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Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky On Slifkin

A couple of days ago, Gil Student offered his thoughts on the recent developments in the Slifkin controversy, in which, as he puts it, three weeks ago, "R. Shmuel Kamenetsky, R. Aharon Schechter, and R. Ya'akov Perlow--signed letters condemning R. Slifkin in somewhat vague terms, almost a full year after the original scandal surfaced and after months of relative quiet."

My understanding - based upon second hand information - is that R. Kamenetsky's position is that he has not withdrawn his haskamah (rabbinical approbation) on R. Slifkin's books, but criticized Rabbi Slifkin for other writings that he deemed to be unacceptable. It wasn't clear whether R. Kamenetsky was referring to R. Slifkin's recent essay about jumping elephants, or something else entirely. In any event, coming - as Gil says - in a period of relative quiet, the vague statement reeks of politics within the Moetzes and unfortunately does not increase the stature of the "gedolim."
posted on 12/27/2005