I stopped to drink some water from a public water fountain in the streets of RBS and noticed something written on the frame of the fountain just beside the dispenser, the perfect spot for a person to see it when he bends over to drink:

The person behind this sign is a brilliant entrepreneur!



the sign is offering a new service - it says - if you have found yourself stuck right before the 9 Days with freshly laundered clothes and no time to put them all on, a God-fearing avreich will prepare your clothes for you according to all the hiddurim!! every garment will be worn for at least an hour, in a place with no air-conditioning and without deodorant!

It is almost always the season for hotel advertising in the frum newspapers, and though these advertisements seem to bother some people they do not bother me. I recognize it as something people want to do so the newspapers accept ads for such trips. I don't believe it is the newspapers job to decide what is allowed and acceptable for society and what is not, though things that are clearly prohibited or immoral should be taboo. I would not expect pornographic material in Hamodia or Yated, nor would I want them advertising gambling or ponzi schemes. Vacations don't seem to me to be so bad, even if they are vacations I would not go on or cannot afford, even if they are not necessarily in the spirit of ruach yisrael saba.

Now, with Pesach approaching, it is always humorous to see the vacations advertised in the frum newspapers, offering people to leave Israel and go to exotic places like Greece, Switzerland, Italy or many other places (I even saw an ironic ad one year for a Pesach vacation in a hotel in Cairo!). Despite that I prefer to stay in Israel for Pesach, I do not begrudge anyone their vacation and recognize the ads are targeting people who want to go on them.

Hamodia ran the following ads for Pesach vacations in hotels and resorts. The ads themselves are not what I am pointing out, but the disclaimer they ran. Hamodia seems to feel guilty taking money for advertisements that officially go against their morals or preferences. They justify the advertisements, as you can see in the disclaimer, by saying there are people who justifiably must go away for Pesach. The examples they give are elderly people who are unable to make Pesach in their own homes or people with health problems. They also state in their disclaimer that they are not stating, via the ad, an opinion on the halachic issues of leaving Israel nor do they take responsibility for kashrus or tzniyus issues.

Of course, if this really bothered them, they could only take advertisements for simpler vacation packages, perhaps only for hotel packages in Israel. After all, just because someone has a health issue or is elderly and therefore cannot make Pesach in his or her own home does not mean they must travel to St. Moritz, France, Italy or anywhere else. Yet somehow, all these elderly people and people with health issues must travel abroad to deluxe resorts. Again, I don't mind that they do, but Hamodia's disclaimer is a joke. They know perfectly well that the issues they raise are not the subjects of the ad - if it really bothered them, they should not give ridiculous justifications.

And one more thing - I want to know if these elderly and sick people who cannot make Pesach in their own homes are the ones who are going to be going skiing in the Alps and using those ski-lifts, or if they will be going "snow tubing" or ice skating as the ads below promote....




The Hamodia disclaimer is a joke. They should have just run the ads, or not, and not added commentary that just reeks of hypocrisy.

For some reason, instead of just fighting about the issues, when frum people fight it almost always becomes an issue of who is frummer than the other. it almost never matters what they are actually fighting about.

I remember 13 years ago, when we first moved to Bet Shemesh, we were registering our kids for schools and gans. I remember that we registered a child at a gan run by Bais Yaakov. The popular gan among the Litvishe community was the growing chain of nursery classes administered by Eitz HaDaas, but we chose to send this kid to the Bais Yaakov gan.

Nowadays, there is more freedom of choice, meaning less pressure from external forces, as things are pretty set - no single individual choice makes a big difference to any institution or to the neighborhood balance, in general. Back then, however, each school, each institution, fought for each kid, as each kid made a big difference in numbers and balance. The schools put lots of pressure on parents, such as forcing all kids in a family to go to one school, or where the family davened, and in other ways.

Anyways, so we registered our kid in Bais Yaakov gan. Shortly thereafter we received a phone call about our decision. The person who called, the head of an institution we were registering other children in, tried to convince us to send our children to Eitz HaDaas instead of Bais Yaakov. he did not threaten us or say that he would not accept our kids if we did not change our registration, but he did try to pressure us to send to Eitz HaDaas. When we weren't agreeing to make the change, he pulled out his frum argument. Don't send to Bais Yaakov because their hashkafot are different than ours, they are Hassidic rather than litvishe. It is a bad decision, you will all be messed up by sending there. I don't remember the exact words, but they made it clear that because Bais Yaakov is hassidic rather than litvishe, we were making a bad decision.

At the time I thought that was the most ridiculous thing they could argue. I responded that it was ridiculous, as Bais Yaakov schools all over the world are where frum families raise their children and there is no difference between hassidic or litvishe in that regard. Of course there are some schools that cater to a specifically hassidic, but that is not the case here, and I find it ridiculous that you would say, so i told him, that  Bais Yaakov is teaching the wrong hashkafa and is not an appropriate place where we should send our child.  As well, after nursery school, all the local girls in the system go to the Bais Yaakov day school anyway, so in gan Bais Yaakov is no good but from 1st to 8th grade it is fine?

We chose to stay with our decision and not change it due to their pressure. As a matter of fact, their pressure made us more resolute. I hate when people argue stupid things, using frum arguments that make no sense. he could have shown us how their education was better, their staff was better, their administration more efficient, or whatever. the frum argument really upset me.

it looks like nothing has changed. Bais Yaakov and Eitz HaDaas are still at it, as competitors often will be, and they are still throwing the frum argument around. I dont know why frum people, frum organizations, cannot just accept that other people are equally frum, and decisions should be made based on the issues.

Bechadrei is reporting on an argument between, that's right, Bais Yaakov and Eitz HaDaas, and in the end it comes down to the frum argument.

In Jerusalem there was a lot of confusion around the afternoon day care programs. In Bet Shemesh as well, and the issues are still ongoing, but back to the story. A number of schools chose not to open the day care centers this year. They claim not enough children registered, though I think it has more to do with budgetary issues - the Ministry of Education changed how the afternoon day care system works, and how the subsidies are given, and there is a lot of unclarity. Schools are worried the care will be too expensive and parents wont pay, parents dont know if they will qualify under the new rules and if the day care will therefore be too expensive and worthwhile.

So, some schools are just not bothering to open the afternoon day care programs. That eaves some parents in a bind, as they must work or be otherwise engaged in the afternoons and have to find a program for the younger kids that get out early. Some parents, in this story, chose to cross-institutionalize their kids - meaning even if they send to Bais Yaakov schools, they tried to register the kids in Eitz Hadaas afternoon programs, or vice versa, as relevant.

It turns out that Eitz haDaas rejected the applications of kids who were coming from Bais Yaakov morning programs. The excuse from Eitz HaDaas management was that "Eitz haDaas cannot accept children from other institutions, especially not from Bais Yaakov as those children ruin the other girls."

If they had just said the first half of the statement, it would be understadable, if not nice. So they dont want to deal with kids from other institutions, if they accept from this, they have to accept from the other, etc. It would be not nice, but understandable enough. Adding the second half of the excuse, saying Bais Yaakov girls ruin the Eitz haDaas kids, as is Bais yaakov girls are all bummy and on the way to being off the derech, was just too much.

Funnily enough, some of the parents from bais Yaakov chose to move their kids over to Eitz haDaas schools just because of the afternoon day care issue. These parents were surprised to discover, so they said to Bechadrei, that the afternoon Eitz haDaas programs were mixed programs with both boys and girls. How dare they tell us such hypocrisy that bais Yaakov is not frum enough, when they are running programs that are mixed-gender.

So the issues are actually irrelevant, it is just a matter of who screams louder the claim to be frummer.

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Ynet has a piece on the fact that the Badatz Eida Haredis gives a hechsher, for Pesach, on many items that are not food, and do not require such a hechsher. Specifically the topic under discussion is cleaning supplies, such as bleach, that are not edible, even poisonous, yet they bear the banner of being kosher under the supervision of the Eida.

The Eida openly admits that there is absolutely no need for a hechsher on such items. It is a chumra that is absolutely not necessary. Yet they continue to charge companies, thus in effect raising the price of the items, for the hechshers on these products that have no need for such hechshers.

the Eida passes the blame for the situation on to the people. They say that people do not realize they don't require a hechsher n cleaning supplies, especially poisonous ones such as bleach. The people, in an attempt to be extra careful, have asked the companies about hechshers on their products, and the companies turn to the Badatz to obtain such a hechsher, Because the people want it, the Eida supplies it. the companies use it as a marketing scheme, the Eida charges money for a hechsher that is not necessary, just because people are ignorant, and the people feel good because they think they are being frum by having a Badatz on their bleach.

It is a win-win situation in our generation of, what I call, "Feel-Good Judaism", where we do what feels good and right, even if there is no need, or if it is not correct. Here, everybody comes out happy. The company makes money off our ignorance, the Eida makes money off our ignorance, and our ignorance makes us happy because it makes us feel frum. Of course, the people who are not ignorant and realize they are paying more "just because" are the only ones not happy...

The big topic of discussion right now is the yeshiva in new York that forces parents to open an account with WebChaver, an internet buddy monitoring system.
The school, however, should have no say at this level of what the parents do. They should not be allowed to tell parents you have to have this or that installed for us to accept your child. I feel this is inappropriate.

Adults should be treated like adults and should be trusted that they do what is necessary to be "internet safe", and how they do it is their own business. Kids however are kids, and school rules could and should apply to them. And if a parent says the kids has no access, or follows whatever the rule is, or whatever they say, that should be trusted, and they should not be put through these hoops.

It has come down to when a parent registers their kid to school, it is as if the parents are treated as if they themselves are now in kindergarten and are not trusted for anything any longer.

Ynet had an article about Hava Mond. Hava Mond is a fashion model originally from Tzfat (Safed) who is religious and has remained religious despite the profession she has chosen as one of Israel's top models.

The discussion around the internet and various forums, Areivim included, has centered on the question of whether such a woman can really be classified as religious or not. She chooses a profession in which it is nearly impossible to not do aveiros.
While true she might be performing admirably in many issues, as she says she only eats kosher which sometimes means she does not eat all day as the only food available is often not kosher (she shoots a lot in the international scene), she davens twice a day, she keeps shabbos, etc.. other problems arise. The greatest issue is modesty. While she has her limits, she does model in non-tznius attire.

So, is such a woman religious/frum is the question people are debating.

My thoughts on the discussion are, and I wrote this to the Areivim forum and another forum,:

I do not understand the discussion. Are we all perfect? Do none of us commit any aveiros, often willingly? Are the aveiros these people are committing any "worse" than the aveiros we might be committing in the privacy of our own homes without the newspapers letting everyone know?Would any of us consider ourselves not frum because of the aveiros we do?

We each have our pekalach and we each have the mitzvos we enjoy doing and do better than other people and we each have the aveiros that we are more prone to doing than other people. This is the aveira that this woman does. Does that make her less frum than me or you?

It is not for me to decide. My relationship with Hashem is between me and Hashem, yours is between you and Hashem and hers is between her and Hashem. Just like I do not know the details of your life, your mitzvos and your aveiros and it would be wrong and even impudent of me to assume I know how Hashem cherishes or not your relationship with Him, it is wrong of us to judge her and assume we know the details of her life and relationship with Hashem from one sketchy article and it is impudent to allow ourselves the liberty of judging the relationship she has with Hashem.

bluke at The Jewish Worker scanned in an advertisement from today's Yated Ne'eman.



You can see it here:

The ad basically announces for all daf yomi learners with the start of learning masechet Moed Katan, which much of the masechet deals with the laws and mourning, the Hatam Sofer supposedly said (the ad says "it was said in the name of the Hatam Sofer") that one learnign moed katan should be concerned because of the topic of mourning he is studying and therefore should protect himself by giving tzedaka.

Rav Chaim Kanievsky is then quoted as saying that the tzedaka you give should be to a specific organization called Kupat Ha'ir of Bnei Brak and it posts the contact info. Obviously this organization has sponsored the advertisement.

So, does somebody learning masechet gittin have to be concerned he will be divorced in short order? Is there some precaution to take against the vibes of that masechet?

What about someone learning masechet makkot which deals with the laws of the lashes beis din would meet out to those deserving of them? Would someone learnign Makkot be under increased threat of being beaten in an alley? Is there some sort of protection one can take against the threat?

What about learning masechet avodah zara? will one be taken in by the occult and end up receiving the punishment of kares?

And how does one protect himself from drought when learning masechet taanis? Do his chances of death increase when learning Yevamot, requiring his wife to fall to yibum? I do not even want to think about what a person should be worried about when learning masechet kritot!

Conversely, if a single person learns masechets ketubot or kiddushin, does that increase the chances of his getting married? would learning the various masechets of kodshim dealing with the sacrifices increase a persons chances of enjoying a good bbq dinner?

Why would the ammoraim compiling the gemara have written down a masechet that threatens the well-being of anybody who learns it.

And as bluke says from his rebbeim, Moed Katan and Hilchos Aveilus are just as much Torah as Bava Kama, Zevachim, etc. You are מקים the same mitzva of talmud torah. There is a chiyuv to know all of Torah and Moed Katan and Hilchos Aveilus are part of that. Therefore, it is inconceivable that a person would come to harm by learning Moed Katan and Hilchos Aveilus when by doing so he is fulfilling his chiyuv to learn Torah.

What a ridiculous manipulation for money!