Kick me

I double-checked and triple-checked that here was 100%, no-doubt-about-it chillul shabbos. I thought about how I could make a mecha’ah that would not be overly harsh but would be mild (as in, no diaper-throwing, light bulb-throwing, smashing traffic lights, destroying garbage bins, spraying pepper spray, etc). As in, just enough to say I’m not cool with chillul shabbos. And despite everything, I still managed to be wrong. And the troll in question ended up being outed. So mea culpa. I publicly apologize to the troll in question. As a penance, I have asked the mods to append “kick me” to my sub for the next little while. It’s not the same as Rabbeinu yonah writing the Shaarei Teshuva, but it should do.

Secondly, there are many younger, more easily influenced members of the CR. I should have anticipated that as a Pavlovian reaction to my post, many would rally in defense of chillul shabbos, a massive chillul Hashem, and a very damaging idea for the younger members of the CR. for this too, I publicly apologize.

Once I’m at it, I will be megalgel the next two.

Thirdly, in a similar but unrelated vein, I used to post up here like it was a real yeshiva coffee room. I assumed that nobody would use the CR in place of a LOR or CHA. So I used this place to explore ideas, hashkafos, halachos, etc. I would shoot from the hip, post answers without “thinking twice, posting once”, post when tired, in a rush, etc. I would sometimes play “devil’s advocate”, take an opposite opinion than what was true in order to explore the topic, and sometimes take a contrarian view because I didn’t like the strident tone and harsh extremism of the frumteens essay which was posted as a thesis on the position. I did this assuming that nobody would actually take this place seriously, and it was a safe container for intellectual exploration.

A poster, however, recently admitted that many do use the CR in place of a LOR or CHA. In other words, this place is more of a courtroom than a coffee room, and they go by what they read.So while my style was fine for the informational and social threads, the halacha and hashkafah threads, in retrospect, required a much higher level of posting than what I was assuming I could do- “think twice post once”, bittul hayesh, nuanced posting, and making sure everything met a very high standard of emes so as not to lead astray those who don’t have their own Daas Torah. For this, too, I must ask mechila. I am trying to figure out a way where I can still use the CR as a safe container to explore ideas without leading astray those who don’t know better.

Finally, an offhand reference in Mishpacha sent me to Even Ha’ezer siman 21 and the nosei keilim. It is clear that all conversations with women are much more proscribed than I originally thought, unless one is on a high level of “lesheim shomayim”, which I am not. So if I was ever oveir on sechok, kalus rosh, or derishas shalom with a woman, I again ask mechila. I am working on how I can still participate in the social and informational threads and yet make sure I will not be oveir on Even Ha’ezer siman 21.

Kol tuv. (and not katli dechaziri.)