[Avodah] R' Samson Raphael Hirsch and the Imrei Emes (Gerrer Rebbe)

[T613K at aol.com]

In a message dated 2/14/2008 [the subject line was "Sefer HaChinuch on why  2 
weeks Nidah for a girl and only 1 for a boy"], gershonseif at yahoo.com  writes:

[quoting old TK]:  >>Some people  think that if you say Chazal or Ramban or 
the Sefer Hachinuch were wrong about  some scientific fact, then you are being 
disrespectful to them.  I was  raised with a completely different 
understanding and a different  attitude...<<

R' Gershon Seif: I'm  not surprised by that. Just wondering, did your father 
zt"l ever discuss this  subject with any Rebbes from Ger? I doubt it, but 
please correct me if I'm  wrong. Did he ever discuss with you how he made peace 
with being a chossid in  some matters and a Hirschian in others - especially in 
areas where they  conflict in a big way - such as the current Torah/Science  
tzimmes?



>>>>
I never answered this letter but just came across it again now.  My  father 
did not explicitly discuss with me how he reconciled Ger with  Hirsch.  As a 
girl I saw a seamless whole and did not realize that there  /had/ to be seams 
there, I just didn't know about them.
 
Coincidentally I just tonight read the recent Mishpacha article  about RSRH 
and it says there:
 
==begin quote==
 
In a recent article in Mishpacha, commemorating the 60th yahrzeit of the  
Imrei Emes zt'l, journalist Aharon Granevich-Granot quotes the Imrei Emes as  
saying:  "When I arrive in the Heavenly beis din and they ask me, 'What did  you 
achieve in your lifetime in this world?' I will answer, 'Agudas Yisrael, the  
Yesodei Hatorah Talmud Torah, and the Bais Yaakov schools!' "  Ironically,  
two out of the three items that this chassidic giant cited as the biggest  
accomplishments of his lifework are directly linked to Rav Hirsch:  Agudath  Israel 
and Bais Yaakov.
 
It is noteworthy that Rav Shimon Schwab related that the Imrei Emes once  
told him that "the Tzaddik of Frankfurt [Rav Hirsch] was a liebidige mussar  
sefer [a living mussar sefer]."  The Gerrer Rebbe's assessment and awe of  Rav 
Hirsch should now come as no wonder.
 
==end quote==
 
The only thing I have to add is that my father was born as the result of a  
bracha from the Imrei Emes.  A small framed photograph of the Imrei Emes  stood 
on my father's desk all the years I can remember.
 


--Toby Katz
=============

President Reagan talked with the Soviets while pushing ahead  with the 
deployment of Cruise and Pershing missiles in Europe. He spoke softly —  after 
getting himself a bigger stick.  --Mark Steyn




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