Rabbi Student Defends His Ban and Criticism of XGH, Outlines Reshimu Policy
In response to my post on the banning of Extreme Godol Hador from the Hirhurim blog, Rabbi Student noted the following in comment three of that post:
1. I have banned XGH a number of times over the past year or two and he keeps coming back. Most recently, I banned him at the end of July.
2. As a general rule with some exceptions, I do not allow heresy on my blog or in the comments sections to my post. Note that I do allow exceptions. Reshimu does not yet have a set policy on this in general but I have been given permission to maintain my current policies on my section of Reshimu. I answered XGH about this on Hirhurim repeatedly. I only lashed out at him for a very specific reason and after numerous attempts to stop the discussion.
3. I have no interest in frum skeptics and while I wish them well as people, I do not want the types of discussions they carry out on my blog. Those discussions detract from the experience of the vast majority of my readers.
4. As to my using unorthodox (and un-Orthodox) venues, I have never indicated any opposition to doing so and I am surprised that it is even an issue worthy of discussion. Although, of course every case has to be evaluated on its own merits.
3 comments
Unfortunately, the problem with Rabbi Student is not simply who he bans and why he bans them – it is that he sometimes bans commenters and deletes comments without notification, so others reading may not realize the thread has been altered by Rabbi Student in his favor.
Rabbi Student also bans people who prove him wrong or make him look foolish, even if they are Orthodox.
He banned me when I still was Orthodox. He once banned me for quoting a Talmud Yerushalmi verbatim and in context. (Talmud Yerushalmi Shabbat 1:4 for those who may wish to look it up.)
I don’t wish to comment about Reshimu directly at this time. I consider Luke Ford a friend and, while “Tzemach” (now “Ben”) “Atlas” and I have clashed in the past, we’ve also had many areas of agreement.
But I will say that I find the idea of censoring comments because they raise questions about one’d beliefs or cite scientific data that disproves one’s beliefs to be very troubling.
XGH is on an honest search for truth. Rabbi Gil Student is not. Enough said.
While I mostly agree with your post, this article by Obadiah Shoher presents the haredim in somewhat different light http://samsonblinded.org/blog/not-true-rabbis.htm Shoher argues against haredim isolating themselves from other Jews instead of bringing the religion to masses.
> 1. I have banned XGH a number of times over the past year or two and he keeps coming back. Most recently, I banned him at the end of July.
This may or may not be true. Gil never formally banned me or told me I was banned, or explained why. I actually know the reason why, and it’s not because of anything I wrote which was any worse than anything else anyone else wrote.\
> 2. As a general rule with some exceptions, I do not allow heresy on my blog or in the comments sections to my post.
I wasn’t banned for heresy, so this is disingenuous. Also, I asked him about Reshimu, and he avoided the question. He also admitted avoiding the question. He lashed out at me cos I hit a sore spot. He owes me an apology.
3. Feh.
4. Hypocrite. He has a problem with me and DB but not with Luke Ford?
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