Eben Shapiro (11/24/2007 12:34:00 PM)
'eccentric rabbis'? That is a very inappropriate and condescending thing to say. Langer would, I am sure, be the first to disagree with your description. Belz was a selfed contained 'empire' of the soul, as any reader of 'Nine Gates' can clearly see. Eccentricity is a subjective term, only able to be viewed from without. If one comes upon a group of people standing in a circle with their backs toward the outsider, one may take the view that this group is eccentric, but until one is part of the circle one will never know what the group is doing and seeing. Belz was a part of a world that ceased to exist after the Great War (1914-1918) and the subsequent decimation of Eastern European Judaism. Certainly anyone who promotes the appreciation of poetry should be leery of calling any group 'eccentric' and if this is meant as a some kind of compliment, I think a better word could have been found |
Free
Poetry E-Book: