[Avodah] R' Angel & Geirus Redux

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Michael Makovi asked:

> Reb Moshe honestly expects these people to realize that
> Torah is true just because there are are rational and
> intelligent benei Torah? And there aren't rational and
> intelligent gentiles? ... If I have been raised in a
> non-Torah environment, why should I have any greater
> predisposition to Torah than the Christian Bible or the
> Koran or Kant or the Bhagavad Gita? Of course they see
> rational and intelligent benei Torah! But they have no
> reason to think more highly of them and their religion
> than they do of all the rational and intelligent
> non-benei Torah!

Thank you for posting this. It is a question which has bothered me for a long time. I hope someone will suggest an answer to it.

> I also recall a story of Nechama Leibowitz being told by
> Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach that she should definitely
> give directions to drivers on Shabbats, so that they
> could get to their destinations sooner, and minimize the
> chillul Shabbat - Reb Moshe would apparently disagree
> with this, as far as I can tell.

I have seen this in the Halichos Shlomo (but cannot find it now, so unfortunately I am unable to cite the chapter and paragraph). But the logic seems very simple to me, and I wonder why you think that Rav Moshe would disagree with it.

> What I'm objecting to, is not whether or not we can trust
> R/C in religious matters, but rather, Reb Moshe saying
> that making an eruv for non-religious Jews, so that they
> don't do a melacha, is pointless - we don't care whether
> he sins or not, because he's already lost to us, and it's
> his own fault. How can he say this? Surely we want to do
> whatever we can to minimize their transgression, even if
> they have no appreciation for what we're doing!

Again, I think that you may be reading too much into Rav Moshe's words. Yes, Rav Moshe says that they are deliberate sinners, and yes, Rav Moshe says that it is their own fault. But where does he say that we don't care whether he sins or not? Of course we *do* want to minimize their transgression!

Akiva Miller
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