A yeshiva student once visited Rabbi Simcha Bunim Alter, author of “Lev Simcha”. When the rabbi inquired where he studied, the young man mentioned the name of a certain yeshiva known to contain many Ba’alei Teshuva among the student body. Realizing this, he appended he, himself, was not a Ba’al Teshuva.
“Why not?!”, asked the Lev Simcha.
ניתן לקרוא ספר “בגדי שלום ואמת” באתר בריתי יצחק בתרגום לאידיש כאן.
לגירסה המקורית בעברית, ראה כאן.
“Hard cases make bad law”. But the extreme bending of Torah truth in Aguna She’eilos literature is in a league of its own…
A recent article on Torah Musings, titled “Stretching Halakhah For An Agunah” is stomach-turning.
(Speaking of the Rema, why doesn’t he mention the introduction to the Rema’s “Toras Chatas”?)
Reprinted from the Zionist Organization of America.
A great Parsha sheet we’ve quoted in the past, “Ner Leshulchan Shabbat”, quotes Rabbi Aaron Leib Steinman complaining the extra Tanach verses added to the “Bedtime Shema” make it too onerous, so many Jews don’t recite it at all. The pesukim mentioned in the Gemara for protection suffice, Rabbi Steinman concluded.
Why, we can also add other well-intentioned additions causing the same effect, at least to some degree. Such as in Tefillas Haderech, bentching after meals, and more. If Birkas Hachamah (assuming it should be said at all) wasn’t so rare, the same thing would happen there, too.
Don’t you think the Chasam Sofer, Chida, et alii could have predicted this result?!
So, you deny the facts?