(I’m not the original questioner.)
From your familiarity with the world of knitted-kippah yeshivot, the Religious Zionist world:
Which yeshivot are the best in terms of serious learning? In which yeshiva is it possible to grow and develop, with good roshei metivta and a good program?

With God’s help, eve of the New Moon of Elul 5780

To Noam — greetings,

Maybe the solution that suits you is Machon Lev. There you’ll receive high-level studies both in the scientific field and in Torah studies. Once you have a solid Torah-study foundation, you can do a master’s and doctorate at the Technion or any respected university.

With the blessing, “May it be a year of opening possibilities,” S.Tz.

I’ve already been asked this more than once. I don’t have sufficient familiarity. In general, the matter depends mainly on you and less on the yeshiva.

Noam, hello. I tend to agree with S.Tz., insofar as the academic studies at Machon Lev suit you. At the same time, one must be careful and on guard; from time to time Haredi rabbis infiltrate Machon Lev, and then instead of purifying the impure, it renders the pure impure — just like the Red Heifer — and enough said.

To Binyamin he said —

Haredi rabbis at Machon Lev turn it into “Machon Leib” — it’s really a delight 🙂

With blessings, Kim-Shoin Tzveibelringer

By the way, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz of blessed memory has a son nicknamed “Amchiya,” an acronym for “Avraham Moshe Chaim Hillel,” after his two grandfathers. Rabbi Steinsaltz also has a son “Menachem Yaakov Tzvi.” I thought he was nicknamed “M.Y.Tz.,” but it turns out his nickname is “Meni.”

Haha… brilliant.

Binyamin,
When you warn against Haredi rabbis, what exactly do you mean?
A type like Neturei Karta, Sikrikim, the Jerusalem Faction, Hasidim, Lithuanians, Shas people, new Haredim, or Haredi Religious Zionists???
All types, all together???
Are you opposed to studying the books of early sages and yeshiva heads who were also Haredi?
Are there leniencies for a Haredi person who served in the army?
Does your opposition also include Haredim who volunteer, for example, in Ezer Mizion or Hatzalah?
Maybe you could give us a bit more background?

Binyamin????

Innocent questioner, blessings and peace,
As for your question about identifying the Haredi rabbis, I indeed mean all types without exception — anyone who identifies as Haredi or with one of their countless sects. It is very easy to distinguish those who harass both themselves and those around them, near and far. A society of savages that declares private and rational judgment to be something limited to the very narrowest areas of life, such as: “Should I eat one kugel or two at the kiddush?” A society of savages capable, in potential and in practice, of all the injustices that even the people of Sodom and Gomorrah never imagined — and above all, their talent for hanging their foulness on the opinions of senile and demented “great ones,” as though that were enough to atone for their crimes, as is customary in various Christian institutions.
I see no benefit at all in studying their books, except for books of Jewish law and as references — and that only in order to sharpen the student’s mind in identifying logical flaws.
The earlier sages were not Haredi; Haredim are a new phenomenon in the world of the Jewish people (by the way, Religious Zionists are also a new phenomenon). The only distinction in earlier days was between one who serves God and one who did not serve Him.
A Haredi person who served in the army and thereby merited to recognize de facto a true source of authority is indeed worthy of respect for those specific actions. One should continue bringing him close to the springs of understanding and knowledge; a Jew is judged as he is at that moment.
Haredim who volunteer in Haredi organizations gain nothing and lose nothing by that volunteering, since its only purpose is anarchism and denial of any rule of law — in the sense that they do not do what they are obligated to do but what they feel like doing.

Okay. We need to straighten out your distorted thinking.
A. We need to understand: from when does Haredism begin? From the days of the Vilna Gaon? From the days of the Baal Shem Tov? From the days of the Old Yishuv?
After all, you can’t go all the way back to the medieval authorities, or to the Amoraim and Tannaim, and claim they were Haredi and that you aren’t bound by their words — because, please, that would make you a heretic.

B. I think both of us can agree that Haredi Judaism began to lose its bearings somewhat from the early 1990s.
What caused this, in my opinion, was the building of closed-off settlements for Haredim. The separatism did its work, and the situation grew more severe and more extreme.
Yated Ne’eman also became more extreme in its own way, and whoever was not mainstream got hit over the head and thrown out.
We are seeing the fruits of those plantings — namely, the Jerusalem Faction.
And let us not forget that the secular camp also became more extreme in its behavior, and the rope was pulled in both directions.

C. During the 1990s, Rabbi Shach, who led with a strong hand, grew very old, and until his passing there was no orderly leadership.
And in my opinion, political operators did whatever they felt like. And this reality unfortunately continues even today. And even when successors arose (and the public really did not accept this easily), it was very difficult to turn the wheel back.
I don’t know how much you know, but a word from Rabbi Shach was a word. No one dared stand against it. Everyone respected him, and what a loss he was.
Many feel the difference.

D. So because there may be a failure in leadership and the fixers interfere in everything, should we stop being Haredi?
The extremist groups were always like that, and don’t label and lump all types of Haredim together.

In the moderate groups you can find wholesome and God-fearing people whose entire desire is to serve God, both in matters between man and God and between man and his fellow, until the coming of the righteous redeemer.
So what if they placed Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky at their head?
There is no claim to be made in that.
As long as they do not bother you, it is their right to serve God as they wish.
And you can go find yourself a “cool” rabbi, as you desire.

E. What alternative are you presenting? Religious Zionism?
Surely you know there is no community free of problems, and I could label all Religious Zionists either as hilltop youth on the one hand or lightweight religious on the other…
And I won’t do that, because I was also on that side and grew up with the Religious Zionist public.
I took the good things from each public, together with what I received from my father’s home, and added some of my own on top of that.

F. What are these springs of understanding you keep talking about? You’re fooling yourself!!!
There is none and there will be none, as it is written that in the days of the Messiah truth will be absent. And since this world is a world of falsehood, I don’t pay attention to what’s happening around me; rather, I try to pray and keep the commandments as ruled in the books of Jewish law, to set fixed times for Torah study, and to strengthen myself in good character traits. That’s it.

I don’t understand what your whole thing is with constantly digging into Haredim????? Maybe I’m missing some special discovery?

G. One claim of yours that you wrote at the end may perhaps apply to all Haredim:
The lack of recognition of the rule of law.
But even here one must distinguish between extremist groups and moderate groups.
And even if they do whatever they want, in the end they’ll be fined or otherwise punished. Until half a year ago there was nothing that was supposed to interfere with your personal life.
Corona highlighted this aspect of Haredi life — again, mainly among the extremists.
And your anger came out mainly around Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky’s instruction at the beginning of the first wave — which by now everyone already recognizes as having been correct. (Think, think.)
So come on, move forward and stop already wallowing and babbling about this issue, with all kinds of funny questions about Haredim and their customs.

H. If regarding the question of “damage to the covenant” you argued that it was a waste of time and dealing with nonsense, I think that definitely applies to your Haredi obsession too.

Hope I helped in some way…

“By now everyone already recognizes that his words were correct.” Is there no limit to foolish talk? All the fools recognize the correctness of his words, but what matters is not the mob but the world. Beyond the grim results in the Haredi public, even he himself retracted. Might as well talk to the wall.

And by the way, Binyamin’s obsession with the Haredim awoke long before corona. It heralded the coming of corona. Go and learn how lofty are the ways of Rabbi B.G. compared to ours.

Why talk to the wall?
Here I am, and I’ll quote a response I wrote on the question “The Sages of Israel and the Thugs” —
With each passing day, Rabbi Chaim’s clear opinion, as you mentioned, becomes more apparent (regarding keeping yeshiva boys in their places of study).
Also the fact that although our situation today is worse than in the first wave, the state / the Corona Committee / the great experts are doing everything they can to keep the education system functioning so that parents can go out to work, and nobody is even dreaming of a lockdown!!!
Not to mention gatherings of thousands at left-wing demonstrations, which are allowed, as opposed to prayers and weddings.
Parties of soldiers and/or leftists without supervision and without any fine. But the main thing is that yeshiva boys shouldn’t be ruined in the streets.
Who will answer for that????
And have we already mentioned that decisions about restrictions are made off the cuff??? See the case of Yifat Shasha.
So what is it? In the first wave the public was hysterical (and that’s what Bibi wanted), whereas Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky was not hysterical. That’s the whole difference!!

Rabbi Chaim retracted because fines were imposed on institutions
and synagogues. Certainly, if a responsible path were stated for eradicating the plague, we would all enlist for it.
But when the path is total nonsense, and the current situation is extremely bad, and despite that nobody says a word or chirps — and even “Mr. Corona Projector” is shuffling around in flip-flops and doesn’t know his right hand from his left — and even the head of the Medical Association claims that the Health Ministry guidelines are not necessarily correct, then what is left?
It would have been better to leave the halls of holiness open. Perhaps He would take pity, perhaps He would have mercy…
Instead of pumping into us that we were punished and cast out of the synagogues.