Yhoshua Leib Gould

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Yhoshua Gould, also known as the Lehitakfo Chalushin, is a posek and educator belonging to the Satmar Hassidic movement. He is affiliated with the Edah HaChareidis and is suspected by the Anti-Defamation League of being the engineer of Obsidian Project Theta.

[edit] Works and Controversy

Yhoshua Gould is the author of several scholarly works on the Shulchan Aruch and Midrash Rabbah. The most well known is Lehitakfo Chalushin (Aramaic, Strengthen the Weak), a commentary on Shlomo Ganzfried's Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. Lehitakfo Chalushin comments on each paragraph, explaining various opinions on each law and clarifying if the law as brought down by the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch is a leniency, stringency, or the principle halachah. The work also contains strong reproof for those lenient with various laws, and an entire section on the laws of premarital physical contact between men and women, homosexuality, and lesbianism which was absent in the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch. The introduction to the work states explicitly that it was written for Modern Orthodox youth, converts to Judaism, and the newly religious.

The work was hailed as an important contribution by many in the Charedi community despite comments critical of Agudat Israel, but greeted with offence by Modern Orthodox and Religious Zionists who he compares to worshipers of the biblical idol Molech. His novel approach to the prohibition of unmarried women going to the mikveh was viewed as controversial in light of Moshe Feinstein's responsa on the subject in Iggros Moshe; and his use of the epithet "Rapists" to describe those Rabbis who give unmarried girls permission to use the mikveh was seen as offensive and not becoming for a rabbi of his stature. An organ of the Daati Leumi political party in Israel suggested Yhoshua Gould be brought up on charges for incitement due to his ruling that seminary deans and Rosh Yeshivas who give inapropriately lenient rulings to their students could be physically harmed if the matter involved questions of faith, matters of bloodshed, or sexual sins. He writes, "The fools are thieves, makers of prostitutes, and murderers in two worlds. About them it is written, 'He who sheds the blood of an evildoer is considered to have brought a pleasing sacrifice.' (Bamidbar Rabbah)"

At a public lecture at Yeshiva Omrei Emes in the winter of 2005, Yhoshua Leib Gould showed that he held of his opinion literally when he slapped a yeshivah student who said there is no prohibition in Torah Law against lesbianism.

[edit] Controversial Statements

Rabbi Gould is known for his fiery, often controversial statements. Some of them are well known after being published in the Haredi press, or in the Israeli press in general.

"What is this craziness of giving permission for single girls to go to the mikveh because you're afraid they will get kareis and they want to fornicate. First, who told you such a thing is possible, for a mikveh to make a single girl pure? Second, that's what they get. Why try to save them? They are rebelling against a great King and he's going to put them down like the trash they are. Why does the sin have to come off his tab. Why protect them from consequences in a way that is 100% forbidden. Why not protect them from the sin in a way that is not. If a girl comes to you asking for permission to go to the mikveh, tell her, 'Yes.' You will give her permission and officiate the wedding the next day. If she says she doesn't want to get married, or she's not ready, but she just can't control herself, give her a straight razor and tell her to cut her wrist to the bone. We are required to lay our lives down rather than violate the laws of niddah, and if she really can't control herself, she should go to the bathroom and do her duty."

"What is this craziness of youth at risk. A 15 year old wants to smoke pot and act like a goy, so we send him to camp. He's a youth at risk. Do you people ever run out of titles for sinners? If he's born into a non-religious family, he's not a sinner, he's a kidnapped child. If he is born into a religious family, he's not a sinner, he's a youth at risk. What's this craziness of 'Youth?' Where in Judaism do we call boys, 'Youth?' Is he Bar Mitzvah? Then he's a man. Is he acting the nut and doing sins. Then he's a sinning man. Are they huge sins? Don't send him to camp. Kick him out of the house. Do it in front of the whole neighborhood, and make sure the younger kids see it too. That's what happens to sinners. It's a lot less fun than camp. You want to join him? Start sinning."

"Do the majority of Satmar Chasidim stand shoulder to shoulder with the Neturei Karta who meet with Arafat and go to Iran? That was your question. No. Absolutely 100% not. To say such a thing would be an enormous sin. We do not stand shoulder to shoulder with such people. We can't. Our chassidus was designed to be very Baalei Bustik (Made for a working man). We cannot stand with such people. We have to chear them on from below. They are heroes and we are working men. They are champions, and we are normal. Let me make sure you understand properly. The men who do these things are enormous heroes who save Jewish lives and sanctify G_d's name in the face of the Zionist heresy whcich is the worst heresy since the worship of Baal Pe'or. There are not many people alive who can stand shoulder to shoulder with such giants."

Persondata
NAME	Leib Gould, Yhoshua
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Contemporary Israeli, Sarmarer Hasidim posek and educator
DATE OF BIRTH
PLACE OF BIRTH	Israel
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH