RE: A Response to the critique at "The undersigned Bnei Torah of Lakewood
Sir;
Last week you dropped a payload of invective and vitriol ordinance condescending from 35,000 feet up in the air. It landed off target on someone's front lawn instead. It's after Thanksgiving, but we'll pardon the Turkey. If the Bais Medrash is the Torah's marketplace of idea then I walk the floor of the Talmud's stock exchange daily.
Truth to tell, the guys who signed this broadside are straightforward, honest brokers, Youngeleit whose living quarters are the sophistication of simplicity.
There's no nexus here whatsoever to the "Better homes & Gardens" you speak of. If the portals of higher learning are wide open what do you expect? No one denies a relatively new phenomenon that people of a stripe foreign to kollel, have swelled its ranks - It's a mixed bag - but then again these are the chevra with the smartphones.
There's a snowballs chance in Gan Eden that they'd protest a virtual event! your accusation parodies itself. With editorial deft you avoid the $64,000 question. Agudah is the lodestar of Torah Yahadus why shouldn't it opt for the gold standard & host a convention of conference calls!
You profess either ignorance or naivete about the children's hour- remember how 6 months ago thousands of tinokos shel Bais Rabban were introduced on a nightly program for Torah to the preminent rabbinic leader of Modern Orthodoxy? His worldview is one track, ours on another, and never the "Twain Shall Meet".
Kudos to Agudah for enhancing kavod Shamayim by changing the venue of the kids hour to a conference call and not zoom.
Actually the virtual issue, the danger of internet becoming the new normal, is a microcosm of a much larger vexing problem - an unwillingness to follow the directives of the manhigei Yisrael, Rav Moshe Feinstein, Rav Yaakov Kamenetzky, Rav Pam, Rav Elya Svei, Rav Mordechai Gifter, Rav Chaim Epstein who charted the course for American Jewry. It's unfortunate that the heimishe media i.e. Mishpacha that is replete with it's own brand of Adam Schiffs and Jerome Nadlers whose groupthink is light years from the uncompromising fealty instilled in us by these Torah luminaries.
Witness the current situation, someone gets Jonathan Pollard out of Jail and then a newly formed organization cons some 25 thousand genuine shomrei Torah into Herzl's Bais Assurim enclave the W.Z.O.
You hear the smith brothers cough drop lookalikes calling "Im Tirzu Ain Zu Aguda!
Be informed no one will rewrite the narrative. The veteran bnei Torah here are a savvy gritty resilient bunch who are cyberspace capable if need be. Don't doubt for a moment their resolve and reach.
Be aware if anyone tries to tweak mesorah or attempts to maneuver us with a 98mph fastball heater, the guys in the clubhouse will start banging on cans. In summation your message is upended by the vast majority of ehrliche youngeleit who live within the modest parameters that are characteristic of a ben Torah. These yeshivaleit cling tenaciously to the mores and ethos of the aforementioned gedolei yisrael.
With Almighty's help, the more things change the more our 3500 year old mesorah, the life substance of our people, will stay the same. Amen Ken Yehi Ratzon
Submitted.
