from the fact that Moshe consulted with Yisro and that through the ages gedolim have always done such - the following Chasam Sofer asserts that secular wisdom itself is inspired by ruach hakodesh.

Chasam Sofer (Orech Chaim 1:208): And this that you have written a number of times concerning the issue of wisdom and prophecy and Azniel ben Kenaz who restored the lost Halacha by pilpul… You correctly explain that which the Raavad said that there was ruach hakodesh in his beis hamedrash and similar such expressions does not mean ruach hakodesh in the sense that Dovid HaMelech had. Rather it means the spirit of G‑d for those who engage in Torah for pure motivations who merit to ascertain the truth even if according to the nature of their wisdom and intelligence they should be incapable of comprehending it properly. Nevertheless, G‑d in His mercy gives extra inspiration of wisdom for a limited time. In this manner Azniel ben Kenaz merited to ascertain the truth through pilpul, kal v’chomer and gezera shaveh [Temurah 16a] that which his natural intelligence was incapable of doing. This is similar to what it says in Bava Basra 12a that even though prophecy was taken from the prophets but not from the sages. However, your understanding of this gemora to be that wisdom was not taken from the sages is incorrect. Rather it is that prophecy was not taken from the sages. In other words, that type of prophecy which is attainable through the wisdom of one who studies Torah for pure motivation merits many things [Avos 6:1] with his intellect and his wisdom even though he doesn’t have the natural ability for it. The gemora wants to prove this from the common fact that a talmid chachom comprehends something on his own which in fact is according to the understanding of Rabbi Akiva. We know that this person’s level is not up to Rabbi Akiva’s heels. This proves that it happened by the prophetic ability we mentioned. In addition, we also find that he says things which in fact are Halacha L’Moshe m’Sinai. The gemora rejects this proof by saying that perhaps this occurs by chance like a blind person groping through a window. However, the gemora concludes that it is not by chance since he gives justifications for his views and thus it is like a prophetic form of wisdom. This idea can explain the gemora in Megila (16a): “Whoever says wisdom even if he not Jewish is called a wise man.” The obvious question is why shouldn’t he be called a wise man? Don’t we in fact even say a beracha on the wise men of the non‑Jews “who gives of His wisdom to human beings” (Berachos 58a)? The answer is that without this gemora we would have mistakenly thought that Divinely inspired wisdom only comes to Jews while if a non‑Jew said something brilliant that seems to transcend his intellectual capabilities we would have thought it was just blind chance….

Proselytizing as a reality tv show

JPost

Have you heard the one about a rabbi, an imam, a priest and a Buddhist monk?

It's no joke, but rather Turkey's latest reality show, which brings together leaders from four religions who attempt to convert non-believers to their respective faiths.

Penitents Compete features select religious authorities seeking to make believers out of 10 atheists - on camera.

Istanbul-based television station Kanal T plans to launch the show in September.

The prize for the converts? A trip to a holy site of the winner's newfound religion: Muslims will go to Mecca, Christians to the Vatican, Jews to Jerusalem and Buddhists to Tibet.

But the religious establishment and personalities are neither amused nor impressed. Jewish authorities, for example, are vehemently opposed to the program, since according to Halacha, active proselytizing is forbidden.

As a Jew, it is against our world outlook to seek to proselytize," Rabbi David Rosen, director of the American Jewish Committee's Department for Interreligious Affairs, told The Jerusalem Post. "We respect other people's attachment to their faiths."

Rosen added that proselytizing is dubious by nature and could be destructive to the religion and its reputation.

Rosen is also opposed to the show from a more universal perspective.

"I think it's very tasteless," he said. "Matters of faith, profession and lifestyle commitment are not something that should be decided on a reality show."[...]

Abuse - Torah knowledge alone is not sufficient to safeguard society

Rashi(Bamidbar 10:31):And you [Yisro] will be our eyes - This is past tense according to the Targum. Others say it is future tense. Every matter that is concealed from our eyes you will illuminate our eyes.

Ohr HaChaim (Shemos 18:21): Why did Yisro deserved being the source of the information about forming the judicial system - especially when it implies - chas v'shalom - the ignorance of G-d's people prior to his suggestions? It seems that G-d wanted to teach the Jewish people a fundamental lesson for all generations. The lesson being that there are among the nations of the world men of great intelligence and understanding and these nations have awareness of important and valuable information. G-d's intent was to show through Yisro that the election of the Jews was not because their knowledge and insight was greater than other nations. They were not chosen because of their superior wisdom and knowledge. Their election was the result of G-d's supreme kindness and His love of the Patriarchs. This explanation is more appropriate according to the view that Yisro came prior to the Revelation at Sinai. Accordingly G‑d's message was that even though there are amongst the Nations greater wise men than amongst the Jews - the Jews were nevertheless chosen. We are those to praise Him for choosing us because of his Kindness. However, even according to the view that Yisro came after the Revelation at Sinai - a similar lesson can be learned by the fact that Yisro is mentioned in the sequence of events of the Torah prior to the giving of the Torah.

R. S. R. Hirsch (Shemos 18:24): Nothing is so instructive for us, as this information regarding the first legal institution of the Jewish State, coming immediately before the chapter of the law-giving. So little was Moshe in himself a legistlative genius, he had so little talent for organizing that he had to learn the very elements of state from his father-in-law. The man who tired himself out to utter exhaustion and to whom of himself did not occur to arrange this or some similar simple solution, equally beneficial to himself and his people, the man to who it was necessary to have a Jethro to suggest this obvious device,that man could never have given the People constitution and laws out of his own head, that man was only, and indeed just because of this the best and most faithful instrument of G-d.

Chareidi Protest - media reporting & perception of violence

YNet reports

In a rare move, an ultra-Orthodox protestor sat in front of the cameras in Jerusalem on Saturday night in order to explain the position of haredim protesting for the past few weeks against the opening of a parking lot in the capital on Shabbat.

The protestor, who identified himself only as Moshe, spoke about one of the less violent demonstrations this week: "Within the haredi community it was stressed that the protest will only be for adults. The haredi community in general does not use violence.

"The violence last week and until now was only from youth on the fringe. No one has picked up a rock or thrown anything in the haredi community, even not objects such as were described in the secular press, like diapers and such."

"We come, we yell 'Shabbes' (Yiddish for Sabbath) because it is painful for us. This is what we will continue to do. What the lead scholar of the religious court tells us," explained Moshe. [...]

Rav Sternbuch/ Parah Adumah

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Abuse - Rabbi's prime responsiblity is protecting people from harm

In addition to rabbis being the gatekeeper to those who want to utilize resources from the secular government - when the Jewish community lacks the power to properly protect the children – they have a much more fundamental function.The Jewish community is not absolved of its obligations to its members just because the secular government can step in when asked. In fact the Jewish community must first do all that it can to protect its members – before involving the secular government. In other words if the Jewish community can in fact protect its members there is theoretically no basis for permitting contacting the secular authorities. What in fact are the obligation of the Jewish rabbis and community leaders? There is a fundamental requirement that applies to all Jews – especially rabbis and community leaders. This is expressed in a number of mitzvos including the following:

Rambam(Hilchos Rotzeach 1:14): Whoever has the ability to save someone and yet doesn’t - transgresses Vayikra (19:16): Do not stand idly by the blood of your fellow man. Similarly if one saw his fellow man drowning in the sea or being attacked by bandits or wild animals and he had the ability to save him himself or hiring others to save him – and yet he didn’t save him. Or he heard that non‑Jews or informers were plotting to cause someone harm and yet didn’t warn the intended victim. Or he knows that a non‑Jew or influential person is upset with a fellow Jew and he has the ability to placate them and to eliminate their complaints and doesn’t placate them. And all similar situations which a person doesn’t save his fellow man when he had the ability to do so – has transgressed the prohibition of “don’t stand idly by the blood of your fellow man.

It would follow from the above that the leaders have an obligation to make sure that molesters do not get jobs dealing with children. Being a leader doesn’t exempt a Jew from this mitzva. In fact he bears greater responsibility because he has greater power. That means that they need to notify and warn people concerning potential molesters. If they know or even suspect that a teacher or community member is a molester - they need to publicize that there is a real concern and children need to be watched carefuly. It also means that there needs to be a reliable registery of all those that jobs in yeshiva to have a full background check. They need to be fingerprinted. It also means that all information – which includes rumors – needs to be readily shared and accessible. There have to be sanctions that can be applied to someone who is a molester – even if it means harming the molester's family and/or yeshiva.

In other words if the Jewish community insists Jews can not go to the secular authorities with their complaints and concerns because of the laws of moser and a chillul haShem – then they have the full responsibility of the Torah obligation to protect people from harm. What are they doing to fulfill this responsiblity?

To be continued