Public Letter
Friday, 2 Adar Rishon [February 11, 2005]LeKavod Maron Posek Hador Rav Elyashiv shlit"a:
About a month ago, a public announcement went out to ban the books of Nosson Slifkin, with the signature of Maran [Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv] prominently displayed.
However, rumors have been circulating in the United States that Maran [Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv] did not sign this ban, [or] that he has retracted the ban, and the matter has been publicized as if – chas vesholom! – one can argue in fundamentals of faith.
I have requested that Maran [Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv] explain in his own handwriting that this teaching has not changed, that the ban stands, and that there is no room to argue on this at all.
In the name of all the rabbanim who are distressed about Hillul Hashem, and the honor of His Holy Torah,
Elya Ber Wachtfogel
With reference to the rumors that I did not sign the proclamation forbidding Slifkin's books, or that I have retracted my signature: These rumors are not true.
Yosef Sholom Elyashiv
The Hebrew-language original can be read in the post immediately below this one.