Luke Ford

From the second lecture on the Rabbi Abraham Samuel Sofer (Ketav Sofer) for Torah in Motionby Orthodox rabbi and history professor Marc B. Shapiro: The Ketav Sofer was more moderate than his father, the Hatam Sofer.

“Do you have to rebuke your community if it means you’ll lose your job.

“The Ketav Sofer says the whole concept of rebuke is only for when there’s respect for the rabbinic office. If you are certain the community will not listen to you, there’s no need to rebuke them.”

“This is practical halachah (Jewish law) to this day. We are under no responsibility today as Orthodox Jews to go to non-Orthodox Jews and rebuke them. Tell them what they’re doing is wrong.”

“We know they’re not going to listen.”

“The Chazon Ish says that in these days, we don’t know how to properly rebuke. Everybody has the status of someone who has not yet been rebuked. Therefore, they are not regarded as willing sinners.”

“Therefore, we don’t regard them as complete heretics and can’t have anything to do with them.”

“If the eruv is down in certain communities on the Sabbath, rabbis will tell certain people that the eruv is down, but if you see all these women coming to shul already with their baby carriages and that no matter what you tell them they’re not going to listen to them, then they’re not really sinning unless you tell them. Better that they do things ignorantly than intentionally sin.”

“We don’t go around rebuking people. Even rabbis in shuls. There are some shuls today, including Lubavitch shuls, where plenty of people drive to shul. There’s a little Chabad shul near my house, where everybody drives to shul on Shabbos. It’s just like a Conservative shul except that the rabbi does not say that driving on Shabbos is OK.”

“If you see someone on Shabbos not making their tea correctly, what rabbi goes up and rebukes them?”

From the second lecture on the Rabbi Abraham Samuel Sofer (Ketav Sofer) for Torah in Motionby Orthodox rabbi and history professor Marc B. Shapiro: “In those days (19th Century), you didn’t have mechitzas in Hungary. You had women up in the balcony or in a completely separate room [LF: like you do at the Israeli moshiachist Chabad on Robertson Blvd near Pickford, 90035]. A mechitza was not regarded as kosher because you could see the women unless the mechitza went up to the ceiling.”

“They regarded it as immodest to be able to see the women during davening (prayer).”

“When the Satmar rebbe had his famous argument with Reb Moshe Feinstein… The rebbe argued that the mechitza needs to be so that you can’t see the women. Reb Moshe says no, just 60 inches. It’s not about seeing. It’s about mingling.”

“The liberal shuls had an organ in the balcony played by a non-Jew on Shabbos.”

“In Hungary, all the rabbis, even the liberal rabbis, opposed mechitzas [for being immodest]. That doesn’t violate the Shulchan Aruch. The [Jewish] population in Hungary was conservative and they did not want to go in the direction of Reform [Judaism].”