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The tragic status of the Jewish nation today regarding the Beis Hamikdash…
Duvid, you are displaying one of the very issues of Zionism.
Rambam rules that Melech HaMoshiach will build the Beis Hamikdash before Kibutz Goliyos, no posek argues with him.
Others say the Beis Hamikdash will descend from heaven.
No posek rules that Yidden, on their own, while still in golus, should begin building the Beis Hamikdash.
How does the Lubavitcher Rebbe zt’l answer those questions for you when you ask him shailas similar to the above examples.
UJM, I can’t speak for CS, but here are my thoughts:
While the Rebbe provided immense personal guidance, he often emphasized that answers or directives given to one person might not necessarily apply to another.
Especially in the later years, the Rebbe would frequently refrain from answering personal questions directly. Instead, he directed chassidim to consult with a mashpia, rov, doctor, or ‘yedidim mevinim’ — depending on the context of the question.
So, if I or anyone I know has a practical question like the one you described, we consult with the relevant individuals for advice, expecting that the guidance will be informed and guided by the wealth of the Rebbe’s teachings.
what does chabad think about the vilna gaon?
The Rebbe quoted him and referenced him often, with respect.
if it was a car that hit you, you would be dead
This is a correct and important distinction between cars and scooters.
Scooters are indeed dangerous, but so are bikes. It’s really hard to avoid using these when you live on the city and need to get across town quickly, and the driving and parking is horrendous.
If you want to get from one part of Brooklyn to the other, biking or scootering is by far the most efficient way.
Is 770 the dwelling place of the Shechina?
Do you believe that 770 is the Mikdash?“That’s absurd! Everyone knows the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed, and the Shechina either returned to Heaven or rests at the Kosel. Right?”
But wait – the pasuk says that after the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed, the Shechina dwells in the “small mikdash.”
Where is the “small mikdash” (or “second to the Mikdash” –Rashi/Targum)?
R’ Elazar says (מגילה כט,א): “This is the house of our rebbe in Bavel.”“The Shechina remained with the Jews wherever they were exiled” – but where?
Abaye says it’s in the central Beis Knesses of the time.Now, the question is: Where is the “central shul”? And who is “our rebbe”?
That’s up for debate, but I think you can guess what the average Lubavitcher would answer…
CS, thank you, I appreciate your comment.
I’m trying to stay out of these questions, you’re handling them really well, great style.
Except some questions set my alarm bells ringing so I couldn’t resist responding.
Strangely I have yet to see a JEM video that covers a story that didn’t work out, that could mean one of two things:
1. The Rebbes brocha works 100% of the time
2. You know the answer.
Maybe you should encourage everyone here to write panim to iggros and the Rebbe will tell them to become lubavitchers!Funny that I have yet to see emuna videos/books with stories of people davening to Hashem and their prayers not being answered.
Maybe daven that everyone on YWN see the truth and agree with you.
I apologized those in the coffee room apparently satan made me ask those questions to stave off the Geulah and because I want to create arguments in Chabad. I’m glad the shlucha has everything figured out for us lol!
Lostspark, I don’t think CS was saying that you were influenced by the Satan and distancing Geula. I think she was answering your question about why there is machlokes. Machlokes (“midyan”) is caused by the Satan (“samech mem”) and distances the Geula.
My mistake I asked a knowledgeable kind Lubavitcher that didn’t think the Rebbitzin wore a sheitl,
Well, obviously s/he wasn’t knowledgeable enough. 😃
(They obviously didn’t know the Rebbetzin personally, and were just guessing from the gray hair. As I said, the Rebbetzin wore a gray sheitel covered partially by a tichel, as was told to me by the one who often brought it to the sheitelmacher).
Lostspark, don’t believe everything you read. If some things you read cause you to question, I suggest you find a knowledgeable, kind Lubavitcher you could trust to discuss these ideas with and hear his thoughts.
An example of a misunderstood fact that you mentioned (among others):
How come the Rebbitzin didn’t wear a sheitl but the Rebbe encouraged all Lubavitch women to do so? How come everyone lies when asked?
This is simply an error.
I just spoke to a guy who would bring the Rebbetzin’s sheitel to a sheitelmacher (Mrs. Kugel) all the time. In later years she had a gray/silver sheitel, and she would wear a tichel partially covering it.
(In the Rebbetzin deposition video, she is wearing this sheitel and tichel, as this man told me – he was present there as well.)
Y.W. Editor, chill, the OP was just trying to get the mods to wake up. It’s good to see that you’re still alive 😜
RABBI POSNER’S BOOK Part #2
Qwerty: [Posner] said that Abraham’s first nine tests weren’t tests.Rashi and Rambam and others have lists of the ten tests, but Posner disagrees with them. He holds that Avrohom was just being a nice guy.
Rabbi Posner actually just brought a famous vort, written by the Vilna Gaon and others. Rabbi Posner was quoting it from a maamar Rebbe Rayatz.
First, here is what the Vilna Gaon wrote: “By the Akeida Hashem said “Now I I know that you fear Hashem,” because until then Avraham was only a great rachman (merciful) for he would invite guests and do acts of kindness. However, the middah of Achzariyus (cruelty/severity) and forcing himself to fulfill Hashem’s mitzvos was not yet apparent in him, and people could have said that Avraham is not a tzaddik gamur ch”v.
However, at the Akeida, when he also acted with the middah of Achzariyus, for he had a complete desire to fulfill Hashem’s command and slaughter his only son, then he was complete, and it was clear that he was a tzaddik gamur.”
See it here, in his sefer Kol Eliyahu: https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=14227&st=&pgnum=7Rabbi Posner echos this idea in his chapter on the concept of Avodah. He begins by bringing the holy words of Tanya, based on Gemara, that the true meaning of Avodah is not “serving Hashem,” rather, serving Hashem beyond one’s personal nature, through struggle. If one is accustomed to learning each inyan 100 times, avodah means learning it 101 times (this is from Gemara).
Rabbi Posner goes on to bring an example from a maamar of the Rebbe Rayatz: “After Abraham had passed his supreme test of faith, having bound his own son Isaac to the altar as a sacrifice, G-d said to him, “Now I know that you are G-d-fearing.” Now Abraham’s characteristic way of serving G-d had always been based on love. Is not that kind of service, the Rebbe asks, superior to a service founded on fear? He then proceeds to answer his own question. Without a doubt, Abraham’s love of G-d was sublime, and his love of man, too, was all-encompassing, extending even to the stranger and the undeserving. But Abraham did not acquire this quality through personal struggle; he had been born with it. … In fact, Abraham never considered himself to be an adequate servant of G-d, for he felt that all his service had been accomplished through gifts with which G-d had endowed him, and not through his personal endeavors. It would not be blasphemous to suggest that perhaps G-d, too, was not “sure” whether Abraham’s service was purely one of love because this was Abraham’s very nature, or whether Abraham consciously felt that this was the proper way of serving G-d. Abraham was, after all, a free agent with a free will. Is the kindly person hospitable because he is kindly, or because G-d wills him to be so?
When Abraham, the epitome of kindliness, is prepared to act so cruelly toward his son, “his only son whom he loves,” then he is acting contrary to his habit; he is suppressing his natural mercies, performing an act diametrically opposed to his innate nature. His motivation could only have been “fear of G-d,” a new mode of Divine service, not usual or natural to him, but the result of deep personal conviction and hard personal struggle. Whether the service born of love is superior to the service based on awe or “fear” is irrelevant for our present purposes. Our concern is only whether the service is “natural” or whether it represents the fruit of effort, of avodah. This is the test of effort that Abraham had to pass when he readied his son for sacrifice.
Abraham added a new dimension to his service of G-d, for now, in addition to utilizing his natural trait of love in his relationship with G-d, he had succeeded in serving G-d also through the acquired quality of awe….”
RABBI POSNER’S BOOK Part #1
Now you get a glimpse into Shmei’s duplicity. He claims not to have read the book yet he accuses me of distorting what the author wrote.
Okay Qwerty, I found the book.
Zalman Posner was a prolific Chabad writer . One of his books is called “Why Be Jewish?”
If you can’t even remember the NAME of the book “Think Jewish,” how do you expect to remember the content accurately?
This chapter is called “,Why Be Chabad?”
The chapter is actually called “How Does Chabad View Other Jews — How does Chabad view Reform and Conservative Jews?”
Posner begins as follows, “There are 2 types of Orthodox Jews. The first are careful with Kashrus, Shabbos etc however they have no interest in any Jew outside of their immediate circle. We call such Jews insulated. In contrast we have Chabad who are the only Jews who understand and practice the concept of Kol Yisrael Areivim Zeh Lozeh.”
Qwerty, why was it necessary for you to pretend that Rabbi Posner wrote “Chabad who are the ONLY Jews…”? This is a lie.
This is some of what Rabbi Posner actually wrote (I am putting what I want to highlight in bold):
“One camp in the Torah community consists of the inward-looking, modern “shtetl-type” community. The other is represented by Chabad-Lubavitch and others who share their view on the relations between observant and non-observant Jews. We might call the first community the enclave and the second, the activist.
The enclave community is inward-directed, concerned only with its own perpetuation, with preserving and developing itself, with transmitting Torah and Yiddishkeit to their children and their own adherents. They have achieved remarkable levels of Torah scholarship and mitzvah observance, and have been enviably successful in perpetuating their communities. In these circles assimilation is virtually unknown. On the other hand, their influence, at least their direct impact on the rest of the Jewish world, is small. They are fearful lest involvement with the non-committed may somehow dilute the commitment of their own people…
Not so the activists, particularly Chabad-Lubavitch. Chabad-Lubavitch stresses an ancient Torah concept, namely, that all Jews are responsible for one another, in more than a material sense. The founder of Chabad went so far as to say that a Jew who helps another Jew to regain his virtuousness by means of the Jewish mind and purified and refined “a thousandfold.”…”
All Rabbi Posner wrote is that some frum communities are more insular while others are more outreach oriented, and the Chabad derech is the latter.
A. What could be wrong with that statement?
B. Qwerty, why did you have to change what Rabbi Posner wrote to fit your angry narrative?Now you get a glimpse into Shmei’s duplicity. He claims not to have read the book yet he accuses me of distorting what the author wrote.
You have the book. Why not quote it directly?
Why are there advertisement threads being posted?
Why is the most vile language being posted?
MODS?
“YESHIVA” World!?
Why are there advertisement threads being posted?
Why is the most vile language being posted?
MODS?
“YESHIVA” World!?
And as for the Rebbe’s proof that all Jews will be redeemed. I was taught his Sicha. The Haggadah says we tell the Rosho that had you been there you wouldn’t have been redeemed. But at the final redemption, you will be redeemed.
You obviously have a very short term memory (one of your more minor flaws) so I’ll just repost part of what I answered you in the past:
“I will try to enlighten you:
The Rambam writes (Hilchos Teshuva 7:5) “וּכְבָר הִבְטִיחָה תּוֹרָה שֶׁסּוֹף יִשְׂרָאֵל לַעֲשׂוֹת תְּשׁוּבָה בְּסוֹף גָּלוּתָן וּמִיָּד הֵן נִגְאָלִין” – “The Torah has already promised that the Jewish people will do teshuva at the end of golus and immediately be redeemed.”
The Baal HaTanya (Tanya ch. 3 & Hilchos Talmud Torah) understands this to refer to every single Jew, as it states לא (בלתי) ידח ממנו נדח – “no one who was banished from Him [by his sins] will remain banished.”
So, when the Rebbe said every Jew will be redeemed and we should try to reach every Jew for teshuva, he was just following the Baal HaTanya.”
Now, your next ignorant “attack” will be that this goes against the Gemara in Sanhedrin which you completely misunderstood. Since I’ve already responded to that multiple times, I’ll just keep that part of my response handy, I’ll let you attack first.
MODS, this is highly inappropriate.
If you call this “Yeshiva World,” it should be somewhat befitting for religious Jews to converse in a religious manner.
To Menachem Shmei. The only thing stupider than your “proof” is … When Hashem said “Now I know etc ” He.meant that after the Akeidah there was absolutely no doubt that Avrohom would do anything to serve Him. In no way does Hashem’s statement detract from the previous tests.
I’ll just repost what I wrote several times:
“Moreover: The Gemara says (and it’s brought in Rashi), why did Hashem tell Avraham קח נא – “PLEASE take your son”? Because if Avraham would fail this test, people would say about the first tests לא הי’ בהן ממש – “they had no substance.””.I haven’t looked at this thread for a while, but the sickening name-calling from Qwerty should not be allowed. Is there anyone moderating anymore? Or did the cofferoom turn into a smelly mud-slinging cesspool?
There is clearly a lack of moderation in the CR these days.
This is especially demonstrated by the fact that when Qwerty joined originally, almost every post of his (iirc) was edited by the mods.
Now, he spews his vitriol without any filters (including disgusting, baseless smears that are היפך הצניעות, against Lubavitchers and non-Lubavitchers alike).Zalman Posner was a prolific Chabad writer . One of his books is called “Why Be Jewish?” It’s a very well written series of essays. In one such piece he discusses…
Qwerty, I don’t understand you. If you keep repeating the same “attacks,” why bother rewriting them every time? Why not just copy paste the same words you wrote last time?
Either way, I guess I’m more efficient than you. Since I already spent time formulating responses to you, I’ll just repost what I wrote previously.
he discusses the Akeidah and states that it was the only test that Abraham passed because the other nine were just examples of Abraham being a nice guy. This is paf for the Chabad course.
I answered this a few hours ago, showing how this is based on Rashi (“they would say that the previous tests had no substance”), and if you go to my earlier posts you will see that the Vilna Gaon (also a Chabad chossid?) says this exact vort.
Posner begins as follows, “There are 2 types of Orthodox Jews. The first are careful with Kashrus, Shabbos etc however they have no interest in any Jew outside of their immediate circle. We call such Jews insulated. In contrast we have Chabad who are the only Jews who understand and practice the concept of Kol Yisrael Areivim Zeh Lozeh.”
Now I’ll just copy paste what I posted last time you kvetched about this:
“I don’t have the book, but I doubt he wrote it the way you’re presenting it. Either way:
What you have here is simply a Lubavitcher explaining why he believes Chabad’s derech is unique and important. It’s no different from a Satmar chossid saying: “There are some Orthodox Jews who are Zionists, but Satmar follows the true Torah derech of opposing Zionism.”
If a Satmar chossid doesn’t believe that his derech is the truest, and instead says that being a Zionist is just as valid, then he isn’t really Satmar, because he doesn’t even believe in his own views!This doesn’t mean that every Lubavitcher, Satmar, Zionist, or Brisker thinks that they are personally superior. Each individual knows their personal faults (hopefully), but we believe we are following the best derech.”
I retract my apology now. I personally didnt insult anyone for believing Yaacov Avinu is physically alive… It is only later after I was personally attacked that I started defending myself and it got personal.
Wow, you retracted your apology and went right back to being a shameless liar.
Let me reiterate what I posted yesterday:
You, Philosopher, opened the discussion about Yaakov lo mes, with this post:
“It is Lubavitche like you who twist everything out of context. For example when Rashi says that Yaacov avinu did not die there are numerous mefarshim that explain what it means. There is no mefoiresh saying that he is here with us physically. And yet i heard a Chabad rabbi claim that Rashi said that Yaacov is with us physically; that is a lie.”
Before anyone began attacking you, you posted another post:
“you have to be “not too smart” to even think that Rashi thought that Yaacov Avinu is still PHYSICALLY alive during his time…”
Here you are, attacking the many Jews (Lubavitchers and non-Lubavitchers) who understood the many meforshim that were posted differently from you.
Yet, yesterday you shamelessly proclaimed: “It is a deeply disturbing fault of one’s character to attack someone continously because they dared to say pshat on a Rashi thats different than what their rebbe in cheder taught them.”
כל הפוסל במומו פוסל
Pot calling the kettle black.As for your assertion that the Gaon and the ……… Posner said the same thing about Abraham’s tests. Total Chabad lie. Posner said that the first 9 tests weren’t actually tests, they were just examples of Av raham being a nice guy.
No, he said that the first nine tests would be PERCEIVED to not be tests, as RASHI writes and is implied from the CHUMASH.
I explained this clearly before, but I guess it doesn’t hurt to repost an excerpt of that post (see my original post for many sources):
“After the tenth test of the Akeida, Hashem said עתה ידעתי כי ירא אלקים אתה – “NOW I know that your fear Hashem.”
The obvious question is, why only now? Wasn’t Avraham tested nine times before?
Moreover: The Gemara says (and it’s brought in Rashi), why did Hashem tell Avraham קח נא – “PLEASE take your son”? Because if Avraham would fail this test, people would say about the first tests לא הי’ בהן ממש – “they had no substance.”
Why would the first tests be worthless just because Avraham didn’t pass the last one?
One of the answers given is that since Avraham’s nature was מדת החסד, it would SEEM that he only passed the first tests because they fit with his nature. However, by passing the tenth test (which went against the מדת החסד), it became clear that he passed all of the tests only for the sake of Hashem.”
Philosopher, I hope you will come to realize that when people attack Chabad (or any other group, for that matter), it often stems from a complete ignorqnce of something widely accepted in mainstream Torah understanding.
For example, when Qwerty thought it was a Chabad invention that עתיד החזיר ליטהר, or that Avraham’s tenth test gave (public) credibility to the first nine.
Or when Coffee Addict thought it was a Chabad invention that Rashi on Chumash often doesn’t align with Rashi on Shas, or the minhag of taking of shoes before kivrei tzaddikim.
This should make you think twice and three times, and do lots of research, before deciding to attack a Jewish group just because you weren’t aware of their ideas beforehand.
I absolutely apologize for mocking people who learnt and understood that Yaacov Avinu is physically alive. At that time I didn’t know this was taught in many chedarim and yeshivas.
I respect this. 🤝
Where in the world do you get the idea that a Halachic state will require no army and no natural hishtadlus for protection from enemies?
If you reread my post you’ll see that I was MOCKING the thought that learning Torah is enough and no army is needed. So too vice versa.
And even the Gemara that you quote doesn’t seem to support your case. Yes, Dovid HaMelech’a Torah gave the zechusim for the army to succeed… But Dovid HaMelech wasn’t in Kollel 24/7. He was a warrior! A general! A king! This doesn’t support that we need Torah learners in Kollel while the army fights. This supports that we need Torah learners bringing their zechusim to the front lines!
What’s your source that Dovid always fought with Yoav? From Rashi it doesn’t seem that way.
Rashi writes on Tehillim kapital chof (which is said till today to daven for Jews in danger): This mizmor was composed because Dovid would send Yoav and all of Israel to war, and he would stand in Yerushlayim and daven… Our Rabbis say, if not for Dovid, Yoav wouldn’t go to war.
It is a deeply disturbing fault of one’s character to attack someone continously because they dared to say pshat on a Rashi thats different than what their rebbe in cheder taught them
Philosopher, You are completely shameless.
Let’s all remember the FIRST POST that began the conversation about יעקב לא מת, a post by Philosopher:
“It is Lubavitche like you who twist everything out of context. For example when Rashi says that Yaacov avinu did not die there are numerous mefarshim that explain what it means. There is no mefoiresh saying that he is here with us physically. And yet i heard a Chabad rabbi claim that Rashi said that Yaacov is with us physically; that is a lie.”
There you have it. Philosopher began this conversation by viciously attacking all those who understand Rashi the simple way it is learned in the yeshivos.
The next post from Philosopher was: “But you have to be “not too smart” to even think that Rashi thought that Yaacov Avinu is still PHYSICALLY alive during his time…”
Thus it continued, with Philosopher mocking and deriding anyone who learned the commonly accepted pshat of Rashi and some other meforshim.
When those opposing her view began answering back in the same manner as her, she begins crying how mean it is to attack someone for a having different pshat in Rashi.
Who began this attack!? Shame on you!
I must agree with Arso about the pot and kettle.
What if it was the other way around?
What do you think the Charedi attitude would be regarding the army and refusers if the roles were reversed?
Let’s say Israel was a chareidi state. The IDF would be defending Israel in one way only: Through sitting and learning Torah, thus drawing Hashem’s protection on the Jewish people.
However, then will come the Jews who don’t spend much time learning Torah (“chilonim”) with a taanah:
“The Gemara says that without Dovid’s Torah learning Yoav couldn’t successfully fight wars, but without Yoav’s battles Dovid wouldn’t be able to learn Torah.
“We admire your Torah learning and are thankful for the protection that it brings, but it’s also necessary for us to fight physical battles.
“Allow us to prepare an army that will go take care of the physical Jewish Defense while you take care of the spiritual defense.”Imagine if the chareidim would respond: “Absolutely not. You despicable people obviously have no interest in protecting the Jewish people, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Every single Jew must be drafted to the learning brigade, fighting is bittul Torah!”
This is exactly what the government is doing now in Israel, just in the reverse.
My point is that it is clearly not orthodox (an orthodox organization would not ch”v platform reform literature).
I agree that it’s definitely full of orthodox content which is why I use it all the time.
Oh that I wrote of instead of or. That’s a typo like you spelling columnist wrong.
I completely agree, it’s ridiculous to attack someone for a typo.
[Good thing I wasn’t the one who had just called someone a “functional illeterate” for missing a letter, or who had written “That’s a deranged individual who’s so full of hate that he can’t think of write straight.”]
I didn’t read everything in this thread, but I will say this:
While I constantly use Sefaria as it is a very useful Torah tool — it is clearly run by Reform elements, and if I would find an alternative I would gladly switch.
For example: The default translation for Tanach is the Reform “Contemporary Torah: A Gender-Sensitive Adaptation of the JPS Translation”
“Sorry that’s not a typo. That’s a deranged individual who’s so full of hate that he can’t think of write straight.”
I think we’ve found the Qwerty Quote of the Year: “can’t think of write straight.”
How eloquent, truly befitting of a veteran Jewish Press colomnist.על זה אומרים: כל הפוסל, במומו פוסל
I must agree with RebE on this one
Yankel, thanks for clarifying the story.
Yankel,
Honestly curious about your intriguing story: Why was your friend participating in that church session?
Let’s not forget the question that stumped Shmei, “How could Chabad reject Rambam ‘s criteria for Moshiach?”
I have clarified my position on this several times here, and I won’t change my mind.
Menachem: Was it Chabad ‘s minhag to remove shoes already in prewar Europe?
If I’m not mistaken they did.
I have seen teshuva seforim (non Chabad) that mention this minhag.
Sefer שמש ומגן – תרנ”א writes a whole arichus explaining the reasons for the minhag, and it seems that this was a regular minhag in those days. He concludes:
ועל כן נמצא סמך למנהג העולם שפושטים נעליהם בבואם על קברי הצדיקים זיע”א”.
He calls it מנהג העולם, so it must be that it was a common minhag.I know that Rabbi Yochanan (Chabad) wrote up the history and sources of this minhag, but I haven’t gotten a hold of his writing.
Here’s something else I found online:
“R’ Moshe Dovber Rivkin[1] wrote:
דאדרבא מקום קברי צדיקי נחשב למקום קדוש, וכמ”ש המהרי”ל “דמקום מנוחת הצדיקים הוא מקום קדוש וטהור והתפלה מתקבלת יותר” הביאו הבה”ט בססי׳ תקפ״א.)ובוודאי מטע”ז נוהגיס הרבה בעת השתטחות על קברי צדיקים לחלוץ הנעלים כשנגשים אל הציון
The burial place of the righteous is (as the Maharil writes) “holy and pure, where prayers are accepted”. That’s why many, when going to prostrate themselves on the graves of the righteous, take off their shoes when they approach the grave.
The Nitei Gavriel also writes that this was the custom of R’ Yisrael of Sadigora (the grandson of the Ruzhiner) and Chernobyl.
[1] : One of the Chossidim of the Rebbe Rashab (the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe) and the Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, and one of the Roshei Yeshiva of Torah VaDaas)”
Do Lubavitch take off their shoes by מערת המכפלה, קבר רחל, or קבר רשב״י?
I’m not sure.
If not, why not?
If not, maybe because they have more minhagim of respect for their rabbeim’s kvarim.
I love this! This should not even be a chiddush, this should be obvious. Our connection to another Jew is WAY above politics. Thanks OP for sharing this.
Additionally, if I’m not mistaken, the minhag of removing shoes was quite common in the past by many Jews at kivrei tzaddikim, I don’t think it was unique to Lubavitch.
Coffee addict,
What’s up with the non leather shoes, and walking out backwards. I’ve been to countless kivrei tzaddikim (רשב״י, רמב״ם, ר מאיר בעל הנס etc) and I don’t think breslovers have that rule (I have friends that went for Rosh Hashanah)
I understand the rule of אדמת קודש but isn’t this going a little TOO far?
Every Jewish sect has minhagim. It is normal for people to treat their holy places with various signs of respect. These are the traditional Chabad minhagim for the kevarim of their rabbeim.
See also Chabad-org: Why Do People Take Off Their Shoes When Visiting the Ohel?
Why should something be “a little too far” just because it happens to be a minhag Chabad?
The above proposition is that the conditions of physical death did not apply to Yaacov. Are you understanding that this also means that all conditions of physical life did / do apply? Please clarify.
I have no idea. It is certainly more literal than Maharsha himself who holds that Yaakov’s body is dead like any other and he lives on through his children.
He quoted Rambam who, of course, said it’s allegorical but then he said that Ramban says it’s literal and Chabad follows Ramban. Which leads us to ask, Why do they study Rambam?
This again highlights Qwerty’s misunderstanding of normal study and dialogue, which seems to result in a limited grasp of how to approach learning Torah.
Qwerty, it seems that, in your mind, every discussion becomes a litmus test: Are you with me or against me? If someone is on your “team,” you’ll support whatever they say. If they’re not, you’ll dismiss or challenge their points and try to “checkmate” them, as if an intellectual conversation is just a game of chess.
But that’s not how real discussions work. One can agree on some things and disagree on others. You can find nuance in someone’s position and still respect their views despite some differences.
How much more so in Torah study, which is rooted in truth and peace. It is entirely possible to hold the Rambam in great esteem, and to emphasize studying his works, even if one doesn’t follow his rulings in every instance.
Happy New Year,
Many rishonim have opposed the concept of gilgulim and brought Chazal to support their stance.
Zohar, Arizal, and the major kabbalists support the idea of gilgulim.
The latter has been supported by the major gedolim of the recent centuries from the various Jewish circles, including chassidish, litvish and sfardi.
I don’t think you have to worry about the 5-6 CR Rabbi’s who disagree with you. The The Gur Aryeh (Maharal), The Maskil L’Dovid and Divrei Dovid (Taz) certainly did not learn Rashi like them (Obviously neither did the Ramban).
You haven’t been following the long discussion until now.
To summarize:
Rashi on Vayechi is quite ambiguous, and can probably be understood either way.
Rashi on Taanis however is simply understood to mean that Yaakov is physically alive, since he explains the Gemara that the only reason why Yaakov was embalmed and buried is because “he SEEMED dead, though really he was alive” (נדמה להם שהוא מת אבל חי הוא) [– as OPPOSED to other meforshim who hold that Yaakov was embalmed and buried because he was physically dead].
Maharsha understands Rashi this way (which is why he says that Rashi’s pshat is דוחק, and gives his own pshat). Artscroll understands Rashi this way (I’ve quoted the footnote many times). Rif to Ein Yaakov, Etz Yosef, Iyun Yaakov and Ohr Hachayim all clearly hold that יעקב לא מת is literal, and ויגוע means that Yaakov was in a deep state of sleep.
[None of the meforshim that you mentioned (גו”א, משכיל לדוד, ד”ד) quote Rashi on Taanis (נדמה להם), rather they are being mefaresh Rashi on chumash. Even if you were to find a meforash who interprets Rashi on Taanis to mean spiritual, that is definitely not the פירוש הפשוט of Rashi there, as I have shown in the previous paragraph.]
The answer to Philosopher’s question (that later it says that the sons saw כי מת אביהם) is obvious after reading the Ramban: The possuk is only writing about how Yaakov seemed to the sons’ perspective — they looked at Yaakov and say כי מת אביהם, which doesn’t necessarily reflect on the reality.
This answer of the Ramban solves the issue from this possuk for all the opinions in meforshim, including the literal interpretations. Ramban’s own opinion (which seems to be cryptic and not clearly fitting with either interpretation) is irrelevant to this point.
The mods have WENT TO SLEEP about a month or two ago, and there has been a surge of spam ever since.
It will probably only get worse.
A true shame.
Interesting point, Yankel.
I assume that Qwerty and Philosopher insist that all meforshim interpret the story of Yonah to be a משל, because Torah must be completely rational, G-d performs nothing above nature.
Lubavitchers never discuss the Holocaust as per the Rebbe’s orders. I knew that and so one Shabbos I gave a speech focusing on the Shoah in order to annoy a certain Chabad Rabbi. As I anticipated he blew a gasket and announced,”The Holocaust is one of those times when G-d couldn’t explain himself. Like when the Romans were torturing Rabbi Akiva and the angels said Zeh Torah and Zeh it’s Schar? And Hashem couldn’t answer them.”
So do Lubavitchers never discuss the Holocaust, or do they disagree with the reasons you gave for why the Holocaust happened? 🤔
(Not that it makes much of a difference. After all, one who disagrees with Qwerty is disagreeing with G-d Hikiddos.
P.S. It’s incredible that with all of Qwerty’s insane hate and rhetoric here for anyone who dares associate with Chabad in any which way, he is allowed to gives speeches in a Chabad shul!!!
Qwerty, your Chabad Rabbis must be very, very kind and merciful toward you. I’m sure they use immense self control to treat you like a mensch. It’s incredible how chassidus can help someone master their middos.
Participant,
Mods seem to be fast asleep.