My Defense Of The Rebbe Who Attacked A Gadol

A good friend of mine told me that recently there has been a flurry of activity on the internet lambasting the Satmar Rebbe for a passage in his sefer where he strongly attacks a certain gadol bi'yisroel with whom all readers of this blog are familiar because we quote him about 3 times a week. I honestly haven't seen a word of it [I generally don't read blogs unless it is either family - 1 total - or a close friend, with a few rare exceptions. And I often regret making those exceptions... Somehow, I feel that the limited time Hashem Yisborach gave me to grace his planet could and should be better spent trying to cleave to his Infinite Light. Most blogs won't take you there. But you will read leitzanus, apikorsus, nivul peh, lashon hara, evil or סתם שטויות [= plain ol' nonsense - has a better ring to it in Hebrew]. I say MOST blogs but there are certainly exceptions. My heartfelt love for myself may be fooling me into thinking that mevakesh is one such exception..].

Here is the defense!

Ready?

There is none!

A myseh I heard this Friday night from the Rebbe Shlita between Kabbalas Shabbos and Maariv [I hope I got all the details right].

The Holy Saba, the previous Tolna Rebbe, used to enjoy attending a shiur by a major talmid chochom in Bayit Vegan. This talmid chochom was not of the chassidic persuasion but no matter - the shiur was great so the Rebbe ztz"l consistently attended.

Then a HUGE fight broke out between a group of chassidim and a group of non-chassidim [called "litvacks" even though there were not from Lithuania but Israel]. Someone told the Rebbe that this maggid shiur rose at a gathering and publicly attacked gedolei yisrael from the other side.

The Rebbe decided that he must verify if this is true. When he approached this Rav and asked if it is true, he admitted that he was at this gathering but denied attacking anybody. But the Rebbe continued probing "Did anybody else attack gedolim?" The Rav said that one speaker IMPLICITLY attacked other gedolim.

"So", said the Rebbe "you have to get up publicly and defend the honor of gedolei yisrael."

The Rav said that he can't do THAT [if he would he would be scalded by the litvishe community].

So the Rebbe stopped attending the shiur. If he remains quiet when attacking gedolei yisrael the Rebbe refused to hear Torah from him.

The Rav felt very uncomfortable that the Rebbe suddenly stopped attending his shiur so he called up his grandson [Mori V'Rabbi Shlita] and asked him to speak to his grandfather. When the present Rebbe Shlita spoke to his grandfather he said that if the Rav just defends the honor of the gedolim he will return. The Rebbe got back to the Rav with the message, the Rav said: "I could NEVER do that".

When the Rebbe ztz"l heard this he said "Well then I am NEVER returning to his shiur!"

And so it was, until his dying day he never returned to the shiur.

Sweetest friends - we won't defend attackers of tzadikim. But I do say that just because someone did something I believe to be wrong doesn't completely negate every good act this person did in his lifetime. The Satmar Rebbe [or Satmar Ruv as the chassidim call him because he used to be the posek in town] did a LOT MORE good than just about all of his detractors PUT TOGETHER. People love to spread the poisonous fumes of venom while they are completely ignorant of the voluminous writings of the Rebbe and found one passage so that they can pick a fight.

Such rabble rousers would be best advised to heed Rav Kook's advice and in a place where there is hatred they should instill love and in a place where there is darkness they should add light.

Rav Kook actually had quite an interesting way of relating to his detractors and attackers [as numerous stories attest] - he helped them...

So BELOVED FRIENDS!!!! REMEMBER that the internet is filled with ignorant, hate filled people [including many Jews] who are happy to have a voice to spread their negativity. What they need is not a blog but a good therapist to help them work through their issues. I would humbly suggest that you seal your ears [unless you are the therapist....]. Your neshama will be eternally rewarded.

סור מרע ועשה טוב - בקש שלום ורדפהו

Love and blessings!:-)