Barry Gourary file
Schneur Zalman of NY comments about RAYATZ�s grandson:
Barry Gourary told me that his grandfather left a will. It was in his desk drawer. He added that the first person in the office after the aliyas neshoma, removed the will. Who was that? He seemed to indicate that the document left neither son in law in charge. Did it leave the only grandson in charge?
The will had nothing to do with personal property, so why should this be related to the library battle. Have you guys ever heard of an ethical will? (See the Bobroisk yizkor buch for a beautiful will of the Bobroisker rebbe Rabbi Shmaryahu Noach Schneersohn) I FAIL TO SEE HOW WITHOUT HAVING A COPY OF THE WILL BARRY COULD USE THIS IN THE COURT BATTLE ?
(The story of Reb Levik. I will not comment on this item, as you say mipne kvodo of some major figures in Chabad history. I'll just say that Barry has some poignant remarks and stories about that supposed parsha too. Veod chazon LeMoed. By the way the Rashab also suggested Reb Shmaryahu as a son in law!)
Barry Gourary never said a slanderous word about the Rebbe. The Satmarer were urging him to say this and that about the Rebbe. Did he? The answer is no. The Satmarer wanted him to release these and those family pictures of this and that person. Please answer me did he? Other trouble makers wanted him to write a book about the family saga. Did he? Some fanatics in Williamsburg promised him X dollars if he would say this and that, did he? No. (I write here in general terms because I do not want to hint at anything) In fact the only bad thing he said was printed in a sensationalist Israeli newspaper and I am not certain he said that for publication. And all this was after a Lubavitcher bachur a Tamim beat Rebbeitzen Gourary (causing her to lose an eye and I saw this injury when I was mevaker chole the rebbetzin) on Shaabes in 770 be Asra deRav!!!
All Gourary and his mother wanted is a share of Yerusha that is guaranteed by Jewish Law. Certainly there are other Lubavitcher and frum families involved in Yerusha battles too. Does that make him a bad person for standing up for financial issues he felt were rightfully were his (By the way his grandmother Rebbetzin Nechama Dina Schneersohn in her will felt the same way). The fact that a secular court ruled differently shows that even Judge Sifton felt there was room for a judgment; he did not throw the case out summarily!
The fact that Gourary sees the supposed Reb Levik story in a totally different light angers you. But exactly who was there to witness this story, Rabbi A.S, or Rabbi S.C. were they there? So why not keep an open mind about this issue? Does it in anyone affect the Rebbe�s tenure as Lubavitcher Rebbe? And by the way Lubavitchers on this and other blogs are urging readers to keep an non judgmental attitude about people preaching New Age Judaism , and about people married to Shiksas, can we also not be melamed zechus on one Barry S. Gourary the only grandchild of the Rayaatz. Is there not enough Ahvas israel in Lubavitch for that? I heard Rav Shemtow calling Gourary the Sitra achra!
Selling the siddur of the BESHT MAY not have been a moral act in the world of Chabad, but if it belonged to the Gourarys as they felt it did, it certainly was not anti Halachic or against the US legal code. (I am not passing judgment on the Legal owner of the siddur) After all the Rayaatz also BOUGHT it from someone who sold it for the money. I believe either Mundshine or Oberlander has written on this parsha. Originally it belonged if I recall correctly to the Skverer Twersky family.
As we speak there is a case in Supreme Court involving yerusha from the Twersky family (the Kaayre of the Meor Eynayim) which was transferred out of the immediate family. In addition there is a din teyre in Jerusalem between the young Koidenover rebbe Rabbi Erlich shlita and a Chabad rabbi (Halperin) who claims he owns the Koidenover shul established by the previous generations of Koidenover rebbeim. Certainly a shul is also a spiritual legacy. Yet material things are bought and sold, kach darcho shel olam .Any auction of Judaica and there are many, reveals items for sale with an ownership by famed rebbes with a sacred legacy, but the children need the financial recourses and are forced to sell. This is a davar yadua - well known and no one ever accused a Rizhiner or Thchernobler eynikel of acting in a immoral manner for selling a possession of the Rizhiner or Talner rebbes! Even a Jew like me has purchased seforim owned by well known chassidic rebbes. The Lelever rebbe sold his family heirloom Shaas after World War 1 to the visiting young Baba Sali as he needed the money! (Obviously if ownership is legal) It�s sad but not immoral. So while the potential sale may have been emotionally upsetting it was not as such a immoral act.
I spoke to Barry Gourary at length in the 1980's and 1990's . Never did the issue of spiritual leadership you refer to ever arise. Barry had and has no desire to be Rebbe of Chabad even though some supporters in other areas of Brooklyn would have given him millions to open a beth medrash in Flatbush called Lubavitch. Neither he nor his mother raised that issue. The issue was simply a material question of yerusha and the Code of Jewish Law has the answers. Mrs. Gourary whom I spoke to also never claimed spiritual leadership and of course rabbi Gourary made peace with his place more than 40 years ago.
This issue of spiritual claim was raised by Aguch and other interested parties as a smoke screen, as it befuddles the purely material claim that the Gourarys had stated which the Shulchan Aruch could be used to resolve spiritual claims are more difficult to resolve al pi halachah.
As the new Machnovker rebbe Rabbi Rokeach of Bnai brak wrote his cousin the Belzer Ruv about 10 years ago after a bitter conflict over the use of the title Belzer rebbe , may be I am not the Belzer rebbe, and maybe I am not a rebbe, but nothing anyone does can destroy my yichus and my place as a eynikel of the 3rd belzer rebbe.. Nothing said or done removes Bere Gourary from his place in Chabad.
By 1968 the Bais Israel of Ger, the Satmarer rebbe, the Bobover rebbe , the Kluizenberger rebbe, Reb Yaakov Kaminetsky, the Old Skverer rebbe,Rabbi Itzhk Hutner amongst a long list of gedolei israel both mitalmide haBesht and Yeshiva people did not become supporters of Lubavitch. Does that give Lubavitcher chasidim the right or excuse to hate these people too? This despite the rebbe's outstanding connection to am Israel. Excuse me.
My final comments on Bere Gourary. The Lubavitchers or some hired meshamshim bakodesh tried to run his daughter off the NJ freeway on one occasion. And during the shiva for the Rashag, a car was parked outside his home in Montclair with 2 Russian Jewish thugs taking photos of the few brave souls who came to be menachem avel the Gourarys. (Among these brave people was Laibel Bistrizky) I was there, the NJ state police were called and the men admitted to working for some one in Brooklyn and were ordered by the police to leave.
Bekaayso "in one's anger", if my mother were beaten I would have reacted with anger and released the data the Satmarer friends wanted. But Barry controlled himself as a good Chabad chasid should and did not slander the Rebbe. The same can not be said of Aguch. Tam venishlam Barry Gourary.
Barry Gourary told me that his grandfather left a will. It was in his desk drawer. He added that the first person in the office after the aliyas neshoma, removed the will. Who was that? He seemed to indicate that the document left neither son in law in charge. Did it leave the only grandson in charge?
The will had nothing to do with personal property, so why should this be related to the library battle. Have you guys ever heard of an ethical will? (See the Bobroisk yizkor buch for a beautiful will of the Bobroisker rebbe Rabbi Shmaryahu Noach Schneersohn) I FAIL TO SEE HOW WITHOUT HAVING A COPY OF THE WILL BARRY COULD USE THIS IN THE COURT BATTLE ?
(The story of Reb Levik. I will not comment on this item, as you say mipne kvodo of some major figures in Chabad history. I'll just say that Barry has some poignant remarks and stories about that supposed parsha too. Veod chazon LeMoed. By the way the Rashab also suggested Reb Shmaryahu as a son in law!)
Barry Gourary never said a slanderous word about the Rebbe. The Satmarer were urging him to say this and that about the Rebbe. Did he? The answer is no. The Satmarer wanted him to release these and those family pictures of this and that person. Please answer me did he? Other trouble makers wanted him to write a book about the family saga. Did he? Some fanatics in Williamsburg promised him X dollars if he would say this and that, did he? No. (I write here in general terms because I do not want to hint at anything) In fact the only bad thing he said was printed in a sensationalist Israeli newspaper and I am not certain he said that for publication. And all this was after a Lubavitcher bachur a Tamim beat Rebbeitzen Gourary (causing her to lose an eye and I saw this injury when I was mevaker chole the rebbetzin) on Shaabes in 770 be Asra deRav!!!
All Gourary and his mother wanted is a share of Yerusha that is guaranteed by Jewish Law. Certainly there are other Lubavitcher and frum families involved in Yerusha battles too. Does that make him a bad person for standing up for financial issues he felt were rightfully were his (By the way his grandmother Rebbetzin Nechama Dina Schneersohn in her will felt the same way). The fact that a secular court ruled differently shows that even Judge Sifton felt there was room for a judgment; he did not throw the case out summarily!
The fact that Gourary sees the supposed Reb Levik story in a totally different light angers you. But exactly who was there to witness this story, Rabbi A.S, or Rabbi S.C. were they there? So why not keep an open mind about this issue? Does it in anyone affect the Rebbe�s tenure as Lubavitcher Rebbe? And by the way Lubavitchers on this and other blogs are urging readers to keep an non judgmental attitude about people preaching New Age Judaism , and about people married to Shiksas, can we also not be melamed zechus on one Barry S. Gourary the only grandchild of the Rayaatz. Is there not enough Ahvas israel in Lubavitch for that? I heard Rav Shemtow calling Gourary the Sitra achra!
Selling the siddur of the BESHT MAY not have been a moral act in the world of Chabad, but if it belonged to the Gourarys as they felt it did, it certainly was not anti Halachic or against the US legal code. (I am not passing judgment on the Legal owner of the siddur) After all the Rayaatz also BOUGHT it from someone who sold it for the money. I believe either Mundshine or Oberlander has written on this parsha. Originally it belonged if I recall correctly to the Skverer Twersky family.
As we speak there is a case in Supreme Court involving yerusha from the Twersky family (the Kaayre of the Meor Eynayim) which was transferred out of the immediate family. In addition there is a din teyre in Jerusalem between the young Koidenover rebbe Rabbi Erlich shlita and a Chabad rabbi (Halperin) who claims he owns the Koidenover shul established by the previous generations of Koidenover rebbeim. Certainly a shul is also a spiritual legacy. Yet material things are bought and sold, kach darcho shel olam .Any auction of Judaica and there are many, reveals items for sale with an ownership by famed rebbes with a sacred legacy, but the children need the financial recourses and are forced to sell. This is a davar yadua - well known and no one ever accused a Rizhiner or Thchernobler eynikel of acting in a immoral manner for selling a possession of the Rizhiner or Talner rebbes! Even a Jew like me has purchased seforim owned by well known chassidic rebbes. The Lelever rebbe sold his family heirloom Shaas after World War 1 to the visiting young Baba Sali as he needed the money! (Obviously if ownership is legal) It�s sad but not immoral. So while the potential sale may have been emotionally upsetting it was not as such a immoral act.
I spoke to Barry Gourary at length in the 1980's and 1990's . Never did the issue of spiritual leadership you refer to ever arise. Barry had and has no desire to be Rebbe of Chabad even though some supporters in other areas of Brooklyn would have given him millions to open a beth medrash in Flatbush called Lubavitch. Neither he nor his mother raised that issue. The issue was simply a material question of yerusha and the Code of Jewish Law has the answers. Mrs. Gourary whom I spoke to also never claimed spiritual leadership and of course rabbi Gourary made peace with his place more than 40 years ago.
This issue of spiritual claim was raised by Aguch and other interested parties as a smoke screen, as it befuddles the purely material claim that the Gourarys had stated which the Shulchan Aruch could be used to resolve spiritual claims are more difficult to resolve al pi halachah.
As the new Machnovker rebbe Rabbi Rokeach of Bnai brak wrote his cousin the Belzer Ruv about 10 years ago after a bitter conflict over the use of the title Belzer rebbe , may be I am not the Belzer rebbe, and maybe I am not a rebbe, but nothing anyone does can destroy my yichus and my place as a eynikel of the 3rd belzer rebbe.. Nothing said or done removes Bere Gourary from his place in Chabad.
By 1968 the Bais Israel of Ger, the Satmarer rebbe, the Bobover rebbe , the Kluizenberger rebbe, Reb Yaakov Kaminetsky, the Old Skverer rebbe,Rabbi Itzhk Hutner amongst a long list of gedolei israel both mitalmide haBesht and Yeshiva people did not become supporters of Lubavitch. Does that give Lubavitcher chasidim the right or excuse to hate these people too? This despite the rebbe's outstanding connection to am Israel. Excuse me.
My final comments on Bere Gourary. The Lubavitchers or some hired meshamshim bakodesh tried to run his daughter off the NJ freeway on one occasion. And during the shiva for the Rashag, a car was parked outside his home in Montclair with 2 Russian Jewish thugs taking photos of the few brave souls who came to be menachem avel the Gourarys. (Among these brave people was Laibel Bistrizky) I was there, the NJ state police were called and the men admitted to working for some one in Brooklyn and were ordered by the police to leave.
Bekaayso "in one's anger", if my mother were beaten I would have reacted with anger and released the data the Satmarer friends wanted. But Barry controlled himself as a good Chabad chasid should and did not slander the Rebbe. The same can not be said of Aguch. Tam venishlam Barry Gourary.
posted by Tzemach Atlas at 8:54 PM
<< Home