On 25 Nisan the Hebrew edition of Yated Ne'eman
published the following public announcement: "In light of
malicious rumors we hereby clarify that the fish store named
the `Fish Center' on Raavad Street, Bnei Brak, belonging to
R' Dovid G., is under our supervision (Shearis Yisroel)."
Since I am personally acquainted with R' Dovid G. and know
him to be an upright person I decided to investigate the
sources of these "malicious rumors." I discovered that a
certain group goes from store to store pressuring and
threatening the store owners to leave the Shearis Yisroel
hechsher, and even promises them great benefits if
they place the kashrus supervision of their store
under another kashrus organization.
If that had been the extent of the campaign, I would have
remained silent, but they also spread rumors that the "Fish
Center" suspended any connection with Shearis Yisroel.
Consequently those responsible for these rumors caused
irreparable damage to the store owner.
Since it is well known that the community of bnei
Torah following the guidance of Maran HaRav Eliezer Man
Shach ztvk'l only purchase products that are under the
Shearis Yisroel hechsher, these slanderers caused a
loss of livelihood to R' Dovid G. In addition to the
issur of loshon hora and rechilus, there
is also gezel involved in such "rumors."
It was quite evident that the fish store owner was helpless
to prevent a loss to his parnossoh, and of course
could not summon anonymous slanderers to a din Torah.
The only resort left to him was to have Shearis Yisroel
publish an announcement refuting those rumors. Indeed
afterward someone showed me that this misinformation about
the fish store appeared in a local newspaper of parshas
Metzora, 5765, in which C. Schif wrote the following:
"Not only are ... leaving Shearis, even the fish store
located on Raavad Street an area of strong Ponovezh influence
has left Shearis this week."
Now this really astonishes me! Since the name of the
newspaper and writer of that article are known to all, why
was the Shearis Yisroel kashrus organization content
with merely publicizing that newspaper announcement
disproving the misleading rumors? Why did they not outright
sue the editor and writer in beis din for spreading
misinformation that harmed the livelihood of a precious Jew?
Furthermore, who permitted this group to drag that Jew into
any campaign whose aims and motives are well known?
When I expressed my shock from all of the above to a friend
familiar with this problem, he replied: "Aren't you aware
that for a number of months that newspaper has circulated
false accusations for the purpose of causing Shearis as much
damage as possible?" He showed me several examples such as
the Sha'ah Tovah report that the manufacturers of the
Crystal soft drinks severed any connection with Shearis, when
the opposite is true...or what they wrote that one of the
Shearis Yisroel rabbonim is leaving the kashrus
organization although there was not an iota of truth in that,
or that the Willifood Company abandoned Shearis when the
truth is that it was Shearis that annulled its contract with
that company when they saw that this company violated their
kashrus instructions.
(It is only fitting to point out that two separate senior
workers in the Head Rabbinate Kashrus Department called up
the Shearis Yisroel office and told them: "We are extremely
grieved that after you removed your kashrus
supervision because of the disregard of your instructions,
another kashrus committee awarded them a hechsher
without even verifying what had happened and what the
reasons were for removing the original kashrus
supervision.")
He showed me various other examples of both fabricated
statements and perverted stories such as what was publicized
about the Willifood Company. It is, however, impossible to
specify any details in order to protect the honor of those
signing on the new kashrus certificate of products
previously disqualified by Shearis Yisroel.
My friend sighed and afterwards remarked: "If the public
could only discern between what is the truth and what appears
to be the truth, things would be much different." At any
rate, what is for sure is that local newspaper functions as
an organ by which that group whose objective is to do away
with what Shearis expresses itself. One question however
still bothered me. What is motivating that newspaper and this
group, and what is the ideology dictating them to follow this
objective? What is the ideological common denominator
linking these people together?
While conversing with my friend, he leafed through issues of
that newspaper and it seems that unintentionally we found the
solution. In the erev Pesach issue it published an
article by Yaakov Gold and C. Schif under the title "Shearis
is Still in a Turmoil." In that article, the writers reviewed
a new "pamphlet" printed by that group. From that article it
is evident that the dominant theme of that pamphlet is that
the name of Maran HaRav E.M. Shach ztvk'l should be
published without the title of Maran.
An additional message, also readily seen and emphasized
strongly, of that pamphlet is that today absolutely no one
can be titled Maran. This seems to be the goal shared by all
members of that group: the central motif of this group made
up of diverse types of people is the aim to erase the
tradition that Maran HaRav E.M. Shach ztvk'l
bequeathed to bnei Torah, or in other words to "free"
the public from what the title Maran obligates them to do.
As far as Sha'ah Tovah is concerned, this is quite
understandable since what this type of weekly newspaper and
certain "religious" radio stations have in common is the
mixing of kedushoh and tumah, preaching
nationalistic and secular ideologies together with publishing
pictures of Chassidic Rebbes and reporting about current
chareidi events.
This shatnez concoction was adequately described in
the article of N. Zeevi in the Hebrew Yated Ne'eman of
24 Nisan under the title: "The New Chareidim." In that
article Zeevi writes that secular academics pinned this brand
name to those weeklies that appear as chareidi, but are
actually only outwardly chareidi and inwardly are not so at
all. They enthusiastically adopt for themselves every secular
norm that enables them to feel like a part of the secular
public as long as they are not forced to remove their black
yarmulke. Although they belong to the chareidi public,
the yeshivah-educated or Chassidic circles, they insert an
atmosphere of lightheadedness within the Chareidi public and
advocate complete or at least partial identification with
secular culture "values."
Zeevi writes: "In this way a dynamic of unavoidable
deterioration has been created whose results cannot be
foreseen." At the conclusion of the article the writer
suggests calling these people "New Secularists" instead of
"New Chareidim."
I, myself, am surprised as to why they should be called
"new." Are they really new? This type of persons was in
existence for thousands of years. The shatnez between
the religious and the secular is a phenomenon from the time
of the Tanach, as is written, "They feared Hashem but
they worshiped their own gods as well, according to the
practice of the nations from which they had been exiled" (II
Melochim 17:33), and later in posuk 41 the
Torah writes: "So these nations feared Hashem but worshiped
their graven images. Also their children and children's
children, as their forefathers had done, so do they do to
this day."
The mere fact that a synthesis has been created between
donning a black yarmulke and openness to secular
values should outrage every Jew since this means that our
sons and daughters are in tremendous danger from such a
harmful influence. An average person cannot sense the spread
of this poison, and someone caught in the net of these
shatnez- oriented Jews will, Rachmono litzlan,
eventually suffer immensely.
Maran the mashgiach of the Mir and Ponovezh Yeshivas,
HaRav Yechezkel Levinstein ztvk'l, once commented that
HaKodosh Boruch Hu afflicts people with cancerous
growths to teach this generation a salient lesson: it is
possible that someone can outwardly appear completely normal
and healthy but inwardly he is destined to die within a short
while. Likewise it is possible that a person can appear to be
completely Torah-observant but in reality inside him blazes
the fire of secularism, and, "Who will rise up for me against
evildoers? Who will stand up for me against the doers of
iniquity?" (Tehillim 94:16).
With his lofty spirit Maran HaRav E. M. Shach ztvk'l
saw all this clearly. During his whole life he valiantly
stood up against any breach in Yiddishkeit and warned
against any occurrences of spiritual shatnez. The Rosh
Yeshiva warned against attending "yeshiva type" institutions
and ulpanot (higher educational institutions for
religious studies) that did not completely conform to the way
that our mentors laid out for us. He instructed us to
distance ourselves from Chabad (Lubavitch) and not even to
rely on their hechsher since they constitute a conduit
for permeating the spirit of secularism within our camp.
Maran's steadfast aim was that bnei Torah who studied
in the yeshivos hakedoshos should fuse into one
community, one political party, one special newspaper and one
unique kashrus organization. The Rosh Yeshiva
maintained that through bnei Torah uniting in such a
way we can guard and protect Judaism's spirit of purity
since, when this community will be led by gedolei
Torah, no one will be exposed to alien ideologies.
Through bnei Torah becoming one consolidated unit we
will be completely detached from those considered "a remnant
(Shearis) of Am Yisroel" and those people and
groups lacking a backbone who sway according to all alien
evil winds that blow with great force. After Maran's
petiroh contemporary gedolei Torah are
continuing in that same derech, and with great caution
are both fortifying the community framework and being on
guard not to allow any detrimental powers harm our camp.
The course of action that Maran ztvk'l outlined for us
is the antithesis of the objective that those "New Chareidim"
are aiming at and trying to reach through their use of the
means of mass communication that are at their disposal, such
as newspapers, radio, etc. and public shows that are
accompanied by journalistic efforts, such as for "Chassidic
Singing Shows" and others. The joy that Sha'ah Tovah
displayed after the "reduction in rank" done by the above
pamphlet is therefore understandable.
The moment that they will succeed in "neutralizing" and
annulling the legitimacy of the ideology that Maran the Rosh
Yeshiva ztvk'l espoused, no one or nothing can stop
them from attaining the objective of, "Let us cut their cords
and let us cast off their ropes from ourselves"
(Tehillim 2:3). The easiest and most efficient way of
gaining this objective is decreasing the honor of Shearis
Yisroel.
According to their plan the communal organization that Maran
ztvk'l established will be abolished and everyone will
readily accept newspapers, personalities and followers of all
sorts of ideologies who embrace everything: nationalism,
Torah-observance, Enlightenment, singing and sport idols. All
the various institutions that affix a mezuzoh to their
doors and devote a few hours to studying gemora will
be kosher, including those with an educational program that
includes academic subjects and anti-religious philosophies,
etc.
The separation between the kodesh and the chol
will be removed, the division between the Torah-observant and
those who eat neveilos and treifos will
disappear, and everyone will become "one nation." The process
of assimilation and annihilation of Judaism will be
accelerated. It will commence with their sporting
payos and donning black yarmulkes, and will end
up in the second generation with openly embracing secularism.
This is in my opinion the ideology that is the motivation
behind Sha'ah Tovah and the other newspapers of the
"New Chareidim" whose objective was well defined by N.
Zeevi.
As mentioned, they were fortunate that within the fortified
walls of the Torah-Observant they found a group that will
cooperate with them. Indeed we are not saying that this group
belongs to the "New Chareidim," and it is very reasonable to
presume that they have other incentives that are unknown to
us, but nonetheless the goal is identical: to melt away and
annul the constraints of a kehilloh organization of
bnei Torah.
They too aspire that no one will be able to dictate how to
act, and each person will act as he feels like. This was the
method of the "Enlightened" who proclaimed: "Once upon a time
the Rambam lived, once upon a time the Vilna Gaon lived, but
who do we have today?" This also is the age-old approach of,
"In those days there was no king in Yisroel; a man would do
whatever seemed proper in his eyes" (Shofetim 17:6)
or, "We have no part in Dovid and we have no heritage in the
son of Yishai. Every man back to his tents" (II Shmuel
20:1).
"History repeats itself" is a famous and time-proven saying.
The same rebellion, the same insurrection, is here but only
the "man" involved has changed. Dear reader, please be frank
and tell me, if any distinction can be made between "There
was no king in Yisroel" and "There is no Maran in
Yisroel?"
I am amazed why no one explains to the public the advantage
of unity in a community underneath one leadership, and that
this is the only way to guard against those harassing us.
Even if someone has some suggestion as to what needs to be
rectified, that surely does not permit him to destroy what
has already been attained.
Some argue that it is difficult to explain to the public the
advantage of communal unity. Indeed for sure not every person
can comprehend the structure of public affairs, the essence
of the danger we are confronted with, and the tactics of
leadership. However, sometimes it is possible through
minuscule examples to illustrate this, and I too, will cite
such examples that on one hand demonstrate the enormous
advantage of unity and on the other hand the tremendous
disadvantage of lack of unity.
Chareidi Jewry is coping with the immense danger caused by
unsupervised use of modern cellular phones. If the chareidim
were a united community, everyone would have accepted the
decisions made to cope with this danger without any getting
around it and we would have long ago finished with this
battle. All of our enemies would have seen that when Torah
Jewry decides something they stand up together as one person.
Perhaps such a phenomenon would even deter those who would in
the future want to institute decrees against Jewish values
and those loyal to them. Unfortunately, that is not what
happened.
An opposite example happened when in the past one newspaper
associated with the "New Chareidim" degraded a certain
Chassidus. That Chassidus is organized as a splendid united
and obedient community. They sought advice how to deal with
this problem, organized many meetings within this community
and numerous people protested opposite that newspaper
editor's house in order to teach him a lesson so that he will
put an end to his insolent reporting and spurious views.
They indeed succeeded and that person was forced to close
down his newspaper and open a new one. In his new newspaper
he found new victims, but he does not dare disturb that
Chassidus anymore.
Here we have a small example that tangibly demonstrates the
concept and benefit of communal organization, and according
to this palpable example each one of us can readily
understand how vital and important this idea is, and
choliloh not to lend a hand to destroy what is sacred.
With Hashem's help "they shall impart insight to those who go
astray" (Musaf of Yomim Noraim) and will return to
Hashem.
