Erev Shabbos Madness

This past Erev Shabbos is one that will be hard to forget. The first thing that was on my mind is that I had to go to my mother in law for shabbos. This is something that I always dread and I don't know of anyone that ever wants to go to their MIL. Because of how early Shabbos starts, things are always in a rush. Because of this rush things need to be scheduled to make it to Shabbos in time. One thing that I do every week before Shabbos is go to the mikveh. The mikveh I go to is a small one that not to many people know about. When I arrived at the Mikvah, I put my money in the box and then went inside. Once inside, I saw that the filter was broken and that I would have to go to the other mikveh. I never go to the other mikveh because it is always crowded, and the people that go there act like they are in a swimming pool or some sort of club. When I got to this mikveh, because of DWO and a car parked in the middle of the street, I had to park down the block because I did not want to get a ticket by parking too far from the curb like the other car which prevents one from parallel parking correctly. Once in the mikveh I had to wait on line for the shower. Just common sense should tell you that if it is ever shabbos during the winter everyone is in a rush, so why would you take a 20 minute shower when there is a long line of people waiting for the shower? I do not have an answer to this question so maybe someone can enlighten me with one. Once I finally got in the shower, I proceeded to the mikveh and put my towel in a place where I would know it is mine and where nobody else's towel was. What did not surprise we was that when I came out of the mikveh, my towel was gone. Not only do people take long showers when there is a line of people who are all in a rush,but people take other peoples towels as well. Is this the behavior that someone should have if they are going to the mikveh to purify or become more spiritual? You could have fooled me. I had to walk all the way to the other side to get a towel which isn't a pleasant experience when you are dripping wet and naked. I can say that at least this time when I was there, there were no Israelis playing rat tail. After the whole mikveh experience, when I was on the way to the MIL for shabbos, she calls to make sure that I brought a menorah and oil since they lit already and did not have one for us. Nice to give some warning or to wait and just light with us when we get there like the halacha states if you are lodging elsewhere for the evening. After going back home and getting a menorah and oil I was able to get back, set up, and light before the 18 minutes were up. I am lucky that I work for a Jewish company and we had an early Mincha in the office just in case anybody would be in a similar situation.

When Chanukah isn't Jewish

One of the things that is very unique about Chanukah is that Jewish people of all denominations and even unaffilliated can relate to. There is a few reasons why I think this is the case. Chanukah is something that is simple and doesn't take much to celebrate. All you really have to do is light a menorah which everyone is capable of doing. Chanukah is not like a YomTov where you have to be in shul and you cannot do any work or Shabbos. Purim you have obligations as well but on Chanukah all you have to do is light the menorah. Another reason why every Jew can relate to Chanukah is because of Christmas. Many Jews feel left out, even if they are completely secular because they do not celebrate Christmas so they look to Chanukah to fill that void so they can have something to celebrate during the American holiday season.

With that said, the shul I davened in this past Shabbos had the following in front of the shul. A menorah several feet tall, with big wrapped presents around the base of the menorah and a big paper mache dreidel as well. To me this looked the same as a decorated Christmas tree. Did this shul take the idea of Chanukah a little too far?? Especially since there is no obligation to give or receive any gifts on Chanukah. I was disturbed by this display and thought that is went a little too far.

The Conservative Movement and their Decision Last Week

As anyone who reads a newspaper now probably knows, the Conservative Movement last week voted to allow for openly gay and lesbians to be Rabbis and to allow for same sex marriages. I remember commenting on someone's blog that I would not take the time to comment but I have held it in long enough that I am going to say something. I first want to point someone in the direction of a beautiful article written in the World Jewish Review here by Rabbi Avi Shafran of Agudah. After reading the article you can read the actual "Teshuvas" that the Conservative Movement voted on here.

My first comment has to do with what Rabbi Shafran said. In an article he wrote in Moment magazine, he said that the Conservative movement is no longer going to be recognized as a Halachic movement. My opinion is that it wasn't a Halachic movement 5 years ago when he wrote this article and it hasn't been since the times of Avraham Yehoshua Heschel and maybe even up to the time in 1983 when JTS ordained the first women Rabbi. In last weeks Jewish Week in this article, Rabbi Roth said the following, " The non-egalitarian minyan “survived 10 years until the upstairs egalitarian minyan claimed that any Conservative Jew who was not egalitarian was immoral and [therefore] delegitimate. The student body to this day virtually reviles students who go to the non-egalitarian minyan, and if it was up to most of them, it would not exist because it is [considered] immoral.”

When I was at JTS I can affirm that this was the case. Since i would not daven in the Egalitarian minyan I was looked upon as a sexist as well as viewed as an extremist. There are some great Op Ed and articles on JTA on this issue as well. After reading through briefly the "Teshuvot", the wording of the one that was accepted did nosurprisese me. AS typical Rabbi Dorff style, Science and Opinion come before Torah and its laws and commentary. An experience I had with him was when he came to our dorm for "Dorm Talks". The topic of this talk was Sex, which is something that shouldn'surprisese anyone. He mentioned some ideas about pre marital relations and masturbation. Of course I was shocked by what he said, so I asked him about his source about being OK to spill your seed with a Tanya in my hand showing him what the Alter Rebbe said and his reply was that imedievalal Times it was thought that seminal discharge had a spirit with it which is why the Tanya mentions it the way it does. Now since we know that there are no spirits it is ok to spill your seed.

Rabbi Dorff is the future of the Conservative Movement. An Rabbi who cared at all about Halacha resigned from the Committee and it would nosurprisese me if they join Rabbi Halivni at UTJ with all of the other Rabbis who left the Conservative movement. IS it worth staying at JTS even if they pay a lot of money. Even while I was there I never felt comfortable in that environment and I don't know how anybody who follows halacha can. Gil over at Hirhurim had a post here as well as a few others these past couple of weeks as this issue was publicized. On his post he links the RCA statement on the decision.

When I left the Conservative Movement, I questioned why any Rabbi who was Halachikly observant continued to be involved. Maybe it is the money, I don't know. Many graduates from JTS from the past as well as many former members of USY and RAMAH are not happy with the decision and this decision might just be the icing on the cake for this movement. After speaking to a cousin who is a member of a Reconstructionist Shul, I was trying to figure out what the difference between, Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist are. If anyone has read the book Jew Vs Jew can see that everyday we come closer to what the author predicted about that there would be three types of Jews. Secular, Reformative, and Orthodox. Are we at that stage yet? I think we are.

Update

It has been a while since I have been able to post. I wanted to update my Blog Roll to add some of the new friends I have made. I will continue to add names to the blogroll as time goes on. If someone wants me to put them on my blogroll or I left you off let me know. I think this is the first time since I put up the Blogroll that I have changed anything. As things calm down I will continue to post more frequently again. I wanted to make sure I updated my Blogroll because there was a virus when you clicked on the old link for VOS IS NEIAS and I wanted to make sure no one got any problems because of this. There is controversy on what happened to this blog. It can be read about here and here if anyone wants to know what happened. Who knows if its true but it would not surprise me if the site was really hacked onto because people were upset about what was reported. I plan on posting more about Music in the future as well as discuss the current situation with El AL and the Charedim.

Jewish Music Post # 1

Recently I was having a heated discussion with BlogDM about Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach and who should play his music. I am going to respond to him on a later post which will be a long one, especially since this is something I am very passionate about.

What I wanted to discuss was something about Jewish Music which was talked about all over the Jewish Blogosphere today. The first place where I saw something was on Arutz 7 when I got there daily email and saw the following article #7 about the new music video that Avraham Fried has produced. Rubin brings in an Interview with Avraham Fried about the state of Jewish music and I don't remember where I saw the other discussions regarding this issue.

My problem with all of this is why is there a need to have a Jewish Music video? I think all of this is a defamation of the Torah everytime an "entertainer" who some people think is a musician sings some psukim to put on a show for some people. While I was bored and looking at all the stupid videos that are available online, someone posted a video of what they called "Jew Video" which was actually MBD dancing around pretending to be spiritual. Its real spiritual to have your, name, picture, and video all over the place while you are putting money in the bank. What is the necessity of a Jewish Music Video? Most people who listen to that garbage don't have TV's to begin with so where are they going to watch it? If its on a CD its not going to work on a CD player. You need a DVD player or a computer to watch it. What would be the point? In secular music the whole reason why MTV came about was to have a video as an advertisement to sell albums. Videos draw attention by having semi dressed woman dancing around and all sorts of other things. The more vile, the better the video. Is this the path the Jewish Entertainment world is going to take as well to sell more albums?

I know I am being extreme but this has got to be one of the stupidest things around. If you look at the people who are given credit as starting the Jewish Music business, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, Ben Zion Shenker, Diaspora, Deveykus, Rabbis Sons and a few more I am unaware of, were in the music business to spread Torah, neginah and dance in a way to help people with their Avodas Hashem and to bring people closer. Not to have their pictures plastered on posters and billboards all over Jewish neighborhoods to sell albums and tickets to concerts. Now on top of that videos need to come out? They might as well sing in English, take all Psukim out of everything they sing, come out with their videos and finally admit what they are doing is not Jewish. There are plenty of Jewish musicians who are out their who are not "entertainers" and are really Baalei Niggunim the right way. I am not going to list the ones who are in this category but I will say there are not many. Not only are there not many of these people but almost all of them live in Israel. That can add to the bumper stickers that I see that say Yerushalayim Shel Zahav- Americai Shel Kesef- Jerusalem of Gold-America of Money.

The only thing I can do is not buy these peoples albums and not listen to their music and go their concerts. The only problem is that it is impossible to ignore when they put there faces all over the newspapers and the other places I mentioned before. Maybe these people love looking at themselves and seeing themselves all over the place now in videos as well. There is no other explanation for this. I will continue with a post to come about Jewish Music in general.

Post Thanksgiving Observations

Yesterday in America, Americans celebrated the wonderful holiday of Thanksgiving. Before I take any religious questioning about anything, I always check to see what was already discussed on Gils blog. After briefly going through some of these posts I want to discuss the following based upon how I feel about the issue.

According to Wikipedia, "Thanksgiving is another name for the Harvest festival, held in churches across the country on a relevant Sunday to mark the end of the local harvest, though it is not thought of as a major event (compared to Christmas or Easter) as it is in North America, where this tradition taken by early settlers became much more important."

If this definition is correct then Thanksgiving should be considered a religious holiday. The day of Thanksgiving is on a different day in Canada and I don't believe other countries celebrate such a holiday. If other countries do not celebrate it then maybe it isn't a religious holiday and it is just an American holiday. I get together with my family on Thanksgiving and I think that Frum Jews in America should take advantage of this holiday and have a meal with their family.

Most Frum Jews get together with their families for Shabbos meals and Yom Tov Meals with restrictions of the melochos of Shabbos and Yom Tov. Thanksgiving offers a time when you can have a meal and enjoy it with your family without having to worry about any Shabbos or Yom Tov problems. The only issue that I see is leftovers. At everyone's meal there is usually leftovers and because Thanksgiving is on Thursday many do not cook for Shabbos and just eat leftovers for Thanksgiving. I think that this practice is wrong and Shabbos needs to come first not second as leftovers indicate. With this in mind, do the Conservative and Reform movement take Thanksgiving too far? I think they do and they should focus their time on Torah and Mitzvos instead of concentrating on Thanksgiving. Here are a few links of examples of what's done in the conservative and reform movements"
1 - From a shul in Long Island
2- From the Reform movement (PDF)

It seems the reform movement is big into helping the Hungry worldwide and the conservative movement is big into the interfaith dialogue. I understand that where the reform movement is coming from with the hunger but I don't understand why they don't list any of the Jewish organization's that help with this problem and only seem to be interested in the secular groups. As Jews, the Jewish people should come first. I am not saying we shouldn't help non Jews but if we are giving away all our money to non- Jewish groups who is going to help our own?

Last year there was an article in the Jewish World/sentinel about a prayer to add during benching that was composed by one of these movements to be said on Thanksgiving. My question to them is what about the Modim prayer in Shemonah Esrei and Mizmor Ltodah?? Teach your movement to say these prayers and what they mean instead of coming out with new ones which to me says you don't respect the ones we have already and have been saying for thousands of years.

I am curious to see what other people did for Thanksgiving and what they think of my observations.

18 minute matza Minyan

This morning I had the lovely pleasure of deafening in the Minoan which is known as the mat's Minoan or the someone escrow Minoan because on a regular weekday they take 18 minutes to complete seashores. Today because it is Thursday took a few minutes longer because of the Tasmania and Torah readings. One might ask why would I go to such a Minoan if I knew how the davening was going to be. This morning I attended a bris which was in a different neighborhood which would take some time for me to get to. I was going to meet someone who was going to give me a ride their. Because I was not going to make to Shacharis there I davened at a quick minyan before hoping that I would get to the bris on time and just finish my davening there. It turns out that I made it just as they finished the bris and everyone was going down to the Seudah. At the minyan I was able to say Berachos, Baruch Sheamar and yishtabach then everything through tachanun then Aleinu. All of that took me at least twenty minutes while everyone else was finished. Is it me or is this rediculous? Not only that, there were people talking the whole time and people who left early. To those people i ask, whats the point of even going to shul if your not davening? I would love to see what other people think about this minyan. Do minyans like this happen in your neighborhoods?

Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach Part 2

The Legacy of Shlomo Carlebach is one that makes an impression on anyone who is Jewish in this world and many non-Jews as well. Reb Shlomo's Yartzeit is being comemorated by people this whole week and is going to conclude with a convention in New York. This post can be found on Luach.com :

3rd INTERNATIONAL CARLEBACH CONFERENCE 3rd INTERNATIONAL CARLEBACH CONFERENCE OUTREACH thru INREACH - EVERYONE DESERVES to have their soul fired up! SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12 Registration begins 9:30am Program begins 10:00am - 5:00 pm at tThe JCC in Manhattan - 344 Amsterdam Ave and 76th, NYC Presenters include: Rabbi David Aaron, Rabbi Ephriam Buchwald, Rabbi Naftali Citron, Rabbi Nehemia Polen, Melinda "Mindy" Ribner, Rabbi Nossen and Channah Schafer, Rabbi Avraham Arieh & Rachel Trugman, Maureen Kushner, Rabbi Shmuel Stauber, Hella Winston and more!! For FULL PROGRAM and To REGISTER and visit http://www.carlebachshul.org/ online discount by 11/6

Unfortunately I have a big problem with this conference and what it stands for. The past couple of years, Reb Shlomo has been commercialized as seen by this convention. The Motsai Shabbos concert is the following :
Yahrzeit Tribute Concert“Shlomo Carlebach Music for the Soul”Performers include (subject to change): Yisroel Williger, Shloime Dachs, Yossi Piamenta, Mendy Wald, Yehuda Green, Heshy Broyde, Rocky Zweig and The Holy Beggars Band.

If you are a stereo-typical Brooklyn Yeshivish music listener, this would be a great lineup but for a Carlebach fan this is a complete joke. I am not sure about Heshy Broyde and Yehuda Green but Rocky Zweig and maybe Piamenta are the only ones that have anything to do with Reb Shlomo. Whats even a bigger joke is the fact that the other three singing are possible names in the following lawsuit about people stealing Reb Shlomo's music. What bothers me so much is the fact that people like Yisrael Williger are part of the group thadespiseded Reb Shlomo when he was alive. Now that he passed away and these people realize they can make money off of him they love him all of a sudden? These people make me so sick. What makes me even sicker is this post here by Rubin where MBD clearly knows he is stealing and doesn't care and then comes on Mendy Walds new CD a whole thing about stealing. Reb Shlomo had a big problem with these people when he was alive and now that he is not these people think they can take advantage because no one is going to stop them until Neshama starting her lawsuits and posting this on her families webpage.

If you open any of the CDS of these people stealing his music and making money off of it, you never see any thanks to Reb Shlomo or anything about donating money to his foundation. In Israel, the Carlebach memorial and Yarzteit concerts arcompromiseded of people who really had a connection to him and are not trying to use his niggunim to make themselves popular because they can't sell albums or concert tickets any other way. The fact that Sruli Williger goes around leading "Carlebach" shabbatons makes me sick. The so called Teaneck Carlebach group hires these same clowns to do things for them as well. How come the real Chevraren'tnt taking over in America to teach Shlomo Torah, stories, and Niggunim the way they are supposed to be taught? How come Noah Solomon, or Yehuda Solomon are not involved in this concert? How about Rabbi Moshe Shur or Oneg Shemesh even the guys of Pey Daled or Avraham Rosenblum?
If someone could explain to me why this happens I would love to know. There are still many holy people involved with the way the foundation is run I just don't agree with what they are doing. I would think Reb Shlomo would not be happy either. One of the things Reb Shlomo used to go crazy about is when people sing niggunim he brought down from shamayim the wrong way and that is exactly what some of the people I mentioned do. I could make this post much longer and go on and on about this issue but I will not right now because I want people to read this and when things are long people don't read.

I want to post one more thing. I am curious what people think about this article about a Reb Shlomo musical. If this doesn't prove my point about how Reb Shlomo has become commercialized I do not know what can. Maybe someone can fill me in, is Neshama the one commercializing everything?

Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach zt'l Yartzeit

I just wanted to post something quick with a much longer post coming up later. Last night and today is the Yartzeit of Shlomo Carlebach. For those of you who don't know who he is or are not familiar with him can check out this. Today at 11 am eastern time Nachum Segal will be hosting a live lunch where you can listen to Reb Shlomo's music. There will also be an archive here from the Jm in the AM show this morning which featured Reb Shlomo's music. If anyone has any stores about Reb Shlomo please feel free to put them in the comments. Anything that is not appropriate will be deleted. I will be posting again later today with stories and comments about the life of Reb Shlomo.

Where to Daven in a Shul

After reading Dvar Phutims post here it got me started on another thing that drives me crazy which is something I will never understand no matter how many people try to explain or rationalize it. It is clear from halacha as seen in Mishna Berurah when one goes to shul they should not sit by the door or stand by the door because it gives the impression that you are rushing to leave shul. With that in mind I have a question. Whenever I show up late for mincha someplace I can never get in. There is this phenomenom that people like crowding by the door when they are late and are scared to go in. I understand that if someone is davening you cannot go within 3 amos of them but if they are in a position that is blocking you, i see no problem with walking within their three amos to get by. By people blocking the entrance they are preventing other people from coming in to daven. To me this looks like selfishness. Why can't you make your way further inside. The minyan I go to, the Rav stops and tells people to move to the front. When people are gathered by the door or in the back, it also leads to talking. Preventing someone from getting into shul is really bothering to me and Rabbaim need to place signs on doors stating this so it doesn't happen.

Conclusions About Halloween

I want to thank Litvak for his lead to the Halloween articles here. Based on everyones comments and from what I observed this year I have come to the following conclusions.

1. Almost everyone who goes to a public school or a non religious private school takes part in Halloween.
2. Immigrants to this country who have never heard of the holiday celebrate as well. I base this on the Chinese families who rang my bell who did not speak English.
3. Whenever you give anyone candy for free without any conditions they are very happy and will be thankful.
4. Despite what people say about Americans knowing the real reasons behind Halloween I think Americans are not. I base this on how it has become a Hallmark Holiday and every radio show and every TV show as well as everywhere you went was Halloween based. When I went to the local JCC/YMHA the receptionist was dressed in a costume.

Therefore, I will continue to give candy to Trick or Treaters unless I learn something new that will change my mind. In one of the comments on the Hirhurim blog it is mentioned that Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky used to give out candy on Halloween because he loved children. It is a persons individual decision whether or not they want to spend money oon candy to distribute but I don't see the harm. I guess it also depends upon where you live. If you live in a real Chassishe Neighborhood like Crown Heights, Williamsburg, or Boro Park where there are not so many non Jews I can understand why you wouldn't want to answer the door but if you live in a neighborhood like I do where there are lots of non-Jews its good to make a Kiddush Hashem in my opinion by partaking.

Quick Survey about Jews and Halloween

I think that it is quite clear that an observant Jew should not celebrate or take part in anything that has to do with Halloween. I found the following articles on line here and here to support this. My question that I want to ask is if giving candy to kids is permissible. By giving candy you are not celebrating any holiday but the person you are giving the candy to might think that you are. In some areas if you do not give candy, your house, car and property will be hit with eggs, silly strings and all sorts of stuff which will cost you a lot of money to clean up. If a cute little kid in costume comes and rings your bell and says Trick or Treat, what are you going to do or what should you do?

At minyan this morning

I wanted to relate the following incident which happened this morning when I went to minyan and see what my readers opinion is of the matter.

In the minyan I went to this morning, the room is relatively small as is set up with pews with not much space between them. I was sitting in the middle of two people. The person on my left was an old man and the person on my right was a young man who came late and was right next to the shtender as well as being in the aisle. At the end of the Shemona Esrei during the long tachanun prayers they asked the old man next to me to have pesicha and taking the Torah out of the Aron. This man on my left wanted to proceed to the Aron but he could not get through because the guy sitting next to me on the right was still reciting Shemona Esrei as the minyan was ready to take the Torah out to be read. The old man said out loud this is a pain in the ass while he was trying to get by which he couldn't because the pews are too close together and this other guy was still davening Shemona Esrei. Now my question is, who is right in this situation? Is it the old man who came to shul on time who got frustrated with the guy next to me or is it the young guy who was trying to recite Shemona Esrei without being disturbed?

In my opinion they were both wrong. The old man should not have gotten frustrated so quickly and say the word ass in a Beis Midrash. The young man should have had some consideration for the people around him. He came late and was not davening Shemona Esrei with the minyan and he was blocking the path of others. He should have realized this and started his Shemona Esrei in a spot where people could still get by. I am curious to hear how other people will interpret this situation.

Men in the women section

Something that has always bothered me is when men sit in the women's section when they go to shul during the week. Why is this? This started to bother me more when I saw this topic in Mishna Berurah which states that one cannot not do this because it gives the appearance that one is starting a breakaway minyan from the main minyan. In small shuls if there are set times for davening and the minyanim overlap I can understand where there can be a leniency but if there is only one minyan and there is plenty of room, why does a person still find the need to sit in the womens section? What if there is a woman who wants to go to this minyan and there is a man in her section? Do you think a woman would feel comfortable asking him to leave? I don't think so. Although I am not an advocate for feminism in Judaism, I do believe that woman should go to shul if they can. If there are men in there section I don't know if they would feel comfortable. The next question on this topic is how come many shuls do not have room for women to come during the week. I don't think that this is right. Just like in America you have to be an Equal opportunity Employer the OU and Agudah and all the other magor groups that have affiliate synagogues should have Equal Opportunity DAvening allowing women to come to shul if they want. One of the old shuls I used to daven at before I got married, rearranged the minyan room when they hired a new Rav to allow women to come if they wanted. For 30 + years this didn't exist. I hope shuls will take my suggestion and men should stop davening in the womens section.

Post Succos/Shmini Atzeres/Simchas Torah Questions

Today being the first day after the holidays, there is some time to reflect about the experiences we just had. One observation that I had during Succos occurred during Simcha Beis HaShuevah. For Simcha Beis Hashueve I usually make my rounds around Boro Park and Crown Heights to different Succahs of Rebbes and friends. In all of these neighborhoods there were all kinds of Jews coming together to celebrate. There were Chassidim, Misnagdim, Secular, Modern, all together to celebrate. I think that Succos is unique for that. On the west side of Manhattan you have the same thing on Simchas Torah when all the shuls no matter what the affiliation come together to celebrate Simchas Torah. Hopefully this holiday will be a sign of the unity the Jewish people should have throughout the year to help bring Moshiach closer.

With all of that said, I have my questions. When shopping around for a lulav and esrog, the one thing I noticed is the price difference by the neighborhood you go to. This price difference can be very significant. How come the same esrog in Boro Park can sell for around 500 dollars and in queens for 60 dollars? I think the vendors take advantage of the Chassidim who are willing to spend that much. If you come to Queens no one will spend that much so the vendors no that they cannot charge that amount. Although this is a question do we have a right to criticize what they are charging? After all by them selling the lulav and esrog sets they are allowing us to take part in the Mitzvah. In Europe it was not so easy to get a set so we should be thankful it is so easy now.

Post Yom Kippur Comments and Questions

This Motzei Yom Kippur I did not get sick like last year so that gives me an opportunity now do discuss some observations I had and some questions I had.

First off, I want to say that MOChassid wrote a post here which was very similar to my posts here and here . I guess I am not the only one who is not disensitized to peoples rudeness. Besides the posts I just linked, I would like to add another one to the list of things people do that is rude that I experienced this Yom Kippur.

I knew I might be in some trouble when I saw that sitting in front of me were people who talk occasionally in shul and also don't look before taking three steps back. The way my minyan did the seats was they put a chart of the seats, you emailed them the seat you wanted and they posted it on our minyans web page excluding peoples names. Right before Yom Tov they posted the names and all the seats were taken so there was no way for me to change my seat. So the new thing to add for this Yom Tov along with the other things is being whipped in the face with a tallis. Don't you just love it? It is more important for a person to flip there tallis so its not bothering them then to realize that they are whipping someone in the face with their tzistzis. There is nothing the victim can do because it is always by surprise because you never know when the person is going to flip the talis. I know I have seen it written that is a Halacha that you are not allowed to treat the tallis like this and you have to be careful if you are going to flip your talis.

My next issue is Maariv Motzei Yom Kippur. If you ask someone Jewish trivia and say which are the fastest davenings of the year, a person would answer Shacharis/Musaf on Shavuos and Maariv Yom Kippur. I don't understand in general why people rush through davening but on Motzei Yom Kippur? I understand you are hungry after fasting but a few minutes is not going to make a difference after you were fasting for 25 hours already. One would think that if you concentrated on your davening all of Yom Kippur , this Maariv would be one of your longest of the year. In certain shuls people run out after the shofar blowing and don't even daven Maariv. Some people stay for Maariv but don't stay for Kiddush Levanah. The whole reason why Kiddush Levana is held off until Motzei Yom Kippur is because we want to run to do a mitzvah right after Yom Kippur and this one is very easy to accomplish.

Along with the Maariv topic I am interested to see if anyone has any interesting answers for this question I have that I have never gotten an answer to that satisfies me. How come right after Neilah when we daven Maariv we say Salach Lanu in Shemonei Esrei. Did we really do any aveirah from the shofar blowing until Shemonei Esrei? I don't think that is possible since you can't talk or do anything.

I hope everyone had a good break fast and a meaningful Yom Kippur.

Should obese people get two or three seats?

I know many people might get offended by this post but someone has to say something about this issue already. This issue has come up about airplanes as well as when Guliani was mayor of New York this issue was brought up about subways and busses. Now I want to bring up this issue for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur in the synagogue.

Depending on the synagogue you attend there is very little space between you and the people next to you on either side. During the High Holidays synagogues all over are usually packed to capacity with very few seats. Because of this, many shuls require you to purchase seats to make sure you have a place for the holidays. This being the case, what if you are one person who needs more than one seat? My last post here spoke about items covering a seat but I did not mention a person covering more than one seat. During Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur you are in Shul for hours and spend most of the day there. Should you have to sit next to an obese person who is on top of you or even on you seat with you? I propose that if you are over a certain size you should have to buy the seats next to you on either side. How can a person concentrate on their davening if someone like this is next to you. Especially if they are sweaty and smelly. I noticed this past Yom Tov the person who was supposed to sit next to me never did because he could not fit into the seat because of the person on the other side of him. Obesity is a problem all by itself in the frum community but an obese person should not make other people suffer. I understand that an obese person might have a disease and cannot help being that way and we should feel bad for people like this but they should also have some respect for everyone else and recognize what their problem is. The non-Jewish community understands this which is why you get ticketed on the NY subway and busses if you take up more than one seat. The major airlines have brought this up as well. I think my proposal should be taken into consideration. If the person cannot afford more than one seat than let someone donate it out of the kindness of their heart. I want to reiterate that I do feel bad for these people but I also want to reiterate that it is important that we are able to concentrate on our tefillahs as well

Last Post before Rosh Hashana

Since there is not much time left before Rosh Hashana I am not going to be able to post again after this. When I first started my blog, I had a post here about Orthodox organizations being disorganized. I did not receive many comments on that post but now that more people are reading my blog I will get more comments when I relate the following two stories.

The first thing I want to discuss is what happened to me today. When my wife an I were searching for a mortgage we had a few options available. The first one was too go through a Jewish Non For Profit which would give us a discounted mortgage since it would be our first home purchase, Citibank where our bank acount is and another Mortgage company which is an orthodox company. We decided not to use the Jewish Non for Profit because they were going to charge points and it would take much longer to get the loan approved. We did not use Citibank because their rates were a little high at the time. So we decided to use this Orthodox company which will remain nameless because we would get a lower rate and we had a relative who worked their. Why not let a Jewish relative get the commission instead of someone we do not know. After we were approved and got the mortgage closing time came on the apartment. In the closing, we had to wait because the representative from the mortgage showed up extremely late possibly causing a Chilul Hashem because we were dealing with non-Jews with the apartment. After we settled in the new apartment, we were paying the monthly mortgage payments through the statements we recieved in the mail. Unfortunatly we did not receive the statements on a consistent basis but we made the payments anyway. Shortly after, the loan was sold to a different bank who took over the payments. After a few months, this bank raised our monthly payments. Now, after a year of me calling they were able to figure out why they needed to raise my monthly statements. The original Loan company was not sending in my full payments even though I was paying them so the new Bank had to pay the balance when they took over the loan and now I have to pay him back. SO what happened to this money? That is what I am trying to figure out. BEing that the company who is responsible for this error is an Orthodox company I don't expect it to be resolved anytime soon. From now on, instead of going out of my way to give a Jew business I am going to stay away. Every time I think i am helping a Jew out I end up getting screwed and I am tired of it. Why are orthodox Jews so disorganized? They are putting a really bad name for themselves. The second thing that happened was I know someone who wanted to by new furniture so they went to a frum store. The furniture was supposed to be delivered at 3 today but they called this person and said it won't be delivered untill 10!! Things like this don't happen if you use non "HEIMISHE" companies. These are the people who are going to go into Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur thinking that they did nothing wrong. Am I going to get a phone call asking for forgiveness for what these people have done? All the stress they have caused from their disorganization and carelessness? I doubt it. Anyway we are forced to forgive these people even if we don't want to because it is ROsh Hashana and Yom Kippur so rather than forcing myself to forgive these people ever again I will stay far away from them so I have nothing to get angry about.

U/D The furniture came on Friday during the day instead of Thursday at 3:00

Respect in a Shul

One of the things learned growing up is that you don't put a Siddur or Chumash on a seat where you sit becuase it is disrepspectful. With that in mind does the same hold for your Talis and Tefilin bag? There is kedusha towards these items as Mishna Berurah points out that you can not throw these items in the garbage after they were used to hold our talis and tefilin.

With those ideas in your mind, my next question is when people go to shul why do they leave their talis and tefilin bags on a seat in front of them or next to them? What if somone wants to sit there? This morning when I got to shul there was a whole row filled with peoples talis and tefillin bags which meant no one could sit there unless these kind people moved their talis and tefilin bags. Why couldn't these people designated one area and pile these bags on top oof each other? Why do these people feel that they can use up all the space in a small synagogue that they want while at the same time taking space away from someone else? To me, these people are selfish and disrespecting the synagogue which is not a storage facility or a place where someone cannot sit because it is being occupied by someones talis and tefilin bag.

Misnagdim vs Chasidim Part 2

The Rav of my minyan sent out an email today with a brief list of Erev Rosh Hashana Halachos. Of the Halachos he sent, the following caught my attention as it does every year. That halacha is the following :
The Rama cites a custom for men to immerse in the mikva on Erev Rosh HaShanah to spiritually purify themselves in preparation for the Day of Judgment.

The fist thing that bothers me is the following. Misnagdim, mock Chasidim who go to the mikveh on a daily basis or before Shabbos or the other Yom Tovim claiming that we are all Tamei so going to a mikveh is a waste of time when you can be learning instead. If this is true, why do misnagdim make it their business to go before Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur? If you believe you are going to be Tamei during the rest of the year so you don't go, why do you go now?

My next question is price gauging at the mikvehs on Erev Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. The mikvehs I go to charge anywhere from 1 - 3 dollars during the week and 5 dollars erev shabbos. On Erev Rosh Hashana and Erev Yom Kippur the price can jump anywhere from 10 dollars to 30 dollars. Why does this occur? How does the local Vaad allow this to occur? What if you can't afford it? Yes the mikveh needs to raise money, but women pay a higher price when they go which should cover the costs. These are things that I hope someone can explain to me to help justify these two problems I have.