The Harsh Alter
In recent months, there has been a new star among the Haredi community, Rabbi Shaul Alter, who retired from Gur. I started listening to him a few months ago after hearing very good things about him from Benny Brown (he told me that he had known him for a very long time and that he had actually participated in some of his classes). He speaks very well and is also very practical (in Haredi contexts such as understanding, strengthening, worshipping God, etc.) and in general he speaks like a human being, which is rare among Haredi leaders. He is also very down-to-earth and in general I fell in love with his personality. In his educational classes, he is a clear representative of common sense; he is interested in the truth of the issue and not what everyone else is saying (he is also a known opponent of the power of the argument against mego).
What is your impression of him?
I don’t know. If he opposes the power of the argument in Migo, I think he is wrong.
He was the head of the yeshiva in Gur Hasidism.
The background to his retirement is the debate over the tractate taught in yeshivas: while in Hasidism they prefer to teach Tractate Makot, he is accustomed to studying Tractate Derech Eretz.
Here is his (rather simplistic) lesson on Migo
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rVhI3cj_lNQ_cYKqk8wzhKVsFObkkcAa/view
and this is a lesson given in his previous yeshiva
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LRqoBNRpdJ5q4wazdcjKCO3Q5GwhaPIW/view
Do you have lessons on the subject of Migo, the power of argument or loyalty? I never really understood what Migo, the power of argument is.
https://mikyab.net/%D7%9B%D7%AA%D7%91%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%A2%D7%95%D7%A8-%D7%91%D7%93%D7%99%D7% 9F-%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%92%D7%95-%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%A1%D7%A4%D7%97-%D7%90%D7%9 C%D7%99%D7%95-%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%98%D7%A8%D7%A1-%D7%A2%D7%9C-%D7%A1
It seems to me that loyalty is psychological, whether you believe a person or hold them to be a liar. A claim is a legal force, I don't care if you lie or not, but whether you could make a good claim and keep the money. The fact that you could make a claim is a kind of possession. Since you didn't make a good claim (you created ownership) and as if the weak claim reveals the validity of the strong claim.
Unfortunately, I haven't read Rabbi Michi's article yet, I'll get to that.
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