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R. Lazer Brody,and Others Like Him


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#1 Morgenstern

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Posted 21 January 2014 - 01:21 PM

hey I know I'm going to get charged with sinat chinam but I have to get this off my chest. 

So in kiruv world we have people like Lazer Brody (Who is affiliated with this generation's Breslov hassidim) as well as others, and they are big in the mainstream. They have this whole invented "mystical" chassidic thing going for them, and they spew out Torahs that are based on Emes (ie what Torah says) but they always have some narishkite coming out of them and all of it is geared to attracting Jews who arent frum or are in the process.

But then you see them saying how we need to be moving to Eretz Yisrael (poppycock), I see Lazer Brody making videos with Israeli soilders. I just feel like something needs to be said because these people are pretty much building this coming generations BTs.



#2 Rabbi Shapiro

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Posted 05 May 2014 - 02:04 PM

You are correct. That person's ideas are often far from Judaism, and not only regarding Zionism. People should stay away from him.



#3 AYidOnTheWayUp

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Posted 15 May 2014 - 09:43 PM

You are correct. That person's ideas are often far from Judaism, and not only regarding Zionism. People should stay away from him.

What about his Rebbi, do you approve of him R' SA?



#4 forever613

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Posted 22 May 2014 - 11:22 PM

In other words, we should not read "Garden of Emuna" or "Women's Wisdom"? These books are so well-known and have brought so many closer to Judaism.

 

May you pleas clarify what is wrong with the ideas he presents? I will be honest- I am shocked and upset by this information that people should stay away from him.



#5 Rabbi Shapiro

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Posted 03 June 2014 - 04:07 PM

What about his Rebbi, do you approve of him R' SA?

I dont know enough about him to provide an opinion on that



#6 Rabbi Shapiro

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Posted 03 June 2014 - 04:31 PM

In other words, we should not read "Garden of Emuna" or "Women's Wisdom"? These books are so well-known and have brought so many closer to Judaism.

 

May you pleas clarify what is wrong with the ideas he presents? I will be honest- I am shocked and upset by this information that people should stay away from him.

 

For example, Rabbi Brody writes, in Garden of Emunah (p.266-269), that since there exists an unanswerable contradiction between Hashem's foreknowledge - which would preclude Bechirah, - and Bechirah, would preclude Hashem's foreknowledge (ידיעה ובחירה), the attitude that a person should have towards his sins is, before he does the sin, while he is still deciding whether or not to do it, he should assume he has full Bechirah and can resist the sin. But if he did commit the sin, he should assume that he had no Bechirah, since Hashem knew he would do it, and that negates Bechirah, and therefore he was forced to do the sin. This way, he will not be depressed at the sins that he did, and depression is a bad thing.

 

This is a terrible mistake, Hashem does not make us do sins. Part of Teshuva is regretting what you did, i.e., to say nobody caused me to do this sin, I did it on my own and I shouldn't have.  I know where he got this mistake from. He misunderstood a Breslover vort about Basar B'Cholov, and maybe also a Rav Tzadok in Tzidkas haTzadik. 

 

In any case, when he said this, Rabbonim in Eretz Yisroel came out strongly against him, including Rav Yaakov Meir Schechter of Breslov. There was a booklet that was put out at the time describing the sources and extent of Brody's mistake and what the real Torah hashkafa is on this issue, and Rav Schechter, as well as others, including the Eidah Hachareidis, wrote Haskamos, pointing out specifically this anti-Torah idea in Brody's book about Bechirah. Rav Yaakov Meir Schechter's letter is attached below. It says that while he is not denying the good Kiruv work that Brody does, what he writes in Garden Of Emunah is unacceptable and a big michshal; that there is no such shitah in existence, and that it can bring to "terrible destruction" of the Ikrei Emunah of our religion.  

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#7 forever613

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Posted 10 June 2014 - 08:53 AM

What about his ideas that people should engage in hitbodedut/personal prayer with Hashem daily (in any language)? I think he says that people who do this for some time experience the yeshuous they are waiting for. Is there anything wrong with that?



#8 taon

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Posted 15 June 2014 - 03:24 PM

He didnt initiate that idea, people have always davened privately.