Thursday night's plenary session began with a moving audio-
visual presentation dedicated to the devastating fire that
Camp Agudah suffered this past summer, and the impressive
efforts that, with Hashem's help, helped the camp recover in
time to provide campers a truly memorable summer. Rabbi Meir
Frischman, the camp director, provided a moving and inspiring
chronicle of the events.
The session then turned to an issue both timely and timeless:
the imperative to show honor and deference to Torah
authority. Against a background of relentless assault on
talmidei chachomim and even gedolim, in the
street and in the media — and, as noted by the
evening's chairman and convention co-chairman Rabbi Dovid
Schnell, president of Agudath Israel of Illinois, through the
new phenomenon of internet-based weblogs, or "blogs" —
the evening symposia's three speakers presented much food for
thought.
The session's title was "Torah Wisdom/Torah Authority: Are We
Losing the Connection?" and its first speaker was Rabbi
Ephraim Wachsman, rosh hayeshiva of Yeshiva Maor Yitzchok and
rav of Congregation Ahavas Torah (Monsey).
Generations and Their Leaders
Rabbi Wachsman began by noting that attacks on daas Torah
have been with us since the time of Moshe Rabbenu, and
that present-day scoffers are but actors in the tradition of
Korach, the Tziddukim and the Maskilim. He then offered a
perceptive insight into the gemora's account of the
experience of Choni Hame'agel, whom Chazal described as
having slept for 70 years. Returning to a society that
revered his memory and teachings but refused to believe he
was who he was, he prayed for death, a request that was
granted.
Could Choni, Rabbi Wachsman asked, not simply have proven
himself with his Torah wisdom, or begun anew as a teacher of
Torah? Here, Rabbi Wachsman contended, we have a most
important lesson: Each generation needs to receive its
mesorah from its own gedolim. Choni had much to
teach to his own generation, and what he taught was passed on
to future ones as well, to be sure. But it had to be passed
on only through the leaders of each subsequent generation.
Dor dor vedorshov.
Thus, Rabbi Wachsman explained, we cannot establish a mode of
behavior based on the words of an early authority alone. We
cannot look, for example, to the Rambam's words to guide us
in how our society should ensure Torah-study, but at the
words of Rav Aharon and other gedolim of recent
generations and our own generation. That is how mesorah
works, he said, and the gedolim of our time must
be recognized as those most qualified to interpret, distill
and apply Torah truths to the challenges we face today.
Whether the issue was the Bais Yaakov movement in the time of
the Chofetz Chaim or Israel's drafting of women in the Chazon
Ish's, "proofs" from the gemora and Rishonim proffered
by lesser people were not germane; what mattered were the
deep understandings, honed by tzidkus and years of
intense Torah-study, of the true manhigei hador of
each generation.
Those who seek to undermine the deference to Daas Torah
demanded of us, said Rabbi Wachsman, are oblivious to the
import of that ideal, and can only seek to attribute what
they don't understand to "parallels" in larger society
— inaccurately comparing, for example, the principle of
daas Torah to the Catholic conception of papal
infallibility (lehavdil), or chareidi rabbinic leaders
to Islamic fundamentalists (lehavdil again).
These misguided individuals do not realize how unique the
Jew's relationship to the manhigei hador truly is. To
the scoffers, what is latest is by definition what is best;
to a Godol, what is new must be scrutinized
carefully.
Bringing It All Home
To be sure, Rabbi Wachsman continued, there are certainly
issues and situations that need to be addressed by our
gedolim. But to blame gedolim, who work so
tirelessly and with such great personal sacrifice on behalf
of Klal Yisroel and individual Jews, for even real and
present communal problems, is something cruel and evil.
In the end, though, the Rosh Hayeshiva exhorted, what is
important is not to speak about "them" but about "us." The
world without, he explained, is a mirror of who we are. Do we
ourselves listen to what the gedolim of our time say only
when it is comfortable for us? Pointing to the example of the
"simcha guidelines" issued by gedolei Yisroel four
years ago, designed to tone down chasunos and related
celebrations, the Rosh Hayeshiva asked: "Do we just talk
about daas Torah, or live it?"
Rabbi Wachsman's message was clear: When our own deference to
gedolim is real and strong, we will be spared the
scoffing and worse of those who hate Torah and its
exemplars.
Balderdash, Blogs and Bashing
The evening's second speaker was Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel,
executive vice-president for government and public affairs
for Agudath Israel of America. He began by calling attention
to the crassly negative tone of political advertisements
evident during the period leading up to the recent elections,
and presented it as a reflection of larger society's
tolerance for what, to a Torah-hashkofoh-tuned mind, is
nothing short of forbidden speech.
In American libel law, he explained, "truth is an absolute
defense," whereas the prohibition against loshon hora
concerns accurate information. And when it comes to
public figures, even outright untruths are protected by
American law, as long as "actual malice" cannot be proven.
How "diametrically opposed," observed Rabbi Zwiebel, is the
halachic attitude toward the slander of Torah leaders, which
is considered an especially grievous sin. Indeed, he noted,
halochoh requires that talmidei chachomim be judged
favorably even in situations where other people may not be
entitled to the benefit of the doubt.
The Agudath Israel leader went on to note how the societal
acceptance of mockery and slander has infiltrated the Jewish
world and how Torah scholars and leaders have become the
targets of some whose anger and frustrations blind them from
both seeing reality and recognizing what is acceptable and
what is not.
Rabbi Zwiebel focused on two contemporary manifestations of
the problem. One was an ostensibly Orthodox newspaper that
demonstrates contempt for rabbonim and gedolim who
dare to take a different approach to some political issues
from the paper's own, and publishes letters to the editor
that openly mock talmidei chachomim. The second was
"blogs," and the Agudath Israel leader quoted from one
comment left on one such virtual soapbox, which contended
that "the best thing about blogging is the anonymity. You
could be shaking a rosh yeshiva, rav or rebbe's hand by day
and then bash him in the evening."
That, Rabbi Zwiebel contended, well captured the mindset and
the evil to which the medium can be, and too often is, put to
use.
Our Messages to Our Young
Like Rabbi Wachsman before him though, Rabbi Zwiebel exhorted
his listeners to turn inward, and to think about how
destructive a thoughtlessly denigrating comment to a child
about his rebbe can be. "What message," he asked, "does that
send to a child?"
Not only is such denigration indefensible, it is particularly
outrageous regarding the dedicated mechanchim of our
children, he continued, illustrating his characterization of
rabbeim by reading a note his son received from his sixth
grade rebbe in which the rebbe took great pains to correct a
small error in something he had taught, and apologized to his
talmidim for the mistake. "We are so fortunate," the
Agudath Israel leader said, "that such people are being
mechanech our children."
He went on to show how central the concept of daas Torah
has always been to Agudath Israel, and recounted how
happy Rabbi Moshe Sherer was when a Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah
decision went against the expert advice of a lay panel of
experts. "This," he quoted the late president of Agudath
Israel of America as having explained at the time, "is why I
came to Agudas Yisroel."
"Who would you rather have making such decisions?" Rabbi
Sherer had explained. "You and I, or the gedolei
Yisroel?"
Subservience to Authority
Citing Chazal's dictum, "Asei lecho rav — Establish
a rabbinic authority for yourself," Rabbi Zwiebel declared
that even those who do not look specifically to the Moetzes
Gedolei HaTorah as the ultimate arbiter of daas Torah
must nonetheless defer to their own rabbonim. Whatever
latitude may be inherent in the "asei lecho" part of
the equation, he averred, in no way undermines the ultimate
subservience to rabbinic authority inherent in the "rav" part
of the equation.
Such subservience requires one to accept the judgment of the
rabbinic authority even if it is at variance with his own
judgment, Rabbi Zwiebel said. As the Sifsei Chachomim
explains on the Rashi in Parshas Shofetim quoting
Chazal that one may not deviate from the ruling of the
rabbinic judge, "even if he tells you that right is left and
left is right," in such situations a Jew is obliged to assume
that the mistake in judgment is his own.
Furthermore, even if the rabbinic authority should be
mistaken, the Agudath Israel leader stated, it is incumbent
upon the community to defer to his judgment — "and not
that each person should do as he personally understands,
because that will lead to `churban hadas', communal
division and total national loss," in the words of the
Sefer Hachinuch.
Two Very Different Visions
And so, the speaker concluded, we have two visions before us,
"a vision of the people, by the people, for the people, a
vision of free speech, freedom of the press, a vision of
skepticism and cynicism, a vision designed to find flaws":
and a second vision, that of recognizing that there is a
hierarchy in Klal Yisroel, that we need the
misnas'im al kehal Hashem, and that any attempt to
knock them down is ma'aseh Korach."
Today, "more starkly and clearly than ever before," declared
Rabbi Zwiebel, "which path we ultimately take will decide
whether we will continue to thrive as a Torah community or,
chas vesholom, face churban hadas. May it be
Hashem's will," he concluded, in the words of the weekday
post-krias haTorah tefilloh, "that He preserve among
us the sages of Israel, they and their wives, their sons and
their daughters, their disciples and the disciples of their
disciples, in all their dwelling places, and let us say
omein."
Demonstrating Deference
The evening's feature address was then delivered by the
Mashgiach of Beth Medrash Govoha, Lakewood, Rabbi Matisyahu
Salomon, who began by noting how the Haggodoh
introduces the "four sons" with a reference to
Hakodosh Boruch Hu's giving of the Torah to Klal
Yisroel. The implicit lesson, the Mashgiach explained, is
that only the Torah can provide the tools for knowing how
precisely we are to interact with individuals, each of whom
must be dealt with according to his own personality.
Rabbi Salomon then proceeded to note that the response the
Haggodoh provides for the rosho's challenge is
not the one the posuk assigns to the words of the
rosho's question in the Torah. What is more, the
Mashgiach pointed out, the Haggodoh's response to that
son is not couched as an answer, or "amira," at
all.
Many answer, Rabbi Salomon said, that the Baal Haggodoh is
teaching us not what to answer the rosho, but rather how to
react to the derision he voices, not to be impressed with his
challenge, to respond by stating a fact that will set his
teeth on edge. Thus, the Mashgiach explained, the scoffer,
seeing our firmness and determination, may just be shaken,
and perhaps brought to do teshuvoh. For we must
remember that Klal Yisroel bowed in gratitude at the
"besuras habonim" heralded by the rosho's
question; bringing reshoim back into the fold,
which we can do if we choose our responses correctly, is our
ultimate hope.
That our answer to the tam is the same as to the
rosho, Rabbi Salomon continued, may imply that we must
provide him the answer to use should the rosho scoff
to him. For we must strengthen all of our children, and give
them the ammunition with which to fight back when their
beliefs are attacked.
But, the Mashgiach stressed, echoing the other speakers of
the evening, "we did not come here to criticize or attack
others, but to strengthen ourselves," to ensure that the
"insidious poison" not seep into our homes, to "immunize
ourselves" against the plague of anger toward and mockery of
talmidei chachomim and gedolei Yisroel.
One suggestion he offered for accomplishing that immunization
was to be extremely careful that our Shabbos tables be filled
with simcha shel mitzvah and words that bespeak
ahavas talmidei chachomim, not, cholila,
anything that might be construed as the opposite. "Let
our children see whom we respect. Let us be more
demonstrative of our deference to authority." Our children,
he averred, have to feel that respect and deference, and they
can only feel it if we do ourselves.
Rabbi Salomon took pains to declare that we have no complaint
against anyone asking questions about our convictions, or
even disagreeing — agreeably — with stances we
have seen fit to take. But, he explained, when it is done
with cynicism and derision, when vulgar language and
sentiments are used to denigrate rabbonim, manhigim
and talmidei chachomim, "we must rise to their
defense."
Even, sadly, when wrong things are done, we cannot stand by
when a "broad brush" is used to smear those to whom we look
for guidance and daas Torah.
Contemporary scoffers, the Mashgiach pointed out, like to
accuse the chareidi community of "sweeping things under the
carpet." They are right, he explained, but not in the way
they mean. "Do they know how many perpetrators" of sins
against others "have been dealt with?" No, he explained,
because when actions are taken against individuals who have
proven themselves untrustworthy, we do not trumpet our
actions. Even as we take what steps are necessary to help
protect others, we also seek to protect human dignity. And
when crimes are asserted but not proven, we are guided not by
a mob mentality but by the Torah. That, the Mashgiach
declared, is not cowardice but courage.
As the night's topic is so painful, Rabbi Salomon concluded,
and as we cannot even know how many people are influenced by
the unwarranted criticism and mockery of Torah-scholars so
prevalent today, "it would be fitting to show our response"
to the words spoken over the course of the evening "not by
clapping" but rather "by standing up, and being mechabeid
the gedolei Torah" of our times. That, he
declared, is how we have to be mesakein the
bizoyon. "We are soldiers. We are mekadshei Sheim
Shomayim."
And with that, all in the large assemblage rose from their
seats and joined the Lakewood Mashgiach in declaring their
allegiance to Torah and its transmitters, loudly and clearly,
"Atoh hor'eiso loda'as, ki Hashem Hu ho'Elokim, ein od
milevado!"
End of the Report of the Thursday Session
