Barry responds
Barry's Response part II
Rabbi Ginzberg responds
The beginning of it all?
This is an opportunity that can't be squandered. There is this whole demographic out there that can be swayed either to Chassidus, or to Shachniks like Rabbi Ginzberg, who is importing Israeli Haredism and trying to tow in the simple souls out there. [ I'm not quite sure how a CC talmid becomes a Bene Beraqמחבל, but I guess it happens. And this isn't meant to be a personal attack on the good Rabbi, that's not what we do here...] Barry's encounters Chabad seem to be everlasting, the words of a Tzaddik have that affect. As do shluchim like the late Reb Shlomo Zalman Hecht, who exude a positive message. This is a watershed moment when these people are reacting and rejecting the demagoguery forced upon them. We have to be there for them, giving them the healthy alternative. Am alternative steeped in Torah and tradition yet imbued with Ahavas Yisroel that will keep the masses from totally rejecting the traditions their ancestors fought so hard to keep. Rabbi Ginzberg may be trying to be true to his Rebbi's teachings, but doing it at the expense of Torah leaders dear to thousands upon thousand of Jews is not the way to do it. כאן המקום להזכיר several important points, ויה"ר that in this זכות may we be זוכה to בנין ביהמ"ק השלישי במהרה בימינו ממש.
You might notice how the פשוט'ע Yiddishe sentiments of חיבת הארץ and רחמנות etc. are being scorned upon by the thought police. You, you simple gornisht, you with the blue shirt and knitted Yarmulke, you can't have an opinion. We tell you how to think and when to think it. We're the ones who have the mesorah and we tell you what goes. But notice the haredi elite are exporting politics, masked as existential threats to yiddishkeit, to the unassuming. זאג נישט פאר קיינעם, but we all know that the way it is now in EY is a new reality. This was NOT the way it was meant to be. Yes, Lapid's plan ( and the yold Lipman) is wrong and the way to do it is not to force it on the people, but we're fighting a battle that most of us don't believe in. We're officially standing up for a way of life that 95% of us don't follow. And besides, who brought them into the whole mess, by trying to get yeshivos fully funded, in exchange for not pushing the implementation of mihu yehudi? Once again we're witnessing a throwback to the times of the הייליקע Baal Shem Tov when the scholarly elite was out of touch with the masses and scorned them. We see במוחש how the chassidish vs. misnagdish approach is still a very big factor in day-to-day life. I just don't understand why everything to far-entfer the B'nei Brak approach is a whole pilpul, בבחינת מגדלים הפורחים באויר, and they can't give simple answers to simple questions?!