Before G-d, 354/24/7

There's a story about the Chossid Reb Shmuel Munkes where he approaches a man sitting in shul right before Kol Nidrei and wispers something very inappropriate in his ear. A vulgar word, perhaps. The man is shocked, and calls out "in ah shul, un nuch dertzu mamesh fahr Yom Kippur?!" Reb Shmuel obviously was waiting for that response, and tried to tell the man that agantz yohr tohr men oych nit... Not that there's anything wrong with going the extra mile during AYT, as is specifically mentioned in the Code of Jewish Law, but I guess the idea was no to leave it at that. Not to say that during the 9 days I won't speak Loshon HoRah between 2 and 3pm, and after that it's business as usual, but to internalize the teachings of the Chofetz Chaim and to refrain from speaking ill of any Jew. Ever. So too, when the RaMoh (IIRC) speaks about not eating pas palter during the AYT the point is that even those that are forced to eat it throughout the year, whether because they lived in small villages or for whatever other reason, should refrain from doing so until after Yom Kippur, not that it becomes muttar for the rest of the year. א דקות'דיגע חילוק. Which brings us to our next point:

There are those communities that have special rules for the High Holy Days, they disallow practices and customs that are allowed all year round, for reasons of extra purity, I assume. These laws and rules pertain particularly to women, and were instituted many years ago by the founders of those respective communities. One such rule is that no form of synthetic head covering is allowed; only kerchiefs/turbans are to cross the threshhold. In other words no sheitels, even if covered by a hat. The point is to appease G-d and to show him that not unlike the men, who may wear white - that's not to say that women don't, they surely do in those communities - so too, the women also need some special act to show the Holy One blessed be he that they too are serious about the whole Tshuveh thing - at least until YK passes, oand maybe Hoshanah Rabboh as well. In other words proper tshuveh in your heart is not enough, dressing differently for 3 days is, despite the fact that after that it's business as usual. There also is no rule pertaining to the men; men are not told they're not allowed to trim their beards, for example, from RH to YK, or that they must wear a Shtreimel for those days, to use a comparable rule that could be instituted. That's usually the case in those communities; it's never the mens' fault....

There's a story they tell about the Chuv, the Brisker Chuv, whose 50th Yohrtzeit is to be commemorated this Yom Kippur. The Rov went for this daily walk on EYK and on this walk began to "bash" (for lack of a better term) a certain Jewish politician/askan. His attendant was surprised to hear these words from the Chuv on such an auspicious day, and asked him if it wouldn't be better if they postpone this conversation until G-d has sealed the book of life. The Rov was quite surprised to hear this young man's question and had a very simple answer: I'm saying this because I believe that this man needs to be attacked verbally, and I believe so because I believe this is what Torah demands of me, so why should I not do what the Torah tells me to do davka on this day?! The comparison may seem far fetched, because in the BR's case he said he was doing what Hashem wanted, and in the women's case what they wear on their heads is not exactly a mitzvah, at least not a positive one. But still he saw no need to show Hashem that he was being extra careful, because G-d - in his opinion - didn't need this "good deed" from him, he was good without it, and the BR would have a good year without it. In the meantime I wish you all a Gmar Tov Chasimah Tovah and a Gut Gebentched Yohr. And may our women's tefillos be accepted, tichel, sheitel, or both.

"So, when did you finish?"

WSJ Photo Blog

Try as hard as you can, you still can't avoid having the conversation at least once over the High Holy Days, despite the point being childish and all. When your shul finishes Mussaf on R"H tells people a lot about you. If you finish early you obviously don't care enough about the day. You didn't daven a long enough Shmone Esrei, didn't say enough Piyutim, didn't take very long to say to say LaMnatzeyach, and so on. You probably go home, eat too much, talk too much Loshon HoRah, and maybe do a few grubbe aveiros. You may have woken before dawn and davened Netz, and you may have fasted until Kiddush after Mussaf, but it's not the same. You may have stood on your feet all day, but it's still not the real thing. In short, you didn't have the "true" RH experience, unless you came home from shul when all others were going back to Mincha. You may have had a four course kiddush after shacharis, and maybe even a nap, but you win, because you were seen with your tallis at 6pm. Somehow Rosh Hashonoh also became like Yom Kippur, where all day is spent in shul.

It used to be that when I was a kid there was Bobov. They were the only ones that stayed so late in shul on RH. Word on the street was that the Bobover Roov, Reb Shlomo z"l, said that "er ken zayn oylem," and that he'd best keep them in shul, otherwise who knows what they'll do once they get home and have some free time... I'm sure that made his people very happy, knowing what he thought of them... All other shuls finished at 2, 2:30, 3:00, Four o'clock was already "ibber di moss," way overboard. Most people had time to go home and have a normal seudas yom tov, and maybe even go to Tashlich, if you lived close enough to the water. If not you went back to shul and had plenty of time to say tehillim, maybe even the whole sefer. I don't know, maybe that was just Golus America, and in reality it was always that way in di alte heim. IIRC that's the way it was in Munkacs with the Minchas Elozor at the helm, and maybe in Galicia some of the Sanzer Eyniklach also led all-day services. I doubt that was the order in Poland, even in non-Gerrer circles, since they said little Yotzer there.

"Why does it bother you, Hirshel," is the obvious question. It doesn't. In no way do I feel like I don't have the RH experience, especially since I'm a SHaTZ on the high holy days. I'm just trying to understand the thinking, especially regarding those that only recently picked up on this, meaning that it was never their custom to keep people in shul all day. Take the Belzer, for instance. The last few years have seen the development of a new, bizarre minhag in Belz-Yerushalayim, where they finish mincha - which immediately follows mussaf - after Shkiah and even after Tzeis haKochavim DeRabbeinu Tam. This was - I believe - NEVER the case in Belz, but they want it all, including outdoing all other Hoyfen, so they do it. Nobody is happy in their own skins anymore, they look to make sure that they're on par with everybody else. That would be fine in important matters like education and Tzedokoh, but why the need to do it when it comes to times of finishing davening?! G-d bless the Gerrers when it comes to this; they do their thing and could care less what anybody thinks of their schedule. It's called taking pride in what you do and have done forever. Some of the others out there could take a page from their playbook.

כוח"ט לשטו"מ

דער אייבערשטער זאל געבן יעדערער פון אייך א גוט געבענטשט יאר, א שנה טובה ומתוקה ברוחניות ובגשמיות, בטוב הנראה והנגלה

Maybe we'll get back into it this year...

"נאר איין בלאז"

A story we brought a while back reprinted now, where it belongs. Also featured on chabad.org!

(RBR of Munkacs farhering the Bachurim on Motzoei Shabbos - photo by R Vishniac)

A heartwarming yet chilling story told by Rav Baruch Rabinovitch of Munkacs, son in law of the Minchas Elozor and father of the present Munkacser Rebbe about his late shver, zt"l, and his great Ahavas Yisroel despite his reputation as a "firebrand."

Reb Baruch had a son named Tzvi Nosson Dovid, the Minchas Elozor would call him Tzvi, whereas his father would call him "Dov'che." Tzvi after the Minchas Elozor's father and Nosson Dovid after Reb Baruch's father. For a long period of time Reb Baruch was separated from his wife and lived in Warsaw, the reason being arguments with the shvigger over some matter, and the wife - of course - sided with her mother, so the two split up... The Minchas Elozor finally sent his daughter to go live with her husband in Warsaw, far from the shvigger, but after 3 months fell ill with yenne machla and begged them to come back - which they did. Reb Boruch would say that his shver loved his dear grandchild in an "exaggerated way," being that his daughter waited for along time to have that first child. He would play with and spoil the child, and Hershelle would sit on his zeide's lap at the tish.


Yidden in Munkacs

In the final year of his life the Minchas Elozor took the shofar on Rosh Chodesh Elul and tried the horn to see if it was in OK condition. Hershelle was in the room then and was very visibly excited with the shofar and its sounds; he asked his zeide for "noch ein blooz," one more blast, which his zeide gladly obliged. From then on, for the next month, this became a ritual; the Rov blowing once for little Hershelle. On Erev Rosh Hashonoh Hershelle was there awaiting his daily blast, but he was disappointed. "Haynt iz Erev Rosh Hashoone, Haynt bloozt men nisht, morgen vet men bloozen asach mool in shil," his zeide told him. The child knew no Chochmes. He kicked and screamed, telling his zeide "Nor Ein Blooz! Nor Ein Blooz!" After a while his zeide had rachmones on his favorite eynikel and took the shofar and blew one blooz.


More Yidden in Munkacs...

On Rosh Hashoneh before Tekios the minhag in Munkacs was that the Rov spoke. That year the Rov went up before the aron kodesh, opened the ark and said: "Ribono Shel Olam, Ich darf tshiveh tuhn, ich hub over geven af an halochoh. It's written that on ERH one mustn't blow shofar, yet I did. He began to sob uncontrollably and called out: Ribono shel olam, do you know why I transgressed that halochoh? it was because my young (grand)child lay on the floor and begged me and cried that I should only blow one blooz for him. My heart melted, I couldn't bear to watch him cry like that, so I blew once for him, despite the fact that I shouldn't have. Tatte, how can you stand by and see how millions of your children are down on the floor and cry out to you, Tatte eyn blooz - TeKa BeShofar Godol LeChayruseynu, Even if the time is not right for it yet, the time for Moshiach has yet to arrive, but your children cry out to you, how can you stand idly by?!"


When Reb Baruch told the story he cried, and recounted how at that time the crowd cried along with the Rov, the Tekios were delayed, and for a long time they could not "come to themselves, loud wailing was heard throughout the shul." (Such stories can always be told, and one can always learn from them.)

Doing it, Russian Style...

We talked about the Polish and Hungarian/Romanian, and how they did or didn't pass on what happened to them during the Holocaust, resulting in their descendants often having no knowledge of the matter. I promised those who disprove me that I'd bake them an Hungarian kugel, and so far I got two requests - rather, two people telling me that I owe them one. One of them tells me in a private e-mail that his zeide - a very, very proud Socialist - spent 5+ years under occupation and in prison and concentration camps, and it was his steadfast belief, in SOCIALISM/COMMUNISM, that carried him through. Among other things he was a human mine detector for one of the armies. It may have been for the Soviets, I don't remember now. Not what one expects to hear, that a non-Torah ideal can keep you strong, but whatever. That zeide did tell his grandkids, maybe because he saw himself as some kind of hero, or he believed in a strong Jewish identity. So we need to discuss the Russian Jew, frum Jew, and see what his descendants know, and if they don't, why that's the case. Me not being of Russian descent, despite my e-mail address, I'll do the best I can under the circumstances, and base it on what I've seen, read and heard from people.

When the Nazis stormed the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 hundreds of thousands of our brethren were stuck. Before they realized what was happening they were trapped under the Nazi jackboot and were basically resigned to their collective fates. The areas that were immediately occupied were Lithuania, "Litvish Peylen," Western Belarus, and the Western Ukraine. Those living further East or North had time to make plans to get out of Dodge. Most headed to East to the Asiatic Republics. Most Lubavitcher families that made it out were either in Samarkand or Tashkent, and there, for 3-5 years, the cities thrived with activities; learning davenen, farbrengen, despite the terrible conditions there and despite the Communist regime, albeit not like in Russia and the other European Soviet Republics. After 3-5 years in Bukhara most of the Lubavitcher families made it out in 1946 when they were able to escape with Polish passports, due to Stalin allowing all Polish citizens trapped in the CCCP to return home. The end result is that for the SURVIVING families there often was no Holocaust, not in every case, but in many cases.



There WERE many great Chassidim, towns and families that were completely wiped out. Great ones like Reb Itche der Masmid, Reb Chatshe Feigin, Reb Berel Kurenitzer, Reb Yaineh Poltaver, some of whom died a horrible death and weren't zoyche l'kever yisroel, and some who died of starvation and managed to have a place where their descendants could come and daven. But at least as far as survivors are concerned it wasn't Poland and Ger or Aleksander or Radomsk. I also think that Russian are far lesser sentimentalists, at least they were. They had suffered enough under the Communists and were glad to get back to normal. Perpetuating the pain and suffering was not what they were looking to do. I'd venture to say that were it not for the Rebbe, nobody would have written their memoirs. It goes against the grain of what Chassidim were taught along; namely not to make too much of yourself or your deeds. The Rebbe was the one that recognized the need to record and remember what happened, so that their descendants and all of us would never forget (and revise) that chapter in Jewish History.

Tsarske Moshkes...

Hirshel,

The attached pictures might be of interest.

One of my great-great grandfathers is in both of them. It is a field shul in the tzar’s army in the first World War. I think it is a Yom tov, and a goy took the picture. [See one holding Shofar - HT]

Russian Chusid

Teach the young

The Cyclone, Coney Island, Summer of '44...

Schneur commenting on Circus Tent: ויהי בשבעים שנה

Tzig: You are correct as far as you go, but you are not going the distance.You seem to place all the responsibility on the parents. If the 2nd and 3rd generation were dependent on their parents and grandparents for instruction in Yiddishkayt (Jewish religion) ochen vay!! We would all be lost, and anyone growing up in the 1950s and early 1960's knows what I am speaking about. Except for a small group of Chassidim and perhaps a few Hungarian Jews all the Shearis Hapleita Jews, including those now walking about in bekishes and beards, were very shvach in Yiddishkayt and not just in minhogim. It was the Orthodox schools that saved the day.

So what transmitted Yiddishkayt? our schools; the day schools, yeshivas, chadorim etc. There Jewish values and dinim were taught. That together with the Jewish culture in their homes created our new world of Orthodoxy. So Reb Tzig, why was the Holocaust not taught in day schools and chadorim of all stripes ? Why is it still not taught? Why in schools where the day starts before 9 Am and ceases after 6PM can 50 minutes weekly not be found to study the Holocaust. Why in summer camps can this not be studied. Are the menahelim scared that their camps will be turned into the type of camp where the grandparents of the kids spent their "good" years.

The question stares us in our face, why are we ignoring the Holocaust? The secular Jewish community started coming to terms with the events in 1980 and earlier, we seem just to be starting, at least certain groups seem to be. Do our "Gedolim" have theological problems? Are they worried about their emunah? Or could it be that most of our present day Gedolim and their parents were in America in 1939 and perhaps feel guilty about having done almost nothing to help their brothers in Europe.... About 10 years ago Rav Moshe Meiselman the grandson of Rav Moshe Soloveitchik wrote an excellent piece about the Holocaust in his journal called Oraisa, and among other things he stated that no generation of Jews ever responded to catastrophe with silence. Not the Churban Bayis Sheni, nor the events of 1492, or the events of 1648-1658 or other gezeiroth. Why the silence???

IN another area; go through years of issues of magazines like Jewish Action, the JO, KFAR CHABAD, Jewish Life (came out until 1973 by the OU) and you find very few articles about the Churban. Only Dos Yiddishe Vort edited by Reb Yosef Friedenson covered the Churban as it should have been. Amazing. In the 1950's and 1960's the survivors were alive and magazines from the whole rainbow of Orthodoxy ignored the Holocaust. I include the Jewish Life, Tradition, Di Yiddishe Heim (I can hardly recall more than a few pieces here) and the JEWISH PRESS. What we did have were pieces by R. Hutner blaming the Zionists for the Holocaust. There was, and to a degree still is, a conspiracy of silence about the Holocaust in the Orthodox world. Thank G-D in many chugim it's changing.

ויהי בשבעים שנה

WE started this on Tuesday, but only finished now. And even that we didn't finish...


Happier times...

Somehow 1/IX/1939 never really "made it" to the Hungarian calendar. We start in '43 or '44. maybe a little earlier for the Munkatabor folks. ----- Imagine yourself going to shul in the afternoon after a day's work and being greeted by German tanks. Not exactly what you needed after maybe having it out with your boss, or being told that your work here is done and to look for another job... But it DID happen - on a nice late summer's day. Schneur complains about our lack of holocaust knowledge and study, but that could very easily be explained - no matter where your ancestors came from. It's all about - where you shtam from. If your zeides are/were Polish, chances are they suffered through 5+ years of hell - sorry, heck. Any person that made it out and built a family, and has grandkids, his grandkids will probably tell you that he was a nervous old man by the time they got to know him. He never sat with the grandkids and told them how he survived, he just tried to forget those terrible times. Only recently have many begun to pen their memories; and had that not happened much of that would've been forgotten. Find me a man of Polish descent who knows how his zeide survived those 5+ years and I'll bake him a potato kugel. Hungarian style.


Kutno Ghetto, October, 1939

Even the Hungarians, who fancy themselves great historians and fighters for tradition, know little about their family history during the war, unless theirs is some sort of Rebbishe story, or there was some great "smuggle across the border" story. Most others will tell you that the old folks never said much because remembering was just too difficult. My own mother zg"z tells of those terrifying seder nights as a kid, an only child at that, when her parents would sit and cry the night through, remembering the Golus Mitzrayim they had encountered just a few short years before. And they were Hungarian, they didn't have the 5+ years in the lager, but they DID lose entire familes, including husbands, wives and children. The point is that people who suffered so, and for whom thinking about it was such a terrible thought, didn't sit their children down and explain to them the step-by-step process of extermination of Hungarian Jewry. So yes, you may know what happened to Hungarian Jewry in general, but you probably know very little about your particular family. By the time you were old enough to ask or be interested chances are that the zeides and bubbes were already gone to a better place...



We need to talk about the Russians, but there's no time now. We'll do that after Shabbos, iy"h.

Zhorik of old

This being ערב September 1st, 70 years since the beginning of the destruction of Jewish Europe, I figured it a good time to share with you some pictures in the Tent's archives. Pictures of a bygone era and bygone people, murdered and destroyed by the marauders, among so may others. We have here - for your viewing pleasure - pictures of Reb Dovid Ahron Tverski HY"D of Zhorik, Poland. RDL was the paternal grandson of the Trisker Maggid, a son of Reb Yaakov Leib, Trisker Rebbe of Kovel. He also was a maternal grandson of Reb Yochonon of Rachmistrivke, brother of the Trisker Maggid. Two portraits and one snapshot of the Rebbe walking with a crowd on a festive day. The Belzer like to "tcheppe" the "mordim/Machnovker" by calling them "Zhoriker," because the old Machnovker Rebbe, zt"l, uncle of the current Rebbe, was ( I believe) a son in law of the Zhoriker... The Zhoriker's Yohrtzeit is 11 Menachem Av, (5701) same as Reb Hillel Paritcher.


Necktie keMinhag Chernobel... Only recently did Chernobel become synonymous with extremism in levush etc.




על זה היה דוה לבנו

די אלע אידן זענען שוין היינט נישטא, זיכער היטלער-קרבנות ווי נאך מיליאנען, קאם וואס מען ווייסט בכלל פון אזא איד היינט, חוץ פון א פאר חוקרים און אוספי עתיקות וכדומה. די חורבן ווערט גרעסער פון טאג צו טאג. די אידן האבען מיטגעליטן די צער פון זייערע אידן, און זייער אפט געלעבט פונקט אזוי בדוחק ווי די המון. די היינטיקע גוטע אידן מאכען נאך די אלטע היים ביז צו א מאס, ביז צו די קעשענע. יעמאלט פארגעסן זיי פון די אלטע היים און מאכן נייע מנהגים. אמאל האט מען געקוקט צום רבי'ן פאר הדרכה, פאר יראת שמים, היינט ציילט מען פארענטשעס און פלייש, און ווי הויך די שטריימל און וואס פאר א קאליר די טיש קאפטן. קיין וואונדער אז די מנהיג פון די אונגארישע חסידים האט שוין מיט מער פון 40 יאר צוריק געזאגט אז נשתכחה תורת הבעש"ט: ער האט פשוט געמיינט ביי זיינע מענטשן! און ער האט געהאט רעכט דאס צו זאגען בנוגע זיינע אידן. איז לאמיר כאטש ליינען און זעהן ווי די אידן האבען זיך געפירט, אזוי אז מיר זאלען וויסן אז ס'איז אמאל געווען גוטע אידן אויף ג-ט ברוך הוא'ס גרינע ערד. בברכה - הירשל ציג

Surprised at the surprise

Long-haired man seating on top of treehouse-like platform playing the guitar, during the Woodstock Music & Art Fair. Location: Bethel, NY, Date taken: August 1969

I'm surprised that some of you were surprised by comments regarding the death of the good Senator Edward Kennedy z"l. Here's why: It seems like these days, what was common and normal just a few short years ago no longer is that way. I'm talking mindset here. What we think and believe. Maybe it's the blogs that changed some peoples' way of thinking. 20 years ago, definitely in the years before, Jews believed that Society should be somewhat moral, since society affects our surroundings, and we all are products of our surroundings. Azoy vi es Kristelt zich azoi Yiddelt zich, goes the old saying, and we prayed that the Kristelling would not be too harsh. We hoped that the goy would not totally lose his marbles so that our children would be able to grow like want them to. Which is what happened, unfortunately. Lots of what we see today is based on the fact that we relied on society too much. We hoped that since our surroundings are decent that we could raise a normal Jewish family here in the enlightened world. Then when society went haywire we suffered. You can say "not me," "not my group!" but that wouldn't be very truthful, if you look just a bit below the surface.


Long-haired man seating on top of treehouse-like platform playing the guitar, during the Woodstock Music & Art Fair. Location: Bethel, NY, Date taken: August 1969

So what were we supposed to do? How were we supposed to stand up to that massive influence? Funny you should ask that. One of the ways we were told was to vote for those purport to hold similar views on issues of morality. I say "purport" because one never knows. If the man says he'll vote against Gay Marriage or he'll try and negative keep influences out of our neighborhoods, or he'll vote to allow school vouchers to become a reality despite the unions, we vote for him, at least on a local level. (See? I fell into that Government handout trap...) At least that's the way it is/was in some circles. People like Rav Avigdor Miller would often tell their people that the dangers to our morals are what's most important, and that's what we need to vote to avoid. Why? very simple. We didn't look to the Government to provide for us, we did that ourselves by working hard. The Government was there for other reasons. To pay taxes, collect social security - after all, you were just collecting what you paid in, and to fight wars, maybe. So the only question was how the Government was going to decide on issues regarding values. Years ago there was no different mindset against any of the Ultra-Orthodox, at least I don't think so.


Paul Foster, wearing a top hat with wings, a multi-colored outfit, & a red & white striped jacket, walking during the Woodstock Music & Art Festival

Then something happened amongst a certain segment of our society, and it started to adapt the sentiments of some of the "underprivileged and disenfranchised elements." The Government was here to provide for us, and we were to take full advantage of it. פארוואס זאלען נאר די שווארצע און פארטיריקער קריגען? became the cry of the day. It's a malchus shel chesed, darf men oysnutzen di chesed biz vifil m'ken. We won't discuss the merits or lack thereof of taking Government assistance because that often depends on the situation, and whether or not the person feels any lack of pride by taking it on a constant basis. But we will discuss whether or not this has become the tafkid (aka role) of the Government! In some circles it has, and this all that matters, since di medinah zol farzinken verren, and voos geit mir ohn voos der sheygetz tut bay zich in tzimmer... Take that out of the equation and all you have left is: "Is he good for the Jews?" VeDal. That's why for the last decade or two you've seen a major shift in those neighborhoods, why Monroe voted Cuomo, and why Skver voted Clinton vs. Lazio, and so on. Not money for Yeshivos as much as money for my pocket. That's why guys like UD, a Commie like nobody's business, like Teddy Kennedy. Even the AI had the decency to say that they didn't always agree with him, that there were differences on social issues etc. It wasn't ALL about the "Benjamins."

There's a lot more to say. But that's why I'm surprised.

Sayonara, Ted

"what? no more?!"

Ted Kennedy died last night. I only found out this morning. Turned in early last night. What can I say; the press is tripping over its shoelaces trying to make some kind of saint out of him. Some sort of Camelot they make of him, when he was something of a bully who pushed his policies on the poor and middle class whites. Like immigration, for instance. He never had to worry about the masses from Asia and Africa coming into his neighborhood, he lived in very exclusive neighborhoods, where those dirty, colored people could never dream of living. It was the blue collars who had their neighborhoods destroyed and their jobs taken. It was the Jewish neighborhoods that quickly emptied out, not the Palm Beach compounds, nor the Hyannisports of the world. No Asian ever did anything more than serve him his many drinks, and no African ever came close, unless he shone his shoes or served him more, hiccup, drinks.

But, wait! lest you think I'm an ingrate who takes and doesn't thank those who give, listen to this. We're supposed to love the man - by "we" I mean frum people - because he supposedly made our lives better by being instrumental in initiating all kinds of Federal programs. Such as: העדסטארט, וויק, פיינענשיל עיד וכדומה. OK. At least that's what the establishment, the Neo-Libs, will you tell you, since by definition, if you're frum you're on the take from the Feds, so you owe your good fortune to Teddy. So we're supposed to forget what kind of enemy of morality and religion he was, getting in the way of any decent man trying to educate his family without some screwball teacher telling her what she's supposed to believe. Making sure that G-d forbid little Johnny should pray in school, lest we offend some Lib who wants to live a guilt-free life. Yeah, I know he didn't serve on the Supreme Court, but we're talking mindset here, fighting against anything decent, unless it meant the Government spending money. What's that, you say? I should wait until he's buried to attack? I would, It may just take 2 weeks in this case until they have the whole funeral shindig, where he's hailed as the man that put food in our mouths. And I just don't have the patience to wait that long...

Yeah, HIM again

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There are times when politics or other reasons create strange bedfellows. Nothing has proven that point more than the case of PETA and all that's evil in this world VS. the Rubashkin family, a symbol of good. We've spoken here often about how Pinchus Lipschutz of the Yated has been at the forefront - quite literally - of the effort to save SMRubashkin from years in a federal penitentiary. You might even say that he's been more vocal, helpful and supportive than many of his co-Chassidim members, if you know what I mean. Besser's approach seems to be to interview Sholom Mordechai and show him as a family man, a chassidisher yid and a true Ba'al Chesed. Not some ruthless robber baron who also happens to throw some money around just to have his name on buildings, and Rebbes visiting his home and partaking of some of that delicious fruit heaped in huge silver bowls. I don't think Besser is a lawyer, but an approach like that using character witnesses and such, should help in the upcoming trial, and is no different than what the Tzad HaSheni is doing, namely generalizing, using stereotypes and other such means of winning a conviction in the court of public opinion.



You might say Postville will be Judenrein - as far as institutions and families go - once the Friedman regime takes over. That's sad. I'm sure some of the locals would like that, despite the knock on their economy. Gone is the noble cause, and say hello to business as usual. Shochtim flying back and forth, away from their families all week. In Mifflintown the trip is done by car, and the terrible storms in the NorthEast are few and far between. So the shochtim to Empire - and now Scranton - are pretty much guaranteed to be back on the job. But what happens when they get those nasty storms in the Midwest and the Shochtim are stuck in Chicago or in Minneapolis waiting two days for the runways to be operational again? This does not bode well for the Kosher meat and poultry consumer. Was that part of the buying decisions for the Friedmans? Then again, he's made money - and still is - hand over fist, while I worry about the grocery bill come Thursday... So I guess he MUST know what he's doing. Also, the zechus of having his name of BME here in Monsey, and the zechus of having his name on the Oz VeHodor Gemoros, will SURELY stand at his side and help him in any future ventures, no?




But one thing's for sure: Gone is the ideal of getting kosher meat and poultry to the consumer at a very reasonable price. It's all business from hereon in. Oz VeHodor isn't cheap and neither will this. It's a challenge, a game, something you do on a whim because life is boring just counting money, and the nursing homes, plastic and real estate businesses are tough on a man. You need new and exciting things. So you decide it would be fun to get your hands dirty and get into the chicken business. The fact that he never held an uncooked piece of chicken in his manicured hand makes no difference. He's got the Midas touch, he's a Magyar ember, he knows how to make Kesh-Gelt (Peynz) like in di alte heim. So why not makes some serious cash on the backs of the masses? We've talked about this before. Prices are through the roof. The other companies will be only too happy to keep them that way now that Rubashkin is out of the picture. And the fools will think that they're getting better and more kosher meat, so they'll pay the crazy prices. Hahahaha. Bekitzer, we're all in for it.



Did I go too far in projecting all kinds of terrible things for the future of Kosher meat? maybe. After all, I don't know the Friedmans, I don't REALLY know what the Rubashkins did or didn't do, and I have no idea what anybody's plans are for Postville and its Jews. But I have feelings too. Just like every other 2-bit mayvin out there, and I have just as much right to my opinions and projections as they do. This being Chodesh Elul even in the Chabad calendar, I do ask mechillah if I offended anybody or was Motzi Shem Ra on any particular family, but from the interviews that HF gave to the Haredi press after his purchase of Agri it seemed liked he'll do everything he can to uproot any remnant of Rubashkin or what he built with his sweat and tears. Not that it should come as a surprise; he doesn't see things any different than any other shlacht-hoyz, they don't build shtetlach, neither does he. But here there was one, why the need to change things?







In the meantime, please daven for Sholom Mordechai HaLevi ben Rivke....

No-win situation

Reb Schneur Zalman ben Reb Menachem Mendel ben Reb Levi Yitzchok ben Reb Baruch Shalom ben Admu"r HaTzemach Tzedek, N"E.

There were two recent stories about Chabad and the Holocaust that made the news. One was about Reb Zalman Schneersohn and the other about Admiral Franz Wilhelm Canaris, the man who saved the Frierdige Rebbe and whisked him out of German-occupied Poland to safety in Riga. Those of you that have been blogging for some years will know that some of the big "issues" people had with Chabad was the fact that 1) they did nothing during the Holocaust to save Jews, and 2) They never recognized that Nazi hierarchy was used to save the Frierdige Rebbe. Meaning they never tried to show their apppreciation like for instance the Mirrer Yeshivah, who AFTER 40-something years made a party for Sugihara's widow and somehow became the symbol of true appreciation and Hakoras HaTov, despite the fact that the man lived in obscurity, having lost his job at the Embassy and was reprimanded by his Government for providing the visas. I believe he was long dead by the time they made the party for him, and had lived a very sad life since WW2. (I may be mistaken.)

There are two efforts going on now in the Jewish world - or at least they were when I started writing this post a few weeks ago. One is to get Canaris the status of Righteous Gentile, and the other is to get Rav Zalman Schneersohn, first cousin of Reb Levik, the Rebbe's father, recognized for his rescue efforts during WW2, when many, many young Jews were saved (and kept frum!) from certain death. AFAIK the Canaris effort is the efforts of one Yosef Yitzchok Kamenecki, amateur historian, who got involved in the matter when BMR's book was translated to Hebrew, which was then followed by another book in Israel by another author. YYK was interviwed by Israeli TV numerous times, as the press there thought they had a real expose' on their hands. I guess he thought, with him being in Israel, that he'd show true haKoras haTov in the name of the worldwide Chabad-Lubavitch movement, and lobby Yad Vashem to make him some sort of righteous gentile there. It seems like that idea didn't fly in the Holy Land, seemingly because of Canaris' being in the Nazi hierarchy he must've been in on some of the other decisions by the Nazi regime, namely the mass murder stuff. And not only that; but now that the story was revealed, and somebody wants to do something to show appreciation, and they're told that what they're doing is selfish, because he only saved the FR, or him and a few others, so that doesn't warrant recognizing his good deeds.


Here


Years ago there was talk on the blogs that every "Chabad House should have a picture of Canaris on the wall," and "There should be streets names after him in Chabad shtetlach." I can understand that sentiment, despite the ones raising it not being geniune, they were just trying to bash Chabad. So is the drive to honor Canaris too little too late? I don't think so. Al Gore won the NPP over a Polish woman who saved countless Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto. And she wasn't a member of the Nazi party either.(for whatever that's worth) --------------------
As far as Reb Zalman Schneerson goes; His rescue work is legendary among Chabad. There are many, many families in Chabad today that owed their lives to him, since he rescued the zeide or Bubbe, and gave them a genuine, Yiddishe/Chassidishe education in France. Reb Zalman's son in law was Reb Eli Chaim Carlebach, noted author and Rov of the Carlebach shul, and recently there was a symposium at that shul about Jews saving Jews. It seems like YV only honors non-Jews who saved Jews... and they're trying to do something about it at the Carlebach Shul. You might say they're only doing it because he's the Rav's - Naftoli Citron's - great grandfather, but then again, someone like you would find ulterior motives for any good deed or project. So here's a double no-win situation. Wiesenthal Center says that Chabad is practicing "particularism" by wanting to honor Canaris, and others say that Jews saving Jews is nothing, and therefore unworthy of praise. Or you just might say "who cares what they think?" but the story must be told either way. About Reb Zalman, I mean.

Here's a link to Kamenecki's request

!א חב"ד ניגון שניידט שטיקער

דער משפיע ר' שלמה חיים קסלמן ע"ה מיט תלמידים

Sometimes a comment deserves to be "mined" not for length of comment, but rather for its on-the-mark points. This is one of those comments. Quick, to the point, and, best of all, in a lip-smacking Yiddish that would make the old times proud. Abarbanel has shown us his talents before, and here he does not disappoint.


אברבנאל קאמענטירט צו צירק געצעלט

פֿאַראַן ניגונים און פֿאַראַן ניגונים. פֿאַראַן ניגונים וואָס ברענגט דעם מענטש צו התפּעלות אדער געגועים, װי אַ שטייגער ניגונים פֿון קאַליבער צדיק מיט די פֿייגעלעך, בלומעלעך, שעפֿעלעך אא"װ. נאָכדעם איז פֿאַראַן קאָמפאָזיציעס װאָס מאַכן אײַנגענעם דעם גלות קאַלעמוטנעם הערצעלע...אַ שטייגער די מאָדשזיצער אַפּאָרעטער מיט איר געקונצעטע דריידעלעך און לומדישע תנועות
אַ חב"דער ניגון איז איגאנצן אַ צװייטער סדרה.א חב"ד ניגון שניידט שטיקער אָן קיין רחמנות, ס´פֿאָדערט און צװינגט דעם מענטשן זיך איבערצוקערן איגאַנצן. אַ פױלישער ניגון נעמט אַסאַך פֿעלער ביז עס קומט צום פֿונקט ווי ס´הייבט אָן קראַצן. אַ חב"ד ניגון אָבער שפּרונגט אַרײַן דורכן פֿענסטער, און גראָד ביים ערשטן טאַקט מאכט עס דיר אַ לעבעדיגער אַפּאָראַציע
בימי חורפי, ביי אַ פֿאַברענג אין ירושלים התחיל זקן א´ לפזם התנועה עסען עסט זיך וכו´ אין מעי המו בקרבי מיינע קישקעס האָבן זיך גענומען דרייען ע"פ פשט ממש און די אַלע אַפּעטיטלעכע פּאָטראַוועס האָבן מיר פשוט גענומען איבּלען..
מה נאמר ר´ ציג...כל השירים קודש ושירי חב"ד קודש קדשים...כ´קאַן שרייבן און שרייבן..אָבער גיי זיי מסביר בלינדע "שיינעדיקע לעכט". מ´איז פֿאַרטעמפּט און צע'חושט ביז איבער די נאָז

Music - Real Music - you can listen to!

I'm not Chaim Rubin, nor am I Jewish Music Review, Jewish Music Report, Shlager, or whatever the music review sites are called, but I do like neginah. Real neginah, that is. Not synthesized Yamaha music with Jewish words added to them. Nor do I care for Broadway tunes gone Jewish. You all knew that, right? After all, it's in my profile. But I am "crazy" for Nigunei Chabad, in any form really, but when they're arranged using beautiful AUTHENTIC music then it's pure pleasure. Zalman G did a nice job choosing songs; some very famous, some tier 2 as far as famous goes, and some pretty obscure, like the "Ech Di Doo Da" on track 11. Getting Chilik Frank, number two Clarinetist after Andy Statman, (in my very humble unprofessional opinion) also adds a very professional dimension to the CD, and tells us how serious ZG is about producing good music. In these days of garbage (excuse my French) music performed by less than stellar characters, ZG's latest production is a beacon of light in these dark times of music. We all wish him much luck and success.

Buy it here

Gershovsky could've worn a kippa when playing these holy nigunim...I'm not sure why nobody thought of telling him...

I was there 30 years ago....

I was a child, yes, but I was there, amongst the thousands, on the 26th of Av, 5739. I held on to my father's hand for dear life. My older brother managed to get onto he porch of the Groyse BesMedrish, I wonder how much of it he remembers. We didn't need to travel far; we were in the country just up the road, but I imagine my father would've gone anyway, even taken off a day of work and traveled from Brooklyn if need be. There were hours and hours of hespedim, but I can't recall how long we stayed. VosIzNeias, in their coverage, have this very silly obituary, where they basically single out many of what were the Rebbetzin's accomplishments - such as Bikur Cholim and Hatzoloh - as what made him great. They just about miss the point, as usual. But they do have a link to some really great pictures, and they were nice enough not to kill the pictures by plastering their logo and emblems all over them, like that other site did, as if they were their pictures... Maybe if I was a bit more spontaneous I would've made the short trip from Monsey today. All day yesterday I was thinking about what I had seen in the book "שקיעת החמה" that was printed after his passing, where they bring a clip of the Algemeiner Journal, where he speaks about the fact that the "Rebbe hut nuch gebentshed Rosh Chodesh nechten bam Oomid." I was thinking that here we are 30 years later. Man! How the world has changed!





A young Yossel Ashkenazi, probably Switzerland


Final days - 21 Kislev, maybe?


"Shmiras Eynayim" by a wedding in the early days in America


Off the boat, Rebbetzin close behind...


Early Years in Orshive


Orshive or Krole






Leaving a shul in Boro Park

Satmar Overload!!!

All the Jewish papers are full of the coverage, each trying to outdo the other when it comes to lekking Satmar. The Hebrew and the English ones; there's no refuge. And the silly way of referring to him: "The Divrei Yoel," is even more annoying. Nobody ever did or will call him that. What does someone like me do this Shabbos? HELP!!!

(משוגע אויף טויזענט (ג

what a novel idea!

An anonymous reader commenting to Circus Tent: (2) האלבע ארבעט

Hirshel,

Please bring 'em on fast and furious! Don't let up until you have expended all ammunition regarding this issue of the "Queen Elizabeth" standard of living we have been forced into by the "heimishe" chandelier -> breakfront -> leather couch -> black SUV -> matching clothing -> beheime fleish -> hoieche shtraamell mit a kroin -> winterized summer home -> breite kiddish -> silver vase -> vort, barmitzvah, sheva brooches, shloishim seedeh, fres-fests w/props and party planner -> Ateres Buckingham Palace wedding hall crowd. The list is endless... Not to mention the "religiously" oriented obsessive spending. The grossly bloated and bepatchkete 925 oversized Menoires, esrig pishkes, megille halters, zalts meistlech, napkin holders, besuumem pishkes, atooores (Shabbes, in far di vochentug) alles lekuved Shabbes!!! The echt leiderne antique covered siddeeerem, machzoirem, ketoires on klaf , chuusen shassen, tzenerenas, seleeches, (look out for the new leather kinnus) All in the name of the almighty G-d. Forget about the housing issue including home furniture, lighting, staircases, doors, decarative hardware and seforim shranks. I don't even know where to start.


Are BP, CH, KJ, Lkwd and Willy "America?"

Regarding the prices on goods and services within the heimishe community; Firstly, given the above mentioned "breite" standard of living, every shop owner or fachman starts out with the premise that you need to become rich from selling anything, otherwise there is no point in trying, no such thing as trying to "make an average living". So he needs to milk the consumer to the max. Whether it's a jewelry store or a shoe store, dress shop or seforim store, hat store or dry goods, a car dealer or electronics, the mikveh yid or the plumber, kid's tutor or mechanic etc. etc. aleh derfen shein ferdeenen. Forget about the quality of the product, or the reliability of the services, not to mention friendly courteous service; those are non-issues in competition the hatzloche depends on the cutthroat and nasty "take it or leave it" "ich hub besers voos tzi teen" attitude you convey to your fellow Yid. Ver ret noch when dealing with a temimes'digeh mother of ten whose husband struggles just to pay the mortgage - just ignore her or sell her the seconds, "tax free".


Out of the coffee rooms!

There are many items which without which it's poshut impossible to be Jewish. For instance: Black velvet/felt hats - in the rain, leather dress shoes in the snow, 100% polyester (zaadeneh) beckishes in the hot summer, Tall shtreimlech to dance at hakoofes, Custom Sheitlach (for the less-frum) when taking the baby to the doctor r"l, designer hats (for the echt frimme) when going to the fish store, diamond earrings when going to the dentist and last but not least Italian shoes when taking the kids to the hair dresser. Or food: overnight kigel, matyash herring by the .001 oz, or 4.5 oz. containers of Arbes, 98% Mayonnaise - egg, tuna, dill, olive, spinach, whitefish and lox dips, Express tuna-less sandwiches, zero trans fat rugelach (best in the entire country), overstuffed pastrami flavored filling sandwiches, and yes, LIGHT grape juice. Hello! Any accountability out there? Der oilem is hingerig! Royal Shoes, Malchus Suits, Kesser Hats, Queen's Boutique. Oh! I forgot Royal Linen, Royal Furniture, Royal Kitchens, Royal Doors, etc. The obsession with these types of names says alot about the mentality of the consumer. We have gone totally crazy, and I shudder when thinking what will need to happen in order to bring us back to a sane, logical, economically-sound way of life. PLEASE SOUND THE ALARM! KEEP THIS ISSUE ON THE FRONT BURNER UNTIL EVERYONE COMES TO THEIR SENSES!

May everyone be gebentched mit asach parnooseh bekooved.
Anonymous
P.S I am out of breath, as you can tell.

(האלבע ארבעט (2

Amolige Yiddishe Baalei Melochoh

Let us continue, shall we?

We touched on the issue of educating our children last time, and it may have seemed to you like I was singling out Mosdos, somewhat unfairly. Mosdos are not getting rich off of us, at least not most of them. They're for the most part collecting what they need to have just to stay alive. It's just that what happens more often these days is that the fund raising aspect of it has gone by the wayside; Mosdos are tired of fund raising all the time for your child, so they pass the costs on to the "consumer," for lack of a better term. We can nit pick and say that some people make a nice living off of working in our schools, but for the most part that isn't true. Which means that the high cost of educating our kids is not the root of it all. We do go a bit overboard, with things like a year in Israel for 18 year-old girls at $14,000 a pop coming to mind, but let's not go there. Plenty of people never even get that far, meaning that their issues start way before they worry about tuition, they're still worrying about basic needs, like food and shelter, and they have no solutions, other than either sticking their hands out to GeMachim and such, or using the Government to the utmost.


בזיעת אפיך תאכל

So, in trying to solve the problem here in the most upright and upstanding manner we need to introspect a little more. We like to point fingers at the Kosher food companies, the purveyors of meat and poultry, and what it costs to feed a family. A recent example of this really brought out the problem to me. On a trip to Pathamrk - No, not the one where I felt Golus - I noticed a large tray of chicken cutlets in a stand alone freezer, one of those without a top. It was a Perdue brand, IIRC. I check the price of this large tray and it was something like 7.15 for SIX POUNDS. That same week I was in a Heimishe grocery, one where the more "frum" shop, and where they only sell the most HOLY hashgochos, like Hisachdus and Kiryas Joel, and a pound of the same chicken product was 6.19 PER POUND. So I ask you: what does the large family that shops there and wants "Ibbergetzoygene Baylig" once a week have to do to be able to afford 3 or 4 of those packages to feed their family supper? Either they can have it once a year after the tax refund check comes or they can never have it, because they don't want to have to spend fifty bucks on a supper. Or they can exhaust the food stamp budget and not have enough for Shabbos that week.


Life's simple pleasures....

Option 3 is to splurge and to "write down." אראפשרייבן בלע"ז. Every day twice, three times. The kids put things on the bill every day on the way to school. Before you know it the bill is at hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. There's no money to pay that kind of bill. Then the grocer can't pay his bills to his suppliers. Suppliers and distributors need to raise the prices just to raise the cash they need to stay afloat. And the vicious cycle goes on and on. Grocers in such areas - areas that can't be cash and carry only - cry and beg for people to pay their bills, but to no avail. People can't pay because they have no money, they have no money because they spend so much on.... You get the picture. Somehow when it comes to maintaining our lifestyle we suddenly become big believers. We believe that this can continue because G-d loves us so and won't let us down. OK. Fine. We also believe that G-d wants to wear only the finest clothes, even for our two and three year olds. After all, does G-d want us to go to a department store where we see Goyim, chas Vesholom? of course not! And does G-d want us to be modest AND simple? of course NOT! so we need to shop locally and buy only Italy and France's best.

The list goes on and on....

who knew?

If hundreds of thousands of Jews never heard of him, never saw him, never asked him an Eitzah, or didn't make use of his hadrochoh, does that make him any less of a person, of an influence, of a mentor? UPDATE 8/5/09: Truth be told, I had no idea what the niftar's opinions were regarding Lubavitch, I was just asking the question. Meaning, if a person is based only on popularity and acceptance, where does that put Reb Zelig? The one that was supposed to have been the Chochom, Tzaddik, and Gaon HaDor? Can't you people think for a second without inserting your fourth grade line of logic?!

Here