From yesterday here.
Before I continue, the reader should know I am about to engage in Lashon Hara Leto’eles (כאשר ציוני ד’ אלדי, בשם כל ישראל). So, it may not be for you. This warning applies to numerous other items on this site, of course.
Rabbi Eliezer Eisenberg’s comments at his “Beis Vaad L’Chachamim” (Wednesday, November 15, 2023), “based on a lifetime of close relationships with Gedolei Torah” (!), should be etched in stone.
Here is the text version (with comments interspersed):
My personal opinion on the Yeshiva opposition to participation:
Based on a lifetime of close relationships with Gedolei Torah, here are some things I know and some I believe. They are nuanced, which is a synonym for “irrelevant to most people.”
1. Extremism generally wins. Once a powerful Rosh Yeshiva passels something, any other individual who disagrees risks the future of his mossad. He will be labeled ‘modern,’ and some supporters and parents of potential talmidim will choose a different yeshiva/mossad. This can only be avoided if a large counter-group of gedolim unanimously say it is a good thing. And,…….
Unanimity is rare. As Rav Hutner once said upon leaving an endless and contentious meeting of the Moetzes, “The great neis of the Targum Hashivim was that seventy gedolei Yisrael in separate rooms all said the same thing. Today it would be a neis if two gedolei Yisrael in one room could say the same thing.”
As a result, one could say that Gresham’s law applies to kanna’us among Gedolim.
In response to the letter of Rabbi Aharon Feldman explaining his reversal on the question of attending the Washington rally, a commenter writes:
This explanation is laughable. Rav Feldman only discovered on the morning of the rally that this would be the type of event that include the singing of Hatikvah and speeches from prominent officials of the State of Israel?! That’s not remotely believable.
Everybody (or at least everybody with some knowledge of Ner Yisroel) knows that the real reason he began to oppose it the morning of is because the night before, the Lakewood roshei yeshiva issued their own letter condemning it. Rav Feldman has long been embarrassed by the general perception in the yeshiva world that Ner is more liberal/worldly than BMG and similar institutions. So once Lakewood was opposed, he rushed to get on the bandwagon…
Natan Slifkin:
That would fit perfectly with what happened with him and my books. He thought that the ban on my books was a very very bad idea, but when he started getting accused of going against the Gedolim, he rushed to get on the banwagon.
[Ed., there is a letter from Rabbi Feldman originally opposing the book ban.]
Back to Rabbi Eliezer Eisenberg:
2. Gedolei Yisrael tend to be ultra-conservative. I do not chas veshalom say this critically. I cannot be critical, because I am not in their position either in gadlus batorah or in responsibility. It is just a fact.
Well, I sure say it critically! By “responsibility” I think he means the “Greats” were vetted and corrupted into sheer apathy in order to reach their ‘Great’ position in the first place.
3. Sometimes, a Gadol will put out a kol korei disapproving of some gathering, but will hope that any reader with an ounce of seichel will respectfully do the opposite. In the case of the letters and pronouncements about this rally, I think that this actually was very clear.
Rabbi Eisenberg reminds me of the old rumor (probably butchering this) that a certain Ram at Ponevezh spoke loudly once, twice, and thrice “against” using violence against one of his ideological opponents (with no obvious reason; nothing was even going on), until finally expressing his exasperation his dumb students weren’t doing the opposite of what he was pretending to tell them (and lamenting the “yeridas hadoros” as compared to a different case where the students got the hidden message immediately)…
4. Pronouncements that are appropriate on a communal level do not necessarily apply to individuals. What is appropriate for individuals is sometimes inappropriate as policy.
Yikes.
Here is a screenshot (to keep track and in case the content changes):
Of course, none of this is to state a personal opinion on attending the rally (by the way, to speak of “American” support of “Israel” is to deal in floating and misleading abstractions.)
