mentalblog.com comments:
TA, i take your points personally,as i recognize myself in all of them (except for nepotism.) but:
2), 4) what is it about modernity and disengagement from the workforce? who is disengaged? i live in brooklyn and i see around black-hatted professionals and very competent businessmen struggling to make ends meet. what exactly "confronting modernity" is? do you mean new halachic approaches to birth control? or ways to contain cost of kosher living?
6) as for the sixth point... well, i have no time for this, too busy making a living.
and finally, leave the Rebbe out of it, will you
TA,I don't know what you want from the Rebbe.At least he was able to create literally thousands of jobs as shluchim etc for guys that would otherwise bum around the streets of CH or Bnei Brak.I think that this was a master move by the Rebbe like everything else he did.
TA; I think that you're mostly right about this. However, the Rebbe ob"m did the best that was humanly possible with baalai yetza hara (to paraphrase Moshe Rabbainu). No reasonable observer could think that FFB-ness or BT-ness is equivalent to tzidkus. And you are overlooking that decay of authority is pretty much universal in our generation: not only in Jewish instititions but also in government, public service, academia, commercial governance etc.
faruq, i mean this:
http://www.mentalblog.com/2005/
0...rpretation.html
see also comments there.
yoshe, Shlichus is a short term bandage it does not address fundamentals.
TA, very interesting discussion indeed, but what has it to do with the workforce and livelihood?
This is a fascinating interview with an individual from a generation that experienced so much of life and living. There is a value in the maturity of the reflections and Reminiscences that has been absent in some of the other interviews, as interesting as they were. I would be most interested in seeing more of his work (is any of it available for purchase?)
also, for your next interview with Dr Guggenheim; how did he come to be at the 10th Yarhtzeit anniversary for the Lubavitcher Rebbe, what was his connection with the Rebbe?
and i might add, this sort of interview and individual really gets to the heart of some of the other questions and ideas being tossed around, albeit in a more subtle, nuanced fashion.
Shlichus may indeed be a short time bandage,but since when can jews plan ahead?
"Anyone can become angry - that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way; this is not easy."
Aristotle
I remember a troubling thought I had when I was beginning to lose faith in Judaism, Lubavitch in particular.
When the Rebbe assumed leadership, the intermarriage rate was about 25%. When the Rebbe died, it was over 50%.
Despite all the baal-tshuvah, out reach, publicity etc..., the great Rebbe's projects had absolutely no statistical significance on the intermarriage rate.
I'm not sure I see your point. Without the Rebbe, it might have been much higher.
All this proves is that the Rebbe wasn't moshiach (who will return all jews to yiddeshkeit).
And your alternative is?
(And I'm in the middle of such a situation #1 right now, here.)
I agree with most of your points. Go back to one of your favorites, Haim Grade and you will see that certain things never change.
I am moiche bechol tokef
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