העורך Editor

Asking for counsel is one thing, but arrogating prophetic legal authority to a “chacham” (scholar) is another.

Rabbi Nachum Rabinovitch explains.

I don’t know about you, but it’s hard for me to relate to scholars whose only surviving words are written in the impersonal, judicial or exegetical voice. And if I can’t relate I cannot hope to emulate.

Want to get a sense for the Gaon’s personality? His works have a “distant” tone. The hagiography makes it even worse. What to do? See this excellent post by Rabbi Avi Grossman here. Rabbi Grossman highlights evidence of “humanity” in the personal letter by the Gaon to his family. (His point is different.) Short and sweet.

P.S. A whole book on our heroes could probably be written in this manner. A word to the wise…

Here is a short and enlightening letter from Nehama Leibowitz on learning Scripture from unsavory characters:

Download (PDF, 46KB)

I do not recall where this document comes from. If I find out, I will link it.

The short version from Wikipedia is this:

The Yemenite Children Affair (Hebrew: פרשת ילדי תימן) was the disappearance of hundreds of babies and toddlers of new immigrants to the newly founded state of Israel, mainly from Yemen, between the years 1948 to 1954. Most cases involved the parents being told in the hospital that their newborn children had died although they never received additional reliable information about their fates. The parents claim that their children were really kidnapped and given or sold to Ashkenazi families. In several cases, the children tracked down their parents many years later and conclusively determined their relationship to their Yemenite relations using DNA testing.

It’s in the news at the moment.

Here is a great page compiling many links on the topic.

ראה כאן הקדמת ספר לב אריה לרב אריה קרלין נגד שיטות בריסק וטלז שבאו לעולם בימיו. הדברים חריפים, אך מהוסים. העמוד כולו להלן:

Download (PDF, 93KB)

הספר המלא בהיברובוקס, כאן.