yankel berel

@yya

I probably misquoted what I heard re emuna uvitachon

He was asked why did you write against the baalei mussar and not against the hasidim ?

– he answered that he was afraid of the reaction

when challenged that he did write a critique of the ba’alei mussar ?

he answered that that they are –after all , baalei mussar ….

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I heard it from a mekor ne’eman .
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Dear Shimon and Yaakov Yosef

To respond to Shimons post [and also some of yya’s concerns] :

1. The Lubavitcher Rebbe himself was controversial . Some chashuve people called him a Heiliger Tzaddik who accomplished enormous good in the world, and left behind a rich legacy in writing, in other media, and in the people he inspired, which continues to generate more good and be mekarev countless Yidden to Hashem and His Torah literally worldwide , as Shimon rightly noted. And other chashuve people called him an apikorus , shallow , a product of years of university studies without yeshiva studies and having an outsized opinion of self . A rasha , a shoteh and a gas ruach . The last three are the descriptions by hazal of someone who is lo higia lehora’a and is moreh . All the above descriptions of him, I myself heard from gdolei hador and big talmidei hahamim.

As you can see in my comments , for myself , I prefer not to dwell on these controversial issues re his personality . But the obvious disrepancies from Judaism, contained within the habad movement [which are due to his influence] have to be called out , again and again , without fail.

I do understand that those who belong to the adherents of the first group of chashuve people would like to ‘use’ the obvious regard he is held , as proof to ‘kasher’ all disrepancies from Judaism , contained within habad theology.

But this is really a non starter , as his personality itself is controversial as noted.

2. WRT individual aspects of Chabad theology ,although as noted that chabad is sitting on a rich spritual yerushah , and one can learn a lot from chabad torah , the matzav basically is “buyer beware”. I sincerely believe that real hard core Kefirah/AZ is not automatically included in their torah , with proof that none of the poskei hador invalidated their gittin vakidushin with their obvious repercussions to the weighty issues of yichus. The Meshichist nonsense, with its attendant ideological flip-flops etc. is (for the vast majority of its adherents) admittedly just nonsense, not כפירה בעיקרי האמונה, but another big flashing warning sign re the torah coming out of habad , which originates from their rebbi .
As did all the ideological nonsense and flip flops !
One can attempt to blame so called ‘rogue’ elements instead. But a careful reality-based assessment will bring any non predisposed observer to the same conclusion . They all originated from the top.

3. As previously mentioned, I am also more concerned with the legacy of their leader because he is THE source of what is going on in habad even nowadays.
Very many people learn their Rebbe’s Seforim and are inspired by them. That’s definitely correct . But the flip side presented above , is also correct .
I do not have to sit in judgement over other people . Baruch hashem for that . But the nonsense and the misrepresentation of Judaism has to be called out.

4. Someone who writes a whole book pushing a certain position can still be seen as an unbiased source of information on followers of the opposite position. Dr Berger has the unswerving haskama of Harav Ahron Feldman Rosh Yeshiva of Baltimore , praising Dr Berger for his courage and accuracy. So I do really pay attention to and take into consideration what Dr. Berger says about Chabad, the same way I would seriously investigate anything else , published with the unswerving haskama of the rosh yeshiva of Baltimore. .

5. Personally, I have enough to do to fix myself before I have time to go around fixing the world, but you and yaakov yosef asked , so am explaining myself .

6. Re Dr qwerty’s posts – unlike some of you – I do not take everything he writes quite so literally , but I must admit that I enjoy his writing style immensely and I do concur with most of what he writes.

7. Hope that clarifies matters .

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lol

rav moshe sternbuch says in his weekly alon from last week that he himself heard from brisker rav

re the medina : that ALTHOUGH THE MEDINA WAS A POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT FOR THE MANY PLEITIM AFTER THE WAR , who were left without a roof

in that era , nevertheless its establishment is prohibited

and that we cannot ‘do business’ with yahadut

absorbing ‘losses’ by establishing a medina , and thereby ‘gaining’ a home for the many pleitim

now how is that for a kanna’i , nuanced and realistic view – for a change ?
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ujm :

have you read the principal of satmars book about the SR ? think its mentioned there

its also mentioned in r eliahu beane’s book about rav ahron kotler – interviews from his talmidim vol 1

situations change, so responses to situations also change

there is no proof that rav ahron today would disapprove of his grandsons actions

somejew and ujm called hamas’ murderers— soldiers

thats like calling mengele or the ss campguards —- soldiers

they are not soldiers at all

they are plain criminals

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somejew supported by ujm claims now that he prays for ‘soldiers’ from both sides to be ‘peacefully eradicated’ …..

have some question for somejew …. that is after I finished laughing about his “peaceful eradication” …..

would somejew also pray for ‘soldiers’ from both sides to be ‘peacefully eradicated’ during the second world war ?
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after reading flamingOTD’s recurring comments I have come the conclusion that

she is , either

MAD , or

EVIL , or

RETARDED …

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if she is mad , then she is blameless , may she have a refu’a bimehera

if she is evil , then may HKBH take care of her and her evil partners

if she is retarded and does not understand the meaning of the words she is using ,

then she should refrain from commenting until she properly learns the meaning of the words she is using

and the real repercussions of the words she is using
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I will leave it to the other readers of her comments to decide , which of the above three options is the closest to the truth …
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ZSK’s list is really impressive ….
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ujm is right. SR zatsal did participate in demonstrations against Israel in the US.

these demonstrations were vehemently opposed by rav aharon kotler zatsal.
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@shimon katz

why are you sidestepping the issues I raised ?

the shoteh who calls himself somejew claims he davens for the ‘soldiers’ of hamas ….

which ones ?

those that bake jewish babies in ovens …. ?

those that gouge out the eyes of the jewish children in front of their mothers ?

those that directly target my own civilian brothers and sisters [and somejew’s too] ?

those that blow up teenagers at restaurants in jerusalem ?

or those that murder a yidishe kalla the night before her chuppa ?

or those that murder the only child from an elderly couple who is pregnant with her first child ?

or those who slashed the throat of the fogel newborn whose home in the yishuv in shomron they invaded ?

am plainly disgusted by the shoteh who calls himself somejew ….
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@shimon katz

as continuation from previous post-

this issue in of itself was the subject of a major disagreement years earlier between the hasidic groups in EY and the mitnagdim headed by r shach and the steipler

the mitnagdim claimed that habad was secretly preparing their own followers for eventual acceptance of their leader as mashiach

this was one of the main reasons habad was supposed to be boycotted and not mentioned in the mainstream haredi newspaper of the time

which was then hamodia , nominally the official organ of the aguda organisation comprising both hasidim and mitnagdim under one roof

aguda and hamodia were led jointly , but the hasidim were more dominantly represented , so hamodia and aguda as an organisation disregarded

r shachs opinion on this matter , with result the establishment of a competing newspaper called yated

and ultimately a competing organisation called degel hatorah

I am talking about the 19 eighties now

as you can imagine there were plenty of polemics going on between the two camps

on one hand you had the accusers against habad concentrating on the supposed mashiach issue

on the other hand you had the defenders of habad claiming that this is all a dirty blood libel ,

stemming from the deep rooted mitnagdic opposition to hasidut in general

and that habad never intends to crown their leader as mashiach

this from the defenders of habad …. joined by habad themselves ….

supposedly all lies , originating from hate and jealousy ….

with the benefit of hindsight , fast forward to the 19 nineties …. that’s exactly what happened …. habad self proclaimed their leader as mashiach ….

lets understand something here which is hard for an outsider to grasp , in habad, leadership is centralised to the umpteenth degree

centralised in their rebbi

every word , every nuance is regarded by their hasidim , as stronger than the word of God Himself was regarded at Sinai …

besides that , they are much more insulated from other groups and communities and their rabanim and rebbeim

which dramatically lessens influences from other outside rebeim , rabanim and their groups ,courts and communities

this is unmatched in any other orthodox circle or community

this gives their leader the power of shaping his hasidims thinking, way more than any other orthodox rav or rebbe

their outlook, their worldview, their attitude , their theology, their values which they believe in

everything, everything, is a direct product of their rebbi

this mashiach acceptance in habad did not happen overnight

it took some decades in the making

the habad hasidim had to be prepared , mentally prepared , that is

the mitnagdim under r shach were the ones who picked that up right from the beginning

the general hasidim did not . they for years kept on claiming that it was all one big lie

now we know who turned out to be right about that one …….

@ujm

your point that :

“Yes, absulutely, as HaGaon HaRav Elazar Menachem Man Shach zt”l said, anything that results in peace is worth surrendering Israeli land for. Even the entire State, if that would result in greater peace. HaGaon HaRav Elazar Menachem Man Shach zt”l’s main point is peace is more important than land. Even giving up sovereignty of ALL the land.”

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this is not only rav shach

every chareidi gadol would concur with your words IN A THEORETICAL SENSE ….

but we do live in practical world ….

even rav avigdor miller zatsal who was quite close to satmar view on many respects

stated in public that israel should not hand over territory for ‘peace’ as this will only result in more bloodshed

as subsequent facts amply demonstrated ….
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all those anti israel fanatics like ujm somejew and katan , not to speak about crazy flamingOTD …

are in need of a long needle double dose reality injection ….

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The “Kastner train” was supposedly a “down payment” of lives in exchange for money, with intent to release more Jews in exchange for more money. The historical facts and the ethics of this Parsha are extremely hotly debated down to today, and several people, including Kastner himself, were assassinated in connection with this debate …
[yy]

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yaakov yosef is giving a balanced and contextual description of what was going on .

unlike ujm who seems to relish any possible tidbit of information to blacken his sworn enemies , the zionists …

ujm will omit any relevant context to achieve his goal …
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@shimonkatz

as i see in your post , you attempt to take all aspects of habad into account

that is because you are mistaken about the issue ,

the issue is not that we somehow are sitting ‘in judgement’ re the totality of habad …

chas veshalom

the issue is those specific elements of their belief system

which are clear misrepresentations of judaism EVEN ACCORDING TO THEIR OWN TRADITION ….
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@shimonkatz

it is clear that present day habad is sitting on an immeasurable rich yerusha , they received from their illustrious forebears

but all that is irrelevant to the issues at hand

like the amount of their good deeds are irrelevant to the issues at hand

all defense of the habad position invariably returns to those two points

ignoring the issues themselves

is that not an admission ?

an admission that there really is no answer to the issues themselves ….

am happy to hear from anyone …..
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as a reminder of what rav chaim said in a public shmuess attended by hundrerds of talmidei hahamim :

rav chaim shmulevits zatsal clearly

categorized them as harugei lud

who sit in gan eden and ein kol beryah yachol la’amod bemechitsatam

this is printed in sichot mussar towards the end

so much for the utter drivel we read from the false posters who go by the name of ujm , somejew and katan ….
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@katan

Rav chaim shmulevits said this in his famous shmuessen compiled in sichot mussar , printed there at the end of the sefer

this was said in front of hundreds of talmidei hahamim who especially came to hear what the correct torah hashkafa is

this was not a few words overheard in a private conversation and possibly taken out of context

this is a clear directive from one of the gdolei hador , said specifically about the current reality

of a medina made by zionists and millions of ahenu bnei yisrael threatened by genocidal barbarians

if …. and that seems to be a very big “if” …..

if you are genuinely thirsty to learn about the correct torah approach

to this complicated situation we find ourselves in

then you should take this clear directive to the current situation [!] to heart

rav chaim was baki bechol hatora

rav chaim was a pikeach atsum

rav chaim was a yerei shamayim muflag

rav chaim was talking about the current situation

and more

you do not have to employ your own reasoning at all

you can take his directive to heart ….

somejew ignores clear shulchan aruch

clear tur

clear rambam in yad

clear poskim all over

who clearly reject halacha lemaaseh what he seems to quote from maharal

that one is obligated to be moser nefesh not to go against the shavu’ot

the halacha is , as is unanimously decided by our great and widely accepted codifiers

that pikuach nefesh takes precedence over any chashash of the shavu’ot.

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no one should forget that – ever

this is a huge distortion of halacha which somejew propagates here

millions of innocent lives are in the balance

ready to be sacrificed by somejew’s blind adherence to the NK party line

instead of being mevatel the remnants of his sechel to the accepted process

of deciding halacha as it is accepted by klal yisrael since time immemorial
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@ujm

I am the last person to defend kastner but am still aiming for accuracy

zionist organisation as an organisation did not collaborate with hitler after 1939

kastner probably did not sit in eichmans office for years

smoking sigars together, in itself , does not inherently have to be a problem

in your original post you write 3 times that kastner ‘for years’ worked with eichman

thats highly improbable
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flaming OTD is totally disqualified from commenting on this subject

her suggestions are not reality based ,

her suggestions are not torah based

her suggestions are downright dangerous

she never learnt gemarah

she never learnt how to derive the halacha lemaaseh from the poskim

how on earth does she think that she is qualified to voice her am haarets opinion, on something which requires at least 23 dayanim

smuchim to sit together and explore those dinei nefashot bechoved rosh ???

utter stupidity or utter ga’ava or both , to think she is qualified to voice her opinion

she should close her mouth

and firmly so.

ujm claims he follows rav shach ….

I would have him know that rav shach disapproved of equations of zionism and nazism as ujm is wont to do ….

I would have him know that rav shach directed his talmidim to stand and participate

in the minute long silence for yom hazikaron zecher to the fallen in israel

I would have him know that rav shach directed the degel MK’s to vote against the oslo agreements which were purporting to bring ‘peace’ ….

but instead brought death and destruction ….

I would have him know that rav shach directed vaad hayeshivot not to register any boy uninvolved in real full time learning ,

thereby relegating him to forced army service in the IDF of his time ….

was rav shach a zionist ? far from it .

was rav shach a realist ? definitely.

we , including ujm [!] , would do good in really following in rav shach’s footsteps ….

instead of only invoking his name when suitable ….
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somejew :
… But, there are zero charedi gedolim who have taught that he is not a rushe. [re rav kuk].

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have a look in osef michtavim imrei emet

[who satmar rav titles as harav hagaon hatsaddik]

about rav kuk

and tell me again – honestly …

was rav kuk a rasha in emrei emets eyes ??

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@shimon katz

3] have a look in dvar malhut parshat shoftim 5752

re the leader of habads relevation about a navi

1] there are multiple documented cases of habad followers expressing themselves that way

with quite reasonable sources from their own leaders words

4] re the obligation of torah laws – qwerty is probably referring to their documented issues with s’char va’onesh
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lol

harav hatsadiq hagaon hagadol r somejew , paskened that those people who gave their life

to shield their brothers from somejews friends ‘good and peaceful’ intentions

are resha’im ,

without even knowing any of them in a personal way

he thinks he knows better than rav chaim shmulevits zatsal who clearly

categorized them as harugei lud

who sit in gan eden and ein kol beryah yachol la’amod bemechitsatam

that is an excellent indication about the rest of somejew’s utter drivel

he routinely publishes

under the false guise as representing the torah
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@simcha613

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shalom to you

feel very bad for the signatories

they have my deepest sympathies

so do the fallen people themselves

and I appreciate immensely their sacrifice

but all sympathies aside

they are not neurosurgeons

so will not ask their advice about matters neurosurgery

even if they happen to offer their advice unsolicited

nor will I be swayed if they are misusing their victimhood , their hardship , or their sacrifice or however else one may correctly describe it

as leverage for me to accept their opinion on matters which they are absolutely unqualified to give advice on, such as neurosurgery .

to form an accurate assessment about neurosurgery I will consult the experts

and totally disregard the above attempts at emotional blackmail

as is attempted by this signed letter

like I will totally disregard politicians , opinion polls and even full democratic elections

for neurosurgery – only expert neurosurgeons’ opinions count

all the rest is nothing more than hevel ure’ut ruach

vehameivin yavin
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