Rav Avraham Shapira, a former Chief Rabbi of Israel, one of the founders and heads of Religious Zionism, the Rosh Yeshiva of Merkaz HaRav, a tremendous talmid chochom and brilliant mind, passed away last week.
The Yated Ne'eman wrote about his passing. They called him "Ha'Gaon Rav Avraham Shapira z"l".
People are upset about that title. They are upset the Yated Ne'eman wrote z"l and not ztz"l.
Z"l is an acronym for "zichrono l'vracha" his memory should be blessed.
Ztz"l is an acronym for "zecher tzaddik l'vracha" - the memory of the righteous should be blessed.
They feel that the Yated Ne'eman was slighting Rav Shapira's honor by writing z"l and they did so only because he not "one of ours" (from the perspective of the Yated). Because he was a Nationl Zionist Rabbi he could not have been deserving of the title tzaddik.
I say they should get over it.
First of all the Yated did call him "ha'gaon".
Second, the Yated is an ultra-Haredi newspaper, the mouthpiece of super-Litvish Haredi Judaism.
Sure, it would be appropriate for them to show proper respect to great people of other streams as well. However they showed him respect and it is not unusual that they would give him one notch lower than their own people. That is the nature of politics and social wars.
Get over it. Stop looking for the approval of the Haredi mouthpiece.
I agree. It sounds embarrassing to the dati community to be complaining about something like that.
ReplyDeleteObviously it was somewhat of a slight and that reflects very poorly on them- not on the Rosh Yeshiva ztz"l.
ReplyDeleteFYI- He learned in the Etz Chaim Yeshiva and later in the Hevron Yeshiva with THEIR roshei yeshiva.
B"H Well said, but don't hold your breath. My favorite thing to roll my eyes at out here in the "Oppressed and Occupied Territories" (by Arabs) is when people throw around Yiddish, or at last try to. They also recognize a black hat as a frumkeit indicator. It doesn't matter that the guy has been religious for two days.
ReplyDeleteI think this is just another manifestation of Israeli codependence. The gov't seeks the approval of the goyim; the mamlachtim seek the approval of Haredim. The Torani Zionists don't care as much.
dI would like to read the artilce that appeared in the Yated. What day did it appear and is it available anywhere online?
ReplyDeleteThanks
I attached the image I received. I do not remember which day it appeared....
ReplyDeleteifonly we could all live our lives with the rationale of "who cares what so and so thinks, I have a psak to rely on". I do, but it certainly isn't easy on the rest of my family.
ReplyDeleteI'm over it. Now I won't give a damn what the haredim think... even the ones that I like. But I'll ask my Rav to make sure it's OK.
ReplyDelete;-)
good for you, anon!
ReplyDelete