Yellow Bus

Was forwarded this picture. Reminded me of a video, posted below.

In the town where I was born /

Lived a man named Earl Gray /

He was smoky, sharp and bold /

And he had a lot to say.

We all drink from a Yellow Submarine!

A Yellow Submarine!

A Yellow Submarine!

We all drink from a Yellow Submarine!

Here's the video:

Translation of some great lyrics.

The economy is in der erd (adamah!) /
it's going tough /
it's bashert.
empty shelves, empty pockets /
looks washed out.

Born rich, market crashed /
Dreams lost, a homeless (man) laughs /
Head full of noises, comes an end /
Bills and debts, a month of rent.

Chorus: I wanna go on my yellow bus, my yellow bus, my yellow bus (cheder bus) /

I sit down to learn, leave me alone /
Forget about everything, off my head /
In goyishe streets there are no jobs /
at least in shul I have lekach and shnapps.

I can enjoy just like a young 'un /
Make trouble with the kids /
Halevai I could go back /

 to cheder with 'em

Chorus: I wanna go on my yellow bus, my yellow bus, my yellow bus (cheder bus) /

ALL KIDS, OFF THE BUS!

Stores of toys, and candy shops /
IN the sand, with lollipops /
You can have fun, but watch-it /
if youre too wild, you'll chap potches!

Chorus: I wanna go on my yellow bus, my yellow bus, my yellow bus (cheder bus) /

I'm just waiting for someone to pounce on the "you'll chap potches!" part.

Another Take On The Rabbinic Silence On Tropper

A guest post by Nisht In Shabbos Geredt


Here a intresting take on the trooper scandal.


Bloggers and commentators are truly bothered why the Gedolim haven't come out to publicly condemn trooper, yet when dealing with Rabbi Natan (then Nosson) Slifkin the objection was instant.


Simply put, the slifkin saga was a totally different issue. With Slifkin, the problem with his books weren't that he is a kofer or ganev, rather, it was the content within which that they found to be offensive. Upon realizing the influence on it's reader they immediately issued a ban condemning the "book".


Indeed, there are many books of kofrim that they never banned like the ones authored by James Kugel. Since they find it ineffective, they don't make regular rounds condemning individuals for speaking lashon hora or not washing negel vaser.


Point to be made here is that the Gedolim aren't here to police individuals who don't strictly follow Halacha. So when does a ban come in to the picture, you ask? The answer is simple. When its a hashkafik issue and affects the klal, thats where its needed, but when it's an individual which everyone agrees on his wrongdoing it isn't necessary.


No, Agudas Yisrael is not the UN.


My (Yosef) comment:


NISG writes that the reason for the lack of bans on books authored by James Kugel is because they find it ineffective.


I don't think so. I don't even think these Rabbonim ever heard of DH or Bible Criticism, let alone James Kugel.


In any case, where do you find any recent ban being effective. On the contrary.


He does make some good points. Namely, that Rabbonim don't issue ban and statements on certain obvious things. Does anyone really need confirmation that these alleged deeds are wrong?


An argument can be made on these Rabbonim who had previous relationships with him. Yet, I don't find it totally proper for a Rav who got funding from him to openly condemn him. He doesn't have to laud him, but there is still reason for hakaros hatov.


BTW, is Kugel a kofer? Probably, I assume.

An Interesting Question

I just saw an interesting question posted in an online forum.

Why is Gafni / Degel Hatorah so angry about Shas joining the WZO.

When asked why Chareidim are allowed to join the Knesset, they usually answer that the Gedolim made a special exception, because of the need of the klal.

In other words, it really not allowed but the Gedolim permit it.

If so, Rav Ovadia Yosef, Shas's Gadol, allowed them to join the WZO, so what right do the Chareidim have to decry this move. They themselves do it.

(Indeed, within the Chareidi camp there are these that still decry joining the Knesset and publicly defame these who do.

He Should Open A Blog

...or maybe it wouldn't help.

Tzvi Biolitztosky, the Bnei Brak man who dragged some dayanim to court, (and was the subject of another post,), now authored a newspaper where he give his version of the event surrounding the whole debacle.

The first thought I had was, why doesn't he open a blog. On the other hand, I figured that since "no one" has Internet access at home, they wouldn't get to see.

If I have the time, I'll post some real demographics on Internet penetration in charedi areas in Israel. Way higher than most would think; and this doesn't include these who "borrow" a connection from a neighbor.

Internet Goy, Chillul Shabbos, El Al Spoof, Internet & Gedolim, Kofrim [Roundup]

• Frum Follies has a funny new ad for the new Shabbos Goy, The Internet Goy.
• Hirhurim has a parsha roundup. So does ParshaBlog, of course.
• Revach L"Neshanah has a post which I disagree with; arbitrarily creating a 'pshat' and then using it against others. He has a nice vort here, though.
• The Wolf on chillul Shabbos to save a non-Jewish life.
• Jameel at the Muqata spoofed a spoof El Al ad, (yeah,) taking advantage of the recent tefilin flight story.
• Emes Ve'emunah on common sense, the Internet and Gedolim.
• DovBear on how to deal with literalists.
• ParshaBlog has a great post on unwitting kofrim. And a roundup.

More Unites Us Than Divides Us: An Observation

The Orthodox Jewish blogosphere is dominated by bloggers who are Modern Orthodox affiliated. The most obvious reason for the lack of Chareidi bloggers, I presume, is because Chareidim are general more wary of Internet usage. (I know, there are more reason; and no, illiteracy is not one of them.)

What astounded me, however, when joining this community, was the obsession that some have with chareidim. Generally negative.

I'm aware of quite a few Chareidi blogs, which cover many varying interests. Yet none of them have such an obsession with Modern Orthodox Jewry. Even with some mentions here and there, the negativity isn't nearly as strong.

Interestingly, much of this negativity seems to stem from an inferiority complex towards Chareidim. The fact that Chareidim don't at all consider MO scholars.

True, Chareidim generally reject the MO philosophy. Yet, while the disagreement might sometimes be heated, I never heard of it being a round-table discussion in Chareidi circles. Its more of a rejection, which leaves it at "you do yours and I do mine's", with Chareidim giving little regard to the MO world.

On the other hand, some in MO Jewry are seemingly obsessed with Chareidim. Which Gadol said what, etcetera. Analyzing every action and word of every Gadol. It reached a point where I don't have to frequent Chareidi websites to get my "Gadolim updates", the MO world does a far better job, with commentary!

Whatever a Chareidi Gadol says, I see critical analysis of exactly why this or that MO blogger disagrees. Why he has the right, and sometimes the requirement to do so.

It almost looks like they try to associate with Chareidim. While Chareidim distance themselves from the MO world, the MO world tries to push the idea that 'we really aren't that different', 'its only different shitta's', and so on. As if they're trying to excuse their behavior, why they do this or that.

In fact, in Chareidi yeshivas, there is little mention of the entire MO world, at all. Almost as if it doesn't exist. While I can't tell you for sure, I have a strong hunch that in MO yeshivas the situation is different.

Some bloggers, take this even further, to what some call "Chareidi bashing". They spend their time finding fault with Chareidim, at every opportunity. For the same reasons, I think. Sort of a way to say that, "hey, you're far from perfect too". Chareidim are not attacking you, as far as I see, dear blogger.

Defend Obama rather. He's the Chareidi punching bag now.

Yeah, a rambling post. Your opinion?

Don't People Get It That Banning Doesn't Work?

In a new ban issued by the same Rav that is behind the crusade against Chareidi Websites, he disallows reading all newspapers that don't have a "hechsher". This, presumably, should be on the shelf together with the "hechshered" music.

As far as I know, Hamodia & Yated, as well as HaMevaser, don't have hechsheirim. Banned.

It does seem like this is more of a local fight in one town (kiryat sefer). Indeed, it seems that the whole Internet fight was also the result of local politics in that town. This time, however, he doesn't seem to have the heavyweight behind him. Yet.

source

Worth a Thousand Word

What hechsher?

Last Word On The Dybbuk

ParshaBlog has a great writeup on the relative importance, or the lack thereof, of the dybbuk, in terms of Jewsih beliefs. A ParshaBlog classic.

Last I heard, a final exorcism attempt last night failed and the Brazilian man was sent back to Brazil, along with the dybbuk.

I wonder how they are allowed to give up. Shouldn't this be a matter of pikuach nefesh? Reminds me, that when Rav Batzri warned the dybbuk not to hurt (or kill) the man, I thought that theres good reason for him not wanting to allow the dybbuk to hurt him, because should he try to hurt him, nothing would happen, and the whole show would be over.

It reminds me of another good story: When the old Slonimer Rebbe died, some continued to believe that he remained alive. (I'm not aware of any meshichist tendencies.) They even gave him aliyos to the Torah. When the Gerrer Rebbe, the Beis Yisrael, heard this, he said 'let them give him hagba, then we'll see.'

But, after all this, there are still people who believe this to be for real. Is anyone surprised?

A Gaon's Seal, [Roundup]

• On The Main Line has a picture of a seal of a Gaon (of the Geonim era).
• Garnel Ironheart has a great post on Ashkenazic/Sephardic discrimination in Israel, something I plan to discuss here soon.
• A new Yiddish song from Lipa

• The Muqata on Israel Electric Company's heter iska.
• Life In Israel's roundup; also, a post on the parshas hamon segulah. I appreciate that he focuses on the meaning behind it, rather than it being another magic/segulah.
• A funny music video on Yeshiva bachurim, also from Life In Israel.
• Hirhurim's roundup; and a post on Lecha Dodi tunes.

Halachah Question: Beis Din

With the hullabaloo going on in Bnei Brak regarding a man who called a few Dayanim to court, the following question occurred to me.

I am unaware of any impartial, qualified beis din in my area that can adjudicate a dispute properly. The reason I believe that caused this is as follows:

• Dayanim are paid, sometimes paid well. Against halachah. Of course, a proper loophole was found. But in such cases, the reason behind the halachah still stands.
• Dayanim have an active interest to prolong cases, earning them more money by the hour.
• By paskening for the richer side, they have a better chance to have more cases brought to them. Richer people are usually more in court.
• (Rich people are powerful. A dayan has an interest in not getting on his bad side.) In parethesis since it might be debatable.
• When there's no rich guy involved, beis din usually tries to pasken for the defense. Maybe because of hamotzie mechaveiro, I don't know. But they can go well against common sense too. (I know, courts too.)
• Beis din sometimes *forces* a psharah, or settlement. By forcing I mean putting more than considerable pressure. Halachah asks beis din to try, not force. The reason for this is probably because if they can make both happy, they might earn more business. The opposite is usually the result.

All in all, the beis din might even be technically within the boundaries of halachah. Yet, they seem to be violating the spirit.

Now to my question: What would you do in such a case? Do you go to court? Remember that the defendant gets to choose the beis din, so much is on his side.

[Disclaimer: What I write above is what I heard/know/saw. YMMV, or Your Mileage May Vary]

Roundup Of Roundups [Roundup]

There are many good link roundups online, so my new method will include them and then add some more.

• ParshaBlog, Life In Israel, BlogInDM.
• Hirhurim has an interesting post on holy Mohalim.
• A little old, but a good manifestation of some of the response (my response :) to the Karta parking lot demonstations.

• Hamekubal, on Yhartziet.
• A list of RSS and email trackers to follow commentary on your blog.

Metzitzah B'peh and Personal Agendas

Emes V'emunah has a post on the quite old controversy regarding MEtzitza B'peh. Read it there and come back for my comments here:

I have a few points to make here.

When the Gemara writes to do (or not to do) something because of a sakanah, its mostly accepted not to do so nowadays. Harry seems to think that its up to our judgment.

Cases of death using the traditional Metzitza method are statistically irrelevant. Practically zero. With todays' preparations done by mohalim, I'd say its below zero.

Maybe we should ban mikva'os because there is always a risk of drowning. Ludicrous.

Now that we established that the risk is (nearly) nonexistant, lets turn our attention to Rabbi Tendler.

There are many factors pointing to the position that Rabbi Tendler was abusing his position to further his personal agenda.

On a recorded tape, you can hear Tendler giving a lecture where he mention the specific mohel he was fighting against. He then spewed forth some vile personal and general statements against that mohel and his community. There are many more WOM examples that people in the know spoke about. I've heard from some that Tendler actually threatened the mohel publicly; and the mohel refused to back off. He then promised to put him out of 'business'. That never happened, thankfully.

By going to government authorities, Tendler was trying to force his decision on others. He was therefore rightly vilified.

There also remain issues that would crop up if we allowed the government to interfere with religious issues.

Past improprieties by Tendler are well known, the most famous example being the many false teshuvos he printed in the final volume of Igros Moshe, which he produced after R' Moshe's passing. There's a reason its called Igros Tendler.

A dirtier story is regarding his shidduch, but we'll leave it for now.

Update: A few gems I found on the thread.

Harry says:

Metzitza B'Peh has no basis in either the TSBK or TSBP. It is only a traditionla method that evolved in order to accomplich Metztitza. 

Birs Mila is a D'Oraisa. Slight difference. To eliminate all risk by avoiding a porcedure that has no basis in Halacha is a lot different than eliminating a slight risk by violating an Issur D'Oraisa.

According to these who follow the psak of the Maharam Shick it is indeed me'akev. So there, you said it.

Harry says: 

I tend to agree with your approach. It is a mostly repugnant notion to me to get govenment involved in legislating Halachic matters. This post was more of a Limud Zechus to Rabbi Tenndler, a man whose Halachic and medical opinions I generally trust.

Great!

Problems With "Jewish" Music

I'm not coming here to discuss the state of Jewish music today, nor to give an opinion on listening to non-Jewish music either.

But balant ripoffs done wrong is one thing. Who knows, maybe they even got permission. I don't think so; but I'll give them a pass.

But in some cases, they're makpid not to have any woman sing; kol isha, you know, yet the tone they sing with and the crechtzing they do is worse. Far worse. Real stylistic shirei agovim if there ever was any.

When they do both I go ballistic.

I just saw on another blog details that show this to have happened. I will not name the blog or the offensive artist at the moment, as I see no need to.

I am all against this type of problem solving, but we shouldn't condone such depravity. AFAIK, boycotts are are still a usually-legitimate form of stating opinions in a meaningful way.

[Hey, this was my first rant!]

Fight Heating Up Over Shas's Joining The WZO

A major dispute started today over the Shas joining the World Zionist Organization.

Chareidi UTJ Knesset member Moshe Gafni lashed out at his Shas counterparts, saying that "I'm ashamed to be Chareidi". In response, Shas said that they're cutting off contact with Gafni, actually using the language עפרא לפומיה.

I don't really understand what his issue is here. If Rav Ovadia Yosef has no issue with it, being their Gadol, how dare he trash them like this?

He has what to be ashamed of.

The truth, I think, is that he has no real issue with them; he's just saying this to satisfy his constituents. While giving the speech, he got more than a little excited. Still, its no excuse for the gross lack of derech eretz.

Authentic "Jewish" Music Is Fun

In a fun thread on DovBear, a number of commentators linked to some videos on YouTube where you can hear allegedly Jewish music sung in its original form.

Here they are below.

Note that my use of the term "Jewish music", is purely reflecting common usage and has little to with real Jewish music, if it exists at all.

Karma point to these that identify the name of the ripoffs.











I know, twice. But its too good.

Why Is Yeshivish Lakewood So Happy That Brown Won?

It would seem that for Lakewood'ers  all over, they shouldn't be happy at all that Scott Brown won this race.

Don't they live on welfare? Isn't the healthcare package for their benefit?

The only reason I can think of is the vilification going on the yeshivish newspaper Yated, where they take endless circuitous routes, and not so endless routs, to compare Obama to Hitler, thus minimizing what Hitler did.

Can't they think for themselves?

(Source: WOM)

Why I'm Happy That Brown Won

The truth is that I'm not sure that I disapprove of the healthcare reform in principle. I do think that healthcare should, in a limited way, extend to all citizens.


On Obama's proposed healthcare reform, (I hate the term "OmabaCare") I can say little, since I know little of whats in the package.


What I do think is a much larger problem for the US, on the scale of national security, is the size of our national debt.


There's no need to go into statistics. You know it. Both Dem's and Repub's are totally at fault here. But to pass huge, new and costly legislation with such debt is a bad idea.

That's one reason I'm glad for.

Do I think something will now be done about the debt? Not at all.

Shas Party Joins World Zionist Organization

In a surprising move, the Shas party in Israel, headed by Chacham Ovadia Yosef, today joined the World Zionints Organization as a full member on all programs.

This entailed changing the Shas charter as well.

This will give strong credence to these Chareidim who always claimed that Shas doesn't espouse a Chareidi viewpoint.

While Shas is strongly traditional, they always had a core group of Sephardi Chereidim as supporters. For them, this move is a clear reminder as to where the party's views are moving.

I always find it interesting how each respecting side of Judaism slowly moves further away from each other, while in other respects they come closer.

Dan Lekaf Zechus, Dybbuk Nightmares, Shrinking Time-spans, Jewish Poverty [Roundup]

• The Wolf discusses when does being dan lekaf zechus apply, regarding the ZAKA help in Haiti.
• Related to the above, Harry Maryles argues correctly, in my view, that Failed Messiah's post of ZAKA is dead wrong.
• Me, on the children's nightmares happening due to the dybbuk.
• Not Brisker Yeshivish, how the attention time-span's have shrunk in recent times. Twiiter resulted partly because of this, among other reasons, I might add.
• Life In Israel writes about a letter writing dispute in Hamodia, and how you cannot please everyone. In this case, I know the underlying story as well. The reason here was is because the man pictured is known to many people and the picture was taken and published without his permission. Hamodia wouldn't admit it though.
• An old video of MBD's response to Rabbi Luft.

Another Moshiach Prediction

Bechadrei has an interesting interview with Baba Baruch, the son of the Baba Sali.

Among other things, they discussed the growing phenomemum of "Baba's" (nice term).

What I found most interesting was the following.


?קרה לכם הרבה פעמים שהאבא העביר לכם מסרים בחלום

"בוודאי! הפעם האחרונה שחלמתי, זה היה לא מזמן, לפני פחות משבועיים. הוא ממש אמר לי: בני, השנה יבוא משיח. תתכוננו, תהיו מוכנים. קמתי שמח, ועשינו סעודה גדולה למען החלום הזה. אנו מקווים בעז"ה שכן יהיה. פשוט אין פתרון אחר לעם ישראל - רק משיח צדקנו".

In other words, he had a dream about two weeks ago that that Baba Sali appeared to him saying that moshiach will come this year.

I think someone should make a prediction calendar showing how every day has another few reasons why moshiach should come then.

Update on KJ Poultry Scandal

It now seems that the problem with the ducks was only a mesorah problem, as opposed to a real kashrus.

As a prominent posek told me, "there is no such thing as non-kosher duck".

It turned out, that KJ was selling Muscovy Duck, instead of the regular, and with mesorah, Pekin duck.

Muscovy duck was ruled forbidden first by Rav Nosson Adler, and then later by Rav Samson Rafael Hirsch.

I'm still unnerved by the lies that the KJ shechitah originally spread to clear its name.

Dybbuk Fallout: Children's Nightmares

What was little spoken about in regards to the Dybbuk is the effect it had on children.

While the dybbuk seems to have been thoroughly debunked (the latest being that Rav Chaim Kanievsky has dismissed it as a mental case), or dismissed, the effect on kids hadn't.

While it makes for a good case to teach children a lesson in not believing everything they hear, it might not be the best idea in every case.

Iv'e now seen in online forums people discussing having their kids waking up in the middle of the night due to nightmares.

What's your solution?

Eleven Killed In Israel Within 24 Hour Period Because Of...

Terror?

No. Accidents. Why?

A spate of separate road accidents throughout Israel on Saturday night and Sunday morning left at least 10 people dead and 30 injured.

Shocking statistics.

Stalin once said that the death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic.

Wikipedia Celebrates 100,000 Pages In Hebrew

The Hebrew Wikipedia just celebrated the creation of its 100,000th page.

With Hebrew ranked as the 77th spoken language by population size, this is a significant achievement.

Bechadrei has an interesting interview with the person in charge of the Hebrew Wikipedia.

They of course discuss the editing wars going on on the Chassidic Rebbe's pages.

Interestingly, the editor is an ex-BT. However, he still claims to be religious. When asked if he prays, he said that he doesn't pray. He just talks to God a lot.

I wonder what prayer is.


Some stats:

There have been 4.8 million edits to date and each article has been edited an average of 48 times. 18% of edits are by anonymous contributors and 620 users make five or more edits a month.

Wikipedia Hebrew has: 51.7 million words and 33.3 million pages viewed a month.

AT&T: You Jewish?

I just got this email from AT&T...

Look at the text I highlighted in yellow. Yes, its for real.

Haiti Disaster, Google vs. China and Chareidim [Roundup]

• Google set up a great page where you can get involved with the Haiti recovery efforts. Also has updated satellite imagery.
• The Daily Beast thinks that Google is leaving China in order to hide a massive consumer data breach. I'm not sure I believe it though. Bloomberg reports that Adobe Systems, Juniper Networks and Rackspace Hosting were also among the 20 hacked companies that Google wrote about. F-Secure says that the attack was routine. They write that it was an Internet Explorer 0-day attack. For this reason, the German government is now warning against using the Internet Explorer browser.
• HaMekubal writes a retraction, saying is apology to Tropper was a joke. I'm not sure it really was. In any case, I don't think such jokes are really appropriate.
• On The Main Line writes about a sefer from a Karaite, with some interesting haskamos; at leasts the names.
• Ben Chorin has a great post on a recent meeting among "Admorim" in Israel.

Anyway, it was a group of about a dozen people representing charedim and chilonim (including one or two emeritus members of each). The participants included well-known figures from the Eida Chareidis, editors of major newspapers, etc. The purpose was to flesh out a project of joint interest to both groups. It began benignly enough with the usual bromides and the usual airing of grievances. Things got interesting when a very prominent lawyer (VPL), a former Ponovizher with ongoing social ties to that world (he was on the Haredi "side" of the table), was asked to state his views on the matter at hand.

VPL launched into one of the most remarkable soliloquies I've ever heard. This is the gist of what he said:

1. There is no point in dialogue unless it is based on complete honesty. Both charedim and chilonim are fundamentally dishonest with themselves and, consequently, with each other.

2. Charedim have an inflated view of their own power due to the ability of Shas to project Charedi power that is actually nothing but a short-lived optical illusion.

3. The fact that so few people in the charedi world earn income, a relatively recent phenomenon, has led to debilitating poverty. Worse than that, it has led to an unprecedented level of dependency on the government, which is the exact antithesis of ostensible charedi aims.

4. The charedi world, and especially its leading lights, used to be exposed to a broad range of experiences and people, but now lives in a bubble. As a result, it is completely devoid of any intellectual creativity. Not a single book on machshava has come out of the charedi world in the last 50 years that has any value at all.

5. The few people in the charedi world who actually have something interesting to say are scared to death to say it because the charedi world is actually run by thugs who intimidate everyone, including leading rabbonim.

6. Chiloni Israelis once claimed to be developing a secular Jewish culture but this claim is no longer even slightly credible. Secular Israeli culture now consists almost entirely of imitation of the most debased aspects of American culture.

All this was stated with great passion and eloquence. None of the content was especially novel; it was mainly of interest because of the audience in front of which it was said. But, as it turns out, what was most remarkable was the response by one of the leaders of the Eida Charedis. As best I can recall, these were his exact words:

"My job is to defend the honor of my community and to explain to you why everything that VPL just said is false. Unfortunately, I am unable to do that. Every word he said is the sad truth. That's all I have to say."

Beautiful. Lets hope something happens because of it too.

On Chareidi-Bashing Rants

Luke Ford posted an email on Rabbinic Corruption.

A.B. emails: Anyone who is unfortunate enough to read the chareidi New York newspapers the last two months has been bombarded by previews and then reviews of all the conventions in the charedi world which were held during the worst recession in the US in eighty years in expensive hotels.

Look, I don't think they would have any attendees if it would be held at a homeless shelter. Why are they different that any other competent organization that hold a convention. How many org's can you list that downsized or cancelled an event in order not to show off during a recession?

These include Agudah’s national convention, Agudah’s Midwest and Agudah’s Florida convention and Torah u’Mesorah’s convention.

Most of chareidi Jewry doesn't consider them to be their proper representatives.

What is unique about these conventions other than their despicable ostentatious focus on gashmius and food in a time when many in the frum and secular worlds are battling with job losses and economic deprivation, is who is in attendance at these conventions, the Rabbis and so called gedolim and the very rich.

And very many people who are neither. Beautiful stereotyping.

The unholy alliance is what has destroyed yiddishkeit and will continue to do so in the future.

Is Yiddishkeit destroyed? Maybe you mean the yiddishist movement?

The obvious question is, how do the rabbis afford weekends in these luxurious hotels and who is footing the bills? Besides for the obvious waste of money, when so many organizations and individuals are in need, a more fundamental question arises, the chareidi world, which claims to be focused on Torah is glamorizing wealth and showing too much reverence to the rich.

Where do you see the rich being idolized here? The convention is mostly comprised of speeches and forums dealing with today's issues. Have you seen any rich people honored at any recent convention? Please enlighten me.

You may ask, so what. Aren’t they the ones who are supporting all the mosdos hatorah? Yes, but at what price? We have seen how the so called Torah world ignores the foibles of the rich even when they get caught money laundering, being involved in human exploitation, paying non livable wages, ponzi schemes, illegal immigration etc. The excuse is “well he’s a big baal tzedokoh”.

Does anyone think that the rabbis of yesteryear like Rav Shach or the Brisker Rov would have approved of these conventions where real issues like rabbinic abuse and corruption are swept under the table year after year.

Do you know that they wouldn't?

The truth is that as long as any institution or individual is beholden to a donor or group of donors, there will be corruption. The Rabbis provide these wealthy individuals with the kovod they so deeply crave and in return they line the pockets of the mosdos in the best case and in other cases the Rabbis themselves.

 Kovod they deeply crave? Back up this statement. Otherwise, pure hate.

If you're still interested, you can read the rest there.

Robbery at Rav Steinman's home - $50,000.00 Cash Stolen

Fifty thousand dollars in cash, plus hundreds of thousand of dollars in checks were stolen last night from the home of Rav Steinman on 5 Chazon Ish Street in Benei Brak.

Rav Steinman was at an Atzeres chizuk in Beitar and Jerusalem at that time.

There were no signed of a break-in at the home, leading to speculation that the thief had a key to the home.

The monthly stipend that is given out by Rav Steinman every Rosh Chodesh, that was supposed to be given out today, is temporarily suspended.

I have little doubt that this was done by shabbanikes, a growing problem in Bnei Brak and elsewhere.

Full Audio of Rav Batzri's Failed Dybbuk Removal Ceremony / Event

Below you can hear the full audio recording of the attempted dybbuk removal.

The full show was for about four hours.

Part one:



Part two:

On Listening to Gedolim and the Internet Ban

Harry Maryles writes:

There is a video at Rafi’s Life in Israel blog of an anti-internet event that occurred in Israel a short while ago. The Charedi newspaper Yated Ne'eman apparently reported that 300 people attended this event. However - as can plainly be seen in a 45 second video - that was hardly the case.

Of course the ‘defenders of the faith’ who always rush to defend the indefensible will say that one cannot really tell how many people actually attended the event from a 45 second video. Perhaps this was the beginning as people were beginning to trickle in - or just a small section that the videographer chose because of an unblocked angle - that the hall was actually much fuller but out of camera range.

Well that’s possible. But I really doubt it.

Indeed, Harry is right. There were very few people at that meeting. In this case, however, Harry is wrong as well. I think this will showcase why Harry sometimes views things with a very broad stroke, thought due to no fault of his own.

In this particular case, the reason for such low attendance was because a Gadol refused to join. The irony!

What happened here was that after the ban on Internet websites was announced, one of the managers of Bechadrei Chareidim paid a visit to Rav Steiman. In the visit, Rav Steinman told him that he never signed the ban.

Rav Steinman then explained why. He was approached by the askan to sign on the ban. He didn't like the way the ban was worded for several reasons, so he refused to sigh until he personally revised much of the text. He indeed did so, but buy the time it was ready, the activist had already submitted the bad to the leading newspapers with Rav Steinman's signature, against his permission. This is now part of the claims in a pending lawsuit.

Rav Steinman therefore did not support the conference, and therefore it was quite empty, as Rafi noted.

The exact reasons why Rav Steinman didn't sign and participate is for a different post.

Lets read some more of what Harry wrote:

The truth is that number of people who attended this or that meeting about the evils of the internet is by now unimportant. If you think about it, this is about the fact that 'Gedolim' are becoming completely irrelevant. And events like this are accelerating the process. Less and less people are paying any attention to them. They are being increasingly ignored. People are beginning to realize how ridiculous their 'answers' to the internet problems are. The louder they scream the more they are ignored.

To an extent its true, I agree.

So many Charedim use the internet (and not only for business but for pleasure - like participating in blogs or e-mail lists) that the constant haranguing about it being Assur is becoming one big joke.

Yes!

As I recently wrote - Jonathan Rosenblum wrote a column explaining why Gedolim do not deal with the many challenges he has written about that face the Torah world today. His response was that they do not want to be called fake Gedolim. (Apparently they feel that their constituents will disagree with them to the extent that they will be ridiculed. And that in future situations they will therefore not be listened to.)

Any individual who says something like that proves to me that he absolutely NOT a Gadol. A real Gadol wouldn't care about his status as a Gadol. He would in fact be an Anav - humble about it shying away from the title. He would certainly ‘tell it like it is’. A real Gadol does not need the title. A real Gadol does not need to be elected by a committee on Agudah. Nor would he ever even strive to be a member of any kind of Moetzes. He is a Gadol with or without them.

What Harry writes here can best be summed up with what Natan Slifkin wrote here:

First of all, what does it mean that Gedolim are “afraid” of saying that which they consider true and important for helping people?! I say things that I believe are true and considerably less important for helping people, even at great personal cost (and even requiring me to file a police complaint about threats to my family). And I am not a Gadol – merely someone who was taught by his parents that integrity is of paramount importance. Rosenblum is apparently not afraid to say these things, either (at least on Cross-Currents). If someone refrains from saying something that needs to be said, on the grounds that he is afraid of people, does that not show that his yiras bnei adam exceeds hisyiras Shamayim? This would be a severe deficiency in any person – kal v’chomer for someone in a position of leadership. And if the Gedolim sometimes are motivated by fear of the kanna'im, how can anyone trust their leadership? If what Rosenblum says is true, this is an extraordinarily damning indictment of the Gedolim.

Second, with regard to Rosenblum’s comments about how people only respect and follow Gedolim insofar as they say things that they can agree with – this is true. People always claim that the Gedolim agree with them, and are loathe to say otherwise. But perhaps this is equally true of Rosenblum himself. In this article, Rosenblum claims that the Gedolim secretly agree with him that the kollel system is deeply problematic and should be radically changed. How do we know this to be true? I think it is entirely likely that this is only true of the more Americanized Gedolim that Rosenblum is in touch with – people such as Rav Aharon Feldman and the Novominsker. But I highly doubt that Rav Shmuel Auerbach, Rav Elya Ber Wachtfogel and Rav Michel Lefkowitz feel the same way.

 In other words, if Gedolim can only do what the people want, then essentially the people are their own Gedolim. With Gedolim being just puppet (living room) images. And something to hide behind.

Disturbing, in any case.

Can anyone imagine any of the previous generation saying that they will not deal with a challenge because of the fear of being called a fake Gadol? R' Yaakov? R' Pam? R’ Moshe? The Rav? Rav Ahron? …and many, many others?

I thing that its the generation that chooses its Gedolim, and therefore gets what they deserve. We don't deserve better, it seems.

Fighting Between The Lakewood Scoop And Matzav

A big fight is now going on between two popular chareidi new blogs.

The Lakewood Scoop, in a post today writes:

By Shmuel Musket: Some of you may have heard of the —— Network Site, who claim to be ‘The Jewish World @ Your Fingers”. What you may not realize is that aside for them directly taking articles from TLS, VIN, YWN, APP and other reputable sites and claiming it to be theirs, (including taking photos and videos from the above sites and watermarking them with their logo) they have begun brainwashing our youth and Frum community with “Dating Tips”, Shomer Negiah, ” Scandals” (recent Monsey scandal) and other issues I do not want to write on your site. However, they are done in a very “Kosher” and deceiving way, claiming it comes from Rabbonim and ”Da’as Torah”, so as not to think it originates from their “Torahdik” site.

Oh, I forgot, the site mentioned a few months back claiming the site got a Haskamah from One of the BMG Rosh Hayeshivos, Rav Shlomo Miller Shlita and others. It was verified to be false and it was never addressing the website.

This past week, the site claimed to have shown Rabbi Sterbuch Shlita a letter regarding the Dibbuk, it has turned out to be a letter from VIN News, which VIN had shown the Rav, but they nevertheless claimed it to be theirs and again falsely claimed to have contacted Da’as Torah.

I contacted the site, asking them which Da’as Torah was consulted on a specific Dating article, their answer was Rabbi so and so. I then contacted the Rav asking if anyone consulted him about the article, which feeds our children and adults with such private marital and dating issues. The Ravs answer was ” Absolutely not. And if someone would have showed me that article posted on a site, I would have called a Kol Korah to shut them down”. However, being that it supposedly came from Da’as Torah, it’s ok for them to publish any issue they’d like. This is downright unacceptable.

Now, don’t misunderstand me. I am not trying to limit healthy discussion and give-and-take, but those who allow the talking about the above mentioned inappropriate topics in a frum forum, should be held accountable for it.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank TLS, YWN and VIN for providing truly Kosher news and not degrading, or falsely quoting, Da’as Torah.

Shmuel Musket

The site they're referring to is Matzav.com, a company I once wrote about.

Interestingly, they claim that Matzav plagiarizes content from The Yeshiva World, VIN and others. A funny argument, if you ask me, since these respective websites copy most of their content themselves from other sources. Read the comments there for more.

See here for the the Matzav version:

Editor’s Note: Despite threats by a particular blog to do damage to Matzav.com as a result of publishing the wonderful article below earlier today, we have, at the advice of those who guide us, kept this posted because of the vital issue it addresses. Attempts at pure defamation and the spreading of total falsities about Matzav.com will not detract from our determination to stand up for what is right. It should be noted that what is written below is neither groundbreaking nor revolutionary, but, rather, common sense and normative hashkafa.

By Shmuel Miskin

Funny how they have similar names, Shmuel Musket and Shmuel Miskin. Jewish geography, anyone?

New Kashrus Scandal Brewing in the US

Here's the story as its unfolding.

I don't see many details about this story online except for some tweets. I wonder why, since this story has been cooking (pun intended) for nearly two weeks.

The story:

A poultry slaughterhouse in Pennsylvania, G&G, received a delivery of live chickens. After the owner  exchanged pleasantries with the driver, the driver remarked that he has to leave soon to deliver ducks to the KJ (Kiryas Joel) slaughterhouse.

Hearing this, the owner told that he's had a hard time finding ducks for himself as well, and he promptly ordered some ducks himself, to be delivered at a later date.

When the ducks arrived, he immediately noticed that they seemed irregular. He asked his mashgiach, who verified that they are indeed not kosher. It was initially thought that the problem was with mesorah. It later turned out that the ducks were indeed not kosher at all, since this bird is doreis.

The mashgiach called the KJ slaughterhouse and asked them what kind of duck they used. They hemmed and hawed but gave no clear answer.

The mashgiach then raised a hue and cry and the affected poultry was immediately pulled from store shelves.

Its important to note that KJ poultry is widely used in the Tri-State area, in Kiryas Joel, Williamsburg, Borough Park, and especially in Lakewood. It was widely regarded as possibly the best shechitah around.

The story still doesn't end.

Las week, The Blatt, the official mouthpiece of Rabbi Aarons Teitelbaum's faction of Satmar, and hence the KJ shechita as well, offered up a deliciously different story.

According to them, it was the mashgiach of G&G, Rabbi Stein, who called them for kashrus information since he received a delivery of ducks and he was unsure of their kashrus status.

They immediately and unequivocally stated that it may not be used. He (Rabbi Stein) then hemmed and hawed in order to find a heter, but they stood firm. In the end it turned out that they were right (sic) and he actually called them to thank them for saving him from this michshol.

However, one issue still remained. Why then, did KJ poultry remove their duck from the store shelves?

This week, The Blatt wrote a new version of their story. Here, they write that indeed there is no problem with their ducks, but a relatively small issue has been raised regarding the mesorah status of their ducks, and that they are taking the initiative and are proactively recalling all ducks just in case there may be an issue.

This is where the story stands now. More is sure to follow. In any case KJ's sterling reputation has been severely tarnished.

New Chareidi "Hechsher" For Music

Updated to add images.
The noose is tightening. What has been tried before is being tried again.

The new hechsher, called "The Va'ad Harabanim For Jewish Music", will have its seal placed on all 'kosher' albums. The first such album is due out soon.

According to the creators,the stamp on the discs will indicate that Rabbi Yosef Meir Altman, Rabbi Eliezer Halevi Dinar, Rabbi Yosef Binyamin Wozner, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Fuchs recommend and approve that such an album should be in every Jewish home who is interested in having music in his home that brings our hearts closer to our Father in Heaven.

The first such album is due out soon, and had thousands of dollars invested in order to push its success. It will have the music done by the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra. I wonder if they allowed woman to play on this album. :)

Additionally, the album will have its recoding done on a single track, in order to preserve its original "Jewish" flavor. I wonder why it costs so much then.

Below is the guidelines in full:

GUIDELINES FOR PLAYING KOSHER MUSIC

1. When dealing with words from holy sources, it is necessary to sing them in a respectful manner fitting to the meaning of the words and not in a frivolous or disrespectful way. Care should be taken in the pronunciation of the words not to express them in a loose or disrespectful manner as is done by most singers of popular music.
2. Instrumentation should be made in a respectable way to suit the meaning of the words. Sounds that give a disrespectful or indecent feeling must not be played. This includes electronic effects, distortion and "bending" the notes1.
3. A misbalance between rhythm and melody creates negative feelings in the music. Therefore care should he taken to ensure that the melody is dominant over the rhythm and not to over-emphasize the bass accompaniments2. The use of "swing" both in the singing and instrumental accompaniment should be avoided3.
4. Percussion should be used with taste in the appropriate places, and sparingly. The percussion accompaniment should be secondary to the melody. The use of percussion accompaniment in slow, quiet music is generally ridiculous4. "2-4" beats and other rock and disco beats in the percussion must not be used. The modern drum set was created to be used in wild, coarse music and other percussion instruments should preferably be used.

1. Rock musicians have adopted a trend to distort the natural tones especially with the electric guitar and bass guitar. Also the saxophone has replaced the clarinet in chareidi rock music because it produces similar indecent sounds.
2. These are also standard features of rock music.
3. "Swing" is the loose, bouncing jazz beat which can "jazz-up" any tune.
4. The Malbim [in Yeshayahu Ch. 24, 8] comments that the place of the drum is only in dance music.
5. Similarly, great care should be taken to avoid the use of prerecorded rock and disco beats in the electronic keyboard.

While these guidelines are slightly less restrictive then the previous version, I still don't see the need for it. I think these people also need a lesson in music theory and history.

Source in Hebrew

Billboards In Genizah, Jewish iPhone Apps, More [Roundup]

Roundup.

• The Muqata reports that recent advertisement from the Srugim brand will be placed in Genizah due to the content written on them.
• Visit Jewish iPhone Community for a collection of Jewish iPhone apps.
• Frum Satire on why he loves being an Orthodox Jew.
• eNetive, a Chareidi ISP, blocked one Chareidi website but allows others.
• Danny Ayalon, the Deputy Foreign Minister of "embarrassing Turkey" fame, is on Twitter.

• Shloimy Gertner released a small sampler of his upcoming album, "Say Asay".

The True State Of Chareidi Internet Media In Israel After The Ban Part I

After Chareidi media was largely banned by chareidi Gedolim is Israel, I thought it would be a good idea to further research what exactly happened to the ones that remained open.

In the first post in this series, I'll focus on the website which was the main reason behind the ban:

Bechadrei Chareidim

The main reason behind the ban, Bechadrei Chareidim continues to defy it. Guy Cohen, the CEO, claims that traffic is up 30% since the ban.

Lets see if this works out.

Here's Google's traffic stats:

The last section squared in red is the growth since the ban. Traffic does indeed seem to be up significantly.
Interestingly, more than a third of their visitor are from the US.

Some stats:

Traffic statistics

All traffic statistics are estimates.

	Worldwide
Unique visitors (estimated cookies)	290 K
Unique visitors (users)	130 K
Reach	0.0%
Page views	17 M
Total visits	1.5 M
Avg visits per visitor	11
Avg time on site	14:20

I fond it amazing how obsessed such a relative small amount of visitors (130K) can create so many pageviews (17 Million).

Alexa ranks it in the top 200 Israeli websites. According to Alexa, nearly half of their visitors are from the US. However, Alexa is known to be slanted towards US sites (and, presumably visitors as well).

Compete, amazingly, claims the growth to be exactly 30%, although it doesn't seem to have comprehensive data.

Verdict:

Bechadrei Chareidim is growing fast, and it seem that they only have the ban to thank; for the added exposure and for the closing of some competition.

Next Up for scrutiny: Rotter.net