Guest Post Follow-Up

A Follow-Up Guest Post by Yehoshua Shapiro

Dear Rafi,

Thank you again for allowing me space on your blog a lot has transpired since the last time I wrote. Like you say a few days in the blog world is a long time so certainly a month is like an entire lifetime.

I appreciate all the responses that I received and I see that many people share the same issues. Just as an update my daughter has applied to 3 schools. The 3 schools are all non-charedi schools. Like some of you had written my daughter has to have a say in the matter and was not interested in going to a Bais Yaakov and I am not one to force.

I visited 2 of the schools where she applied to. The first school I went to is in Yerushalyim and I and my wife met with the menahelet and she felt necessary to say that the school is not charedi they have their Rabbonim who they follow - those of you who are familiar with Har Hmor and the Rosh Hayeshivah Rav Taub this is who they consult with.

I should point out that even in the DL world you have different segments; there is chardal, but by Charedim I think Dl and chardal are all the same. I very much dislike the term Charedi and I said to her that to be real charedi this should be every god fearing Jew's goal then she went on to explain the issues in the so called charedi world. I am very disappointed that each camp has an agenda. ( There is no reason to list the problems - most of you are aware of them.)

My friends who thinks of themselves as Charedi have still not given up on me yet and still want to convince me how I am making a mistake. I would like to know what happened to tolerance? I studied in Yeshivas Brisk in Chicago and Rav Ahron was extremely tolerant and very few students were asked to leave. In Yeshivah you had students who went to Bnai Akiva to students who were to the extreme right and everyone managed to get along. I would like such a place for my daughter but I am not naive and I don't think such a place exists.

I would like to address those people who live in the diaspora and because of the type of issues I wrote about they are not interested in coming. These are not reasons not to come and I feel you are using this as an excuse. There a lot less problems raising kids here in Eretz Yisroel then there are in Chutz La'aretz and if you need me to spell them out you can write me (you can get my email address from Rafi). It is so much easier to learn because here everyone knows Hebrew so when you go to school it is that much easier to learn. The kids know chumash well, and nach as well.
I invite all of you to come on the next plane and make aliyah and things will work out (easy for me to say). We are here a little over 7 years and for the most part we are making it. I am not sure to be honest if we were to have stayed in the US who is to know how would we make ends meet with the high tuition costs and insurance etc.

The last couple of weeks we have seen here in Israel that the askanim are trying to assur the internet. I say the askanim and not the gedolei Yisroel because many of the gedolim receive their information from these people. The internet is a brocha and of course it has some things that are less than desirable but with proper controls one can use it and not fall in.

With all this attention that is being given to the internet, if one never heard of it before he now has a yazter horah to see it and find out what it is all about. The internet is here to stay. I spoke to a prominent Rov and years ago while the internet was still in its infancy he saw the potential of all the torah that could be broadcast and learned through the internet and he opened a site. Many people because of this site and the others that have opened since then have learned much torah. Technology is a great thing and we have the potential to use it for good things.

The internet is very good in the sense that it makes people tow the mark. Many issues that were not addressed for years on account of the internet these issues were finally addressed. There are dangers to the internet but with proper care they can be avoided. The internet and technology are here to stay and we have to channel the good of them for positive things.

I will end with this if the Askanim are looking to assur things, I think the first thing to go should be money. Too much money and not enough money has caused tremendous problems. I do not want to mention specifics I believe that most you know what I am talking about. We seem to put people who have money on a high pedestal. People worship the people who have money. This is truly against the torah - whether someone is rich or poor is by large based on Mazel. Some of the brightest Doctors are not necessarily the wealthiest.

I will not solve all the ills of the world, at least on the account of the internet, and because my friend Rafi has a blog I do not have to repress my feelings. I can speak out and not get sick. Like it says in the פסוק in משלי

דאגה בלב איש ישחנה - If one has a worry in his heart he can talk to someone about it or he is bent over about it.
I appreciate that Rafi allows me space on his blog so I do not have to repress my feeling s but that I can express myself and not get sick.

Kol tuv,
Yehoshua