DaMoshe

I believe R’ Dovid Feinstein does. R’ Hershel Schachter probably does as well.

R’ Hershel Schachter shlita holds that since there’s nothing to lose by wearing it, you should wear the techeiles nowadays.

R’ Elyashiv zt”l was against it, as he held we did not have a mesorah for it, and so shouldn’t do it.

R’ Chaim Kanievsky shlita holds that we won’t get techeiles until Mashiach comes, so the one we have is wrong. He also says, however, that he feels there is room to disagree with his view, and that if someone believes it is the correct techeiles, they have a chiyuv to wear it. (This differs from R’ Elyashiv, who said that even if we believed it was correct, we shouldn’t wear it due to a lack of mesorah for it.)

At the end of the day, as usual, one should ask their own Rav what to do, as there are gedolim on both sides of the issue on whom to rely.

There was a Haggadah that was used in the Vishnitz community in Israel that said when you eat the Matzah, you should picture the Rebbe in your mind and think about him. Is that a problem?

I don’t think people are bashing those who want to increase observance of tznius. Increasing observance means having more people follow the halachic rules.
The issue people have is when others start changing the rules, and adding on stringency after stringency. There are halachos that define tznius. Let’s stick to them.

Joseph: perhaps if there was more mingling at weddings, the shidduch crisis wouldn’t be as bad. R’ Breuer zt”l wrote in a letter that he encouraged mixed seating especially for younger people, as mitzvah goreres mitzvah, and shidduchim could come about at a wedding.
As for your point about a man walking into the women’s section – you are wrong, the women don’t need to stop dancing. The man has an obligation not to be there, and he should leave. It’s on him, not on the women.

Joseph, Schindler was arrested multiple times for public drunkenness. He also committed adultery many times, and even had children with a someone who was not his wife, while he was married. His wife ended up leaving him.

It depends. The Rambam defines a tzadik as someone whose zechusim are more than their aveiros. According to that definition, anyone can be a tzadik – we just don’t know how Hashem views each person and judges their actions, so we don’t know who is or isn’t a tzadik. We can make assumptions based on what we do see, but we may not be correct.

Chassidim usually use the definition given by the Baal HaTanya. Chassidim believe that a tzadik is someone who was selected for the role by Hashem. The role can’t be attained by a person, it needs to be a gift from Hashem. The tzadik has their human instincts for any inclinations completely subdued, and experiences pure d’veykus. The tzadik’s job is to act as a vehicle to raise up others, to help them get closer to Hashem.

According to the chassidic definition, almost nobody can become a tzadik – only a few people who Hashem picked. That doesn’t mean you can’t be a good, caring person, of course!

I remember R’ Bender speaking about Jewish levush. He said it’s like one sign of a kosher animal – the split hooves. It’s the external sign of being a Jew. An animal needs both signs, internal and external, to be kosher. We have a term for having only the external sign – pig feet, or in Yiddish, chazzer fissel (did I get that right?). If you have only the dress, but don’t live the Torah way, it’s worthless. I still can hear his voice in my head – “LOOK AT ME!!! I’M KOSHER!!! With the black hat, and the white shirt and black jacket – you’re like the pig showing that he thinks he’s kosher! Without the inside, you’re nothing!”
Joseph, you can wear the biggest kippah, but when you’re rotten inside, you’re like a pig showing off its hooves.

Joseph: first of all, Ivrit is spoken internationally. Jews speak it in Israel, in the US, in Europe, etc. It’s spoken all over the world.

When I was in yeshiva as a kid, we learned Chumash and translated it into Yiddish. The problem was that there was no language I was familiar with to relate it to. I didn’t understand the Hebrew, and I didn’t understand the Yiddish. So I knew that Hebrew word A equaled Yiddish word B, but I had no idea what they meant!
My kids learn Chumash by translating it into Modern Hebrew as well as English. So now they are learning both Biblical and Modern Hebrew, and they understand it because they are also translating to English.

Joseph, you say learning Yiddish helps to communicate with Jews around the world. I think that most Jews actually don’t speak Yiddish. You’re probably more likely to share Ivrit as a common language than Yiddish.

I’m not aware of this movement. Does that mean it’s a failure?

Elizabeth, NJ is not a chassidish community. It’s under the leadership of HaRav Teitz shlita, who is as Litvish as they come!
A friend told me that a chassidish community will be starting soon in Linden, NJ – apparently they’re buying some land, and getting zoning approvals for a school.

I am reminded about what R’ Belsky zt”l wrote regarding A Capella music:
Lately, it has become a trend to take every possible pleasure that one can think of and figure out ways to make them permissible at all times. Whether it is the imitation of non-kosher foods, making all chometzdike delicacies kosher l’Pesach, or other similar things, we find this attitude now more than ever. People cannot live for one minute with compromising on pleasures that they are used to or wish to experience. Often, the heteirim to permit such activities are, at best, based on very weak reasoning.

One such example is the desire to listen to music during Sefirah and The Three Weeks. It has become a trend to produce “Sefirah tapes,” referred to musically as “a cappella“. The wide acceptance of such tapes has not been with rabbinic approval. Indeed, many of the gedolei rabbonim have ruled that one should not listen to this type of music during Sefirah and The Three Weeks. Unfortunately, because the music albums are being sold in the stores, people think that they must be glatt kosher. If they aren’t acceptable, people say, why would a Jewish store sell them?

His words regarding this likely apply to massive siyumim/events as well. The 9 Days are a time for mourning – not finding ways around the rules.

Joseph, you are falling to a new low this time. A letter is talking about dinei nifashos, and you choose to focus on which parent should write the letter, who it should be addressed to, and whether the school is required to handle it.

I repeat: this is DINEI NIFASHOS. A child being bullied in school can have long-term effects. I DON”T CARE WHICH PARENT WRITES THE LETTER!!! Joseph, you are the very definition of a chossid shoteh. I really don’t know why the mods still tolerate you – if it were up to me, I would have banned you a long time ago.

Whether the local laws require reporting or not shouldn’t matter. The school has a halachic responsibility to act on it. End of story.

Joseph, the correct “shprach” would be Hebrew, as it has holiness to it. Yiddish has no holiness whatsoever.

I think the real question here should be “Why is BMG the default option?”
I once had someone tell me he was going to BMG because “it’s the thing to do”. I asked him, “Is it the best place for you?” He said “I don’t know.”
Having a big place which churns out products like a factory, with no thought to individuality within its ranks, is one of the biggest issues we have in the frum world today. We have a rule of chanoch l’naar al pi darko. Every person needs individual attention. We also have asei l’cha Rav – have a Rebbe! Do you think you get a real kesher with a Rebbe in BMG? I have 3 brothers who went through BMG, and none of them has a lasting kesher with their Rabbeim/Rosh Chaburah from there. One is still close with R’ Altusky (from Darchei) and one is still close with R’ Bender. The 3rd, as far as I know, isn’t as close with either one of them, but does have a kesher with his Rav. I see the same thing with many of my cousins who went through BMG – the Rebbe they’re close with, who they consider their main Rebbe, isn’t from BMG.

I have 2 brothers, as well as my closest friend from high school, who had to deal with this issue. One brother and the friend both have a lot of resentment towards the yeshiva system now, for not informing them how difficult it would be when they finally needed to go support their families.
My friend asked R’ Bender about it, and he replied, “You’re right, it’s a big problem! I try to help out my talmidim, but there needs to be a change, we need to do something to help out everyone!”

DY, I checked the album. I had that as a kid. Never liked it that much. I’ll try listening to it again.

Shapiro is one of Joseph’s heroes because he is a member of Neturei Karta. He stands with the enemies of the Jewish people, and deserves no respect at all.

Here’s what happened:
The owner of the property needed to do some work, and decided to do it on Shabbos. Being that the owner isn’t Jewish, that’s not a problem (the restaurant rents the space.) The issue was that the workers were given access to the restaurant and its kitchen, and were completely unsupervised.
The OK told the owners of Basil that this was an issue, as the workers could have used ovens to heat their lunches. There are cameras in the kitchen, so they requested the video footage from the property owner. They asked Basil to remain closed until they reviewed the video. Basil didn’t want to miss any days, so they opened against the OK’s wishes. Therefore, the OK pulled the hechsher.

Or so I was told by someone “in the business”.

Avi, I think you’re mixing up Ivana and Ivanka.

I tried posting proof of their misconduct. The mods didn’t allow it through.

Joseph, a lack of additional funding only hurts the public school kids and not the private schools kids because of the corruption of the school board in East Ramapo.
You said earlier that secular education is not mandated, based on a Supreme Court ruling. Let’s assume that’s true. Funding can only be used for non-religious education. If secular subjects aren’t taught, only religious subjects, then why have busing? Busing is so that the kids can be educated. If they aren’t being educated (as defined by the laws, meaning secular subjects), then why should they have busing paid for?

The East Ramapo school district has been a huge chillul Hashem for years.

besimchah: There are also “successful” neo-Nazi marches. A large crowd doesn’t mean the cause is good.