רבי יחזקאל צוועבנער ב"ר יהודה לייב בן הגאון רבי אברהם שאג זצ"ל

נפטר כ"ט סיון תש"ד ומנו"כ בהר הזיתים
Don't have any more info on him, besides for his yichus.
א הדרת פנים האט ער געהאט

Protesting about a problem doesn't - necessarily - mean you care (Guest Post)

Click here for an interview with Mr. Tzvi Aldroti.

Hirshel Tzig:

You don't know me, but people who know me say I have too much rage and I have to stop already, since we live in a great multicultural world and everything is peaceful and tranquil. I just haven't seen it yet, but that's how it is. Maybe it's my age, or where I grew up. Yet, before I realize what everybody else has already I have something interesting to point out. The Satmars are famous (or infamous) for their protests to fix Israel's ills (which was - in my humble opinion - just a ploy by the Satmar Rov to get the Pupa Ruv and Tzehelemer Ruv types on board of his political protests. He knew they were lovers of Israel.) Take Reb Yoelish's fight against the mixed swimming pool in Jerusalem, the mixed pool on Bedford Avenue corner Rodney in the YMCA - right in front of his nose - bothered him very little. Only the mixed pool 3,000 miles away outraged him obsessively, (they write in the new foreword of על הגאולה ועל התמורה he poshut got sick from it) at the same time you see the Lubavitcher Rebbe trying his best to change the whole Israeli PUBLIC SCHOOL system from learning co-ed. Speaking to anybody and everybody that could have any influence over there. Obviously the Rebbe got nowhere, as the the Leader of the 11211 community got nowhere either. But you detect a real non political pain from a erliche yid - if nothing else - and not trying to win points with anybody.....

זכרונות של הרב יצחק טובי' ווייס - גאב"ד העדה החרדית‎

Memoirs from the current Rov of the Edah HaCharedis, HaRav Yitzchok Tovia Weisz. Rav Weisz was a friend of Lubavitch and had many interactions with them. He is currently was married to the widow of haRav uriel Zimmer o"h. Most of what is brought here is "in-line" with Lubavitcher sources, although it does lose a bit of the flavor when put into the drippy Jerusalem Heimishe style. Also, surprisingly, there is much respect shown here to the Rebbe, זצוקללה"ה נבג"מ זי"ע

1936 Jerusalem evacuation

אלץ זענען די ציונים שולדיג

חבקו"ק שבירושלים במיטבו

Children of Jerusalem - Yehuda 

National Film Board of Canada

As you can see from the link posted here, this is a series of documentaries about the children of Jerusalem in the '90s. Yehuda is from what you might call a ChaBaKOOK family with very strong Carlebachian influences. He studies ספר המדות from Reb Nachman page by page and tries to remember it by heart. His father/parents may be Shlomo's mekurev, for all I know. כה נראה לי. אני לא מכיר אותם, אבל מהיפושים ברשת נ"ל שהם חסידי קרליבך. What is clear is that the family marches to their own beat... I doubt they could be told about dress codes and what kind of shoes to wear... Yehuda goes/studies at Cheder Toras Emes Lubavitch in Yerushalayim and is a talmid in Reb Yankel Bloi's class. There the other kids made sure to טשעפע him about his very long peyos. So much so that he cut them short one day and was embarrassed to show his face at home.... But now he's quite comfortable with them and likes to find other kids with similar side locks in the story books that he reads with his younger brother. I'd love to find out what happened to young Yehuda.

ביקור האדמו"ר רמ"ש מבאיאן-ניו יארק בירושת"ו

Flashback - Jerusalem, 1919

1919: הרב קוק וויל ניט ירושלימ'ער רבנות

"דער מארגען זשורנאל, מאנטאג אקטאבער 6, 1919"

!אוי, ווי די ליטוויקעס האבען מורא פאר די שקיעה

Don't get me wrong, ביי אונז אין ליובאוויטש we also light soon after the shkiah, but these guys are like terrified! And how does the saying go? Shabbos ahin, Shabbos aher, m'darf doch tzinden Chanikeh licht! This sefer is about Reb Dovid בהר"ן, a great gaon and tzaddik in Yerushalayim, son of Reb Nochum Shadiker, hence the name בהר"ן. I heard a story from a Yerushalayimer Yid who was Reb Dovid's son's - Reb Hillel Vaisfiche - neighbor. ממש א טיר נאך א טיר. Reb Hillel would wait for the muezzin at the mosque to start croaking - they pray at sunset too, להבדיל - and he'd yell "פייגע, די גוי שרייט שוין!" and immediately begin the brochos....

We do this to ourselves... We are our own worst enemies

"I'm was walking today afternoon in Jerusalem (in the religious neighborhood) and a guy came to me asking if I heard how they read the תורה today so I say no. So he told me its afternoon and they need 6 people who didn't hear today so they should be able to read again so I told him I have a few minutes I walk in the shul site down in the corner (I had my phone in my hand) after a minute a guy start screaming on me GO OUT FROM HERE we don't want people like you here. a other guy start throwing on me a box of cake (קיפעלך) and a bottle of coke then a chair in between the guy who called me in start fighting back... so they let me alone here is a video after the stopped fighting physical the guy who was throwing the stuff want out of the room when I started making the video. (He was like a 45 year old Israeli)
Chaim Meisels"

 See Here

This happened in נחלי אמונה שטיבל today.

L-rd, protect us from ourselves. People like that Toldot zealot  have no other way  - or know no other way - to defend their WOL. They're throwbacks to a different era. At least the older fellow is. All they know is yelling and screaming. The tide is turning, but tides takes a while to complete the turn. We know that yelling and screaming isn't the way, but that piece of news hasn't reached the back roads of Meah Shearim. And may Hashem bless that very brave young man who stood up to them.

בירושלים נפטר הגה"צ ר' זונדל קרויזר זצ"ל

אילן היוחסין שמקורו ברבי חיים מוואלוז'ין זצ"ל

I didn't know Reb Zundel. I may have heard about him, but it's not like I learned his seforim or anything. I just mumble some Tanya and Rambam for a few minutes daily to please my handlers. But if you look at what they write about him, (and the fact that he never was part of the whole mass Gedolim branzhe ---- ) you can't help but stand in awe. A life of learning Torah and not much else. Gan Eden! You can imagine what Yidden in the Old Country who had the good fortune and intestinal fortitude to have a Jewish education and zitsfleish, and who were able to learn Torah well into their later years - what they were like. Someone was to have said that RZK had the siyata d'shmaya that he was able to learn Torah מתוך מנוחה, and at the same write wonderful seforim. He didn't have people bothering him with their naarishe questions day and night. As you can see from the link above he was  - as Rav Soloveichik would say - from בית הרב - הרב being Reb Chaim Volozhiner.  That's what I see as unique with RZK. Below we find the words of a relative of his who takes things easy in life who got a "wake-up" call at his levaya.

סוג של דילמה
החיים שלי בגדול זה סביב הפייסבוק, והאוואטסאף , עושה כמעט מה שבא לי , בסלנג זה נקרא חרדי לייט, נהנים זוללים. בקיצור, שמים את אלוקים והדת טיפה בצד. חזרתי עכשיו מהלוויה של דוד שלי רבי זונדל קרויזר, יהודי מהליגה העליונה, ,טוף שבטוף. נתחיל מזה שכל החיים שלו היה קם ב3 לפנות בוקר, לומד ומתפלל נץ, דמות ירושלמי, עניו שקט. תכלית ראיתי בהלוויה אלפי אברכים , אולתרא חרדים, שלוקחים את הדת בשיא הרצינות כל מצווה כל הלכה עם כל הפיטשיפקעס וזה עף לי לפנים, ואמרתי לעצמי לך תדע, אולי הם צודקים ואני טועה? אולי בסוף נצטרך לתת דין וחשבון על כל...בקיצור, דילמה

a real Chossid screams when his Rebbe is attacked!

So said the great Reb Shmuel Salant of Yerushalayim. טאקע ניט קיין חסיד, אבער דאך. כנראה אז ער האט פארשטאנען צו חסידים.

And here I thought that I was being "open-minded" and "tolerant" by allowing it here and in life outside the blog. I thought that by allowing others to speak ill of my Rebbe - כאילו - that I was showing them that I'm not "from the crazy ones." So where do I go from here? What copious amounts of Tshuvah do I need to do?


אוי לי

החסיד שמלותיו האחרונות היו: "רבי, רבי" ! - אגרות חסיד

  אגרות חסיד by Hirshel Tzig

Box.com link

  טורו של בנימין ליפקין על ר' אוריאל ע"ה

There is much to read in this treasure trove of letters. Reb Uriel Zimmer was a topic of conversation on this blog way back in 2005. If you did not grow up in קנאי'שע circles the name may not mean much - or anything to you. But if you did, and if you think the fact that he was so vehemently anti-Zionist means that you know his shittos and opinions - think again. יש לומר that it was דוקא his opinions regarding the young State that made him see in the Rebbe an אח לדעה, if you will, which then allowed him to become so מקושר. These letters to the חסיד ר' טובי' בלוי give us a glimpse into the Rebbe's early years of leadership, as well as what it was for a bochur/yungerman of that family to become a chossid. We can see what RTB's doubts and apprehensions were and how they were put to rest by RUZ, who knew where the young Reb Tuvia was "coming from," having come from there himself. The letters had been printed in photostat form back in 5765, but are now published like it should be, for the very first time. If you're looking for זאפטיגע סחורה you can jump ahead to page 32 to see where the Rebbe discusses the "Malochim" in a Yechidus with Reb Uriel. Halevai the שפיץ חב"ד'ניקעס should have the hiskashrus that he had.

Just read the whole thing!

תמונת היום

"מנחה יום ה' לך לך בבית האכסניא בוומ"ס הנגיד משה יוסף ווערטהיימער. האדמו"ר (ר' דוד מרחמסטריווקה ירושלים) מתפלל עם הבעקיטשע של ר' יאוליש (מסאטמאר זצ"ל) ....ער מאכט זיך [....] און יעדער טאנצט אים נאך, די סאטמארע וואס גלייבן קוים אינעם באשעפער גלייבן אין אים כמעט ווי אינעם רעבע זעכיתע יאגיין אליינו אליין, ס'איז א וועלט פון משוגעים אין די נארמאלע דארפן אדער משוגע ווערן אדער זיך נעמען דאס לעבן, בבחינת אין אני והוא יכולין לדור במדור אחד"

a chicken's last supper...

Rav Elyashiv was almost the גאב"ד עדה החרדית - - TWICE!

Here too the baaleibatim interfered and did not let it happen. No matter how great the Rabbonim were at the time. Rav Bengis, the "Minchas Yitzchok." It wasn't good enough. The laymen understood better. So we see that not only does this happen in the AI, but also in the holy of holiest, the עדה החרדית, did it happen - and still does! But in hindsight, imagine if that DID happen.

Regards from your son/brother/husband...

when did this become normal in the Litvishe world?

(Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images)

 I speak of this farkvetshtkeit, the show with the sack cloth, the funny - or weird - faces, almost like severe stomach pain. I don't think you see such expressions of the Litvishe Gedolim of yesteryear. I know that Chassidim like to have this picture of a Litvak in their minds, but I don't believe that's real. [Well, maybe real in the sense that there were SOME people like that - the town Porush, perhaps.] They're referring to American Yeshivishe guys who somehow picked this up from somewhere, but I don't think it was from the Litvaks. And come to think of it, it's not even farkvetshtkeit, it's more of a seriousness mixed with American temimus. Picture a Yid like Reb Berel Povarski, or Reb Baruch Mordche Ezrachi, do they seem farkvetsht to you? You always see them smiling. Reb Chaim Oyzer always seemed to have a smile on his face. OK, I'll grant you the Brisker Rov, and maybe Reb Elchonon too, but they seemed to be the exception to the rule. I would think that the average Litvishe Yiddel was happy, especially if he was a learned man - then he had a real geshmak in life! Today it seems like that in that world they think that in order to be an erlicher Yid you need to walk around as if your stomach is about to explode.

I'm not gonna pass judgement on this young fellow here. Maybe he's 100% earnest about the sackcloth. Maybe the fact that SOME bachurim who did make תורתם אומנתם will have to go work makes him cry out in pain. This is where this photo was taken, by the way. At the pre-dawn demonstration in Yerushalayim last week. Maybe he REALLY feels as if a dear loved one passed on, ח"ו. But I have my doubts... Something tells me he checked himself out in the mirror to make sure he has the look down pat. Meileh the אנשי ישוב הישן, I can see where that came from, although I don't think that it necessarily stems from their Litvishe background. It may be that Hungarian-Litvish hybrid that was created in Yerushalayim that caused the outcome which we see in the typical Yerushalmi. Although the very same conditions that created the sackcloth-wearing guy who yells at passing cars on Shabbos created the letz that laughs at everything that moves.... We may not know where it comes from and how it came about, but we've grown to know, and maybe even love it. But this guy with the kneitsh... מי ברא אלה?

רח' יואל פינת רח' אבינועם ילין on Google Street View

If you've ever been to the Holy Land and seen the sights in Meah Shearim you know about the Satmar shul on the corner there and some of the characters who make their home there. One of them was caught on camera watching the Google car drive along. They're kind enough to blur faces and license plate numbers now, as well as other information that can be found on the streets. It's cute to see your house in Brooklyn on Google maps, but to take a virtual tour of the Holy City is amazing! Can you guess who it is?

 

א דאנק, באברויסקער

אלץ ווייל מ'ארבעט נישט

I've been trying hard to identify with my fellow protesters in Jerusalem. Not in my everyday life, but when they protest. After all, we all have the same Torah and should be bothered by what they're bothered. They are Jews in the purest form, untainted by American greed or the Holocaust or the Haskoloh or Communism, so they should have their finger on the pulse. If they're bothered by pritzus, or graves being desecrated or autopsies, then so should we. Supposedly the Lubavitcher Rebbe, זי"ע, said that; that if not for the kanoyim going out to demonstrate we would have to do it. And we need to be thankful to them for saving us that unsavory job. And I am. But it's become quite a task. What we've seen these few weeks in Eretz Yisroel, mainly Beit Shemesh, and now, with the arrest of the "Gaavad's" personal secretary (!) is pure embarrassment, for lack of a better term. I'm not sure where they learned these tactics from. At first I thought it was from the Arabs, but I don't see that connection. And the real painful truth is that we're suffering - yes, suffering from radicals like Yisroel Meir Hirsch, son of the Oycher Yisroel Moshe Hirsch, who instigate this from the sidelines, sending his little 11 year old boy and other lost souls to do his dirty work, while he smells like a rose and says, "who, me?" 

And במחילת כת"ר, what is going on with Reb Tovia Weisz? Is he trying to prove his street creds that he's daring them to come and get him like that? Accusing them of blood libels like in Russia and Hungary? I have never seen a Gaavad like that, acting in this uncouth manner, and kowtowing to the radicals within his faction. Did he really expect the Police to stand by and watch all the mayhem happen and not go to the source of all of it, The Eda HaCaharedis heads? The other Rabbonim that preceded him, like Rav Yitzchok Weisz and הרב משה אריה פריינד, managed to stay above the fray, allowing their shik yinglach and spokespeople to do their dirty work. He acts as if he's still proving himself and needs to get down and dirty. It's poshut not becoming and makes him lose favor in the greater Jewish world, and is totally unnecessary! He could be just as popular if he'd stay in the background! Now he just looks like a puppet that was brought in to give them some kind of legitimacy and is now doing the bidding of the puppeteer!

זעהט אויס אז אלץ שטאמט פון דעם וואס אין ארץ ישראל ארבעט קיינער נישט! מ'האט צייט ארויס צו לויפען אין גאס סיי ווען עס זאל נישט זיין. און היות מ'האט נישט נאך עפעס צו טוהן, און ביים לערנען האלט מען נישט, גייט מען אויף הפגנות! ווען די אנשי המדינה האבען ווען א טראפקעלע שכל שיקן זיי אלע אינגעלייט און רוב בחורים ארבעטן. אזוי, אז ס'איז פון ערווארטעט צו ארבעטן וועלן די ווייבער און די מאמעס שוין זיכער מאכען אז מ'דרייט זיך נישט אין די גאסען און מ'ברענט נישט קיין מיסט קאסטענעס. אבער טאמער האט דער מאן נישט וואס צו טוהן איז בעסער ער זאל זיך דרייען אין גאס אדער אין כולל ווי אין שטוב. וד"ל. און נישט נאר דאס, נאר אז מ'איז אזוי געוואוינט צו הפגנות און עס גייט אריבער א שטיק צייט אהן דעם וואס ס'איז פאראן "אקשן" אין שטאט גייט דער עולם ארויס פון די כלים און מ'מאנט ביי דעם גאב"ד'ס גבאי "ווען וועט מען שוין רופען אן הפגנה?" און אויף דעם ארויף איז ארויס דעם צעטל וואס איר זעהט דא אויבען