Rav Wasserman Responds to a Hit Piece
If the Torah protects, why were Torah scholars killed?
In 1938, while Rav Elchonon Wasserman was on his historic visit to America, he responded to a hit piece that was published against him in The Morgan Journal. According to an endnote to Rav Wasserman’s response in Kovetz Ma’amarim V’igros, The Morgan Journal was the only Jewish newspaper in New York at the time that didn’t go to press on Shabbos. They interviewed Rav Wasserman and subsequently published a piece that twisted his words and disputed them — clearly not acting in good faith.
I had never heard of The Morgan Journal, and was intrigued by the background information. I asked my father about this paper, and he remembered it vividly; he even used to advertise his Hoshana business with them (way before my time). He said it was a Yiddish newspaper on the Lower East Side, and they were pro-Zionist.
That last bit of information is extremely significant in the context of their hit piece against Rav Wasserman. On the surface, as I noted in last night’s class, it seems strange that the only Shabbos-observant newspaper in New York would attack a rabbi of Rav Wasserman’s stature. Evidently, however, taking a public stand against the deep moral failings of the un-Jewish Zionist leadership, and warning about the threat they posed to the Jewish people, was a cardinal sin in many “religious” Jewish circles even back then, before these wicked people formed their depraved caricature of a Jewish state.
For example, in Rav Wasserman’s response to the hit piece, he reiterated that the Zionist spirit of emancipation from Torah in the Land of Israel was the primary reason for all the troubles that had befallen the Jews there. He proceeded to back up this accusation with irrefutable Torah sources and historical facts.
It’s understandable that Zionist supporters in 1938 would be rankled by such viewpoints, and feel threatened when they were so convincingly articulated by someone of Rav Wasserman’s stature. However, we should expect them to defend their position by methodically addressing Rav Wasserman’s criticisms, arguments, and Torah sources. We should expect them to be humble, reasonable, and intellectually honest, recognizing that Rav Wasserman’s viewpoint was entirely valid and worthy of deep consideration, even if they ultimately settled on a different conclusion.
Instead, of course, they played dirty. They distorted his words and tried to make him look foolish, instead of addressing the crux of his arguments. The fact that they were surely unable to do so does not excuse their behavior. Either change your mind, or at least acknowledge that Rav Wasserman makes some strong points, and explain why you choose to go in another direction, anyway.
The sort of media shenanigans we see today — aped by so many intellectually dishonest people all around us — are nothing new, only more refined.
We have become so used to the media selling out and working us over that we have become desensitized to how outrageous this is.
Why do we accept that they collaborated to push a Covid and vaccine narrative that wreaked so much damage on humanity (and continues to do so), while enforcing a gag order on dissenting views, except to ridicule them? Is it really the most obvious thing in the world that everything they said about Covid is true, and that those accursed shots saved millions of lives?
Why do we accept their pulling the same shtick with October 7, the subsequent series of war and hostage narratives, and so many other things?
Do we really want to live in a world where highly intelligent, informed, and reasonable people are not given the opportunity to express a different conclusion, based on clear Torah sources, facts, and strong arguments?
Why do we support the utterly corrupted, sold-out media? Why do we believe anything they are trying to sell us? Why do we keep going back for more?
Why are we voluntarily enabling our own enemies, day after day after day?
The fact that The Morgan Journal was a pro-Zionist newspaper is not readily apparent from a Google search (another reminder of the importance of doing old-school research, including actually talking to people who can offer firsthand information, and not relying too much on Big Brother).
I did find that The National Library of Israel has archived scans of The Morgan Journal here. If someone can locate the interview with Rav Wasserman, and maybe even translate the Yiddish, that would be awesome.
I’m hesitant to summarize last night’s class, lest you not “bother” to listen to it, but I’m also hesitant not to share anything from it, lest you not listen to it anyway and miss it all.
I will share one of many important points.
The writer of the hit piece apparently took issue with the notion of Torah study and observance providing physical protection. Chazal were unequivocal that this is the case. Well, what about all the pious Jews massacred by Chmielniki?
Many featherweight intellectuals today, including frum kofrim, ask the same sort of question as if it’s a brilliant gotcha, a veritable checkmate against the “scientifically primitive” Chazal and all who believe in them for anything beyond the minutiae of ritualistic Jewish law.
Indeed, Rav Wasserman began his response by questioning the intentions of the writer who asked this question. After all, it was not really Rav Wasserman and his personal opinion that he was challenging, but Chazal themselves.
He continued that one can and should strive to better understand the Torah and Hashem’s ways in this world, provided he is starting with the foundation that the Torah — which includes the teachings of Chazal — is objectively true, and Hashem’s ways are perfectly just. If we are unable to solve all the mysteries, the shortfall is with us. Those who do not accept this starting point have no portion in the Torah.
Rav Wasserman did not in this essay provide a detailed reconciliation of Chazal’s teaching that Torah protects, noting that it requires many introductions, and the pages of a newspaper were not the place for it. However, he noted a frequent saying of the Chofetz Chaim: “Without faith there are no answers, and with faith there are no questions.”
Of course, the questions are still legitimate, but the lack of immediate answers will not shake our understanding that the Torah indeed protects us, even though the righteous often suffer. We do not need scientific studies to validate the teachings of Chazal, and those who do have no portion in the Torah.
I did offer a brief explanation based on something I learned, though I don’t remember at present where I saw it. Suppose one does a mitzvah for which the merit is long life in this world. Then he does a sin that carries the death penalty. What happens now? Can we say that the mitzvah doesn’t really bring merit for long life?
What if one does mitzvos that carry a segula for wealth, but does sins that cause poverty? Clearly there is a tug of war here. Perhaps this person will achieve wealth and then lose it. Perhaps he will wind up somewhere in the middle. There are various ways this matter can be balanced and justice achieved, but a kofer will look at the result with his graphs and charts and declare that Chazal didn’t know what they were talking about.
The kofer is a pompous windbag.
The same is true of the fact that Torah indeed brings physical protection, both upon the individual and the nation. This does not mean no harm can or ever will befall even the most righteous of people. This does not mean that many thousands of Jews who study Torah create an impenetrable force field around the nation, or even their own communities.
After all, there’s a lot more going on, too, that may counteract and neutralize this protection, G–D forbid. There are many other factors at play, too. We don’t need to look far to see them.
In essence, however, every bit of Torah we are studying brings us spiritual merits that include increased physical protection. We don’t know the exact formula. We aren’t privy to the details of divine judgment. But it is real.
When one sees a person who lives a healthy lifestyle nevertheless suffer from poor health, if he is sensible he will not scoff at the notion of living a healthy lifestyle. He will understand that many factors can counteract and neutralize the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.
The same is true with Torah study offering protection. To borrow a line from the poison-pushers, however bad it is with all the Torah that is being studied today, it would be even worse without it.
Not only isn’t the question a gotcha, it really isn’t difficult to understand the principles at work.
There is so much more in the class. It is embedded above and on Rumble here.
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