Volume 44: Number 22
Sun, 19 Apr 2026
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Message: 1
From: Micha Berger
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2026 17:29:28 +0300
Subject: Re: [Avodah] =?cp1255?B?w6LCgMKcdXBkYXRl?=
On Wed, Apr 15, 2026 at 06:19:40AM +0300, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote:
> . Rav Asher Weiss reported that a recent article reported
> an "updated" version of a story concerning Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer...
> The original story was that R' IZM walked
> around the block and didn't go into his apartment so as not to cause the
> widow who was cleaning his apartment to stop singing when he knew the
> singing brought her some comfort and joy. The revised story was that he
> didn't go in because of concerns of kol isha. This change speaks volumes..
The Orthodox Jewish Community, as a community*, went OTD when we stopped
trying to be "an ehrlicher Yid" and instead talk about being "frum".
It is indicative of our being so worried about losing the ritual halakhos
the heterodox communities have deprecated that we lost sight of the
Judaism described by Chazal. Of Hillel's "that which you loathe, do not
do to another; that is the whole Torah -- now go learn!" Or of R Aqiva's
making "veAhavta leRei'akha kaMokha" the Torah's overarching principle. Or
R Simla'i's "the Torah begins in Chessed and end in Chessed...", etc,
etc, etc....
For too many of us, from the time we get too old for "VeAhavta" on a
poster on the classroom wall, true Torah priorites start fading.
The vast majority of us learn using R Chaim's derekh... But living by
his values?
Tir'u baTov!
-Micha
* Not speaking of any specific individuals. Obviously we have many baalei
chessed who are expressing VeAhavta leRei'akha, and not treating the
other as an "esrog" for their mitzvah. This is just an overall cultural
trend I am talking about.
--
Micha Berger Today is the 13th day, which is
http://www.aishdas.org/asp 1 week and 6 days in/toward the omer.
Author: Widen Your Tent Yesod sheb'Gevurah: To what extent is judgment
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF necessary for a good relationship?
Go to top.
Message: 2
From: Harry Maryles
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:51:39 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: Re: [Avodah] ??????updated?????? version of a story
I actually did a post on this on my substack yesterday. The following is an excerpt:
Joel Rich found this change saddening. So did I. But I can?tsay I was surprised.
No one doubts that Rav Meltzer took?kol isha?seriously.That was indeed the
halachic component. But to reduce the story to that aloneis to strip it of
what made it meaningful in the first place - his sensitivity,his empathy,
his humanity. It recasts a Gadol not as a compassionate human beingguided
by Torah, but as a kind of halachic machine, oblivious to the
emotionalworld around him.
And that, frankly, says a great deal about what is beingvalued and taught in the world of the right wing Yeshiva world.
This kind of revision is not incidental. It reflects abroader shift in that
world: a move toward defining greatness in exclusivelyhalachic terms, as
though human feeling were secondary. Or worse, irrelevant.Being holy, in
this framework, risks becoming detached from being human.
HM
Want Emes and Emunah in your life? Try this:?Emes Ve-Emunah | Harry Maryles | Substack?
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Message: 3
From: Joel Rich
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2026 08:49:35 +0300
Subject: [Avodah] eat human flesh or pig mea
Looking for a write up of the classic question of whether one should eat
human flesh or pig meat in a pikuach nefesh situation, in particular the
supposed positions of R Amital and R Lichtenstein,
KT
Joel Rich
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