No more bungalow colony or camps in the Catskills?!
The panic is on amongst the Yeshivos, summer camps, and "askonim", they see it all crumbling before their eyes. Governor Spitzer has turned his back on the few Yiddelech who voted for him, and will allow the Indians from upstate to manage casinos in the "heilige country." Why is this so terrible, I ask? Will all action now move from Woodbourne to Monticello Raceway's slot machines? Will Main Street Woodbourne cease to exist? Will young Heimishe men now blow the rent and mortgage money playing poker and blackjack? I don't think so, and quite frankly, it's degrading to see all these proclamations that make it sound like everything that a young man learned in Yeshivos will go down the tubes once there's a silly slot machine within a few miles. Is all that education that worthless? Have we no inherent fear of G-d, and do we not know about right and wrong once the big temptation comes a bit closer?
We all know that many in our communities frequent Atlantic City. I learned this years ago, first while going through people's books and bank statements in the course of work, and then again while spending summers in VERY Heimishe Bungalow colonies. Stories of young men doing "all-nighters" in AC every single week during the summer shook this young, naive goat to the core. I thought the worst thing a guy could do was watch a movie or something, and boy was I wrong. But then again, those guys don't need slot machines in Monticello, and they wouldn't go there anywhere. They need to have more action than that, and they don't want their nosy neighbors to see them there. So we really don't need to worry about them spending much time there. So who exactly WILL spend their time and money there? Is it all about the traffic now? Have we become so reactionary that we need to jump out of our seats like that before we even truly understand the consequences?
When my parents went on vacation to Vegas a few years back they were really surprised to see how many frum people there were in the Casinos. Personally I still don't get it, if the house always wins, why even try.
ReplyDeleteWell, at least the woman in the picture is wearing tznius clothing. It can't be all bad, can it?
ReplyDelete" Governor Spitzer has turned his back on the few Yiddelech who voted for him...."
ReplyDeleteFew ? Not more than that ?
And what if he goes through with his commitments to bring toeivah 'marriage' to NY (Rachmana litzlan) ? He is a dangerous man. Although he has done some very good things, he is strongly liberal with liberal ideas, some of which could be very dangerous. Just because he provided some tax relief for private school parents, that doesn't give him a free pass to do whatever he wants in other areas. Is it so easy to bribe us to keep us quiet ? Just some tax breaks and a prominent high-ranking frum aide ?
The point is that frum Jews have no political clout, even in New York. Maybe Jews as a whole do, but not Frum Jews, they don't vote, and they're looked at like something out of a time warp. The most they can do is get some money for schools and programs, but they can't stop liberal policies, especially since secular Jews are all for it.
ReplyDelete"they don't vote" what are you talking about?
ReplyDeleteMaybe you do Tzib, but most Jews don't. Just check the most recent data from such neighborhoods as Boro Park and Williamsburg.
ReplyDelete