Toras Avigdor Junior Vayigash

The truth is, I don't think Rabbi Miller himself would ever have gone this far. But this adaptation is what people get from his hashkafah. I am making a mecha'ah, as insignificant as it will be. I am going to copy to the actual post some the comments below for elaboration of the objections to the TA Jr. (I am afraid of the commenter to which I responded deleting his comments and mine along with his.) Overall, the main middah that the TA Jr seems to promote is smugness. Epic, extraordinary smugness. See the comments below the images from the TA JR, and see the words of the Seridei Eish below them. Note: I received feedback from the TA office. See their response and my response at the end of the post.

One commenter wrote:

I'm honestly confused. There's a lot to nitpick here but I'm unsure what exactly it is that's upsetting you.

To which I responded:

While the glorification of private airplane travels sickens me, as it did Rabbi Avremel Ausband zt"l in his famous mecho'oh on the phenomenon; while the glorification of conspicuous consumption and ostentation disturbs me as well, as it should anyone who values הצנע לכת עם ה"א, it is the denigration of goyim, their relegation to almost subhuman status, that is my primary issue with this piece. It is ludicrous and wrong to assert that an ultimate simcha cannot take place in the presence of non-Jews. On a side note, the existence of the viewing portico in the Beis HaMikdash implicitly rejects the premise.

Presumably the same commenter subsequently wrote:

Can’t figure out what’s wrong here. I called the Toras Avigdor office and they sent me to the exact place in the audio lectures where R Miller says this vort. So they’re adapting from a true source. Is the problem that you disagree with the idea? Or just that it shouldn’t be published in a public format because it disparages gentiles?

To which I responded with two comments:

1. I was being dan Rabbi Miller l'kaf zechus. If I am wrong in that, that is sad. Yes, the idea is repugnant. You should invite the non-Jews with whom you are on friendly terms to your simchas. You should be warm and gracious towards them, and it should enhance your simcha to make a real Ohr LaGoyim. This should not have been published in a public forum and should certainly not have been presented as educational for children because it is it wrong.

2. BTW, I do not believe Rabbi Miller, who was raised in the ways of Mussar, glorified ostentation and conspicuous consumption. The anti-goyim issue he was, unfortunately, known for. But I cannot believe he would be happy with the description of the outlandish spectacle.

Someone mentioned this to me over Shabbos, and I am sharing it here, since it is entirely apropos, notwithstanding that I vigorously protested the publication of these letters between Rabbi Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg zt"l, the Seridei Eish, and Prof. Atlas of Cincinnati at the time. Useful as they are, there is no doubt the SE did not want them published. I got a mention in Rabbi JJ Schachter's semi-apology in the next issue of the TuM journal. Since the damage was done and they were published, they can presumably be quoted at this point. You can access the article at https://archive.org/details/704650. This was written by the Seridei Eish:

TA responded to this post:

From tape 428. One of many places where Rav Miller discusses it.

In the Torah you remember how Yosef Hatzaddik had disguised himself from his brothers during the entire story until the end. Then it says velo yachol Yosef lehisapek, Yosef could no longer contain himself. Vayikra hotziu kol ish meialai, so Yosef was now about to announce to his brothers who he is, ani Yosef. But first he said hotziu kol ish meialai, everybody should leave except Yosef and his brothers. Now what does it mean lo yachol Yosef lehisapek, he couldn’t restrain himself, lekol hanitzavim alav, because of all those who were standing there so Rashi says lo hayah yachol lisbol, Yosef couldn't bear, sheyehiyu Mitzrayim nitzavim alav, that Mitzrayim should be standing, Egyptians should be standing there. Rashi goes on and explains it according to his derech but that's the pshat. When Yosef was about to make himself known to his brothers he announced that all the foreigners, all the Egyptians have to leave. Velo amad ish ito behisvadeh Yosef el echav, no man stood with him when Yosef made himself known to his brothers.

Now Rashi says his reason and it certainly is a true and good reason. Rashi says because he didn't want the Egyptians to see how his brothers were shamed or embarrassed when he would say ani Yosef. But that is a prat. It's one detail. There's more than that, however. There's a general principle here. This you have to know. Rashi like ma'amarei Chazal, they don't say the full pshat. They say a chiddush, an addition, a detail of the pshat. But the general pshat is said by the passuk. The passuk states Yosef Hatzaddik didn't want any stranger to be present when he was about to rejoin his brothers, to be reunited with his brothers. That's the plain meaning.

Yosef Hatzaddik had been separated from his brothers for very many years and now finally they were being reunited. But Yosef Hatzaddik understood what it meant to be reunited with his brothers. It was to him like neilah. Not just one brother. All his brothers. And what kind of brothers? Shivtei Kah. And therefore that moment was such a kedushah that he didn't want any arel to be present. Just like a goy cannot come into the Mikdash, even where temei'im could come goyim couldn't come. So Yosef gave orders hotziu kol ish meialai. Later when they inquired why did you give this order so he could say my brothers might have been embarrassed. They didn't want anybody to be present. But there's a deeper reason and that was the kedushah of the reuniting of Yosef and his brothers. 

Like it says hazar hakarev yumas. Anybody who is not entitled to enter the premises of the Beis Hamikdash, yumas. He's chayav misah beyedei shamayim. 

There used to be a sign outside the azarah of the Beis Hamikdash in Greek, written in Greek with these words hazar hakarev yumas, and the goyim were very careful. The beis din shel kohanim would execute them. And that's why when they made the churban Beis Hamikdash one of their first interests was to penetrate as far as they could lefnei velifnim. To enter the Kodesh Hakadashim. They were always so chagrined and so angry that they were excluded.

And so when Yosef met his brothers again after so many years it was a time of such kedushah that no stranger had a right to be present.

However, do not make any error in thinking it was just that moment. The kedushah was more noticeable then after such a big absence but the kedushah continued from then onward. Now let's understand this because it's a big inyan. The gemara says kol bei asarah shechintah shraya. It's a statement. Kol bei asarah shechintah shraya, wherever you have ten Jews the shechinah comes to rest. Now the shechinah doesn't do things arbitrarily. There has to be a reason for that. And the reason is it's a makom kadosh. Now it's not talking about ten Jews who come to daven. Ten Jews who come to trade diamonds. That's how you have to understand. When it says tehilaso bekehal chassidim, the praise of Hashem is in the kehal of chassidim, righteous people who come together, it doesn't mean they have to open their mouths and say praise of Hashem. Certainly they should. But tehilaso, the praise of Hashem is bekehal chassidim, when they come together. That's the praise of Hashem.

In two ways. First of all ten Jews, all of them are loyal to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, to His Torah. That's a demonstration. Ten chassidim, all frum people, all who refuse to drink chalav akum. Every one of them let's say keeps Chol Hamoed. They keep all dikdukei mitzvos. Ten Jews like that. I'm talking about old-time frum Jews. That's certainly tehilaso. It's a praise of Hashem. Tehilaso bekehal chassidim.

But there's another reason why the shechinah comes upon them and that is because the ichud, the union of frum Jews is a kedushah in itself. Now this is something that we don't see but we have plenty of proofs for it. When Jews come together there's a kedushah on them. That's the principle kol bei asarah shechintah shraya. Now learn this. It's a gemara in Yevamos. The gemara says in Yevamos on the passuk lehiyos lecha le'Elokim ulezaracha acharecha, Hashem promised to be to you an Elokim and to your children after you.

To which I responded:

I don't think what Rabbi Miller writes is true. It's just drush, and, in my opinion, bad drush. But you extrapolated from it in a way that I do not believe even Rabbi Miller ever intended, to assert that you should not invite non-Jews to your simchas, and that your school should not employ non-Jews. The dehumanization implicit (practically explicit) in your extrapolation is antithetical to basic respect for non-Jews, especially ones with whom you have a relationship and to whom you can manifest a Kiddush Hashem.