Although everyone else may jump on the wagon of yea or nay, I really have no information on which to make a judgement. And neither do they.
I do not know whether his mashpia or mashpiim or shluchim he looked up to simply made a mistake, or they weighed dutifully their knowledge of his character and decided that his singing may lead him off, or his not being allowed to perform may lead him off.
I do not know whether the Shluchim who invited him to sing for them were relying on the judgement of his mentors, or simply didn't care. Knowing most of them, I think they relied on the judgement of his mentors. But I haven't asked them - how can I have an opinion?
What I see is that he has moved from strictly Lubavitcher notions in his songs, to Jewish notions, to universal notions - but still influenced by Yiddishkeit. He has not to my knowledge written or sung lyrics not in the spirit of Yiddishkeit. He has said that he moved from Chabad minhogim to general Jewish undefined Torah observance - which is still fine.
In fact, most Shluchim may now see this is an opportunity...
All I can truly say is, may Hashem bring a spirit upon him to protect him from completely losing his place.
The only lesson I can learn in truth, is to not voice opinions and condemnations when you have very little knowledge.
11 comments:
I don't see the big deal. So he no longer "identifies as a Chabadnik". Fine. Who says he has to? So long as he remains a shomer torah umitzvos – and I see no indication that he will not – why should we care whether he uses one label or another?
Not having the label "Chabadnik" attached to him may mean several things: 1) perhaps more people will buy his music, and he'll make more parnossoh. that's great. 2) perhaps he does things that are mutar for someone in his position but not things that we're comfortable with a chossid doing; until now there's been a tension there, perhaps now there won't be, and both sides benefit.
And if he picks up a Breslover minhag here and a Sefardi minhag there, well, Zalman Shachter did start out that way (the Rebbe once commented "here comes the United Nations"), but in itself there's nothing wrong with it. Le'olom yilmad odom bemokom shelibo chofetz applies in matters of minhogim too. If a minhag speaks to someone, if he feels that it increases his ahavas and yir'as Hashem, what could be wrong?
This is not some "membership drive" where we win points every time someone turns his hat brim down and lose every time someone turns it up, or loses the hat altogether! Nor are we like Aish, who count it as a loss if one of their people ends up with us. On the contrary, if one of our people ends up with them we still count it as a win. Abi er firt zach vi a yid.
Abi er firt zach vi a yid.
but will he?
or this a slippery slope that he's descending into?
stay tuned.......
That is the danger, the slope.
"I am no longer identified with Chabad," "Today, it's more important to me to connect to a universal message. While they were playing on stage and I closed my eyes, I was thinking that what we do is not at all about Judaism and not about Chabad. It's much bigger than one religion or another. It relies on something real that can speak to anybody. It's about truth and memory."
divrei Matisyahu
I don't know Rashi's or Tosafos pshat, but it sounds like
"Kochi v'otzem yadi asah li es hachayil hazeh"
Something I don't understand: Why didn't his "mashpiim" and rabonim simple tell him from the beginning that he could not be a “frummer yid in good standing” and continue performing in bars etc?
Greater people than him have given up more for Yiddishkeit in the past. Is this actually an indication that Chabad kiruv methods are changing, that the bar is being lowered, in order to attract more people to the movement? Is there really anyone who thinks the rebbe zatzal would have agreed to this?
What WERE they thinking???
There is no Chabad kiruv. Please do not use mixed metaphors.
Since you don't seem inclined to actually research your earth shattering questions, why don't you try for a little Don Lekaf Zechus? Or do you think Torah provides for another alternative? All I see is either VeShaalta Vechakarta Vedarasjta heitev, or Don Lekaf Zechus. Everything in between is Rechilus.
Shoot the messenger. Works every time.
Who is the messenger, what is the message, and who is shooting?
Guravitzer
divrei chachamim b'nachas nishma'im
don't loose costumers
something good that mentalblog had was not allow anonymous
I second koolchossid. G, that chip on your shoulder is weighing you down.
Again: evidence, please. What chip are you talking about? Please provide evidence for the existence of this chip.
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