Response from the RCANZ

Update from previous post…

I know this is going to sound conceited (everyone out there thinks so about me anyway) but I feel very strong about my position re the Leifer episode.

It’s not me. It’s אשרי מי שבא לכאן ותלמודו בידו. When one goes around waving the words of Shas and Poskim that are quite obvious and have been sitting on our bookshelves for generations and that’s the foundation of one’s position, he will be relatively impervious.

“Here, I am quoting Rambam, Shu”A, Chofetz Chaim, Rashi, Tosefos, etc… if you can tell me what’s wrong with what they say, you have a case. But if you can’t… I am only saying what they are saying!”

To date, on this issue, or on most any issue, nobody has contested my sources. They really can’t, they're sitting right there! Thus, they have a very hard time discrediting my writings. They can only discredit me. So this is what everybody I see is doing on all the social media (perhaps some rare exceptions). I have visited a few Facebook pages and it’s all the same: OMG is this real? How twisted! What a moron – idiot – retard… everything you can imagine!

Loving it.

I have gotten a few people to talk to me like a Human being and some of them may actually learn something.

Anyway, in all seriousness, it is quite distressing for me to see the RCANZ joining the fray. I thought learned people who are supposed to be the "einei ha'eidah" would be responsible about this. Actually, as I indicated in the letter in my previous post, one of these fellows was a very close friend in our yeshiva days. It’s a shame to part ways.

I wonder if these people get salaries and, if so, who pays them.

In any case they are certainly entitled to their position on the Leifer issue but they are not entitled to their positon on my position. Like everyone else, they cannot discredit anything I wrote, so they can only discredit me. I really thought they would be above this but after my run-in with the 107 (or 108?) Rabbanim, I see little hope for this dor.

In any case, I received three responses from the RCANZ so far.

The first was merely an acknowledgement of my initial email.

I thanked them for the acknowledgment and asked if I can take that as a confirmation of authenticity.

The second response was a request for me to confirm the text in question since I did not duplicate it in the email.

Fair enough.

In my next email, I supplied them with the text and reviewed the situation. It was a somewhat lengthy email but I repeated my demand for confirmation and, if confirmed, to either justify or retract their wanton discrediting of valid Halachic writing. I opined that, in my view, it is a tremendous chillul Hashem to publicly call any valid Halachic writing “fundamentally flawed” if it really is not.

Here was their response:

I confirm that is our statement, and remains our position.

Rabbi Benjamin Elton

Secretary of RCANZ

Evidently, they are refusing to justify their statement.

I responded to them saying, in effect, that this is not acceptable, and I explained why. (I will always explain myself).

I don’t think it’s a good idea to print my response right now – nothing terrible except it was strongly worded and it doesn’t need to be made public at this time. Clearly, this response from them indicates that they prefer not to continue the correspondence but I will give them the opportunity to reconsider.

But I will indeed print one excerpt. It is this:

Firstly, I will repeat from my previous correspondence that I see a tremendous Chillul Hashem being perpetrated by the Australian community and it seems that your esteemed organization is perpetuating it. Quite regretful, in my opinion.

This is the bein adam l’makom aspect and I obviously have no influence on it. I just want to declare again in the clearest of terms that I am trying to put an end to it and will have no active part in it.

In my eyes, the matter [with RCANZ] is not ended. Thanks to Dassi Erlich and the Australian community, including RCANZ, it’s not going to end until the extradition requests are dropped or she actually gets extradited. This is why I consider this such a Chillul Hashem on their part.

So, on the assumption that they do not respond further, I will decide whether to keep this matter public or take it underground. But it's not over...

וכל זקני העיר ההוא הקרבים אל החלל ירחצו את ידיהם על העגלה הערופה בנחל וענו ואמרו ידינו לא שפכה את הדם הזה ועינינו לא ראו