Reprinted with permission.
As reported by The Western Journal, in what many are calling the “Facebook purge,” Facebook announced on Thursday that it removed over 800 political pages and accounts in a clamp down on what the social media company calls “inauthentic behavior” in the lead-up to the midterm elections next month.
Facebook did not release the full list of pages impacted by this action. Upon being asked, Facebook refused to disclose the full list.
The following is a list of 186 pages that are currently unpublished on Facebook. Some of these have been confirmed by the owners as having been unpublished by Facebook as part of Thursday’s mass purge of pages, while others are currently unconfirmed as being part of the purge. However, all of these pages were still indexed by Google on October 12, 2018, which suggests they were recently active and thus removed recently.
This list of 186 pages purged by Facebook contains over 57 million followers in total. Fan totals were recorded from the cache stored by Google.
From The Burning Platform, here.
Nasty rabbinic politics are usually best quickly forgotten. However, sometimes it pays to remember just to keep in mind that the “good old days” weren’t always so good. The following attack was so over-the-top, so gratuitous and insulting, that it deserves remembering as a cautionary tale of how far beyond acceptable boundaries Torah students can veer in a misguided sense of righteous indignation.
In 1984, the Student Organization of Yeshiva University published a book of Torah essays in honor of Rav Joseph B. Soloveitchik turning 80 and having taught Torah at YU for 40 years, Sefer Kevod Ha-Rav edited by R. Moshe Sherman and R. Jeffrey Woolf. In addition to scholars within Yeshiva’s orbit, a few leading Torah authorities also contributed essays–most notably, Rav Moshe Feinstein, Rav Ya’akov Ruderman and Rav Mordechai Gifter.
Rav Feinstein’s article was the first in the book and began with this brief personal note (my translation):
I come with this to send my blessing to the editors of this festschrift that the students of the great genius, our master Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik shlit”a arranged in his honor, as he reaches the age of strength [eighty]. And also to offer my prayer that God lengthen the days and years of my dear, great friend, in old age, full of sap and richness [Ps. 92:15], and that he continue to spread Torah in public and to engage in public matters, in honor of God and His Torah, and as an honor to our families. With friendship and appreciation, Moshe Feinstein
Those who did not already know that Rav Soloveitchik’s mother was a Feinstein may still have caught the hint about the honor of their families that these two great scholars were cousins. However, that did not stop people who identified themselves as students of the Brisk Yeshiva in Jerusalem from attacking not just Rav Soloveitchik but Rav Moshe Feinstein and the other authors in this volume.
In words that are so vile I dare not translate them, these Torah students denigrated the leading halakhic authority in America at that time and other venerated sages. They proceed to denounce R. Chaim Karlinsky for his classic biography of the Beis Ha-Levi, R. Yosef Dov Soloveitchik (great-grandfather of the intellectual leader of YU), as well as his publisher, Mekhon Yerushalayim. This makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time. Below is the first paragraph and a link to a PDF of the full letter, courtesy of The Pini Dunner Collection. The letter is discussed in detail in the recent JQR article, “A Haredi Attack on Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik: A Battle over the Brisker Legacy from 1984” by R. Pini Dunner and Prof. David N. Myers (link).
As a postscript, the book sold out and, nearly a decade later, the Student Organization of Yeshiva republished it, which was when I bought my copy.
הננו בזה לצאת במחאה גלויה נגד אלו המתכנין בשם ״גדולים״ ו״ראשי ישיבות״ בארה״ב, בנותנם יד חנפה להעוכר ישראל הידועה העריץ מבאסטאן, יליד השכלת ברלין הארורה והמרעיל לבות בני ישראל בדעות ארסיות וכעורות, כידוע, בזה שהנ״ל פרסמו מכתבי העמל שלהם, לרגל ימות שמונים שנה להצדוקי הבוסטנאי, מעל דפי הקורנס הנושא שם ״כבוד הרב״, ועוד גברה עליהם אגרופה של חנופה זולה לכנות את המזולזל הזה כממשיך שלשלת בריסק.
Here is the full letter:
From Torah Musings, here.
ציטוט ישעיהו ליבוביץ במכתב:
Zohar III 108a:
מאי עול מלכות שמים, אלא כהאי תורא דיהבין עליה עול בקדמיתא, בגין לאפקא מניה טב לעלמא, ואי לא קביל עליה ההוא עול, לא עביד מדי, הכי נמי אצטריך ליה לבר נש לקבלא עליה עול בקדמיתא, ולבתר דיפלח ביה בכל מה דאצטריך, ואי לא קביל עליה האי בקדמיתא, לא ייכול למפלח.
But nobody works hard for the benefit of the rest of the world, only their own profit, right?
I understand the phrase “בגין לאפקא מניה טב לעלמא” to mean “to effectuate”. “Olam” here as in אשת אח שלא היה בעולמו, דבר שלא בא לעולם etc.