But There Is No Joy In Askanville, For the Mighty Banners Have Struck Out!

I'm sure that most of you remember the debacle that occurred last year concerning Lipa Schmeltzer's "Big Event" concert. For the few that don't remember, or are new here, I'll quickly recap:

Lipa Schmeltzer arranged to have a concert in Madison Square Garden in New York last March. Most (all?) of the profits were going to go to a tzedaka organization in Israel that (IIRC) helps orphans in Eretz Yisroel.

Some askanim who, it seems, have it in personally for Lipa, went around to several of the gedolim and lied about his concert. They reportedly told the gedolim that there was going to be mixed dancing (lie: there was even separate seating!) and who knows what would go on. This was all done less than a month before concert. The gedolim, upon hearing this, signed a ban on the concert without trying to ascertain for themselves if the information they were being given was truthful, without reaching out to Lipa to get his side of the story or without even consulting with one another. In short, 33 signatures were obtained and the ban was published. In the end, Lipa had to cancel the concert. Since this happened right before the concert was to occur, there were a great losses to Lipa and his partners -- not to mention the fact that the tzedaka organization in Eretz Yisroel lost out. To my knowledge (and I may be wrong), Lipa and his partners have not been reimbursed for their losses.

In the end, R. Shmuel Kamenetzky, one of the signers of the ban, to his credit, admitted that proper procedures were not followed and that the ban last year was a mistake.

Well, Lipa decided to hold another concert this year. As was the case with last year's concert, the date of the concert was well-known long in advance. And, sure enough, the banners tried it again this year. However, this year, they failed. Miserably.

The askanim managed to get some signatures for a ban, but by the time they got their act together, it was far too late -- the concert was pretty much sold out, some of the original banners refused to sign and it seems like no one is going to listen to the banners. Once again the banners decided to try to have the concert cancelled at the last minute, but this time, thank goodness they failed.

There's a particular aspect of this that bothers me - and it's not the ban itself. I personally don't listen to Lipa's music, so I can't honestly and in good conciense say that it's good or bad for Jews to listen to. So, if you feel that the music is spiritually harmful, then by all means say something -- that's your right. What bothers me the most about this whole ugly affair is the way the ban was carried out last year and the way it was attempted again this year.

In both cases, the concerts were heavily advertised well in advance. If anyone had any objections to the music, the venue, the seating or any other aspect of the event, they could have spoken up well in advance. But the banners decided to wait until the last minute before making their move. Because they waited for the last minute, the gedolim could not investigate the true story behind the concert and Lipa and his partners lost a great deal of money from the cancellation. I believe (and yes, it's only my opinion) that this was done on purpose.

The same thing occured this year. Again, the concert date was known well in advance. And again, the banners didn't raise their ugly heads until the last minute. Rather than standing up for their principles in the right way, they again chose the underhanded and cowardly way of going about their business. And this time they lost. The concert is going on as planned and, as I hear it, it's likely to be a packed house.

The Wolf

EDIT: Upon further review, I think the word "kanoi" works better than "askan" in this post. There are plenty of askanim for the Jewish community who are wonderful individuals who selflessly give of their time and money. However, since I put it in the title, I can't easily change it. But you all know what I mean.

The Wolf

The Charge of Avoda Zara and Lipa

I'm sure by now you've heard about the incident this past week in Brooklyn where Rabbi Schorr attempted to disrupt a wedding at which Lipa was singing. You can read the full version of what happened at Life of Rubin. The summary version (based on LOR) is as follows:

Both Lipa and Rabbi Schorr were invited guests at a wedding. At some point during the wedding, one of the Ba'alei Simcha asked Lipa to sing. He went to the stage where the hired singer graciously gave over the microphone. Lipa began singing the "Hentalach" song. At some point, Rabbi Schorr stormed the stage and grabbed the microphone away from Lipa and demanded that he descend from the stage. At one point he even began yelling "Avoda Zara! Avoda Zara!"

I know that there is some history between Rabbi Schorr and Lipa. From many accounts, it seems that Rabbi Schorr was involved in the edicts which led to the banning of last year's "Big Event." I don't know Rabbi Schorr or his agenda -- I don't know if it's simply anti-Lipa or anti-music in general. But I can state that it seems, from all accounts, that Lipa was doing nothing wrong -- on the contrary, he was being m'sameiach (making happy) the bride and groom.

I'm going to overlook for the moment the fact that Rabbi Schorr chose to make this stand in the middle of someone's wedding, which is bad enough. I'm also going to overlook the fact that he chose to publicly embarrass Lipa, which is all bad enough. What I don't want to overlook is the fact that he publically accused another Jew of avoda zara -- idol worship. If you think about it for a minute, the accusation of avoda zara is probably the ultimate accusation that you could throw at someone -- worse than saying that he's a thief, worse than saying that he's a lowlife, worse even than saying that he's an apikores -- a heretic. Saying that someone is an idolater is the ultimate accusation that you can level against a person -- in some respects, the idolater is treated in halacha as a non-Jew. I don't think there is a single accusation that you can throw at someone than the accusation that they are an idol worshiper.

And yet, that's what Rabbi Schorr decided to yell. He didn't yell that the music is treif. He didn't say that Lipa's dancing was not b'kavod for a yid. He didn't say any of that -- he out and out accused Lipa of (or what he was doing) idolatry.

Now, I'll admit that I'm not a rav and not a posek. Perhaps I'm missing something about the hantelach song that invovles idolatry - but I don't think so. I'm fairly confident that whatever you think of Lipa and his music, there was no idolatry involved. Of course, if someone can point out to me where I'm wrong, I'll be more than happy to retract, but, as it stands, I just don't see it.

So, why did Rabbi Schorr do this? I don't know. But what I do know is that unless there is some serious justification for his charge of avoda zara, he needs to be held accountable for his actions and accusations. He needs to publicly explain why he felt the need to level this charge at Lipa in the middle of a wedding, or else to publicly apologize and ask mechila (forgiveness) of Lipa and the ba'alei simcha.

The Wolf

Mistakes of the Past Come Back To Haunt

Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who wished me well when I was feeling ill earlier this week. I had been under the weather to one degree or another since the previous week, but Tuesday was, by far, the worst day. Normally, I fast extremely well, but Tuesday was such torture for me that by 1:00, I had to give it up. I ended up eating on a fast day for the first time since my Bar Mitzvah -- truly a weird experience. Baruch HaShem, I am feeling much better now. Now, on to business...

HaMercaz is reporting that R. Shmuel Kamenetzky is not objecting to Lipa's new concert. I suppose that's a good thing. The article goes on to discuss the events surrounding the cancellation of Lipa's "The Big Event" last year. In the article R. Kamenetzky is quoted as saying that people are upset about the cancellation from last year, and he doesn't understand why.

What's difficult to understand is why R. Kamenetzky doesn't understand the reason for people's anger. After admitting that he signed the banning document in undue haste, that the rabbonim did not follow the standard procedure for deciding on such matters and that they did not do due diligence in investigating the circumstances surrounding the concert which resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars for the concert's organizers and the loss of revenue for a worthwhile charity, I would think that he would understand why people are upset.

If people are going to entrust our rabbonim with the power to decide that certain events are permitted or prohibited, it is encumbent upon those very same rabbonim to investigate the matter before making a decision with large finanical consequences for many people. Had the rabbonim done their best to investigate the matter and gotten it wrong, I think that not so many people would be upset -- none one (including the rabbonim) are perfect and they, like everyone else, can make mistakes. But when they make important decisions without performing a diligent investigation into the matter, that's when people get upset. People expect leadership based on facts and information. People will accept if a rav says assur (prohibited) or muttur (permitted), provided that the decision is based upon a proper review of the facts surrounding the situation. But when the rabbonim "wing it" (so to speak) and make decisions based on a lack of information (or worse, biased and blatently false information), that's when people rightly become upset. To quote Stan Lee: with great power comes great responsibility. If a gadol is given the power to make important decision, then he has to be responsible for the inputs that goes into those decisions.

And, of course, the damage to Lipa is still ongoing. In the article, R. Kamenetzky relates the following:

“Last night I was at a certain affair,” R' Kamenetzky said on Monday. “Reb Lipa had to come there for some reason. He sang. And someone came over with Tainas to me. And I said, as far as I know there is no problem with letting him sing. As far as I know he is an Ehrliche Yid.”

The Wolf

Related Posts:
The Big Event Cancelleation: Lipa Says The Rabbanim Were Lied To (linked to in the post)
The Gedolim And How They Relate To The Common Person