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<font size=3>At 10:44 PM 5/9/2018, R Eli Turkel wrote:<br><br>
<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">I suggest reading an article by
Brown<br>
<a href="https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmail.google.com%2Fmail%2Fu%2F0%2F%23search%2Fhillel%2F1633fd7c1ed2a4a7&data=02%7C01%7C%7Ce7f2ed89c0b04a153b9008d5b61fe896%7C8d1a69ec03b54345ae21dad112f5fb4f%7C0%7C1%7C636615170523842613&sdata=KHDvBEGhAvUsiq8oxUjnwZDX%2Bt0hzpo7D25XR2o0CPA%3D&reserved=0" eudora="autourl">
https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmail.google.com%2Fmail%2Fu%2F0%2F%23search%2Fhillel%2F1633fd7c1ed2a4a7&data=02%7C01%7C%7Ce7f2ed89c0b04a153b9008d5b61fe896%7C8d1a69ec03b54345ae21dad112f5fb4f%7C0%7C1%7C636615170523842613&sdata=KHDvBEGhAvUsiq8oxUjnwZDX%2Bt0hzpo7D25XR2o0CPA%3D&reserved=0</a>
<br><br>
<br>
It is an English translation from his book on the Chazon Ish<br><br>
Brown makes the argument that CI and much of litvishe gedolim in the
recent<br>
past<br>
basically rejected minhagim as the practice of the masses. Only
those<br>
practices that can be<br>
traced to the gemara or rishonim are acceptable. Even achronim except for
a<br>
select few don't count.<br>
He further argues against the article by Haym Soloveitchik and claims
that<br>
the attitude of CI was already present in Russia before WWII and
even<br>
communities not affected by modernism. It was basically an attitude
of<br>
elitism that only gedolim count.<br><br>
OTOH Hungarians led by Chasam Sofer strongly fought to preserve mighagim
of<br>
the kehilla. This was even more stressed by the Chassidic community.
In<br>
fact what distinguishes one chassidic group from the other ones is
their<br>
unique set of minhagim most of them fairly recent (last 100-200 years
at<br>
most)<br><br>
His conclusion is that both approaches have their pluses and minuses
in<br>
terms of protecting their communities from modernism.<br>
I conclude that the debate over gebrochs mirrors the debate between<br>
litvaks and chassidim over the value of "recent" minhagim.<br>
</font></blockquote><br>
I believe you are referring to an article that recently appeared in
Hakirah that is at
<a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjyg6mKmfvaAhVCuVkKHeutBeYQFggtMAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hakirah.org%2FVol24Shandelman.pdf&usg=AOvVaw3XZQch0OGem-hvrLpivEHB" eudora="autourl">
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjyg6mKmfvaAhVCuVkKHeutBeYQFggtMAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hakirah.org%2FVol24Shandelman.pdf&usg=AOvVaw3XZQch0OGem-hvrLpivEHB</a>
<br><br>
(I cannot access the link you give above, because I do not have a google
account.)<br><br>
I found this article most disappointing and sent the email below to
the Editors of Hakirah<br><br>
<font size=3>Subject: The Gaon of Vilna, the Hatam Sofer, and the
Hazon Ish: Minhag and the Crisis of Modernity<br><br>
To the Editor:<br><br>
I must admit that the title of this article truly attracted my
attention. However, after reading it I was sorely
disappointed. <br><br>
The author writes at the beginning of the article, "We have seen
that from the 1930’s to the 1950’s at least, the position of the Hazon
Ish remained consistent and unyielding: A <i>minhag </i>has no normative
status of its own, and at best can only be adduced as evidence for an
actual halakhic ruling, which in turn derives its authority strictly from
corroboration by qualified halakhists." He then goes on to
point out that both the GRA and the Hazon Ish did not observe many
minhagim that most people do observe. However, he does not
give us a list of the minhagim they did not observe nor does he give us a
list of the minhagim that they did observe. Surely these
should have been included in detail in this article.<br><br>
Later in the article the author writes, "These two Orthodox groups
[the Hungarian Orthodox and the latter-day hasidic] turned
<i>minhag </i>into an endless opportunity for the creation of new
<i>humrot</i>. And this only goes to show that it is not always a broken
connection with the 'living tradition' that facilitates the creation of a
dynamic of <i>humrot. </i>Again, I think that the article
should have included a detailed list of these Chumras.<br><br>
In my opinion, this article contains a lot of "fluff" and
not much substance. What came to mind after reading it was
"Much ado about nothing."<br><br>
Dr. Yitzchok Levine<br><br>
<br><br>
<br>
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