Now that Elul is upon us, the annual pilgramige has begun. Jewish boys and girls from all over America, pack their belongings and spend a year in Israel to learn and study Torah.
I suppose when this idea first started-my guess is the late 60's early 70's, the idea was to open Yeshivas and seminaries in Israel in hopes that students would come to learn there and eventually immigrate to Israel. I think we can now call that experiment by and large a failure. Not so much a failure from the MO perspective, but without a doubt from the yeshivish perspective.
Here's why I make this statement. Let's take the graduating class of the Bais Yaakov of Baltimore. There were 120 graduating seniors of which 113 are going to Israel this week to study for a year. Out of the 113 that are going to Israel, I would bet that more than 100 will eventually settle and live in America which means that less than 10% will live in Israel. This truly begs the question-why are girls going to Israel to study for a year, at a cost of more than $15,000 per year? Once you include travel and expenses you will likely spend closer to 20k for the year.
Can someone explain to me what this is about other than lining the pockets of some Jews in Israel? Is the Torah learned in America not as good? If the answer is yes than why are you not making Aliyah so your Torah and your children's Torah will always be holier each and every day than your brothers' and sisters' Torah anywhere else around the globe? If the answer is no, than why are you spending 20k for your daughter to go to Israel for a year?
Most cases it's folow the money. In the Frum world, it's follow the shidduch. Why do our children go to certain schools-shidduch. Why do some families not make public that they have a child who is handicapped? Shidduch. Why do some families hide that their child might have been the victim of child and or sexual abuse at the hands of a rabbi? Shidduch. A member of the family is not religious? Don't tell-shidduch.
This is where we are and this twisted logic is why parents will MORTGAGE their house to send their child to Israel....I ask you...does this make any sense?
Now that being the case, do I think there is a time and a place for students in Israel? Without a doubt. I believe that if a child has the urge to study Torah away from the ditractions of America, than by all means, I think you need to look at working something out so they can learn there. If there wasn't such an empty hole of Yeshivas in America ie. Everyone is basically the same assembly line Judaism-if it sounds frummer it must be so...
Israel at least offers you different options. You can learn in a far right wing yeshiva or a yeshiva that is tailored to your needs. But if the only reason you send your child to Isael is to make sure it looks good on the shidduch resume'-what are you doing?
I would say this. I would much rather my sons marry a girl who didn't go to Israel because it was the prudent thing to do or because she wanted to remove the burden from her parents, than a girl who went to Israel because that's what the rest or the 112 girls in her class did.
Lastly, where are the Rabbis on this? Why have they not spoken out against the abuses perpetrated by parents in ourder to fill out a shidduch resume'.? Why would they speak about limiting how much someone can pay for as wedding, but not how much they can pay to send their children to Israel?
My guess would be the same reason they have fallen short in every other category in our lives today.
That would take courage.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Friday, August 17, 2007
Kinda Sad....
I guess I really was tired....been almost a month since I posted anything.
I read a post somewhere recently from a girl who was in seminary at some point and that she was at a non-jewish party and was much happier there than she was at her "parties" from high school where the girls would kumzits etc. She said that the non jewish world made her feel more accepted and were much more accepting of her differences. Wow, what a sad commentary.
I immediately thought of the "kiss" eisav gave to Yaakov on his neck and how that was actually a bite-come and join us, it's much nicer on this side of life.
Then I actually asked the more important question-why is it that we are so unaccepting?
Here's a question for you. Do any of you have friends who are homosexual? (I have a few by the way and while they know I don't approve of the lifestyle and we've talked about it extensively, they are Jews and I am commanded by Hashem to love them just the same as any other brother). I recall our Rabbi writing a few months ago about homosexuals who work hard to live a Torah lifestyle and that means not having any sex etc. just so they can walk in the Derech Hashem. (don't think he could have spoke about it from the pulpit) Well, I didn't get the article until well after Shul and I bumped into a man who sits a few rows in front of me. I asked him what this was about and he said something to the effect of "he was only on the first page but it was about the gays-we just need to kill all of them-just wipe 'em out-keep 'em away from our kids" Well of course the Rabbis take was a bit different. I was thinking walking home, what happens if you replace his word gays with jews?
I think we have found it in our hearts to accept the man who cheats on his wife, steals from his friends, who lies in business...and I am sure I can find plenty of abominations that we tolerate. But why is it that we are so unaccepting and or judgemental. Misnagdim vs chassidim? Reform and cons. vs orthodox? Men vs woman?
I think the answer in why we are like this is in our yeshivas. Anyone and I mean anyone, who has been to a yeshiva knows all about the racism and judgements of our rabbeim and the culture within the yeshiva itself. To deny that it exists is dishonest at it's very core. I remember writing to someone when I was a teenager-from yeshiva of course-and I wrote something a bit racist and she wrote back that she would have thought that we, the Jews, would be a bit more understanding of others who are less fortunate and or oppressed. Oooppss..Seems that's not the way it is.
I think it's even more than that. Maybe it has something to do with out "rightness". We have the Torah and maybe we think that makes us the arbitor of right and wrong even while our personal moral compass is clouded by our own arrogance. What makes the whole thing ironic to me, is that the very source we use to show us right from wrong and to be used as our moral conscience, is the same "source" that we use to pass judgement on our felow man, which of course leads to unacceptance of all those we decipher as right or wrong. Something to think about.
I have quite a few more reasons why we have failed to embrace our fellow man, but I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts.
Have a great Shabbos and please say Good Shabbos to everyone you see-male or female.
I read a post somewhere recently from a girl who was in seminary at some point and that she was at a non-jewish party and was much happier there than she was at her "parties" from high school where the girls would kumzits etc. She said that the non jewish world made her feel more accepted and were much more accepting of her differences. Wow, what a sad commentary.
I immediately thought of the "kiss" eisav gave to Yaakov on his neck and how that was actually a bite-come and join us, it's much nicer on this side of life.
Then I actually asked the more important question-why is it that we are so unaccepting?
Here's a question for you. Do any of you have friends who are homosexual? (I have a few by the way and while they know I don't approve of the lifestyle and we've talked about it extensively, they are Jews and I am commanded by Hashem to love them just the same as any other brother). I recall our Rabbi writing a few months ago about homosexuals who work hard to live a Torah lifestyle and that means not having any sex etc. just so they can walk in the Derech Hashem. (don't think he could have spoke about it from the pulpit) Well, I didn't get the article until well after Shul and I bumped into a man who sits a few rows in front of me. I asked him what this was about and he said something to the effect of "he was only on the first page but it was about the gays-we just need to kill all of them-just wipe 'em out-keep 'em away from our kids" Well of course the Rabbis take was a bit different. I was thinking walking home, what happens if you replace his word gays with jews?
I think we have found it in our hearts to accept the man who cheats on his wife, steals from his friends, who lies in business...and I am sure I can find plenty of abominations that we tolerate. But why is it that we are so unaccepting and or judgemental. Misnagdim vs chassidim? Reform and cons. vs orthodox? Men vs woman?
I think the answer in why we are like this is in our yeshivas. Anyone and I mean anyone, who has been to a yeshiva knows all about the racism and judgements of our rabbeim and the culture within the yeshiva itself. To deny that it exists is dishonest at it's very core. I remember writing to someone when I was a teenager-from yeshiva of course-and I wrote something a bit racist and she wrote back that she would have thought that we, the Jews, would be a bit more understanding of others who are less fortunate and or oppressed. Oooppss..Seems that's not the way it is.
I think it's even more than that. Maybe it has something to do with out "rightness". We have the Torah and maybe we think that makes us the arbitor of right and wrong even while our personal moral compass is clouded by our own arrogance. What makes the whole thing ironic to me, is that the very source we use to show us right from wrong and to be used as our moral conscience, is the same "source" that we use to pass judgement on our felow man, which of course leads to unacceptance of all those we decipher as right or wrong. Something to think about.
I have quite a few more reasons why we have failed to embrace our fellow man, but I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts.
Have a great Shabbos and please say Good Shabbos to everyone you see-male or female.
Friday, July 20, 2007
I'm Tired...
I'm tired and beat down.
My body is ravaged by the poundings of life.
I am just too tired.
I read the paper this morning and saw that the Jews leading us in Israel, in their infinite wisdom, released the 250+ prisoners I lamented about two weeks ago.May Hashem watch over our people when the "innocent" prisoners, decide to extinguish a few more Jewish lives. Maybe then we can truly rejoice in our commitment to lift up the stature of the evil Abu Mazen.
I read this week how we have been selling smichot so people can earn 1000 shekels more. Is there no such thing anymore as integrity and character? Think about the last time you ever heard a shmooze by your rebbi or a speech by your rabbi and he mentioned those words. What are we doing? Is this Torah Leadership?
I read about a rabbi overseas who has been collecting money from his government for services never rendered. Straight out stealing. No if's and's or but's. What are we gonna do?
I'm just too tired.
This week of the nine days has proven to be all it is rumored to be and between all our issues and our conscious decisions to not deal with our problems as a people, I hate to say this, but we deserve what we get. We have absolved ourselves from personal responsibility, deferring to our rabbis for every decision we make. We have become lemmings. I am just too tired.
I need Shabbos this evening. I need it to reinvigorate my beaten down body and distressed soul and pray that Hashem have mercy on us this week-a week of historical tragedy and hope that our withdrawing from the pleasures of this world, will serve as an atonement for our cowardice and our shameful behavior.
Shabbat Shalom.
My body is ravaged by the poundings of life.
I am just too tired.
I read the paper this morning and saw that the Jews leading us in Israel, in their infinite wisdom, released the 250+ prisoners I lamented about two weeks ago.May Hashem watch over our people when the "innocent" prisoners, decide to extinguish a few more Jewish lives. Maybe then we can truly rejoice in our commitment to lift up the stature of the evil Abu Mazen.
I read this week how we have been selling smichot so people can earn 1000 shekels more. Is there no such thing anymore as integrity and character? Think about the last time you ever heard a shmooze by your rebbi or a speech by your rabbi and he mentioned those words. What are we doing? Is this Torah Leadership?
I read about a rabbi overseas who has been collecting money from his government for services never rendered. Straight out stealing. No if's and's or but's. What are we gonna do?
I'm just too tired.
This week of the nine days has proven to be all it is rumored to be and between all our issues and our conscious decisions to not deal with our problems as a people, I hate to say this, but we deserve what we get. We have absolved ourselves from personal responsibility, deferring to our rabbis for every decision we make. We have become lemmings. I am just too tired.
I need Shabbos this evening. I need it to reinvigorate my beaten down body and distressed soul and pray that Hashem have mercy on us this week-a week of historical tragedy and hope that our withdrawing from the pleasures of this world, will serve as an atonement for our cowardice and our shameful behavior.
Shabbat Shalom.
Monday, July 9, 2007
Can we Really be this Stupid?
If our enemies only knew how stupid we really are.
I have said that for the last 20+ years and as evidenced by the illogical Oslo Accords, our enemies figured it out and we have been on center stage making stupid decision after stupid decision ever since.
This morning's headlines scream out-"We are still the dumbest country on the planet"
"The government, in its Sunday morning weekly session, approved the release of 250 convicted Arab terrorists from prison, as a goodwill gesture to PA chief Abu Mazen. Only terrorists without “blood on their hands” are to be released."
We are doing what? Why?
I am stunned that the Israeli people-my people-have lived with this gutless sell-out for the last 12 months. His lawyerese gave Israel it's first Viet-nam last summer on the premise that we will not stop until we get our soldiers back. That lasted until George Bush told him to stop. Any sign of backbone? None.
Today he works to lift up a true Sonai Yisroel-Abu Mazen-who is a modern day Aisav-he gives us a kiss but it is really a bite. Does Olmert demand anything in return? No. Instead he has agreed to release terrorists "who have no blood on their hands". Why do they have no blood on their hands. BECAUSE THEY ATTEMPTED TO KILL JEWISH MEN WOMAN AND CHILDREN AND FAILED. Now Olmert will hand them a second chance to finish what they started.
But my question is deeper than that. My question is not why the Jewish people have stood by and let him destroy their country from within. My question is what about the religious parties? How have they stood by and become willing participants in a government that disdains them and all that they are supposed to stand for? How have they stood by and watched the imbeciles that are making decisions in Israel and VOTED WITH THEM on matters that they know are anti-Torah?
The answer of course is very simple.
They have stood by with their hands out and their "kadoorim" exposed. They are criminals by the purest of Torah definitions. They wear the garb and act the part, while underneath they make shady deals with the Aruv Rav just so they can line their pockets and remain in power. I ask again, in light of last weeks Parsha, where is Pinchas? Where is Judah Macabee? Where are the Jews who will stand up and say enough is enough??!! We cannot sit by and watch you kill our children through your cowardice, greed and thirst for power!!
Hashem is testing our people and we are not only failing, but I fear we are setting ourselves and our children up for a tragedy that we have not heard of in seventy odd years...What are we doing to our people? What are we doing to our children?
This is and always has been about power, greed and corruption.
Lest the religious amongst us in America act above it all. This past winter, the Torah Academy for Girls-a Bais Yaakov School on Long Island, sent home an edict which in a nutshell said as follows. All children who are with their aunts, uncles and or GRANDPARENTS, without parental or SCHOOL supervision, are subject to immediate suspension and or expulsion. In other words it's us or you. No Grandparents can be left alone to supervise your child(ren).
HUH?
What had this world come to? Not only can the grandparents, your parents, not be supervisors of your children, but we will be in their stead and in yours-En Loco Parenti.
What a Chutzpah!! Who thinks of these things? What kind of sick twisted individuals, think that they are not only the arbiters of their Torah, but yours and more importantly YOUR PARENTS Torah? Do you really think if the parents can't cough up the 10-15k it takes for tuition, that these righteous purveyors of Torah won't be calling on the very pasul grandparents to pay the bill? These people turn my stomach and they should sicken our whole nation and on top of that, the entire Bais Yakov movement, which in due time will all fall in goosestep, should be stripped of the very privilege we have entrusted them with-educating Jewish Children-and their leaders exposed for the self righteous, greedy, bullies that they are.
These people at TAG need to be called out. What message of Kibud AV are we sending? How does one tell his parents that their children cannot visit this summer because their Torah way of life, some of it lived from out of the ashes of the holocaust, is not good enough according to the leaders of today's Bais Yakov movement? This is Daas Torah? This is the nachas they get for sacrificing their lives for Torah? What message are we teaching the future woman of Klal Yisroel? This is a scandal of epic proportions and I am stunned that these so called educators are allowed to get away with this?
Where is the Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah-the self proclaimed leaders of Klal Yisroel? Where is Agudas Yisroel? This is how we treat our parents? This is the thanks they get? You call this Torah? Kibud Av V'am?
You people disgust me!!
I'm not even sure who I am disgusted with more. The Leadership and board of TAG or the numb parents who allowed this ridiculousness to happen....
We cry about the abuse of power of Ehud Olmert and Ariel Sharon and then DO NOTHING when the very same thing is happening in our own backyard. This is all about power and the ability, through fear, to control people's lives.
I'm afraid this will only get worse as the blind sheep worry about the shidduch of their children.
Will someone please tell me what ever happened to principles? What ever happened to doing the right thing? What ever happened to leading a genuine life?
My heart aches for the torture that we are going through as a nation and it is all being brought upon us from within, destroying the intestinal fortitude that once made us special, and turning us into a weak, blind, and principle-less people.
I am pained to say this and never thought I would.
Today, I am ashamed to be a Jew.
I have said that for the last 20+ years and as evidenced by the illogical Oslo Accords, our enemies figured it out and we have been on center stage making stupid decision after stupid decision ever since.
This morning's headlines scream out-"We are still the dumbest country on the planet"
"The government, in its Sunday morning weekly session, approved the release of 250 convicted Arab terrorists from prison, as a goodwill gesture to PA chief Abu Mazen. Only terrorists without “blood on their hands” are to be released."
We are doing what? Why?
I am stunned that the Israeli people-my people-have lived with this gutless sell-out for the last 12 months. His lawyerese gave Israel it's first Viet-nam last summer on the premise that we will not stop until we get our soldiers back. That lasted until George Bush told him to stop. Any sign of backbone? None.
Today he works to lift up a true Sonai Yisroel-Abu Mazen-who is a modern day Aisav-he gives us a kiss but it is really a bite. Does Olmert demand anything in return? No. Instead he has agreed to release terrorists "who have no blood on their hands". Why do they have no blood on their hands. BECAUSE THEY ATTEMPTED TO KILL JEWISH MEN WOMAN AND CHILDREN AND FAILED. Now Olmert will hand them a second chance to finish what they started.
But my question is deeper than that. My question is not why the Jewish people have stood by and let him destroy their country from within. My question is what about the religious parties? How have they stood by and become willing participants in a government that disdains them and all that they are supposed to stand for? How have they stood by and watched the imbeciles that are making decisions in Israel and VOTED WITH THEM on matters that they know are anti-Torah?
The answer of course is very simple.
They have stood by with their hands out and their "kadoorim" exposed. They are criminals by the purest of Torah definitions. They wear the garb and act the part, while underneath they make shady deals with the Aruv Rav just so they can line their pockets and remain in power. I ask again, in light of last weeks Parsha, where is Pinchas? Where is Judah Macabee? Where are the Jews who will stand up and say enough is enough??!! We cannot sit by and watch you kill our children through your cowardice, greed and thirst for power!!
Hashem is testing our people and we are not only failing, but I fear we are setting ourselves and our children up for a tragedy that we have not heard of in seventy odd years...What are we doing to our people? What are we doing to our children?
This is and always has been about power, greed and corruption.
Lest the religious amongst us in America act above it all. This past winter, the Torah Academy for Girls-a Bais Yaakov School on Long Island, sent home an edict which in a nutshell said as follows. All children who are with their aunts, uncles and or GRANDPARENTS, without parental or SCHOOL supervision, are subject to immediate suspension and or expulsion. In other words it's us or you. No Grandparents can be left alone to supervise your child(ren).
HUH?
What had this world come to? Not only can the grandparents, your parents, not be supervisors of your children, but we will be in their stead and in yours-En Loco Parenti.
What a Chutzpah!! Who thinks of these things? What kind of sick twisted individuals, think that they are not only the arbiters of their Torah, but yours and more importantly YOUR PARENTS Torah? Do you really think if the parents can't cough up the 10-15k it takes for tuition, that these righteous purveyors of Torah won't be calling on the very pasul grandparents to pay the bill? These people turn my stomach and they should sicken our whole nation and on top of that, the entire Bais Yakov movement, which in due time will all fall in goosestep, should be stripped of the very privilege we have entrusted them with-educating Jewish Children-and their leaders exposed for the self righteous, greedy, bullies that they are.
These people at TAG need to be called out. What message of Kibud AV are we sending? How does one tell his parents that their children cannot visit this summer because their Torah way of life, some of it lived from out of the ashes of the holocaust, is not good enough according to the leaders of today's Bais Yakov movement? This is Daas Torah? This is the nachas they get for sacrificing their lives for Torah? What message are we teaching the future woman of Klal Yisroel? This is a scandal of epic proportions and I am stunned that these so called educators are allowed to get away with this?
Where is the Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah-the self proclaimed leaders of Klal Yisroel? Where is Agudas Yisroel? This is how we treat our parents? This is the thanks they get? You call this Torah? Kibud Av V'am?
You people disgust me!!
I'm not even sure who I am disgusted with more. The Leadership and board of TAG or the numb parents who allowed this ridiculousness to happen....
We cry about the abuse of power of Ehud Olmert and Ariel Sharon and then DO NOTHING when the very same thing is happening in our own backyard. This is all about power and the ability, through fear, to control people's lives.
I'm afraid this will only get worse as the blind sheep worry about the shidduch of their children.
Will someone please tell me what ever happened to principles? What ever happened to doing the right thing? What ever happened to leading a genuine life?
My heart aches for the torture that we are going through as a nation and it is all being brought upon us from within, destroying the intestinal fortitude that once made us special, and turning us into a weak, blind, and principle-less people.
I am pained to say this and never thought I would.
Today, I am ashamed to be a Jew.
Friday, July 6, 2007
What can I offer?
I apologize again for not writing 'til now. Family health issues have dominated the landscape. It is a topic related to that issue that I wanted to write about-or at least the helplessness that comes with it.
I won't really go into what exactly the issues are within the family, but my thoughts have been directed towards the proper response in a crisis like this. Being raised FFB, you're taught that your first response should be to daven to Hasham and pray for help and health. Well, that would be everyone else. My first response? How in the world will my prayers help? I KNOW Hashem doesn't want to hear from me.
I cannot even begin to count the massive amounts of ways I have fallen short of the throne each and every day let alone my entire life, and I cannot even fathom how my creator wants to hear anything from me, or on top of that asking him for a favor I clearly do not deserve. Maybe it's easy for some people who know they have sinned and find it no problem to ask Hashem for his help. I find it almost impossible...does Hashem really want to hear praise from me?
How disappointed must he be in me and what I have done with my life? Do I really have any legs to stand on by asking Him for help with my child? Say Tehillim? I think that's better left for those who have far less baggage than I...
I get the fact that Raish Lakish was a stage coach robber and thief by trade and found his way to Torah. I get the fact that Nevezadrun killed hundreds of thousands of Jews and became a convert worthy of having Torah scholars as grandchildren. I've learned all about them all and have learned all about the Glory and Loving Kindness of the Creator, but I STILL cannot find it in myself to address the Holy One as if I have the right to.
Trust me, I'm not looking for a rebbi, an intermediary or a false prophet to pray on my behalf. I'm just looking to get past my vast array of misdeeds that may have been the cause for this family illness in the first place. The helplessness and loneliness I feel is palapable and weighs on me like a thousand pound gorilla. I know that the point of Judaism is that Ad yom mosso tichake lo-until the day of man's death Hashem accepts his Teshuva-I get all of that....I just feel so powerless....
I don't want to lead you to believe I do not daven three times a day-G-d forbid-but I must say that I do so feeling embarrassed that it is through me that praises to Hashem are spoken. How absurd... Surely there must be someone more worthy than I?
As another beautiful Shabbos approaches, I am hoping that the holiness of Shabbos will overcome my shortcomings and serve as a refuah for our child. Nevertheless, I will greet the Shabbos Queen with the same question that haunts me each and every waking moment....
Who am I?
I won't really go into what exactly the issues are within the family, but my thoughts have been directed towards the proper response in a crisis like this. Being raised FFB, you're taught that your first response should be to daven to Hasham and pray for help and health. Well, that would be everyone else. My first response? How in the world will my prayers help? I KNOW Hashem doesn't want to hear from me.
I cannot even begin to count the massive amounts of ways I have fallen short of the throne each and every day let alone my entire life, and I cannot even fathom how my creator wants to hear anything from me, or on top of that asking him for a favor I clearly do not deserve. Maybe it's easy for some people who know they have sinned and find it no problem to ask Hashem for his help. I find it almost impossible...does Hashem really want to hear praise from me?
How disappointed must he be in me and what I have done with my life? Do I really have any legs to stand on by asking Him for help with my child? Say Tehillim? I think that's better left for those who have far less baggage than I...
I get the fact that Raish Lakish was a stage coach robber and thief by trade and found his way to Torah. I get the fact that Nevezadrun killed hundreds of thousands of Jews and became a convert worthy of having Torah scholars as grandchildren. I've learned all about them all and have learned all about the Glory and Loving Kindness of the Creator, but I STILL cannot find it in myself to address the Holy One as if I have the right to.
Trust me, I'm not looking for a rebbi, an intermediary or a false prophet to pray on my behalf. I'm just looking to get past my vast array of misdeeds that may have been the cause for this family illness in the first place. The helplessness and loneliness I feel is palapable and weighs on me like a thousand pound gorilla. I know that the point of Judaism is that Ad yom mosso tichake lo-until the day of man's death Hashem accepts his Teshuva-I get all of that....I just feel so powerless....
I don't want to lead you to believe I do not daven three times a day-G-d forbid-but I must say that I do so feeling embarrassed that it is through me that praises to Hashem are spoken. How absurd... Surely there must be someone more worthy than I?
As another beautiful Shabbos approaches, I am hoping that the holiness of Shabbos will overcome my shortcomings and serve as a refuah for our child. Nevertheless, I will greet the Shabbos Queen with the same question that haunts me each and every waking moment....
Who am I?
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
So What's the Answer?
After some discussion on Friday's blog, some issues were raised as to what to do about the problems we are facing in our communities and it just seems that we a blowing in the wind.
Well, yes and no.
I don't think there is anything lost by addressing this issue in this forum or anywhere else. That is certainly one way to get this issue front and center.
Are we a small group? Yes.
Do we have a long arm? I am inclined at this point to say, no.
Are we fighting an uphill battle? Yes.
Are we whistling in the wind? I don't think so just yet.
Some have posted that we need the Modern Orthodox to fill this void. I strongly disagree and mostly for the same reasons I rail against the Kollel wing-because they are as closed minded-yes closed minded-and arrogant about Torah U'madah as the Kollel is about their way. Don't get me wrong. I am not against the Torah U'madah derech per se' just as I am not against Kollel in all cases. But please don't fool yourself into thinking that the far left-yes not centrist-(I don't even know what that means) is any better than the far right. I will try and address that soon.
Here, however is my attempt at an answer.
I am adamant about not using the term orthodox because the moniker was laid on us by the reformers in Germany and it was not meant to be a compliment. I am in favor of the word Torah Jew. Someone who lives their life based on Torah. Period. Let the other guys keep the labels and do what they want with them. I think they're silly and mean nothing.
Here is what I propose. We should all try and live a genuine life. We don't need a new movement. We just need some common sense and people who are not concerned with their own Kavod and power. We need to get rid of any leaders who are slighted that they were not placed on the dais when someone else who is not as " important" as they are had been placed there. We need to hold our leadership accountable. We need to stop concerning ourselves with who gets what honor. It's so silly and the cause of so much strife and hatred.
We need to follow the example of a nineteen year old girl that I know. She davens every day-because she wants to even though she may not be obligated to. She speaks respectfully to all people no matter their age. She leaves the room when she hears Loshon Horah. She reads the parsha every friday night and learns the haftorah-because she wants to learn about Hashem. She does not judge anyone nor advocate for any one thing or any one way of life. She just wants to be a Jew. She attends Shiurim because she just wants to be a Jew. She helps the terminally ill twice a week because she just wants to be a Jew. She didn't buy into th eIsrael thing or the fancy clothes thing. She just wants to be a Jew.
What is wrong with that? Why can't we start a movement to just be a Jew. A G-d fearing do our service out of love Jew? We don't need to re-invent the wheel. The answer is already out there. We just need to be Jews.
How do we convey that to the masses? Any way possible, but we have to offer something they can sink their teeth into and I think this girl and the way she lives her life is the answer. The MO have an agenda and it is to NOT be charedi. That alone is as dangerous as the charedi agendas. Think about that carefully and understand that I have sent FIVE children to Torah Umadah schools so I know about which I am writing. Anyone who denies this fact is being intellectually dishonest.
Fact is there is a way and it has nothing to do with labels. It has to do with being G-d fearing Jew and living a life as it is defined by Torah. Our words men nothing. Our clothes mean nothing. Our hashkafah means nothing.
Our actions mean everything.
Well, yes and no.
I don't think there is anything lost by addressing this issue in this forum or anywhere else. That is certainly one way to get this issue front and center.
Are we a small group? Yes.
Do we have a long arm? I am inclined at this point to say, no.
Are we fighting an uphill battle? Yes.
Are we whistling in the wind? I don't think so just yet.
Some have posted that we need the Modern Orthodox to fill this void. I strongly disagree and mostly for the same reasons I rail against the Kollel wing-because they are as closed minded-yes closed minded-and arrogant about Torah U'madah as the Kollel is about their way. Don't get me wrong. I am not against the Torah U'madah derech per se' just as I am not against Kollel in all cases. But please don't fool yourself into thinking that the far left-yes not centrist-(I don't even know what that means) is any better than the far right. I will try and address that soon.
Here, however is my attempt at an answer.
I am adamant about not using the term orthodox because the moniker was laid on us by the reformers in Germany and it was not meant to be a compliment. I am in favor of the word Torah Jew. Someone who lives their life based on Torah. Period. Let the other guys keep the labels and do what they want with them. I think they're silly and mean nothing.
Here is what I propose. We should all try and live a genuine life. We don't need a new movement. We just need some common sense and people who are not concerned with their own Kavod and power. We need to get rid of any leaders who are slighted that they were not placed on the dais when someone else who is not as " important" as they are had been placed there. We need to hold our leadership accountable. We need to stop concerning ourselves with who gets what honor. It's so silly and the cause of so much strife and hatred.
We need to follow the example of a nineteen year old girl that I know. She davens every day-because she wants to even though she may not be obligated to. She speaks respectfully to all people no matter their age. She leaves the room when she hears Loshon Horah. She reads the parsha every friday night and learns the haftorah-because she wants to learn about Hashem. She does not judge anyone nor advocate for any one thing or any one way of life. She just wants to be a Jew. She attends Shiurim because she just wants to be a Jew. She helps the terminally ill twice a week because she just wants to be a Jew. She didn't buy into th eIsrael thing or the fancy clothes thing. She just wants to be a Jew.
What is wrong with that? Why can't we start a movement to just be a Jew. A G-d fearing do our service out of love Jew? We don't need to re-invent the wheel. The answer is already out there. We just need to be Jews.
How do we convey that to the masses? Any way possible, but we have to offer something they can sink their teeth into and I think this girl and the way she lives her life is the answer. The MO have an agenda and it is to NOT be charedi. That alone is as dangerous as the charedi agendas. Think about that carefully and understand that I have sent FIVE children to Torah Umadah schools so I know about which I am writing. Anyone who denies this fact is being intellectually dishonest.
Fact is there is a way and it has nothing to do with labels. It has to do with being G-d fearing Jew and living a life as it is defined by Torah. Our words men nothing. Our clothes mean nothing. Our hashkafah means nothing.
Our actions mean everything.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Can Anyone Save us from Ourselves?
I apologize for my tardiness from this blog. Between family issues, weddings, work and life, time to write has been scarce and even now I am overloaded with work so I will be brief.
A little over a week ago I was in Boro Park for the wedding of my cousin. It was very nice to see everyone, yet very sad at the same time. I sat at a family table with the son-in-laws of all of my cousins and surprise, surprise, they all were in Kollel in Lakewood. Follow me here...they are all nice people and I enjoy their company, but what the hell are we doing here? I could not help but wonder who was going to pay for the weddings of their children?
Does anyone realize the kind of crisis we are creating? Please have some vision. NEVER BEFORE IN THE HISTORY OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE HAVE WE HAD SO MANY PEOPLE IN KOLLEL. This is not a good thing. Who will pay for them if G-d forbid they lose their parents-their only source of income-section 8 and the Independence card/WIC notwithstanding? WHERE ARE OUR LEADERS TO STOP THIS??? Can we actually rely on a group of rabbis who CALL THEMSELVES gedolai hatorah? Does anyone in a rabbinical leadership position have the guts to stop this? I think not and I am ashamed of my people. The leadership today has spit on the graves of Pinchas and Mattisyahu, the Rambam, the Ramban, Rebbi, Rebbi Akiva, Shimshon Raphael Hirsch--all the men who stood up for what was right and took on the wrongs in their communities even when they were dressed up as Torah. WHERE ARE YOU????????????
I'll end today with a small story in case you think that only our sons suffer from mis-information overload. A friend of ours has a daughter who had planned for years to go to law school when she came back from Israel. All was well and good. She became engaged and went back to Israel whereupon she met up with her Rabbi who told her a lawyer-is that really what you want to be? Is that what a bas Torah should be? So she has come to the conclusion on his urging to be a paralegal. Huh? Instead of being her own boss as a lawyer, this brilliant rebbi told her to be a paralegal-in other words work for a lawyer who needs you at a moments notice and that will be easier on her family than working for yourself?? Did he get this insight from Ruach Hakodesh? Is his das torah power taking over?
We are in crisis and need to open up the eyes of all the naive parents who have bought into this broken system and have been sold a bill of goods that has no basis in Halacha...if it sounds frummer, it must be...
On that note...have a great shabbos.
A little over a week ago I was in Boro Park for the wedding of my cousin. It was very nice to see everyone, yet very sad at the same time. I sat at a family table with the son-in-laws of all of my cousins and surprise, surprise, they all were in Kollel in Lakewood. Follow me here...they are all nice people and I enjoy their company, but what the hell are we doing here? I could not help but wonder who was going to pay for the weddings of their children?
Does anyone realize the kind of crisis we are creating? Please have some vision. NEVER BEFORE IN THE HISTORY OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE HAVE WE HAD SO MANY PEOPLE IN KOLLEL. This is not a good thing. Who will pay for them if G-d forbid they lose their parents-their only source of income-section 8 and the Independence card/WIC notwithstanding? WHERE ARE OUR LEADERS TO STOP THIS??? Can we actually rely on a group of rabbis who CALL THEMSELVES gedolai hatorah? Does anyone in a rabbinical leadership position have the guts to stop this? I think not and I am ashamed of my people. The leadership today has spit on the graves of Pinchas and Mattisyahu, the Rambam, the Ramban, Rebbi, Rebbi Akiva, Shimshon Raphael Hirsch--all the men who stood up for what was right and took on the wrongs in their communities even when they were dressed up as Torah. WHERE ARE YOU????????????
I'll end today with a small story in case you think that only our sons suffer from mis-information overload. A friend of ours has a daughter who had planned for years to go to law school when she came back from Israel. All was well and good. She became engaged and went back to Israel whereupon she met up with her Rabbi who told her a lawyer-is that really what you want to be? Is that what a bas Torah should be? So she has come to the conclusion on his urging to be a paralegal. Huh? Instead of being her own boss as a lawyer, this brilliant rebbi told her to be a paralegal-in other words work for a lawyer who needs you at a moments notice and that will be easier on her family than working for yourself?? Did he get this insight from Ruach Hakodesh? Is his das torah power taking over?
We are in crisis and need to open up the eyes of all the naive parents who have bought into this broken system and have been sold a bill of goods that has no basis in Halacha...if it sounds frummer, it must be...
On that note...have a great shabbos.
Monday, June 4, 2007
What is this Torah that you Speak of?
It never fails.
You can start a clock by it.
Question the present day Yeshivish/Kollel lifestyle and you will get blasted-personally attacked. Be called an idiot and a know nothing-anti-Torah.
This is the way it works with the Jews of the 21st century.
Suffice it to say there are two camps. One camp believes that the current yeshiva structure of today is the way to go. This camp believes in the study of Torah, living a Torah lifestyle, with Torah, Avodah, and Gemilos Chasadim. However, they also are subjecting our naive, idealistic, children to a life of struggle and poverty and listening intently for the next restrictive edict from a Rabbinical leadership starving to hang on to it's power. Not so much because they believe it's the way to go, but because that's just the way it is done.
The second camp believes in Torah, Avodah, and Gemilos Chasadim. They believe in a Torah lifestyle. They do not believe in the canard of modern orthodoxy as it's defined by the far left wing on that spectrum, just as they reject the leanings of the far right wing in the yeshiva structure. They just long to be Torah Jews who service Hashem out of love and call out the evil of all who have other agendas.
I myself am lost. I like to think I am in the second camp, but unfortunately, there are not many people there with me. I used to believe in the infallibility of Rabbinical leadership. Those days are gone now. I have witnessed too much. I get a chuckle out of seeing advertisements for a camp where, under the picture of each Rabbi involved, is a caption like Adom Godol or Talmud Chacham. I turn the page and see pictures of more Rabbis who USED TO BE WITH THE others from the previous page, but are now on their own in a new camp, due to a fight between the groups. I used to think that someone earned the name Gadol Ba'Torah-I didn't think you got invited to become one.
Interestingly enough, talk to any Rabbi nowadays, and he'll tell you that we are definitely at the end of days, all the while wanting us to ignore that at the end of days, the Talmud says, the rabbis will be like a pig with a golden ring in it's snout, as if to say check out my Torah and how much I know. The rest of you know nothing.
I believe the study of Torah is a beautiful and spiritual pursuit. I also believe like Abaye, Ravina, Rava, Rambam, Rav Ashi And Rav Shmuel before me that MY NUMBER ONE JOB AS A TORAH TRUE JEW, IS TO FEED MY FAMILY. For support on this issue, I find solace in the Gemmorah Kesubos around 40 blatt in as well as hilchos Talmud Torah from the Rambam, 3rd perek, where he states that a person should find a job, find a house, find a wife. WHAT? The Rambam said that? Doesn't he understand how hard it is in this society? Like living in Egypt was a day at the beach. Today we do the exact opposite. Find a wife, find a house find a job. I'm amused by Kollel and Bais Medrash students who constantly quote the Rambam, but seem to ignore his prescription for life.
I'm told now that a young man needs to learn longer in this brutal society to get a foundation for life. I do not disagree. Here is my answer to fix all of it. Learn to your hearts content if that is how your parents have raised you, but do not involve our daughters and grandchildren in your selfishness. Let me be very clear. It is extremely selfish to demand of one's parents and in-laws that you be supported. It is extremely selfish to demand of your wife, that she supports you for x number of years and after that you'll see where you are at. Yes, the study of Torah is very important. IF YOU BELIEVE IN IT SO MUCH, DO SOMETHING SELFLESS AND WAIT TO GET MARRIED UNTIL YOU ARE READY TO SUPPORT A WIFE AS THE TORAH AND TALMUD SAYS.
It used to be in years past when a boy was in yeshiva his rebbe would quote him that a person who is kovayah iitim l'Torah is like a person who learned all day. The Rebbe assumed that the boy would follow in the footsteps of his Jewish ancestors. Today they are told that a person can't really be Koveah iitim because he would have to do it the same time each day blah blah blah...What are we doing?? When will this stupidity end??
I wish I could learn Torah all day. There is nothing better for a man to do. I cannot. The Torah commands me to feed my children and take care of my wife and that is what I must do. In the meantime, I will continue to learn at least a daf a day in Bavli and dabble in Yerushalmi, as I have for the last 10 years and find my peace in that. While I understand that the Yeshiva world looks down upon Daf Yomi, I will live with their ridicule and their arrogance. In the meantime, I will do my best to make sure we straighten out the lives of the starry eyed youth who have bought into this broken and dangerous system and hope and pray that I don't get a knock on my door in 22 years from now because my relatives don't have enough money to pay for the first of the ten childrens' wedding. Habait M'shmayim oraeeyh....
You can start a clock by it.
Question the present day Yeshivish/Kollel lifestyle and you will get blasted-personally attacked. Be called an idiot and a know nothing-anti-Torah.
This is the way it works with the Jews of the 21st century.
Suffice it to say there are two camps. One camp believes that the current yeshiva structure of today is the way to go. This camp believes in the study of Torah, living a Torah lifestyle, with Torah, Avodah, and Gemilos Chasadim. However, they also are subjecting our naive, idealistic, children to a life of struggle and poverty and listening intently for the next restrictive edict from a Rabbinical leadership starving to hang on to it's power. Not so much because they believe it's the way to go, but because that's just the way it is done.
The second camp believes in Torah, Avodah, and Gemilos Chasadim. They believe in a Torah lifestyle. They do not believe in the canard of modern orthodoxy as it's defined by the far left wing on that spectrum, just as they reject the leanings of the far right wing in the yeshiva structure. They just long to be Torah Jews who service Hashem out of love and call out the evil of all who have other agendas.
I myself am lost. I like to think I am in the second camp, but unfortunately, there are not many people there with me. I used to believe in the infallibility of Rabbinical leadership. Those days are gone now. I have witnessed too much. I get a chuckle out of seeing advertisements for a camp where, under the picture of each Rabbi involved, is a caption like Adom Godol or Talmud Chacham. I turn the page and see pictures of more Rabbis who USED TO BE WITH THE others from the previous page, but are now on their own in a new camp, due to a fight between the groups. I used to think that someone earned the name Gadol Ba'Torah-I didn't think you got invited to become one.
Interestingly enough, talk to any Rabbi nowadays, and he'll tell you that we are definitely at the end of days, all the while wanting us to ignore that at the end of days, the Talmud says, the rabbis will be like a pig with a golden ring in it's snout, as if to say check out my Torah and how much I know. The rest of you know nothing.
I believe the study of Torah is a beautiful and spiritual pursuit. I also believe like Abaye, Ravina, Rava, Rambam, Rav Ashi And Rav Shmuel before me that MY NUMBER ONE JOB AS A TORAH TRUE JEW, IS TO FEED MY FAMILY. For support on this issue, I find solace in the Gemmorah Kesubos around 40 blatt in as well as hilchos Talmud Torah from the Rambam, 3rd perek, where he states that a person should find a job, find a house, find a wife. WHAT? The Rambam said that? Doesn't he understand how hard it is in this society? Like living in Egypt was a day at the beach. Today we do the exact opposite. Find a wife, find a house find a job. I'm amused by Kollel and Bais Medrash students who constantly quote the Rambam, but seem to ignore his prescription for life.
I'm told now that a young man needs to learn longer in this brutal society to get a foundation for life. I do not disagree. Here is my answer to fix all of it. Learn to your hearts content if that is how your parents have raised you, but do not involve our daughters and grandchildren in your selfishness. Let me be very clear. It is extremely selfish to demand of one's parents and in-laws that you be supported. It is extremely selfish to demand of your wife, that she supports you for x number of years and after that you'll see where you are at. Yes, the study of Torah is very important. IF YOU BELIEVE IN IT SO MUCH, DO SOMETHING SELFLESS AND WAIT TO GET MARRIED UNTIL YOU ARE READY TO SUPPORT A WIFE AS THE TORAH AND TALMUD SAYS.
It used to be in years past when a boy was in yeshiva his rebbe would quote him that a person who is kovayah iitim l'Torah is like a person who learned all day. The Rebbe assumed that the boy would follow in the footsteps of his Jewish ancestors. Today they are told that a person can't really be Koveah iitim because he would have to do it the same time each day blah blah blah...What are we doing?? When will this stupidity end??
I wish I could learn Torah all day. There is nothing better for a man to do. I cannot. The Torah commands me to feed my children and take care of my wife and that is what I must do. In the meantime, I will continue to learn at least a daf a day in Bavli and dabble in Yerushalmi, as I have for the last 10 years and find my peace in that. While I understand that the Yeshiva world looks down upon Daf Yomi, I will live with their ridicule and their arrogance. In the meantime, I will do my best to make sure we straighten out the lives of the starry eyed youth who have bought into this broken and dangerous system and hope and pray that I don't get a knock on my door in 22 years from now because my relatives don't have enough money to pay for the first of the ten childrens' wedding. Habait M'shmayim oraeeyh....
Friday, June 1, 2007
Devorah? Not in my Lifetime....
I apologize for not posting a new blog sooner but with the holiday and some family issues, I was a bit overwhelmed...nevertheless I am back and had a few questions....
Before I start a few mazel tov's. My cousin has a daughter getting married in two weeks and she is moving to....you guessed it, Lakewood where her husband will be....you guessed it, learning in Kollel. But wait-there's more. Her brother just got engaged two days ago...he'll be moving to...drum roll please...Lakewood where he will be....learning in Kollel...anyone see a pattern? Ahh but in case you have not had enough, my brother's nephew from his wife's side also just got engaged...his is moving to....do I need to say??
What are we doing to our children??? Does this make any sense to you?? Someone please explain this utter stupidity to me and additionally, tell me how this lunacy is good for the Jewish people and how it is actually the way of the Torah??
A thought about learning all night on Shavuos....
Where did we get this and by we I mean the religious Jewish community? What source can we look to for this minhag? Rashi? Nope. Rambam? Nope. Abarbanel? Nope. Ramban? Nope. Now it seems to me that none of the above partook in this nobel excersize, or at the very least they didn't advocate it for the masses. Now please feel free to correct me on these aforementioned bastions of yeshivish thought, but I can't find one place in their writings where they even hint to staying up all night to learn on Shavuos. How did we get here?
It seems that the Mogen Avraham is really one of the first to mention this idea of staying up all night referring to a recent happening as if to say that around his time in the early 1600 or late 1500's, people started to stay up all night. I find it interesting to note that coffee was introduced to that region around the same time frame. Could it be without the introduction of caffeine back then, we would not have this minhag today? I seem to think so. Now for the Yeshiva guy this is an uncomfortable thought-do you mean to tell me that no one stayed up on Shavuos before then? Uhhhh...for the most part yes. Except of course if you read the Zohar who has a whole miggilah on how a few Kabbalists stayed up to prepare the bride-Klal Yisroel-for the groom-Hashem and Torah-and it explains there the very obscure and esoteric meanings behind this idea.
The yeshiva guy will point to the Chofetz Chaim who states the medrash and we stay up all night because we needed to be woken up...blah blah blah...I believe even the CC knew this was way off, but he did not want to mention Kabbalah b/c he knew how the misnagdim hated the chasidim so....and that tradition has been handed down to the yeshiva world who has an almost disdain for Kabbalists as if only the yeshiva world has true insight to Torah....I wonder if the yeshiva world knows how much Kabbalah they have in their lives...ana b'koach, lechu nerannina, Lecho dodi just to name a few....
The other question I wonder is do you think there is any chance that had she lived in today's world, Devorah would have been allowed to rise into a leader of Klal Yisroel? I say no shot..Can you imagine the self proclaimed moetzes gedolei ha'Torah differing to a woman? I am confident that the Rosh Ha'Yeshiva's would ban her speeches and attack her as a rodef and rebel rouser who was not a good example for our daughters and b'nos Torah...
Anyone doubt that?
What a shame that Torah Judaism has been squeezed into a very small narrow box and anyone who dares to question it's non halachic laws is attacked and abused in the name of Torah. What a shame...
Before I start a few mazel tov's. My cousin has a daughter getting married in two weeks and she is moving to....you guessed it, Lakewood where her husband will be....you guessed it, learning in Kollel. But wait-there's more. Her brother just got engaged two days ago...he'll be moving to...drum roll please...Lakewood where he will be....learning in Kollel...anyone see a pattern? Ahh but in case you have not had enough, my brother's nephew from his wife's side also just got engaged...his is moving to....do I need to say??
What are we doing to our children??? Does this make any sense to you?? Someone please explain this utter stupidity to me and additionally, tell me how this lunacy is good for the Jewish people and how it is actually the way of the Torah??
A thought about learning all night on Shavuos....
Where did we get this and by we I mean the religious Jewish community? What source can we look to for this minhag? Rashi? Nope. Rambam? Nope. Abarbanel? Nope. Ramban? Nope. Now it seems to me that none of the above partook in this nobel excersize, or at the very least they didn't advocate it for the masses. Now please feel free to correct me on these aforementioned bastions of yeshivish thought, but I can't find one place in their writings where they even hint to staying up all night to learn on Shavuos. How did we get here?
It seems that the Mogen Avraham is really one of the first to mention this idea of staying up all night referring to a recent happening as if to say that around his time in the early 1600 or late 1500's, people started to stay up all night. I find it interesting to note that coffee was introduced to that region around the same time frame. Could it be without the introduction of caffeine back then, we would not have this minhag today? I seem to think so. Now for the Yeshiva guy this is an uncomfortable thought-do you mean to tell me that no one stayed up on Shavuos before then? Uhhhh...for the most part yes. Except of course if you read the Zohar who has a whole miggilah on how a few Kabbalists stayed up to prepare the bride-Klal Yisroel-for the groom-Hashem and Torah-and it explains there the very obscure and esoteric meanings behind this idea.
The yeshiva guy will point to the Chofetz Chaim who states the medrash and we stay up all night because we needed to be woken up...blah blah blah...I believe even the CC knew this was way off, but he did not want to mention Kabbalah b/c he knew how the misnagdim hated the chasidim so....and that tradition has been handed down to the yeshiva world who has an almost disdain for Kabbalists as if only the yeshiva world has true insight to Torah....I wonder if the yeshiva world knows how much Kabbalah they have in their lives...ana b'koach, lechu nerannina, Lecho dodi just to name a few....
The other question I wonder is do you think there is any chance that had she lived in today's world, Devorah would have been allowed to rise into a leader of Klal Yisroel? I say no shot..Can you imagine the self proclaimed moetzes gedolei ha'Torah differing to a woman? I am confident that the Rosh Ha'Yeshiva's would ban her speeches and attack her as a rodef and rebel rouser who was not a good example for our daughters and b'nos Torah...
Anyone doubt that?
What a shame that Torah Judaism has been squeezed into a very small narrow box and anyone who dares to question it's non halachic laws is attacked and abused in the name of Torah. What a shame...
Monday, May 21, 2007
Revelation?
With Shavuot starting Tuesday evening, I just wanted to address a point I see debated all over the Internet on blogs and biblical criticism sites everywhere. I don't know if I'm missing something, but it almost seems too obvious to me. I'll explain:
The argument about revelation at Sinai, when the Jews received the Torah, and were all witnesses to that fact, is that there is no proof to that. The logic goes that the Torah tells us that we were all there and saw it happen so because it says so in the Torah, it makes it true. The problem, as the argument goes, is that that is a circular argument. How can you use the very book in question to prove the book is indeed factual. In other words we say we were all there because the Torah says we were.
I don't think that is the proof. I think the proof inside the Torah is not so much that the Torah says we were there so therefore it must be true. I think that is the wrong argument/proof. I think the proof is the very fact that the Jews believed it is the actual proof. Let me clarify:
Everyone of us knows Jews. We know how pushy, obnoxious, overbearing and stubborn they/we can be. Moshe even addresses this point to Hashem when he complains that they are a stiff necked stubborn people. So let's put ourselves there for a moment. We have just left Egypt after a few hundred years of slavery and have witnessed countless miracles on our behalf, but still complain to our leader about everything under the sun. He goes away for awhile to rest and we create a new leader made of gold. Our leader returns and is a bit pissed about being replaced by a cow so he destroys the cow and goes away again. When he comes back, he brings with him a book that tells us of our history. In that book it says we went to this place and that place and did this and that. It says we were rescued in Egypt and it says we traveled in the dessert to XY and Z place.
We are all kind of sitting there listening to our history and taking it all in. Our leader tells us that we need to tell our children and their children about what is in this book because it speaks of our history and what we have been through. We accept it and do as it says which is now obvious from our very existance. Now, I ask you this as people who know Jews. Do you really believe if any of these things did not happen to them, that those stubborn people who first handed the Torah down to the next generation,would have done so? The Jews had no problems challenging Moshe and they did not do so in this case. The Jews I know would have been throwing stuff at Moshe telling him he was a nut and who was he Mr. Big Shot to tell us what we were to do. They would not pass down anything that he made up in order to enslave them just like the Egyptians did. They did not do that. They accepted what he gave them and passed it down.
So the argument isn't that the Torah tells us that we were there so we believe it because that's what the Torah says. The argument is that THE JEWS AT THAT TIME, ACCEPTED WHAT IS IN THERE ABOUT THEMSELVES AND WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM, WHAT THEY DID AND WHERE THEY WENT AND HOW THINGS HAPPENED and then passed that down to each generation, just like we all have had things passed down to us since the beginning of time. THE FACT THAT WE ACTUALLY ACCEPTED WHAT WAS WRITTEN AS TRUE AT THE TIME OF REVELATION is the actual proof-that we didn't argue the facts of the case but agreed that they were true because they had just lived and experienced them. In turn, they handed the Torah down to each subsequent generation afterwards as if to say-here is your history and you can believe from me it's true because I LIVED IT. That is what makes the Torah proof argument not only non-circular, but a solid proof to anyone who knows any Jews at all.
As for the argument that maybe the Torah was written and given generations later so there was no one to disprove what was written in it, it is an arbitrary argument. It is just as easy to say what I wrote above as it is to say the Torah was made up by some old guys 2000 years ago. So unless you can make that argument stick, I find myself going with the one I made above. Maybe the world was started in someones basement and just grew too big and we have what we have now. Whatever claims you can make about the Torah being written years later, I can make a stronger claim above because above is something tangible to base some facts on. Arguments to the contrary are simply arbitrary.
One thing is certain. Surely the Jews at the time of Moshe had more guts than we do today. They did not just accept his word blindly. They had experienced some bad things and were not just ready to follow him wherever he went. He had to prove things to them constantly and they became a thorn in his side at every turn. Yet, they accepted his Torah and the things that were written ABOUT EACH OF THEM PERSONALLY to be true and that alone is enough for me and should be for anyone who has an open mind.
For those who question this, look around you at Jewish leadership and our people today. Do you think we would have argued with Moshe or question the veracity of his claims? Of course not. We are a spoiled lot and we shiver at the site of anything different. I only wish that the people who left Egypt were alive today. They would stand up to a weak kneed leadership who would crumble at the pressure of their outrage. They would demand accountability from their leadership for cover-ups and violations of law both sceular and Torah and call for their ouster if they could not stand up to the pressure. They would ignore Rabbinical wanton orders and ask them based on what authority can they adopt such random edicts. I long for the survivors of Egyptian slavery who received the Torah at Sinai because they were history's greatest skeptics as their behavior indicates....and yet they accepted the Torah to be true and with open arms.
May this Shavout bring you peace, rest, happiness and a greater understanding of what the Creator of the World wants from you and all of us and may we live to see the final redemption with the coming of Moshiach speedily in our days.
The argument about revelation at Sinai, when the Jews received the Torah, and were all witnesses to that fact, is that there is no proof to that. The logic goes that the Torah tells us that we were all there and saw it happen so because it says so in the Torah, it makes it true. The problem, as the argument goes, is that that is a circular argument. How can you use the very book in question to prove the book is indeed factual. In other words we say we were all there because the Torah says we were.
I don't think that is the proof. I think the proof inside the Torah is not so much that the Torah says we were there so therefore it must be true. I think that is the wrong argument/proof. I think the proof is the very fact that the Jews believed it is the actual proof. Let me clarify:
Everyone of us knows Jews. We know how pushy, obnoxious, overbearing and stubborn they/we can be. Moshe even addresses this point to Hashem when he complains that they are a stiff necked stubborn people. So let's put ourselves there for a moment. We have just left Egypt after a few hundred years of slavery and have witnessed countless miracles on our behalf, but still complain to our leader about everything under the sun. He goes away for awhile to rest and we create a new leader made of gold. Our leader returns and is a bit pissed about being replaced by a cow so he destroys the cow and goes away again. When he comes back, he brings with him a book that tells us of our history. In that book it says we went to this place and that place and did this and that. It says we were rescued in Egypt and it says we traveled in the dessert to XY and Z place.
We are all kind of sitting there listening to our history and taking it all in. Our leader tells us that we need to tell our children and their children about what is in this book because it speaks of our history and what we have been through. We accept it and do as it says which is now obvious from our very existance. Now, I ask you this as people who know Jews. Do you really believe if any of these things did not happen to them, that those stubborn people who first handed the Torah down to the next generation,would have done so? The Jews had no problems challenging Moshe and they did not do so in this case. The Jews I know would have been throwing stuff at Moshe telling him he was a nut and who was he Mr. Big Shot to tell us what we were to do. They would not pass down anything that he made up in order to enslave them just like the Egyptians did. They did not do that. They accepted what he gave them and passed it down.
So the argument isn't that the Torah tells us that we were there so we believe it because that's what the Torah says. The argument is that THE JEWS AT THAT TIME, ACCEPTED WHAT IS IN THERE ABOUT THEMSELVES AND WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM, WHAT THEY DID AND WHERE THEY WENT AND HOW THINGS HAPPENED and then passed that down to each generation, just like we all have had things passed down to us since the beginning of time. THE FACT THAT WE ACTUALLY ACCEPTED WHAT WAS WRITTEN AS TRUE AT THE TIME OF REVELATION is the actual proof-that we didn't argue the facts of the case but agreed that they were true because they had just lived and experienced them. In turn, they handed the Torah down to each subsequent generation afterwards as if to say-here is your history and you can believe from me it's true because I LIVED IT. That is what makes the Torah proof argument not only non-circular, but a solid proof to anyone who knows any Jews at all.
As for the argument that maybe the Torah was written and given generations later so there was no one to disprove what was written in it, it is an arbitrary argument. It is just as easy to say what I wrote above as it is to say the Torah was made up by some old guys 2000 years ago. So unless you can make that argument stick, I find myself going with the one I made above. Maybe the world was started in someones basement and just grew too big and we have what we have now. Whatever claims you can make about the Torah being written years later, I can make a stronger claim above because above is something tangible to base some facts on. Arguments to the contrary are simply arbitrary.
One thing is certain. Surely the Jews at the time of Moshe had more guts than we do today. They did not just accept his word blindly. They had experienced some bad things and were not just ready to follow him wherever he went. He had to prove things to them constantly and they became a thorn in his side at every turn. Yet, they accepted his Torah and the things that were written ABOUT EACH OF THEM PERSONALLY to be true and that alone is enough for me and should be for anyone who has an open mind.
For those who question this, look around you at Jewish leadership and our people today. Do you think we would have argued with Moshe or question the veracity of his claims? Of course not. We are a spoiled lot and we shiver at the site of anything different. I only wish that the people who left Egypt were alive today. They would stand up to a weak kneed leadership who would crumble at the pressure of their outrage. They would demand accountability from their leadership for cover-ups and violations of law both sceular and Torah and call for their ouster if they could not stand up to the pressure. They would ignore Rabbinical wanton orders and ask them based on what authority can they adopt such random edicts. I long for the survivors of Egyptian slavery who received the Torah at Sinai because they were history's greatest skeptics as their behavior indicates....and yet they accepted the Torah to be true and with open arms.
May this Shavout bring you peace, rest, happiness and a greater understanding of what the Creator of the World wants from you and all of us and may we live to see the final redemption with the coming of Moshiach speedily in our days.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Shidduch and the Gutless
If there is one thing that I cannot figure out, it's how we got here.
How did the Jews get to a point where it mattered what sort of table cloth you used on Shabbos?
How did the Jews get to a point where not having a job was a GOOD thing?
How did the Jews get to a point where the dress size of a girl was an important factor vis' a vi' marriage?
How did the Jews get to a point where a girl had to travel out of town so that she could go out on a date because the boy didn't want to travel?
In thirty years when Jewish historians look back on the dark days of Post World War II Jewish history, they will marvel at the blueprint that the Jewish People laid out for the destruction of a culture and wonder aloud why no one was there to stem the tide of disaster. They will ask the question how such a supposed smart people, could be so stupid. They will ask why such successful business people were not able to apply the same principals and logic that made them so successful to their own lives and those of their children.They will ask why no one did anything about the impending disaster of poverty and loss of community and will only be able to draw one conclusion.
The people were gutless.
Most were like puppies who followed the master. Others knew better, but were afraid to say anything so as not to ruin Shidduchim for their children and still others dared to do something, but were censored in front of the masses by the master because their bark was actually as bad as their bite and the master and his minions (or minyans) ran afraid....
Rosh Ha'yeshivas have taken the place of the community Rabbi and in doing so, have elevated themselves, on their own, to arbiter and soothsayer. They want control of our children's lives because only they know the difference between right and wrong. How in the world can we allow our children to be manipulated by Rosh Ha'yeshivas and do or say nothing? What does that say about us? Them?
I, for one, will not pay for my children once they are married. My sister always says" I won't let my children starve" Oooppps...you can bet I will. My children have a 20 year head start. They have known forever that they are on their own as soon as they decide to marry and that is the way it should be.
I listen to everyone talk about how we need to love our children and THAT is the most important thing. BS! We need to teach our children to be independent. THAT is the most important thing. We have enabled our kids to lead us by the nose wherever they want to go and then send us with the bill...Well not in my lifetime-never gonna happen.
How did we get here?
We are basically one generation removed from the holocaust and now our children believe that they not only should be living on our dime, but they actually believe they're entitled to it. My cousins son in law told me HE makes 3400 a month. Here is his math...His wife makes 1200, my cousin gives him 1200, his parents give him 200 (thanks for carrying the load) and the government food stamp program gives him 800. He asked why he shouldn't be learning with that kind of income? I don't blame him. I pity him, but don't blame him. I blame us. I blame the Jewish people who have bought into this self destructive behavior.I blame the parents who have given their children away to yeshivas. I blame the yeshivas who endorse this attitude and won't be there to take responsibility when this all blows up and we have homeless yeshiva boys and their wives and 6 children heaven forbid.
I feel bad for the children who get suckered into this lifestyle because they are young and naive and so many of them truly mean well. The children are caught in a life brought upon them by gutless cowards who know better, but are not willing to give away the power that they have.
How much longer can this go on??
How did the Jews get to a point where it mattered what sort of table cloth you used on Shabbos?
How did the Jews get to a point where not having a job was a GOOD thing?
How did the Jews get to a point where the dress size of a girl was an important factor vis' a vi' marriage?
How did the Jews get to a point where a girl had to travel out of town so that she could go out on a date because the boy didn't want to travel?
In thirty years when Jewish historians look back on the dark days of Post World War II Jewish history, they will marvel at the blueprint that the Jewish People laid out for the destruction of a culture and wonder aloud why no one was there to stem the tide of disaster. They will ask the question how such a supposed smart people, could be so stupid. They will ask why such successful business people were not able to apply the same principals and logic that made them so successful to their own lives and those of their children.They will ask why no one did anything about the impending disaster of poverty and loss of community and will only be able to draw one conclusion.
The people were gutless.
Most were like puppies who followed the master. Others knew better, but were afraid to say anything so as not to ruin Shidduchim for their children and still others dared to do something, but were censored in front of the masses by the master because their bark was actually as bad as their bite and the master and his minions (or minyans) ran afraid....
Rosh Ha'yeshivas have taken the place of the community Rabbi and in doing so, have elevated themselves, on their own, to arbiter and soothsayer. They want control of our children's lives because only they know the difference between right and wrong. How in the world can we allow our children to be manipulated by Rosh Ha'yeshivas and do or say nothing? What does that say about us? Them?
I, for one, will not pay for my children once they are married. My sister always says" I won't let my children starve" Oooppps...you can bet I will. My children have a 20 year head start. They have known forever that they are on their own as soon as they decide to marry and that is the way it should be.
I listen to everyone talk about how we need to love our children and THAT is the most important thing. BS! We need to teach our children to be independent. THAT is the most important thing. We have enabled our kids to lead us by the nose wherever they want to go and then send us with the bill...Well not in my lifetime-never gonna happen.
How did we get here?
We are basically one generation removed from the holocaust and now our children believe that they not only should be living on our dime, but they actually believe they're entitled to it. My cousins son in law told me HE makes 3400 a month. Here is his math...His wife makes 1200, my cousin gives him 1200, his parents give him 200 (thanks for carrying the load) and the government food stamp program gives him 800. He asked why he shouldn't be learning with that kind of income? I don't blame him. I pity him, but don't blame him. I blame us. I blame the Jewish people who have bought into this self destructive behavior.I blame the parents who have given their children away to yeshivas. I blame the yeshivas who endorse this attitude and won't be there to take responsibility when this all blows up and we have homeless yeshiva boys and their wives and 6 children heaven forbid.
I feel bad for the children who get suckered into this lifestyle because they are young and naive and so many of them truly mean well. The children are caught in a life brought upon them by gutless cowards who know better, but are not willing to give away the power that they have.
How much longer can this go on??
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
A religion of fear
Thinking back, I think I always knew it and felt it, but until it was articulated to me, I never understood it.
A few years ago I was talking to the daughter of a Chassidic Rabbi with a very famous last name and I mentioned that there was word out that the Rabbis in some cities forbid their people from using the internet and also forbid the bais yaakov girls from going to Miami on vacation. I was commenting how absurd I thought it all was when she quoted her father and said that the misnagdim have created a religion of fear.
Religion of fear. I never thought about that even though I probably always knew it. I thought back and retraced some decisions in my life where I'd asked for Rabbinical guidance and even decisions I made with my yeshiva education as my foundation.
Here's one I didn't figure out until I was 39 years old. I was studying Mesechta Sanhedrian and came across the description of Sraiyfah-swallowing of hot lead- as punishment for an adulteress. I thought it was rather harsh to be sure, but then the Talmud enlightened me on why that is needed. Sraiyfah burns the insides of a body, but leaves the outsides intact.
All of Israel has a portion in the world to come. The talmud teaches that sraiyfah is needed so that the woman can cleanse her soul and RETAIN HER PORTION IN THE WORLD TO COME by atoning for this sin this way, thereby cleansing the neshoma-soul-which gets burned up by the process. The Talmud states very clearly that the reason we have capital punishment in Judaism is because all Jews have a portion in the world to come. Hmmm...how come no one ever told me that?
How does this tie into the religion of fear?
When I learned Talmud and even Chumash when I was younger, I was always told there is a punishment for your bad deeds. It was always about "you did something bad, therefore you need to be punished. If you don't want to be punished, don't do anything bad". so we learned Torah that way in our lives and made our decisions with that somewhere in mind.
How ridiculous is that? Is there punishment? Yes. Is the reason we get the punishment because we were bad? No. The reason we get the punishment is to retain our portion in the world to come. Hashem is a G-d that loves all his creations and wants the best for them. The charedi world has locked G-d in a box and made him this unmoving, unwavering, unyielding, dictator who demands obedience at any cost. The followers of this logic bend over backwards to make life as uncomfortable as possible under the guise of "this is what G-d wants from me so I will suffer no matter the cost." Does that make any sense?
I remember asking a Rabbi about a job opportunity. I was young and naive and didn't quite get it. I told him about this job that paid very well, but I was not sure if wearing my kippah was the smartest thing. His response was that I should pass on the job because would I really want to take a job where my wearing a kippah was in question? He didn't tell me that the Mishna Brurah and the Chay Adom were of the opinion that it was no problem. I think I even knew that myself, but wanted some guidance just the same. Based on his advice I turned the job down and regretted it for years.
This past Sunday a man collecting for himself asked me for money. He started a kollel and it fell through and now he's 200k in debt. I asked why he started the Kollel and he said in his city in Israel there were only 5 kollels (im). Only five?? I told him that if a person really wants to learn he should learn as a single guy but should not be allowed to marry and effect other lives that will get entangled with his fantasy. He told me a man has to learn because it's dangerous out in the world. I agreed but asked him what is the big deal to G-d if you lock yourself in the Study hall and keep away from any outside influences such as say, I dunno, a job? Do you think the reward is greater for you than the man who enters the jungle and retains his foundation? Are you afraid that all the years of Torah study cannot combat the mean old world? I told him it's not logical...then told him logic doesn't always prevail that's why we had World War 1. He missed that reference because he never studied history. What a surprise....
I could go on and on. I am frustrated by the sheep who just follow Bo peep because he said it's bad for you and you need to be afraid. I long for the days of Ivdu Es Hashem B'Simcha...whatever happened to serving G-d in love...we are lost in fear and it has spiraled into a dogma that cripples anyone who is a bit different and paralyzes them into thinking they don't measure up because they need to have their thirst for answers quenched instead of being satisfied with a morsel of food because it is just the way it has to be.
Enough already. We need to find a Pinchas or Mattisyahu who will fight the Jews who are strangling the Torah and making it's adherents zombies and cowering nerds in the corner.
I, for one, will continue looking for those who have the will to stand up and be counted.
A few years ago I was talking to the daughter of a Chassidic Rabbi with a very famous last name and I mentioned that there was word out that the Rabbis in some cities forbid their people from using the internet and also forbid the bais yaakov girls from going to Miami on vacation. I was commenting how absurd I thought it all was when she quoted her father and said that the misnagdim have created a religion of fear.
Religion of fear. I never thought about that even though I probably always knew it. I thought back and retraced some decisions in my life where I'd asked for Rabbinical guidance and even decisions I made with my yeshiva education as my foundation.
Here's one I didn't figure out until I was 39 years old. I was studying Mesechta Sanhedrian and came across the description of Sraiyfah-swallowing of hot lead- as punishment for an adulteress. I thought it was rather harsh to be sure, but then the Talmud enlightened me on why that is needed. Sraiyfah burns the insides of a body, but leaves the outsides intact.
All of Israel has a portion in the world to come. The talmud teaches that sraiyfah is needed so that the woman can cleanse her soul and RETAIN HER PORTION IN THE WORLD TO COME by atoning for this sin this way, thereby cleansing the neshoma-soul-which gets burned up by the process. The Talmud states very clearly that the reason we have capital punishment in Judaism is because all Jews have a portion in the world to come. Hmmm...how come no one ever told me that?
How does this tie into the religion of fear?
When I learned Talmud and even Chumash when I was younger, I was always told there is a punishment for your bad deeds. It was always about "you did something bad, therefore you need to be punished. If you don't want to be punished, don't do anything bad". so we learned Torah that way in our lives and made our decisions with that somewhere in mind.
How ridiculous is that? Is there punishment? Yes. Is the reason we get the punishment because we were bad? No. The reason we get the punishment is to retain our portion in the world to come. Hashem is a G-d that loves all his creations and wants the best for them. The charedi world has locked G-d in a box and made him this unmoving, unwavering, unyielding, dictator who demands obedience at any cost. The followers of this logic bend over backwards to make life as uncomfortable as possible under the guise of "this is what G-d wants from me so I will suffer no matter the cost." Does that make any sense?
I remember asking a Rabbi about a job opportunity. I was young and naive and didn't quite get it. I told him about this job that paid very well, but I was not sure if wearing my kippah was the smartest thing. His response was that I should pass on the job because would I really want to take a job where my wearing a kippah was in question? He didn't tell me that the Mishna Brurah and the Chay Adom were of the opinion that it was no problem. I think I even knew that myself, but wanted some guidance just the same. Based on his advice I turned the job down and regretted it for years.
This past Sunday a man collecting for himself asked me for money. He started a kollel and it fell through and now he's 200k in debt. I asked why he started the Kollel and he said in his city in Israel there were only 5 kollels (im). Only five?? I told him that if a person really wants to learn he should learn as a single guy but should not be allowed to marry and effect other lives that will get entangled with his fantasy. He told me a man has to learn because it's dangerous out in the world. I agreed but asked him what is the big deal to G-d if you lock yourself in the Study hall and keep away from any outside influences such as say, I dunno, a job? Do you think the reward is greater for you than the man who enters the jungle and retains his foundation? Are you afraid that all the years of Torah study cannot combat the mean old world? I told him it's not logical...then told him logic doesn't always prevail that's why we had World War 1. He missed that reference because he never studied history. What a surprise....
I could go on and on. I am frustrated by the sheep who just follow Bo peep because he said it's bad for you and you need to be afraid. I long for the days of Ivdu Es Hashem B'Simcha...whatever happened to serving G-d in love...we are lost in fear and it has spiraled into a dogma that cripples anyone who is a bit different and paralyzes them into thinking they don't measure up because they need to have their thirst for answers quenched instead of being satisfied with a morsel of food because it is just the way it has to be.
Enough already. We need to find a Pinchas or Mattisyahu who will fight the Jews who are strangling the Torah and making it's adherents zombies and cowering nerds in the corner.
I, for one, will continue looking for those who have the will to stand up and be counted.
Monday, May 14, 2007
He got it right....
Thank you to http://jewess.canonist.com/?p=370 and failedmessiah.com for mentioning this blog on their website.
I will never forget it. Growing up in a small town, there were not a lot of religious people around and/or coming through there on a regular basis, so when my father's chavrusa from the Mirrer Yeshiva came to visit for a few days, I was pretty interested to what and who he was and what he was saying even though I was all of about 8 years old. I remember it, however, like it was yesterday.
He spoke about the Jewish people and what they had to do to move forward. He spoke about the Jewish people no longer sitting still and taking all the crap that the world was heaping on us for centuries and he spoke about Israel. He was passionate and very well spoken, but he waved off weakness with a Jewish wave of the hand while he squinted his eyes and made that "zteh" noise that Israleis make when they are short on patience. My father is basically a pacifist, but he could not help getting taken in by his Chavrusa's words and then let me know that he had heard it all before during their yearlong study of Kiddushin and their travels together to Columbia University. Only now it was louder and clearer and more people were hearing his message and seeing his defiance.
My father's Chavrusa was Rabbi Meir Kahane-ZTL.
Now before anyone get's all beat up about the ZTL after his name, let me just explain why it's there. I believe the ultimate witness to the truth, is the passage of time. I think it's all well and good for Al Gore to suggest that we are melting away, but like the early seventies when the Ice Age was going to freeze the earth because of xy and z, ultimately, time will be the loudest witness to the alarmist claims of the group think scientists that believe we are destroying the earth and scortching it into oblivion.
Time made a hero out of Menachem Begin when he made the sole decision against world opinion to destroy Iraq's Nuclear reactor. He was scorned and lambasted like a criminal and yet some ten years later during Gulf War 1, it was easy to see just how many lives he saved, but acting alone and in the best interests of the Jewish People. Time has proven that the left in America was wrong about Russia and Reagan was right and now time has proven that Rabbi Kahane was right on point, but the cowardly, arrogant and pompous Israeli government was wrong.
Let's review just a bit for those who are lost in the propaganda of the Israeli and American press. Kahane did not say he wanted to kill every arab. He did say that if an arab wanted to live inside Israel, he would have to pledge allegiance to the state and forsake any ideas of trying to destroy from within. Kahane did say that if you did not want to live there as an arab, you should be deported much in the same way that the arab countries of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Jordan etc. sent all it's Jewish citizens on their way after the establishment of the Jewish State in 1948-a population exchange is how Kahane put it. Kahane wanted theaters closed on Shabbat-I can live with that-I can go to the theatre the other six days of the week-and Jewish law to be the predominant law of the land-WHENEVER POSSIBLE. He also said that the Jews wanting to be a Jewish state and a democracy at the same time, could not sustain itself because at some point the Jews will be out numbered democratically and the country will have to choose between a democracy or a Jewish state. It seems like that time is near.
Reports out of Jerusalem indicate that the mayor is worried about a non Jewish majority in the very near future and is calling for drastic steps to ensure the tragedy does not, in fact, happen. Seems like Kahane had it right...all of it. He predicted that the Hellenists would be lost for an answer and thousands of Jews would die because of their confusion. He was amazed by the ignorance on the left and the silence by the Charedi on the right. He felt the religious sold him out-and he was right-all in the name of power. It was more important for the Chardei to have power in a government coalition, than to agree with him and back him in public, even though they agreed with him in private. It was a shame how the religious treated him and almost criminal how the government-in a democracy no less-outlawed him and now that same government is looking for answers to the hard questions he proposed to them some 20+ years ago. His international public spanking of Ahud Olmert on Nightline is a classic and can be found here http://youtube.com/watch?v=G0v1To8B4_A (I would provide the video myself if I knew what I was doing)
Do I agree with everything Rabbi Kahane said? I am sure not.
Do I appreciate his honesty and candor? Absolutely.
Do I think he had all the answers? No, but at least he was willing to offer solutions-albeit unpopular in the political and media arena-while most others would not...they elected to kick the can down the road...and now you see where it has led us....
Kahane may not have been popular in his life, but he has been proven correct in his death.
I will never forget it. Growing up in a small town, there were not a lot of religious people around and/or coming through there on a regular basis, so when my father's chavrusa from the Mirrer Yeshiva came to visit for a few days, I was pretty interested to what and who he was and what he was saying even though I was all of about 8 years old. I remember it, however, like it was yesterday.
He spoke about the Jewish people and what they had to do to move forward. He spoke about the Jewish people no longer sitting still and taking all the crap that the world was heaping on us for centuries and he spoke about Israel. He was passionate and very well spoken, but he waved off weakness with a Jewish wave of the hand while he squinted his eyes and made that "zteh" noise that Israleis make when they are short on patience. My father is basically a pacifist, but he could not help getting taken in by his Chavrusa's words and then let me know that he had heard it all before during their yearlong study of Kiddushin and their travels together to Columbia University. Only now it was louder and clearer and more people were hearing his message and seeing his defiance.
My father's Chavrusa was Rabbi Meir Kahane-ZTL.
Now before anyone get's all beat up about the ZTL after his name, let me just explain why it's there. I believe the ultimate witness to the truth, is the passage of time. I think it's all well and good for Al Gore to suggest that we are melting away, but like the early seventies when the Ice Age was going to freeze the earth because of xy and z, ultimately, time will be the loudest witness to the alarmist claims of the group think scientists that believe we are destroying the earth and scortching it into oblivion.
Time made a hero out of Menachem Begin when he made the sole decision against world opinion to destroy Iraq's Nuclear reactor. He was scorned and lambasted like a criminal and yet some ten years later during Gulf War 1, it was easy to see just how many lives he saved, but acting alone and in the best interests of the Jewish People. Time has proven that the left in America was wrong about Russia and Reagan was right and now time has proven that Rabbi Kahane was right on point, but the cowardly, arrogant and pompous Israeli government was wrong.
Let's review just a bit for those who are lost in the propaganda of the Israeli and American press. Kahane did not say he wanted to kill every arab. He did say that if an arab wanted to live inside Israel, he would have to pledge allegiance to the state and forsake any ideas of trying to destroy from within. Kahane did say that if you did not want to live there as an arab, you should be deported much in the same way that the arab countries of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Egypt, Jordan etc. sent all it's Jewish citizens on their way after the establishment of the Jewish State in 1948-a population exchange is how Kahane put it. Kahane wanted theaters closed on Shabbat-I can live with that-I can go to the theatre the other six days of the week-and Jewish law to be the predominant law of the land-WHENEVER POSSIBLE. He also said that the Jews wanting to be a Jewish state and a democracy at the same time, could not sustain itself because at some point the Jews will be out numbered democratically and the country will have to choose between a democracy or a Jewish state. It seems like that time is near.
Reports out of Jerusalem indicate that the mayor is worried about a non Jewish majority in the very near future and is calling for drastic steps to ensure the tragedy does not, in fact, happen. Seems like Kahane had it right...all of it. He predicted that the Hellenists would be lost for an answer and thousands of Jews would die because of their confusion. He was amazed by the ignorance on the left and the silence by the Charedi on the right. He felt the religious sold him out-and he was right-all in the name of power. It was more important for the Chardei to have power in a government coalition, than to agree with him and back him in public, even though they agreed with him in private. It was a shame how the religious treated him and almost criminal how the government-in a democracy no less-outlawed him and now that same government is looking for answers to the hard questions he proposed to them some 20+ years ago. His international public spanking of Ahud Olmert on Nightline is a classic and can be found here http://youtube.com/watch?v=G0v1To8B4_A (I would provide the video myself if I knew what I was doing)
Do I agree with everything Rabbi Kahane said? I am sure not.
Do I appreciate his honesty and candor? Absolutely.
Do I think he had all the answers? No, but at least he was willing to offer solutions-albeit unpopular in the political and media arena-while most others would not...they elected to kick the can down the road...and now you see where it has led us....
Kahane may not have been popular in his life, but he has been proven correct in his death.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Well, as long as they look frum....
A little background on this story....
A boy about 12 years old is struggling at his yeshiva because the English is overwhelmed with nothingness and there is no respect for adults and teachers. His parents are professionals. Father is very learned and a well respected national attorney-A very righteous man doing huge amounts of work on behalf of Israel and the Jewish people.
Parents end up sending the boy to a co-ed day school where he does very well, but as he enters 9th grade, they would prefer he go back to the yeshiva where his two older brothers are. A few days before his summer interview at the yeshiva, something happens. The mother of a former classmate at the yeshiva-let's call her Yenta-sees the boy talking to a girl who happens to be in his class at the day school. Yenta the mother, knowing of the boys upcoming interview, grabs her cell phone and places an urgent call to the principal and because her husband is a board member at the yeshiva, she feels she can call the principal at any time. So on his summer vacation, she calls the principal and demands he turn the boy away from the yeshiva, because even though her son and the boy are the best of friends, she does not want his influence of talking to girls around her son. Her son is a true ben Torah and he does not need this kind of bad apple in the yeshiva. The one thing the mother has forgotten to mention to the principal is that she is making the phone call to him FROM A LOCAL (not jewish) PUBLIC POOL WHERE MEN AND WOMAN ARE SWIMMING TOGETHER. She, of course, SELF-APPOINTED ARBITER OF FRUMKEIT THAT SHE IS, can be there because she has covered herself up more than those "others" at the pool who clearly do not understand teh lessons of right and wrong that she administers.
Understand this. This self righteous mitzvah doer is relaxing her day away at a public swimming pool when she notices on the sidewalk some few hundred feet away, this boy, who, passing by a girl he is in class with, stops to say hi and she takes it upon herself to make sure the boy is not in her sons class at the yeshiva because her son does not need this awful influence in his life-being the true ben Torah that he is.
Fast forward two years. The boy is thriving in the day school after the parents resented the yeshiva's treatment of their son based on him being spotted talking to this girl by Yenta and her subsequent reporting of it to the Principal. He is a leader and a mentsch on his way to being a masmid. This past Wednesday, Yenta's son is caught by his principal at the local JCC leaving the building with his brand new girlfriend. The irony is so rich you have to wipe it away from your face with both hands. Of course there were no repercussions for Yenta's son because the father and Yenta are now both board members and the president of the school is their best friend...
So where does this leave us?
I don't really know when it started, but sometime in the past twenty five years, the religious Jewish people made style over substance the most important criteria in life. Funny thing is, it was this very thing that Rabbeim railed against when they gave their Thursday night schmoozes, decrying the non religious for the manicured lawns and their fancy cars, wondering why they turned their backs on Torah. How could they choose style over substance? They need to learn Torah to understand the shortcomings of their life decisions. Now, we have embraced their philosophy even though our people study Torah every day. Funny how that happens....
A few times each week now, I have men knocking at my door collecting for their yeshivas. My one question to each of them is, would I, in my three button polo shirt and kakis, be allowed to study Torah in their yeshiva if I was 18 years old? Invariably, they hedge the answer until, when pressed, they say no, I would have to conform to the standard white and black fare. When asked why, they cannot give me anything better than this is how a ben Torah dresses. Really? The Chofetz Chaim dressed like that? How many of these great Torah scholars know that we stole this get-up from the polish and russian nobleman. Chas V'Shalom is their response when enlightened.
It no longer matters what you are, it matters what your look like you are. And therein lies the rub...
I have so much more on this, but I will stop here for now because I have made my own stomach turn and another shamas is at my door....and just In case you're wondering, I do give all the men Tzedakah, but I always wonder why....
A boy about 12 years old is struggling at his yeshiva because the English is overwhelmed with nothingness and there is no respect for adults and teachers. His parents are professionals. Father is very learned and a well respected national attorney-A very righteous man doing huge amounts of work on behalf of Israel and the Jewish people.
Parents end up sending the boy to a co-ed day school where he does very well, but as he enters 9th grade, they would prefer he go back to the yeshiva where his two older brothers are. A few days before his summer interview at the yeshiva, something happens. The mother of a former classmate at the yeshiva-let's call her Yenta-sees the boy talking to a girl who happens to be in his class at the day school. Yenta the mother, knowing of the boys upcoming interview, grabs her cell phone and places an urgent call to the principal and because her husband is a board member at the yeshiva, she feels she can call the principal at any time. So on his summer vacation, she calls the principal and demands he turn the boy away from the yeshiva, because even though her son and the boy are the best of friends, she does not want his influence of talking to girls around her son. Her son is a true ben Torah and he does not need this kind of bad apple in the yeshiva. The one thing the mother has forgotten to mention to the principal is that she is making the phone call to him FROM A LOCAL (not jewish) PUBLIC POOL WHERE MEN AND WOMAN ARE SWIMMING TOGETHER. She, of course, SELF-APPOINTED ARBITER OF FRUMKEIT THAT SHE IS, can be there because she has covered herself up more than those "others" at the pool who clearly do not understand teh lessons of right and wrong that she administers.
Understand this. This self righteous mitzvah doer is relaxing her day away at a public swimming pool when she notices on the sidewalk some few hundred feet away, this boy, who, passing by a girl he is in class with, stops to say hi and she takes it upon herself to make sure the boy is not in her sons class at the yeshiva because her son does not need this awful influence in his life-being the true ben Torah that he is.
Fast forward two years. The boy is thriving in the day school after the parents resented the yeshiva's treatment of their son based on him being spotted talking to this girl by Yenta and her subsequent reporting of it to the Principal. He is a leader and a mentsch on his way to being a masmid. This past Wednesday, Yenta's son is caught by his principal at the local JCC leaving the building with his brand new girlfriend. The irony is so rich you have to wipe it away from your face with both hands. Of course there were no repercussions for Yenta's son because the father and Yenta are now both board members and the president of the school is their best friend...
So where does this leave us?
I don't really know when it started, but sometime in the past twenty five years, the religious Jewish people made style over substance the most important criteria in life. Funny thing is, it was this very thing that Rabbeim railed against when they gave their Thursday night schmoozes, decrying the non religious for the manicured lawns and their fancy cars, wondering why they turned their backs on Torah. How could they choose style over substance? They need to learn Torah to understand the shortcomings of their life decisions. Now, we have embraced their philosophy even though our people study Torah every day. Funny how that happens....
A few times each week now, I have men knocking at my door collecting for their yeshivas. My one question to each of them is, would I, in my three button polo shirt and kakis, be allowed to study Torah in their yeshiva if I was 18 years old? Invariably, they hedge the answer until, when pressed, they say no, I would have to conform to the standard white and black fare. When asked why, they cannot give me anything better than this is how a ben Torah dresses. Really? The Chofetz Chaim dressed like that? How many of these great Torah scholars know that we stole this get-up from the polish and russian nobleman. Chas V'Shalom is their response when enlightened.
It no longer matters what you are, it matters what your look like you are. And therein lies the rub...
I have so much more on this, but I will stop here for now because I have made my own stomach turn and another shamas is at my door....and just In case you're wondering, I do give all the men Tzedakah, but I always wonder why....
Friday, May 11, 2007
Why?
Why have I started this blog?
I am a religious Jew who is deep inside and I watch in horror as our people are torn apart from the inside and I can no longer be a silent observer like my friends and neighbors who resign themselves to the rally cry that "you can't fight city hall"
I'm here to say I can and will....I hope you'll join me....
Please feel free to leave your comments.
I am a member of the Jewish Community and until very recently a very proud one. My father is a graduate of the Mirrer Yeshiva and Columbia University. (bet that doesn't happen too much anymore) He has smicha (Rabbinical Ordination) from the Mirrer and has finished Shas (Talmud) 4 times. He is not Chassidish but would qualify, as would most of my extended family as Charedi. I have loads of relatives living in Lakewood (double digits) and "learning" in Kollel there. For the life of me I don't get it. What I do know is that my dad, the Columbia graduate, who spent zero days in Kollel, can learn my lakewood relatives under the table. I don't get it.
I don't get why we are allowing our greatest assets-our future-to go door to door asking for hand-outs. Rabbi Berel Wein points out that at it's height in Europe, there were less than 150 men in ALL OF EUROPE learning in Kollel. The back corner in Lakewood has FIVE HUNDRED. Think about that for a second. 150...why? Because KOLLEL WAS NOT MEANT TO BE A PARKING LOT FOR EMOTIONALLY IMMATURE KIDS WITH NO DIRECTION. It was meant to form, train, sustain, and protect the future leaders of their communities. Men who will be learned Rabbis and teachers so the communities that supported them will gain from that support as those men came back to lead and teach there. That WAS what Kollels (im) where set up for and nothing else. Ravina of the Talmud was a wealthy man who worked all day-no one today could withstand his Torah questioning. Rav Shmuel had a job, as did Rav Ashi, Rava, Abeye, Rashi, The Rambam, I do not believe I need to go on... This is a horrid joke. This is a crisis of epic proportions and the defenders and enablers of this practice will have a lot to answer for at 120.
Understand this please and read carefully...THE STUDY OF TORAH, not Torah, THE STUDY OF TORAH has become the Avodah Zarah of our generation. We must do something as a people to stop the destruction of our communities. We need to stop demanding that our daughters be mother, partner, caretaker, emotional supporter, and bread winner of a young family all before she reaches 25. We need to demand that our children be given an honest account of what life will be like on their own, without the support of their parents-will the Roshei Hayeshivas support our children if G-d forbid something happens to us or will our children have to learn the hard way that life is not easy on your own with no source of viable income. If that means we need to call out our leadership and hold them accountable for their failures, WE MUST DO SO-as uncomfortable as that may sound.
Lakewood will never return Charles Kushner's money. I would warn them to study in a few places in Shas, where the honor of the Kohein Gadol was bought and sold...I used to wonder how the Jewish people could let such corruption flourish at the time of the Bais Hamikdash, but unfortunately I have witnessed exactly how it was done.
We have allowed our leadership to work unfettered as we did at the time of the BH...we have allowed them to issue edicts whether right or wrong-and swallowed them full just because they are from supposed "das Torah" and therefore if it sounds frummer it must be frummer-just as we did at the time of the BH...we have allowed them to bring idols into holy places ie illicit money from evil doers with no remorse-just as we did at the time of the BH....we have allowed them to elect their own cronies and blood lines to sustain and fortify their own unholy behavior-just as we did at the time of the BH...we have allowed them to cover up their illegal deeds and those of their friends-just as we did at the time of the BH...we have allowed their defenders to out shout, dismiss, intimidate, and marginalize those with the courage to point out that the emperor has no clothes-just like we did at the time of the BH...I no longer wonder how well meaning G-d fearing Jews allowed corruption to take hold of their people without doing anything to stop it, because I witness it every day and now I know what Disraeli meant when he said, those who fail to learn from history and destined to repeat it.
We need to hold our leaders accountable as it says in Chaggiga regarding Acher-the sins of the "righteous" are held in far greater contempt then the sins of the regular man for they know better and still sin against G-d...We need to clean up our house post haste for if we just sit back and let the foxes rule the hen house, our fate and the fate of the Jewish people will be far more fatalistic than that of our forefathers...G-d have mercy on our souls...and by then the excuse of " but my rav said..." will be of no significance...
I am a religious Jew who is deep inside and I watch in horror as our people are torn apart from the inside and I can no longer be a silent observer like my friends and neighbors who resign themselves to the rally cry that "you can't fight city hall"
I'm here to say I can and will....I hope you'll join me....
Please feel free to leave your comments.
I am a member of the Jewish Community and until very recently a very proud one. My father is a graduate of the Mirrer Yeshiva and Columbia University. (bet that doesn't happen too much anymore) He has smicha (Rabbinical Ordination) from the Mirrer and has finished Shas (Talmud) 4 times. He is not Chassidish but would qualify, as would most of my extended family as Charedi. I have loads of relatives living in Lakewood (double digits) and "learning" in Kollel there. For the life of me I don't get it. What I do know is that my dad, the Columbia graduate, who spent zero days in Kollel, can learn my lakewood relatives under the table. I don't get it.
I don't get why we are allowing our greatest assets-our future-to go door to door asking for hand-outs. Rabbi Berel Wein points out that at it's height in Europe, there were less than 150 men in ALL OF EUROPE learning in Kollel. The back corner in Lakewood has FIVE HUNDRED. Think about that for a second. 150...why? Because KOLLEL WAS NOT MEANT TO BE A PARKING LOT FOR EMOTIONALLY IMMATURE KIDS WITH NO DIRECTION. It was meant to form, train, sustain, and protect the future leaders of their communities. Men who will be learned Rabbis and teachers so the communities that supported them will gain from that support as those men came back to lead and teach there. That WAS what Kollels (im) where set up for and nothing else. Ravina of the Talmud was a wealthy man who worked all day-no one today could withstand his Torah questioning. Rav Shmuel had a job, as did Rav Ashi, Rava, Abeye, Rashi, The Rambam, I do not believe I need to go on... This is a horrid joke. This is a crisis of epic proportions and the defenders and enablers of this practice will have a lot to answer for at 120.
Understand this please and read carefully...THE STUDY OF TORAH, not Torah, THE STUDY OF TORAH has become the Avodah Zarah of our generation. We must do something as a people to stop the destruction of our communities. We need to stop demanding that our daughters be mother, partner, caretaker, emotional supporter, and bread winner of a young family all before she reaches 25. We need to demand that our children be given an honest account of what life will be like on their own, without the support of their parents-will the Roshei Hayeshivas support our children if G-d forbid something happens to us or will our children have to learn the hard way that life is not easy on your own with no source of viable income. If that means we need to call out our leadership and hold them accountable for their failures, WE MUST DO SO-as uncomfortable as that may sound.
Lakewood will never return Charles Kushner's money. I would warn them to study in a few places in Shas, where the honor of the Kohein Gadol was bought and sold...I used to wonder how the Jewish people could let such corruption flourish at the time of the Bais Hamikdash, but unfortunately I have witnessed exactly how it was done.
We have allowed our leadership to work unfettered as we did at the time of the BH...we have allowed them to issue edicts whether right or wrong-and swallowed them full just because they are from supposed "das Torah" and therefore if it sounds frummer it must be frummer-just as we did at the time of the BH...we have allowed them to bring idols into holy places ie illicit money from evil doers with no remorse-just as we did at the time of the BH....we have allowed them to elect their own cronies and blood lines to sustain and fortify their own unholy behavior-just as we did at the time of the BH...we have allowed them to cover up their illegal deeds and those of their friends-just as we did at the time of the BH...we have allowed their defenders to out shout, dismiss, intimidate, and marginalize those with the courage to point out that the emperor has no clothes-just like we did at the time of the BH...I no longer wonder how well meaning G-d fearing Jews allowed corruption to take hold of their people without doing anything to stop it, because I witness it every day and now I know what Disraeli meant when he said, those who fail to learn from history and destined to repeat it.
We need to hold our leaders accountable as it says in Chaggiga regarding Acher-the sins of the "righteous" are held in far greater contempt then the sins of the regular man for they know better and still sin against G-d...We need to clean up our house post haste for if we just sit back and let the foxes rule the hen house, our fate and the fate of the Jewish people will be far more fatalistic than that of our forefathers...G-d have mercy on our souls...and by then the excuse of " but my rav said..." will be of no significance...
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