Friday, January 4, 2008

A defense of the Torah Temimah - Introduction

In place of an introduction to my next post - defending the TT from the charge of Plagiarism - I will post a relevant section from Derech Sichah (discussion on the Parsha with R' Chaim Kanievsky).

שמות כג,כא -שאלה: יש מערערים על פירוש תורה תמימה על התורה , ושמעתי בשם גדול אחד ביטויים חריפים, האם יש להימנע מללמוד ספריו או שלא לומר דבר משמו
תשובה: הוא עסק עם המשכילים אבל היה יהודי ירא וחרד ות"ח, ואפשר ללמוד ולומר משמו מספריו. הרינונים עליו אינם נכונים . סיפרו לי שבשואה כל גרמני ימ"ש שניגש אליו להרגו - התפגר מיד, ולכן לא יתכנו הרינונים עליו, ולבסוף נפטר מצד עצמו
From other places in the book it is clear that the Steipler had a close relationship with the TT. R' C. Kanievsky himself (who was about ten when he left Lithiuania) may have known the TT personally.
For those who are surprised at the question at to whether he should cite the TT without mentioning his name- his source is most likely R' Meir citations of Acher. See also the story at the end of Horiyos - מימיהם אנו שותין ושמותיהן אין אנו מזכירים ואכ"מ

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

In addition to the view of RC Kanievsky, let me add that the Satmar Rebbe zt'l in Vayoel Moshe quotes (and debates, IIRC) the Torah Temimah.

But the very fact that he quotes the sefer proves that even the SR - that greatest of kanoim, repected and regarded the views of RBE and considered them worthy of inclusion in his VM.

(There is not a single mention - by name - of any sefer by a mechaber who the SR disapproved of.

I have heard of many other great rebbes who made use of the Torah Temima chumoshim.

I have long held a theory that the reason certain Litvish types are criticial of the TT, is mainly because he was probably a far greater Talmid Chochom than many o fthem - despite the fact that he actually worked for a living.

Finally, I am quite disgusted by the language used against a gadol batorah and one of our Kedoshim HYD by M and S.

Joels W. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Joels W. said...

"Every german who approached him immediately dropped dead"

huh??

 
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