I need this blog like a...   

Quite a bit actually. What I am about to write I am writing because I have not seen it reported elsewhere in the media or on the blogs. Having been quite disturbed by the controversy (for those who don't know, check out Slifkin's website) since it began, I spoke recently with a Rav who has been very active in Agudas Yisroel for many years and hence has developed a close relationsip with many of the gedolei yisroel as well as Rabbi Skifkin himself. The purpose of this post is to relate what he told me as well as my interpretation of how this information should shape our perspective on the issue. The Begginings... All of this began when someone presented the books to a semi-well-known Rav from B'nei Brak (whose name I won't mention). This individual found Rabbi Slifkin's assertions so objectionable (and I suppose heretical) that in his kanoi-like fervor decided he needed to silence him. He then began to contact Rabbanim in E"Y and the US to try and create a ban. When the news reached R' Shmuel Kamenetzky Shlit"a (who wrote a haskama to The Science of Torah and who claims to have read much but not all of it), he immediately tried to stop it and declared that this issue should be dropped. However, the signature collecting process had begun. On the dotted line... As anyone who has visited with gedolim knows, they are not exactly people with alot of free time. The truth is that they are so busy that they cannot possibly attend to every matter that comes before them. They therefore have aides who handle many things for them, sometimes without their knowledge. My source spoke directly with R' Sheinberg Shlit"a, who said that he was not aware that he had signed the ban at the time it was published, but rather that one of his aides had done it for him. He also spoke with R' Yosef Efrati, the top aide to R' Elyashiv Shlit"a. R' Efrati stated that he signed the ban himself without the knowledge of R' Elyashiv. Of course, we assume that the gedolim pick aides whom they believe will adequately represent their viewpoints. However, there is still no substitute for a gadol. Also, it seems to be policy amongst gedolim to stand united whenever possible. R' Efrati stated that he was shown only 2 or 3 pages of the books (which did seem potentially heretical), but that he really signed based not on that but on the list he was shown of other gedolim who had already signed. If everyone else had signed, he didn't want R' Elyashiv to be left out. His reasoning is likely that (and this applies to any issue that comes before them) if people read a piece of paper signed by gedolim and they find one missing, they will assume that this gadol dissents and that they therefore have a heter to ignore it. While this accounts for only 2 of the signatories, they were the most prominent 2, and my source believes it likely that this was the case for the vast majority. Was there any substance? According to my source, the one issue which really did not sit well with those gedolim who were actually aware of the ban they signed, was Rabbi Slifkin's attempt to prove that the Torah endorses Darwin's theory of evolution. They felt that he went way beyond R' Hirsch into unchartered territory which was beyond his ability to go (he may be brilliant and well-researched but he's still just a young guy who is not a recognized adam gadol...at least not yet). Mind you, there is a huge difference between saying that something is objectionable and should not be published and saying it is heresy. Indeed, R' Yitzchok Adlerstein, one of Rabbi Slifkin's supporters, originally warned him not to include this piece. R' Shmuel Kamenetzky did not read that piece before giving his haskamah and it is for this reason that he requested that Rabbi Slifkin no longer include his haskamah with the book (at least in its current form). So what Now? Will we see a retraction? Not likely. Nobody is going to want to make anybody else look bad, so a retraction would probably only happen if everyone would participate. Don't hold your breath for that. What is more likely is that Rabbi Slifkin will be given the opportunity to make some changes and clarifications and to republish and, if he agrees, will be given lots of big name haskamos, presumably from the names listed on the ban. This is already what is happening with "Making of a Gadol". So what did we learn from all this? 1) This is NOT an attempt by all the great rabbis of our generation to squelch any attempt at creative Torah or unconventional viewpoints. Those who might fall into this category are a minority and do not include the most prominent leaders. 2) One may want to criticize the gedolim for giving too much authority to their aides. I would agree and would hope that they would alter their policy, at least for this type of issue, where an innocent person's reputation is at stake. This is the 3rd time such a ban has blown up in thier faces, and I hope it will be the last. Having said that, we should put this in perspective and realize that this criticism can be made of any world leader. Many criticize President Bush for going into Iraq when there were no WMDs. But was he expected to ignore all the intelligence he was given and go to Iraq to check it out himself? Like him, the gedolim are only human, despite their gadlus, and have to rely on the information they are given. In last week's Parshah we saw that Moshe Rabbeinu believed that in an ideal world, every issue would be given the attention of the gadol hador. He understood, however, that this was impossible, so he accepted Yisro's advice and set up a multi-tiered system. And as Gerald Weinberg likes to say, it's the Peanut Butter Principle: the wider you spread it, the thinner it gets. 3) Never pay attention to posters or any media with lots of signatures. It doesn't mean anything. If you want to know what a gadol thinks, either read what he actually wrote himself or go and ask him. I hope this post has done a bit to calm some people's nerves about this issue. I am still uncomfortable, but a bit less so than before. While I am certainly on Rabbi Slifkin's side in terms of both the events and the substance of his Torah, I believe we need to be careful about going ahead and bashing the gedolim as despots. And we should be careful about what we believe and whether it is the WHOLE story. Just as you can't judge Rabbi Slifkin's books from a few excerpts, you can't judge anything or anyone else from a few things you read on the Internet. As R' Elyashiv is quoted as saying (on an unrelated issue), what frum Jews in Israel have in common with frum Jews in America is that neither of them have a clue what's going on in the world. What separates them? The Jews in Israel don't read the papers, so they are at least aware they they are clueless.

Sasha Malka enjoying a book with Grandma Sylvia

The kids with my parents

At the Uncle Moishy concert!

No, not really. I mostly wanted to get back into posting pictures of my kids on the web for family and friends. I thought this would be an easy way to throw stuff up without thinking too much about organization. But now that I've acquired myself a free little soapbox, I might as well join the throngs sharing their unsolicited opinions with the world. Besides, more computer use can only be good for my RSI. Now I guess I should put up some recent pictures.