I would like to address something that had been keeping me up in the last few nights, which really shook me to my core. I am generally someone who keeps away from politics, especially in the frum world where we are really playing with fire. In that path, I made sure to keep away from the ongoing back and forth about voting in the WZO. I asked my Rav what to do and will following his psak. I avoid coffee clutches or groups in which they are talking about the controversy, as not to involve myself in Lashon Hora or even worse, Bizui Talmidei Chachamim. With that in mind, last night in shul, I couldn’t help but bump into a group of people talking about the merits of yes or not voting. Someone pulled out a video of Rav Chaim Kanievsky, where he allowed voting in the WZO. Being curious, especially because I heard people denying that Rav Chaim has allowed voting, I went over to watch. Unfortunately, what I saw really shocked me, and put a lot of uncertainty in my trust of frum people. Since the video was in Hebrew, there were included subtitles in English, which I will quote. Grandson: A year ago, they were here, You (Saba) said that they should go in to the WZO, Chareidim like us. To be able to minimize the reform’s power as much as possible. The question now is regarding the UK, should Chareidim like him go in, to be able to minimize the Reform? What does Saba say? Should they go in? Rav Chaim Kanievsky: “Yes” Grandson: “Yes. They then go on to ask for a Bracha, as well as permission to say it over to Rav Avraham Gurwitz in Rav Chaims name, which Rav Chaim allows. However, as someone who had lived in Eretz Yisroel for over 10 years, (even though I now live in the US), my command of Hebrew is pretty good. What I heard Rav Chaim answer was “לאן” which translates as “to where”? If I heard correctly, then the exchange was very different then portrayed, and would go like this: Grandson: “A year ago, they were here, You (Saba) said that they should go in to the WZO, Chareidim like us. To be able to minimize the reform’s power as much as possible. The question now is regarding the UK, should Chareidim like him go in, to be able to minimize the Reform? What does Saba say? Should they go in?” Rav Chaim: “To Where?” Grandson: “Yes” Unclear if that’s what I heard, I asked them to play it again, and still heard the same thing. I then asked the others standing around, which included people who had voted for the WZO, if they heard what I heard, and they agreed. Please don’t rely on me, but please watch the video for yourself. Now I don’t want to draw conclusions about Rav Chaim’s positions, but what really bothers me is this question: are we being taken for a ride on other things Rav Chaim had supposedly said?! Are people doing this for other gedolim too?! Signed, Shalom Katz The views expressed in this letter are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of YWN. Have an opinion you would like to […]