According to the Yated, Monsey doesn’t exist. Ergo, it doesn’t exist.

Satmar, Vizhnitz, Belz and Ger are organizations. As an organization, they can be criticized. People who happen to shtam from Stamar, Vizhnitz etc. blood are simply chassidim and cannot be criticized based on who they are.

The criticisms I have on Satmar and Vizhnitz in particular have nothing to do with how they treat halacha, mesora and Yiddishkeit in general. It has to do with how the organizations are run and their official policies and reactions regarding certain things. The fact that I disagree with many of these policies, many of which are quite dangerous in both ruchniyus and gashmiyus, (some of which I have personally witnessed) and find little value in the good that they do, makes me an anti-Satmar and anti-Vizhnitzer.

In KAJ Monsey there was a story one year where the cops call the president at home one night after 2am. They tell him that the shul alarm went off and they are going to check it out. He comes in to shul to find that one of the more insane members had went in to change all of the clocks for daylight savings time.

I personally know both parties involved and can vouch for the story’s accuracy.

I share a last name with a ginormous Hendon/Stamford Hill family. They are distant cousins.

I’m anti-Satmar and anti-Viszhnitz, but my thoughts here in no way represent the views and opinions of Yeshiva World News Coffee Room.

One friend dated for about six months do to a ridiculous amount of time needed to co-ordinate both family schedules and her law school schedule.

I am davening that the Chareidi politicians come to their senses and adopt an approach that doesn’t force anyone learning in Kollel to join the army, but will give the option of allowing people to work and study limudei chol without having to join the army either.

I am also davening that the people will understand that the concept of Kollel For Life is not kodesh kodoshim and it’s OK to work and study.

I have been davening for this for over a decade, hopefully soon Hashem will bring change.

Some quotes by me (very Litvish) Roshei Yeshivas on brachos:

• I saw people lining up in front of R’ Chaim Kanievsky’s house. I thought to myself, “Ah! They all want to appreciate to gadlus of his Torah!” but then I spoke with some of them and realized that they are getting brachos. Brachos? Do they think that the Gaon has some sort of magic potion that he gives them to make their lives better?
• “A beracha doesn’t really work because of the Rovs d’veikus and gadlus, it works because a person feels like it will work and therefore davens harder.” “Like a placebo, Rebbi?” “Sorry I don’t speak Latin.”

I’m not talking about smaller shuls (although shtieblech definitely have that issue) I’m talking about the main shuls for various very big Chassiduses. I guess I can be dan l’kaf zchus and assume that those people davened at earlier minyanim, but in most of the Rebbish shuls I’ve seen, you are guaranteed to find at least two rooms where there is a minyan or more sitting around eating and drinking while the main davening is going on.

It’s simply inconceivable that a Chassidus where thousands are davening at their Rebbe that there *aren’t* a few dozen who sit it out. Combine that with the openness that Rebbish shuls usually have, being more of a community center than a shul/beis medrash.

That’s like how a pizza shop in Monsey stopped opening on Motzei Shabbos after they were told that they’d lose their hechsher since it was a hangout.

2scents: Really? Nobody standing by the coffee and cake when the chazzan is saying brachos? Nobody walking out early to get a bit of kugel? Nobody (on Yom Tov) sneaking into the smoking sukkah for a quick puff?

I would say just the opposite, Chassidishe shuls are much more of a community center than Misnagdish shuls. Mispallelim feel very at home and I could say with absolute certainty that the vast majority of Chassidishe shuls I walked into on Shabbos had a large group of people eating and drinking in a separate room while davening was going on.

I had a troll that lasted a good four months before it was overwritten. I’m not even sure the overwriter knew I was trolling. It was in the article for Edah, an “orthodox” organization committed to finding heterim for everything. I simply quoted my Rosh HaYeshiva in the article, “The organization derives their name from the passage in Exodus Ad matai ha’Edah ha’ra’ah ha’zot”

I don’t know enough about your son to make that decision for you. Like I said, they are both very good Yeshivas. It would be a good idea to send him to either Yeshiva.

I’m not sure what the whole deal is with Shomer Enayim as this is the first I’m hearing of it, but it sounds like something that is a personal decision that could change over time (he is after all only 13). Both Yeshivas are good places if you want him to keep to that decision. But then again, in both places there are guys who would do the opposite. It’s his choice who he hangs out with.

What is shomer enayim? I would hardly call Ner Yisroel “modern”, I think “less Yeshivish” is a better term. Both NIRC and Schlangers (Beis Medrash and Mesivta of Baltimore) are very good Yeshivas but they are also very different type of places and what is good for the goose may not also be good for the gander.

Both Yeshivas require hats during davening, on Shabbos and during the week. Schlangers requires only white shirts. But if you’re picking a Yeshiva for your son based on what the dress code is, may I suggest, well, not doing that?

NIRC is a big place. First year beis medrash has something like forty bachurim and two rebbeim. And the numbers are similar for all the other years up until sixth where everyone starts getting married and moving to kollel. First thing you should know is that there are several different Ner Yisroels in the same building. There are the guys who came straight from the Mechina (high school) and generally stay for a year or two before going to Eretz Yisroel and then a different American Yeshiva. There are the Persians and Latinos who often come with no Yeshiva experience and group together in some of the “easier” shiurim for the first few years. There are the guys who come when they are 21 just because they want a Yeshiva that allows college and they don’t want to go to Touro or YU. And so on.

Schlangers is a lot smaller. I believe that there are only about 80 to a hundred bachurim there. The bachurim are a lot more integrated and close with each other. Most of them were there for Mesivta (high school. Seriously, can Yeshivas just decide on one word to use for high school and stick with it?) and decided to stay on. It’s much more Yeshivish in the sense that there is an enforced dress code and no college allowed.

Confession: The Second Amendment is a little out of date and should be taken out of the Constitution altogether.

What’s more disruptive, 2 men shmuezing in the main shul or 12 in the ezras nashim?

How is your ruchniyus suffering? Do you think that the problems in ruchniyus now are worse than the problems in ruchniyus you may face down the line when you have several mouths to feed and possibly very little income?

Perhaps you should look into a part time college or night courses, where you won’t have as much exposure to the atmosphere. As for the amount of homework and the pressure, what sort of “no life” does it leave you with? Are you missing out on all of your sedarim? If so, you definitely need to cut back on your course schedule. There is absolutely no reason why an undergraduate cannot learn at least four hours a day without interruption.

iluvbeingjewish: And I also read recently a short scifi story about a Rav that goes to a planet where people said that some of the aliens practice Yiddishkeit. For the life of me I can’t remember what it was called, but it was the cover story for Asimovs some time in the 90s and it shows a yarmulka wearing alien standing in front of an old Rav.

I think I’m going to head over to Tumblr and commiserate about all these thinprivileged men.

I know someone in the private sector who deals with Asian imports and travels to Indonesia and China several times a year. If he’s going to be there over a weekend he spends Shabbos in Shanghai or Tokyo.

Better question: What does CR feel about the alleged incident where a group of Yeshiva bachurim held a barbeque near Yad V’Shem yesterday?

There a quite a few very good board games out there that aren’t well known in mainstream communities. Check out the “Strategy Games” section in Barnes and Noble. I play Carcassonne with my wife on long Shabbos evenings. There are others out there that I haven’t necessarily played. Most of these games take no longer than an hour.

• Ticket to Ride: Build train tracks across the US. Very easy to learn and a lot of fun to play.
• Agricola: Every player plays a family of farmers. Every turn you need to ensure that your crops and animals are being tended to, structures are being built and everyone gets fed.
• Alhambra: Compete against the other players to get your palace built bigger than theirs.
• 7 Wonders: Card game involving players collecting cards and using their effects to collect more cards, resources or points in order to build your medieval empire
• Race for the Galaxy: Similar in description to 7 Wonders but with an outer space theme but plays like a different game
• Dominion: Same idea again. Also a vastly different beast
• Kingdom Builder: Players need to build villages by placing houses on a map of a kingdom. The fun part is that how the game is scored, what the map looks like and what special powers there are is basically randomized via picking cards in the beginning.
• Pandemic: Fun co-operative game where everyone needs to work together to stop diseases from spreading across the world. Each player has special abilities that they can use to help one another.
• Small World: Kind of like Risk where each army has different abilities and fights are determined more by strengths than die rolls so there is less of a luck factor.

I’ve disliked nearly every modern book on Emunah that I could find and read. They almost invariably try to “prove” that the Torah is emesdik using what is mostly junk science. The problem with that approach is that as soon as someone comes up with a way to invalidate that science or logic, the Emunah goes pop!

Emunah comes from within. The only way to strengthen ones Emunah are through personal actions and thoughts. If one is having difficulty with that, speak with a Rebbi or teacher as he/she will be infinitely more helpful than a simple book.

I tuck mine in because my father tucked his in because his father tucked his in because his father tucked his in etc. And not one am ha’aretz in the bunch. Several were big city Rabbonim and at least one major sefer.