ויהי בימי קציר החיטים

Many of you may read the frum picture papers these days and see lots of pictures of Rebbes/Rabbonim out in the wheatfields of the "fruited plain" cutting wheat, riding on those big old International harvesters and sifting through kernels. You see them in the blazing sun, whether locally or in Arizona, and you see them in their tish bekitshes, and you say to yourself: "what mesirus nefesh they have for their scruples!" To sit out in the 115 degree Arizona sun in the black clothes can only stem from true love of and connection to G-d! ! Well, my friends, it seems like the fear of the digital lens has forced many of them to dress up for the camera. It looks like in the old days, when REAL people roamed the earth, things were a little different. They acted natural, just like they would when others were not around. The proceeding pictures prove my point to a degree. Pictured here is the old Kopycynitzer Rebbe, Harav Avrohom Yehoshua Heschel, zt"l, at one of those wheat-cutting ceremonies.

THE PHOTOS HAD TO BE REMOVED DUE TO ---- WHATEVER, NEVER MIND.
Would any Rebbe today be caught dead in the presence of a burly old man with an undershirt and straw hat? And the classic car in the background, it's beyond classy. Where have those days gone?!

THE PHOTOS HAD TO BE REMOVED DUE TO ---- WHATEVER, NEVER MIND.
The shades, man, The shades!

When did the PR wonks decide that it was taboo for Rebbes to act like human beings when their predecessors didn't see that way at all? Is it all for lack of substance? There's some truth to that. Take away the substance and you're left with zero, hence the need for trappings like never before. Big bowls of fruit in 10,000 dollar bowls, and $3 Kedem wine in $5000 dollar decanters... Kind of like the empty Bekitshes who grace the picture pages of today.