Yesterday the Vizhnitzer Rebbe spoke at his tish about people who report on others who violate CoronaVirus regulations. The Rebbe spoke very harshly about these snitches and said they should be banned and excommunicated from our communities.

Haredim10 is reporting on something said by the Vizshnitzer Rebbe, after the police went to the Vizshnitz beis medrash at the end of Yom Kippur and broke up a mass Corona party, of sorts - they had basically broken all the rules with no distancing, thousands of people beyond what the rules allowed, and no masks at the post Yom Kippur tish and the police broke it up. 

It is a mitzva and an obligation to be careful about all the guidelines form the Ministry of Health, especially regarding wearing a mask, and whoever treats this lightly is putting others at risk We said that fro the first moment and we have warned people nto to take it lightly, and that there are no compromises in safeguarding people's lives.

  -- Viznitzer Rebbe in Bnei Braq to Minister of Health Yuli Edelstein


interestingly, he said this while he had guests in his house but did not wear a mask (it looks like Yuli's is on his chin, which is no better), so his warning everyone to be strict and careful about wearing masks and following the rules seems to fall short..


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Reb Yeshaya Steiner of Kerestir, also known as the Kerestir Rebbe, or Reb Shayale Kerestir, has become known as "The Mouse Rabbi". People put up his picture in their houses as segula to rid the house of mice and rats.

This image on the blog will render your mouse clicks ineffective

The story goes that he told a follower of his to hang his picture to rid the house of mice and it supposedly worked. Whether the story actually happened or not is beside the point, and it is under dispute by family members. Either way, the legend took off and nowadays many people hang the famous picture of Reb Shayale Kerestir to get rid of an infestation of mice.

Personally I always thought this was a weird legacy to leave behind, and I am sure how would have preferred to be remembered for his teachings and his Torah and dedication to God and to his community rather than to be remembered as an exterminator. On the other hand, at the same time, I wondered if perhaps he would be happy knowing he is helping Jews by easing their frustration and discomfort by ridding them of mice, despite the strange legacy and the perhaps diminished historic role from Torah scholar and leader to exterminator. I guess it is not for me to decide on this matter, but it did seem strange to me.

Interestingly, YWN is reporting about a Hassidic concert that took place over Sukkos Chol Hamoed that has led to outrage. The Hassidic singer same some song about Reb Shayale Kerestir and the video board displayed mice running across the screen until his image came up and then the mice disappeared. Strange.

According to the article, people are suddenly outraged by this degradation of the honor of Reb Shayale, treating him as nothing more than an exterminator. I don't get why it has been ok until now for so many in frum communities around the world to use his picture this way and only when it went up ont he video it became a problem.

This is a worksheet given out in the Vizhnitz school.. it is a worksheet based on Mishnayos, and the guide for the answers is at the bottom - a map of the world.

The student is instructed to fill in the answer in what direction the Rebbe davens when in Australia, and then in which direction when in America.

The Rebbe is the compass for them. In more ways than one - in life and on the map.

This little news item made the rounds yesterday to much wonderment...

A Chabadnik flying from Israel to New York found himself sitting next to the Spinka Rebbe. Shortly after takeoff, people from all around the plane started coming over to get a bracha from the Rebbe, to ask advice or just to have a few words.. Some hassidim asked the Chabadnik if he would be willing to switch seats, while some even offered to pay him to switch seats!

The Chabadnik came up with an idea to auction off his seat to the highest bidder. The bidding got as high as 18,000 dollars for the seat next to the Spinka Rebbe, when the Chabadnik changed his mind and canceled the auction. He decided he wanted to remain in his seat next to the Rebbe..

Some were criticizing the incident, spending so much money to sit next to the Rebbe, but I do not see anything wrong with it. I don't know that the guy would have gotten his money - I doubt these hassidim were carrying so much cash on them, and once the flight is over how is he going to guarantee that he gets the money wired to him or transferred? But if he was willing to trust the winning bidder, what do I care how someone private spends his own hard-earned money? I would not have bid $18k on that seat, nor would I have been able to, but if that guy can afford to pay so much for something he so dearly wanted, more power to him. Are there ways he could use such money in a better way than on a specific airplane seat? Perhaps, but that is his business, not mine.

On the other hand, if I had been in the seat of the Chabadnik and they had been offering me such sums of money for the switch, I would have taken it. He was probably being driven crazy, with all the people coming over the entire flight and crowding around the seat to speak to the Rebbe. And, he could not watch his in-flight movie. And he could not sneak the non-"special kosher" roll or bagel with the Rebbe sitting right next to him, nor would he likely have felt comfortable sleeping or reading a book. Plus I would not have had what to talk to the Rebbe about beyond asking him for a bracha..

I am lumping together a few interesting stories that were in the news. They have no connection to each other, but individually they do not each deserve their own post.

• The grandson of the Spinka Rebbe married a girl in Israel last night, the daughter of Antania Rebbe (never heard of him, sorry). The Spinka Rebbe is in jail in New York and was unable to attend the wedding. His request was denied. The family decided that the Rebbe and his family would watch the wedding broadcast over the Internet, and would transmit a message to the chosson and kallah as well. (source: Bechadrei)
  
  I wonder if he is the first hassidic rebbe to use the Internet...
  
  
• A few days ago there was a news report about a blood drive by the haredi community in Ashdod. What made the news was the fact that it was for men only. There was really nothing new about it, so I did not even think about it. All over the place, for years already, the haredi community has been organizing blood drives for men only, though I do not remember seeing any blood drives for women only.
  
  What is interesting is the response. The haredi community of Ashdod feels betrayed by the journalist who wrote the article that got them in hot water. As part of the article the journalist asked Tanya Rosenblit (she of the mehadrin bus fame) for her response about the blood drive. The community feels that the article was hostile to them, especially because it involved Rosenblit.
  
  In response, the community has banned that specific journalist from receiving news updates and press releases from it. (source: Bechadrei)
  
  
• Bechadrei has publicized a story about Rav Chaim Kanievsky, and I find it puzzling. I always love a good story, but when they don't make sense they bother me.
  

  The Lederman Shul in Bnei Braq

  The story goes that the gabbai of the Lederman shul had gone to Rav Chaim Kanievsky a few days after Rebbetzin Kanievsky's death and asked if they should check the mezuzos. Rav Chaim answered that the mezuzos had recently been checked so there was no need.
  A few weeks later the gabbai returned. During his visit he mentioned to Rav Chaim that he had understood that he did not need to check the mezuzos. Rav Chaim said he should send the mezuzos to be checked.
  After checking 30 mezuzos from around the shul, it was discovered that they were all kosher. In the three mezuzuos from the womens section, where Rebbetzin Kanievsky was a regular, problems were found, though the mezuzos were technically kosher. the three mezuzos were brought to Rav Chaim who instructed them to replace the mezuzos immediately.
  
  My questions:
  1. Did the imperfect mezuzos kill the rebbetzin? Is that the implication of the story?
  2. Why did they ask about the mezuzos? Just because she had died? Do they check mezuzos after every time a member dies?
  3. If the mezuzos were kosher, why should they have "killed" the rebbetzin?

You always hear the stories about how the Amshinover Rebbe is not restricted by our normal time frames and does things at different times than most of us. I always thought the stories of the Amshinover Rebbe keeping Shabbos until Tuesday, and similar stories such as davening shacharis in the middle of the night, etc. were exagerrated to make a point. Maybe they were also slightly in jest.

Sure enough, here are pictures of the Amshinover Rebbe saying kiddush levana during the day, instead of at night as it is usually said by most of us. Those stories are clearly true..


More images (though they are all pretty similar, can be seen on Bechadrei...

Can you imagine this? someone has a minhag too NOT eat matza on Pesach, because of a concern of finding it not baked properly rendering ti chametz. Sounds crazy to me, but someone called the Liska Rebbe has this minhag, that he got from some rabbis of the previous generation...

Here is a video f him talking about the minhag, though I gave up after a few moments as it is in Yiddish..


VIN has the details of the story on this...

Personally, no matter how great the original founders of this minhag might have been, it seems pretty backwards to devise a minhag that tells you not to do something in the Torah.. Can I say my minhag is, for example, not to put on tefillin, because they might not be 100% kosher (rounded corner, cracked letter, paint flecked off somewhere, etc) and it might be a bracha levatala?

The Spinka Rebbe was sentenced yesterday to 2 years of jail time fir crimes of fraud and tax evasion.

This begs the question how frum people can do such things. Don't we strive to be better? Don't we presume to be better?

The truth is that frum people are just people too. We are human and we all have desires and inclinations.. We each have our own tests, which we sometimes pass and sometimes fail (hopefully we pass more often than we fail). We all have frailties and influences.

This can easily explain satisfactorily when a religious guy gets thrown in jail for a crime. But a Rebbe? or a guy like Tropper who is at (or at least near) the top? Isnt he already supposed to have been beyond all that and be at the supreme level of honesty and straightness? Obviously they would have their tests too, but to fail the same tests that regular people fail? It doesn't make sense.
Unless it doesn't take much to be a Rebbe anymore, or to be a religious leader. If all it takes is to be a regular person with a longer beard, than they too can fail the same tests as us regular people.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been visiting Israel. Today she is set to deliver a speech in the Knesset in German. This has set off a debate whether she should be forced to speak a different language, such as English, not speak at all, or allow her to speak in German.

Some say let her speak, she is a friend of Israel. The holocaust was a long time ago, let's move on, etc. Others say that it is reprehensible to have to hear German in our Knesset. German is the language with which our parents and grandparents were slaughtered. Holocaust survivors were tortured with German and should not have to hear that in the Knesset of Israel. Some MKs said they will walk out and refuse to be present for a speech in German in the Knesset.

I am of the opinion that it is not a big deal and it is time to move on. We take so much money from Germany, that having to listen to a speech in German should not be so offensive. And if you do not want to listen, change the channel on your TV or radio.

But better than my opinion is this newspaper clipping (I do not know what paper it is from) from 1961 that I found on an Israeli Hebrew forum. The newspaper clipping relates a story involving the Sadigura Rebbe and is fascinating and sheds light on current events.
The author relates an incident in which he accompanied the Sadigura Rebbe went to a funeral of a chassid in Tel Aviv. The author spends some time describing the regalness of the Rebbe and his demeanor and how he greeted the taxi driver.

The taxi got to a certain intersection and there was an unusual atmosphere. The Rebbe asked what is going on and the taxi drivers response was that there is a world conference of mayors.

As the taxi pulled up to the house of the deceased, they saw the whole area lined with all the different flags of the various countries participating. Suddenly they heard the sounds of the National Anthem as the President of Israel arrived in the area. The Rebbe became very emotional and asked the driver to pull over to the side. He closed his eyes and listened to the anthem.

When it was over and they began moving again, the Rebbe said, "If all the nations of the world are honoring our anthem, how can we treat it with disrespect!? One should not continue driving when he hears our anthem. These are things that need to be treated with full respect."

As the taxi continued on its way, the Rebbe continued, "Just a few short years ago, we were nothing in the eyes of the nations. downtrodden, worthless. Now, with the kindness of Hashem, representatives from all over the world are coming to us to learn from our accomplishments. It is impossible to understand those who do not see the greatness in this."

The author writes that he said to the Rebbe, "Even representatives from Germany have come. There are those who think that we should not allow them to step on our land. "

The Rebbe contorted his face in dissatisfaction and shook his head "no". The Rebbe said, "This is an approach that is not correct. We do not have a community that can allow itself [the luxury of] boycotting a large nation. We are a country, and countries have obligations." After a pause for contemplation, the Rebbe continued, "our accounting of the Jewish nation with the German nation, we have yet to come to. We cannot do this, only Hashem, the avenging God, can do this. But that has nothing to do with the relations between the State of Israel, as a state, and between Germany. We are not even allowed to talk about boycotting Germany. Do not forget that we do not have so many nations that support us. If there is a nation that wants normal relations with us - we should not refuse it."

A couple of weeks ago in the Mishpacha magazine, there was an article about the Israeli operation to bomb OSIRAK - the Iraqi nuclear reactor, and some of the religious aspects of it.


In this weeks Mishpacha there was a "Letter to the Editor" in which the author relates a fascinating story related to the above article. I felt I had to share the story with you.


I am going to translate the letter (from Hebrew) as it was printed. I do not know if the details are accurate and how much of it the writer was actually privy to, but this is what he wrote:


In that year, 1981, on Lag B'Omer, as the Holy Rebbe Rav Moshe Mordechai of Lelov was leaving the grave site of the RASHB"I (Rav Shimon Bar Yohai), he turned to a group of his chassidim and said, "I have accepted upon myself something that is beyond my capabilities, but I had no choice."


The chassidim, obviously, had no idea what he was talking about. The rebbe continued, "If one fights with the power of evil, one is capable of overcoming it, but one must take into account that there will be casualties."


A few days later, at midnight, the Rebbe (who lived in the Geula neighborhood of Jerusalem), took a taxi to the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital. He went up to the Neurological ward and went from room to room checking everything out. Without saying anything and no explanation, he completed examining the ward. When he finished, he got a taxi and went back to his home in Geula.


A couple of weeks later, on the eve of the Shavuos holiday (this was June 7, 1981 - the day of the attack), the Rebbe told his gabbai to call Prime Minister Menachem Begin and to bless him with good fortune and success for the operation.


The gabbai did as instructed. When Begin received the message, his face fell in distress. He was concerned that the greatest State secret had somehow been leaked.


As the holiday of Shavuos began, the chassidim in the shul of the Rebbe noticed that something unusual was happening. The Rebbe asked a number of times if anybody had heard any news. The Rebbe turned often to the Aron Kodesh. He opened and closed it a number of times. His prayers were more intense than usual.


At the end of the holiday, the Rebbe was informed of the success of the operation to blow up the nuclear reactor. Immediately after he heard the news, he became completely paralyzed.


He was immediately taken to the hospital - Hadassah Ein Kerem. He was placed in care in the Neurological ward and remained there, in complete paralysis, for 6 years, until his death.


Only then did his chassidim understand his cryptic messages from Lag B'Omer, and his behavior over the holiday. One cannot imagine how much affliction the holy tzadikkim take upon themselves in order to save and protect other Jews.

This week is the 105th birthday of the Rebbe. The Lubavitcher Rebbe. I suspect he is getting close to be in the running for oldest person alive. Soon the men at Guiness will be knocking at the doors of 770 to start checking his credentials and verify his information...

Last night Habad sponsored a concert in Tel Aviv to celebrate the Rebbe's birthday. Friends of ours invited us to join them in attending the concert, and against our better judgement with Pesah quickly approaching, we decided to say yes and go.

Due to our friend's great navigational skills, we ended up getting their pretty late.. We caught most of Lipa's performance, and he was pretty good. For every 8 minutes of singing there was about 25 minutes of speeches and "Yehi"'s.

The crowd was pretty full, but not packed. There were a number of empty seats that I saw in my area.. I did not like the way they set up the grounds. The stage was so far away from the crowd that even with good seats we could not see the performances directly but had to watch on the screen. Also the lighting was pretty funky. They had some very bright lights flashing off the stage sporadically and the lights were blinding the crowd so at those times wee could not even see the screen...

But aside from that and the length of the speeches it was pretty good. MBD came up next. I thought he was a bit flat and unexciting. He sang a few songs and then sang one with Gideon Levine.

After some more speeches with some interesting gematriyas proving how great the Rebbe is, and a public kiddush levana, the star of the night came out.

Shweckey.

I was surprised that he got bigger billing than MBD. I remember MBD being the star and everybody else was his warm up act. Now MBD is a bit of a has-been whose time has passed, and he is warming up for the younger, more energetic stars of today. Shweckey was really the star of the night and he was great. He was exciting. He was vibrant. And the crowd loved him.

One more picture - at some point this guy started walking around the area I was sitting in and passing out drinks of vodka.. he got mobbed pretty quickly and his bottle was knocked off..