Yhoshua Leib Gould - Works

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.