(By Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz) I didn’t know what to expect. He always refers to himself as a harmless little fuzzball, yet with his unmatched success, I thought he may be too arrogant to talk to. When we arrived, he was doing his show prep, thoroughly engrossed in the largest computer screen you have ever seen.
He could not have been more welcoming, beckoning us into his inner sanctum. His affection for his rabbi, Rabbi Nate Segal in particular and Jewish people in general was obvious, and before I knew it, I was also being treated as an old friend.
I have been listening to Mr. Limbaugh ever since he arrived in New York City and began to change the history of radio broadcasting over twenty years ago.
He reaches over twenty million listeners on 850 radio stations all across the fruited plain, cultivating conservative values. In the days of Republican ascent, he helped the “Contract With America” gain traction and coalesced support for Republican candidates all across the country. He spawned many others in his wake, spreading Conservatism via the radio airwaves, fighting back against the Left’s strong hold of all other media. Attempts to muzzle him have failed, as have all the many efforts to paint him as some sort of radical extremist.
More recently, he and his listeners haven’t had a Newt Gingrich to rally around and have thus gone down to defeat in a number of elections. After all, as he explains, you can’t win elections without good candidates. He did his best this year, emptying out his bag of tricks in a bid to extend the Democrat primaries and fatally wound Obama. But it wasn’t meant to be. The Democrats won and now may be safely ensconced in the White House for the next eight years.
Mr. Limbaugh’s success is as unprecedented as is his influence, yet he retains the same work ethic which got him to where he is. He spends untold hours reading and analyzing the news before being able to give it his own spin for three hours, five days a week.
When you listen to a master, he makes it sound easy. You hear the words flow from his lips. You listen to the brilliant political analysis day after day and you fail to appreciate the amount of effort required to stay on top of his game, even though he is gifted enough to be able to do it with one hand tied behind his back.
Very often, when you meet people who have become quite successful, their arrogance seems to have taken them hostage. They speak differently and think themselves a cut above everyone else. They look down at the ‘little’ people and make you feel less than worthy of their time. People who have gained fame for their kindness and generosity can often times be anything but that when you meet them in person.
But not Rush. He is still real. He stays current and is able to see through the arrogance of elected and self-appointed leaders because he retains the genuineness of a regular guy. He tries not to let success get to his head and cloud his judgment and ability to dissect so much of the phoniness that masquerades as leadership. He has the remarkable ability to break through the clutter and media madness to be able to crystallize the essence of every issue in ways in which the average person is able to comprehend.
Though he is the master of understanding what is really transpiring, he remains constantly upbeat, positive and optimistic. He thus is able to provide hope for people and is able to communicate with an abundance of humor which he uses to educate the masses as well as diffuse his critics.
In 2001, Rush Limbaugh was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED), which, over a span of three months, left his right ear completely deaf and his left ear severely deaf. Despite suffering what would normally be a career-ending disability for a radio talk show host, Limbaugh managed to fight back and is better than ever. On December 19, 2001, doctors at the House Ear Clinic in Los Angeles were able to partially restore his hearing through cochlear implant surgery. A Clarion CII Bionic Ear now carries out some of the functions of the damaged organs in his inner ear. Though he still is considered “deaf,” Rush continues to talk back and forth, live, with some of his 20 million listeners across America every day.
He is not immune from other setbacks, which he has confessed to, confronted and then beaten back. He remains an inspiration to many people, whom he influences and educates each day, letting them know that they are not alone in their principled beliefs of limited government, individual liberty, religion and honesty, and their pride in the United States.
His success proves that one need not be subservient to the dominating thought and power correctness, and can be effective saying things that one isn’t supposed to say in order to break through the chaos and confusion and spread the truth. Despite all his detractors have thrown at him, he remains the most loved, the most feared, and the biggest target in media today. Washingtonians can seek to silence him all they want, but he will continue to flourish as he mocks their aloofness and detachment from reality.
People who live in bubbles and seek media adoration resent him and will never understand from where his power emanates. His achievements demonstrate the power of the regular guy and remind everyone who seeks to advance a career to maintain their feet on the ground and never lose touch with reality and with the common man.
I arrived armed with a long list of questions for an interview. Our conversation was so friendly and informal that we never got down to the formal part of the meeting. That will have to wait for next time.
He is a self made person who began his career very far removed from the pinnacle of power. But he educated himself and fought rejection with massive doses of hard work and effort.
He stands as a symbol to all of what a person can accomplish if he sets his mind to it. If we would harness our G-d given talents with copious measures of determination, diligence and discipline, nothing will stand in our way. We can also reach the masses, just as he does, and make the world a better place for all, if only we would care enough to set our minds to improving our communication and cerebral abilities.
Rush constantly reminds his listeners that his talent is on loan from G-d. If we are tenacious enough and work hard enough we will also be Divinely blessed with the brilliance to dismantle those who seek to block the forces of good and truth.
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55 Responses
OMIGOSH!! by the Golden EIB Microphone!!
Very nice. I always liked Rush Limbaugh for his courage in speaking the truth, and revealing the sheker of the media and their liberal views.
15 years ago, Nachum Segal took Rush on a VIP tour of Israel.
Limbaugh is a friend of the Jews (like Mr. Bush.)
Btw, where did this nice article first appear?
Editors Response: In this weeks Yated, and submitted for publishing on YWN by the editors of Yated.
Rush Limbaugh, a man who always speaks the truth in an insanely liberal world. May God bless you and your family and keep them well as only He can
What about using your relationship with Rush to get him to use his big mouth and tell all of his listeners about the plight of JONATHAN POLLARD. Hasn’t he suffered enough by all conservative standars? Why is this just a jewish concern? This should be the concern of all truth seeking americans including Rush Limbaugh.
author: You make it sound as if he is this great gadol hador. I think your taking it too far
Thank You Editor, both for your response and publishing this nice article.
“I arrived armed with a long list of questions for an interview. Our conversation was so friendly and informal that we never got down to the formal part of the meeting. That will have to wait for next time.”
And the above statement is the brilliance of Rush!
Rush knew there were questions but has a nice way of avoiding them when possible and not because he is arrogant but on the contrary he just tries avoiding anything that is about himself. You almost never jeard the words “I”. Rush is a normal down to earth human being. What would be ice is if some frum people who make it in the business world would not be so arrogant and think they are above the world.
Rabbi Nate Segal is the one who took Rush to Israel and NOT Nachum Segal as mentioned by another blogger.
By the way if anyone wants to see the pictures and article you can buy this weeks YATED.
The Yated is a very good newspaper and thanks to Rabbi Lifshutz for making the paper what it is.
#6 GOOD IDEA
Get Pinny to get Rush to get Pollard out of jail.
Mega Dittos Rabbi Lipschutz!
Let us celebrate and bow to this icon of Torah Judaism.
There is too much chanifa in this article. Rush has a strong voice and he can help stem the liberal tide, but this article was way over the top.
I heard that Rabbi Nate Segal is speaking at Jewish Unity Live in South Florida in March. Maybe he can bring Rush along.
Many Frummeh Yidden like Rush and listen to his show. On the show, part of his “act” is to act as a Baal Gaavah. It’s actually quite humorous.
Still, I don’t understand the great need for the Yated to heap such praise. He is an entertainer who uses politics to entertain and in doing so he has a positive influence on many of those who listen to him. However, not all his politics are in sync with our values.
It’s very refreshing that since he reaches millions of listeners, at least he addresses his questions about Judaism to Rabbi Nate Segal and not to L’havdil Conservative or Reform “Rabbis”.
I once heard a question posed to Rav Avigdor Miller ZT”L whether or not people should listen to
conservative talk radio. I believe his answer was “better not to listen at all but if you’re going to listen to radio talk shows at least it should be conservative ideas”
MEGA FREILACHEN CHANUKAH DITTOS TO ALL!!!!
He is from chasideie umos haolam.
Chanifa!
I didn’t bother to read this, I’ll admit. I believe that this goy is the cause of a great deal of yerida b’middos tovos that are supposed to be inherent in a Yid. The fact that so many of Acheinu Bnei Yisroel have latched onto him shows how far the golus has seeped into us that we have to m’shabeiach him so.
I read that someone asked Hagaon Rav Miller zl whether there is merit in listening to the conservative radio hosts. He said they are certainly better, but we must be very careful not to become close to the goyim. Their ways rub off.
Rush’s style of, at the VERY LEAST, implied arrogance if not outright, his bombastic way of denegrating any opposing views is not the way of a Mamleches Kohanim. I also find liberal views offensive. But for heaven’s sake the goyim’s way of arguing is not and should not be ours.
I think it’s shocking that such a fine Yeshivishe Yid has to write as if this person should be respected or idolized because he was zoche to be in his daled amos. FEH!
The facts about rush’s first and only trip to israel, in july 1993.
Both nate & nachum where on the trip, as was malcolm hoenlein and meir weingarten who is both a substitute host for nachum on jm in the am and also the owner of ariel tours which organized the travel arrangements.
How about having a “yated” moment everyday on Rush’s program? How about getting friendly with Mark Levin,and others on WABC 770 AM and other Conservative stations,like WOR 710 AM and W (the “Apple”)— 970 AM? Maybe have Rush write an editorial or feature weekly in Yated?
I presume this is a satire piece? The Editor of the Yated has not stooped to writing editorials about Rush! Tell me it’s not true! There is no more important issue facing Klal Yisroel, right? Made-off anyone?
Who cares if Rush is a nice guy? Why would you write an article on how nice a guy he is? Why doesn’t someone write an article of many of the choshuva yungeleit in Lakewood, many of who are great tzadikim and mistapkei b’muat? What do we have to learn from hearing that Pinny met Rush and found him to be a nice guy?!
#15 n Its not over the top you Democrate.He’s the first of the conservative Gdolim,B H. 70% of Dumb people voted Liberal, which is an Issur D’orysah for Goim also.
Gevaldig. Now we know where he gets his daas torah.
I always get a kick out of it when the yated shows their true colors of who they look up to and fawn over. Sometimes it a policital leader with “great christian values.” Today it’s the great Rush Limbaugh.
It’s beyond me how the Yated can pass themselves off as a yeshivishe newspaper.
Be’emes it’s time for something new.
Limbaugh has long been a friend of frum Yidden.
#7, #15, #19, #21,
I agree, it’s not what should be written in a newspaper for b’nei torah.
“Very often, when you meet people who have become quite successful, their arrogance seems to have taken them hostage.”
You mean like editors of Chareidi newspapers?
And this is the guy we accept “Da’as Torah” from, someone who admits to listening to Rush for over 20 years, knows every one of his shticky bon mots, and is machnif him enough to keep Moshiach away for another five years.
Pinny, maybe write an article about when you met Jesse Jackson. You can post the picture of the two of you hugging.
Many Yeshiva Bochurim, including myself, listen to Rush for a while, and then grow out of his shtick (I haven’t listened since I was a bochur many years ago. I turned on his station recently, listened for two minutes and thought I was back in 1988, the same issues, the same narishkeit. I promprtly flipped it off and have been cured for ever.) I guess Pinny still hasn’t grown past it.
I give him a Bracha that one day he’ll find better sources for his Hashkafos.
#5, when you refer to Mr. Limbaugh’s family, to which of his three ex-wives are you referring? He does not have any known children.
I was hesitant to comment, as I’ll probably be repetitive but this is saving me a letter to the Yated and R. Lipschutz needs to know what his readers think:
It is probably somewhat prudent for the frum community to be supportive of someone as influential as Rush. And from my sporadic listening over the years, I do think that (his three or four marriages notwithstanding) he seems like a nice guy. I would still try to find other role models for perseverance and all that.
But here’s the biggie: are we giving hashgachos to talk radio now? Rush is a bit less vitriolic than many other hosts but he’s far from clean, and not just those few minutes every now and then that he’s gracious enough to give fair warning to. Most Yated readers live in the tri-state area and have much better radio options for interviews, Torah, music, etc. (I’m not one of them and I’ll probably stay addicted to my guilty pleasure of talk radio. Oh, and internet sites like this one.)
Looking forward to the followup in Yated, like the letters, explanations, etc.
(Note to Hamodia: don’t try this, please, but if you must, the only host I can think of that won’t totally ruin your credibility is Bill Bennett.)
Was Rush high on pain killers?
Personally, I think Sean Hannity comes off much better. He just sounds like a nice, family guy.
“this is the most disgusting post ever to find its way onto this site. rush limbaugh is one of the biggest menuvals on the air waves”–bacci40
“LIBERALISM IS A MENTAL DISEASE.”…and you show signs of Liberalism.
Wake up, this site is not a Yeshiva, it’s an internet site. Yated is not a Yeshiva, it’s a newspaper. Like it or not, reality is that most readers of Yated listen to Rush in their cars.
Rabbi Lipschutz is a newspaper publisher, not a Rosh Yeshiva, and I think most readers of Yated understand this.
I’m a big fan of his. He has a Glatte Kup.
To clarify 27 was intended to agree with 30 (i.e. Pinny gets his daas torah from Rush) The Steipler Zatzal 23 years ago said, “Mir (the yeshivaleit)darf huben a tzeitung”, it is pretty clear he would still say the same today about the American Yated. It is no longer the paper of the Yeshivaleit. This tzarah is only compounded by the fact that Reb Elya Shlita (lerefuah shelaimah bsoch cholaie yisroel) is unwell and unable to rein in these articles. We seem to be on a slippery slope.
I agree with #7, 15, 19, 21 25 and 28.
# 25 is the most on target. I don’t think we should be admiring talk show hosts or any goyish entertainer. That is one of the reasons why proffesional sports is not carried in the chareidi papers. What is the purpose of this article????
Unbelievable! Such astute people, the most astute in all the world, fall for Limbaugh’s faulty conclusions, emotional pleas, bending and stretching the truth, overgeneralization, sloppy forecasting of future events, pompous gloating, censoring and forbidding genuine debate with formidable opponents, and all other forms of invalid, one-sided argument tactics. And please don’t conveniently pigeon hole me or label me to suit your scheme of seeing things. Bob Grant is truly a highly intelligent, highly educated, and highly credible political commentator. Michael Savage, too, is always ahead of the curve and reads between the lines and sees what is coming down the pike before any of his peers do.
ALSO, Rush is a virulent womanizing chauvinist and has said having children would impede on his lifestyle. I am surprised by the praise heaped upon this man by our community.
35, I can’t listen to Hannity. I enjoy interviews, not shoutdowns. (That said, he sounds like a pretty nice guy too, and I’m glad he’s so supportive of many of the things we are.)
41, Michael Savage may be on target on some things, and he may be entertaining in a fairly crude way. And maybe we should stay on his good side too and show appreciation when appropriate. But no way can he get anyone’s hechsher, and I pity whoever on Yated’s staff is forced to listen to him to get the random quotes.
Sorry, I don’t know if anyone wants this to turn into a referendum on particular talk show hosts, but we’ve got to call spades spades.
To all of you who did not appreciate the fact that Rabbi Lipshitz met with Rush Limbaugh which followed by an article in the Yated!
Rush Limbaugh is NOT here to teach you torah or middos or tell you how to lead your life. Rush is here to merely inform you about current affairs – which unfortunately in today’s world one MUST be informed especially when it comes to elections. You will ask why… I will tell you why:
Since you live in this country and thus have rights too you have to be informed of what is going on. When you have people in the executive department of USA who want to impose all sorts of laws and taxes which can very often be extremely harmful to the Jewish way of life – you have to be aware of it and have to be informed enough to be able to vote accordingly. Having 99% of the media spreading false information you need to have somebody who can and is not afraid of spreading the truth. Rush is one of the very few who would inform us of the truth in politics. TO all you liberals out there – just to let you know, there is a reason why CNN, NBC, MSN etc. to name a few as well as Obama himself hated Rush and the few others who spread the truth and that is b/c they were afraid of the truth coming out. They have admitted to it countless of times. However, you will most probably not know all the little intricacies of this since you most probably do not read up enough. So for you in your ignorant way to go and bash Rush just b/c you didn’t like the mere fact that he was married a few times or because you don’t like his voice or just because he is not Jewish – well let me tell you ignorant fools – that with Rush working so hard on spreading the truth he actually helped you. There were many new laws which were about to be passed which would have really hurt Jewish people amongst others and when Rush and the few others have brought light into this and made it laud and clear to their listeners that we have to stand up against it – only then were congress forced to reconsider. You may not like everything he says, however you sure cannot deny that his point of views about politics is 100% correct and if he chooses not to have children because that is not his lifestyle then you have no business criticizing that, we all have our personal choices and you should not be here to tell others what to do. His job is to clarify politics and not to be your role model – so don’t start saying “he is a goy and therefore should not be written about in the Yated because for the very least he does deserve appreciation for how he has helped us!
May we all hope and pray that we will have enough normal conservative people in congress during Obama’s presidency who will help our country stay on the correct path!
to # 38. perhaps rather than announcing you ignorancy in politics you should take your time to read up a little bit. As is so happens to be, you too (and all the other ignorant liberals) will sometime soon praise Pres. Bush for doing what he did. How dare you refer to him as a “lame duck Pres.” when he was the one to stand up and fight for your countries security and keep terrorists away from the country so you should not be the next victim in a terrorist attack. Just because you were not killed during 9/11 or previous attacks does not mean that the country is safe therefore we do not have to go to war and that everything is fine. It was not fine, we needed this war and even the liberal media is slowly agreeing to it. He kept taxes low so we can take home some of our earnings and have more money for ourselves and so give more people the opportunity to invest and so grow the market (despite the liberal congress opposing every step of this and that is what caused the market to crash), however clearly you have not read up enough to know all that – perhaps you DO need to listen to Rush more and you will be a little more knowledgeable!
Rush is one of America’s few intellectuals today that have a keen sense of society and its (secular) ills.
America, and secular society, benefits from the insights of Limbaugh, and that helps the entire world including Klal Yisroel.
Mr. Limbaugh is as well one of the very few non-Jews (another example of the few is the President) that have an affinity towards Klal Yisroel.
#35, is that you Sean Hannity?
Limbaugh has always been especially successful with an under-educated or ill-informed audience. Although his positions on Israel have been well-informed by people like Nachum Segal, a lot of his information about domestic politics is severely flawed and often erroneous. Because of this, the unaware get sucked into his opinions.
People should remember, he is not a reporter. He does not check his facts. He is an entertainer. Both liberal and conservative talk show hosts are entertainers and the truth isn’t nearly as important as their ratings.
And it is true that he has built his reputation by saying very nasty things, both true and often untrue, about others. Were he a Jew talking about other Jews, our sages would ban his radio show as, at best, loshon hara or just as likely, loshon ra.
Hey #1; That’s not only the Golden EIB Microphone, that’s the Atilla-The-Hun Chair!
Mr. Limbaugh is a counter-force towards the rabid America hating, Jew-bashing the liberal media spews forth on a daily basis.
I find Rush to be a little less annoying than other conservative talk show hosts, but he still has a one sided approach that he will defend whether true or not.
But regardless of whether you agree with him or not, going gaa-gaa over him is an intelectual embarassment and is uncalled for in a publication for bnei Torah.
# 56 – bacci40:
If Rush entertains you, then good for you. He IS here to inform you of the current affairs as well as give you his opinions on them. There is a reason why Rush is hated by the far left media is because he is one of the few who will shed the truth on all of these democratic low lives in government who want to have the power for the sake of being famous rather than being here to help us – and there is no other reason! It so happens to be that Rush has the LARGEST audiance in USA history far more than any other radio/news host, so dont go repeating Colin Powells words without knowing the context or details (which is too long to repeat here), unless you would like to say that ALL 20 Million daliy listeners are low lives – well, not so!
Anybody promoting good conservative values (which generally runs along the lines of torah values too – therefore a help to ALL of us Jewsih people), deserves praise or for the very least appreciation!
charlie,
The President and Mr. Limbaugh are friends of Klal Yisroel, exceptionally so.
charliehall –
Both the President and Mr. Limbaugh are exceptionally friendly with Yidden.
Chill. No one said Rush has to be your
“guiding light.” This is just a complimentary, (okay, fawning,) article on an ohaiv Yisrael. It’s called hakoras hatov.
61, I’m all for hakaras hatov. Private chanifa wouldn’t faze me either. But this was done befarhesya, and people will learn the wrong lessons from this, such as maybe listening to the “EIB network” isn’t as big a bittul zman as they thought, that public fawning IS appropriate, and so on. I would have no qualms if the masthead of Yated included an editorial (i.e. rabbinic) advisory board.
shver-a-inyan …… to all doubters, there is nothing wrong with learning a good middah from a goy. as far as the chashuve hailig yungerleit yichu, they are the ones who everyone in our community looks to with pride and admiration, no one was comparing rush to a gadol or anything like that. halvai more goyim would be as decent and clear minded as he is. having said that, one might wonder as to the emphasis and bombastic nature of the article,it might have been a bit much. for all you know, rabbi Liphshitz knows that in the long run some good might come out of such a gesture. so please all, dont over do it with the criticism. just to clarify, those who bash the yated with a vengeance, have you ever read the yated? its clear to see; your motive is not pure,or simply uninformed. the yated is a fina frum ,glatt kosher newspaper, so please cut out the senseless bashing. kol tuv selah
response to # 19. Maybe the reason why people look up to and listen to Rabbi Rush Limbaugh is for the fact we don’t have real leaders or people with leadership skills? We can argue if this is the case or not but sometimes perception unfortuantely becomes reality and this is the exact problem.
As for the YATED stating, “I arrived armed with a long list of questions for an interview. Our conversation was so friendly and informal that we never got down to the formal part of the meeting. That will have to wait for next time”, shows the brilliance of Rush Limbaugh. He can fardrey your kup so much you won’t even remeber or realize why you were there in the first place!
You have to admit this. Wether you like Rush or not, the man is simply brilliant.
Rush has a famous line that goes like this:
“If you want to follow the politics but are getting lost then follow the money trail and you will figure out everything”!
Thi