‘We’re Family’ – Rabbi Twerski Responds to Reaction to His Convention Speech

By Rabbi Aaron Twerski

My speech at the Agudah Convention elicited very strong reactions, much of it based on short soundbites that went viral and were out of context. So I appreciate the opportunity to set the record straight and to express my sincere admiration of the esteemed dedicated leaders of the Agudah, specifically Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel and Mr. Shlome Werdiger, whom I am proud to call my friends.

To sum up my message, I began by pointing out that Klal Yisroel is under attack throughout the world. Antisemitism is on the rise; we have countries banning shechitah, considering banning bris milah, zoning laws being passed to prevent our growth, environmentalists opposing traditional burial and most pressing, the regulations recently passed by the NYS Dept. of Education seeking to control our chinuch; the list goes on and on. And, of course, the sloppiest piece of journalism ever published by the New York Times in a blatant attack against our community’s values and practices, full of lies and innuendo, caused widespread damage to our image and reputation. And there’s more to come.

What are we doing about it?

Agudas Yisrael has done great work over the years on all levels of government. Agudah is very active and effective in the fight against antisemitism, discrimination, and the protection of our religious freedoms. But in the wake of recent developments, we are going to need huge sums of money and pooled resources to fight for our very survival.

Agudas Yisroel is at the forefront of responding to the current threats, specifically with the recent development of Project Clarity. Precisely for that reason, it is imperative that we all work together to win this war.

But Rabbosi, there is a very real problem. I used to come to Agudah conventions and felt comfortable. Why? Because there was a chassidishe olam. For the last ten years it has been going down and down. The problem starts because chassidim are not properly represented in the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah. Huge communities, with staggering numbers are totally absent.

What has happened over the past ten years is that these communities have developed their own askanim, some of whom are quite good. But we can’t afford any more to be splintered; we are all under attack. We need to be able to sit at the same table. Agudas Yisrael did that historically. And it is not happening today.

Now, you can say, “well, we work for them.” That is true, and it is appreciated, but it is not enough. Chassidim are not part of Agudas Yisrael.

We have to get everybody together. Years ago Yidden knew that when there was a problem in Klal Yisrael there was an address, a single address.

I’m pleased to hear that the ADL has expressed extreme concern about what is going on. We are going to need more of that. But what we need is to get together. If we don’t hang together, we will hang separately. It’s as simple as that.

Because we are under attack right now, it is a sha’as hakosher to tell everybody ‘we have to get together’, we have no breireh. If we don’t get together, we will chas v’shalom fall apart.

I’ll just close with telling you a story that happened last week at my grandson’s chasunah. My son Moshe Menachem was at the chasunah, and he met Jeffrey D. Jeffrey started coming round to my house fifteen years ago; his father was a student of mine at the law school. He came to my house for a Shabbos, and Moshe Menachem took him to the Bobover tisch. He clearly wasn’t a Bobover chassid and somebody asked my son “who is this young man?’ “He is family,” Moshe Menachem said. Fifteen years later Jeffrey said, “You don’t know what you did when you told the other fellow I’m family. That has stayed with me.”

Rabbosi, we are family. We’re family, we’re family, we’re family. We cannot afford not to be. It is right because it’s the emes – we are really family. But now, whether or not we agree on everything, we have to put everything aside and remember that we are family. Because we are.