By Michoel Chazan
Hashem has delivered this world into the hands of fools (Sanhedrin 46)
The Kotzker Rebbe said “Where you bury falsehood, that’s where truth sprouts forth.” Let’s face it; most of the community just doesn’t get it. Nobody really cares about the history of the community. The people who tried to undermine the Rebbe, the Rabbonim and the community, and are now vindicated and koshered by our very own Rabbonim.
The tznius problem in the community is getting worse. The Chinuch system is failing. Our children see hypocrisy in our community ,and our community is getting more modern by the day. And now we are going to have an election for a third Rov.
Now that we elected a new Vaad, what now? We have two new members who have absolutely no experience in communal matters. The Din Torah that was supposed to create an environment of peace made matters worse. The community’s special interest groups undermined the chance for reunification of the Bais Din and peace at every turn.
Now that we have a mishmash of a Vaad Hakhol, what can we expect for the elections of a third Rov? The amount of money spent on this Din Torah, was enough to send a lot of children to camp whose parents couldn’t afford it. The community has spoken, now we have to live with our choices.
What use is a third Rov, if our existing Rabbonim can’t even sit in the same room? Do you think we will pick a new Rov and everything will be put into place? At best, it will become two against one, and that’s how they will solve their problems.
This arrangement will not bring peace. It might guarantee a steady income of Rabbi Rosenberg’s Bais Din, but it won’t bring peace to the community. If the two Rabbonim cannot get along, because of there own actions or the actions of there supporters, maybe we need a different solution. We need Rabbonim who can work together and tackle the current issues that are now affecting the community.
It’s very easy for a Rov to put his head in the sand and when confronted by a contemporary issue say “Chadash Osur Min HaTorah” (new is Taboo). We need a Rov who can think out of the box. I’m not here to rant and rave, we are talking about our children, and our future as a Chassidisha Community.
We need Rabbonim, who have Yirah Shamayim, charisma, that can motivate, educate and inspire. We need a Rov with tough skin, who won’t be manipulated by money, Yichus or other special interest groups. Who cares how small this Rov’s following will be, when a ship is sinking, do we care how big the life boat is?
Don’t wait for the new Vaad to do positive things, if nobody is home, we will have to effect positive change ourselves. Fighting is a waste of our time and energy.
A group of Chassidish Yungerlite started their own Shul. Their aim wasn’t to fight anyone, all they cared about was to be able to daven with a Chassidisha minyan, and give their children a normal place to daven.
Why are we going to waste time adding a new floor to the Bais Din, if the foundation (the Bais Din) is corroded? We need to give both Rabbonim an ultimatum, either you make a commitment to work together NOW, or we will not be able to pay you because we will need new Rabbonim that can work together.
— Rabbi Michoel Chazan is Director of Chaplaincy Services at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center. He was elected twice to the Vaad Hakohol – CHJCC (member 1996-99, chairman 1999-2002). He was a candidate for Vaad Hakohol in the 2010 elections.
Mr. Chazan, I know you think that only you are the right man for the Va’ad HaKhol, but obviously the residents of Crown Heights think otherwise. You can attack them if you want, and that is your right, but why would anyone take you seriously? You are in the minority. You lost. The community had their say and please respect it.
The fact that they are Rabbis does not take away from them bechira chofshis.. Unfortunately their action have caused this article. They have wasted valuable money on their private pet peeves when the community is starving for help How can they sit down and attempt to make peace between two people or husband and wife if they cannot along with each other? How can they tell a husband and wife to respect each other if they don’t respect each other?. Can we say that they have set an example of ahavas Yisroel and achdus?. Screaming chutzpa at Michoel Chazan does… Read more »
how can you post such a stupid remark?
he wrote exactly what needs to be done!!
I find it difficult to foresee hatzlachah for any rabbanim of the Vaad if they are spoken about in this tone — many commentors, too, not just the article. There are many crucial problems going on here, but a kehillah that can use such lashon about rabbonim will never have rabbonim, because you must first look up to a rav, not denigrate him.
Rabbi Chazan thank you so much for the TRUE words, I hope this will make people learn about what is going on here in CH.
In the name of the young generation – Thank you for steeping up and telling the truth.
way to go chazan. you tell it like it is. for all those bashing chazan almost all of you did not specify what your problem is. have a gut shabbos
The recent unanimous elections is a tremendous mile-stone for the Crown Heights Community, and (whether or not it seems an unlikely group) we wish them the utmost Hatzlocho.
Let’s build on the positive direction and not Chas VeSholom try to choke it and discourage people!
One of the main problem of CH is that Lubavitch is becoming more and more modern. The Tznius and Chinuch iues are no surprises. If someone dare saying something, he is labeled “old-fashioned”. Thoe stuff were relevant 1 century ago but not now according to them, because Lubs are “modern”.
Why assume that the new Vaad will not be effective? I wish them only hatzlocho and almost feel I am missing out on a new era in CH since I have moved away.
I agree with 49. i am a woman. Each household is given one vote. Discuss it with your husband and your voice will be heard. Every system has to have a set of rules, and no rule is going to be liked by everyone. Same goes for those who complain the timing of the election was bad. There was no perfect solution, in which case you follow the Rov and Hashem decides in the end.
Igros Chelek chof 7’515 – last paragraph
the best line of this letter is “I am not here to rant and rave…”
uh-huh…
To all the women who are complaining about not being able to vote… My understanding is that these rules were checked over by the Rebbe. In all the years of our history in Golus, all aspects of “Klal” work were decided and done by men. That said, it should be noted that one of the rules is that to vote you have to be married. I would take that to mean that when a guy goes and votes, he is representing himself and his wife. Hopefully in the correct setting, the husband and wife have discussed their priorities and analyzed… Read more »
I don’t know what are the Rabbonim’s salaries, but they should be around 200K.
I thnik that this should be the topc, to give to the Rabbonim proper salaries and not to knock them out,cv
I would just like to point out a few things.
1. what does Rabbi Chazan’s losing the election have anything to do with this article. He at least had the guts to put his name on this article. Most people that write op-ed’s do not have the guts to put there name. If he would have just written this article anonymous what would you say then.
2. He is 100% right!!!
To the person who asks if you need a beard: you can buy a paste on beard at a costume store.
Michol Chazan. I know you are hurt that you lost the elections but this article is completely out of place. After the Rosenberg Psak and the elections, we just startec to heal, so you have nothing better to do, but to write an article full of dirt and insults on the entire community including the Rabbonim ??? Mr. former Chairman your’e a professional to criticize others, would you please tell me…WHAT DID YOU ACCOMPLISHED IN 3 YEARS AS A CHAIRMAN ??? To suggest that the community is not worthy of choosing their leaders just because you –and your group-lost, is… Read more »
That there should be elections in CH for rabbonim, so that when a time comes (the rebbe foresaw this article) and there is a mandate to remove the rabbonim, the community should know that these are the rabbonim that we elected and these are the rabbonim we have to deal with. Period. How can you even think of such a chutpah’diker action as not pay the salary of the Rabbonim. Maybe if you make a mistake in your job, they should fine your salary?
I guess it is easier to punish a Rav.
I think our comunity is blessed with exeptionaly good and knolageble and iras Shamaim rabonim. Articles like this are against Torah. Rav is the reprsentative of H”. period. Good Shabos.
THE outcome of the elections is “HASHGOCHA PROTIS” & is theREBBES work, AS well as the din tora &the psak ,IY”H things will better .TRUE we of course need A big amount of fixing in our comunity BUT remember “MIAT OHR DOCHE HARBE CHOSHECH ” SO SHED AS MUCH LIGHT AS POSSIBLE !!!
the rabbonim are not the issue..there is a group of people that surrounded them selfs around the rabonnim and are creating the fighting. we as a community “”””””””most””””””” put an end to individuals who were not elected to be involved with representing the rabonnim. rabi gorner in Australia ran one of the largest Jewish community’s with out one bully around him..why should CH be different.
Um excuse me, what’s this narishkeit about the community has spoken and now we have to live with our choices? That is so not true, only a certain segment(men) have spoken, not women, so how can you say the community has spoken? Bottom line is that those that have spoken, spoke for themselves. There are the rest of us who had no say. The rest of us who don’t care about politics, egoes, etc.. Who want only that those who need help in the community get the help they need to send kids to camp, to pay tuitions, to manage… Read more »
what do the rabbonim have to say about this idea?
Thanks for your comment.
On your lines, perhaps we should increase the Rabbonim’s salary, and as Rashi writes in the beginning of Parshas Mikeitz, “This was a symbol of the days of plenty, when creatures appear handsome to one another, for no one envies his fellow.”
MICHOEL,
I AM SHOCKED, MY FRIEND, THAT YOU WOULD ADVOCATE TAKING PUNITIVE MEASURES AGAINST RAV OSDOBA AND RAV SCHWEI, PERIOD.
I DON’T CARE IF YOU HAVE POINT OR NOT. THE END DOES NOT ALWAYS JUSTIFY THE MEANS.
INSTEAD OF DENYING THE SALARIES OF OUR UNDERPAID RABBONIM, HOW ABOUT ADVOCATING SOMETHING USEFUL. FOR EXAMPLE, THAT ALL BUSYBODIES IMMEDIATELY CEASE AND DESIST IN THEIR PROPAGANDA COMPAIGNS AGAINST THIS OR THAT RAV.
THIS IS TRULY THE WAY TO BRING OUR TWO RABBONIM TOGETHER.
DR. LEVI A. REITER
Hey Michoel, WE the people did NOT vote for you! And for good reason! Stay out!
I think Rabbi Shea Hecht still has a chance. He should run for third Rabbi. Besides comming from a Rabbonishe mishpocho he has experience. He was many years a Rabbi in Canarsie. He was also a Rabbi in Manhattan and recently in theShalom Center shabbos minyan.
The next time I will be at the tzion, I will pray for the benefit of our comunitty!!! I will also bli neder arrive at the gravesite of rav marlow a”h and ask him to daven for all of us, asap.
I agree. If the rabonim shlit”a can’t serve the comunitty because of their fighting etc, they should bring a car service with a suit case and begin packing all their stuff (seforim, pencils, notebooks), and take them back home.
Rabbi Chazan. I know you mean well. but this article is completely and totally out of place. the ch wound has finally began to heal and you are pouring salt on an open wound. If people can reject an election outcome which is not to their approval, then go back to communist russia and do away with elections. It is an insult to the community to suggest that they are not worthy of choosing their leaders. It is like you are saying to a child you can make a choice what you should do but I will ultimately veto your… Read more »
a rov is a very respected member of the community.
there is no room for impeachment aside halacha
they have opposite personalities
it happened, ok, it is hard for them to see eye to eye,
it happens!
go with the situation
it is not for us to tell rabbonim what to do, think or feel, period.
this community needs more y.shomayim
that is the beginning and end of it.
daven to Hashem for a Mashpia
daven to Hashem for the right teacher,
enough.
I agree with comments 23, 24, 25 and 26.
but why would he want to be our Rov? We don’t deserve him.
it’s a bit scary that we have an environment where people speak with such lack of respect about Rabonim. Rabonim should be spoken about with respect and dignity, and the kind of talk presented in the above op-ed should not be tolerated by our G-d fearing wonderful community. It’s talk like this that brings strife – and we, as a community, should stop tolerating it.
Let’s start speaking only positive – it will bring out the wonderful qualities that we all have dormant. And, no, I’m not a dreamer – I am actually a realist!!
That’s my humble opinion.
do you need a beard to be a rov in crown heights?
Michoel, just a bit of friendly advice, please ask Mechila from both Rabbonim publicly, before this gets out of hand.
I feel your pain.
It didn’t take long for those who really lost the election – the extremist hendel supporting part of the community – to come out swinging.
BUT TO PUBLICLY ATTACK THE RABBONIM????
michoel in short SHUT UP you ran and you LOST because people dont want your negativity … lets face it your first statement “Let’s face it; most of the community just doesn’t get it. ” is an attack against the whole communty “WE DONT GET IT ” NO you dont take you and your former memebrs of the old vaad hakohol and crawl under a rug and hide in shame for attacking a whole kehila kedoisha. YES WE VOTED. and live with it you write we DONT NEED A THIRD ROV…….. read rabbi rosenbergs psak (together with 4 other rabonim)… Read more »
This letter is an attack on Rabbi Osdoba. In the cross fire Chazans Rabbi – that is Rabbi Shvei – gets hit as well as all Rabbonim. In this oped you compare Rabbonim to everyone else who: Fights like babies needs public ultimatums have no idea what they are doing Mr. Chazan what is a Rov? Someone who knows Halacha? And do we listen to their Psakim in Halacha? In this oped you further diminished respect for Rabbanim and you are basically saying that people should start challenging the Rabbanim. In other words the only thing you accomplished was to… Read more »
Whether he was an effective member of the Vaad or not….
HE IS RIGHT!
Their dislike of each other has destroyed this neighborhood. What is this, the Supreme Court? Let them ALSO run for election. We need Rabbonim who respect each other, even if they disagree. They aren’t worthy of the title Rav. I’m sick & tired of the hypocrisy. They tell US to have Achdus & these two Rabbis won’t even talk to each other! Enough already! Time to put your differences aside & work for the good of the community….or QUIT!
in the psak is said that if after the election of a third rov the old 2 wont get along then they will have no option other then throwing out one of them!
bsd bh This article while well intended , speaks loshin hora in public. And the community in crown heights, is a miniature scale model of all the ills of jews in the total diaspora, we have forgotten that its the Torah’s guidelines that is the rule of law…Hashem yirachem ahl klal yisroel, when we all can fully utilize the Torah’s lessons , to cleave to them and live by them in honesty and devotion such letters will no longer be typed , and the pains of this deep dark galus will be healed. We can all pray and say Moshiach… Read more »
Elect Rabbi Rosenberg as the third Rov – he has everything our community needs.
Never a truer word spoken !! Everyone with a clear mind knows this to be the truth.
you put it down so nicely. thank you very much. if only something would come of this……..
This piece of trash is unmitigated chutzpeh written with no intention of solving or resolving anything. Its sole purpose is to evoke more Loshin Horeh and more responses inflaming an already sharply divided kehilah.
This writer had absolutely no positive intent with this article of his.
Yechi Hamachlokes!
Mr. Chazan, we did not vote for you for a reason. If the people thought maybe you had something for us, we would have voted for you, we did not.
Please step aside and let nature take its course.
Sadly your letter above is just promoting and setting the ground for more of the same old Machlokes.
Let Crown Heights move on, stop stealing our chance for peace.
a mishmash of a Vaad Hakhol???? WHERE IS YOUR RESPECT FOR THE NEW PEOPLE. YOU DIDNT EVEN GIVE THEM A CHANCE AND THIS IS WHAT YOU SAY??? YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF
the only fool is you!! yes the community has spoken and we elected 2 young people because we were tired of the older people who just want to fight and bring machlokos to this community. yes a 3rd rov will fix the problem. if its 2 againts 1 too bad on the one thats how it works in court and thats how it works at all din torahs thats why there is 3 and not 2 or 4!! enough with the macholokos, time to pick a 3rd rov and get things moving
Enough with this Rechta Garbage….. “The people who tried to undermine the Rebbe, the Rabbonim and the community, and are now vindicated and koshered by our very own Rabbonim” Nobody other than Micheol Chazan and has Chevra have done more to undermine this community than he and his buddies… I am tired of listening to the silliness. Ifelections are so great than we have we just elected second tier vaad with third tier members of our communities…There are many great people in crown Heighst of all political leanings who most people would gladly support but because of the pain these… Read more »
B”H I have been asking people in the MIkva and CH Streets about Levi Garelik as the third Rav, and every single person I asked said “wow, that would be amazing…” R. Garelik is Talmid Chacham. I heard from a good friend of his that the night of Gimmel Tammuz, while some people were devastated and others were saying L’Chaim, R. Garelik stayed up all night pouring over the Rebbe’s Torah and looking to see – hayitachen? He is a type of person that in the face of challenges looks at the Torah – that’s what we want in a… Read more »
“We need Rabbonim, who have Yirah Shamayim, charisma, that can motivate, educate and inspire” – that’s called a Mashpia, not a Rov.
Well written and to the point. Enough of this waste of effort, time, money and emotions.
Shape up or shape out. Do this before it is too late and we lose the next generation.
The problem with this proposal is that the psak establishes rbbis Osdoba and Schwei as lifetime rabbonim. What I think is interesting is the idea that we might be able to place certain issues on a ballot for a referendum vote. For example, say there was a strong reason to impeach someone who was elected to community office. Is there a mechanism by which this can be accomplished? If there was, that might be a way to present this ultimatum. If not, we have no power to present this ultimatum and are stuck with these rabbonim until 120 years.
This community is burning. We don’t have time for their petty fights about Money, Power, respect, ego, Nepotism and every other affliction that men have been fighting over for the past 5,000+ years.
You MUST find a way to work together or we MUST get three new Rabbanim.
Needlessly negative outlook. No practical advice.
By and large, we have opened our eyes to the sreyfa that destroyed the Rebbe’s schunah, and now everyone’s doing their part to rebuild.
why cant the former members stop with their negativity.u were not elected mr.chazan so please just bud out.they just cant leave .
And look what we havei i
s this Abir Shebeabirim
is this the face of a mature Chasideshe kehilah
is voting the way of Lubavitch
Is this the way its going to look for the next 25 years
as the ones who follow Voting know
“VOTING HAS CONSEQUENCES”
well we have the voting and the CONSEQUENCES”
Valid point. Azkir al hatzion.
just stick with the rabbiners annoying mess it is im under 30 and this nonsense is too much
and dayan rosenberg did the community a great service
Electing a third Rov will just increase the fights if the two currant Rabbanim can’t even have a civil conversation.