Rav Ahron Feldman, Rosh Yeshiva of Ner Israel in Baltimore, is in Israel and paid a visit to Rav Moshe Shternbuch, Raavad of the Eida Hachareidis.

Kikar is reporting on an interesting psak from Rav Moshe Shternbuch, Raavad of the Eida Hachareidis and Rosh Yeshiva. 

Rav Shternbuch, in a shiur in his yeshiva,, referred to a case that had  come up in beis din. He was presiding over a case and they decided that the person being sued had to pay a large amount of money to the other litigant. He continued to claim he was being set up, and lied about and this is theft, etc. but the dayanim held strong and said that according to halacha he has to pay, and should he refuse, they will issue a "ksav siruv" against him for ignoring the psak of the beis din.

Rav Shternbuch says the next day this fellow shows up in the beis din with several sacks full of 5 agura coins, which were still in the currency back then. He handed it over saying he was paying up in full, and that he had been told by a rav that because the 5 agura coins are valid currency, this is a valid payment.

 Rav Shternbuch called the bank to confirm the status of these coins and was told that by law it is valid currency and can be used for payment.

However, paying in this fashion would cause a lot of trouble and expense for the other person, as one cannot use so many  of these coins in one place or take it to any bank to convert to other bills. One had to take it to the Bank of Israel, and even then the BOI would not convert it immediately but would do so after a week.

 The final psak after deliberating the various perspectives, each a valid opinion in halacha, was that really this cannot be used as payment in every store as they wont accept it so it is not really considered "over lasocher", valid currency, but there are some scenarios where it would be accepted.

And if the 5 agura coins were questionable and possibly not good enough, could he go back home and prepare sacks of 10 agura coins, which were perhaps more usable and are even today still part of the currency? would it matter if he used 1 shekel coins? is the problem because institutions cant handle so many coins or was the problem specifically with the 5 agura coin?

 Back in yeshiva (high school) it was a lot of fun when one of the guys would pay a fine (for coming late to davening too often, or late for curfew or whatever) in pennies or nickels.

 

I couldn't find an original Hebrew article reporting on this, but Matzav has a report on an interesting psak from Rav Moshe Shternbuch, Raavad of the Eida Hachareidis.

Rav Moshe Shternbuch has issued an interesting psak about riding the trains in Israel after Shabbos.

Ladaat brings the psak of Rav Shternbuch, Raavad of the Eida Hachareidis, that one should not ride any Israeli train that runs on any line that was worked on on Shabbos until the time of "kdei sheyaasu", the amount of  time it takes to have done that specific work not on Shabbos, wuill have passed. Only after that time has passed will it be ok to ride the trains.

Unfortunately he does not say how much time that is, but he gives the general rule of not riding the train until the amount of time that it went into operation was advanced by the work done on Shabbos has passed.

Rav Shternbuch adds that the authorities should be told about this, as doing so prevents future chilul shabbos as they would try to avoid any boycott, as has happened in other areas in the past.

Interestingly, Rav Shternbuch says there is a discussion about whether something produced via chilul shabbos should be prohibited forever or only for the same amount of time it took to produce on Shabbos. The example given is of someone who dug a grave on Shabbos and that is prohibited forever, but the question is if that was specific for that case but in other scenarios "the amount of time" would be enough or if by other things as well the prohibition is permanent. Rav Shternbuch brings sources that the permanent prohibition was only in that scenario of the grave but not in other cases. Normally "kdei sheyaasu" is all you need.

And therefore, he concludes, riding the train is ok but only after "kdei sheyaasu" will have passed, and to calculate that amount of time one has to be able to figure out how much additional time would have been needed to work on the rail lines had they not worked on them on Shabbos.

We are living in a difficult generation. It used to be that there were askanim and rabbonim, the rabbonim would make the decisions of daas torah, and the askanim, the activists, would accept their opinion. Today is a new generation. The askanim have become the rabbonim, and the rabbonim are afraid of the askanim

  -- Rav Moshe Shternbuch, Raavad of the Eida Hachareidis

he said it, not me

hmmmm

sometimes, in the eyes of some people or groups, it is bad to do things that might be considered provocative and upset the non-Jews and maybe even trigger them to violence. Other times one should adamantly insist on acting the right way, insisting on one's right and behave according to proper behavior, even if doing so might upset the non-Jews and trigger violence.

In concept, that some things are more important than other things, some ideals are greater than others, and whether to continue despite creating a provocation or to stop so as to avoid the provocation, makes sense. Some things are greater. Some things are more important than other things.

In practice though, it seems to get played out more in line with any given person's personal bias than using some sort of objective scale of what is important and what is not. What I feel is important I will say is something we should do even if it upsets the non-Jews, while somebody else will say that isn't important enough and it is prohibited to provoke the goyim. That same person might then hold something else of greater importance and say to do it, despite the fact that it too provokes the goyim.

What am I talking about?

The first issue I am referring to is Har Habayit. That is commonly spoken about in the context of what everyone else thinks about Har Habayit. Some of us say that Har Habayit is ours, it is our core, it is our soul, and even if it provokes the non-Jews that we control it and go there, it is important enough that we should do so.

I would even say that even if they completely ban Jews from Har Habayit, we should still control it, and even ban Arabs from there as well. Because it is ours. It is the heart and soul of the Jewish people, and despite a possible provocation, and we should hold on to it tightly, no matter what anyone else thinks.

Other people, and we hear from them often, say that Jews shouldn't go there, Jews should be banned, our association with Har Habayit provokes the Arabs.

ok.

I say, and 7 or 8 million other people, say that Jews should be in Eretz Yisrael, despite the fact that the Arabs, and many other non-Jews, don't want us here. Our presence here clearly provokes the goyim - we've been living here for 70 years in relatively unpeaceful conditions, yet we continue to live here.

Even the vast majority of people who say not to go to Har Habayit, relinquish control of Har Habayit to the Arabs, because of the inherent provocation of our association with it, do not say we should abandon Eretz Yisrael and leave it to the Arabs, just because our presence here provokes them. There are some people, not too many but some, who say that as well - Jews should not be in Eretz Yiisrael as it provokes the goyim (among other arguments).

And then we have an issue that seems on the surface to be much more mundane. Some might say it is an issue be of vital importance.

Mynet is reporting that Rav Shternbuch, of the Eida Hachareidis, has said that people should continue to dress like Haredi Jews, with beard, peyos, the traditional Jewish garb of black and white clothing, and not hide the fact that one is a frum Jew.

Why would one want to hide it?

Just like in many parts of Europe today, the visible presence of Jews seems to be provocative.

In Europe, our presence triggers the goyim to attack us. They somehow all lose their minds and culture and civility when they see Jews, and resort to violence to rid France, or wherever, of the Jews. To prevent acts of violence. many Jews in Europe do what they can to hide their presence. They dress more European, wear hats instead of kippot. Some will go bareheaded entirely. They'll trim or remove their beards and make their peyos less conspicuous.

It seems that some in Israel are similarly concerned. Dressing like a frum jew, easily visible, makes one a target for Arabs looking to harm jews. The question was posed that perhaps we should make ourselves less conspicuous - trim our peyos and beards, dress more generically, etc.

Rav Shternbuch said that his rebbe, during World War II, continued to dress in his rabbinic garb, and even grew his peyos extra long, so it would be completely obvious to everyone that he was a frum Jew. He called this a kiddush hashem.

Rav Shternbuch said that dressing in public like a Jew, with beard and peyos, is a public declarationthe Haredi Jewry is still thriving and we are not embarrassed of being Jews but we are proud of it. He even took the opportunity to point out the Jews who go to Har Habayit and say they provoke the goyim to violence and one day will have to pay for that.

Jewish identity is important. We know that the Jews in Egypt did not change three things, three things that made them easily identifiable as Jews; their names, their language and their traditional Jewish garb. I happen to agree with him that we should not be ashamed of our identity and should continue to dress Jewish (though we might differ on which parts of our dress code are part of what is supremely important and which parts are less so). Everyone else should learn to deal with it.

Is a black jacket or an untrimmed beard more important than protecting the sanctity of Har Habayit, the heart of the Jewish Nation? Again, I am not even saying we need to go up on Har Habayit, but we should at least control it and prevent the access of non-Jews as much as possible, especially when they do not behave appropriately up there.

To Rav Shternbuch wearing black jacket and pants and having an untrimmed beard is more important as part of the Jewish identity than Har Habayit is, so Rav Shternbuch paskens that dressing Jewish is a great ideal and should be done even in the face of the threat of being the target of violence, while associating with Har Habayit is bad because of the provocation of violence.

To me Jewish identity is also of great import, but if necessary I do not see it as a big deal to wear a colored shirt and trim the beard a bit, to avoid violence, though I do not say one has to. I see no problem with having untrimmed beards while wearing black and white and making oneself a target (I do not really believe that makes a person a target), but if someone does feel that way, I see nothing wrong with trimming the beard a bit, brushing the peyos behind the ear, and wearing a colored shirt to avoid provoking violence.

To me, Har Habayit protected by Jews (again, without even talking about Jews going there to pray) is far more important to the Jewish nation than a white shirt or some loose beard hairs. Just like living in Eretz Yisrael is important enough that we do so despite the provocation it causes.

Bechadrei quotes Rav Moshe Shternbuch as having said that we are living in a time of increased extremism. Rav Shternbuch pointed to the Arabs who have gone crazy extreme in their religion and are killing and murdering. He also pointed to the secular Jews and said they have gone to extreme secularism and that has led them to doing things bordering on the crazy. (Rav Shternbuch somehow connected that to the suggestion that we can do a lot today to effect kiruv momentum among the secular Jews)

The one he did not mention that I would add is the extreme religious Jews doing things bordering on the crazy as well, such as burqas, sitting in body bags on airplanes, wearing blinders or male burqas  while flying to Uman, abusive behavior, separate seating on buses, erasing women from newspapers and magazines and other publications, among others...

Too bad it is only other peoples extremist behavior he calls out, and not our own.

Rav Moshe Shternbuch, Raavad of the Eida, had some very important things to say in his weekly lecture. What he said was not really anything new, but many  have forgotten these positions and what is behind this lifestyle, and think it can easily be changed, whether by being nice, by making things attractive, or even by legislation.

Bechadrei quotes some of what Rav Shternbuch said:
Remaining in isolation, and educating our children in extremism, is crucial and the way to ensure our children will remain strong in Yiddishkeit. Keeping them in isolation from those who are free and raising them in a way that through their entire life they will be protected and different will ensure that they will be completely detached from the evil ones.

Regarding staying separate from the Dati Leumi community, whom he still uses the outdated term of "the Mizrachi" to refer to them by, Rav Shternbuch quoted the Chazon Ish who said in response to a rav who claimed that we should not fight against the Mizrachi, as they believe in the tenets of the Torah, they keep Shabbos and don tefillin, eat only kosher food - so why fight them so strongly? the Chazon Ish responded to that the Mizrachi are against the extremists by policy, as they say it hurts "darkei shalom" - trying to build peaceful relations. The truth is, just the opposite is true, it is extremism that stands guard and saves from compromise. If we would go the way of the Mizrachi, said the Chazon Ish, the free ones would rule over us and take us all away from religion, so we must fight the Mizrachi.

So, Rav Shternbuch said, it is true that not every Jew is an extremist, but those who fight against extremism are definitely causing a great churban to the nation of Israel.

using legislation or goodwill to encourage integration is nice, and might work with some people on the fringes, but with the haredi community idealizing isolationism and extremism, it won't work for the mainstream. Unless the Eida and the Chazon Ish no longer represent the average haredi fellow - but I am not convinced that that is the case.

Bechadrei reports the following story, in which an interesting bit of Haredi history is revealed:

The sons of Rav Moshe Shternbuch recently went to Rav Chaim Kanievsky in Bnei Braq to bring him the new published volume of their fathers sefer, "Tshuvos vHanhagos, volume 6".

Rav Kanievsky received the new sefer and asked them how their father is doing - if "they" are still making trouble for their father.

When the Shterbuch sons responded that their father is still being harassed, Rav Chaim Kanievsky said to them that this is the reason the Chazon Ish did not want to live in Jerusalem..

While previously, Rav Moshe Shternbuch of the Eidah Chareidis chose to not bother making any strong pronouncements against the violent protesting, even though he was against it and expressed his opinion, due to the claim that nobody would listen to him anyway, he too is aware of the change in the tone of the protests, the media, the police, and the Eida.

Now that the Eida has called their people to order, Rav Shternbuch is also speaking out. He said yesterday that those who throw stones and protest violently are making a chilul hashem and are invalidated from being kosher witnesses. They cannot be used as witnesses in a wedding, divorce or any other matter needing a halachically valid witness... As an aside, he said, that such people who are violent in this manner anyway are likely to be pasul l'eidus for various other issues as well...

The shabbos protests of this past shabbos, that passed peacefully, clearly show that when the Eidah wants to, they do have control of their people. Despite what they say at other times, that they can tell people to stop but nobody listens. For the most part they listen. Let's hope they stay in control of their people and keep it reasonable...