Ami Magazine calls Vocational Colleges that solicit Chareidim "Morally repulsive"

The "morally repulsive,"  Frankfurter, publisher of the "Pro-Satmar Anti-Israel" Magazine, Ami, continues to make a fool of himself!

In this week's edition, The Frank, writes an editorial about his visit to the Jerusalem College of Technology's Machon Lev Institute, Israel's leading school of engineering for Modern men and women. 

The Institute was founded by the late Professor Zev Lev primarily for Hesder Talmidim. 

Machon Lev combines academic studies with Jewish learning and enrolls many Chareidim in separate campuses for men and women.

The Frank, interviewed the assistant to the President of the Mechon, Stuart Herskowitz, as he put it, to "ascertain whether Mechon Lev's goal was to teach a trade to those members of the chareidie community seeking a vocation to support themselves (a highly laudable undertaking), 
or to "meddle in the chareidi community's pedagogical philosophy and methods." 

 The Frank,  added the words, ("an ethically repugnant activity")  in parenthesis, for some reason ... 

So, The Frank, traveled 5,000 miles from his home to Israel to "ascertain" if a school that helps Chareidim with parnassa and gives them a trade, that helps them support their families .... 
is "meddling" with "Chareidie philosophy"!

And what, does The Frank, think is Chareidie philosophy?

DOING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! 

But he won't, G-d Forbid, come out and say it......
he masquerades his "do nothing philosophy" with a lot of sophisticated "word salad" to fool his readers into thinking that he advocates people training to have a trade!

To bolster his lie that he is all for Chassidim having a trade, he writes:
"It would be hard to find another Jewish periodical that publishes as many articles on the subject of business. We endeavor each week to assist our readers in overcoming their financial challenges and help them prosper."

DIN: 
It's true that The Frank, features every week business entrepreneurs,...... but what the clown won't tell you is that not everyone can start a business, and those that do, are a minority of a minority....very very few of them around.... 
and how many are successful? 
Ami doesn't feature those who started a business and failed.

Some need to go to school to learn a trade....Mr. Frankfurter!

He then rants and raves against learning a trade; but does his best to confuse his readers into thinking he is really for it, by quoting the halacha that requires learning a trade , which is  a Mishna in Mesactas Shabbos and is the final psak according to all Rishonim including the Rambam!

"Rav Meir famously said, "One should make sure to teach his son a trade that is clean and easy." 

And then, lest you think, that is The Frank's philosophy, he quickly switches, quoting the opposing view that is only designed for the very few, and  makes it the hallmark of his "editorial," saying that this is  Chareidie philosophy!

"By contrast, Rav Nehorai declared, "I forsake all professions in the world and teach my son only Torah"

Jerusalem Rabbi Says that Chazal Clearly Stated that Torah Study must also come with a Trade !

Rabbi Chaim Amsalem 

Finally a Rav with guts and fearless to say whats clearly on every normal persons mind! That Torah and learning a trade must come hand in hand! 
Hear read a Ravs reading of our holy Chazal!

Hundreds of thousands of students begin a new school year today. Some will learn basic Judaism and Torah along with general studies. Some will study Torah in the mornings and general studies in the afternoons, and some will learn Torah exclusively. While the minimal degree of Jewish content in the more secular schools saddens me, I am even more troubled by the third category described above. The haredi world in which I live does not educate children in accordance with Jewish tradition.

Haredi schools not following Jewish tradition!? Aren’t they the ones who do uphold tradition? Haven’t the more modern movements veered from the path?

The answer is simply that any movement which teaches its children only Torah is a modern aberration.

Wisdom of our Fathers Chapter 2 states emphatically that “any Torah not accompanied by work will end up being nullified, and will lead to sin.”A glance through the Mishna and Talmud reveals that along with being great Torah sages, the leaders of their generations earned a living as doctors, tailors, launderers, plowers, carpenters, land measurers, shoe makers and repairmen, wood choppers, beer makers, bakers, smiths, trap makers, engravers, skin tanners, mill workers, scribes, pit diggers, bundle and beam transporters, wool merchants and weavers.

Traditional Torah sources teach in the clearest of terms that learning a trade to support one’s family with dignity – alongside Torah study and living a Torah-observant lifestyle – is the highest of ideals. For example, in the Jerusalem Talmud, Peiah, Chapter 1 interprets the Torah’s instruction to “choose life” as a command to have a trade. The Babylonian Talmud, Kiddushin, 29a teaches that “a father must teach his son a trade. Anyone who does not teach his son a trade is as if he taught his son robbery.” The Midrash on Ecclesiastes Chapter 9 instructs: “Acquire for yourself a trade together with Torah.” The Babylonian Talmud, Brachot 8a goes as far as saying that “a person who earns a living from his own handiwork is greater than one who fears heaven.” Finally, 

All the above sources no doubt served as the basis for the teaching from Maimonides, himself a world-class Torah scholar and physician (Laws of Torah Study 3:10-11): “Any person who makes the decision to study Torah without a livelihood and to sustain himself from charity – such a person desecrates God, disgraces Torah, extinguishes the light of religion, causes bad for himself, and removes himself from the World to Come… and our sages also commanded that a person should not earn a living from Torah… It is a high level for a person to earn a living from his own toil and a trait of the saintly. Through this, a person earns all the honor and good in this world and the next.”

This approach continued until the past few hundred years. For example, the 15th century Orchot Tzadikim (309), teaches that “A person must find middle ground with two responsibilities and set aside hours for Torah study and for work in this world, and must strengthen himself to do both… neither should take away from the other.” The famed Maharal of 16th century Prague relates in Netivot Olam that “when a person is busy with two pursuits – work to provide for what his body needs and Torah for completion of his soul – he will not find any sin.”

So it is clear that Jewish tradition advocates intensive Torah study together with learning a trade. In our times, this means teaching students whatever they need to earn a university degree – the primary path for earning a livelihood in today’s world. (I also advocate joint yeshiva and university programs – a topic for a future column).

Lest one think it is impossible to provide an intensive yeshiva education while studying language, mathematics, science or history, a glance at the yeshiva world in the US proves that highschool students attending the most haredi institutions – Lakewood, Torah Va’daas, Philadelpia, Chaim Berlin, Telshe, and more study all these subjects as mandated by US law. This provides students with the option of university study, which many pursue, and produces well-balanced and worldly Torah scholars who bring sanctity to God’s name in the workplace and earn great respect for their communities.

I must make two important clarifications. Maimonides, at the end of the Laws of the Sabbatical and Jubilee years, elaborates on the benefits of doing nothing but studying Torah. The Ohr HaChayim, one of the greatest biblical commentators of the early 18th century, explains that this teaching refers to a person or group who wants to support a full-time Torah scholar in a partnership. Maimonides, in the Laws of Torah Study quoted above, is referring to a person who places a burden on the nation through his learning, and essentially forces others to support him. If someone has a private arrangement by which he does nothing but study Torah while receiving the support of a private individual, this is a blessing.

I personally love nothing more than quiet moments alone with the Talmud, or studying the Parsha with my children, and cannot imagine a more beautiful lifestyle. However, as Maimonides states, no person can choose to place the burden of supporting him on the community. This is exactly what the haredi school system does.

Clarification number two relates to our need as a community to produce elite Torah scholars. It has always been part of our tradition to identify a select group of young men who have the potential and drive needer to spend their entire lives studying Torah and we, as a community, should not only support them but should feel blessed to have that opportunity. The number in each generation who fit these criteria is quite small, but even today we should find those elite scholars and spare them any worry about having to earn a living.

I have extensive plans to establish a system of government-funded schools to provide haredi boys with the opportunity to reconnect to authentic Jewish study of Torah and general studies, enabling them to sustain their families with dignity. I bless all our students with a successful and fruitful school year, but will not cease to work toward rehabilitating the haredi system as an MK and through the Am Shalem movement. It is time for the haredim who claim to fight for authentic Judaism to truly live by that lofty ideal.

The writer is an MK, and the founder and chairman of the Am Shalem political movement.
Read full Op-Ed in The Jerusalem Post By Rabbi Chaim Amsalem 

Rabbi Dov Landau 0f Bnei Brak Attacks New Yeshiva in Beit Shemesh Combining Secular Studies

 

Before I comment on the article below I want to let you guys know that in Israel having over 100,000 Avrachim learning in Kollel, is not sustainable, not for the families of the Avrachim and not for the State. The Avrachim have an average of 8 children, bli ayin hara, and even though they all get government subsidies, they cannot make it financially. There isn't enough income to generate savings to make weddings or other simchas or to buy them diras! 

Their wives work, true, but most of them work as teachers, or assistant teachers in the Bais Yaakovs and make a pittance, ask MK Minister Goldknaupf, the Gerer Chasid who is presently the Minister of Housing. When he ran the Bais Yaakovs in Bnei Brak, he made sure to fire the Teachers right before they became eligible for benefits. 

Article:

 It was recently announced that a new yeshiva  will be opening in Beit Shemesh headed by Rabbi Dovid Leibel which will incorporate secular studies outside the yeshiva in an Open University format.

On Monday, Rabbi Dov Landau, who currently heads the Council Of Torah Sages, wrote a sharp letter criticizing the initiative. The letter was published in Yated Neeman and signed by all of the members of the council except for Rabbi Baruch Mordechai Ezrachi, who is currently hospitalized in serious condition with respiratory problems.

DIN: Let's not forget that for years, The Yated's prime and distinguished writer was none other than the author of Kid's speak, Chaim Walder, the sexual predator and rapist who broke up countless families. Chaim Walder was also the founder and director of the Child and Family Center of Bnei Brak, and performed all kinds of Torah prohibitions under the noses of Rabbanim such as Rav Landau and his late father.  The paragraph hints that the only reason Harav Ezrachi (who Should have a Refuah Shleimah) didn't sign the letter was because he "is currently hospitalized. 

Interesting, that both Rav Ezrachi & Rav Zilberstein would sign a letter against a Yeshiva incorporating secular studies, since they made it their business to address The Agudah Yarchei Kallah in Yerushalayim in 2022 to an audience of Baalei Batim of whom 90% graduated college, and of whom 100% attended Yeshivas with secular studies!

Rabbi Landau heard about the initiative during a trip to the US from a Rosh Yeshiva who explained to him the details and warned of the dangers in establishing such an institution. 

DIN: Who was the Rosh Yeshiva? What is his name? 

I'm wondering if this "Rosh Yeshiva" himself attended a Yeshiva that had secular studies? 

All Litvishe Yeshivas in the USA have secular studies in their curriculum and most have their students take the regents! Why would a US Rosh Yeshiva who most probably attended a Yeshiva with secular studies and has his own children in a Yeshiva that has secular studies, put his nose in Israeli Chareidie education? 

Rabbi Landau requested that his letter be signed by the other Gedolim and published in Yated Neeman.

DIN: He will no doubt find "other Gedolim" who are worried that Avreichim will finally come to their senses and start learning a trade and leave them. R' Landau wants it published in the "Yated" the paper of the notorious pervert!

The letter was co-signed by Rabbi Meir Zvi Bergman, Rabbi Baruch Dov Povarski, Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch, Rabbi Yitzchak Zilberstein and Rabbi Zvi Drabkin.

The letter states that “Torah study has always been clean and unsullied by any trace of mixing with other disciplines, and our rabbis devoted themselves and fought holy wars against any plans to mix even the slightest amount of other studies within the walls of the Torah fortresses and holy yeshivos.

DIN: Having secular studies in a Torah environment  is something "not clean and sullied?" 

Rabbi Landau with all due respect, Yeshiva Torah Vadaas, Yeshiva Chaim Berlin, Yeshiva Mir, Yeshiva Chasan Sofer, Veener, Ger, Stolin, Bobov, Tzelem,  and yes even Satmar all have secular studies in their curriculum. These Yeshivas were headed by the greatest Gedoilim of the 20th century including Rav Moshe Feinstein, R' Yaakov Kaminetzki, Mattesdorfer Rav, Tzelemer Rav and R' Gedalyeh Schorr etc. etc. 

“However we have now heard that people are planning to establish an institution called a yeshiva gedolah which mixes the holy and the profane, Heaven forfend, in the city of Beit Shemesh.

DIN: Excuse me... did they just write "that people are planning?"  Who are those "people?" Rav Rabbi Dovid Leibel, the president of the Achvas Torah communities, is just "people?" So he isn't a "gadol" because he disagrees? 

Most people in Ramat Beit Shemesh where they are planning this Yeshiva are Anglos, who want this Yeshiva for their children, to make it possible that their children become financially independent and would be able to support their wives as promised in the kesuba, they don't want to come to the US to schnoor because they're children cannot make it financially. 

Kol Ha'Kovod to these parents. 

By the way, these parents are Bnei-Torah, who sacrificed to make Aliya, run to shiurim, and set up massive Chesed Organizations. They moved to Beit Shemesh, not to Bnei Brak, because this is exactly what they want for the children!

“It is our duty to warn against this and to raise a huge storm to alert the Yere’ei Hashem wherever they are that they should not send their children and disciples to this place or give them any support G-d forbid.

DIN: "G-d forbid????" "Alert the Yere'ei Hashem?" ????????

Did you "alert the community" of Bnei Brak when a Chareidie harbored knowingly an illegal Arab and his brother in his home, that turned out to be a terrorist that stabbed his neighbor an avreich.?

Did you "alert the community" the "Yer'ei Hashem" when Chaim Walder was sleeping and raping married women of your community? 

This little fact was known by the Bais Din of Bnei-Brak for 5 years before the community  was "alerted." One of those women went public and stated that she took the sex-fiend Walder to Bais Din in Bnei-Brak, five years prior,  and that the Bais Din ruled that she must leave her husband but refused to notify Walder's wife, the woman subsequently learned of 4 other woman in the exact same circumstances. And even when the facts came out, most of the Litvishe Gedoilim said it was "Loshon Hara" to expose him. 

Are we living on different planets? 

If you don't want to send your children to this school , then great, but to announce in the "Yated Pervert Paper"that people should "not support" them is a chillul Hashem, and is actually going against countless Gemarras that not only advocate work, advocate  a trade but in fact state that working in Israel and learning a trade is a parent obligation!

“Happy is he who can uproot this scourge before it begins, and will keep the House of Israel faithful to Hashem and his Torah free of any aspects of this iniquitous culture, remaining sanctified to Torah study, keeping Mitzvos and following the Torah path.”

DIN: Happy is the one who can learn a trade, support his family in comfort, and still keep up with learning Torah "be'naachas ube'kavod" 

A Kiddush Hashem would be to support this new Yeshiva Gedoileh headed by an outstanding Talmud Chachem and a prominent leader of a great community!

Chasam Sofer wrote that it's more important to work in Israel then to learn Torah!

What? Is that true? Is DIN making all this up? Oy vey, what will all the charlatan Roshei Yeshivah in Israel say to this Chasam Sofer?
 That he is a heritic? 
Don't believe one word I say, read the Chasam Sofer for yourself!

and now a comment from Rationalist Judaism
Rabbi Tzvi Liker sent me one of the most extraordinary Torah perspectives I have seen in a long time. It's all the more amazing because of who it comes from. Rav Moshe Sofer, a.k.a. Chasam Sofer (1762–1839), is widely considered to be the "father of Orthodoxy." He was the Rosh Yeshiva of Pressburg and a staunch opponent of any reformations of Judaism, leading to his famous saying, "That which is new, is forbidden by the Torah." 

The discussion relates to the well-known dispute in the Gemara between Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai about learning Torah versus working. Rabbi Yishmael teaches that the study of Torah is to be accompanied by earning a livelihood, as per the verse that we recite in Shema, "Ve'asafta deganecha - And you shall gather your grain." Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, on the other hand, says that one should devote oneself to Torah, and God will ensure that one's needs are provided for. Abaye observes that many followed the lead of Rabbi Yishmael and succeeded in both working and learning, while most of those who followed Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai did not succeed in either.

Enter Chasam Sofer. He cites a view that one should ideally follow Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and dedicate oneself solely to Torah, arguing that when Abaye observes that many people didn't do well in that path, this is because they didn't really devote themselves to it properly, but a special person who is truly dedicated to Torah will manage to succeed. Chasam Sofer himself says that "we" (it's not clear who he's referring to) follow Rabbi Nehorai, who argues with Rabbi Meir's instruction that one should teach his child a trade, and says that he will only teach his son Torah.

So far, this sounds very much in accord with someone representing the right wing of Orthodox Judaism. But now comes the "but." And it's the "but" to end all "buts"!

But, says Chasam Sofer, but, this is only true in the Diaspora. In the Diaspora, there is no reason to work at a trade except to earn a living; furthermore, enhancing the economy of one's host country accentuates the fact that the Jews are in exile. Accordingly, if one can truly dedicate oneself to Torah and succeed that way, there is no reason to work, and this is what Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was referring to (and Chasam Sofer argues that even Rabbi Yishmael would agree).

In Israel, on the other hand, it's entirely different. Here, Chasam Sofer says, one does not only work the fields in order to make a living. There is also the mitzvah of yishuv ha'aretz, settling the land. In the same way as one stops learning Torah to put on tefillin, says Chasam Sofer, one stops learning Torah to farm the land, which is the mitzvah of yishuv ha'aretz. Chasam Sofer explains that yishuv ha'aretz does not just mean living in Israel; it means developing the country. He further says that not just farming, but all industries and professions, are part of settling the land and giving it honor. Chasam Sofer adds that it would be a deficiency in the honor of Israel if a certain profession does not exist there, requiring products to be imported from abroad.

This is staggering! According to Chasam Sofer, there is a mitzvah for people in Israel to leave yeshivah and learn a profession quite separate from the requirement to provide for one's family. It's important for Israel to have doctors and engineers and all the professionals that a country requires in order to have honor (and to counter the brain-drain that currently exists). Likewise, people who make aliyah to Israel and bring their professional skills are fulfilling the mitzvah of yishuv ha'aretz in a much more significant way than merely by living here.

Chasam Sofer states this idea in two places. Don't take my word for it - above is a scan of both passages. Read and be amazed! And share it with those who believe that anyone encouraging people in Israel to leave yeshivah and enhance the workforce can only be a Torah-hating Amalekite!

DIN:
I also refer you to the introduction to the Chasam Sofer on Chumash.

There he decries the practice of not teaching your son a trade and having him learn full time.

This, he says, will result in boys marrying only for money and creating issues in Jewish homes and marriages.

I guess that today he would be called a sonei dos.

Ami apologizes for running an ad that advocates teaching Yeshivah Students a skill!

Can I ask a question? What's wrong with Bnei Torah learning a skill? Doesn't the Misnah  in Mesactes Shabbos say, that a Father has an  obligation to teach his child a skill and also how to swim?

I work with a lot of Chassidim, and I can tell you, that they are mad as hell, that they cannot read or speak the language of the country they were born in. I am not talking about "Chassidishe bums" or "tuna beigels" I am talking about serious erliche yidden.

So here comes the "educated" Frankfurter who wants to deny his grandchildren what he himself was taught.

I learned as a child in a Chassidishe Yeshivah, and they had a decent English Department, some went on to college and to medical schools to become doctors...

Some became successful lawyers.... Yes, Chassidishe guys that became doctors and lawyers...

What's wrong with that?

Now "The Frank " that took the ad got hell from the "big beards" and did an about face, because he is worried that they will ban his magazine now ..

Ami Magazine, an English language frum weekly ran an advertisement for Young Advocates for Fair Education (YAFFED), an organization that lobbies for increased secular education among New York’s Chasidim.

Bearing the Talmudic quote “a man is obligated to teach his son a trade” and showing an illustration of a Chasidic boy reading a math textbook, the advertisement asserted that learning secular subjects is a religious mandate as well as the law.

In 2013 the organization used the same advertisement on a billboard overlooking New York’s Prospect Expressway.

“Last night it came to my attention that in this week's edition of Ami Magazine there is a banner ad for Yaffed, an organization with a mission to change the state of Orthodox Jewish chinuch [education],” wrote Ami editor and clown, Yitzchok Frankfurter in an email to subscribers.

“Ami Magazine has repeatedly advocated against such efforts and has condemned organizations like Yaffed. We have asked the community to unite against all those who seek to reform the Orthodox way of life, and we remain steadfast in our resolve to defeat such misguided initiatives.”

The inclusion of the advertisement, Frankfurter stated, was the result of an error in the advertising sales process, for which he apologized.

Asked for comment, Frankfurter told the Post that he could not "state more than I stated in the email." 

Yaffed founder Naftuli Moster is currently suing the state of New York for failing to implement the same standards in ultra-orthodox schools as in their secular counterparts and, according to the New York Times, the parents of several students within that system have agreed to join him, although they are doing so anonymously for fears of communal backlash.

Yochanan Lowen, a former Satmar hasid, is currently suing authorities in Quebec, Canada, including the Department of Youth Protection, for failing to force local hasidic schools to meet similar educational standards, arguing that he lacks the basic life skills to function outside of his community as a result.

Why are Chareidim in the US Covering Up the the Amount of Dead from the Virus??

by Rabbi Yitzchok Rudomin

How many Jews have died from the Coronavirus in the USA? 

This is a question that is never openly asked and studiously avoided.

 Why?

 If you live in America, as I do, it should be a very basic question, to know exactly what is going on around you. After all, doesn’t knowing this bolster the case of those who take it seriously, and counter the what-me-worry attitude of those who are ignoring social distancing?

I just read an article claiming that Orthodox rabbis cannot agree on how and if to resume prayer Minyanim. 

Wouldn’t it help them decide if they could measure the scope of the tragedies around them? 

It would bring home the level of severity of this health crisis for those slacking off, and bring us face to face with the enormity of the losses American Jewry has suffered and confirm our need to mourn for the victims, particularly in Orthodox-Haredi-Hasidic-Sefardi circles in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan areas that have tragically been hit hard, and still are suffering.

In Israel, the Jewish homeland where the situation was under control and is evidently improving, there is an exact count of Jews who have passed away from the Coronavirus. Reports say that of the almost 300 victims who have passed away, about 70% are from the Haredi sector. 

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Taxpayer-funded Jewish schools are dooming young men to poverty

Yosi Neufield

Judaism refers to its followers as “people of the book.” But the children — some 57,000 of them in New York City alone, according to the 2013 census — of the state’s ultra-Orthodox communities are largely being denied an education that includes science, math and English books.

In April, state Senator Simcha Felder (D – Brooklyn) refused to sign off on the state budget unless yeshivas, which accept millions of dollars in government funding, were given more autonomy over curricula. Per a Post editorial, “Felder demanded [legislation] to exempt private yeshivas from state requirements to provide adequate education in basic areas such as English, math, science and history.”

It was announced on Wednesday that Felder secured some $200,000 in discretionary funds for “education access” programs for Agudath Israel, the lobbying force that helped fight state efforts to impose instructional standards on yeshivas.

"Yated Israel" Editor Denounces Yeshivah that Teaches a Trade

The Litvacks are slowly going insane! There I said it! 

They expect the Zhlubs to work their tails off to hand them money so that they can hang out in Bais Medrish all day! They do not want them to contribute to society!

This is the work of the Litvishe Roshei Yeshiva who feel threatened that they will lose the "kavod Ha'Torah" if 50,000 talmidim don't stand up for them when they walk in to give a shiur!

This learning full time business till you drop dead, is basically a new phenomenon in Jewish History....
In Europe there were a couple of people in town that learned full time and were supported by the town... but now the holy litvacks started a new minhag of everyone not working,ever!
This is causing Mosdos Ha'Torah to steal, because there is no way to support this crazy amount of guys, learning!

So the editor of the Israeli Yated, a hebrew rag written in hebrew, goes on a maniacal rant about a Yeshiva, that G-D Forbid, teaches a trade with limud Ha'Torah! Though the Mishna requires this, that won't convince the litvacks that know better then the Tanaim of the Mishna!

Yeshivat Chachmei Lev, located in the Kiryat Yovel neighborhood of Yerushalayim, is a school for chareidi young men who combine limud Torah and secular studies towards earning a matriculation high school diploma. The school’s existence continues its uphill battle, as it comes under fire by the chareidi community.

The latest attack comes in the Tuesday 29 Sivan edition of Yated Neeman as editor Rav Yisrael Friedman attacks the school. Friedman writes that the Jerusalem Municipality has approved an allocation for the school and therefore, the little battle is over, albeit with a loss, and the large battle remains.

Friedman speaks of the battle of those who wish to pull Am Yisrael away from limud Torah, to permit them to integrate into the secular world. He speaks of enticing programs to attract bnei torah by “speaking of the window of opportunity” and “acting for the good of the chareidi tzibur”.

In short, Friedman uses Yated to dedicate a lengthy scathingly worked editorial, without offering a positive note as to the merit of the school and the need for such schools amid an awareness there are chareidi youths who do not see their future in a beis medrash fulltime yet they remain committed to their chareidi way of life. 

Massive backlash on the Asifas against Israel! People want to take Judaism back, from the Extremists!

The extremists are now having a snowball effect on the Jewish people.
 The moderate Agudah has now teamed up with the Satmar "meraglim," and the Neturei Karta to fight the State of Israel!

Belz & Kloizenberg who hated Satmar, now joined the Rumanian hooligans. 
Even the Litvisha Roshei Yeshiva are now adapting the Neturei Karta ideology. Rav Aaron Kotler is turning in his grave!

You may say, that they are the frum majority, so they must be right. 
That reasoning is flawed, since the Buddhists and Moslems are the majority religion in the world; are we going to G-D forbid accept their theology? 

The Agudah though they deny it, organized the huge Chillul Hashem that happened last Sunday on Water Street!

They are spewing hate and blatant lies to the masses telling them that the government of Israel has planned all along to induct the Yeshivah boys to make them not frum! 
The Nazi, Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany, used to say that if you "keep repeating your lies, they will become fact"
Using Goebbels tactics, leaders of our Yeshivas are brainwashing our children with these lies!

People are becoming fed up and want to take back yiddishkeit from these usurpers and charlatans!

Leaders of Klall Yisroel don't always wear fur coats, Eisav also wore a fur coat. 
Leaders of Klall Yisroel don't always wear fancy fedoras and frocks. 
The Chofetz Chaim, didn't own a fancy hat, he wore a simple Chino Cap!
Leaders of Klall Yisrael are people who don't fight their brothers in secular court. The second Rashi in Parshas Mishpatim clearly states that if you go to secular courts, "you are me'challel Shem Shomayim,"
Leaders of Klall Yisroel don't endorse pro gay candidates for mayor in New York!
Leaders of Klall Yisroel don't protect rapists, sex abusers!
Leaders of Klall Yisroel, don't annex land in Monroe to antagonize the gentile neighbors!
Leaders of Klall Yisroel are "makir tov" to the IDF for being there to protect them.
Leaders of Klall Yisroel would make a Mishebeirach for the IDF!
Leaders of Klall Yisroel would condemn the Yeshivah students who are beating up Frum IDF Soldiers in Uniform!
Leaders of Klall Yisroel would tell the non-learning boys to either learn a trade or join their brothers in the army!
Leaders of Klall Yisroel would tell Yeshivah boys that they are obligated to support their wives, written and signed in the ketubah!
Leaders of Klall yisroel would tell their followers that the women belong in the home to bring up the children, instead of shlepping to work, while their husbands are kvetching the chairs in yeshivah!
Leaders of Klall Yisroel don't have interviews with the Jew Hater, Yitzchok Frankfurter from Ami Magazine!

The Clown Frankfurter from Ami

We have decided to start introducing our readers, to true Torah leaders and to expose the fakes!
We already featured Rav Rabbi Eliezer Melamed,  Head of Yeshivat Har Bracha previously!

Today we will feature an exchange of letters!

Rav Pruzensky of Teaneck!

Earlier this week, I was contacted by an old friend who now lives in Israel, part of the Chareidi world. He sent me his thoughts, and I responded, and the exchange is reproduced below, with minor editing. I have deleted the friend’s name.   -RSP

6 Adar II 5774, March 8, 2014

Dear Steven,

Ahead of the mass gathering of Torah true Jewry scheduled to take place tomorrow in Manhattan, I’m reaching out to you, our brothers in America, to share with you the sad truth: here, in the State of Israel, Torah Jewry is subject to religious persecution.

To classify Torah students as “criminals,” subject to imprisonment, is only the latest and most absurd of anti-chareidi laws enacted recently by the government. In addition, they have  drastically cut education and welfare budgets, aiming to choke our yeshivos and schools, and even our individual religious freedoms, so prized by Americans and citizens of democracies worldwide.

Under the deceptive mantra of ‘sharing the burden’ the government is responsible for a wave of unprecedented incitement against chareidim, thereby splitting the nation. It is no secret that the objective of conscripting Torah scholars is a thinly disguised attempt at social engineering.

Is it conceivable that a Jewish government in Israel is trying to prevent its citizens from living Torah-true lives in the tradition that their ancestors for generations were moser nefesh for?

As you prepare to gather to offer heartfelt tefillos tomorrow, please remember that the train of persecution of lomdei Torah has already left the station and that there is no doubt that it is more difficult to stop a train that is already moving than to prevent it from leaving. But we must not despair and have to try to raise the alert, and to make all possible efforts to change things, before the train picks up speed. Because the route this train is heading towards leads directly to the abyss.

We know that the heart of Torah-true American Jewry beats together with its brethren in Eretz Yisrael, and senses that the danger to Torah observance in the Holy Land is a danger to the entire Jewish world. We believe that you recognize that learning and living Torah in Eretz Yisrael in holiness and purity is the basis for the existence of Torah true Yiddishkeit in Eretz Yisrael and in the Diaspora.

And therefore, grasp onto the craft of our fathers, and plead to Hashem that He protect and send salvation to all those who seek His yeshuos, so that shomrei Torah and lomdei Torah throughout will be able to continue to draw upon the eitz chaim, the tree of life, of the Torah world in Eretz Yisroel, that sustains us all.

Sincerely,
(Name deleted)
Your brother in Eretz Yisrael

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Dear ———:

It is great to hear from you and I hope you and the family are well, but I must part company with you on this issue, and I will not be participating in the rally today. 

In fact, I denounced it yesterday – even noted (based on a Midrash at the beginning of Vayikra) that there is such a concept of a “Talmid chacham she-ein bo da’at.”   

Here is why:

Chareidim make a mistake in thinking that only the Lapid-led diehard seculars have a growing contempt for them. The dati-leumi community is also increasingly hostile, because they sense – to me, accurately – that the Chareidi community is causing hatred for Torah. It is impossible to explain to – take, for one example – my nephew, who learned in Hesder and completed his army service, why his Talmud Torah is somehow inferior to that of Chareidim. It is not. Perhaps his Talmud Torah is the same, but the Charedi world’s “Nosei b’ol im chaveiro” is completely absent. That deficiency in Ahavat Yisrael is glaring, noticed and the reason why the society at large no longer tolerates it.

It is unconscionable that there exists in the Chareidi world this idea that work and army service are beneath them, and that the rest of society which they hold in contempt must work and pay higher taxes in order to support them in order that they should sit and learn. I too would love to sit and learn, and have someone support me, but that is not the system that Hashem set up. Odd, indeed, that the Rambam’s clear statement (Hilchot Talmud Torah 3:10-11) is ignored, if it is even taught. But when he speaks of “kavah me’or hadat,” that is exactly what has happened, and solely because the Chareidi world has not fully embraced the Torah. That construct of the Chareidi world as practiced today is unprecedented in Jewish history.
The Chareidi lifestyle as currently constituted is unsustainable. Everyone knows it, even their gedolim know it – but many are afraid to speak the truth for fear of physical attacks or peer reproach. They are literally trapped in a different era, using the language of Czarist Russia, Antiochus and Purim to describe a government that is the biggest financial supporter of Torah in the world. That is not leadership. I fully endorse the notion of a Yissachar-Zevulun relationship for as long as the parties agree, but no Yissachar has the right to force someone else – the whole society? – to be a Zevulun. That is simply not part of the Torah system.

What is wrong with all Jews participating in national defense? Or, if for whatever reason Chareidim feel they cannot, what is wrong with even Chareidim doing national service – helping out in nursing homes, teaching Torah in deprived communities, even doing chesed work for a year or two? That is known as giving back to society. One can’t only take; one must give as well. Certainly, as Rav Dessler emphasized repeatedly, giving – not taking – is the essence of the righteous person. When I learned in Israel, I thought it quite natural to participate in the national defense. I didn’t necessarily enjoy – at the time – the loss of sleep because of overnight patrols, but I am happy I did it, and only benefited from it, even in terms of Talmud Torah. How can Zaka take time off from learning to pick up the pieces, r”l, after a terrorist attack? Why can’t the same people work to thwart the terrorist attack in the first place?
Indeed, the army doesn’t really need Chareidi service as much as the Chareidim – for halachic and moral reasons – need it for themselves. But army service is mainly a portal into the work force, and that is key. The rate of employment in the Israeli Chareidi community is simply too low. The work force participation rate of adult males in Bnei Brak, Betar Illit, Kiryat Sefer, etc., is scandalous. Perhaps that is the true “war on Torah,” because the impression given that one cannot be a Torah Jew and a Talmid Chacham – and work and support one’s family – is an outrageous canard. All the Tannaim and Amoraim worked for a living. The greatest of our people – Avraham, Moshe, Yehoshua, David, etc. – all went to war when necessary. The Torah exempts four classes of people from battle: the scholar is not one of the exemptions, for Jewish wars especially require the participation of Talmidei Chachamim.

I am inclined to agree with Rav Rakeffet of Yerushalayim: “someone who thinks that he will not be a Gaon if he serves for a short time in the military will not be a Gaon in any event.” But it is unconscionable to expect the rest of society to support a lifestyle that is alien to them, and frankly, alien to Torah. Why would a “secular” Jew be attracted to a “Torah” lifestyle that purports to demand estrangement from the general society, a cloistered abode, a rejection of general knowledge, an inability to function in the presence of women, a disdain for gainful employment and self-support, etc.? It doesn’t seem very attractive, except for one who wants to escape from the world.

I don’t believe that Chareidim should be imprisoned for refusal to serve, nor that it will ever happen.  But, I note half in jest, what if it did? One can learn Torah full-time anywhere, even in prison. In fact, prison is ideal. Rav Meir Kahane hy”d wrote a 500-page sefer while he was in prison.  Every Israeli prison has a fully-stocked Bet Midrash, there are regular minyanim, Magidei Shiurim come every day, the food is mehadrin, there are no women present, no distractions at all. There are regular furloughs for Yamim Tovim. The government can support them anywhere. It’s just a change in venue. I don’t underestimate the hardships of prison life, but the Israeli jail is not the Gulag to which Jews were sent for learning Torah.

That they don’t proudly embrace the consequences of defiance means there is another factor at work: as you write, there are people who perceive the actions of the government as “social engineering” designed to “prevent Chareidim from living Torah-true lives.” I don’t believe that, and the extent to which the Charedi world has alienated natural supporters and lovers of Torah should be worrisome to them. But anyone who does believe that should not insist that the government subsidize that lifestyle. I personally oppose incarceration or criminal penalties, but I also would grant no government benefits at all to people who refuse to perform any type of national service. The Chareidi educational system is also in disarray; I do not see why the government should support any school system that does not educate its students in a way that will enable them to function in society. Is that really a “Torah-true” life? I think not.

One last point, which goes to the heart of this: I have never heard of a Chareidi shul where the tefila for Tzahal is recited. Forget the tefila for the medina – but why wouldn’t they say the tefila for Tzahal? I have asked this question many times to Chareidi acquaintances, and mostly been met with stunned silence and occasionally with a muffled “the Rebbe…the Rosh Yeshiva… has never told us to say it.” It is simply inexplicable, a lack of derech eretz, hakarat hatov, and common sense.

What a Kiddush Hashem it would be if the Charedi leadership announced today that, it still rejects conscription, but henceforth it will daven for Tzahal every week! That would go a long way to easing tensions, perhaps not with Yair Lapid and his cohorts but with the Dati-Leumi Torah community that you are rapidly losing.

I love all Torah Jews and I hate all distortions of Torah. The Chareidi Torah world has so much to offer, and I refuse to accept this prevailing notion that they need to treated like handicapped children with special needs, that they are unable to live and interact with normal people. I reject that. I will treat them like precious Jews but like adults: those who are poreish min hatzibur should not be shocked or disheartened when the tzibur is in turn poreish from them.  The Chareidi world, on some level, perceives itself as a self-contained community that can insulate itself from the greater society which it holds (at least in some aspects, understandably) in contempt. But then don’t be surprised when that same society – which feels the contempt – then decides it no longer wishes to subsidize or indulge that community.

With friendship, all blessings and wishes for nachat v’chul tuv,

Steven Pruzansky

Your Brother in America