The Making of a Real Gadol Requires Courage

Rav Dov Landau (VIN)

I am not in the habit of using DUS IZ NEIS (DIN) as a source for my commentary. Although I often agree with the writer’s perspective, I find his anti Charedi bias to be so over the top that it undermines his often legitimate message. He is therefore vilified by his Charedi critics who completely ignore anything he says.

That being said, I am going to make an exception this time because of a comment made by one of his readers to a recent post criticizing a Charedi religious leader. It reads -unedited - as follows: 

what do you care if yidden who are following the GRA and the mesorah of the olama hayeshivos want to pass that on to the next generation? even if your not part of the litvishe camp, you have to respect their mesorah etc. l'maase in the litvish world learning is above everything else. that is the way it is and was since the GRA and Rav Chaim Volozhener...that is why a 24 year old yungerman learning in bmg will get more kovod then the biggest zakein billionaire gvir, because Torah is more precious then all gold and silver! 90% of beys yaakov girls want to marry a learning boy, take it or leave it.
now in terms of army service and sherut leumi for girls, this battle was already fought and won in the 1950's. maran hachazon ish paskened it was yaharoig v'al yavaor. the steipler's sister's prepared knives to kill themselves in case the army would come kidnap them! ( see bmechistzasam by reb shlomo lorincz for all the details available in english at your local bookshop). 

More about the issue he was referring to later. But I believe that this comment is not an exception to how the more right wing element of the Charedi world thinks. I believe this kind of comment is typical. Which is why there is no grass roots movement to change a system that increasingly harms its own people. While at the same time believing that it enhances it. 

I do not believe mainstream moderate Charedim share that view. The majority of Charedim (especially in the US where most Charedim are essentially moderate) have chosen to – not only work for a living, but in many cases seek a higher education to better support their families. But will still say that studying Torah full time is the highest calling that every Jew should at first try to undertake. They will 'explain' that their working for a living is B’Dieved - a secondary choice. And wish they could still be learning Torah L’Shma full time. 

I do not believe them.  Not that they are intentionally lying. They might actually believe this. But as noted the vast majority do eventually find jobs. And in many cases get the education required to get good ones. It cannot be that a lifestyle that is considered the ideal is honored mostly in the breach by the majority. Deep down they must know that supporting their families and being Koveah Itim (setting aside a regular times for Torah study) instead of learning Torah full time for the rest of their lives is the right thing to do. (Others may disagree. But that is my opinion.)

What that DIN commentator was referring to was a story in VIN as reported on in DUS IZ NEIS. Which is the epitome of what’s wrong with the Charedi engine that perpetuates a lifestyle that at the  end of the day is harmful to them for a variety of reasons. What it shows is that any movement in the direction of common sense solutions that will enhance their material and ultimately their spiritual welfare is doomed to failure once it is challenged by the conventional Charedi wisdom of the past. Wisdom that was right for it’s time, but has resulted in a way of life for all of them. I doubt was ever intended by the Gedolim that expressed it. From VIN: 

Rabbi Dov Landau has joined with Rabbi Meir Kessler, the rabbi of Modiin Illit, in warning against Charedi women being employed as civilian members of the IDF. 

In a letter published in the Yated Neeman newspaper on Friday, Rabbi Landau compared working for the IDF with the prohibition issued by the Chazon Ish against drafting women into the army. 

In a letter published in the Yated Neeman newspaper on Friday, Rabbi Landau compared working for the IDF with the prohibition issued by the Chazon Ish against drafting women into the army. 

Rabbi Landau added that “These matters are serious and harm the foundations of Judaism. They are included in the ruling of the Chazon Ish against women enlisting for national service and there is no room to claim that some cases are excluded from this..” 

One might say that this is exactly what their ‘Daas Torah’ believes - and has believed from the very beginning of the state. And that R’ Landau, a Charedi leader, is merely restating a position that has always been that of the Charedi leadership. That is certainly what I would have thought. 

But it isn’t. Charedi ‘Daas Torah’ actually responded to the changed of conditions of our times.  A response to what may even be an actual existential threat to a community beginning to collapse under its own weight: 

The project was initially sponsored by (the Lithuanian led Charedi) Degel Hatorah representatives and has been kept under wraps for fear of opposition to the initiative. IDF sources said that the seminars and the charedi society have had an active role in the project. 

How sad it is when a good idea has to be kept secret for fear of repercussions from some of  their own leaders. And worse -  ends up being condemned and trashed when exposed. 

What does this say about Charedi leadership when good projects they actually support can be so easily torpedoed because of pronouncements of past Gedloim. Pronouncements based on conditions that no longer apply. 

It’s obvious they are not blind to the reality that motivated them to pursue that policy in the first place. Where is their courage to stand their original more enlightened ground? Why must they now cower, and condemn what they once endorsed - if clandestinely?

I think the answer to that is that they are victims of their own successful rhetoric. Perpetuated for decades. A rhetoric that is bought hook line and sinker by the very large segment of right wing Charedim like the abovementioned commentator. As Jonathan Rosenblum wrote a few years ago about member of the Agudah Motetzes that agreed with one of his criticisms. That Moetzes member refused to speak out publicly about it for fear that he would be called a ‘Fake Gadol’ . 

Need I say more? If you ask me, his very excuse is what might actually make him a ‘Fake Gadol’ . Because it makes him a follower rather than a leader.