I was a little suprised that Artscroll writes that it was "first published in Yiddish in 1937 and considerably enhanced in a 1946 edition, the biography was published in Hebrew in 1959 with much additional material" without ever mentioning this English edition.
Why, this is entirely consistant with the methodology of ArtScroll to claim primacy over many translation, or to not reference and acknowldge what came before.
I can't discount the possibility that it mentions it in the book itself. I just quoted the blurb on their web site.
welcome back S.
I didn't know I left, but thanks. ;)
come on man. Its been 5 days since your last post. How dare you. :)
I ran out of ideas.
You coooooooouuuulld...write about kruvim ;)
Right, right. I have to see about that. :)
Right, right. I have to see about that
uh huh :P
S-Speaking of misrepresenting the HH, I have been told the picture (also found on hirhurim) is misleading. (As far as I know, there is no isur lh"r re: appearance but it would be ironic if there were.) Do you know if there is any truth to this?
I ran out of ideas.
what about all those things you promised to write about, but hadn't.
what about all those things you promised to write about, but hadn't.
thats exactly what I mean't by saying: "uh huh"
Yes, sorry, I was just kidding.
Indeed there is much to write, but I can't always get it to say what I want it to say and so I don't hit "post."
Hooboy that's some hatin'.
Yes, the picture of the Chafetz Chaim that everyone has on the wall is a misrepresentation. In the real picture he looks much less Charedi.
MR, a few years ago Dr. Leiman told me that the picture probably isn't him. I wish I remembered all the relevent details, but here is what I do remember.
Basically, the reason so few pictures of the CC exist is by design: he didn't like to sit for pictures, probably out of pious concerns. On one occasion he needed a photograph for a government document (passport, maybe?)--until that point he had actually managed to avoid having his photo on it by special dispensation from a friendly commissat, but at this point he needed one.
So he went to a photographer outside of Radin and made a deal with him that he would sell him the negative so that no copies could be made (even then rabbinic pictures circulated, and he didn't want the photographer to sell a copy). Apparently an opportunist found out that he was going to be photographed and either paid the photographer to give him a print or stole one--in any case, this was the photo which the famous portrait has been copied from.
Thing is, it probably was not him. For one thing this was in the 1920s and the man in the picture looks too young. For another there *are* a few photos of the CC from around this period, pictures which are undoubtedly him, and they simply do not look like the same person.
Here is one photo which supposedly is undoubtedly the CC:
http://www.torahmuseum.com/
Viewe...ofetzChaim.html
Supposedly his last living daughter confirmed that the famous portrait was not him, but I don't remember if this is an urban legend or not. I know it was published in an article on the topic though.
Many details in this account are probably distorted by my faulty memory; I also have no idea at this point how Leiman found all this out. I suppose someone could email him and ask for the accurate account.
Ironically, all the information you discuss is in the introduction to Yosher's Yiddish edition.
So why did it print it with that photo in the frontspiece? Didn't Yoshor know the Chafetz Chaim?
(Feel free to fill in any details you know, Dan.)
Here is one photo which supposedly is undoubtedly the CC:
http://www.torahmuseum.com/ Viewe...ofetzChaim.html
I had never seen this picture before until Hamodia published it one day this week. I was sure they were mistaken. Guess not.
The English version is available on hebrewbooks.org
someones memory may be playing tricks here. i remember askign Dr Leiman also about the "famosu picture" and he said there is absolutely no reason to doubt its authenticity per se, although it may have been slightly doctored. it was based on his passport picture and anyone can examine the both to see the similarity. the fairly new 5 vol bio of the HH in hebrew has many newly published pics and the image of the rabbi is the same as the famous pic.
so not sure what Dr Leiman meant according to S
>someones memory may be playing tricks here.
You're right. It's possible.
Speaking of the past made real, a russian man in our community, who came to America some years ago, and who cannot read a word of hebrew, but attends davenning every day and reads a russian translation of the siddur, told me a remarkable thing. He says his father was a close talmid of the CC, and he found out an interesting thing a few weeks ago. A professional geneology researcher told him that his great grandfather was known as the Gaon of Shmilovitz, and was a rebbi of the Chofetz Chaim. This explains the unusual closeness between his father and the CC.
I found it particularly poignant that despite the best efforts of the Soviets, this simple, uneducated man remained a paragon of yiddishkeit and yir'as shomayim. Maybe zchut avot leaves its mark.
>The English version is available on hebrewbooks.org
Thanks!
Barzilai, I know many Russian Jews whose Jewish spirit and yirat shamayim were not broken even after all those decades. It's amazing to know, for example, that there were Jews who never stopped fasting on Yom Kippur, even Jews who were not circumcized, who know nothing at all and well before the Jewish reawakening in the '60s and '70s. It's truly magnificent, even though we cannot forget about the successes of the Soviets.
The English version is available on hebrewbooks.org
umm, why? dont they only put up "hebrew books"??? how many other english books do they have?? just curious
Only a few. There's a book of collected sermons of R. Leo Jung from the 1920s. There are some RCA manuals.
Does anyone have the guts to e-mail Dr. Leiman? I do not. But I would really like to know... mi ha'ish hehafez hayyim?
I'll email him.
MR, I do not have your email address, so let me take this opportunity to wish you a wonderful Shana Tova.
Thank you so much. I have been busy and just got to read this. Have a gemar hasima tova.
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