Op-Ed: From Under the Desk of the Badatz
Tishrei has come to a close. As we begin to “unpack” the inspiration of the month, we also have a chance to reflect on everything that transpired. What will we glean from the time spent in Rebbe’s “daled amos,” and what will we bring back into our mundane lives? Will it be a ma’amar learned? Perhaps a new chayus in davening? Or will it be the acrid stench of machlokes, as the reality of constant infighting rears its ugly head once more?
How could it be, we must wonder, that during the holiest days of the year, the very foundations of our community were compromised and shamed? Far from the normal hooliganry that is perpetuated by some of the more brutish “guests” that come for Tishrei, this year we witnessed a coordinated and all-encompassing campaign – all part of the cynical power-struggle of those interested only in their own ego and and pockets.
Simply put: Rabbi Braun – at the bidding of several long-time partisan members of this community – has used his position of power to manipulate members of our community and illegitimately seize the reigns of the institutions of our community.
The following exposé is the first in a series of reports on the corruption in our community. We’ve consulted rabbonim to make sure that there is no question of loshon hara. As well, everything here is based on a series of documents, recently released to the public, as well as first hand testimony. Circulating such a report is never a pleasant task, but only by publicizing the truth can we ever hope to achieve real peace in Crown Heights.
• THE CASE OF THE BROKEN SHOFAR
This year, the blogs and community websites of Crown Heights were filled with discussion and speculation about a great tragedy. A shofar used by the Rebbe was found to be cracked on the second day of Rosh Hashanah causing hundreds, if not thousands, of Yidden to improperly fulfill the mitzvah of tekios shofar!
A similar type of incident occurred in 5747. That year the Rebbe associated a posul Sefer Torah in 770 and the violent storms that drenched the town with the machlokes and disrespect for the rabbonim in the community.
This year as well, a Sefer Torah was found posul on Rosh Hashanah… while a storm drenched the town on the first day of Yom Tov. And – far be it to speculate on the spiritual cause of the Rebbe’s holy shofar to break – a violent outbreak of machlokes and a very glaring disrespect for the rabbonim of our community was perpetrated this year. One wonders if the Rebbe did not wish to be brought in to this machlokes, just like Yaakov Avinu said of Shimon and Levi: “Let my soul not enter their counsel; my honor, you shall not join their assembly…”
As part of the current custom of 770, Rabbi Osdoba has had the chazakah to serve as the Makri (the one who points to the place in tekios for the Ba’al Tokea) since the passing of Rabbi Marlow a”h. This year, however, for the first time in a decade, Rabbi Osdoba was entirely absent for tekios!
Why? On the eve of the new year, Rabbi Osdoba was informed that it would be “best” if he did not take his traditional place on the bima. Recalling events of the previous year, when Rabbi Braun violently shoved the elder Rav aside in order to appoint himself Makri, Rabbi Osdoba was forced from 770.
• THE SECRET MEETING
The disrespect for Rabbi Osdoba and thus the public disaster of the broken shofar by someone who purports to be a chasidsher Rav on one of the holiest days of the year, was part of a planned coup d’état. Since the start of Chodesh Elul, R’ Braun and his gang (among them veteran ba’alei machlokes Mendel Hendel, Yosef Boruch Spielman, Menachem Shagalow, Shmuel Kraus) have been irked by any signs of honor bestowed upon those with whom they disagree.
At the start of the month of mercy, Spielman attempted to physically block the Dayan, Rabbi Shlomo Yehuda Segal, from taking his traditional seat along the northeastern wall of 770. This is despite the stipulation in the Psak Din of the five rabbonim (the very psak din that others quote to legitimize R’ Braun) that Rabbi Segal retains the special status of Dayan of the Beis Din!
Despite a letter of the gabbaim rebuking Spielman (published here for the first time), it seems that they too missed out on the significance of his actions.
This was not the lone vendeta of some crazed man trying to settle his own grudge. Spielman hoped that by making a public display, he could gather the sympathies of the many impressionable – and wildly violent – Tsfati guests to his cause. As will later be addressed, despite Spielman’s failed attempt to create a scene at the time, these “bochurim” have since been used in a manner similar to the mafia enforcers of yore.
Though the Gabbaim seemed momentarily ignorant of the events unfolding around them, by the end of Elul, they would be directly drawn into R’ Braun’s attempted power-struggle.
Through first hand accounts, we’ve learned that on the Wednesday before Rosh Hashana, R’ Braun called the four gabbaim into a secret meeting. It would stand to reason that as a purported Rav of the Crown Heights Beis Din, R’ Braun would use the session to coordinate the halachic and spiritual needs of the mispalelim with the Gabbaim. Instead, sources recount that R’ Braun forcefully demanded that no kibudim should be given to the Mara D’Asra Rabbi Osdoba and to the Dayan Rabbi Segal. His list included the demand that Rabbi Segal and his family not be sold a place to daven for Rosh Hashana and that the Gabbaim should deny Rabbi Osdoba any honor predicated to him by his seniority, including the aliya of maftir and the right to be the “Makri” for Tekios. Rather, R’ Braun insinuated that these kibbudim should be given to him.
Reb Avraham Holtzberg, one of the two Gabbaim in attendance, explained that he was unable to fulfill any of R’ Brauns requests until they were submitted in writing – in accordance with the psak din. Tellingly, Zalman Lipskier remained silent during these talks.
As party to R’ Braun’s coup, Lipskier would cynically cover the sticker marking Rabbi Segal’s place in 770 with a duplicate of the one used for late rav, Rabbi Marlow a”h.
• ON DAY ONE: A CALL FOR BLOOD
For the past two years, R’ Braun seems to be motivated by two overlapping traits: a constant search for honor and power driven by an inner sense of insecurity and a public showing of vitriol against all those that oppose him.
One can only speculate as to the reason for R’ Braun’s insecurity. Perhaps it’s due to his own guilty conscience about his lack of rabbinic credentials or a general low self-esteem. Regardless, it’s resulted in the toxic combination of backroom deals (as illustrated with the gabbaim), a constant need to generate fluffy PR touting his accomplishments, and occasionally violent public outbursts.
R’ Braun’s search for public acceptance is easily recognizable in the series of public letter and announcements he’s penned. These letters are filled with lengthy exegeses, pilpulim and flowery language. Fueled by an apparent inferiority complex, everything he writes is littered with word-play and a plethora of footnotes and literary allusions. This is all well and fine for publication in a rabbinic journal. But as letters meant to convey simple halachos in a way accessible to the general population, they fall utterly short of their goal.
Recently, R’ Braun’s financiers have begun publishing a periodical under the innocuous title, “From the Table of the Badatz.” In the great tradition of Pravda, the periodical is pure propaganda, meant to bolster R’ Braun’s perception in the public eye while denigrating and attacking Rabbi Osdoba and the Rabbinate.
And what of R’ Braun’s public outbursts? During his would-be coronation, R’ Braun made very clear his vision and policy: a battle cry for the spilling of new blood – “blutt vet zach gisen da” – “blood will be spilled here” ( he announced to his supporters. In turn, he was greeted by those attending the event with the pitched frenzy of brutes and gangsters, eager to heed the battle-cry (can be viewed on YouTube).
This policy continues: at his keynote address to guests this Tishrei 5773, R’ Braun chose not to address the crowd about matters of halacha and guidance, as one would expect from a Rav. Instead he went on the offensive. He viciously attacked anyone who didn’t agree with him in a barrage of rhetoric designed to please the hands that pull his strings and to inspire the Tzfati guests to do his work during Tishrei.
And only minutes before Yom Kippur, the day of forgiveness and repentance, R’ Braun took to even more vandalism. When the Gabbaim informed him that they would once more be recognizing Rabbi Segal’s rightful place in 770, he publicly ripped of the newly affixed sticker with the Dayan’s name!
All of this R’ Braun justifies under the false pretense that he’s a ‘majority’ position in the Beis Din. While the ramifications of a “majority” on a Beis Din are complex, suffice it to say that this use of the term is utterly baseless and insulting to the intelligence of our community.
In halachic terminology, a majority is called Da’as Harov. If three dayanim of a formal or ad hoc Beis Din convene and are unable to come to a unanimous decision, we rule by the majority. This only applies if the three dayanim come together as a Beis Din. If they do not come together, regardless of the reason, then there is no Beis Din and thus no Da’as Harov. Period.
Statements made by Rabbi Braun in the name of the Beis Din are thus a pure fiction – so long as the Beis Din of all three rabbonim does not convene, there can be no majority.
• IT’S ALL ABOUT MONEY
In their most recent and vindictive move, R’ Braun and his camp have attempted to seize control of the very foundations of the Kashrus institution – CHK – in our community.
Despite some three decades of experience and outstanding work in upholding the standards of our community, R’ Braun has put out the pernicious lie that somehow there was no kashrus under the administration of the Beis Din. Crown Heights Kosher (CHK), along with the dozens of establishments and hundreds of products under its hashgacha, were thus deemed non-kosher.
Using Tishrei guests to “enforce” their new standards, store owners and Crown Heights residents were harassed for entering establishments under the CHK.
Interviews with several store-owners under the CHK have unearthed the immense pressure put on them to “switch” to a new “hechsher” under R’ Braun. Making them an “offer they can’t refuse,” store owners were threatened with further violence by the Tsfati enforcers – and promises of financial security bankrolled by Sholom Ber Drizin for joining.
Oddly, when one of the establishments in Crown Heights caved to the pressure and bribes, nothing in the store was changed. Despite CHK’s status of being “non-kosher” (coincidently announced only weeks before R’ Braun’s new hechsher), every product and good in the store was suddenly kosher once more.
Further conversations with local store owners revealed a peculiar conversation they had with R’ Braun when they approached him about his bizarre claim that all of their food had suddenly become ‘non-kosher.’
He seemed surprised to hear their complaints and listened empathically to them. These store owners report that when they finished, he told that that he had made no such statement and had no knowledge about who would have done so in his name.
Perhaps, he reasoned, they were witnessing the shenanigans of a few youthful rouges – empty and rash individuals with nothing better to do than stir up trouble. If the document in question could be brought to him, R’ Braun continued, he would immediately come out with a rebuttal explaining that the statements in it were incorrect.
It’s superfluous to note that these store owners are still waiting for R’ Braun’s letter of clarification.
What they did notice was that sticking out of his machzor when he came to shul for Kol Nidre was the very proclamation bearing his signature that he had “never seen before.”
Those interested in further detail on this matter can consult the official statement of the Beis Din. This statement clarifies the scandal, the current situation of kashrus in Crown Heights, and the serious attempt to breach its standards. The letter was printed by the Badatz in English before Sukkos.
• IN CONCLUSION
We are sure that after finishing all of the above, it may be hard to believing much of it. In truth, had we not experienced it ourselves, we too would be left with a sense of bewilderment. The power, however, is in your hands to determine the veracity of these statements. There are, of course, other issues that still must be addressed: the conduct of R’ Braun and his teams during the campaigns, the questions of his experience and the looming specter of serious forgery and more. These subjects, G-d willing, will be addressed in future volumes.
change your Name
You should change your Name to Vaad LEKIUME Machlokes
disappointed
very wel written but you have one fact that is not correct Braun is not a real Rov & does not have Smicha his papers are forged & to date refuses to show them or Respect Rav Osdoba & even more so in his own words he disqualifies himself as a Rav!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
carroll st.
wow, this really sounds like someone wants to avoid machlokes. I now know way more than I ever wanted to about it. I try to avoid machlokes by leading a life according to the dictates of halacha and helping others. I don’t have time or energy to expend on this.
the equalizer
pick him up and put him on a plane, one way trip to australia, get a seat for zalmen lipskar, he also must be removed. by the way braun is lipskars nephew.
the visionary
poor rabbi schwei he cant even figure out whats going on.maybe he should ask his wife.
Wow
Wow, if all of the above is factual and accurately perceived, then I feel sorry for all the rest of you. It would seem that one person is putting a community in jeopardy. Why would anyone put up with that? What is really going on?
chayaim
Thanks for posting this!!!!!!! Bravi!
honorable person
osdoba is far from a tzaddik, remember he is arrogant and rude , his saying tehillim at a chupa or when someone talking to him face to face, is simply something that should not be tolerated.i hope he gets this message.
Is It Just A Coincident
Withing two years of leaving Sydney, there is finally shalom in that community.
Really ?!?!
We’ve consulted rabbonim to make sure that there is no question of loshon hara
Which Rabbonim ?
Fan from afar
I am glad I don’t live in Crown Heights. It’s much better in Montreal
where there is no official Rov. This way you don’t have to worry about
not lIstening to someone and can do what you
want with less guilt.
send back tzfasniks
braun is a clown and i have long since stopped respecting these clowns in our community
step 1 send back the tzfasnikim
step 2 have hendel arrested for >>>>>>>
step three if the tzfasnikim believe that the rebbe is in 770 then let rabbi zalman shimon and rabbi marlow still pasken and send braun back down under where he isn not respected and not wanted either
Crown heights
We didn’t have one good day with Braun. From day one it was about fighting.
He should do us all a favor and go back to where he came from.
dr
I will remember that this is AN EDITORIAL and its from someone’s POINT OF VIEW. The secular media lies to us. So anyone can tell us their “spin” and it can be true, part true, or NOT true as well.
I am so aggravated by the lowly cheap fighting which we have.
Why?
oh, right, I remember….its all about….
KEDUSHA TORAH EMES.
oh…….
Likes crown heights.
It seems that Broin like the president , lehavdil, is both arrogant and trying to show that he has accomplished (which is unfortunately very little — and likely more harm than good).
Mendy in Midwest
Love don’t Hate (hay yud yud tes)
AHAVA
Braun is a misnagid…I knew him from my days in Sydney where he demanded the attention and respect of the mesivta boys he taught…it was sickening to watch and listen to. Sydney was happy to get rid of him and dump him here…or anywhere for that matter…HE NEEDS TO GO!
sydeny
thank you to the crown heights community, for taking braun from us, as you can see you took all the machlokos away as well, we now have peace in our community while crown heights is growing with machlokos.
good luck
Yechi
This is what happens when you don’t have a LIVE leader/Rebbe. The hooligans run roughshod and no one stops them. It’s time for a new Rebbe in Lubavitch, before the is no Lubavitch anymore, and it won’t be long. It’s already unrecognizable.
gezher
yawn …. blah blah
Yossel
AND YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY BUSES ARE GETTING BLOWN UP, and Hamas keeps lobbing rockets into Eretz HaKodesh??? The Rebbe many times connected Shalom in Crown Heights with Shalom in Eretz Yisroel. For G-D’s sake, why do you have to PUBLISH this garbage?? Why can’t the Rabbonim all make peace??? They are all supposed to be upright men, but the money people keep the fires burning. If the Rebbe is right, then the MONEY people have BLOOD on their hands as they manipulate and egg the Rabbonim on. I don’t take sides, I respect all the Rabbonim. The whole thing stinks and yet the message never gets across…the whole situation grieves me….
Shimon Shak
Who wrote this? Stop hiding beind phony names and allow for the public to know who you are!! You are publicly embarrassing a Rov here, at least have the guts to state your name!! People like you are truly abhorrent and you personally disgust me
Very Concerned
It’s time for a clean sweep. Two of these three “Rabbonim” aren’t Erliche Yidden. The third is a Finer Yid, but he has no business being Rov of a community the size and complexity of Crown Heights.
Concerned
Vaad lemnias Machlokes??
Writing this very obe-sided piece in a public forum does not seem to serve the goals of menias Machlokes…
A Certified Dayan
“This only applies if the three dayanim come together as a Beis Din. If they do not come together, regardless of the reason, then there is no Beis Din and thus no Da’as Harov. Period.”
As someone who has learned these laws i can tell you with certitude that this argument is factually incorrect.
1. It only applies to dinei torah, not the regular workings of the Beis Din.
2. (Even if for argument’s sake point number 1 didn’t apply, said argument is still halachikly incorrect because) until the conclusion of the Zabla process, the Beis Din is still bound to the rules stipulated in the Zabla’s psak, namely, that they are to follow the majority of the Beis Din.
Hopeful
Change it to Vaad l’Machlokes. If you’re trying to avoid machloikes, you’re on the wrong track. Try working behind the scenes, without promoting more hate. Machloikes kills. Check the website posts: after machloikes in any part of the world, there are obits on same sites. R”L.
The Rebbe wants sholom, halevay there should be someone adult enough to promote, in a respectable way. Let’s give the Rebbe nachas on this one!
Moshiach Now! We can do it!
Ephraim Grushnit
All of this would not have happened if there had been one central authority in Chabad. We want a Rebbe now!
Mendel Vechter
For those of you that believe violence and machlokos are the way to go please spend a few minutes to hear about the people that were involved with the Vechter assault. Every single one of them are either in jail, dead, lost children or have experienced other severe punishment.
The main culprits met with Rabbi Vechter this chol hamoed succos, begged for mechila and went with him to the ohel to ask the rebbe mechila.
happy thanksgiving everybody!
thank you for posting this for my vacation really
crown heights
1) thogh spielman’s manner of behaving is not the way to show it, I doubt anyone can deny the tremendous chessed he does for the comunity, standing for hours on end weekly giving out food and money for chasanim etc.(i am personally a benificary of the above). He truly cares for the comunity, it’s the ways he chooses to direct this feeling is where I believe he went wrong.2) it’s funny to note that while he is in r’. Brauns camp“ he has no problem taking food from gombos which is ”non kosher” according to r’ brauns chk.
CH-er
interesting, at the same time insulting
As someone from Crown Heights, been around, been involved,,,,
the bottom line question is!!!!!!!!
do we believe or dont we believe.
we have a Rebbe and will always have him, if we see him or not, no matter what we think of him, we have him, his words are holy and forever,
from 1941 to 1992, how many times has the Rebbe said: 770 is the core, is the foundation of the world,,,, 770 is the engine room of the world,,,,, what happens here in 770 has an affect on all of us, all of NY, all of USA, and the entire world,
guys stop BS’ing yourself….. do we believe that what the Rebbe says is true,,, then be 100% authentic,,,,,,, stop the BS stop the bluff,,,
the Shliach that got hurt, the shluchah that got murdered is our fault,
we have a responsibility we cant handle,, from 1951 Yud shvat till 1992 Vayakel Pekudei the rebbe threw on us “ahavas yisroel, ahavas yisroel and more ahaves yisroel…… are we believers of the Rebbe or are we a bunch of phonies……
WTH is going on from the top ranks to the bottom,,,
i dont blame an insecure immature guy from israel playing chicken games,, feeling the freedom to do what ever he wants, no I dont blame him,,
we aren’t true followers of the rebbe, so in a cult thats what happens,,
Nebech Nebech,,, agree with me or not,, its the truth,, if you can handle it or not,,,,
CH-er
interesting, at the same time insulting
As someone from Crown Heights, been around, been involved,,,,
the bottom line question is!!!!!!!!
do we believe or dont we believe.
we have a Rebbe and will always have him, if we see him or not, no matter what we think of him, we have him, his words are holy and forever,
from 1941 to 1992, how many times has the Rebbe said: 770 is the core, is the foundation of the world,,,, 770 is the engine room of the world,,,,, what happens here in 770 has an affect on all of us, all of NY, all of USA, and the entire world,
guys stop BS’ing yourself….. do we believe that what the Rebbe says is true,,, then be 100% authentic,,,,,,, stop the BS stop the bluff,,,
the Shliach that got hurt, the shluchah that got murdered is our fault,
we have a responsibility we cant handle,, from 1951 Yud shvat till 1992 Vayakel Pekudei the rebbe threw on us “ahavas yisroel, ahavas yisroel and more ahaves yisroel…… are we believers of the Rebbe or are we a bunch of phonies……
WTH is going on from the top ranks to the bottom,,,
i dont blame an insecure immature guy from israel playing chicken games,, feeling the freedom to do what ever he wants, no I dont blame him,,
we aren’t true followers of the rebbe, so in a cult thats what happens,,
Nebech Nebech,,, agree with me or not,, its the truth,, if you can handle it or not,,,,
Lemisah
Does r Braun have a maspiah, who were the 3 rabbonim he claims he spoke to before he ran for this position.
Why can’t we speak to those that are guiding him. What about all those rabbonim from outside CH that came to his hactorah, we should be speaking to to them, if they truly care about him and about his rabbanus,
ach deuce
How isn’t this lashon hara? What do you hope to accomplish with printing this? The Crown Heights community is split-the question is if there is anything that can be done to put it back together again.
Outsider
Don’t these gab boom have jobs and a life, why are they busy with all this nonsense
cma
Who is the “Vaad L’menias Machlokes”?
Any Vaad L’menias Machlokes that does not say who is involved is probably involved in machlokes. Or it could be a bochur in mesifta with free time on his hands.
to #8
Saying TEHILLIM at a Chuppa is rude????? If that is rude, I don’t want to be polite!!
Kol HaKavod HaRav Osdoba!!!!
Tragety
How is R’ Osdiba’s son recovering from his home and Chabad house destroyed in Belle Harbor from Hurricane,
Avrahom
There are 2 solutions to the above. Vaad Hahakal appointed R. Braun to the position of Rov. Let us hear from them on the above. If they choose to do nothing, let’s make a petition to recall R. Braun as Rov. Every elected person can be recalled in the same way he got there. Second ,let 3 people take R. Braun to a din Torah for things that he is accused of doing. Most jobs have a job performance review. Lets have some accountability.
to #30
What is written above about Rabbi Spielman is totally fabricated. There is not one iota of truth in it. Being that the writer is writing anonymously he feels comfortable to write as he pleases, making up what he wants.
Lubavitch credibility in jeopardy
There is a disease here. We have a terrible disease in the community, and I want to know who will step up and take part in a healing of it. The disease is not one person. It is a systemic disease. Let’s start to diagnose, get a prognosis, and implement all the healing strategies we can muster. However, we need healers of quality. We don’t need the same folks that have taken part in the disease (or who have enabled it). So, does anyone step up? Or will there be a slow and painful demise of us? I am doing my part, even though some of you might not be aware of what I do. I choose to do my work behind the scenes, because that is my way. What is YOUR way?
rude rov??!1
to #8
Obviously this is one of the reasons that we have all these problems in the first place. There are many people who just have no clue what a rov is in the first place. That is why they have no issue with having a young unqualified person to serve as their rov because they don’t know what a rov is. It’s sad that there is such ignorance which leads to so many problems.
to # 22
i just dont want to be tererized by them, wake up and smell the coffee, dangres men, by the way where is his smicha?????
to number 41
we all are doing it being the scenes that’s why you don’t know.
NO Paskviln YES Sholom
First, I would like to make a machoho for this article which is technically a paskvil. We all remember the holy and sharp words of the Rebbe regarding the pashkviln (even with a real signature the Rebbe said that it doesn’t belong in public it belongs in a Din Torah): A. “ER HOT MILCHOMO IN MIR” and he is oiver on “MAKE REEHU BASOSER”!!!
But without going into the details, not to get involved in many yisurim, I ask, why aren’t all these issues resolved by the zablo beis din? Why are these people trying to involve the community into this rubbish. It was a DT, all parties signed that they are going to listen to the Zablo psak and if they have issues they will return to the table in front of the same Zablo. The BD of Zablo issued two psokim, it looks like both sides have some issues that need clarification, so instead of dragging it and allowing this type of rubbish why is it that the parties aren’t going back to the Zablo and sholom al Yisroel? We don’t want to be in a situation of machzikim bemachlokes, we had enough of that, we demand Sholom according to Torah and Halacha, we beg all parties to stop this non sense and quietly go and finish this dispute once and for all. Thank you!
groisser davener
spielman has and does good work,however it doesn’t mean that he should terrorize anybody, especially rabbi segal, he could disagree but keep his hands to himself. it is obvious that his children the twins also have an anger management problem, they really should see someonr about it, before their children report them.
mr. correction
it is simply not polite to say tehillim at a chupa when you are officiating, taking money and for sure when you are listening to a person about a possible din torah. you don’t have to be a genius to comprehend that.
All you guys bemoaning pashkvilen
I love all the anonymous pashkvil commenters here who criticize the article by declaring it a pashkvil by writing another pashkvil, I didn’t notice your signature
to #30
I agree with #40. Even more so it’s sad that you bite the hand that feeds you!
Rachmonus
It is typical that people blame others for the very faults they are guilty of. Hamas cries about the Israeli aggressors, Osdoba cries about the kashrus that he stole from the community.
Pathetic
Pathetic. Immature. And mostly….scary, that such an originally higher calling has disintegrated into pathetic, immature, and spiritually ignorant behavior. I don’t see a resolution in the near future. Something is VERY wrong with this system. The question is….what needs to be done and who are the people who need to do it?
FRIENDS!
When is enough simply ENOUGH??!!
Heartbroken
What has become of Crown Heights and Lubavitch is heartbreaking and tragic. What a mess. Hashem help!
Yakov
If you see a Dr. in 770, do you go over to him and ask him what to do about a medical problem. . He would tell you ,make an appointment and I will see you. A rov is no different. It is disrespectful to stop a Rov in this way. Go ask the Rov during his office hours.
Ashamed
I hope all you people in CH realize it isnt only the non-Chabad world that is laughing at you, but the rest of the Lubavitch community, too. We see the same names recylced, know instigators and yet nothing is done. EVERYONE knows Bruan isnt qualified and is an embarassment to the community yet no one does anything.
Its almost like there is two seperate Lubavitch communities: the Crown Hights commnity trapped in an endless cycle of petty arguments with Israelis and known trouble makers over who gets to do what in 770 and then the rest of us who are busy focusing on important things and doing what the Rebbe asked.
Bottom line: You in CH know that the Rebbe would be appalled if he saw what has become of his community. The Israelis would be banished, Drizing would go back to his hole and the rest of the instigators would be ignored for cuasing machlokes. THE FACT THAT YOU IN CH DO NOTHING AS A GROUP TO REMOVE THE CANCER IN YOUR MIDST SAYS EVERYTHING ABOUT YOUR CONNECTION TO THE REBBE.
Where is the Pinchas of CH? Who is going to plant the Rebbes flag and say do not cross this line? Who is going to defend the Rebbe’s koved and daled amos? Why arent you making Braun and his crowd known theyre not welcome? There are more of you then there of them. As far as Im concered, all 2,000+ shluchim shouldve marched right into 770 and taken it back. Lets the Tzfatim deal with THAT!
to #42
Young unqualified Rov!? You don’t begin to know what you are talking, you just repeating like a parrot what you hear from those people that his knowledge and talents are a threat for them because he’s a unique and amazing young (only 41 amus”h) gaon in all aspects.
UNBELIEVABLE
WHERE IN THE WORLD WOULD A ROVS HASMODA, TEHILIM SAYING, BE SO UNDER-APPRECIATED?!
maybe they would prefer he wears a red tie, and joins their wine tasting events…
ch-r
is this spielman related to shmuel spielman? (the carpet cleaner/bus driver) cuz he is one of the nicest if not THE nicest people I have ever met, a true mentch and deffinatly not involved in any polotics and is he a brother of the twins? ( I highly doubt it, there is no way he has a temper he could hurt a fly!)
To Number 55
You should be Ashamed! for writing such nonsense! You think you know what the Rebbe wants?