A Single’s Perspective – An Open Response To Article By Reb Shlomo Yehuda Rechnitz

The following letter was written TheYeshivaWorld in response to an article penned by R' Shlomo Rechinitz,

In that article he  mentioned that the chances of a girl, 25 years old, getting married, was 15% - 0!


As I sit here trying to gather my thoughts on the recent shidduch article you printed, 

I can’t seem to alleviate a resounding thought from my head “once a girl reaches the age of 25, her chances of getting married are less than 15%”. 

As a 28 year old single girl in the yeshiva world, I shudder at the thought of this possible reality. 

While my initial reaction to this alarming statistic was fear and sadness, upon having some time to think and reflect, those feelings changed to a strong sense of frustration. While I can sincerely appreciate the fact that there are people out there trying to help and make a change, I think we have it all wrong. I am not saying I have the answers and I am not going to sit here and write an alternative solution, but I want to try and share some thoughts and insights from the perspective of an “older single” in shidduchim.

I have no older siblings, so when I entered the shidduch parsha at the age of 19, I felt both excited and hopeful. My two best friends married the first boy they went out with and I thought I would surely follow suit. I always wanted to get married young – it seemed like the “next step” after spending a year in seminary. 

My first date was a disaster and after coming home crying, it was my first “reality check” that this may not be as easy or painless as I anticipated. It‘s been almost 9 years since that first date and boy have I learned a lot – both about myself and about being part of a society that “expects” girls to be married no later than age 22. Maybe you would consider me one of your “hopeless, helpless and wounded” girls in the parsha, but truth be told, I don’t see it that way. 

B”H I am smart, well-educated, have a good job, a great group of friends and a supportive family. I am attractive, healthy and feel that I have a lot to offer in a relationship. 

So, why is it, that if this is how I view myself, when it comes to the society as a whole the first thing they see is “SINGLE.” I think this is where the problem lies.

When I think about what the biggest source of pain has been throughout this process, it is not “waiting for the phone to ring” or watching others move on. It is not the dating process, the singles events, meeting shadchanim, rejection, constantly needing to be “on”, sending out a picture to try and “convince” guys to go out with me or always having to look my best. It is not watching younger siblings or students married with babies. 

The greatest source of pain that I have felt is everybody else’s reaction to my “situation”. I have thought that perhaps I am just being ultra sensitive and had actually planned on waiting to write an article on the topic until I was married so I can be a little more objective. But after reading this article I felt compelled to write something and get the message out there. GIRLS DON’T WANT TO BE PITIED; Nobody wants to be pitied.

I remember going to work (in a secular office) on my 25th birthday and crying at a team meeting. My supervisor came in the next day and said, “I hope I am not being disrespectful towards your culture, but when I came home I felt so angry. I felt angry that a society can make a person feel THAT bad about turning 25.” I thought about what she said, and I think she was right. Why is it that in the secular world, I am viewed as a young adult with my whole life ahead of me and the fact that I am single doesn’t even cross their minds? The secular world doesn’t pity me or think any less of me because I haven’t found the right guy and they think the age of 25 is YOUNG. 

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the frum, orthodox world. Unfortunately, in the frum world, with each passing birthday girls are left feeling more afraid, sad, rejected and undesirable. I don’t think this feeling comes from an inner sense of insecurity or lack of self-esteem. I think it comes from the way our society has “labeled” what it means to be an “older single”.

I strongly believe that the reason I am single has absolutely nothing to do with statistics, age gaps, lack of guys or anything else along those lines. And as long as we focus on that being the problem, we aren’t going to come up with a solution. As a good friend of mine likes to put it “this is not a shidduch crisis, it is an emunah crisis”. Everyone has to deal with different nisyonos in life. Being single is one of those nisyonos. Hashem doesn’t work based on numbers or statistics. If Hashem wants, he can send me my zivug today. But clearly, that is not where Hashem wants me to be right now. For reasons I don’t understand, I am meant to go through this painful process. If I truly believed that “less than 15% statistic” I would have a very hard time waking up in the morning and facing the world. Why would I daven so hard for something that seems so “unlikely” to happen? I don’t think Hashem is looking for us to find the reasons behind the challenges he sends us on both a personal level and on a klal level. I think Hashem wants us to take the experiences we go through and become better people. Hashem wants us to grow from these challenges and use them to help and support other people. For any single person reading this article – please don’t listen to the statistics. We are not numbers, we are human beings. Bishvili nivra haolam.

In my opinion, this is the biggest problem. Reading an article like this doesn’t give me chizuk. Reading an article like this reaffirms all my fears – that age means too much in our society, that getting older means getting “less desired”. It is not this way in the secular world and it should not be this way in our world either. 

People need to stop stigmatizing girls based on age. Instead of pitying us, be supportive. Instead of thinking “oy, she’s still not married” think “wow, such a great girl, I am going to think if I know anyone for her”. Instead of labeling us based on age, label us based on our character. Instead of giving us looks of despair, give us looks of encouragement and support. 

I think taking away the strong stigma is a first step in alleviating some of the pain singles have to go through. If age wasn’t such a big deal, such a spoken about “issue”, guys would not be as hung up on it either. As a therapist, working with children who have anxiety, I teach them that the more they focus on their worries, the more their worries grow. The more we sit and focus on age, the more of a “problem” it becomes in the eyes of boys’ mothers and the boys themselves. 

We should help our society see past a number on a paper. Highlight some of the positives that “older singles” have to offer. While I would have loved to get married when I was younger, I feel that the growth I have experienced in these last 9 years has been enormous. Because of this, my relationship with my husband will be that much stronger imyH. Girls who are a little older when they get married are mature, have had life experience, don’t take it for granted when they find the right person, have some money saved up, have depth and insight, have had time to travel with friends and have a strong sensitivity to others who are going through a similar ordeal.

Instead of trying to find a solution to Hashem’s master plan, help promote singles and not make them feel bad for something that is not in their control. Write articles that give support and chizuk, not that highlight and focus on the negative things about hitting the “dreaded age” of 25. We have to work on changing our perspectives. Learn to value us, not pity us. Make us feel accepted instead of rejected. We want to be treated as PEOPLE, not as statistics.

We shouldn’t have to dread going to social functions because we don’t want to deal with the “nebuch” looks and comments we are inevitably going to receive from others. We shouldn’t have to feel we have anything less to offer because Hashem didn’t send our zivug at age 20. We shouldn’t have to feel that with each passing birthday we become less desirable and our chances of getting married significantly decrease. We shouldn’t have to feel “inferior” because of our age.

There is one last point I would like to make, and I think it is an important one. One of the positives that has come out of reading this article is that it has strengthened my emunah and connection to Hashem. 

Let me explain. If I were to absorb and internalize all of the comments both in the article and in response to the article, it would lead me straight down a road of despair and depression. If I were to walk around feeling like a statistic, thinking “is this a life worth living” it would be extremely difficult for me to remain hopeful, positive and self-assured. It would be difficult for me to feel “worthy” of a great guy if these damaging thoughts pervaded my psyche. 

Instead, I read the article and looked over some of the responses and all I could think was “where is G-d in this equation?” If we had full bitachon, we wouldn’t be questioning “why”. We wouldn’t be blaming singles or casting them in a negative light. We wouldn’t be coming up with statistics or asking if this is a life worth living. We would be davening for each other, working on ourselves to be better and strengthening our connection with Hashem. 

By using this nisayon as an opportunity to grow and change for the better, while putting in our hishtadlus, hopefully Hashem will answer our tefillos and send the yeshuos we are all looking for.
It is my fervent hope, that with siyata dishmaya all the singles out there find their zivug and don’t have to go through any more pain. In the meantime, stay strong, don’t give up and keep your head held high because you ARE worthy and imyH some lucky guy will get to see that very very soon.

Please feel free to contact me at shidduchim101@gmail.com

Name withheld upon request.

Joan Rivers dies at 81, No Joke

Joan Rivers, the raucous, acid-tongued comedian died Thursday. She was 81.

Rivers was hospitalized last week after she went into cardiac arrest at a Manhattan doctor’s office following a routine procedure. Daughter Melissa Rivers said she died surrounded by family and close friends.

Rivers — who opened her routine with the trademark “Can we talk?” was born to Jewish Russian immigrant parents.

Comedy was not only her calling, but her therapy, as she turned her life inside out for laughs, mocking everything from her proclaimed lack of sex appeal (“My best birth control now is just to leave the lights on”) to even her own mortality.

“I have never wanted to be a day less than I am,” she insisted in a 2013 interview with The Associated Press. “People say, ‘I wish I were 30 again.’ Nahhh! I’m very happy HERE. It’s great. It gets better and better. And then, of course, we die,” she quipped.

With her red-carpet query “Who are you wearing?”, the raspy-voiced blonde with the brash New York accent also helped patent pre-awards commentary — and the snarky criticism that often accompanies it, like cracking that Adele’s Grammy wardrobe made the singer look like she was sitting on a teapot. Rivers slammed actors at the Oscars, Emmys and Golden Globes for E! Entertainment. In 2007, Rivers and her partner-in-slime, daughter Melissa, were dropped by their new employer, the TV Guide Channel, and replaced by actress Lisa Rinna. But they found new success on E! with “Fashion Police,” which Rivers hosted and her daughter produced.

No performer worked harder, was more resilient or tenacious. She never stopped writing, testing and fine-tuning her jokes.

“The trouble with me is, I make jokes too often,” she told the AP in 2013, just days after the death of her older sister. “I was making jokes yesterday at the funeral home. That’s how I get through life. Life is SO difficult — everybody’s been through something! But you laugh at it, it becomes smaller.”

She had faced true crisis in the mid-1980s. Edgar Rosenberg, her husband of 23 years, committed suicide in 1987 after she was fired from her Fox talk show, which he produced. The show’s failure was a major factor, Rivers said. Rosenberg’s suicide also temporarily derailed her career.

“Nobody wants to see someone whose husband has killed himself do comedy four weeks later,” she told The New York Times in 1990.

Survivors include daughter Melissa and a grandson, Edgar

Sotloff the Beheaded Journalist was a "Brotherhood" sympathizer and loved Islam

Steven Sotloff (in beard) in Traditional Yemeni Muslim Dress (second from right) 

I was debating if I should report this at this time, while the family is still in Shivah! 

But then I thought that it's best to report the truth, so that other "bleeding heart liberals," don't make the mistake of thinking that if only we gave the Muslims back some land, all Arab terrorism would go away. 

If only Israel would stop building settlements in their own country, Arab and Jew would live in harmony!

If only we understood the Arab mind, that all they want is peace, then all would be great!

(Now this should be a lesson to Satmar and the crazed Litvisher Yeshivisha way of thinking, as well ....)

Listen fools, I got news for all you " liberal Obama supporting Jews," 
Steven Sotloff disliked the State of Israel and loved the Arab Brotherhood Terrorists, and got his head handed to him anyway!

In an article [undated, roughly 2013] Steven Sotloff, for the Word Affairs Journal, refused to listen to reason that the Muslim Brotherhood, described by the CIA as the mother ship of all terrorist organizations, was a cruel and extreme terror organization. 

Instead Sotloff argued that this barbaric terrorist organization that murdered any opposition, raped women for refusing to be fully covered, and commit mass executions, had “valid grievances”. 

He proved in his own article that he was simply ignorant, a stubborn islamofacist and unwilling to listen to any reasoning and basically asked for what was coming his way as we now know it:

“…When I told my Egyptian friend Ahmad Kamal that I wanted to go to the Muslim Brotherhood protest camp in Nasser City, a pallid look gripped him. “Don’t go there!” he pleaded. “They are fanatics who hate foreigners. Americans like you are in danger there.” 

After an hour of fruitless conversation over endless glasses of sweet tea, I rose, shook Ahmad’s hand, and headed straight to the lair where he believed I would be devoured. “

“But when I arrived at Nasser City, the picture Ahmad painted of long-bearded, club-wielding extremists bent on roughing up secular Egyptians was just as devoid of truth so much else in this divided country. 

Coups depicted as revolutions, peaceful protesters painted as fanatics, and disgruntled citizens hailed as revolutionaries have transformed Egypt into a circus where the main attraction is the uncertainty of heading into the unknown. …”

“His avowals were not enough to assuage my friend Ahmad’s fears that the Brotherhood was a violent organization bent on reestablishing itself through force. “They are lying to you. Look at the weapons the police captured at their headquarters,” he said referring to the arsenal of small arms and birdshot the security services seized there.”

“… Ahmad refuses to countenance that the Brotherhood and its supporters have legitimate grievances. Such stubbornness is blocking the path to reconciliation Egypt desperately needs to extricate itself from its security and economic woes. And until Egyptians like Ahmad extend an olive branch to those in Nasser City, Egypt will continue to be mired in a zone of uncertainty"

More about Steven Sotloff from friends and journalists who knew him and his love of Islam:

Steven Sotloff Deeply Love Islamic World, Committed to Arab Spring, Respectful of Islamic Culture:

“Steve Sotloff lived in Yemen for years, spoke good Arabic, deeply loved Islamic world,” tweeted writer Ann Marlowe, who met Sotloff during the conflict in Libya. . . . He was, she said “committed to the Arab Spring and very respectful of Islamic culture.”

 Steven Sotloff’s Sympathies Were with Arabic Culture, Not Jews or America:

His sympathy for Arab culture was despite his own ancestry – he was the grandson of Holocaust survivors. He attended a Jewish school [DS: a Reform Judaism school] in Miami.

 Sotloff Moved to Yemen, Where he Lived for Years, Lot of Respect for Muslim World:

“He went to study Arabic and ended up staying,” said Ann Marlowe, a fellow journalist and friend. “Yemen has about a 20-person expatriate community; you go there for full immersion. It is not that many people’s idea of a whole lot of fun. He loved being in a traditional society. He struck me as someone with a lot of respect for the Muslim world.”

Steven Sotloff, Friend of Muslims & Arab Spring Breaker:

“Every Muslim who knew (Steven) is probably mortified and horrified that someone who really was a friend of the Muslim and Arab people has met his end this way,” said Ann Marlowe, a visiting fellow at the Hudson Institute who worked alongside Mr. Sotloff during Libya’s 2011 revolution. “He believed in the Arab Spring. He believed in democracy,” she said. “He believed that Arabs and Muslims deserved the same opportunities we have in the West.”

Check out 
GotNews’ Charles Johnson’s 

Dus Iz Nies in midst of "Ceasefire Talks" with Satmar

The editors of the three Satmar Yiddish Newspapers sat with the publisher of DIN this afternoon to begin a discussion on  a "ceasefire" that would last at least from Rosh Hashana till after Yom Kippur! After all, it's a time of Teshuvah and Achdus!

Here is the update as of this afternoon 4:00PM Sept 3, 2014

We gave each other hugs, and handshakes, and after devouring platefuls of Herring, Yapchik,  Kishke, and  Slivovic to wash it all down, supplied by the Holy Satmar ladies, the serious discussions started with all attending editors giving their side of what they thought would constitute a serious ceasefire!

So far, all sides are still far apart, except that  DIN  has agreed to stop writing the truth about Satmar, from Erev Rosh Hashana Wednesday September 24, till Sunday after Yom Kippur October 5.

(1) The editor of Der Goy (der yid), the yiddish newspaper published by the Zalonie Faction of Satmar, will still continue never to mention Reb Aaron Teitelbaum, the brother of Reb Zalman, in their newspaper, and will still continue the policy of never  posting any photos of Reb Aaron, as if he doesn't exist. 
They will continue their policy to write hateful articles against their brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisroel, who don't agree with their outdated and irrelevant positions vis a vis Israel!

(2) The editor of Der Blatt, the yiddish newspaper  published by the Aroni Faction of Satmar, will still continue never to mention Reb Zalman Leib Teitelbaum, the brother of Reb Reb Aaron in their newspaper, and will also continue the policy to never post any photos of Reb Zalman Leib, as if he doesn't exist. 
They will also continue to write hateful articles against their brothers and sisters in Eretz Yisroel, who don't agree with their outdated and irrelevant positions vis a vis Israel!

(3) The Zeitung, a "neutral" Satmar paper, that  is only "neutral" regarding the Teitelbaum brothers, will continue to hate everyone equally! 

Will keep you guys posted for any further developments!
I need Tums .....

Beheaded Journalist was an Israeli who fasted on Yom Kippur

 Steven Sotloff, a U.S. journalist beheaded by Islamic State militants, also held Israeli citizenship, Israel said on Wednesday after apparently withholding the information in a bid to stem the risks to the captive.

Steven Sotloff z"l

“Cleared for publication: Steven Sotloff was #Israel citizen RIP,” tweeted Paul Hirschson, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem.

Islamic State, an insurgent group active in Syria and Iraq, on Tuesday published footage of Sotloff’s execution, which it called retaliation for U.S. air strikes. The video was authenticated by the White House on Wednesday.

Sotloff’s death was extensively covered by Israeli media, which identified the 31-year-old reporter as Jewish and an occasional contributor having withheld such observations since Islamic State announced he could be killed two weeks ago.
“We refused to acknowledge any relationship with him in case it was dangerous for him,” said Avi Hoffman, editor of the Jerusalem Report magazine, which had published Sotloff’s work.

The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, quoting a former fellow captive, said Sotloff had kept his Judaism a secret from the Islamist insurgents, pretending he was sick when he fasted for the Yom Kippur holiday.

Israeli media reports said the U.S.-born Sotloff immigrated to Israel in 2005 and studied at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, a private college near Tel Aviv.

Satmar bans the "Ice Bucket Challenge" and the "Hastara" Song

So the Satmar Rebbe either used Ruach Hakodesh or  googled the "Hastara" song and found out something very bizzare, known only to him, that the Nazis Murderers, composed this song?

http://youtu.be/16y7SCjT9fl

While the Holy Rabbi  was googling he must have used Facebook to see all the Satmar Tznious ladies pouring cold water on themselves!

No word yet, what the Zalonie Camp's position on this is, but my guess is that he will be pro the "Ice Bucket Challenge" and the song, because once his brother is against it, he will be for it!

See translation below:

דברות קודש מ'מהר"א מסאטמאר היום אצל דינור לטובת המוסדות במאנסי 
בשילוב עם יארצייט טיש של היטב לב זצ"ל: איך האב געוואלט זאגן אזא נקדה, יעצט איז די עולם אויף מיט א נייע ניגן וואס הייסט ואפילו בהסתרה, איך בון נאכגעגאנגען די ניגן און דער ניגן שטאמט פון מקורות זרים נאך פון די דייטשן ימח שמם, אויך דער נייע פירצה פון זיך אנגיסן מיט וואסער וואס מיר האבן דאס נישט געזען ביי אינזער אבות הקדושים, איבערהויפט וועם פרויען מאכן דאס, און דאס איז זייער נישט איידל הן הגשמיות והן ברחניות צוליב וואס די קלייד הייבט זיך אויף ווען מען טאנצט פון קעלט און אסאך טון אויס די בגדים ברבים צוליב וואס עס איז נאס געווארן, און עס האט שוין פארדארבט גאר אסאך בחורים, און איך וועל עס מסביר זיין באריכות אן צווייטן מאל, וועגן דעם בעט איך במר נפשי און איך פאדער שטרענג פון די הנהלה פון די בית רחל עס איז אסור פאר א תלמידה זיך אנציגיסן מיט קאלט וואסער נאר און שויער איז עס ערלויבט, און פאר די מענער וויל איך בעטן מען זאל נישט מער זינגען דעם ניגן.

Loose translation:
"Holy words from Our Rabbi & Teacher R' Aaron (Teitelbaum) from Satmar, at the Yurzeit Seudah of the Yetev Lev z"l, in honor of the Satmar Monsey Institutions.

I want to bring out the following point:

The community is now enthralled with the new song called "Afilu B'hastara". I researched the song and I discovered that the song stems from the Germans, may their names be obliterated.

Also, I want to talk about the new phenomenon where people take a bucket of ice and pour it on themselves (ice bucket challenge) , that we had never seen done by our Holy Fathers.
Especially, when women do it, it is not classy, both spiritually, and physically, because the dress lifts up as the lady dances away from the freezing water, and many even remove their clothing in public because the clothes are now wet.
Many Bochrim already got caught up with this and it ruined them.
I will explain this at length another time.
Therefore, I beg with a bitter soul, and strongly suggest to the administration from Bais Ruchel, that they prohibit any student to pour cold water on herself, except in the shower.
And as for the men, I would like to request that they not sing this song anymore!"

Righting the wrong before Rosh Hashana

The Short Vort

by 

Ron Yitzchok Eisenman, Rabbi, Congregation Ahavas Israel, Passaic, NJ 

Tip: SK

Today is Sunday the 5th of Elul 5774 and August 31, 2014

*Righting the Wrong*

Today in 1935 Rav Avraham Yitzchok HaKohen Kook Zt”l passed away.
His actual Yahrtzeit was on the third of Elul (which was Friday),
however, the secular date that year was August 31, 1935.

Rav Kook who lived from 1865-1935 was the first Chief Rabbi of
Palestine in the twentieth century.
He was a great Talmudic scholar, halachik adjudicator, teacher,
thinker and a compassionate and kind and beloved Rav.

Many of his followers study his works and attempt to emulate his
personality as seen through his teachings and his students.
However, the tragedy of Rav Kook Zt”l is that through a
‘revisionism' of the past and because of those who resort to
Orwellian techniques to rewrite history, many average Frum Jew when they hears the name of Rav Kook, the image which pops up in their mind is a sandal wearing, perhaps guitar strutting ‘semi-observant' ‘rabbi' who might be sporting Bermuda shorts and whose Talmudic learning is limited to reading translated portions of Gemara in English while trimming his fashionable goatee and wearing a bottle-cap size yarmulke covering his right ear as it tips precipitously off his head.

He is too often portrayed as a Rav who interested in finding all types of questionable halachik leniencies which have minimal if any halachik substance.
He is thought of as a cavalier and careless rabbi who vacillated
between true Orthodoxy and those other denominations whose halachik acceptability is shaky at best.
However, worst of all, is the fact that outright untruths and vicious
lies have been promulgated about him that during his life time, the
‘true' and authentic Torah leaders of his time distanced themselves
from him and dismissed him as second rate rabbi of no consequence.

One gets the impression after listening to these revisionists that if
we would be transported back to Yerushalayim of the 1920s we would find Rav Kook surrounded by a cadre of secular followers with maybe a handful of lukewarm Orthodox ignoramuses sitting and half listening to his far fetched and perhaps semi-heretical ideas about Torah and Judaism.

People have disseminated the ‘fact' that the real ‘Gedolim' of
Eretz Yisroel had no contact with this ‘radical' and they will even
claim that his books were banned because of their heretical content.

*Nothing could be further from the truth.*

*And this is a ‘wrong' which must be ‘righted'!*

Let me be clear, I do not study too often his works because of their
difficult and what I find almost cryptic language.
Let me also disclose from the outset, that my Rabbeim rarely used his Seforim as his scholarly approach to Talmud and Jewish thought was clearly not your standard Lithuanian bent.

His approach certainly bordered more on the Chassidic and on the
Kabbalistic and neither of these important disciplines were part and
parcel of your typical Lithuanian styled yeshiva curriculum in which all of my Rabbeim were educated in (and are still not).
therefore, I am not advocating the study of his works per se, as I
am no equipped to make that determination.
However, what I am advocating is the following.
Irrespective of his unique and semi-Chassidic/Kabbalistic approach to Torah and Judaism 

*one wrong must be righted./*

And that is the clear and unchallenged fact that he was considered in his lifetime as a true and authentic Gadol.
Indeed, ‘the righting of this wrong' is one of greatest testimonials
to truth that a person can contribute to today's misunderstanding of
this great and beloved and respected Gadol HaDor.

Please do not take my word on the issue.
Please allow his ‘peers' to do the talking for me and then you can
decide on your own.

Here is a list of ten ‘authentic' Gedolim and what they said or
wrote about Rav Kook Zt”l.

1. **The Imrei Emes *
/(HaRav Avraham Mordechai Alter (25 December 1866 - 3 June 1948), also
known as the *Imrei Emes*, was the third Rebbe of the Hasidic dynasty of Ger, a position he held from 1905 until his death in 1948. He was one of the founders of the Agudas Israel in Poland and was influential in establishing a network of Jewish schools there. It is claimed that at one stage he led over 200,000 Hasidim. Wikipedia)/
He refers to Rav Kook as an *“Ish HaEshkolos”* which is a title
reserved for someone who contains ‘everything' (Torah, Mishna,
Talmud, and Aggadah). (See Shir HaShirim Raba 1:60).
It is title given to some who has Torah, Middos and Chesed (see T.B Temurah 15a and T.B. Sota 47b).
It is a title reserved for Moshe Rabbeinu and Rabbi Akiva!
And it is the title which the Gerrer Rebbe referred to Rav Kook with in an open letter to his Chassidim in 1924 (page 78 “Osef Mechtavim of Admor M'Ger”) 

2. *Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski* : 
"Our friend, the Gaon, our master and teacher, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook, shlita" and "The Glory of Honor, My Dear Friend, Ha-Rav Ha-Gaon, Ha-Gadol, the Famous One... The Prince
of Torah, Our Teacher, Ha-Rav Avraham Yitzchak Ha-Kohen Kook Shlit”a..."

3. *Rav Boruch Ber Leibowitz*:
 "The true Gaon, the beauty and glory of the generation, the tzaddik, his holiness, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak, may his light shine, may he live for length of good days and years amen,
the righteous Kohen, head of the beis din [court] in Jerusalem, the
holy city, may it soon be built and established"

4. *Rav Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn of Lubavitch*: 
"The Gaon who is renowned with splendor among the Geonim of Ya'akov, Amud HaYemini, Patish HaChazak..."

5. *Rav Chatzkel Abramsky*: 
"The honored man, beloved of Hashem and
his nation, the rabbi, the Gaon, great and well-known, with breadth of knowledge, the glory of the generation, etc., etc., our master Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook, shlita, Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel and the head of the Beis Din in the holy city of Jerusalem"

6. *Rav Yitzchok Hutner*: 
"The glorious honor of our master, our teacher and rabbi, the great Gaon, the crown and sanctity of Israel,
Maran [our master] Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook, shlita!"

7. *Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer and Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein*: 
"Our honored friend, the great Gaon and glory of the generation, our master and teacher, Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen, shlita"

8. *The Brisker Rov- Rav Yitzchok Zev HaLevi Soloveitchik*: “To his honor the Rav, the great and famous Gaon, and the honor of the generation…Chief Rabbi of Yerushalayim…”

*9. **The Satmar Rebbe- Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum- *
When asked why he refused to meet with Rav Kook- the Rebbe answered: “I certainly won't be able to influence him, and on the contrary, /I am afraid that he might influence me/.” 
(The Rebbe; Rabbi Dovid Meisels; page 43).
From this honest admission from the Satmar Rebbe we see how even he realized how great and persuasive and what erudition Rav Kook possessed as the Satmar Rebbe was not known as a man to back away from his position.
(One has to question how honestly the Satmar believed in his own
worldview if he refused to meet with someone who would and ostensibly /could /change his entire worldview; however, that is for another discussion.)

*10. **Rav Zvi Pesach Frank -* Rav of Yerushalayim. 
As is well known Rav Frank was active in establishing the office of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and was instrumental in appointing Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook as the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi.
I believe these ten Gedolim speak for all of us (or certainly should)
in establishing the fact that even if many of the aforementioned
Gedolim did not necessarily embrace the views of Rav Kook,
nevertheless, they respected him and accepted him as their peer and
their fellow Gadol.

If there is one aspect of Teshuva we can all engage in during this
month of Elul as we prepare for the Day of Judgment and we all desire to be judged fairly, let's begin by ‘judging' someone who deserves the reverence and admiration that our teachers and great Torah leaders accorded him during his life time.

It is high time that all of us when we mention the name of Rav Kook we should do it with the same love and respect we show to all the Gedolim of the last generation.

In the merit of ‘righting this wrong' and judging he who truly
deserves respect and love and reverence ‘fairly', may Hashem judge
all of us with compassion and mercy.

/“If Not Now- Then When?”- Hillel/
Ron Yitzchok Eisenman, Rabbi, Congregation Ahavas Israel, Passaic, NJ

Chodosh Ellul is here: Bobov 45 questions the Hechsherim of Tartikov

Rosh Chodosh Elul arrived in full force, and I guess, teshuvah is for the regular zhlubs like us. The Rabbis, since they are the Tzaddikim and have Ruach Hakodesh, don't need Elul! 
Elul for the Rabbis is a time to strangle your opposition!

 Last week, Reb Mordechai Dovid Ungar, lost the psak din against his uncle Reb Benzion,  and can no longer call himself Bobov, he has to preface the Word Bobov with something else, for example, "Shmendrik Bobov" ,"Satmar Bobov" or TuchesLeker Bobov"

Obviously, he didn't take it too well, so the "sore loser" came up with a brilliant idea, "why don't we boycott all products with  the Hashgacha of the Rabbi who sat on the Bais Din that favored Reb Benzion?"
This will teach everyone that goes to a Bais Din, a lesson, not to pasken "al pi Torah' but "al pi intimidation"

So the "chachamim" of the big "talmud chochum,"  Reb Mordechai Dovid Ungar, got together in a Chelm-like meeting, and came up with the idea to plaster all of the tri-state area with posters questioning that particular  Hashagacha. 
And so that it doesn't look like they are advocating a "boycott" (Chas V'esholom) they write that "this is not a boycott, just a reminder to check the hechsher"

and so the Bobov saga continues....
Reb Shlomo Bobover, where are you?

Satmar Attempts to Annex Parts of Monroe while Israel adds 4000 dunams in West Bank

Ha Ha Ha, LOL, Ha,Ho Ho 
I can't stop laughing while I'm writing this post..... the sheer irony!

One of the Satmar "complaints" against the State of Israel, is the Torah Violation of "Hisgarois B'umois," which basically means that we shouldn't do things to antagonize the gentiles. Satmar's chief complaint is whatever the State does, antagonizes the world, so they should basically all live in shelters and allow the Hamas murderers to rain missiles down on all of Israel! 
The fact that the State of Israel must defend itself, means absolutely nothing to those who live in their comfortable homes in Williamsburg, Monroe and now Bloomberg.
Satmars' shitah is that the very existence of the State, violates this "prohibition." 

I can't wait to read this weeks Satmar Newspapers berating Israel for adding 4000 Gush Etzion dunams in the West Bank, to eventually build much needed settlements!

Now, this violation of "Hisgarois B'umois"  does not apply exclusively to Israel, but in fact this violation was actually put in place in the Midbar in Chutz L'Aretz, it may not even apply to Eretz Yisroel.

So what do the Satmar hypocrites do? 
Ahhh! You took the words straight out of my mouth.
They filed a petition to the Monroe Town Board to annex land to expand Monroe!

Read this:

" A standing-room audience waited more than two hours to address the Monroe Town Board Monday night at the latest packed board meeting since tumultuous town elections in November and then the prospect of a major expansion of Kiryas Joel through an annexation petition property owners filed in December.

Speakers vented frustration with limitations on public comments, the failure to fill a board seat vacant since January and other issues. But Laura Rainoff of Tuxedo drew the loudest applause from the frustrated audience when she raised the annexation prospect that has stoked strenuous opposition at Monroe's raucous board meetings."

Personally, I'm all for Satmar annexing much needed land in Monroe, and the hell with the neighbors. But, I'm also for Israel annexing much needed land for their citizens.

So what is the difference if Satmar violates the dictum of  "Hisgarois B'umois," or if Israel does it?

Slonimer Rebbe Says that except for 17 year olds, everyone must report to IDF induction centers

Last week it was reported that the Slonimer Rebbe, instructed his chassidim not to report to draft centers, adopting the fanatical policy of Rav Shmuel Auerbach. 

A clarification is now being announced.

The Rosh Yeshiva of Slonim, has now issued a clarification that the restriction prohibiting one from reporting to an induction center applies only to bochrim, not to the older talmidim and avreichim. 

The Rosh Yeshiva explained the fear is that 17-year-old talmidim reporting for a first induction order may be “damaged” or persuaded by military authorities and therefore the Rebbe prohibits them from doing so. 

This does not apply to anyone other than these bochrim, fearing the latter may be influenced by the surroundings due to their young age.

The Rebbe’s words were disseminated in the chassidus by his son, Rosh Yeshivas Slonim.

 The Rebbe is a member of the Moetzas Gedolei Torah of Agudas Yisrael.

Shas takes Ethiopian Shul while the Ethiopians were serving in Gaza!

When the heads of the shul serving the Ethiopian community of Kiryat Gat returned from Operation Protective Edge they were shocked to learn their Beis Knesses was given away to a chareidi nonprofit, affiliated with Shas. The shul leaders were among the tens of thousands called up to emergency military service and when they returned it became clear to them that they lost their shul.

According to a Srugim News report, Moshe Solomon, a leading figure in the city’s Ethiopian community  received a notice, a couple of months ago, for a 70,000 shekel debt to the electric company.
 “The building is the city’s and the latter is responsible to pay the electric bill. After a few days, without any notice, the electricity was turned off”.

Moshe and his colleagues tried their best, turning to Israel Electric Company to get the power turned on. Officials explained to them they did not initiate the cutting off of the service to the shul but a request was received from Kiryat Gat City Hall to turn off the power.

Moshe then turned to City Hall in the hope of reaching the truth and having the power restored. He also asked to have the building transferred to the nonprofit that runs the shul since the structure was built to serve as a shul for the Ethiopian community. 

Moshe explains, to his sorrow, that nothing was done to assist him and the kehilla. He explained that the community could not raise the funds to pay the electric bill since they just used the money they had, to refurbish the shul.

Moshe adds that Deputy Mayor Shulamit Salu is a member of the local Ethiopian community but she too did not appear willing to assist him and the kehilla. He insists she signed the letter that was sent to Israel Electric asking to have service cut off. He accuses her to spearheading the campaign against them because she has “her own agenda”.

“At the end, we paid the debt with 10 post-dated checks of 10,000 shekels, hoping we would raise the money one month at a time to cover the checks."

However Moshe’s troubles did not end. He explains that a day after the electric debt was paid, the shul was handed over to a chareidi nonprofit affiliated with Shas. He admits they learned of the city’s actions too late and were therefore unable to take action to prevent it. Letters went unanswered and they found themselves without anyone of authority willing to assist.

Moshe emphasizes it did not end there, for city officials arrived to change the locks to keep Moshe and his kehilla out. 
“We arrived for minyan and we couldn’t get in” he explained. “I simply cannot understand the hate, davka now, in Elul”.


When asked to comment, Deputy Mayor Salu told Srugim that the shul was unable to pay its electric bill which it was responsible to pay and this compelled the city to act. She denies allegations of prejudice or hate towards the local Ethiopian community. She added that the shul had many other problems pertaining to the proper running of the shul, seeking to justify her actions.

BDS against SodaStream backfires as headquarters moves to Southern Israel causing 900 Palestinians to lose their jobs

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanction (BDS) campaign against West Bank based company SodaStream, backfired as it announced the move of its headquarters to Southern Israel.

While the BDS crowd will be happy with this move, since SodaStream will now be based in an area of ​​Israel that is not disputed by the Palestinians, there is a very real possibility that the 900 Palestinians employees will lose their jobs as a result.

The company will move its entire factory sometime next year, and while it will continue its practice of equal opportunity hiring, there is a high probability that the Bedouin and African communities in the region will be the lucky recipients of employment in SodaStream instead of Palestinians.

SodaStream produces home carbonation systems that enable users to convert tap water into sparkling water in more than 100 flavors.

A Palestinian worker slammed the BDS movement, saying that the group is only harming Palestinians by causing them to lose their high paying jobs at Israeli companies operating in the West Bank.

Unlike Satmar, Abbas Blames Hamas For 2,100 Dead, 10,000 Injured, 50,000 Homes Destroyed

It seems that Abbas is moving away from the Satmar Shita, that the Zionists were responsible for  the war between Israel and Gaza.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has accused Hamas of needlessly extending fighting in Gaza, causing a high death toll.

Abbas told Palestine TV in remarks broadcast Friday that “it was possible for us to avoid all of that, 2,000 martyrs, 10,000 injured, 50,000 houses (damaged or destroyed).”
Israel and Hamas terrorists fought for 50 days before reaching a truce on Tuesday.

More than 2,100 Palestinians were killed, including hundreds of civilians. Seventy one people on the Israeli side, including six civilians, were killed.

Several Egyptian mediated cease-fire attempts failed. Hamas eventually accepted almost the same truce offered at the beginning.

Abbas’ Palestinian Authority formed a unity government backed by Hamas earlier this year. Abbas questioned the future of that arrangement in the interview.

Cell Phones For All Students In Israel, No Black Hats And No Jackets On Hikes Says Hatzoloah

Why anybody has to be told that, I'll never figure out, but the Roshei Yeshivos who don't go on hikes, banned cell phones for their students. 

Now! because of the terrible tragedy, they are singing a new tune!
These Torah leaders, instead of being pro-active, wait for a tragedy to react.

Parents should tell their children that a phone is a must, whether they are in Israel or the USA. We now live in a new world order, where a phone is no longer a luxury but could actually save your life.
And if Aron Sofer would have had a smart phone with a GPS app, he would be learning  in Yeshiva now!

In the aftermath of Aaron Sofer’s death, United Hatzalah founder and president Eli Beer urged Israeli yeshivos to make sure that all Students carry cell phones with them whenever they leave the yeshiva in an interview that aired Thursday night on Zev Brenner’s Talkline radio program.

“Today carrying a phone could be a lifesaving situation,” said Beer. “A phone today is not just a tool of business or pleasure.”

Sofer did not have a phone with him when he left Rav Tzvi Kaplan’s yeshiva on Friday to go for a hike in the Jerusalem Forest. Beer hopes that future tragedies could be averted by insisting that all students carry cell phones with them whenever they leave school grounds.
“You dont go to a places like a desert of forest or wherever it is without a phone,” said Beer. “I’m not here to advertise phones, but I’m saying that it could save lives.”

United Hatzalah offers an SOS app that sends out a distress call to United Hatzalah and tracks the user’s location via GPS technology. While the app , which was released after the kidnap and murder of the three Israeli teens in June, is currently available on United Hatzalah’s website for all major smartphones, plans are underway to have it loaded onto kosher phones as well.
“We are looking into new technology and are working with all the major phone companies so that we can pack it into all phones so that every Israeli student can have it,” Beer told VIN News. “I’m not saying that yeshiva students should use their phones every day. But a phone isn’t a luxury. It is a lifesaver.”

Beer noted that with the possible exception of some desert areas, phones with the SOS app should be able to send out distress signals anywhere in the country.
“The majority of the country has cell phone servicBeer also noted that it is crucial to follow safety rules when hiking, which include dressing properly for the Israeli heat and sun.
“Proper shoes are a must,” said Beer. “Dress shoes that you wear in yeshiva have slippery soles and you can’t wear shoes like that to go hiking. You wouldn’t go ice skating in dress shoes and you shouldn’t wear them to go hiking either.”

Beer suggested that anyone going hiking carry a minimum of four liters of water with them to prevent dehydration, something that can be further exacerbated by the typical garb worn by yeshiva students.
“You need clothing that is lighter than the regular clothing you would wear in the beis medrash,” said Beer. “You don’t realize how heat eats you up from the inside when you are wearing black, which collects the heat.
People don’t realize just how hot it gets here and you get dehydrated very, very fast. You need to fight that by wearing white clothing and light clothing. You need a hat, even a baseball cap, but it has to be light colored.”

Finally, Beer added that cell phones are a must-have on any hike.
“If you don’t feel well, chas v’shalom, or if you get lost or for anything that happens, having a phone can save your life,” said Beer.

The SOS app, which is available for free, has been downloaded by 60,000 people since its release, according to The Jerusalem Post. It is for use in Israel only and can be downloaded at http://sos.nowforce.com/?locale=en-us.e, but even in a place where there is no service, police could still search where the phone last had reception further narrowing the search area,” explained Beer.

Saul Klausner of 5 Towns drowns in Vacation Village Pool

 Five Towns man died yesterday afternoon after being found at the bottom of a Loch Sheldrake swimming pool.

Saul Klausner reportedly spent approximately 30 minutes in a hot tub at Vacation Village before going into the swimming pool. He was found at the bottom of the pool at approximately 5 PM by a teenage girl who ran to get help.

Hatzolah, Fallsburg police and New York State troopers all responded to the emergency call and Hatzolah began CPR at Vacation Village. Klausner was transported to the Loch Sheldrake fire station where he was airlifted to St. Francis hospital in Poughkeepsie, where he was pronounced dead.

“They worked on him extensively for a while,” Yanky Meyer of Misaskim who was on the scene told VIN News. “They got a pulse, lost the heartbeat while they were flying and got it going again on the way to St. Francis.”

Klausner, a chazzan who lived in Lawrence  was 71 years old.
Residents of Vacation Village were distraught as word of Klausner’s death spread over Shabbos.
“He was a fine man and it was a pleasure to know him,” said Vacation Village resident Naftali Faska.

Klausner is survived by his wife Susan and two children. The levaya will take place on Sunday at noon at Boulevard-Riverside Chapel in Hewlett

Satmar says that Israel started all the wars with the Arabs!

This week's Der Goy (Der Yid), the Yiddish News weekly published by the Zalonie Faction of Satmar, says, that  all the wars since 1948 until 2014, between Israel and the Arabs, 
were started by the Zionists. 
This they write as a matter of fact. 

Just to be very clear, this is the view of all anti-Semites and the murderous Arab world! Not only that, this is the view of the liberal Reform and Conservative Jews as well.
In fact, there are a lot of similarities between Satmar and the Reform movement, both of them reject Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people. The first thing that the Reform movement did was to remove the word Tzion from their siddurim.

So Satmar is now aligned with all haters of Jews!

I will loosely translate the 2 paragraphs of the above article published this weeks issue,Parshas Shoftim!

My comments in red!

" We had previously explained in an earlier article, that all the wars that the State of Israel had with their Arab neighbors, resulted in the spilling of blood, and could have been avoided in most cases.  
(DIN: Tell us one case that any war that Israel had with the blood thirsty Arabs could have been avoided?
1948? When the Arabs attacked Israel? 
1967? When Israel was surrounded by thousands of tanks and Egypt blockaded the Gulf of Akaba?
Read what surrounded Israel on the eve of the 67' war...

When Egypt massed approximately 100,000 of its troops in the Sinai, including all of its seven divisions (four infantry, two armoured and one mechanized), four independent infantry brigades and four independent armoured brigades. No fewer than a third of them were veterans of Egypt's continuing intervention into the Yemen Civil War and another third were reservists. These forces had 950 tanks, 1,100 APCs, and more than 1,000 artillery pieces.

Syria's army had a total strength of 75,000 and amassed them along the Syrian border.

Jordan's army had 55,000 troops and 300 tanks along the Jordanian border, 250 of which were U.S. M48 Pattons, sizable amounts of M113 APCs, a new battalion of mechanized infantry, and a paratrooper battalion trained in the new U.S.-built school. They also had 12 battalions of artillery and six batteries of 81 mm and 120 mm mortars.

Let's skip to the present Gaza war... Hamas was throwing missiles at Israel for over 10 years!

What would Satmar do, if Belz threw missiles from Woodberry Commons at Monroe?

Or if Lubavitch threw Missles into Williamsburg?)

There were many opportunities  [to avoid war],
(DIN: When, tell us when?) but the Zionist haughtiness, drove them to needless war, to show [the world] their prowess, and their ambition. All this [going to needless wars] knowing in advance that this cannot be accomplished without the spilling of blood, and would cost the life of Jewish souls, and that Jewish blood would be spilled.

The Zionist propaganda machine, manipulated the news in their favor, to the Jews living in other parts of the world.
(Din: what are they smoking? The entire media was against Israel)
The victories of the IDF, was magnified and trumped up, but they hid the cost of how many Jewish souls this victory actually cost! How much needless Jewish sacrifices, just for the glory of the politics of an IDF general that led them like sheep to the slaughter.
(Din: Don't get me started on, who led who, "like sheep to the slaughter." Ask thousands of murdered Hungarian Jews who were advised by the Satmar Rebbe to stay in Europe, while Hitler's armies were rounding up all Jews)
And because of this [the action of the IDF general] Jews living in Chulz L'aretz were swayed to the Zionists, they became intoxicated with the false IDF victories and successes , and were caught in the storm of the street, and danced and celebrated."
(DIN: What a sick and perverted comment)

ISIS Commits MASS SLAUGHTER – Murders HUNDREDS of Syrian Soldier Prisoners

Remember the words of  President Hussain Obama

"The most beautiful sound I have ever heard is the Muslim call to evening prayer." 

ISIS TERRORISTS COMMIT ANOTHER MASS SLAUGHTER–
The violent jihadists captured hundreds of Syrian soldiers, marched them mostly naked into the desert and slaughtered them.

Aaron Sofer found dead in Yerushalyim.

The body of Aron Sofer, the 23 year old yeshiva bochur who went missing on Friday, has been found in the Jerusalem Forest in Ein Kerem.

It  has been confirmed that Sofer’s body was located by United Hatzolah volunteers who were among the many that took part in the massive search for the missing Lakewood resident.
“We were going through a completely new area that we hadn’t searched before,” Eli Beer, founder of United Hatzolah told VIN News. “This was east, towards Ein Kerem a few miles away. After about two hours of searching one of our volunteers found him near a tree and he called for help. Other volunteers came and they saw he wasn’t alive, hadn’t been alive for a while.”

Initial reports say that Sofer’s body shows no signs of violence. While Beer said that no details were being released at this time and that it was too early to say whether or not terrorism played a rule in Sofer’s death, it appears not to have been a factor.
“It is impossible to know at this time why he passed away,” said Beer. “He was found whole, on the floor, and had not been alive for some time. There was a small cliff nearby. It could be he fell, it could be he was dehydrated. It is too early to rule anything out but it looks like it was not terrorism.”
Police, Hatzolah and Zaka are all on scene at the location where Sofer’s body was found.

Sofer’s parents were brought to United Hatzolah headquarters in Romema where they were told of their son’s passing.
“He was found a long way from where he disappeared,” said Beer. “No one ever thought that this area was even a possibility.”

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld confirmed to the media that authorities were in the process of identifying the body.
Rosenfeld would not say whether there were any signs of foul play.

Reb Mordechai Dovid Ungar, Rebbe from Bobov 45 Wants Peace! Video

Maybe Moshiach will finally come!

 Reb Mordechai Dovid Unger the "Bobover Rebbe" of 45th Street lost the Din Torah, and will no longer be called Bobover Rebbe. Inside reports suggest that he is ready to accept the Bais Din's decision and wants Shalom with his uncle, Reb Ben Zion Halberstam, the Bobover Rebbe from 48th Street!

The pressure is now on the Satmar Brothers to make peace, but I hear that they will sooner make peace with the Zionists before they talk to each other!
I'ts not in their DNA to make Shalom, since none of their ancestors going all the way up to Yerovom ben Navot, ever entertained making peace with any of the presumed enemies!
So if that ever happens, I will grab my wide gartle, and purple socks and run towards the guy on the donkey and yell at the top of my lungs "Moshiach, You are finally here!"

Video of Aaron Sofer taking Light Rail to Hike!