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<span style="font-size: 14pt;">Yesterday I sent out an email in which I quoted Rav Shimon Schwab who wrote "Nowadays, there is no 'pope' in Jewish life." He pointed out that the Chofetz Chaim had written a pamphlet extolling the virtues and importance of growing
a beard called, “Tiferes Adam”. (Rav Schwab did not name this pamphlet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 14pt;">Rav Schwab would point out that "It was well known that the Chafetz Chaim</span>
<div><span style="font-size: 14pt;">came out with a psak that all yeshivah bachurim should have beards.</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: 14pt;">He even wrote a sefer on this topic. He held that a yeshivah bachur</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: 14pt;">should identify himself as a ben Torah by growing a beard. The roshei</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: 14pt;">yeshivas at that time were opposed to this position. They felt that if it</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: 14pt;">were required, the yeshivas would lose bachurim. History shows that as</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: 14pt;">great as the Chafetz Chaim was, his opinion did not prevail, since it did</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: 14pt;">not have the support of other gedolei Torah at that time."</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Here is another example where people did not follow the Chafetz Chaim.</span></div>
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<div>From <a href="https://thehalacha.com/wp-content/uploads/Vol16Issue10.pdf" id="LPlnk">
https://thehalacha.com/wp-content/uploads/Vol16Issue10.pdf</a> <span style="left: 107.84px; top: 74.9068px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(1.02818);" dir="ltr">
Tzitzis</span><span style="left: 300.487px; top: 74.9068px; font-size: 12pt; font-family: sans-serif; transform: scaleX(1.04423);" dir="ltr"> In or Out?</span><br>
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<span></span><i><span style="left:144px;top:398.293px;font-size:25.6px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(1.08085)" dir="ltr">Mishnah Berurah on This Issue</span><span style="left:172.8px;top:434.027px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.985816)" dir="ltr">The
Mishnah Berurah</span><span style="left:387.408px;top:433.551px;font-size:13.6811px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.957007)" dir="ltr">25</span><span style="left:400.487px;top:434.027px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.96031)" dir="ltr">
uses choice words on this topic, </span><span style="left:143.996px;top:466.035px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.987386)" dir="ltr">which we will paraphrase below :
</span><span style="left:172.79px;top:502.291px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(1.01154)" dir="ltr">“It is bad enough that those who place their
</span><span style="left:644.728px;top:502.291px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.987527)" dir="ltr">tzitzis</span><span style="left:700.179px;top:502.291px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.951792)" dir="ltr">
in </span><span style="left:143.996px;top:534.3px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(1.0432)" dir="ltr">their pants close their eyes from the fact that one should see
</span><span style="left:143.996px;top:566.308px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(1.04853)" dir="ltr">the
</span><span style="left:183.608px;top:566.308px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.987527)" dir="ltr">tzitzis</span><span style="left:239.059px;top:566.308px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif" dir="ltr">.</span><span style="left:243.895px;top:565.818px;font-size:13.6811px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.957007)" dir="ltr">26</span><span style="left:256.974px;top:566.293px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.95591)" dir="ltr">
They disgrace the mitzvah of Hashem and will </span><span style="left:144.005px;top:598.302px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.963047)" dir="ltr">give a judgment on this.</span><span style="left:397.481px;top:598.293px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.948204)" dir="ltr">
The claim that this should be an </span><span style="left:143.994px;top:630.302px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.97622)" dir="ltr">exception because we live among the nations of the world
</span><span style="left:143.994px;top:662.31px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.947104)" dir="ltr">is not valid. If a king of flesh and blood would give you a
</span><span style="left:143.994px;top:694.319px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.988585)" dir="ltr">present, you would flaunt it wherever you go. How much
</span><span style="left:143.994px;top:726.327px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.989992)" dir="ltr">more so with one’s
</span><span style="left:325.954px;top:726.327px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.987527)" dir="ltr">tzitzis</span><span style="left:381.406px;top:726.327px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.422256)" dir="ltr">.”</span><span style="left:172.811px;top:762.584px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(1.03777)" dir="ltr">
It is out of character for the Mishnah Berurah to use such </span><span style="left:144.017px;top:794.592px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.995134)" dir="ltr">words in relation to a mitzvah. Many maintain that when
</span><span style="left:144.017px;top:826.601px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.962114)" dir="ltr">saying one will give a judgment, the Mishnah Berurah was
</span><span style="left:144.017px;top:858.609px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(1.03586)" dir="ltr">referring to the fact that people put their
</span><span style="left:539.524px;top:858.609px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.987527)" dir="ltr">tzitzis</span><span style="left:594.976px;top:858.609px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(1.03987)" dir="ltr">
in their pants </span><span style="left:458.107px;top:1213.53px;font-size:15.7833px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(1.56071)" dir="ltr">T</span><span style="left:743.316px;top:1169.32px;font-size:11.3152px;font-family:sans-serif;transform:scaleX(0.798054)" dir="ltr">:</span><span style="left:76.8px;top:75.6265px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.9865)" dir="ltr">because
they are embarrassed to keep them out. However, </span><span style="left:76.8px;top:107.635px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(1.01493)" dir="ltr">many Sefardim keep them in, as well as others, and the
</span><span style="left:76.8px;top:139.644px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(1.02526)" dir="ltr">Mishnah Berurah was not talking about these people.</span><span style="left:588.596px;top:139.151px;font-size:13.6811px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.957007)" dir="ltr">
</span><span style="left:105.6px;top:175.893px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(1.03895)" dir="ltr">One who wishes to put his
</span><span style="left:369.717px;top:175.893px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.987527)" dir="ltr">tzitzis</span><span style="left:425.122px;top:175.893px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(1.05425)" dir="ltr">
out is not considered to </span><span style="left:76.7829px;top:207.902px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.983979)" dir="ltr">be showing off.</span></i></div>
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<span style="left:76.7829px;top:207.902px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.983979)" dir="ltr">Did people in Lithuania follow the Chofetz Chaim's directive regarding tzitzis? The answer is a resounding "No".<br>
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<span style="left:76.7829px;top:207.902px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.983979)" dir="ltr">Rabbi Menachem Mendel Poliakoff, a native of Baltimore, MD who studied in Lithuania’s Telshe yeshiva for eight years in the 1930s wrote in
his book <b>Minhagei Lita: Customs of Lithuanian Jewry</b> that yeshivish batei midrash and communities constantly and consistently deviate from pre-war European tradition. For instance, on page 63 of
<b>Minhagei Lita</b>, Rabbi Poliakoff writes, “No one in Lithuania wore his tzitzis hanging out as people do today – not even the Rabbonim, not even in Radin.”
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<span style="left:76.7829px;top:207.902px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.983979)" dir="ltr">IIRC someone once pointed out that not even the Chofetz Chaim wore his tzitzis out as people do today</span><span style="left: 76.7829px; top: 207.902px; font-size: 14pt; font-family: serif; transform: scaleX(0.983979);" dir="ltr"></span><span style="left:76.7829px;top:207.902px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.983979)" dir="ltr">!</span></div>
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<span style="left:76.7829px;top:207.902px;font-size:23.4667px;font-family:serif;transform:scaleX(0.983979)" dir="ltr">YL<br>
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