[Avodah] Are We Trying to Grow?

[Joseph Kaplan]

RYL wrote (39/34), in part, his views of shul rabbis:

“When he first became the rabbi of his shul, he consciously tried to 
drive away anyone who would not follow his approach to Yahadus.  When he saw women whose necklines were too low,  he publicly said in shul, "Ladies, cover your utters!"  He was staunchly anti-Zionistic and 
made this clear time and time again. He made it clear that married women have to cover their hair.   Those who did not like his views and approach to Yahadus left.  From the core that remained he built a dynamic Torah shul.
***
“Why isn't the rabbi the one giving most or all of the shiurim?  The 
rov I referred to above who greatly improved in a positive way his 
congregation,  gave vitally al of the shiurum in his shul.
***
“These are questions that should be asked of a recognized posek. In general, the rabbi of a shul is not a recognized posek. The Jewish Press used to write, "Ask you local competent Orthodox rabbi."  From this I deduced that there must be a local Orthodox rabbi who is not 
competent! >:-}”

This is why, thank God, we have so many shuls — and I say this in a positive tone. I could not possibly belong to or daven regularly in a shul with rabbis of the type RYL describes and my strong guess is that he would probably feel the same about the rabbis of the shul I belong to who are so very different in tone and attitude and  philosophy. But by having all these shuls with such very different types of rabbis, we all have the opportunity to each find a shul/minyan in which we feel comfortable to daven and with a leader we can respect. And, my strong guess also is, we’ll never convince each other who’s right. I know I wouldn’t even begin to try. :-)
Joseph


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