"Haredi media justifies disdain of great rabbis"

Rabbi Eliezer Melamed writes in his column weekly in 'Besheva', about the meetings of religious-national rabbis with Gedolei Torah and Hasidic Rebbes, and explains why his father chose not to participate:

"The Haredi media published that my father, Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed shlita, of the D"L (national religious) public rabbis went along with other D"L rabbis to the homes of great Hasidic Haredi Rebbes, a report which appeared elsewhere.

Actually, my father did not go up to any Rebbe's home. Though he was invited, he did not want to participate., And even though he is very much in favor of unity among all who observe the Torah and the commandments, these meetings were not intended for unity but to achieve an important goal for the hareidi public at the present, and then those who want to talk with them – are respectfully invited to come.

Unity is based on mutual respect. This is accepted all over the world, this is a basic matter of 'Derech Eretz'. When a minister of a certain state comes to visit his associate, it is basic courtesy for him to then return the visit. This is also common for rabbis. Anyone who has read the biography of Maran Harav Kook zt"l, remembers how whenever important rabbis came to Jerusalem, after having visited Harav Kook zt"l, Maran Harav would reciprocate a visit to the place they were staying.

And when one is not interested in a personal relationship but a meeting that will benefit both parties, one initiates a meeting on neutral grounds, and thus one side is not superior to the other. And when one party is interested in help from the other side, he bothers himself to go to the one he needs.

Indeed when a small Rav goes up to the house of a great Rav, the greater Rav does not need to return a reciprocal visit. And when a great Rav needs help from a small Rav, sometimes he calls the small Rav to come to him. And this is in fact how things were presented in the hareidi media, that the great rabbis of the haredi public invited the small da"lim to them.

Thereby the Haredi media justify their contempt for great rabbis who go according to the way of Harav Kook, who are no less in greatness and lamdanus and righteousness from hareidi rabbis. This statement is not meant to create petty accounting which creates a distance, but to set basic conditions for a distinguished gathering that brings people together and creates peace."

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!