Enlightening Exchange With ‘Talmid of Rav Dovid Soloveitchik zatzal’ About Zionism, Brisk and Truthfulness

Hi, sure you can publish it, but please don’t print my name.

Dear “Talmid of Rav Dovid Soloveitchik Zt”l”,

So, you say I misquoted your rebbe on purpose? How do you know it was on purpose? Heh, you remind me of the Brisker line against “הראשון לשושלת בריסק”: it must have been written Beru’ach Hakodesh due to the frequent “ויאמר רבי יוסף דוב בליבו…”, same as the gemara proves regarding the Megillah. (You also accuse Dr. Marc Shapiro, but he can do his own defending.)

Well, speaking of malicious misquoting, Rabbi Dovid Soloveitchik writes about more than just Torah scholars. Why didn’t you read the short original Hebrew (instead of Dr. Shapiro’s paraphrases, a man you anyway distrust) before accusing others of your own misdeeds? In fact, why not supply me with the original so I can see for myself? Oh, you don’t have the sefer? Some Talmid you are [unfair, to match you]!)

[And anyway, didn’t Rabbi Dovid Soloveitchik degrade Rabbi Steinman (yes, he made an effort to desist)? Anyway, that wasn’t the topic at hand.]

You write:

There is a big difference between not degrading someone to respecting someone. Tzvei Dinim. Saying that he meant to be respectful is twisting his words!

Right, well this isn’t a hashkafa treatise, but a short blog post and title. “סוגיא בדוכתא עדיפא”. Don’t you know the Rambam’s letter (der heilige Rambam!) on the inherent problems with translation? English is barely a Torah language (and Brisk would doubt even that).

In fact, not only do you seem to not own the book, or read even the quoted part for yourself, you didn’t even read my final sarcastic words, capable of various interpretations (“Yeah, right”)! Yikes. How long did you study by Rabbi Dovid Soloveitchik, anyway?! I assume you know the Chassam Sofer quip…

You have been reading this site for a long time (or at least you’re subscribed). I often translate “Charedim” as “observant”. Charedi (anti-Zionist)\ Mizrachi is a false dichotomy in my opinion, and I explained this many times in the past. How did you miss every such article? Didn’t you want to escape helping for Pesach then, too?

If we’re going to be accurate, why not start by conceding I always do my best to quote everyone accurately, friend or foe? (Or at least provide a link\reference.) And it’s not a “slight zionist twist” on my part, but an anti-anti-Zionism that differentiates between the true Atchalta Dege’ula and the wicked regime, unlike both rabbis Steinman and Soloveitchik. And don’t say anti-anti-Zionist=Zionist, because that would contradict your own Tzvei Dinim above (double-negative≠positive).

It beggars belief. You think I care about berserker Brisker distinctions with or without a difference in a nonexistent dictionary of pidgin “Lashon Hakodesh”; bizuy, zilzul? Look, I copied the Hebrew original I had. I gave a hyperlink to let the (intelligent) reader judge for himself. I made a degrading\de-grading (don’t start again!) 2-word remark and left it at that. I couldn’t contact the Soloveitchik Family Heritage Foundation’s spokesperson in charge of non-media inquiries for an official response by the estate’s board of directors, because… there is none. And you’re not it, either. What more do you want from me?! If you worry about games of broken telephone with Brisker doctrines, why not begin with Rabbi S.Y. Meller’s books or Rabbi Frankfurter’s Ami magazine?

Anyway, were you known as a reliable disseminator of Briskerism, I would make a whole separate article just from your words. Do you seriously think you can disregard the obvious technical competency of certain rabbis due to a “fundamental problem in their belief systems”, imaginary or genuine? This is just off-the-wall crazy (not even going into the perversion of the Ikarim in Brisk)! Do Rabbi Dovid’s talmidim follow him on either this or on the section I brought? Do they even respect the “charedim” of Chug Chazon Ish? Is such hair-splitting ad-hominem behavior even possible (not to mention it doesn’t comfortably fit the Rambam’s own quoting whoever he agreed with)?

Last but not least, although an old time subscriber, you seem unaware of many more substantive articles against various aspects of Brisk. I am an aspiring “Anti-Brisk”! Why don’t you write honestly about something lengthy and fundamental next time?

I am happy to publish critical comments of substance and I wish to believe your first attempt was unrepresentative of either you or Rabbi Dovid Soloveitchik zatzal. Why not search Hyehudi.org and try again?

Stay safe,

Hyehudi.org Editor

The Talmid:

Attached.

Download (PDF, 437KB)