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BS”D
Syrian: in all the articles about him online he is referred to as Mordechai. My friend did not mention his name; he only told me that he met the owner of Zachlawi at a show and they got to know each other so that my friend got some of the first Zachlawi available.
But is it still available and being produced?
The singers are all opera singers including some who are prohibited to men by most poskim due to kol isha issues. The Jewish voices are chazzonim mostly of prior generations. (I’d rather listen to a vacuum with a defective fan belt than just about any of the opera singers and some of the chazzonim).
BS”D
mchemtob – I LOVE his arak! I used to drink the amber one and I was lucky to have any left for myself when I brought it to shul for kiddush! Mordechai Kairey is a friend of a friend of mine (and our mutual friend just happens to be the owner of my old local liquor store!)
But his site is down – is Zachlawi still out there? I just may fly in for The Big Event (and to get some stuff out of storage) and if I do and there’s Zachlawi around I will bring back a case. I have connections in customs here but if I ship it will cost me too much including at least 2 bottles out of the case to get it through. (if I bring it in personally it will just cost me the 2 bottles LOL!)
BS”D
Mother: So tell me, what does the bochur do in his spare time?
Shadchan: He is very dedicated to chessed; he spends all his spare time helping the community.
(Translation: He was sentenced to over 5000 hours of community service).
I had a few others like this but have forgotten the better ones.
BS”D
Syrian – I’m seven time zones ahead of you and Shwekey and a 2 1/2 hour flight away from the nearest source of arak (not counting my attempt at making it from 96% and aniseed this summer). I am far more a fan of arak than of Shwekey, so there!
Didn’t you get the joke? big Deal…(not that I know the difference between Oakhurst, Elberon, Deal and Long Branch as I have never been to the area).
BS”D
to Syriansephardi:
not that its a big deal
It may be a long branch! Anyway can you send me a five gallon pail of arak?
BS”D
Mazal, right you are – I have many distant relatives who are Moroccan and Turkish because my maternal ancestors went in 2 different directions after girush Sefarad. My direct ancestors went West; other members of the family went to Morocco and the Ottoman Empire.
I have met quite a number of these lost relatives; the giveaway is that the person or a close relative shares my first name together with the surname of the grandfather A”H whom I was named for. When I went to one of the kivrei tzadikim in rural Morocco, I found a beis almin full of matzevos bearing my mother’s maiden name.
We are from Malchus Beis Dovid and one of these long lost distant relatives (a bochur from E”Y of Turkish origin whose information I took while I was volunteering at a blood drive) informed me that there is an association of people bearing this surname and that indeed we are to be found throughout the Jewish world.
The Alter Rebbe (Baal HaTanya) was of Sefardi origin (as may well be the very name Schneour Zalman); on Sunday when I have time I could probably post quite a few distinguished “Ashkenazi” surnames which originate in the Spanish language and were brought from Spain.
BS”D
Dafina is the Moroccan and perhaps Tunisian variant; it has been 17 years since I have had it but at the Moroccan shul I used to daven at they would make the potatoes and wheat separately from the meat part of the stew. Spices included cumin and garlic and undoubtedly pepper. Eggs were cooked with one part or the other as well; they turned brown and picked up the spices – I’ve done this myself with cholent and it comes out very delicious!
I think that they also added dried apricots to the meat but that may have been something I had at a simcha in Montreal. Unfortunately, the kosher restaurants in Morocco are not glatt as the supply of glatt meat is very limited so I never tried any Moroccan Jewish food in Morocco.
Lahmacun (the real spelling, so there) is actually Turkish in origin; in Turkey it is sold like pizza in large, round pieces cooked in a stone oven. Syria was part of the Ottoman Empire and that is how it made its way to Syria. I’ve never tasted or even seen the Brooklyn or Deal Syrian version, nor have I seen it in EY.
BS”D
We have no idea what the families want. All well and good that it is a zechus for the niftar but there are living relatives who may not understand or appreciate this. When you go to a levaya that is not public, it looks like you are trying to make a show of yourself and your own imagined tzidkus.
And no, I do not go to levayas of anyone I do not know – that includes tzadikim. I did not go to the levaya of either the past Satmar Rov or the Pnei Menachem although I was less than 10 minutes away at the time of both levayas. All I would have done is contributed to crowd control issues or, worse yet, been tempted to look for friends in the crowds.
For me, attending the funeral just meant taking a fifteen-minute bus ride, and I’m grateful that I live in E”Y and have access to this kind of stuff.
BS”D
You are grateful that you can go to levayas?????????
Why go? To make YOURSELF feel like you are doing something?
The soldiers’ families do not need you there; you could spend the time learning or volunteering or just living your life. The soldiers are private people who were killed in performing government mandated service. Their families are private people. They don’t necessarily need or want you there in their moments of horrible grief.
BS”D
Are you sure that Moshiach ben Yosef is a must? I learned that while of course there is mention of Moshiach ben Yosef in the Gemara, there is no mitzvah to believe in his coming as a predecessor to Moshiach ben Dovid.
In any case, since it is not clear how much time there must be between Moshiach ben Yosef and the final Geula, Moshiach ben Yosef may have been among the tzaddikim who died al kiddush Hashem during the Churban.
BS”D
Arak is not just alcohol. Arak is water from Gan Eden (not to be confused with Mei Eden which is just plain water).
BS”D
JC is no good either – what is the C the initial of :))))! Yeshu (without the Ayin) is ymach shmo vezichrono; or you can use the more politically correct notzrim (probably not too nice a reference for my many friends from Natzrat Ilit LOL!)
BS”D
Not that Facebook does not have potential serious issues, but if you are already using it there is a tehillim chain which divides the tehillim into 5 prakim which can be said 1 – 7 times a week from now to Tu BiShvat.
Just do a search on Teves tehillim and it should show up. The directions are on the group news as is the grid.
Tizku lemitzvos – and please do NOT join Facebook just for this – join the chain only if you are already on Facebook so that we can elevate the klipa of Facebook for our brothers and sisters in E”Y – looks like mdlevine has a fine chain organized via this site and other media.
BS”D
Yes – yshua is the name that they use but it could be a construct of the j4j. It is not even clear that this guy existed and if he did that the religion has anything to do with the (rather minor) historical figure that may have been.
Also, if not the X, what should we use? I know the X is theoretically wrong but it is what everyone uses. If we use the word then we are saying oiso ho’ish is hristos, or the anointed one which is lehavdil an exact translation of Moshiach. Maybe we can use yoshkeists or yoshkelach on this board…
BS”D
It is PRECISELY because the army (and the medine which is behind it) have no intrinsic kedusha that its success depends on our Torah so that Hashem sees that we TRULY deserve ERETZ YISROEL under malchus beis Dovid!
That is why we DO need to put on tefillin with soldiers, send them sifrei Torah, learn in their merit and in the merit of the Jews whom they are physically defending.
And B”H so far, compared to the last military action, bnei Yisroel are way ahead. Let this be the very end of all wars and let the klipa of Hamas disappear for all time while the klipa of Zionism is replaced with the ultimate kedusha of Moshiach!
BS”D
I have been partying in real life every night since Thursday (sheva brochos, shabbos, sheva brochos/melave malka and now a chassune). Something tells me I have another sheva brochos or two this week (maybe not b/c this couple is from out of town).
My stomach has ceased to function from all the heavy food and Zantac isn’t working. Tried to get Tagamet but my local 24 hr pharmacy is on reduced holiday hours. Tums aren’t sold here and I can’t use Maalox.
Anyone have my favorite home remedy around – as in four shots of arak?
BS”D
I agree with the article – but hapitaron hayachid = Moshiach ben David! Let us show Hashem that Moshiach Now is not just a slogan!
BS”D
Wikipedia has his surname as Weisblum; whether it was his surname or a surname that quite a few of his descendants seem to have is unclear as anyone can write what they want in Wikipedia.
BS”D
The terrorists are from the lowest klipa; Hashem does not want us to give into them even as He tests us.
It is one thing to perhaps start a couple of learning threads here to bring the level up for the zechus of the matzav in E”Y and another thing to close down altogether.
BS”D
Sorry, but closing this is exactly what the terrorists want.
They want to disrupt the normal flow of life, and for people to live in the fear that they propagate. They are all about control through intimidation, and we cannot be intimidated by them. Hamas are nothing but a band of miserable rats, and in due time they will be exterminated like the rats that they are.
The oil price is falling every day now, and between the military action against the rat nests and economic troubles for the Iranian government that sponsors Hamas, this will come to an end very quickly.
On the other hand, if people who are living through the situation in E”Y posted about what is happening from a personal perspective, it would help those of us whose place is elsewhere to really understand what is going on and to think of more ways to help begu”r.
Of course we need to do what we can, but we cannot let the terrorists consume our lives. When Scuds fell during the Gulf War, some Breslov Chassidim danced on the rooftops, to show that the forces of evil cannot stop Yidden from being besimcha. While that is a bit extreme, so is surrendering to evil and letting it run our lives.
BS”D
A Chassidishe Rebbe or a Rebbe in a cheder or yeshiva ketana :)?
BS”D
Here is what Rav Ovadia Yosef has to say about zoos:
Visiting a Zoo
Personally, I try to go once a year to a zoo. I forgot to go this past year; I’ll try to spend a day in Vienna the next time I fly abroad so that I can see the panda there. Then I get a double header – shekacha loi for the panda and meshane habriyois (followed by Dayan HaEmes if I actually get my hands on him) for Moshe Aryeh Friedman!
BS”D
Grilled fish. I eat as much as a kilo (2.2 pounds) at a time as I am on a low carb high protein diet.
My doctor warned me that I will start growing long, thick fur and huge claws if I don’t cut down my intake of salmon (actually I cut back and switched to other fish because of mercury issues).
BS”D
In all seriousness, few if any Chassidishe rebbeim are descended directly from the Baal Shem Tov. Reb Nachman meBreslov was married to a descendant but of course the line died out. I think there are other lines direct from the Baal Shem Tov but I am not sure which they are and whether they survived to this day.
Most are descended from one or more talmidim of the Baal Shem Tov or the Maggid. Reb Nochim Chernobyler (Twerski) was a talmid of the Besh”t – his descendants include all of the Twerski rebbeim of today, including Hornesteipol/Milwaukee, Rachmistrivke, and Skvere. (And of course everyone’s favourite Skverer, Lipa, is proof that Skvere comes from Chernobyl…AFTER the nuclear accident!)
The two Satmar rebbeim are descendants of the Sanzer as well as..the Baal HaTanya (Alter Rebbe of Chabad)! This means they are related to Bobov and Klausenberg as well as indirectly to Reb Michel Twerski.
Others are descended from talmidim of the second generation after the Besht (talmidim of Reb Elimelech for instance). And Rizhin is descended from the grandson of the Maggid; many Rizhiner offshoots such as Boyan are alive and well today.
I think the only Rebbeim whose yichus does not go back to that time are the Toldos Aharon and Toldos Avraham Yitzchok except perhaps via marriage. Reb Arele (Roth) founded the original Shomrei Eminim rather recently.
BS”D
Has anyone by any chance ever gone to see the polar bears in Churchill, Manitoba during the fall feeding season?
I’d love to do it (when I finally get married would make a great first trip as a couple). I’d also like to see tiges in their natural habitat and as I plan to make a business trip to India this year that is not impossible but most of the tigers are in semi-artificial nature reserves now. I’d also be sorely tempted to take a cub or 2 home with me LOL.
Yossilea, you forgot that Lanner is MO. So was the late Judah Feinerman. So is Ken Gribetz. Ditto for Ryan Karben. And so was Bernard Bergman, who is still considered avi avois hatuma even in the world of mechalelei Hashem. Does that mean MO condones molestation/abuse, stealing insurance premiums, political corruption, adultery, perversion and mistreating the elderly?
Bringing up these lowlifes, whichever community they desecrated with their presence, serves no purpose; they are everywhere and will be everywhere as long as people have a yetzer horo.
BS”D
The Admou”r meCreedmoor zechusoi yogen olov is a direct descendant of Yehuda via his son Onan.
BS”D
Mazal77, the massacre was said to be a reaction to the Balfour declaration. Just as in Morocco and Iraq, formerly peaceful Arab neighbors turned against local Jews because of outside influences.
As for Rav Miller ZYA, his impact is indeed very great even after his petira. And I am not a follower myself yet I know and am saying this.
Regardless of this, however, we must daven and learn for the safety of the Jews of E”Y and for the army to have the siyata deshmaya it needs to be victorious – or better yet, Moshiach should come and replace the Zionist travesty with malchus beis Dovid NOW!
BS”D
Have you ever considered the Zimbabwean air force? You get paid billions, if not trillions, for serving in the Zimbabwean military…….
BS”D
CCS = Camp Choivevei Skila???
LS”D
Camp Chunyak, the summer camp affiliated with the Otisville Kollel, provides great fun and real chinuch at a low cost because it teaches how to do things at the expense of others.
Shiurim include: “Choshen Mishpat: How to Get Away with Violating It While Passing Yourself Off as a Frum Balabos”, “Reaching the Highest Madrega: Menuval Birshus HaTorah” and “The Ins and Outs of Manipulating Federal Entitlement Programs”.
Activities include: applying for credit online with false names and SSN’s, filling out welfare applications for phantom dependents, learning how to file a phoney tax return, and the great annual “Ponzi War” where each team competes in seeing how many investors it can swindle.
Camp trips include taking small packages of white powder and vitamin pills to Antwerp, London and Eretz Yisroel, with trips to Thailand and Japan awarded to campers who excel in studies and activities.
And our camp insists on the strictest standards of frumkeit whenever someone is looking, and this is enforced by our counselor/camper tznius patrol, which is happy to obtain alcohol and narcotics for your camper during off hours.
This camp is supported by the Madoff Foundation and by HaNodiv Sholam Weiss shlit”a.
BS”D
Be greatful for the ability to go to Israel, daven there, learn there. Have some hakaras hatov.
No, I am not grateful for this. It came about because of the death of six million Jews and the failure of the US and other countries to act properly before the event, as well as the desire of Europeans to be rid of their remaining Jews after the war.
Far too high a price to pay, considering that if the zionists had not agitated, we would have eventually been welcomed as protected and honored guests the way I was when I visited the kivrei tzaddikim in Morocco (and the way the foreign born rabbonim of Chabad and Otzar HaTorah were welcomed to reside there once the period of agitation and emigration ended and there was no more suspicion of rabbonim being “Zionist spies”).
However, we do not know how Hashem works and why this magefa of Zionism was able to take hold and ruin so many Jews spiritually and physically. The reason why the government cannot act is because it is based on falsehood. Hashem gave us 1967 because Jews were in danger; the government made a mess in 1973 and then the movement to surrender what Hashem gave the Jewish, not the “Israeli” but the Jewish, people began in earnest. Now we see where that leads.
We can only daven and learn in the hope that Hashem, who is shoimer petoim, will protect am Yisroel from the folly of the Zionists. (Again, the only replacement for the medine is malchus beis Dovid though if it could be dismantled in peace we would be far better off at this point).
BS”D
Yes, the state is failed because it was a flawed concept to begin with. Llihyot am chofshi beartzeinu was doomed to fail because we are not meant to be an am chofshi and our only claim to EY is that Hashem gave it to us as a place to run according to Torah law.
However, we do NOT want the terrorists and their Iranian and Saudi support base to destroy it and kill innocent Jews in the process. Maybe Fweeky Fweedy in Vienna would welcome such a scenario but he is a (choiser) dass yochid.
We need Moshiach to dismantle it and replace the whole corrupt system with Malchus Beis Dovid – NOW!
BS”D
I don’t care for fried foods and end up with skin and digestive issues from too much oil. My total was 5 ponchkes on Thursday night when I was helping pack up after a menorah lighting in a local mall, and two or three stale ones Shabbos morning. For the second year in a row I am proud to say that I ate ZERO sponges soaked in WD-40 a/k/a latkes.
BS”D
About time…and I will withhold any comments until the operation is finished and we see how effective it was and whether or not the government bows to any pressure from the UN, EU and similar sonei Yisroel.
BS”D
While sometimes there are one off deals that beat B&H (or J&R) and other top retailers, be very careful with Pricegrabber deals. Many are from bucket shops that drive you crazy to add useless accessories, or surprise you at the very end with an inflated shipping charge. At B&H you’ll never go wrong; I think J&R are now in the same category.
Re Itzik: You may want to ask a shaila if you need to ask mechila of the singer for public embarrassment.
BS”D
Which one?
The former – that is public knowledge and I purposely added why he was incarcerated. I actually believe his incarceration was unfair; a hefty fine and community service, including recording a song, free of charge, about driving safely, would have done much more good.
The latter – his whole success is derived from his meshugge act and off-center costumes and I am only promoting him free of charge LOL.
BS”D
LOL – Chaim Israel (in the can for a driving offense) and……………………..LIPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!
Gad Elbaz is far from being a jailbird; Matisyahu does not ACT IF he belongs in the nuthouse…..or is someone conflating Matisyahu with Chaim Israel’s present “yeshiva” which is called Maasiyahu :).
BS”D
My favorites are (besides the old R’ Chaim Banet Vizhnitz choirs, old MBD, and Yeedle), a jailbird and someone who (acts as if) he belongs in the nuthouse. Anyone wanna guess who they are LOL?
BS”D
Since we already have Yaldah for girls, and Yeled would not get you too many readers, how about calling it Yold?
Seriously – hatzlocho!
BS”D
Potato latkes. Frying latkes enables me to put to good use all the sludge that I accumulate from a year’s worth of oil changes. This is very convenient for me since I can no longer dispose of it any other way thanks to ridiculous environmental regulations.
BS”D
I think that the collected pronouncements of the self appointed Neturei (Ku Klutz) Karta spokesmen would make great fiction for young children, because no one else would take them seriously.
There is a great series of books with titles like:
Mirel Meets the Mishmeres Hatznius
The Skila Seesaw
The Sreyfa Sled
Gimpel and Groinem Visit Federal Koilel
but I forget where you can find them.
hmmm..on Sunday morning we say Al Hanissim….so that means Purim is coming????
oomis & Itzik,
I guess as you said oomis, we are going to have to disagree.
But keep up the good work anyway!
BS”D
So long as you end that way, there is nothing left to discuss – everyone has different ways of doing things and all ways seem to work for someone.
The question is how to apply this to schools as it seems that the “OTD” problem and chinuch crisis is across the board.
BS”D
Anon – I had more than one so they had their own entertainment. They even could have fed themselves if I hadn’t gotten wise to their ways and made my cupboards and fridge off limits after a few successful raids.
It is fascinating to watch them because they are miniature lions and they act the same way lions do – they hunt in gangs, fight over mates, drag off more than they can eat and attempt to hide it for later etc etc.
BS”D
LOL I wanted to see who was paying attention – bears are not even remotely meant to be domesticated. Theoretically, cats are not domesticated either – they don’t depend on us, cannot be trained and they retain the same wild instincts as big cats.
BS”D
Shindy, I used to have several cats. Loved them, but the damage they did to my furniture, wallpaper and home office cabling outweighed the fun of having them.
Also, I am kind of hefty and the cats were very small for me; if I did it again I’d want a bigger animal. Since a big cat is not exactly pet material, I would get a large breed dog or perhaps a bear (and only if I needed one for security reasons).
BS”D
We are not “anything goes”.
We are open to all.
Nevertheless, we maintain our own standards – but with us not everyone has to adopt our standards because we recognize that not everyone is ready, willing or able to “become frum” given how deep we are in golus.
So, we are happy to get even the Jew who is intermarried to make a brocho on the nerois Chanuka; we don’t condone his having intermarried and we do the utmost to make sure any of his unmarried brothers and sisters don’t make the same tragic mistake, but we know that Torah does not say that because you failed in one area, you are therefore beneath keeping any other of the 613 mitzvos. Otherwise, there would be no minyan in Otisville because ganovim would be potur from tefillah 🙂 🙂 :).
There is a HUGE difference between that and “anything goes”.
I am below 60 and so are my friends.
We are not exactly in a city that is teeming with frum Yidden, and we deal with Yidden on all levels day in and day out. Our standards are no different than those of the generation before us living in Crown Heights, or Kfar Chabad, or Los Angeles. If anything some of us are even more careful than we would be if we lived in a bigger community, because while we are there for all, we want to make sure that we remain who we are in a foreign environment.
In fact, younger frum people of all stripes have higher standards than the old generation because we were born in the US or EY and did not have the struggles of the refugee generation or the first American generation.
As for the schools, the quandary is that they need funds to run, and sometimes any school has to bend or omit services because the money just isn’t there or won’t come. But on the other hand, there is such a huge choice out there that every child must fit into some school even if in some cases parents have to make the hard decision to let their children board away from town to get not only the right school, but a different atmosphere that may be best for their growth.
The reason why chabad has been so succesful is indeed similar to MO, & that is because the standards are low. It’s easier.
BS”D
No, it is because Chabad does not pressure anyone to go too far too fast and accepts that not everyone will reach the level of a true Chabad chossid, nor is it our aim to create Chassidim when we know that for many of the people who become involved, even keeping basic kashrus is a huge step.
Surprise – the standards, as opposed to the hashkofo, of a Chabad chossid are not unlike those of Satmar (yes, I know we have a tznius crisis and a parallel OTD crisis but based on posts here and articles elsewhere it seems the crisis is everywhere – it is just that since we “get around” more our problems are more noticeable).
We do not have “my way or the highway” (silly, immature comments here and there by the teen and young adult crowd about “snags” notwithstanding) and we are open to all (getting thrown out of a Chabad House or Chabad shul is a real achievement, kind of like lehavdil managing to get arrested for marijuana possession in S. Francisco or Berzerkely or having ended up in the remedial class at the Chelm Yeshiva Ketono if such a thing existed).
I am not a shaliach myself, so that I am amazed at how my friends who are shluchim deal with some of the challenges that are presented to them by the conduct and beliefs of visitors and community members alike.
BS”D
There is more leeway in baking cake than you think. I just take any cake recipe and improvise from there – if I add more liquid (canned fruit, rum, liqueur etc) I add more flour etc. Never successfully made bread or challah though.
BS”D
No shame to men cooking.
I do – it’s just like building a shelf except you’re working with flour and water and fruits and meat instead of wood and screws and paint. And the result is better tasting and more useful than an extra shelf.
And of course I fry everything in WD-40 since I have so much of it around anyway. No calories, no cholesterol, no trans fats…