The Rabbis are damned if they protest and damned if they don’t. Meir will provide that infamous counterfeit smile and consider this free advertising. Those Jews however who consider themselves genuinely Yirei Shomayim (and not the type who say “a pox on Rabi if he is wrong, I’m just following him”) will take heed. Unfortunately, The Lakewood Beis HaTalmud couldn’t bring themselves to sign. I am sure Rabbi Nojowitz would have signed. Those of you who learn there should ask the current Rosh Kollel why he is missing in action. I’d be fascinated to hear any contorted reasoning for this.
pitputim 
And where are the modern orthodox rabbis? It is the MO that Rabi targets and the MO rabbonim should therefore be taking a stand on the issue.
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I think there would have been but currently I don’t know any Melbournian modern orthodox Rabbis who would issue Piskei Din of this type. Rav Schachter certainly did. Stay tuned. There is a looming crisis amongst some of the modern orthodox Rabbis in Melbourne. My prediction is that some will move to Open Orthodoxy. Open Orthodoxy is beyond the pale and unacceptable. When that happens, it will be forbidden to go into their Shules, according to Rav Schachter, as they are the new Conservatives. For them, Halacha is an academic exercise, not a masoretic one brimming with shimmush.
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Kol Hakavod to the 11 Rabbanim who are willing to lead when such issues arise. Very sad that the Rabbi from Beit Hatalmud abstained. What is a Kollel worth if they are not willing to take a public stand when authentic Yiddishkeit is threatened. To ask for donations is ok but to lead us doesn’t seem important.
A sad day!
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Probably this is the first letter signed by so many Rabbonim since a letter was written in about 1973 re an Eruv for Melbourne.
Achdus for the sake of protecting our standards and traditions is a kiddush Hashem.
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Yes, but not quite Achdus. The Litvaks at Lakewood’s Beis HaTalmud stay cocooned. Maybe someone should ring Rechnitz and tell him. They might listen.
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[edited by me]
What is surprising is that Rabi is a product of Beis HaTalmud. Yes they threw him out after he allegedly stole from them, but they should be the first to stand up for a principle as he studied there many years.
They should also take a stance for the kovod of Rav Chaim Kanievski shlita who Rabi allegedly misrepresented.
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