Manis Friedman Spouts Heresy - Leading Gadol Rav Aharon Feldman שליט"א Speaks Out

 Manis Friedman is a prominent, senior shliach of the Chabad-Lubavitch faith, representing them out of Minnesota, USA, for decades. He has a significant presence online. Like other representatives of that sect, who routinely go to far away places, and before audiences of people with meager knowledge of Judaism, posing as knowledgeable rabbis. The poor Jews (and gentiles) they target, to a great degree, woefully ignorant of true Torah Judaism, are too often fooled by the long beards and attire of the Chabad-Lubavitch agents. This is an old problem. Some people are unaware of it, others may just want to ignore it. But sometimes a problem gets so large that it must be addressed.

ב"ה, thank G-d, we have great genuine Torah leaders like Rav Aharon Feldman שליט"א, who has courageously called out and exposed Manis Friedman for his terrible dangerous deviations from the Torah (click to hear).

That alone is very important. However, people should realize that this problem is not limited to Manis Friedman alone. There are multiple other cases of Lubavitchers (e.g. Shmuley Boteach, Chaim Rapoport, Shlomo Litvin, etc., who have done such things. Another Lubavitcher attempted to defend Friedman, but fell quite short. And where is the establishment Chabad-Lubavitch HQ here, of Krinsky, Kotlarsky, et al, who claim to oversee their shluchim? Anyone hear a peep from them?

We also see clearly from this that the problems with Chabad-Lubavitch are by no means limited to their Xtian like beliefs regarding their late last leader. Their theology in general, and their activities cannot be assumed to be acceptable just by avoiding the Messiah issue (if that would be possible). Rather, no, they cannot be relied upon, and should be avoided across the board. Those interested in true Torah Judaism should rather consult a competent non-Lubavitch authority.

Att: Tzedek Association, ATIME, Bonei Olam, et al: IVF Mandates Are Not the Magic Solution

 This is not the typical type of thing typically discussed here, however, עת לעשות, there are times when we must do something different, like speaking out and standing up for fundamental principle, even if it is out of our regular area, even if others seem absolutely certain that another way is the only way to go.

There are multiple organizations promoting IVF, a complicated, expensive, and even dangerous modern medical intervention, to those struggling with infertility. In recent years multiple organizations and groups from the Jewish community have become heavily invested in it, to the point of lobbying heavily for the government and insurers to pay for such treatments. Jewish media is now prominently featuring a drive for a petition along such lines being pushed by Tzedek Association, an organization of a New Square Chasid.

 But is that really the best answer, the way to go? Must we always march in lockstep with the high priced medical-industrial complex, or might there be better ways to explore (in addition to the very important תשובה, תפילה, צדקה, וכו of course)?

Recently, a letter in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), a prominent American newspaper, pointed out major problems associated with IVF, and advocated for a much better (more effective, less painful, and a lot less expensive) alternative: Restorative reproductive medicine (RRM).

IIRRM is an organization supporting this approach around the world. The prominent Heritage Foundation has a report on it. So you see that it is not some quack doctor somewhere, but rather a very important and significant movement. It seems definitely something that should be explored. Throwing big money at problems is not necessarily the answer. Holistic living, spiritually and physically, can solve many problems, with the help of הקב"ה, Almighty G-d, of course. It would be admirable if Torah Jews would lead in this area, among others.

יה"ר מלפני אבינו שבשמים שנשמע ושנתבשר בשורות טובות בקרוב 

R. Eli Stefansky (MDY) speaks out against Meron-Rashbi Madness - Rashbi & Reb Shayale

 R. Eli Stefansky שליט"א, of Merkaz Daf Yomi (MDY) is a prominent Daf Yomi maggid shiur (and religious influencer/mashpia one might say too, in modern lingo), of late. 

I happened to recently hear some thoughts he shared about crazy Meron-רשב"י Lag Baomer obsessions of some, and their danger, followed by some clever humor, via a joke he shared connecting Meron & Kerestir. Worth a listen or watch (click to play).

Enjoy and absorb!

Florida Leader's Passing Exposes Deep Deceit of Chabad-Lubavitch PR - Propaganda Machine

A prominent leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch faith, especially in Florida, Reb Sholom Lipskar, passed away the other day. As usual, his sect seized the opportunity for their PR and propaganda. But this time, it was so blatantly false, so outrageous and far from the truth, that it would not pass unnoticed, swallowed whole by the gullible masses. Someone called them out on it in a big way. This episode is worth noting for what it teaches us about their reliability and trustworthiness overall.

At a NY area website a blistering comment was posted taking issue with the Chabad propaganda that claimed that before Lipskar came to Miami Beach in 1969, the area lacked even very elementary basic Jewish infrastructure.

The commenter pointed out that actually Miami Beach had a (Torah Umesorah affiliated) day school from the 1940's, Orthodox Congregation Beth Israel from the 1950's (Rabbi Berel Wein שליט"א later served there for a number of years), mikveh, and more (there was also Rabbi Stern from the mid-1950's). That makes the point very well that the Lubavitch obituary is a disgusting lie and libel. 

But actually it is even worse than that. Because the Chabad-Lubavitch propaganda machine in its piece after the passing of Reb Lipskar actually contradicted its own words less than three years earlier. Then, when another prominent leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch faith in S. Florida, Reb Pinchas Weberman, passed away, they were peddling a different story In that piece they said that Weberman went down to Miami Beach in 1960, founded a synagogue, at around the same time another Lubavitch leader (Reb Korf) went there to start Lubavitch of Florida.

So now they say that in 1969 there was no Jewish infrastructure in that area before Lipskar's arrival? What a joke, what a disgrace. 

ב"ה however, this has served an important purpose, though. Bringing to light, in great relief, how unreliable, biased, brazen, and corrupt Chabad-Lubavitch too often is. And it also is connected to a whole attitude among way too many of them, their fantasies viewing themselves as the pioneers of Yiddishkeit, even when the facts are not in accordance with such a claim and belief. But let us not be fooled.

From here we have a giant בנין אב, a lesson to apply overall, to be very wary of what they say. Caveat emptor.

שקר אין לו רגלים...וחותמו של הקב"ה אמת

In the zechus of Emes and תורת אמת may we be zoche to כל טוב.

Chabad-Lubavitch Crypt Scam Backstory

 As posted here a while back, Chabad-Lubavitch operatives diligently promote the notion of people visiting the grave of the late leader of their faith, and have been stepping up their efforts in that direction, encompassing non-Jewish politicians as well now. Thus we have Eric Adams, NYC Mayor who was charged in various corruption schemes, now in dire straits as he winds down his term, visiting there multiple times, as well as the GOP candidate for USA President in the last election. While in the past, before their leader's passing, they tried to get people to visit him at their Crown Heights headquarters, now they have transferred that to their cemetery (especially the establishment Krinsky-Kotlarsky wing, which is not happy with the explicit messianism at the main Crown Heights synagogue, which is controlled by their opponents - on the other hand, the grave complex is under the control of the more restrained Chabad PR wing).

So we know why the Chabadskers promote and encourage such visits. But what about the politicians who visit? What might they be thinking? A recent clip posted online provided some interesting insight with regard to the matter. One of President Trump's cabinet secretaries and a friend of his, gave some of the backstory behind their visit there this past October (click to hear). (h/t crownheights.info).

Following is a relevant excerpt from the recording:

"we decided we're going to go out to "the Ohel"...the people who wear black hats think he's the messiah.. they have a crypt for him where you write a note and put a note in...we'd probably win 60,000 of those kind of votes"

This shows you how some ignorant people are fooled by the Chabad-Lubavitch sect.

"the people who wear black hats think he's the messiah"

No, the members of the Chabad-Lubavitch faith, not normative Jews who wear such attire. Chabad-Lubavitch does not represent black hat wearers overall. The Habad are neither a majority of Orthodox Jews, a majority of ultra-Orthodox Jews, nor a majority of Hasidim even. They are just a sect that makes a lot of noise and PR.

"they have a crypt for him"

That is a good one, a fitting term for the resting place of the late leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch faith.

"we'd probably win 60,000 of those kind of votes"

What a joke. If politicians think they win 60K votes with that visit they are delusional.

The Chabadskers are now trying to fool people by trying to get them to believe that their crypt gets a greater number of visitors than it does. How? They say that it gets x amount of visits a year. They don't tell people that a large amount of the visitors are members of their Lubavitch faith who go there multiple times a year (e.g. on various Chabad-Lubavitch holidays, when they get engaged, and so on), so they are repeat visitors. Just like with websites, which are measured by the amount of unique visitors, rather than just the amount of hits they get, similarly, to take the measure of a site, one must look at more than just simple attendance numbers. Normative Jews generally do not visit there. The visitors are typically Chabad-Lubavitch members, people affiliated with them, perhaps some other desperate others too, and some politicians trying to pander and get votes.

Of course, that is only one example of many scams of the sect, taking advantage of the naive and gullible. Like the Chabad-Lubavitch clown in Ohio, declaring his late leader as Messiah in an address to the state legislature there recently. And on and on.

May הקב"ה, Almighty G-d, protect us from various scams and deceptions, whether financial, spiritual, such as the crypt of the leader of a sect that leads people astray, or otherwise.

Chabad-Lubavitch "Conservative Judaism"

It has been said that Chabad-Lubavitch is the new "Conservative Judaism". As is known, "Conservative Judaism"(which actually turned out to be, de facto, a more moderate version of Reform "Judaism"), a prominent Jewish "denomination" in the USA, which was considered the largest for decades in the post-WWII period, has been in steep decline more recently. Not coincidentally, in that same time period, Chabad-Lubavitch has expanded noticeably, by appealing to the constituency of the "Conservatives", namely Jewishly (relatively) ignorant Jews, who nevertheless wanted some manner of connection to Judaism, but were wary of too much. It was said that in the Conservative movement, the laity was not observant of the standards set out for them by their religious leaders. Chabad-Lubavitch, over time, took market share from the Conservatives by underselling them. While Conservative Temples charged hefty membership fees, and had strict  requirements for bar mitzvah candidates (such as a certain amount of months of bar mitzvah lessons and Jewish education), Chabad-Lubavitch offered religious services without those restrictions. They also posed as being more authentic, Orthodox, even Hasidic. However, as is known, Chabad-Lubavitch and its representatives have also taken liberties with their ignorant constituents who they picked up from the non-Orthodox and unaffiliated sectors.

A main marker differentiating Orthodox and non-Orthodox Judaism, which led to many disputes and conflicts in the past, was the mechitzah, separating the genders at religious services. While this is observed by Orthodox in general, among Chasidim it is expanded to a greater extent of separation, e.g. higher barriers, opaque, even outside religious services, etc.

Among the Chabad-Lubavitch however, one sees a deterioration in this basic, this fundamental of Orthodox Judaism, and certainly Hasidism. 

For example, recently, on the great holiday of Purim, a number of very prominent Chabad-Lubavitch megillah readings were mixed-gender, as the trademark practice of the non-Orthodox.

For example,

1) At Columbia University

2) In Washington, DC, under prominent Chabad operative Levi Shemtov, one of the most prominent Lubavitchers in the USA.

Corrupting Chanukah wasn't enough for them, now they defile Purim too?

We see here a great danger of modern-day Chabad-Lubavitch. Without a living Rebbe, and with a system which gives their operatives (especially prominent and well-connected ones) major leeway in setting up programming, PR, and fundraising, they can cut corners and worse, and stoop to various inappropriate and unorthodox gimmickry and arrangements, and even get away with such shenanigans.

Their own late leader, as I recall, taught that people should be brought up to Judaism, rather than Yiddishkeit brought down to them (chas veshalom). But in today's Chabad-Lubavitch, with their great focus on PR and appearing "with it", venerable and fundamental Torah principles can fall by the wayside. 

May הקב"ה protect us from the faux "Yiddishkeit" of Chabad-Lubavitch, its army of propagandizers ("influencers"), fellow travelers, and its ignorant constituents.

In the zechus of our rejection of עבודה זרה, as our ancestors did in this time period in ancient Egypt, may we be zoche to גאולה בקרוב.

א גוטען חודש

Feel-Good Chasidic Vertel Exposed as Baseless

 There is a Chasidic vertel (small vort) that goes something like this -

It says in the beginning of parshas Noach,נח איש צדיק (בראשית ו:ט). Rashi there comments from Chazal, יש מרבותינו דורשים לשבח, ויש שדורשים לגנאי (some of our Rabbis interpret this in a positive way, that Noach was a tzadik in his weak generation, all the more so would he have been in a stronger one, while others interpret it negatively, that in his spiritually meager generation he was considered righteous, but in a better generation he would not have been).

So the Hasidic comment notes that Rashi only uses the term מרבותינו (of our rabbis) when mentioning the positive interpretation, and not with the negative one. Why, it continues? To show us that someone who interprets negatively is not worthy of being called one of our rabbis.

Update: Our dear friend and commenter who goes here by the moniker of Old Litvak, has given us a source for this in ספר פרדס יוסף (lower left of page - more below in comments section).

                                       Litvish analysis and Fact check

 Though Hasidim and neo-Hasidim like the TYH folk may like that, it doesn't hold water. As seen in the beginning of פרשת ויקהל, which we just read, in שמות לה:ג, where Rashi cites a different machlokes, about fire on Shabbos. He also cites a first opinion with the expression מרבותינו there, while omitting it when afterward citing a second one, even though this not a case where one side is a positive interpretation and the other a negative one. Showing us that that just is the way of Rashi (perhaps, or should I say likely, to economize on verbiage and letters in the days before printing, when things were written by hand).

Another baseless Hasidic "feel-good" vertel bites the dust. 

We must search for truth in Torah and life, rather than trying to force preconceived notions onto the text where they don't fit.

ברוך אלקינו שנתן לנו תורת אמת

In the zechus of אמת may we be zoche to the great ברכות that go along with it.

א גוטע וואך און א גוטען חודש