@HaKatan: Denigration? Go look in the mirror. You are guilty of that more than anyone here.
You and your ilk should take back every single horrible thing you have said about the RZ and MO communities over the years. And again, I will note you have never substantially answered anything I have said in rebuttal to you, ever. You instead either don’t respond or continue to quote the same Rabbonim and repeat the same slander and misinformation, even when it has been called out, taken apart, questioned and utterly debunked.
@UJM: Joseph, don’t play innocent. You know as well as I do that you think the RZ community believes that DBG and TH were Moshaich, which is false.
@Non Political:
It’s also not good form to constantly call the RZ community heretics and project what you think the RZ community believes without even attempting to find out what those beliefs are.
Re hagiographies, nice red herring, but I’ll bite. If you think hagiographies are reverance rather than deification or something slightly less worse, Chassidishe Rebbelach and Roshei Yeshiva being attributed the sort of divine spirit Christians claim their saints have, and you have no problem with that, you’re being obtuse. On top of that, hagiographies give wrong impressions of real lives, which are often more inspirational than claims like “Rashi knew all of Chumash by heart at age 5”. But that isn’t my point and it never was. My point is that the above behavior combined with Rabbonim ruling and controlling their followers by edicts and bad actors (and there is no way you will convince me that Askanim are good for the community) rather than through an actual Bais Din with Takanos duly issued per the prescribed process in the Rambam, Mishna and Bavli does actually replace the Torah with something else. And I will repeat that this was in direct response to HaKatan once again accusing me of heresy, which is so far from the truth it is ridiculous.
As as side point: Regarding Rav Aharon Feldman in particular (who wasn’t even on the radar in my comment since he isn’t part of the Charedi establishment in Bnei Brak and Yerushalayim), I’m very well acquainted with his extended family and his beliefs reflect living in Bnei Brak for many years, as opposed to the rest of his family that have far more nuanced beliefs, which I have first hand knowledge of. And that is with all due respect to him as the Rosh Yeshiva of Ner Yisrael, et cetera.
Re Gezeros, Takanos and Pesakim regarding the Army and the State, okay, I’ll play ball. If a recognized local Beis Din had gotten up in 1947-1948 and duly issued a Gezera, Takana or Pesak that it is prohibited to serve in the army or have anything to do with the State for xyz Halachic reason, that would be one thing. There would be clear grounds avoid contact with the state and a justification for such. That has not happened. To the best of my knowledge, no Beis Din with any sort of binding authority has done any such thing (remember, binding authority is either through a local court or a national court, the latter of which has not existed since the Bavli, if not earlier). There have been proclamations and statements by Rabbonim as well as Seforim written about the subject. Those are not Takanos, Gezeros or Pesakim. They aren’t binding. Therefore, there is no excuse for avoiding the IDF beyond not trusting Chilonim, which while totally understandable (I’m not thrilled about my kids serving in the army in the distant future, especially together with Chilonim, and that is putting it extremely mildly) is still not a good enough excuse to avoid service at all costs, especially considering the efforts the IDF actually does take to ensure that Charedim can maintain their lifestyle within reason.
None of you have to like my opinion and that’s fine. However, I demand the same respect for the RZ community that the Charedi community demands; I insist on it and will accept nothing less. These anti-RZ and Israel threads are quite frankly unacceptable.