tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7626974447429315601.post2733083350647498110..comments2023-08-16T11:24:07.170+03:00Comments on Chopping Wood: Gedolim, Privacy and the Truth of HistoryUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7626974447429315601.post-5749153215203075262008-02-12T19:30:00.000+02:002008-02-12T19:30:00.000+02:00The issue that you are grappling with was discusse...The issue that you are grappling with was discussed at great length in the issue of the Torah UMadda Journal that followed the one in which the letters were first published. A close talmid of the Seridei Esh, among others, expressed his opinion, and the extraordinary article "Facing the Truths of History," was penned by then-editor, Rabbi Jacob J. Schacter, as a direct result of the episode. As I recall, in the conclusion of his article, R. Schacter writes dramatically of the exact words he used to ask mechilah of the Seridei Esh, at the latter's kever, for having perhaps stepped over in publishing the letters.<BR/><BR/>Moshe RosenbergMoshe Rosenberghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06786795813034367394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7626974447429315601.post-29386295360162927642008-02-12T17:57:00.000+02:002008-02-12T17:57:00.000+02:00Surely you've seen Rabbi Jacob J. Schacter's artic...Surely you've seen Rabbi Jacob J. Schacter's article on this very topic, published in a later volume of the Torah u-Madda Journal; available at http://yuriets.yeshivalive.com/TU8_Schachter.pdfMenachem Butlerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00074784950795186720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7626974447429315601.post-62737334577991846792008-02-12T15:33:00.000+02:002008-02-12T15:33:00.000+02:00The difference between our opinions, it would seem...<I>The difference between our opinions, it would seem, is that I feel that halachah guarantees an individual -- even a dead figure -- the inherent right to privacy, whereas Dr. Shapiro feels that he has the right to make a subjective decision about what rights each figure deserves and receives.</I><BR/><BR/>But this is often the line that separates an accurate biography from hagiography. Although Dr Shapiro has a line that he said he wouldn't cross (and which the author of Making of a Godol <B>did</B> cross in Shapiro's eyes), the standard approach in the Orthodox world is a very restrictive one that is exemplified by this statement of R. Shimon Schwab: <BR/><BR/><I>What ethical purpose is served by preserving a realistic historic picture? Nothing but the satisfaction of curiosity. We should tell ourselves and our children the good memories of the good people, their unshakable faith, their staunch defense of tradition, their life of truth, their impeccable honesty, their boundless charity and their great reverence for Torah and Torah sages. What is gained by pointing out their inadequacies and their contradictions? We want to be inspired by their example and learn from their experience... Rather than write the history of our forebears, every generation has to put a veil over the human failings of its elders and glorify all the rest which is great and beautiful. That means we have to do without a real history book. We can do without. We do not need realism, we need inspiration from our forefathers in order to pass it onto posterity. </I><BR/><BR/>Many people (indeed nearly 100% of the chareidi world would accept nothing less) are comfortable with the <B>historical novel</B> (and some would say <B>ahistorical</B>) approach exemplified by R. Schwab's statement. But that has no place in the academic circles to which Dr Shapiro belongs.zdubhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06642047900508041723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7626974447429315601.post-55519091139288305852008-02-12T09:28:00.000+02:002008-02-12T09:28:00.000+02:00No one has privacy anymore today.Just open a faceb...No one has privacy anymore today.<BR/>Just open a facebook page and find out -<BR/>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/technology/11facebook.html?em&ex=1202965200&en=af051250dc51b51b&ei=5087%0AUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15364681679232692088noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7626974447429315601.post-43831810859015076592008-02-12T06:49:00.000+02:002008-02-12T06:49:00.000+02:00Actually, to me it seems like a matter of perspect...Actually, to me it seems like a matter of perspective. What was revealed about him only shows a complex, multi-faceted persona. <BR/>According to a MO perspective, there's nothing wrong or defamatory about that, so why would one think that R' Weinberg would feel a need to hide that fact?<BR/>But according to a chareidi perspective, such a persona is not flattering at all; they might even consider it loshon hara; so to a chareidi person, revealing such private information could be wrong.<BR/><BR/>Put another way - to a MO person, being MO is perfectly fine, so let's share that with the world, but to a chareidi person, being MO is very, very bad, so let's keep it secret.<BR/><BR/>Either way, it is the truth about who he is, and especially if there are people who are promoting a diff version of the person, isn't it incumbent upon those who claim to be truthful, to reveal who he really was?The Hedyothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15193083251783618457noreply@blogger.com