Just for fun (although I think it turned out educational), I’ve collected just about every instance of this quotation (and a similar one) that I could find via Google. So many versions…
In some cases, there were discussions of what it means and how this works. The CR’s own WolfishMusings had a blog post with a lengthy discussion on the subject in the comments… five years ago (no unique version, so not quoted). Here we go!
Rav [Mordechai] Gifter Ztzl once said in a yeshiva shmus, if a bochur by us in yeshiva eats cholov akum, then a yid in Paris will eat treif.
-Anonymous on Vosizneias
Rav Mordechai Gifter ztzl, the late rosh yeshiva of Telz, once said, “if a bochur in yeshiva eats cholov akum then a yid in Paris will end up eating treif”.
-Anonymous on Vosizneias
[Those just might be the same anonymous guy.]
Rav Gifter quotes (p. 80-81) [Collection of Rav Gifter’s letters -http://hebrewbooks.org/50397] the AB”D of Telz (I am assuming he means R’ Leizer Gordon here, unless it’s R’ Bloch?) as saying that if in Telz they don’t eat butter made of cholov aku”m, in Paris they will be careful and not eat pig meat, but if in Telz they are meikil on butter, in Paris they will eat tarfus. I have seen the same idea quoted in the name of R’ Yisrael Salanter[.]
-“Chaim B.”, blog post on Divreichaim
A yid in Paris is mechalel shabbos and that has an effect on Yidden around the world (I forget which godol quoted that).
– “amama” on Vosizneias
A gadol once said, if a Jew is makpid on xyz in Volozhin, a yid in Paris won’t intermarry.
– “jerusalem-girl” on Imamother
– “Emusing” on Matzav
In Belz they used to say:
“When a chossid in Belz begins to wear long pants (they have the custom to wear short pants and high socks), a Jew loses his religion in Paris”
– “chabakuk elisha”
followed by
Yitz, I heard once that Rav Elchanan Wasserman (I think) told his students that if we talk lashon hara in Lithuania, Jews in Paris will be mechalel Shabbos.
– “Moshe David Tokayer”
followed by
I heard a similar statement said in the name of Rav Israel Salanter (either way “they don’t say things like that about me”, to paraphrase a story about the Chofetz Chaim).
– “Neil Harris”
Conversation on a blog post on Asimplejew
-“F.M.S.”, letter to Hamodia
In the pithy words of Rav Yisroel Salanter, “If a bokhur battels in Eisheshok, some Jew in Paris will shmad.
-blog post on Hamavdil/innate-differences
Reb Yisroel Salanter would say that if we strengthen our observance of Shabbos in Lithuania, it will prevent a fellow Jew from desecrating the Shabbos in Paris.
-blog post on Baishamussar
Moreover, to quote […]
-Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld, letter to Jewish Action
[H][.]
-Five Towns Jewish Times, regarding a speech by Rav Yitzchok Sheiner, rosh yeshiva of Kaminetz (Yerushalayim)
A great rabbi, Rav Yisrael Salanter, once said that if a Jew in Lithuania is lax in his learning, a Jew in Paris will forsake his religion.
-Leah Aharoni, Jewish Press guest op-ed
As Rav Yisrael Salanter put it, if a Jew in Moscow talks during davening, a Jew in Paris will leave the fold.
-Rabbi Moshe Grylak, Mishpacha column
If a Jew in Kovno speaks lashon hara in the Bet Midrash, a Jew in Paris will desecrate Shabbat.
-Rabbi Hanoch Teller, lecture on Naaleh(.com)
If someone talks lashon hara in the beis hamidrash in Kovna, Jews will desecrate the Shabbos in Paris.
-Lipa Goldwerth, Jewish Observer article
When they gossip in Vilna, they desecrate Shabbos in Paris. – Rav Yisrael Salanter
-Micha Berger, post on Aspaqlaria (a section of aishdas.org)
[T]
-Rabbi Jonathan Tawil, Torah Action Life parsha sheet
Rabbi Yisroel Salanter, the great founder of the Mussar movement once asserted that “when a Jew learns Mussar in Lithuania, he prevents the assimilation of another Jew in Paris.”
-Rabbi Raphael Wizman, NCYI Weekly Divrei Torah
The Chofetz Chaim declared that if Shabbos was kept properly in Warsaw, it would have a ripple effect on a Jew in Paris.
-M. Efrati, article on Dei’ah V’Dibbur/chareidi.org
Well, I hope you’re all
“Azoy gliklich (or glikor) vi a yid in Paris,”
as the expression used to go.
P.S. Would you believe there are NO Google results for “yidden of Vilna” or “yidden of Volozhin”?