On Chassidic Historical Revisionism

Recently a book came out with a 'new' look at Chassidic history . . .


I wonder at times, do other nations try to make their ancestors look
like fools? Perhaps it's a uniquely Jewish thing, perhaps not.

Argument about the veracity is moot . . . history is, as they say, 'his story'
even with the presentation of facts, arguments are cast in the light
of the milieu from which they come . . .  people by there very nature
are subjective -it's a natural part of our self preservation.



There are certain things every family keeps quiet . . .

Czar'ishe Zachin -the inner workings of the royal family are private as well.



There is however a danger -just because we don't publicize these
events, be it out of the danger of miss interpretation or respect for
those whom it involves, we should not deny their existence.

Let us use an example outside the sphere of Beis Harav - drugs and other such issues exist amongst us . . . they are real problems.

The solution, however is not ignore them. We need not publish articles about it in the New York times l'aynei kol ha'amim -to the eyes of the whole world -such an action would be foolish.

The same idea applies in our case . . . if we try to ignore certain
things, then when a Jewish tabloid of a book comes along to
sensationalize and scandalize our past, we are left with out an alibi
-after all didn't we try to cover up things we knew to be true?



However, let it be known, that a Rebbe's word is final . . . the above applies only when we take matters onto our own shoulders.