Methods of 21st century Rabbinical book banning: The case of Deal Declassified

Deal Declassified, is a modest unassuming magazine, that for ten years now, has been catering to the hordes of Syrian Jews who leave Brooklyn to spend their summers in Deal, NJ. Containing all the information a resident of Deal may need, the magazine contains lists of synagogues, restaurants and other businesses that cater to the community, as well as advertisement of local establishments and articles of local interest.

The magazine, which is published anonymously, added a feature in this years issue titled "Venters to the editor", one of which rubbed several Rabbis in the community the wrong way. The letter takes issue with the practice of certain untrained community men, who achieve fame as great motivational speakers, and then suddenly assume full responsibilities of the Rabbinate. "Not every speaker, is a Rabbi. Not every Rabbis is a Talmud Chacham" states the letter. The letter describes how some of these people suddenly become experts in Halachah, Hashkafah, Marriage Counseling etc, resulting in numerous blunders.

The response from a few individual community Rabbis, who felt they were personally targeted was swift. Due to the anonymity of the magazine, the method used was to track down the advertisers, and intimidate them to revealing the publisher, who was then located and forced to immediately cease the distribution of the publication. The publisher has since made a hasty sale of the publication and time will tell if it will have ceased to exist.

Letter in response to Torah Scholars 2014 article

continuation of letter in response to Torah Scholars 2014 article on left column