brisk battle

For people who care about this sort of thing, ortho jews are batteling for control of the truth.

Rav Aharon Soloveichik zt'l emphasized the centrality of amailus baTorah specifically in respect to leadership in Klal Yisrael.  Also for Dayanim and Poskim, it is insufficient to have only bekiyus-type knowledge and broad familiarity with piskei Halachah.  A Posaik b'Yisrael should be steeped in Gemara learning, in shakla vetarya, in Shach and Taz, R' Akiva Eiger, Noda b'Yehuda..  He must continually be involved in learning Gemara, Rishonim vaAchronim.  He must be an amail baTorah.

We feel it very important to protest here what two balabatim did to Yeshivas Brisk of Chicago since Rav Aharon Soloveichik passed away.  We are taught that the Halacha is:

הוא ובניו בקרב ישראל.

A Gadol in any type of position is to be succeeded by his sons.

Two balabatim "sat themselves down" on the premises and took control of the Yeshiva.  One of Rav Aharon's children went to discuss this scandalous situation with the Novominsker Rebbe, HaRav Yaakov Perlow shlit"a, nasi of Mo'etses Gedolei HaTorah of America and also a talmid of Rav Aharon. The Novominsker Rebbe said that he heard from two separate people that someone, an accountant, I don't know him, has taken control of the Yeshiva. He said that he heard this from two separate people.  One of them was Rabbi Moshe Meiselman.  Rav Perlow shlit"a emphatically declared, "This is an INTOLERABLE situation." 

 

Let us put aside for a moment the major issue of the sons being the rightful yorshim.

Not only are these two balabatim not involved in high-level learning of Gemara. They are not even involved in learning and they are not Talmidai Chachamim. Rav Aharon always emphasized that a Talmid Chacham is someone who is involved in learning. And they are not involved in learning.  One is an accountant, the other is an electrical contractor.  This is unquestionably a colossal bizayon of the Torah of Rav Aharon.  They are blocking the Torah of "their Rebbe" from going forth. 

This is NOT LASHON HARAH.  Anyone who has any feeling of connection to Rav Aharon Soloveichik and to his Torah has an obligation to cry out in protest!  On the contrary, such an absurd and exaggerated situation was able to evolve only as a result and as an expression of the lashon harah, jealously and systematic ayin ra'ah that has taken place over many years and still continues. Various people were jealous of Rav Aharon  because of the extraordinary Torah he was teaching, the great Mesorah that he represented, and the outstanding unparalleled personal example of Tzidkus, Chessed, Mesirus Nefesh that he was. 

The target of this jealousy was Rav Aharon's children - gaonim, tzaddikim, mamshichei darko.

(This painful story of the jealousy and ayin ra'ah will yet be written about and documented in further detail in a forthcoming sefer.)

The control over the Yeshiva today does not represent the Torah of Rav Aharon and does notrepresent the chessed of Rav Aharon.  We ask anyone who has any AUTHENTIC respect, not just self-serving lip service loyalty (I'm a talmid, I have Rav Aharon's picture on my wall..), what are you doing to enable the Torah of Rav Aharon to stay alive through his children in his Yeshiva?! 

DEVOTED TALMIDIM, speak up and protest!!  The time has come to be mesakain this bizarre and scandalous situation.

The time has come to fully return the Yeshiva to its rightful owners.

reverse discrimination against the pretty people

I disagree with Miss California. As the Donald said, "no one would care what she thinks if she weren't really beautiful." And she is. She said, roughly, that she is glad that gays can and do live together and have great relationships that are for the most part open and accepted by our society, but, she is oppossed to "gay marriage."

She was castigated for expressing that opinion. She was put through the wringer by a bunch of petty jealous and less pretty hypocrites. Barack Obama expressed the exact same opinion and it got him the support  of the gay and left wing community.

I happen to disagree with both the hottie and the proffessor. I believe that gov't should grant civil unions to any group or consenting adults that wishes to enter such a contract. If you want a religious ceremony of marriage, which by default would grant you a civil certificate, go to your place of religion and preform your religions rituals.

But if she were a man, or a less pretty woman, no one would have given her that level of blowback even if they did care what she thought.

An atheist case for Israel

What is Israel? How do I feel about Israel as an atheist Jew? Should there be an Israel? Should there be a country that defines itself and doles out rights to its citizens based on their religion?

I've struggled with these questions for years. Not only present day Israel but the biblical account of how the early Jews conquered and settled the land has troubled me. The historical and the present are intertwined, can there be a reason for Israel's existence without the backing of the Jewish God?

Yes. There is an argument for the existence of Israel as a Jewish state.

Regardless of belief or not in any theology, I am a member of a tribe called JEW. I am also a member of a tribe called AMERICAN. Right now the two tribes are able to co-exist harmoniously. If there was a war between America and Israel I would have to choose between the two tribes or someone would choose for me.
If you are muslim you are a member of that tribe and mecca or persia or somalia or wherever is your tribe and your tribal homeland. if you are buddhist than you are a member of that tribe and your spiritual/physical homeland is Tibet or India or China.

Without land a tribe will die. That is why natives in America were given land, the gov't of America decided to stop the complete genocide of the natives. And if you don't want to commit genocide than you have to give them land so their tribe will not die out.

So if all the tribes in the world, all the brits and chinese and italians and muslims and japanese and every tribe, if everyone wants to collectivlly give up our seperate tribes and we build something new together than great, we can give up Israel or the concept of JEW. However, until every tribe is willing to create one new unified tribe, than Israel is forced to exist. Israel must exist for the native tribe of Jew to survive. Israel must exist because each country and each culture struggles to survive and thrive.

So it does not matter what type of Jew am I. All that matters is that I am a jew and choose not to switch tribes. I could. I could become a muslim and turn to mecca. But I am a jew and cannot not be a jew and not support Israel unless everyone and every state and every tribe is willing to disband our borders and cultures and create something entirelly collective and new. All the world needs is one border anywhere in the world and Israel by default is justified in its existence and the importance of its existence. A tribe needs land to survive.

blago gone

what a farce.

Maybe he is guilty. maybe not. But to have a trial, even a political trial, and to accept the prosecuters word as 100% true and not allow the defendant to call witnesses in his defence...

well I guess its legal because the people who designed the trial and voted to oust blago said it was legal, but when 59 out of 59 vote one way, I can't imagine that they are all right and altruistic and honest. Does anyone believe that lisa madigan would be where she is with out daddy madigan?thats like when jeb and dunderhead both claim that being the son of a prez was a disadvantage.

I love america, I just wish it hadn't become russia. Or maybe it always was and I just noticed.

what was jesus doing?

I had an interesting conversation. 

Over the years I spoken with a number of orthodox jews. I've asked repetedly a few basic questions that I think go to the core of ancient judaica. One question I've asked is how they understand the numerous instances when the Israelites were commanded by their god to completly destroy, to wipe out every man, woman, child and beast of those they were ordered to attack unprovoked.

I asked and recieve a few standard answers. usually they boil down to acceptance of god's will and thats that: no conflict at all with the sense of reality that exists today regarding the morality of committing genocide.

So this man I spoke to tells me: "this is what jesus was saying. jesus was a well educated rabbi, trained in the rabbinate as all men from the tribe of david, and he looked at the ancient texts and was saying 'guys, you have it all jumbled up. You've mixed in man's foibles, war and the minutia of endless law with the general guidlines of god's love and harmony. So lets dump the genocide and keep the lovicide."

I say this all the time. I also  refer to myself as the messiah. i even have a few disciples and am recieveing regular offerings of bread. HEAR THIS: messiahs do eat more than bread. Feel free to bring wine meat and cheeses as well.

Thanks.

life in Israel Marathon Man

So this old guy in Israel just ran a marathon. And he completed the marathon.

First let me say that I am immensely proud for this guy. You should check it out at www.lifeinisrael.blogspot.com

And like all pro athletes upon reflecttion he praised his lord for helping him through. I wonder though, had he failed would he have blamed his god for having deserted him?

:-)

Love you lots!

Israel and Hamas

Anytime you go to war, anytime a country says that they are going to bomb a place, there is an implied understanding that civilians will die. 

The difference I am told is that one side's (Hamas's) intent is to hurt civilians and the opposing side's (Israel's) intent is to hurt the combatants/terrorists.

Intent matters to some. Intent matters legaly. The UN and courts value intent. Many people are hung up on cause and effect. As if one could divine and comprehend all the causes and effects. As if one could possibly understand or even discover all the intents. As if all these legalities and causes and intents were not based on false constructs. As if the humans who  created these modes of behavior and understanding were not filled with foolly by their belief in their own existence.

So I try to focus solely on effects. 2 sides are at war. And anytime you go to war you accept that civilians will die.

However this is not about policy. There are peaceful monks and there are warrior monks. This is about those who cry to "wipe them out." Perhaps the official legal policy 'should be' to wipe them out. But when a specific human cries out for that blood with passion and zeal and rightousness, they may forget that they are also calling out for the death of civilians. 

I hope that this thought makes them aware of other thoughts.