It was his father, a disciple of both Rabbis Samson Raphael Hirsch and Ezriel Hildesheimer... who taught him to be tolerant, and to respect even the opponents of our traditional ideology. He impressed upon his son that while one may challenge alien ideas one should never attack the person advocating them. Salomon Carlebach frequently quoted the words of his master, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, as set down in the seventeenth of the "Nineteen Letters..": Be angry at none, respect all. Deplore the attitude of the opponent, grieve over apostasy, and combat his erroneous opinions with all the spiritual weaponry of our great and exalted literature. But guard yourself against any personal animosity; for it is mostly not only the opponent, but all the past before him who bear the burden of guilt"
When Joseph reminded his father than Hirsch himself did not deal too gently with his ideological adversaries, Salomon Carlebach replied, "I shall pay you one thousand marks on the spot if you can show me one word of personal animosity in any of Hirsch's writings"
"I have labored for years and years", Joseph wrote some time after (Judische Press 1907) and have not yet been able to obtain that prize."
From Ish Yehudi: The Life and Legacy of a Torah Great, Rav Joseph Tsvi Carlebach, Shearith Joseph Publications, p 34.)
Nonsense. Look at his response to Shir in collected writings. Stupid..Foolishness... Straight ad hominems.
Posted by: wolf2191 | November 27, 2008 at 11:02 AM
I guess the distinction is between calling someone's views "stupid" and calling the person "stupid". Please keep in mind that standards of polemical literature were different in the secular world at that time than now, as evident to anyone who ever read such stuff. It was a genre in itself.
Posted by: M L | November 27, 2008 at 06:01 PM