Hasidic Rebbe Threatens To Boycott Siyum HaShas Over "Zionist" Presence

The Vizhnitzer Rebbe of Monsey, New York has reportedly threatened to boycott Agudath Israel of America's Siyum HaShas because “Zionist rabbis” are scheduled to speak. Those Zionist rabbis are former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau and Yaakov Hillel. Both are haredi but have ties to the Government of Israel. They were invited to speak, according to a Agudah source, because 80% of the people attending the Agudah event will be Modern Orthodox.

The Vishnitzer Rebbe of Monsey, New York

Yeshiva World reports:

According to a Kikar Shabbat report, the Vishnitzer Rebbe from Monsey Shlita may boycott the main Siyum HaShas because “Zionist rabbis” are expected to address the tzibur. This apparently may also lead to other prominent rabbonim and admorim shlita to boycott the event.

Until this announcement, residents of Eretz Yisroel were envious of Jews in North America which was holding one major siyum for all as opposed to in Eretz Yisrael there are siyumim for Ashkenazim, Sephardim, litvish and dati leumi. The rebbe’s announcement however changes all of this.

Invited to address that forum is Tel Aviv Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau Shlita as well as Rosh Yeshivas HaMekubalim Ahavas Shalom HaRav HaGaon Yaakov Hillel Shlita.

The Vishnitzer Rebbe Monsey, told organizers earlier in the week he cannot attend since the “Zionist rabbis” will be attending in an official capacity.

Leaders of Agudas Yisrael in the United States are working to find a solution, and they are quoted anonymously by Kikar Shabbat as saying “we are taking about important admorim, rabbonim and mashpi’im, but on the other side of the coin, we must remain cognizant of the fact that 80% of those who will be participating in the siyum are identified with the Modern Orthodox world, and for them, dafka the addresses from these “Zionist rabbonim” as it were is what is drawing them to attend.

[Hat Tip: HonestlyFrum.]

Comments

[netflix]

has reportedly "threatened" to boycott

ok, so dont go, nobody gives a fuck. make your own little party in monsey and mind your won business.

[What The What?]

Amen Netflix. Agudah can go join 'em too.

[jancsibacsi]

He is definitly getting senile or maybee he is demented,theese hassidishe rebbes think they are so important that the universe revolves around them, in reality they are a bunch of bozos clowns

[redd]

let this jerk stay home.

[Mike]

Hasidic Rebbe Threatens To Boycott Siyum HaShas Over "Zionist" Presence

I wouldn't worry about it, my understanding is that there will be tens of thousands of people there so his presence will not be missed.

[disturbed]

and we wonder why the bais hamikdosh has not been re built?

this putz is too busy making sure his chasidim have kosher phones and cant text message that he looses sight of the big picture.

if you can not get along with a shomer shabbos talmid chacham bec he belives in zionism you dont deserve to be a "gadol"

great role model

[ah-pee-chorus]

i'm boycotting if there are any monsey or brooklyn rabbis there. those evil municipalities arent run by torah law and have many secular jews, hashem yirachem.
i demand all speakers be from truly holy places like hungary and poland.

[Yosef ben Matitya]

f-ck him! why? can he read anything?
does he know what to study is?
chosid sheuyteh! screw him and his likes. sorcerer! who needs him? vial of vitriol in the guise of -well, almost- a human!
tfoo!

[Yochanan Lavie]

Go back to Poland!

[joel]

He is sooooo worried about zionism when his own son who is a mohel is known to mess around with women. What a farce.

[ah-pee-chorus]

how typical. this jerk had to politicize a SIYUM HASHAS. the height of all learning accomplishments couldnt just be enjoyed and honored and left at that. instead he had to inject division and personal venom and catalyze sinas chinom. who in their right mind would give him any respect or call him their leader??? mindless fools, all of them.

[rebeljew]

He is suffering from delusions of relevance.

[Yosef ben Matitya]

what's the name of this twerp?
and that of his mother?
is he also a hager like the former vizhnitz rebbe of benei berak?
does this kat of meenus have only 1 rebbe or they have several rebbes- one for every minyon of theirs?
i think it will be appropriate to make a special zionist mi shibeirakh for him in shul tomorrow while the ark is opened!

[Garnel Ironheart]

Did he also boycott Rav Eliashiv, z"l? Because he worked as a dayan for the Rabanut and had close personal ties with the Kooks which, according to this hateful old man, makes him evil too.
What? He thinks Rav Eliashiv was evil? Kofer! Don't boycott! We're uninviting you!

[ah-pee-chorus]

and had close personal ties with the Kooks

they may have been a little nutty but no reason to call them kooks....unless you were referring to the british rock band in which case i apologize . i had no idea elyashiv was into the indie rock scene. you cant judge a book by its cover.

[Dovid]

He has some pretty darn hip glasses though

[Lubavitchers are Christians]

and had close personal ties with the Kooks

they may have been a little nutty but no reason to call them kooks....unless you were referring to the british rock band in which case i apologize . i had no idea elyashiv was into the indie rock scene. you cant judge a book by its cover.

Posted by: ah-pee-chorus | July 20, 2012 at 01:32 PM

Yu totally misunderstood his words. He was referring to the Kooks - Rabbi Kook and his followers. If you call the late Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi Kook - a kook - then YOU are the kook.

[agenda]

i bet he does not even learn the daff

[Jake]

Would like to point out that the author of this article from Yeshiva World News is a idiot. He wrote " this may lead to other prominent rabbonim and admorim SHLITA to boycott this event"

Rabbonim and admorim who boycott the event should not get the honary title of SHLITA appended to any reference of them.

This guy couldn't find chametz on pessach if it was in his bed, or the rest of the year for that matter.

As to the vishnetzer from Kinsey and his friends, it tempts me to give up my American citizenship so my taxes don't go to his communities food stamps,pell grants and Medicaid. Thank god I have multiple citzenships.

[Mike]

I'm trying to understand why this is news. Is his presence needed? Will there be a shortage of torah leaders? Will other torah leaders follow his move? Will the event be sparsely attended because he is not there? Why is there no stories posted about all the rabayim who will attend the event, is that at least as worthy as reporting on who does not attend?

What we are seeing here is the problem of news in general. Mostly what is newsworthy is bad news, not good news. Acts of depravity is what captures the news not acts of kindness.

Its a sick world out there!

[Fleishike Kishke]

dumb old shvantz.

[Jake]

Also the reporter can't write very well.
Note how he lists Ashkenazim,sfardim,litivish and datie leumei..

Duh Litvoks are Ashkenazim. Rabbi Druckman is of Ashkenazic heritage and he is datei leumie. There are no sfardim who are datie leumie? I can name a whole bunch.

This guy doesn't even know how to describe the Orthodox Jewish community in Israel. And he is the Israel correspondent for Yeshiva World News?

I am in a genorous mood today! LOL

[lazar]

hold your horses!
he did not said this exactly
But he has a lot of weight in this matter
Daf Yomi was introduced by a chassidic Rabbi ,its a chassiddishe thing, so the most proper would be that the AGUDAH (who are misnagdim,Lakewoodish,yeshivich) honor chassiddishe Rebbes and not going towards orthodox reform (iow mothern orthodox)

[Alexander]

Dear Rebbe thanks to you and the choshuve chassidic idiots monsey got runned down, with illegal housing, animals who lack respect for others, why dont you move your place and chassidim elsewhere away from Monsey? stop section 8 when you work and make money of the book, welfare and other stuff.....You came to Monsey when Rabbi Tendler and Rabbi Wein modern orthodox wete there, stop faking it.

[ah-pee-chorus]

Yu totally misunderstood his words. He was referring to the Kooks - Rabbi Kook and his followers. If you call the late Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi Kook - a kook - then YOU are the kook.

Posted by: Lubavitchers are Christians

LAC- whats it like having no sense of humor?
i knew exactly what he meant.

Yu totally misunderstood his words

what does yeshiva university have to do with my comment?

[David]

Let's keep that sinat chinam going!

[Mike]

Oh good, more rabbis who think that everyone else is inadequate. The amount of pure sinas chinam coming from people who claim to be emissaries of Hashem is ASTOUNDING! It makes me embarassed that I live ten minutes away from his little shteibel.

[Flatbusher]

This is politics and business as ussual.

This DAF YOMI thing , while wonderful as it gets many people to learn, is BIG BUSINESS for the AGUDAH. They make a million dollars profit on it. This money lines the pockets of paper pushers there for many years. There is no transparency in Aguda.org.

Satmar Rebbe ZTL even before and after the war, said that the AGUDA is worse than the ZIONISTS as they are TZVIIM. At least the Zionists are not phonies, he claimed; the AGUDA wants to have its cake (sitting in Knesset) and eat it too (Feh! Feh! the treif Zionists!. )

While he was extreme and most were against him at least he was HONEST. His followers boycott the Siyum Shindig,to this day, even if they learn in private like the Spanish Anusim...

Rabbi Hager,the Mon_ey (Money) Vishnitzer Rebbe is an AGUDIST, and many right wingers held it against him. When Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum ___who took over from his Uncle, ____was meshadech with Vishnitz (with Rabbi Aron Teitelbaum, currently one of the Satmar Rebbe is Monsey Vishnitz Nephew by marriage) in Israel there were riots in Satmar.

So he wants to show he is holier than the POPE...

What a crazy world we live in!

[Jake]

Flatbusher

There is no transparency with the RCA,the OU practically any schule or church in the united states. The Jewish religious ( all denominations ) is a big black hole..

If this rebbe needs a new job he can be Santa during Xmas time

[mechi]

Cant believe this. is this a rebbe? someone who cares about ahavas yisroel or c"v sinas yisroel! he so busy with tznius and phones internet...but looses sight of the most important tenet in yiddishkeit... ahvas chinum!...shame! shame!Rabbi Lau is a chashaveh rav a survivor is that kovod for another rav...the more i experience life...i come to realize the longer the beard the longs the rekel (jacket)the more restrictions chumras one makes the faker fraud they are...im a chasideshe person and im sick of this bs...where is the truth...emes...would real old rebbes or reb moshe tz"l or the lubavitcher rebbe tz"l say something like that? would the real tzadik hador please stand up?

[Darth Zeidah]

The Vishnitzer Rebbe's absence will be no loss at all.

[Jon Blum]

Maybe we can get some 11 and 12 year old boys for the Rebbe and his contingent to play with.

[Bassy the Haredi Slayer]

Nice Harry Potter glasses

[Jeff]

80% of the people attending the Agudah event will be Modern Orthodox

To my mind, that's the saddest part.

[Korbendallas72]

...with the brim pulled way down low.

[Yosef ben Matitya]

honor chassiddishe Rebbes and not going towards orthodox reform (iow mothern orthodox)???!!!

may those who describe the MO's as Reform roast in 'be-er shachas'!

[Yosef ben Matitya]

So he wants to show he is holier than the POPE... What a crazy world we live in!

what a crowd!
תִּפֹּל עֲלֵיהֶם אֵימָתָה {ר} וָפַחַד, {ס} :

[neverFrum]

I found Waldo! He's in the picture above.

[Althelion]

The Vishnitzer Rebbe is just a mean old man. No more, no less. All his studying, all his praying, and all his followers don't change that fact. Shame on him.

[Lo K'darkah]

The cracks in the wall... the hyper-conservative edifice of their reactionary religion is starting to crumble. Their world is falling down around their gutkas, and they don't know what to do...
...so they lash out, like a two year old or a crack addict. Look at me! I can be tough! I can get attention! I can redefine myself, yet again, by a rejection of the other (without explanation)! That will give my followers and my ego and my assets and my position and my kavod and my holiness something to be redefined against...again! Let the world be damned, let ahavat yisrael be damaged, let the kavod of the Torah be forsaken, but I, I, I shall prevail...
[at least, that's what it seems like.]

[hilton]

the rebbe must f k o ff. the holier the more unholy. bunch off bull sh ers.

[MSL]

Lau has been accused of numerous sexual mis conduct by many tel aviv socialites, includeing talya stan, israel leading astrologer. R goren called him a noef.

[ruthie]

dear Vishnitzer Rebbe,

there is no doubt in my mind...none...that all the vishnitzers from poland that perished in the ghettos and camps would not EMBRACE AND FIGHT for israel.
please think of them and not just yourself.
and the israeli soldiers are just as holy as your students...and the vishnitzer hasidim that were killed in the ghettos and the camps would
agree with me.
please...you are the rebbe.
be a great one,
ruthie

[Office of the Chief Rabbi]

YL, Ruthie -
Vizhnitz not in Poland. Today Ukraine, between the wars Rumania, and before WWI Austria.

He should go back to any one of them, the Putz.

[Yosef ben Matitya]

Lau has been accused of numerous sexual .... R goren called him a noef.

tks, MSL. wonder if you have any support for this.
he is a great speaker, with what must be excellent pr. but somewhat too polished to be real.
plus his often reported penchant to love cash and freebies. most notoriously as charging fees for his appearance at weddings, and the unbelievable grabiness in running again for office as rabbi of TA after having been Israel's CR.

[joe shmoe]

shmarya, as usual get your facts correct, yakov hillel is close to the charedim and they have no issue with him, he regularly participates in Eidah demonstrations,

[John Nagle, Silicon Valley, CA]

Does someone have a chart of all the factions, when they split off, and their market share?

[MSL]

The israely papers had a set of articles about YML and his expliots. At one point lau sued talia stan . Before the case came to court he withdrew his suit and had to pay court costs.
He also was caught in plagerism.

[Yosef ben Matitya]

He also was caught in plagerism.

tks again msl.
again if any reference pls report.
i am constantly mystified also about the urban legends that would have him saved from buchenwald by karim abdul jabbar's father, or uncle or a friend of the father or the uncle or even john paul the second (karol wojtila)in a twisted version of saul friedlander autobiographical story.
I wonder if it's popular folks lore or if he contributed himself to these fibs.
I have no doubt he suffered in the holocaust and lost those dearest to him.
And for that, he has all my sympathy.
Yet one gets dizzy being bombarded with all these details circulated with online chain letters etc...
And yes, he is a very tallented speaker.

[Yochanan Lavie]

OCR, I stand corrected.

[my 2 cents]

The truth is, he hasn't kept up with daf yomi... so knows it would be inappropriate to pretend he has. And where would he be given a seat? He only wants the center head, or what's the point?

[MSL]

I. Heard from important habadniks the rebbi was very mad at lau after he double crossed him on shmita...

[Friar Yid]

Yosef- This is Mordechai Hager, younger brother of Moshe, who died this past March. Moshe took over their father's position in Bnei Brak and Mordechai went to Monsey where he was a student of Yoel Teitelbaum and subsequently became the leader of Viznhitz hasidism in America. While Mordechai was influenced by his mentor, Moshe's politics were more moderate, as indicated by his involvement with the UTJ political party and his marriage ties to the Belzer and Skverer rebbes, as well as Aaron Teitelbaum from Satmar.

[ruthie]

OCR,

i was thinking of vishnitzer people who married into like say gerrer families and moved to poland.
i didn't mean as in an entire sect. i meant people....just individuals...
who would no doubt now disagree with the rebbe.
esp. if they would have survived.
i blame some of the rebbes...gerrer etc. for them not surviving.

[zalman]

Hallelujah! The rebbe of holy decendence a true yirah shmayim (althhough illusioned of old time agudah) is standing up for what is right! his dicipiles count in the thousands But thanks god not even one is on-line to refute these faceless obscene comments made against him why? because they don't even know that these heretics called MO or whatever.. exist! Hallelujah!!

[chaim]

if this site can allow all this name calling,
(which by the way is against the rules of this site)it should close down. i have to assume its lau doing all the comments

[Jay]

Modern Orthodox is not an insult. to say one rabbi is inferior to another because he lives in Israel is ludicrous. the Hareidim want a voice in government. they want their religious needs met! so what do they do? they spit on Israel and its rabbis...?