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@Ari Knobler, The following is a direct quote from Shiurei Harav (A conspectus of the Public Lectures of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik Edited by Joseph Epstein), page 54. “…modern orthodoxy, with its snipped wings and rootlessness, unable to fathom the depths of religious experience.” spoken by the Rav himself…
@kuvult, are you a pharmacist by any chance? 😉
the chazon ish himself wore a shtreimel when he first immigrated to eretz yisrael. see the famous pictures of him wearing a shtreimel at the hanochas even hapina for the novardok bnei brak yeshiva in 1934. (published in the artscroll book on novardok, which obviously didn’t include the picture of the chazon ish standing for rav kook {who wore a spudik}, but that’s a different topic lol…). however, the chazon ish started the “yishuv hachodosh” which was different then the “yishuv hayashon” of the yerushalmi perushim, and thus did not wear the the golden kaftan, although some pictures of him show him wearing the yeushalmi chalat with its unique rounded collar and one button waist belt. basically, the reason why the “litvish stopped wearing shtreimals” is because they never really started… because the chazon ish prevented it to distinguish between the yishuv hayashan and the yishuv hachodosh, which although both technically “litvish” are radically different in their hashkofah and derech hachaim…
in terms of the chassidim, it was really the chasam soferdike ashkenazishe yidden from hungary who went ironclad with the levush, because of the chasam soifer’s takaanah of “chadash ossur min hatorah”. as chassidus caught on in these communities, they just kept their previous hanhagoha. but shtreimlach were by and large not worn by laypeople until after the holocaust when rav yoel Teitelbaum of satmar ztzkl insisted that every married member of his community wear one, even laypeople. before the war, the majority of poilisher or galicianer yidden did not wear one. shtreimlach, spudiks, kolpiks, were only worn by rabbonim, rebbe’s, or their “bais harav”.rabbi nochum/ norman lamm z’l stated in a lecture that the idea of “torah u’mada” originates from rabbi yitzchok yaakov reines z’l of lithuania, who is often overlooked in the discussion of modern orthodoxy (ayin shum, google it). interestingly, one of rabbi jb soloveitchik’s closest talmidim, rabbi arnold rakkefet rothkopf shlita stated in an interview that rabbi solovietchik never used the term torah u’mada. in terms of mesorah, rabbi soloveitchik saw himself as perpetuating the brisker mesorah of his father rav moshe soloevitick ztzl and most importantly his illustrious grandfather, maran rav chaim brisker ztzkl.
rav jb soloveirchik writes about the tension of belief and faith that “halakhic man” faces in the modern world, but stayed away from actively embracing modernity in a theological sense, or even zionist-dati leumi-mizrahi and kookian orthodoxy, which is in a class by itself( or “open orthodoxy”). ultimately, the best summation of rabbi soloveitchik’s philosophy can be understood as “to be a torah jew in the western world” (as stated by rabbi a. rakkefet rothkopf shlita). the problem which the question of mesorah and modern orthodoxy is that modern orthodoxy is a broad tent which various philosophies and theologies, as such this forum is too short to to explain all of them.the gemara in mesechtes brachos in perek mi shamaisu discusses the potential prohibition of loshon hara, avak loshon hara, and motzi shem ra against the dead. Even if it might be technically muttar, it is childish to post insinuations about special needs people, and even lower to do so once they are niftar. this can lead to loshon hara and rechilus, even if it doesn’t directly contain anything negative. I’m surprised that the yeshivaworld editors/coffee room moderators allowed this comment to be posted. would they like it if they had a special needs relative who was potential fodder for jokes? yankel feferkorn z”l has relatives who are still alive and can potentially be hurt by this…you would think that the mods would take down this shameful post against people who cannot defend themselves.