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The little I know – I disagree. Despite many guys learning in multiple yeshivas, they often still have one Rebbe that they keep a relationship with, and consider their primary Rebbe.
For me, it’s R’ Bender shlita.
I also have to point out that R’ Bender encouraged me to go to college. I also personally heard him encourage others to go to college – for some, he even recommended they attend YU.I don’t get the people who have long davenings. Davening is talking to Hashem. If you daven every day, don’t you know the meaning of what you’re saying? If you don’t understand, then it doesn’t really matter if you’re davening quickly or slowly, does it? If you do understand, then why does it take so long? If you’re talking to someone, you don’t pause in between each word. So why would you pause in your davening? Just talk to Hashem.
The only time I have a longer davening is on the Yomim Noraim – despite the time I put in preparing it, I still don’t have the meaning completely memorized. So I use Pathway to Prayer for Shemoneh Esrei, and it takes me a while.I was once out of town with a relative who needed medical care. The local Chabad shliach asked me if I’d daven with them Shabbos morning, at 10:00 am.
I asked him, what about zman krias Shema and zman Tefillah? His response was, “Those zmanim aren’t concrete halacha – they’re really just suggestions, and the preferred way to daven. But on Shabbos, there’s a mitzvah to rest, and that takes precedence.”YYA: Torah u’Madda definitely does not equate Torah and secular knowledge. It’s a falsehood that is constantly put forward by the chareidi world to attack Modern Orthodoxy. Rabbi Dr. Lamm said it straight out: “Torah Umadda does not imply … coequality. Torah remains the unchallenged and preeminent center.”
AAQ – maybe Chabad was once more in favor of halachik chassidus, but sadly, that has changed.
Here’s a list of some of the issues that Chabad has with halacha:
1. Zmanim – regularly missing zman krias Shema, and sometimes even zman tefillah
2. Minyan – they regularly count people who aren’t shomer Shabbos towards a minyan, especially in out of town communities
3. Shabbos – encouraging non-religious Jews to attend shul on Shabbos, even knowing that they’d be driving there
4. Avodah Zara – the way they view MMS is complete avodah zara
5. Apikorsis – they violate the Rambam’s ikkur that there will never be another navi like Moshe, by claiming that MMS was Moshe RabeinuThe whole culture of tipping is ridiculous.
We’re told that tipping should be mandatory, because the servers get paid next to nothing, so it’s on us to pay their wages.
Currently, in NYC, minimum wage is $17/hr, and for tipped food service workers, it’s $11.35/hr.
So that means they’re making $5.65 per hour less than a minimum wage job.
So let’s say I go out to eat. It takes me an hour and a half or so. My server is taking care of my table, plus a few others. Let’s say it’s 4 tables total. For the hour and a half, the server is down about $8.50 from minimum wage. So each of the tables should be able to tip $3, and the server is making even more than minimum wage! And don’t forget, the tips aren’t taxed, so they’re coming out even further ahead! Imagine if we were extra generous, and tipped $5 each – man, that server is really doing well!
Tipping shouldn’t be based on the cost of the meal. If the whole point is for us to pay the cost of living for the servers, then let’s stick to that.sechel, thank you for replying. Yes, you are an apikores.
sechel, thank you for answering. Yes, you are an apikores.
I don’t consider ALL Chabadniks to be apikorsim. But I do consider many of them to be.
To the Chabadniks in this thread: Here are some simple questions for you. Please answer with just yes or no (if you’re capable):
1. Do you believe the Rebbe is Mashiach?
2. Do you believe that the Rebbe was (or is, if you believe he’s still alive) God in human form?
3. Do you believe that the Rebbe was/is equally as great as Moshe Rabbeinu?Devorah: you clearly don’t have your facts straight.
The Satmar Rebbe didn’t insult MMS. He actually called out those who attacked the Chabadnik, and said they should be kicked out of the Satmar kehillah.
As for the Chabadnik’s actions, no, it’s not ok to push your own (mistaken) beliefs onto someone from another group. You said the “Chabad Teacher tried desperately to inform his Satmar student of Chabad practices” – why did he feel the need to do that? It was 100% wrong.
The issue with the magazine this week was that it had R’ Shach zt”l on the cover. R’ Shach’s attacks on MMS had nothing to do with the beard cutting. R’ Shach was not a chossid at all – he was the Rosh Yeshiva of a major Litvish yeshiva! He just called MMS “the madman who sits in New York and drives the whole world crazy”, and Chabad couldn’t let that stand.
A Chabadnik once told me, “You want to insult the Besht? Ok. You want to insult the Maggid of Mezritch? Ok. But don’t you dare insult the Lubavitcher Rebbe!” To them, if you insult him, it’s like insulting Hashem Himself!Joe, if Amy and Mishpacha were banned, how would we know where to buy chosson watches for $250,000, or $15,000 sheitels? How would we know when the dinners are for the organizations we never even knew existed? We need the hundreds of pages of ads each week!
Chabadniks are fiercely protective of their Rebbe, and won’t tolerate any criticism of him at all. Regarding the story with Pinye Korf’s beard being cut off, it wasn’t a simple situation. Korf had been hired to tutor a young Satmar boy in learning. Instead of sticking to the subject matter, he began teaching him about Chabad, and why he felt it was superior to Satmar. When the parents found out, they fired him. He still went to see the boy, and continued telling him these types of things. Again, he was found out, and was threatened that if he continued, there would be actions taken against him. He continued anyway, and that’s when he was attacked, and his beard cut off.
But remember, while this caused a rift between Satmar and Chabad, it wasn’t ordered by the Satmar Rebbe – he was overseas at the time, and when he heard about it, he ordered that those responsible be excommunicated from the Satmar community.
R’ Shach attacked the Lubavitcher Rebbe personally – he referred to him as “the madman who sits in New York and drives the whole world crazy”. That is something that the Chabadniks can’t overlook, since they literally worship their rebbe.YYA – it should be an event of achdus. Sadly, at the last siyum, a major Chassidic rebbe announced that he wouldn’t attend, because there would be Zionist Rabbis in attendance. He ruined what could have been an event of pure unity, and instead brought machlokes into it. I believe Satmar also doesn’t endorse the siyum, because they oppose some of the organizations involved.
Maybe this time, things will be better, and these sonei Yisrael will change their views.AAQ: I was told this story by someone who lives in Elizabeth, NJ.
Someone was once visiting the community for Shabbos. He didn’t like to rely on eruvin, so on Shabbos he was wearing his tallis to shul. R’ Teitz zt”l saw him, and asked him, “Is my eruv not good enough for you? I’m extremely careful to make sure it’s 100% kosher! And now you’re implying that it’s not ok?!?”
The man assured him that he meant no offence, and went on his way.
A few weeks later, the man was there again. He didn’t want to offend R’ Teitz again, so this time, he put a jacket on over his tallis, so it wouldn’t be seen. The problem was, it was a hot summer Shabbos.
Sure enough, he again ran into R’ Teitz zt”l. R’ Teitz took one look at him, and burst out laughing, saying, “Now you’re just being silly!”ujm: part of asking for forgiveness is accepting to not repeat behavior.
If you accept to stop insulting Modern Orthodox Jews, Zionists, and other groups, then I will forgive you.Zanvil, you’re just repeating things that have been posted here countless times.
Joel Teitelbaum is not the be-all and end-all when it comes to this debate. He was pretty much a daas yachid when it came to his views on Zionism.
Your insults of R’ Soloveitchik stem from ignorance, as does your criticism of YU/RIETS. I highly doubt you’ve listened to any shiurim from RIETS recently, and yet you have no problem writing insults about them.Bumping due to the article on the front page – https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/israel-news/2592188/gedolim-warn-harav-dov-landau-and-harav-moshe-hillel-hirsch-issue-strong-letter-against-musical-selichos-events.html
So, anyone have any thoughts on musical selichos now?
Equally as important a question – what percentage of the schar that the son-in-law gets for learning is given in exchange for the support?
AAQ: Here is R’ Aharon Kotler zt”l’s quote about the Kaplans:
If not for Rav Boruch and Rebbetzin Vichna Kaplan who started large scale Bais Yaakov on these shores, there would be no true appreciation for a Ben Torah; for an aspiring Talmid Chacham; for a life consecrated to Torah. There would be no willingness to forgo material comfort for the sake of Talmud Torah- there would be no Kollelim in America!The Satmar Rav also said that the Satmar school, Beis Ruchel, couldn’t have succeeded without the Kaplans, as the Beis Yaakov provided teachers that he was able to use. He also thanked them because he said without them, the boys from his yeshiva wouldn’t have had suitable shidduchim.
somejew: The Rambam doesn’t say it’s assur. Currently, there is a Jewish state, but it’s beset by enemies on all sides, and constantly fighting for its survival. When Mashiach comes, the other nations will support it, instead of oppressing it. In foreign countries, Jews won’t have to deal with antisemitism anymore – we will be exalted, and non-Jews will fight for the right to serve us!
Square_root – does it matter?
Debater: please tell me, where is it brought down l’halachah (in a sefer that actually is meant for halachah – Shulchan Aruch, Tur, Rif, etc) that is is assur to have a Jewish state before Mashiach comes?
Debater – I hate to tell you this, but the Ramban actually did move to Eretz Yisrael, and lived there for 3 years before his death.
Oooh look! One of our existing posters set up yet another new user name to spew his hatred!
Remember that every Jew has a mitzvah to write a Sefer Torah. Most of us aren’t able to write it on our own, so we pay for it, and appoint a sofer as our shaliach to write it.
Also bear in mind that the majority of Sifrei Torah are NOT donated to shuls – they remain the property of the person who paid for them. They are loaned to shuls. Yes, it would be nice if it could be donated to a shul that really needs it, but sometimes there isn’t one near where someone lives – and since it’s only loaned, they want it to be close by.
That said, the celebrations often thrown during the hachnasas Sefer Torah can be over-the-top, with a lot of extra money spent on it. But that’s no different than weddings and other smachot, which has been discussed plenty already.Democracy is NOT unJewish. For the Jewish people, when ruled by a king, it’s not the right thing. But we, as Jews, don’t believe that the Jewish king rules over the entire world. Non-Jews have the 7 mitzvos, one of which is to set up a fair form of government and justice. Democracy definitely qualifies for that.
So I’d say that Democracy definitely IS Jewish, when applied to nations other than Eretz Yisrael under a melech from Beis Dovid.Rebbetzin, I’ve already done my own research, and came to the conclusion that Chabad has sadly departed from the correct path, and is engaged in things that are questionable at best.
I’d like to hear your opinions on my questions, as maybe you’ll have a viewpoint that I didn’t consider.Rebbetzin: You say that Chabad does not teach any non-Torah beliefs. So please, answer these questions, and do it simply, without a long megillah:
1. Do you believe the Rebbe is alive or dead?
2. Do you believe the Rebbe is, or can still become, Mashiach?
3. If you believe he is dead, and can’t be Mashiach, do you believe that mainstream Chabad currently believes and/or teaches that the Rebbe is still alive, and is/can be Mashiach?Also, you said “Spiritually, The Rebbe (as I will refer to him as) is very close to his Chassidim. Even after his death, He remains at the forefront of the Many Mitzvah Campaigns of Chabad Lubavitch.”
1. If Moshe Rabbeinu couldn’t remain as the leader of the Jews after his death, why does Chabad believe that the Rebbe can remain as leader after his death? Why wasn’t a new leader appointed?
2. For kids born after the Rebbe died, how are they spiritually close to the Rebbe?gornit, you’re only quoting part of what the Rambam says.
He says that we offer children the idea of schar v’onesh, in order to teach them – but this is considered doing mitzvos shelo lishma. He says that as people mature, they should do mitzvos purely because Hashem commanded us to, and that is lishma.
Yes, we should view the world as being right in the middle, because it can give us motivation – but that’s not the pure reason. It just shows us the impact our actions can have on the world.gornit: we are not supposed to do mitzvos because we get zchusim for them. We should do mitzvos because Hashem commanded us to. Even if there was no reward for it, we should be doing it – the fact that we are rewarded is just a bonus!
As for Ahavas Yisrael, again, it’s not about your love for yourself. We are commanded to love other Jews the same way we love ourselves – not because of ourselves!qwerty.613: NOBODY CARES. Stop with the stupid posts on your personal vendetta. You complain that qwerty may have come back under a different name – it’s obvious to all that you are really gornit!
Enough already!Honestly? I don’t think anyone supports Gornit. I think that most posters were more disturbed by the outing of personal info than by anything that qwerty posted.
I also think that you’re Gornit, back with a new name since you got banned.
You’re a despicable person.Here’s another great article, where R’ Belsky gave a new opinion on the matter – he gave a heter that was different than R’ Moshe’s!
https://oukosher.org/blog/consumer-kosher/rav-moshe-ztls-heter-of-cholov-stam-revisited/For an excellent summary of different angles of this discussion, the CRC has a great article: https://consumer.crckosher.org/publications/camels-cows-and-chalav-certification/
It’s worth noting what they write about cheese, as opposed to milk – that R’ Moshe zt”l held that hard cheese is far more lenient than milk and doesn’t need to be chalav Yisrael, and that soft cheese was never even included in the gezeirah to begin with!yakov,
As I noted earlier, R’ Moshe zt”l was very selective about which letters he included in the Igros – it was only those he felt were applicable to the general public. There were plenty of responsa from him that differed from what was published in the Igros, because the cases they applied to were not, in his opinion, applicable to everyone.
Since the teshuvos in the Igros are the ones that permit it, without any caveats, that is the psak for the general public.
R’ Dovid Feinstein zt”l, who was generally accepted as having the best understanding of what his father intended, said that R’ Moshe permitted chalav stam l’chatchilah. R’ Dovid zt”l even ate/drank it himself.yakovBA06: R’ Moshe’s original teshuva on the issue stated that it’s allowed, without any limits on it. Later, after R’ Moshe had passed away, a letter was shared where he said that it should only be used if chalav Yisrael wasn’t available.
R’ Moshe was very careful about which shailos u’teshuvos he included in the Igros, as he wanted only the ones that were generally applicable, not the ones that were for a specific case.
In the case of the letter about chalav stam, I believe it was written to a Rosh Yeshiva, who had asked about using chalav stam in the yeshiva, to save on costs. R’ Moshe felt that a yeshiva should be machmir, and serve chalav Yisrael. This was not meant for the general public.This isn’t a question of being “extra frum” – it’s a question of going against halacha.
We have a rule that we don’t make a gezeirah on a gezeirah. This is already brought down in the Gemara. The issur of Chalav Stam is itself a gezeirah. R’ Moshe (among others) famously gave a hetter for it in certain places, but let’s be clear – even if you don’t agree with R’ Moshe, it’s not the same as drinking something that is clearly treif. It was a gezeirah.
To add another gezeirah, to refrain from pareve Reese’s, because you may come to eat chalav stam, is a gezeirah on a gezeirah, and we do not do that. So to put such a rule in place goes against halacha.I have to agree with AAQ here. How is this allowed? To post someone’s name and other personal info? I don’t think it matters if it’s correct or not. This can’t be allowed – and he’s been posting it over and over again.
Mods, why is this allowed to be posted? This should be removed, and gornit should be banned from the site for posting things like this.Oorah does exactly this.
When it first started, R’ Chaim Mintz went around knocking on doors, asking people to send their children to yeshiva.
NCSY also gets kids in public schools to be more observant, and I know a number of cases where kids left public schools and went to Jewish schools because of them.
Chabad likes to spin a narrative that they’re the only legitimate option out there. It’s just not true.rebEmes: so tell me, what do you see today?
Nevuah: do you exercise your intellect and not blindly follow when it comes to spelling? For example, I keep wondering why you write “fallow” instead of “follow”. Fallow means “something left unused, inactive, or dormant”.
Nevuah: I’m not sure what you mean when you say “God is within”. Yes, there is a spark of God in each of us. But there is also a yetzer hara. We have bechirah. We are imperfect beings, while Hashem is perfect. So morality can’t come from people, because people are flawed.
Morality comes from the Torah, and only from the Torah.
As far as what you said about relationships – so what if it’s ick? Personally, I can’t stand salmon. Don’t like the taste. Even the smell of it gets me nauseous, and I can’t be around it while it’s cooking, or if it’s being served hot (it doesn’t give off much of a smell when it’s cold.) Does that mean nobody should eat salmon? Absolutely not. You may find such relationships “ick”, but to plenty of people, it’s normal, or even desirable. So why should it bother you what somebody does in private?
The answer is that it’s the Torah that tells us it’s wrong. The Torah is perfect, and if it tells us what is moral and what isn’t, then that is the truth.nevuah, your entire argument is based on a false premise – that morality comes from within. It does not. Morality comes from Hashem and the Torah.
Here’s an example where I surrender my personal view to a larger ideology: society today, for the most part, is very accepting of same-gender marriages. From a personal perspective, why should I oppose this? Why should it matter to me who someone wants to be with, and what they do? But, the Torah tells us that it’s wrong, and therefore I surrender my personal thoughts to the will of Hashem, and I oppose it. The morality is set by Hashem and the Torah, not by my personal views.
In the wild, animals live by survival of the fittest. The strong take from the weak. Why shouldn’t mankind be the same? If I’m stronger than you, why shouldn’t I be able to just attack you and take whatever I want from you? It’s because Hashem told us that killing is wrong, stealing is wrong, etc that society has these laws. Yes, it dates back thousands of years, even pre-dating Matan Torah. But it came from what Hashem told the people at the time, and it became the norm in society.
So yes, absolutely we should surrender to the greater ideology of the Torah!Where was the outcry years ago, when Agudas Yisroel of America honored Mike Bloomberg? He was in the middle of a huge campaign trying to get NY to recognize same-gender marriage, yet they made him the guest of honor!
somejew: now you’re just making stuff up. The Chafetz Chaim called Israel a Nazi state? You do know that he passed away before the Nazis came to power, and before Israel was founded, right?
I highly doubt that any of the people you listed called Israel a Nazi state. They knew all too well what the Nazis were, and would not have called any Jews by that name. Unless you have proof, don’t post such nonsense.Chaim87: JT originally lost an election to become the Rav of Satmar. After the previous Rav (R’ Eliezer David Greenwald) passed away, he tried again. A small committee elected him to become the new Rav. Many who lived there opposed this, so they decided to hold an election by the entire congregation.
He won a close election, but there were many allegations that the committee leaders had fixed the election. Another election was held, and this time, he won in a landslide. Again, there were many allegations of cheating, through various means, and dinei Torah were filed by both sides, as well as suits in secular court.
His supporters established their own shul, and broke off from the rest of the community. The main shul was scared of losing members, so they decided to negotiate with JT’s supporters.
Eventually, an agreement was reached where he was appointed as the Rav of the town, but he said he wouldn’t accept it until he had the full support of the community. So for the next 3.5 years, the town had no official Rabbi. After the 3.5 years, he took up the position.Plenty of Rabbonim went to college and studied secular subjects:
R’ Hutner
Novominsker Rebbe
R’ Shlomo Wolbe
R’ Dovid BenderThere are others, these are just a few.
It’s a terrible situation.
Personally, I wear a colored knit kippah. I’m not trying to make a statement with it or anything like that. I started wearing knit years ago, only because I found it more comfortable. When I first switched, I wore black ones. One day, my wife told me she likes the look of the colors, and said it would make her happy if I wore colored kippot. So I started wearing them, because my wife is happy with it.
To me, it doesn’t matter what type someone wears on their head, as long as they have something there. But I actually had someone who works in a kiruv organization once say to me, “You need to take that silly colored thing off your head, and replace it with a plain black one!”
Absolutely disgusting.HaKatan: There are definitely examples of good things coming through bad people. Look at the Gemara about Elazar ben Dudai – he came to do teshuva through the words of an extremely immoral woman.
Years ago, I was in yeshiva, and someone asked the Rosh Yeshiva a question. He said that he had a friend who wasn’t frum. At the time, a popular non-Jewish singer was getting very into studying Kabbalah (obviously not the real Kabbalah). She made a music video where she showed herself wrapping tefillin on herself. So this non-frum guy saw the video, and said “hey, tefilling are now cool, because this singer is using them! So I’m now goin to start wearing them again too!” The boy ended up putting on tefillin every day, then started going to shul to do it, and then became a baal teshuva. So the guy asked, “How is it that through this singer, my friend became frum again? She is not someone to look up to, she is a prutzah, and the lowest of the low! So how can she be the one to inspire this change?”
The Rebbe replied with the Gemara of Elazar ben Dudai – he said, “You see, a zonah can inspire teshuva! If it could happen then, why not now?”
So yes, sometimes bad people can inspire good things.
As for Hashem doing “bad” things which may be necessary – we know that Bnei Yisrael had to go through the galus Mitzrayim before they could get the Torah. Remember, we’re told that before Mashiach comes, we will cry out to Hashem amidst pain and suffering, and Hashem will reply, “All that I did, I did for you!” and will then bring about the redemption.
Everything that happens, happens for the good of the Jewish people. We don’t understand how, but that is the reality. The Holocaust, Tach Tat, the Crusades, October 7th… all of them, Hashem did for our sake. Yes, Jews suffered during those times. We just don’t see the reality. One day, hopefully very soon, we will finally understand the master plan. We will realize that it was all done for our sake. And on that day, we will all praise Hashem for everything that He did.