Saturday, June 11, 2011

The passing of Rabbi Sachs, proponent of facilitated communication

Of note, at Dani18.com:
1. לזכרו של צדיק
דניאל, כ"ג אדר ב', תשע"א.
אני רוצה להגיד כמה מילים על יהודי חשוב ביותר, תלמיד חכם, יהודי שעבד שעות רבות החל מלפני קרוב לחמש עשרה שנה כדי להוציא לאור את התיקשורים שלנו, של האוטיסטים. שמו אליעזר משה זקס בן רבקה זצ"ל, והוא נפטר בי"ח אדר ב' השנה. הרב זקס היה יהודי שחיפש אמת, יהודי שומר תורה ומצוות, למד תורה ולימד תורה, יהודי גדול אשר ניסה בכל כוחו להביא את האמת לעם ישראל. הוא רצה מאד לקבל פניו של משיח, אבל בעזרת ה' הוא יעשה את זה בתחית המתים, הוא יחסר לנו מאד וגם לעם ישראל.
1. In memory of a tzaddik
Daniel, 23 Adar II, 5771
I want to say a few words about an extremely eminent Jew, a Torah scholar, a Jew who worked many hours going back more than about five to ten years to publish the facilitated communication of ours, the autistics. His name was Eliezer Moshe Sachs ben Rivkah, zatzal, and he passed away on 18 Adar II of this year. Rav Sachs was a Jew who sought the truth, an observant Jew, who studied Torah and taught Torah, a great Jew who tried with all his might to bring the truth to the people of Israel. He wanted very much to greet the Messiah, but God-willing he accomplish this during the resurrection of the dead. He will be missed by us greatly and by the people of Israel.
I agree with much of this. Though I disagreed with him about the efficacy and therefore truth facilitated communication, I think Rabbi Sachs believed it was real and was indeed trying to do great things for klal Yisrael. And I would guess that good intentions go a long way, from the perspective of the Bochen Klayos vaLev.

Of course, it was almost inevitable that he would be disappointed in his hopes to greet the mashiach, even as he was likely most confident that he would indeed great mashiach and be thanked warmly for his efforts in spreading the message. After all, his autistics kept on promising that the apocalypse was coming "soon", without giving any set time, so as to string everyone along.

And unfortunately, the message of the autistics is NOT one of shalom. It is one of sinas chinam for fellow Jews and triumphant believe that their own sect is the best, and the select, while everyone else is a no-goodnik who needs to do teshuva. Thus, for example, they follow up this announcement with the following, in the same missive, in explaining their anti-halachic call to mourn on Purim:
מגיע פורים, החג החשוב ביותר לחיזוק האמונה והביטחון בה', ומה אנחנו מוצאים בארץ ישראל הקדושה וכמעט בכל העולם? לא פורים כמו שצריך להיות, לא מסירות נפש על קידוש ה', לא קירבה לקב"ה. רואים בעיקר קבוצות גדולות של יהודים, רצים לחנויות, קונים כל מיני ממתקים, נהיים שיכורים ומקיאים ברחובות ובבתים. יש גסות רוח והתהוללות ברחוב, יש תחפושות כמו הגויים האמריקאים, האנגלים או האירופאים, ששייכות לעבודה זרה, כמו בקרניבל, לא יהודי בכלל. יש מוזיקה שנשמעת כמו בג'ונגל באפריקה, הרוק'נרול, כמו הגויות שיש בעולם המודרני. ואיפה היהודי כמו מרדכי הצדיק ואסתר המלכה והיהודים שישבו וצמו שלשה ימים רצופים כדי להתקרב לה' ולהוריד מעלינו את הגזירה הקשה? יש עלינו גזירה קשה ביותר ואנחנו משתוללים, משתכרים, מוציאים כסף על שטויות כמו חג התחפושות באמריקה. אוי לנו, האם בהתנהגות הגויית הזו אנחנו חושבים שהקב"ה יציל אותנו? דוקא בפורים הזה, שכל העולם במצב קשה ביותר, ועוד מעט השנאה תעבור לעם ישראל, ושבעים עמים יהיו נגדנו, ואנחנו, איפה אנחנו? אנחנו שוכבים על הרצפה, בתוך הקיא שלנו, ורובנו לא נמצאים כלל במצב הרוחני הראוי לקבל פניו של משיח צדקנו. 
ולכן עם ישראל, בטח הייתי מציע לכם לשבת על הרצפה עם שק ואפר, ולבכות ולבקש מחילה מהקב"ה...
Purim has arrived, the most important holiday to strengthen faith and trust in God, and what do we find in Israel and in almost all the rest of the world? Purim not as it should be, not self-sacrifice for the sanctification of God, not drawing closer to God. We mainly see large groups of Jews, running to shops, buying all kinds of candy, getting drunk and vomiting in the streets and houses. There is haughtiness and revelry in the street, there are costumes like the American, English or European gentiles, with connections to idolatry, like Carnival, not Jews at all. There is music that sounds like the jungle in Africa, rock and roll, like the gentiles who are in the modern world. And where is the Jew like the righteous Mordechai and Queen Esther and the Jews who fasted for three days in a row to come closer to God and to remove from over us the harsh decree? There is upon us an extremely difficult decree and we go wild, get drunk, spend money on garbage like on Halloween in America. Woe to us. Do we think that with gentile behavior God will save us? Precisely this Purim, the whole world the most difficult situation, and soon the hatred will turn to Israel, and the seventy nations are against us, and meanwhile we, where are we? We lie on the floor, in our own vomit, and most of us are not at all proper spiritual condition to receive Messiah's face. 
And with Israel, certainly I would suggest you sit on the floor with sackcloth and ashes,and cry and ask God for forgiveness...
The very opposite of Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berditchiv, these folks look at Jews doing mitzvos and try their best to find the negative in it.

Look, if I thought it were really a message from on high, from a true prophet, it would be one thing. But I know it isn't. And so this is really a reflection of the deep feelings of the facilitator and the environment in which these people live, in which they despise klal Yisrael at large and go out of their way to cast them in the most negative light.

Yes, Rabbi Sachs, zatzal, was trying to bring Truth to klal Yisrael, and bring the mashiach. What is slightly negative is his willingness to consider this lashon hara and motzi shem ra to be the Truth, and to think that disseminating such slander and hatred under the title of a call to teshuva was the proper way to help bring mashiach.

But, at the end of the day, his error was one of misperception, rather than one of malice. May his family know no more sorrows, and may we all greet mashiach together speedily in our days.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you. I think these individuals have been exploited as well.

Anonymous said...

How can you write that anyone despises clal Yisroel, especially when they are no longer here to defend themselves. It is just your perception but you cannot prove that it is a fact. Don't you think that clal Yisroel's faults should be pointed out so that at least some of us can do tshuvah? I say that it is out of love for clal Yisroel that these messages were publicized.

joshwaxman said...

The autistics (or rather, the facilitators) despise klal Yisrael. Rabbi Sachs simply was willing to believe the motzi shem ra. And I pointed this out while Rabbi Sachs was still alive.

Unfortunately, a lot of people (including you) confuse mussar with sinas chinam and derision for people who hold different standards as a *lechatchila*. For one example of many, just as Sefardim don't need to to 'teshuva' for eating kitniyos on Pesach, frum Jews do not need to do 'teshuva' by following their poskim in using peah nachris as a lechatchila in kisuy harosh.

'They' want to establish that only Rabbi Ephraim Luft is correct in musical influences and their permissibility, when the chassidish zemers of which they so approve are actually adapted Polish marching songs, and while there is an extremely strong halachic argument and precedent for adapting music from the surrounding cultures? fine. they can maintain that, for themselves. but no navi can pasken halacha, and they don't get to 'win' by casting it as mussar and telling people (as they have in the past) to ignore their own rabbonim. that is what rambam categorizes as navi sheker. and it is fodder for *halachic* disputation, not mussar.

no, these are not things for which we have to do teshuva. these are rather a bunch of grinches who lack for themselves and so try to find fault in klal yisrael, for having and enjoying.

and what i can prove as 'fact' is that these facilitated communications are not real, but are the equivalent of an Ouija board, the ideamotor effect. Which means these are NOT messages from On High, revealing what a what Hashem wants of us, but is rather just the criticism of a bunch of yutzes who think that their way is the best and only legitimate way.

kol tuv,
josh

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