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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>I was surprised that RHS described RYBS as having spoken to experts before allowing participation in SSSJ rallies because my memory (and, yes, I was around at that time and actually personally involved somewhat in Yeshiva College students’ involvement in SSSJ and Soviet Jewry rallies) was that he did not publically permit such participation. Indeed, my recollection is that he recommended to his students not to protest though, years later, he told these same students that he regretted that advice. Glenn Richter, who knows perhaps more about SSJ and Soviet Jewry rallies than anyone else other than Ya’akov Birnbaum, has a recollection different than mine, yet closer to it than to RHS’s: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>“When they asked the Rav about public protests for Russian Jews in about 1964, the Rav told them, I determine that I’m not the one to tell you what to do, but my “psak”, my decision is that you should ask the people who are the experts in the area whether pressure and demonstrations work. So, of course, they found the right people who said yes.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>IOW, RYBS did not consult the experts and then, based on what they told him, tell the students what they should do; rather, he told them to consult the experts and then make their decision. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>And RYBS’s own words, as quoted by RARR, also makes RHS’s statement about RYBS position on Soviet Jewry rallies and “psak” in these type of matters in general surprising:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>“If one is confused, he can ask for guidance. I have been presented with such moral questions. I never give a yes or no answer. The questions may determine the future of the particular individual. I will explainthe options but tell him that the final choice is his. ... I resent very much that certain roshei yeshiva and certain teachers want to imposetheir will upon the boys. It is against the law. Both ways are correct, the options are correct, and it is up to the individual to make the<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>decision. I cannot make the decision for him....”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black'>IOW, in these matters, RYBS did NOT paskin; he advised. Of course, advice of a man as wise as RYBS must be given very very careful consideration, but, at the end of the day, as he himself said, “the final choice is his [i.e., the person asking the question” and not RYBS’s.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>Joseph <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>