Thomas Friedman gets it half right

First the part he gets right (When Friends Fall Out).

I have a big problem when people get so agitated by Israel’s actions in Gaza but are unmoved by Syria’s involvement in the murder of the prime minister of Lebanon, by the Iranian regime’s killing of its own citizens demonstrating for the right to have their votes counted, by Muslim suicide bombers murdering nearly 100 Ahmadi Muslims in mosques in Pakistan on Friday and by pro-Hamas gunmen destroying a U.N.-sponsored summer camp in Gaza because it wouldn’t force Islamic fundamentalism down the throats of children.

That concern for Gaza and Israel’s blockade is so out of balance with these other horrific cases in the region that it is not surprising Israelis dismiss it as motivated by hatred

Unfortunately he offers the same old tired solution based on a Palestinian that is doomed to failure.

Amos Oz is such an idiot

He wrote a typical left wing editorial in the NY Times today. The following statement is typical of his idiocy:
No idea has ever been defeated by force — not by siege, not by bombardment, not by being flattened with tank treads and not by marine commandos. To defeat an idea, you have to offer a better idea, a more attractive and acceptable one.

Really??? What about the Nazis in WWII? I am sure that Amos Oz and his ilk would have been all for a negotiated peace with Hitler in 1941. After all, you don't make peace with friends, you make peace with enemies. What about slavery in the US? The Civil War? The list goes on and on.

His solution is typical left wing idiocy as well.

...quickly reach an agreement with the Palestinians on the establishment of an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as defined by the 1967 borders, with its capital in East Jerusalem. Israel has to sign a peace agreement with President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah government in the West Bank — and by doing so, reduce the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to a conflict between Israel and the Gaza Strip. That latter conflict, in turn, can be resolved only by negotiating with Hamas or, more reasonably, by the integration of Fatah with Hamas.

What world is he living in? This is a complete and utter fantasy. Why not throw in peace with Iran as well?

What hypocrisy

It is amazing how hypocritical the world is. The flotilla departed from Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus. Since Cyprus became independent in 1960, there has been tension between the Greek majority (80%) who are Orthodox Christians and the Muslim, Turkish minority that lives in the northern part of the island. In 1974, the Turkish army invaded the island to aid its Turkish "brothers". In 1983, the Turkish-Cypriots declared an independent state in the northern part of the island. Turkey’s occupation of half of Cyprus is deemed illegal by the European Union and the United Nations. If the government of Turkey feels so strongly about ending disputed occupations, why does it not start with the disputed occupation it is operating itself? Where is the outrage from the world? What about the Kurds in Turkey? Why don't they have their own state?

The world is in an uproar about the deaths of 9 so called "peace activists", yet around 500 civilians were killed in Thailand, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and India in just the month of May with nary a peep from the UN.

Israel needs to truly disengage from Gaza

I was against the disengagement when it happened, but now that it happened Israel needs to fully disengage, and in fact should have done this from day 1.

Israel needs to tell the world, we are leaving Gaza, closing the border, cutting off electricity, water etc. You want to turn the clock back to June 4, 1967, fine, we have NO responsibilities to Gaza.

Let the Palestinians in Gaza figure out how they will get electricity etc. Let them get everything from Egypt,by sea, however they want. Let's see how their fellow Arabs the Egyptians would treat the Palestinians in a situation like that.

Believe it or not Aluf Benn from Haaretz wrote a column today suggesting exactly this.

ויקרא משה להושע בין יהושע

Last year I had 2 posts about this (ויקרא משה להושע בין יהושע and ויקרא משה להושע בין יהושע II) where I discussed the difficult Rashi.

I just saw that Torah Temima has a similar answer to the Keren Ora. He says that Moshe davened for Yehoshua because Yehoshua was from Yosef and it says in וישב that ויבא יוסף את דבתם רעה אל אביהם and therefore the sin of lashon hara was something that Moshe thought Yehoshua needed special protection from. He also explains that the derasha in the Gemara is using 20/20 hindsight. Moshe really just davened that Hashem should save Yehoshua, he had no idea about what the Meraglim would do. Later the Gemara looking back added on that he should be saved from the עצת המרגלים.

In truth, this answer is also very difficult. To say the Gemara is looking back with 20/20 hindsight and Moshe didn't say that is very difficult. In addition, according to the Torah Temima why didn't Moshe daven for the representative of Menashe as well as he was also from Yosef.

I saw that others ask, how could Moshe daven for Yehoshua not to sin? הכל בידי שמים חוץ מיראת שמים and therefore you can't daven for someone else not to sin, it his choice.

The bottom line is that for me עדיין צ"ע how to understand the Rashi and the Gemara in Sota.

Mishpacha Editor: Everyone knows Kollel only is a הוראת שעה

In this weeks English Mishpacha magazine Rabbi Moshe Grylak wrote the following:

...we have constantly heard from gedolei yisroel since the time of the Chazon Ish, who insisted that that universal torah learning was obligatory for several generation in order to rebuild the Torah world that was destroyed in the Holocaust. The reconstruction has succeeded beyond all expectations and legions of torah scholars have filled the Earth. Our Gedolim knew however, that full time learning is not for everyone. Even Maran Harav Shach ztz"l the great disseminator and defender of Torah in our times, said on many occasions that Klal Yisrael consists of Torah scholars and balabatim who support Torah learning. "Everyone is required to serve Hashem," he said, "but not everyone can do so by means of learning all day."

What refreshing words, I hope that it is really true.

What should we daven for, עולם הזה or עולם הבא?

The impression I get from many people, articles, etc. is that a person needs to daven for spiritual things for himself and his family.

The fact is that there is an explicit Gemara that says the opposite.

The Gemara in Shabbos (10a) states:
רבא חזייה לרב המנונא דקא מאריך בצילותיה אמר מניחין חיי עולם ועוסקים בחיי שעה

Rava saw that R' Hamnuna was davening for a long time, he told him you are neglecting olam haba and spending time on olam hazeh

Rashi explains:
חיי עולם תורה, תפילה צורך חיי שעה היא לרפואה לשלום ולמזונות

chayei olam is torah, tefilla is chayei sha'ah as it is for health, peace and money

You see explicitly from the Gemara that tefilla is considered dealing with worldly matters (peace, health, and money) and only torah is chayei olam haba. If Rav Hamnuna was davening that he should understand the sugya or that is children should succeed in learning why is that called חיי שעה? You see from the Gemara that Rava had no hava amina that Rav Hamnuna was davening for that but Rava understood that R' Hamnuna was davening for worldly matters and that is why he rebuked him.

Charedim and working in Israel

The Mishpacha newspaper had pages upon pages of articles about Charedim working. The gist of the articles was that Charedim want to work and that the chilonim/government don't want them.

I would like to give my take on this.

One of the more effective claims that the Chiloni politicians and media have made in the past few weeks is why in Brooklyn can Charedim be doctors, lawyers, accountants etc. but not in Bnei Brak. The Charedi representatives only answer has been discrimination.

There is no question that there is discrimination against Charedim but the fact is Charedim can't get jobs for other reasons. Here are some of the differences that I see between Brooklyn and Bnei Brak.

1. In Brooklyn, Charedim go to real Universities whether it is Touro, Brooklyn College, Queens, etc. These are regular accredited universities with decent reputations. In Israel, Charedim will not go to University. They go to to all kinds of special Charedi programs that offer some kind of degree, the equivalent in NY of going to a place like Devry's. Many employers in Israel want a degree from a recognized University which the Charedim don't have.
2. In Brooklyn Charedim are much more open to the world. Guys who learn in the Mir, Chaim Berlin, etc. follow sports and generally know what is going on. Chafetz Chaim Yeshiva in Queens (certainly considered a Charedi Yeshiva), when they built their new building included a beautiful gym, that would never be done in Israel.They see non-Jews in the neighborhood and interact them. They see women dressed not so tzniusly. Therefore when they go to work, they have something in common with their co-workers. They can talk about sports, politics, technology, or whatever. In Israel, Charedim are very very sheltered. If you live in Bnei Brak, Kiryat Sefer, Beitar, many neighborhoods in Yerushalayim, RBS, etc. you basically hardly ever see a non-Charedi person let alone a woman dressed non-tzniusly. Their also is no openness to sports or anything else in the general culture. Therefore, it is very hard for a Charedi person to fit in, they have absolutely nothing in common with the other people and have no idea how to interact with them.
3. Jews in America are stereotyped as smart and non-violent. This helps in the job market. Charedim in Israel are thought of as violent (rioting all the time) and ignorant.
4. In Israel, the Charedi parties are constantly pushing for religious coercion, whether it is not selling chometz on Pesach, no public buses on Shabbos, mehadrin buses etc. This causes the general public to worry that the Charedim are trying to take over and create a Taliban like state. In Brooklyn, there are no worries about religious coercion.

The bottom line is that the Charedim want to have their cake and eat it too. On one hand, they want to have the freedom to educate their children however they want, but then when it comes to getting a job, they want their education to be considered. It doesn't work that way. If you want to join the world you need to play by the rules and one of the rules is education.

Girls should not go to the Kotel Shavuos night for tznius reasons

My translation

We have been asked by the Gedolei Yisrael to publicize the following in their name:

כה תאמר לבית יעקב ותגיד לבני ישראל

Yisrael are holy and many go to the Kotel on Shavuos night, especially to daven at vasikin.

Since the route to the Kotel is through narrow streets and alleys, it creates a serious mixture (men and women) and the pitfalls are many until the bad outweighs the good.

Therefore we are calling on the girls who are pious and holy not to go to the kotel on Shavuos until 10AM on Shavuos morning.

(Those who must go should go through the Jaffa gate).

The route using the Nablus gate is for men only

It ir preferable that boys do not go by themselves but rather should be accompanied by an adult because of off the derech kids and other people who are hanging around.


The rest discusses the separation of the sexes at the Kotel.

The big question is going to be what happens to girls/women who decide to go tonight and go through שער שכם (probably not even knowing about this)? Are they going to be harrassed/attacked? Is this going to create another big controversy?

Why do we need to keep dinim d'rabbanon?

This seems like a pretty obvious question but the answer is not so obvious. The Rambam in the Sefer Hamitzvos explains that we need to kepp dinim d'rabbanan based on לא תסור. In other words there is a חיוב מן התורה to keep dinim d'rabbanan. The Ramban there disagrees and asks on the Rambam, if there is a חיוב מן התורה then why are we מחלק between dinim d'rabbanon and d'oraysas? If every din d'rabbanan is really a d'oraysa then why do we say ספקא דרבנן לקולא?

We see clearly from the Ramban that he holds that there is no חיוב מן התורה to kepp dinim d'rabbanan. If so what is the מחייב?

R' Elchanan in קונטרוס דברי סופרים has the following fascinating suggestion. He suggests that there really is no מחייב. He says that why do we keep d'oraysa's? Because we want to do the רצון hashem. The same applies to dinim d'rabbanan. we assume that whatever the חכמים were מתקן is the רצון hashem and therefore we keep them because we want to do the רצון hashem.

A refreshing take on the business of Tzedaka

http://www.stevens.edu/golem/llevine/hamodia/yissachar_zevulun.pdf

Indeed, these false values have already begun to leach into our thought processes, and the partnership arrangement” described in the article is symptomatic of a creeping trend toward facile religious devices that are expected to yield instant and foolproof gratification. It is akin to other contemporary manifestations of the same disease: seeking “segulos” as a “push-button” means to achieve desires, consulting “mekubalim” in the expectation of immediate results, responding favorably to flyers from tzedakah organizations filled with “case studies” of people who, with disaster staring them in the face, make desperate pledges and are miraculously and instantly saved.

Israel is accepted into the OECD

This was the big news yesterday as everyone was very happy and congratulatory. I thought the most interesting reaction was from Yated Neeman. They were 100% positive stating how it is a good thing for Israel, etc. They quoted Moshe Gafni (MK from Degel Hatorah) taking a little credit as head of the Knesset Finance Committee.

Why is this so interesting? Because acceptance into the OECD was only possible because of all of the economic reforms that were put into place by Netanyahu and his successors which the Charedi world fought tooth and nail against. It was also only possible because Israel has a good University system and produces top quality graduates who can produce on a level equal to or above the rest of the world. If Gafni and friends had had their way Israel would not be an OECD member.

In short, if the Charedi world had it's way Israel would have had no chance of joining the OECD yet the Charedim are perfectly happy to reap the benefits.

It is patently clear that a Charedi society could never be self sufficient and that is clearly not what the Torah wants from us. The Torah is supposed to be a blueprint for an independent religious state that can be self sufficient not a ghetto relying on other Jews and Goyim. This was exactly the dispute between Rivka and Yitzchak regarding giving teh Berachos to Esav. Yitzchak thought that Yaakov didn't need to be self sufficent that Esav would provide for him and Rivka felt that Yaakov needed teh berachos of gashmius as well. We all know who was correct.

The tzedaka wars are escalating

In the past few years the fight for tzedaka money has become a never ending series of escalations. The Kupat Hair Beni Brak started with having Kvitelach for special days, now every one is doing that. The Kupat Hair Beni Brak has escalated again. Now they are promising that someone will daven at the Kever of Rashbi for a whole year for anyone who donates. I can't imagine what will be next.

Here is an ad from a local Kupa:

Here is the latest Kupat Hair ad:

It is absolutely unbelievable that Misnagdim are now talking about giving Kvitelach to Rabanim.

Charedim work and education

For the past week this has been a major topic of discussion in Israel. IMHO the Charedi responses have been disingenuous at best. Eli Yishai (Head of Shas) was interviewed a umber of times about this, his answer was come visit our Shas school in Ramat Gan where we had the highest test scores in the country. That answer, while true, is very misleading and not indicative of the state of Charedi education. That Shas school teaches secular studies at a high level because the clientele demands it. Ideally, all Shas schools would be Torah only like the Ashkenazi schools. However, since Shas appeals to a much wider audience they have schools which have a high level of secular studies. Other Charedi spokesman have made similar comments. The bottom line is that the Charedi ideal is Torah only and anyone who says anything else is lying.

When it comes to working and jobs, again the Charedi spokesmen want to have their cake and eat it too. You can't provide no secular education and then complain you are shut out of jobs because they require a degree.

There is no question that a lot of what is learned in secular studies in high school is a waste and can be skipped. However, there are core subjects that are very important. The Charedi world thinks that in a few months people can learn what is needed to get a job. That is true for some things but not for many and certainly not for the jobs of the future. They seem to believe that secular knowledge is easy to acquire and there isn't much of it. As R' Aryeh Kaplan described Another approach is that which many Chassidim have. They say, “What do scientists know? Do they know what’s happening? Do they know what’s going on? They’re a bunch of phonies, a bunch of bluffers, a bunch of stupidniks! Do they really have a way of finding out the truth? They find a bone and they think it’s from a monkey.” But, I think to somebody who knows what science is, this is a very unsatisfactory approach. much of the Charedi world has no clue about how much knowledge there is out there.

There is a very elitist attitude that if someone can learn a sugya in Bava Kama he can surely learn x (x being any secular discipline). This is simply not true. Learning Torah definitely is helpful in teaching certain modes of thinking but is certainly not the be all and end all of knowledge.

I am back

For the past few months I have been working almost non-stop on a very big project at work and therefore have had no time or energy to blog. Things have finally calmed down a little and I hope to be back blogging.

One thing I learned over this period is how important Shabbos is. This project was being worked on by people all over the world (India, Israel, US East Coast, US West Coast), which meant that someone was working on it 24 hours a day. This made the project a 24x6 job for me as I had to keep track of people all over the world and interact with them. Shabbos allowed me to get away for 25 hours and not think about work, check e-mails etc. On Shabbos I could truly get away. I feel bad for the othe rpeople on the project who don't have that. They were literally on call 24x7 for a few months, at least I had 1 day a week off.

Not a Zero-Sum Game

Jonathan Rosenblum has printed some really interesting columns lately, Not a Zero-Sum Game is another one.

For the record, I made a very similar point 5 years ago in this post The Charedi view of the government and money.

I would like to make a few comments on some of what he wrote:

From an economic point of view, Israel has no interest in chareidim performing menial work when they are capable of much more productive labor. As a professor of computer science at Bar Ilan University commented recently, “Anyone who can hold kop in Rabbi Akiva Eiger can be taught to be a highly skilled computer programmer.”

This is a myth that the Charedi likes to perpetuate, that Charedim are smarter then everyone else. It is simply not true. There are smart Charedim and not so smart Charedim. חכמה בגויים תאמין and there are some very smart chilonim as well. This idea that any Charedi who wants could become a professional is silly. Some certainly could, others definitely could not.

Both arguments implicitly accept the necessity of higher and better paid chareidi employment. In his interview with the English Mishpacha two weeks ago, Bnei Brak Mayor Yaakov Asher spoke of the upsurge in vocational education in the wake of dramatic cuts in child allowances.. Still, according to the article, there are only 13,000 employed individuals in Bnei Brak, a city of 165,000 souls. Clearly, it is a rare salary that can support 12.5 individuals.

There are 2 very important points here.
1. He can say that there is a necessity for higher Charedi employment but until the "Gedolim" say it it is meaningless.
2. It is unbelievable that in a city of 165,000 only 13,000 people work. Believe it or not money doesn't grow on trees. This relates back to the post that I quoted at the beginning. Many Charedim view the government as a cash machine, give us money and leave us alone. The budget is a zero sum game, whatever we can save and get for us great whatever doesn't go to us is basically lost.

Why did Yaakov say Shema when he met Yosef?

It seems really strange that after 20+ years of not seeing Yosef, when he finally sees him he says Shema.

I saw 2 very different approaches in the mefarshim.

The Maharal explains that Yaakov felt a tremendous outpouring of love and wanted to direct it towards Hashem. He felt tremendous gratitude and love to Hashem for returning his son alive and therefore wanted to show it by being מקבל עול מלכות שמים.

The Netziv has a very different explanation. He explains as follows based on the Targum Yonasan. The Targum explains that Yosef wanted to fulfill his dream (that his father would bow down to him) and therefore he came to his father dressed in his royal garb so that his father would not recognize him and bow down to him. Yosef's plan worked, however, Yaakov was annoyed with Yosef for forcing the dream to come true in that way and making him bow down. Therefore to stifle his annoyance he said Shema. Yosef, realized that he had made a mistake in making his father bow to him and therefore cried on Yaakov's shoulders.

Yosef's revelation to his brothers

When Yosef reveals himself, he asks אני יוסף העוד אבי חי. It is a very strange question. After all Yehuda just finished telling Yosef the whole story including that his father is alive, so what exactly was Yosef's question? Did Yosef think that Yehuda suddenly got a nevua that Yaakov died? In addition, Rashi quotes the medrash that this was a great תוכחה. What exactly was the תוכחה?

The Beis Halevi explains as follows. Yosef was asking a rhetorical question. Yosef told his brothers you claim that you are so concerned about your fathers health, yet, I am Yosef is my father still alive? Meaning, he asked them if you really cared for your father how could you put him through the pain of of my disappearance. He exposed the hypocrisy of Yehuda's claim that they were concerned about their father's well being through Yehuda's own actions.

Now we can also understand why this is called a תוכחה as well. This is exactly what will happen when a person goes up to שמים after 120. Whatever excuses he gives for not doing mitzvos or doing aveiros will be shown to be hypocritical by his own actions.

In previous generations it may have been hard to imagine playing back your life after you die to see what you did wrong. However, for us this should be easy to believe. After all, we see how modern technology can record every action and play it back in color with sound. We see it happening all the time when people get caught on video or on audio doing things they shouldn't be doing and the embarrassment and damage that it does (e.g. Tiger Woods, Tropper etc.). Therefore, we should understand that everything is being recorded and will be played back at the appropriate time and there will be no excuses.

Is R' Shteinman one of the Gedolim?

R' Shteinman recently met with the Rav Yoel Cohen, the Chozer, a prominent Chabadnik who was very close to the Rebbe. Because of this 2 pashkevilim were circulated late last week. One was a 4 page screed about how we need to be pure in hashkafa etc. and which basically said that R' Shteinman is not a Gadol. The second was 2 pages with a list of quotations from various "Gedolim" against the Lubavitcher Rebbe.

This reminds me of a story that I read about the Brisker Rav. A number of kannoim came to him to get his support for a protest against something. They said that he was the Gadol Hador and they wanted his approval. He answered, you only call me the Gadol Hador because you think I support your position. As soon as I say something you don't like I will no longer be the Gadol Hador.

The same or worse applies today and is exactly what happened to R' Shteinman. Yonasan Rosenblum (Kollel is not always forever) said it best:

There is another reason that there will be no such public statements. Any such statement would be met with vicious attacks by the “kenaim,” who would say about the gadol in question precisely what KollelGuy asks me: Who are you? The Chazon Ish did not say what you are saying; Rav Shach did not say it.” Perhaps KollelGuy remembers the attacks on one of the Sages he mentions for his tacit support of Nahal Chareidi. (Even Rav Shach used to say that he was afraid of the stone-throwers.) One of the members of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of the United States told me recently that the gedolim cannot even discuss questions surrounding poverty because if they did the “street” would just label them fake gedolim.

R' Herschel Shachter is on the front cover of the Mishpacha magazine - Updated

There is a very long positive article about R' Shachter, RYBS and YU. They actually call YU a "fortress of Torah" and R' Shachter is described as "average height but colossal stature".

R' Belsky who works with R' Shachter at the OU said the following about R' Shachter:

he is a gadol in Torah, Yiras Shamayim and Midos, and I couldn't do this without him.

Very high praise indeed.

For anyone who learned at YU this article is a must read.

I have to say I am stunned that a Charedi magazine would publish such a positive article about a YU Rosh Yeshiva. I can't wait to see the letters in the next few weeks.