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
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.
