Reply To: Question of an ignorant, closed-minded Lubavitcher

Let me clarify what I meant when I wrote that the Litvish Yeshivish rabbis regarded kiruv as bittul Tora. (By the way, they still do for those well into full-time learning.) Yes, the Chazon Ish encouraged activities like Arachim. One needs to realise that the problem then in Israel was that thousands of observant Oriental Jews were immigrating, and the secular Zionists were hell-bent on getting them to abandon Jewish practice and belief. It was a matter of pikuach nefesh. Also, if the Israel were to become almost completely secular that would impact terribly on the continuance of Tora in our land. As for Telshe and Novarodok, I do not know, but I do know that the general attitude then among observant Jews was that learning a trade was more important than going to Yeshiva. I suspect that those bachurim were persuading them to go to Yeshiva.