Roll Over Rav Maimon

Yesterday I went to the 48th Oral Torah Conference at Mosad HaRav Kook. I was interested to hear Rabbi Avraham Sherman's lecture on "The Public Responsibility of a Conversion Court". Unfortunately the lecture was marred by hecklers in the audience. The hecklers, friends/associates/students of Rabbi Chaim Druckman, acted in a way that Rabbi Druckman is probably ashamed of. They came to protest Rabbi Sherman's controversial ruling, in which Rav Sherman takes Rabbi Druckman to task because he felt that Rabbi Druckman's court was not acting according to Jewish Law. However, their behavior was not only "degradation of a Torah scholar"(Rabbi Sherman), it was a desecration of the Holy Name: heckling a Torah scholar in Jerusalem during "the nine days"! Rav Maimon, the founder of Mosad HaRav Kook, was probably rolling in his grave. I cannot help but feel that their motivation was not "the honor of the Torah" but something else entirely. May God forgive them!

Rabbi Sherman mentioned several of the points that he made in his controversial ruling. For those that read the ruling, Rabbi Sherman's lecture was mostly "chazara" (review).

Here's an exclusive Cosmic X pic of Rav Sherman lecturing: