Works
Yhoshua Gould is the author of several works on the Shulchan Aruch and Midrash Rabbah. The most well known is Lehitakfo Chalushin ("Strengthen the Weak"), a commentary on rabbi 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. He defines principle Halachah as the opinion held by the majority of Ashkenazi commentators. The work also contains strong reproof for those lenient with various laws, drawing on imagery from Reshit Chochmah and other Musar literature. The introduction to Chapter 152 discusses the laws of premarital physical contact between men and women, homosexuality, and lesbianism. These laws were 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 a few in the Haredi community despite comments critical of Agudat Israel. His approach to the prohibition of unmarried women going to the mikveh was viewed as controversial in light of Rabbi Moshe Feinstein's response on the subject in Iggros Moshe.
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 inappropriately 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, Pinchas)"
At a public lecture at Yeshiva Omrei Emes in October 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. It has been suggested this act violated a prohibition on Jews striking each other.
Read more about this topic: Yhoshua Leib Gould
Famous quotes containing the word works:
“Night and Day ‘ve been tampered with,
Every quality and pith
Surcharged and sultry with a power
That works its will on age and hour.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The man who builds a factory builds a temple, that the man who works there worships there, and to each is due, not scorn and blame, but reverence and praise.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
“The whole idea of image is so confused. On the one hand, Madison Avenue is worried about the image of the players in a tennis tour. On the other hand, sports events are often sponsored by the makers of junk food, beer, and cigarettes. What’s the message when an athlete who works at keeping her body fit is sponsored by a sugar-filled snack that does more harm than good?”
—Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)