So do I want to step in the morass of whose gadol is greater, along the lines of the various comments at agudah-apologetics.com or at Gil's house? No, sir, I do not. (I must confess to being amused by the whole issue, as though there is some empirical means of comparison other than perceived popularity. Which, of course, Shabbetai Tzevi would have won in a landslide.)
I did want to comment on the delicious irony of it all. Essentially, the Anti-slifkinites are now using the paramount principle of "the gedoilim are always right" to defend dismissing the Rambam, Rav Hirsch, and Rav Dessler (Rav Dessler!) as irrelevant to hashgacha promulgated by, well, no names here.
Even more ironical (sorry 'bout 'dat), the segment of our community that believes in the primacy of text over mimeticism (a word I had never heard before the Rav, Jr. used it, of course) is also now dismissing texts that it believes are inconsistent with attitudes that are prevalent.
Look, in my experience, most rabbis are intelligent and well-meaning. But not all - and I say this from adequately personal experience of getting shafted by the system. And certainly the petition-pushers have even less of a chezkas kashrus.
I find myself reacting particularly badly to the "oh, no, there are very good reasons why we cannot protest Slifkin's being lynched without the opportunity to defend himself, but we just cannot tell you what these reasons are"-type assertions. After David Berger came out with his concerns over Chabadianity, he also received missives telling him that the self-important "leaders" - appointed to their positions of infallibility by, I suppose, Moshe Sherer and/or the editorial staff at the Yated - are contemplating his work, and they'll come out with a response real soon. By, say, 2001. Or 2003. Or never. Or when someone with a spine does first. Or never.
As was pointed out in several different contexts, all that is necessary for evil to prevail in the world is for good people to do nothing. Or to self-righteously ask, "Who am I to take a stand?"
- Moishe Potemkin, still alternating between rage and amusement
Posted by MoisheP at January 29, 2005 07:36 PM