022 Letter 148

Hi, good morning, Gut Voch, Gut Chodesh, I hope you're all well. We're going to take a look this morning at letter Kof Mem Ches. The letter is written to I think a philanthropist, a philanthropist askan who clearly arranged for some major, major donation, made a major donation and a major infusion of cash for Yeshivos. אין לי שום כח הרשאה לדבר בשמו של מישהו. I have no power of attorney to speak in anyone else's name. Hinneni mofia hapa'am, I appear this time, betoras yachid mi'yisrael as an individual,

אשר לבו מלא הכרת הערך והכרת הטובה כלפי אדם שזכה להיות שליחא דרחמנא,

my heart is full with appreciation and gratitude for a person who was Hakadosh Baruch Hu's messenger הרווחה לתלם שעולי תורה, to bring relief to the Yeshivos. So אומנם צריך לפרש כי אתה הנך אדם הלז, do I need to spell out that you're the person that I'm referring to? ידועים לי דברי הרשב"א, there's a famous Teshuvos haRashba that the Pachad Yitzchak is referencing here, שישנה חובה מיוחדת לפרסם עושי טוב, that there is an obligation to publicize the people who do good. I think when Rav Moshe quotes this teshuvah, I forget where, but somewhere in Igros Moshe, Rav Moshe quotes this teshuvah, so he adds what is intuitive, im eino makpid. In other words, a person has no right to be mefarseim osei tov if they bidafkah want to remain tzanua. But if eino makpid, so then, so then there's a mitzvah to be mefarsem. ואני לא באתי הפעם לקיים חובה זו, I'm writing to you in a private forum. אדרבה באתי הפעם דווקא להצניע דברים ביני ובינך, that's because what he's about to say is not something that he wanted to say on the public stage.

מעטים הם, מעטים מאוד הם שארית הפליטה של גדולי תורה אשר דעתם היא דעת תורה.

But very few, very few remaining gedolei torah who when they express an opinion, that opinion is coming from their understanding of and mastery of Torah. אבל עוד יותר בלתי מצוי הוא, but even less commonly found, even fewer exist, who represent

הטיפוס של עסקן ציבורי הכפוף באמת לדעתם של גדולי תורה הללו.

Rav Hutner here touches upon two, what was the date of this letter? Taf Shin Lamed, so that's 1970. So 50 years ago. He touches on two problems which apparently existed already 50 years ago and problems don't usually go away by themselves with the passage of time. Perhaps the effect that passage of time has on problems is that they get bigger rather than smaller. The two problems, number one he says the scarcity of genuine gedolim. It was a delicate issue when Rav Hutner wrote the letter 50 years ago, it is no less delicate today. But l'shem shamayim one does need to try to understand. We live in a time in which there's inflation of titles. That inflation has existed for decades and decades already. told me, I heard a maise once, that, so this this maise happened more than 50 years ago. Well I'll skip the maise and just zero in on the comment that was made but in one of the kinus tshuva droshes, so the Rav commented, I don't know if this was in the 50s, the 60s, I don't know when this was, but it even antedates this letter about how the again when there's inflation so the dollar isn't worth as much. So when you have inflation of titles, so titles also no longer mean anything. So he talked about how nowadays every you have to refer to every Rav as Harav Hagaon, otherwise you're otherwise it's an insult. We live in a time where there's an inflation of titles. The titles of Harav Hagaon has suffered from unchecked inflation as has the title of Gadol. And when there is inflation so there certainly remain those who are worthy and deserving of that appellation but then due to inflation that term gets used more widely and with a certain and somewhat indiscriminately. It's a very big problem. It's a very big problem because the way that our communities by our meaning שומרי תורה ומצוות מאמינים בני מאמינים the way our Torah communities need to function is that the influence of the Rabbanim should be commensurate to their genuine stature, not to inflationary titles. And when you sort of have a mixture of people who are genuine gedolim with the inflation of the title, it's a big problem. What's the solution to the problem? Obviously the real solution to the problem is that there shouldn't be inflation but it's not it's not beyad any individual, it's not beyadeinu as a microcosm to control that inflation or to reverse that inflation. But what is beyadeinu is that at least each of us for himself, that we ourselves need to become learned enough to be able to recognize simanim of and and to help us be able to distinguish and differentiate between the proper use of the term and baruch Hashem the term sometimes is properly used and the inflated sense of the term. And the only the only way that we can be positioned to even try to do that is that we need to be learned. We need to be learned enough to recognize and be able to distinguish at least some of the simanim that help us help us distinguish between the proper use of the word and the inflated use of the word. Gadlus baTorah is not a function of a title of of a official position or an appointment. It's a function of the person's character. There's no such thing as someone who is a gadol who's not a very great anav, who's not a big baal middos, is not a big yirei shamayim, and it's of course a function of the person's first-hand mastery of of of Torah. A person can have can be can have lots of second-hand yediyos in Torah. But but first-hand mastery of of Torah. Our obligation as those who need to look to the Gedolei Torah is to anyway this is our obligation, so it converges. It's not imposing any extra halacha l'maaseh obligations, but the point is that it's very relevant in in this context as well. Our obligation is to be as learned as we can so that we can be as discriminating as we can. It's it's very much halacha l'maaseh. The second sentence touches on to some extent, it's it's actually a contradictory problem. Meaning that the problems that that exist are from two opposite ends of the spectrum. Because on the one hand part of what has generated this inflation, this is not the only factor, there's some other less noble factors, but part of the the problem that has generated this first problem is a there certainly is a certain strain of idolization of of of one's Rebbeim, which comes from a good place. It comes from a good place. But you know the message of the Sefer HaKuzari, the the king keeps having this recurring dream in which he's told כוונתך רצויה אבל מעשיך אינם רצויים. That of course of course it's it's important, it's crucial to have the proper kavanah, but then one has to know how to channel that proper kavanah properly. And kavanah retzuya doesn't ensure totza'os retzuyos or ma'asim retzuyim. So on the one hand that's one of the factors in in the inflation. But me'idach gisa, the opposite problem exists today as well. The opposite problem that exists is is the problem of the insistence upon personal autonomy and even when a person is in a position to recognize someone to whom he should be kafuf, we don't want to be. What does this come from? It it could be just it's internal. It's very hard to say that that you know the gaivah with which some of us are afflicted, a subtle form of gaivah, not not not the prost, more obvious and overt and accentuated and greater in magnitude that gaivah, but a more subtle lesser nuanced form of gaivah can be one reason that we don't want to be kafuf. But another reason that we don't want to be kafuf is that and and obviously there's an interplay between these two factors but another reason what we don't want to be kafuf is that we imbibe that attitude and mindset from the surrounding society. The surrounding society is such a stress on personal autonomy, such a such a stress of all these all these protesters in the states where the governors are keeping things locked down to try to save lives and okay so some people are worried about parnassah so one understands those concerns. Again now is not the time to discuss how one tries to balance those concerns. But some people going to the beach has got nothing to do with parnassah unless you happen to to be a lifeguard. So leaving aside the lifeguards, going to the beach and congregating on the beaches, whether it's what the governor of California reported not this most, not this weekend, but the previous weekend or too many other parallel examples elsewhere across the country, got nothing to do with concern for economy. No, it's personal autonomy. Who are you to deprive me of my and it's dressed up in civil rights, libertarian rights, and constitutional rights. And it's just ga'avah and selfishness, selfishness with a good measure of stupidity thrown in as well. But again the whole society is, "You can't tell me what to do." Even when baruch Hashem we don't succumb to chesronot of the society around us to the same degree, doesn't mean rachmana litzlan that we're not more subtly affected, that we're not negatively influenced to a smaller, much smaller degree. And that's this other, this other phenomenon that Rav Hutner is decrying in this letter to find someone who's be'emes kofuf to the da'atam of gedolei Torah, it's hard. So these two problems again, obviously there's an interaction here. A person has to be kofuf to the right person. A person can't be kofuf to the wrong person. That's not the, that's a misdirected and a misplaced anava. But when a person is zocheh to find or identify, when we are zocheh to find, to identify in our lives someone to whom it is appropriate to be kofuf in areas that it's supposed to be, one's supposed to be kofuf, so that is very, very important. Being kofuf doesn't mean in all areas. It doesn't mean that a person is supposed to become a non-thinking person, a person who doesn't make decisions for himself. No, part of being a person is thinking, taking achrayus, making decisions. But what it means is that there are certain areas and certain questions which we need to recognize are bigger than ourselves. And in those areas, vis-a-vis those questions, so then if we're zocheh to, we need to identify those to whom we can and should be kofuf. Lema'aseh the proper functioning, ultimately the flourishing of a Torah community depends upon this partnership. Depends upon the partnership of gedolei Torah, of gedolei rabbanim with this tipus that Rav Hutner is talking about of those who again discriminately recognize them for who they are, not by virtue of their title or their position, by virtue of who the person is. And work hand in hand, glove in glove, with social distancing as the time requires. So as a figure of speech obviously. And that's the formula for the way a Torah community is supposed to function and the way it flourishes. Okay, so we'll stop here for now rabbosai and בלי נדר אם ירצה השם we'll resume at 12 o'clock with chullin. Okay, so have a good productive morning rabbosai and be well, be safe. Is there anything in particular you suggest we do for Seder? We're going to continue talking a little bit about chaticha na'aseis neveilah machlokes rishonim. I don't remember whether we began looking this up in Shulchan Aruch yet or not in Siman Tzadik Beis. I don't remember exactly where we left off on Tuesday because I think we had two specials, we had different shiur Wednesday also. So the first thing to do is to figure where we left off. That's going to take me a while. Hopefully at your age it will happen a bit quicker for you. And then after that we're going to continue I think it's in Siman Tzadik Beis where Talk about it and we'll probably begin with that be-ezras Hashem. Thank you Rebbe. Okay, thank you Rebbe, have a great time. Thank you, you're welcome. Good to go. We're here. Okay, so mazel tov everyone, welcome to Basar Be-Chalav. We are beginning Basar Be-Chalav. It's a very big zechus to be able to learn these halachos together.