An Open Letter to R' Chaim Kanievsky

Shmully Hecht Writer of Letter

I write to you in your capacity as one of the leaders of the ultra-orthodox Jewish community of Israel, often referred to as the haredi movement.

On a flight last week from Israel to New York, I had a rather disturbing conversation with one of your of disciples. 

The individual was an ultra orthodox Jew and a successful Swiss real estate developer who resides in Jerusalem with his wife and seven children. He was on his way to New York for the wedding of a relative. 

I was returning home from Israel where I had spent the day attending the funeral of the father of a dear Israeli friend of mine from Yale, where I am the campus rabbi.  I had met the deceased last year at his son’s wedding in Caesarea, where I was honored to officiate. 

On a subsequent trip to Israel I had put Tefillin on with this 77 year old man, preceded by an in-depth theological conversation about his Judaism and beliefs.  On this return trip to Israel it was at the Shiva house where, upon meeting many of the members of my friend’s F16 squadron, a troubling conversation began. This was a conversation that crystallized on the flight back to New York while talking with your disciple.

Israeli air force pilots are in their mid-20s and 30s, a ripe time for young people to be seriously dating and in many instances newlyweds. It was ironic yet promising that despite being in the shiva house of my friend, we found ourselves discussing weddings and choices of rabbis. 

Here I was, surrounded by Israel’s bravest military officers, who held the most coveted spots reserved for only the brightest and best, that I began to hear about one particular pilot’s wedding. 

He had just returned from a trip to the US where he got married in a civil marriage ceremony in City Hall of NYC. He explained that he, like many of his friends, had done so because they had nothing in common nor any dialogue with the rabbis of Israel. I reminded him that on that particular morning we had witnessed three Israeli rabbis bury our friend’s father, a total stranger. I continued to point out some of the many great things rabbis were doing in Israel. In vain, I tried to shed some light on the rabbinate and build a bridge to this rather secular group of Israel’s elite.

Listening to him describe the gap that sadly divides the secular “chiloni“ and ultra-orthodox “haredi“ leaderships of Israel, I was dismayed and  saddened by how far this split has actually wedged a division among our people. 

Could we have reached such a low point in our history that Jews living in our ancient homeland were flying across the world to avoid having to engage with our very own rabbis? How ironic I thought it was that I, an American rabbi, had flown to Israel first to marry and now bury a son and father of the most secular type of Israelis. Would this young pilot’s first encounter with an Israeli rabbi be at his own funeral?

Harav Kanievsky, I am convinced that the fault lies largely with us, the “religious,” and less so with them, the “secular. “ In fact I don’t believe there is an “us” and “them.”  I was born a Chabadnik, where we are taught that there is only one Jew in the world. Yes, one Jew. But it wasn’t until the conversation with your disciple on my return flight that I began to comprehend the mindset that actually fuels this terrible divide. It is for this reason, and with hope of healing this terrible National wound, that I write you this letter.

“You look like a Chabadnik,” he started off, as he leaned across the aisle of our ElAL plane, “so tell me a story of your great Rebbe.” 

Not sure if I was sensing sarcasm or sincerity in his tone, I told him about my experience of once praying with the man I had just buried and how this person carried a photo of The Rebbe in his wallet for 20 years, despite claiming to be an agnostic. The truth is that “Rebbe miracle stories” were never really my forte, so I figured I would challenge him to a more serious theological debate in this final hour of our cross Atlantic flight. After all, I don’t get to meet many “haredis“ on the sprawling campus of Yale University.

 “What will you do about the pending proposed military draft?” I curiously asked my flight mate. “Well if it actually passes,” he said, “they will have to put a million of us in prison, for how can a pork eater, the son of a pork eater, tell us  G-d fearing Jews to close the yeshivas and serve in the army? These Jews need to be despised and excommunicated for the way they treat the religious community.”

I was so shocked by the venom he was espousing in front of his wife and 16 year old son that I felt like stopping the conversation right there just to avoid embarrassing him. This verbal assault on the majority of Jews alive and the Jews who I consider my dearest constituents was not going to pass without a fatal blow.  One, of course, I would have to deliver with love.

This man was by no means a Torah ignoramus, nor lacking in any level of sophistication. He was clearly a successful businessman, philanthropist, and learned Torah scholar. “I’m not sure you can blame a Jew for eating pork if that is what he was brought up eating,” I replied. It was an elementary response to such a loaded attack.

“After all,” I continued, “doesn’t your son [who was sitting next to him on the plane] eat what you eat?”

“How can you preach such hatred of a Jew,” I asked, “when the Torah explicitly says, ‘Thou shall not hate your brother in your heart’? Is that verse any less a part of the Torah you embrace?”

He replied, “well Esau, despite being the son of Isaac the patriarch, was the enemy of the Jews,” as if to suggest that any secular Jew had the status of an enemy. I explained that the Torah explicitly tells us that Esau and Ishmael had abandoned the ways of their parents’ home and clearly attained the status of another nation early in our history. 

To suggest that every non-observant Jew in Tel Aviv born to non-observant parents, or simply brought up in a non religious home, was now the enemy, was ludicrous.

His self-righteousness and arrogance was so revolting that I knew I needed to win this debate before we landed. I reminded him that the Jewish people were a family first and called over the flight attendant who was not wearing a kipa, and clearly the type of Jew he was critiquing.  I asked the man if he believed we were all part of one family, to which he replied, “of course.” “If the plane went down at this moment,” I continued, “do you think your prayers would be any different than this gentleman? Do you really think your cry of Shema Yisroel would sound any different than his? Have you ever considered the probability of living parallel lifestyles should you have been born into his family, and he into yours?”

He would not concede. “The Finance Minister of Israel [he refused to mention him by name] is a pork eater, the son of a pork eater, and will suffer for the terrible anguish he is causing our community. He is no different than Jesus whom, though born to Jewish parents, is responsible for the murder of so many Jews through European history.” 

I reminded him that according to one account in the Talmud, Jesus left the seminary because of the lack of sensitivity of his Rabbi and perhaps that was why Christianity started to begin with. I reminded him of the commandment to love thy neighbor as you love yourself–to no avail.  As I sat there I started to comprehend why my new friend from the squadron had flown to NY to have his wedding. How could he have any respect for Jewish leaders that did not officially declare this type of talk absolute heresy? Who could stomach this unapologetic self hatred by a “religious” Jew.  All in the name of Torah and G-d!

But then I digressed and mentioned one of the greatest Rabbis in our collective history.

Reb Chaim of Volozhin. 

He is, after all, the icon and example of Torah Judaism, who embodied the ultimate divine manifestation of Torah in a human being. In addition to being the crown disciple of the Gaon of Vilna and the author of Nefesh Hachaim, he was also the patriarch of the great Saloveitchik Talmudic family dynasty. So in a final attempt at reconciliation I asked:

What if I told you that the current President of Yale is named Peter Salovey, short for Saloveitchik? Though he is not particularly observant by your standards, he is a direct descendant of Reb Chaim. He is a dear friend of mine and despite being of the more secular type, he is   extremely proud of his Judaism. In fact, he proudly quoted the great Mishnaic authors in his inaugural address as President of Yale. Do you know that he often engages in Talmudic discussions with me and others of the Yale community? Would you dismiss, excommunicate, and forsake the grandchild of the holy Reb Chaim of Volozhin in your self-righteous pursuit of an Israel that excommunicates the non-orthodox Jew?

It was at this moment that he got out of his seat and approached mine with an urgency. He finally realized what we were actually talking about.  We were talking about that one Jew, the Jew that he could never forsake for it would mean forsaking Reb Chaim Volozhin. And so I got up and together we stood near the emergency exit door as he softly whispered these words into my ear, but more so into my heart and into my soul:

I envy you so much my dear Shmully, because in the merit of showing unconditional love to his grandson, I assure you that when you die, the great Reb Chaim of Volozhin will be waiting for you in heaven, and he will single-handedly open the gates of Gan Eden for you to enter.

These final moments of my flight were an absolute affirmation that there is hope for our people. I could not hold back my tears and replied, “how ironic, that upon my death, at the moment I would have to face my Maker, I would not be greeted, escorted, and defended by my Rebbe, Reb Schneur Zalman of Liaidi, the founder of Chabad, but rather by his opponent, the prize student of the Gaon of Vilna, Reb Chaim of Volozhin.”

And then he said, “You know, when you return to Israel, I’m going to take you to visit our leader the great Reb Chaim Kanievsky.  I want you to tell him what we talked about.”

Rav Kanievsky, I don’t want to wait until my next trip to Israel. I will simply ask you what I asked him:

What would Israel look like this Pesach if you asked each and every one of your followers today to invite one non religious friend for Pesach? How amazing would it be if 1 million non orthodox Jews came home tonight and told their spouse that their religious friend or acquaintance invited them to their Seder? What if we reinterpreted, “all who are hungry may they come and eat, all who are needy may they come and enjoy Pesach,“ to mean, “not only the physically or  materially poor but those less observant than us”?

Just as I’ve been assured that Chaim of Volozhin will be waiting for me in heaven, I sincerely hope Schneur Zalman of Lyadi is waiting for you. Let us hope there will be no need to imprison 1 million Jews but rather have 1 million more guests this year at the Seder.

I look forward to embracing you on my next trip to Israel.

Shmully Hecht is the Rabbinical advisor of Eliezer: the Jewish Society at Yale and can be reached at shmully@279crown.org

Denmark will allow you to marry your cat but bans Shechita!

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London Rabbis say that the String that Ties the Roast may not be Kosher for Pesach!

I am not making this stuff up!
 I am telling you guys, we have take our Religion back from these lunatics.
Hat tip: Nuchem Rosenberg

Rabbonim in London Prohibit the "Kumzitz" and ban Avram Fried the Chabad Singer

Yup! The Chareidie world is getting crazier and crazier! Now, they are banning the popular "Kumzitz"! Insane!

Reb Yosef Binyomin Wosner, from the Satmar Bais Din wrote a handwritten letter to the London Chareidie Community banning Avram Fried and the Kumzitz calling it a gathering of "Tuma" (profane)!

Not to be outdone, Rav Ztvi Schneck, Dayan of Satmar wrote his handwritten notice, warning parents that they should prohibit the Kumzitz! This lunatic  compares the Kumzitz to worshipping Idols!

These guys haven't worked a day in their entire lives, and are afraid that if the Bochrim attend the Kumzitz, they, the Rabbonim will have to eat their own "Sherayim"... 

The plea of the Stropkover Rebbitzen shortly before she was murdered by the Nazis

Stropkover Rebbe

Rebbitzin Chayeh Halberstam, widow of Rav Avraham Halberstam,  Stropkover Rebbe, was deported from Kashau to Auschwitz  May 1944.
A SonderKommando who got killed himself recorded the Rebbittzin's last words.

״I see the end of Hungarian Jewry. The government had permitted large sections of the Jewish community to flee. The people asked the advice of the admorim and they always reassured them. The Belzer Rebbe said that Hungary would only endure anxiety.. And now the bitter hour has come, when the Jews can no longer save themselves. Indeed, heaven concealed [this fate] from them, but they, themselves, fled at the last moment to the land of Israel. They saved their own lives but left the people as sheep for slaughter. רבונו של עולם ! In the last moments of my life I set my plea before You. That You pardon them for this great חילול השם!״"

From the book "Rabbinic Authority and a Personal Autonomy" edited by Moshe Sokol

Cair the Front for Arab Terrorism demands a retraction from Fox for Airing the Film that Portrays Muslim Atrocities against Women!

The Trailer film "Honor Diaries"

Chazzan David Werdyger Father of MBD Dies!

Petira of the famed Chazzan, Reb David Werdyger Z”L, considered one of the pioneers of 20-century Jewish music, and the father of the world-famous Mordechai Ben David.

Reb David Werdyger was born on October 30, 1919 in Poland. A Holocaust survivor who was incarcerated in several Nazi concentration camps, including the factory run by Oskar Schindler, 

Reb David moved to Brooklyn, New York after World War II and began recording albums featuring the music of the Bobov, Boyan, Skulen, Melitz, Radomsk, and Ger Hasidic dynasties, recording 60 albums in all.

 He also founded and operated a successful travel agency, Werdyger Travel, and established the Jewish record label, Aderet Records, which is now managed by his son Mendy. He is the father of popular Jewish singer Mordechai Ben David and the grandfather of Jewish singers Yeedle (Mordechai’s son) and Yisroel Werdyger (Mendy’s son).

The Werdyger family was known in Poland for its musical talent, and as a youngster, David’s singing ability was readily apparent. At the age of six he became the soloist in the choir of the Eizik Yeikeles Synagogue in Kraków, and at age 12 he was invited by Yankel Talmud, the leader of the Gerrer choir, to be a soloist in that choir in the town of Ger. On Rosh Hashana, he sang before the Gerrer Rebbe, the Imrei Emes, and thousands of Chasidim.

With the Nazi occupation of Poland in September 1939, he was subject to frequent arrests and forced labor on the streets of Kraków. In the summer of 1940, when the Nazis ordered all Jews to leave the city, Reb David’s family moved to an uncle’s home in Proszowice. In response to rumors of a mass deportation, David, his unmarried sister Yettie, and his parents went into hiding with 16 others in a bunker in their uncle’s warehouse, where they were cared for by a Polish employee. Three weeks later, they sneaked into the Podgórze ghetto of Kraków. From there, his parents bought their way out of the ghetto into Sosnowice, where one of their married daughters was living. David never saw them again.

In the ghetto, David worked in forced labor battalions, and when a mass deportation took place in the Podgórze ghetto, he went into hiding with 15 others. Two weeks later, his group was ferreted out of their hiding place and taken with 180 other ghetto residents to the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp to be shot by firing squad.

 Each man passed before German Nazi camp commandant Amon Göth; when it was David’s turn, Göth asked him what type of work he did. “I am a professional singer, and I have a trained soprano voice,” he replied. “Would you like to hear something?” Momentarily taken aback, Göth replied, “Sing the song you Jews chant when you bury your dead.” Reb David began singing the traditional Jewish prayer for the dead, Kel Molei Rachamim (“God, Full of Compassion”), with great feeling and power, ending with a thunderous “Amen.” His voice so moved Göth that the commandant directed him to the camp rather than to the firing squad; he was one of the 40 men saved from execution that day.
He was an inmate in the Płaszów for five months, after which he was transferred to the nearby factory under the direction of Oskar Schindler. He also spent time in the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp and the Linz labor camp, where he was liberated on Saturday, 5 May 1945.

After the war, Reb David found his eldest brother, Yaakov Meir, and youngest sister, Yettie, still alive. He then traveled to to attend Yaakov Meir’s wedding and was there introduced to Malka Godinger (1923–1980), daughter of Meir Godinger. They married shortly after. Several months later he and his wife left for Paris, France, where their first son, Yisrael Aryeh, was born. Four years later, in February 1950, they sailed to New York.

The couple had three more sons in America: Mordechai, Chaim, and Mendel (Mendy). He encouraged his four young sons to sing with him in the recording studio and in concert.Mordechai began calling himself by his Hebrew patronymic, Mordechai Ben David, when he launched his solo singing career in the 1970s.

Upon arrival in New York, Reb David began working as a Chazan in the Warshever Shul on Rivington Street; after a year he moved to the Chasam Sofer Shul on the Lower East Side. His fame as a Chazan spread, and he signed a contract with the New Lots Talmud Torah Shul, which was famous for the high-caliber hazzanim that it attracted. Within a few months of this appointment, he began receiving invitations to appear in concert, and he performed before audiences of thousands in Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and other cities.
Levaya details will be published when they become available to us.

Zionist Government exempt 28,000 Hareidi Students from Army and allow them to join the work force!

The "cursed medina" have issued 28,000 exemptions to Yeshiva students and are allowing them to join the work force!
Can't wait to  hear from the "gedolim" who will scream that these  "work permits"are evil, and this  "gezirah"is even worse than the "gezirah" to join the Army! 
Because now they can't claim that the Zionists want to make them into Chilonim!
Let's see how many from the 28,000 will actually get off their proverbial butts and get a job?

Some 28,000 haredi men are to begin receiving full exemptions from military service immediately after Passover, under the terms of the ultra-Orthodox conscription law the Knesset approved last month.

The government hopes many of these men will leave their full-time Torah studies in yeshiva and enter the workforce, and is therefore preparing programs to help them find jobs.

The exemptions are to be provided gradually throughout the coming 12 months.

The conscription law gives any full-time haredi yeshiva student of military age who is 22-years-old and over a full exemption from military service, and there are 28,000 men in this category.

The Defense Ministry is to determine the number of given every month in coordination with the Economy Ministry, so as not to overwhelm the job market.

The men eligible for the exemption are required to report to the IDF, where they are to be given the option of choosing to perform military service, civilian service or to take advantage of their full exemption.

Until now, it has not been legally possible for ultra-Orthodox men to work without first performing military or civilian service, but the government hopes that many of the men receiving a military service exemption will decide to enter the job market.

The state has already set up two large employment and career guidance centers in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem, respectively, and others are planned to be opened in Ashdod, Modi’in Illit, Petah Tikva and Beersheba.

The centers are designed for haredi men, where careers guidance professionals create a file for individuals seeking work, and review their personal background and any relevant educational or vocational qualifications.

Applicants would be given aptitude tests designed to provide a clearer picture for the career councilors of what kind of employment would be appropriate for the man in question.

The centers are to provide courses for haredi job-seekers on orientation to the workforce, writing a resumé, searching for employment, interview techniques and employment rights.

All applicants are entitled to NIS 9,000 grants from the Economy Ministry, to help pay for any job training program he may wish to attend, while some courses are to be fully subsidized by the state.

There will likely be an emphasis on vocational courses and careers not requiring high levels of secular education, as well as on entry level positions with on-the-job training.

Despite these efforts, observers of the ultra-Orthodox community have said that they expect only a small proportion of those receiving the military-service exemption to leave their yeshivot in favor of the workforce, especially in the short term.

Dr. Haim Zicherman, of the Israel Democracy Institute’s Religion and State Project, pointed to the Civilian Service program, which is an alternative to military service that since 2008 has been available to haredi men on a voluntary basis as a way of fulfilling their national service obligations before being legally able to work.

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Zicherman noted that in the past six years, any haredi man wishing to leave yeshiva has been able to participate in the relatively undemanding one-year civilian service program and then work. He therefore argued that the mass exemptions would be unlikely to lead to haredi men leaving the study halls en masse, since in practice, anyone wishing up till now to join the workforce has been able to do so.

Zicherman expressed skepticism that such large numbers of haredi men could gain employment in light of their low levels of non-religious education and of professional qualifications.

He underlined a report published this week that demonstrated a high level of prejudice among employers against employing people from the haredi community.

Such prejudices were based on myths and misconceptions of supposed requirements that haredi employees might need in the work place, he said.

In addition, the deputy director of the Hiddush lobbying group, Shahar Ilan, expressed concern that the atmosphere of hostility toward the government could prevent people from leaving the study halls.

The haredi leadership has depicted the government’s conscription law as an attempt to destroy haredi values. The concern is that the antipathy to the law and the government will make students hesitant to leave the yeshiva, at least at in the coming months, lest they be considered traitors to the community.

Ilan acknowledged that in the long term, increasing numbers of the haredi men who will receive military service exemptions this year will being looking for work, but only on the condition that recent cuts to the welfare budget, which have targeted some of the key benefits enjoyed by the haredi population, remain in place.

The haredi political parties will almost certainly condition their entries into any coalition, whether in the current government or after national elections, on the repeal of some of the cuts to the benefits the haredi sector enjoyed over the past 10 years.

5 Towns Weinberger reneged on deal to go quietly, got chizuk from Belsky to keep fighting!

This former Torah Vodaas Math Teacher, now Poisek for the OU, never met a pervert that he didn't love and defend. 
First the Uncle & Nephew pedophile team, Kolko, and now R" Dovid Weinberger of the 5 Towns. 

The deal made with the leading Rabbonim of the 5 Towns after Weinberger's shenanigans were exposed, was  that he would come up with some health issue deal, and would supposedly take a sabbatical, and then fade into the night..

But then he had second thoughts, so he called Belsky, and Belsky sent a letter to those Rabbonim chastising them for removing an alleged sexual predator from the Rabbinate.

Here is the letter that  Weinberger worked out with the Rabbonim! 

To whom it may concern, I Rabbi Dovid Weinberger, formerly the Rabbi of Cong. Shaarei Tefilla of Lawrence, NY, do hereby acknowledge that I will retire from the Rabbinate effective immediately, and will never again serve in the capacity of Rov or Rabbi of any congregation or community, nor will I ever again be involved as amechanech [teacher] in any venue of Chinuch [education].

This is the letter sent to all shuls in the 5 Towns, after Weinberger decided to renege on the deal:

Recently, RDW [Rabbi Dovid Weinberger], a rabbi, resigned from his position as a rabbi of a congregation [Shaaray Tefila, Lawrence, NY], educator of young women in our community, and counselor to many who sought his advice. Following that, we learned from professionals of a number of documented cases of his unfortunate and unacceptable behavior. It is the collective judgment of these professionals that this behavior may continue. We therefore feel obligated to inform our community of this concern and advise that there be no interaction with this rabbi in any rabbinic, educational, 
counseling or private setting.

For a more in depth analysis of the Weinberger tragedy read:
Frumfollies !
.

Yeshivas Hijacked Purim!

I always looked forward to Purim when I was growing up. I would find a long coat and an old hat in the closet, buy a beard somewhere and went around collecting for an uncle in Israel, who had just emigrated from Rumania and couldn't make ends meet.

Lately, I've been noticing that the Yeshivas pay their students to rent costumes that run in the hundreds of dollars and then rent limos so fancy that ill bet Michelle Obama who is visiting China didn't ride in one of those things.

This year I had the privilege to be Motzei Shabbos, Purim Night, in a rich man's house where I saw 6 Roshei Yeshivas salivating over this G'vir, pandering and chanfining him and of course  drinking the liqueur on his table.
The one hour that I was in his house, I noticed at least 6 different groups of boys all dressed up, matching, in the most luxurious costumes,  all running out of these double decker limos, and running  into the house, all collecting for their prospective yeshivas. 
This Gvir just put his hand in his pocket and gave them hundreds of dollars!

So what's wrong?
Well, this morning a man who davens in my shul, poor as a church mouse, divorced, gets food from Tomchei Shabbos, told me that he got a call from a guy who is on the Tuition Committee of Shaarei Arazim, a school for challenged children, and told him if he "doesn't come up with the $5,000.00 before Pesach, I'm going to send your child home with embarrassment!"

This poor soul works like a dog, all his money goes to his ex wife, to support his children, and he is left with about 200.00 a week. The bully, the guy from Shaarei Arazim, wants to take the 200.00. 

Now, don't get me wrong, I agree that the school is doing a great job and has huge expenses....

So please give me an answer to this question? ... 
Why in the world did Shaarei Aruzim collect money  this purim? 
Why in the world is Shaarei Arazim making dinners? They had a "Split the Pot" raffle that ran to $100,000.00!

Aren't you raising money for parents that cannot afford the massive tuition fees? 
If your answer is yes, why are you torturing this guy? Isn't that why you collected?

If this guy had walked into the Gvir's house that Purim, how much do you think he would have gotten? 
He had no costume and no limo waiting outside. 
 He would have gotten $36.00

So my dear readers, a poor broken guy would get 36.00, but the Yeshivas get hundreds?

What happened to the Purim that I grew up  and looked forward to, where poor people were getting the $$$?

When did "Matonas L'evyoinim" become Matanos l'Yeshivos?
Our sense of Purim is now warped, our understanding of what the Shlchan Aruch specifically says is "matonas l'evyonim"  has been hijacked by the Roshei Yeshivas that abandoned their families to sit around the table in the Gvir's house with their mouths foaming every time the Gvir put his hand in his pocket!

Avrohom Birnbaum of Yated attacks the Hero, Rabbi Avichai Ronsky, Leading Zionist Rabbi

Rabbi Avichai Ronsky

First a little background of Rav Avichai Ronsky: 

Rabbi Ronsky is the former Chief Military Rabbi of the Israel Defense Forces. He served in the position from 2006 to 2010, with a rank of Brigadier General.

Rontzki was born to a non-religious Jewish family. He became religious while serving in the army. In 1969, he began is military career in Shayetet 13 but did not complete the training instead moving to Sayeret Shaked in which he fought as a company commander in the Yom Kippur War.

 During this time, he began the process of becoming a Baal Tshuva with his wife Ronit who he had met in his unit. 

Rontzki studied at Machon Meir and Mercaz HaRav and also was involved with instructing street kids in Jerusalem. 

In 1980, he established the Hesder Yeshiva in Elon Moreh. In 1984, he was part of the group that established the settlement Itamar nearNablus and also initiated the local yeshiva that he still leads today. Rontzki wrote the well known four volume army halakhic guide Hitzim K'yad Gibor. In addition to his rosh yeshiva position, he continued to serve in the reserves and rose in rank to the position of chief of staff of the Samaria Territorial Brigade ( חטיבה מרחבית שומרון‎).

So this Smarkatch Avrohom Birnbaum, goes on to viciously attack this hero. I am choosing not to go through his entire hate filled attack on Religious Zionism!

But here is a quote from the article:

"We can now understand why the entire vaunted Hesder network, so lionized by Religious Zionists as the ultimate syntheseis, has fewer than a thousand students - less than a fifth of the student body at Yeshivas Mir Yerushalyim alone."

Excuuuuse me, Mr Birnbaum, are we now going to judge yiddishkeit by numbers?

There are more non-religious Jews in the world than Religious Jews! 
There are more Muslims than Jews in the World.
There are more Christians and Buddhists in the world than Jews!

Of course more Yeshiva boys will choose Mir, it's the easy way out.
Being part of what you call the "entire vaunted Hesder network" takes courage, sacrifice, dedication and commitment. It takes selflessness. 
Joining Hesder is the opposite of being narcissistic.
Joining Hesder is being part of protecting the Mir Yeshiva Boys and being a Hero! Mr. Birnbaum!

Yated Chinuch Roundtable Question: "Should my son call me Daddy or Totty?"

The entire world is going to pot in a hand-basket; a Jewish man is brutally beaten in France, the Russians have amassed 100,000 troops waiting to invade the Ukraine, Iran keeps providing Hizballa with missiles to attack Israel, 
and this week's Yated dedicates  2 pages to the question whether a son should call his father daddy or totty! Im not kidding!

No less than 
Rabbi Nosson Scherman, General Editor of Artscroll, Rabbi Yisroel Hisiger, Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky the Rosh Yershiva of Yeshiva Toras Chaim, Rabbi Yechiel Spero, Raabi Shneur Aisenstark the Dean of Beth Jacob Seminary Montreal, Rabbi Dovid Engel the Menahel of the Toronto Cheder, Rabbi Yaakov Bender the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Darchei Torah, Rabbi Avraohom Neuberger the Rosh Mesivta of Yeshiva Gedola Ohr Reuven, and Rabbi Fink, Menahel of Ateres Bais Yaakov 
answer this asinine idiotic question.

The only one who refused to answer was Rabbi Shmuel Yaakov Klein from Torah Umesorah!

The Yated is the Bible of the Yeshivishe world , and they read this rag every week, a newspaper  spewing hate against the State of Israel (read my next post about Avraham Birnbaum of the Yated), and inciting the clueless readers against the IDF!

So today I am singling out a smidgen of what they consider a "serious" discussion between "distinguished  panelists" discussing a bunch of narishkeitin!

Bitter Results of the Chareidi Win in Beit Shemesh! Chareidie Guy beats up Frum lady over skirt length!

Lady that was beaten by a chareidie

Yes sir, The Taliban have taken over the reigns in Beit Shemesh! They voted in a Mayor that had the backing of the "Gedoilei Hador" and now the "chickens have come home to roost!"

I don't hear Rav Shteinman saying one word against this physical assault on an innocent frum lady that had been beaten up in front of her 3 year old daughter!
Where is the long bearded Rabbi Feldman from Baltimore that flew in to Beit Shemesh to influence the vote? Where is his outcry!
Im sure they are poo pooing the story and saying that this was an isolated incident by a meshuginer!

Here is the story, read and be outraged!

A modern Orthodox Beit Shemesh woman was severely beaten on Wednesday by an ultra-Orthodox man who disapproved of the length of her skirt.

The 25-year-old woman was wearing a skirt that left part of her lower legs exposed when she picked up her 3-year-old daughter from day care. As the two were waiting for the bus, an ultra-Orthodox man in his 30s yelled at her that her skirt "brought out yetzer ha'ra [evil impulses]" and called her a "whore."

The woman told him he was being insolent and that she was calling the police.

"I was afraid and screamed," she said. "I called the police right away. He saw me doing it and ran toward me, and then he beat me hard and pulled my hair."

"I have bruises on my thigh and back from the attack," the woman said. "I screamed to the police on the phone that he was attacking me. He tried to take my phone away as he was beating me horribly. I was deathly afraid -- he snatched my phone out of my hand and ran away into the streets of [the haredi area of] Beit Shemesh."

She said the assault happened in broad daylight on a crowded street, but not a single passer-by tried to intervene.

"I called for help, but no one came. I cried, asked them to call the police because I was afraid he'd come back and murder me. All this time, my daughter, who was terrified, was screaming and crying," she said.

On Thursday morning, the attacker turned himself in to the police and returned the woman's phone. When questioned, he admitted to the assault. His lawyers have not issued a response.

However, the woman said her assailant's arrest did not comfort her.

"I couldn't sleep all night after the incident," she said. "My daughter is in therapy because of what happened. It's a horrible feeling. My daughter and I are very scared."

Plea to reveal Meir Kin's Meah Rabbonim

DIN has received some reliable information that most of the Rabbis that signed the "Heter Meah Rabbonim" are now claiming that their signatures were forged. 

The "Heter Meah Rabbonim" allows a person still married, to take another wife, and is signed by 100 Rabbis.

We are asking people close to this case to please email us at dusiznies@aol.com 
with the list of the 100 rabbis so that we can verify each and every signature, and investigate if the signatures are in fact genuine. 

Bugeye Kin, the miserable excuse for a human, married a clueless idiot last Thursday in Las Vegas ....

Rabbi Hoffman wrote the following in the 5 Towns Newspaper in reference to a guy who gets a Heter Meah Rabbonim, and then gets married while he is still married to his first wife!

"The Chezkuni (Bereishis 3:16) cites a Midrash and writes that if someone is betrothed to a woman and leaves her stuck as an agunah, then he is a denier of the World to Come. Consequently, he loses his share in Olam HaBa—the World to Come. The Ba’alei HaTosefos cite the same exposition and come to the very same conclusion: Making an agunah causes one to lose Olam HaBa. Presumably, this would apply to the enablers of such activities as well.
There, the status of the agunah was created at the very beginning of a marriage—upon halachic betrothal. Nonetheless, the idea is the same—these Rishonim hold that the husbands have lost their share in Olam HaBa. Their fate and future no longer lie with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their grandparents and great-grandparents for generations. Rather, the fates of husbands who improperly use the heter mei’ah rabbanim and, it seems, of those rabbis who falsely provide a heter mei’ah rabbanim are with the likes of the evil Bilaam and Gechazi"

North Koreans males will now become Chassidim, All must have similar haircuts!

North Korean males will now follow the chasiddishe minhag of having similar haircuts!
The hottest men’s hairstyle in North Korea is shear madness.Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un, in a bizarre bit of tonsorial tyranny, decreed that his 12 million countrymen adopt his decidedly retro high-and-tight ’do.

The diminutive despot delivered his “fashion guideline” about two weeks ago, likely ensuring that Dennis Rodman and his multi-hued mop will never return to the nation.

The “Un and only” haircut, once popularized by ’90s boy bands, was unimaginatively dubbed “The Dear Leader Kim Jong-Un” — more of a mouthful than “a little off the sides.”

The 31-year-old’s look is simple: Short and slicked back on top, buzzed to the skin above both ears.
North Korea’s citizens were not too keen on the government-ordered grooming, griping that it’s not the right look for everyone.

Color Video of Previous Lubavitcher accepting US Citizenship, The Rebbe put on his Shtreimel for this occasion!