Rabbon Shel Kol Yisroel

Listen to the Rebbe's words forty years ago. See why the love shown to the Rebbe is כמים הפנים אל פנים. See why it never ends. Then talk to me. This is not about Kochi VeOtzem Yodi, nor is it about "I told you so." It's about showing how a true leader cares for his people.

Rabbonishe ChoMeTZ

(The last Rov of Ludza - לוצין)

Rav Isser Zalmen Meltzer worked with Rav Shlomo Yosef Zevin on Kovetz Yagdil Teyreh, a Torah Journal, while both were still in Russia in the Nineteen Teens. Many Rabbonim and Roshei Yeshiva contributed to it, but they were the backbone of the publication, Rav Zevin probably more so. RIZM was Rov in Slutsk, and RSYZ was Rov in Novozibkeveh. Rav Zevin was a Talmid of the Boibruisker Rebbe, Reb Shmaryohu Noach (Shmerel) Schneersohn, grandson of the Tzemach Tzedek, and a staunch supporter of Mizrachi. Many would ask Reb IZM why he had such a close relationship with RSYZ when the latter was a Mizrachist,a Tzionist, and a Chabadsker to boot. RIZM realized that and was said to tell RSYZ: "Du bist Chometz, a Chabadsker, a Mizrachist, un a Tzionist, Ober ich hub dir lieb sy-vi."


(Poet CN Bialik visiting Ludza, Rav BZ Don-Yichye is pictured here as well)

Such was the case with many others who may have had disagreements with Rabbonim as to how to treat secular Zionists and whether or not to support Zionism. But if the Rov was a Talmid Chochom and a Yerei Shomayim his political views were not that important after all. Another of that class of Rabbonim was the Don-Yichya family of Rabbonim; Reb Lazer and Reb Benzion; Rabbonim in the Latvian town of Ludza - לוצין for many years, and until the community was destroyed by the Nazis YeMaSH. They were staunch Chabad (Kopuster/Lubavitcher) Chassidim, but very proud of their connections to Zionism and Mizrachi. It seems like in those days you could be a Chossid of your Rebbe, but you didn't necessarily need to adopt all of the Rebbe's political opinions. I also believe that the people in the town were not Chassidim, so here's a case where the Misnagdim took a Chassidishe Rov.


(a Siyum HaShas and Mishnayos in Ludza)

This, and countless other such cases shows me and any objective reader that a change took place recently that was not - or rather would not have been - sanctioned by the Jews of pre-WWII Lithuania and Misnagdic Russia/Latvia. They looked at a Rov as we all should, as a teacher of Torah and a man who should be there for his people in times of need. Today we need for him to belong to our party, to think the way we do, otherwise what's he worth. We need for him to pledge allegiance to this Godol HaDor and that Posek HaDor. I point the finger at myself as well; sometimes I find it difficult to consult with a Rov who's not of Chassidic stock, but truth be told I do it, and it's easier for me now too. I wouldn't ask him everything in life, but mostly everything, at least where we agree in life. That was also always the case in Lubavitch, where the Rov in town was Red Dovid Yakobson, Nit kein Chossid, and many Roshei Yeshivas were not Chassidim as well.

Photos courtesy of Shtetllinks-Jewish Ludza

no nepotism here.

This just in from YeshivaWorldNews: (edited for clarity, spelling mistakes, grammar, and general Yeshivishe Shprach.)

New Rabbonim added to Rabbinical Boards

(count the refernces to "Gedolim," "Gedolei HaTorah" and "Gedolei Yisroel.")

"Gedolim were recently added to both the Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah and Torah Umesorah’s Gedolim Board. At last night's Agudath Yisroel 85th annual dinner it was made public for the first time that there were two new Gedolim added to the Moetzes Gedolei Hatorah. The two Gedolim are Rav Dovid Feinstein Shlita (no position? - HT) & Rav Malkiel Kotler Shlita (Rosh Yeshivas Lakewood). And at the recent Torah Umesorah Convention it was announced that Rav Avohom Chaim Levin Shlita (Rosh Yeshivas Telshe Chicago) was appointed Yoshev Rosh of the Torah Umesorah Gedolim's Board."

I guess we're supposed to believe that RMK made it to the board on his own right, and his last name and position had nothing to do with it. RDF's appointment is a little easier to believe, at least he has some personal merits. What also is a bit perplexing to me is the fact that there is as of now only one (semi-quasi) Chassidisher "Godol" on the Moetzes when years ago it was full of them. Ger is also not represented at all, when in Israel they run the whole show! I just can't believe that I sit here and wonder this out loud. I should have better things to do with my life than to debate whether or not RMK appointment to the MGH is a political one or not.....

וואשינגטאן מיט טערקי

חדשות אנ"ש

The preceding was a letter to the editor published recently in "Der Blatt," a Yiddish newspaper published by the Aron faction of Satmar. The writer is upset why his daughter was being punished for failing an American History exam, "not knowing when Washington found the turkey," in his words. After all, he says, all she really needs to know is how to schedule her Welfare appointment, and later on, to check her food stamps and make sure she wasn't ripped off by a few dollars.... He then goes on to say: The schools should give the English exam on a cookbook published by the Nitra Yeshiva.....

The line of the year: ......וויסען ווען די וועלפעיר אפוינטמענט איז
..................זאל מען ענדערש געבן טעסטס אויף די נייטרא קוק-בוק

It's lines that these that keep guys like me coming back for more. No other culture can produce such pearls of wisdom.

Metzudoso P'Rusoh till the rock of Gibraltar

(Point of Europa, Gibraltar)

I met a young man of Sefardic extraction from Gibraltar at the Lag BaOmer Parade in Crown Heights, who now lives in New York. He was Niskarev to Lubavitch while learning in Yeshivas Kol Torah in Yerushalayim and came to learn in Lubavitch in "770" later on. The Rebbe personally guided him, and gave him a path of learning to proceed on. He got Semichah (the real kind) from the Roshei Yeshivah of Tomchei Tmimim in 770, as well as from Rav Pinchus Hirshprung zt"l. He later proceeded to receive Heter Horo'oh as well, and had a good future in Rabbonus ahead of him, it seemed. One of the things he was working on becoming the Rov of the community of Gibraltar. Being a local kid helped, and the signs were all pointing towards him getting the job.

Somehow word reached Bene Beraq (I guess with many of the local kids going on to learn in Eretz Yisroel,) that they were looking at him for Rov, and it reached the desk of the Vaboylniker Tzaddik, then serving as Rosh Yeshivah of Ponovezh. Needless to say he was not happy about it, and he succeeded in taking his name off the short list of candidates. The Yungerman was told that he was no longer a candidate. All in the name of Emes and Sholom, I suppose, since he never met the young man, and all he knew was that he was a Chabadsker, but that didn't stop him from passing judgement on him. The true signs of a leader of Klal Yisroel. It got so bad that even his relatives, who identified with the Rosh Yeshivah, were embarrassed to look him in the eyes because of the shame they felt at their cousin being rejected for no good reason other than political ones.

Freg Ich eich, Tayere Yidden, Iz Dos Yosher? Is it OK to destroy the life's work of a Yid, a Ben Torah in anybody's book, just because you may not agree with his Rebbe? What ever happened to taking a Rov for his knowledge of Halochoh and Yiras Shomayim, and not his political affiliation? Is there not a long history of Chassidishe Shtetlach where the only Misnaged was the Rov, and they lived happily ever after? Why must we be frimmer than our ancestors who were known to be petty and fight about every little Kibud, Aliyah, order of Aliyos and so on? If they could overlook a supposed problem like that why couldn't someone who knew that generation quite well, and who knew of many such precedents, allow for a young man who happens to be a Lubavitcher Chossid to be the Rov of a small community untouched by Machlokes?

Working Together for a Jewish Tomorrow

Hillel and Chabad team up for the ‘Sabbath of Sabbaths’

Is this is an anomally like some would put it? Maybe, and maybe not, I don't know much about campus Jewish politics. But it looks good, and it puts a sock in the mouths of those who claim otherwise. And if it is an anomally then let this be the beginning of a beautiful friendship, with Chabad in the lead, of course.


Sorry about the cliche'-like title to this post.

Mendel the Sheichet strikes back!

A response to Circus Tent: Az M'lebt derlebt men....

Ok, here it is from the mouth of the "ferd" himself. It's interesting how some of you (especially the illustrious Rav Hirshel) are so quick to pass judgement on people they have never met. Hirshel, you have no idea what we're about, what HM is about and - if I'd have to go by what seems to be your bitter hatred of your fellow Jews - you likely haven't a clue what Chassidus is about. Ironic then that you find yourself so qualified to perform such a thorough analysis of all these 3 subjects, no? But at the end of the day what you say about me and the other Teiheads in either direction is fine and we likely owe you one for the free PR. What does bother me though, hirshel, is that you are so quick to condemn an entire international frum community assuming that they are "at fault" for the actions we take and highly recommend us for frum kids to listen to.

The truth of the matter is that we don't even recommend OURSELVES to frum kids (unless they are kids who have already been turned off by people like you, Hirshel, and are starting to get involved in the Goyishe HM scene and need to be redirected to Nichoyach). As far as the Chabad Kehilla, they tolerate us just like they do the Meshugener who sits in the corner talking to himself and laughing at imaginary things on the ceiling, i.e. unlike you they are not willing to discount us as Yidden just because we have flaws. To Chabad, the choices in my particular scenario are likely something like: is it better to have a guy who keeps Shabbos, Kashrus, Taharas Hamishpacha, etc. but has a flaw of being involved with the HM world or is it better to push him away and announce him "Oys Yid". Luckily, Chabad goes with the former approach while you would seem to favor the latter.

I bless you Hirshel that the Eibershter not judge you as you judge others.

Mendel of Teihu

Rebels within the fold

Levi Weiss never really fit into the yeshiva world. The lanky 18-year-old, who grew up in the Lubavitch community in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, was a hyperactive child, and he was eventually diagnosed with attention deficit disorder. He bounced around from yeshiva to yeshiva — six in all in Brooklyn, Pennsylvania and as far away as Montreal. But no direction was home. “Getting kicked out and not having rabbis take care of me, it sort of pushed me off a little bit. It was a turnoff,” said Weiss, who is dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, a far cry from the typical Lubavitch dress code.

ALIYA: a relaxed atmosphere with a Chassidic twist. READ MORE.

A message fun yener velt

DELETED DUE TO INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT.
(The comments I kept.)

Az M'Lebt DerLebt men......

Teihu: a Jewish (3/4 Lubavitch!) Heavy Metal Band

From the smoke blackened depths of Pittsburgh comes the sight of Heavy Metal thunder and the sound of Mind Bending lightning... Teihu combines all forms of Metal into a screeching cacaphony of bliss that will sear your very soul!

The Lubavitchers' Bios:
Reb Mendel the Sheichet
Yossel the Shikker
Bear

Mendel the Sheichet lists "The Alter Rebbe" as his alter ego. Can I pat myself on the back right around now? I seem to remember Lamenting phenomenons such as these a while back. I hate it when I'm proven right on points like these. Unless we can spin it this way; That Yiddishkeit, Torah, and Mitzvos are so appealing to non-Frum people that even stoned heavy metalers see the beauty of it! Or, that HM "music" is so pure and spiritual that even Chassidic Jews can see the beauty in it!

Don't get me wrong here; when I see guys making blanket statements like "It's the BTs' fault," I cringe with disgust. Lubavitch would be much better off if we all had the sincerity of Baalei Tshuveh. It's the so-called Mashpiyim that take advantage of that sincerity and Temimus that we have to blame. Seems like these guys won some kind of "battle of the bands" in the Steel City too. Very nice. A big Kiddush Hashem, and an even bigger Kiddush Shem Lubavitch.

Well, at least A Simple Jew has what to listen to now.....

a matter of semantics

I was speaking to the Baal HaMa'aseh of Circus Tent:"WWRYT?" this Friday Night after Davenen, and the discussion, as usual, turned to the weekly happenings at Circus Tent. This is where, rather than the actual writing and moderating, the blog begins to consume so much of your time. You see my friends, he has no internet connection neither at home or at work, and had just been shown what I had written about his story. At first, allow me, he complimented my presentation of the story, and my responses to the incipid comments I got from some of you about him having issues with his mother, and not remembering the story since it happened a quarter of a century ago. He too, echoed my thoughts, that an event like that is never forgottten, no matter how many years have passed, but he did have this Limud Z'chus to say about Reb Yaakov Kamenecki, something that was echoed by our friend Schneur about his uncle in Kurenitz, Belarus, and his shprach with Misnagdim, even Rabbonim.

"It's all about the figures of speech prevalent in each society," he says, it's not to be taken literally. In Lubavitch, if you ask a Mashpiah what you should do about your son who wants to go learn in a Misnagdishe Yeshiva he would respond with Russian curse words, telling you what kind of people he thinks they are there. In Di Lita they used words like Apikeyres, and Shmad, and they're not Jewish, but they didn't mean that literally, at least in case of the latter. Even the great "Kano'yi" Reb Chaim Brisker attended the Levaya of his sworn adversary, the Lida Rov, when according to him his sins were much greater than the biggest "Tayneh" on Lubavitch. This - accrediting semantics and nothing else - to me seems a bit naive, and maybe very idealistic of our Ba'al HaMayseh, taking for granted that all Jews love each other, and that no one group would try and ostracize the other by calling them Apikorsim and the like. This man is by no means naive, which shows me that his main idea is to be Melamed Zechus.

But something happened these last 20-something years, something very terrible and divisive. These "semantics" seemed to take on a life of their own, and they seem to have changed from non-threatening figures of speech to words that change our whole outlook on life and Yiddishkeit. Where it used to be that you were judged by your actions, and by the way you conducted yourself, at least for the last one hundred years previous, these days the thought police judge you by the way you think. They decide that they're the holders to the deed of Torah and get to decide who stays and who goes. This is a phenomenon never before seen amongst the Jewish People, not even in the times of the birth of Chassidus, and not when fighting with the Reformists. In those days you actually needed to show a disrespect towards Torah and Mitzvos, to receive the cold shoulder and be banished. Today the "guardians" have little tolerance it seems, for anything they don't like or choose not to understand. Chaval.

Reb Menachem Mendel Taragin

Rav Menachem Mendel Taragin, son of Asher Yehoshua Taragin and Yehudis Abelsom, was born in Sep 1873 in Praile, Latvia and died in Jun 1973 in Baltimore, MD USA at age 99. Another name for Menachem was Rav Menachem Mendel Ben Asher.
Noted events in his life are:
• Yahrtzeit: Sivan 28.
descendants of Mendel Taragin

Taragin is situated in the north eastern part of Lithuania on the shore of Lake Tauragnas, about 15 km south east of the district center Utian (Utena). Historical sources dating from the end of the 16th century mention Taragin as a village and an estate bearing the same name. The estate later belonged to a noble family named Poslovsky. In 1792 regular market days took place there, and several taverns and a workshop for producing alcohol were established.
From Shtetl Links

A Litvisher Yid, I guess, no mention of belonging to Chassidim. Just another of those forgotten Yiddelach who hung tough in America despite the hardships. He seemed to raise a somewhat Jewish family.

Mekurev LeMalchus B'Nusach Russland

WSJ.com: In Russia a top Rabbi uses Kremlin ties to gain power

(Free Preview, Full story for Subscribers Only)

I have the newspaper here at the office but cannot scan it now. If any of you actuaaly pay the big bucks for a WSJ online subscription, and can forward me the rest of this article, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Update: The entire article, courtesy of a benevolent reader (available for 7 days to non-subscribers.)

אבי נישט פון אונזערע

(Valach getting a Kos Shel Eliyohu)

It hurts to say this; but we in Yiddishkeit have become all about groups, and we look out for our own. Just barely at that. Every time I see an article about frum dropouts I cringe when I read about the Lubavitcher kids in the group, and pray that there are none. I understand it's selfish of me, but never did I say I was without faults. Judaism isn't judged as a whole anymore, but as small to large groups accomplishing for themselves, and producing according to their guidelines. We could care less about the Jewish community as a whole, and we aren't affected by stories that happen in other communities. Sad but true. This came to mind when I read in HydePark and on mentalblog.com about this Chozer BiShe'elah - Dovid Valach - who won the Sundance Film Festival award for best something or other film.

Valach comes from a prestigious Yerushalmi family - one of anywhere from 17 to 22 kids - who freid out at 25 and became a filmmaker. He was supposedly a Metzuyon at Ponovezh (probably not) who realized that this was not the life for him. So he went on to making films about frum Jews, and that always works in Israel. The novelty here is that so warmly accepted by the non-Jewish community as well. It tells the story of a father and son who doon't get along very well, since the father's approach to raising him is seen as excessive by the son. The situation only gets worse when the family travels to the dead sea for summer vacation, and tragedy befalls them when their son, the same son drowns. They then need to deal with their faith and the questions that now have, as well as with their grief.

So what comes to mind is abi er iz nisht fun unzere, at least he's somebody else's problem. At least he's the result of a different system, and of a group we don't emulate. Let them be busy with him. At least he's not the result of our own shortcomings, and at least we don't need to reflect some more on the inadequacies of our educational system and act upon them. We get to breath easy until the next scandal or story breaks. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. It's like this every time there's an accident or a terrorist attack, or a monetary scandal in the news: !א היימישע? ניין? ברוך השם I feel like this approach in life makes me more like the community that you all want me to return to, the Klal Yisroel. I hope you appreciate this sentiment......

haunted by kiruv demons

Photo by Acheinu

It seems like everywhere I turn now I see stories about wonderful Kiruv work being done by "Kiruv professionals" (what in the world?) somewhere in the world. This week's English HaModia was full of it, from Kiruv at Rutgers by some guy, to Lag BaOmer barbeques by Russian Kolelim, to a "Kinus HaShluchim" (for lack of a better term) of Kiruv Kolelim, to a whole insert singing the praises of Acheinu, an unheard of organization that already put thousands of kids in Yeshivos! (how do they manage that before starting?!) I know that G-d has a sense of humor, but this is way beyond funny. Here I am trying to be part of 'Klal Yisroel" by reading the "Torah" newspapers of our time, and all it does is have the opposite effect, it makes me hate myself for so missing the boat on this. After all, not only is the Torah firmly entrenched in Lakewood and Bene Beraq, but even Kiruv, real Kiruv blessed by the Gedolim, is also done by them, and with unbeleievable results. How could I miss the signs?!

According to the brochure distributed by Acheinu in this week's HaModia, Thousands of invisible children are now learning in invisible Yeshivos with great humility and without the PR and propaganda machines that run Lubavitch. They don't eat and don't shop in stores. They never attend shuls for fear of attracting attention to themselves and the Kiruv professionals that brought them back to Torah, and they never marry and start families for the same reason. They're to be commended. And all this was done by a rich guy in Toronto who decided that this is what should be happening now; Kiruv. He started with Dirshu and went on to Acheinu, and all the Gedolim snapped to attention upon seeing a guy with some money from Toronto. Truly "rebbe mechabed ashirim." Who knows what he'll do next? maybe it'll be some kind of Shidduch initiative with instant results!

The only other similar phenomenons that I've seen in my lifetime are the Nechomas Yisroel Organization, which according to their most recent ad campaign, has placed TWELVE THOUSAND CHILDREN in Yeshivos, and the incomparable Oorah Kiruv Rechokim. Nechomas Yisroel's claim is all about kids who would've otherwise gone to Public Schools. Talk about "Pulling a fast one," This goes beyond fast. If there were 120 kids placed in yeshivos by them it would be saying a lot. And the propaganda that went on these years, with the "75 dollars saves a Neshoma," as if any Yeshivah would take a Bukhari/Russian kid into their school for seventy five bucks, makes Boro Park and Flatbush Jews look as gullible as ever. But that's all it takes these days to get yourself on the map; campaign as if you've been in business for thirty years, and you needn't show any actual results, just pictures of young men with their arms around the shoulders of dark-looking kids.

Oorah appealed to the more sensible side of us Jews; they promised us vacations and silver Menorahs, computers, and 800 dollar baby strollers and we were never the wiser. They must be doing something good if they can offer such prizes for a five dollar raffle ticket, no? We never asked the tough questions; like what do you ACTUALLY do that I should spend my Maaser money with your organization? Or where are all these children that you supposedly placed in Yeshivos? Or where are the families that all became frum from that supposed seminar you offered a few years back? Those silly Lubavitchers, with all of their picture-taking and websites have nothing on these Acheinu/Oorah/Nechomas Yisroel guys. Even Aish and Or Someach seem to be dwarfed in comparison to the Acheinu powerhouse with its "Beis Chizuk" network. The trifecta here has taught us a new lesson in the art of advertising and marketing your product, an approach that has yet to be picked up upon even in this nation's higer institutions of learning.

Greenies feeling good about themselves

Have you wondered why Gas Prices are up like a dollar since the beginning of the year when oil prices have been pretty steady all this time? Why every day there seems to be a rise of 5+ cents to a gallon of gas? Well, my friends, it seems like it's more regulations for cleaner gasoline that's the culprit, so that stupid rich people, and other Liberals out of touch with the real world who think the world's coming to an end in 2012 will feel good about themselves knowing they didn't contribute to it. That's why we don't Chuck Schumer out there every weekend like he'd been for a while when prices weren't half as bad. Then he could blame Pres. Bush because of his connection to "Big Oil," and get away with it, because the American People are too stupid to realize that oil is a commodity that has its price determined on the open market. I guess now that it's regulation that he passed it's tough to blame others for it, even reality-TV obsessed masses like in America. So Chuckie's very quiet these days, he's on to the next item on his agenda.

So the next time they tell you that they care about the "Little Guy" show him what you pay for gas these days, and how much that eats out of your very limited budget. Show him how your utility, food, and every other conceivable bill has skyrocketed due to new regulations that do zero to help a supposed problem we have. Show him how regulations aimed at not disrupting natural habitats have disrupted human lives to no end, but don't expect results. Not if his campaign millions are coming from Millionaires and Billionaires who for some reason support this kind of regulation.

Even Reuters has no other answer for it.

A Gantz Yohr Purim

Reb Chaim Tashkenter at Krias HaTeyreh in 770 in the Lameds.

A commenter mentioned Chaim Tashkenter as living in Williamsburg in his final years. Technically yes, but in the Ayshel Avrohom nursing home, where such other greats from Lubavitch as Reb Abba Pliskin and the late Chaim Lieberman also spent their final years. (Reb Chaim Hurvitz (Tashkenter) would say that he was always happy and smiling since he was born on Purim.) As a matter of fact; the Satmarer made a whole shtink of the fact that CL was there, as if he was thrown out of Crown Heights to rot in Williamsburg. The fact that he was 95+ and had no family is, I guess, no importance here? They went to Ayshel and interviewed him while he was lying in bed looking all disheveled, printed big pictures of him, and had him say all kinds of nasty things about the Rebbe and Lubavitch. I would venture to say that those nasty articles, printed in a "newspaper" dedicated to badmouthing Lubavitch, in my formative years, were quite helpful in my shunning the zealots who were around me at the time. I guess that counters the Bikur Cholims and other Chesed organizations that they run.

Tziganer Shprach on the Willy Bus

I needed to be in Williamsburg yesterday, don't ask me why, but I did. I felt like a tourist visiting Meah She'orim - out of place. I saw the good, the bad, and the ugly. I walked from one end of the Shechunah to the other and saw all the hustle-bustle that goes on there. The hurried walks and the talks on the street corners. I saw the distrust that they have for anybody that's not EXACTLY like them, although very little separates me from them. I come from their country (well, at least my parents do) and speak their language (dialect) very, very well. I waited with the hitchhikers by the BQE and ended up taking the bus anyway, simply because I'm too aydel to fight over seats in a stranger's car, and that may be necessary when vying for seat in in the car of a stranger nice enough to give you a ride. That's my nature; I'd rather go hungry than push in line to get food, and have been that way for my entire life. It must the Ungarishe Neshomoh.

Upon entering the bus I heard the now-familiar sound of Hebrew being spoken between a passenger and the driver. It felt weird, almost illegal, almost like something terribly wrong was happening and I was witness to this crime. Hebrew on a bus full of Satmarer Chassidim, isn't that sacrelige, the ultimate of insults? I have mixed feelings about Hebrew in general; I don't like when others speak it, especially at the expense of Yiddish, yet feel quite good about myself when I can carry on a conversation in Hebrew. I feel like it robbed generations of good, frum Jews of part of their heritage. In Bais Yaakov in Israel they were all Hebrew way back in the pre-state '40's, and nice Yerushalmi women have problems speaking their beautiful brand of Yiddish since then. Later on it robbed boys of Yeshivos and Chadorim simply because Yiddish became a hassle to teach in when all the kids were speaking Hebrew at home since their mothers spoke little Yiddish and spoke only Hebrew amongst friends. Later, the influx of Jews from the Middle East made Yiddish almost impossible in places like Lubavitcher Mosdos where they were welcomed with open arms.

So having that said that I felt like this man with the black hat and trimmed beard, with Peyos behind his ears, speaking Hebrew to the driver with a heavy Russian accent, was being extremely unthoughtful by doing it in a bus filled with Satmarer Chassidim. They've been taught, for better or for worse, that speaking Hebrew is tantamount to transgressing some of the greatest sins a hundred times over. That's no small feat. I compared it to a couple of Snags on the Crown Heights bus bashing a concept held in high esteem in Lubavitch, I surely would be offended by remarks made about it. Whether or not I'd speak up and tell the guy to "put a sock in it" is another question; that would depend on my mood more than anything else, I'm not always that brave, though I have been known to let people have it, even in public. Maybe it was his stupid Russian pride that made him do it......

Historic Trips and other Current Events

People ask me why I don't report on the trip by Harav Steinman and the Gerrer Rebbe to France, Belgium, and the UK. That it's a historic trip made by the two Gedolei HaDor, and that I take myself out of Klal Yisroel by not reporting on it. (I love how every guy browsing the 'net decides who gets to stay in KY and who not...) These questions are somehwhat reassuring to me; since I can tell that we have new readers that never got the memo about who we areand what we write about. Then again the same question could be asked why I didn't report on the "Historic" meeting of the 2 holy brothers Teitelbaum at a Shiva call last week, isn't that historic; that two brothers wearing silk coats in the summer and carrying silver-tipped canes would sit side by side and nary a word exchanged between them, not even a handshake or a nod of the head? I'd call that historic.

I could also report on MVAs in BP and Willy, and post pictures of Sreifas Chometz in Lakewood and Avos U'Bonim in Baltimore and Cleveland, and change my name to YeshivaWorld and Voos Iz Naies, but that would defeat the purpose of this blog, wouldn't it? But if that's what my readers want then I have to decide between staying the course as I am, or changing the nature of this blog and begin to report on "Jewish News."

Speaking of the Historic visit; can anybody tell me what the purpose of the visit is, and who arranges these trips? Why Rav Steinman, all 93 years of his, has to be shlepped around the world and have his schedule of learning and davenen interrupted like that? And for what? To have him say a few words here and there, and to have the zealots get all excited that they get to demonsrate against him (R' Steinman) for endorsing the Nachal haCharedi? If he'd be a Rebbe of Chassidim iz ein zach, but to do this to a Rosh Yeshivah? Why? When has this blurring of the lines happened, and who's responsible for this? They say it's not for money this time, but just to give Chizuk. Maybe. But who decided now that it's time we give Chizuk to the European Jews? There's something beneath the surface here that we don't see, I'm just not sure what.

Other historic trips taking place now include R' Malkiel Kotler visiting Los Angeles, The Belzer Rebbe visiting Belz, Ukraine The Tolner Rebbe visiting Tolna, Ukraine, R' Aron Teitelbaum of Satmar visiting London, and many, many more. The frequent flyer miles being accrued for these trips is staggering, as are the costs of travel and lodging. But it all ends up being worth it when the checks are cashed, at least in the case of the Satmar and Lakewood trips.

You did ask me to write about these issues, right?

Jewish Commies still Believe

Fighting for the rights of the working man, Jew or Arab, battling injustice wherever it may be. In the spirit of Marx and Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin, they fight the good fight, no matter how unpopular it may be. Carry on Comrades/Khaverim, We're all with you!


Israeli youths wave national and Labour Union flags during a May Day celebration in Tel Aviv May 1, 2007. REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen (ISRAEL)


Israeli people participate in a May Day demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel


Israeli youth participates in a May Day demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel


Israeli youths wave Labour Union flags during a May Day celebration in Tel Aviv May 1, 2007. REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen (ISRAEL)