While searching and going through some computer files, both email and blogger, I came across some old interesting information. I’ll label these posts, “oldies but goodies” whenever I publish them. For instance:
When A Rebbe Banned Modern Medicine, Science, Secular Education And Zionism
The pre-WW2 Munkatcher Rebbe vehemently opposed any secular education for Jews. He also opposed modern medicine and science and, along with the fifth and sixth Lubavticher Rebbes and the Stamar Rebbe, were the leading anti-Zionists of their era. (Lubavitch, Muncatch and Satmar cooperated on anti-Zionist efforts.) According to some accounts, thousands of Jews died in the Holocaust because they or their parents had obeyed these hasidic rebbes rather than trust the emperical proof all around them. Today, Satmar and Chabad-Lubavitch are well-known outside of the haredi world, but Munkatch isn't. However, inside the haredi world, Munkatch is very well known for a specific thing its current rebbe spends much time doing. What is it?
The Munkatcher Rebbe Rabbi Moshe Leib Rabinovich
The pre-WW2 Munkatcher Rebbe, known as the Minchas Elazar, vehemently opposed any secular education for Jews.
He also opposed modern medicine and science and, along with the fifth and sixth Lubavticher Rebbes and the Stamar Rebbe, were the leading anti-Zionists of their era. (Lubavitch, Muncatch and Satmar cooperated on anti-Zionist efforts.)
According to some accounts, thousands of Jews died in the Holocaust because they or their parents had obeyed these hasidic rebbes rather than trust the empirical proof all around them.
Today, Satmar and Chabad-Lubavitch are well-known outside of the haredi world, but Munkatch isn't. However, inside the haredi world, Munkatch is very well known for a specific thing its current rebbe, Rabbi Moshe Leib Rabinovich, spends much time doing.
What is it?
It's what haredim call pidyon shvuyim, ransoming captives. But what Rabinovich does is pair particular haredim accused of crimes with specific defense attorneys he believes best suited to defend them. He also tries to to get cases heard by certain judges he believes are friendly, and he suggests various defense strategies or, depending on the case, urges defendants to strike plea bargains.
Halakha has long held that if you fail to teach your child a trade, you have instead taught him to steal. Rabinovich's ancestor blocked the secular education needed to prepare children for jobs in the modern world. His descendant is now occupied on a daily basis dealing with the spoiled fruit of that decision.
Bernard Wasserstein documents some of the Minchas Elazar's craziness in his book about Jewish Europe just before the Holocaust, On The Eve, published last year by Simon & Schuster (see below).
Here's an excerpt:
This book seems that which was excerpted from above:
On the Eve: The Jews of Europe Before the Second World War
Paperback – December 29, 2015 by Bernard Wasserstein
On the Eve is the portrait of a world on the brink of annihilation. In this provocative book, Bernard Wasserstein presents a new and disturbing interpretation of the collapse of European Jewish civilization even before the Nazi onslaught.
Based on comprehensive research, rendered with compassion and empathy, and brought alive by vibrant stories, On the Eve offers a vivid and mind-opening picture of the European Jews as the continent spiraled toward the Second World War.
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