"כד יתבון ישראל"

משיחת ב שבועות תשכ

Credit: R' Yehoshophot Oliver

what to be מכוון when getting dressed for Shabbos today - and every Friday!

  בגדי שבת - קאסוב...

Box.com link
Had I known this when I got married...

'דף השבוע חגיגה ג:ב א

...א קלוגער איד וואלט געמעגט זיין רואה את הנולד

Photo source

I might have known when I saw this story last week on VIN that it would come to something like this. From their very modest beginnings in 1943 they sure have come a long way. Surely Aron Kotler didn't think it would go unnoticed? $10.6 Million is nothing to sneeze at, and in this day and age, when we're constantly under the microscope, you can bet your bottom dollar they'll hoot and holler about it. And that $10.6 mil is just for the library! Now don't get me wrong, I don't for a second think that the comments on that news site are justified. Those people are either anti-Semites or self-hating Jews who are just miffed that the Ultra-Orthodox are getting funded by the Government. But it's one thing to sit back and take it on the chin from the towns and counties that שינד די הויט when it comes to property taxes and give you nothing in return, and it's another to use political influence to get such a direct grant. I don't begrudge them the money, but please, let's not do it at the expense of the rest of us. BMG has enough donors that would want a library on their name.

Once upon a time (5630/1870) in Bukhara.....

I forget where these are from, so I can't give credit.

...למרות שכמה פעמים גיליתי לו ששמעתי ממרן ....... שליט"א

We see that Rav Hutner was quite the independent gadol! He made up his mind and stuck with it. And the reason why וויתור על שטחי א"י is forbidden is quite a novel one; a Slabodker Chiddush, if you will. You might say you'd think the Rebbe and Rav Hutner would have the opposite opinions, with the Hutner opinion more of a Chassidishe derher, and the Rebbe's more of a nigleh'dige one. But it wasn't so on this matter. I just wonder if Lorencz bacsi was so adamant to give land in return for peace because it was the will of Maran, or was it because there was a genuine concern for Jewish life? Or maybe he was just a left-winger? In 1975 it was still relatively quiet, even if the Yom Kippur War was not the greatest of victories. In any case, see for yourself. The relevant shtikkel is in the הערות, if you will. We do applaud Rabbi Lorencz for keeping it in the sefer, even if it does show the schism between the Rabbonim. We thank RYH for giving Lorencz the "רשות להשמיע את דעתי" as well...

  Box.com link

  הרב הוטנר על החזרת השטחים

  הרב הוטנר על החזרת השטחים.שער

It's nice to see that the Charedi world is standing by shliach Rabbi Yehuda Teichtel of Berlin

There are letters from the בד"צ עדה החרדית ובראשם הגאב"ד הרב ר' טובי' ווייס, the frum newspapers wrote about it, albeit some censored Reb Tovia's letter, and in general, there's much applause from the proponents of דרך ישראל סבא. They have no qualms about supporting a Chabad shliach. Some frum people would rather it just go away, and that's to be understood, it's unsettling to talk about, especially when non-frum people do the talking. If you haven't heard about it, Rabbi Teichtel, a great grandson of the Baal mishnas sochir HY"D, and a long-time shliach in Berlin, is under investigation by German authorities for keeping mitzvas milah as it's been kept over the millenia. A certain Rov in Moscow, affiliated with the "Litvish" camp, didn't help Teichtel when he told a German newspaper that MbP is not required by Halochoh.

'דף השבוע חגיגה ג:א ג

We finally get to hear from our side about the East Ramapo School District

After a nasty, untrue hit-piece in in NY Rag, I mean Mag, that would make Julius Streicher proud, followed by an appearance by the author of that piece on Mr. Lehrer's show, Aron Wieder, former member of the much maligned ERCSD school board was given some time to rebut the lies. That's right, lies. And they continue to get away with them, again, and again, and again. You think any other group would have a headline like this written about them? Not even OBL or the Taliban. And the comments? man, they scare you to death, knowing there are so many people out there that hate you for no reason other than they're prejudiced against you. They may give you that weird smile or frown when they see you in the stores, but they'd just as soon see you hanging from a tree or loading into a boxcar. You think I'm over the top here? read the comments. Most of them don't live there and have no idea about what goes on there. They just believe the lies because they want to. Shame on you, Mr. Benjamin Wallace-Wells for adding fuel to the fire and for feeding the haters.

 H/T:Alexander Rapaport of Masbia

what do you do when you need to write about a VERY embarrassing topic on your blog, namely that one of your mentors is a fraud?

You close comments. Which is what Reb Gil Student, who has no problem condemning people like SMR and allowing the dissenting comments to flow fast and steady, did when it came to write about the Michael Broyde fraud fiasco. Intellectual honesty, anyone?