"There are some people who love themselves but hate G-d". I uttered these words after a heavy day of drinking one fateful Purim many years ago when I was in Israel. It was said about a certain so called rosh yeshiva who has used his position to besmirch the name of the Rav zatzal and spew hatred towards the Yeshiva Hakedosha and the (former) Nasi V' Rosh Hayeshiva Rav Lamm Shlita. This guy uses his platform and some of his seforim) to spread lies about YU and the people in charge of it, he says that Rav Schachter and Rav Lichtenstein were kicked out of the rav's shiur and says that the Rav was waiting for Rav Lichtenstein (who is the Rav's son in law) to do Tshuva. Of course I am speaking of no other than Michel Shurkin the head of ToMo. I was in a meeting the other night and ToMo was mentioned and you could hear a groan in the room.
Much like another certain Rosh Yeshiva who recently passed away, Shurkin prides himself on the rift he brings to Orthodoxy by bashing Rabbi Lamm and promulgating lies about YU and the Rav (Z'atzal). I remember when I was in Israel for the year Shurkin sent a few of his goons to go after Rav Shachter during a question and answer session, by asking him questions based on lies, and misinformation. Needless to say it was entertaining watching Rav Schachter rip this guy to shreds.
I believe that Michel Shurkin is evil, and his lies need to be stopped. Is he a talmid chacham? Perhaps, but a TALMID CHACHAM SHOTE. Tovel V' Sheretz B' yado. How dare you claim to be disseminating torah while purposefully driving a rift in Orthodoxy and attacking YU, an institution that has been marbitz torah more than any other institution ever in the history of our great country? How dare he discount the torah learned at YU! How dare he speak lies about the gadol hador, Rav Aaron Lichtenstein, a man who's toe nails Shurkin could only hope to reach in 100 lifetimes! Michel Shurken needs to be marginalized and stopped. Just the thought of him makes my blood boil and makes me sick. All the learning and teaching he does is worth nothing because it is sidelined by the lies and sicknesses that he spews.
Much like another certain Rosh Yeshiva who recently passed away, Shurkin prides himself on the rift he brings to Orthodoxy by bashing Rabbi Lamm and promulgating lies about YU and the Rav (Z'atzal). I remember when I was in Israel for the year Shurkin sent a few of his goons to go after Rav Shachter during a question and answer session, by asking him questions based on lies, and misinformation. Needless to say it was entertaining watching Rav Schachter rip this guy to shreds.
I believe that Michel Shurkin is evil, and his lies need to be stopped. Is he a talmid chacham? Perhaps, but a TALMID CHACHAM SHOTE. Tovel V' Sheretz B' yado. How dare you claim to be disseminating torah while purposefully driving a rift in Orthodoxy and attacking YU, an institution that has been marbitz torah more than any other institution ever in the history of our great country? How dare he discount the torah learned at YU! How dare he speak lies about the gadol hador, Rav Aaron Lichtenstein, a man who's toe nails Shurkin could only hope to reach in 100 lifetimes! Michel Shurken needs to be marginalized and stopped. Just the thought of him makes my blood boil and makes me sick. All the learning and teaching he does is worth nothing because it is sidelined by the lies and sicknesses that he spews.
23 comments:
Can you please explain further (or post a link)what this Michel Shurkin did/said that got you so upset?
Thanks.
For years Rabbi Shurken has said the most horrible things, and lies I may add, about YU and the Roshei Yeshiva. He uses his position in ToMo to spread these lies to unsuspecting youth who think they are going to a good yeshiva. Rabbi Meiselman, the Rosh Yeshiva who wrote books on Woman and Judaism, also says these terrible things about YU. He, like Rabbi Svei (Z'al,) uses his position to show why the yeshivish are superior to those in YU and says things like "No torah learned in YU counts for anything becuase it is a treif institution".
u can have ur opinion about R Shirkin, but R Meiselman is not as evil as u make him out to be.
i know the guy who was sent by shirkin to go question RHS. happens to be today he is still learning and is a sweet dude.
Rav Shurkin of Kerem B'Yavne is not the only guy who's not so into Rav Lamm. ..I guess there's a lot of hear-say about him, even among the 'kipot srugot' in Israel.
..though honestly, growing up in among the ultra-orthodox, it took me a while to realize there's nothing subversive in Rav Lamms books..
Shurkin is not at Kerem B' Yavneh.
NY funnyman, were you at KBY at the time the guy tried to get at Rav Schachter? A better question, do I know you?
Not trying to be difficult, but I would love some kind of sources for this. Sounds like you learned in KBY, do you know first hand of anything he said in ToMo?
Thanks.
BP, talk to anyone who went to ToMo and they can confirm the things he said. I personally heard him make a bunch of crazy comments about Rabbi Lamm one afternoon when I was in Har Nof, it was in Rav shternbuch's shul after Mincha, he was going off about what Rabbi Svei had said about calling him a soney hashem (more to follow on this in an upcoming post...perhaps)and all the information he had was false and based on an article that he did not read. It is known that he regularly makes outlandish statements about YU and Rabbi Lamm, and his Yeshiva has been taken off the YU Israel list.
If you do not believe me you can ask anyone who went to ToMo. I was there when his goon went after Rav Schachter and everything he said was from his "reebe" shurkin.
Thanks. Not that I don't believe you, it's just easier to accept things when they're firsthand or in print.
rav svei's nephew was in my shiur in YU...
what is ToMo
(btw, r. meiselman's book on women was published by yu and contains a haskamah from r. lamm)
Lion, It's Toras Moshe, a right wing American Yeshiva in Yerushalayim. Ironic, about Meizelman. He has renounced everything written in the book. These people represent everything that is wrong with charedim.
The torah writes about people who use their torah knowledge for the wrong things, they end up forgetting it all. If you are right then you will see him forget everything.
has anything happened recently that prompted this vitriol, or is this old anger from your time in yeshiva 7-10 years ago? because while i may or may not contest the content of this post, if it is responding to some ancient grudge it is loshon hora be'alma.
Anon, Lashon Hara, realy, as apposed to everything else that can be found on blogs? He has not changed his ways in the last 10 years and as such my ill feelings towards him still stand.
all i'm saying is that it's probably spiritually and psychologically unhealthy for you to have this rage stored up in you for the last however many years, and to vent it now. does anyone in the us know or care abut michel shurkin? does anyone in israel? how many talmidim does he have at the end of the day?
i have heard mnay names in the public polemics over modern orthodoxy, but his is not one of great consequence.
i fear that your histrionics are making a mountain from a molehill, and are doing so 10 years afetr the [percieved?] offense.
Hello, HonestlyFrum. This is my first time on your blog. Do you have an email address where you can be reached? I'd like to ask you something in private.
honestlyfrum@gmail.com
Rav Shurkin publishes the Torah of the Rav. His sforim, Harerei Kedem is full of it. To say that he "besmirches the name of the Rav" is ridiculous. So go ahead and provide some real quotes.
"Ironic, about Meizelman. He has renounced everything written in the book."
Okay, where did you get that from? A quote, a source please?
"Anon, Lashon Hara, realy, as apposed to everything else that can be found on blogs?"
What do mean? Since this is a blog, you can what ever you want? I must have missed that in the Chofetz Chaim.
"does anyone in the us know or care abut michel shurkin? does anyone in israel? how many talmidim does he have at the end of the day?"
More than you think. He's amongst the most popular rebbes in the yeshiva. There are some who return to his shiur after years even though it's a first year shiur.
Anyway, you should realize that there will be many who don't like YU for good reasons, so you'de better live with it. And Rav Shurkin having been in the Rav's shiur for many years might have a better idea of what he's talking about than you.
Shurkin's seforim are used as his tools to bash YU. Many who learned by the rav have read them and said they are mostly his chidushim said in the name of the Rav to sell the books. He uses his time in the Rav shiur to promote his sick hatred for his other Jews. Some may go back to his shiur year after year, but the man is an embodiment of everything tht is wrong with the charedim. All they know how to do to push their agenda is to teach hatred towards other Jews and try to bring them down. You people like to bash Rabbi Ave Weiss, but he has more love for his fellow Jew that you fools could ever hope to have in 1000 lifetimes. If you are so close to Shurkin tell him to end the lies and hatred.
And, if you want to discuss lashon harah, your rebe is a bigger baal lashon harah than any of the bloggers for the hateful rubish he spews about Rav Shachter and R' Aaron Lichtenstein. He, who holds himself above everyone else who ever went to YU is choteh umachteh es harabim. He disguises it as being some kind os hashkafah when it realy is is sinas chinam.
i think this web site is sick and disgusting. A couple of things must be noted. Although the other "rabbis" at YU (i put the word rabbi in quotations du to their inability to argue against same sex marriage, bible scholar classes and the idea that Torah is incomplete without an andvanced knowledge of philosphy and science (that is a direct quote from Torah UMadda by Maran Rosh Yeshiva Hatazaddik Nachum Norman Lamm)) do not know directly the torah in Harerei Kedem as being said from the Rav, the reason for that is due to Rabbi Shurkin's closeness with the Rav. After each and every shiur he would ask him in depth questions about every topic and that is the source material. (In addition i believe if you ask R' Shechter (who R' Shurkin has never denounced, by the way) he will agree on the validity of the sefer. On a second topic, i think it admirable that the other of this blog views Aron Lichtenstein as the gadol hador even after he onece commented,at his sons bar mitzvah no less, "You cannot understant Tosfos without understanding Milton." (pathetic). It is sad to believe that R' Shurkin allegedly besmirched the Rav's name by making it fully accesible to the yeshivishe world, and aiding (by giving his 25 years worth of notes) R' Hershel Reichman in writing Reshimos Shiurim (the Rav's Shiurim on multiple maschetos). Just as a conclusion i would like to note a story i once heard from a reliable source. The rav was talking about a certain Rabbeinu Tam with a talmid when another person came over. The other person asked about the Rav's view on a certain line in Kant. The rav commented " Can't you say we're dealing with R' Tam here - don't give me this garbage!" I feel bad posting this here when i doubt you people know who R' Tam was or for that matter what a masechta is. I have my doubts that "honestly Frum" will post this.
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