I received the following communication: Why do you "hate" the kiruv website of .....?
Answer: I don't hate them. I hate Nazis. I hate terrorists. I don't hate websites that want to bring people to Torah observance.
But I do have serious issues with that site [that gets millions and millions of views, which makes their distortions worse].
Why? Let me explain. When doing kiruv, some of the rules must be bent. You can't expect not frum people to attend an event if it is separate or with a mechitza. That works great in Bnei Brak but not on college campuses. When R' Shlomo Carlebach was starting, he reportedly told the Lubavitcher Rebbe that he was doing mixed events. The Rebbe said that you can do as you wish - but not under the auspices and banner of Chabad. Today, there is probably not one Chabad house in the world that runs only separate events for men and women. There is no other way to bring people in.
You also can't get up and tell all the women attending the even that they must wear long skirts, long sleeves and high necklines. They would never come if you did that.
You don't tell the men that you will not teach them until they say Birkas HaTorah.
Like I said - You have to bend some of the rules in order to do kiruv. [Not all of the rules - just some, with Rabbinic guidance].
But one must NEVER distort, twist, and misrepresent Torah. When that is happening consistently on a day to day basis in front of millions - I protest. I tried to tell them personally but they do not respond and delete my comment/s.
Bava Kamma 38:
ת"ר וכבר שלחה מלכות רומי שני סרדיוטות אצל חכמי ישראל למדונו תורתכם קראו ושנו ושלשו בשעת פטירתן אמרו להם דקדקנו בכל תורתכם ואמת הוא חוץ מדבר זה שאתם אומרים שור של ישראל שנגח שור של כנעני פטור של כנעני שנגח שור של ישראל בין תם בין מועד משלם נזק שלם
The Sages taught the following story in the context of the aforementioned halakha: And the Roman kingdom once sent two military officials [sardeyotot] to the Sages of Israel, and ordered them in the name of the king: Teach us your Torah. The officials read the Torah, and repeated it, and repeated it again, reading it for the third time. At the time of their departure, they said to the Sages: We have examined your entire Torah and it is true, except for this one matter that you state, i.e., that with regard to an ox of a Jew that gored the ox of a gentile, the owner is exempt from liability, whereas with regard to the ox of a gentile that gored the ox of a Jew, whether it was innocuous or forewarned, the owner pays the full cost of the damage.
ממ"נ אי רעהו דוקא אפילו דכנעני כי נגח דישראל ליפטר ואי רעהו לאו דוקא אפילו דישראל כי נגח דכנעני לחייב ודבר זה אין אנו מודיעים אותו למלכות
The officials’ reasoning was that this halakha is difficult whichever way you look at it. If the phrase “of another” is meant in a precise manner, that the owners of both oxen must both be Jewish, then even when the ox of a gentile gores the ox of a Jew the owner of the ox should be exempt from liability. And if the phrase “of another” is not meant in a precise manner, and the oxen of all are included, then even when the ox of a Jew gores the ox of a gentile the owner should be liable. They added: But we will not inform this matter to the kingdom; having acknowledged that the entire Torah is true, we will not reveal this ruling, as it will displease the kingdom.
Why didn't they just change the story and say that the Halacha doesn't distinguish between Jew and Gentile? Says the Maharshal: One may not distort the Torah EVEN if one's life depends on it.
Presenting people who are essentially traitors to Am Yisrael and perpetuate a partial spiritual destruction of our people as heroes, is a distortion of Torah.
There are many other problems as well but I will leave it here.
