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The story is even stranger, the man, Tareq Salahi is a prominent Palestinian lobbyist, and board member of American Task Force on Palestine (although they have edited him out of their website since this party crashing story broke). The ATFP is an organization that promotes Palestinian issues and is active in the discussion of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
The group was formerly called American Committee on Jerusalem and was headed by Rashid Khalidi. Obama and Khalidi are friends, having eaten at each others’ homes often.
This information comes from an article “White House party crasher ties to radicalism and Obama knows him” in the Hartford Conservative Examiner.
I found this concerning Laphroaig Scotch from their website:
It was not till the 30’s that the perfect barrel was found for Laphroaig. It was found to be ‘first fill’ bourbon, American oak casks. First fill only because this softens the wood to exactly the right depth, and bourbon because it’s a ‘sister Whisky’ and it does not impart a new flavour to Laphroaig. Subsequently 3 independent scientific papers from around the world have confirmed our choice. We already knew it 60 years ago – but that’s typical of Laphroaig.
And
However, we like to create a range of Laphroaig expressions to suit all tastes. As such, we use Sherry casks in our 25 and 27 year old bottlings. But perhaps our most famous barrels are the ‘Quarter Casks’.
These small, 19th Century style casks impart an intense flavour and are extensively used in our Quarter Cask expression.
Which leads me to believe that if you buy the 10 Year (what I have) you can avoid the sherry cask.
To paraphrase Psalm 127, “your watchmen are useless if G-d is not protecting your city”, IOW, just like a doctor does not perform the healing, Hashem does and the doctor is merely a vessel, the IDF does not do the protecting, Hashem does, and the IDF is merely the vessel. Studying Torah obviously helps in drawing down Hashem’s protection, and the IDF by itself, without Hashem, is powerless.
The story was about some Conservative Jewish women who would wrap tefillin and wear tzitzit and conduct prayer services at the Kotel. My understanding is that they were asked to go daven somewhere nearby, since they were causing a disturbance for the regular minyanim at the Kotel. Some of these women forced the issue and ended up getting the police involved, and then the news media reported an arrest.
The Kotel is controlled by an Orthodox rabbinate, who do not recognize the Conservative Movement’s egalitarian minhag. This is what this is about. The secular Israeli society (whom YNET represents) judges the Orthodox halacha as oppressive towards women, and views all Orthodox Jews as backward and chauvinistic.
IMO, this is not a problem of rude, arrogant or other negative behavior by Orthodox Jews, but is a clash of values between religious and secular segments of Israeli society.
“The way to tell if a movement is Orthodox is simply whether they follow Shulchan Oruch and the Rambam’s Thirteen Articles of Faith.”
Do these fall into that category?
1. Inviting a Reform rabbi to speak from the Bimah on Shabbat (and giving him an aliyah)
2. Holding a women’s service on Shabbat with a Bat Mitzvah doing a Haftorah in the library (while the Torah was being read in the main sanctuary)
3. Allowing a woman to wrap tefillin during Shacharit
4. Teaching Iyov with a Baptist Minister
5. Conducting a “Social Action Seder” (during sefira) along with a Reform Rabbi
6. Inviting a Baptist choir to sing (from the bimah) on Martin Luther King day
7. Inviting a “Scholar in Residence” whose topic was why the Rambam did not really mean you had to believe his Thirteen Articles of Faith.
That’s how things already are.
What I hope will come of this kind of exchange is a realization by Avi Weiss and his group that they should consider modifying their approach and seriously considering dropping the label “Open Orthodox” since, IMO, they have done more to divide than unite with their movement.
There is a risk as well to not confronting movements which could pose a threat of leading Jews away from Torah due to their departure from mainstream Orthodox halacha.
I know firsthand how detrimental a graduate from YCT can be for a shul.
[blockquote]charliehall wrote: “As to the “What’s the point”? I would think that Torah would be the point — these are both Orthodox yeshivot!”[/blockquote]
With the female track for rabbincal ordination (calling them Mahara’t does not effect the nature of this endeavor), encouraging interfaith outreach and joining with Reform, Conservative and even Christians in religious functions, and in general looking for ways to relax the halacha under the guise of kiruv raise serious questions about the nature of YCT and if in fact it represents Orthodox Judaism.
I hope the debate will address these issues and spread some light on the YCT phenomenon.
I’d like to get a YWN report from this event, or better still, a video or audio link.
I have worked in the music business, as a musician and songwriter, and disagree with the opening post. If the purpose of frum music is to be a part of kiruv, then the music must be current sounding in order to be of interest to Jewish youths (or the not so young) who are estranged from Torah and mitzvot.
Also, if another of the music’s purpose is to bring joy and inspiration to already frum Jews, it doesn’t hurt if the music is “with-it”. To claim that only goys produce cutting edge music is an odd idea – there is nothing “un-Jewish” about writing modern sounding music. Many of the best songwriters have been Jewish, granted, not necessarily frum Jews, but that is not the point. There are frum Jews who are great songwriters and musicians and they should be encouraged to use their talents in a Torah context, not told they need to limit themselves because they are religious.
The point is that music can be very beneficial for both kiruv and providing another way for frum Jews to connect to Torah – and it is only enhanced to the extent it compares favorable with secular music, as long as it is done with the proper middos.
Just my opinion.
Net Neutrality actually is the opposite of what you have been led to believe and the Internet right now is much more open than what will happen under Net Neutrality. In order for ISPs to operate under the FCC’s proposed rules, they will be forced to raise flat rates and/or charge per byte for use. These will end up bringing about exactly what the Net Neutrality camp is arguing they want to avoid with their rules: tiered subscriptions and reduced content.
ICOT – This administration is trying to punish Fox News by trying to coerce other news media from “following” Fox reporting. This was a result of the Van Jones (one of Obama’s czars who resigned) stories that Fax ran about his past comments and self-identification as communist. After they were embarrassed by their lack of coverage on this story, the New York times for one had met and instructed its reporters to follow more closely what Fox was reporting. The Obama admin reacted fast to dissuade the NYT and others from doing this, and this is the background to their war with Fox beside mere partisanship.
The WHPP’s membership is not something the WH can or should be able to control, and to their credit the other networks chose to stand on principle rather than allow their institution to become compromised due to political pressure and the carrot of getting the better of one of their rival outlets.
This is how true censorship begins, with willing participants among the press, favored media who choose to accept preferred treatment as one or more of their competitors are identified as “enemies” and shut out and discredited. They remain preferred only so long as they do not report the wrong kind of information.
This WH is doing the same thing Richard Nixon did with his “enemies list” – it does not lead to a good place.
After doing some checking (which I should have done before posting), I was confusing CO and CO2 – it is best to put the CO detector higher since CO is usually found in warmer air.
Also, be aware that CO is heavier than air, so the greatest danger of CO collection is near the floor, where small children play and sometimes nap. I strongly support the suggestion of getting a CO detector, but place it closer to the floor than the ceiling so that you get a true reading.
“Net Neutrality” is another euphemism for control of information under the guise of fairness and openness.
The White House Press Pool is an official institution that agrees to pool the resources of the five major media organizations, and then share the interviews with the other media in order to facilitate the White House getting face-to-face interviews done in a practical manner. The media organizations themselves decide who will make up the pool and Fox News Network has been included since 1997.
This pool is the representative of the American people and as such is not controlled by the White House. The President has no choice about which media organizations are included – that decision is made by the media itself.
When this president attempted to change the make up of the pool in order to punish Fox News for reporting things which the Obama adminstration did not like, they wanted to delegitimize the messenger in order to discredit the information.
President Obama can choose to avoid doing interviews on Fox, or not allowing his staff and other administration officials to appear on Fox – but he cannot try to strong arm the make-up of the official press pool.
Yes, this is an attempt to restrict the freedom of the press, and it is a well known technique by community organizers to boycott what they perceive as unfriendly media. This is a tactic that Obama learned from Saul Alinksy – and one that while useful as a community organizer has no place as a tactic now that he is president (of all the people, even Republicans) of a democratic government.
Why should I believe you that R’ Moshe relied on incorrect information?
And you did not answer my question: do you follow R’ Moshe on any halachic matter?
David1999,
Do you follow R’ Moshe on anything? Cholov Yisroel? Why do you criticize people who follow his rulings in general for not abandoning him regarding this eruv?
This is a hard one: on the one hand it is taught that if Bnei Yisroel were to devote all their time to learning, then the alien nations would support them – but that sounds incredibly idealistic, no? It is also taught that if Bnei Yisroel were to collectively keep two Shabbats in a row, this would bring Moshiach. Also idealistic?
I think this is a matter of bitachon and emunah. Yes, Zvulun was credited with the Torah of Yishcar because of their support, and anyone who is unable to learn can receive credit for that mitzva through direct support of a learner or yeshiva, it is taught what R’ Akiva told his students concerning his wife.
But I think the ideal is for all Yidden to sit and learn and their support would be guaranteed.
Do we merit this reality?
If we do then maybe we will see.
“Are you arguing that those who maintain that an eruv is a mitzvah and a chiyuv should not erect one because some people feel that they have to fight its establishment?
The level of controversy concerning this erev is unique. I don’t it is productive to extrapolate and try to establish a precedent for ALL eruvim.
This thread is proof of one of the reasons I have heard given for not constructing this eruv – there is so much controversy around the issue that building it and some recognizing it, while others not, does not increase Ahavat Yisroel, but in fact undermines it, puts a stumbling block in front of the blind concerning lashon hora, and encourages dissention among Klal Yisroel inevitably causing disrespect to some gedolim.
I have been thinking about this and coincidentally began learning the Kitzur from the beginning.
Where I live there’s only one regular minyan, so it is what it is, and what it is, is a long way from the standard found in the Kitzur. There is quite a bit of talking and other less desirable behavior – but I try to look at it from the glass-half-full perspective and appreciate that ten Jews in this small community show up everyday and daven at all.
But, I dream of a minyan where it is like the Kitzur describes.
I can only imagine what it would be like during the Amidah if the minyan were standing and listening attentively to the Chazzan and responding Amein to each blessing. I can’t see how it would not raise my own kavanah throughout the davening.
Does this kind of minyan exist? If so where?
I would like to know the link of the source. To have such a site bookmarked would be nice. I tried Googling some of the quotes but it only returned YWN.
I thought blended whiskies presented a problem for kashrut. I don’t know the what fors, but at some point was told that and have stayed away from them ever since. I don’t drink so much to care one way or the other since I only have a shot on a Shabbat or Yom Tov with a guest if he’s interested – but not even every Shabbat or Yom Tov.
According to your theory, there is no point to daven when there is no minyan present — because you can’t discharge your obligation.
I also firmly believe that a person is capable of having kavanah in davening. That most don’t is an indicator of other problems, but not of a lack of ability.
And lastly, if they aren’t paying attention when they are actively saying the words, why do you think it will be any better when they are passively listening?
I believe it is always preferable to daven with an minyen unless it is impossible, and then you must daven without a minyan. But there is always the obligation to daven, no matter what.
I was taught that because of the darkness of the Galus of our generation that it is virtually impossible for a single Jew to reach a level of kavanah comparable to the “worst” minyan.
I am not judging you or anyone else, just repeating what I have been taught about our entire generation, not a Jew here and there – but the idea is that we are incapable of actually davening like previous generations, not exactly but halachally similar to someone who in unable to understand the words and must rely on the Chazzan’s repetition.
During this Galus, it is up to us to do everything we can in order to concentrate during our own davening <b>and</b> listening attentively to the Chazzan.
This is what I have been taught – it may be extreme, but there you have it.
Is it not widely believed that, because of Galus and the difficulty of kavanah for most Jews, our own silent Amidah is not enough to discharge our obligation to daven and that we need to listen attentively and respond to the Chazzan’s repetition?
Here is a quotation
Here is a quotation
Here is a quotation
Here is a quotation
“When I ask a rav a question, if I don’t understand the reason I ask, and debate, and there are times when the rav would backtrack once I inputted a point he didn’t think about. That’s how guys work. go into a Beis Medrash and you’ll see guys arguing and yelling at each other for hours on end. I know it’s not “girlie” but that is how things happen in the halachic world.”
That’s not what I observe. What I see are men addressing the Rav in the third person out of respect; standing when he walks into the room and definitely not arguing with him on a matter of halacha.
Yes, with your chavrusa you would argue, but not your Rav.
But this is off topic for this thread, which is about tzinus, modesty – walking modestly with your God – humbly – not arrogantly.
He had decorations in his succah.
Please do not discuss the “reasons” or who is “to blame” for the Holocaust – we simply do not have the ability to understand it. But we can react. And IMO the way a Jew can respond is to strongly embrace the Torah and halacha and attempt to bring as many other Jews closer to Torah observance as he can. Have children and raise them as Jewish educated Torah lovers. Increase the number of Torah true Jews in the world any way you can.
Please do not discuss the reasons for the Holocaust.
Just-a guy, I never said to tell him there is a problem with him. You’d have to be more creative than that.
🙂
“Only about 15% of Jews are frum today.”
15% of 12-13 million is millions.
But it does not matter what the number is; there have always been Jews who attempted to assimilate, this is what Channukah describes, and Jews who have cleaved to the Torah. There will always be a Torah true community. The Torah is eternal, it predates our world, and to the extent Jews live by the Torah, it will keep them secure and strong. Only when Jews abandon the shield of the Torah are they vulnerable to the enemies of Hashem.
Baalei Teshuvah is a growing phenomenon – when any Jew, no matter how distant from an observant life, meets a Jew who personifies the Torah – they cannot but be influenced by the chen of the observant Jew. The only way to bring Jews to Torah is by living the Torah. If you try to attract them by watering down the halacha, you are leading them away from Torah, it won’t work, nothing is as persuasive as the wisdom of Hashem – it is timeless and never outdated. Certainly nothing devised by men attempting to “modernize” the Torah has lived as long as the Torah, all of the various -isms die out sooner or later.
“in my opinion, your opening, “f a Jew finds it to be so, the problem is with the Jew…” to be inconsisent with your closing- “as individual Jews, all should be embraced…”
There is nothing inconsistent with saying that the problem is with a Jew (the problem is with his understanding of the halacha: it’s purpose and what true freedom is, not the Gentile idea of freedom) and not the halacha, but being willing to embrace that Jew nonetheless and hopefully show him, by example, the beauty of living under the yoke of the Torah.
PY – Yiddishkeit is not unpalatable. If a Jew finds it to be so, the problem is with the Jew, not the Torah. Millions of Jews worldwide love being scrupulously Torah observant, love being obviously Jewish, and do not want to hide themselves among the Gentiles and compartmentalize their Yiddishkeit.
The Reform movement was not reacting to speaking Yiddish, they were attempting to erase the differences between Jews and the surrounding majority society they lived among. Do you know that originally Reform Jews wanted to move Shabbat to Sunday. They wished to stop eating kosher in order to go to their Gentile friends homes to eat. They wished to hide their Jewish identities in order to mix more easily. To see the halacha as The Problem, something that divides Jews from each other and from the Gentile society – is 100% wrong.
I am not sure if the whole Modern Orthodox movement is a slippery slope; I know some MO Jews who do not seem to be on a road of less and less observance, but others do, and other MO movements such as Open Orthodoxy (YCT) do seem to represent a slide away from true Torah observance.
Again, I cannot stress it too much that as individual Jews, all should be embraced, but when discussing official movements, e.g. Reform, Conservative, liberal MO – they can be and should be criticized to the extent they have denied the Torah.
From the first page: “Hashem doesn’t want us to standout like sore thumbs, to speak and dress differently, to use different names and do different things. That wouldn’t be right. That would be acting holier than thou.”
In the blessing at the Torah for each aliyah., havdalah, this past week’s haftorah, are just a few of places where we are taught that the Jewish People are different, and should be separate from the other nations. We should stick out, since by sticking out, by being obviously Jews, we are the sign-pointer to Hashem. This is being “holier than thou” because the root of the word kadosh is related to being separate, separated from the mundane/secular – either something is holy or it is secular, and the Jewish People are commanded to be holy because Hashem is Holy.
All attempts at assimilation have failed miserably, the most obvious is the German Reform movement prior to WWII. Approximately 6 million Jew shave been lost, in the US alone, to assimilation, intermarriage – unfortunately, many Jews do not know who they are, and think that Gentile values are more important than Torah values, or G-d forefend, that Torah laws are even wrong, e.g. separating from the nations.
I refuse to attack other Jews, personally, and welcome any Jew into my home, into my shul, etc. – but we should not welcome and praise official movements that present themselves as representing alternative Jewish lifestyles and seek to undermine scrupulous Torah observance and diverge from the halacha in any of its details.
When a movement seeks to attract disaffected Jews by relaxing the halacha, they are not leading them to Torah but away from Torah.
Joseph – yes, it is called My Father’s Zemiros and is available on a chesed website he set up called Yad L’Shliach.
(David S.) Do these rulings address davening other than the Amida?
Ames: “But I’m listening to his other stuff and it’s kinda getting on my nerves.”
Yes, I know, sometimes his stuff is too rough for me too. I guess I have 3 or 4 of his CDs and there’s one I like more than the others, but I can’t think which one it is.
Yosef Karduner, Aharon Razel, Gil Akibayov, Udi Davidi, Amir Benayoun, Shem Tov Levy, Yehuda Glantz are others from Israel who you might check out, if you haven’t already listened to them.
Adi Ran is a Israeli Breslov singer/songwriter whose music is rock.