More On Agudah Racism – Lessons From The Holocaust Not Learned

Rabbi Moshe Sherer, the head of the Agudath Israel World Organization from the 1940's until his death in 1997, refused to aid Ethiopian Jews suffering and dying at the hands of Ethiopia's communist regime.

Who was Moshe Sherer?

Let Manfred Lehmann tell us:

The Beth Hamedrash in Baltimore [Ner Israel Rabbinical College] was made up of outstanding students. Among them was Rav Moshe Sherer, brother-in-law of the legendary Michael Tress. [The leader of Orthodox rescue during WW2.] After the latter's death, Rav Sherer has become the shining example of a shtadlan (public servant) concerned with the fate of every Jew. The work started by Mike Tress during the war—when rescue work was so essential for the survival of Jewry, especially Torah Jewry—and continued to this day by Rav Moshe Sherer, is of historic proportions.

In those days, rescue work was not institutionalized by professionals as it is today, but was entirely based on individual efforts, in the old shtadlan tradition. Yet Rav Ruderman [the head of Ner Israel Rabbinical College and of Lubavitch descent, if not practice] considered it the duty of yeshiva students to apply themselves to learning only rather than going out in the world to do rescue work. He believed that such intensive learning was doing more to save European Jewry. Fortunately for me, I had before me the examples of the giants in rescue work and was personally involved with them, so I could judge how important their work was.

So we now know this:

1. One of the two leading yeshiva heads in America opposed rescue efforts.

2. He came from a Lubavitch background.

3. Elimelech "Mike" Tress led those efforts, working closely with the Bergson Group.

4. Moshe Sherer, Mike Tress's brother-in-law took over those efforts after Mike Tress's untimely demise.

5. Sherer refused to help Ethiopian Jews even after Rav Moshe Feinstein, the leading posek (religious law judge) in America ruled that Ethiopian Jews must be rescued.

When you add this information to the work done by Nazi-hunter Ephriam Zuroff of the Wiesenthal Center, who has shown that haredim (ultra-Orthodox Jews) during the Holocaust primarily tried to rescue rabbis and yeshiva students, and cared little for the rescue of the Jewish population at large, even if that population was Orthodox, one begins to see a sickening pattern of xenophobia and bigotry.

Behind the slick public relations, professions of piety and calls for "unity" lies a rotting, maggot-infested theology of hate.

Harediism* must die.

*[The ideology, not haredim themselves.]

Comments

As usual you are full of it.The only people who had the guts and the decency to confront the US government were the Charedi Rabbis.

Ovadiya Yosef & Moshe Feinstein can tell you if a chicken is Kosher.

But like most "gedolim" of these last generations, they suffer from "Katnuss D'Mochin" & are incapable of seeing the bigger strategic picture.

The Rebbe however saw 40 years into the future. Don't forget that Yosef & Feinstein supported "Land for Peace" on spurious grounds of Halacha, & the tragedy of their ruling is just in the incipient stages of being realised. Their rulings on the Falashas are even more suspect.

95% of Falashas & Muras have strongly refused to undergo any giyur procedure whatsoever, l'kulah or l'chumrah, a sure sign from Heaven that they are not Yidden, & that Israel will have sore cause to regret their ingress, as the Rebbe warned again & again & again & again.

[Ariel Sokolovsky]

By the grace of G-d
Shalom u'Brocha!

>>I never heard that Rabbi Moishe Finestein supported land for peace do you have a proof?>>
The truth of the matter is that secular Zionist authorities encouraged Ethiopean Jews not not to undergo giur I don't see how is it a sign from heaven that people who considered themselves Jews for hundreds of years refused to undergo giur le'chmura under such circumstances.
The ruling of the Rebbe King Moshiach Shlit"a that they should undergo giur lechumra according to Reb Moishe's ruling benifits them in the 1st place. Look at it this way Ethiopean Jews didn't have Talmud in fact didn't have most of the Tanach as I understand their traditions are differnt their interpretation of Torah laws is often close to those of Karaites giur essentialy gives the person a right to marry a Jew and the main reason we are not allowed to marry non Jews that thru that we and or our children may end up changing religion just as we don't marry Karaites even though geneticly they are Jews it makes no sense to marry an Ethiopean Jew who didn't study traditional Judaism accept Shulchan Aruch as binding.
Are Ethiopean Jews Jews in the eyes of G-d?It's his business "secrets belong to G-d our L-rd but the revealed is for us to fulfill all the words of this Torah" (Deut 29:28) This implies that G-d Almighty aranged things in a way that Torah law is determined by Rabbis here in this phisical world...
brocha ve'hatzlocha
Ariel Sokolovsky
PS.>>

Note Shmarya's racism now it's not only the Rebbe's suposed indiference or Rebbe Rayatz suposed indifernce there is a brand new concept in Shmarya's world esentialy "genetic Lubavitch indiference" Lubavitcher Rebbe are also guilty of exteme Anti Zionism since Amram Blau leader of Naturei Karta is from Lubavitch background on one side also Lubavitcher's are responsible for Communist revolution and Evsektzia since it so happens many of it's leaders were from Chassidish and Chabad familys in particular not to mention Eliezer ben Yehudah person responsible for creating Modern Hebrew and inspiring people to use it as an everyday language it's the fault of Lubavitch since his family is Lubavitch we have to check Shmaryas geniology he probably is also a closet Lubavitcher by birth why else would he create this evil web site only Lubavitcher is capable of such an evil.Those terible Lubavitch genes...
Brocha vehatzlocha:
Ariel Sokolovsky
http://www.BostonChabad.com

Long Live our Master our Teacher and our Rebbe King Moshiach Forever and Ever!

[A perplexed reader]

You misread the article. If you know anything about "Bergson's group," as you cite it, they didn't limit their efforts to simply increasing gemara learning. In fact, Rav Kook (aka Rabbi Peter Bergson) launched a media campaign, hired a playwright to dramatically convince Americans to take action, and produced over 200 newspaper advertisements alerting readers to the danger Jews were facing to the Nazi killing machine. They tried to convince governments to take action. They tried to convince citizens to take in Jews from Europe or push for action of the governments. They even marched on Washington. But to no avail. And let's not mention who was the pressure against them. Ok I can't resist. It was the mainstream American Jewish groups. Some of my Israeli brethren refer to them as 'the reformim'

But nowhere in the newspaper articles can I find any kind of preference for religious Jews vs. any old Jews. How curious.

"3. Elimelech "Mike" Tress led those efforts, working closely with the Bergson Group.

4. Moshe Sherer, Mike Tress's brother-in-law took over those efforts after Mike Tress's untimely demise."

Wow, sounds good to me, I have no idea who the Tress's are but I have great respect for them now.

Notice something in the article you quote.
"After the latter's death, Rav Sherer has become the shining example of a shtadlan (public servant)"
"In those days, rescue work was not institutionalized by professionals as it is today, but was entirely based on individual efforts, in the old shtadlan tradition. "

"Yet Rav Ruderman considered it the duty of yeshiva students to apply themselves to learning only rather than going out in the world to do rescue work. "

Well Rav Ruderman has a right to his opinion, but the article actually suggests they acted otherwise, and in reality, THEY DID! The Bergson group as you call it did not learn only. They were the main rescue efforts out in the world. And the Tress's apparently were with them according to this article. So what have you produced other than a lie upon misinterpreting the text of the article and not checking sources or backing up any of your own statements?

In addition, the achievements of the Bergson group, modest as they were due to the pressures of the other Jewish American organizations trying to stop them, were not limited to a certain type of Jew. But hey this is par for the course with you huh? Anything to bash those orthodox with their Exodus story and rewritten Torahs right? Get a clue bro.

[Shmarya]

Hillel Kook was not Orthodox. And I certainly understand the article.

[A perplexed reader]

He came from a rabbinic legacy family, his uncle was talmud torah and the first chief Ashkenazic rabbi of British Mandate, his father was chief Rabbi of Afula where Hillel was educated, and whatever you want to call him these connections enabled him to organize a march of the Rabbis in which at least 400 orthodox rabbis showed up, including Rav Moshe Feinstein zt"l, and including hasidim and misnagim. The Bergson group may have been considered a secular political group, but Reformim and the Conservative and Lubavitch chose not to join the march while the American Jewish organizations pandered to the US State Dept and told them that 'the orthodox' don't represent US Jews. You can't rewrite history. The fact that the Tress's took action in the Bergson group means they did more than just learning, although I'm sure they tried to amp that up as well.

[Shmarya]

Most of the Bergson Group was secular – including its leader, Hillel Kook (AKA, Peter Bergson).

The rabbis themselves could not and did not organize anything.

[A reader]

"Most of the Bergson Group was secular"

"3. Elimelech "Mike" Tress led those efforts, working closely with the Bergson Group."

Therefore Mike Tress is secular and didn't help Jews but did help Jews with the Bergson group and wasn't secular.

HUH?

[Shmarya]

Sigh. Again, most of the BERGSON GROUP was secular. Mike Tress was NOT a member of the Bergson Group and he did what he did EVEN THOUGH RABBIS TOLD HIM NOT TO. And the Washington March was conceived and organized by BERGSON, not by rabbis.

[A perplexed reader]

What exactly constitutes being a "member of the Berson Group?" Was there an identification card? It is obvious you are trying to slander the good name of Mike Tress. "Elimelech "Mike" Tress led those efforts, working closely with the Bergson Group." He worked closely with the Bergson group. Does someone working closely with the Bergson group mean they are a member, or does that really matter? No, that is simply a superficial distinction. Member or quasi member or helper, whether he carried an ID or not, Mike Tress "worked closely with the Bergson Group" doing undeniable rescue efforts.

"The work started by Mike Tress during the war—when rescue work was so essential for the survival of Jewry, especially Torah Jewry—and continued to this day by Rav Moshe Sherer, is of historic proportions."

And yet this is somehow twisted into a rant against him/them? Deceptively illogical.

The 'Washington March of the Rabbis,' was a marching of RABBIS, hence the name. 400 of them. Orthodox Rabbis. Whether Bergson thought of it, arranged it, invited them, told them about it, or anything else, they still did it and you can't change that. Reformim were nowhere to be seen unfortunately. Lubavitch were also not there.

You have a very all-or-nothing, black-or-white presentation that the rabbis disproved of Bergson's efforts (out of bigotry, 'fake learning efforts,' or whatever other "evil" motive), and this is simply not so. And the fact that so many Orthodox rabbis chose to participate in his idea for a march of the rabbis to help lobby for the European Jews is evidence that they were not opposed to his work, contrary to your assertions. In fact, in that instance, they took part in it. It's not so clear cut as you would like it to be.

Not to nitpick, but another important point is that you are saying here that "rabbis told him not to" without presenting any actual evidence of that. You quoted one rosh yeshiva as having preferred increased learning efforts as the choice way to help (you might not believe in that, but he obviously did believe G-d was in charge, and doing mitzvot would help save the Jews. He is entitled to his opinion, and he would certainly be likely to announce it to his yeshiva students in a general setting). In addition to only quoting Rav Ruderman as holding that opinion (although I'm sure other rabbis may have agreed) you don't quote anywhere Rav Ruderman or anyone else personally discouraging Mike Tress from getting involved or doing the work he did. So where are all the "Rabbis telling him not to?" Let's try to adhere to documented evidence when we sling mud.

[Shmarya]

What exactly constitutes being a "member of the Berson Group?" Was there an identification card?

Ah, yes, there was membership.

And Mike Tress, who was not a member, did many good things but, as noted above, he did them against the direct orders of his rabbis.

Bergson conceived, planned and implemented the march. All rabbis from all "streams" were invited. The vast majority who came were MIZRACHI. Only a few were Agudists and non-Mizrachi Orthodox rabbis. They were placed up from for the VISUAL EFFECT, because they were for the most part recently arrived immigrants with long beards and caftans.

As for who told Mike Tress not to save Jews, that would be his rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Ruderman, who believed Torah study would save the Jews, not rescue efforts. The source for that bit of information is a fellow Ner Israel yeshiva student who aided Mike Tress and who became Mike's brother-in-law. His name, Rabbi Moshe Sherer, the long-time head of Agudath Israel.

[Eli Tress]

I am Mike Tress' grandson, named after him, actually.
My grandfather was not a talmid of Rabbi Ruderman; he only had an 8th-grade Hebrew education.
He was a religious G-dfearing and Rabbi-respecting Jew, but he had no special connection with R' Ruderman.
The reason he gave up his business and entered Klal work was because Hagaon R' Elchonen Wasserman, zt'l asked him to do so, and Mike had ultimate respect for great Torah scholars. He never went against their advice and literally trembled in their presence. Please don't use my Zaide to promote yout Sin'as Chinam.

[Shmarya]

Interesting.

But what you write does not jibe with what Rabbi Sherer wrote. And Rabbi Sherer was there. He is also a relative of yours, I believe.

Rabbi Ruderman told people not to get involved with rescue. It is a fact. One of those people he told was your grandfather. That is a fact.

[Ed]

Too many facts are off in this piece to be believed as credible.

Mike Tress was NOT a BIL of Moshe Sherer. He was a first cousin. check it up but you're totally wrong on this.

Mike was not a student of Rabbi Ruderman in any way, shape, or form! His education was minimal in the pre-school grades and he never studied in Ner Israel.

His respect for the rabbis from whom he sought guidance was legendary and he never went against them.

Get your facts straight in this before you post this nonsense.

[Shmarya]

This "nonsense" was taken from information Rabbi Sherer published.

[Ed]

"This "nonsense" was taken from information Rabbi Sherer published."

Rabbi sherer knew the difference between Mike being his BIL or cousin. He never wrote that he was his BIL.
He also never called him a talmid of Rav Ruderman. Mike was married by the time Ner Israel opened and never studied in Kollel.

You come off as less than credible with this nonsense.

[Shmarya]

Manfred . Lehmann, who was there at the time, and who has published copiously on Orthodoxy, writes:
http://www.manfredlehmann.com/sieg269.html

…The Beth Hamedrash in Baltimore was made up of outstanding students. Among them was Rav Moshe Sherer, brother-in-law of the legendary Michael Tress. After the latter's death, Rav Sherer has become the shining example of a shtadlan (public servant) concerned with the fate of every Jew. The work started by Mike Tress during the war—when rescue work was so essential for the survival of Jewry, especially Torah Jewry—and continued to this day by Rav Moshe Sherer, is of historic proportions.

[Ed]

Sorry dahling - you still don't know what you're talking about.
From Mike's oldest grandchild we have this:

"In addition, Mike had the foresight to bring into the Agudah, and to take under his tutelage, the man who would so skillfully guide the Agudah in the years following Mike's death - his beloved younger cousin, R' Moshe Sherer z"l."

Still don't believe me? Look here http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:4RPkjBGNS8UJ:www.tzemachdovid.org/gedolim/tress.html+sherer+mike+tress&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us&client=firefox-a

Fact is my friend that you peddle second-hand junk and have no credibility.

[Ed]

and while you're at it, look here too
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agudath_Israel_of_America

"Mike Tress lead the expansion of the movement during the early 1900s until his death during the mid-1960s as its chief lay leader. His cousin Rabbi Moshe Sherer then took control. "

[Shmarya]

Idiot.

Manfred . Lehmann is both a historian and a frum Jew who was there at the time and who knew these men.

Hardly "second-hand junk."

Past that, none of this changes the actual point of the post – or the despicable man Moshe Sherer became.

Genius that you are, you still can't admit that you're wrong. Sherer was his cousin, not his BIL and if Lehman didn't that, he likely knew little else. Deny it all you want but you come across looking like a fool.

Don't resort to name-calling and admit that your source is not credible. It's that easy.

My point was not to challenge the post - i couldn't care less what you think of Moshe Sherer. But you gotta get your facts from good sources and Lehman clearly isn't one of them even if he wrote about lots of things.

[annonomys]

mike tress was his 1st cousin

[annonomys]

mike was sherer 1st cousin

[michael?]

. Among them was Rav Moshe Sherer, brother-in-law of the legendary Michael Tress....
------------------------------------
makes another mistake by calling him 'michael'....