79 PRINCES PARK
AVENUE
GOLDERS GREEN
LONDON NW11 0JS
Telephone and fax
number: 0208455 5657
e-mail:
oyb@seniors.org.uk
Rabbi S Winegarten
23 Sneath Avenue
Golders Green
London NW11 9AJ
21 November, ’13
Dear Rabbi Winegarten שליט"א
It is most upsetting that I have to bother
you concerning the same business that I wrote to you about back in July.
On Sunday morning, some of the Mispallelim
asked me why the Sidra and Haftorah sheets had not been sent out on Friday as
usual. I asked Eric Brunner and he told me that he hadn’t received them from me
(which I know to be not true). On further questioning, he then told me that
“the Committee” (Martin Younger and Shmaya Stimler) had taken the decision to
stop the Torah sheets from being sent out. I approached Martin Younger on
Sunday evening and he told me that he and Shmaya Stimler had decided that “the
Rov had to be supported” and that therefore these Torah sheets could no longer
be sent out because I davvened “across the road.”I said that it was sad that
because of this horrible Machlokkes, now even Torah sheets were being denied to
people who really enjoyed them and learned from them and found them interesting.
I reminded Martin Younger that even the
Police, who had been trying their hardest
for the past year to pin something —
anything — on Reb Chaim, had given up and dropped all charges. He seemed
surprised to hear this, as if it was news to him. It’s hardly to be expected that
the anti-Semitic BBC would report that Rabbi Halpern had been released from
police bail as prominently as they had reported on the six o’clock news that he
had been arrested (which was subsequently on the World News — what a Chillul
HaShem!) but I did notice that Martin Younger did not seem to be at all
relieved to hear that a fellow-Jew, a prominent Rabbi at that, had beenreleased
from Police harassment.
I said that if he, Martin Younger, really
meant to “support the Rov” then he should see to it that the Rov himself is
kept aloof from all this Machlokkes and Chillul HaShem rather than to invoke
your name in perpetuating and spreading more strife and conflict in our
community. I said that the Kehilloh is rent apart enough without people
fuelling the Machlokkes further, that I found it difficult to believe that this
action was taken with your consent, let alone your encouragement, that surely
you yourself were above this ugly vendetta. When I tackled Shmaya Stimler on
Tuesday morning about this and said I wondered whether this action was with
your knowledge, he said yes, it was. I told him of your agreement in July that
the sheets should go out but he said that nevertheless this is the decision of
“the Committee.” I prefer to be charitable and say that he is mistaken and
misguided in his eagerness to “support the Rov” and that this is not your wish.
I beg you to please rein in your “Committee” that at last this sorry fight,
like that of Korach and his crowd, can be allowed at last to sink into the
ground. In my altercation with Martin Younger I also pointed out that by no
means was I the only one who davvened at Reb Chaim’s and that there were quite
a number of other people who davvened in our Beth Hamedrash and also “across
the road.” I told him, as I wrote to you in July, that as far as I know it was
a Kosher Minyan, that this kind of pressure by “the BLBH heavies” was quite
unacceptable and that I wonder whether it is this coercion and pressure on ordinary
people who don’t have the guts to stand up to them (but claiming instead that
they “don’t want to get involved”)
rather than any true conviction that there has been any wrongdoing, that is the
reason for people deserting Reb Chaim’s. I said that this kind of action is
what is destroying our Kehilloh and that it’s time to let the hate die down.
You will probably have heard that ordinary
Baalei Battim are now quoting you as their “Daas Torah,” that they say that
they have a “Psak Din” from you that they should not patronize those people who
davven at Reb Chaim’s because by davvening at Reb Chaim’s, “they are supporting
a Rohshoh.” So now, in your name, it’s alright to harm a fellow-Jew’s Parnossoh
because he davvens in a particular Beis Medrash. That is what this Machlokkes
has done: unlearned and
ignorant little people now dare to openly
call a venerable Talmid Chochom and district Rov “a Rohshoh”! If Rabbonim have
their differences, that’s one thing.
When Ammei Ha’aretz and Johnny-come-lately
“Baalay Teshoovoh” dare to denigrate an Oved HaShem, a man who has done so much
to bring warm Yiddishkeit and Chassidus into this area, when this happens, then
I do think (as do many others, too) that it’s time for the Rabbonim themselves
to call a halt to this destruction of our Kehilloh. Nothing — but nothing! —
can be worth destroying the Yiddishkeit and the respect for Torah and Rabbonim
of all the people — but especially the youngsters — in this whole district. But
as I said in my previous letter to you, no-one has ever heard Reb Chaim say
even a single word against all his detractors and haters: all the hatred and
denigration is from the one direction. And on top of it all, there has not been
even a shred of real evidence or credible testimony, not a single true witness
(despite weekly posters and advertisements openly pleading for anybody to come
forward with any kind of evidence at all!) of any wrongdoing, only innuendo and
the “it’s better you don’t ask” kind of slandermongering.
Rabbi Winegarten, as the senior Rov in
this district, you could call a halt to the open hatred that is spreading and
destroying our Kehilloh. You are also aware that the knowledge of this Machlokkes
has spread over the whole world and is a terrible ongoing Chillul HaShem.
Without a doubt, the instigators of this campaign against Reb Chaim never
dreamed that it would explode into this monster. But now they blame Reb Chaim
for the Chillul HaShem simply because he stubbornly refuses to lie down and
die.
Rabbi Winegarten, the world will be
thankful to you if you can rise above all this dirt and hatred. Let there be
peace. I’m afraid that if this Machlokkes is not ended, it will smoulder and
burn until instead of Yidden being united by our love for each other we will be
united as victims of a terrible hatred by others for us all.
When all is said and done (and even when
all is implied and expanded and exaggerated) in the final analysis, anything
that anyone has done is nowhere near as great an Avayroh as full-blown Messiroh
or of inciting hatred in Yidden so that they should try to spoil other Yidden’s
Parnossoh. But that is what is happening and now “the Committee” of Baalei
Battim of the Bridge Lane Beth Hamedrash have decided, in their wisdom, to stop
Torah sheets from being sent out because they think that in this way they are
“supporting the Rov.” Please, Rabbi Winegarten, tell them that this is not what
you want. Please tell Eric that he should resume sending out these Sidra and
Haftorah sheets (incidentally, I don’t care for any acknowledgement and the
sheets can go out anonymously for all I care) and that peace should be given a
chance to heal our Kehilloh. In this connexion, I attach to this letter the Dinnim
sheets and sundry articles and a story for Channukah for your approval to be
sent out with the Sidra and Haftorah sheets as till now. As I said in my letter
to you in July, surely the Dinnim sheets and Sidra and Haftorah sheets should
be judged on their merits, not on where I davven and that the dissemination of
Torah should be allowed to rise above all this tragic business.
In conclusion, I ask, with the greatest
possible respect, that you please take the lead in starting the healing process
instead of allowing others to use your name to promote hatred, strife and division.
Please tell “the Committee” that you give your approval to the continued
distribution of these Torah sheets to the members of our Beth Hamedrash and
kindly inform Eric Brunner of your approval.
Yours respectfully,
O Y Baddiel
// Enclosures
