askanim driving a Rav in RBS crazy to the point of resigning

Bet Shemesh insists on staying interesting and active. Here is the latest...

Rav Mordechai Goldstein is the Rav of the "Mishkenos Yaakov" neighborhood in RBS. I met him once and he seemed personable, and I am told he is a tremendous talmid chochom. He was brought in from Telshe Stone to be Rav of the Mishkenos Yaakov part of RBS.

Rav Goldstein has been one of the Rabbonim leading the fight for the appearance of the neighborhood. He spearheaded the battle in the Merkaz Mischari and he appointed (or maybe they were appointed with his approval) the committees who approach the businesses about tznius and hang signs, trying to get the Meuhedet Medical Clinic to operate as a mehadrin clinic (separate hours for men and women), fighting the building of the Ma'ar, involvement in children being accepted, or not, in schools, etc.

Rav Goldstein has been very vocal in the running of the area. So much so, that I have heard from a couple of people from Telshe Stone, and some from RBS who used to live in Telshe Stone, that they have a hard time believing this is the same man who used to live in Telshe Stone. They say that in Telshe Stone he was a "normal" Rav/Avreich. He was the voice of reason. he was a quiet guy not getting involved int he politics and extremism. They cannot believe that this, based on things he has said and issues he has pushed, is the same guy that used to be so "normal".

Rav Goldstein has had enough. It seems he cannot believe what he has gotten involved in either. He has threatened to resign his position as Rav of Mishkenos and move back to Telshe Stone. He does not want to be involved in all the politics that has been pushed on him.

Rav Goldstein called a meeting last week of the gabboim of the Litvishe shuls in his area. He told them that he has had enough and he does not want to be involved in that anymore. He moved to Bet Shemesh to be Rav and to have time to learn and he is not able to learn at all because all this other stuff is being pushed on him all the time. If they do not stop with all the peripheral issues and leave him in peace, he has threatened to resign and move back to Telshe Stone.

They met again this week. the set up a number of committees, each one would deal with different issues (of those listed above and others), freeing up Rav Goldstein from having to deal with them. In the case where a committee would have trouble forming an agreed upon opinion, they would go to the Rav for a decision on the issue.

Of the people I spoke to about this, some say this will be better because now there are normal people being involved in the issues, rather than just the extremists. Others think it will be worse because even though Rav Goldstein was running it, he was still not as bad as some of the extremists and they doubt whether the normal people on the committees will be able to withstand the extremists on the committees.

So the benefits remain to be seen and I do not know if Rav Goldstein removing himself from these issues will make the situation better or worse, but the future will definitely be interesting..

Oh yeah, as an aside, for the skeptics among you, this is another example where clearly the askanim are pushing the Rabbonim to do what they want. He has admitted so himself and has finally had enough of it.