Rabbi's Blog

I’m sure by now that many of you have seen the newly-discovered video from the Knessiah Gedola of 1923 which is the only known video clip of the Chofetz Chaim. If you have not seen this video clip make sure you do by googling it and watching it on YouTube.  Besides the obvious merit there is to seeing the Chofetz Chaim and getting a better image in our mind of what he really looked like, I found something about the video both typical (perhaps with good reason) and frustrating. The clip of the Chofetz Chaim is about twelve seconds long and at the very end someone blocks the camera so the Chofetz Chaim could not be taped. My guess why someone would cover the camera at the very end of the video was either 1) as a joke or 2) perhaps a Halachik issue of being photographed or making an image. The second of the Ten Statements that Hashem declared on Har Sinai was not to make molten images or pictures as this can misconstrued as idolatry. Therefore, the earliest sources cited take issue with photography and concern with regard to being photographed.

I think the two reasons I gave for covering up the camera could be said of similar circumstances ninety-two years later.  There are always that overzealous people take the law into their own hands and there are, of course, the pranksters who just do things to disrupt something going on. As far as the Jewish view of being photographed or of having a portrait made, Rav Yakov Emden in his responsa Yaavetz #170 explains that allowing one’s portrait to be drawn can cause Sheidim/demons to attack the person. I would assume the same holds true for a camera, and that this is the reason why a person might shy away from being photographed. Another viewpoint is that it is ‘Al Pi Sod’, which it is based upon kabbalistic reasons for not permitting portraits or photographs. I don’t know the mekor/source, but I have heard one should not leave an image of oneself in the world after one hundred twenty years. Therefore, the Steipler Rav Yakov Yisroel Kanievsky, and the previous Toldos Aharon Rebbe, along with many others were makpid/strict not to have their photographs taken. In 1982, along with others in  my Yeshiva, I personally met the Steipler Rav;  we were not permitted to take pictures of him. Apparently, after the Steipler found that there were many pictures of him around, he was no longer makpid on the issue and  allowed people to take pictures. Ironically, the Chofetz Chaim himself, in his sefer ‘Shem Olam I pages 58-59, writes about four inventions at the turn of the century: a high powered scope to see into outer space, the telephone, the phonograph and the camera. He explains each of these inventions was created to enhance our emunah/belief, as the rabbis taught in Ethics of our Fathers, that ‘there is an eye that sees and ears that listen’ despite not being there. The words of the sages are now viewed with some reality. Similar to the concept that Moshiach will take us on eagles’ wings, can be interpreted to be the modern airplane. The Chofetz Chaim writes that due the fact that our generation was slipping in its belief/Emunah in God, Hashem felt the time was necessary to allow these items to be created for the world.

Rav Kook writes in his responsa ‘Daas Kohein’ #66 that even though there are some Chasidim who refrain from being photographed and have many good sources to rely upon for that opinion, nevertheless the accepted ruling within the Jewish people according to the law in Shulchan Aruch is that it is permissible to be photographed and to permit portraits to be painted. It appears to me that there is a basis to practice this stringency, but that this applies only for a very select few. The accepted practice today is that portraiture and photographs of people is not a problem. 

This week’s Haftorah Melachim Aleph (Kings I 18) describes Eliyahu HaNavi’s showdown with Baal (Idolatry) regarding  who had the power to draw down a fire in order to consume the sacrifice. Of course, Baal failed miserably while Eliyahu embellished the miracle by dousing the altar, the animal, and the wood with water, while the sacrifice was miraculously consumed with fire raining down from heaven. The two elements - water and fire - are opposites,  one usually controlling the other. In nature, water overpowers fire and extinguishes it. Obviously, the larger the fire the more water is needed, but ultimately water wins. The symbols of water and fire are attributed to the nations of the world and to the Jews, water being the seventy nations and fire being the Jews. The message of Eliyahu was that the goyim, the gentiles, seem to always be more powerful, controlling us just as water controls the fire. Here, though, Eliyahu demonstrates that if we are with Hashem then the fire can easily defeat the water despite the unbalanced amount of water to fire. This Haftorah is in contrast to the scenario of the golden calf in the Parsha of Ki Sisa, where through fire a nasty idol was produced clearly demonstrating that believing in a deity with such commitment can even work through fire, albeit there was no challenge of water. The Gemara in Avoda Zora discusses the temptation of idolatry and one of the conclusions is that the desire or inner need for idolatry was wiped away.  It does not exist today as it did in the ancient world through the days of the prophets.  There are those who compare idol worship to today, stating that say our constant quest for and ultimate worship of money is tantamount to  idolatry. That is a symbolic form of idolatry,, but the true idolatry of worshipping actual idols and beings does not exist within the modern world today. It is almost as if it this need for worship of a man-made object has been covered over and waved off by a hand shewing it away.

This is the imagery I noticed in the video of the Chofetz Chaim. A person’s hand seen covering the camera lenses is perhaps just trying to brush aside the notion that photography is a form of idolatry. The sad part of this ending to the video covering up the view of the Chofetz Chaim is the lack of foresight. Imagine if the person covering the camera had considered that one hundred years after filming this scene there would be an opportunity for the Jewish people to actually be able to see the saintly sage, the Chofetz Chaim. I don’t really blame the person for what he did, because at that point in time he may have believed that he was doing the right thing.

The lesson to be learned is that we need to look beyond our immediate place in time into the future and consider what repercussions might be caused by the actions we do today.  Imagine what the value of the video could have been had the person tried to capture more filming of the Chofetz Chaim and other great leaders rather than blocking their images from our view. For us today to glean a deeper insight into that world of pre-Holocaust Europe would have so much sentimental and uplifting value.  Let us use the fire of the past to help us deal with the current water of today so as to hasten the time when the fire that comes from Hashem will once again reign over the  world, wiping out those who seek to destroy us speedily in our day.

Ah Gut Shabbos,

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky