Gadolhadorah

To Gaon:
R’ Kanievsky, Z”TL, was wise enough to avoid putting down someone who was clearly in a moment of emotional distress and came to him for help. Clearly, the Editor’s request was for some simple and meaningful d’var torah tha tmight be invoked by this well meaning Zaidah that would inspire her granddaughter at this simcha (probably at a MO shul) but not offend. There are multiple references in Torah and Tehillim to the concept of tsa’ar ba’alei chayim that might be woven together to provide a short d’var torah that is appropriate for the occasion (w/o getting into a broader discussion about bat mitzvahs, what and who should participate etc).

Georidie: Not sure I understand….aren’t their rabbonin at the Yeshiva? Do you mean the out-of-town bochrim go home to their families for the yamim noraim?

For a change I agree with Zahavasdad. Many cities are taking steps to make it easier to use bikes for short trips in lieu of auto traffic which results in air pollution, noise and congestion. In Willy, there are two bike shops that cater to the frum tzibur. Biking is a healthy option for trips to shul, market, work and mikvah. Women can use bikes for light shopping trips to the market, riding with the kids to school (if they are too close for school bus service) or just visiting friends. Yiddeshe mosdos can help by putting in bike racks, allowing public rental bikes to set up on the sidewalks out front and not fighting bike lanes because c’v they might see some “hipster” riding by from outside the neighborhood. Bikes are a win win option for yidden and goyim alike. I’m not that familiar with Lakewood’s traffic issues but I’m certain that BMG can take a lead role in promoting bike usage among their bochurim around the campus and local shuls and commercial establishments.

Putting aside common sense, which is the norm on some of these threads, a yid walking into a new shul typically doesn’t first search for a seating chart hidden behind the door or wait for the gabbai sheini or shlishi (who was supposed to be standing by the entry door and instead is schmoozing with his chevrah by the bimah) to point him to a seat not covered by the local minhagim governing makom kavua. My experience is that 9 of 10 times, you walk in and absent a simcha where you search out the family, you take whatever seat appears empty.

Edited -79

Its a real stretch to extend the inyan of chazaka in baba basra as cited above to stand for the notion of makom kavua and a license to demand someone who comes to daven change seats if there has been no financial commitment in relation thereto. If a shul wants to “reserve” particular seats for certain individuals, they should be clearly marked as such. In most shtieblach, one would logically conclude that a chair and shtender in the corner by the bimah piled high with seforim “is reserved” for the rav, gabbai, etc….not so for a unmarked seat in a row of otherwise identical seats in a shul with many rows of seats

To Ubiquitin….yes, I understand the concept of chazaka but don’t know of where chazal bring down that x times provides such ownership rights….presumably, it varies from shul to shul but my point is that whatever the number, a more rational approach in a large shul, as many have posted, is open seating, especially after a certain point in the davening whether it be baruch she’amar, nishmas or borchu..

The concept of a “makom kavuah” or having “chazakah” over a particular seat in shul is an anachronism except perhaps for seats reserved for the rav, gabboim, elderly, disabled or small shtieblach where the seating is sort of random and movable chairs are paired with a shtender where one stores his tallis/teffiin/seforim. Otherwise, in a moderately or larger sized shul with fixed seating, it should be “open seating” period, without regard to whether certain baal habtim consider themselves to be sufficiently important to warrant having seats permanently dedicated to them regardless of whether they are in shul when davening starts. There is no more or less important chair from the perspective of the Ebeshter who could care less where you are seated and is more concerned with your kavanah, even if you are hanging from a chandelier or mistakenly seated in the varbeshe section.

Think of all the time wasted (aka bitul torah) by yidden attempting to learn a dead or dying language for “ole times sake”….Its fine for those who are already fluent in English or Hebrew who find comfort in learning in the style of the their parents/grandparents but only contributes to dysfunction if kids are forced to live in a “Yiddish -only” world at school and at home.

Some of you treat the “yetzer horah” as some type of living, active and uncontrollable force in our lives separate from our mainstream existence. Yes, we have urges of all types, both spiritual and physical, that may not be good for us but we also have the strength and discipline in most cases to push back on most, albeit not all, of these urges. We know not to start eating ice cream directly from the quart container, lest we end up eating most of it. Rather we dole out a small portion in a cup to discipline our culinary gluttony. Likewise, we don’t willingly set ourselves up to be alone with a woman not our wives on a business trip to avoid both inappropriate business outcomes, but more importantly, our spiritual geder that shields us from what some might call the siren song of our yetzer horah. Do we always show such strength….obviously not but most of us seem to have won the large percentage of these battles w/o making the looming shadow of a yetzer horah the overriding focus of our daily lives.

Chaver….many schools in EY teach Arabic given that 20 percent of the population speaks that language; likewise, a large percentage of Palestinians speak Hebrew

There are several Jewish day schools in the U.S. that offer introductory Arabic as an AP option…probably not in any of the yeshivos or kollels

Does anyone doubt that if you daven with real kavanah and seek a yeshuah in the name of the the Satmar Rebbe, Z’TL, the Ebeshter would respond with a least as much rachmanis as would be the case if some third party left an email message by the tzion

Not sure what is meant by “traditional ashkenazay clothing”….most yeshivish dress today is best described as loosely fitting dark business suit, white shirt sans tie with black borsalino/fedora hat. Add the tie and a bit of tailoring to the suit and you couldn’t distinguish a kollel yungerleit from an investment banker. In either event, nothing really that are readily traced to the alte heim or czarist Russia or wherever….sephardeshe and chassidish lvush cut a more striking sartorial statement

More and more Litvish schools are teaching in English/Ivrit while retaining Yiddish in the upper grades for Talmud study etc…..need for basic English fluency for whatever secular studies they offer and job skills afterwards. Not sure that most take seriously the ludicrous notion that speaking Hebrew makes one a “Tzionista”. Does speaking some Arabic (as do a larger percentage of students in EY) make them Islamic Terrorists?

To CT Lawyer:
Yasher koach on an extremely thoughtful and analytic response. Very helpful in understanding the transition from first-generation (post WWII) immigrants to the Millenial look…

Froggie….

Again, not sure what the relevance of a natural gas pipeline system is to an electric power network. Whereas gas is effectively “stored” in a pipeline under pressure and can be released as necessary with variations in demand, electricity is unlike any other utility service since it must be supplied real time and generation must be balanced with load on 24×7 basis. Further, the IEA grid is has few interconnections with Jordan or Egypt unlike other countries that can import power when shortages arise. As noted earlier, AGC telemetry and advanced control algorithms have substantially reduced the need for human intervention but some amount of real time human intervention will be needed for the indefinite future. Computers cannot perform certain tasks which are needed for real time monitoring of system thermal stability and voltage support. If you still don’t understand, try reading some background material on electric systems on Wikopedia or other non-technical sites and it may become more intuitive. While individual homes can go “off the grid” and there are some “micro-grids” in Tel Aviv and Haifa, those account for less than 2 or 3 percent of total end-user demand. Individuals who worry about chilul Shabbos and illegally install their own generators in densely populated urban areas are endangering large numbers of people and their mindless behavior is beyond understanding. Fortunately, these individuals are being tracked down and prosecuted by the authorities and several have been sentenced to prison. If you don’t like the IEA services or don’t trust their assurances in reference to Shabbos, simply open the circuit breaker on your electric panel and have a guten Shabbos by candelight with the windows open.

Adherence to “rules” imposed by a private yeshiva/BY/kollel/pre-school etc. shouldn’t be a question…they are entitled under both secular law and halacha to impose such rules as long as they do not involve physical or emotional harm to children. (I’m putting aside the few schools that still claim a right to use corporal punishment which fortunately such dysfunctional practices are largely gone from Yiddeshe mosdos). The more prevalent issue in many schools are students who question or challenge the instructional naarative they receive from teachers. Many extraordinarily bright kids, some informed by their own internet research (where schools allow for such access) are getting suspended for speaking up in class, even when done so respectfully. Many kids don’t seem to have basic derech eretz and offer their “counterpoint” without being disruptive but often the smartest kids are most prone to be an azaz panim and disrupt the flow on instruction. Parents, teachers and school administrators need to get more involved with these types of issues and develop policies setting out boundary conditions for “intellectual disruption” on both limudei torah and secular subjects.

A good start would be for all the MEN constantly whining about the “tzinius crisis’ to step back this chodesh Elul and look in a good mirror and focus their musar internally. I can’t believe we have the most erliche male population among yidden today since dor ha’midbor and they have exhausted all opportunities for self-improvement in their emunah and hashkafah and thus the only issue left for them to focus their lives on is for women to become more machmir in their observance of tzinius.

Who or what is “Bloris”???

Joseph….are you insinuating that Rav Tendler, shlita, was somehow not aware of your chumrah or simply felt in a yekeshe mood the day of his chassanah?? I doubt either he or R’ Moshe, ZTL, would have not been aware of what halacha required

The story is told about Rav Apron Soloveichik Z’tl, who responded to a shaylah from either his gabbai (or some talmidim) who said he/they had gone to a friend’s wedding and was surprised that there was mixed seating for the singles attending and what should he/they do in the future when those circumstances arose.. According to the telling of this story, the Rav sighed, and said something along the lines of, “Oy vey – how do you think I met Ella?” I’ve heard numerous variations of similar stories attributed to various rabbonim who were both makil and machmir on this issue with the R’ Breuer/Yekeshe practice at one end of the spectrum and the more mainstream Chassidus at the other end….

So long hair is the underlying cause of the shidduch crisis in Lakewood?? I would think the real cause is the absence of “real’ beards” among the BMG crowd (aka facial hair cut too short)

Some use the term in EY to refer to power that has generated without any yidden working at the powerplant on Shabbos or in any way indirectly resulting in chilul Shabbos for power consumed. Some areas of Meah Shearim etc. have their own “Shabbos generators”…
I’m sure there may be other meanings but this is one possibility.

Motcha11:
I don’t know where you get the mesorah that the Rebbe, Z’TL, taught his chassidim that all yidden, Litvish, misnagdim, other chassidus etc. will magically become Lubavitch at the time of z’man moishiach. Somehow the visuals of the BMG crowd in Lakewood and Skver from monsey joining hands on Eastern Parkway and waving yellow flags saying “Welcome Rebbe Moishiach” are a bit difficult to internalize.

we saw it several weeks ago and enjoyed it. If you like this genre of “gritty” message movie (aka widower father’s love for his son v. rebbe’s insistence on need for a “stable family life” etc.) its reasonably well done and edited down to a short length. I’m not sure what the “mamash soton” element of this movie as its quite harmless….

My presumption is that the majority of readers do not conduct their daily lives exclusively in certain neighborhoods of Willy, BP, Lakewood and Monsey. The point I made very early in this thread is that there is more widespread legal and social acceptance of nursing in public areas with varying degrees of attention to “modesty” (I won’t use the term tzinius to avoid confusion) among young women outside of the frum tzibur. Yidden who travel will have to accommodate these diverse visual encounters since they are only going to increase. To my knowledge, few (if any) of the 48 states that have legalized nursing in public specify limits on the mother’s exposure.