Friday, January 07, 2011

Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky on the Ban Process

Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky 2008:
"Rabbi Kamenetzky confirmed that he had spoken to Friedman and said that he had understood that the request for the ban originally came “from rabbis in Eretz Yisroel. We didn’t want to differ with them. It was expressed that certain performers...upset some people.”

The Rosh Yeshiva was asked whether anybody had confirmed the origin of the request. “It seems that it was a request from mouth to ear and everyone went along with them,” he responded. “What they said was that it was a request from Rav Elyashiv and Rav Steinman. I didn’t confirm that.”

Asked if it is unusual for distinguished rabbonim to sign a kol korei on the say-so of one person, Rabbi Kamenetzky was candid: “Usually we meet together. This time, with time pressing, we did not get together. And maybe it was not the right thing.”


Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetzky 2011:
"Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky, who signed the ban, said he was not familiar with the site but was given the ban by Rabbi Malkiel Kotler, of Lakewood.

“I know very little about it, but I relied on the rabbanim that signed it and they said it’s terrible,” Rabbi Kamenetsky told The Jewish Star. “They said it has a lot of lashon hora,”"