Vacation over, back to work.

I took some time off from blogging, (those short posts like voting and the name in lights not withstanding) although I didn't plan it in adavance, it just happened. Maybe it was all those personal attacks against me made by the well-meaning Bnei Torah here, telling me what a nasty boor I was. Maybe it was the Yom Tov of Shavuos and the true meaning of Kabbolas HaTorah that I experienced in Lubavitch, while others didn't. Or maybe it was just me rethinking my priorities, and realizing that those people are just not worth my precious time. I may have lots to share, but I need to find a more friendly and hospitable venue. In any case the necessary intellectual fortitude needed to compose hard-hitting threads and posts just wasn't there over the last week, so I took it easy. I'm sure some of you appreciated that too. Now I realize that in some ways I've become tied down ("addicted" is such a harsh word) to blogging and all its negatives and positives, and I can't walk away from it, at least not now.

While on vacation the following episode taught me why I need to continue: A Yeshivisher friend of mine was on the phone speaking to a person about "Being Mekabel Shabbos early," "accepting Shabbos at 6:30 or so." After hanging up the phone he tells me proudly that he just got off the phone with a person "I made religious." "They were living BeIssur," he says, "and now they're married and have two kids." He went on to say how some guy at Aish asked him to get involved with Kiruv and how he was very hesitant at the outset, but started anyway. He learned with him and put on Tefillin with him. He was constantly asking Rabbonim about what he was allowed and forbidden to do. How the guy asked him to learn with his wife and he refused. In short, he was beaming from ear to ear, really proud of himself. "He puts on Tefillin every day!"For a while I too was impressed, not so much with his story, which was cute, but with myself for not reacting quickly, and letting him get his two minutes of fame. I did have one point to make at the very end.

I reminded my friend about the Halochos of Tefillin, and the din of guf noki, asking him if he checked properly before putting on tefillin with him. He laughed. I reminded him about how Lubavitch was lambasted by the other frum groups for putting on Tefiilin with irreligious people, which is what he did. he thought for a split second and then said: "They put Tefillin on Goyim." I did not jump out of my seat, and I didn't tell him what a horse's behind he was, all I said was "You sound like a Goy talking about Jews." Of course he backed off and stood there with his foot in his mouth, but had I not mentioned it this frum, Yeshivisher guy would have kept that belief for years to come. Nice to see what all that tuition his father paid went to fund. Why did he make that statement? Does he really believe that Lubavitchers willingly do that? Maybe. Stories like that tell me that I can make somewhat of a difference in this PR war we fight. I may not have the circulation power of the Yated, but the word gets out, just like the negative side does in all kinds of publications, both online and in print.