the silent majority
Last week I called an old friend in Crown Heights. He comes from an old Chabad family, his father still has a Russian accent. I asked his views on Meshichism. And he told me in clear and strong words how he could not know who the Messiah is. One should go by the Rambam’s definition and the Rebbe might have been a good candidate but no one knows and now he is gone anyway. I asked, could the Messiah be a person who comes back from the dead? My friend said he doesn’t know. You have to go by the Gemara and he personally doesn’t know if such a thing is possible. I asked if he knew others who share his view. He said he believes most people in Crown Heights feel this way. They are the silent majority. The noisemakers, he said, violate the Rebbes instructions on this matter. A polite fellow, he sounded very irritated with the Meshichists.
Found on the web about the Rebbe and Zionism
The Rebbe protested the singing of Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem, at a Chabad gathering, and the Rebbe refused to use the words “Medinat Yisrael,” the State of Israel. The Rebbe also forbade the Star of David from being printed on Chabad books. “We are Zionists. But not the so-called Zionists who created the State of Israel, rather we are Zionists who pray thrice daily that ‘G-d lay His eyes upon Zion,’” the Chabad rabbi wrote. “The difference is immense.”Source
tri-annual Kinus Torah
https://anash.org/tri-annual-770-kinus-torah/
Sunday Isru Chag, the tri-annual Kinus Torah, which happens every Isru Chag of the shalosh regolim, took place in 770, where for several hours attendees heard from several featured speakers. They included:
Rabbi Avrohom Osdoba – Rov, Badatz Crown Heights
Rabbi Avrohom Boruch Pevzner – Rov, Anash Paris
Rabbi Schneur Zalman Labkowski, Rosh Yeshivah, Tomchei Tmimim, 770
Rabbi Michoel Seligson – Mashpia, Oholei Torah
Rabbi Sholom Shuchat – Dayan in Agudas HaRabbonim
Rabbi Mendel Marozow, Mashpia, Heichel Menachem
Rabbi Kuti Feldman – Mashpia, Yeshiva Timchei Tmimim – 770
Rabbi Schneur Schneerson, Ramat Aviv, Eretz Yisroel
R' Pinhas Hirschprung
Rabbi Pinhas Hirschprung (1912 – 1998[1]) was a Polish rabbi of Hasidic ancestry, who later emigrated to Montreal, Canada, where he served as Chief Rabbi.
Life[edit]
Rabbi Pinhas was born to Rabbi Chaim Hirschprung in the city of Dukla, in Poland (Galicia) in 1912. He first studied with his grandfather, Rabbi Dovid Tzvi Seeman (Yiddish: זעהמאן) (who was also the teacher of the Rebbe of Klausenburg, Rabbi Yekusiel Yehudah Halberstam), and later became a student of Rabbi Meir Shapiro, Dean of the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva and founder of the Daf Yomi movement. Rabbi Shapiro once said about him that already as a youth, Rabbi Hirschprung knew all 2,200 folio pages (4,400 column pages) of the Talmud by heart.[2] After he reached the age of bar-mitzvah, he wrote his first book of Torah novellae[clarification needed], "Pri Pinchas", and then went on to write another book, "Ohel Torah", soon after.[citation needed] After Rabbi Shapiro died in 1933, Rabbi Hirschprung would test prospective students for admittance to the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva, where entry required the memorization 200 Talmudic folio pages (400 column pages). He was endowed with an eidetic memory which enabled him to memorize the hundreds of volumes of rabbinic literature verbatim. Only a few other known scholars of the post World War II generation attained such a level of vast Talmudic fluency: Rabbi Chaim Kreiswirth, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky.[citation needed]
Rabbi Hirschprung shared a very close relationship with the Lubavitcher Rebbe.[citation needed]
Rabbi Hirschprung's name and legacy are associated with an Orthodox Jewish girls' school, Beth Jacob d'Rav Hirschprung, located in Montreal, and with an enrolment of nearly 600 students. The school was founded by Rabbi Hirschprung in 1953, and counts as its alumnae many teachers, professionals, and Jewish community leaders the world over.[citation needed]
His wife, Alta Chaya Hirschprung, died on March 4, 2012.[3] They are both buried in the Chesed Shel Emes Cemetery near Ste. Sophie, outside of Montreal.
Escape from Nazi-occupied Lublin[edit]
During World War II, Rabbi Hirschprung escaped to Kobe, Japan via Lithuania and then traveled on to Shanghai.[2] In 1941, he reached Canada on the last boat to leave before the attack on Pearl Harbor.[4]
Rabbinate[edit]
He served as the chief Rabbi of Montreal from 1969 until his death January 25, 1998[5] as well as dean (rosh yeshiva) of the Rabbinical College of Canada yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitch Montreal.
R' Yehuda Meir Shapiro
Yehuda Meir Shapiro (Polish: Majer Jehuda Szapira; March 3, 1887 – October 27, 1933), was a prominent Polish Hasidic rabbi and rosh yeshiva, also known as the Lubliner Rav. He is noted for his promotion of the Daf Yomi study program in 1923, and establishing the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva in 1930.
During the years 1922 to 1927 Shapiro was the first Orthodox Jew to become a member in the Sejm (Parliament) of the Second Polish Republic representing the Jewish minority of the country.
Biography[edit]
Early years[edit]
Yehuda Meir Shapiro was born on the 7th day of Adar (in Jewish tradition, also the birth date of Moses[1]) in the city of Shatz, Bucovina, then in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, now in Romania, in 1887.[1] He was a descendant of Rabbi Pinchas Shapiro of Korets, one of the students of the Baal Shem Tov, and from his maternal side, of Rabbi Joseph ben Isaac Bekhor Shor, a French tosafist.[2] After cheder, Shapiro began to study with his grandfather, the Baal Minchas Shai (Rabbi Shmuel Yitzhak Schor). Another of his early teachers was Rabbi Shulem Moshkovitz (popularly known as the Shotzer Rebbe. He was also a well known kabbalist).
Shapiro began to get a reputation, and became known as the Illui of Shatz. From an early age, he was known as an outstanding leader and gifted speaker. He was soon ordained by many great scholars, including the Maharsham. His grandfather introduced him to the Chortkover Rebbe, and thus began his passion for Hasidism, and the beginning of his relationship with the Chortkover Rebbe.
Galina[edit]
His first rabbinical posting came in 1911[2] when he was appointed Rav of Galina. He spent ten years in the city, during which time he established a yeshiva called Bnei Torah. Construction commenced in 1920. The yeshiva held a Talmud Torah, a place to train rabbis, and a kitchen to feed orphaned children. It ran at a budget of over half a million marks. This yeshiva served as a prototype for what was later to become Chachmei Lublin.
Sanok[edit]
After leaving Galina, Shapiro began serving as Rav of Sanok in 1920.
Petrakov[edit]
In 1924, Shapiro accepted his third rabbinical position in Petrakov/Piotrkow.
Lublin[edit]
On 14 June 1931, he was appointed rabbi of Lublin in the old synagogue of the Maharshal.
Daf Yomi[edit]
Shapiro introduced the revolutionary idea of Daf Yomi (Hebrew: דף יומי, "page [of the] day" or "daily folio"), a daily regimen undertaken to study the Babylonian Talmud one folio (a daf consists of both sides of the page) each day. Under this regimen, the entire Talmud is completed, one day at a time, in a cycle of seven and a half years. Rabbi Shapiro introduced his idea at the First World Congress of the World Agudath Israel in Vienna on 16 August 1923.[3] The first cycle of Daf Yomi commenced on the first day of Rosh Hashanah 5684 (11 September 1923).[3] Now in its 13th cycle,[4] Daf Yomi has been taken up by tens of thousands of Jews worldwide.
Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin[edit]
Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin was, along with Daf Yomi, Shapiro's greatest achievement. He conceived of a yeshiva for Hasidic Poland, modeled on Lithuanian yeshivas such as Volozhin, Slabodka and Novardok, but which would train Hasidic rabbis as the next generation to lead Polish Jewry. The Yeshiva was housed in a massive building, housed hundreds of students, and had a vast library of over 100,000 books.
On May 22–28, 1924, the cornerstone laying ceremony took place for the construction of the yeshiva building. Approximately 20,000 people participated in the event. The opening ceremony took place on June 24–25, 1930. Apart from thousands of local Jews, around 10,000 people arrived from all over Poland and abroad. Shapiro served as rosh yeshiva until his death.
Łódź[edit]
In 1932 Shapiro was approached by leaders of the Jewish Community of Łódź, who wanted to offer him the position of Chief Rabbi of Łódź. Many people wanted to appoint Rabbi Mendel Alter of Kalish, (b. 1877, Ger) the brother to the Gerrer Rebbe (and youngest son of the Sfas Emes) to this position. Rabbi Shapiro negotiated that a large part of his wage would go to pay off the debts that Chachmei Lublin was still struggling to pay off. Eventually it was decided to give it to Rabbi Shapiro. After all the protracted negotiation that went on to get Rabbi Shapiro into this position, he died three days after being appointed Chief Rabbi.
Political activities[edit]
Agudat Yisrael[edit]
Whilst serving in Galina, Rabbi Shapiro began his involvement with Agudat Israel. He was present at its founding conference in 1912. In 1914 he was appointed head of the Education Department of Agudas Yisrael in East Galicia, becoming president in 1922 of Agudas Yisrael in Poland. He played a role in the conference in the city of Lvov, which had the purpose of launching the Aguda in Galicia, some two years after its founding in Katovitz in 5672 (c. 1911).
At the time, he was also added as a member to the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah. Rabbi Shapiro was initially very doubtful as to whether he should become an MP for the party, but was encouraged to do so by his rebbe, the Chortkover.
Rabbi Shapiro, together with Aron Levine and Zalmen Sirtzokin, chaired the committee which as a part of the Polish Ministry for Religious Affairs, held responsibility for delegating Rabbinical positions throughout Poland. He was also part of the Vaad HaChinuch.
Beginning in 1922, Rabbi Shapiro served as a parliamentarian to the Polish Sejm. In 1928 he stepped down as a politician so that he could devote all his energies to Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva.
Death[edit]
Shapiro became ill with typhus in 1933 and died within the month, on 27 October 1933 (7 Cheshvan 5694)[2] at the age of 46. His death was mourned in both Jewish and non-Jewish Poland. Countless newspapers across the entire political spectrum, from Orthodox to Yiddishist to socialist, featured front-page biographies of Rabbi Shapiro.
Shapiro's remains were reinterred in Israel in 1958, under the auspices of his brother. He was reburied in Har HaMenuchot with a full ceremony. Rabbi Yitzchok Meir Levin delivered a eulogy, as did those students of his who had survived the Holocaust.
Legacy[edit]
Shapiro is widely revered throughout the Jewish world as the founder of Daf Yomi. The neighborhood of Zikhron Meir in Bnei Brak was established in his memory by Yaakov Halperin; this is the neighborhood that hosts many of the major yeshivas in Bnei Brak.
Shlomo Artzi, a famous Israeli musical artist, is Shapiro's grand-nephew.[citation needed]
Works[edit]
Shapiro was considered a gaon (Torah genius) in his lifetime. He studied Torah extensively and was a great scholar even by the high standards of the era he lived in. His two major works are Ohr HaMeir and Imrei Da'as.
- Ohr HaMeir - It was in Petrakov that he printed his book of responsa entitled Ohr HaMeir in 1926. As a work it operates on many different subjects, from philosophy to halacha.
- Imrei Daas - a compilation of Torah thoughts on Halacha and Aggada, which was lost during World War II. The book contained an approbation from Rabbi Meir Arik of Meturnah.
- Vortelach - Shapiro was a quick and brilliant thinker, and his numerous vortelach (short responsa) have been collected in numerous volumes, and quoted in many books.
The Nazi Who Saved the Lubavitcher Rebbe - Tablet Mag.
When war broke out on Sept. 1, 1939, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, was staying in Otwock, a resort town outside of Warsaw where he’d established a Chabad yeshiva. The Rebbe was suffering from multiple sclerosis, he was overweight and a heavy smoker. He walked with difficulty.
The journey from Otwock to Warsaw was only 60 kilometers, but perilous. The Luftwaffe’s Stutka war planes bombed and strafed traffic and destroyed rail lines, leaving mutilated bodies and dead horses littering the road. Roadside ditches were filled with Poles hiding from the planes, which they called “death on wings.”
The Rebbe arrived in Warsaw with his family and a group of students, hoping to catch a train to Riga, Latvia, where Mordecai Dubin, a Chabad follower and member of the Latvian parliament, had arranged Latvian citizenship for the rabbi and his family. But Rabbi Schneersohn found the Warsaw train station destroyed and was forced to seek shelter among Chabad followers in the city.
More
Book
The journey from Otwock to Warsaw was only 60 kilometers, but perilous. The Luftwaffe’s Stutka war planes bombed and strafed traffic and destroyed rail lines, leaving mutilated bodies and dead horses littering the road. Roadside ditches were filled with Poles hiding from the planes, which they called “death on wings.”
The Rebbe arrived in Warsaw with his family and a group of students, hoping to catch a train to Riga, Latvia, where Mordecai Dubin, a Chabad follower and member of the Latvian parliament, had arranged Latvian citizenship for the rabbi and his family. But Rabbi Schneersohn found the Warsaw train station destroyed and was forced to seek shelter among Chabad followers in the city.
More
Book
Sleeping in sukkah
Why Do So Many People Not Sleep In A Sukkah?
Article talks about why many do not sleep in sukkah. Doesn't get into Lubavitch.
This letter from the Rebbe explains the Chabad position.
Article talks about why many do not sleep in sukkah. Doesn't get into Lubavitch.
This letter from the Rebbe explains the Chabad position.
Litvish velt sucks in a BT.
Brand new BT. Doesn't know any better. Maybe he wants to be Chassidic. Uh oh, he's swimming along and meets a New York Litvack. Watch what happens.
See it here
"You better care about yourself, because nobody else really cares." Roger Ebert explaining the perspective of the character Sonny in the film A Bronx Tale. Sonny;" You got to follow your heart."
See it here
"You better care about yourself, because nobody else really cares." Roger Ebert explaining the perspective of the character Sonny in the film A Bronx Tale. Sonny;" You got to follow your heart."
Who has the mesorah?
So who has the authentic tradition? Who is the representative of the mesorah? Many in the contemporary Litvish velt will claim that they have it. But is that so? Did you know that the chuppah is a somewhat recent innovation as is the bedekin? Original Ashkenaz used a tallis instead of a chupah and a chumpas mein (where the kallah is brought to the chassan and the two sit together) instead of the bedekin. In original Ashkenaz, birchos hatorah was said before korbannos at the end of birchos hashachar rather than at the beginning of davening. Aleinu ended with b'cavod. Baruch Shemei and ana b'ocach were not said at all. Akeidas Yitzchak was not said. There was no kaddish after aleinu. Korbonos were limited to parshas hatamid and the mishnayus. Upshirin was not done. A wimpel was wrapped around the sefer Torah, not a sash. Boys wore a tallis. Tefillin were smaller. The bracha on slanderers was totally different. Tallis went on just before korbonos. And then there's the short coats and clean shaven faces! And that is not all but you get the point. If you study minhag ashkenaz, you see the the Litvacks don't have THE mesorah.
They have A mesorah, one that put significant changes on the one they inherited. So why all the criticism of Chassidim. The changes from Ashkenaz to Polish are arguably greater than the ones to Sefard. What did Sefard do from there? Move hodu to before baruch sheamar? Move ein keloheinu to before Aleinu? They add a page of material to pezukei d'zimrah too. Minor stuff. Also, vidui every day. But overall, Polish and Sefard are pretty similar.
Actually, the Chabad siddur is in many ways closer to Ashkenaz. Birchos HaTorah is in the middle of the birchos hashachar as is tallis. The bracha for heretics mentions the 'evil kingdom.' The other brochos of Amidah are the same as Ashkenaz. As the Chabad siddur is 200 years old, we see that many of the changes made in nusah Poland/Lita are recent. I think the Chabad English siddur is the closest to original Ashkenaz of the English translations, closer possibly than the Hirsch siddur, which is Minhag Poland/Ashkenaz.
Is it all the influence of Chassidus? Much is, but chupah not, bedeken not. Boys not wearing tallis is probably from poverty. Some of it is just Eastern Europe. And if Chassidus was the main cause, is that a problem? Maybe it's a good influence.
Now the csav of the Ari is different from the Beis Yosef, the latter used by Litvacks. I'll give you that.
So what's the big deal if you go from Polish to Sefard? The changes are so vast anyway. If it were so horrible to not go with the more original nusach wouldn't all the Litvacks switch to Yekke? Certainly, the boys could put on a tallis now that the community is incomparably more affluent. One trip to Eretz Yisrael could put talleisim on 20 bochurim.
Maybe the German rabbanim would tell you they should switch. But isn't it the Litvacks - ie the contemporary ones - who are pounding everyone for not being like them?
And let me ask you this, is the German minhag totally authentic? They added baruch hu v'aruch shemo and tashlich and kapparos. It's more authentic but not totally so. Much of the music, as much as I like it, seems 19th century German to me. Is the choir at Breuer's traditional? You know it's a mimicry of German choirs. I'm not criticizing that but saying rather that some careful innovation in a time of need is acceptable. Much of the music is composed by a man who I think wasn't frum. (Lewandaski) And latter day German Jews added lecha dodi as did everyone else. So if the German tradition is so totally precise and non-innovative, then what's up with Lecha Dodi? That was written a few hundred years ago by a Sephardi.
Well I thought you can't change anything! But we see one can add as necessary and appropriate.
And another thing. Let's say you keep minhag Galicia. That's nice. But that minhag wasn't always old. It developed. So why can't you take on the minhag of where you live now, that established by the frummer people? You live in NY and you start taking on what people do there as based on the poskim there? Why is that so terrible? Maybe it's good. You want some uniformity in the community. The main thing is you have tzadickim and scholars in charge.
All this isn't cut and dry. We don't abandon minhag willy nilly but we don't have to make ourselves crazy either.
So you want to keep minhag Chabad? Go for it if that helps you to connect to Chabad in the way you want to. It's as authentic as anything from Eastern Europe.
Same with hashkafa. It's so obvious that the typical Litvack is missing mysticism. The chasedei ashkenaz were mystics as well as talmudists. Chassidim are adding back what once was.
The popularization of kabbalah may be knew but the Arizal explains that this is needed in the days of Moshiach and we see these days are unlike any other in history.
And Torah study. They used to study grammar. They used to study mishnah and ein yaakov. They studied all kinds of things. This turning all study to a few parts of Gemara is a recent innovation as is doing it in the abstract style.
The point is go with the derech that works for you. All this hacking at derachim is a contemporary Litvish thing. And people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
The Litvish derech is fine and dandy. But if it's not for you, don't let anyone intimidate you into it.
And let's talk about the siddur. One thinks, the siddur in your hand came word for word from on high. Actually, they are put together by printers. I know a few people who made siddurim. They make all kinds of decisions of what to put in there, oftentimes based on what will sell. For example, the new Yekke siddur from Austria contains Baruch Shemei and ana b'ocoach in small print because so many people are accustomed to saying it, even though yekkes don't. Siddur try to pack in as much as possible to attract a larger crowd. It is very expensive to produce a siddur. I know a few people who have done it. You do one in a lifetime if you are so blessed. So don't think you have to say everything in a siddur. What do you say? That needs to be studied and discussed. New innovations certainly are not obligatory. So if you are new to religion and the whole siddur is too much don't feel bad for leaving out certain parts. And there is much that is the bare minimum, plenty actually.
So we see, the whole subject of derachim is complicated. Baruch Hashem! This is not a cult. We don't crush people. The derachim are there to help you! And therefore there is a significant element of personalization. If any yeshiva guy tells you otherwise, ask him why he's saying baruch shemei.
They have A mesorah, one that put significant changes on the one they inherited. So why all the criticism of Chassidim. The changes from Ashkenaz to Polish are arguably greater than the ones to Sefard. What did Sefard do from there? Move hodu to before baruch sheamar? Move ein keloheinu to before Aleinu? They add a page of material to pezukei d'zimrah too. Minor stuff. Also, vidui every day. But overall, Polish and Sefard are pretty similar.
Actually, the Chabad siddur is in many ways closer to Ashkenaz. Birchos HaTorah is in the middle of the birchos hashachar as is tallis. The bracha for heretics mentions the 'evil kingdom.' The other brochos of Amidah are the same as Ashkenaz. As the Chabad siddur is 200 years old, we see that many of the changes made in nusah Poland/Lita are recent. I think the Chabad English siddur is the closest to original Ashkenaz of the English translations, closer possibly than the Hirsch siddur, which is Minhag Poland/Ashkenaz.
Is it all the influence of Chassidus? Much is, but chupah not, bedeken not. Boys not wearing tallis is probably from poverty. Some of it is just Eastern Europe. And if Chassidus was the main cause, is that a problem? Maybe it's a good influence.
Now the csav of the Ari is different from the Beis Yosef, the latter used by Litvacks. I'll give you that.
So what's the big deal if you go from Polish to Sefard? The changes are so vast anyway. If it were so horrible to not go with the more original nusach wouldn't all the Litvacks switch to Yekke? Certainly, the boys could put on a tallis now that the community is incomparably more affluent. One trip to Eretz Yisrael could put talleisim on 20 bochurim.
Maybe the German rabbanim would tell you they should switch. But isn't it the Litvacks - ie the contemporary ones - who are pounding everyone for not being like them?
And let me ask you this, is the German minhag totally authentic? They added baruch hu v'aruch shemo and tashlich and kapparos. It's more authentic but not totally so. Much of the music, as much as I like it, seems 19th century German to me. Is the choir at Breuer's traditional? You know it's a mimicry of German choirs. I'm not criticizing that but saying rather that some careful innovation in a time of need is acceptable. Much of the music is composed by a man who I think wasn't frum. (Lewandaski) And latter day German Jews added lecha dodi as did everyone else. So if the German tradition is so totally precise and non-innovative, then what's up with Lecha Dodi? That was written a few hundred years ago by a Sephardi.
Well I thought you can't change anything! But we see one can add as necessary and appropriate.
And another thing. Let's say you keep minhag Galicia. That's nice. But that minhag wasn't always old. It developed. So why can't you take on the minhag of where you live now, that established by the frummer people? You live in NY and you start taking on what people do there as based on the poskim there? Why is that so terrible? Maybe it's good. You want some uniformity in the community. The main thing is you have tzadickim and scholars in charge.
All this isn't cut and dry. We don't abandon minhag willy nilly but we don't have to make ourselves crazy either.
So you want to keep minhag Chabad? Go for it if that helps you to connect to Chabad in the way you want to. It's as authentic as anything from Eastern Europe.
Same with hashkafa. It's so obvious that the typical Litvack is missing mysticism. The chasedei ashkenaz were mystics as well as talmudists. Chassidim are adding back what once was.
The popularization of kabbalah may be knew but the Arizal explains that this is needed in the days of Moshiach and we see these days are unlike any other in history.
And Torah study. They used to study grammar. They used to study mishnah and ein yaakov. They studied all kinds of things. This turning all study to a few parts of Gemara is a recent innovation as is doing it in the abstract style.
The point is go with the derech that works for you. All this hacking at derachim is a contemporary Litvish thing. And people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
The Litvish derech is fine and dandy. But if it's not for you, don't let anyone intimidate you into it.
And let's talk about the siddur. One thinks, the siddur in your hand came word for word from on high. Actually, they are put together by printers. I know a few people who made siddurim. They make all kinds of decisions of what to put in there, oftentimes based on what will sell. For example, the new Yekke siddur from Austria contains Baruch Shemei and ana b'ocoach in small print because so many people are accustomed to saying it, even though yekkes don't. Siddur try to pack in as much as possible to attract a larger crowd. It is very expensive to produce a siddur. I know a few people who have done it. You do one in a lifetime if you are so blessed. So don't think you have to say everything in a siddur. What do you say? That needs to be studied and discussed. New innovations certainly are not obligatory. So if you are new to religion and the whole siddur is too much don't feel bad for leaving out certain parts. And there is much that is the bare minimum, plenty actually.
So we see, the whole subject of derachim is complicated. Baruch Hashem! This is not a cult. We don't crush people. The derachim are there to help you! And therefore there is a significant element of personalization. If any yeshiva guy tells you otherwise, ask him why he's saying baruch shemei.
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