Reply To: Rav Avigdor Miller

I am bringing the following quote in order to prove that some of the things that people have been saying in Rav Avigdor Miller’s name can not possibly be true (or else they are grossly taken out of context). The person who said the quotes below can not possibly have said some of the things that have been said in his name in the CR.

“Q&A, volume 3, Thursday nights with Rav Avigdor Miller”, p. 153-154

Q- How can one help a friend who goes to movies and doesn’t want to listen to your rebukes?

A – Many times, the treatment of a fellowman is done in amateurish ways. Why is it, if a fellow man has an illness, you probably wouldn’t undertake to give a prescription?

You would send that ill person to some professional in that line, a specialist, or even a general practitioner. So why is it, when it comes to dealing with a fellow man who needs spiritual advice that we should treat him rough-shod as if it’s all simple and nothing complicated?

Spiritual ailments are even more complicated than physical ailments. So how to stop a person from going to the movies requires a great deal of professional advice, so go to somebody who knows that person and explain all the details, and have that competent person advise you how to wean your friend from the movies.

… Now who is a professional…find some old Talmid Chaacham who is willing to listen, not everybody has time..But the message is this, you should consider it a spiritual problem for your fellowman, a complicated matter which deserves the very best advice that you can get. Therefore, don’t expect to be answered on the floor here, how to deal with that person.

You wouldn’t ask me any advice about medicine on the floor, so don’t ask me advice about spiritual problems in a general way. You must know the person, you must even see the person, you have to hear his story, and you have to dicover what valuable substitutes are possible to offer that person.