Matzav.com is stealing all of my ideas, only they take themselves way too seriously. If the gedolim were being respectable, I’m sure they would be getting some of that coveted respect, but just because they’re “your” gadol, doesn’t mean they’re everyone elses gadol.
Dear Readers,
We must show derech erech for every person, rov or layman, but I find it interesting that some people and some in the news business choose to express an outcry only when certain people are maligned. When it is Dov Lipman who is castigated, they cry out for “respect” for the Knesset member. When it is Avi Weiss who is called out for adulterating Yiddishkeit, they decry the lack of derech eretz toward the head of Chovevei Torah and the Maharat Institute which seeks to destroy Orthodoxy as we know it.
In those two cases, it is actually a mitzvah to condemn those people’s actions. They have gone their own way, without the support of Torah leaders. But all some people seem worried about is their “kavod.” Pinchos didn’t worry about Zimri’s and Cozbi’s “kavod” when it was time to take action.
In the case of Rav Stav and his desire to be chief rabbi in Israel, I am amazed at how people have come out of the woodwork to cry out for derech eretz for Rav Stav, yet for one of the gedolei hador, Chacham Ovadiah Yosef, you hear nothing.
Now, to be clear, I condemn attacks and assault on Rav Stav that are not directed by Torah leaders. But have these same people who cry out about “lack of respect” also cried out for the kavod of our gedolim?
Where is the outcry for proper kavod for Chacham Ovadiah?
Where is the outcry for proper kavod for our gedolim, who are freely mocked on certain “frum” websites all in the name of “neias“?
Where is the outcry for proper kavod for American roshei yeshiva?
Where is the outcry for kavod to families whose lives are destroyed each day by websites and others who care about no one?
When someone cries out for derech eretz and respect, pay close attention. It isn’t always what it appears to be.
A Jew
Brooklyn, NY
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