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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>In a recent issue of Mishpacha which had articles dealing
with the Satmar Rebbe, the author wrote that the Rebbe insisted on wearing
his khassidishe garb on the street in America, even though the non-Jews (and
probably some Jews) would laugh at him. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>I would argue that when the Rebbe was fighting a tooth and
nail battle to establish khasidut in America, different rules
applied.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Ben</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=dov_kay@hotmail.co.uk href="mailto:dov_kay@hotmail.co.uk">Dov
Kaiser</A> </DIV> <BR>See Perek 20, Mesilas Yeshorim, where Ramchal
explains that although must one perform mitzvos, ie strict obligations, even
though people will laugh at him, this does not apply to chumros. In the
case of chumros, making oneself an object of mockery involves lifnei iver
vis-a-vis the mockers. Therefore, it is sometimes inappropriate to go
beyond the letter of the law in public.<BR> <BR>One might easily have
adopted the position that we need not be concerned with mockers, but this is
clearly not the Ramchal's position. It is possible that this would not
apply to the mockery of non-Jews, but I think that the gist of Ramchal's shita
does not make any distinction.<BR> <BR>Kol tuv<BR>Dov
Kaiser<BR><BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>