How Does a Frum Girl Gain Fame and Fortune...

with no education, no marketable skills, no supportive family and no husband?

Easy. She ceases being Frum.
also click here and here.
בא המבדיל והעמידן על אחת
"Those who cannot tolerate Havdala cannot appreciate Qedusha"

Clever and Wholesome

With the economies continued sluggishness competition for philanthropic dollars has grown fiercer than ever. Much fund-raising material that one sees today is extremely off-putting with apparent manipulation of Gedolei Yisroel and snake-oil-merchant guarantees for refuos and yeshuos . But this ad that I received by email yesterday came as a breath of fresh air.

I give it a two thumbs up! here are some of the things that I liked about it:

1. The cause is a great one. In-vitro and other cutting edge reproductive technologies cost a fortune and are rarely fully covered by medical insurance. I'd hazard that bringing about a new Jewish life is at least on par with saving and existing one. The agmas nefesh that infertile couples experience is horrible. Additionally we all know what Khaza"l teach us about the walking-dead existence of those who are childless. This is a Hashqafa that is reinforced in so many ways in contemporary frum society. So when a healthy baby is born to a formerly childless couple three lives are being saved. Talk about leveraging your Tzedaka dollars!

2. The clever tie-in to T"u B'Shavt. Someone there knows from marketing! It's wonderful to see some pastoral imagery depicted for a change.Most tzedaka ads today depict either suffering or sufferers, Khasidic singing stars and/ or chafing dishes at buffet tables. Our society is very urban(without being urbane) and concrete jungle-like so it's nice to pause occasionally to admire the verdant beauty of trees, even if they don't grow in Brooklyn and even if they are a mere image on ones computer screen. There is much that we can learn in our own avodah from botanic life...but that's a topic for another post... if at all.

3. The explicit and implicit message that virtue is it's own reward. No promises of cancer cures, shidduchim for the older single or beating your IRS audit. No promises or guarantees of anything at all. The ad concludes with a blessing and a T'u B'Shvat appropriate wish, that the saplings grow to be like the parent tree. Give Tzedaka because its the right thing to do. What a concept!

I'm so impressed I might, repeat might, even contribute $5! DISCLAIMER: The above sentence is not to be construed as a neder or a pledge.
בא המבדיל והעמידן על אחת
"Those who cannot tolerate Havdala cannot appreciate Qedusha"

Hoof and Mouth Disease

CLICK.

On three different occasions during Super Bowl 46 NY Football Giants punter Steve Weatherford swung his mighty and accurate hoof to pin the Patriots inside their own 10 yard line. The first of these led to an immediate safety and, arguably, set the tone for a Gigantic Giant victory.

After the game his mouth roared in a remark of exquisite snark.

I suppose that it's human nature to gloat. As the wise T-Shirt says: "living well is the best revenge." Once you've won it all you can talk trash. So I do not deny Steve Weatherfords comments. I merely resent them.

Someone's Parading on My Reign

Same Old, Same Old- Been There Done That

Halevai oif inz Gezugt

Mazal Tov to the New York Football Giants and ShliMazal Tough to the New York Jets. Together the two tri-state metropolitan area NFL franchises have once again validated the wisdom of the wisest of men who wrote: מה-שהיה, הוא שיהיה, ומה-שנעשה, הוא שיעשה; ואין כל-חדש, תחת השמש = That which hath been is that which shall be, and that which hath been done is that which shall be done; and there is nothing new under the sun. Same classy, classic, gritty, resilient Giants and same 'ol Jets.

Again the Jets have lived up to their team colors as they must be truly green with envy. But for a porous O-Line, a rancorous locker room and a few bounces of the football this way and that they might have been on the pedestal now being occupied by the current Titans of New York football. No doubt many on Gang Green are thinking "That coulda' shoulda' woulda' been us!" . Per Coach Ryan the logical progression of two consecutive AFC Championship Game appearances was supposed to have been a Super-Bowl victory. The first of many! I pity the team trainers who must now deal with an orthopedic condition that has nothing to do with fractures, sprains or hyper-extensions to wit; ורקב עצמות קנאה = but envy is the rottenness of the bones.

My advise to them is simple: Do not be over Lo Lakhmod = transgress "Thou shalt not covet"on the Giants Lombardi Trophy. Go out and get one or three of your own! Stop talking and start walking.
'Tis a Super Day of teeth-gnashing, wailing and lamentation
for every citizen of the Jet nation

Don'tcha Make my Green Eyes Blue

A Jets Fans elegy for Super Sunday.

While the weather is always balmy inside a domed stadium we are forecasting the Perfect JetStorm for the Big Game.

No matter who wins today's Super Bowl (I forget the Roman Numeral) the Jets come out on the short end of the stick. Loud-mouthed, foot-fancying, profanity spewing and tattoo enhanced HC of the NYJ Rex Ryan famously vowed that he did not come to New York "to kiss Bill Belichicks Super Bowl Rings" . While the vow may or may not be subject to התרה = retroactive annulment (if I knew then what I know now etc.) the ever-more-lovable Belichick may have yet another ring ripe for the kissing by the time the clock runs down to three zeros.

Even if the Hoody cloaked genius' pinky finger stays naked Ryan will still have to deal with the indubitable reality that he and the team that he sort of head-coaches (though if you ask me, he has ceded control of the offense to OCs most offensive and foul) are the little brothers of the team that dwells just across the locker-room at the New Giants...errr MetLife Stadium over in the Meadowlands. A Tuesday victory parade down the "Canyon of Heroes", something that he's been promising to deliver for three years now, will be awash in Giant Blue. Truth be told , win, lose or draw tonight the Giants have already eclipsed the Jets accomplishments of the previous two years by merely going to the Super Bowl. The NY football Giants are already first in the NFC, first among Manning-helmed teams and first in the hearts of New York Football fans.

So for every little-engine-that-couldn't in the Jet nation the only relevant question remaining is this: Once the Lombardi Trophy is hoisted tonight will our eyes be Green with Patriot Envy or Big Blue with a Giant Depression. It's a New York sad-sack exchange!

To give the Yankee fans out there some frame of reference: think Mets BoSox World Series.
Poll question for commenter(s) : Which teams Super Bowl victory is a greater disaster for Jet fans?

'Tis a Super Day of teeth-gnashing, wailing and lamentation
for every citizen of the Jet nation

The Second Falling of Humpty-Dumpty

part I

Another week of blogging and another precipitous fall. A kind of שבר תחת שבר:

I know full well that the tremendous (for me) traffic of Wednesday last had little to do with the quality of my last post. (Which, incidentally, was among my best work ever. At least in terms of thesis if not in terms of writing). I begged for, and got, cross posts and links from DovBear, R' Harry, Rafi and Tzig. A big Shkoyakh to them all. Additionally I'm a Mother and some guy on Facebook picked up Rise of the Mega-Yeshivos- the Coup de Grâce of Chasidification . And therein lies the problem.

After all these years of blogging I am still a Red-Tenter with nary a visitor unless outed to the J-Blogosphere by one of the successful blogs.

This infuriates me as I feel that the quality of my posts merit more of a readership. Perhaps if I had capitalized on my spike in readership of last week by posting once or twice daily since then i could actually have built a base. But, alas, real life has encroached and made daily posting impossible. O well. Chalk it up as yet another blown opportunity in an utterly misspent life. Being an unread blogger should be the greatest of my regrets. Snagville, if you're out there somewhere reading this, some words of support would be most timely and appreciated.
בא המבדיל והעמידן על אחת
"Those who cannot tolerate Havdala cannot appreciate Qedusha"

Rise of the Mega-Yeshivos- the Coup de Grâce of Chasidification

Just over a month ago I posted Part I in which I claimed a certain dispassionate journalistic detachment. I concede that from this point on I am editorializing:

I have never been really comfortable with the academic historical narrative about the origins of the Khasidic movement. Received wisdom always talks about the voids being addressed by the movement. The Rabbis grew remote and out-of-touch from the people. Common folk felt disenfranchised and hopeless etc. etc. Yet the fact that the movement captured the hearts and minds of such intellectual and spiritual giants as the Alteh Rebbe, the Hafloah, the Kotzker, the Rim, the Divrei Chaim, the Sfas Emes, the Bnei Yissoskhor, the Lubliner Kohen, the Khelkas Yoav, the Kozhiklover, Rav Meir Shapiro and Rav Menachem Ziemba to name but a few, belies the conventional wisdom that Besh"tian Khasidus was a grass roots movement meant to serve the unlettered and unwashed masses.

Nevertheless Khasidus did, in fact, address the spiritual needs and helped actualize the spiritual potential, or at least the religious yearnings, of masses of adherents and it continues to do so. Yeshivas traditionally gained cache and traction by virtue of the quality of the lamdonim who were their alumni. Few Yeshivaleit today know if Slabodka Mir and Telshe on the eve of World War II had 200, 400 or 4000 students. Nor can they say with any accuracy exactly how many branches comprised the Novardhoker Yeshiva Network. The reason? No one really cares, the number of students enrolled is beside the point of these legendary Yeshivos historical significance. OTOH Khasidus, at least over the last century, gained historical significance mostly by dint of large numbers. With a few notable exceptions the Khasidic groups who were major players over that time were the ones that boasted thousands of Khasidim. Satmar, Lubavitch, Ger, Belz, Vishnitz all have thousands of adherents, many Moisdos and concomitant political clout and influence.

By definition elitist institutions raise the requirement bar for membership in good standing higher than mass movements do. The skill-set mix needed to have "made-it" in historical Slabodka, Mir, Brisk, Chachmei Lublin or even the Lakewood of RAK included exemplary critical and abstract thinking, diligence (hasmoda), attention to detail, attention/concentration surplus disorder, creativity and, very often, asceticism, a high pain threshold and the ability to endure poverty and privation stoically . To lead such institutions required all of the above plus a mind of genius, great administrative and rhetorical talents, pedagogical virtuosity and , quite often, the kind of "publish-or-perish" pressures one associates with secular academia (though in the case of Brisk it was more like "perish-and-then-publish").

In contradistinction to this membership in good standing in the diverse khasidic movements required a whole different skill set and, arguably, one that is easier, less demanding and more commonly found among great numbers of people. These include self-abnegation to the Leader, an obscurantist sensibility, a suspension of disbelief in the miraculous and in the Masters capacity to work same, a tendency towards group-think, the wearing of a uniform, a willingness to travel and spend quality time away from wife and family and a religious sensibility predicated more on heart than on head. To lead such tribes was very often, nothing more than an accident of birth. Preferably, in order to maintain or build up the following, Khasidic leadership required a great and empathic heart, a passionate approach to the staples of daily Jewish life like davening, Shabbos and Yom Tov, formulating a cause or a leitmotif that proffered the khasidim a distinct sense of identity (some might call this the narcissism of small differences) and a sharp piqkhus . Even this last quality is intellectual without being academic. Most would associate piqkhus more with street smarts than with book smarts.

Today there exist two Mega-Yeshivas. Mir in Jerusalem boasts an enrollment of 6000+ while BMG in Lakewood, New Jersey may be up over 7000. The rise of these gigantic Yeshivas and the concomitant marginalization of almost all other Yeshivas for talmidim who are 23+ represents a sea change in the very institution and , in a way far more telling than uniform l'vush, their Chasidification.

Historically Torah Observant Jews in eastern Europe managed to lead lives of observance and commitment with a mere Kheder schooling. An amkha yid might not have been capable of self-study of Gemara but was a member of Khevra Mishnayos, Shas or Ein Yaakov. Kashrus and other basic halakhos were absorbed through observing parental and communal behaviors. The great Yeshivos Gedolos were reserved for a tiny intellectual elite. Jews receiving the equivalent of an eighth grade education and/or, in the case of the women, no formal schooling at all managed to stay ehrlich and live halakhically until the day they died.

But all this began changing in the inter-war period of revolutionary and nationalistic ferment and was accelerated by the War and the post-war American melting pot and the Israeli gallop towards Westernization. Now, without the inoculation against the winds of change provided by in-depth Torah study for many years ones Jewish identity and fealty to Halakha becomes suspect. And so Yeshivas adapted and evolved/devolved to the point that they have become open-admission and long term institutions.

But converting from elitist academies to mass cities of refuge against the rising tide of heresy and materialism comes at a price. Academic standards fall. Fidelity to a particular ideology replaced intellectual acuity as the currency of admission and acceptance. A student body too unwieldy to manage as individuals must be integrated through the glue of group-think. Those who think alike begin to dress alike and books of peoples inner-lives are judged by their covers. Self-delusions of scholarly grandeur persist only so long and values other than great academic achievement in determining ones self-worth begin to creep in.

I have long held these beliefs to be fairly self-evident but I was particularly struck by the encomiums I heard about the late great Mirrer Rosh HaYeshiva Rav Noson Tzvi Finkel OBM at his shloshim. His love and support for each and every student were praised. Speakers were in awe of his self-sacrifice in particularly on behalf of the spiritual growth of others. He was lauded as a great fund-raiser and institution builder. He was extolled as one who did, and in the afterlife would continue, storming the gates of heaven to advocate on behalf of his students and on behalf of all Jews. Anecdotes of scrupulous observance without compromise in the face of great pain and extraordinary challenges were heard.

I closed my eyes for a moment and wondered; "Are these hespedim for the Mirrer Rosh HaYeshiva... or for Reb Shloimeleh, the Bobover Rebbe ZYA???" Almost every praise about RNTF that I heard were those one normally associates with a Khasidic Master rather than with a Lithaninan Rosh HaYeshiva. Conspicuously absent were any mentions of Geonus, Iluyis, profundity, bekius, power of Horoah, originality in approach or novelty in khidushim. How incredibly different these hespedim were from those of the prior Mirrer Roshei Yeshiva Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz OBM and Rav Nokhum Trackaier OBM a generation earlier or even from those of Rav Berel Shvartzman OBM, who headed up a mid-size, decidedly non mega-Yeshiva a mere week before.

As gauged by that which is deemed praiseworthy an entire cultures value system had changed in my lifetime. ( See Rabenu Yonah where he explains Mishlei 27:21). IMO the mega-Yeshiva is the Coup de Grâce of Chasidification of the rest of us. All the other external trappings of the Chasidification are merely external symptoms of this inner shift in core values.
בא המבדיל והעמידן על אחת
"Those who cannot tolerate Havdala cannot appreciate Qedusha"

On the Fine Art of Taking...and Giving

A beautiful article.

Elegant prose that is evocative, tenderly sympathetic, brutally honest and ambivalent as only Jews can be.
בא המבדיל והעמידן על אחת
"Those who cannot tolerate Havdala cannot appreciate Qedusha"

What's Next?

Nuns lighting Shabbos Candles?

Feel free to submit your captions though it's going to be hard to beat this billboard which seem to be either a real or spoof treatment of the recent Israeli Government ad campaign to convince yordim to return to Israel.

Sad Sign of the Times

Seen in a Manhattan Chinese Restaurant

Apparently Howard Greenbergs Mother married her own Uncle

Click.

I'd say more luridly that Howard Greenbergs father married his own Aunt except that would've made him a Mamzer...O wait....He is a Mamzer. Though far from ממזר קלוג