Phase 3 for A New Agudah
Dovid Eidensohn
European Gedolim and the American Generation Gap
My
first volume of the Torah that Was, the Torah that Will Be, was about my
personal experiences pestering Gedolei HaDor Reb Aharon Kotler, Reb Moshe
Feinstein, Reb Yaacov Kaminetsky, and many others. I wrote about these Gedolim
and others of their time who created the Torah world. I described my personal
efforts to speak to them although at the time it was like flying into space to
talk to someone far removed. I realized that if I dallied time was not on my
side. I was very young, and the Gedolim were not. So I went and spoke to them,
asked them questions, presented questions and ideas in Torah, and observed them
carefully. I sensed each time that one slip and I would… But I went.
As
time went on, I continued to pester every important Torah personality that I
could. Born in Washington, DC, I attended Yeshiva Or Torah DiBrisk, founded by
survivors sons of the dayan of Brisk. There were three rebbes and
four students. I went there after public school. I saw first hand the struggle
of pure Torah in a much different world. After three years in Washington, DC, I
went to Yeshiva Chofetz Chaim in Baltimore to learn for three years by the Gaon
Reb Yaacov Bobrowsky zt”l, a talmid muvhak of the Gaon Reb Baruch Ber zt”l. He
was one of the senior rebbes in America then, and many of the top Torah
personalities in America came from his class. I then went to Lakewood to study
under Hagaon Reb Aharon Kotler zt”l for two years until he passed on. That
period, from the age of twelve until the passing of Reb Aharon when I was
around nineteen, was a miracle for those days. My youth was spent learning from
European gedolim. They taught me to fight ferociously for the old and true
Torah, even in America.
Yes,
being a Ben Yeshiva in those days and learning from such rebbes was a great
challenge, and very, very few people did it. Even in Lakewood, two people came
each term and two people left. There were about eighty people in the entire Yeshiva.
Only a year before he died did Reb Aharon see success, when students from his
American Yeshivas began to arrive. At the same time, a group of brilliant young
students arrived, and thus, in one year, everything was turned around for the
better. And then Reb Aharon died.
Now
I will turn to a personal note, to prepare for this volume, with its emphasis
on today’s problems and tomorrow’s future. Somebody in Lakewood once told me
the following from the Mashgiach, the tsadik Reb Noson Wachtfogel zt”l. It seemed
that Reb Nosson, perhaps because he was a chosid or because of some other
reason, had a different opinion about something than the Rosh Yeshiva
did. (I think I know what the complaint was about, and I think that
Reb Baruch Ber had a somewhat similar difficulty in his Yeshiva on Simchas
Torah.) Reb Noson stated his opinion and then said, “Yes, I disagree with the
Rosh Yeshiva on this matter. But I tell you this. If you open up Reb Aharon you
will see a complete Jew. If you are opened up, there will be a chazerel.” I
don’t know about that person having a chazerel, but I just hope that nobody
opens me up. Yes, Reb Noson put his finger on a terrible problem: the
Generation Gap. In Lakewood and in all places where the American loved a good
game of basketball, he had to learn from Reb Aharon Kotler. Just thinking about
it amazes me. I mentioned before that when I spoke to Reb Aharon and Reb Moshe
I felt as if I was floating in outer space talking to somebody sitting in a
rocket. If I made one mistake… And all that I had was chutzpah. What else could
possibly get me to do such a thing?
I
want to tell a story mentioned in the other volume of the Torah that Was, but
it is crucial for this book, when I develop it. It was about me in the
barbershop on Friday afternoon in Lakewood. I came to the barbershop and took
my place in line; then somebody very important came in. Of course, I offered
him my place and he accepted it. However, he knew that I liked to say Torahs,
so he told me to say a Torah. I told him the Torah I had prepared to tell Reb
Aharon that night. I saw his expression and added something, and he approved.
That night, I said over the Torah to Reb Aharon, and he was thinking, and out
of habit, I added what I had added to the Very Important Person. Reb Aharon
exploded. He said, “You are going away from the proper path in learning.” When
I heard that, I was amazed. That was a terrible criticism, but what a
compliment! Reb Aharon noticed that I understood the compliment, but he also
understood that I would never make that mistake again. From that time on, I
didn’t speak to anybody except Reb Aharon or my Rosh Chabura who was the major
bochur in the Yeshiva. What was wrong with talking with the Very Important
Person who at that time was at the very top of the list of important people in
the Yeshiva?
From
that incident when Reb Aharon exploded at me, I eventually realized something
absolutely incredible. Reb Aharon was not the rebbe in Lakewood! Let me
explain. That Very Important Person, who is today a major Rosh Yeshiva, one of
the important ones in the world, surely spent all of his time learning, and he
was a top learner. But, and here is the point. He was not a Talmid muvhak of
Reb Aharon, because he, perhaps like the majority of Yeshiva students in Europe
and America, had a different style learned most likely from the students of the
Elder of the European Rosh Yeshivas, Reb Shimon Shkop zt”l. Reb Shimon taught
to say “what” and then “why.” Reb Chaim Brisker, his student Reb Baruch Ber,
and Reb Aharon, held, “Never say ‘why’.” When I told my Torah to the Very
Important Person in the barber shop, I said “what” and stopped. But he wanted
“why” because that was the style of the major Rosh Yeshiva in Europe, Reb
Shimon. But Reb Aharon accepted the style of Reb Baruch Ber who was the major
disciple of Reb Chaim Brisker zt”l, who is the father of the Lithuanian Yeshiva
Derech of Brisk.
Why
did Reb Aharon choose Reb Baruch Ber instead of Reb Shimon? There is
to that a simple answer. Reb Aharon learned in a musar Yeshiva in Slobodka
under the Alter. But in nearby Kovneh was the Yeshiva of Reb Baruch Ber that
was not a musar Yeshiva. Reb Aharon used to go regularly to Reb Baruch Ber’s
Yeshiva to hear his shiurim. Reb Aharon interrupted the shiur and
Reb Baruch Ber kept arguing and fighting with him until Reb Baruch Ber’s major
Talmid Reb Shlomo Heiman zt”l would go over and calm down the protests of Reb
Aharon. This lasted for a while until Reb Aharon exploded again, and once
again, there was war, and once again, Reb Shlomo went over to Reb Aharon, etc.
There are many pictures of Reb Baruch Ber talking to Reb Aharon in learning in
the summer vacation places. Incidentally, in the book about Reb Baruch Ber
called HaRav HaDomeh Lmaloch, there are many pictures of Reb Baruch Ber with
Reb Shimon Shkop. It is obvious that Reb Shimon is the senior person. He was
the Elder of the Rosh Yeshivas.
Our
point is that Reb Aharon had a Yeshiva where perhaps most of the students came
in their twenties to learn by him after they had spent years
learning from students of Reb Shimon Shkop. When I spoke to Reb
Aharon and gained his style, which was the style of Reb Baruch Ber which was
the style of Reb Chaim, I thus, because of my youth (I came to Lakewood when I
was seventeen) and because I spoke frequently to Reb Aharon and reviewed for
him my findings in learning, I was not influenced by Reb Shimon’s Derech.
Indeed, my previous rebbe, Reb Yaacov Bobrowsky, was a talmid muvhak of Reb
Baruch Ber. I believe that my rebbes from Washington DC also learned by Reb
Baruch Ber, although at that time was I too young to know the different between
“what” and “why” in the Talmudic discussion.
My
point in all of this is to display the Generation Gap. It was not a question of
years. It was a difference between European geniuses and people like me. That
is quite a generation gap. Reb Aharon Kotler was a major genius in Europe and
was being primed by the Chofetz Chaim and Reb Elchonon and Reb Aharon’s
father-in-law Reb Isser Zalman, to become Gadol HaDor. Reb Aharon was an
incredible genius, even in Europe he was famous for this. How in the world
could we Americans learn from such a rebbe?
Another
great European genius who was a Rosh Yeshiva was HaGaon Reb Yaacov HaLevi
Ruderman zt”l. He was the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivas Ner Israel. At an early age
he memorized the entire Talmud. Americans were far removed from his level. But
Reb Ruderman merited that people from his family such as Rabbi Newberger
arranged the Yeshiva so that the students got exactly the kind of teachers that
they needed, and the entire Yeshiva basked in the glow of the Rosh Yeshiva.
Such an arrangement is excellent for most students, but the Generation Gap is
obvious.
There
were other great Rosh Yeshivas who struggled with Americans even as they had
lofty positions in Yeshivas. The bottom line is that the generation that
learned from the Gedolim was limited in its relationship with them. The Gedolim
were far too great to shine their light on the majority of Yeshiva students
without making problems, and the students did not know what to do about that. I
solved the problem with pure chutzpah. I went to talk to Reb Aharon, and he
told me the truth, and it hurt, and I came back for more, again and again. As I
mention in my first volume, I was not the biggest mechutsef in Lakewood.
Somebody came to Lakewood for a summer program who was far removed from
advanced learning. But he wanted to learn from Reb Aharon. So he went to Reb
Aharon, put a sefer down in front of him, and asked him to explain it. Reb
Aharon was very kind and gentle with him. When some of us wanted to send the
boy to another Yeshiva, Reb Aharon insisted that he stay. But those who wanted
him elsewhere got the job done, and I suppose I have to worry about this in the
Other World.
After Reb Aharon Died
Before
Reb Aharon died, the Lakewood Yeshiva was low on students, low on funding, and
low in being appreciated in America. After he died, all of this changed. People
began to arrive in numbers in the Yeshiva. A girl sought a good learning boy
for a husband and her parents supported them at least for a few years. The new
Rosh Yeshiva, Reb Aharon’s son, Reb Shneur, was like his grandfather, Reb Isser
Zalman, who was a man of peace. Reb Aharon was a man of war, and made so many
enemies among the modern Orthodox rabbis and even among haredi rabbis that he
had few backers for the Yeshiva. But all of this changed when Reb Yosher Ber
the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva University instructed his students, the YU rabbis,
to support Lakewood. Therefore, the new Lakewood was a different world than the
Lakewood I knew. But not everyone was thrilled with the new situation.
True,
beautiful new buildings were built, and they were filled with large numbers of
students heavily engaged in Torah learning. But the new status of Lakewood as a
status symbol was troubling to some people. The old Lakewood was only for the
rare person who was ready to suffer everything in order to study Torah. The new
Lakewood was for everyone who sought the new status, the easy shidduch, the
beautiful building, etc. At this point, for better or worse, the Torah in
America achieved a higher appreciation and incredible success.
But
let us remember our previous discussion. We said that Reb Aharon was not the
rebbe muvhak, the prime rebbe of perhaps the majority of his students. They
came to Yeshiva because they wanted a high Torah level. But very few engaged
directly with Reb Aharon. As we explained, Reb Aharon was a European genius, a
fire, a fighter, and we Americans could not just go over and talk to him. I did
it because I called upon my ample reserves of azuce ponim. I forced myself to
do this because I realized that Reb Aharon and Reb Moshe and others were old
people and I had to make my move now. But those who learned diligently in the same
Beis Medrash as Reb Aharon but did not connect with him his departure from the
world severed what could have been, a personal connection to a Gadol. When I
spoke to Reb Aharon and Reb Moshe at length, I was always worried that maybe
somebody would come over to the Rosh Yeshivas and take them away from me. After
all, they had a right just as I did to talk to the Roshei Yeshiva. But rarely
did anyone come. Later when I moved to Monsey and Reb Moshe Feinstein would
often visit with his rebbetsin his daughter Rebbetsin Tendler, I taught in the
same shul that Reb Moshe dovened and would spend a lot of time talking Torah to
him. I was terrified that somebody would take away “my Reb Moshe” but after
years, I only recall a tiny amount of people who came to talk to Reb Moshe.
Only one of them as I recall was a Rov who had a problem with a GET.[1]
Thus, when the Gedolim from Europe passed on, there was an emptiness. I felt it
keenly.
Other
people who did not talk directly to the European gedolim had a different solution
to their new status. They turned to those who were now the senior Roshei
Yeshiva and Talmidei Chachomim. These were usually not Europeans at all, but
were students of Europeans. I had a problem with this. The new Torah was much
different than the old Torah, and I didn’t feel comfortable with it. Until
today, I am fighting the new generation with its different ideas, as I will
discuss. And this reality, that the new generation did not have a full
relationship with the old one, other than a few individuals, made problems,
problems that we will discuss in this book, and show that the new leadership
was not the old leadership.
Briefly,
the new generation has a Torah that believes in learning Torah, becoming
“gedolim” as the great goal. The old generation believed in fighting for the
entire Torah. My criticism of the “new” generations are as follows: One, they
are not fighting important fights, as I will explain, but putting their energy
into building Torah learning with some exceptions. Two, the Yeshiva structure
as it is now, creates frustrated people and no Gedolim, as I will show and
quote Gedolei hador of the present and past generation.
What are Today’s Issues? What are Today’s Problems?
Here
is a small list of today’s issues and problems:
1. Gender war between men and women in family,
between husband and wife. This leads to a terrible problem of divorces and a
large population of people who are single.
2. Feminism infects the Orthodox community in
various ways. The world is heavily influenced by feminism. One objective of the
feminists is complete equality between men and women. The latest target is draft
all females just as all men to register for the draft. I spoke to “leaders” of
the Torah community and they had no interest in fighting about this now. And
yet, if there is a law passed for women to register for the draft, there will
be a very serious question of martyrdom, besides jail and fines.[2]
3. Years ago, the European
gedolim encouraged me very strongly to fight against the Gay Rights movement.
Why this should be done is something that everyone should know but almost
nobody does. A few years ago, major rabbis in Monsey made a major campaign to
elect a lesbian as Family Court Judge, although the opposition was a religious
gentile who was against gay ideas. The senior rabbi in Monsey told me to hang
up a ferocious letter that I made attacking them in his Yeshiva and shull. But
someone asked me, “Why are you the only one to protest this?” Because today
people have a new “Torah.” Those rabbis and some in New York find an advantage
in backing a gay or lesbian for politics, because then the person is beholden
to them for their political and financial needs. This is pure gangsterism and
corruption. At least, I protested, and a lot of people were happy that I did.
But the major rabbinical positions in the community are held by people who have
different ideas.
4. There is today a terrible spate of broken
marriages in the Torah community. I personally know people from senior
rabbinical families who are being torn apart by divorce battles in secular
court.
5. There are many things to elaborate in the above
four things. But I want to turn now to a frightening story that I personally
witnessed and heard from gedolei hador of the past and present generations.
Monsey Gets a Video Store Years Ago
Some
years ago the Magid of Jerusalem Reb Shalom Mordechai Schwadron zt”l used to
visit Monsey regularly to raise funds for Israeli Yeshivas and Torah programs.
I tried to talk to him when he came, and he was very kind and wise.
In
those days Monsey was a city of Torah Jews, Yeshivas, some apple orchards, plus
a few snakes and an occasional bear or deer. One day, in the center of town
near a Yeshiva, a video store opened. My friend and I were determined to do
something about this. Rav Schwadron was in town and after a lecture he gave, we
approached him and told him that a video store came to Monsey. I then
anticipated a furious anger and a determination to speak publicly on this
outrage. But no. Nothing. Rav Schadron simply ignored me. It was as if I didn’t
say anything to him. I looked at his face. It was solid granite, turned away
from me, in a pose that said, “You don’t exist.” I realized that this was no
accident. The Rov was deliberately telling me that he had absolutely no
interest in talking or hearing about a video store. I was stunned. I
repeated myself, twice, three times, and not a change in the face. Well, I
said, I am Mr. Azuce Ponim. And I am going to pursue this further!
“A Yeshiva is Hashchoso”
I
raised my voice and said, “Rebbe! Hashchoso!!”
That
did it. The cold granite face turned directly at me. A professionally
maneuvered hand moved directly at my face. A finger pointed at me and eyes were
blazing. Slowly and professionally Reb Shalom said, “A Yeshiva is hashchoso!”
That
story took place many years ago. But even then, Reb Shalom knew that
the rabbinical world had its problems. The major problem is when rabbis
encourage women to force a GET from their husband against his will and remarry
with that GET. That GET, says Rambam and others, is worthless, as a GET must be
given by the husband willingly. And today, when Reb Shalom is no longer with
us, there are ‘rabbis’ who tell married women whose husband won’t give them a
GET to remarry with no GET. A senior rov in Brazil called me to tell me that
they did this in his city. No husband was involved in giving the GET, and a
woman is freed of her husband in defiance of the Torah and the Talmud. The same
was done recently by a senior rabbi in France.
A Generation of Mamzerim?
We
are talking about a world that will soon be gripped in a crisis of children
born of women who left their husbands with an invalid GET or no GET at all. The
New York State GET law empowers women to force their husbands to give a GET and
to get slapped with financial punishments or worse. Rabbi Bleich says that
today all Gittin given in New York are given by husbands who realize that to
refuse to divorce their wives will lead to court and it will destroy him, maybe
take away his children and money. So, they give a GET. And this fear makes the
GET invalid, and the children of the wife when she remarries with the invalid
GET are mamzerim, or maybe doubtful mamzerim. A mamzer can marry a mamzeres,
but a doubtful mamzer may not marry a mamzeres, and neither a mamzer or a
doubtful mamzer may marry a regular Jewish woman. And people are silent. My
rebbe Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashev zt”l was shocked that nobody protested the New
York GET Law in its second phase, with its surrender to the woman and the
destruction of kosher Gittin in New York State.
What
can be done? One idea is from a prominent Rov in Israel Rav Abirgil who
recommends today that people marry with Pilegesh, not Kiddushin. Kiddushin
makes a woman a slave to her husband who can torment her at will and not give
her a GET until he dies; and she can do nothing about it. She could listen to
the wicked ‘rabbis’ who advise such women to force a GET from their husbands
and remarry. Some such wicked ‘rabbis’ actually set up a scheme to torture a
husband for sixty thousand dollars, with tortures so sophisticated that no
human being could tolerate without surrendering and giving a GET that was
forced, even though the children of the wife when she remarries will be
mamzerim. But a couple without Kiddushin but with Pilegesh cannot make mamzerim.
They simply live together in one house until it is time to leave, and either
one of them can just get up and leave, preferably saying good-by! The husband
can not torment the wife because she is free to just get up and leave any time
she wants.[3]
In
earlier generations when Gedolim like Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashev zt”l kept an
eye on the movements of the rabbis, he shot down the problems. But today, there
is nobody to do this. And people who don’t know the laws of Gittin, invent what
they don’t know, and we are awaiting a crisis of mamzerim.
How
happy will the mothers who escape their husband with invalid Gittin be when
they have a child who is announced to be a mamzer, or at least, a doubtful
mamzer? A doubtful mamzer is worse than being a full mamzer because a mamzer
can marry a mamzeres but a doubtful mamzer may not marry a mamzeres, nor may he
marry a regular Jewish girl. We are going down the road to watching children
come to shame we can’t imagine, and shame of mothers we cannot imagine. When will
it end?
[1] Of
course people were always asking Reb Moshe halacha laws. But when I came to
shull they were usually not there.
[2] I
heard this from a senior gadol in Israel my relative Rav Brizel zt”l that Torah
law forbids a woman to be controlled by the government only by her husband and
family. He lived in an early time when he heard this from senior rabbis.
[3] The
great rabbis such as the Ramban and others who permit Pilegesh make it clear
that there is a caveat. A senior rabbi must guide the new husband and wife exactly
how to behave, go to the Mikva, etc.
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