The truth versus the whole truth

In a previous blog post, I cross referenced a story relayed by R’ Lazer Brody. At least one of my readers was a tad skeptical about the stories veracity. In the meanwhile, I received an email which suggested that the story never happened. True enough, the story didn’t happen in the way it was described. Here is what R’ Lazer Brody apparently writes about that story

Dear Rahel,
The story is actually a composite of three stories, all of which happened. The activists on the 350 bus, with the Breslever’s comment about the value of riding a mehadrin bus was one incident that occurred 2 weeks ago. A Breslever’s invitation of egalitarian activist for Shabbat and the revelation that many Haredi men and women are university graduates and army veterans was a second incident. The explanation about the rationale of shmirat eynayim to a hostile feminist was a third incident that happened to me personally in Manhattan. I turned all three into one incident to show how Rabbi Shalom Arush teaches his students to react in such a situation – ahavat Yisrael and Kiddush Hashem. Blessings always, LB

Some have reacted to this admission by saying that it was Gneyvas Daas. Others use this story to show that one must always check the veracity of such nice tales because they may well never have happened. I am as skeptical as the others. I’ve often been accused of having too much skepticism. Either way, I have absolutely no problems with the

• story itself
• use of the story in context

The story is made up of three sections, all of which are true according to R’ Brody. They happened to three different Breslaver Chassidim. To combine these into one story is to say that it is both conceivable that this could occur to one Chassid, but most importantly, that this is one approach to pursue when confronted with such a situation.

It isn’t the whole truth, but it is certainly truthful. I’m okay with it.

Author: pitputim

I've enjoyed being a computer science professor in Melbourne, Australia, as well as band leader/singer for the Schnapps Band. My high schooling was in Chabad and I continued at Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh in Israel and later in life at Machon L'Hora'ah, Yeshivas Halichos Olam. View all posts by pitputim