Art Scroll
A brief history of the company and it's" not for profit" owners.
Meir Zlotowitz,the original art-not scroll,was writing kesubahs in pretty calligraphy.
He actually did some real nice art work,ie; wedding invitations etc.
At the same time, Nosson Sherman was a yeshiva k'tana rebbe at Margulies's bingo parlor aka Tora T'mima.
Sherman hated Margulies's guts to put it bluntly,as does everyone else who knows him.
Sherman goes back to college at night and majors in English.
He ultimately graduates college(some black hatter he turned out to be),and forms a partnership with Zlotowitz.
His mentor was for the most part R'Gedalya Schorr.
Make no mistake about it,they have done a wonderful job of disseminating some extremely important works of Judaism.
Sherman is a very bright guy and Zlotowitz is no fool.
Enter money & politics.
They are controlled by the Moetzes(Agudah)and have an inherent bias against Modern Orthodoxy.
They make loads of money(not a bad thing),and no one should confuse them with Torah Lishma proliferaters.They are businessmen first and any publication that they thought would not produce a profit,they would not publish.
In my opinion,Steinsaltz's Shas has much more depth and profundity,but Steinsaltz is a Chabadnik and a college professor,and had no chance of being endorsed by the Agudah in the U.S.A.
So called gedolim in Israel have branded him a heretic,and ordered his seforim burned.
Here is a golden rule that always prevails.
Whenever Torah becomes a business,no matter how well intentioned it starts out,money poisons the well.
EVERYTIME!!
Art Scroll exists partly by major contributions,which means KISHIN TUCHAS ad nauseum.
That means m'challeli shabbos get front row seats at daf yomi conventions.Get the drift?
That means stealing works from Noson Slifkin,and not paying him for it.
All l'shem Shomayim.....aha...
Meir Zlotowitz,the original art-not scroll,was writing kesubahs in pretty calligraphy.
He actually did some real nice art work,ie; wedding invitations etc.
At the same time, Nosson Sherman was a yeshiva k'tana rebbe at Margulies's bingo parlor aka Tora T'mima.
Sherman hated Margulies's guts to put it bluntly,as does everyone else who knows him.
Sherman goes back to college at night and majors in English.
He ultimately graduates college(some black hatter he turned out to be),and forms a partnership with Zlotowitz.
His mentor was for the most part R'Gedalya Schorr.
Make no mistake about it,they have done a wonderful job of disseminating some extremely important works of Judaism.
Sherman is a very bright guy and Zlotowitz is no fool.
Enter money & politics.
They are controlled by the Moetzes(Agudah)and have an inherent bias against Modern Orthodoxy.
They make loads of money(not a bad thing),and no one should confuse them with Torah Lishma proliferaters.They are businessmen first and any publication that they thought would not produce a profit,they would not publish.
In my opinion,Steinsaltz's Shas has much more depth and profundity,but Steinsaltz is a Chabadnik and a college professor,and had no chance of being endorsed by the Agudah in the U.S.A.
So called gedolim in Israel have branded him a heretic,and ordered his seforim burned.
Here is a golden rule that always prevails.
Whenever Torah becomes a business,no matter how well intentioned it starts out,money poisons the well.
EVERYTIME!!
Art Scroll exists partly by major contributions,which means KISHIN TUCHAS ad nauseum.
That means m'challeli shabbos get front row seats at daf yomi conventions.Get the drift?
That means stealing works from Noson Slifkin,and not paying him for it.
All l'shem Shomayim.....aha...
posted by Paul Mendlowitz | 4:13 PM
61 Comments:
i am not so sure that anything you said against reither Rabbis Sherman or Zlotowitz was so bad; Artscroll is a business; and a business has to make money. Big deal. Their business, at the same time helps thousands grow in Torah. And I am not so sure that they are entirely not lishma, either. Think about all the work they put into disseminating, translating, explaining the Torah. I respect them very highly for that.
I never saw a Steinzaltz, but are you sure he quotes from more sources and explains the shakla vetarya more than those notes on the bottom of the Artscroll Gemaras (though I have to admit I am not so familiar with Artscroll Gemaras either--I stick to the originals)?
And what's wrong with having an inherent bias toward "modern" orthodoxy." They're crum. Who cares?
What's wong with being a black hatter who graduated from college because he had more modern parents? That's just not fair.
A lot of people start out as Yeshiva K'tana rabbeim. Certainly who knows a heck of a lot. I noticed he always quotes Rav Schorr zt'l and always excerpts his torah in the front of his machzorim, he must really hold of him.
I am poking fun at the black hatters,not Sherman.
Re:Torah Lishma issue-just calling it as I see it.
At some point money corrupts judgements,so when you are in the Torah business,they need a great deal more monitoring than if they were selling ties.
Modern Orthodoxy will be the Judaism that will be here in a hundred years,Black Hat Judaism will have committed suicide by then.
I have to respectfully disagree with you on this one, but then again, I don't know what you mean by black hatters and you don't know what I mean by modern-orthodox.
By black hatters, I mean the sincere bnei torah, who chap every second they can to learn and understand Torah, and grow as Jews.
By modern orthodox I refer to the whiny, ignorant guys who create women minyans and women kollels and yet never learn. The kinds of Jews who know nothing but always yell out their opinions. The ones who love a stupid piece of land, but cannot get themselves into knowing didley squat in temrs of Torah. The ones who are more American than Jewish. That's what a modern orthodox Jew is to me, and I don't believe that have a chance of staying around because they have no reason to. They don't do anything Jewish anyway.
Your definitions are probably the exact reverse, I assume. . . but the content, the ikkar tochen, I believe, is something we would both agree upon.
I think you should add a "Rabbi" Soffer of the famout Boat shul from Toronto to your list of Reshaim; he is such a worthless liar, cheater, moser and fake that he puts everyone else there to shame
BTW, who is Rabbi Yitzhak Isaac Breisch of Lakewood? And where can I find this issue in Yeshurin where he talks about chassidim?
I do not know anything about Rabbi Soffer.
You are welcome to email bonafide info to me at:a_unorthodoxjew@yahoo.com
nah. I feel bad. He is this really, really creepy chassidishe guy in Toronto--the "rav" of the boat shul. he talks badly about a lot of people, most of the time its false. his daughter did not want to marry a chassid. he forced to do it, so she did, and then she divorced him. later, she married a guy without (gasp) a beard--he was not Chassidish (if you can imagine!!!).
So he went around making up garbage about him.
He had a gabbai there, some Yerushalmi, who needed the parnassa. Rav Soffer wanted to give the business to a sone or son in law of his so he threw him out. This guy was very upset. Soffer started making up !@#$% about him, claiming he was violent. He got a restraining order on him. In fact, he mossered on him to get the cops to come to his house at 2:30 in the morning!!! No one believes that this guy was actually violent. And it is certainly consistent with his behavior to make !@#$ up about people.
He is also very rude to people. He puts a lot of people down, does not treat anyone older than him with respect.
He also made up crap about a friend of mine to that guy's FATHER in LAW. I am serious, this guy has no manners, no class. He is a low life and should be put down in shame.
And if you want to talk about money hungry, kavod hungry imappropriate "rabbeim" look no farther than "rav" soffer. he is a really, really nasty son of a !@#$%^.
Do you think the Seiger story, as reported by the new york times magazine is true?
What about Goldwrum from Artscroll?
At least spell Rabbi Scherman correctly and prefix everyone's name with Rabbi, show them a little Koved.
And the way most people look at it, the Agudah is the Modern Orthodoxy along with OU/NCSY/YU/Artscroll/Bnei Akiva/All followers of Dr. JB Soleveitchik. The Yeshivish world is not controlled by the Moetzes, most of them couldn't care less what the Novominsker Rebbe (Kippa sruga under a spudnik), R' Shmuel Kaminetsky, R' Frand, etc...
I thought you don't like to post names or people or organizations?
Rav Goldwerm z'l was a great talmid chochom, come on easy . . .
JWB-I do not use titles for anyone,as soon as they start getting crazy they will lose it.
I assume all of them will get crazy,I do not have the time to go back and start deleting stuff.
Rachak-I changed my mind!
Definition of Black Hatter-The Yated Ne'man crowd.
Modern Orthodox-Sincerely ehrliche yiden who participate in society in a positive manner.
those are just generalizations, though, come on, you know that.
For a moment I thought there may be some1 2 talk 2 here; but Im convinced that I'm talking to the Vant. Listen, thats not so bad, most of the day I speak to a shtain, so the vant is not so bad. Having said that, one doesnt have to be a rocket scientist to realize that some people feel the need to pull down great people in order to lift themselves up. Has anyone forced you to buy an artscroll sefer. In a market economy(such as ours)the people express their will by their wallet and pocket book. Looks like artscroll is doing very well in that regard. And how about this, when I was in college /grad school, an average tesxtbook costs about $125. And they were garbage. Any college student knows that you learn primarily from the study aids. Yet Artscroll has kept the price of their publications VERY reasonable. That is precisely due to the generosity of people who have given fubds so that people like me can purchase volumes at BELOW FMV. But you know, reading your posts and the comments to them it is clear that you are just one of many people nowadays with "the machla", namely to put down, mock, denigrate and in general to be cynical. Why not try and be positive- give credit where credit is do....smile and the world will smile with you!
What work did they steal from Rabbi Slifkin?
The Wolf
Wolf,
parts of Natures Song.
UO-Jew, please learn to spell. Half the Gedolim in the previous post were misspelled, as well a Scherman in this post, as well as my username which is Rachack and not Rachak, and that's written right in front of you.
You said, "Definition of Black Hatter-The Yated Ne'man crowd.
Modern Orthodox-Sincerely ehrliche yiden who participate in society in a positive manner."
It just so happens that I wear a hat that happens to black, but I don't read the Yated nor do I get it in the mail nor does my family. I do like to consider myself a sincerely ehrliche yid who participates in society in a positive manner, but I would never chas v'shalom consider myself "Modern" Orthodox. So what gives? Where do you come off making generalizations that only modern people postively contribute to society?
I totally agree; your generalizations are not effective . . .
I love you Rochok,Your name means FAR-but I feel so close to you.
Here is some good advice.
Throw your black hat in the garbage,get a beautiful kippa sruga with a mogen dovid embroidered on it.
Now go to a great barber on av. L and Coney,Piny,get a shave and a haircut.
Then go to the Gap pick up a pair of jeans or two.Now go home and give your family the best Shabbos gift they ever got,THE REAL RORSHACK.
Now if you do what I told you,I promise to spell your name right!
will you pay for my flight to New York and the gap clothes?
Rachak,
I don't love you that much!
On the other hand If you go to my barber,I will reconsider!
Ok Guys,
I will get down & dirty on the definitions,but it is erev Shabbos and I do have a very profitable day job.
They did not steal anything from Slifkin, what are you talking about
Contact Slifkin yourself at zootorah.com.
Let me guess: you did, right? And he told you that Artscroll stole his stuff? I don't believe it.
The interesting thing about him--and I know him from both Midrash Shmuel and the Mir--is that he is a sincere guy, but why and how he thinks he can battle the gedolim is beyond me. He is appealing only to guys who want a taste of mayim ganuvim, not Torah. He knwos a lot better, he is a lot better, and I hope things clear up for him sooner than later.
You know him,why not contact him yourself and confirm?
He is not tackling the so called gedolim,THEY are tackling him and shitas that other great rabbonim had & have.
I urge to to contact him & verify,unless you do not really want to know the truth.
Then,come back on my blog and ask for mechila.
you don't know anything, all your blog does is spreading slanderous lies about great people.
Artscroll credited Slifkin in the first edition of their Perek Shira and admitted to using his translation in a footnote (but gave him no money). For the second edition, they dropped all reference to him. Scumbags.
They are the gedolim, they have the right to and reasons to do what they do. Slifkin is not a gadol, And he should have showed more respect. His supporters should show more restraint than have the gall to put gedolim down.
Any of your gedolim who claim the Ramban was flat out wrong,is no godol at all.
They did not say that--they simply say we don't pasken like him lehalacha (Rav Elyashuv's words; not mine)and so their ideas need not be widerspread. This is especially relevant, in my opinion, if his work is for outreach--which he claims. Our religion need not be brought down so that people can say, oh, ok, judaism is legitamite. People who need to think that way may not be Jewish, at all.
A shita is not subject to a psak Halacha.
Rav Eliyasiv does not KNOW for sure,neither do you or I.
You are so ignorant.
Everything is subject to psak halacha because shittas flow from halacha. And the Posek HaDor, inevitably, is more appropriate an arbitrator on this issue than, say, you.
Now all you can say is that the posek hador does not know for sure . . . what on earth does that mean? And, moreover, how do you know if he, or even I for that matter, don't know whatever it is you mean by "it" for sure?
I am not sure if R' Nosson kept the letter from Rav Ahron Feldman regarding his conversation with Rav Elayashuv on the subject, but that's what he said. And there really is no reason to drag a decided issue anymore.
And this is because the Posek HaDor said he should not publish it anymore.
Now if you decide to say that he does not know what he is talking about, I can guarantee he knows a lot, here is the understatement of the year, A LOT, more than you.
"This is especially relevant, in my opinion, if his work is for outreach--which he claims. Our religion need not be brought down so that people can say, oh, ok, judaism is legitamite."
I really agree with you on this . . . its very important to keep this in mind. . .
You must be a black hat whacko.
A shita is an opinion,nothing more.
If for example the Ramban's view that the sheishes y'mei breishes were NOT six 24 hour periods,what kakamami psak is going to change his opinion?
Your posek can pasken all he wants about Indian hair wigs only to change his mind 10 years later on exactly the same scenario that existed previously.
What about Rav Desslers psak?
He has no problem reconciling science with Torah,neither do I.
I am saying very clearly,your gedolim KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THE REAL ISSUES AND THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.
Let them keep banning frum yiden,they will have alot to answer for when their time is up.
I am not black hat wacko.
You are the product of the kind of judaism overlooked by your fundamentalist left-wing ignorant peers because they, like you, are simply too absorbed in trying to find fault in others. While that may help you feel better about yourself, it still gets you nowhere in any sense.
Rav Dessler was just as bit as wacked out as any of MY other gedolim (I assume you ascribe them as mine because you don't have any. Who do you have "Rabbi" Riskin?).
They know, at the very least, the same REAL ISSUES and FACTS Rav Dessler knew of. They, as scholars (again, they know a lot more than you do) stick to a more majoritarian view, and do not need "justifications" for maintaining their belief in the perfection of Torah.
The only reason people like you like this is because the extreme fundamentalist leftists wish to reduce the Torah to nothing more than some nice piece of poetry. Since they know nothing about it anyway, it can't hurt to just embellish here and there. You'll scratch this outdated halacha, insert this concept here, and then judge everyone else on your self-make precepts. YOUR kind will have a lot to answer when their time is up--not the gedolim. This is not merely because of their appalling ignorance, but because of the enormous of amount of cheit their ignorance causes them to do--EVERY DAY. And the vile chutpah one must have to actually write like that about OUR gedolim shows that even someone as insignificant, unimportant and trivial as yourself will have to answer when your time is up, as well.
The Rambam in hilchos deios, at least the last perek, are strictly opinions, not halachic psak. R' Yakov wrote the same. That's different than Torah based shittos. The reason you can't see in between is that your ignorant kind cannot understand the concept of an opinion rooted in an intelligent understanding of Torah. You are so used to throwing out your worthless garbage about Jewish people that you just can't find the time to learn.
So you have no problem with Rav Dessler's view on the Bereishis. HOW NICE!!! How about look at what he writes about the rest of Judaism. You will find him to be more extreme, more outlandish than anything I wrote above. That's for sure. But that's ok for you. In your kind of judaism, where you make it up as you go along to justify your sorry, worthless meager existence, you don't have to really think about anything but TV, loshon hara and taiva.
So go ahead, put down one of those loony black hatters while you are at it. Maybe it will help you forget about your severe failings. At least for a while.
Amen to that. Loser over here simply hates God, and despises his Torah, so he puts down the gedolim. He has no real reason to think about what Rav Dessler writes except that it may cast some shadow on the authority of those "rabbis." See what Rav Dessler would write about the way you talk about gedolim!!! Wait, can you read? I doubt you can.
His kind can not care about really pursuing truth, really learning torah. It's just about putting people down while living the kind of vagrant lifestyle none of us can even begin to imagine (though his imagination concerning some Rabbeim may say something about him).
Maybe get a psak from your guys that even if metziza bpeh kills babies,that is the way god wanted those babies to die.
maybe get a psak that a million innocent children died in the holocaust because of aveiras committed by not frum jews.
you are fantastic assholes.
Temper,Temper!
My mother loves me,that's all that counts!
Majority rules?
ok,
1 billion people believe in Jesus,
1 billion people believe in Muhammed,
6 or 7 million people believe in Moses.
Are you sure majority rules?
see the first maamar in R' Elchonon's Kovetz Maamorim, Mr. Anonymous, he discuss that issue.
Big genius R'Elchonon,he could have saved himself and his whole yeshiva fron Hitler,and probably thousands more.
No,this gadol assurred everyone that they were safe.
Frankly,I could not care less what he said.
un-orthodox, seriously, if you are an apikorus, just say it. I don't know what your agenda is, but the way you write is quite inappropriate. And the same goes for that anonomous nebach who never had the chinuch on how one is to talk properly: most people with problems with the world never think hard enough on thinking about the problems they have with themselves. IF you start out in your quest to know truth by putting down the gedolim something is very wrong.
Just the facts,Sir.....
They are painful.
Correct; its just that the facts are not on your side.
Correct; its just that the facts are not on your side.
R Eliyashav may be the Posek Hador but that does not necessarily mean he is the ONLY legitimate opinion. Certainly most (at least in the US)would have characterized R Moshe Feinstein as the Posek Hador in his lifetime. Yet, there were others who legitimately disagreed with him, without being considered kofrim.
Agreed. But no one on Rav Elyashuv's level disagreed with him on this issue. There is no reason why he should nto stop selling the books, and bring to the fore so much controversy.
artscroll is a for profit business funded by a non profit.
jews are smart.
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