A Story From the Yom Tov Table

At my in-laws' house over Sukkos I found myself seated next to a very friendly Israeli young man, married, with two girls.  As we got to talking, he and his wife were asking many questions about the area in which I live (which includes many chassidim).  He related to me the following story:

I once was visiting America and had to spend a Shabbos in Brooklyn, before I was married. I decided to spend it in Williamsburg. I asked a local where I could find a shul. "What kind?" he asked. "A Jewish one!" I replied.  My friend chuckles.  He directed me to a large Satmar shul, and I entered to daven kabbalat shabbat.  All of the chassidim were dressed exactly the same, in shtreimels! I noticed a group of chassidim looking at me and whispering. My newfound friend is clean-shaven, and wears a kippah s'rugah.  A couple of them finally came over to me and asked, "Are you from Israel?" I said yes. It turns out that many of them were also Israeli, and came to America after the 6 day war.  They asked, in Hebrew, if I had a place to eat. "Well, I bought some food that's in my hotel room..." I started. One man stepped up and said definitively, "You'll eat with me!"  He brought me home after davening to a very small apartment that had hardly any furniture.  They were so welcoming to me.  I tell you, I think I ate his piece of meat!  After the seudah, he insisted that I come back for shabbat day. Those Williamsburgh chassidim are wonderful!

An article I found highly interesting

Godol ha-Dor Issues 'Controversial' Psak

No, not the godol of this dor. One of the Gedolim of 700 years ago! Following is my free translation of Peirush ha-Ramban on Parshas Bereshis, 1:3 d.h. vayhi ohr. This having been the Torah reading for last Shabbos, I took the liberty of highlighting a passage:

And know, that the days mentioned in the Creation were, in the creation of the heavens and the earth, 1) actual days 2) composed of hours and minutes 3) and there were six, like the six days of the work week 4) as is the simple understanding of the verse.

L'aniyus da'ti, and I am not claiming that I'm absolutely right, it looks like Rabbeinu is emphasizing 4 separate points. 1) The days were days, not amorphous periods of development classified into days. 2) They lasted the same length that we are familiar with now. 3) It took the same amount of time to create the world as there is from the beginning of this past Saturday night to the beginning of this coming Friday night. No more. 4) This is the plainest, unadulterated understanding of the Torah, and does not need reinterpretation.

And later, verse 4 d.h. vayavdel:

And some of the commentators have explained that this light was created 'before Hashem', meaning in the west, and it immediately sank for the duration of a full night, and afterwards shone for the duration of a full day. And this is why the verse says 'and it was evening and it was morning', because first was night and then was day, and both of them after the creation of light. But this is not correct at all, for they are adding on a short day [the quick light before the first evening] to the six days of creation.

One small step for shmiras halashon on the net

Who will fight the loshon hora?

I don't use the internet too often. I'm supposed to be in kollel full time. But bein hazmanim I work in an office and sometimes have to research names of rabbis worldwide on the internet. What freezes my blood is that upon typing in such innocent phrases as "Anycity Beis Din" into Google to find a phone number, I come across websites and blogs devoted to loshon hora as top links. How can we fight it? How can we get the word out: "This is assur" ?? People can mean well, I really believe that many do, but they don't understand that there is no heter for what they're doing. I was just so disturbed by this today that I had to post, although I haven't updated this blog regularly for years.

Un nouveau livre

Premierement je m'excuse pour la manque des accents sur les lettres - je tape dans une bibliotheque. J'ai trouve un livre formidable, Au nom de la Torah : Une histoire de l'opposition juive au sionisme. Je l'ai commande et je le lis actuellement - un livre comme celui-ci DOIT etre traduit en anglais! Tous les gens qui puissent l'obtenir, achetez-le. Je suis toujours en yeshiva - je prie que je ne doive jamais en sortir.

I realized one thing. It's not worth it. The internet I mean. That's it - no qualifications. It's not worth it. If you're absolutely forced to use it as a tool, to buy a book or a plane ticket or something, that's one thing, but......
It's been so nice being away from it for so long.
A gutten shabbos tzu alle mein leiners. (I don't really speak Yiddish and have no idea if that's gramatically correct)

שׁינוי בחדשׁות

"Israel is a country noted for its informalities. No stiff upper lip here. When addressing members of the Knesset one does not hear the title “The Honorable” placed before their names. But the shenanigans of National Infrastructure Minister Yosef Paritzky may compel people to place a title before his name. No, not “The Honorable Yosef Paritzky,” but rather “The Dishonorable Yosef Paritzky.” Mr. Paritzky, a tax attorney, conspired with the aid of a private investigator to frame his colleagues in the Shinui Party – a party that ran on a platform of promoting “clean government.” His real sin – he got caught."
-http://www.infoisrael.net/cgi-local/text.pl?source=4/c/120720041
So much for the "anti-corruption" party...

"Despite staunch opposition by chareidi representatives the Knesset Education and Culture Committee, headed by MK Ilan Shalgi (Shinui), reached a decision Monday to require the Education Ministry to carry out the Shenhar Report, which calls for teaching Judaism in a pluralistic spirit by giving expressing to all "streams" of Judaism...

"Rabbi Shmuel Rotner, representing the organization Manof which also participated in the meeting, said it would be better to entirely forego inviting any rabbis to deliver lectures rather than to invite Reform rabbis as well. "Reform is not a legitimate stream of Judaism but a cult. They do not keep mitzvas and do not represent Judaism in any way. Most of the parents at government schools are traditionalists who follow the true Jewish legacy. Therefore inviting Reform or Conservative rabbis represents an act of coercion against parents by educating their children in a manner inconsistent with their wishes."

-http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/SHM64areform.htm

"In the latest of his inflaming proclamations, Interior Minister Avraham Poraz (Shinui) informed Attorney General Eliakim Rubinstein he supports granting citizenship based solely on the Citizenship Law, a law that allows entry to Israel based on "humanitarian reasons, uniting families, identifying with Zionism or those whose endeavors make a tangible contribution to Israeli society." Poraz told Rubinstein he would like the State to assume this as its official stance in pending High Court appeals filed against the Interior Ministry for its refusal to grant citizenship to goyim who undergo non-Orthodox "conversions," a position that would effectively remove Orthodox conversion as a condition for receiving citizenship.

In his efforts to grab headlines and torment the chareidi, national-religious and traditional sectors, Poraz claims, "The conversion procedure is being taken advantage of for ulterior motives."

-http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/BMD63aporaz.htm

One of Shinui's platforms is induction of the Chareidim into the military, where they are not needed and not wanted. Even Hesder students, who are supposed to want to go to the army, are having problems in such an immoral environment:

"The national-religious movement's "Torah" community is up in arms over the increasing complaints of hesder yeshiva students, who caution that military service has become intolerable due to severe breaches in halocho and tsnius.

"The attempt by the Mizrachi Movement to combine yeshiva studies with military service, encouraging yeshiva students to perceive army service as a Zionist and idealistic duty, has already encountered numerous problems in the past. National-religious soldiers complained about what takes place in the army and questioned the ability of the young religious man to survive and to maintain his beliefs and religious practice in the framework of the IDF, which is built on secular foundations and serves as the melting pot for Israeli society. Recently these problems have become more pronounced."

-http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/BLAKvidf.htm

They accomplished the dismantling of the religious affairs department:

"Welfare Minister Zevulun Orlev (NRP), who heads the Interministerial Committee for Religious Services, claims the way decisions were made on the matter of dismantling the Religious Affairs Ministry is "material for an investigative committee. In a Knesset Interior Ministry meeting Orlev said, "The decision to dismantle the Ministry of Religious Affairs was political, with the goal the destruction of religious services."

To be continued.

Retraction and Addition

I retract the statement in my previous article that Shiuni had moved to ban shechita. Apparently I misunderstood whatever news source I got it from. Instead I will post the following, from "The Jewish Herald":

"Avraham Poraz, named minister of the interior after the last election, has been in the news constantly because of his overt campaign against any religious influence in public life. He announced that persons undergoing Orthodox conversion in Israel would no longer be qualified automatically for citizenship. He has called for abolition of the local religious councils and has denied the right of municipalities to ban nonkosher markets. He is reported to have congratulated the Dutch government on its proposal to ban shechita, Jewish religious slaughter, in that country."

Shinui is the representative party of secularists, and supposedly even Reform and Conservative. I'm not sure why any orthodox Jew would have fuzzy feelings towards them, unless he also hates the Charedim. Please enlighten me.

בס”ד

Ellul Zman is Coming

Update: BaalTshuvah has just spent over 2 months in yeshiva and is loving it.

I don't really have the time or the interest to update this blog anymore, but once in a while you might get some musings out of me.
I have to say that Monsey is an amazing place. Glad I'm here.

Today is Rosh Chodesh Ellul. K'siva v'chasima toiva, everyone!

p.s. I added a blog to my list, DFME. As a disclaimer, I can't say I agree 100% with all of his views on the state of Israel, but then I don't agree with most people! The force behind DFME is a new friend of mine and one of the most intelligent people I have met.

By the way... I leave for YESHIVA tomorrow, after doing hashgochoh at a bar mitzvah seudah. That means, most likely, no posting for a week or two or three. Happy Kabbolas haToireh, everyone!

MOChassid's cousin?

In the restaurant I work at, I had an interesting customer this past week. He was a clean-shaven man in his early 20s with khakis (no tzitzis out), a button-down short sleeve shirt, and a "BU" (Boston University) baseball cap. He told me he had just graduated from BU. He also had HUGE payos that went from his temples all the way around to the back of his head, where they were tied together!!!

שׁינוי בארץ

The Eirev Rav who call themselves "Shinuy" have decided that shechitah is a cruel form of animal slaughter and should be made illegal. They join the proud ranks of the Nazis, among other Jew hating governments, that have outlawed shechitah.

"It's not that they want a State and therefore shmad the Yidden - it's that they want to shmad the Yidden and therefore need a State." - The Brisker Rav

Hindu Hair

I think it's worth linking to the Frumteens Moderator's comprehensive summary of the sheitel scandal rocking the frum world.