I know that this is old but

tool/to?ol/

Noun:

A device or implement, esp. one held in the hand, used to carry out a particular function.

I don’t believe that a yoga mat falls in that category. If it does then any thing that has a use is a tool so if i use my brother to lift me up over the fence he is a tool. If I use my Rebbi to learn Torah then my Rebbi is a tool. Btw that is where the slang comes from.

these questions belong on mi yodeya

It is a crisis because we make it a crisis. Obviously, girls and boys alike can have fingers being pointed at them, fingers of people saying, “You are too picky. Just settle and compromise.” Although this is wrong, it is partly true because young people (and sometimes even old people) don’t realize that the person you are dating is almost never the actual person you marry.

Basically, we must stop looking at every nitty-gritty characteristic of other people (and families!), and realize that there is no such thing as a crisis in our religion. These “parshas” that we are leining now just show what Hashem can do for a REAL crisis. We must have bitachon and stop worrying so much, even when it is much easier said than done.

Why did Hashem answer Moshe, “Now you see what I will do to the Egyptians?” That didn’t answer Moshe’s question which was why was he sent if Pharoh just got worse. The answer is that Hashem was telling Moshe, “Why do you think that Pharoh didnt get worse till now? Didn’t he hate the Jews. The answer is that till now my children couldn’t handle it. Now that you went to them and told them that they will be freed (as it says that they believed in Moshe), now they have enough bitachon to outlast the harsher decrees.” In other words, Hashem never gives us a nisayon we can’t handle.

In today’s times, when kochi v’oitzem yodi is all over the place, it is very possible that this “shidduch crisis” is a nisayon of bitachon. Although in Mitzrayim the bitachon made worse conditions, those conditions made the Geulah come quicker and maybe we can do that today as well. Hatzlacha to all those in the “shidduch crisis,” myself included (I’m not too nervous yet, but I’m a boy).

real brisker-

if you looked in the seforim you would see that the zohar and the kisvei ari both talk about this topic and explain that it is a merit to have ur shidduch said in a bas kol… i.e. those are special people. Also, even if urs was mentioned, you can still change the gezeirah for better or worse thru choiser hishtadlus, aveiros, or tefillah. However, assuming ur main point was that as long as ur trying u shud hav bitachon that everything hashem does is for the best,i agree w u