Announcement: Musings of a Book Collector podcast
Announcement: Musings of a Book Collector podcast
Eliezer Brodt
As a curator of knowledge, I enjoy sharing content for people to read, learn, and enjoy. A few years ago, I was privileged to explore another avenue for sharing information by recording an experimental podcast with Rabbi Moshe Schwed on the All-Daf platform. I have come to realize that the podcast format helps me immensely, as it requires me to compile and organize my research, and it enables me to “test it out” before publication—a” Pilpul Chaverim” of sorts.
I would like to continue with this experiment and record additional episodes on various topics for my new podcast, Musings of a Book Collector. Below is a link to my recently launched website, which contains all the information about the Musings of a Book Collector podcast and the various subscription options. Please check out the website and feel free to share your thoughts with me:
The first free episode is available here, here and here. It is dedicated to R’ Shlomo Zalman Auerbach and his Halachic work on electricity, Meorei Eish.
The second free episode, on new and old Seforim related to Chanukah, titled Sefer Makabi’im, Sdei Chemed and other Chanukah related seforim was just recorded and is available for listening here and here and here.
For information on how to sign up for the longer series about the Meorei Eish and more, please see the website. If you choose to subscribe, kindly send me an email so I can thank you personally and keep you updated with improvements. (Apple/Podbean do not provide me with this information.)
With immense gratitude,
Eliezer
11 thoughts on “Announcement: Musings of a Book Collector podcast”
For all those interested in rav Weinberg the שרידי אש a few interesting anecdotes of this great man I heard this morning in shul on the Erika Strasse Zurich from reb yossel rand May he be healthy
1) rav Weinberg ate by his parents twenty years in montrue and as rav Weinberg did not have child I was like a child to him I asked reb yossel have you a child with rav Weinberg name so he answered no but he has donated various objects like Aron hakodesh and bimas to various shuls in memory of rav weinberg
2) rav Weinberg was a very critical person some one who he did not like he let it be known to the person himself my late father reb yechezkel rand said on himself I will certainly get gan eden for the many איך האב פאענפערט רב ווינבערג פאר מענשען נאך הרב וויבערג האט זיי נישט אויפגנעמען שיין
3 one example was when rav Rakov became magid shiur in the yeshiva in Montreu rav Weinberg did not like him because he came from Gateshead kollel for half a year rav Weinberg did not exchange a word with him in yeshiva but one day rav Weinberg was looking for a certain Gemorah and rav rakov told him the place of the gemorah it all changed and rav Weinberg became a big חסיד of rav Weinberg (by the way vice verse-a rav rakov was a big חסיד of the שריד אש)
4 ) I asked reb Yosel how comes the neighboring kehillah in Geneva asked their שאלות to rav Breisch from Zurich and not from rav Weinberg so he answered rav Weinberg was not made for סתם איסור והיתר שאלות he was made for כלל ישראל שאלות by the way rav Weinberg told reb yossel the only person who did something for yidishkeit in Switzerland was rav mordchai yakov Breisch the rov of Zurich
5) another interesting story I heard from reb yossel rav Weinberg got from the German government wiidergutmaching the sum of 800,000 Schweitzer frank and my father asked him he should write a will where the money should go but he thought he will live forever at the end the money went to a sister who was not frum
Wishing you all a gut woch from Zurich
Why did RYYW not like Gateshead Kollel?
Need to ask reb meilch shapiro but I have a feeling anything that has to do with extremism rav Weinberg did not like and Gateshead Kolel was a hotbed of extremism
By the way when brisker rov came to Switzerland rav rakov came from montreu to see him the brisker rov sent his son to speak to him as he was suspicious of rav rakov because he was close to rabbi Weinberg after his son spoke to rav rakov and saw he was משלנו then the brisker rov spoke to him
Do you think you improve the reputation of the Brisker by telling a story like that, true or not?
If you want an example of extremism, you can of course refer to the shameful thing that was done to R’ Weinberg’s body after he died. But I guess he wasn’t משלנו, so it’s all good.
His dignity was saved by the shtik pulled at his funeral
Sure, God forbid he should be associated with Zionists (as he wanted). What have they ever done for the Jewish people?
“Gateshead Kolel was a hotbed of extremism”, care to explain? Some examples maybe?
After the Gateshead rov rav shakovitzki was niftar the elders of Gateshead together with the Manchester rosh yeshiva rabbi segal who was a son in law of a Gateshead resident wanted the next rov should be his son but the Kollel said no and so a candidate was taken his son in law rav rakov the Manchester rosh yeshiva was very busy with this and the rosh yeshiva had some of unpleasant-words about the kollel members that he told my late father ז״ל
After R’ Naftali Shakovitzky was niftar, there were two candidates, his son, R’ Mordechai, and his son-in-law R’ Betzalel Rakow. R’ Mordechai was a people’s person, he knew how to talk with everyone, but not such a big talmid chacham, and R’ Betzalel Rakow was not such a people’s person, but a world-class talmid chacham. The community in Gateshead was divided into two camps, there were some who felt that a rav had to be first and foremost a talmid chacham, and there were others who felt that there were enough talmidei chachamim in town, and what was needed was someone with a good understanding of people to help integrate the new members of the community, especially the ba’alei teshuva. R’ Naftali’s almana supported her son’s candidacy. In the end R’ Rakow won out, and R’ Mordechai left and became a rav in South Africa. I don’t see any extremism in this story.
“… and there were others who felt that there were enough talmidei chachamim in town …”
If you ask me, it works the other way around. Someone who is not a big TC can be a rav in a town where the people themselves are not TC. But if you have other people in town who rival or surpass the rav in Torah, then it’s very difficult or impossible for him to maintain spiritual authority.
(You can be a rebbe or mashgiach type and not be the biggest TC around, because that’s not a core part of that job. But if you’re a rav, and other people are bigger TC than you, that’s a recipe for disaster.)
Just now saw your post
the kollel was not prepared to move a inch even after the rosh hayeshivah rav segal had explained the halachik position
2 the story with the rosh hakollel For Gateshead kollel what was that a tea party.