In an interview with YU’s student newspaper, The Commentator, you said, “To me it’s a compliment that I don’t need [a black hat] to be frum.” What did you mean by that?
Today we all wear uniforms. What is the concept of wearing a uniform? What is chassidus all about? It’s beautiful. You have a social order, you build a wall around yourself . It’s a way of protecting yourself from outside influence. My generation didn’t need it. When we made a commitment, we made a commitment. That’s what I meant.
But if a black hat will keep you frum in America, you should wear two black hats, not just one. To me, being a Torah Jew is the most important thing in the world .
But when all is said and done, the chassidim conquered America. The Litvakim lost. In the Litvishe yeshivas no one dressed the same. When I learned in Lakewood, the only one who wore a black hat was Reb Aharon Kotler.
Even the old mashgiach, Reb Nosson Wachtfogel, wouldn’t dare wear a black hat. No one wore black pants and white shirts. It was unheard of. Everyone dressed different and stylish. In YU, not so much. Lakewood was more stylish because it’s part of Slabodka mussar [to dress in a dignified manner].
from
Jewish Press
Rabbi Rakeffet has some interesting things to say and makes some good points. However, what he says here is wrong and offensive. It is a shame that a well known writer speaks so foolishly and irresponsibly.
ReplyDeleteHe claims that 'Chasidim won', what ever that means, based on the fact that many Litvish Yeshivos now have a different dress code or predominant style, than at a certain point in the past. However, he either doesn't realize, or leaves out the fact that the older dress code that he is thinking of (lighter hats and suits as opposed to darker ones today) was itself an innovation, of the Alter of Slabodka, a century or so ago, who instituted that Yeshiva bochurim dress in a modern manner, as part of a calculated campaign to raise their prestige, at a time when they were looked down upon and ridiculed as shleppers. He wanted to raise them up, so they should be looked up to, like university students and so on. In earlier times in Volozhin, in the time of Vilna Gaon and so on, Litvish Yeshiva bochurim didn't dress like they did in Slabodka or Mir in the 1920's and 1930's. What has happened more recently is that the Litvish Yeshiva dress has changed back toward the older style, pre the modifications of the Alter of Slabodka, when Hasidic and Litvish dress was more similar, if not identical.
A historian, especially an academic, is supposed to view and put things in proper historical context, rather than making questionable provocative statements. Hopefully Rabbi Rakeffes will stop making such foolish statements in the future. He does not speak for Litvaks as a whole, no matter what he says.