"Orthodoxy, Then and Now"

[ymarkov]

By Dr. Yitzchok Levine

Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn was the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe (widely known as the Frierdiker - Yiddish for "previous" - Rebbe). He served in that position for 30 years, from 1920 until his passing on Shabbos morning, January 28, 1950. He was buried at Montefiore Cemetery in Queens, New York. Recently, someone sent me a link to a video clip of his levaya. From the clip one can see a number of external differences between Orthodoxy circa 1950 and Orthodoxy today.

First, most of the men in the crowd are wearing hats and coats that are not black. Indeed, gray seems to have been the favored color for men's hats at the time. Second, the majority of the men shown are clean shaven. Third, men and women are standing together in the crowd. Apparently, no separation of the sexes was imposed upon those gathered to give the Rebbe a final tribute. In short, this assemblage does not look anything like what one would see today at the funeral of a well-known rebbe or rosh yeshiva.

Orthodox Judaism was indeed different in 1950.

Full article at http://www.jewishpress.com/pageroute.do/38591

Comments

[antidos.livejournal.com]

If you would see the photos of the students of Mir yeshivah circa 1930 and from Shanghai period, you'd be even more surprised. They wore light-colored suits ! One would be expelled from yeshivah in such a suit now.