Kuvult

Menachem Shmei,
I’m not talking as an outsider about a secular approach to who wrote the Torah.
I’m discussing the historical narrative of Chasidism based on how it was created & structured. Jews (inc. Chasidim) don’t live in a bubble. Chasidism didn’t start when it did by random chance. The world entered the “Modern Era” around 1,700. 2 factors were at play. The “Enlightenment” which questioned everything about the world including religion & “Emancipation” Jews lived in forced Kehillas were they were told how to live & how to practice. These 2 issues rocked the Jewish world to its core. The question was how to deal with this new world? Various methods developed. For instance “Reform” Judaism. In order to fit into this new & modern era we literally need to REFORM how Judaism is practiced.
Another modern movement was “Chasidism” It’s not a “coincidence” when it started. It was a direct reaction to what was going on in this new world. (Almost all) Chasidic sects existed based on 2 principles. 1. With the pull of the new ideas it’s not enough to be Jewish, to survive you need to be “Super” Jewish. Everything is taken to the next level to keep Jews from getting near any modernization. This dealt with Enlightenment. 2. Emancipation, where Jews were no longer forced to live as part of a real Kehilla that had the power to fine you, jail you, tax you, & tell you how to practice Judaism. Chasidism is a direct response to Emancipation by (re)creating the Kehilla albeit with less power & on a volunteer basis (which actually makes members more loyal). This model worked by have an all powerful (in the sect) Rebbe who can navigate the waters of modernization as one unified group. Take a govt decree, how can an individual fight them? They can’t. But if a Rebbe tells his thousands of followers not to do it there’s nothing much the govt (before Stalin) could do. This almost militaristic passive resistance is what enabled Chasidism to flourishing & attract many new members. This ONLY works when there is a Rebbe controlling & guiding his followers.
I understand your special relationship with a Rebbe which you feel is above the natural world & that’s fine. But at the same time we live in this world & I stand by the reality that “There is no such thing as a Chosid without a Rebbe”

Lostspark & Arso,
You need to understand the organization of a Chasidus. In Eastern Europe (& elsewhere) Jews have always lived in groups that had the “In” group & the “Out” group. This was part of the outside world as well with a hierarchy. There were even different sets of laws based on position in life. For example, if a peasant killed a noble they’d be put to death but if a noble killed a peasant they’d have to pay the family $5,000. So here you have a new form of Judaism that says if you (& it was voluntary) join this group & are not the Rebbe than you (learned or not, rich or poor) were equal to everyone else that wasn’t the Rebbe. In the world of Eastern Europe this was huge. But as you see it only works if there’s a Rebbe who is the “In” group making everyone else the “Out” group.
Also, while not necessarily the plan of the early Chasidic leaders, the different sects developed into top down authoritarian orgs. This is most important in keeping a cohesive group. The Rebbe says “Give money to this tsedaka.” Everyone does. More important, The Rebbe says, “No one is sending their kids to the new govt public school.” No one does & in that pre-Stalin era there wasn’t much the govt could do. This power of passive resistance only worked because it was a singular cohesive group acting as one.
Bottom line, if you study Chasidic history you clearly see it only works with a Rebbe. There may be splits within a sect like Satmar but that’s different. No Chasid in KJ thinks they can expand the Shul or start a new school without the blessing of the Rebbe.

A (Frum Rabbi) history professor has said many times that, “There’s no such thing as a Chasid without a Rebbe.”
Chabad & Breslov may be around but none of their members can be considered “Chasidim” Baked into Chasidism is a Rebbe figure who leads & keeps the followers on the same page.
In the past if the govt enacted & enforced laws banning Chasidic garb what was the response? If the Rebbi said no one is changing no one changed. If the Rebbe said change, everyone changed.
What would happen with Chabads all over America if the govt banned Chabad garb with severe penalties? It would be a disorganized mess. This Rabbi says yes & this Rabbi says no. This Shaliach says no this Shaliach says all I need to do to continue reaching out to Yidden is make small changes? I’ll do it.
The Rabbi is right, “There’s no such thing as a Chasid without a Rebbe.”

Unom,
It’s not a secret just most people have no interest in learning how to check for & identify Shatnez.
Also, there are different kinds of checkers. Where I’m from a Talmud asked the Rosh Yeshiva about a certain “Checker” & his response was, “That checker could find Shatnez in a head of lettuce.” It’s not just competency about Shatnez it’s knowing what & where there could be issues without going overboard & ruining the garment as well.

The other issue lost to most these days is if you count according to Halacha Jan 1st is 8 days after Dec 25. Some Xtian denominations on Jan 1st celebrate the “Feast of the circumcision of J*s*s”

What is so “Obvious”?
When I worked in a kitchen under the Hashgacha of a major respected Kashrus org the Ruv overseeing the site (not a Mashgiach at the location but directing the Mashgiachs) brought in a cake a day or two before Xmas from a Kosher bakery.. It was a white iced cake with red lettering that said Merry Christmas.

I watched their entire video.
All they’re offering is to get you (if you qualify) a “Business” credit cards with an introductory 0% interest rate.
It seems pretty shady you can’t do this on your own but need their “Special connections” in the banking world to have large amounts of credit “pushed through” when it normally wouldn’t be.

Yserbius,
Very funny (& true)😂😂😂

Ujm,
If you believe all Goyim live a life without purpose then I have a bridge to sell you. In my lifetime being exposed to many different types of people I can honestly (though sadly) say there are plenty of Goyim that are much better than many Jews I know.

Sam Klein,
Speak for yourself. In the large community I’m from there is a Chesed league for boys & also for girls. They spend their free time doing various Chesed projects to help out the community.

Coffee Addict,
Almost all countries close their borders during wartime. You certainly can’t fault America for it. The massive immigration of Eastern European Jews took place 1880-1920 EXCEPT during WWI.

Smerel,
Which part was Antisemitic?

Perhaps this is what Chanukah is supposed to be? Why does celebrating this way equal “Yevanim”?
I don’t see many Jews following the basic Mitzvah of lighting one candle each night for a half hour. We praise (actually now it’s assumed) those who add a candle every night & buy beautiful Menorahs to enhance the Mitzvah. So why should the non-lighting celebrations of Chanukah be any different?

My Ruv spoke about this on Shabbos. He said the reason for all these tsaros are men using smartphones (even with a filter) & women’s lack of tsnius.
He also warned about “Chanukah parties” where often men & women end up socializing in close quarters which goes against Halacha.

This was ( it seems what Agudah often does) they played the usual “neither here nor there”
Obviously many of the Frum families in Baltimore are connected to Ner Israel yet even after R’ Feldman’s retraction some schools attended or setup a system for easy notification that they were taking their child out of school to attend the rally.
The lack of clarity can be frustrating but at the same time successful groups tend to go different ways & sometimes the best route is to cater to all by catering to no one.

I don’t waste much time on trolls.
1. MO is not dying in Baltimore because they share space with the Yeshiva people who are not trying to get rid of them.
& No they (as I’ve seen in other communities) are not pushing the Rabbanim to put out a weekly proclamation to move the community more to the right.
2. In short typing, women of the Kollel was OBVIOUSLY referring to the wives. It was also in a SEPARATE paragraph detaching it from my comment about Chumros. A little reading comprehension training can go a long way.

Ujm,
In Baltimore R” Schwab certainly did. That was the norm & if you know the history of his Shul you’d know that was not something he made an issue about. In that era it was the norm. You can even look at Ner Israel events of the past & they are mixed as well.

This reminded me of a beautiful article I read from a Rabbi describing the first Shul I mentioned seeing it from the outside. Halevi this is what all America looks like. What’s the worst that’ll happen? Moshiach would come? Part of the reason no one is “dying” is because in Baltimore the different factions aren’t at war with each other. In fact they help & encourage each other.
“It is definitely a large shul, not a shteibel. Its specialness struck me almost immediately, from the first davening Friday night. There were too many different kinds of Jews there, and they all seem to get along. I wasn’t used to that.”
“Looking around at the congregants, I saw the largest sub-group, which was people of all ages sporting black hats. But this was no black-hat shul, because there were also a sizeable number of kipot srugot, as well as black leather yarmulkes. We shouldn’t forget the folks in Chassidic garb either. How did they all get along? It was like walking into a time-warp.”
“It is an open question, of course, whether the rabbis made the congregants or the congregants had the depth to choose the proper rabbis. (I would have a hard time not assigning at least some of the credit to the presence in Baltimore of Ner Israel, known for its openness, reasonableness, tolerance and embrace of normalcy.) Whatever the case may be, it was hugely refreshing to be in a shul in which the different components of American Orthodoxy continued davening under one roof, hopefully gaining from the mix of perspectives, and certainly creating an example of unity and tolerance that would be well followed by the rest of us.”

Da Moshe,
I’ll tell you a great way to define OOT (no it’s not perfect).
How many Jews that work M-F in Manhattan live in Monsey, KJ, Lakewood, Teaneck, Passaic, Union City, Westchester or Five Towns? Quite a few.
How many Jews who live in Baltimore do the same? Zero
Baltimore is not part of the NY region (OOT) because it’s impossible to commute daily (without killing yourself).

Baltimore Maven,
It is not a matter of time. There’s a reason Chasidish Kollel members come & go.
Chasidim are anchored in NY & while for me or you Baltimore is fine for a Chasid it’s quite “Out of town”
Baltimore is not Monsey, KJ or Lakewood where it’s easy to be connected to NYC. How long & exhausting is it to drive from Baltimore to KJ in the summer on a Friday afternoon? Most Chasidim are more family oriented & living in Baltimore means you & especially your children will miss those Vach Nachts, Vorts, & other non-major events & attending the big events is exhausting & requires kids missing school & (if they work) parents missing work.
There are many Baltimore Jews that would be fine relocating to a Memphis or Phoenix, but many would not because they would be missing out on a lot
To many Chasidim Baltimore looks like a Memphis or Phoenix. For proper upbringing of their kids, the way women dress at the Baltimore kosher supermarket is very different than in KJ or Boro Park. They’re constantly exposed to English & are a major minority. I grew up in the Baltimore Yeshiva community of old & we felt very different (& not always in a good way) than the majority of Jews in Baltimore & even within the Orthodox community.
The video guy Shloime Z. is a great example. How does he know how to speak & interact in a positive manner with outsiders? Because as he has explained he grew up in a very small Chasidish community where they had no choice but to interact constantly with Non-Chasidim. If you’re ok with your children growing up like that then great but many are not & will insist on staying close to the NY Chasidish communities.

I find this interesting compared to Trump’s Day of Prayer. A Rabbi from the Agudah sat through Xtian prayer after Xtian prayer (Our Lord JC, in the name of JC, etc.) as well as other religions that are possibly Avodah Zara as well as a Xtian Choir of men & women. This was approved by Rabbi S. Kamenetsky & there was no “last minute” declaration against it. This rally seems even more benign then that so why the last minute reversal?

Those that are old enough remember 1987 when the big rally for Soviet Jewry ended with Yeshiva bochurim & Bais Yaakov Maidlach mixed dancing.
That’s when the Rabbanim co-opted the term “Never Again”

Finland was terrified of the Soviets trying to take them over as Russia has always wanted.
They allied with the Nazis to save themselves from Russia. This led to an interesting situation where on Finnish army bases you had a building serving as Nazi offices & the building next door was a Shul for the Jewish soldiers. Obviously the Nazis understood they couldn’t do anything to the Jewish soldiers.

Why would anyone move to a place where snow & freezing temps is a daily occurrence much of the year?

A Modern Orthodox, Yeshivish & Big Rosh Yeshiva died & went to heaven. Hashem said to the Modern Orthodox, “You were a good Jew go to room 12 but be very quiet when you pass room 8.”
Hashem said to the Yeshivish Jew, “You learned a lot of Torah. Go to room 16 but be very quiet when you pass room 8.”
Hashem said to the Rosh Yeshiva, “You taught so much Torah. Go to room 11 but be very quiet when you pass room 8.”
The Rosh Yeshiva said, “I understand having different rooms but why do we need to be quiet when we pass room 8?”
Hashem answered, “Because the Chasidim are in room 8 & they think they are the only ones here.”