In the Areivim e-mail List a poster writes of a story his Rav related about Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach. This story was told to him by someone who was there. A Chiloni had brought Rav Shlomo some Shalach Manos. A few minutes later the head of the Edah HaCharedis walked in and Rav Shlomo Zalman passed on this Shalch Manos on to him. Later someone asked him how he could do that, the underlying presumption being that the Kashrus standards of the Chiloni could not possibly be in line with the strict standards of either Rav Shlomo himself or with those of the head of the Edah HaCharedis.
Rav Shlomo answered that on Purim, Shalach Manos is to unite the Jewish people that should not be separate peoples. So everyone can rely on the same Hasgachos and not insist on Chumros.
They wanted to print the story in one of the books about RSZA, but one of his sons objected. He said it was a Kulah the people could not understand ( ...known in Talmud parlance as a “Kulah She-eEin HaTzibbur Yachol Laamod Bo)
Surprise, surprise.... NOT!
Certainly to most of us, RSZA's act and his explanation is a wonderful demonstration of Achdus. But in their Tzibur his act is a Kulah She-Ein Hatzibbur Yachol Laamod Bo.
The actions of Rav Shlom Zalman Auerbach, a man who according to the vast majority of Jews was considered one of the great Gedolei HaDor of the last generation are trumped by people with a mindset that cannot handle such a Kula. ...a mindset that chases every Chumrah as though it were normative Halacha.
Is this the way God intends His people to be? I don't think so. Yet, that is what Bnei Torah have evolved into. They never saw a Chumrah they didn't like. And it would appear that Rav Shlomo’s son is actively perpetuating Chumra mentality in that community by refusing to spread this true story about his father.
But why should anyone be surprised at this behavior? Just today on Gil’s blog he tells of his experience over the weekend with Pirchei who did the same thing. They completely failed to acknowledge the contributions to the Torah world of the Rav. In a video “Dare to Dream” about the building of Torah in America, they completely ignored him as though he didn’t exist.
And on his blog Marvin Schick tells us the same thing:
“An English language book has just been published on the life and teachings of the great Roshe Yeshiva of Lakewood. I trust that it has much merit, but it also puts on display the problem we face. There is a photograph from the first Chinuch Atzmai dinner which was held more than a half century ago. Amazingly, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik has been cropped out of the picture. What makes this distortion especially egregious is that he was at the dinner because Rav Aharon Kotler pleaded with him to come and be the main speaker.”
Where do the ultra-Orthodox get their attitude? When it comes to Hashkafa, RW education is more about indoctrination than it is about education. They never let the facts get in the way of their "truth". Their "truth" is that RYBS was Krum and his Hashkafos distorted the Emito Shel Torah. So we can't God forbid let them value him as any kind of contributor to the up building of the Olam HaTorah.
This is precisely what the ban on MOAG was about. This is what the incident with Rav Shlomo Zalman is about and this is what the cropping out of the Rav’s picture is about.
The primary organization of the Ultra-Orthodox is Agudah. Their loyalty to "the Gedolim" (meaning those who were chosen to be on the Agudah Moetzes) is so complete they treat them as infallible. The Ultra-Orthodox Agudah types are so indoctrinated to fear "outside Hashkafos" that they have to hide the truth from their flock lest their children become "spoiled" and end up in a YU, or worse God forbid! (Of course, I'm not sure one can do worse than YU in their eyes either.)
This is unfortunately the “state of the union” today. And as the examples in this essay demonstrate, the revisionist, rejectionist, exclusivist, Hashkafa is the same both in the US and in Israel. And it is egregiously wrong.
