Leading up to the Asifa, one thought of going to an event held up to its name "Ichud Hakehilos " Kinus klal Yisrael, an event meant to benefit all yidden. An event where you will be together with all segments of the klal, with equal representation and proportionate speakers in both Yiddish and English, so all those who came can hear something inspirational in their own language. An event where the Gedolei Roshei Yeshiva in America will have their voice heard. That was not the case. Regarding opinions and interests, "Achdus" could not be further from the truth.
As the program concluded, it was apparent, that we were misled and duped. While some left inspired, many were disappointed. There was a disproportionate amount of Yiddish speakers, It was a chasidishe event. Even Rav Mattisyahu Solomon, who saved the evening by reaching out to the mevakshei hashem and spoke in english, preceded his remarks saying he was asked to speak in Yiddish. Also, on the jumbotron all they kept showing were various Chasidishe Rebbes and Admorim. If not for the fact that the Skulener Rebbe spoke, you would not have known that Rav Elya Ber Wachtfogel was present. The crowd of yeshivaleit that came did not hear a drasha from not even one American Rosh Yeshiva. A lot of effort was made to get people to come. Some were asked to come by their respected rabbonim, parents were told by schools to attend, yet once there, they were not represented. Either not enough thought went into planning the program or personal interests took over and the event was hijacked.
The Siyum Hashas, as has always been, is a event where you are together with all segments of the klal, where the voice of the Gedolim is heard. Each participant feels at home as all tribes are represented. It's not an easy task, but that's what Agudah is all about: bringing all of klal yisroel together. From chasidish to litvish from sefardi to ashkenazi, women and children. For a true kinus klal yisroel I'm going to the Siyum Hashas.
amen.
ReplyDeleteI suppose that was the tradeoff. We got a filled stadium, but the fillers designated the program.
ReplyDeleteI am glad to see you are big enough to admit it. In the run up to the asifa your site seemed like the unofficial website for the event. Since I personally have had very bad experiences with the organizer and the backer of the event I was very skeptical but I understand that you wanted to be optimistic.
ReplyDeleteI think many people now see that the asifa was fundamentally flawed (and not just poorly organized).
Let's hope that at least people were inspired to be more careful with their internet use, even if they were left to themselves to find practical solutions.
Great post. My thoughts exactly.
ReplyDeleteAre you a disgruntled asifa worker now working for the Agudah?
ReplyDeleteIm not affiliated with any organization, just a simple yid reflecting my thoughts.
DeleteWell said
ReplyDeleteTo contrast your post, let me share my thoughts of the asifa vs the Siyum Hashas. I personally hated the last Siyum Hashas for the exact reasons you are mentioning. There was way too much pandering the the left wing and modern elements. I left very disappointed.
ReplyDeleteTo contrast that to the Asifa, I left on a high. If you paid good attention to the marketing and the neighborhoods were it was marketed, it was never meant to be a unified effort of all orthodox jews, it was meant to be a unified effort among Chareidi Jews to tackle this problem the way that Chareidi Jews always tackled such problems.
By the way, if you attended the first Siyum Hashas in MSG (22 years ago), you would have found it to be very similar to the asifa. It was more a "right wing" crowd (Daf Yomi wasn't yet popular in the MO world) and the majority of the speeches were in Yiddish. I loved that one.
Forget the MO crowd. the litvisher yeshiva velt was railroaded by the chasidisher askanim who took over the event.Roshei yeshiva got no kavod ,the brochure that was to be given out was purposely not distributed.It wasnt even achdus among the right wing olam.
DeleteWas this post and the one "klal yisreol steps up to the plate" written by the same person?
ReplyDeleteyes it was written by the same person. Its not condradictory, yes people were inspired, however the program was not only lousy but the organizers alienated the bnei torah by not having a Rosh yeshiva speak.it was a chasidisher event. not an achdus event.
DeleteWell there he wrote:
ReplyDelete"It was a true maamad, a Kiddush Hashem with many Yidden coming together in Achdus...
When was the last time so many chasidishe youngeleit were together with bnei torah from Lakewood, with baalei batim, all together davening in harmony. Yes, we may have our diffrences of opinion but none of that was evident at the Asifa....."
Here he writes:
"Achdus" could not be further from the truth."
Something stinks here in blogger land
The achdus was among the crowd. However on the organizational level achdus could not be further from the truth.people were inspired from the mass gathering there is no doubting that. yet as far as respect from the organizers it was clearly dominated by the chasidim.
DeleteThe crowd was also dominated by the chasidim
DeleteNO,it was not dominated by chasidim,there just happen to be MORE chasidim. It was a ratio of 65% chasidim to 35% yeshivish.the fact that one sect had more does not take away from the achdus in the crowd.
Delete