As a follow-up to yesterday's post about da'as Torah, here's R' Yakov Horowitz's article on the subject which I've linked to in the past - more than once - was posted on BeyondBT, and is always a great reminder for all of us. It talks about the differences in asking for advice, for a legal ruling (psak), and asking for other things. It talks about when one should NOT be asking their rav. It talks about a whole host of different topics on the subject, and it's likely the best article I've seen on the subject.
I should also note that the Jewish Press has picked up R' Horowitz's articles on sexual abuse in the community. It's a huge step, as perhaps this will begin to force and help our communities to work on this extremely urgent, important issue. At the same time, Mishpacha magazine is picking up his articles on education, his area of most expertise. Yiasher Koach to R' Horowitz for having such a positive impact and making an inroads to the charedi community to handle these issues.
Am I horribly skeptical if I think that R. Horowitz may have committed the cardinal sin of publicly criticizing the Hareidi world and is on the verge of being shunned and ignored by the very community he's trying to help?
ReplyDeleteLT - Yes and no. Thought of that, but honestly, this is the JP deciding to publish it, which means the charedi world is ready to take it. He's *very* careful to toe the line so he can continue to help. Moreover, he does too much good for them - they can't afford to shun him.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I read the whole article, and thought it was great. Sent it along to a few people too. Thanks for linking to it.
ReplyDeleteRegarding LT's thoughts, however, I have to say that from my vantage point, being published by the Jewish Press is NOT the equivalent of the "Chareidi stamp of approval" and in fact, most Chareidi-type people I know would not read the Jewish Press, but rather, papers like Hamodia and Yated Ne'eman.
I think that in America, we tend to think that chareidi = black hat, but in truth, most American black-hatters are far more embracing of modernity and pareve about things like Israel-the state than their Israeli equivalents. I don't think that chareidi as a term really applies in America, at least not the way Americans (broadly) think it does, and the JP is certainly not a Chareidi paper. The JP is overall quite pro-Israel. They even show the woman's face in ads for dinners where a couple is being honored! Chareidi papers, on the other hand, fuzz out the little girls' faces in advertisements for childrens' books. Just my two cents worth regarding the distinction.
just wanted to say thanks again for the great pointers in so many of your posts!
ReplyDeleteThat's not quite what I meant. While it's not the most charedi of papers, it's certainly more in the yeshivish world and is widely read there. Any entrance into that world with such a topic is bold and should help quite a bit; it's similar to when the Jewish Observer finally tackled "teens at risk" many years ago, which was also spurred by R' Horowitz somewhat.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to next week's Letter to the Editor section.
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