The Ban: FAQ

Question: Who are the primary people in the campaign?

Answer: While the press gave the impression that it was Rav Elyashiv and Rav Mattisyahu Solomon, the truth is that these are simply the most well-known signatories. The primary person behind the campaign was Rav Elya Ber Wachtfogel from South Fallsberg (and to a lesser extent, Rav Elya Weintraub and Rav Moshe Shapiro). (I am referring here to the distinguished rabbis that were involved, not to the people that were involved in engineering the campaign.)

Question: How widespread is the opposition in the Orthodox world to the books? How much support is there for the ban?

Answer: One might receive the impression that the ban has wide support, due to the more than two dozen signatories to the condemnations. However, one should not extrapolate from this to the entire Orthodox world. First of all, the Modern Orthodox community is entirely opposed to the ban. Second, even within the Ultra-Orthodox/ Yeshivah community, opposition to the ban is far more widespread than one might assume. Many, many people in this community are very supportive of the books and are opposed to the ban. The books received positive reviews in the Ultra-Orthodox press when they were published. The supposedly "heretical" concept that the Sages of the Talmud relied on the flawed science of their era is still to be found in the ArtScroll Talmud.

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