Gadolhadorah

Aside from the question of WHAT the daveners of the 29-33 minute shachris speed-daveners are really doing differently from the 45-55 minute slowpokes, I’m even more intrigued about how many of the CR posters daven with stopwatches and can distinguish between a 9 minute and 10 minute maariv. Thre is a big difference between reading the shmoneh esresh really slooowly from a siddur, visualizing and and focusing on the proper pronunciation and meaning of each word versus rushing through the amidah and then waiting around schmoozing with your chevrah waiting respectfully while the rav (and perhaps one other chashuve davener) finish.

Its not just the dermatologists and cosmetic companies pushing some hyped agenda. A decade ago, EY had the second highest rate of skin cancer in the world (after Australia/New Zealand) because as explained by the Health Ministry, of the large number of residents from Europe and North America, whose fair skin was vulnerable to the high level of solar radiation in the desert climate. In a strange twist tied to another thread here in the CR, the health ministry also linked the high incidence of skin cancer in EY to trends in dress fashions that allow more of the body and skin to be exposed to the sun than is customary in neighboring middle eastern countries. The good news is that the skin cancer rate in EY has dropped substantially in recent years (EY is no longer in the top ten countries with high rates) and the survival level has improved as the younger generation has become more aware of the risks. I’m wondering if anyone has compiled data comparing skin cancer rates among the chareidi tzibur to those of the secular tzibur, but based on the above, it presumably much lower.

There is also an economic issue regarding the inyan of having some type of hashgacha for shatnes on clothing . In the area of kashruth, the incredible growth in the number of food companies seeking hashgacha on their products is that anything with a “kosher” certification is considered to be a higher quality and safer product by many goyim. Not clear that a shatnes hashgacha certification would be considered to provide much valued added by the non-frum tzibur.

No one benefits and it simply shows how dysfunctional our government has become and how both sides have become polarized playing to their base at the far right and left. Hopefully some adults in both parties will take control and pass a reasonable compromise but that is looking less likely given the disappearing “center” in our political spectrum.

A horse of another animal or a brother-in-law from another mother or???? Sounds very suspicious and raises some fundamental questions about long-held theories of genetic mutation.

Joe: Yes….while the parents of a Bucharian choson/kalah may have made the initial kiddushin commitments when their kids were still in diapers and the cost of the chassanah itself would probably blow through the recent efforts by some Ashkanaz rabbonim to cap the costs of weddings, once all the parties are over, the realities of living together as husband/wife are really the same for ALL frum yidden. A Bucharian couple may be fortunate enough to start with a bit more in the way of resources but the day-to-day relationship issues, desire for mutual respect, issues with kids and machatonim are not unique.

Moving even further off-topic, according to data from the national trade association for the liquor industry, the largest growth segment for the high end scotch, whiskey and clear spirits market are millennial women. Sadly, their data does not break out the growth rate among women of various religious backgrounds so we have no way of knowing if female Kiddush Club attendees (possibly including the Magidah of Pinsk) are part of that growth. Also, there is the additional factor of fewer Kiddush clubs holding forth during Hashkamah minyanim since most ehrliche yidden have some difficulty belting back a double scotch before they’ve had their leftover cholent and Corn Flakes for breakfast.

To Pushatayid: Does he have any successful clients? If so, we have the basis for a new line of inquiry about the merits of a segulah for a successful shiduch.

On a serious note, although it will upset some of the more machmir CR regulars, there are many MO shuls where women are now regular KC attendees with the local minhagim varying from shul to shul. And no, they don’t serve the gals flavored sugar syrup mixed with alcohol in lieu of real (big-boy) drinks….they imbibe the same stuff as the guys do with gusto..

What are the rules in your shul with regard to women attending the Kiddush club if they arrive early for davening as in the the Magid’s sad tale? Do you need to have a mechitzah in the small room the gabbai has designated for the KC? Do you alternate and all the men go back in to the davening to hear the Rav’s dvar torah so the women can go in an get some hootch? There must be some clear guidelines for the womens’ Kiddush club operations.

Since nobody knows who the Lamedvavniks are, not even themselves, every Yid must live his/her life as if he or she might be one of them. For all we know, one of the regular CR posters could be one of these big tzadikim and live their life and die as an ordinary person to have their place taken by another poster.

To Avram: How does that solve the Magid’s problem?? He is obviously dealing with a complex “relationship” issues which has caused him great suffering and is threatening his reputation among the other daveners who might suspend him from the Kiddush club or invoke other sanctions.

As a starter, remember the origins and current role of hashkama minyanim. Most were established by frum shuls back in the early 1900s for the poor “greeners” who had to work on Shabbos at low-skilled factory jobs and risked losing those jobs (and their livelihood) if they arrived late to work (at a time that a six-day workweek was the norm). Over the decades they evolved so that in many cases the husband will attend the hashkama minyan and then the wife (who was watching the yinglach) could occasionally attend the regular shacharit service. Most importantly, the hashkamah minyan in many shuls is held in a smaller room or “chapel” w/o a mechitzah so if the poor Magid’s wife showed up for the early minyan, it would create total chaos and prompt another question here in the CR as to what to do when there is no varbeshe section?

Sort of difficult to usefully respond on a “global” search for a Rav who cold advise on some vague “spiritual” matter who has all the basic attributes one would hope for in a Rav.

Actually, the El Al coverage is borderline “fair and balanced” as Fox News used to say (but no longer makes a pretense). For all its warts, El Al, is the best we have and are likely to have given the self-destructive constraints of trying to simultaneously run a profit-making cpommercial scheduled airline and operate under the supervision of a gazillion rabbonim who think they know better than the Rabbanut about airline management and halacha.

Are these really “first date” subjects?? Sure, you want to be confident that the person you are considering as a lifetime partner shares basic values and practices a hashkafah you could accomodate but I cannot imagine a young man giving his potential beschert a musar schmooz on tzinius during their initial encounter.

To 1: Very comprehensive list of interrogatories for due diligence of a prospective choson/kalah but for a single question. Is there any chemistry between them?? I know for some that will be an irrelevant metric but for most of the world, its actually a primary factor.

I think the Supreme Court issued a ruling earlier today that deferred any final action on the draft issue for kollel yuungerleit until AFTER the April elections.

I’m sure for the parents of an unmarried boy or girl in a small shtetl in the Alte Heim, there was some degree of anxiety but likely not the “crisis” mentality we are dealing with today. Daily life was a much greater challenge and I suspect the ability to establish your own home and living arrangements with your beschert was not the simple task of going to one of the “one stop” wedding stores to purchase all your dishes, furnishings etc. As far as where did our parents and grandparents “learn” to be husban/wife, probably w/o the benefit of online videos, kallah classes etc.

Winnie: Yasher koach for a clear, cogent and incredibly well stated explaination of an issue for some that is NOT a “crisis:” as one might incorrectly conclude from the bi-monthly thread here in the CR on some variation of that fake crisis. As others have noted, simply removing the parents and shadchanim from the equation and allowing young men and women to engage in their own meetings, dates, etc. is more likely to result in successful long-term relationships than the highly structured and often forced meetings many rely upon today in the frum tzibur.

In all liklihood, Little Joey lives in some smelly apartment building in Flatbush and sits around all day peeking out from behind the shades

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Sometimes life just isn’s fair. In reality, the frum tzibur has taken root in many OOT communities in the years since I left NYC with thriving yiddeshe populations with yeshivos, shuls, and a wide range of mosdos. Obviously, they don’t reach the same scale of NYC neighborhood offerings but that same scale carries with it the noise, pollution, congestion, high prices etc. that many of us were escaping when we left.

As usual, a question whose answer turns on “which town”??? If I were to guess, the originator of this thread would assume that the rest of the United States is an island off the coast of Brooklyn, so in-town presumably is NYC versus the rest of the civilized world. In that case, an “in town” mentality and lifestyle turns very much on where in the NYC metropolitan area one resides. I would submit there is a wider gap between BP and Willy versus upper West Side of Manhattan or even Staten Island then BP or Willy versus Lakewood or Baltimore.

Haimy; Are you a frustrated shadchan who feels respnsiblle for all the clients you’ve been unsucessful with?? Otherwise, stop peddling this “crisis” nareshkeit because the majority of those here don’t accept your assertions and efforts to further demonize single frum women.

Her positions and rhetoric on EY and the Palestinian issues have crossed the line from simply a J-Street view of a two-state solution and condemnaion of the “occupation” to blatant anti-semitic hyperbole. On most other isues, especially domestic policy issues, she is clearly what we now call progressive but not nearly as far left as another NYC congresswoman who also has become a media star for the Dems. I suspect she will pull back the rhetoric over the next few months under pressure from her colleagues.

DY: Sorry…didn’t mean to impute the illogical consequences of prohibitions that some hold by (and others don’t) to you personally. I can understand individuals making a personal decision for themselves or their children if that’s their own hashkafah, but certainly don’t believe it is a blanket assur for all.