Tuesday Links

בליובאוויטש במיאמי - המשגיח שליט"א חוגג תשעים שנה
אגרות הרבי בנושאי בר-מצוה במהדורה עיונית ראשונית
Mottel: Here's to the Crazy Ones
Trial begins in murder of Glaubers
יארצייט: הרב ר' אשר זילבערשטיין מלאס אנדזשעלעס

גליון שיח חסידים עם תמונה - עש"ק ויגש תשע"ה

בס"ד

 אנו שמחים להגיש לפניכם את הגיליון "שיח חסידים" פר' ויגש תשע"ה. מצורפת תמונה מבר מצוה של כ"ק מרן אדמו"ר שליט"א, כל היודע פרטים על תמונה זו אנא יודיענו. כל המדפיס את הגיליון ומזכה את הרבים, תבוא עליו ברכה 

א גוט שבת 

מערכת שיח חסידים

No 12 foot banners. No wine decanters and silver goblets. No gabboyim standing behind the Amshinover. No six rows of tables for Rebbishe kinds of every level. No bleachers. No 30 man choir. Just plain old simplicity. Amshinov. Prshischa. Next to the Amshinover Rebbe sits Rav YY Piekarski z"l.

Box.com link

My apologies to Reb Peretz Chein - some 7 years in the making...

I'm not sure Shliach Reb Peretz Chein even remembers; but I know other long-time readers do. I know because one several of you brought it to my attention. Then we criticized him for running a marathon in his shlichus town, something he did to ostensibly show his college students that he too cares about his personal well being. Then he realized that if running a marathon constitutes him breaking his own personal barriers - those that can and should be broken, not those that shouldn't - then imagine what finishing shas would do for him! So four years he set out to do just that, and finished it on the occasion of his son Mendel's Bar Mitzvah. And to top it all off, he made the siyum on an old (Slavitter?) Shas that his zeide brought with him from Russia some 40 years ago. So if we're "brave" enough to criticize him we can surely find the time to congratulate him on the momentous occasions of the siyum haShas and the son's Bar Mitzvah. Retroactively we can also say that his intentions back in '07 were pure and just.

 Mazel Tov!

The tale of the goodie-two-shoes 12 year-old bochur at Maariv מוצש"ק......

..... and why do I have an issue with him?

Maybe it's me? but a 4ft. 4inch 12-year old davening like he has the world on his shoulders ---- is kinda weird to me. Did I mention that he had it all going on? You Yeshivishers will know what I mean: A black velvet yarmulke, no rim, peyos behind the ears - not overdone but very noticeable -  and the hair: a small tshoop, just the edge combed to the side. Being that this was after mincha Shabbos he was already sans the tie. (why wearing a tie to mincha is such a burden I'll never know...) I walked in to shul with a few minutes to spare until maariv, and he was preparing parshas eykev, obviously his bar-mitzvah parsha. At maariv there was at Krias Shma doing the whole thing with trop.... Then at shmone esrei there he was again, when I was at modim he was at Hashiveynu; he spent two minutes on the first brochoh alone. This kid had it all figured out. He may be the next gadol haDor. Did I mention that he looked like he was 7 years old? So there you have the facts. What I wanna know is why his childish antics - albeit trying to act all grown up Yeshivish holy - get to me! Why was I so, so repulsed (!) by this? Is he the first kid that seems to be serious beyond his 12 years? no. Is it the fact that he was of the Yeshivish extraction/persuasion? Maybe. I can be truthful with you. But I'm not quite sure that this was my issue with his behavior. I'd be probably just as amused if it was a Chassidishe kid. But this kid.... what can I say.... It just was weird. It's good that kids take Yiddishkeit seriously, and I don't think they should wait until they're 17 to get serious. L-rd knows they "grow up" so quickly, let the ruchnius come early too. But this behavior just seemed way too much for this blogger.

Thanks for listening.

A *star* we can all look up to!

Mark me down as one person who's not a fan of "A Jewish Star," the infamous competition that makes every kid and adult think he can sing - which is terrible in and of itself, until three guys in oversized chairs, two of which have no shaychus to neginah, tell them how awful they sound. I think the fact that this is what Lubavitchers and a "non-affiliated, unofficial" website which at the same time is pretty official as far as anybody is concerned, is doing and promoting is a disgrace. The idea that this is what's put on a pedestal for our kids is nothing short of an outrage. Call me intolerant and old-fashioned, see if I care. (and a party pooper too, if you so please.) I would not be surprised if they do a girl's version next year and tell those that have a problem with it "not to watch it..." This year Tzivos Hashem started a similar idea, where children submit videos and the video is then displayed on a certain unofficial Chabad website. I'm not sure what the winner gets, if there is a winner at all. "the power of the Jewish Child, they call it. Most kids submit videos of them singing some "Yeshiva Boys Choir" song that's been beaten to death, but what we have here is refreshingly different, and different in a good way, not the artsy way. I was skeptical about this TH competition, it seemed like more of the same, but what we just saw may be the redeeming factor, if only until the next kid does the standard YBC yelp.

Having said that - despite the fact that AJS is currently in full swing - I will stand up and cheer for Yisrolik Wilhelm - who happens to be my cousin - and tell all of you to do the same. Yisrolik bucked the trend in many ways here. For one, he didn't do the standard YBC tune, there's a lot to be said for that. Just for that he deserves our thanks. But then there's what he DID do, memorize, learn. In the old days it was expected for every bachur to memorize the first 12 perokim of Tanya Ba'al Peh, including the Shaar Blatt and the Hakdomoh, before his Bar Mitzveh. I'm not saying every kid actually did it, but it was expected. Nowadays we're happy if he knows the ma'amar. If he does a pshetel/pilpul in addition to that we're overjoyed. If he leins his parsha as well we're giddy with joy. Imagine the nachas that parents shep if their son learns the 12 perokim ba'al peh! Such is the nachas that Yisrolik's parents have. and we applaud the fact that he went and publicized it because he will influence others that are shayich to it to work hard and do it as well. If this competition was created only for Yisrolik to show the world (this is the world wide web, after all) that it CAN be done, and that the words of Tanya CAN be metaher the avir no matter where we go, DAYENU!

א גרויסן דיינק, ישראל'יק, זאלסט אויפוואקסן און זיין א חסיד, ירא שמים און א למדן