העורך Editor

Why exactly is Rabbi Dov Landa shlit”a deciding which age groups get to learn Torah, what and where? Why not a group of people: Beis Din? (And how come his “ruling” ignores geography?)

Is Rabbi Landa a recognized expert on missiles and war? Is he at least a famously able and patient listener and a quick study of new, complex, fuzzy information? A seasoned posek, very experienced at matching up risk numbers and practical halacha, very good at being neither too “stringent” nor too “lenient”?

Or is he, IN FACT, none of the above? And the ostensible figures and estimates were surely not presented by the best and brightest, either.

And all this assumes all the various schools and parents, and students can’t decide for themselves after whatever processes they usually follow.

Not only is he not the right person to decide for others, he is a personally fearful person who shouldn’t even be listening to himself, a consistent neo-Erastian (though not National-Religious proto-fascist/Statoloter) who can’t even conceive of doubting the authorities’ edicts or presentations of facts. We have already written on Rabbi Landa’s irrational, neurotic compulsion to defer to State power, in a violent and abusive manner, including for statist Dead-Letter suggestions, even when these violate his own religious commitments and decision-making.

מסוף הפרשה:

והיה לכם לציצת וראיתם אתו וזכרתם את כל מצות יהוה ועשיתם אתם ולא תתורו אחרי לבבכם ואחרי עיניכם אשר אתם זנים אחריהם.

מדברי הרב מאיר אליהו שליט”א בשיעור:

לכאו’ קשה, למה הקדים הלב לעיניים? אדרבא, עין רואה ולב חומד. וי”ל, שראיה לפי תומו לאנסו אין בה שום חטא, ולכן החטא מתחיל בלב.

דפח”ח.

לינק: לבני ברק אין שום הבטחת הגנה מהחזו”א, ק”ו לא מקומות אחרים

יצא כעת מכתב ע”ז מהרב יהודא סילמן והרב שריאל רוזנברג שליט”א:

Remember “Rabbi Nachman told me himself everyone will manage to make it to Uman for Rosh Hashana” [said during the height of Corona when most failed to arrive]? “Mashiach is coming this year!“, and so on?

There’s a pattern…

Rabbi Berel Wein served as Rabbinic Administrator of the OU’s Kashrus Division for five years (1972-1977) and left due to his growing cynicism about rabbis. Rabbi (J.B.?) Soloveitchik initially tried to dissuade him, but upon hearing Rabbi Wein’s true reason, he then approved of this decision, saying, “Cynicism is on the road to kefirah” (!).

Listen to Rabbi Shlomi Wise for yourself here (I may not have captured the nuances), minutes 6-9.

I think there are multiple lessons here, including for American kashrus (given OU’s size), the limits of reform, and the spiritual risk of cynicism.

Which reminds me: I know someone who once ate almost anything because he relied on all the various Hashgachos equally (עזוב, הכל סתם פוליטיקה). Then he went and studied to become a Mashgiach himself. For a few weeks or months during the course, he was far more aware. Now he is a certified Mashgiach… and he eats just about anything because he distrusts all the various Hashgachos equally!

(Yes, of course I tried with him! By the way, see this.)