[Avodah] R?YBS-Feminist/Talit Story

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Apr 24, 2018 at 05:57:13PM +0000, Joseph Kaplan via Avodah wrote:
: RJR tells one version of the story of the Rav and women and Tallit
: and others tell a different version. He believes one...

Actually, you can go see RSM's version for yourself. No need to mix
RJR into this. From the current Jewish Action:
https://jewishaction.com/the-rav/observing-the-rav

> conflicting versions and after speaking to several of the Rav’s talmidim,
> I believe neither. I note that they were not published or discussed
> during the Rav’s lifetime.

Actually, the "a woman" version was. I remember the discussion in shul,
because I thought that the story as told belittled the woman too much.
(Unlike RSM's impression, "Most of the women accepted this response,
because the Rav treated their question with genuine respect and listened
to their grievances.")

Tamar Ross (2004) records R' Meiselman and the Frimer Brothers telling
the story
https://books.google.com/books?id=vkvNNioH--4C&lpg=PA91&pg=PA91#v=onepage

I found R' Meiselman (published Fall 1998) here (near the bottom of
pg 9 [5th page of the PDF]): http://bit.ly/2HQBwHm

And the Frimers' article (Winter 1998, a half-year before) is at
(pg 41 [37th of the PDF])
http://bit.ly/2FfK715

They say they were told the story by  Rabbi Yehuda Kelemer, former
rabbi of the YI of Brokline, and that it happened in the mid-70s.

Remember (unlike RSM) your "several of the Rav's talmidim knew the
NY RY, not the Rabbi of Boston.

There is really enough detail in R' Meiselman and R's Frimer version
to rule out the story being legend. I would attribute RSM's version
to memory drift; it has been some 40 years since the events, after all.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 25th day, which is
micha at aishdas.org        3 weeks and 4 days in/toward the omer.
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