Joseph

That’s unfair. Do you say YM”S by every single Jew who grew up not-Frum and stayed that way?

Good question. Chometz that was owned by a Jew over Pesach is no longer acceptable to be eaten.

lefi aniyus daati, yes.

Sam: But what if despite your “historical research” that leads you to what you “know”, it is in fact wrong and has nothing whatsoever to do with the beginning of the minhag?

There seems to be a common misconception that we are unable to comparatively assess the level of various Gedolim. If I ask you how you know your next door neighbor is not as great as Rav Moshe Feinstein, you would hopefully have an answer, even though you didn’t give either a bechinah. Do you know if the Chofetz Chaim is greater than, say, Rav Steinman, if you did not give either a bechinah? The standard you use to determine if someone is a godol or not is the same standard you use to determine who is greater. You may not always know, but sometimes, like in the example I gave you, it is obvious. It is knowable in the other cases I mentioned as well, in the same way. We can compare “levels” – in fact, we need to in order to judge who is an authority in the first place! If you can’t compare levels then how are you to know that someone is a godol? The fact that he is “accepted” as a godol only means that many people have judged his “level” to be that of a godol. But if you cannot compare levels, then these people have no right to accept him as a godol in the first place. And the same common sense that tells you so-and-so stands out among his peers making him an authority, tells you that certain so-and-so’s stand out even more. Or less. Part of knowing who to follow is to know who is greater. Godol mimenu b’chochma ubaminyan is an assessment that it legitimately made. And as Rav Shach writes – if you dont know who to follow, follow whoever is greater – and, he adds, you can of course tell who is greater. If you yourself dont know, then thats fine – not everyone can know the answer to all questions they encounter – but why in the world would you say nobody else can know? And it’s an error in logic, too, because they themselves compared “levels” of other people! i.e.: “Rav Ovadia Yosef shlita is the leading Sefardi posek of our times.” And how would they know this if you cannot compare him to other sefardi poskim? And how can one know whether “any of us are on the madreiga of assessing the ‘levels’ of other people” unless you assessed the levels of all those other people who said arent “on the “madgreigah” to do that? If i were to ask you who is greater – Rav Ovadiah or Rabi Avika — would you say you cannot compare people? Rav Ovadiah or the Rambam? Avraham Avinu? So clearly, we can compare “levels”, its just that to some, certain comparisons are “obvious” and others are not. Well, to other people, perhaps who are more knowledgable and skilled in assessing these kinds of values, other comparisons are also obvious. The source is pretty much common sense — when you ask a shailah youre relying on the Torah knowledge and ehrlichkeit of the posek, so why would you follow the smaller one over the bigger one? If I were to say that in a medical issue you should do what the bigger doctors say, or regarding your car problems you shoudl do what the greater experts say, that would be common sense, no? Here that is even more the case. In YD 100, the pischei teshuva bringsd a disagreement in the poskim. SOme hold that if you ask a Rav A shailah, follow what he says, and he is wrong. unless you are asking one of the established poskim, you are considered a meizid. Others hold that even if a woman asks her friend and follwos what she says, and the frind turns out ot be wrong, she is nto a meizid, since she honestly, if foolishhly, believed that she was doing the right thing. The idea that as long as a rabbi tells you something youre safe if you follow him is not correct. So therefore, when Rav Shach ZTL was asked by a Yeshiva bochur what he should do in a case of machlokes haposkim, he told him (Michtavim Umaamarim Vol. 3 #213) that in the absense of a family tradition of following a given shitah – quote – “you should follow the posek that is a greater godol batorah.” He adds: “And it is possible to know who is greater, for example, here in EY in many things we should follow the rulings of the Chazon Ish”. As far as how to tell who is greater, as Rav Shach says, it is possible, The problem is, when often use standards to identify Gedolim that skew our ability to know who’s greater.

Every generation has its Gedolei Hador who Klal Yisroel relies on, because they are the greatest authorities of the generation. As we learn in Pirkei Avos – Moshe gave the Torah to Yehoshua, who gave it t othe zekeinim, who gave it to the neviim who gave it to the anshei keneses hagedolah etc etc etc throughout the entire mesechta. What does this mean? Isnt it true that the entire nation got the Torah and we teach it to all our children? Why does it say only the gedolim gave it to the next generation of gedolim? The answer is, that every generation learns Torah form the Gedolim of their generaiton, and those who learn so well that they can teach it authoritatively to the generaiton, well, they become one of the Gedolim! Our entire relligion is based on authority. So imagine Pirkei Avos extending to our generaitons. Who would be the givers and receivers of Torah. The teachers of the geenraiton? You would have the Chofetz Chaim, the Chazon Ish, Rav Chaim Ozer, the Brisker Rav, Rav Ahron Kotler, to name just the most obvious. When The Chofezt Chaim wanted ot move to eretz yisroel and Rav Chaim Ozewr asked him but if you move, who will lead klal yisroel here? The Chofezt Chaim asnwered what do you mean? – Rav Elchonon Wasserman will! When they asked Rav Elchonon who will lead Klal Yisroel after Rav Chaim was niftar, he said the Briker Rav should – since he has a very strong Mesorah. More often than not, when the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah used to meet, everyone voiced their opinion, unitl Rav Ahron Kotler stated his – then they all acquiesed to whatever Rav Ahron said. Rav Yaakov Kminetzky once said about Rav Ahron, “He has gotten so great I dont think I can even disagree with him any longer.” Of course there can be – and is – disagreement among Gedoli, just as there always was. However, if you know that ther is in fact a consensus among the Gedolei HaDor – and by that I mean those great enough to be authoritative leaders of the generation, and more – if all those Gedolim have stated that the reason there is such a consensus in these issues is because it is simply an issue of basic Judaism, and any deviation is simply idolatry, and not based on Torah but personal negiyus or distorted values, NOT legitimate Torah arguments, and that nobody has any right to follow any dissenting opinions on these matters regardless of how you were brought up, and even though there are some talmidei chachamim and rabbis who may dissent, their dissenting is like what happened in the days of the egel or Korach or shabse tzvi, and they must be ignored, then if you tell me yes but Rabbi so-and-so – or many rabbi so-and-sos, dissented, I will tell you OK, so? Ignore them. And then if I show you that the opinion of the Gedolim happens to be clear from a Torah perspective, so glaringly obvious that the dissenters have nothing to say in response, and what they do muster in their defense can be easily disproven logically, sometimes even in a laughable manner, then you should all the more so throw your hands up to heaven and thank Hashm shehivdilanu min hatoim venasan lanu toras emes. And then, if I show you that some great respected scholars among the dissenters (though of course not nearly in the league of the Gedolim) have actually forged documents and purposely concealed facts in their own seforim to try to convince people of the correctness of their position, then what in the world are we talking about?

OP: Great point. People with the minhag should steadfastly continue following it. And others should not only not criticize them for following their minhagim but should support them for doing so. And those with a mesorah that does not include following the specified minhag, should not adapt it.

Your points about who allegedly signed the KK with whatever alleged wording has already been addressed. Considering that R. Kasher’s claims on this have been thoroughly refuted due to his forgeries regarding the alleged signatories and wording etc., I again refer you to R. Zvi Weinman’s excellent work “Mikatowitz ad Hei B’Iyar” for all the detailed answers you seek. Thus far, outside R. Kasher’s claims, you’ve presented no evidence of specifically which rabbi allegedly signed what statement.

“A”. Hands down. It’s hardly a question. The pertinent point is, as you said, “However, she may be upset with her potential chosson shaving during Sefirah.”

The Chofetz Chaim was vehemently anti-Zionist, as were all the great Gedolei Hador of that caliber. Rav Shach writes (Michtavim Umaamarim vol. 1: Eretz Yisroel) that when he comes before the Bais Din Shel Maalah and they ask him why he wasnt a Zionist, he will “point to the Chofetz Chaim and say “because he wasnt a Zionist”. The Chofetz Chaim’s closest Talmid, Rav Elchonon Wasserman zt’l was THE most outspoken anti-zionist of his time (“Zionism is avodah zorah, and religious zionism is avodah zorah mixed with religion” is a quote from him). And he quotes his Rebbe the Chofetz Chaim often in his anti-zionist teachiings, in “Ikvese DMeshichah”. The Satmar Rebbe quotes Rav Elchonon saying in the name of the Chofetz Chaim that the Zionists are real Amaleikim. Rav Berel Soloveichik ZT”L, son of the Brisker Rav ZT”L, used to relate to his students the Chofetz Chaim’s response when he heard of Rav Kook’s position on the chloni soccer players. “Kook shmook!”, the Chofetz Chaim said, dismissing both the man and the position. The story about the Chofetz Chaim – the paragon of Shemiras Halashon himself – is easily confirmed. The person who it happened with was named Rabbi Avrohom Moshe Gorelick, father of Rav Yeruchem Gorelick ZTL, who was a talmid of the Chofetz Chaim and a Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University. Rav Yeruchem Gorelick (who was personally present and heard it directly from the Chofetz Chaim’s own mouth) said the story over publicly numerous times (including at the Yeshiva of South Fallsburg, where his son was Rosh Yeshiva), as did Rav Berel Soloveichik ZTL, Rosh Yeshiva of Brisk. (Rav Berel also related that Rav Kook said about the opening of the Hebrew University, that it is a fulfillment of kimitzion etc. – immediately the gedolim in Poland and Russia organized a protest against this chilul Hashem – and the Chofetz Chaim came in and said Kook shmook and then he left. See “Mishkenos Harayim” 3:1-108.)

And the Chofetz Chaim’s statement is mild compared to what other Gedolim have said about him. Particularly relevant in this context is a letter by Rav Elchonon Wasserman to Rav Yosef Zvi Dushinsky, printed in Kovetz Maamarim, of which a facsimile of his Ksav Yad is readily accessible, where he refers to R. Kook as a “rasha gamur.” This was the eternally loyal Talmid of the Chofetz Chaim, who spent his life disseminating his Rebbi’s Torahs. (When the Chofetz Chaim was considering moving to EY, Rav Chaim Ozer asked him who will take care of Klall Yisroel in Chutz Laaretz if he leaves. The Chofetz Chaim answered, “What do you mean? You have Reb Elchonon!”)

Regarding Rav Kook specifically, I have heard that the Chazon Ish ZT”L used to censor his Seforim by taping or marking over the anti-Torah writings in them. Of course, the Chazon Ish was more able to know what is undesirable and what is not, than the average student. If someone was the biggest Apikores and enemy of Hashem, as long as he would “work the land” of Israel, Rav Kook considered him holy. The soccer players, mechalelei shabbos b’farhesia, were to Rav Kook, “holy”. He did not mean “Tzelem Elokim” holy, but rather, because they assisted the Zionist cause they were “holy”, regardless of their status according to the Torah. Rav Yosef Chaim Zonenfeld ZTL said that he was like a person who is drunk – saying irrational, nonsensical things – and in his case, he is drunk on Ahavas Yisroel. Rav Yosef Chaim Zonnenfeld’s description of him as a “Purim Rav the whole year”. Rav Kook was considered a lone, sad case of greatness gone irrational. A more hard-line position is found in the Teshuvos Divrei Yoel by the Satmar Rav ZT”L (CM 131), where he rules outright that it is forbidden according to Halachah to follow any Halachic rulings of Rav Kook, who he categorizes as an apikores, in any area of Torah. His reasoning is based mainly on the following sources: Birkei Yosef 243:3; Responsa Bais Shlomo YD II:101; Chasam Sofer CM 163; The Gemora (Shabbos 116a).

IY”H I’ll address additional points in a followup comment.

Why not delete the problematic post instead?

That stat is from close to 4 years ago. It likely is different now.

yekke: Where’d you get your blocked statistics from?

LF: What do the signs say?

Are brachas a matter of minhag?

HaRav Yosef Eliyahu Henkin zt’l in Kisvei Rav Henkin vol. 2 5719 #109, vol. 2 in the haskomos, vol. 1 #206, vol. 2 p. 103 states “I opposed with all my might the creation of the Medina”. He also quotes that it is against the 3 oaths and that Hashem will punish us for it. He also says that the holocaust came about as a punishment for the violation of the Oaths:

http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=3217&st=&pgnum=115&hilite=

Rav Henkin said that after the against-the-Torah establishment of the State of Israel, the fact is there are now millions of Jews living there and whose safety depends on the physical security of the country, and so nobody should do anything that puts Jews in danger and the fact that the creation of Israel was an aveira is no excuse to support the Arabs. (Of course, nobody disagrees with that. The Satmar Rebbe writes more than once that now that the State is established, we cannot allow the Arabs to take over, and only prayer – and Moshiach – can safely dismantle the State and that we cannot allow the nations to dismantle it because that would be a sakanah for the Jews living there.)

Kisvei Rav Henkin vol 2 5719 #109, vol 2 in the haskomos, vol. 1 #206, vol. 2 p. 103:

“Dechikas Haketz [i.e. one of the three Oaths – not to “pressure the time of the geulah] pushes the time of Geulah further away, and because the different types of Baryonim wielded the sword and participated in various rebellions, one thing led to another and the result was that we lost the majority of our nation, who were killed through horrible deaths, the like of which has never been seen in all of history, and thousands of holy congregations were razed to the ground, and b’avonoseinu harabim it has fueled the warning of Chazal – “and if not [i.e. if you do not follow the Three Oaths], then I shall permit your flesh to be hunted like game in the field” – Hashem should have mercy on those who survived.”

He also adds about how Jews are not allowed to be involved in wars and our approach should be totally one of submission, and how the Baryonim are still involved in antagonizing the nations.

Already we see that the opinion of the Rabbis was hardly monolithic.

The “vote” that the Agudah took where the greatest Gedolim, such as Rav Ahron Kotler and Rav Elchonon Wasserman who were there – (and it should be noted that together with them held Rav Chaim Ozer and the Brisker Rav and Chazon Ish who weren’t there altogether) – were “outvoted” by a greater number of much lesser Rabbonim.

There’s no solution. The State created an irreparable monster.

Is the minhag to eat the Shlissel Challah this Friday night or by the Shabbos afternoon seuda?

If you report someone to the police in a case which you are not entitled to do so, the din is hashkem lehargo.

Is the moser a rodef even once he already made the report or is he only a rodef from the time he intended to make the report up to and through the point he actually made the report?

As far as Benei Banim, it is entirely unreliable on his grandfather (Rav Henkin zt’l) views, which the author by and large is at odds with himself. Before using him as a citation check out his seforim, including his teshuva on the permissibility of mixed dancing, see what he says and decide if this is a person you want to quote. Or the funniest teshuvah he has is about – and I am not making this up – whether you are permitted (yes, permitted!) to say “Zatzal” on the Satmar Rebbe ztvk’l, or is it prohibited to say Zatzal on him, since Zatzal would imply that he was a Tzadik. I am not kidding. He really has a lengthy discussion about this.

PAA: Kasher was a notorious forger. He forged a letter from Gedolim stating that the Zionist State is the ischalta d’geulah, afra lepumei. This fabrication of Kasher’s has been in Zionist literature for years until we found out that Kasher faked the whole thing, and now it’s documented and he’s exposed as a forger and a fake. He also doctored the story of the meeting of the Moetzes Chachmei HaTorah in 1937 where he left out the position of people like Rav Ahron Kotler. It should be noted that Kasher, in his attempted defense of religious Zionism, Hatkuha Hagedolah”, forged and doctored the article in Hapardes – yes, he did not merely misquote it, he actually blatantly and unashamedly doctored it, presenting his forgery as “proof” to his anti-Torah position, to give the impression that the only rabbonim against the State were those from Hungary and Czechoslovakia. He conveniently deleted the names of

Rav Elchonon Wasserman, Rav Ahron Kotler and Rav Rottenberg. He wrote a book called HaTekufah heGedolah which is absolutely full of misquotes, fabrications and distortions. He also deleted the sentence that those voting against – held this view under ALL CIRCUMSTANCES – even if such a medina was built upon ‘yesodos hadass’, because, this it would be “Kefirah b’emunas bias hamoshiach…” and especially one built “…al yesodos hakefirah, venimtza shem shomayim mischalell.”

His deception has already been exposed and well known to those who have researched this topic. R. Zvi Weinman documented extensively the forgeries of R. Kasher – and he even challenged him in public to respond to his findings when R. Kasher was alive – in his excellent work “Mikatowitz ad 5 B’Iyar.” Of course, Kasher did not produce any response to the evidence against him. More of R. Kasher’s falsificaitons are exposed in the sefer “Das HaTziyonus”, expecially his now famous fraud regarding the position of Rav Meir Simcha od Dvinsk. So this R. Kasher, who the Brisker Rav referred to as “the biggest treifah” (a play on his name, which he spelled the same as the word “kosher”), reprinted the unverified Kol Hator, and then he stretched the statements that are found there, that we don’t even know really come from the GRA, reading into them things that even they don’t say. Kasher wasn’t always a Zionist. That’s a later development. It’s funny, in fact – if you want to track Kasher’s Zionistic tendencies you can check the old printings of Torah Sheleimah, where he spelled his name the old Yiddish way – Menachem Mendel Kasher – Kuf alef shin ayin raish. Then slowly he changed both the spelling (to the modern chof shin reish) and the name (to plain “Menachem”.)

So instead of the Chmielnitzki massacres we now have ongoing anti-Jewish terror in Israel and continual Israeli war dead in the wars that Israel has every couple of years?

In fact virtually all the gedolim hold like the Brisker Rov. Not, perhaps, on the tactics such as whether to vote or participate in State organs or functions but certainly they agree on the core anti-zionism that the State is and was a mistake, with the only question disputed being how to live with it. Rav Eliashev himself three or four years ago said that the Kenesset is a beis minus.

Are the insects in the juice the same halachic status as insects in the NYC water supply?

Thank you. Yet the Brisker Rov held it was absolutely wrong to establish the State. He held that position both pre-establishment and post-establishment of the State. That is also the position of the other Litvish and Chasidish gedolim, even the ones that held (unlike the Brisker Rov) it appropriate to participate in the organs of the State once it existed.

Was the Brisker Rov or Satmar Rov an apikoros, per your description, HaLeiVi? Is 25,000 war dead, 100,000 war crippled, 4,000 terror dead and tens of thousands of more terror injured the ness you’re referring to? Was over 25,000 dead Jews (and counting) and over 100,000 (and continuing) crippled Jews worth the “quality of life” you previously touted for establishing a State or did Chazal have a good point about pas b’melach tochal?

Like you said, the early colonist fought and died fighting the British for a better quality of life so why shouldn’t Jewish blood be similarly spilled for a better quality of life. After all, a nation like all other nations.

Rav Eliashev paskened that it can only be reported if there is raglayim la’davar. (A shaila needs to first be asked whether the case reaches raglayim la’davar.) The reason it needs to be reported in a case of raglayim la’davar is because of community safety in preventing the perpetrator from continuing his offensive and destructive behavior. If, as you say, it is certain he will not (or even cannot) continue engaging in his behavior, it seems the halachic reasoning permitting it being reported no longer exists and thus it cannot be done.

To reiterate, the reason halacha permits the reporting is not to punish but rather to prevent the behavior from reoccurring.