OrthoWatch

Old vs New

2012-01-13T10:14:00.002-05:00

There's an article in Ha'aretz that discusses how chareidim treat their gedolim when they get old. Carrying them around, saying things in their names, pretending they are fine when they're not - the total lack of respect towards them is astonishing. I won't paste the whole article as it's kind of large, but I encourage you to read it.

The main point of the article is that after these Rabbonim die, there will be nobody to replace them that can demand the same respect they did. Everybody today has every detail of their lives available online, and people will look down on whoever becomes the new chareidi gedolim.

I don't think it's because of the internet. I think that the chareidi rabbonim really aren't as good as the previous generation was. Not just the genera; rule that each generation sinks slightly lower - I think their principles have changed.

Chareidim now are all about government funding for schools, funding for kollel guys, etc. Gone are the days where R' Gifter zt"l bashed YU for allowing a gay club in one of the grad schools so as not to lose government funding. Obviously some (myself included) disagreed with R' Gifter, but at least he stood up for his principles. Now, we get Agudah honoring Bloomberg who pushed for (and succeeded in) legalizing gay marriage in NY. Why do they honer him? Funding.

The lack of leadership is not because people won't respect them. It's because they're not qualified.

Eidah HaChareidis is completely nuts

2012-01-10T10:00:00.002-05:00

VIN reported that they authenticated a letter that was put out by the Eidah HaChareidis in Israel supporting the Sikrikim in Bet Shemesh.

How anyone can support these crazies is beyond me. The only explanation is that they are just as crazy as the ones committing these terrible acts. I wonder if Tuvia Weiss will go out and spit on girls. I hope he does it and gets arrested so all can see what a faker he is.

The logical conclusion - Beit Shemesh

2011-12-29T08:16:00.002-05:00

I'm sure everyone knows about what's going on in Beit Shemesh right now. If you don't, there are plenty of places you can look it up.

I applaud the fact that the chareidim are finally standing up to these fanatics. But that's only for now. I am just worried about the future.

You see, people keep talking about the "Talibanization" of chareidi Judaism. How they keep adding more unnecessary chumros that they expect everyone to keep. This is not only the crazies - this is chareidi Judaism as a whole. For now, they disagree with these extremists, so they're against them. But where does the current path of chareidi Judaism lead?

Let's look at a few things the crazies have done, and compare it to the chareidim:

• The crazies have demanded that women’s clothing stores not display their wares in the window.
• A few years ago, R’ Ahron Schechter from Chaim Berlin made a stink when a store across from his yeshiva displayed women’s wigs in the window. The display was ultimately taken down.

• Clothing stores were told to only stock clothing in one color
• Chareidi men dress in two colors, and women have a list of colors they’re not allowed to wear

• Women are forced to dress according to rules way beyond the halachos of tznius
• Chareidi women are forced to do the same

The main difference is that the chareidim, for the most part, have not gotten violent about it - yet. But if they continue down this path, the logical conclusion is for them to be just like the crazy fanatics in Beit Shemesh.

Yeshiva Sanity

2011-12-28T11:27:00.002-05:00

Chump finally ended his blog. I'm thrilled about it, I only wish it didn't take so long. As always, if anyone knows who Chump is, please let me know. I have some friends who would love to find out, and I'd love to oblige them. Chump needs to get what he deserves - and it's not a medal.

There's a new blog that took over from Chump. It's called Yeshiva Sanity. I took a look at it, and was very happy with what I saw. Real discussion, in a good, normal tone, without the hatred that was spewed on Chump's blog.

Yeshiva Sanity, I wish you luck!

Tell the people!

2011-12-14T15:06:00.002-05:00

Unfortunately, this past week some very bad news came out of two Modern Orthodox schools. TABC in Teaneck and the JEC in Elizabeth both sent out a letter to parents stating that a former teacher was involved in some inappropriate sexual contact with students. The teacher had been at the JEC, left to go to TABC, then quit that school also. I wonder why?

The letters told parents that it had occurred, and said the police were immediately notified.

Chareidi schools need to learn from this. It was a terrible thing, of course, but let's have some good come of it - let's show how to handle these situations. Calling the police immediately, and admitting that it happened, without any cover-up. Take note, Agudas Yisroel of America. This is the way to do things.

Chareidi 10 commandments

2011-11-29T16:05:00.002-05:00

I saw a post by Sitting on the Fence that I enjoyed. I disagreed with some parts (or thought I had some better ways to write it), so I modified it somewhat. here's my version, much of which is the same:

1. I am the Lord your God who took you out of Egypt. You must therefore believe in me, the authority of the Torah, and all rabbinic law that came after.

2. Do not have any other gods before me. Only have Rabbis who you treat as Gods. To get around this, call it “Daas Torah”.

3. Do not have any graven images unless it is a picture of a chareidi Rabbi. Those pictures are required. All others are forbidden. If a Rabbi’s wife is in the picture, be sure to crop her out (as was done with the Chofetz Chaim).

4. Keep the shabbos holy. For men: Six days you shall rest, and on the seventh day you shall rest as well. For women: six days you shall work multiple jobs, and on the seventh day you shall let your husband rest while you watch all 12 of your kids.

5. Honor your father and mother as long as they are frum enough for you. If there are chumros they don’t accept, force it upon them. If they still refuse, move out and find out which Rebbe of yours will take you in.

6. Do not murder, however beating-up dissenters is permitted

7. Don't do anything "not tznius"

8. Do not steal anything unless the money will support learning

9. Do not bear any witness against a chareidi neighbor, even if it means dozens of children will be molested.

10. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife unless her father is rich.

11. All of the above can be suspended if it means Yeshivos will get extra funding.

Driving people away

2011-11-29T15:41:00.002-05:00

Once again, I am shocked at how the chareidi world continues to drive people away. At the Agudah Convention this past weekend, a meeting was held to invited people only. They were mainly Rabbis of shuls and schools. The meeting was to tell them how to deal with allegations of abuse. No parent/spouse/friend was to report anything to the police. They were to inform the Rabbi. The Rabbi would determine if a report was warranted. If it was, a special liaison in the DA's office was set up to report to.

In the past, there were people in the DA's office who were used to squash allegations and make the reports disappear. This is likely happening again - if the reports ever get there at all. The Rabbis have to determine that first. I've read people questioning this decision. Looks like people are starting to stand up, and don't want to take the chareidi oppression anymore.

On Saturday night, Shimshy Sherer, the son of R' Moshe Sherer, spoke about how post-chareidism is destroying Judaism. Well, newsflash for you: post-chareidism is when people are disenfranchised with chareidi Judaism. That means chareidim are destroying themselves, and post-chareidism is the result. He just wanted to try and place the blame on someone else again.

A third thing is something I read on Harry Maryle's blog. He questions why, at R' Finkel's funeral, there were almost no non-observant Jews.

When R' SZ Auerbach passed away, there were 250,000 people at the funeral. They included taxi drivers, soldiers, and many other non-observant people. Why? Because R' Auerbach, despite not sharing their beliefs, cared for them, and showed them that he cared. Nowadays, chareidim don't care about anyone who isn't like them. Instead of trying to bridge the gaps, they just widen them.

Zumba

2011-11-29T10:49:00.002-05:00

It was recently reported that a frum gym in Lakewood cancelled their Zumba class for women. Why? Apparently, the class isn't Jewish enough, and the Rabbis told them to stop it. I'm sure the Rabbis have no idea what a Zumba class is, and are going on what they've been told by the people looking to stop it. That's what happens in most of these cases.

So what exactly is wrong with a Zumba class? They say the music and dance moves have a decidedly non-Jewish flair to them. How so? Because the music has a Latin beat? There are Jewish songs out there with reggae beats, rock beats, jazz beats, etc. Why is Latin wrong?

As for the dance moves, so what if it involves gyrating your hips? It's a class only for women. They're not doing it in the streets. So it's seductive and sexy. So what? A woman is supposed to be sexy for her husband. Let her go home and show how she can gyrate. I'm sure he'll love it.

This latest ban is once again a success for those looking to impose their crazy chumros, and a blow against those looking to practice true Judaism.

Think for yourself

2011-11-07T11:34:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine showed me something that Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote on Parshas Noach.

The question was asked, how could Noach go from such a high level to have his downfall where, in a drunken stupor, he gets castrated by his son and/or grandson? R' Sacks gives the following answer:

If you look at the Parshah, every time it says Noach did something that God asked him to, it says "As God had commanded him". In the beginning of the Parshah, it says that Noach walked together with God. Let's contrast this to Avraham, who it says "walked before God".

The Midrash says that Noach erred by waiting for God to tell him to leave the Ark. He should have gone out on his own much earlier. Why did he wait? Because Noach walked with God. He did not know how to do things on his own, without instruction. On his own, he was lost. That was why he walked with God.

Avraham, on the other hand, knew what God expected, and did things on his own. He was able to take what he'd been told, and apply it to other things by himself. Therefore, Avraham walked before God.

After the flood, God had stopped giving Noach instructions. Therefore, Noach had his downfall. He didn't know how to live properly without getting the instructions.

After reading some comments to my previous post, I realized that these people are doing the same thing Noach did. So the Chazon Ish said something 60 years ago. Times have changed. Circumstances have changed. If the Chazon Ish were here today, he likely would not say the same thing he did back then. But these people are incapable of independent thought. They are only capable of following exactly what they are told by their Rabbis. As someone once told me, "They won't blow their nose unless they checked with their Rebbe that it was ok."

This is the mistake of Noach, and it will lead to their downfall.

"Chareidi girl in IDF" article gets removed

2011-11-03T08:46:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, Matzav had a story up about a chareidi girl who joined the Israeli Air Force. It was written by her father, who was extremely proud of her. She promised not to compromise on her standards, and she didn't. Not only that, she also ended up helping other soldiers become closer to God. When she finished her service, her chiloni sergeant told her father that she had made a huge kiddush Hashem. Coming from a chiloni, this is extremely high praise.

Of course, most of the comments on Matzav were derogatory. Things like, "This is not a kiddush Hashem, a Jewish girl has no place in the IDF" and other similar comments. Eventually, Matzav took the story down.

I think this girl should be an example to other chareidim in Israel. She was able to serve in the IDF and not only keep her standards of religion, but even help others become more religious. What's wrong with that? Matzav just gave in to the pressure of its commentators and erased a fantastic story that should inspire everyone. Shame on them.

Gilad is coming home!

2011-10-11T14:55:00.002-04:00

Reports are coming in from all over that a deal has been reached on the release of Gilad Shalit. People are debating whether it is right or wrong to release hundreds of terrorists to get back one person.

I don't know the answer to that. I choose to focus on the positive thing here - after five years, it looks like Gilad is finally coming home!

I had tears in my eyes when I read the report. YWN reports that Netanyahu called Gilad's parents to inform them. I can only imagine the joy they are feeling right now.

Just a short time ago, we all davened for Gilad to have a good year, and asked that this be the year Gilad gets to come home. Thank You, Hashem, for answering our tefillos in the affirmative!!!

Money & The New Year

2011-10-10T08:45:00.003-04:00

This year is the first time I have a kid in school, and am paying tuition. I was nervous about it. Everyone knows how crazy the costs can be. I was talking to my Rabbi (not from my shul, it's someone I'm very close with), and I said, "I know that the money all comes from God, and ultimately it's all in His hands. But I'm not at the level yet where I don't worry because of it!"

I also asked him about my arba minim. For years, I've always spent a lot of money on my set. My grandfather used to take me with him when he bought his set, and he made sure to get a nice set. He stressed the importance of it to me, and I've tried to follow in that path. This year, money is tight, and I was debating buying a cheap set to save a few dollars. My Rabbi told me, "If you've done that every year, don't give it up! Hashem will give you the money, you'll see."

Well, I called my supplier and told him to be on the lookout for the nicest set he could find, without any thought of the cost. A few days later, something happened that gave me a decent amount of money - a few thousand dollars, that I hadn't been expecting. It was clear to me that God was giving me the money for my arba minim.

I called my Rabbi and told him what happened. He was thrilled to hear it. I told him, "You know, after seeing this happen, I'm not as worried about tuition anymore." A day later, another thing happened, and I got another source of income - one that is paying just slightly more than my monthly tuition bill.

I did not make this up. This really happened to me over the past few weeks. Sounds crazy, right? But it just goes to prove what I've written before - money comes from God. If you really believe in that, God will take care of you. I'm proof of that. Let the tuition chumps complain all they want. They don't realize that if tuition dropped by $10,000 per year, their income would probably drop also. The money was given to you for a reason, and if God wants you to have more, all the tuition in the world won't stop you from getting it.

Gay marriage, money, and politics

2011-09-12T08:48:00.004-04:00

First off, I know it's been awhile since I posted. I was extremely busy for the past month, and haven't had much time for anything.

There's an election this week in Brooklyn to replace Anthony Weiner's spot in Congress. The race is between the Democratic David Weprin and the Republican Bob Turner. Weprin is supposedly an Orthodox Jew, so you'd think he'd have the support of the Jewish community, right? Well, not quite.

Weprin is currently a member of the NY State Assembly. He voted in favor of gay marriage in NY. He was quoted as saying, “It has nothing to do with my personal religious beliefs. I am not running for Rosh Yeshiva.” The chareidi Rabbis got together and put out a letter telling people not to vote for him, support him, or aid him in any way.

While I agree that from a Jewish standpoint, someone who votes for gay marriage should not be supported, I question the Rabbis about this. After all, these are the same people who recently honored Mike Bloomberg at an Agudah dinner, even though Bloomberg was one of the strongest backers of the gay marriage bill. Why was he honored? Because he got some funding for their yeshivos.

I wonder if Weprin ever secured any funding for yeshivos. He probably hasn't. After all, if he had, they wouldn't be condemning him. They'd be lining up to endorse him.

Bloodthirsty mobs

2011-07-13T18:58:00.002-04:00

A tragedy occurred this week in Brooklyn. A young boy was kidnapped, killed, and dismembered by a Jewish man. I was devastated when I heard what had happened. I have my own children, and I can't imagine what his boy's parents are going through.

On Yeshiva World, the following was posted in the Coffee Room:
If you support the death penalty for Leiby's murderer sign in this post. Lets lobby for justice!

Many people voiced their approval. I submitted a post about it. It was published in its entirety, but was later edited to remove this:
Lastly, I urge you all to remember the case of Martin Grossman, a year and a half ago. This was also a murderer, who executed a police officer. At the time, because Martin was Jewish, everyone was calling for his life to be spared. Why is this guy any different?

All the people who begged for clemency for Martin Grossman and now call for blood are hypocrites, plain and simple. But what more do we expect from the chareidi crowd at YWN?

Chump is falling apart

2011-06-17T08:47:00.002-04:00

I was told recently that I should check Chump's blog daily. Why? Because it's really falling apart. He used to boast about how many people came to his site, and how many comments he'd get. Well, I read some of the comments. Apparently there is a decent amount of wife-swapping going on in Teaneck. Did you know that? I didn't - at least until I read Chump's blog. Someone even wrote that they should start a new group for readers of the blog!

Chump has taken to disabling comments on almost all of his posts. So much for his idea of open discussions.

Chump, I'll summarize all of your posts here, then you can close down.

Scholarships are bad. If you're receiving a scholarship, you are unfairly taking money from others, and should move out of Bergen County. Go to Lakewood, where tuition is cheap.
The Charter School may or may not open. Nobody knows what's going on.
JFS is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
A low cost school is coming. It's in the works behind the scenes.
The existing "legacy" schools will just keep spending more and more money.
Administrators are overpaid.
Teachers are overpaid.

I think I got all of it. If I missed any, please let me know.

Oh, and remember, if anyone knows who Chump is and wants him exposed without doing it themselves, just email me the info at orthowatch@gmail.com

I'm more than happy to let the world know who Chump is.

Chareidi reporting of the Skver incident

2011-06-15T09:00:00.002-04:00

Matzav has been "reporting" about the Skver incident - if you can even call it reporting. They just say the guy was hurt in a fire that was set by an 18 year old. No mention of the Rebbe being behind it, the 18 year old having worked for the Rebbe, or anything else.

The victim, Aron Rottenberg, has now filed a lawsuit against the Rebbe and Shaul Spitzer, the guy who lit the fire. Maybe, if New Square promises to support Hillary Clinton in an election again, she can get them off.

Skver

2011-06-06T11:34:00.002-04:00

I'm sure people heard about the attack that occurred recently in New Square. A man who lived there decided not to daven in the main Skver shul, and went somewhere else. In response, his home was firebombed, and he was horribly burned.

Of course, they say it was a misguided person, and wasn't endorsed by the Rebbe. Yet, there are many people who say that they were privately encouraged to do things such as this. While they were publicly condemned, they were privately congratulated.

The Rebbe won't really discuss it, and won't say anything about whether he ordered the attack or not. He only says, "I'm against violence."

Honestly, I'm not sure if the Rebbe was behind it. Feel free to leave your thoughts.

Agudas Yisroel of America had a blog

2011-05-26T09:50:00.003-04:00

After the many speeches against the internet, and against blogging in particular, Matzav reported yesterday that Agudas Yisroel of America had started a blog. This had to be the ultimate in hypocrisy.

Today, Matzav is reporting that after their report, the blog was shut down. This was probably due to the backlash they received, with people actually calling them out on their hypocrisy. I'm sure at the next convention, they'll announce that they found a way to use blogs that is halachicly permissible. After all, the Moetzes just makes the halachah whatever they want it to be, whether it's protecting child molesters, allowing married men to have a second wife ( as long as you're a Rosh Yeshiva!), or cheating on your taxes.

Kupat Ha'ir: now protecting you from getting caught!

2011-04-22T12:03:00.004-04:00

I saw a mailing from Kupat Ha'ir over the first days of Pesach. It told a story where a community needed a shul, and was importing a pre-fab building. The building was too wide to transport properly, and needed a lot of permits with an official transport. This was very costly, and they couldn't afford it.

They decided to transport it at night, and hope they wouldn't get caught. Well, they set out, and sure enough, a cop stops them. They claim the cop was known to be very hard on these types of infractions. The guy from the shul quickly called his friend who was waiting for them to arrive to tell him what was going on. The officer yelled at them, told them they'd be arrested, and went to verify the building was far too wide to be transferred.

So what happened? He couldn't find his tape measure, and had to let them go. The guy again called his friend to tell him, and the friend exclaimed, "Oh! After you told me, I put money in the pushkah for Kupat Ha'ir! That merit must have saved you."

Somebody should have told Rubashkin and the drug smuggling chassidim in Japan to donate to Kupat Ha'ir. After all, they now advertise that you can break the law. Just donate to them, and you won't get in trouble for it.

Pinny Lipschutz: Easy Does It

2011-04-14T16:38:00.002-04:00

Pinny Lipschutz wrote an article with a story from R' Shach. Basically, R' Shach thought a Rosh Yeshiva did something wrong and went to speak to him about it, but ended up just shmoozing about learning because the man's wife was there, and he didn't want to embarrass him in front of his wife. He says that with the stress of Yom Tov coming, we need to be extra careful not to hurt people.

I question how he was able to recently publish a scathing article about R' Maroof. Why didn't he question him privately, as R' Shach said to do? Not only could R' Maroof's wife see it, potentially millions of others could as well.

Pinny, you are a hypocrite, plain and simple.

How desperate is Matzav to attack Modern Orthodoxy?

2011-04-04T09:00:00.003-04:00

I wrote a few days ago about Matzav's attack on R' Maroof. I would like to reiterate that I don't know R' Maroof. I definitely disagree with his involvement in the Sara Hurwitz issue, as I am firmly against even a Yoetzet Halachah, never mind a Maharat or Rabba.

Matzav now posted a video on the matter, attacking R' Maroof. The video is clearly a one sided propaganda piece, designed not to educate but rather to incite. What really strikes me is what is included in the video. Readers have complained in the comments that Hurwitz is shown in an outfit that is somewhat low-cut. Has Matzav compromised their standards of tznius just to attack a Modern Orthodox rabbi they dislike?

RCA and Moetzes

2011-03-31T08:45:00.004-04:00

Matzav has an article attacking R' Joshua Maroof, as well as taking a jab at the RCA for considering admitting him (he applied, the decision hasn't come out yet). Now, I don't know R' Maroof, all I know is that he was involved in the ceremony giving Sarah Hurwitz the title of Maharat. He has since clarified that he wasn't involved in the actual title, he is simply in favor of women learning.

Some of the comments on the story are extremely disturbing, as they openly attack the RCA. As one comment said, "What is takeh pshat in the RCA?"

I would therefore like to take a look at the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudas Yisrael of America in its current form. Gone are the days of R' Moshe Feinstein and R' Soloveitchik. Let's look at some of their current members:

R' Yaakov Perlow, the chairman: when he was informed years ago about the abuse going on in Torah Temimah by Kolko, he refused to do anything about it, claiming "It's a Flatbush matter, and I'm in Boro Park." A great point of view for someone who is supposed to be a leader of Jewry all over the world.

R' Malkiel Kotler: he recently said that Modern Orthodoxy is from Eisav, and said it must be avoided at all costs. When confronted afterward, he tried to take it back. At least when R' Gifter bashed YU, he stood by his beliefs. As I've written many times, Lakewood is now ruled by teh almighty dollar, and Kotler was afraid those dollars from the MO community would dry up. There's also the sill-ongoing fight between Kotler and the Israeli Soloveitchiks, from Brisk. He married a girl from that family, and was living in Israel. When he wanted to move to Lakewood, she didn't want to, so he decided to divorce her. She didn't want to accept the get, so he went and got 100 rabbis for a heter meiah rabbonim. The Briskers don't accept it as legitimate.

R' Aaron Schechter: I've written about him before. When R' Hutner was retiring, he forced out the mashgiach in Chaim Berlin, R' Carlebach, to have more control for himself. He then convinced R' Hutner that he should ignore the summons to Beis Din that came from R' Moshe Feinstein. To this day, Chaim Berlin can not argue a case in beis din because of it. That's why there's another yeshiva next door to them - they wanted the building, and wanted to go to beis din over it, but were told they couldn't, because they still never went in to handle the R' Carlebach case.

R' Shmuel Kamenetsky: In a few recent cases (the Lipa concert, the VIN ban), he said straight out that he signed the letters because someone with money pressured him. He admitted that he didn't research the issues at all. Once again, all hail the almighty dollar!

So now, let's ask the same question: "What is takeh pshat in the Moetzes?"
The answer is simple. To keep themselves in control, usually by controlling those with money.

200k Chump's Latest Post

2011-03-30T11:44:00.004-04:00

The tuition blog has a post up entitled "What would the Chofetz Chaim say?" It's written by someone who complains that the blog only incited lashon hara. As I've written before, I agree with this.

Some of the comments agreed with this, including Honestly Frum (who I wish would open his blog back up!) He also pointed out the big draw of the blog is to see "what the next insane comment is going to be".

Someone else wrote "This forum is not about hatred at all but rather about finding solutions." The blog is supposedly about that, but in practice, it's not. Let's face it. He's been blogging for almost a year now. Have any changes gone in? The charter school opened, but that had nothing to do with him. A Talmud Torah is supposedly in the works for kids who go to SACS, but nobody seems to know anything about it. Let's face the facts: his blog is all talk, no action. Teddy Roosevelt famously said "Speak softly and carry a big stick." 200k Chump is the opposite.

I've written before against the attacking of people on scholarships that goes on at his blog. I will write it again: the vast majority of the people don't want to be on scholarship, they just don't have a choice. Attacking and insulting them won't make any difference.

You tell them if they can't afford it in Bergen County, they should move somewhere more affordable. Why should they? So you can get things the way you want them to be? If you don't like it, then move somewhere that they don't give scholarships away like they do here. By paying your tuition, you yourself encourage it. After advocating JFS and Chabad so much, do you send your kids there? No. 200k Chump is a hypocrite, plain and simple. He advocates open discussion, yet often deletes comments or even entire posts if he doesn't like the direction a discussion is going. Here was something he wrote recently: "How about for next week, I won't moderate comments and won't hide comments of old posts on the condition that you all behave?"
What's the matter, Chump? Are you scared that it will reveal that most people don't agree with you? That the 200 comments you get for each post are all from the same 4-5 posters, doing so anonymously?

I look forward to the day when the identity of the blogger is revealed, and he gets what he deserves.

Glasses? Seriously?

2011-02-28T13:56:00.002-05:00

Ynet has a story about how in Vishnitz, they are now telling people not to wear contact lenses or metal framed glasses. Why not? They're too modern. Here's a quote that was in teh story:
"We are interested in keeping our distance from anything linked to party goers, recreational activities and clubs, and be on the other end in a way in which we won't even know that world exists," the source explained. "This is why our segregation is even applied to the type of eyeglasses."

What's next? No more pants and shirts for them? After all, people wear them to parties also. This is really getting ridiculous.

Takanos

2011-02-10T12:56:00.002-05:00

I really have to stop getting my inspirations from the Yeshiva World Coffee Room. But today I saw a thread started about the Simcha Takanos. These were supposedly set up to discourage people from spending tons of money on simchos. You see, apparently there are people who don't want people to think they're poor, so they make a bigger wedding than they could afford, just to keep up appearances. The takanos would make those families NOT do this, as they'd adhere to the rules and have an inexpensive wedding. They wouldn't be embarrassed because the rich people would also follow the takanos. Why? Because the Rabbis claimed they wouldn't attend if weddings didn't follow these rules.

It didn't quite work out that way. The rich people kept making big weddings, and the poor people followed the takanos, which told everyone, "Hey, I can't afford a big wedding!" Now, there's no shame in living within your means. Why spend more than you have? It's not embarrassing, it's smart - but obviously many people don't feel that way. I wonder if they also drive a Lexus and live in a mansion, just to keep up appearances? But I'm digressing...

The point of the thread was to question why the takanos didn't work. I posted a reply that got edited out by the YW mod team. Here is my take on it:

The Rabbonim who signed the letter with the rules claimed they wouldn't attend a wedding that didn't follow them. They also said that in extenuating circumstances, there could be exceptions. Imagine the scene:

"Rabbi, I'm making a wedding for my son who learned in your yeshiva, and I'd like you to attend, and be the mesader kiddushin."

"Thank you very much! Will the wedding follow the takanos?"

"No, why would I want to do that? I have the money, let me spend it!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I can't attend the wedding."

"All right, no problem. That $50,000 I donate to your yeshiva each year? I'll just give it to the Rabbi who agrees to be the mesader kiddushin instead of to you."

"Oh, that's extenuating circumstances. I can come!"

The other issue is the Rabbis themselves. Did you ever see what happens when a chassidic rebbe makes a wedding? They've rented out UPS warehouses at times to fit in all the guests! If it's one of the big ones (Bobov, Satmar, Ger) they can have thousands of people coming to the wedding! Does anyone tell the Rebbes that they're not following the takanos? No, it's "extenuating circumstances." This is like the Catholic Church - it's a Special Dispensation.

The Rabbis won't follow their own rules because they won't risk insulting the people with money.

Once again, all hail the mighty dollar!

The supposedly "Kosher" website

2011-01-14T08:30:00.003-05:00

I've written before about Matzav's attacks on Vos Iz Neias. Recently, they stepped it up a notch by publishing a letter signed by various chareidi Rabbonim saying that VIN was worse than the other Jewish sites. They asked everyone to stop using them and for advertisers to stop paying them for the space. Never mind that the letter states that the VIN "issur" is on top of the issur on all internet sites which, of course, includes Matzav. They just ignore that part.

R' Shmuel Kaminetzky, who signed the ban, said in an interview that he didn't even know details - he was presented the letter and relied on the words of others to sign it. Failed Messiah reported the name of the guy behind the ban, who is a chassidic guy with political connections. Upsetting the wrong people will cut funding to yeshivos, so once again, it seems the chareidi Rabbonim have sold out their beliefs for money.

But that's not enough. Matzav has tried to show how hard-core chareidi it is even more over the past week. They've had articles insulting others like Harry Maryles who dared to write about the ban, as well as defend a Rabbi of his from attack. Now defending your Rebbe is not allowed if it goes against a chareidi Rabbi.

Yesterday, they sunk to a new low. Rabbi Tendler, one of the senior Roshei Yeshiva at RIETS, has helped spread the Torah of his father-in-law, R' Moshe Feinstein zt"l, for years. However, some claim that he invents his own views and passes them off as coming from R' Moshe. Matzav posted a letter that was sent from R' Moshe Sherer zt"l to R' Tendler shlita, in which R' Sherer calls R' Tendler out on such an instance. Now, I don't know exactly what happened, so I can't say who was right. However, the post on Matzav was written as an attack on R' Tendler. The first comment on the story was from Matzav, saying "Commenters, please note: Strict moderation in place."

What does that mean? That they will moderate any defense of R' Tendler. One thing really bothered me about this. R' Sherer writes in the letter, Because I consider a son-in-law falsifying the view of such a great father-in-law a matter of chillul Hashem, I steadfastly kept silent about this all these years."

If R' Sherer was quiet at a time when he felt that R' Tendler was causing damage, because he felt it was a chilul Hashem, what right does Matzav have to post this now? Right now, R' Tendler is wrongly disregarded by the chareidi world. Do his views really matter to them, or affect them at all? Probably not. The sole purpose of this letter was to embarrass R' Tendler, something R' Sherer avoided even when he felt it would cause damage to do so.

Embarrassing any Jew is a horrible thing. Embarrassing a gadol hador, one of the most knowledgeable talmidei chachomim in the world today, is far worse. Yet Matzav didn't hesitate to do so, and even moderated out my comments to try and defend R' Tendler.

While I don't agree with a lot of things that chareidi Rabbonim say and do, there are some I have tremendous respect for. R' Gifter zt"l and R' Sherer zt"l were two of them. R' Gifter said some things about YU that I think were completely wrong. Yet, I respect the fact that he felt he was right, and did what he felt needed to be done, regardless of who he upset or how politically incorrect it was. R' Sherer was the same way. They stuck to their beliefs no matter what it cost them.

Matzav, with the attacks on VIN, has shown once again how far the chareidi Rabbonim have fallen. No longer is the Torah their first priority. They now worship the almighty dollar.

Added on 1/16:
Matzav has taken down their attack on R' Tendler. I wrote up a letter to the Novominsker Rebbe, who heads the Agudah, about the hypocrisy of all the chareidi news sites, asking him to clarify if VIN is worse than all sites, or if they're all equally bad, and the ban applies to all of them.

YWN links to porn?

2010-12-17T12:46:00.002-05:00

Someone started a thread on Yeshiva World about older threads that might be fun reads. I remember a particular thread whose name I won't mention, for reasons I'll say below. In that thread, someone posted the web address of Tefillin Date. For those of you who don't know, Tefillin Date was a site that used to post Jewish porn. They shut down quite a while ago, but at the time of the post, they were still up. At the time, I thought it was funny that the mods let that slip through.

Now that I put that out there, without mentioning the name, let's see how long it takes the moderators at YWN to search through the threads, find this one, and erase the link.

"Rabba" Hurwitz joins with other female "Rabbis"

2010-12-08T09:56:00.002-05:00

Sara Hurwitz, the woman ordained as a "Rabba" by Avi Weiss, is joining with the first female Rabbis who were ordained by the Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist movements for a Channukah party.

At least she recognizes who she belongs with.

Israeli kollels

2010-11-22T09:54:00.002-05:00

A number of years ago, I was in a tour group in Israel. I was speaking to our guide one morning while eating breakfast. The guide was a frum man. He was telling me about a yeshiva/kollel he used to daven shacharis in from time to time.

He said that most days, there were 25-30 people there for Shacharis. One day, there were about 200 people. He asked the Rosh Yeshiva why so many people showed up that day, and was told the government was coming to inspect how many people were in the yeshiva. They had called in "reinforcements" to back up the numbers they'd submitted for funding.

The tour guide spit at the Rosh Yeshiva, told him he's a thief, and added that hatred of chareidim in Israel is caused by people like him. He then walked out, and never davened there again.

Yesterday, these people were finally caught. The Israeli government raided a bunch of kollels, and arrested some people who were behind the fraud.

How could these people sit and learn, knowing what they were doing wrong? A commenter on YWN said that if the government gave them what they deserved, they wouldn't have to steal. Well, I have news for you: they get more than they deserve. They deserve nothing. They insult their home country every chance they get, and they've been stealing for years. When something they don't like happens, they riot in the streets, lighting garbage cans on fire. They deserve to be thrown in prison. Now it finally happened. I hope they throw the book at these guys.

Are changes coming?

2010-11-15T12:05:00.004-05:00

I was speaking to my brother before Shabbos. My brother is a long-term learner. He was in Lakewood, and now learns in a smaller kollel. He also gives shiurim in his community.

I mentioned to him about the school which was evicted last week, and how I think the entire chareidi yeshiva/Beis Yaakov system will collapse soon. One of my main points was that if you push everyone to learn long-term, and insult those who don't, you won't have any alumni capable of supporting you.

He told me that he thinks changes might be coming. He told me something which I'd heard before, although not from the same source. After WW2, the Chazon Ish told someone that because so much of Torah-observant Judaism was destroyed, along with so many of its leaders, they needed to rebuild in a way that had never been done before. He said that boys should be pushed to sit and learn long-term, so that a large group of Rabbonim could be developed to replace what had been lost. When asked how long this needed to be done for, he said "Three generations."

My Rosh Yeshiva told me the same thing (although he didn't quote the Chazon Ish). My brother told me that he heard things are beginning to change - he actually hears talk of encouraging more people to go out and work.

I don't think this will end up happening. The biggest problem is that the leaders of the chareidi world were raised being taught that not sitting and learning was just not a good thing to do. Do you expect them to do a complete 180 on this? I don't.

Brooklyn Yeshiva Evicted

2010-11-11T15:43:00.003-05:00

Yeshiva World is reporting that a Brooklyn yeshiva was evicted from their building on Tuesday. They hadn't paid rent in 2 years, and owed $500,000 to their landlord.

The Yeshiva was evicted before, and unlawfully went back into the building. They knew they faced being kicked out again, but they didn't tell parents. They had no problem accepting tuition either.

All in the name of teaching the kids Torah. Well, I'm sure they learned a valuable lesson here.

Daf Yomi

2010-10-17T12:05:00.002-04:00

A friend told me his sister is in a Beis Yaakov seminary in Brooklyn. She told him that her teacher said something "interesting" to the class. She told them it's important to marry a talmud chacham. Someone asked how that's defined. The teacher replied that it's someone who sets aside time to learn Torah every day - and that daf yomi doesn't count.

Honestly? Daf yomi doesn't count? I know people who can quote from anywhere in Shas better than most kollel guys because they learn daf yomi.

Disgusting.

Mi ye'ani umi ye'asher

2010-09-05T21:05:00.002-04:00

In a few days, we will literally be praying for our lives. We ask God to give us a year of health and happiness, without any troubles. In Unesaneh Tokef, one of the things mentioned is that God decides who will be rich and who will be poor. It's important to remember that our financial situation comes directly from God.

It says that all the money a person will earn is decided on Rosh Hashanah - with a few exceptions. One of the exceptions is money spent on teaching your children Torah. With all the talk out there about tuition, and how it affects your finances, it's important to remember that it doesn't really affect you. Your finances were already decided. If you managed to cut down your tuition by $5,000, that means the $5,000 will come out of your finances somewhere else. Complaining about people who don't pay full tuition doesn't matter - your money was already decided. Their finances have nothing to do with it.

Let us all hope and pray that God provides us with whatever is best for us, and that we all merit a year of health and happiness.

K'tiva vachatima tovah.

Fry him!

2010-08-25T23:02:00.002-04:00

Last week, there was a horrible tragedy. A frum Jew, a 25 year old ger, was murdered in a robbery attempt. Yesterday, a suspect was brought in. Today, he was charged with the murder.

The story was reported on Yeshiva World, and here was a comment:
"The Jewish community has to remember the loss we all suffered, and whether it is this guy or someone else, insist on the MAXIMUM penalty.
No legal shtick where the perp gets off ’cause he had a “troubled childhood” or some such nonsense."

One other guy tried posting about how they view Rubashkin differently, and he was blasted for it. I wouldn't look at Rubashkin, as it's a different case. I tried posting about Martin Grossman. Unfortunately, YWN has banned me from posting comments on news stories, so it didn't go up.

Why should this be different than Grossman? He shot a woman in cold blood, and paid the price for it. All the chareidim argued about his troubled childhood. When it comes to this case, all of a sudden it's the opposite.

I understand that in one case the killer was a Jew, and in the other case, the victim was a Jew. However, that's no reason to make a huge chillul Hashem. Posting comments like that will only cause people to say that Jews don't care about justice. Unfortunately, when it comes to chareidim, they might not be wrong.

Geirus

2010-08-01T19:30:00.002-04:00

There is some controversy regarding a geirus law that's been proposed in Israel. I admit I don't know the details of the case, so I'm not going to comment on it. I did see a thread in the Yeshiva World Coffee Room on it, and saw the following comment, posted by someone named Helpful:

The Drukman Conversion Factory has done enough damage to Klal Yisroel with their false converts on a massive scale. We don't need that duplicated a hundred fold.

Honetly Frum can tell you about what an amazing person R' Druckman is. I submitted the following comment, which I'm betting won't be approved:

Helpful, how dare you say something about R' Druckman, who knows more Torah than you will ever know? You blast a legitimate Beis Din in Israel, while the biggest "accepted" Chareidi geirus Beis Din in the US was the focal point of one of the biggest scandals to hit the Jewish world in years.

It's amazing how chareidim can bash people they know nothing about, yet they'll still defend people like Tropper, claiming they were set up. I know this poster didn't mention Tropper, I'm just saying that based on conversations I've had with chareidim on the issue, including some of my brothers.
Shame on you.

It's been a while...

2010-07-14T21:22:00.002-04:00

I know I haven't posted for a while. Sorry, but things have been a bit hectic lately. I've been swamped at work, and haven't even been able to follow the local news too much, so I don't even have anything to write about. When things calm down a bit, I'll be back with some new posts.

Someone finally says it at BMG

2010-06-21T10:40:00.005-04:00

Every year in Lakewood, they have an even known informally as the "Tent Event". They set up a few large tents, and have all the Roshei Yeshiva and some other speak. Everyone is encouraged to attend, and it's used as a fundraiser.

This year, they asked Dr. Rich Roberts to speak. Why? Because he donated a million dollars to BMG. His speech was slightly controversial, by BMG standards. He got up and spoke about the economic situation. He said that the situation in Lakewood isn't due to the bad economy, it's because nobody has any real education or training in anything that can be used in a real job. He said that soon, people will need to go get a real education, and go out to work instead of staying in kollel their whole lives.

When BMG began selling tapes/CDs of all the speeches, they quickly realized that leaving this speech in might not be the best idea. They stopped selling the tapes/CDs, censored out the speech, then continued sales. If you have a copy of it before it was edited out, you're now a very popular person. People are selling copies of the speech. Of course, it's posted online on Matzav, even though the Lakewood Rabbonim said it shouldn't be spread. They'll ignore their Rabbonim when it suits their purpose.

I think it's great that someone finally stood up at a BMG event and said it. Too bad he'll never be invited to speak again. Of course, I'm sure that they'll have no problem asking him for money in the future.

Emanual school controversy

2010-06-17T09:45:00.002-04:00

When I first read about the Emanual school controversy in Israel, I thought it was just another stupid chareidi protest. Then I did some research, and to my surprise, I found that for once, it seems the chareidim are actually right. I don't want to get into all the specifics here, but the main accusation was that a chassidic school was discriminating against Sephardim. That is not the case, and the entire lawsuit was started by one person who is against all religious Jews.

The parents from the school are being taken to prison today, and they are receiving a big escort. Chareidi Rabbis called on people to escort them there, in a peaceful demonstration. The demonstrations have remained peaceful, and the number of people keeps growing. When I first started planning this post, I saw written that about 40,000 people were there. Now, it says over 100,000 people are there - ad there's no violence against the police. As I started writing, I saw that the Dati Leumi poskim are calling on their communities to join in the protest.

I think that this protest is a huge kiddush Hashem. Jews of all types are finally coming together for something related to religious practices. While I am a huge supporter of the State of Israel, I still have to admit that the government and many people there do not love chareidim, and will often do things to try and harm them (not physically, but in other ways). This protest is showing those people that our religion means more to us than anything else, and we will do whatever is necessary to protect it.

Kol hakavod to all involved. Use this protest as an example for the future - if you do it right, without violence, you will accomplish a lot more.

Kollel Stipends and Matzav's Omissions

2010-06-15T10:47:00.000-04:00

The Israeli government voted the other day to eliminate funding to Yeshiva students. This was not targeted at Chareidim. 10 years ago, funding to university students was eliminated, but for chareidim, it was kept. This ruling was challenged in court, and now, 10 years later, the ruling was finally issued - it's discrimination, and the funding for yeshivos must be eliminated also.

Matzav posted a few articles about it. Their last one was taken from Ha'aretz, about the effects the decision will have on kollel families. There was one problem: they conveniently left out a paragraph from the Ha'aretz article. Here's the paragraph:

The ruling came about two months after a Knesset subcommittee was shown the results of an official survey indicating that about one third of the yeshiva students who applied for welfare lied about their income in order to qualify.

This has to be one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen. Kollel families are stealing from the government. They're lying in order to get money they're not entitled to. The government stops them. Who's the bad guy here? It seems obvious to me, but wait, I forgot - according to chareidim, stealing from the government is not a problem! In fact, it's encouraged.

Many chareidim say that the people sitting and learning are the ones really protecting Israel. They say that if the government stops them from being able to learn, the country will collapse. Well, if your learning comes from stealing, it doesn't count for anything anyway.

It's brought down (I forget exactly where, I'll try to look it up) that there are a few different people who lose their share in the next world, and won't merit resurrection when Moshiach comes. Thieves are one of those people. They better hope Israel doesn't collapse, because if they get killed in some Arab attack, they're going straight to Hell - and they're not getting out.

V'chol mi sheoskim b'tzarchei tzibbur

2010-06-13T12:17:00.002-04:00

I posted about the new tuition blog last week, and hadn't planned on writing any more about them. As I said, I disagree with them, and don't think they deserve any mention. However, a post that was put up recently has upset me more than the other posts there, and I felt that I needed to speak up.

On the Teaneck Progress blog, a letter was printed that was written by Herb Burack, Herb is an Orthodox Jew who is on the Teaneck Board of Education. He basically wrote that Orthodox Jews will never send their kids to public school, and would do pretty much anything to avoid it. The tuition blog published the letter, and says he disagrees. Now, I have to say that within the post, there is nothing wrong. You can disagree if you want, and he didn't write anything about Mr. Burack as a person. The comments, however, are a different story. Here are some of them:

"Perhaps the Rabbi of his Shul can put this guy in Cherem."

"If you are Orthodox I am embarrassed to be of the same religion as you."

"Mr. Herbert Burack is a total self righteous deuchebag."

"Because of people like Mr. Burack that I stopped wearing my kippah at work."

"Don't know the guy, but he sounds like a real jerk."

I have never met Mr. Burack. However, I do know that his position on the school board is not an easy one. Jews in Teaneck have been complaining for years about the tax burden put on them by the public school system. Mr. Burack was the person who decided to do something about it. He didn't just rant and rave on a blog. He got up and ran for the Board of Education.

This past year, there were 3 Jews who ran for the BOE. I was told that it was extremely difficult to find just those three. For next year's election, I've been told they're having an even more difficult time finding people. Herb Burack was the first Orthodox Jew to stand up and run with the idea of easing the tax burden on the Orthodox Jewish community.

All of the people who whine on the tuition blog about their expenses should be thanking Mr. Burack. He's the only person on the BOE who is actually trying to ease their costs. They should all be learning from him. He could have been just like them, ranting and raving anonymously about how unfair the costs are. He actually got up and did something about it. To all the commentators on that blog, you should wish that you were half the man Herb Burack is. Then you might actually do something about the tuition crisis instead of just insulting people.

Have some hakaras hatov to someone who subjects himself to insults, racial slurs, and threats, just to try and help you out.

Teaneck Tznius Police?

2010-06-09T13:30:00.000-04:00

I heard the following from a friend. A few weeks ago, his wife was walking within the Westgate apartments. A car pulled up alongside her, and the woman driving said to her, "Your skirt is a bit short, you can see part of your thighs." She replied "I don't really care."

Is this the future of Teaneck? Are we now going to have a tznius patrol, with signs up in the frum areas asking people to dress appropriately?

Most likely, it wasn't someone from Teaneck. It was probably someone's mother from Brooklyn or Monsey. But still, don't they know what kind of community this is?

The new tuition blog and people on scholarships

2010-06-02T16:00:00.000-04:00

Recently, someone started a new blog about the tuition crisis in Bergen County. A link was put up in a comment on my blog to let people know about it. I took the link down.

While I am aware that there is a crisis, and I think that it needs to be addressed instead of overlooked by our community leaders, I am against what this blog represents and the way he goes about trying to fix the system.

I've read many posts by both the author of the blog and the people who are commenting there. This blog incited hatred towards many people in the community. A point was raised that there are people who abuse the scholarship system. Someone claimed to have overheard someone boasting about cheating the scholarship committee because he does a lot of cash business. I agree, such people should not get scholarships. But then again, those people have bigger issues than money.

For most people taking scholarships, there is nothing to boast about. The majority of them are not looking to get a free ride. They don't want to need it. If given the chance, they would pay all the money back. I've heard people, when asked what they'd do first if they won the lottery, say that they'd pay back all the scholarship money they took from schools. These people are trying their best. You want to take things away from them?

The author of the blog says that people shouldn't go into a career that won't make enough money. A fundamental belief in Judaism is that income comes from God. You do your part, and God will see to the rest. I know plenty of lawyers who are looking for work now. Teachers in the Teaneck public schools are making over a hundred grand. Doesn't that seem mixed up? It says that on Rosh Hashanah, God decides how much money you will get for the year. Do your hishtadlus, and if you're meant to be able to pay full tuition, God will make it so. If it's not meant to happen, having the highest paying job in the world won't help you out.

Another point is that as Jews, we are responsible for all other Jews. You may not like having to pay for part of the scholarships, but ultimately, as a Jew, you should be happy to help others out. When someone knocks on my door for tzedakah, if I can't help them out, do you think I'm happy about that? It breaks my heart to turn someone away empty-handed. As Jews, we should be caring. We should not be calling out those who need help and attacking them.

Attn: Lawyers - Would this work?

2010-06-02T15:31:00.003-04:00

A friend of mine overheard a conversation the other day and asked me to post the following. If any lawyers who know about this are out there, please reply to it!

People have mentioned charter schools as an idea for helping out the tuition crisis. Would the following idea work?

A company (let's call it YBCH - Yeshiva of Bergen County Holdings) owns a building. In the morning, THCS (Teaneck Hebrew Charter School) rents out the building, and has classes there. In the afternoon, when the charter school is done for the day, BCY (Bergen County Yeshiva) rents out the building to have a Jewish day school.

Part of the mortgage is paid for by the rent payments from the school district. Many salaries are paid by the district.

I think you see where this is going.

Anyone know if it's a possibility?

Don't bite the hand that feeds you

2010-05-17T10:43:00.003-04:00

There were more protests by Chareidim in Israel over the weekend over the Barzilai Medical Center issue. basically, the government want to build an emergency room there, and there are some graves there. It's been determined that the bodies buried there are likely not Jewish, but it's not known for sure. The government wants to move the graves to another location. The chareidim are protesting this decision.

After the protests, the government decided to shut down services to some chareidi areas. It's about time. These people are firmly against the government, they riot on a regular basis, and give nothing back to the state of Israel. If they refuse to contribute, why should they get any benefits? The services should have been taken away a long time ago. If they want to live under arab rule, then let the arabs supply them with their basic necessities.

Possibly the greatest comment about Rubashkin

2010-05-06T11:15:00.002-04:00

Matzav had a story about Rubashkin being transferred to a different prison. It's amazing how they write every single thing that happens with him. I'm surprised that there was no story yet on the fact that he sneezed last week.

Anyway, one of the comments to the article really got me laughing. Here it is (copied an pasted, so all spelling errors were from the writer, no from me):

I do not believe in the american justice system anymore.
Inerestingly enough, I was once told to plea bargain on a ticket. They told me to say I had a bald tire, and they will reduce the charges of going over speed limit. I didn’t understand how you could say you had a bald tire, when you didn’t. To me, that is a lie.

I learnt very soon that in America, lying is the way to go, because in this country everyone lies.

The officer could not understand how “stupid” I could be refusing the plea bargain.

In the end, I accepted the plea bargain, (begging Hashem to forgive me for this lie) because another yid told me, that is the way this is done in this country.

I understand clearly that R’ Sholom did not do 99% of what they accused him of, and therefore he had a hard time saying he did do it. I don’t blame him for one minute. He is good and innocent on nearly every single issue. But in America, to get a short term in prison you better be a liar, because America is made out of liars!!!! From Obama and down!

To all those people on other blogs who still have the chutzpah to say: did the crime, do the time even if a short sentence, on them it is a real shayla if they are actually Yidden or not.

May the Juge, Prosecutor and all those who wish bad on this wonderful eved Hashem, get their justice from the Aibishter. Let them get a makah from Hashem wherein they lose their power of Deebur totally.

This is really nuts. This woman is convinced that he lied to try and make things easier for himself. Then why didn't he make a plea deal? He plead not guilty, so she can't be right. However, her entire premise is crazy. In America, we have to lie about everything? No we don't. We have to create a kiddush Hashem and be honest, no matter what everyone else does. Lying, then writing threats to the judge and prosecutor creates a huge chillul Hashem.

Fighting Back

2010-05-05T09:34:00.000-04:00

Ynet has a story about a girl in Israel who set fire to a shul in Jerusalem. She said she did it because of chareidi harassment. While I am firmly against setting fire to shuls, I do think it's about time someone stood up to these thugs.

Maybe the chareidim will realize the consequence of their actions now. Let them see that if they continue harassing other Jews, their shuls may be targeted in retaliation.

I was speaking to my brother last week. He happens to be learning in kollel. I asked him jokingly if he would keep growing his beard after Sefirah, as it seems that's when most kollel guys start their beards (or during the 3 weeks). He said no, but related a story which I think can be applied here.

R' Moshe Sherer zt"l was the head of the Agudah for many years. He was in charge at a time when not everything was political, and he truly wanted to help out as many Jews as possible. He also happened to have been clean shaven.

The Satmar Rav, R' Yoel zt"l was very much in favor of Jews growing beards, and encouraged everyone to do so. He was very close friends with R' Sherer. One day, one of his chassidim asked him why he held R' Sherer in such high regard, if he didn't have a beard. The Rebbe replied, "When he gets up to shamayim after he dies, they'll ask him, R' Yid, where's your beard? When you get up, they'll ask, R' Beard, where's your Yid?"

I think this story translates to many things now, especially tznius. There are many frum women who don't dress to the standards that are necessarily proper. When they get up to their judgment, they'll be asked, "Mrs. Jew, where's your tznius?"

When these chareidim get up, they'll be asked "Mr. Tznius, where's your Judaism?"

RCA Convention

2010-04-28T13:47:00.002-04:00

The RCA finished their convention, and a number of issues were discussed, with a bunch of resolutions being passed. Honestly Frum has a good post on it, so I'm not going to go into too much detail here, as it can get lengthy.

One issue they did get to was the issue of Avi Weiss and his desire to ordain women as Rabbahs. The RCA came out against this, and passed a resolution against it. I do wish that they were more specific in their resolution, as he can claim the title Maharat is not part of the Rabbinate, but at least they're sending the right message.

I just hope that they actually back it up if Weiss continues in his path.

Another thing that bugged me was Matzav's article on it. They were upset that Weiss wasn't mentioned by name. Why? The resolution, while brought about by his views, is for everyone. It will apply for a long time. As I've said, I think a Yoetzet is a slope leading to female Rabbis, so I'm glad this resolution passed, as it will help prevent that from occurring. As a parallel, when the Agudah had it's convention and they spoke about abuse, were Kolko, Marguiles or anyone else mentioned by name?

Another Chareidi attack on Israel

2010-04-23T14:49:00.002-04:00

Pinchos Lipschutz wrote an article about Yom Ha'atzmaut. Basically, he attacked Israel as a whole because the people who worked on founding the state of Israel weren't religious, and in fact, encouraged others not to be observant. He also states that now, Israel is a secular state, and a lot goes on there which is not proper according to the Torah.

While I do hear his point, I strongly disagree with it. Yes, there were people who worked on founding Israel who were anti-religious, and there are plenty in Israel today who are anti-religious. That doesn't matter.

Let's look at it from a Chareidi view. In Israel today, there are more people sitting and learning than anywhere else in the world. This could not be happening if not for the State of Israel. Even if the founders didn't intend for this, the fact is they are responsible for it, and some hakaras hatov is in order if only for that.

Honestly Frum had another great point in a post which he since took down. On Yom Ha'atzmaut, you're not only celebrating the fact that a country was formed. There were miracles that occurred which can't be denied. If you don't want to say Hallel, fine. I don't say it either. One of the reasons given why we don't say Hallel on Purim is that Haman wasn't after our spiritual death, only our physical. He didn't care if you were observant or not, he wanted to kill you. Since it was only a physical threat, we don't say Hallel. I believe the same thing applies here. The arabs didn't care who was frum or not. I believe we should give thanks. In Al Hanisim, we say Rabim beyad me'atim. That applies here. Whether you agree with the state of Israel or not, the fact is that Jewish lives were miraculously saved, and that alone warrants thanking Hashem.

Teaneck residents - remember to vote tomorrow!

2010-04-19T10:59:00.003-04:00

Just a reminder to all Teaneck residents that tomorrow there is a huge election. There are 3 spots on the school board up for a vote, as well as the proposed budget. The board has proposed an increase to the budget of over 10%, which would have a significant increase on property taxes (which are already among the highest in the state.)

It's important to vote NO on the budget. Most of the Jewish community is standing behind Esti Kaminetzky, Earl Sandor, and David Einhorn. They are running on a platform of cutting down on the out-of-control spending that is going on now. I urge everyone to vote for them.

VIN fights back

2010-04-15T11:33:00.000-04:00

Vos Iz Neias finally "returned fire" to Matzav in an editorial today.

Basically, they said that all Jewish websites post lashon hara, and nobody really has any Rabbis standing behind them. I actually liked this editorial, because they didn't try to make themselves look good, they included themselves in the criticism. I think they got it right - these sites post whatever they want, and claiming that you follow daas Torah is pure hypocrisy.

Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen VIN claim to follow daas Torah.

Matzav Editorial: Bloggers are worse than others

2010-04-13T14:29:00.001-04:00

Matzav has an editorial up about what they call "rogue bloggers". It really didn't make much sense (which the readers noticed and commented on). In it, the author says that bloggers are really bad because they do what they want, and you can't fight back. One thing he says really bothers me:

"On a communal level, I believe, we have failed to deal with those within our communities who, wittingly or unwittingly, for fame, honor or money, or for any number of reasons, do things that hurt us, hurt our mosdos and kehillos, and negatively affect our standing in our cities and towns.

...

But it’s gotten even worse.

Now, apparently, not only have we shown that we can’t fight the rogue individuals who will do what they want, but we have people of authority who are scared to take these people to task. Why? Because in the age of blogs, you can’t win and you can’t fight. Even if you know who you’re dealing with, you’re powerless. Because you are fighting a blog. Say the wrong thing to the person you wish to influence and he’ll tear you down on his blog within minutes."

So it's really bad when someone writes a blog. Why? Because you're scared to argue with them based on what they may write about you. It's worse than the child molesters, the people who cheat and steal, and other sorts of things. Why? Because bloggers may fight back.

The chareidi world is terrified of bloggers. Not because it's on the internet which they hold is completely assur. It's because they know blogs can expose what they desperately want to keep covered up - that the chareidi world has big problems. This editorial was just another effort to try and keep people away from the truth.

Nobody likes a snitch

2010-04-12T09:40:00.004-04:00

A few months ago, a new kosher grocery opened up in Teaneck, on Teaneck Rd. The store was called Teaneck Corner Glatt. It didn't last very long. It was then bought out, renovated, and renamed Teaneck Kosher.

Until it opened, the only big all-kosher grocery was Glatt Express (I don't think Ma'adan has a huge selection). Glatt Express is overpriced, and they know it - they just knew they were the only ones in town, so they didn't care. Teaneck Kosher has much lower prices on most items - chicken cutlets are over a dollar less per pound, same for most meats, and most groceries are also cheaper. They also have free delivery without a minimum.

It's no surprise that I decided to shop there when I need something, instead of Glatt Express. (Just to note, I usually go to Shop Rite or another big chain, but sometimes you need something only a kosher grocery would have.) I had no problems there, the staff there is very nice and eager to help. I was therefore surprised when 2 days before Pesach, I went to the store, and found it closed. There was a sign on the front door that the health department had shut them down. They reopened on Chol Hamoed, but the damage was done - most things are bought before Pesach starts.

A friend of mine was there yesterday, and was talking to the store manager. He asked him what happened before Pesach. He said that they had a small problem in the kitchen, which was being closed for Pesach anyway. It wouldn't have taken more than a few hours to fix, and they were working on it. Someone found out about it, and called the health department down. The department shut them down, and they had to make an appointment for an inspector to come down in order to reopen, so instead of just working for the few hours to fix it, they had to be closed for a few days - right before Pesach.

My friend asked him if they knew who snitched. The guy replied that they know who it was, and so does the RCBC. He wouldn't say straight out who it was, but he said it was "someone who would benefit greatly from our not being able to open for Pesach, as it would let them get all the business." My friend said that it's not too hard to figure out who it is, as there's only one place in town that would have such an interest. The guy said, "I know." He said the RCBC knows about it, and they are taking steps against the guy. He won't be able to ever work in another store under RCBC supervision, or open a store under RCBC supervision.

I find these underhand tactics disgusting. This is a real case of mesirah. A small issue came up, and was being corrected. The person didn't snitch because he was concerned for safety purposes (I heard what the issue was, and there was never any danger to anyone), he did it because he wanted to shut down his competition. That is completely disgusting. I don't think any particular business was behind it, I think it was one person who went on his own. Even so, I encourage people to shop at Teaneck Kosher. Their prices are better, and I think we should show support after someone tried to ruin them.

Pesach experience

2010-04-07T15:20:00.000-04:00

I was speaking to a friend who davened at the Yeshiva over Pesach. I asked him how it was, and he said that it was ok, except for the fact that the same few people davened for the amud the entire Pesach. He said the Rosh Yeshiva davened 2 or 3 times, his son davened twice, his son-in-law davened, and a few other kollel guys. Apparently, they wouldn't even ask any Baalei batim to daven. He said he was right next to a kollel guy, and they were looking for someone to daven. The Rosh Yeshiva asked the kollel guy, and he said no thanks, I davened yesterday. The Rosh Yeshiva looked at my friend, then muttered to himself "I'll daven again" then walked up to the amud.

Why is this? Does he think someone without a black hat on isn't capable of leading the tefillos?

Gebrokts - Something I've never understood about it

2010-03-25T13:10:00.000-04:00

Here's something I've never understood. Many chareidim eat gebrokts on Pesach. If you ask them why they're not machmir on it, they say it's their family's minhag, and not a chumrah. Yet, if you check it out, the original reason was because of a chumrah.

I know plenty of people whose families do not eat/drink only chalav yisrael, but the person decided to be machmir. There are plenty of other chumros that chareidim take on which their families didn't. Why is this particular thing different?

The role of a Rabbi

2010-03-23T11:41:00.001-04:00

I recently had a conversation with someone who is sitting and learning in kollel. He was telling me how he had questions regarding certain life events, and he went and asked his Rebbe about them. He went on to say that he asked his Rebbe about pretty much everything in his life. When he had a problem, he asked his Rebbe. When hje wanted to do pretty much anything, he asked his Rebbe.

For some reason, many chareidim think that a Rabbi needs to be consulted about everything. I don't know why.

I was once in the area where I went to yeshiva, so I stopped by my Rosh Yeshiva's house to visit. While I was there, his phone rang, and he told me it was an important call that he had to take, but it should only be a few minutes. When he returned, he sat back down and sighed. He said it was a former student who was having marital problems. He was calling the Rosh Yeshiva for some help, and wanted to know if he could do some counseling with them.

My Rebbe said, "I don't get this. I'm not a marriage counselor. People have this idea that a Rabbi is trained in all these issues. Some are, but most aren't. I told him that this wasn't an issue for a Rabbi, he should go find a psychologist or social worker who has experience in marriage counseling, and go to that person. A Rebbe is meant for spiritual matters. Many have a lot of experience in various matters, so they can be for standard advice also, just like any person with experience in an issue. But a Rebbe is not for everything! It's a big problem that people nowadays think he is for everything."

I think this misconception needs to be corrected.

Taking advantage

2010-03-22T10:18:00.003-04:00

Last week, Yeshiva World posted an audio clip released by Shmuel Borger, the father of Motty Borger. For those who don't know, Motty Borger was the guy who died just a few days after his wedding when he fell from the balcony of his hotel room in Boro Park. It was alleged that he jumped, although I don't know if anyone really knows what happened.

It was also alleged that his father was a known child molester, who also routinely beat his wife. Now, I never looked into these allegations, so I don't know if they're true or not. I do know that he ran a children's choir years ago, which shut down very quickly for no real reason at some point.

Anyway, so he released a statement in which he attacked anyone who dared to call his son's death a suicide, as well as anyone who even listened to allegations of abuse. He claimed he was doing it to protect the memory of his son. He then went on to say how his son had pushed him to produce an event which will bring Mashiach. He is now producing an event, called "Tears for Mashiach", and urged everyone to attend.

If he had just argued against the allegations, I might have said ok. Having the music in the background with the slow speech was just cheesy, and I couldn't take it seriously. But what really bothered me was using his son to plug his show. Do you think this is what he would have wanted? Using his death to urge people to buy tickets to your production, which you claim will help bring Mashiach?

Ending child molestation - that will help. Fixing differences between Jews - that will help. Exploiting your son's death for your own personal profit? Not so much.

Black hats and bicycles

2010-03-18T12:36:00.000-04:00

I happened to be in Brooklyn last night. I was driving into Boro Park, and I saw a father and son (who appeared to be about 13-14 years old) riding their bikes together. I saw some other people walking nearby, and there was a shul nearby, so I assume they'd just davened Maariv.

What struck me was that both the father and son had their hats and jackets on while they were riding their bikes. Some people will say, great! They're proud to wear it, even while riding a bike. But I was shocked. It was at night, and they were wearing black jackets. Their bikes had no reflectors. What else was missing? Their bike helmets. I'd say that even for a chareidi, it's more important to wear a helmet than to wear a hat to davening. Wearing a helmet is a must! It's pikuach nefesh. When I was in high school, the Rosh Yeshiva always stressed the importance of wearing a helmet. The yeshiva had a rule that if you rode a bike in, you needed a helmet. If you didn't have one, your bike was taken away until you brought in a helmet. He said, it may sound harsh, but I'm saving your life! Is this what the black hat culture has come to, that people won't wear a helmet so they can wear a black hat?

How can a father teach his son that it's ok to ride a bike without wearing a helmet? Especially at night, wearing black pants and a black jacket? Cars coming can't see you well. If G-d forbid something had happened, this father would have been responsible for it.

Just to note, I posted this on Yeshiva World, and they edited my post.

Blog wars!

2010-03-11T06:19:00.002-05:00

I posted a while back about a difference in opinion between VIN and Matzav. Well, over the past few days, things got more interesting.

Matzav posted an attack directly against VIN. A few days before that, there was a post by Rabbi Shubert about VIN, although it wasn't stated directly that the target was VIN.

I think Matzav realizes they're losing the battle to VIN. Take a look at a Matzav story. On the front page, the most number of comments any story has is 7. Then look at VIN. On their front page, there are stories with well over 30 or 40 comments. I see one with over 100. Matzav realizes that VIN is winning, so they're trying to attack them.

I'm going to make some popcorn, sit back, and watch how this plays out.

Salmon

2010-03-08T11:18:00.000-05:00

I read recently that some chareidim are trying to ban salmon. Their reason is that there is sometimes a type of parasitic worm that can be inside it. The OU said it's not an issue.

The Shulchan Aruch specifically mentions worms in fish, and says it's not a problem. The Rabbi behind the ban, a Rabbi Karp from Israel, says it's not the same thing, and therefore the Shulchan Aruch's ruling doesn't apply here.

This guy was also behind the internet ban in Israel which caused some sites to shut down. Does he have nothing better to do all day then think up things to ban? Maybe he banned the internet because he heard that visiting the wrong web sites can cause your computer to get a worm?

Here's a link for more info.

RCA and Avi Weiss

2010-03-05T15:57:00.003-05:00

I had read last week that the RCA was considering expelling Avi Weiss. Today, I read the follow-up to it. They didn't expel him, but he will no longer consider giving women the title Rabbah. Here was his response to the RCA:

Dear Rabbi Kletenik,

This has been a most challenging time. The change in title from “Maharat” to “Rabba” has precipitated a level of controversy in the Orthodox community that was neither expected nor intended. In light of the tension caused to our greater community and my commitment to the principle of gadol hashalom, I share the following:

It is not my intention or the intention of Yeshivat Maharat to confer the title of “Rabba” upon its graduates. Yeshivat Maharat prepares women for positions of religious leadership in the Orthodox community. Each student who completes its course of study in Tanakh, Talmud, Halakha and Jewish Thought, and is deemed fit by her faith, knowledge of our Mesoret, ethical integrity and temperament to assume positions of religious leadership in Orthodox institutions will be confirmed as manhigah hilkhatit, ruhanit, toranit (Maharat).

They will have been prepared to provide varied forms of communal and synagogue leadership in accordance with halakha. They will also have been trained in pastoral counseling, as well as having the ability to answer questions of halakha to those who seek them out, as has been recognized and well established in both classical and contemporary halakhic sources.

I hope that good will emerge from all of this, and that some of the meaningful conversation and communication that has taken place these past few weeks between myself and yourself as the President of the Rabbinical Council of America, might continue. I thank you for your candor and your receptiveness.

In the prayer that we all continue to work for the betterment of Am Yisrael-

Biydidut,

Avi

Here's what I don't get. He is basically saying that women still have the right to pasken halachah, but just won't be called Rabbah anymore. He admits the difference between Maharat (which he will continue to give out) and Rabbah is just a title change. I think this is still a problem. I was just as against the title of Maharat as I am against the title of Rabbah.

I think the RCA dropped the ball on this one, and their statement was just a way to try and save face over the issue. I think he should have been expelled.

Touro College and Rabbi Dr. Lander A"H

2010-03-04T11:44:00.004-05:00

Last month, a great man passed away - Rabbi Dr. Bernard Lander, the founder of Touro College. He was responsible for thousands of frum people being able to get a college education in a setting acceptable to the majority of chareidi Rabbonim. There were articles written praising him for his work - rightfully so.

Matzav posted a letter by Rabbi Yosef Shubert asking why people are praising him. He produced two letters against Touro College, signed by various Rabbonim. The first letter was signed by R' Moshe Feinstein zt"l, R' Yaakov Kaminetzky zt"l, R' Shach zt"l, and the Steipler zt"l. However, he left out one main point: this letter was about a Touro branch opening in Israel. I don't know the circumstances, but it had nothing to do with a Touro in New York. Their signatures are missing from the letter about Touro in New York. The only Rav who signed that letter who was considered from the "top tier" of chareidi Rabbis was R' Elya Svei zt"l. In fact, many Rabbonim encouraged Touro College, and supported it fully. Yet he failed to mention that. He even blasted R' Dr. Lander a"h for ignoring what the Rabbis said.

To be fair, most of the comments disagreed with Rabbi Shubert. However, I would like to point out some more hypocrisy in this system the chareidim have about blindly following, as well as picking and choosing what to make a fuss about.

Yeshiva Chaim Berlin has a special place in my heart. It's close to my opinion of Nazis (based on stories from my grandparents) and Arabs. Anyway, as many people know, the Rosh yeshiva there years ago was R' Hutner zt"l. His two main talmidim were R' Ahron Shechter and R' Yonasan David. The mashgiach of the yeshiva was Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach (a cousin of the singer).

R' Hutner had a great relationship with R' Carlebach. Not so with his students. When R' Hutner left to go to Israel, a power struggle started, and Rabbis Shechter and David forced out Rabbi Carlebach. He went to a Beis Din which included R' Moshe Feinstein. R' Moshe ruled that R' Carlebach was correct, and summoned R' Hutner to the court. R' Shechter convinced R' Hutner that he was bigger than R' Moshe, and didn't have to listen. Shortly after, R' Hutner died, and the summons was put on R' Shechter. The yeshiva was ordered to continue paying R' Carlebach a salary, as well as forbidden to hire another mashgiach. Both orders were ignored. R' Moshe declared the yeshiva had the status of someone ignoring a Beis Din, and they lost any rights they had in a Jewish court until they changed their ways. Since that time, Chaim berlin has had 3 mashgichim, and hasn't paid Rabbi Carlebach a penny.

Why doesn't Rabbi Shubert write an article about how Rabbi Shechter ignored R' Moshe Feinstein zt"l? R' Shechter is considered one of the biggest chareidi Rabbis in the world today. He sits on the Moetzes. This is a disgrace, as he had no respect for R' Moshe Feinstein, who was almost universally agreed upon as the Gadol Hador.

Lakewood Beis Yaakov is bankrupt

2010-03-03T09:55:00.001-05:00

Beis Yaakov Elementary School in Lakewood has closed down. They were in bankruptcy court for a while, and have now closed their doors, in middle of the school year, leaving kids with no place to go. I'm not going to worry about the teachers, because I'm sure they haven't gotten paid in months anyway, so at least now they have time to look for new jobs.

I've been told by people that Lakewood is great because there's no tuition crisis due to the tuition being so cheap. Well, this is the outcome of that. The kollel system can't maintain itself indefinitely. There have been threats of school closings before (I wrote about one in Brooklyn a while back), but now it finally happened. The system is collapsing.

Avi Weiss and the Rabbah revisited

2010-02-24T15:12:00.001-05:00

For some reason, when I posted this yesterday, a bunch of it got cut off. I didn't have a chance to fix it until now (a day later). The full post is up now!

The Jewish Week is reporting that the RCA is considering kicking out Avi Weiss from its membership. For some reason, the link to the story wouldn't open for me, but I did see it reported on VIN, YWN, and Matzav.

I agree with this step. As I've written before, I think that Avi Weiss has crossed the line from Orthodox Judaism into Conservative Judaism.

Honestly Frum wrote a comment about the fact that criminals in the chareidi world are protected, and nothing is done to them. While I agree this is true, I don't think it has anything to do with this case. The RCA is mainly a Modern Orthodox organization, and doesn't really have anything to do with the Beis Yaakov system. If you want to complain about biased Chareidi reporting, go ahead, but it's been done plenty already.

As far as what I think is worse for Judaism, I really think Avi Weiss is worse. When a Chareidi guy steals from the government or other people, nobody is under the impression that it's allowed. Avi Weiss is claiming that what he does is ok, which is much worse.

Martin Grossman and the Death Penalty

2010-02-14T15:44:00.003-05:00

There's a Jewish guy named Martin Grossman who was sentenced to death years ago. The date of his execution is coming up, and there have been many letters published by many Rabbis asking for clemency.

Now, I happen to be in favor of the death penalty. However, I do have some issues with this case. People are claiming his IQ is 77. I believe there was a court ruling that sets a minimum IQ for a person to be eligible for execution, and it's above 77. The claims that he was drunk and high at the time mean nothing to me - the jury considered that already. Of the Noahide laws is to set up a system of laws. This is the US system, and we must respect it. My issue is that it takes over 20 years from sentencing until the execution. I happen to think life is prison without parole is worse than the death sentence. Keeping someone in prison for that long knowing he's going to die is cruel and unusual punishment.

Now, I'm not completely heartless; he is a Jew, and we do need to feel for every single Jew out there. However, the way people are going about it sends the wrong message.

The Yeshiva World Coffee Room has a thread about it where someone posted a letter to be sent to the governor asking for clemency. I modified the letter below, just to show the impression this campaign is giving:

Dear Governor Crist,

I am writing to implore you to consider commuting the impending execution of Martin Grossman to life in prison without parole.

Although I am somewhat conservative politically, and a supporter of the death-penalty as punishment for certain crimes, I believe that this case may warrant clemency.

The details of the actual crime committed - the murder of a young police officer in the line of duty - are horrific. In ordinary circumstances I would be in full agreement with the imposition of the death penalty for such a crime. This case has three factors that I request be considered in sparing Martin Grossman from the death penalty; his age at the time of the crime, his mental status, and his religion.

1) A nineteen-year-old is not fully capable of adult decision making. States recognize this in imposing a 21-year age limit on the purchase of alcohol. As a member of the Jewish community I had to ask myself if I'm being honest in requesting clemency due to Martin Grossman's age or simply due to appeals I read in community publications. I am comfortable saying that this belief that nineteen is too young to face the death penalty has nothing to do with who Martin is. Many years ago when actor Bill Cosby's son was tragically murdered, my initial thought was "I hope the killer is caught and executed". Once the murderer was captured and it turned out he was nineteen years old, I no longer thought he should face the death penalty - he was too young.

2) A teenager - a young adult - with an IQ of 77 is not a normal functioning person. While he may survive in society with a menial job, he lacks the intelligence and thinking skills most of us enjoy in our day-to-day lives. He is capable enough to know right from wrong, and he does deserve to be punished for his terrible crime. Nonetheless, his significantly reduced mental capacity should be a reason to spare him from the most severe punishment society has to offer. Allowing a borderline-retarded person to be executed would be a blot on the state that permitted it.

3) As I stated earlier, in ordinary circumstances, I would be in agreement with the sentence in such a case. However, this case does not fall into ordinary circumstances. Martin Grossman is a Jew. As such, all other Jews feel responsible for him. In another case, where all the details other than the religion were the same, I would definitely support the death penalty. I clearly discriminate based on religion, and am asking you to as well.

This is not a request for forgiveness, but blatant discrimination based on religion.

This is not minimizing the horrible crime and the tragedy of a young police officer's life cut short.

This is a request that Martin Grossman be given the next-most severe punishment allowed by law - Life Without Parole - instead of execution, based on the fact that he is a Jew. Otherwise, we wouldn't care.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Rubashkin ignorance continues - will it lead to a blog war?

2010-02-11T10:18:00.004-05:00

Matzav had a report the other day stating that Rubashkin was put into solitary confinement because his new cell-mate attacked him. I obviously don't know all the details and can't comment on what actually happened, but I did enjoy reading the description of the attacker: he was described as a convicted criminal. Now, forgive me if I'm mistaken, but isn't Rubashkin a convicted criminal himself? Matzav has been the leading defender of Rubashkin, and they will publish anything they find that makes him look good, or makes his opponents look bad.

Vos Iz Neias reported this morning that they spoke to prison officials, and they said he wasn't attacked, and it had nothing to do with his placement in solitary. They said they weren't allowed to comment on why he was placed there, as it goes against regulations.

Matzav then responded to VIN's story, saying that it was "erroneous, irresponsible, and plainly fabricated". Will this be the start of a blog war between Matzav and VIN? It should be interesting to see what happens from this.

I would also like to mention the conversation that Honestly Frum and I had with R' Salomon when he spoke in Teaneck not too long ago. He said that regarding someone who is really guilty of a crime, there is no mitzvah of pidyon shevuyim whatsoever. Rubashkin commited the crime - he admitted it during his trial. Therefore, there is no mitzvah to help him out now.

Yoetzet Halachah

2010-02-08T10:36:00.002-05:00

I've written before that I'm not in favor of the whole Yoetzet Halachah idea. I know that in the Teaneck community, there is a yoetzet who is used by many people, even though most of the Rabbonim in town are also against the idea.

My reasoning is very simple. Judaism is based on Torah and halachah, but tradition also plays a big role. Minhagim are extremely important, and are supposed to be treated as halachah. Throughout Jewish history, the poskim have always been men. Women have no mitzvah of Talmud Torah, and have their own purpose in life. It's no better or worse than a man's place, it's simply different - like comparing apples and oranges. Giving women the right to pasken shailos goes against the Jewish tradition.

It also leads to a very slippery slope. As I posted before: once you allow women to rule on hilchos niddah, which is an issur d'oraysah, what's the reason to stop them from paskening on other matters that aren't nearly as stringent? If they can rule on niddah issues, why can't they rule on Shabbos matters? Most questions that come up regarding Shabbos are d'rabanan questions, not d'oraysah. I think this path is best avoided.

People have argued that many women wouldn't keep taharas hamishpacha if they didn't have a yoetzet to ask, mainly due to their discomfort asking a Rabbi. While I understand this, I don't accept it as a valid reason. These halachos have been followed for thousands of years. I'm sure women have felt uncomfortable at times, yet they still followed the halachos and asked a Rabbi. Why should things change now? Because the women then did it through the discomfort and women now won't? Maybe that's a problem with the way the women live - Judaism obviously doesn't mean that much to them. Would they desecrate Shabbos if they felt uncomfortable? What would happen if they forgot to turn on their air conditioner for Shabbos in the summer? That's also uncomfortable. Changing Jewish tradition to make it easier has been done before. The Conservative movement permitted driving on Shabbos at one point because they said since many people do it, we might as well allow it so they aren't breaking anything. This is the same thing.

Modern Orthodoxy is about being able to follow halachah and all of our traditions while still integrating into modern society. When chareidim say we change things, we can almost always prove otherwise. In this matter, the chareidim would be correct - people are changing Judaism.

Avi Weiss, Chovevei Torah and Orthodoxy

2010-02-04T09:35:00.003-05:00

Avi Weiss and his yeshiva, Yeshiva Chovevei Torah have been very controversial for a long time. They claim to be Orthodox, but many disagree with them.

About a year ago, Weiss ordained a woman for the first time, giving her the title "Maharat", for a year-long trial run. The year has ended, and he has now given her the title "Rabbah". He has also stated that she is a female Rabbi, with all the responsibilities thereof.

I am firmly against this. In Judaism, the role of a woman was never to be a Rabbi. Women have no mitzvah to learn Torah or teach Torah. The Gemara that women love to hate says "Nashim daatos kalos". That doesn't mean their minds are weak, as many claim, it means their minds are cut out for a different type of thinking. Just as some people are very analytical, but their minds don't work well when it comes to artistic things, so too, the Gemara says that women's minds are not the same as men.

Orthodoxy means not breaking with halachah or Jewish tradition. Modern Orthodoxy has been attacked by people claiming it does break with these things. Now, there may be MO people who don't keep everything, but that doesn't speak for MO as a whole. If you ask a MO Rabbi if these things are ok, they will tell you definitively that they're not. Take hair covering for women - many MO women don't cover their hair, but you won't find a Rabbi saying it's ok.

Now, Avi Weiss has changed this. He is taking a stance that breaks with Jewish tradition. I believe that he and his school are no longer Orthodox, even if they claim that they are. This has pushed them over the line.

This is also one of the reasons I am firmly against the idea of a Yoetzet halachah. I believe it will lead to things like this happening. Once you allow women to rule on hilchos niddah, which is an issur d'oraysah, what's the reason to stop them from paskening on other matters that aren't nearly as stringent? If they can rule on niddah issues, why can't they rule on Shabbos matters? Most questions that come up regarding Shabbos are d'rabanan questions, not d'oraysah. Why shouldn't they be able to rule on them? It's a slippery slope I believe is best avoided.

Tropper steps down

2010-02-03T16:23:00.000-05:00

Matzav is reporting that Leib Tropper stepped down as Rosh yeshiva of his yeshiva in Monsey.

It's about time. That pig shouldn't have been around any type of school at all.

Beis Yaakov administrator: Leave kollel!

2010-02-01T12:52:00.000-05:00

Finally, a Beis Yaakov administrator had the guts to tell a parent to leave kollel, and go get a job.

KollelGuy has a piece on it, where he just bashes the administrator for it. Among some of the "better" quotes are the following:

"Kollel families generally are of a higher caliber, and raise the overall standard of the school."
"Kollel families tend to have higher standards of chinuch"
"Another huge plus that kollel families offer is that they don’t cause jealousy with the other kids by going to fancy hotels for Pesach and mid winter vacations to Florida."

This guy is ridiculous. Matzav picked up the piece, and at least most people reacted the same way I did.

Chassidim in Teaneck

2010-02-01T12:51:00.000-05:00

On Friday, I went to Pizza Crave to grab a slice of pizza. While I was waiting, I saw a chassidic couple come in. I assumed they're from Monsey, as I don't think there are really any chassidim living in Teaneck.

Anyway, they started talking abou what kind of slice to get. As many know, Pizza Crave has a large assortment of specialty pies. They were discussing them, and the husband said, "I want a fresh slice, and these don't look too fresh."

When he said that, his wife reached behind the glass cover and actually started feeling the pizzas to see if they felt fresh or not. Of course, she made sure to do it when the guy behind the counter had his back turned.

What the hell is wrong with these people?

Another hechsher, and for what?

2010-01-20T11:00:00.001-05:00

If you go into a Brooklyn kosher grocery store, you will see something interesting. There are hechsherim on the weirdest things. Napkins, paper plates, paper towels, even the disposable plastic table cloths. Well, now there's a new one coming out in Israel: the hechsher on Jewish music.

Matzav had an article up recently about this. Some people put out a list of guidelines for "kosher" music, and they will give a hechsher on music that follows their rules. The article originally listed the names of 4 Rabbis involved, but later took the names down.

Some of the rules are just ridiculous: you shouldn't use drums, as they're used in rock music. You should find another form of percussion, and even then, only use it sparingly. You shouldn't use saxophone, because it has "seductive tones". Singers shouldn't be dancing while they perform, or it might turn into a rock concert.

Then again, these are the type of people who put out a brand of milk called Machmirim, with as many hechsherim as they could find.

Israeli courts becoming more chareidi?

2010-01-14T10:34:00.000-05:00

I saw today on VIN news that the Israeli court system decided that Abraham Mondrowitz, the notorious child molester, could not be extradited to the US to stand trial for his crimes.

It seems to me that they're becoming more chareidi, in that they're helping child molesters get off easy.

Mondrowitz is a monster who deserves to rot in prison for the rest of his life.

A commenter on VIN had a good point: "Try thinking why Jews are not granted bail for the fear that they will leave the jurisdiction." This decision will help clear the way for judges to decide all Jews are flight risks. It's already been done in court, now it will likely occur more often.

The saddest part is that there are actually comments defending Mondrowitz.

Grammar

2010-01-10T14:04:00.002-05:00

Four sum reason, lot's of the poster's on the chareidi websites just don't know good grammar. I guess its the result of a pour educashun. For many of them, all that matters is the Gemara, and the secular subjects just don't seem to matter at all. Its kind of sad, really.

Once again, I'm going to mention R' Gifter zt"l, as the chareidim will almost always quote him when bashing Modern Orthodoxy. He was a big believer in people being educated. He believed people should have a broad command of the English language and should be educated in proper grammar.

Unfortunately, most chareidim aren't like that now. They ignore their secular studies, and they even ridicule the teachers. I was told by a teacher of mine that public school kids behaved better than yeshiva kids.

Is this what kids are learning?

Don't forget to see how many mistakes are in the first paragraph. I've seen all of those mistakes written on YWN, Matzav, or VIN at some point.

Tuition in Jewish schools

2010-01-05T16:26:00.002-05:00

Honestly Frum had a few posts recently about the tuition crisis in Jewish schools. Judging from the number of comments they got, it's a subject that affects many people (I wish one of my posts would get 200 comments!)

I have to say that I disagree with a lot of the comments. People wrote about how the scholarship program needs to be abolished, that people should look into public schools, and other things.

For myself, I can't say too much yet. I don't have kids in school yet, but will within a few years. However, I do know that I'm worried about it. I really have no clue how I'm going to pay tuition. My wife was laid off recently, so we don't have an income from her. We had some unforeseen expenses come up a little while ago that took most of our savings and put us into debt. I don't own a house, and don't think I'm going to be looking for one anytime soon. I don't have any family members who could help out financially.

So, what am I supposed to do in a few years? Work an extra job? I'm already out working over 12 hours a day. There's only so much time to work. My wife is looking, but it's a tough market, and she hasn't found anything yet.

In terms of cutting the cost of tuition, I have some thoughts. I don't know the details of the schools and if they charge for some things, but I will mention them.

Do kids need to pay to join a sports team, or is it included in tuition? It doesn't help them with their education, and just increases the cost, in hiring coaches, insurance, equipment, travel for games, etc.

As was mentioned, there are too many administrators. When I was young, in a yeshiva in Brooklyn, the school had one administrator. I don't know how much he got paid. Now, I'm told schools have a few, and they're getting paid salaries that I only dream about. Is that really necessary?

My last thought was government funding. Most of Teaneck's property tax money goes into the public school system. That means most of teh Jewish community gets no benefit from it. I was told recently that the guy running the school system was getting paid over $350k per year. That's just crazy.

Electing a frum Jewish guy to the school board last year was just the start. We need to get some type of voucher program instituted. They need to make the public school system efficient, and not waste money. Then, take teh savings and channel in into the private schools.

Family planning

2009-12-31T09:56:00.000-05:00

There was a letter on Matzav last week about family planning. It basically advocated having a large number of kids, and never using any form of birth control.

Some of the questions and answers given I completely disagreed with. For example, one question raised was how it affects teens when they have to help raise the younger kids, and be like parents at that young age. The author wrote that it helps them gain self-confidence, and prepare them to raise their own children. My Rebbe, from a well known chareidi yeshiva, is against this. He thinks teens need time to be teens, and shouldn't be given these responsibilities.

I saw an interview a while back with one of R' Chaim Kanievsky's children. She said it's better to have more kids, because buying in bulk is cheaper. Yes, it's cheaper per piece, but overall, it costs more. It's cheaper to buy 2 pairs of pants for $10 each than to buy 5 pairs at $8 each.

After all this, of course, are the comments that birth control is assur. They couldn't be farther from the truth. My brother told me that in Lakewood, all of the Rabbis who teach chassan classes tell the boys that it is allowed pretty often, and you just need to ask. It's a big misconception that it's never allowed, and it's unfortunate.

Then we get to the question that the chareidim will always ask you: "Well, look at my 10 kids. Which one would you take away?"
The answer is none. Once you're pregnant, unless there are serious health concerns, you will have the baby. I would never advocate abortions. However, if you never got pregnant, you wouldn't know about the kid, and wouldn't be taking him/her away. You can't look at your kids after the fact and say, "Oh, I wouldn't have had you." It's just not the same thing. If God wants you to have the child, you will. That's why they say birth control is only 99% effective.

As for the mitzvah of pru u'revu, most rabbonim hold that you've fulfilled it with one boy and one girl. That's it.

Homosexuality

2009-12-25T09:11:00.002-05:00

Most people are aware that there was an event in YU the other night to discuss homosexuality in Judaism. I haven't read the transcripts of the meeting, but supposedly it wasn't an attempt to legitimize the lifestyle, it was to note the pain that gay people go through.

It is a big issue. A few years ago, I watched the documentary Trembling Before G-d. In it, a guy told over how when he first started experiencing attraction to other men, he went to his Rosh Yeshiva, and told him about it. He wanted to overcome it, and was looking for help. Instead, he was yelled at, and thrown out of the school.

How can someone react like that? There is no sin in being gay. The sin is in having gay sex. Everyone is tempted to do wrong sometimes. We have to overcome the urges. Being gay is no different. Why is it worse to be tempted to have gay sex than for a man to be tempted to have sex with a married woman? They are both arayos, yet one will be told it's a normal urge that needs to be controlled, and one will be expelled from his community. So yes, the people who have these urges go through a lot of pain, and mayny live in fear of someone else finding out.

The other issue with this was raised by a comment on YWN. Someone pointed out that the Roshei Yeshiva of YU signed a letter against the event, yet the event still took place. In Modern Orthodoxy, we have constantly said that we don't always listen to what the Chareidi rabbis say because we have our own gedolim to follow. Well, this week, many MO people didn't follow them. They completely ignored them, and I am embarrassed for it.

Someone wrote on Matzav that R' Malkiel Kotler should be asked what his take on the situation was. I wrote a response that wasn't published - I wrote that he would tell the people to run for governor so that he could endorse them.

One last story: I heard from someone that about 8-9 years ago, there was a guy in the Mir yeshiva in Israel that people knew was gay. Some guys went to the mahgiach, R' Chodosh, and asked him to kick the guy out. R' Chodosh blasted them for making such a request. He then put it simply to them: "As long as we only have one such guy, we have absolutely nothing to worry about. If we get a second guy, we'll keep an eye on things, but it doesn't warrant kicking him out."

That was the right approach.

Why do teens go off the derech?

2009-12-22T12:10:00.000-05:00

Matzav published this post (with some changes), so I'm bumping it up.

There has been a lot of attention given to this question. Chareidi leaders have blamed everything from the internet to TV and movies to cell phones, and issued bans on pretty much everything to try and stop it.

They have no idea what they're talking about. Why should they? Did they ever go off the derech? Did they go through what these teens go through, experience the emotions, and the results that come from it? Of course not. So how should they know? They see a kid with the internet looking at pornography, who isn't too observant, and say, "Look, the internet caused him to go off." Maybe he's looking at it because he's already on his way off. Does that ever occur to them? Of course not, because that would mean the fault lies somewhere else, possibly with them, and they can't comprehend that.

As someone who went off for a while, and with friends who did also, I can shed some light on some of the things that did it. Chareidim will never admit these are issues. They'll say it was an isolated case, but sadly, it's not. This happens all the time.

When I was younger, in yeshiva, I was encouraged to learn full time. I once mentioned that I would go to college, and the Rebbe called me a sheigitz in front of the whole class. I was humiliated publicly other times by Rabbeim. I had things stolen from me because people felt a good yeshiva guy shouldn't have them. Did they even come to me and ask me for the items, or tell me to take it home? No, they went into my dorm room when I wasn't there, and took the things.

Abuse is another issue. Thankfully, I was never subject to it. I do know that I have a relative who was kicked by his Rebbe in 3rd grade because he was talking during class. Physical abuse is bad, and it has been addressed in the yeshiva system, but it can't compare to sexual abuse. People who go through that are subjected to the worst torture. Physical abuse leaves marks, and will usually be spotted by a parent pretty quickly. It also won't usually occur past a certain age in school, because older kids will defend themselves. Sexual abuse can continue for months or years. When it was discovered in the chareidi schools, as is well known, it was swept under the carpet. What message does this send to students? We don't care about you, we will protect ourselves at your expense. We will throw you under the bus if we have to in order to protect one of our own. No wonder kids go off.

Then there is the issue of business ethics. Kids see it when they go shopping. Go into Boro Park, and offer to pay cash. The price drops, there's no tax, all because the person can get away with it. There was the issue with the Rabbis in Deal that were arrested. There were the Satmar guys arrested in Japan for drug smuggling. They are all labeled as victims, while sexual abuse victims are ignored. Again, what kind of message does this send?

Cell phones and the internet won't cause kids to go off. if a child has a true love of Judaism and a desire to be a good Jew, they won't do the wrong thing with their phones and computers. It's only once they start down the path that it becomes an issue. The chareidim focus on it because they can then sweep the rest of it under the rug, as they always do.

A kosher etrog

2009-12-17T15:26:00.001-05:00

I posted recently about the new ban on the internet by chareidi Rabbis, and the hypocrisy of many sites that remained open.

Not only has Yeshiva World not closed down, they have even tried to justify why it doesn't apply to them, by claiming it's against closed forums, not news sites (although they haven't shut down their Coffee Room forum).

I have to commend one site out there: Etrog News. They published the following letter on their site today:

In light of the comments recently made by Gedolei Yisrael, shlita, "Etrog" – a site that is completely free of lashon hara – has decided to discontinue its services on the internet. From this moment on, there will be no news or other informative postings on the portal
Chaim Twerski 16/12/2009 16:00
Dear friends and site visitors,

The letter signed by Gedolei Yisrael regarding chareidi internet sites, which was posted at the end of last week, is familiar to all of us.

We are confident that any of you who have visited the "Etrog" portal during the last year, by chance or on a regular basis, will testify to the fact that our wide variety of news and Jewish postings have met all of even the most stringent criteria set by the Gedolei Yisrael in their letter.

We are all familiar with the damage caused by the internet in the last few years. But we honestly believe that you will all agree with us, that this site was a home of Torah and Jewish knowledge, and that our portal only presented the true facts of the news, clean of any slander or sensationalism.

With the publication of the rabbis' letter, we must take action to verify the exact details and limits of the issur. This morning, we were personally informed that all chareidi internet activity must immediately cease. From the moment we began planning, and then eventually established the site, we decided to accept any guidance and halachic ruling received from Gedolei Yisrael. Therefore, just as we have adhered to the psakim of our Torah leaders thus far, we must continue to maintain that standard today.

This is not an easy step for us to take. Much thought and effort was invested in this project, and we have endeavored to fulfill a self-assigned mission of providing a clean, respectable site. A source of light in the terrible darkness. There have been occasions when we chose not to report on individuals and events that made very interesting stories, and lifted the "ratings" of other sites. If the material was not appropriate, we did not publish it.

We felt that we were continuing the legacy of those who followed the psak of the holy Admor of Gur, the "Imrei Emes", ztz"l, who one hundred years ago battled against the influence of the "Enlightenment" and assimilation movements in newspapers. But that same devotion to truth and purity forces us now to stop everything, and follow orders, without questioning their legitimacy.

This is something that must be done, dear friends. The Yetzer Ra has invaded every corner of the internet, but will now be left alone on the battlefield. We hope that the strength of Gedolei Yisrael will empower you as well, and we are confidant that you will be able to overcome the temptations of the internet, even without the help that we extended to you all for the past year.

At the end of this period, we would like to express our immense appreciation to everyone who accompanied us on the journey. To all those who participated in the planning of the portal, to everyone who was involved in the daily functioning of the site. To the rabbis who assisted us with the articles on Judaism and mussar. To the owners, the managers, the staff of editors, writers, graphic artists, and the production staff, who worked night and day to create a high quality, attractive, and rich site for our readers. To all the individuals who gave us the privilege to act as "shelichei mitzvah". And of course, we want to thank you all, our dear readers, for all your support.

We wish you all a Happy Chanukah.

Although I don't agree with the ban, I have to commend this one site for actually listening to their Rabbis. They claim to be chareidim, and with their shutting down their site, they showed it. It's good to see real, frum, honest chareidim out there who aren't full of crap. While most sites try to justify their staying open or just completely ignore the ban, they did the right thing and listened to their leaders. Kol hakavod.

Conversions

2009-12-16T13:44:00.000-05:00

Over the past 24 hours, I've been reading a lot about this guy and his harem. There has been speculation of a mass cover-up, originating with the letter sent out banning even chareidi web sites. I don't think it had anything to do with Tropper, although that's just a gut feeling.
Someone posted a comment on Honestly Frum's post regarding the issue stating that revoking a geirus should never be ok. I have to disagree with this. There are times when it needs to be done. In order for a geirus to work, the person needs to fully accept the Torah and Mitzvos.
Here are two cases I know of:
1. A non-Jewish woman meets a Jewish guy. She wants to convert. She speaks to the Rabbis about it, and they're convinced that she's sincere. She does the studying, converts, and they get married. They're married for 30 years, when her husband dies.
Two days later, she is seen wearing jeans and a tank top, her hair uncovered, eating at McDonalds. She tells her friends that she never really wanted to convert, she only wanted to marry the guy, so she faked everything to the Rabbis. Now that her husband is dead, she sees no need to be Jewish anymore.

2. A teenage girl converts to Judaism. She really enjoys it, is sincere, and undergoes the whole process. She is an observant Jew for a few years, going to shiurim regularly, davening every day, etc. Then she goes off to college. While in college, she falls in with the wrong crowd. She decides that Orthodox Judaism (even Modern Orthodox, which is what she'd considered herself) wasn't right for her, and decides to be more conservative/reform type. She doesn't dress appropriately anymore, has pictures of herself making out with her boyfriend, etc.

In both cases, the Chareidi system would have invalidated the conversions.
In the first case, the woman clearly didn't accept everything fully. Therefore, her conversion wasn't valid. In the second case,the girl was really sincere. When she converted, she accepted it. She just changed her mind later. Her conversion was fine.

I'm not writing anything about the Tropper case now. There's plenty already out there, and I'm not really going to contribute anything.

The Rise and Fall of Lakewood

2009-12-15T12:10:00.000-05:00

After World War II, Judaism was not in the best of shape. People had lots of questions, and didn't have answers. Leading Rabbis were killed, along with many future Rabbis. The remaining Rabbis realized something needed to be done to ensure that Judaism didn't disappear. What was their solution? The kollel system. Encourage many younger guys to learn full time, and hope to rebuild the leadership.
R' Ahron Kotler zt"l came to the US, and founded his yeshiva in Lakewood. He originally had a small group of students. It wasn't easy to get accepted into BMG back then. He only took in the best, those he felt would be the future leaders. So, while all kids were encouraged to pursue learning, the only ones that actually did it were the best. For the others, they had a desire to remain observant instilled in them through it, and stayed observant. They also took upon themselves to support the chosen few who would become the leaders of the next generation.
After R' Ahron died, his son R' Shneur took over. He immediately began to make changes in the yeshiva. He felt it was wrong to encourage people to learn full time, and then not allow it. After all, what's more important than Torah study? He threw open the doors to his yeshiva, and began allowing everyone in. However, he did keep things somewhat in check - he allowed his students to learn for a few years, and if he saw someone wasn't destined to become a leader, he encouraged the person to leave the yeshiva and get a job. Only those that were destined for greatness were encouraged to learn long-term.
After R' Schneur died, his son, R' Malkiel became the Rosh Yeshiva. This is when things really changed. Former students of his father and grandfather now had their children going to yeshivos. The Rabbis in the schools were the people who had learned long-term, and went into chinuch to make a living. These people had been told that learning full-time was the way to go, and doing something else was wasting their talents. In their case, that had been correct. They didn't think, though, to differentiate between people. Who was supposed to teach them how to be teachers themselves? They didn't have who to learn from about teaching young kids.
Their children were taught that learning full time was the only way to go. Anything else was second best. BMG, once a yeshiva for the best to study to become future leaders, became the biggest yeshiva in the US, with thousands of students. It was no longer the best place to go, it was simply the "in thing" to go there. People went to BMG because it was expected if them.
Now, people in BMG are encouraged to sit and learn for the rest of their lives. By the time they realize their families can't love on a kollel paycheck, it's too late. They have no qualifications, and usually can't find jobs that pay enough. There are only so many jobs available as a Rebbe in a yeshiva. They have no alumni who can support them, as their alumni are all broke and struggling to feed their families.
They have turned to other sources for support, such as the Modern Orthodox community. However, with the statements they make about these communities, the support is bound to dry up soon. When that happens, BMG is doomed to fail. It has started. People don't respect the Rabbis there, as shown in teh recent NJ election for governor. Once that starts, it's only a matter of time.

More Chareidi hypocrisy

2009-12-12T20:21:00.006-05:00

Yeshiva World has a story up today that says teh Rabbonim in Israel, including Rabbis Elyashiv, Shteinman, Karelitz, Sheinberg and many others have all come out strongly against chareidi web sites, and ask people not to support them in any way, including advertising. I'm going to copy and paste the article in case they take it down:

Eretz Yisroel - Maranan V’Rabanan Gedolei HaDor Shlita today, erev Shabbos Chanukah, are coming out strongly against the dangers of chareidi internet sites. The rabbonim are calling on the tzibur not to view the sites, not to “cooperate” in any way, including advertising, the daily HaMevaser reports.

The rabbonim express their fears surrounding the internet’s penetration into the Jewish home, trampling the safeguards of modesty and Jewish life. They blame the chareidi websites for the “recheilus” that takes place along with the “motzei shem ra”, “lies” and “abominations R”L”.

In the letters appearing in chareidi newspapers today, the rabbonim call on the tzibur to distance themselves from their spiritual danger, as well as to condemn it in every form and to remove it from our lives.

The kol korei elaborates, explaining that sites are labeled “chareidi” but bring unacceptable content to the tzibur, tarnishing the name of the chareidi community.

The rabbonim add that the kovod of rabbonim is compromised, and the situation is simply ‘hefker’ and as such, it mustn’t be permitted to continue as it exists today.

The rabbonim are calling for cutting off all cooperation with chareidi websites.

I don't see how Yeshiva World can actually post this and keep their site open. Just more hypocrisy.

Chassidishe maysehs

2009-12-10T21:10:00.002-05:00

Matzav has an article up about the old Bobover Rebbe.
Basically, in 1998, someone made a vachnacht for his son, and the Rebbe came. He told a boy there that he's attend his wedding. This boy now got engaged to the Rebbe's great-granddaughter. Of course, the Rebbe died years ago.
So, what do they say? The Rebbe had ruach hakodesh! He knew this would happen! It says teh souls of family members who passed away come down to celebrate at a wedding, so the Rebbe came because it was his great-granddaughter getting married. That was why he promised the boy he'd attend his wedding.

Is it just me, or is this stretching it?

Follow-up to my last post

2009-12-03T15:47:00.004-05:00

Since my last post, I've heard some more details on what happened in Lakewood. Supposedly, the guy who was attacked had it coming. He was refusing to give his wife a get, and was keeping her as an agunah. A beis din had some guys go and beat him up to convince him to give her the get.
I'm all in favor of that. The beis din had it right. The only thing I don't understand is why they won't allow any details to be released. If someone is doing such a thing, I believe it's supposed to be made public to try and force him to give the get.

Edit: For some reason, when I posted this, comments were disabled for the post. I've turned them on.

Funny business in Lakewood

2009-12-02T11:59:00.001-05:00

There's a story that was posted on Yeshiva World, Matzav, and The Lakewood Scoop, about a guy who was found tied up and gagged, severely beaten, in Lakewood. He is from Williamsburg, and works in Lakewood. No details are being released about it, they will only say there's more than meets the eye to this story, and nothing more.
Obviously, this guy was mixed up with some shady characters. I'm not surprised, and of course, the Chareidim will cover it all up.

Chareidim stealing from Israeli government

2009-11-29T08:12:00.002-05:00

Ynet has a story about a scam going on with Chareidi schools in Israel. They're registering extra students that don't exist, or are too young to be students, to get extra funding from the government. The Eida Chareidi was contacted, and they said, "We are not interested in dealing with the State of Israel's losses. It's not our problem. We solve our problems in our courts."
So, let me get this straight: the Eida Chareidi believes it's wrong to take money legally from the government, but it's ok to steal it?
They're even more messed up then I thought.

Modern chinuch

2009-11-20T08:44:00.000-05:00

Matzav has a story posted about a menahel from a yeshiva who used public humiliation as a means of chinuch. It backfired on him when some former students threatened to kill him, and later beat him up.
He went to R' Shteinman about the issue. He wanted to know if he had been teaching wrong all of his career.
R' Shteinman told him that years ago, that was the way chinuch was done, and it was proper for those times. In modern times, you can't do it, as it causes more harm than good.
I think R' Shteinman is being misquoted here. Yes, years ago teachers used to hit students. That was the norm, and it worked for those times. Public humiliation is never an option.
The chareidim come up with all different reasons why kids are going OTD. They blame TV, the Internet, cell phones, and other things. Maybe they should look in their own backyard. Child molestation that gets covered up, Rabbis humiliating kids, and the overall pressure to sit and learn - and if you don't, you're a failure.
I was publicly humiliated by some of my Rabbeim in Yeshiva. That was what led me to going OTD. These people who never went through anything like that have the nerve to call themselves experts and claim to know exactly what drives kids off. They know nothing.

Shabbos Protests are Important?

2009-11-15T19:42:00.002-05:00

Arutz Sheva has a story about how R' Aryeh Stern, who is a religious Zionist Rabbi, said that the Shabbos protests in Jerusalem are important, as long as they're not violent.
I think there is some truth to that, although I disagree on one big point. He says the protests themselves are important. I don't agree. I think he's right that they can't be violent, but I think it's the right to protest that's important, not the protests themselves. So Intel wants to have it's non-Jewish workers work on Shabbos. So what? There's nothing wrong with that. But, if people want to protest, they have that right - it's called free speech.
So, as I said, the right to protest is important, not the actual protest itself. And yes, it must remain calm.

Rubashkin

2009-11-13T09:13:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, Shalom Rubashkin was found guilty on 86 different counts. The Jewish news sites were filled with comments about it. The editor of Matzav, which had adopted Rubashkin as their cause to support, probably had a coronary when he heard it.
While I am saddened at the news, some of the things which were said were uncalled for. Matzav's headline was "Injustice is served", and "The Blood Libel Continues". Excuse me? Blood libel? How can tey dare compare the crimes commited by this man to the blood libels which led to the deaths of thousands of innocent people? Rubashkin did wrong, he admitted it. He simply claimed ignorance, that he didn't know what was going on. Did the Jews in Europe claim that yes, they took the blood of a non-Jewish child, but didn't realize it was wrong? Of course not!
Then, to say injustice is served? As I said, he admitted that things happened. Whether he was directly responsible or not, he still served in a position where he should have known what was going on. People testified that he actually did know what was going on, as they had reported it to him. He claimed he didn't know it was wrong to do. Well then, learn the law. The fact is, if you break the law, you're going to pay for it. That';s the story in this case.
Is it heartbreaking? Yes. My heart goes out to his family. I don't think he harmed anyone with it. However, it's hardly an injustice. He broke the law. That's clear. Now he has to pay the consequences.

The infamous Joseph

2009-11-11T05:42:00.002-05:00

On Yeshiva World, there is a poster who spews the most vile comments on a regular basis. He bashes Modern Orthodoxy all the time, and says terrible things about our Rabbonim. Well, he finally revealed himself.
Most of what he posts was re-posted yesterday on Matzav.com. They originally had his full name up as the author, but changed it to his initials. His name is Yosef Tropper. On Yeshiva World, he's known as Joseph. He's also posted on Matzav before as Yoisef and Yosef. I really can't stand this guy.

Anyway, some of the comments on his story are really bad. Here's one comment about MO:
"Take a look at one of your ‘modern’ boys on the street - save for a yarmulkah he looks like a total shaigetz!"

I think I'd rather look like a sheigetz and be honest than look like a frum Jew and cause a chillul Hashem every other day.

Carlebach

2009-11-01T11:47:00.002-05:00

I was talking to a friend of mine over Shabbos, and the subject of Carlebach came up. The minyan he goes to on Friday nights decided to have a Carlebach davening this week, and didn't tell anyone. They found out when Kabbolas Shabbos started. A bunch of guys were upset, as that meant davening would take significantly longer than usual. My friend, who is not the biggest Carlebach fan in the world (that's an understatement), said if they want to do the davening, fine - just let people know in advance.

I just wanted to bring up a point about Carlebach. For some reason, he has achieved a cult following, and I just don't see why. Yes, he had a lot of qualities we should try to emulate, and there are things we can learn from him. However, that doesn't take away from what he really was: a horny guy who grabbed as many women as he could, blatantly violated halachah and tried to defend his actions with some nonsensical argument, was accused of molesting underage girls, and was just basically a hippie. We should learn about loving your fellow Jew from him? Big deal, all hippies were into the love and peace thing. What should our kids learn from him? That it's ok to hug and kiss strange women if you know how to sing?
My friend told me someone asked him why they did a Carlebach davening this Shabbos. He replied that since in the Parshah we had the story of Paroah, they did the Carlebach davening. The Parshah deals with someone who lusted after strange women, and so did Carlebach. I thought it was a great answer.

Just to note, if you want to read all about the "great" Carlebach's activities that you don't hear about, read this.

2009-10-19T08:37:00.001-04:00

Some people may have noticed that I removed the post about the gemachs. I just want to clarify why I did that. The only reason was because the people involved with the Teaneck based gemach asked that the post be removed. That's it.

Chalav Yisrael

2009-10-07T18:12:00.002-04:00

For some reason, the issue of chalav Yisrael has gained more attention than most other subjects in the chareidi internet world. It's been debated numerous times, and for some reason it keeps coming back.
Today, Matzav had an article up about it, and reviewing R' Moshe Feinstein zt"l's heter for drinking milk not supervised by a Jew in the US. Now, the OU has a very respected chareidi posek on its kashrus board in R' Yisroel Belsky. He has paskened that cholov stam milk, as it's called, is permissible. However, that's not enough for them.
Some people will quote a letter R' Moshe wrote which says it should only be used b'shaas hadchak (when there's really no alternative). However, nobody mentions the context of his letter. A yeshiva, which had served only chalav Yisrael milk for years, was thinking of switching, and wanted to know his opinion. He replied that it should only be done b'shaas hadchak. This is clearly a psak for a yeshiva, and not the general public. Yet, they conveniently leave that part out.
Then, they introduced a new issue: some cows get gas trapped in one of their stomachs, and have a surgical procedure to release the pressure. Some are nervous that this makes the cow a treifah, and its milk can't be used. R' Belsky looked into the issue, and paskened that it's not a problem. Is that enough for them? Of course not. After all, it's not a chumrah, and chumros are what chareidim do best.
Then there are the people that write that drinking chalav Yisrael is good for your soul, and drinking chalav stam isn't. Well, according to R' Moshe, regular milk is chalav Yisrael. If you learn his teshuva, that's pretty clear. So, this point is a non-issue.
The people then resort to pointing out that we rely on R' Moshe's heter for milk, but we don't listen to him on Shabbos clocks, which he held aren't allowed. The answer to this is pretty simple: if your Rav was R' Moshe, they might have a point. However, my Rav can base his psak on whatever he wants, and I can do what my Rav tells me. However, their claim of hypocrisy is kind of funny. I've written before about A TIME, the fertility organization. The Satmar Rav zt"l held that IVF was assur. Many other poskim held the same. R' Moshe allowed it, and most poskim use this heter. So, any chareidi person who holds IVF is ok shouldn't use Shabbos clocks, right?
I guess it's the usual holier than thou attitude coupled with the usual hypocrisy.

Nusach

2009-10-05T06:03:00.002-04:00

One thing I have to say I enjoy about the Yeshivish world is when it comes to davening, they know how to use proper nusach. Since I moved to Teaneck, I've often complained to people about the lack of nusach in davening. We have such beautiful tunes for davening, that have been around for a really long time, but people don't use them. They just pick some tune that came out recently, and use that instead.
Kedushah? Forget it, that's the worst.ot only do they need to sing the entire thing, they need to pick a different tune for each verse. I really can't stand it.
On Yom Kippur, most of the Baalei Tefillah where I davened were guilty of this. During Selichos Sunday night, the guy davening had a tune for everything - after Kol Nidrei, he didn't use one bit of nusach, he literally sang every single thing. During Shacharis, the guy also sang everything. Musssaf wasn't bad, but the guy didn't do much nusach either - he just said a lot of stuff, but at least he made an effort. Mussaf is a tough tefillah to daven, and he did try. Minchah was good, but how much is there to sing there? Really not much. During Neillah, the guy did use nussach, but the problem was, he used the wrong nusach. Neilah and Geshem/Tal do not have the same nusach! He thought they do. Sorry, but they don't. Neilah has one of the most beautiful tunes from any of the nusachos (nuschaos?) and he didn't use it.
It's just a peeve of mine, but it ticks me off.

Kaparos

2009-09-25T16:21:00.004-04:00

For the past few years, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the practice of kaparos. PETA has come out against using chickens, together with many other animals rights groups.
When I was young, my family used chickens - until one year, one of them took a crap on my mom. It was only money after that.
There have been reports of people being cited for health code violations at the site where they do it with chickens. There were feces on the ground, it smelled terrible, and some other things. Neighbors complained, the cops and health department came down, and found these issues.
I'm in favor of calling an end to the practice of using chickens. Look at the chillul Hashem it has caused. Would it be so bad to use money?
"But it's our minhag!" people scream. Is it also your minhag to cause a chillul Hashem during the aseres y'mei teshuvah? Because that's what you're doing. You cry anti-semitism, but you don't realize that your actions are what is causing it. You want to do it with chickens? Fine, just follow the law. You can say they're looking for something, and they want to be able to cite you. That may be so, but why allow it? Just do everything correctly, and it won't be a problem.
Or just use money.
I'd just like to note, I'm not an animal rights person. Far from it. I think PETA are a bunch of lunatics, and I hate cats and dogs. I'm just upset at the chillul Hashem being caused.

Jewish Internet

2009-09-18T07:57:00.002-04:00

A few years ago, Rabbonim in the Chareidi world came out fighting against the internet. It was banned in Lakewood, and pretty much everyone else said it should be avoided as much as possible.
People responded by pointing out that it was needed for life now - everything is done online. Overall, the ban was a failure. Just look at sites like Yeshiva World, Matzav, and Vos Iz Neias to see how many chareidim are using the internet for things other than parnassah.

Matzav announced the other day that they're starting their own network, offering internet, a business internet filter, and phone service, at a price that will be subsidized. They even have a letter signed by some Roshei Yeshivos endorsing it.

I'm all in favor of their starting their own network. It's about time they realized that you can't avoid the internet. However, I don't understand the subsidizing of the cost. People are struggling to make ends meet. Schools are in danger of closing. So, what are teh rich chareidim doing? Subsidizing the cost of the internet. Why not donate money to schools? That's where it should be going first.

This site takes the cake

2009-09-08T15:17:00.001-04:00

I recently saw this site linked to by Off the Derech.
Now, I have problems with lots of sites, including OTD (your obsession with Garnel isn't healthy. You might want to discuss it with a professional.) This site, however, beats them all. The sheer hatred this guy exhibits is astounding. I don't need to write it here, go check it out yourself.

A few different items

2009-09-08T10:31:00.000-04:00

First off, I was very glad to read that this past Shabbos, the protest against the parking lot was peaceful. There was little or no violence. It seems they heeded the call of R' Shternbuch, and kept it calm. It's about time!

Second: I've posted in teh past about people collecting money. I had someone knock on my door the other day, collecting for families in Israel. He had the letters supporting him. I told him I couldn't help him too much, as there are families in my community who need help also, and they came first. He showed me a letter from R' Elyashiv saying that poor people of Jerusalem come before your own city. he then told me that he understands if my Rabbi said differently, but he just wanted to point out an opposing view. He also showed me a letter from R' Schachter encouraging everyone to support his organization. That was enough for me. I gave him a check. Not for a ton, but for something.
What really struck me was how nice and polite he was the entire time. he didn't come across as pushy, as many of these people do. Why can't all of the collectors be like him?

Third: I saw a thread on Yeshiva World's coffee room the other day. It was about the OU and the NCYI. The poster thought they could be combined. Now, I don't want to get into whether that is a good idea or not.
After a while, it of course turned into people bashing the NCYI. So, the mods went and locked the thread. However, you have to notice their timing: there were some posts bashing it. Then they locked it. If those posts were a problem, why post them at all? just erase them. But no - they post the attacks, and don't give anyone a chance to stand up in defense of the NCYI.
Typical.

It's about time

2009-09-03T21:31:00.001-04:00

I saw today that R' Moshe Shternbuch, head of the Eida Beis Din, spoke out very strongly against the violent protests. Finally!

View of Modern Orthodoxy

2009-08-26T09:54:00.002-04:00

In discussions on various websites, I've come across one thing several times: chareidim have a total misunderstanding of Modern Orthodoxy.
They all think that MO means you can do whatever you want. Dress inappropriately, mixed swimming, make out with your girlfriend all day, etc.
I don't know where they got this idea from, but that is not what it's about. If you ask a MO Rabbi if it's ok for a married woman to not cover her hair in public, they'll tell you it's not ok. Yes, many woman don't cover their hair. That doesn't make it right. We simply realize that pushing the issue will probably do more harm than good. The same goes for other issues.
Chareidim see Judaism as an all-or-nothing deal. MO says do what you can now, and try to work on yourself in the way that works best for you. We also don't take unecessary chumros on ourselves like chareidim do.
Ultimately, the idea behind MO is that frum Jews can integrate into society while maintaining our religious beliefs. Chareidim can't accept that.

Lakewood crying anti-semitism again

2009-08-23T22:26:00.002-04:00

There was an article on Matzav today about chavrusah tumult in Lakewood today. The cops came around, and ticketed all the cars that were parked illegally. Of course, people are saying they were targeted because they're Jewish. It doesn't occur to them to park legally.
I wrote as much in the comments section. Here was a response I got:

Mr. Orthowatch,

How did you select such a revolting name?

BTW, were you by chavrusa tummult in Lakewood? Based on your self description on you blog, I dare say not. In fact, I doubt you have ever even been inside the Beis Medrash in Lakewood. The point anyway is that how can you say that these people were parked illegaly, you were NOT there and are not even familiar with the area. People who were there are telling you that many of those ticketed were in fact parked legaly. Such dispicable hate aginst those who choose to sit and learn because they sit and learn is an indication of your bitter unsatisfatory life. May Hkb”h send you refuas hanefesh very soon.

I wrote back a long thing explaining that I know more about Lakewood and the yeshiva world than he might think. It probably won't get published, so I'll post it here. It also gives some of my background, which some people might find interesting.

You know nothing about my life. Would you like me to tell you a little bit?
I grew up in a very frum family. I went to the typical Brooklyn, right wing yeshivos. I wasn’t cut out to sit and learn. I didn’t enjoy it too much. So, what did my Rabbeim do? Did they try to encourage me? Were they nice to me? No, I was embarrassed in front of the entire class, numerous times. I complained to my rebbe more than once that kids made fun of me afterwards because of what he said to me during class. He told me that it was my fault for not learning well, and if I learned well, it wouldn’t happen.
That was when I made up my mind that I never wanted to be a rebbe or a kollel guy. Then, I once said off hand to a rebbe of mine that I planned on going to college. In front of the entire shiur, he told me that I was a shaigetz, adding “because only shegatzim go to college.”
I switched out of that yeshiva and went to another one, where I did well for a few years. I developed a firm foundation in yiddishkeit. However, the yeshiva began to change. It began moving farther to the right. White shirts were required. Only black velvet yarmulkas were allowed. Then, they brought in a new rosh yeshiva. We didn’t exactly see eye to eye. The yeshiva then got its own Gestapo - the so-called “elter bochurim” who were the “best guys” in the yeshiva. They went into my dorm room, went through my things, and took a bunch of stuff they felt I shouldn’t have in the yeshiva. I always enjoyed reading, and I had some novels. They took them all. I went to the rosh yeshiva and told him about it. he told me I wasn’t allowed to have them in the dorm, and the rule was that if you had them, you forfeited them. He said they were burned.
I began having a lot of questions. Was this was learning did to you? Made you steal from people? I saw all the time the things which are coming out now - “frum” Jews cheating on taxes. Stealing from other people. Treating other people like garbage. I asked many of the rabbeim there those questions, but never got any real answers. I left the yeshiva after that year and went to college. I even went to Touro, in an attempt to stay in the Jewish world. I enrolled in a small yeshiva for half a day. The rebbe there was no different. Same story all over again. A few months into that school year, I stopped being frum. No kosher, no shabbos, no nothing.
That lasted for a about a year. Something happened, and I decided to be frum again. Now, I am a frum Jew again. I keep kosher, keep Shabbos, and do everything to the best of my ability. Are there things I still struggle with? Yes, of course. Everyone struggles with something.
However, I had seen the hypocrisy of many people in the yeshiva system. Yes, I’ve been inside the Lakewood beis medrash. I have family members who are roshei yeshiva. I have many family members (brothers and cousins) who went to Lakewood. I’ve been there many times, believe me.
The fact is that people in Lakewood try to find anti-semitism in everything. Anytime something happens to the frum community, they cry anti-semitism. Well, it’s not. I’ve been to many frum areas when something big is going on, and I can tell you - people park illegally. The police wouldn’t risk giving out that many tickets illegally. It’s too easy to prove, and they’d all lose their jobs and pensions over it.