Yeshivas Should Not Exist If They Violate The Basic Precepts Of The Torah!

The UOJ Archives - March 21, 2006

Dear UOJ,

You wrote: "Sheinberg knew what he was doing; to give him a pass is tantamount to permitting retzicha....

"Sheinberg is a rasha gamur for what he did ...."

Many Gedolim, even in response to the latest incarnation of the Kolko scandal, believe that it is their sacred duty to protect the Yeshiva system from any blemish. They fear that the eruption of such a scandal will cause the demise of the entire Yeshiva system. While I believe that this approach is Kineged Halacha and Daas Torah and extremely misguided, I would still not use the term term "rasha gamur".

I also agree that we are dealing here with Dinei Nefashos a fact that they appear not to apprehend. Nevertheless, a Dayan can make a mistake in Dinei Nefashos as well. There are many misconceptions about molestation that people from a certain generation just don't get or are unwilling to face.

You suggest "he knew what he was doing" that he fully understood the horrific ramifications of what he did, knew that what he was doing was against Halacha and did it anyway. I think the jury's still out on that. I would like to believe that he just doesn't appreciate the enormity of this matter or its correct Halachic implications.

For example, the one Gadol you suscribe to in previous posts was the Lubavitcher Rebbe. I think most people agree that the Meshichistin in Lubavitch have made a complete churban of both Judaism and Lubavitch. And the question arises did the Rebbe know and want this. I ask you if he was such as brilliant man didn't he realize that everybody in Lubavitch was saying he was Moshiach. Of course he knew. And yet you admire him.

The flaw in the aforementioned Gedolim's reasoning is that if the Yeshiva system can only survive by suppressing molestation, the whole system should be shut down. Not tommorow but today, immediately. The Netziv closed down Volozhin when the Government decreed they have to study Russian. Yeshivas only exist to do the will of Hashem. They cannot be predicated on violating basic precepts of the Torah. If truth, getting rid of these rotten apples will only serve to strenghten and purify the Yeshiva system tremendously. We don't need these menuvalim to thrive. The notion that we do is truly flawed.