http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/03/02/2008-03-02_bunch_of_wealthy_deadbeats_owe_new_york_.html
Daily News, a notoriously Anti-Semitic mouthpiece of Al Sharpton and Co published a list of "deadbeats" - mostly old, sometimes dead people who the New York City thinks owe them a lot of money. No surprise that Daily News picked mostly those with obviously Jewish last names. I'm sure it wasn't hard to do either, given the role that Ashkenazi Jews played in New York in the 20th Century. Most of these people were convicted of white collar crime and had to give up most of their money, and who knows why they still owe these nice chunks of change to the City.
All these numbers pale in comparison with how much Washington and Albany owe to New York. And the general concept to owe so much in taxes to the city, state, and the feds after paying up millions in restitution and fines is I'm sure not that trivial.
Daily News, a yellow paper if there ever was one, considered it important to concentrate its readers' focus on the rich, white slimy Jews. Whose bidding is it doing not so subtly ?
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
On vulgar customs
(Thanks to WM) Hamra bar H. Yitshak Yousup chose wrong words to perpetuate the cause of Sephardic identity. Looks like some "conformists" amongst Sephardic young men picked up some ancient Ashkenazic wedding customs. So this gentleman decides to score some Moroccan votes to declare these customs as "vulgar". He got ticked off by the custom of Yichud Shtibl, of holding hands after the Chuppah and some other behaviors that may or may not qualify as "customs".
Holding hands after the Chuppah is universal amongst almost all Ashkenazic communities and goes back as long as the wedding ceremony itself. A select few communities don't practice it, but I suspect its because of being uninformed and out of misplaced shame; otherwise the custom is universal even amongst the frummest chassidim who will shave the poor bride to oblivion and will maintain mechitza even by mitzva tantz. It was modest enough for Pney Yehoshua, for Ktsos, probably for Rabeinu Tam - and likely too for Baal Shem Tov, for the heilige Ruzhiner and for Tzanzer Ruv, all of whose memory shall be blessed. And here comes a pere odom who didn't learn and didn't listen and declares this custom as vulgar ?
If all the concert ban signers had any anatomy at all, they would instead put him in Herem until he personally apologizes to every human dead or alive whose wedding went according to a thousand year old rite. But I guess מכה בסתר is easier and poor Lipa is a juicier target then some wannabe frenk ...
Holding hands after the Chuppah is universal amongst almost all Ashkenazic communities and goes back as long as the wedding ceremony itself. A select few communities don't practice it, but I suspect its because of being uninformed and out of misplaced shame; otherwise the custom is universal even amongst the frummest chassidim who will shave the poor bride to oblivion and will maintain mechitza even by mitzva tantz. It was modest enough for Pney Yehoshua, for Ktsos, probably for Rabeinu Tam - and likely too for Baal Shem Tov, for the heilige Ruzhiner and for Tzanzer Ruv, all of whose memory shall be blessed. And here comes a pere odom who didn't learn and didn't listen and declares this custom as vulgar ?
If all the concert ban signers had any anatomy at all, they would instead put him in Herem until he personally apologizes to every human dead or alive whose wedding went according to a thousand year old rite. But I guess מכה בסתר is easier and poor Lipa is a juicier target then some wannabe frenk ...
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
A new low for (some in) New Hempstead
The mamshich darko of the now defunct TA, the nebech'l couldn't live with all the lows he's hit till now and decided to start drilling. It's not a chiddush that being Hungarian and all, there is a fair the amount of insecurity and lack of self esteem that drives the irrational, ingrained hatred to the word "Satmar". In lack of any real material, he decided to go dumpster diving and lo and behold, the low tide of heimishe cesspool, Hydepark, provided our Don Quixote de Hempstead Nueva with a diamond of a dung.
There are few things about which I care less then the Aroinim-Zaloinim conflict. I'm sure they all have their reasons, I'm sure they're both tired of it and enjoy it immensely and I'm also sure that time and money will heal that rift. In any case, given the magnitude of conflict (some fifty thousand people on each side), both sides have a fair share of leidigeiers and worse, people of all colors of the rainbow. And it seems that one of them dug up some book in Hebreaeich in which a Holocaust survivor reminisces that Rav Shpitz z"l from Bistrica, Razal's deceased father in law, may he rest in peace, was not in labor or any other concentration camps, but was hiding in a house of a hungarian go, and at that time also something unsavory was done towards this respectable Rov that puts him in less then favorable light in eyes of pretty much anyone frum reading this shtikl.
A staunch Zaloini, our Defender of Things Jewish insists on widely publicizing this to the English reading crowd. He doesn't actually translate the piece, written in primitive Ivrit. Instead, he puts up a scanned page of the book. As if that will relieve him from the fact that he took this out of obscurity of a yiddish-only forum for those who deeply care about the A-Z conflict, and into the limelight of English-speaking oilom that frequents his site to fill up on some fresh libel and perhaps some very nice old photos thrown in for credibility. It will not take long until his teacher Shmarya will quote him on the matter. It's pretty clear that he doesn't actually give a hoot about Rav Shpitz z"l and his kuvod; I'm sure that if it was found on some Machnovka vs. Belz forum, it would go deeply unnoticed.
And he writes up a filthy ruse, as if the matter was brought up by lowlife "Satmars" in their infights, and now they're officially pouring dirt on the now-deceased respectable Bistricer Rov. So this creature in his pathological hatred for Satmar engages in wholesale slander, propagates dirty rumors about a respectable Rov who is no longer with us and is otherwise being oiver on a dozen or so deoraysos, all this in public limelight.
One thing is clear - whoever posted the original document on Hydepark didn't represent anything and anyone, and did not speak for anything or anyone and did not label himself as a "defender of all things Chassidish, doing what's right". I am sure that the Holy Rabbi Ariel Sokolovsky Shlit"A has way more credentials to speak from the name of all the Raboisov Nesioisov then whoever it was on Hydepark has to speak in the name of anyone in Satmar. Whether or not the story is true - who knows, and who cares. But this particular blogger made his career on shoveling disgusting dirt of just this kind for past year or two, and he pretends to do so in the name of Sholosh Rishoinos.
Then, he provides some kind advice to the A's and the Z's how to settle their issues and what to do with their real estate.
Many things could be said about where he could place that advice, and about people with stones in houses. But there is no need; he'll spell them all out for you .
There are few things about which I care less then the Aroinim-Zaloinim conflict. I'm sure they all have their reasons, I'm sure they're both tired of it and enjoy it immensely and I'm also sure that time and money will heal that rift. In any case, given the magnitude of conflict (some fifty thousand people on each side), both sides have a fair share of leidigeiers and worse, people of all colors of the rainbow. And it seems that one of them dug up some book in Hebreaeich in which a Holocaust survivor reminisces that Rav Shpitz z"l from Bistrica, Razal's deceased father in law, may he rest in peace, was not in labor or any other concentration camps, but was hiding in a house of a hungarian go, and at that time also something unsavory was done towards this respectable Rov that puts him in less then favorable light in eyes of pretty much anyone frum reading this shtikl.
A staunch Zaloini, our Defender of Things Jewish insists on widely publicizing this to the English reading crowd. He doesn't actually translate the piece, written in primitive Ivrit. Instead, he puts up a scanned page of the book. As if that will relieve him from the fact that he took this out of obscurity of a yiddish-only forum for those who deeply care about the A-Z conflict, and into the limelight of English-speaking oilom that frequents his site to fill up on some fresh libel and perhaps some very nice old photos thrown in for credibility. It will not take long until his teacher Shmarya will quote him on the matter. It's pretty clear that he doesn't actually give a hoot about Rav Shpitz z"l and his kuvod; I'm sure that if it was found on some Machnovka vs. Belz forum, it would go deeply unnoticed.
And he writes up a filthy ruse, as if the matter was brought up by lowlife "Satmars" in their infights, and now they're officially pouring dirt on the now-deceased respectable Bistricer Rov. So this creature in his pathological hatred for Satmar engages in wholesale slander, propagates dirty rumors about a respectable Rov who is no longer with us and is otherwise being oiver on a dozen or so deoraysos, all this in public limelight.
One thing is clear - whoever posted the original document on Hydepark didn't represent anything and anyone, and did not speak for anything or anyone and did not label himself as a "defender of all things Chassidish, doing what's right". I am sure that the Holy Rabbi Ariel Sokolovsky Shlit"A has way more credentials to speak from the name of all the Raboisov Nesioisov then whoever it was on Hydepark has to speak in the name of anyone in Satmar. Whether or not the story is true - who knows, and who cares. But this particular blogger made his career on shoveling disgusting dirt of just this kind for past year or two, and he pretends to do so in the name of Sholosh Rishoinos.
Then, he provides some kind advice to the A's and the Z's how to settle their issues and what to do with their real estate.
Many things could be said about where he could place that advice, and about people with stones in houses. But there is no need; he'll spell them all out for you .
Hypocrisy
אמנע מרשעים אורם
There is a lot of good stuff to write about but it's the less-then-good stuff that sometimes needs to be tended to as well, so ...
שני נבאים מתנבאין בסגנון אחד
The old friends received their vibes and hashpoes from the same source down south. The nebech'l pours out his distaste for all those who are in love with themselves (it's a charge reserved for those to whom, I guess, no other charge sticks). The slab of non-conformism that he purchased and swallowed without chewing awakes the hippie within him, and with subtle wrath he hammers away on the tiny shaved hats of his plump snag neighbors whose sin is having two cars and an orderly lawn, yet davening on time.
"Davening on time" is a subject onto himself. Personally, I'm probably the most egregious violator of these rules; but I never learned to actually take pride in this. If someone can manage to do as supposed to, and on top of this to mean the words one says - nu, good for them; give respect where it's due. Still, in the best traditions of סוף מסכתא סוטא , a blind man as myself will proceed to practice ophtalmology as the generations require ...
What is really interesting is that while nebech'l may very proudly daven up a Shacharis at 2 pm, as is customary by some, just go and try to set up a Mincha minyan 3 minutes after his zman is gone. By "rov hooilom" it's still another hour to daven; most people whose pictures Mr. Right so liberally slaps around had no issue, certainly not bedieved, with davening after his shkiya.
Forget about davening; the Shiny New Shul with a Sparkling New Mikva on Rt. 306 is notorious for a truly fascist mikvah policy when on Friday evening the doors get shut precisely the second Mr. Right's people decided the "cutoff" time is, and G-d help some poor soul who would like to go toivel before Shabos and didn't have a chance to do so before Kapos in Kapotas decided it's time to close shop. In President's words, don't make mistake - he's not "liberal about zmanim"; some people are outspokenly lax when it suits them, but are ever as judgemental when it does not.
There are so many more instances of the Nyiredhazer hippie's & Co blind love to himself, but we aren't here to see in demise of this entertainer. After all, he thinks that he means well.
Not so with his cousin, the obnoxious farfallene masriach. In a new round of fictional reality, one deranged resident lunatic of that blog (I believe he is נקוב בשם Yochanan Lavie) made out of thin air a story about a poor old "MO" Jew who isn't counted by the evil Williamsburg charedichassidim in the minyan, so that he's forced to walk the bridge to daven in an Modern Orthodox shul in Lower East Side. As a permanent feature, this Lavie imbecile specializes in the most repulsive fake mayses about everyone he doesn't like (the circle of those he likes is rather narrow; so far they wouldn't even count enough for a mezuman).
The owner of the blog uses this implausible piece of fiction to continue his call for "stopping all donations" and "cutting the funds to haredim", as if someone would think he and that crowd ever gave a penny to anyone except perhaps Barbara Streisand's campaign to save the Antarctic Polar Bear. The deranged commentators further embellish the story, "hassidim" become evil Satmars as is customary on his blog (and on the nebechl's, too) and by the end, poor old Modern Orthodox has to crawl over the bridge under the cover of night while Satmars are shooting at him from their Hungarian rifles.
That this story is BS is no doubt - not just that it's well known that the both Satmarer rebbes z"l had shaved old people on their front row on Y"K and R"H; that the Divrei Yoel chastized one of his bochurim who made fun of a beardless person who came in as a tenth to be mashlim a minyan. Williamsburg has shuls on every block, some are decent and some are nuthouses but that's the territory; and somehow I don't but that the one shul where they actually count people for a minyan on Shabbos would have a problem with an old shaved jew, MO or not.
A curious comment that draws parallel to this case speaks of a female convert who went on to marry a cohen right after the conversion and was "mistreated" by some school in the UK. The school bears the full wrath of these degenerates, complete with allegations of racism and other parallels that no sane person would hint at. I wonder, is the uncounted old shaved man also a victim of such "mistreatment" ? Perhaps the story does have legs, and they caught him "in act" and thus he became persona non grata ? Who knows. And who cares ...
Friday, February 22, 2008
כי תשא - װען דו װעססט טראָגען
את ר"אש ב"ני י"שראל - ר"ת רבי
לפקדיהם - פקד יפקד אתכם והעלה אתכם מן הארץ הזאת : יהל"ם ,דער לעצטער אין טור שני
ונתנו איש כפר נפשו ליהוה - אפילו אן איש כפר װעט מײנען נ"ל
בפק"ד אתם - חסר, װײַל את"ם דייקא פרט לך הכתוב בענין פרט וכלל , פקודת יוסף . את"ם אתוון אמ"ת
ולא יהיה בהם נגף - בהם טאקע לא יהיה, אבער עהר - בגפו יבא ובגפו יצא . נגף יתהפך לגפן
בפקד אתם - פקודה שניה
:והוא רחום יכפר עון:
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Role and importance of works of Ari z"l and his school - Part I
If I wrote everything that I have to say on this subject, I'd probably be labeled with all kinds of derogatory names by members of the entire spectrum - from the M"O and Dardaim and through the most kabbalistishe yerushalmis. Thus, I'll refrain from writing much but would still like to ponder some issues that I see important for establishing the contexts in which we all operate. I won't get into the subject of authorship and precedence, so those looking for that kind of a fight can move on.
First, let's rehash some history. If you remember, in the 1534's a scholar was born in Jerusalem to a mixed family - Ashkenazi father and Sephardic mother; his full name was R' Yitschak Ashkenazi z"l. After moving to Egypt with the family, he showed himself to be a prolific talmid chochom in Nigleh - under the guidance of R' Betzalel Ashkenazi z"l, author of Shita Mekubetzes and an important luminary of his generation. Later on in life (yet while still very young) , he chose seclusion and immersed himself in a very ascetic life and thorough study of Zohar ha"k.
At the age of about 35 years old, he moved to Tzfas where he founded a school of limudei Nistar, whose list of members reads like a "who is who" of the late Middle Ages and early modernity. The most famous and universally acceptable pupil of Arizal was perhaps R' Yosef Karo, z"l - Mechaber of the Beis Yosef, Kesef Mishne and Shulchan Aruch - the very foundation of Orthodox Judaism as we know it amongst almost all denominations of Judaism except a very tiny but important minority. Notably, he was fourty two (!) years older then R' Yitzchak. Other pupils in the circle are all venerable giants in every aspect of Yiddishkeit - nigle or nistar, halacha, piousness - you name it. Writings of Alshich and Ramak are a classic and a must have on shelves of people of any denomination. Therefore, people who attempt to outright dismiss what they dub "Kabbalah" and who disregard legacy of AR"Y z"l and his school are simply intellectually dishonest and can be safely disregarded.
When it comes to the actualy body of teachings that was formulated and presented in words by the AR"Y himself, situation isn't simple at all. First of all, as some have it, AR"Y insisted that nothing of the discourses that he delivered be written down at all. Then, it is more-less universally accepted that the only pupil authorized to disseminate the works was R' Chaym Vital z"l, on a condition of a severe punishment. Furthermore, anything that was written down was to be copied only in manuscript form and under no circumstances was to ever leave the boundaries of the Holy Land. So whatever did make it to our days, did so in violation of explicit directions of the very source of this wisdom.
One can speculate without end to the nature of all this secrecy. As I am not being meharher achar mitosom, I think it's safe to accept the simple and honest explanation. Most of the content that was delivered by AR"Y ha"K was very much a chiddush - concepts and statements that were revealled completely anew in this world, with no precedent, and he felt that it can be absorbed and understood properly only when delivered in the appropriate context, with all the "prefaces" and with the immense payload of classic unadulterated deep knowledge of Gufei haTorah - the vast ocean of wisdom passed down in the unbroken chain from Moshe to Neviim to Tanoim etc etc. The warnings and the threats weren't just empty words or attempts to draw attention and turn it into a forbidden fruit. They were very concrete and very real, and dangers weren't limited to drifting astray a la Shabbatai Zevi, but in a much broader and much likelier possibility of misunderstanding some detail in the writings that could render the entire mindset to turn to the opposite of the Holy.
For all intents and purposes, all these warnings and cherems were discarded time and again, and up until about a hundred years ago this material was available to pretty much anyone willing to invest time and mental effort, as well as risk being labeled a lunatic (that risk varied very much on the surroundings).
Now let's temporarily skip over the 1600's and most of the 1700's (we'll revisit the two grand heresies of those days and their connection on nidon didon); by the time of rise of Chassidus, core " Kisvei AR'Y Z'L " were almost unanimously accepted as a veritable source by the Lithuanian, Chassidic and Hungarian Jewry. Main disagreement was to what extent do the words of "mekubalim" trump normative halachah, but given that Ari z"l lived right on the boundary between Rishonim and Achronim, most felt that he deserved at least as much credence as his contemporaries. Yet, attempts to bring studying of his works to the mainstream public weren't undertaken, for a good reason, and even amongst Chassidim the most that one could find would be a recommendation to have a daily or weekly seder in "Etz Chayim" that would be pretty much "upgedavent" without investing much effort into it. Still, the works of R' Chaym Vital written down from his Rebbe were a strong source of inspiration for such a wide range of some of the best Jews to ever walk this Earth, that as I said before, anyone trying to simply write that off is deluding himself and his audience.
If you aren't bored deadly yet, hold on for the second part, where we'll try to see what does the subject of the works have to do with the simpler planes of existence ...
First, let's rehash some history. If you remember, in the 1534's a scholar was born in Jerusalem to a mixed family - Ashkenazi father and Sephardic mother; his full name was R' Yitschak Ashkenazi z"l. After moving to Egypt with the family, he showed himself to be a prolific talmid chochom in Nigleh - under the guidance of R' Betzalel Ashkenazi z"l, author of Shita Mekubetzes and an important luminary of his generation. Later on in life (yet while still very young) , he chose seclusion and immersed himself in a very ascetic life and thorough study of Zohar ha"k.
At the age of about 35 years old, he moved to Tzfas where he founded a school of limudei Nistar, whose list of members reads like a "who is who" of the late Middle Ages and early modernity. The most famous and universally acceptable pupil of Arizal was perhaps R' Yosef Karo, z"l - Mechaber of the Beis Yosef, Kesef Mishne and Shulchan Aruch - the very foundation of Orthodox Judaism as we know it amongst almost all denominations of Judaism except a very tiny but important minority. Notably, he was fourty two (!) years older then R' Yitzchak. Other pupils in the circle are all venerable giants in every aspect of Yiddishkeit - nigle or nistar, halacha, piousness - you name it. Writings of Alshich and Ramak are a classic and a must have on shelves of people of any denomination. Therefore, people who attempt to outright dismiss what they dub "Kabbalah" and who disregard legacy of AR"Y z"l and his school are simply intellectually dishonest and can be safely disregarded.
When it comes to the actualy body of teachings that was formulated and presented in words by the AR"Y himself, situation isn't simple at all. First of all, as some have it, AR"Y insisted that nothing of the discourses that he delivered be written down at all. Then, it is more-less universally accepted that the only pupil authorized to disseminate the works was R' Chaym Vital z"l, on a condition of a severe punishment. Furthermore, anything that was written down was to be copied only in manuscript form and under no circumstances was to ever leave the boundaries of the Holy Land. So whatever did make it to our days, did so in violation of explicit directions of the very source of this wisdom.
One can speculate without end to the nature of all this secrecy. As I am not being meharher achar mitosom, I think it's safe to accept the simple and honest explanation. Most of the content that was delivered by AR"Y ha"K was very much a chiddush - concepts and statements that were revealled completely anew in this world, with no precedent, and he felt that it can be absorbed and understood properly only when delivered in the appropriate context, with all the "prefaces" and with the immense payload of classic unadulterated deep knowledge of Gufei haTorah - the vast ocean of wisdom passed down in the unbroken chain from Moshe to Neviim to Tanoim etc etc. The warnings and the threats weren't just empty words or attempts to draw attention and turn it into a forbidden fruit. They were very concrete and very real, and dangers weren't limited to drifting astray a la Shabbatai Zevi, but in a much broader and much likelier possibility of misunderstanding some detail in the writings that could render the entire mindset to turn to the opposite of the Holy.
For all intents and purposes, all these warnings and cherems were discarded time and again, and up until about a hundred years ago this material was available to pretty much anyone willing to invest time and mental effort, as well as risk being labeled a lunatic (that risk varied very much on the surroundings).
Now let's temporarily skip over the 1600's and most of the 1700's (we'll revisit the two grand heresies of those days and their connection on nidon didon); by the time of rise of Chassidus, core " Kisvei AR'Y Z'L " were almost unanimously accepted as a veritable source by the Lithuanian, Chassidic and Hungarian Jewry. Main disagreement was to what extent do the words of "mekubalim" trump normative halachah, but given that Ari z"l lived right on the boundary between Rishonim and Achronim, most felt that he deserved at least as much credence as his contemporaries. Yet, attempts to bring studying of his works to the mainstream public weren't undertaken, for a good reason, and even amongst Chassidim the most that one could find would be a recommendation to have a daily or weekly seder in "Etz Chayim" that would be pretty much "upgedavent" without investing much effort into it. Still, the works of R' Chaym Vital written down from his Rebbe were a strong source of inspiration for such a wide range of some of the best Jews to ever walk this Earth, that as I said before, anyone trying to simply write that off is deluding himself and his audience.
If you aren't bored deadly yet, hold on for the second part, where we'll try to see what does the subject of the works have to do with the simpler planes of existence ...
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Mai ahani lon Rabonon ?
It seems that the nebech'l sees a major letdown with the Clujer Rebbe from USA zol leben for showing too much bitul in front of Rav Elyashiv. He sees that as a manifestation of "inferiority complex" when a Rebbe behaves himself as anything other then the capo di tutti cappi in front of someone who's almost twice older and is known to be a talmid chochom muvhak if there are any in our days. Let's not stray into discussing characters and ask silly questions such as "Is he really a Rebbe?" and "Is he really a Talmid Chochom?". I didn't have merit to know either but I have no problem assuming both statements.
What really bothered our circusman is that a Rebbe of "hundreds" of Chassidim really went out of his way to show respect in front of Rav Elyashiv. That he claims to be a betrayal of the mesirus nefesh that Baal Shem Tov ha"K and Talmidov had in founding and carrying on the derech.
Degel Machane Efrayim says in one place that the Oilom says how "Lomdim lernen Yo vechassidim lernen nit". (The word lomdim is used to refer to those who didn't count themselves amongst chassidim). Degel says further that what this really means is that Chassidim learn to be a nothing while "lomdim" learn to be a something.
It's not a secret that most established Lomdim in the times of Baal Shem ha'K and his first round of Talmidim weren't very keen on the Derech. While it wasn't a full frontal assault as later on with Avigdor and the rest, members of the Broder Klause didn't show a whole lot of respect to either Baal Shem ha"K or, as the story is known, to Rebbe R' Mechel for example (until they recognized him as a baal Ruach Kodesh, but that's beside the point).
Yet, with all that said, neither the Baal Shem ha"K nor his acknowledged pupils had any problem showing the very utmost respect, reverence and bittul in front of talmidei chachomim even when the latter weren't of their camp. From R' Chaym Tzanser (not Sanzer Rov but one of the member of the Broder Klause) to R' Sh"Z from Vilno (The Goen), and even later - RY"Y from Lublin and the Eizener Kopp who was described as a "bitter misnaged", all these people respected each other not along the silly lines of "You're a Snag, I'm a Chusid, I hate you"; because the main propety that they learned from the Baal Shem Tov ha"K was the true and real ענוה . Not of the show off kind where people compete whose signature has more "askufa nidreses" instances, but very real and to the core negation of self, which is really hard to attain and even harder to retain.
While I can't say what the Clujer Rebbe really thinks, here it looks like a show of true bittul really ticked someone off.
Back some time ago, another "defender of Jews" ש"ד saw a big problem with how much money is spent on Satmarer Rebbe's seder. In a typical concoction of hate and lie, the creature presents it in the same obsessively vile light that permeats his every word and every breath. Well, no surprise there - his sole agenda is spreading vicious lies, half-truths and other propaganda items that would make Goebbels blush.
But some months lo and behold, comes Chanukah and our very own circusman jumps on the bandwagon and berates his brother the "other" Satmarer Rebbe for what he calls an "ostentatious show of wealth" - apparently, his Chanukah leichter wasn't up to our nebechl's standards. He goes one to repeat the first ש"ד's ruse, except that he does it in a much longer and nastier way, peppering it with gratuitous pseudo-pshettelech and outright libel, taking the shaky high moral ground. Apparently, to get a license to use the "Derech haBaal Shem Tov", one must use a kezays aluminum leichter and a cardboard sukkah (living in a mansion and driving a new Cadillac is still ok).
The two posts have much more in common then what they differ on. And unfortunately, it seems that the posters aren't much better.
Sanhedrin daf 99 and 100 talks about various meanings of Apikoires as per Mishna; amongst others Gemora says that
What really bothered our circusman is that a Rebbe of "hundreds" of Chassidim really went out of his way to show respect in front of Rav Elyashiv. That he claims to be a betrayal of the mesirus nefesh that Baal Shem Tov ha"K and Talmidov had in founding and carrying on the derech.
Degel Machane Efrayim says in one place that the Oilom says how "Lomdim lernen Yo vechassidim lernen nit". (The word lomdim is used to refer to those who didn't count themselves amongst chassidim). Degel says further that what this really means is that Chassidim learn to be a nothing while "lomdim" learn to be a something.
It's not a secret that most established Lomdim in the times of Baal Shem ha'K and his first round of Talmidim weren't very keen on the Derech. While it wasn't a full frontal assault as later on with Avigdor and the rest, members of the Broder Klause didn't show a whole lot of respect to either Baal Shem ha"K or, as the story is known, to Rebbe R' Mechel for example (until they recognized him as a baal Ruach Kodesh, but that's beside the point).
Yet, with all that said, neither the Baal Shem ha"K nor his acknowledged pupils had any problem showing the very utmost respect, reverence and bittul in front of talmidei chachomim even when the latter weren't of their camp. From R' Chaym Tzanser (not Sanzer Rov but one of the member of the Broder Klause) to R' Sh"Z from Vilno (The Goen), and even later - RY"Y from Lublin and the Eizener Kopp who was described as a "bitter misnaged", all these people respected each other not along the silly lines of "You're a Snag, I'm a Chusid, I hate you"; because the main propety that they learned from the Baal Shem Tov ha"K was the true and real ענוה . Not of the show off kind where people compete whose signature has more "askufa nidreses" instances, but very real and to the core negation of self, which is really hard to attain and even harder to retain.
While I can't say what the Clujer Rebbe really thinks, here it looks like a show of true bittul really ticked someone off.
Back some time ago, another "defender of Jews" ש"ד saw a big problem with how much money is spent on Satmarer Rebbe's seder. In a typical concoction of hate and lie, the creature presents it in the same obsessively vile light that permeats his every word and every breath. Well, no surprise there - his sole agenda is spreading vicious lies, half-truths and other propaganda items that would make Goebbels blush.
But some months lo and behold, comes Chanukah and our very own circusman jumps on the bandwagon and berates his brother the "other" Satmarer Rebbe for what he calls an "ostentatious show of wealth" - apparently, his Chanukah leichter wasn't up to our nebechl's standards. He goes one to repeat the first ש"ד's ruse, except that he does it in a much longer and nastier way, peppering it with gratuitous pseudo-pshettelech and outright libel, taking the shaky high moral ground. Apparently, to get a license to use the "Derech haBaal Shem Tov", one must use a kezays aluminum leichter and a cardboard sukkah (living in a mansion and driving a new Cadillac is still ok).
The two posts have much more in common then what they differ on. And unfortunately, it seems that the posters aren't much better.
Sanhedrin daf 99 and 100 talks about various meanings of Apikoires as per Mishna; amongst others Gemora says that
אמר מר רבא אמר כגון הני דבי בנימין אסיא דאמרי מאי אהני לן רבנן מעולם לא שרו לן עורבא ולא אסרו לן יונה
On the other extreme, Shabbos 23b says
אמר רבא דרחים רבנן הוו ליה בנין רבנן דמוקיר רבנן הוו ליה חתנוותא רבנן דדחיל מרבנן הוא גופיה הוי צורבא מרבנן ואי לאו בר הכי הוא משתמען מיליה כצורבא מרבנן
As they say, Lacuna Ipsa Loquitur ...
P. S. I'm not testifying to the magnitude of any rabonim mentioned here. I'm not their follower, not their enemy and not their personal friend either, as I have no significant connection to either of them. But a fact remains that there are some of the people who carry the title nowadays, they are what we have - for good or not - and therefore I find those who make it their mission in life to denigrate both the living and lehavdil the dead, with half-truths and other questionable methods, to be less then exemplary individuals.
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