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The takanos failed because the Rabbonim didn’t follow up on it.
edited
Daas Yochid: that may be Rabbi Forst’s opinion, but it wasn’t R’ Moshe’s. R’ Dovid Feinstein eats and drinks cholov hacompanies.
Also, R’ Belsky now gives another heter which is different from the heter of R’ Moshe. He does not differentiate between shas hadchak or not.
Daas Yochid: In any case, it was a letter that R’ Moshe chose not to print in the Igros Moshe. Therefore, it is not meant for the general public, but only for the person it was written to.
That letter was written for a specific case. A yeshiva, which had only bought C”Y milk for years, was thinking of switching. R’ Moshe urged them not to. This psak was meant ONLY for the yeshiva, not for the general public.
I have a Rav I use for regular shailos, but when it comes to the “heavy” shailos which he doesn’t feel comfortable paskening, I call R’ Mordechai Willig from Riverdale.
My grandfather DIED from slipping on ice on Shabbos, so it’s definitely pikuach nefesh.
When I was younger, I remember someone asking the Rav of our shul if he can salt his porch, steps, and sidewalk on Shabbos (there was no eruv). The Rav said not only is it allowed, it’s REQUIRED!
Daas Yochid: No, because I know they’d be upset. In this thread, someone was asking for advice, so I gave my opinion.
I recommend your local large grocery chain’s brand. According to R’ Moshe zt”l, it’s cholov yisrael.
wanderingchana: Is it Beethoven’s 5th symphony?
wanderingchana: #3 really isn’t fair. Posts lyrics, not beats.
onegoal, sorry, I don’t know that one.
How about this: “I get a glimpse of his glory, and I’m tasting eternity”
“I am lonely and sad, how forlorn is my plight”
I think I remembered that right, it’s been a very long time.
Here’s a tough one:
“There are tears that flow within the hallowed rooms where we pray”
Buy a ticket in a Chinese Auction and daven!
Derech HaMelech: You say the yeshiva might be required to teach Twain by law. Why? So they can get government funding, or be accredited? I refer you to the famous speech from R’ Gifter zt”l, where he bashed Rabbi Dr. Norman Lamm. In the speech, he attacked the fact that there was a gay student group in one of the YU graduate programs. His main point was that they went against what was right so they could get government money. He said it’s selling out Torah values for a few dollars, and it’s better to lose the money and close down than to go against what is right. Why doesn’t the same apply to what is taught in English classes?
There was another instance where R’ Ahron Kotler wasn’t sure whether to follow R’ Moshe Feinstein to the US, or to go to Israel. He opened to the pasuk in Shemos “And Hashem said to Aharon, go meet Moshe, in the midbar”.
Derech Hamelech: so the Rosh Yeshiva says that you should only be reading a Navi. Yet, in the English department, they read Shakespeare, Twain, and many other secular works. The yeshiva itself sets a double standard.
Sender Av: that sort of fits with what I said before, which is that many people say “Follow this path or you’re not a good Jew.”
Chayav inish: I wasn’t reading Artscroll books, I just want to clarify that. I had a few novels, but there was nothing inappropriate in them. I made sure of that before I read them – they were all books from an author my parents also enjoyed reading, and they gave me the ok to read them. I just wrote that to show the Rosh Yeshiva’s point of view on reading.
As I said, I think one of the biggest problems now is that the so-called “experts” on teens going OTD aren’t really experts. They never went through it, and they can’t relate. The best people to get the OTD teens back on are the ones who got back on themselves. They can relate to the mindsets of the teens, and have also figured out the answers to many of the questions they have.
If it says on your passport that you were born in Israel, you will have problems, because you’re automatically a citizen. If it says US or Canada as a place of birth, you can often get through without any problems. Just hope that they don’t ask you if you’re an Israeli citizen!
Health: after you sign in, they send you to a triage nurse. She checked my symptoms, and asked me, “Did you ever have your appendix taken out yet?”
I said no, and she said, “Well, you probably will soon!”
oomis, you hit the nail on the head. I once asked one of the Roshei Yeshiva where I was about this. I asked him, “People tell me that I should try to emulate such-and-such guys. They’re considered the best guys in the yeshiva. Yet they do nothing but make me miserable. They are constantly chewing me out on things they think I’m doing wrong. They are not nice people. Yes, they can learn well, but they are just not nice to me and many others! I was always told derech eretz kodma l’Torah. They obviously never heard that.”
The Rosh Yeshiva told me to try and separate the two parts, and learn from them about learning. I told him some of my experiences in the past, and told him that I couldn’t separate them. In my mind, someone who sits and learns is not a nice person, and I didn’t want to be like that. He didn’t have an answer for me.
At that point, I knew that I never wanted to sit and learn full time. I spoke to one of my Rabbeim, and he advised me to finish the zman, and then enroll in a yeshiva half the day and go to college. I found a yeshiva, and enrolled in Touro. I then told the Rosh Yeshiva I was leaving after the zman. He told me that I was throwing my life away, and I could never be a good, frum Jew if I went to college. He said I needed to stay in yeshiva, and eventually become a kollel guy. I wasn’t interested.
For the rest of the zman, I was bothered by what the Rosh Yeshiva said. I decided that if I couldn’t be a good Jew when I went to Touro, why bother trying? If I was doomed to failure, what was the point? I gave up on everything Jewish. Yet, I didn’t do drugs, and I found a job part-time so that I was doing something productive. I wasn’t stupid, I just had issues with religion. Oddly, my relationship with my parents was way better than it was when I’d been in yeshiva.
Eventually, I became frum again, but not the kind my family wanted. My brothers are in kollels, my sisters want to marry kollel guys. I wear a kippah srugah, have a TV in my house, etc. But you know what? I think I’m a good Jew the way I am. Maybe some of my family members don’t think so, but I don’t really care. I do the best I can, even though it’s still difficult. After a few years of sleeping until 8:30 every morning, do you think it’s easy to get up at 5:30 to make sure I put on my tallis and tefillin? My family doesn’t understand it.
That’s another issue I have with all the organizations for OTD people. They spend hours trying to find causes, and blame TV, the internet, movies, and many other things. But they don’t understand. They never went through it, so how could they possibly know what is going through the head of a teenager going through a rough time?
The best people to do kiruv are those who are baalei teshuva themselves, as they can relate.
There was nothing inappropriate about the books he took away from me. When I confronted him about it, he told me a yeshiva guy shouldn’t be reading any novels, even the Jewish ones put out by Artscroll. He said that if I liked to read in bed at night before going to sleep, I should keep a Tanach near my bed and read through the Neviim.
Health: despite what the Hatzolah guy said, my father took me to Maimonides. I got into the emergency room at about 9 pm or so. I sat in excruciating pain for well over 6 hours until anything was done for me.
My sister once broke her leg when she was young. My father took her to Maimonides and she also sat in the ER waiting room for hours on end until someone saw her.
Mod 80, what is your concept of OTD?
I was OTD for a while a bunch of years ago. I had no anger at all towards my parents. I had a lot of anger towards different Rabbeim I had in yeshiva, such as:
The one who called my parents shegutzim, when he said “Only shegutzim go to college. Are you a sheigitz?”
The one who accused me of something I didn’t do, in front of the whole class. When I denied doing it, I was kicked out of class – for 3 days. I found out that someone else had admitted to it. Why was I punished? Because I denied it, and it’s chutzpah to disagree with the rebbe.
The one who sent me to kindergarten for 2 days when someone lied about me to get me in trouble. When the lie was found out, nothing was done to the other boy, because his father is a rebbe in the yeshiva.
The one who walked over to me and roughly stuck his hand into the shoulder of my shirt. He said he wanted to be sure I was wearing tzitzis.
The one who, without warning, went through my private possessions in the dorm and threw out whatever he felt was inappropriate. No warning to take it home, just threw it all out.
There are others, but I think this post is getting too long.
I got appendicitis when I was in high school. My father came to the yeshiva to pick me up and take me to the hospital. One of the heads of Hatzolah was in the yeshiva that night for something, and they had brought him into the office to check me out. When my father came in, he recommended that I go to LIJ. My father said no, I’m going to drive him to Maimonides. The Hatzolah guy said, “Do you want to give your son the best chance to live, or be conveniently close to home? Take him to LIJ, avoid Maimonides whenever possible!”
My cousin was told by R’ Chaim to change her name, as he said Shira wasn’t a real Jewish name.
FrummyMcFrum: She was already married when this happened, so perhaps there isn’t a difference whether the name was already given or not.
I think you have the question wrong. It’s not why do we behave better when we’re out, it’s why do we behave worse when we’re in the Jewish world?
This is from Wikipedia:
The top-scorer on each show keeps his or her winnings and returns as the champion in the next match, and non-winners receive consolation prizes. The current prizes are $2,000 for the second-place contestant and $1,000 for the third-place contestant. Since the show does not provide airfare or lodging for most contestants, these cash consolation prizes alleviate the financial burden of appearing on the show. Prior to May 16, 2002, the second-place contestant typically received a vacation package or merchandise and the third-place contestant received lesser-value merchandise. Prior to 1984, all contestants kept their winnings, and contestants who finished with scores below $0 received consolation prizes.
No, if you finish 2nd you don’t get the amount on your board. Only the winner gets that. 2nd place gets $2,000 and 3rd place gets $1,000. You can have $50,000 on the board, but if you finish 2nd you only get $2,000. I wrote that in the 2nd to last paragraph.
not I, I put duck sauce into my cholent, and it’s delicious! I got the idea from my cousin. Her cholent is the best I’ve ever had, and that’s her special ingredient.
On Final Jeopardy, she bid the wrong amount. There is a method to figuring how much you should wager.
First place had $21,000. Gitta was in 2nd place with 11,400. She wagered 1,500.
Now, if the guy in the lead gets it right, she will likely lose. His best bid was 1,801. If he was right, he’d have $22,801. That means that even if Gitta had bet everything and got it right, she’d still miss him by a dollar. If he was wrong, he’d have $19,199 left. But let’s say he doesn’t know the category at all, so he wagers nothing. Her best wager was $9,601 so that she’d win no matter what if he got it wrong. She put herself in a position where she couldn’t win.
Also, she wasn’t risking any money. 2nd place wins $2,000 no matter how much you have. The 3rd place person had $3,200. If everything was wagered, and answered correctly, that would be $6,400. So Gitta could have wagered up to $4,999 and still finished 2nd no matter what.
Her bid really gave her no chance to win.
ItcheSrulik, it applies to any Kohen or Levi. Levi (together with Shimon) wiped out Shechem. Yosef was in prison (as was Reuvain, when Yosef imprisoned him). Yaakov stole the brachos, and Eisav went OTD.
I can sing. I daven for the amud pretty often, including on the Yomim Noraim.
The teshuva which mentions b’shas hadchak is in the last chelek, which was not put together by R’ Moshe. R’ Moshe only published the teshuvos he felt were appropriate for the general public, and there was a reason he left that one out.
I thought that one would be more difficult 🙁
watermelon, snapplegrl already got it. It was MBD, This Time.
Here’s another one:
“Lives have been shattered, a nation scattered”
Teaneck
is it This time- from MBD?
Yes!!!
BadHairDay: Nope, not even close. It’s from a very mainstream Jewish singer.
“There is peace within man, there is love in the promised land”
Nobody got this one yet:
“There is peace within man, there is love in the promised land”
blinky: Don’t know the first one, the 2nd one is Miami Boys Choir, Me’im Hashem.
Does anyone know the two I posted above? Here they are again:
1. “A soldier crawls ahead, for behind him someone goes”
2. “There is peace within man, there is love in the promised land”
I once received a bracha from R’ Scheinberg that I should see my great-grandson put on tefillin.
blinky: Once again, it’s Touched by a Niggun
1. “A soldier crawls ahead, for behind him someone goes”
2. “There is peace within man, there is love in the promised land”
Daas Yochid: watermelon already got it 🙂
MiI:
1. And Then He Potched Me – Country Yossi (I’m not sure on this one)
2. B’siyata Dishmaya – Miami Boys Choir
3. I’m a Hippopotamus – Marvelous Middos Machine
As I’ve written before, R’ Moshe’s statement of b’shaas hadchak was only for one specific case – a yeshiva which was thinking of switching from buying CY to buying CS. The Rosh Yeshiva wrote to R’ Moshe asking his opinion, and R” Moshe said only b’shaas hadchak. This was a reply to a yeshiva which was buying milk for many yeshiva students, and had only been using CY milk for years. It was not a teshuva intended for the general public.
As usual, Joseph likes to take teshuvos out of context to fit his agenda.