Posting for a friend in response to shlomozalman:
Shlomozalman wrote:
Yes, Chofetz Chaim thinks it is the natural successor to Slabodka, very nice , but that is more self-congratulatory than substantive. In addition, asking what the Alter would do in a given situation is just as self-serving and pointless, he isn’t here to ask, and anyone can easily say that his action is exactly what the Alter would have done, who’s to prove him wrong?
Rav Leizer Yudel Finkel ZT”L told the rosh Hayeshiva ZT”L that Rav Dovid Leibowitz was the closest talmid of HIS father, the Alter ZT”L. Rav Leizer Yudel ZT”L is one who can make a substantive claim in this regard, and he did so. Rav Aharon Feldman Shlit”a says that in every situation, he asks himself what Rav Ruderman ZT”L would have done. This is a consequence of having a rebeb muvhak, that you know him well enough to surmise how he would view every situation and act. This is also Daas Torah. Who’s to prove a gadol wrong if he decides this is what Hashem wants? But yet we rely on gedolim to tell us what Hashem wants from us, based on their knowledge of torah as they got it from their Rabbeim. This is the meaning of Daas Torah.
When they say there are no other yeshivas, they aren’t saying that there is no Torah being learned anywhere. They are perfectly machshiv other places as mekomos of Torah learning. What they mean to say is that a yeshiva is supposed to teach you how to think and how not to think, and if there is no active training in this, then the yeshivas isn’t teaching you how to think. If you want to develop Daas Torah, then you have to know what is, and what isn’t, the way of the Torah. This is also why the yeshiva puts such a strong emphasis on hashkafah, to teach the talmidim what is the right way to view things.
True, Eilu Va’eilu Divrei Elokim Chaim. However, as the Mahara”l explains it, this doesn’t mean that both sides are absolutely right. it means that both sides are saying svaros based on the Torah, but one side is closer to the Emes.As we are following our mesorah, we have to believe that we have the emes. The proof is in the pudding, of course- the yeshiva produces Tzelamei Elokim who enhance, not ruin, the name of Orthodox Jewry.
EDITED