The following article is being brought as a public service,
to open people's eyes, and minds, not to take things for
granted...
Names do not reflect any living people.
The first time Sara noticed the ad was on Monday morning,
while enjoying her coffee and perusing the Meida
Hashovu'a bulletin. Next was on Tuesday in the
La'Inyan. On Thursday, in the Bizness
k'Halacha flyer and on Friday afternoon, a quick glance
at the Tachlis free-bee revealed that it was again
being advertised, this time on a full page! A sholom
bayis course was being offered for men and women, with a
mechitza, of course, every Sunday night, by Rabbi
Elisha, graduate of prestigious yeshivos. "The course is
recommended by leading rabbonim," the ad read.
This could be the ideal place to go out together with
Avrohom, thought Sora excitedly. We'd be going out
together, working on sholom bayis together. What
could be better?
Sora began to allay the fears of the little pessimist in her
head. They wouldn't have claimed recommendation by
rabbonim if it wasn't so. And all the ads appeared in the
heimishe weeklies.
Avrohom like the idea and agreed. This would be an ideal
place to take time out together and to have a mutual subject
to discuss.
Sunday night found them in the Kiddush room of a nearby
shul together with other couples they knew from the
neighborhood. It seemed that many people liked to look at
marriage "for better and better."
A short while later, a scholarly looking man with a high
forehead and gold framed glasses entered the room. He
removed his jacket carefully and hung it over the chair
deliberately. Smiling into the microphone, he began the
night's lecture.
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen. It is my pleasure to
share with you the fruits of my many years of research on
this topic that is so relevant to all of us. We know that if
there is sholom bayis in a house, there is Shechina
in the house. If there would be sholom bayis within
all Jewish homes, the Shechina would be with us all as a
nation."
Sora was busy taking notes and didn't have time to
assimilate everything she heard. She regressed to her high
school habit of letting her pen fly across the page, with
the words flowing straight from the speaker's mouth onto the
paper.
She would savor the message later at home, together with
Avrohom.
On and on the rabbi spoke. Whenever she didn't quite
understand his point, she would draw a big question mark in
the margin. To her surprise, even only listening with one
ear and writing through the other, she found many quotes she
felt uncomfortable with and as she turned page after page,
noticed that the margins were full of her question marks.
She decided to go over to the speaker after he finished and
ask him to clarify some of the more sticky points that
didn't sit well with her.
Sora shook her hand to ease the muscle cramp and then looked
up to see the audience clapping. The shiur was over.
She got up and looked over the mechitza for eye
contact with Avrohom. A slight nod in reply to her shrugged
shoulders and raised eyebrows confirmed that he, too, had
certain questions he wished to ask. They made their way
forward to the table where there were already several other
couples asking for better explanations on points they
questioned.
She had this strange feeling about this speaker, a hunch, a
sixth sense, and acting as an inobtrusive detective, decided
to spy on Rabbi Elisha. Sora was good at sizing people up
from external clues that supported her usually accurate
feminine intuition. There was the way they dressed, their
body language, even the way they pushed their glasses up on
their nose or the angle of their eye contact with other
people. Glancing around to absorb as much information as
possible, Sora stopped short.
Was she seeing right? From Rabbi Elisha's pocket, she saw a
book sticking out. It was a very popular non-Jewish book
about human relationships. Sora blinked. She wished she was
only imagining it, but someone had just jostled this cheap
popular book from his pocket and onto the floor and there
was no question about it. Her roving eyes nearly jumped out
of their sockets as the question marks in her notes suddenly
danced before her eyes.
Why, this was all a sham! Could she believe that legitimate
rabbonim had actually recommended this Rabbi Elisha, as the
ad had stated? Who were they, anyway?! She was determined to
get to the bottom of this. She exchanged looks with Avrohom
again; the look of consternation was proof that he had
spotted the offending book as well.
When their turn came to ask questions, Avrohom got straight
to the point.
"Could you tell me exactly which rabbonim are sponsoring
this lecture?"
"What do you mean by which ones?"
"Exactly what I asked. The ads stated that your classes have
the backing of leading rabbonim. Who are they?"
"Well, ummm, R' M-m-meyer is one." Rabbi Elisha seemed to
suddenly be struck by a slight stammer which had not been
apparent all evening.
"Who else?" Avrohom prompted insistingly.
"And Harav Almoni!" said Rabbi Elisha triumphantly.
"Oh, really? I happen to know that Harav Almoni has been in
America for the past year and a half for medical reasons and
he has an unpublished number." Avrohom's voice had turned
accusing by now and he glared at the speaker.
"I know that, too," replied Rabbi Elisha, "but he's an old
family friend and I'm sure he would approve of me."
"And that's what you call recommendation? It's all based on
assumption!"
"You're forgetting R' Meyer!" said Rabbi Elisha, fully on
the defensive.
"Wait a minute! Aren't you the Elisha who was kicked out of
the Beis Midrash years ago? And you advertise that you are a
graduate of Rav Meyer's yeshiva?"
"But R' Meir said that he could take the good and discard
the bad..."
"That's all right for R' Meir to say; he has the
credentials. But you have no moral right to advertise
yourself under his -- or anyone else's -- recommendation,
when you, yourself, were rejected and expelled from his
yeshiva!"
A dismayed Avrohom turned around to share the shameful
revelation with the other members of the audience still
present. But it was already too late. The harm had been
done. The question marks had already been planted in their
conscious minds, and to some extent, their subconscious.
The only thing left to do was warn people about future
lectures.
And that is exactly what we are doing, now.
Editor's Note: It is always important to verify the
credential of speakers especially when the only advertise
themselves as "endorsed by rabbonim" without mentioning any
by name. In food establishments there is a well-known
distinction between establishments that advertise that they
use the products of respected hashgochos and others
that actually have an endorsement from a reliable
hashgocho: in the former case one can never be sure
that all products used have the reliable supervision.
Similarly, some people and organizations claim rabbinical
backing merely because they ask questions of a respected
rabbinical authority. Needless to say, this is no guarantee
that everything that they say or do is approved by rabbonim;
anyone can go to them to ask questions. One should ask to
see a letter certifying that the person is known by the
authority to be reliable, a positive endorsement from a
respected rov.
