O [where are] U?

The News about Rubashkin obviously hit very hard. Just a bit harder in Lubavitch than elsewhere. That's not to say that most other Jews weren't shocked and pained by it. Although the mah yofis'nikkes were having a party... The idea that bank fraud can put a man away for possibly the rest of his life while mass murderers - think 9-11 detainees - may walk free and have Government appointed lawyers and advocacy groups, speaks volumes about the situation in these United States today - as far as frum Jews are concerned. Even some people who I thought had a gefiel for another Yid shocked me with recent comments, where they all of a sudden have a new respect in the "law." They see no problem with the fact that he may never see his kids again outside the prison walls.The only limud zechus you can have on such people is that their own lives are so miserable that they look desperately to kick the proverbial horse while down, no matter who he is and how long he must suffer.

To their credit - despite having terminated their relationship some years ago - the KAJ's Rav HaMachshir (and Rov of the Gerrer shtiebel in Flatbush) Rav Chaim Cohen did come and testify last week on behalf of Sholem Mordche. The big chachomim here will immediately respond with "a lot of good it did him," but that's totally beside the point. The point is showing solidarity. Your concern is not to make cheshbones of how much good it'll do. Kudos to Reb Chaim for that. We can ask where Rav Weissmandl was, and that would be a valid question, but we can agree that he's basically small potatoes, doesn't speak the language very well, and would not be a great help. But the big question is WHERE WAS THE ORTHODOX UNION IN ALL OF THIS? WHY WERE THEY NOWHERE TO BE FOUND? Why was it OK for them to profit from Rubashkin all this time - despite pressure from the MO/Conservadox community to remove the Hekhsher - yet not have one nice word to say about him when he needed it most?!

In order to beat you all to the punch I'll come out now and say that Lubavitch's voice could be much louder. Somebody mentioned that at the Kinus tonight there could've been more than just a quick shout-out before bentshen, especially since shluchim were do often beneficiaries of his kindness. I can see where you don't want to bring a sad story like this into your shining moment, but still. He's one of "yours" and is about to be the recipient of some major jail time G-d forbid, if you won't stick your neck out when it's uncomfortable, why would you expect groups that are prejudiced towards him to go beyond the zero that they've done until now?! Other so-called advocacy groups who say that they work so hard for you - (kri Agudas Yisroel) - are also deathly silent. I guess they can't see past the Lubavitch thing with him. Unless it's all behind the scenes with them, not wanting the publicity of course... Throw VIN into that mix too; he made sure to print the letter from the Hekhsher Tzedek buffoon as soon as he could put it together, almost as if he was working for VIN... He'll get his viewers any way he can, all under the supervision of the Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation and Rabbeinu Artscroll, the purveyors of true Daas Teyreh...

Just when we thought that Jews were coming around, that they finally realized what's important for us as a nation, reality hits. You see the archaic opinions, the petty infighting, and very often they come from the enlightened ones, the "dina demalchusa" crowd, the same ones that thought Casper Weinberger was the reincarnation of Hitler when he locked up Pollard all of a sudden have full faith in Sioux Falls' most loyal civic servants. What does this tell us about our future generations, about the upcoming crop of "leaders?" It's times like these that you realize that this is not what the eibishter wants, that you're not fighting daas teyreh c"v when you speak up about these issues, but rather, you're fighting G-d's fight, you're the little guy speaking up for the big guy in the sky himself. That's what separates me from the heretics in the blogosphere, despite the fact that we often go after the same cast of characters. The heretics go after the "leaders" because they see them as part of what G-d wants, with me and some others it's the opposite. We see them as impostors, having no relation to G-d or his commandments, and we want them to stop claiming to represent the Torah way of life.