Q&A: The Rabbi’s Familiarity with Haredim
The Rabbi’s Familiarity with Haredim
Question
1- First of all, I would like to thank the Rabbi for the articles and books.
2- In my opinion, the Rabbi became acquainted with only a very small part of the yeshiva world. There are so many thinkers who are proficient at the highest level in all fields of wisdom. I will mention a few of them, and I would be glad to know whether the Rabbi knew them, and if not, then why: Rabbi Yosef Schreiber, whose analytical Talmudic thought goes far beyond what the Rabbi saw in Bnei Brak; Rabbi Moshe Shapira, whose philosophical thought is at a super-high level. There are many more, but for now I will make do with these. (The reason I am raising this question is that it is a shame that the Rabbi, with all his knowledge and thought, is missing their very high level.)
Answer
I didn’t understand what the question is. I know and appreciate both of these Jews. To say that they are proficient in all branches of wisdom is one of the greatest exaggerations I have ever heard. Though I have more than once come to see that in Bnei Brak, anyone who knows how to read English is a potential Nobel Prize candidate.
Discussion on Answer
One more correction: I did not claim that they are proficient in all fields of wisdom, but rather that each of them is highly proficient in his own field, and likewise there are others who are proficient and delve to the very highest level (each in his own field…). It’s a shame that the Rabbi is not familiar with them.
My claim is that the Rabbi apparently encountered in Bnei Brak second-rate, middling thinkers, whether in philosophy and thought or in analytical Talmudic learning. And if the Rabbi had known directly the people I mentioned, it is possible that you would have argued differently in several respects (for example, in your remarks about the concept of legal effect in Jewish law, where you argued, among other things, that in the yeshiva world they do not define things properly; but if you had heard what was said there, you would have seen that they had advanced with the definitions even beyond what the Rabbi himself defined).