by Rabbi Yair Hoffman
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There is a fascinating Kochvei Ohr, written by Rav Yitzchok Blaser zt”l, one of the foremost students of Rav Yisroel Salanter zt”l about the notorious Acher – Elisha Ben Abuyah.
Rabbi Meir, once the student of Acher, noted that Acher was concerned about Rabbi Meir not inadvertently violating Shabbos. Rabbi Meir then said, “Come back.” Acher replied that he had heard a Bas Kol say that Hashem’s “wayward children should return – all except Acher – who knew My Honor and rebelled against Me.” Rabbi Meir said, “Do it anyway.”
Rav Blaser poses two questions: 1] How could the Bas Kol have said this? Doesn’t Hashem want everyone’s Teshuvah? And 2] If the Bas Kol said it – how could Rabbi Meir have advised him to “do it any way?”
Rav Blaser answers that anyone who does Teshuvah knows that Hashem will accept it and so that particular Teshuvah is a bit imperfect. Nonetheless, Hashem accepts it. But Acher’s sin was vile and intense – that he required a deeper and more pristine and sincere Teshuvah – one that would be done even without the knowledge that it would be accepted. That is why the Bas Kol said it and that is why Rabbi Meir chose to advise him to do it anyway.
All this brings us to Naftuli Moster. This was a young man that had done enormous damage to the Jewish community with his YAFFED organization. He damaged its institutions, its Torah education, and has damaged, perhaps, irreparably the way Americans and the governments view orthodox Jews. His actions have brought about great Chilul Sheim Shamayim.
But now, Mr. Moster has expressed a number of regrets in an interview with Frieda Vizel that he initiated. And he does seem sincere in many of these regrets. Do we want his complete Teshuvah? Yes, it would seem that this is clear from the Kochvei Ohr. Is he in the most ideal place in terms of ruchnius? Clearly not. Or rather, not yet. But it seems that he has come quite a long way.
And let’s not forget that one of the Taryag Mitzvos is v’halachta biDrachav. We are obligated to emulate Hashem in all ways that we can. The Gemorah in Shabbos states, Mah hu Rachum – Af atta Rachum. Mah hu Chanun – af attah Chanun. It is not an option to say, let Hashem forgive him – I cannot.
Evidence of Spiritual Distance
The interview reveals that Mr. Moster, while showing genuine remorse for his past actions, remains spiritually distant from traditional Orthodox Judaism. When asked directly about Hashem’s role in his life, he responds with telling ambiguity: “It’s a good question. I don’t know. Probably not in the traditional sense.”
He goes on to articulate a decidedly secular, evolutionary perspective on religion: “You could think of this sort of G-d and the rules as simply something that helps guide a herd of well all animals… Most of it is just for survival. It’s evolutionary instincts. And religion does a lot of that really, really well while packaging it in a religious package.”
This mechanistic view of Torah and mitzvos as mere evolutionary survival tools, stripped of their Divine origin and spiritual significance, demonstrates that his return to observant practice is motivated more by practical considerations than by genuine emunah. His approach to religious observance appears pragmatic rather than devotional. He seems to be in great need of an Emunah booster. What particularly vexed this author was that he claimed that a good percentage of Chassidic Jews were not really believers. I have found quite the opposite. The emunah Pshutah of so many Chassidim is off the charts. (This is also shockingly true of many off-the-derech and near off-the-derech children as well.)
Evidence of Genuine Growth
Yet despite these spiritual limitations, the interview reveals remarkable personal growth and genuine regret. Mr. Moster demonstrates profound remorse for the pain he caused his family: “I lost interest in it and I actually became quite regretful about some of the work that I’ve done… while I was doing the work, I felt like it was hurting my family… my siblings, my parents, my siblings kids.”
Perhaps most significantly, he expresses newfound appreciation for the very community he once sought to undermine: “When I walk in the streets of Boro Park… I see so much good. I was recently there actually… you see these kids, it’s sort of in the evening… they’re walking around holding books, and they’re peering into storefront windows of bookstores. It’s like, this is beautiful. This is what you want.”
His regret extends beyond personal considerations to methodology: “I have some regrets about how I went about my advocacy and frankly, I probably would’ve even been more successful if I had done things differently.” He acknowledges the wisdom of those who warned him that change must come from within: “I think you were right, certainly to a degree… there were plenty of people in my orbit who I can say they probably were totally okay with the community, with the Yeshivas being destroyed and going under and being shut down. And I don’t want that.”
Most remarkably, he has made concrete changes in his life, moving to a Modern Orthodox community, enrolling his children in Orthodox schools, and actively participating in Shabbos observance. As he puts it: “We picked ourselves up. We moved to this town in New Jersey, right in the middle of this modern Orthodox community. My son was already enrolled in that school and was attending it, and that’s it. And Shabbos, I grabbed my tallis, went to the shul, and that’s it. We sort of never looked back.”
The Path Forward
Like Acher of old, Mr. Moster finds himself in a unique position. His past actions created a barrier that cannot be easily overcome through conventional teshuvah alone. Yet Rabbi Meir’s advice to Acher echoes through the generations: “Do it anyway.”
The Kochvei Ohr teaches us that sometimes the most profound teshuvah comes not from the certainty of acceptance, but from the willingness to do what is right despite uncertainty. Mr. Moster’s journey back toward his people, imperfect as it may be in its theological foundations, represents genuine progress that deserves recognition.
Perhaps most importantly, his transformation demonstrates that even those who have caused great damage to the community can find their way back, even if – like Acher – the path requires a deeper, more challenging form of return than most of us could imagine undertaking.
There is also a concept of “me-uvos lo yuchal liskon” – there are bent things that cannot be straightened. A good friend suggested that Naftuli should write to all the secular newspapers wherein he had published scathing attacks on the Torah communities and ask that they be removed. I would agree with him.
The author can be reached at [email protected]
You’re like a rap!st asking for forgiveness after forcing an abortion.
You can hope Hashem forgives you, I definitely do not.
The terrible damage you personally caused, both you and your wife, with your personal “activism” and through footsteps, is unconscionable.
YOUR ORGANIZATION STILL LIVES ON TO WRECK HAVOC ON THE ORTHODOX JEWISH COMMUNITY!!!!
Regrets? Because you’ve been ostracized from your family? That’s on you. Live with it.
How is this Tshuvah??
1) קבלת חטא- He doesn’t mentioned what he did wrong not even a single time.
2) חרטה – He has zero remorse on what he did, he rather has slight remorse on how he did it, only because it effected his family!
3) קבלה על העתיד – Again he only changed in ways that will benefit HIS kids.
המחטיא את הרבים, אין מספיקין בידו לעשות תשובה.
It’s not that Teshuvah is impossible, but it can’t be just by coming on another חוטא’s podcast and saying he would have done the same things “differently”
Mr Hoffman, this is called whitewashing!
Sorry, not impressed, the damage and pain he caused will reverbirate for generations. you don’t simply get to walk away with half harted, insincere
“oopps, sorry” and don’t look back. He needs to pay for the damage and pain he caused. There need to be real consequenses so that the next scoundrel will think twice before going down the same road.
Lots of regret.. not even one apology.
I know I’ll get in trouble for this but the truth is, that tit should be a wake up call for our schools. 95% of 15 year old boys cannot sit and learn all day. That’s a fact and you all know it. So then what are they doing with their time? Why isn’t that 95% receiving a kosher secular education?Are we teaching our kids to just waste time and kratz the day? Furthermore years ago bobov and almost every chasdish mosad taught English in high school? Why do they need to be more chnyuck? Lastly, what are chadish mosdos doing for the “gimmel boys” who are weaker ? There is a terrible tuna bagel pandemic. Look around at communities within the larger frum areas, there are sub communities full of married chasdish adults who have no cheshek for anything frum and just follow the culture. It’s so sad to see the disconnect . And most of them were the weaker boys in yeshiva who didn’t fit into the box. They could have used a lighter kind of day with secular studies to keep them fulfilled. The bottom line is, most boys can’t learn Torah all day, why aren’t they at least occupied by some light interesting secular subjects ? At minimum the weaker boys? What’s wrong ? To be clear I don’t mean that they child teach kefira or state mandated stupidity . But they should wake up and return to what our fathers did which is learning some lite secular studies
Firstly, I don’t trust him one bit, Secondly not that simple,
What he did to klall yisroel…
does not just go away by saying I’m going forward,
He needs an extremely big teshuvah process …..
This is what he wrote less than 7 months ago. I dont see teshuvah here. The Dems dilemma: Get Haredi votes or ensure secular education in yeshivas
Haredi leaders have all but assured themselves a win-win situation for the 2024 election.
Meeting between Skver Rabbi and Schumer, Jeffries, & Jones. Source: Screenshot @KolHaolam/X via JDN Media
By
Naftuli Moster
Nov 1, 2024 12:15 PM
In recent years, the main issue for Haredi leaders, and by extension their followers, has been the independence of yeshivas to determine what education they provide to their students. The priority of the community has always been religious education and, for decades, that has come at the expense of the basic secular education mandated by state law.
After a hard-fought battle over how, or even whether, the state should mandate “substantial equivalency,” New York State implemented a new system for overseeing non-public schools to ensure they are in compliance with the law.
Yeshivas have resorted to every tool in the box to prevent this oversight: legal, PR, and electoral. And of course prayer. One challenge faced by Yeshiva leaders has been that the New York State legislature is controlled by Democrats, and they tend to favor government oversight and de-emphasize parental control when it comes to child welfare policies.
But, like all politicians, one thing that Democrats value more than principles is winning elections. And in recent years, Haredi leaders have managed to use their electoral power to threaten Democrats if they don’t let up on the Yeshivas. They elected several Republicans for state senate and assembly, and they supported the longshot Republican candidate for governor, Lee Zeldin, greatly elevating his profile and helping to bring him within just 5% points of his Democrat rival Kathy Hochul. Most crucially, in a very tight Congress, they ratcheted the pressure up a notch when they elected Republican Mike Lawler to a seat that had been long held by Democrats.
Although until now this has largely been a state matter, community leaders have sought to elevate it to the national arena where they could tie it to the Republican push for parental control, and where they could threaten the Democratic control of the house and thus use their leverage to pressure local democrats to give them control of the content of their children’s education.
And it’s working.
In the past year, there have been several reports of Democratic congressional representatives meddling and applying pressure on New York government officials to find a way to delay enforcement of education standards or allow for greater latitude for the yeshivas. Many of those reports were based on rumors or anonymous leaks from New York officials who opposed the push to delay enforcement of state standards.
But now it’s all out in the open.
Earlier this week, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer visited the grand rabbi of New Square, taking along House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries as well as former congressman — and current candidate — Mondaire Jones. Together they hoped to convince Skver and other local leaders to back Jones’ comeback against Lawler.
At that meeting, the Skver rabbi and his aides brought up the issue of yeshivas, and Jeffries promised that next session they would bring a “resolution” to the issue. Echoing Jeffries, Schumer brilliantly used a line that Haredim have used for many years to try to convince the world to leave them alone. Speaking as one Jew to another, Schumer asked rhetorically, “our shuls, our Yeshivas, our Shtieblach are such good places, you don’t have criminals coming out of it, and you don’t have anything else, and it works! So why try and change it?” The rabbi, hearing the music to his ears, nodded along, and added “no crime, no drugs…”
In the videos making the rounds in Haredi groups, Jones is barely seen or heard, and, unlike his opponents and fellow candidates for other races who have placed multiple full page ads in Haredi magazines in recent weeks, he’s nowhere to be found. But it’s safe to say he got the message that in order to win and then retain this seat, he’ll need to hold his nose and support efforts to give yeshivas a carve-out when it comes to compliance with secular education standards.
His opponent, Mike Lawler, has already put in the work to ingratiate himself to the Haredi community, especially on education. He worked to pass federal legislation to allow Haredi parents to skip secular education, and he facilitated introductions and meetings between Haredi leaders and congressional leaders, including Speaker Johnson, to push the case for yeshivas. Indeed, Lawler’s popularity in the Haredi community is unprecedented. As one conservative Haredi political operative, Yossi Gestetner, commented to the Times: “I’ve seen Lawler more times than I’ve seen my rabbi.”
Pat Ryan, the Democratic incumbent up in Kiryas Joel has been openly pushing the same thing. In an all-Yiddish ad in local magazines, he lists various ways he’s helped the community, such as fighting antisemitism, securing grants, and working to make health insurance cover fertility treatment. All these are literally dwarfed by the issue he lists in large letters:
And most important of all, a dedicated defender of our religious education system
He stood up without fear to defend our holy education system of our tradition, and despite exposing himself to regular hateful attacks, he stands firmly in that position.
It is clear that we must bring out each and every vote for Pat Ryan.
Another ad is all about the Yeshiva education battle:
Pat Ryan for Education. Our holy education comes under repeated attacks from all directions. The future of our generations hangs in the balance.
Pat Ryan stands up each time to fight our enemies and protect our lifestyle.
Vote for the Jew lover Pat Ryan – a brave fighter for our education.
Back to the local races, Elijah Reichlin-Melnick, a once-progressive who held the state senate seat for just two years before losing to Republican Bill Weber, has now come out full-throatedly supporting yeshivas’ independence.
In ads, he discusses “the education decree” against them and promises to defend the yeshivas. In one ad he openly boasts that he told a rabbi that he’d be their voice in the Senate to ensure that the state has no right to meddle in the yeshiva education system. Just a few years ago, he was lambasted in Haredi papers for suggesting that the state has the right to enforce education standards the same way it has the right to enforce speed limits.
Up north in Kiryas Joel, too, Senator James Skoufis, once considered a Haredi hater by local leaders has come around and earned the community’s endorsement this time around. One ad posted by Kiryas Joel’s “bloc vote” elections committee describes him as a “lion” fighting for Yeshiva independence.
It appears that between a Republican party already predisposed to defend yeshivas in the name of religious freedom, school choice, and parental control and the Democratic party’s willingness to compromise on this issue in order to win, that advocates still have an uphill battle, despite some recent wins.
Why are we dissecting a discussion of this person? Why are we giving him legitimacy? Don’t be goirase. Once a mooser is always a mooser see hilchos teffilin 39-1
אַל תְּהִי דָּן יְחִידִי,
שֶׁאֵין דָּן יְחִידִי אֶלָּא אֶחָד
Mr Hoffman and most of the commentators are mixing up בין אדם למקום ובין אדם לחברו he can do teshuva as much as he wants as long as it’s concerns between him and hashem, but the pain he caused for hundreds and thousands of people he cannot do teshuva till he begs for forgiveness as is paskend in halacha, Plus the halacha specifically States that if there is חילול השם you cannot do teshuva and even yom kippur cannot forgive that only death is accepted for that sin.
I am struggling with some of the post and many of the comments. Let’s take this fictional scenario. An adult commits an aveiro such as chilul Shabbos ch”v. He is brought to the beis din for adjudication. Kosher witnesses and proper hasra’a have been satisfied. We recognize the appropriate consequence as per Torah. But the individual claims immunity from the onesh citing his having done teshuvah. I ask, readers, what the outcome should be.
Clearly, the beis din lacks jurisdiction about teshuvah. It’s not their business. It is a matter solely between the individual and Hashem. It has no admissibility in beis din.
Whether Moster has done teshuvah or not is frankly nobody’s business. To us, he is a moseir who harmed Klal Yisroel greatly, with his evil actions still causing great hardship and loss to so many. Discussion of his sincerity is meaningless. And to me, he has not relinquished his position as an enemy to Torah observant Jews.
Please take this down.
It’s hard to imagine a more anti-Torah article on VIN
The worst damage Moster did is in legitimizing educational neglect in the eyes of the simple minded, who think “bad person opposes it, therefore it is good” is logically sound.
I’m No Authority but it is known that as severe as the chilul hashem has been, that’s as great as his kiddush hashem can be from the publics attention. May hashem show the correct path
Not a fan of Naftali’s. I tried to help him early on, but he was not willing to talk and think pragmatically. But comparing him to achar is truely sick. What Moster campaigned for would not have impact any significant number of non-chasidish schools. Students from litvish yeshivas largely come out fluent in English and with basic skills needs to function in the world. He was motivated by a profound problem in the frum community, from which he suffered tremendously. Every Jewish child deserves a Torah education, but they also deserve an education that allows them function in society and support their families. When frum people respond respond to every critic by labeling them “enemies of community” of “Torah” and even”HKBH,” they create the real chilul hashem which pushes people away from Torah. The same is even more true of those who claim that there is a “war on Torah” in Israel, which is pure sheker.
” interview with Frieda Vizel ” who herself has issues with the type of yiddishkeit she was raised in. People can change, I’m not sure where she is up to with her standards, but the interview should be seen through the lens of who is conducting it.
VIN removed my post, I wonder why.
Iyh by Beatrice Weber bkrov
Each post has a disclaimer-“please report Lashan Horah.” I am reporting it about the article (and much worse)
You wrote” He seems to be in great need of an Emunah booster.”
Me: And do you think that this essay will inspires a boost of Emunah?
You: “What particularly vexed this author was that he claimed that a good percentage of Chassidic Jews were not really believers. I have found quite the opposite.”
Me: Ok, so it’s your life experience, as an outsider to that community, vs his as an insider. What makes you so sure that you have better data on this topic than he does? Because it “vexes” you?
He doesn’t need teshuva. His opponents who promote illiteracy, innumeracy and inability to speak English do!
My uncle went to Chasam Sofer, a chasidishe yeshiva on the Lower East Side in 1930s. He received 8years of a secular education. When he went to MTA for high school, he tutored the guys in Gemara and they tutored him in math.He was articulate, well informed about currents events, and had an excellent general fund of information. He was a successful customer peddler and then an owner of a furniture store in Harlem.
I agree with Mr. Moster about requiring all children to learn English,Reading, math, health education, history, geography, biology, and basic computer skills. I’m sorry he does not feel Hashem in his life. I met him in a pizza store and watched him taking care of his two children. I was very impressed with his parenting skills.I wish him a long successful happy life. He meant well , but he suffered a lot to improve the lives of other children.
Not sure what NM’s current motivation is, but the problem that he identified originally is still a problem. When as many modern orthodox people spend their Sundays collecting in Monsey, Monroe and Lakewood as Chareidim do in Teaneck and the Five Towns, you will know that we have reached educational parity.