circa 1900: Letter from Lubavitcher Rebbe, the Heresy of “Religious” Zionism

To Nope

I’ve decided not to address any of your comments directly. That begins with your latest statements. Feel free to say whatever you want. Hashem knows the truth.

It would still be good to know whether (a) that’s what he said, rather than what one thinks he said, and (b) his reasoning for that. Really, the honest thing to do would be to ask him for a letter over his signature, or a voice note, saying this, so that we can be sure there are no misunderstandings.

(By the way, “Please go over to MTJ at your leisure…. Rabbi Fishelis is in Israel now” – well, then, I guess if you go over to MTJ at your leisure, it can be to learn Torah and talk with the bnei hayeshivah there, but not to actually find out what R. Fishelis has to say on this subject.)

To the group

And of course Rabbi Fishelis would not only have to sign the letter but have it notarized. What a jerk. His entire existence revolves around challenging every thing I say. As you can see from here it’s not only about Chabad. He’s obsessed with me because of my writing ability. And it’s so foolish because I readily admit that he’s an outstanding writer and he knows way more Torah than I do. Of course it’s also true that he’s an inveterate liar.

How’s about we first get such a letter, or voice note, and then we can go from there and see whether further verification is required. Let’s draw an analogy with how things work in Beis Din – and feel free to check with R. Fishelis, or R. Berel, or anyone else, whether I’m describing things correctly.

Mr. A comes forward with a claim, such as that Mr. B owes him $X. First things first, Mr. A is expected to bring some kind of proof (such as a document). Now, Mr. B might not have a counterclaim, and then that’s that: Mr. A has won his case. Or, Mr. B has a right according to halachah to claim that the document is forged, the witnesses are disqualified, etc. etc., and then the Beis Din may require Mr. A to bring further evidence, such as by getting the witnesses’ signatures validated. Now, you tell me: if Mr. A were to just say to the Beis Din, “Well, then, I can’t be bothered to do that first step, because I know you’ll then put me through the other ones. Don’t you trust me? Why, I’ve told you my whole life story!” then what’s going to be the verdict? “You’re right, we’ll just take you at your word and that’s that. Mr. B, pay up”? Or, “Sorry, Mr. A, if you can’t be bothered to bring any evidence, then case dismissed.”

The analogy, I hope, will be obvious.

You know, it’s a pity. By your own statements in the past (and I see no particular reason to doubt them), you’ve been close with the extended Feinstein family for three generations now, going back to R. Moshe. What a wealth of reminiscences and Torah snippets and descriptions of their middos tovos we could get! Wouldn’t that be so much more productive, and beneficial to the community at large, than this ongoing vendetta across multiple sites and threads? Or at least, you could try for some kind of balance, say 80% of the above, while still reserving 20% for the witchfinding, since after all one does have to let off steam somehow.

This is true, that there are others who disagree. R. Avigdor Miller being one of them, and indeed one can choose to follow him. Now, I seem to recall some comments of yours – why, yes, there they are, on the previous page of this thread – that took a somewhat different view of the matter:

“Rabbi Miller’s opinion is very far from Halacha.”
“I asked Rabbi Fishelis if it’s such a serious offense and he told me it’s absolutely permitted. So we can put this subject to rest.”
“[Rabbi Fishelis’] word is golden and he’s universally accepted. Rabbi Miller was wrong. Case closed.”

So it’s good to see that now you’ve abandoned that notion, and are talking the way a ben Torah does, understanding that there can be multiple valid opinions and that eilu v’eilu divrei Elokim Chayim.

Qwerty, right, I have no problem with that opinion. In fact, I have a TV myself but I do not have a service to hook it up. Is this maris ayn?

To Nope and to elevate this discussion: there is a sefer out from R Chaim Mintz, Oorah founder, with his personal notes from R Moshe, R Ruderman and several other Rabbonim. I did not see anything about TVs yet, but lots of other interesting stories. One is that R Moshe did not want to respond to a rov who published a sefer against R Moshe psak on multiple issues – because R Moshe did not want to take parnosa away from that rov. Hope we treat those we disagrees with – with the same kindness.