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I really don’t get it. Chabadniks quote a Gemara which says “If Mashiach were to come from the dead, it would be Daniel.”
They ignore Rashi, who says that the Gemara meant that if someone dead would have been Mashiach while living, it would have been Daniel.
So let’s assume that they’re right, and Rashi was wrong ch”v. To me, that’s the biggest proof that the rebbe is NOT Mashiach! Because the Gemara says straight out that it will be Daniel! How can you take one part of the Gemara and ignore the rest?
In any case, you can’t disregard Rashi like that, so the whole thing is a moot point anyway.An Imam, a Priest, and a Rabbit walk into a bar.
The Rabbit says, “Don’t look at me, I’m just a typo!”ARSo, I think that at the end of the day, the discussion isn’t about whether he could have been a Navi, or Mashiach. It’s about whether believing in those things is beyond Judaism, and considered apikorses. I don’t think any non-chabad people would agree to the things, but maybe they wouldn’t consider it as so wrong. Right now, many people consider people who have these beliefs as apikorsim.
ah yid: There are actually Sefardic communities that have a tune for Lecha Dodi which is hundreds of years old, far older than chassidus.
Sam, it’s not so simple to say that women shouldn’t sing along in shul.
Both R’ Azriel Hildeshimer and R’ Samson Rafael Hirsch ruled that a woman can sing zemiros together with men. R’ Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg, in Teshuvot Seridei Eish 2:8, says that this is because of the rule Trei Kali Lo Mishtamai.
So if the men aren’t singing, it would be problematic, but if men are singing, it would seem there are opinions of major Rabbonim who would allow women to sing along.As far as who should get people involved – I think it’s a joint effort. I’ve been in shuls where the baal tefillah pulls out an obscure tune, that nobody else knows, and he ends up singing by himself. I think that a baal tefillah should choose tunes that are known by most people, so that this doesn’t happen. If there’s a tune that is familiar to you, then there’s not really a reason to not sing along, and the kehillah should join in. If people are busy talking, that’s a bigger issue that must be addressed.
To add to Avira’s aveiros:
The article doesn’t say anywhere that they’re teaching them Torah. It says they’ll be learning Jewish history, biblical Hebrew (as opposed to modern-day Ivrit), and post-Biblical literature.
You see what you want to see, because you are blinded by your hatred of YU. Try looking with an unbiased view, and you may actually see the truth.
You reek of sinas chinam, and it disgusts me.Avira, I don’t see any of those quotes saying that.
I was taught that all knowledge is valuable, because the Torah contains everything. When you study, it’s just another way of understanding the world Hashem created, and understanding the Torah, even if you don’t directly see the connection at the time.
As R’ Charlop said, everything should be viewed through the prism of Torah.nishtdayngesheft, where did you get that idea from? Here are some quotes from various YU and RIETS faculty members, when asked to explain what Torah u’Mada meant to them:
R’ Zevulun Charlop: “Torah U’Madda implies, within the totality of Jewish aspirations, the acceptance – and, indeed, perhaps the indispensability – of both Torah U’Madda, but with the unquestioned allegiance to the primacy of Torah, and that the apprehension of all other intellectual disciplines must be rooted and viewed through the prism of Torah.”R’ Michael Shmidman: “If you contemplate “Torah Umadda,” one could say they are two separate values, but that one can incorporate the other wisdoms as well within the realm of Torah. I see the world through only one overriding wisdom and ethic: Torah. For me, a bachur [young man] who goes to college – that’s part of his Torah too, if we recognize that he’s going to college to make a living, raise a family, and that his other pursuits, including going to college, are part of a Torah way of life, which includes marriage, job, community, tzedaka [charity], and chesed [acts of goodwill].”
R’ Dr. Lamm: “Torah Umadda does not imply … coequality. Torah remains the unchallenged and preeminent center.”
yungerman, the Litvish Mesorah is a real one, going back thousands of years. Chassidim have no real Mesorah. It goes back a few hundred years, to ideas the Besht claimed he received from a Navi. Even if that were true, that is not how a Mesorah is determined.
Menachem, this was posted in other threads, regarding the posuk and Rashi you mentioned:
The Riva says the left/right mentioned in the pasuk refers to Rabbonim telling us not to do a mitzvah such as Shofar on Shabbos, or Arba Minim on Shabbos. It only refers to a mitzvah that they are telling us NOT to do.The Yerushalmi says in Horios that the pasuk means only if they say right is right and left is left. If they say otherwise, you do not listen.
There are many shitos against Rashi. Indeed, both Rambam and Ramban do not pasken like Rashi in this regard. There is a Sifre which Rashi bases it on, but again, many question the Sifre, and there are Gemoros in both bavli and Yerushalmi that say otherwise. R’ Ovadia Yosef reconciles the two views as I mentioned above – you have to confront the Rav if you think he erred. Until you confront him, you do not listen. The Yad HaMelech states that if you listen when you think he erred just because you think you have to listen, you are required to bring a korbon chatas. Only after confronting the Rav with the opposing view, and he stands by what he said, are you required to listen.
Chassidish girls should date Litvish boys, because the girl takes on the minhagim of her husband. We have a rule of maalin b’kedushah v’ein moridin.
RABBI Meir Kanahe was most definitely a Rabbi, he had semichah from the Mir Yeshiva.
He took a position as the Rabbi of a Conservative synagogue with conditions – they had to install a mechitzah, and resign from the Conservative Movement’s United Synagogues of America.
His contract was not renewed, because the membership did not appreciate that he was convincing their kids to become frum.
He was extremely well learned. I once read that he woke up extremely early each morning to learn, because he had heard that a Muslim Imam woke up early to learn the Koran. He decided that if someone could do that for the Koran, he should do better for the Torah.Avram: sadly, you are correct. In my community, there are plenty of people who go to daven at the local Chabad, but not because they appreciate Chabad for what it is. Their reason is the time davening starts. In the shul I daven in, we are sure to make zman krias shema, and the start time reflects this. There are some who don’t want to wake up that early on Shabbos, and would prefer to go to a place that officially starts at 9:30 (although it’s closer to 10:00 by the time they actually start.)
I would never go to that place, because the Rabbi there is meshichist – I won’t even walk into the building. When I asked a friend about that aspect, he just shrugged and said, “I don’t say yechi when the rest of them do.”Menachem, you’re quoting something written by another Chabad Rebbe to back up improper thoughts from another Chabad Rebbe. Try bringing a source from somewhere OUTSIDE Chabad.
Let’s say Chabad is right, and the Rebbe predicted the 6 Day and Gulf Wars. That’s not a sign of nevuah!
R’ Chaim Kanievsky predicted that Bnei Brak would be safe during the Gulf War, and no Scuds would fall there – and he was proven to be correct.
R’ Bender has a story in his sefer on Chumash (volume 2) where his brother Michoel was approached by a woman who was sick while pregnant, and the doctors felt she needed to terminate the pregnancy in order to save her life – if not, both she and the baby wouldn’t survive. He told her there was no need to terminate, and she would be fine. At her next checkup, the scans showed that the illness had disappeared.
Do you think they both have nevuah? Earlier in this thread, the idea of Ruach haKodesh/siyata dishmaya was discussed. It’s not the same as nevuah.
Your only proof that the Rebbe was a navi was that the Rebbe himself said so – which he didn’t even say straight out, he said his father in law was one!Avira, doesn’t the Gemara also say that Ruach haKodesh ceased to exist after the last Neviim? I seem to remember learning that…
I know that I was told by one of my Rabbeim that today, we have no idea what true Ruach haKodesh is – the understanding is something completely foreign to us. He said that there are tzaddikim who have a type of siyata dishmaya, who are given the ability to see things which are hidden, but we shouldn’t mix it up with Ruach haKodesh.Joseph, when I said “There was a time”, I meant there was a single instance where it occurred. Thankfully, I’ve never had that situation since, so it was only the one time.
As for who my Rebbe quoted, yes, I don’t remember exactly. But I do remember my Rebbe saying it, and as I said, I witnessed him spill out an entire bottle of wine at a sheva brachos because the name of the Rav on the bottle was a meshichist.First off, I must protest citing Rabbi Dr. Berger as only Dr, leaving off the fact that he is a Rabbi. He does have semicha, and should be recognized as such.
Joseph, I really don’t care whether you believe me or not, and I don’t care if you think my refusal to name the Rav means he’s not legitimate. I can assure you that he’s a widely respected, yeshivish Rav in Brooklyn. I just don’t want to put his name here, because I’ve never heard him say it publicly, other than when I heard him say it in Yeshiva.
I know that he told us he heard the same thing from a major Rav – I seem to remember that it was either R’ Belsky or R’ Reisman. Given Avira’s knowledge of R’ Belsky’s views, I would assume it was R’ Reisman. It was 20+ years ago, so I may be mistaken about that part.
I will say that yes, there was a time when I wouldn’t count a meshichist towards a minyan. I don’t automatically assume that every Chabadnik is a meshichist, but this person happens to have a sign on the front of his house, with a picture of the Rebbe, and the words “Moreinu melech hamashiach chai v’kayam!” We had 9 people waiting for a 10th and he walked in. I claimed I needed the bathroom before we could start and walked out. Another person walked in a minute later, so I walked back in and we started davening.Joseph, you claimed that R’ Shach did not hold of the position. R’ Shach said that the Rebbe’s statement about a Rebbe being God clothed in a human body was Avodah Zara. He compared Chabad chassidim to followers of Shabtai Zvi. He called the Rebbe “the madman who sits in New York and drives the whole world crazy”.
His students won’t eat Lubavitch shechitah, claiming that they’re not frum Jews.
Do you really want to claim that R’ Shach didn’t hold of the views?R’ Shternbuch was declared by one member to be the new Gaavad. There were others who protested this. It was not done as an official vote, so it’s not binding. Currently, there is no official Gaavad. No idea on whether a vote will be held or not.
Qwerty, I’ll say it, because I had a rebbe in yeshiva who told us straight out. He said Lubavitchers who think the Rebbe is Mashiach are like Christians, because they are waiting for a second coming.
He told us not to count them towards a minyan. I saw him take a bottle of wine that was going to be used for a Sheva brachos, and when another Rebbe told him that the Rav giving the hechsher on it was a meshichist, he spilled out the entire bottle.Regarding the Nusach haGra, most people don’t follow it. It’s only people who usually follow minhagei haGra that daven his nusach. Most daven regular Ashkenaz, which is NOT the Gra’s nusach.
Also, there are siddurim that are Nusach haGra which list the source for each change he made. It clearly shows what his Mesorah was for the changes.Menachem, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. 200 years isn’t a Mesorah. The Besht had no Mesorah whatsoever for his teachings, and pretty much everyone agrees that what he taught was a huge change from traditional Judaism.
The Litvish Jews have a Mesorah that goes back thousands of years. Yes, there have been differences in the derech halimud that came up over time, but not in the observance of Halachah. The nusach of tefillah goes way, way back. Chassidim changed in. Let’s be clear – even Nusach Ari is NOT the tefillah as the Ari set it down. The Ari taught that each Shevet had its own nusach, which reached a separate “gate” in Shamayim. He also added in certain elements which he felt were common to all of them. After he passed away, many communities claimed that they had the proper text of the Ari’s additions – which, in many cases, were not actual additions to the davening, but just kavanos to have while davening.
Early chassidim then came up with the idea that nusach sfard was a superior nusach, and was capable of reaching a 13th gate.
The Baal haTanya studied all the different versions of the Ari’s nusach, and added in his own thoughts. He came up with what he felt was the most correct version of the Ari’s nusach, and labeled it as Nusach Ari. Again, there was no mesorah for this nusach – it was an amalgamation of other versions, coupled with his own thoughts. He did not have a Rebbe who taught him this nusach as being proper.Menachem, that was not the story as I heard it from Korf’s son…
It’s very sad that Chabad feels the need to try and spread their beliefs to other groups of Jews.
Look at the fights that happened between Chabad and Satmar in the 80s, which ended up with some Satmar chassidim pinning down a Chabad Rabbi and cutting off his beard. Why? Because he’d been hired to tutor a Satmar kid, and instead of teaching him the subjects he was being paid to, he started teaching him about Chabad, and why Chabad was preferable to Satmar. He was warned, and continued doing it, so he was attacked.
IMO, as long as you keep basic halacha, and don’t violate the ikkarim, you’re fine, no matter what derech you follow.Menachem, there is no Mesorah specifically to shave. For a long time, there was no halachic way to fully shave. There is a Yerushalmi that mentions that is was common to trim beards using scissors.
Jews in Europe generally followed the customs of the country they were in. When the custom was to fully shave, they used chemical depilatories for it. When electric shavers were introduced in the 1900s, it presented a question of whether they are halachically allowed or not. R’ Moshe ruled that they are permissible.That said, it was not accepted by everyone that fully removing your beard is allowed. The Tzemach Tzedek held that it violates the issur of a man appearing as a woman. The Shulchan Aruch disagreed, and held that this issur relating to hair meant that a man shouldn’t shave hair from body parts that women usually do, such as underarms.
Regarding this last point, I will note that I once had a conversation with R’ Bender about the issur of Lo Silbash. I questioned whether it changes with the times and societal norms – for example, nowadays, it is common for women to wear pants (the issur isn’t limited to what frum Jewish women wear!). So would it still be assur for a woman to wear pants due to this issue? He told me that no, it is not considered a man’s garment anymore. He said the first women to wear pants, if they were Jewish, did violate the issur, but once it became common for women to wear pants, it’s not prohibited due to this issue. The issue of tznius is a different problem, which he said is a major issue with pants. However, he said that if there were pants that were completely tznius, it would not be a problem for a woman to wear them.
I’d suggest that the same reasoning applies to shaving, and even according to the Shulchan Aruch’s view. Nowadays it’s completely normal for men to shave their beards completely, and even to remove hair from other body parts. Since this is the societal norm now, it’s possible that the issur of appearing like a woman no longer applies to this area.While I don’t consider myself “yeshivish”, I’ll still attempt to answer these:
1) There is a machlokes regarding shaving. R’ Moshe Feinstein zt”l, who was considered the undisputed gadol hador in the US (except for by Chabad), held that an electric shaver is permissible.
2) Ok, so what? Does anyone really think that the way they daven is 100% correct? Do you think that learning chassidus, then davening after the zman makes your davening any better? I think we all realize that the davening of the average person leaves a lot to be desired. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t daven at all. We do our best, however flawed that may be.
3) Again, this is obviously a machlokes. There are yeshivos that learn in different ways, each according to its own leadership. So what exactly is your point?
4) R’ Yaakov Kamenetsky said that the reason is because chazaras hashatz was instituted for amei haaretz. Since in yeshivos they are not am haratzim, there is really no need for chazaras hashatz at all. However, since we don’t want to do away with it entirely, as it’s the minhag Yisrael, they do a short one. I will note that not all yeshivos do this. When I learned in Darchei Torah, they did NOT daven a short Mincha. R’ Bender once told me he had asked R’ Elya Svei (I think that’s who it was) when he started the Mesivta, and was told not to do it.
R’ Aharon Kotler had paskened that in Lakewood they daven a short Mincha, except on Chanukah and Purim, since there is a mitzvah of pirsumei nisah, and repeating Al haNisim fulfilled this.ehrlichkeit,
The Gemara also says that R’ Yehuda haNasi stopped coming to make kiddush when others found out about his appearance – he wanted it limited to his family. It says because he was humble, he didn’t want it known. Ask your son if the Lubavitcher Rebbe was a baal gaavah, that he wants people to know his spirit is there?
I don’t believe his soul is in 770. It’s in Shamayim.In some cases I agree. But in others, not so much.
Let’s look at a theoretical case – big pharma releases a medication without proper testing, using their political clout to push it through government approvals. Then it causes damage to its users, and they get sued.
If they are limited in how much they have to pay out, it won’t matter to them. Their profits will far outweigh the payouts. They need to be held accountable through punitive damages, otherwise it’s a simple cost/benefit analysis that tells them to continue pushing out bad products.
Tobacco companies would have the same issue. They’d abandon the warnings on the labels, and start advertising like crazy again, because they won’t be held accountable as they should be.Soo for small businesses, yes, there should be some type of limits. Maybe limit when there isn’t gross negligence? That might be a better option.
sechel you win the prize for Most Ridiculous Post to ever be posted in the Coffee Room!
sechel, learn basic Rashi on the Gemara in Sanhedrin. He says that the Gemara doesn’t mean Mashiach can come from the dead, it means if you think Mashiach already came.
The Rambam, in Melachim 11:3, says that Mashiach will arrive in a natural way, without miracles, similar to Bar Kochba. He further says that Mashiach will not perform any miracles, and will not resurrect the dead.sechel, I’m wondering, as per the question you asked earlier about Mashiach teaching Torah to Moshe Rabbeinu – you apparently view that as a proof that Mashiach must come from the dead, because you believe someone can’t teach Torah to someone else who is on a higher level than him.
Do you believe that the Lubavitcher Rebbe was greater than Moshe Rabbeinu was?To whichever mod made the comment on my post, thank you for the kind words.
Avira, IIRC, it was R’ Akiva’s shiur on the tagin that Moshe couldn’t understand, and he was upset by it. Then someone asked R’ Akiva where these ideas came from, and he said it was from Moshe m’Sinai, and then Moshe felt better about it.Having people explain Torah to Malachim is easy to understand, because Torah lo bashamayim hi. In Shamayim they don’t necessarily know what the meaning behind a Gemara is, because that meaning is defined here. It’s up to us to decide what the meaning is.
Why is it so hard to think that the Melech haMashiach will teach Torah to everyone, even those who are greater than anyone around today? (That, of course, assumes that techiyas hameisim will occur at the same time as Mashiach’s arrival – I believe most do not hold that way.)
When I was in yeshiva, if a guy would be giving a chaburah, very often his Rebbe would come to hear it. When my son says a dvar Torah he learned in yeshiva, I love hearing it, even though most of the time, I’ve heard it before, and the level is far below where I am.
There are plenty of major gedolim who will listen to someone else give a shiur, even though they’re on higher levels. Learning Torah is not just about learning new things, it’s about the effort put into it. So yes, I could understand why even Moshe Rabbeinu would sit, and enjoy a shiur from someone who is alive today. It’s Torah, and nothing else really matters.I love this post, thank you
I once asked my father-in-law, who is a Rav, the following:
We say b’rshus Kohanim, because really, the kohen should lead the zimun. If someone else is leading it instead, he asks for permission. So if a kohen is eating at someone’s house, and is asked to lead the zimun, he’ll often say b’rshus baal habayis. But if the baal habayis leads, he’ll say b’rshus hakohen. So who actually has the right to lead the zimun? Is it the kohen, or the baal habayis?As an aside, when I was in yeshiva, there were some guys, who if they had eaten out, would say b’rshus baal habayis v’baalas habayis. This is wrong, because the woman is unable to lead the zimun, so you don’t need her permission.
Nice bump. I actually bought the poster a few years ago – I remember when I was young, I used to listen to my grandfather sing this in our sukkah. Now that I have the poster with the words in my sukkah, I sing it too. Sadly, my kids don’t appreciate the song, and when I start singing it, they start complaining.
I’m hopeful that one day they’ll appreciate the song.
I remember clearly that R’ Bender once told us in his weekly shmooze, “Sing the songs your zeides sang!”I haven’t seen that IMAX, but I do love aquariums! I’ve always been fascinated by life underwater. When I travel somewhere, I always try to see if there’s an aquarium I can visit, to see new things. I’ve also gone whale watching a few times, but unfortunately, did not see any whales. I did see plenty of dolphins, and a school of bluefin tuna.
Joseph, I give the RCA more credence than any statement coming from you.
CTLawyer, great post.
I am registered as a Democrat even though I tend to vote Republican. That’s because if you live in NY or NJ, having a vote in the primary is far more important than the general election in determining who will be the next representative.
The best thing for the country as a whole would be to ban political parties, and institute term limits for members of Congress. That would go a long way towards stopping the extremism from creeping into the mainstream, as well as getting rid of a lot of the corruption.Avira, again, there is a difference between revelations coming down to someone, and someone claiming that he ascended to Heaven and was able to explore there, as the Besht did. Nobody else made a claim that spreading their particular teachings would bring Mashiach. And none of the others were widely denounced by the Gedolim of their time.
The Arizal never claimed to go up to shamayim and learn with Nevi’im. The claim was that Eliyahu came and learned with him. He was not opposed by the leading Rabbonim of his time, in fact, he was widely accepted.
The mesorah that litvish have from the Gra didn’t originate with him – he learned it from his Rabbeim.
Yes, there are chassidish Rabbonim who were great talmeidi chachomim, but as I said, that’s because chassidus moved away from the teachings of the Besht.
As for my questions on Tanya, I actually asked multiple people, including some Chabad Rabbis. I never got any satisfactory answers.
I don’t think all chassidim are completely wrong in their observance, because again, they don’t follow all the Besht’s teachings. Specifically when it comes to learning Torah, they moved away from the Besht’s views, and towards the Gra’s. I had Rabbeim in yeshiva who were chassidish, who I have tremendous respect for. I’ve met Rebbes who I thought were incredible, and gave me tremendous chizzuk – in fact, one of the main reasons I became a baal tefillah is because of something a Chassidish Rebbe told me!Yserbius: As I said, Chassidus is more accepted today because they moved away from the teachings of the Besht, and back towards traditional Judaism. Rabbonim writing seforim on the Torah is more in line with traditional Judaism than the teachings of the Besht.
Avira, I asked in a different topic and didn’t get a response… what Mesorah? The Mesorah of chassidus started with the Besht. He had no Mesorah for his teachings. He didn’t get it from his father or a Rebbe. So it’s only a few hundred years old. That’s not a Mesorah.
Chabad is the closest to what the Besht originally taught. IMO, that’s why it’s so controversial. The teachings of the Besht were extremely controversial, and chassidus was only accepted over time because it moved away from most of those teachings. Since Chabad is closer than other chassidic sects, it’s viewed as more problematic.
Yserbius, you label the Tzemach Tzedek and the Tanya as “legitimate”. Why? Many of the teachings within those have no mesorah behind them, and incorporate teachings of the Besht that were radical departures from traditional Judaism.
I once wanted to see if I could at least gain an understanding of Chassidus, so I found a chavrusah, a chassidish man, to learn Tanya with. I had a number of questions on it, and didn’t hesitate to ask them. After a few weeks, he told me he didn’t feel comfortable learning with me, as I was causing him to start doubting chassidus as well.
It only reinforced my belief that if someone who learns only chassidus would actually dig deep into the traditional sources (Rishonim, early acharonim, etc.), they’d realize that there are plenty of conflicts between the two.Little I know, what Mesorah? The Besht did NOT have a Mesorah for his teachings. The entire “Mesorah” for Chassidus stems from the Besht, and is only a few hundred years old.
You can drive for Uber or Lyft, although that isn’t limited time invested., and it would require a smartphone.
Take some shifts as a cashier at your local grocery.Avira, it mentions that 4 Tannaim went up to the pardes – I don’t think it says they learned there. 3 of the 4 had terrible outcomes for going there. Do they think the Besht was greater than Tannaim? That he was able to regularly go to Shamayim?
Yes, Eliyahu taught many, but he came to them, not the other way around.
As for hearing things maachorei hapargod, that just proves my point – they couldn’t get into the “main” areas, they had to stay behind the curtain, and overhear things. On Yom Kippur we have the famous piyut, where R’ Yishmoel the Kohen Gadol went up – and he couldn’t even get to achorei hapargod. He had to ask a malach, who himself had only heard maachorei hapargod!
I can’t believe that someone from just a few hundred years ago was on a higher level than the Tannaim, went to Shamayim, received a new way to practice Judaism, and was told to share it.sechel, things like that are why I am adamantly opposed to chassidus in general. Torah was given at Har Sinai to the entire nation. One of the reasons was that so nobody could deny it. The Besht’s teachings represented a radical change from traditional Judaism. So why were they “revealed” to him and him alone? He claimed he ascended to the Heavens and learned with Achiya haShiloni. Do we have records of anyone else ever doing such a thing? Tanaim? Amoraim? No, we don’t. So why would the Besht be able to do such a thing?
BTW, you took that line out of context. Here is the full text of the letter that the Besht wrote:
“I asked the Messiah: When will you come? And he answered me: Hereby you will know, when your teachings will become known and revealed in the world, and your wellsprings will burst forth to the furthest extreme, that which I taught you and you comprehended, and they too will be able to engage in unifications and elevations as you can, and then all the husks will be removed, and it will be a time of favor and salvation. And I wondered about this, and I was greatly distressed about the great length of time: When can this be? But what I learned when I was there is three charms and three holy names. They are easily learned and explained. And I thought: It is possible that with this people my age will also be able to reach a level like mine.”Recently I received an email that was sent out to my shul’s list. A Jewish man who lived in a home had passed away. He had almost no family, just one relative. They were trying to get a minyan together for the levaya.
I went to the cemetery, and there ended up being about 20 men there, who all came out for this meis mitzvah. This was on a workday, in middle of the day. People stepped away from their jobs to do this chessed. Truly amazing!Yserbius, almost nobody follows the teachings of the Besht anymore. Chassidus as the Besht intended it is long gone.
I was told this by a Rebbe of mine, who is himself a chassid.Good old Joseph, he’ll never miss a chance to insult large numbers of Jews, even when it has nothing to do with the topic at hand.