Trump invited a few leading Rabbanim from the Charedi world to meet him on Thursday.
The invitees are the two Satmar Rebbes, the Bobover Rebbe, the Vitzhnizer Rebbe, the Skverer Rebbe and Rav Malkiel Kotler Shlita.
One is immediately struck by the fact Trump selected 5 Chassidim and only 1 Litvak.
What does Trump realize that we don’t?
The answer is obvious. Due to the Litvish infatuation with delaying marriage, Chassidim have exploded relative to the Litvaks. Fast forward a few decades and there are simply more generations of Chassidim. For example, Rav Aharon Teitelbaum is already marrying off great-great grandchildren, yet none of the Lakewood Roshei Yeshiva are near that stage, even though they are older than Rav Aharon Teitelbaum.
Initially, delaying boys shidduchim seemed like a great idea. Some argued that getting married older would improve shalom bayis (even though all statistical data points to the opposite), or that learning an extra fews years will improve Limud Hatorh (even though the Shulchan Aruch prohibits delaying marriage even for the sake of learning, in the vast majority of cases).
We now see the results of “freezerism”. Chassidim have grown while we have shrunk (in terms of relative size). For this reason, Trump prefers meeting with Rebbes than Roshei Yeshiva.
When the Litvish community decided to vote itself out of existence, it automatically lost important political influence as well. For example, Rav Aharon Tietelbaum publicly stated that he would urge Trump regarding issues that align with Satmar’s anti-Zionist shitah. Rather than encouraging Trump to support Torah causes in general, Trump will have a private meeting with Rav Aharon who will “educate” Trump about anti-Zionism.
This is the natural and inevitable result of freezerism. We are simply voting ourselves out of existence, and we are posed to continue to do so. We are preventing Jews from being born. Who knows how many future Rav Aharon Kotlers could have been born, but were prevented from doing so, simply because we forbade and discouraged our bochurim from following the Shulchan Aruch?
It is time to take a stand.
A concerned adult
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30 Responses
Nice Theory but you’re just completely making it up and we should take it as a valid reason for Trump’s actions? I don’t see any sefardim on the list but don’t worry reb Donald made sure deal nj was a big campaign stop. And he hit the ohel to pray as well . Maybe some people have better connections than others
Since when is Judaism a contest to see who can have kids earlier?? There are different Mesoras and everyone follows their own. There is no reason to feel insecure. Judaism is also not dependent on who Donald Trump calls to a meeting. We follow our Gedolim and continue on the path.
Your looking at an entire system and not looking at how it affects the people involved. You can’t force that on the masses sorry. And if you did that would take a level of control that I don’t think most people appreciate even from the people within the system
This “us vs them” mentality is nauseating and so outdated.
–a chossid.
I don’t think political influence or Donald Trump should be the prime motivation for Yiddishkeit but we do see that pru urevu is considered the first mitzvah in the Torah.
There is also another consideration here. The Chasidish and Litvishe communities are structured differently. There are no comparable kehillos in size in the Litvishe world like Satmar x2, Bobov x2, Skver or Viznitz with the exception of BMG whose Rosh Yeshiva was invited.
Sounds like a litvish svara.
Trump invited all Rabbonim that have political influence, the litvish velt has a lot of gedolim but the only people who listen and go vote is BMG, satmer bobov and skvere
Litvaks???
As far as I know 3/4 of what we call “Litvaks” are actually a mix of hungarian heimish, Galician, Polish and some Yekkishe/Oiberland mixed in. Unfortunately, Lita was either “freid” out or perished during the holocaust. We are the Yeshiva community, and as being proudly part of that community, we do tend to get married older so we can sit and learn as a bachur for longer. These labels were created by the so called chasidim and should be abolished. We are all Chareidim/frume yiden
Ridiculous theory. Maybe the litvish community doesn’t have a whole show and dance that gets the presidents attention. I think this should be more of a wake up call for the author than anyone else.
Maybe somthing call the chaddish olam sell their vote.
What the litvish olam not the makbid on
The real reason that Rav Malkiel was invited is that Lakewood / Peleg is quickly turning into Satmar.
I think we have better incentives for fixing the Litvish shidach/marriage system than getting an audience with the POTUS.
Apparently, thousands of single girls are also not enough of an incentive to actually fix the system. It’s enough for Rabaonim to make meeting after meeting to discuss it, but none of the Roshei Yeshiva are willing to follow through on the recommended solutions.
clueless child,
“It is time to take a stand” against whom, the Litvishe Gedolim? Have you lost your marbles?
You prattled-on about politics, voting and the freezer then threw a bone to the Shulchan Aruch at the end, like you give a hoot about it. The Roshei Yeshiva are quite capable of managing the Torah world without your help, so go back to sleep.
Your assumptions are totally wrong. Trump is a chusid that is why he called the rebbes he is also a shtikle kanai, roomer has it, that he was caught a number of times with an al hageulah vi’al hatmura.
The more likely explanation is that Trump takes litvaks for granted, chassidim make him work harder for their votes.
Given your interest in statistics, I’m sure you’re familiar with the Pew Research data showing that Orthodox Judaism in the US is evenly split among Litvaks, Chassidim, and Modern Orthodox.
The reasoning behind Trump’s invitation comes down to Republican votes. These segments represent large voting blocs, and the goal is to secure their support for the Republican party in the upcoming mid-term elections.
emeslaamito:
YWN and all—the litcvish way or marriage is anti what halacha says and look at what’s happening. The RY’s will change little things but not agree with Chassidim. Is this truth seeking???!!!!
This writer is a fool.
Torah Judaism has always emphasized that quality trumps quantity.
The answer is very simple, they chose very smartly, Rav kotler repesents the whole Lakewood, the satmer Rebbe repesents kj which is a massive community, the same goes for Skvere rebbe, Viznitz rep Monsey and Bobov rep boro park, the only question is why the didn’t invite reb Elya Brudny and Reb Yakov Bender of the 5 towns and flatbush and maybe also Munkatch rebbe who is Zkan ha’admorim.
The only thing you should be asking yourself is why the there are way more Chassidish communities and the reason for that has little to do with the age they marry rather it is the ammount of kids they have although marring earlier does play a small factor. Also you can never beat the logistics from chassidim in building up a new community including housing, shuls and chessed
No need to be so concerned, and I don’t agree with your take on this situation. Trump and his advisors are very in tune with who’s who in the frum Jewish world. In short, they picked the INFLUENCERS. ALL the followers of these Chasidish Rebbes will listen to and follow whatever their Rebbe says. The same is true for BMG and Harav Kotler, and a large part of the Lakewood community. Trump and his handlers are keenly aware of this.
Yes, we need to solve the shidduch crisis and increase the number of ALL yidden, but that is not the takeaway from this situation. K’sivah VaChasima Tovah to all!!
It just shows that the Litvish oilam is more unified. Can you imagine how upset the other chassidic sects would be if only one rebbe was invited?
This had got to be the silliest letter I have seen in a long time. Roshei Yeshiva who cares about Torah are not in a popularity contest. They don’t care WHO meets with Trump. They teach, AND BELIEVE that ‘לב מלכים ושרים ביד ה The heart (and decisions) of Kings and Politicians (and ALL leaders) is in the Hands of Hashem. When we ACT in accordance with His Will, even IN Private, Hashem Manipulates the Decisions of World Leaders Accordingly.
Sorry for duplicate post.
[Smartphone glitch]
צריך לומר שראש ישיבה אחד שקול כמו 5 רבע׳ס
“For example, Rav Aharon Tietelbaum publicly stated that he would urge Trump regarding issues that align with Satmar’s anti-Zionist shitah.”
This alleged Satmar shitah is actually plain universal Torah. The only actual differences between the rest of (Torah-observant) Klal Yisrael and Satmar are minor points like voting in their elections or visiting the Kosel, none of which are likely to be brought up when meeting President Trump.
I’m not sure if this was your intention or not but you provided me with tons of laughs. Shkoiach!!
כתיבה וחתימה טובה to all!
The big question is why the manhig hador HORAV HAGAON REB ELYA BRUDNY SHLITA wasn’t invited!!
This just might have been the stupidest article I’ve ever read
this theory is a good one ,good thought , its a good point , the roshia yeshiva don’t know how to run the show , chasidim practice too often ,
chasidim practice Tish feeling litvaks don’t that’s why trump invited chasidim over litvaks
There is not one Israeli Gadol who agrees with the Freezer in the USA. R’ Shach, R’ Elyashiv, R’ Chaim Kanievsky, R’ Shmuel Auerbach, R’ Aharon Leib Shteinman were very against it as are R’ Moshe Sternbuch and R’ Dov Landau. Unfortunately we are slow to change. Although it is being eliminated soon, the writer is correct that this unnecessary delay really hurts our nation. BH the freezer is going away
The white house will address the late (22-24) marriage issue for litvaks vs. Early (18-21) for chassidim and come to an appropriate compromise hopefully after the rebbes get a security briefing