As I walked down the Boardwalk in Coney Island this splendid and glorious Chol Hamoed, I was truly enjoying the beautiful weather and the sweet sounds of many kinderlach laughing and playing in the sand!
After our few hours in the sunshine, we returned from our stroll on the water to the wooden boardwalk and to put it mildly, we were starving!
Luckily, we had packed along the regular Pesach snacks-Matzah, box drinks, lady fingers…. And suddenly I was struck by the amount of garbage that lined the planks of the boardwalk! Everywhere I looked were traces of Jewish Pesach wrappers.
I was truly embarrassed, and even more so when I realized that garbage cans had been set up every 5 feet literally.
B”h we all have many little kinderlach to attend to and it is difficult to keep an eye on them and to make sure they dispose of their wrappers properly, but maybe we should just take a bag and make it the “garbage bag” where everyone puts their garbage and tie it on the carriage and simply drop it in a trash can at the end of the trip.
The scene at that beach was so disgusting!
Please save yourself from this Chillul Hashem and tell your children to use the trash cans and not to throw garbage on the floor!
Thank You!
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45 Responses
that the first thing we noticed. we have to train ourselves first, then our children will follow. we are hk”bh’s diplomats we have to always remember that.
That may be true, but don’t make it like it’s a Jewish problem, please. You should see the mess the non-Jews make whenever they get together.
I appreciate your diplomacy of blaming it on the children. My experience from observing adults in Boro Park is that the children have whom to learn these poor habits from. Teach your children that others need observe the panarama too after you’ve left.
And now for my pet peeve; people leaning the soles of their shoes on public walls that would require maintenance to retain cleanliness. (Mind you for the sake of looking cool). Total lack of respect for others.
I was there as well it was a windy day which contributed to the garbage flying all over but the biggest piece of garbage are the self haters walking on the boardwalk always lookiking to make a chillul hashem by bad mouthing yidden.
as a teenager i worked summers on the beach in far rockaway–my job was picking up the garbage off the sand from the day before–as a result i developed a healthy respect for throwing garbage in pails no matter where—besides avoiding a chillul haShem, there are sound environmental and health reasons not to litter–and it’s our ‘achrayus’ to take care of what was entrusted to us–in this case the Earth.
the thing is when there is a huge crowd the result is always a lot of litter….no matter who. when used to go to coney years ago as chlid or other places with the children and had huge crowd at those places, not yidden,there always was overflow of litter…the waste baskets too, so even if you wanted ,no room. did the writer notice the waste baskets if they were full? even if not , usually one notices the litter on floor but not the litter that was thrown in..azoi is es, some notice the glass half full some notice the glass half empty… its always like that. human nature,and we are not perfect robots you go to beth medresh some put back siddur, sefer etc,some not, towels in mikvah some put into pail some not ( one can see plenty in pail and complain etc etc etc )so mir think you are making issue of none.ITS HUMZAN NATURE WHEN THERE IS A BIG CROWD THERE IS A LOT OF LITTER NO MATTER WHO so me think chillel hashem applies does not apply here…and please dont say we should be more perfect in this prat then other human beings because we are bnei malochim. bnei malochim also have this deficiency..
I live in Flatbush, and the front of my home and
backyard are always full of “kosher” garbage. It is
not only the children, but their parents who have such little respect for themselves and their neighbors.
Hey yo yo-what do you mean by self haters? The point of this is not to bad mouth Yidden-it is to try to make people aware of the situation and try to rectify it!
Terrific observation, Bubby. BTW, there probably weren’t any used needles/syringes (used for shooting drugs) among those lady finger wrappers.
Why don’t you get a life! Isn’t it a tremendous KIDDUSH HASHEM when there are obviously so many frum people attending Coney Island, & not a single act of violence or crime is reported? Is there ANY single other group who can claim that?
Did you also attend a school where, despite most students excelling in their studies & behavior, the dean/principal never missed an opportunity to point out something negative, i.e. too much garbage in the hallways? If so, you unfortunately got a BELOW PAR education, and it’s time for you to reallocate your focus more on things like “b’tzedek tishpot amisecha”.
Love your fellow Jews! (Even if they leave behind more garbage food wrappings than you feel you can handle).
A freilichen shabbos!!!
I have seen this problem as well, and I would reccomend that even if you are in a rush- do your best to pick it up b/c it is a chilul hashem, and you can create a kiddush hashem by picking it up. Make it fun and get the kids involved for 10 min…
You Think The Boardwalk was Disgusting, You Should See the New 18th Ave Park! I went Right Before Yom Tov, And The Park Looked Like 5th Ave After a Ticker Day Parade. You Could Not Even See The Grass, Thats How Much Garbage Was there.Yes, It Was Convenient For All The Mothers To Take Their Children To The Park To Eat Chametz Before Pasach. But On Whos Expense? Not Theirs! Thats A Huge Chillul Hashem, And You Can’t Even Blame The Non- Jews They Were Not Even There!
It’s taka a problem. It really is a chilul Hashem and we can justify as much as we want but l’maisah people easily point out the kosher wrappers and call Klal Yisrael animals…. so what if Goyim do it too. R’ Pam actually says on this parsha– Kedoshim Tihiyu… (Dubno Magid…) You cant live life and say youre good- you’re kadosh b/c you are better than the Goyim around- thats no raiya especially today!!!
We have to be kadosh as would be fit to the Kedusha on HKB”H’s terms…. soaring way higher than the goyishe standards!!
I’ve watched many times kids, Bachrim, Teenage girls, and yes often adults, mamish just throw their garbage on the floor as if it were one big dumpster- or right out the window. When I comment or pick it up for them I obviously get a sickening response from them sometimes even they’ll throw another thing just to spite me or prove they are cool.
And then guess what, I hear from the frye Yidden and Goyim that Jews are pigs!!! And I have to explain to them that really only some dont have manners but really Jews are Mentschen!!
Rabbosai!!! Teach your children! Teach yourselves! And lets all pick up trash when we notice it especially if it is clearly bearing our badge!!!
It is safe to assume that parents are not leaving trash strewn about, nor are they teaching their children to.
I would surmise that smaller children are the culprits here, taking snacks when no one is looking, and leaving the wrappers.
Or, the wind is responsible for blowing it from the trash receptacle.
As for the person who saw this, I don’t think there was trash “everywhere”. Rather the place they happened to be had a “deposit” of trash, and therefore they assumed that there was trash “everywhere”.
The most important thing is to always be Dan L’Kaf Z’Chus.
I also noticed some garbage by Prospect Park which looked like it was from Pesach nosh, and we should definitely be more concsious about what we do in public… Everywhere we go we are representing HBH. But there is no discussion here.
What i don’t understand is the approach that if we criticize ourselves and talk about areas where we need improvement it is because we are being hateful to others or ourselves?? On the contrary, we should speak up more instead of turning a blind eye and hiding behind the convenience of loshon hora (grouping everything in that category) in order not to get involved.
I did not grow up frum but came to Yiddishkeit on my own and as far as I understand we are all responsible for each other…right? so why can’t we “notice” (and say something) about what other yidden are doing especially when it impacts us all? I live in Flatbush and sometimes I shudder at the egregious lack of tznius and over the top materialism that i see constantly…what some women wear along with their sheitelach (which is in itself the epitomy of stretching halacha to accomodate…how are these long sheitels tzniusdik??) is crazy and we should be able to say something. As I understand, we are going to be held accountable for our actions or am i being too negative and self-hating now? I think that loving another jew means speaking up and not being apathetic to what is going on around you. (I don’t mean we should accost people on the street, but at least we should speak up in an anonymous forum where maybe people can read the postings and give some thought to what they maybe need to improve. at least. or should we, even on this forum SMILE, TALK ABOUT NOTHING, AND NEVER MENTION ANYTHING “NEGATIVE” THAT MIGHT MAKE SOMEONE UNCOMFORTABLE??
#7 VERY WELL SAID!! There Will Always Be(Till Mashiach Comes) People Who Are Blinded Or Out Of Laziness, That Just Don’t Think About Others. The Writer Of The Letter Went For A long Enjoyable Walk And Only Noticed The Mess Once He/She Was Ready To Eat!?!? Maybe Just Maybe “KOL HAPOSEL B’MUMI POSEL”. They Felt Embarresed Almost Doing The Same Thing When They Were Ready To Eat?!
I’d like to echo #8. I live in a different frum community and I am appalled by the sheer amount of kosher food wrappers that I find on my lawn every time I mow the grass or rake the leaves. It’s quite disgusting.
The author is 100% correct. It is wrong to justify our bad behavior by announcing that goyim do it too. That can be used as a bad excuse for any wrong behavior.
But, we do, as a group have a problem with derech eretz.
By derech eretz I mean any and all matters which affect others, and make us look bad.
This includes, but is certainly not limited to:
Tossing wrappers and other trash onto the streets, boardwalk, sand, etc.,
Being pushy, literally and figuratively in many places, like the subways, stores, sidewalks, etc.,
Being rude to goyim, just because they are goyim.
Being rude to any of the creations of Hashem Yisborach.
I was walking to shul through a small park in my neighborhood with a friend. Both of us are chassidishe people, and look it.
A very polite and respectful small group of goyim smiled at us and actually said, “Shabbat Shalom” to us.
I smiled back, and offered them a polite greeting. My “friend” grunted under his breath, “dirty FEKETAS” (a Hungarian word for members of the darker-skinned race) and refused to even acknowledge their greeting.
I was so offended by his remark, and embarrassed to be with him. Though the goyim did not hear him, they could not help but see his failure to acknowledge them.
A year after this even, I was looking at a townhome, 3 doors down from my “friend.”
The seller was telling me how all the neighbors were so friendly, except for the person in the corner house (my “friend”), but that he just ignores his family, realizing they must have some kind of problem. No, it was not anti-semitism. I was dressed in a breiter beeber hit, langer reckel, and looked as Chassidish as anyone. I felt that this man had absolutely NO negative feelings toward me or other Jews, just towards my friend.
He was an exception. A gentile who does not condemn an entire group for the rudeness of one member of it.
However, we live in a world of people who do decide upon the merits of a group based upon a small sampling they happen to meet.
We ARE the ambassadors. It IS our obligation to be nice to everyone. It IS our obligation to not put our shoes against someone else’s wall.
It IS our obligation to not toss our waste into the streets, sidewalks, boardwalks, beaches, subways,etc.,
It IS our obligations to BE A MENCH.
Is it possible to bring attention to an issue that needs some correction & not get in to “self-haters, etc.” type of rhetoric?! KEEP IT SIMPLE! A fair suggestion was made…take it under advise & do what’s in your power to create a kidush hashem!
#6 to say that the earth was entrusted to us is not a torah idea rather the polar oposite its an environmentalist montra hashem takes care of the earth he doesnt need our help, he takes care of us to but on that its says a special mitzva to take care of ones health, i have yet to see a mitzva to take care of the earth
As an out of towner who spent yom yov in N.Y. let me tell you what I noticed.
1. Beautiful yiddishe families happy and taking walks with each other.
2. Chassidim, Yeshivish, litfish and all types of yiden walking and enjoying yom tov together.
3. Tznius was not compromised by anybody (yes it was windy).
It was a beautiful and inspiring kiddush Hashem.
Yes there may have been some wrappers but don’t be so upset and medakdek with other yidden.
Be an ayin tov and you will be happier and more productive. Don’t look at the wrapper only what’s in it.
Al tistakel bakankan ela bema shyesh bo.
You don’t want to create a kategor for yourself.
Hakadosh Baruch Hu judges you the way you judge others. Be careful. It’s not worth it.
This happened at last siyum hashas in madison square garden as well
Unfortunately.we,the people who wash our hands and go to the mikva,cannot learn cleanliness. I know men in the beth hamedrah who never return a sefer to its place,never throw their used tissues into the trash can,leave wrappers and left over food on the table and then complain about the mess when they walk in. People must re-learn derech eretz. If the parents and rebbes would do the right thing,the children will follow.,too.
yo yo, your just plain wrong.
t0 #8….i live in…..and the front of my home and back are perfecly clean so are my neighbors and we are ultra… so what are you trying to convey regarding this subject…there are clean, neat and unclean and not neat all over, what is it behind those wording that you throw in “kosher” garbage..Hmm.
firstly we have to keep in mind to always work on ourselves before working on others and second being that i wasn’t there i cant judge but it does get me plenty annoyed when i walk down the street and see an empty potato chip bag from a heimishe company, something tells me most goyim arent giving their kids leibers potato chips when they go to the park. in addition we should just be aware that when our fellow jew is disappointed in us, that, even more than when it would happen with a goy, is also a chillul Hashem.
I think there is a general problem with some people that don’t have manners and are very rude. You can tell the difference some times by going into a frum store (I say SOMETIMES not by everyone), and contrasting it to a goyishe store by the way they treat you. We can even learn from goyim how to behave with respect, and to be polite to others (although we don’t need to, you can learn it from the Torah. Pirkei Avos is full of how to interact with. i.e. greet people with a smile – even a goy, etc.).
to #23…did you also notice the men in beth hamedrish who DO put back a sefer and DO put wrapper etc, in to garbage….what do you people expect a Utopian society? vos is dos mit enk ?crying over every little thing…
I think that all the self righteous people that take the liberty of speaking this way about follow Jews, that albeit are not perfect, is a much bigger chilul hashem. What about loshen hara?
#25 “kosher” garbage simply refers to items that are obviously trash that is from a kosher product. You wont find many non-frum eating certain brands. Not many other people eating lady fingers or macaroons, not many other people using mishpach or liebers.
ITS A SICK SELF -CENTERED ADDITUDE WE HAVE.
SAME GOES FOR DOUBLE PARKING
ME FIRST !!!!
MANY KIRUV ORGANIZATIONS NO LONGER TAKE GROUPS TO FRUM AREA’S BECAUSE OF THE GARBAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
eric55:
Perhaps the phrase “the earth is entrusted to us” is an environmental mantra. But the idea that we are not supposed to waste any of the earth’s resources is simply the mitzvah of “bal tashchis”; this issur applies not only to cutting down fruit trees unnecessarily (as it is introduced in sefer D’vorim) but also to wasting other resources, such as fuel or clean air and water. The existence of this commandement does not however c”v imply that Hashem doesn’t take care of the earth. With respect to the commandement to safeguard one’s health: certainly if cleaning up litter is dangerous to one’s health he should avoid it completely.
jent1150:
I’m not poster #8, but I’d guess “kosher” garbage may mean wrappers or other litter from kosher foods. Such litter has the potential to cause chillul Hashem since those who see it will assume that it was left by observant Jews.
I was at an event in NY for children and there was a terrible mess left for someone else to clean up. The most terrible thing, imo, was that not one mother shouted out. . . “no one will leave this room until the mess is cleaned up,” although an out of town mother did ask those with her to help clean up, but the mess was too wide and too deep.
At the beach there is no one to yell and make mentschleikeit the responsibility of the klal, but in schools throughout there are people who should be saying, clean up this mess and srub these desks off because it just isn’t impressive.
I live less then a block from a well known glatt kosher fast food restaurant. I would love to lay the blame for the wrappers, bags, half eaten burgers, chicken bones and other fast food garbage at the feet of everyone BUT frum yidden. Unofortunately, I cant.
There is no excuse for anyone to order a meal, eat in the car and leave the styrofoam dish and all the garbage on the curb.
A true chillul hashem.
I’ve witnessed in a few places that the talmidim actually clear their places at lunch so that the janitor doesnt have to!!! Now THAT is good chinuch!! 🙂
For those who went to Astroland amusement park…did anything else bother you?
1. There was no set lines for rides, and there was plenty of cutting and ‘saving places’ for multiple relatives on the already long lines.
2. people pushing others of the opposite gender to go through, without any ‘excuse me’ was intolerable.
a m.o. woman commented to me that ‘they’ are always acting that way. Kol hamayvin, yavin. Parents should watch their children to make sure in their excitement they are not acting towards others in ways unbefitting a ben/bas melech, and causing others to segregate us into categories.
‘we’,’they’ , ‘the m.o. woman’ = are all one — and we should act like it.
i definitely would not mind if someone could write a letter expressing the opinion of the masses, in regard to the chol hamoed events that occur year in and year out which advertise “tzniusdig enviroment”, and much to our dismay many of us had to be machshil and be exposed to such pritzus and lewdity!!!
Why can’t a person make a suggestion for improvement within the klal without someone jumping on them crying “but the goyim are worse!” ?
A person does not need to be a “self hater” to offer a suggestion that could possibly prevent others from thinking negatively about klal yisrael. A self hater, in my humble view, has no respect for themselves and therefore sees no reason for self improvement. The write of this letter sees klal yisrael as a respectable nation with tremendous potential to improve its conduct in this area. Why is this so terrible? Why must we get so defensive at every suggestion for self improvement?
Will every reader take every suggestion that is written in a public forum? Of course not! Everyone chooses areas that they feel that they can work in their personal situation. But please, understand, there is asbsolutely no “down side” to cleaning up after yourselves. And there is certainly no reason to shy away from, (or worse: direct extremely negatives comments towards someone who) writes in a simple suggestion to do so.
Learning Pirkei Avos,mussar seforim TN’,ach ,with meforshim and rebbeim,would certainly help. WE MUST TEACH DERECH ERETZ TO OUR CHILDREN BUT WE ADULTS MUST SHOW THEM BY OUR ACTION. Perhaps concerned individuals would pick up ‘heimishe’ trash as they walk down the street or in the parks and set an example to others how to fulfil “kedoshim Ti’h’u”!
to ’32’-thanks for saving me the time to answer ’20’–according to his logic, there is nothing wrong with throwing garbage on the ground–haShem will clean it up for him!
wow people love to bash. yes there maybe a problem with garbage that yidden leave,first children learn manner at home.when your kids finish supper, do you tell them to throw out the garbage thats on the plate. when they open up a bag of snack in the car do you have an empty shopping bag for garbage? or do you let them just dump in on the floor and eventually next pesach cleaning you’ll clean it up?
on another point, whoever was in six flags new england can admit that it was a beautiful kiddush hashem, everyone acted so wonderful and on thier best behavior. yes there may have been a pile of garbage to collect at the end of the day but look at the positive side that b”h we made a tremendous kiddush hashem!!!!!
Unfortunately.we,the people who wash our hands and go to the mikva,cannot learn cleanliness. I know of some men in the beth hamedrah who never return a sefer to its place,never throw their used tissues into the trash can,leave wrappers and left over food on the table and then complain about the mess when they walk in. People must re-learn derech eretz. If the parents and rebbes would do the right thing,the children will follow.,too
Learning Pirkei Avos,mussar seforim TN’,ach ,with meforshim and rebbeim,would certainly help. WE MUST TEACH DERECH ERETZ TO OUR CHILDREN BUT WE ADULTS MUST SHOW THEM BY OUR ACTION. Perhaps concerned individuals would pick up ‘heimishe’ trash as they walk down the street or in the parks and set an example to others how to fulfil “kedoshim Ti’h’u”!
by Proud of KAJ-WH TIDE (Torah Im Derech Eretz)
You are all pessimists! Look at the Kiddish Hashem there is when we throw garbage on the floor or do not clean up after ourselves! Do you know how many people would be out of a job if we all cleaned up after ourselves? From the bus boys, to man who returns your cart to the store (even if it is only two feet away), to the sanitation workers who pick up all the trash on the boardwalk. If we all cleaned up, these people would be out of jobs. They should thank us, Jews, that we do not mind living like a pig, but g-d forbid to eat it.
What is the point of having a clean car? The mitzvah of Pesach cleaning applies to dirty cars! True story, my mother borrowed my uncles car for a day to take us to a mall. While driving she was looking in her rearview mirror, and she a mouse running in the back window. We almost crashed! So not only did my uncle have a hiddur mitzvah cleaning his car for Pesach, he went a step further to have rachmonas on the poor defenseless animal.
#44..
Remember the story of Rashi’s parents? If my memory serves me correctly, his father would dust off the bais medrash with his beard, so dear to him were the koselos of the bais medrash.
Although my childish imagination always imagined an old man with a flowing white beard wiping off near-nonexistant dust the same way that our feather ‘wipes’ off the minute crumbs by bedikas chometz..Perhaps, in contemporary terms of understanding, he was a person who would pick up other’s coffee cups, used tissues, ‘used’ seforim, and put them in the proper places.
Many people take on segulos — such as lighting shabbos candles with oil as a segula for worthy children —
Imagine if it was a ‘popular’ segula that the key to great, really great children was to clean up after yourself/others when it reflects on Kibud HaMakom…in your bais medrash..in your mikdosh me’at, on a daily basis, on shabbosim after a kiddush, shalosheudos, simchas torah, etc!
There would be fighting going on as to who had the honor to do it!..I *think*, in the times of the bais haMikdosh, the kohanim would pick lots?straws? to determine who takes out the terumas haDeshen..and was it not another form of disposing of something with proper kavod?
Thoughts? Reactions?
I wonder if those who have a problem with ‘please pick up your garbage /the goyim are worse” are probably those that litter……
#20, Hashem takes care of the earth? I have yet to see God clean up garbage, oil slicks, hypodermic needles in the ocean, strip mines, deforested rain forests, empty oil wells, contaminated water, etc. The Jewish world could do wonders if they just taught their children to care for the environment and not rely on “miracles” to clean up after them.