A few weeks ago, there was yet again another news report online about a Chasidishe Rebbe coming out against a new shtreimel fashion. I was looking around to check on a claim made in comments on the report, and came upon a great article, in a Jewish history magazine online, on the history of the shtreimel.
This is the best feature article I recall ever seeing on the history of the shtreimel.
To get the true story, beyond legends and myths, with beautiful illustrations, it is the place to go.
א גוטען חודש
Some years ago Matisyahu went off the Derech(the truth is he was Chabad so I'm not sure that he was ever on the Derech). At the time I was friendly with a Lubavicher and he told me something interesting, "I knew that he was lost when he shaved off his beard. If you shaved your beard it wouldn't affect your behavior but for a Chassis his entire religion is his beard." I think there's much truth to what he said. And this isn't only a Chassidic issue. If you read the FJJ it's apparent that a new movement is arising"Black Hats Matter." The truth is whether it's Shtreimels or Borsalinos, in most cases there's very little going on inside of their heads. The Rebbes are to blame but let's not forget Rabbi Miller. He often said,"The Chitzonius affects the Pnimiyos." Now this is true but there's no point in focusing on the Chitzoniyus when there is no complementing Pnimiyos.
ReplyDeleteJust did a search and found a place where Rav Miller z"l mentioned the inyan (he cited it from Mesilas Yesharim. IIRC it appears in Sefer Hachinuch as well). But he also exhorted there on the great need for accompanying interiority too - https://torasavigdor.org/parshas-tetzaveh-garments-of-greatness/
ReplyDeleteYour point is well taken but again when I read the FJJ all I see is a focus on minutia. Clearly Rabbi Miller didn't get the proper point across and a big part of his problem was that he went out of his way to promote chassidim as the model to follow. I think that the reason he liked Chasidim and had contempt for modern Orthodoxy is that Chassidim are mindless lemmings who try to mimic their Rebbes while the modern view their Rabbis as mentors not gods.
ReplyDeleteUnrelated, but Efrem Goldberg fawns over Chabad in this week's Jewish Vues. He says that they alone are trying to solve the assimilation problem. I would ask Rabbi Goldberg two questions. First, for all of Chabad's hype how much have they really accomplished? I think that Goldberg is like Lichtenstein. He so much wants or needs to convince himself about how great Chabad is that he'll bend the truth or even lie. Remember Lichtenstein claiming on his show that Chabad has made 300,000 Balei Tshuvas.The second thing I'd ask is,"How can he wax poetic about his Rebbe Rav Hershel Shechter and still ignore the fact that Rabbi Shachter called Chabad Avodah Zarah. Paul Simon wrote,"A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest."I don't want to totally dismiss what Goldberg said. Chabad is good at making connections. The problem with them is they have very little interest in Torah and so they focus on parties and public relations. The second problem is that under no circumstances will they consider working together with conventional Judaism because they think it's their destiny to dominate the Jewish world.
ReplyDeleteYou might find this interesting. Last night between Mincha and Maariv someone asked the Rabbi(Chabad of course) if Tanya is equal to Chumash. His answer? Tanya is the Torah Shebichsav of Chabad Chassidus. The fellow wasn't satisfied with the answer and so he pressed further,"The reason I compare them is because every word of Torah is perfect and every word of Tanya is perfect. The Rabbi went along with him. This morning I saw the Rabbi's cousin and he defended him. When I made the point that the Torah is the word of Hashem while the Tanya is the word of a Rabbi he "explained" that the Baal Hatanya wrote with Ruach Hakodesh so it's like the Torah.
ReplyDeleteSeems like some people are quite confused. But it is not such a great surprise really, considering where they are coming from. Sad. Hopefully one day they will return to normative Yiddishkeit.
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