[Avodah] Who First Said it?

[Zev Sero]

Micha Berger wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 05, 2010 at 03:10:44PM -0500, Zev Sero wrote:
> : I believe that book is indeed the origin of this silly story...
> 
> Given the fact that the Baal haTanya fought against Kalisker rebbeles
> that were drifting outside of halakhah, I find the story quite plausible.
> I have no idea why you consider the story "scurrilous" or "silly",
> rather than crediting hisnagdus with a role in causing that winnowing.

R Avrohom Kalisker was not drifting outside halacha, and the AR did not
fight him!   On the contrary, he came to his defense when the Maggid
was going to expel him and his followers from the chassidic movement,
*not* for halachic deviations but for strange behaviour such as Novardok
became famous for a few generations later.  The AR stood up for him, and
while he was forbidden from teaching chassidus he remained within the fold.
Their much later split was again not over non-halachic behaviour, but over
money.


-- 
Zev Sero                      The trouble with socialism is that you
zev at sero.name                 eventually run out of other people’s money
                                                     - Margaret Thatcher