To Yaakov Yosef A
I’m definitely a follower of Toras Moshe, but I am not a follower of any Rabbi. Let me explain what I mean with a story. In 2004, I attended a certain shul (YI) whose Rav was Chabad. It was Shabbos Parshas Bo, and I sponsored the Kiddush, in honor of my father’s Yahrtzeit. The custom of the shul was for the Baal Yahrtzeit to give a speech. I gave a Dvar Torah in which I quoted Rashi that most Jews died in the ninth plague because they didn’t want to be leave Egypt, and so we should never give up hope of being redeemed, if we want to be in that twenty percent who’ll be saved by Moshiach. I sat down and then the Rabbi commented, “I want to thank Dr. “Qwerty” for sponsoring this week’s Kiddush, but I want to add that his speech is totally wrong. The Rebbe said that the Final Redemption won’t be like Yetzias Mitzrayim, because every Jew will be saved.” That’s total Chutzpah. He had every right to say that the Rebbe disagreed with me, but he had no right to say I was wrong. No Rabbi Has the final word. Judaism embraces differences of opinion. As for Rabbi Plutchok, he’s an out of the box thinker and so when he says he doesn’t know what’s right he means that he won’t “Pasken” on such questions as the age of the universe, evolution and other controversial subjects. But obviously he doesn’t stray one iota from our Mesorah and neither do I.