Making
ofa
Codal
rnithnagdic,
,771),7
nx
nJJ!P
71!P
institution"-see
Jacob
Mark(
Thisoutlookonafolio
of
Gemaraisobviouslydiametricallyopposedto
I{'
Baruch-Ber's,wherebythegelnaradiscussionautomaticallyinvestseventhelowly
l::1P"P
withsanctity/no
R'
Heiman,one
ofR'
Baruch-Ber'sprime
tabnidim
-
hewasgenerallyapacificindividual
ll
-
wasterriblyupsetwith
R'
Schneerson,andheapproached
R'
MosheSoloveitchek,RoshYeshiva
of
Yeshivath[{abbenuYitzhaqElhanan,tosuggestthathistalentedson
R'
Yoseph-Berpenanappropriaterebuttal.
T'his
authorwastoldbya
talmid
ofR'
YitzhaqHutnerinhis
Blaster's
nanlethatthe
il'£>il
nN
""JlV
"lV
criticism
of
theRebbehadalreadybeenvoicedinEuropeinthelate5690's(1930's)andhadreached
R'
Baruch-Ber'sears
0;
The
roshyeshiva
appliedthewords
of
KingDavidtotheRebbe,towit,
'plV
',::1"
'£>
' ~ C "
(MaythelIlouth
of
thespeakers
of
untruthsbestoppedup)P-andthe
l ~ e b b e
thensufferedastrokewhichpartlyincapacitatedhisspeech!Thisauthorsuggests,though,that
R'
Baruch-Bermadethecounectiontotheversein
Tehillim
withanotheraffairmoresuitedtotheBiblicaldepiction
of
thesindeserving
of
thecurse.WhenPolish
hasidic
familiesbegansendingtheirsonstostudyin
the,
MirrerYeshiva,theRebbesentone
of
his
hasidim,
amember
of
theGurariefalnily,toinspecttheplace.TheRebbethenpublicizedtheInessenger'sreportthatthestudents
of
the"Lithuanian"
yeshivoth
didnotwearbeards,whichwastrue,andthattheydidnotwearfringedgarments
(tallaisimktannim)
beneaththeirouterclothing,whichwasfalse.Thelattermisinformationcameaboutwhenthe
hasiel
noticedthatthe
talmidim
didnotextracttheir
tzi-tzith
froinundertheirshirtswhenreciting
Shma',
andheaskedone
of
thestudentswhythatwas.Instead
of
givingastraightanswerandsayingthatinMusarcirclesitwasconsideredinappropriate
to
Inessup
one's
clothinginthemiddle
of
theServicesq,the
L'
Exc.
B,
above-
p.
214
m
il"':1
:1n:)lU
,K"!)
il"nil
:1'nJ,lK'!)7;)?"'il7;)?,,'J7J1
n7:1'nl
1"17
Cl
~ ? ,
c ' : J ~ l n ~ : 1 '
O"l'l:1'
O'Z(X7JJ:1
.1'tt"tt'il7J:Jn:1
O'K?
"7;)"'P'17
'J
:1vnnVJ
'7;)
',J,
il'J
nJ07;):1'.1KO
il?"l
il?VJ:J7J
Z('il
ill
,:1,
,il'ilU?'
ilZ(7;)'U?'
""'l'J
il"n?
nKT
ill"7;)
ilJnJ
fZ
Cf.Vol.3.
&J
Alsocf.Exc.HIl,below,onaIuaxilnof
R'
Baruch-Berpertainingto
il'!)il
nZ(
n:uVJ
"VJ
which,
in
conversetotheLubavitchapproach,holdsupthestudy
of
this"nlundane"theIne
as
thepinnade
of
achievenlentinthesphere
of
becOlningclosetotheDivine!
f
:1':lO
C'?iln
'f
Cf.
NOTES
AND
EXCURSUSES3.1
(49)
/EXCURSUSR
· ~ 5 2 9 ~ ·
bahur
repliedinjest,
""
l ' ~ l V
'1J
n ~
lV":J'
N'W
(Inordernottoembarrasshimwhoislacking[a
talliskotten])'t."
Theinnocentjestresultedinapublicannouncement'bytheRebbethat
hasidinl
shouldnotsendtheirsonsto"Lithuanian"
yeshivoth
because
of
thetwo"faults"
of
notwearingbeardsandfour-corneredgarnlentswhereupon
R'
Baruch-Berappliedtheversein
Tehilliln.
(Therehadbeenanearliertimewhenthe"inordernottoelnbarrass"jestwasmade.See
l;!JN1JJ'N
,7l;'l;,7j.,
by
1")
n"'il',
whichrecountsthatwhen
R'
MeirShapirowasplanningtoestablisha
yeshiva
inLublin,hesoughtguidanceforhisnovelprojectbyseeingwhat"Lithuanian"
yeshivoth
werelike.Alnongthe
yeshivoth
hevisitedwastheMirrerYeshiva
t,
wherehewasgiventhisfacetiousexplanationfortheconceahnent
of
the
tzitzith.
When
R'
Shapiroreturnedhome,hesentabigpackage
of
tzitzith
tothe
yeshiva
"forthestudentswho
don't
havethem".When
R'
Yeruh;lllLevovitz
,
theMashgiah,foundoutwhy
R'
Shapirohadsentthepackage,hedelivereda
shmuess
theessence
of
whichwasthatonelnayjokewithanacquaintancewhowillunderstandagagassuch,butnotwithastrangerwhomaytakeitseriously.Obviously,thejokerwhorepeatedthewitticismtoGurariedidnothear-ordidnotabideby-theMashgiah'stalk.
u)
R'
AvrahanlVerdigerrelated
tr
thatthelastEuropeanSlonimerRebbe,
R'
Shlomo-DavidYehoshua'Weinberg,wholivedinBaranovich(andwaslllartyredtherewithhisentirefamily),wasalsocritical
of
"Lithuanian"
yeshivoth;
whenhewasoncevisitedbyayoungmanwhosaidhelearnedin"Mir",theRebberaisedhishandsheavenwardandmadeawordplay-inYiddish
"mir"
nleans"me"-exclaiming,"Master
of
t h ~
universe,howfaritis
fun
'mir'
zudir
[from
me
toYou]!"
R'
Verdiger,whojoinedtheMirrerYeshivain5696(1936),recalledthattherewereanumber
of
hasidicbahurim
in
thebeginning
of
thesecondparagraph
of
Exc.
V,
below.
't
n'J17n
'OD
rpo
ilJtt'7J
.1
Published
by
n"JVJn
,O'?VJ,,'
,C"il'?!)
O"DOnKX'il-
pp.219-220
t
Accordingtothebiography
of
R'MeirShapiro,
'J77J,7
:17,7,
by([end
of
1990]
Z("VJJn
,O'?W,,'
,C:1Z(VJ7;)
nKl'il)
?7;)',:117VJ'il
':1',
p.
254,healsovisitedRadin,wherehespenteightdaysintheChafetz-Chaim'senvirons,andBaranovich.Thesevisitstookplaceinthewinter
of
5689(1929-1930),ahalf-yearbeforethelaying
of
thecornerstoneforhis
yeshiva's
magnificentbuilding.
U
Accordingtothisauthor'sbrotherR'Avrohln,R'ElyaKhazan,atop
falmid
of
theMirrerYeshiva,toldhinlthathehadbeenthejoker(onone
of
theoccasions).
v
October31,2000
 
Making
ofa
Godol
lVIir
atthetime:
15
GelTer,2froinHungary,1MunkacserMunkacswasCzechoslovakiathen-and1fromRomania.(HealsotoldabouttwobrotherswhocaInetoMirlaterfrolnMontreux,Switzerland;one
of
themwasmodernEuropeanandelegant,andtheotherwasaMunkacser
hasid
withlong
pai'oth
andabeard.
flow
didhebecolnea
hasi{/
inMontreux?
R'
Avrahamexplained:
' ~ i \ n
olderbrotherhadmarriedadaughter
of
RabbiDr.Shimon
~ l ! i s r a e l
Posen,ShopronerRav.ThisFrankfurtnativewasintroducedto
hasidic
JewrywhileservingintheGermanarmyinPolandduringWorld
War
I.
Afterwards,hebecameveryclosetotheIYlunkacserRav,
R'
HayyiIn-EI'azarShapiro,sentbackhisdoctorate,donnedfull
hasie/ie
garb,becainestronglyanti-Zionistic,likethe
fav,
andservedasRav
of
Shopron,Czechoslovakia.Hisson-inlawinfluencedone
of
hisbrotherstobecomeaMunkacser
hasid.")
1'heLubavitcherRebbehadalreadyspokenoutscathinglyagainstthe"Lithuanian"
yeshivoth
atthebeginning
of
the5690's·(1930's),asperaletterwrittenin5692(1932)andreprintedin
'177,71
770'
'j?7!)
-
0'/;)'/;)/7
'::7/;)1/7,
by
l " ~ l V J ~ " "
1'Jn
O i l ' : J ~ w ,
inwhichhewrote,
irIteralia,
"We
Ineettoday
yungelelt
termed
'0""'31
O'J'N"
(brilliant
geonirn)'
withchoppedbeardsandcutearlocks,whobuildtowerstoInakeeveryInitzvahsubjectlessweighty,todernolishwithhorns
x
theideas
[N':JO]
of
the
Geonim!:l
andtosmashtheprohibitions
of
the
Rishonlm.
Andwhenwelook...weseethat
j ~ O i l
17-
,on
'p'31
[thebook(Le.,thepersonality
of
these
yungeleit)
isrnissingthebasics].TheyhavecreatedanewTorah;theyhaveforrnednewapproachestoInakeeverythinglightweight
just
toacCOllllllodatethedelnands
of
thetilnesandsociety.Whoeverknowsthehistory
of
theJewsinexileandcontemplatesthewar
of
theirreligious
111askilbn
againsttheTorahandagainsttherabbiswill
COllle
tothefullrecognitionthatthiswasthegoaltowhichthe
rnaskilirn
aspired.Inone
of
mymanypublictalksabouttheeducationinthe
yeshivoth,
Iexpressedclearlythatthe
yeshivoth
haveopenedthewindows
of
the
bethmidrash
tothepublicdomain
[n,lV'
O"::J1;'].
Windowsaremeanttoletoutandtoallowin,butatthis
(I!
Brooklyn,
D"JUln
-
p.
J
x
ThisoddphraseInaybeunderstoodasanapplication
of
the
"w
~ I 1 D i l
n ~
n.lJtll
metaphor
of
JacobMark,
above,for
mitlmagdic
yeshivoth.
!I
Thisreferstothe
NOTES
AND
EXC.URSUSES
3.1
(49)
I
EXCURSUSR
· : i & i 5 3 1 ~ ·
time,behold,toourheart'spainandtothevexation
of
ourspirit,thewindandmud
of
thepublicdomainhavepenetratedthe
bethmidrash
andthe
talmidim
areaffectedbythecoldairandtherot
of
thestreet.
..
"(ItisnotknowntothisauthorwhatthebasisfortheRebbe's
venonlOUS
attackwasandwhothosedescribedas
~ ' m a k i n g
every
mitzvah
subjectlessweighty
[o"'p1.']"
were.HowbiasedaviewtheRebbeespousedcomesthroughinhisabsurdchargethat[onecanfullyrecognizethat]thegoal
of
the
maskilim
wastoproducethepost-WorldWarILithuanian
yeshiva
talrnid
z
!)
ThecustomalnongtheLithuanian
yeshiva
students
of
notwearingbeardswasutilizedby
R'
ShmuelGurarie,awealthyLubavitch
hasid
inKremenchug-whonaturallyopenedhispursewidetocoveralltheneeds
of
theLubavitcherYeshivathere-toexplainwhyherespondedwithonlyasmalldonationwhen
R'
MosheMordkhaiand
R'
Baruch-Bercalledonhim.Whenaskedhowhecouldhavesentsuchgreatscholarsawaywithsopaltryasum,heansweredthathewouldnothavegivenanythinghadalesserdelegation
COine
tohim,becausehedidnotsupport
yeshivoth
wherethe
talmidim
didnotgrowbeards.InKnesethYisraeltheysaidthen,"For
SOlne,
all
of
Torah
il'31lV:J
il'"n
[hangsonahair]
a.
f,,,
.
F r o ~
reportsbytheeditorinsubsequentissues
of
,71t'7.,",77
,7N"",7,
In
theAnswerstoCorrespondents"section
of
theperiodical,itisobviousthat
'10
. ' . ~
hadraisedafurorin
lnany
circles.Intheissuefollowinghisarticle'spublication,that
of
Erev
Rosh
Ho{lesh
Kislev5701(November30,1940),theeditorrepliestotwocorrespondents,
.p.1.'
:J'il
and
."
1":J
'1.',
withtheresponsetothelatterrevealingthat':acouple
of
letterswerereceivedaccusingthewriter
of
heresy
(n,o"p'£)N)".
Inthefollowingissue,that
of
ErevRosh
Hodesh
Teveth(December29),theeditoranswers
.,.:J
'1.',
"Youmakenoerrorinassertingthat
.0
'1.'
[theauthor
of
thearticle,
.'.N
'''0]
andtheeditorialboardknowexactlywhothetroublemaker
[1"'J]
iswhoinstigatedcertain
bnei
Torah
totakeupthecudgelfor
sages
of
t h ~
Gaonicperiod,c.4400-4750(640-990).
Z
Butcf.Ch.4,thesecondparagraph
of
Exc.B,
WhICh
quotesR'HayyinlSoIoveichikas"suspectingmost
of
theLithuanian
, . a b b l l n i ~ 1 l
of
having
sOine
sympathy
for
Haskalah".
c
See
2("37
)'"
ill'ln
ilJlV7J
b
R'MosheKopshitz,whosefatherwasaSlabodka
ta/mid
in
KrenlenchugatthetiIue,relatedthisstory,January
17,
1998.Alsocf.Ch.5,Exe.
A.