It was the talk of town wherever religious Jews congregated. Did you hear about that guy in Lakewood? How could he have pulled it off? There has to be more to the story. A man from Kansas impersonating a Lakewood yungerman? It just can’t be.
The story was told that a man facing trouble in Kansas conned his way into the Lakewood Torah community without anyone catching on to him. The charade lasted a number of years before the man from Kansas ran out of steam and gave it up.
How bizarre. It really is strange. Fact can be stranger than fiction. But can it be that a Kansan blended into a yeshiva without raising anyone’s suspicions?
We like to think that we are so singular and unique that no one can imitate us. We like to think that the way we lead our lives cannot be duplicated by someone outside the fold.
There have always been con artists who prey on unsuspecting individuals, robbing them of their money, their innocence, and everything else. We like to think that we are so smart that no one can fool us. We delude ourselves into thinking that no matter how clever the ruse, we would be able to detect the fraudulence and not be suckered in.
It seems beyond question to us that were an imposter to land in our midst, we would be able to spot him. No guy from Kansas could ever fool us into accepting him as a bona fide member of Am Yisroel. Only a professionally trained spy could escape our detection; an amateur would be quick to get his cover blown, we tell ourselves.
There are just too many details to keep track of, too many cultural nuances to master. Which outsider would even notice the myriad telltale idiosyncrasies characteristic of our community – much less be able to mimic them? A faker would be exposed in seconds.
Or would he?
There is another man with a Kansas past in the news. Like our friend, his past is murky. We don’t really know much about his true beliefs and a lot about him is in question, or dispute. Every day, new bits of the story emanate and a constantly evolving picture of the man emerges.
The other man from Kansas also has a dubious religious figure who helped him find himself in the past.
He also engages in subterfuge as he presents himself to be something he may not be. No one can be sure enough. He seems nice and intelligent, and is certainly well spoken, but the more we get to know him, the more the mystery deepens as to his true core and which beliefs guide him.
This other man is a politician who claims to be all about change. Like our mystery neighbor, his name is also a topic of dispute. Growing up, he was known as Barry. His mother hailed from Kansas and his father was named Hussein. He went to Islamic schools as a child in a far-off land, but he swears that he is a Christian, so much so that it is almost forbidden to refer to him by his real name, Barack Hussein Obama.
Things are not always what they appear to be, and before we rush to judgment, it behooves us to wait until we get all the facts straight.
Life is full of twists and turns. We never really know what is awaiting us around the corner or next door. But foresworn is forewarned and our life experience ought to teach us to treat all people properly, but to be ever vigilant.
It would be a sad world if we suddenly were forced to check into every person we came into contact with.
In this case, good people befriended the new neighbors, took their children into school, and did their best to be mekareiv them. People gave them money, clothing and food in good faith, and they are to be commended.
Although in the beginning, as the story began to unravel, people believed that the man was a total imposter, spy or worse, it may very well turn out to be true that the family thought they had undergone a genuine conversion. This doesn’t excuse any other deceptions they may have perpetrated, but how does it implicate the rest of us?
What ahavas Yisroel! What inclusiveness and acceptance of strangers! The family was showered with love, money, food and every gesture of kindness, without anyone checking their tzitzis. The husband was welcomed to the shul, and yeshiva, with no one suspecting that he wasn’t authentic. No one really checked into his yichus, where he came from, and how he ended up in Lakewood. We are so full of warmth and trust that we take care of our neighbors first and ask embarrassing questions later.
People are wondering whether it can really be that an unlearned redneck showed up in town, shuckeled in front a siddur, and everyone fell for him. Can it be that all one has to do is learn to read a foreign language – in this case Hebrew – and mimic the crowd?
People say that perhaps we are too superficial and perfunctory in our observance of mitzvos and in the way we interact with our fellows. Is it possible that if we would daven like we are supposed to, if we did mitzvos the way G-d meant us to, then a guy in shul who was just imitating us would be totally transparent?
If we had more than superficial relationships with our neighbors, it would not be possible for a family to deceive us through impersonation and imitation. This is not meant in any way to cast aspersions on our behavior and observance of mitzvos, but the thought that such people could possibly have dwelt in our midst undetected for years does give us pause.
We are often accused by our detractors of being insular and self-absorbed, failing to pay attention to those who live among us but are different than us. The gentleman from Kansas proved them wrong. Here came a family as if blown in by a tornado from a land most people in Jersey can’t even find on a map, and they are welcomed with open arms. Nobody asks to see their passport, nobody tests them on their Jewish knowledge, and nobody delves deep enough to find out where they really came from.
We are not trained to be suspicious; we are not attuned to be alert to false notes and deceptive posing.
When we suffered the terrible calamity of a purveyor of treife meat preying on our community, I turned to my rebbi for an explanation. How can it be that this fraud continued for so long and nobody caught on? Where did we go wrong?
He responded to me that Rav Chaim Soloveitchik zt”l would often repeat the following thought from the sefer Be’er Mayim Chaim that has a bearing on this question.
When Avrohom Avinu sent Eliezer to find a proper shidduch for his son Yitzchok, the Torah in Parshas Chayei Sarah relates, “Vayomer Avrohom el avdo zekan beiso hamoshel bechol asher lo, sim noh yodcha tachas yereichi.” The Torah describes how much confidence Avrohom had in Eliezer. He entrusted him with everything he owned; all of his great wealth and vast possessions. Why is it necessary for the Torah to elaborate on that? And if the servant was so trusted, why did Avrohom make him swear that he wouldn’t go to the Bnos Canaan to find a wife for Yitzchok?
The Be’er Mayim Chaim answered with a moshol. If a person is traveling through a strange city and feels hungry, he goes into a restaurant, asks if it is kosher and sits down for a meal. Someone with higher religious standards asks who gives the hechsher before sitting down to eat. If he is even more G-d fearing, he first goes to the local shul and inquires as to where people eat out, and then makes his way to the restaurant. A traveler who is even more medakdeik b’mitzvos would make his way to the local rov and ask him where he can eat in town before going to a food establishment.
What if the person is coming to town to loan $1,000,000 to someone with a heter iska? Would he content himself with asking the borrower if he is trustworthy and then engage in the deal? Would he be satisfied if a few people in the shul told him that he can trust the man? What if the rov told him that he can feel safe entrusting the local man with his million dollars? He would adopt all these safeguards and more. He’d ask questions, he’d meet the person, he’d talk to him, and he’d check him out thoroughly.
Following all his inquiries, he would only then go into the deal if he had co-signers on the loan and a lien on the man’s house. He’d do everything he could to ascertain that his money would be safe.
The Be’er Mayim Chaim explains that the posuk goes to great lengths to illustrate that regarding Avrohom Avinu, the opposite was the case. When it came to finances, he trusted Eliezer with everything, but when it came to matters of Yiddishkeit, he said, “Sim noh yodcha tachas yereichi.” He made him swear that he would follow Avrohom Avinu’s instructions exactly as he was ordered, without deviating.
We have to learn to ask questions when we are unsure in matters related to Yiddishkeit and ruchniyus. When things are incongruous, when something seems suspicious, we must probe for an explanation. If things don’t add up, we must speak up. There is no shame in asking questions repeatedly until we feel safe and secure that what we are doing is proper and just. We have to take our Yiddishkeit as seriously as we do our finances if we want to be sure we are doing the right thing.
Can it be that if we cared more about our neighbors and their welfare, we wouldn’t fall prey to a con man, if that was the case here? Can it be that if we weren’t so superficial in our relationships, we could have perceived that there was something very wrong with this family and the facade they presented to the world?
People right next door to us may be suffering an ordeal; shouldn’t we be more attuned to our neighbors’ well-being? Can it be that we are so consumed with ourselves that we don’t feel the pain and humiliation they endure?
I am not suggesting that the fact that the Kansas deception succeeded for a number of years reflects shortcomings on our side. This incident could have happened in any community. This man could have been my neighbor or yours. But as the rumors continue to fly, and as people conjecture and speculate about what really happened and who this mysterious man truly is, I am merely thinking aloud that perhaps there is a lesson here for us. Part of the curse of golus is that we have no novi who can interpret for us the actions of Hashem. We don’t any a novi who can help us correct our ways and explain to us the reasons behind disturbing events.
Lacking such explicit guidance, we need to heighten our sensitivity to unusual events taking place around us, trusting that Hashem will send us inspiration and guidance through that medium. We have to learn from what transpires in our world to improve our ways, become more observant in following the ways of the Torah, and be more cognizant of what goes on around us.
We may never know the truth of this seemingly strange incident as the story changes from day to day, but the lessons for us remain there for all time.
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41 Responses
I am disappointed that we’re still operating on the assumption that this guy is a fraud. To me it seems very unclear, and I wouldn’t want to assume either way.
I’m a little confused. This story is still missing many, many details. How can a well-respected newspaper write an editorial, article, & a poem on a story that’s still unclear?
We all would like to know the real story here. But for now – noone does, except the person involved, & he isn’t talking. Therefore, how can the Yated write so much, with so little facts?
To #1 and everyone else:
First of all if there is a problem with this fellow then it’s a terrible spiritul problem and not just a couple of pots etc.
But what’s important to know that the dude isn’t beleived to ‘pasel’ and say that he is a gentile etc. except for himself but not for anyone else and the same goes to his wife, even on her own children, and I assume that the F.B.I. isn’t either Halachically beleived unless these Agents are Kosher Leaidus and they know it from a source that’s Halachcally excepted. HEY THERE WERE ARE ALL YOU YESHIVA GUYS THAT LEARNED THE FIRST PEREK IN KESUBOS AND KIDUSHIN ETC.
to #1, “it doesn’t seem from what I have heard that anyone was actually hurt in any way” – how about the hachnasas sefer torah he was at, what if he was an ‘eid’ at at a chasunah, the 10th man in a minyan….. it seems to me as if MANY people could’ve been ‘hurt.’
There are great tales (I don’t know if they’re true) about shaba”k (Israeli Security agents) who moved into Gush Katif and posed as settlers during the year before the expulsion. One tells of a goofy looking guy who came to shul on Shabbat, and started putting on tfillin, until he realized that he was the only one doing so. The other tale is about an agent who came to shul on a weekday, wearing a t-shirt (common). The t-shirt was from the Kinneret marathon, and it had the date on it: “Shabbat”, followed by day and month (like Saturday, April 5th).
It’s not easy to fit into a closed community, but the neighbors here must have given leeway to the consideration that they were baalei tshuva.
lkwdfellow; did it ever occur to you that the YW (or the Yated) have done their own independant investigations and have concluded that Mr. Floyd is a full fledged goy? (which by the way he is).
Obviously not…..
details are and will still be coming out when YW gets in undercover to the FBI !!
Tommy Snakeskin – it indeed has occured to me that they may have done some research. But, you have trouble reading. Reread my post & perhaps you’ll see that point was – there are tons of facts that are still unknown. Untill they are, whether he’s a goy or a Yid, how can you report what is still a mystery?
6, I heard 2 Shabak guys came in to Mir to find out about a stabbing of an arab in the ‘hood. The were perfect in their get-up and sat dan in the Beis. Within a minute they were thrown out. The didn’t know about sefiras ha’omer and were megale’ach…
There is a story brought down from Rav Arye Levin, zt’l, the Tzadik of Yerushalayim (father in law of Rav Elyashiv). Rav Arye used to visit the prisons, he would daven there every Shabbos morning. Through these activities, he became an anchor of support and a confidant of some of the lowest people in his society. Once, one of the thieves was released from prison and had nowhere to go, so he turned up on Rav Arye’s doorstep. The Tzadik took him in and put him up for the night. When R’ Arye and his wife awoke in the morning, the ‘guest’ was gone, and so were a pair of valuable silver candlesticks. Understanding that the thief had repaid their openhearted welcome ‘not in kind’, Rav Arye turned to his wife and said, “Let us resolve that this incident not deter us from doing hachnasas orchim for future freed prisoners.”
If R” Arye would be in Lakewood today, perhaps he would say now, “Even though we may have been scammed, due to our naiveté, let us resolve not to be overly judgmental of future people who (appear to) seek to join our chareidi community.”
And one more thing. As far as being an eid at a chasuna, in the very Yeshivishe commuinties, people are VERY discerning over who they select as the eidei kiddushin. NO ONE in the ultra yeshivishe commuinties will designate a person as an Eid unlwess they are VERY muchzak. Unlikely that he ever was an eid.
More than 25 years ago a Jews for J leader posed as a baal teshuva bachur in the Chabad yeshiva in Morristown and no one caught on for a really long time. He wanted to use what he learned to convince precious Jewish neshamas that you could believe in Oso ha’ish and still be Jewish
The facts of what has been going on are so unclear. Every day there’s another twist. No one knows whats true and whats not. How can Rabbi Lipshits write a negative article and poem about someone who might be a ger? It might not only be Motzi Shem Rah, it might be Motzi Shem Rah on a ger! This might fall in the lav of lo sonu es hager. Nothing of this sort shoud be written about anyone untill the facts are 100% crystal clear, and in its this case as we all know, its not. I think it is very wrong and iresponsible, and I encourage everyone to let the yated know how wrong it is. I for one will stop buying that newspaper. ( By the way alot of people I have spoken with feel the same as I do)
Very clever analogy between the two gentlemen from Kansas.
The bottom line is there are too many fakers…some who are neemolim too…MIDVAR SHEKER TEERCHOK!
I think the author is making a very good point that is being misunderstood by some.
He does not mean that this particular family should have been interrogated before being allowed to integrate into the community.
His point, instead, is that we should extend for our ruchnius at least the same amount of concern that we would for our finances.
“We are so full of warmth and trust that we take care of our neighbors first …” HA HA HA!
I don’t know about Lakewood, but regarding all the places that I’ve lived in the US, this is such a pathetic lie. You wish you were like that!
As a BT, I can tell you that the apathy and unfriendliness that a BT has to tolerate when joining a kehilla is a very hard test to his convictions. I am charedi all the way, because to me that’s the emes, but it hurts me greatly to see that in most shuls, at chasenes, at shaleshudes, most people will not bother introducing themselves, talking to you. People learn mussar, but they can even keep the most basic klal: ma dessani alach lo t’avid lechavrach. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE TREATED LIKE THAT?
I agree with Reb Pinny whole heartedly that “..if we weren’t so superficial in our relationships, we could have perceived that there was something very wrong with this family…”
I also strongly agree that “we are so full of warmth and trust that we take care of our neighbors first and ask embarrassing questions later.”
The problem that I have with Floydgate is the following: It is sometimes easier for some people to look away at idiosyncrasies of Balei Tshuvah and geirim (or goyim masquerading as Balei Tshuvah) than it is sometimes to accept their own teireh Frum neighbors. Some people become so judgmental of others that are a bit different.
Maybe this is a wake up call to the people that are judgmental of others that if they are so accepting of a Bal Tshuvah/Ger/Goy it is high time to start greeting our dear Frum neighbors with at least the same understanding.
I am an avid reader of the yated and I find this article shocking, that until the real truth comes out about the background of these people our newspaper would write an editorial like this. As I said before, mrs. Levy is reading this editorial and it is totally. I believe that within a short time the truth will come out about mrs. Levi( don’t know about mr. Levi) and you will all have to ask mechilla from her.
To leonard613, thank you SO much for grouping BT’s and Gerei Tedek with goyim. My experience seems to point to your view as being very widespread. (although the vast majority is not that low minded, thank G-d)
ok rav pinny i read the articule but not carefully
in order for things to be resolved this man has to
go to a bet din to clarify all matters what ever
anyone says is not acceptable, but i can assume that he said and rabbi aloof was megier him (wether it was done kehalacha) this man is under
the assumption he is a yid.
not a good idea to write on a muddled and murky
situation
What exactly is the point of comparing him to Obama? Based on Mr. Lipshutz’s comments about Obama in this and previous editorials, I suppose he’s implying that Mr. Levy is an anti-semitic, glib charlatan who loves the terrorists & hates real Americans.
glatekup: How can those of us in the frum world (outside of Lakewood) contact Mrs. Levy to give her our support and encouragement? She shouldn’t take comments from people on these boards as representative. Me and I friends are dan l’caf z’chus both about Mrs. Levy and Mr. Levy.
Kol yisroel areizim zeh l’zeh. Until proven otherwise, both Natan and Jamie Levy are Jews as far as I’m concerned.
In an unrealted Yated post about the Floyd fiasco…They quote Rabbi ALoof as saying that he recalls giving Ted the name Natan ben avraham Avinu..if that is so..it is clear from the beginning that Ted was scheming to morph into Natan Levi..he was creating a backstory.
Ok as the yeshiva world news, I know i’m on shaky ground..
#5 busymom…
Now, back when the keneset voted mi hu yehudi, Shas keneset members were largely absent..
Now, I dont want to dig up old (or new) blood.. but many people were of the opinion, and rav kahane wrote this.. that it was because Rav shach was guiding shas and it was chabad that floated the bill..
Anyways, my point is not to dig up lashon harah c’v or start a argument..
Just that when you tremble about c’v that he could have been a whitness.. I tell you that eretz yisrael has hundreds of thousands of non arab goyim..
Soething, which does not seem to bother the klal..
Oh and rabbi lipshutz.. do you want to create a squad to investigate every jew in the kehilla ? reminds of the mishpacha story of the bachur that didnt shokul and didnt like chulent so the rabbi was choshesh that he is a goy! What nonsense! I DONT LIKE CHULENT! and I have yichus line going way back..
Now, on the other hand, both my parents are baalei teshuva…. My father was in college.. ut says in shema “bein einecha” so he did tziduki and put between his eye he knew no better!
So along comes chabbad and y’know the rest, he quites college, goes to yeshiva.. gets married, finishes his degree and is now the only frum pharmacist in miami beach (ok I gave my idntity away)makes th
Sof sof.. I think that asking questions is fine.. but examind every detail of peoples lives is NOT.
Reminds me of chaim walders book I forget the name.. and the story of this guy who becomes a baal teshuva, moves to bnei brak.. and makes the faux pass of wearing white sox on shabbos *gasp*
So next time a guy declines cholent, wears white sox or does not shukel 90 miles a hour.. dont start screaming “sheiigetz”
And as a added note, I live in chevron.. and the people here are EXTREMELY suspicious of new comers..we have a history of shabak provocateurs and whatnot. And its hard because people are turned off..
First of all i don’t think it’s right to discuss this issue in public media since it might be he was sincere.
Second i don’t think that we should be more suspicious on our neighbors especially bal tshuves that need a lot of kiruv, we shouldn’t be judgmental, it’s very hard to conceal our feeling of suspicions so they will feel it.
I think that the only lesson that should be learned is for the kiruv organizations that they should do more research, otherwise every thing can happen and only hasham can really guard us.
As others here have said, it is shocking that the Yated would print articles that portray someone in a negative light before the dust settles and the facts are known. It too early to come out and bash someone in such a way, as specialy since we KNOW that we are missing facts about this story.
About 7 years ago a friend of mine and I spoke to REB ELYA SVEI SHLITA (who was a supporter of the yated in the early days) about something in the Yated that many felt was against the ways of the bnei torah. I have never heard Reb Elya speak so critical and so sharply against anyone the way I heard him speak of the Yated. He was fuming. One would never believe that there was a time that he supported that newspaper.
Maybe its time for the Yated to finaly realise what everyone has been saying for a while now. The Yated is NOT writen by “bnei torah” as they claim…..It is writen by Balei Batim, and as we all know……
….Daas Balei Batim Kineged Daas Torah.
Partners in Torah is a very valuable organization. They arrange to have people discover their Jewish roots.
However, we need to examine what we are doing. We are living in a time of great assimilation. Has anyone begun the discussion, of questioning the Jewishness of some of these people that we are being Mekarev? I know that what I will say next is not a politically correct statement:
Maybe if someone is several generations removed from Orthodoxy they should be required to undergo Gerus Mesafek.
Eventually this will be the case. It’s just a question of when.
I can’t believe a paper that claims to be connected with Gedolim would write an article about someone who may be a Yid.
Busha b’rabim especially of a Ger is deorisa. What ever happened to sofek l’chumra ?
I am beyond dissapointed.
I am done with buying that paper.
If there is a way to show mrs levi that all frum jews aren’t negative hockers please tell me. I’m in.
I don’t understand why the Yated, which supposedly represents Charedi Yiddishkeit, and is against TV, Movies, Broadway shows, and secular literature and the like, would use the headline, “We’re not in Kansas anymore”!
V’hamavin Yavin.
I think rule # 1 for a public spokesperson (Lipschutz) is to hold yourself to the same standards you preach about.
Unless he thinks that only the BT’s and other “goyim” will get the allusion, so he’s on safe ground, cuz they don’t count anyway.
To Mr. Jones #23:
If you re-read my comment you will see that NOBODY is “grouping BT’s and Gerei Tedek with goyim.”
I believe your confusion might be based upon the fact that you are not aware that some news reports of this case allege that Mr. Floyd is a baal tshuvah.
Other people such as Rabbi Aloof say he is a Ger.
Yet others think he is a goy. Hence my reference to “Bal Tshuvah/Ger/Goy”
Please do not misconstrue my words.
Thank You and Gut erev Shabbos.
to #39…you say “we live in olam hamasseh..” can you maybe explain when one would know that “oh this is oilom hamasseh and is pertmitted to me , im not so spiritual”, so everyone is going to be his own judge ve vait er ken zeich mattir zein …? can you give a few explicit examples what YOU would be matir zeich of the “secular culture”..so i would have an idea of vos eich can meich mattir zein?
I am reminded me of Rabbi Elazar’s quote (as taught by Rabbi Chaninah)in the Gemara that we should be grateful to swindlers (who pretend to be poor), because if not for them, we would sin every day for ignoring the needs of the poor. In other words, when we come before the Holy One and are asked why we failed to give tzedakah to this or that person, we have a valid defense that we suspected them to be swindlers. Kesuvos 68a.
Why would he say “were not in Kansas anymore” Does he know where that line comes from? He obviously does, otherwise it wouldnt be such a knockout line. (for all of you wondering, it comes from a goyish film from about 15-20 years ago.) As unimportant as it is, I dont think its proper for “the yeshiva world” or the yated to use such a line, when it is so not “yeshivish”
satmayid: “Toto, I have a feeling we are not in Kansas anymore.” is older than 15-20 years. Try 1939.
The goyishe film is from more than 40 years ago. And the film and the line have become so famous, that they stand on their own, without having to know the specific source. People who have never seen the film, (incidentally, one of the most pareve harmless films ever put out, not that I am chas veshalom being matir anyone to go see this or any other) know the line and use it, without thinking of the reference or the movie. And if you’re really concerned that R’ Lipschutz has sunk himself into the treife culture, rest assured that he slightly misqouted the line. It goes, “I don’t think that we’re in Kansas anymore!”
I remember several years ago, Rabbi Lipschutz titled an editorial “Say it ain’t so, Joe”. Not that one has a reference to both the film industry, and some nasty business in professional sports. That’s 2 reasons to passel it. And someone commented to me in a similar vein at the time. (It was pre-TheYeshivaWorld.com) Yet, the line has become so ingrained in the vernacular, that it has grown beyond the source and popular culture from whence it came.
To #11 whats about parshes Zochur? If he wrote in the torah then isn’t it pasul?
to $42 enjoying your garden ,going on trip,collecting stamps, swimming has nothing to do with “secular cuture” there’s no issur whatsoever, so i’m pretty sure you didnt mean that.. to #44,no ,the yeshivah world or yeted does not have to watch every syllebale that is printed to know that it comes out of a not so good mekor, as long as it is not explisitly anti …this is not a musser sefer like mesilas yeshurim here…its a news place ,. so lets say if will use the term exodus you’ll jump and say HEY that was a film 47 year ago ..yeshivah world could use that word or any saying or phrase that is used now as part of language but the mekor is from not good place as long its not shmutz or reminded of shmutz(kol huoimer “ruchov” nik..)..now because you knew of the movie and it reminds you of it..?? so you shouldn’t use the term “let my people go” because it was used in film many years ago..(no, in the torah the loshen is “shalach” not….”
#11 Pashute Yid wrote:
“As far as being an eid at a wedding, there I can hear some issues, such as beilas znus, but if there were other kosher eidim there, than that might not be a problem, anyway. Ask a talmid chochom if one needs to be memaneh eidei kiddushin, bdieved.”
I think that at many weddings the the eidim are appointed to the exclusion of everyone else so yes it might be a problem. Usually the eidim appointed are chosheve people so I doubt that this person was ever used as an eid and if he was then the chossen and kalla or mesader kedushin or someone will probably remember it. The only way I could think of that he would be an eid and not be remembered is if it was a type of wedding where the Rabbi got together ten people to do the wedding and randomly handed out the kibbudim and no one paid attention enough to remember that “Natan” was one of the people involved.
#49 jent1150 writes: “to #42 enjoying your garden, going on trip, collecting stamps, swimming has nothing to do with “secular cuture” there’s no issur whatsoever”. Unfortunately, nowadays anything can be found to be “unKosher”. Some stamps can be hollywood related, or depict avoda zarah etc. Of course, we still need to have relaxation so we try our best to be as “Kosher” as possible but the ultra-frum can always find tainas against whatever you decide to do. In terms of this particular topic of the phrase about not being in Kansas anymore, I think it is a common enough phrase that people use it without even thinking of its origin. #47 midwesterner writes, “incidentally, one of the most pareve harmless films ever put out” which is true to an extent, it is certainly far better than anything put out nowadays, but a teenage actress singing in a movie is Kol Isha according to some poskim and even if you are lenient everyone has to know themselves if it will have a negative effect on them.
By the way, interesting that you mention “Let my people go” on the day that the actor died.
#48 yachtzel wrote: “To #11 whats about parshes Zochur? If he wrote in the torah then isn’t it pasul?”
I don’t know the halacha but even if it is, it is a bittul mitzvas asay that is completly bi’ones. The Torah was not given to the malachim and I think we have worse problems to worry about. In terms of the future though, the Sefer should probably be taken out of use until a psak is made about it if they know which Torah it is.