Jackets to Shul

This morning when I went to minyan, I did not go to one of the shuls I would normally daven at because I needed a minyan at a specific time. There was one minyan at this specific time so I decided to go there. I have heard rumors over the years that in this particular shul you need to wear a jacket to daven. I never really thought about this because I figured this rule was probably only for the Chazzan or anyone who would be getting any honor during the davening such as an aliyah. When I arrived at the shul this morning, I saw a sign on the door that said the Rav requires everyone to wear a jacket to daven. When I got into the shul as I was putting my talis and tefillin on, the Rav of this shul came over to the area where i was and said," Either put on a jacket or find another place to daven". I thought this was pretty rude and out of line. Especially the tone of voice on how this was said. What if a person like me was a guest to this shul and was not so sure about the rules? Would the Rav rather a person not daven in a minyan at all? He could have come over to me and the other people and asked nicely. He also could have thought that maybe people are not aware and if they became aware next time they go to the shul they would wear a jacket. I used to have a lot of respect for this Rav but now I dont know how to feel. I could understand how a Rav wants a certain decorum for his shul. I think that a dress code for a shul might be a little much, especially when your shul is in a neighborhood where people shul hop for minyanim based upon when they can get to shul. I understand that in the Yeshivish world that a hat and jacket is required during davening but some people dont feel comfortable in a hat and jacket. I am of the opinion that a person should feel comfortable in their avodas hashem and I think that comfort includes the clothes a person wants to wear. I see on shabbos in many sefardi shuls people going in jeans. If thats how they feel comfortable why is it a problem. I bet you in a Sefardi shul no one would stare or say anything to the people wearing jeans either. I will try to avoid this shul from now on and I dont know what my feelings for this Rav is going to be from now on.

Lies and Deception

I never understood why people have to lie and deceive. Especially if you consider yourself frum. When someone lies and deceives the majority of the time someone is going to end up seriously hurt. It is not ethical to lie and it is not ethical to deceive and it certainly against the Torah and all Jewish principles. There are times according to halacha that it is permissible to tell a lie or deceive but these are only specific times and the result is not going to be someone hurt. If you are an honest person and try to live an ethical life why do people need to take advantage? Why does this happen?

Jews and their Interaction with Non-Jews

Today at work, i experienced something which was very weird to me. As someone who came from a pretty secular background, I am comfortable being around non-Jews as well as being friends with many non-Jews. For someone who did not grow up secular but in a closed knit Jewish orthodox neighborhood, interaction with non-Jews rarely occurs and being good friends with a non-Jew is almost never happens.
While speaking with a new co-worker who is not Jewish, a fellow co-worker who is a Chassidic Jew told me that he was going to be flying to the Kever of the Noam Elimelech for his Yarzheit. This non-Jewish co-worker asked me why someone would be going to some town in Europe for only a few days. I explained to her about death in Judaism and how on the anniversary of the death people go to the cemetery to pray by the grave. It was a simple answer to a question this person asked.
Later, a woman who I work with who lives in a Ultra Orthodox enclave started to yell at me in private saying "I can't stand when Frum Jews try to explain things to a Goy". "They don't and can't understand and will use whatever you explain to them against you". I wanna know how can they use an explanation of the Jewish religion against you? If a non-Jew asks a question about your religion, you should ignore them? I just don't understand why there was a need to yell at me and I don't see what harm giving a simple explanation can do. There are plenty of righteous gentiles out there and how do you know the people you are talking to might become a righteous gentile because of the kindness you showed towards them?
I think Charedim should re-think how they interact with non-Jews and realize that many times because of their actions towards them they could be causing a chillul Hashem.

Purim Costumes that Piss Me Off

I think I am a person with a good sense of humor but when it comes to certain things I am very serious. Purim is a joyous holiday and meant to be fun but i think sometimes things are just not funny and pushing it too far. Here are some costumes that I have seen over the years that get me angry. I will start with the one that gets me angry the most.

1- People who dress up like Arabs or Palestinians such as Yassir Arafat, Osama Ben Laden or any other person that would fit into this category. I just don't see the humor in this. Why is this funny? Arafat is a murderer as is Ben Laden. Would someone dress up at Hitler on Purim and walk into a Hungarian Shul in that costume? I don't think so , so why are these costumes acceptable.

2- Yeshivish/Litvish/Misnagdish people who dress like Chassidim. What is funny about that? Are these people jealous that during the year since they dress like goyim on Purim it would be funny to dress like Jews. The way Chassidim dress is funny to them? What about in Shulchan Aruch where is describes how we should wear long coats? Its good to make a joke out of tradition and mock those who want to follow a tradition? Would you ever see a chasid shave his beard on Purim to dress like a misnagid? I don't think so, so why is it ok for them to do?

3- Men dressing like women. I don't find the humor in this. I am pretty sure that halacha does not permit a man to dress in womens clothing as per the Torah and I don't remember seeing an asterisk in the Torah that brings you to the bottom and says excluding Purim. It is especially not funny in America now because people actually cross dress and they are serious about it. Are people who dress like this mocking gays who dress like this? Why is that acceptable.

4- Scary costumes. Many children go to shul on Purim and can get scared of a scary costume. Is it funny and joyous to scare children? I don't think so.


If someone disagrees with me I would love to argue. I could be wrong but I feel pretty strongly about this. There are plenty of happy shatnez free family oriented costumes that are available. If someone is creative they can also create one on there own as well instead of stooping to these levels.

What is Shovavim?

Over the past month, anyone living in any Jewish neighborhood or anyone who reads any Jewish paper has seen ads for Shovavim shiurim and programs. Every year when I see this I always wonder what exactly is this. This year I remembered to ask around to see if I get a few answers. When I asked people, most people did not know. The people that did know all said the same thing. Shovavim is the acronym for the Parshas starting with Shemos. No one knew anything more than that. I emailed A Simple Jew and he replied sending me a link to this answer. I am still looking for more explanations if anyone has any. I also find it strange that groups would put out all these advertisements and many people are not even familiar with what Shovavim is.

Why Jews Don't Belong In Politics

For the first time on my blog, I am going to discuss politics. The only reason why I am going to talk about politics is because I feel this certain issue involves all Jews no matter what their affiliation and it also can relate to many of the discussions on my blog.
For those of you who live in New York, on the cover of today's New York Post as well as many of the other papers has Sheldon Silver on the cover. Why was Sheldon Silver on the cover? Because of a decision him and all the rest of the politicians in Albany made to defy the new Governor Elliot Spitzer. Sheldon Silver is an orthodox Jew who lives on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and is the Speaker of the State Assembly which is one of the most powerful positions any politician in New York can have. Elliot Spitzer is Jewish as well just not Orthodox. I am not familiar with what his affiliation is so I will not say anything I am not familiar with.
The first problem with what went on in Albany yesterday is that it puts in the public spotlight Jew versus Jew. It also puts in public view of a Jewish Governor who is trying to end corruption in Albany which is a positive thing and a Speaker who is trying to continue with the corrupt ways of the State Assembly. I am not trying to challenge Silver's Jewish beliefs and affiliation but isn't Judaism especially Orthodox Judaism supposed to set an example of good ethics and anti-corruption?
The whole controversy started when Alan Hevesi, another well known Jew was caught in a cab scandal which he was using state money to chauffeur his wife around which ended up forcing him to resign after he won the election. After his resignation, Elliot Spitzer thought it was in the best interest to set up an independent group of former Comptrollers to narrow down a list of candidates to fill the position. When this group presented the three people they thought would be best for the job, the people up in Albany under the leadership of Sliver did not vote in any of the three people chosen and picked a fellow assemblyman from Long Island with no experience to take the position of Comptroller. The law states that it is up to the assembly to choose the replacement so there is nothing Spitzer can do about this. Spitzer was voted in to the position of Governor to end corruption by a huge mandate by the people of New York to end corruption and Silver keeps it going. This is a very big deal in New York and Spitzer is not going to let this go.
Because Spitzer is not going to let this go, just like he attacked Wall Street he is going to go after the Assembly and try and nail them on their corruption. What I fear is that because of this, any corruption is likely to have involvement of Silver because of his title and power and might cause a bigger Chilul Hashem than already occurred. I hope for the sake of the Jewish people Spitzer does not do this but you never know what a person is going to do as revenge.
This is not the only thing that has happened in the Jewish political world recently. Dov Hikind was being investigated for an ad campaign he put in Newspapers using tax payer money to for these ads trying to remove Olmert as Prime Minister of Israel. As a frum person shouldn't Hikind know that tax payer money should go to the community not a political campaign about an International issue that does not involve a local community which does not live in Israel? Those are the questions the secular news was jumping all over when this story came out.
We all know what has been going on with Jack Abramoff and the scandals he was involved in. When he showed up in court with a nice Borsalino hat it showed the whole country that once again an Orthodox Jew was involved in corruption. The blogosphere was all over this issue because of a Jewish Press editorial stating that it was because he didn't grow up frum that he acted this way.
Mark Green (another Jew) when he ran for mayor got caught up saying a few stupid things that ended up costing him any hope in winning the democratic primary. Yesterday, Jewish Congressman Gary Ackerman was caught saying something about gays and lesbians to Condeliza Rice which was all over the news causing further embarrassment to the Jewish communities. We had orthomom talking about the local school board politics in the 5 towns area when the Orthodox families don't even send their children there.
There are a few good Jewish politicians who have not yet embarrassed themselves by saying anything stupid or by showing signs of corruption but everyday is a new day in politics and you never know what is going to come out in the news. I believe our Great Rabbis have taught us that a Jew should not become involved in politics. Look at the result of what happened in Germany when the Jews were involved in that Government. Look at some the results of what is going on in American politics both Domestic and local. The Jews need to stay out of politics. It is important that the Jewish communities be represented so the Government provide us with what we need, but it is more important that we do not cause all of this Chillul Hashem which is going on currently. Secular through Orthodox, it does not erase the fact that you are a Jew and everyone knows that. Orthodox are held to higher standards but the Jewish people as a whole should all stick to the ethics we are taught from the Torah. Democrat , Republican, Independent or whatever you are stay out of the public eye and stop causing all of this Chillul Hashem.

Gay Rams?

This morning, I finished reading the February 5th edition of Time Magazine. In this magazine, there is one article that is pretty anti-Israel. This article basically says all settlers are illegally living in occupied Palestinian land and should leave. Besides being far from the truth, I cannot believe an article like this would be able to go without a critique from Honest Reporting or CAMERA. Maybe they did do something about this article and I just missed it.
A few pages after this article on page 54 there is an article titled, "Yep, They're Gay" This article discusses how scientists have studied and found out that 8 percent of Rams are gay. When we read Parsha Noach in Bereshis we were told that in his generation everything was upside down, especially the sexual orientation of both humans and animals. Last year there was a study in San Fransisco about pigeons being gay as well as in Asia a report of a dog and cat breeding. With the recent decision of the Conservative Movement which I wrote about in previous posts and the actions and behaviors of animals recently how can we defend ourselves from Hashem who sees this? Is our generation any different from that of Noach.
With this in mind, what happens with the shofar? If the shofar comes from a Ram, will their sexual orientation have to be checked in order for the shofar to be deemed kosher? If the Ram is gay, will the meat be kosher? Does this change the halachic status of the animal or is this just going to be a crazy new chumra that people won't eat meat from a gay animal? This may sound funny but this might be what is happening. There have already been questions asked about kashrus and cloning and the milk that can come from a cloned animal.

Can You Be a Torah Observant Jew Without Change?

Can one consider themselves an Orthodox or Torah Observant Jew If one is unwilling to change. If we look at our ancient tradition, one of the things that separates a Jew from a gentile is our constant need for self improvement and repentance. In Christian tradition, one can go to Church have a confession and be over with whatever they confessed about. On the other hand, Judaism does not have a confession but rather we should recognize ourselves what we did and what needs to be changed.
With that in mind I want to discuss Mitzvos (Commandments) and living and creating a Jewish household and how change is necessary. While trying to keep all the mitzvos it is always important to see which mitzvos you can improve on. Its also important to try and do everything necessary to improve on the relationships you have with the people around you which also is a mitzvah. With that said, if someone does not follow this approach and says that they are happy the way they are and don't need to change or improvement, are they orthodox? Are they a Torah observant Jew? Are they following the Jewish way. I think the answer to these questions is no but I am not an expert on Jewish behavior and observance.

Motzei Shabbos Zemiros

Rabbi Moshe Shur wrote a niggun to Hinei Anochi Sholeach Lachem es Eliyah Hanavi which is a Pasuk in Tanach (I don't have a Tanach in front of me so I cannot site the actual pasuk. Someone please add in the comments if they know). From what I hear is that this niggun is sung every Motzei Shabbos on Moshav Moodin in Israel before Havdala. Since I have never been there, I cannot confirm but only repeat what I heard. This niggun was recently re-recorded by Shlomo Katz and put on his new album. I don't like the way this niggun is sung on this album but that is not what this post is about. Whenever Ben Tzion Solomon, Rabbi Shur or anyone else sings this niggun, they sometimes have to stop people from singing because they sing Eliyahu Hanavi. When they stop singing, they usually give a Dvar Torah, explaining why the Pasuk says Eliyah Hanavi and not Eliyahu Hanavi. With this going on, I always wondered why this happens. After all if a Jewish person is knowledgeable in Tanach and this is a common Pasuk sung Motzei Shabbos, people would know that it is Eliyah and not Eliyahu.
When I was listening to a Deveykus album, the root of this problem became clear. Deveykus has a niggun to this pasuk and they sing Eliyahu Hanavi. When I have heard people sing this niggun as well they sing Eliyahu Hanavi obviously the same way as the recording. How did this error happen? Next time i see Eli Kranzler I plan on asking him. He is the only one I know that was actually in Deveykus. With this topic brought up, I want to ask a question to all those people who rip into Reb Shlomo Chassidim for not being knowledgeable in Torah and just partying all the time. Who has more Torah knowledge in this case. Abie Rotenberg who I assume composed this or the Shlomo chassidim who sing a niggun to the correct words in the pasuk? I am curious if anyone can give me a good answer. Shavua Tov, Gut Voch.

Parents and Denial

One of the things common in today's overall society not exclusive to the Jewish Community is parents in denial when someone tells them there is something wrong with their child. Many teachers go through this during parent teachers conferences as well as counselors at different summer camps. I experienced this problem when I was tutoring a child in Hebrew. He had some sort of learning disability that prevented him from remembering what he was learning week to week. The mother of this child was upset because he was still at the beginning of a book when he should have been on the book at the next level. In the Jewish community this problem of parents being in denial can lead to bad things happening to children because these problems are not recognized addressed and fixed. If someone is depressed and it is not taken care of it can lead to suicide chas vishalom. If someone has a learning disability and it is not addressed a person can drop out of school due to frustration. If someone in the Jewish community has psychological problem that it is not treated it can prevent someone from recognizing G-d and the beauty the Jewish religion has to offer. Unfortunately many who are off the derech is because of issues they had that their parents were either blind to or ignored rather than addressing. I pray that the Jewish community will address this problem and be able to heal those in need of healing and help parents recognizing that they shouldn't be embarrassed if their children have problems that need to be treated.

JTS Survey Conclusion

As some of you know, I posted my feelings here and here. I am not going to say much but that JTS released the results of this survey through an email from Chancellor Eisen sent to the JTS email list which I am not on so someone forwarded it to me. You can see more on this discussion on the Jewschool blog here. I am not surprised by the results but the full results were not released just a summary. I would be curious to see what the actual numbers were but I am not going to waste my time with it since I no longer daven in a Conservative shul so it does not effect the way I am going to live my life.

Bow Tie

I was curious to see if anyone else noticed this. Everytime on Shabbos when I daven at a large Young Israel or Modern Orthodox shul I always spot at least one guy wearing a bow tie. Who is this token bow tie dude in all of these shuls? Can you imagine seeing someone wear a bow tie on Shabbos in a charedi shul? I just thought that this was weird and that I have rarely been in any of these type of shuls and not see a token bow tie guy.

Follow Up to JTS survey

In my last post, I questioned who JTS was sending the survey to and I why everyone did not get it. This past week, I was at a wedding and was sitting next to a JTS graduate. This graduate is mentioned on the United Synagogue webpage as a former USYer who helped develop a webpage Kosher New York. If the Conservative Movement wants to take credit for this person you would think they would email them a survey on this issue, right? Think again. He didn't get any survey in his email. I spoke as well to another JTS graduate who is living in Israel who did not receive the survey either. Not only is my friend in Israel a JTS graduate, his father is a Conservative Rabbi who graduated from the Seminary and he never saw the survey. As a matter of fact, he asked me to email him the survey because he wanted to see it. I once again went to the JTS webpage and tried to find the survey but was not successful. I am not sure what the result of this survey is but I am sure they did not reach out to the people who care about this issue. I also find it funny that everyone that I know that has graduated JTS that has any form of connection to Yiddishkeit is now Orthodox. What does that say about JTS and the whole Conservative movement? If the movement had any intelligence, instead of surveying people within the movement about how they can increase membership and improve their shuls, maybe they should ask people why they left the movement instead because they might learn something.

Survey on Conservative Movement by JTS

I have learned today from Yid with Lid from his post today that The Jewish Week had an article regarding the Survey JTS sent out via email to find out what people thought about the recent decision the Conservative movement made allowing open Gays and Lesbians to be part of the Conservative Rabbinate. Yid with Lid posted here his opinion on the survey and I added two comments which one of them The Jewish Week quoted. In the article here they quote me as saying the following ,
"Another blogger called Frum with Questions, said he too completed the survey and found the questions straightforward,but he said he did not understand what they are trying to accomplish."
Yid with Lid asked me to explain further what I meant so I replied with the following ,
"The survey was done for JTS to have an excuse as to why they are going to start ordaining openly gay and lesbian students. They know the majority of the people of the conservative movement want this too happen they just need a survey so they can tell the people who are against it, see, this is what the conservative movement wants. Its unfortunate because this survey was only sent to a specific target market and if you would ask Canadians or Israelis you would get a much different answer since they are very traditional conservative when it comes to these issues. I cannot list specifics about the survey since I no longer have it infront of me but the questions were all black and white and they tried to fool people by thinking it is not.
I am going to assume that the article was written after this comment was added so I want to post it hear in case people check out my blog after reading the article. With that said I want to link to my previous post here with my opinions on the Conservatives movement original decision.

Independent Frum Thinker commented on this post saying that the Canadian Rabbis were not going to go by this decision which is true. The Rabbi of the Conservative Shul I grew up in is from Canada and is on thcommitteemmitee of the Conservative movement and voted against it. What doesn't make sense which is what I posted about is that more than one "Teshuva" was selected.

The question that I have about the survey which I did not see anyone ask, is who did they send this email to? My father who is an active member in a Conservative Shul as well as on the JTS Dvar Torah email list never got the email. I forwarded it to him so he can see it. If ou go to the main JTS webpage the only thing you see is this letter from the cuchancellorncelor. If you do a search for survey, nothing comes up either so who did JTS send this survey to and what was the point? I am not sure how I got it. I am on the USY adlistservtservthat's thats about it. I studied at List College- JTS/Columbia for a year and a half so maybe they sent it to me as a former student? I have no idea but I had no problem filling it out. If JTS wanted to ganswerasnwer from their constituents they could have figured out a way to get the survey to every member of a Conservative Shul and every Ramah camper/alumni/staff member. My wife went to Ramah and did not get a survey emailed to her as well as other USY alumni I am friends with.

I truly believe that the Conservative movement has become a political movement. If someone wants to disagree with me, I dare you to go into a Conservative shul and find a Republican or a Conservative. If you are lucky you will find one or two and probably in a Tradition Conservative minyan not one of Egalitarian Liberal ones. The Reform movement is also a political movement that when it feels will support Israel as evidence by the article in the Forward about the reform movements decision to go against Jimmy Carter.

One the main reasons why I am not a Conservative Jew is because of the hypocrisy with what they teach and how they act. After being active in USY and going on their programs and being a board member all of these things became obvious. USY had shabbos but when you went home the Conservative Shul did not. In USY on Shabbos you had Shalosh Shuedos, when you went home try finding one person in a Conservative shul who knows what Shalosh Shuedos is besides the Rabbi who will tell you itnecessaryassary even though they teach in USY that it is. When I was at JTS in the dorms they had different kitchens set up in the dorms. Kitchens for people who wanted to keep kosher and then eveelse's elses kitchens. When I asked the Rabbi who in charge of Jewish Life at the Seminary about this, he could not give me an answer. If JTS wanted to be honest with themselves they should go back to their roots in the Torah as Chancellor Shorsh said in his farewell speech. I just want to add one more thing about the movement and their decisions. OF the Rabbis of the Teshuva against it, most of them were educated in Orthodox institutions or by Rabbi Shaul Lieberman who in many eyes was Orthodox himself. The Rabbis who were for it were mostly products of the Conservative movement and institutionsutions which is evident from their failure to bring in real Torah sources to back up there claims which is why the Conservative Movement is no longer a Halachic movement but a movement of politics and opinion which is more important than true Torah valIts. ITs a question as well if it was ever a Halachic movement within the past 20 years but every year the fall further and further away.

Anyone who wants to comment directly to me can leave me their addressadress in the comments and we can to discuss this further.

Baal Shem Tov

Its been a while since I posted and I want to apologize for that. I have been very busy studying for something and learning DAf Yomi which is very time consuming. Now that the "Holiday Season" is over I hope to have more frequent postings.

There is a famous teaching of the Baal Shem Tov that many people repeat and it was actually in one of the Jewish papers this past week. The teaching is as follows. The Baal Shem Tov says that when you see faults in other people, you see those faults because you have the same ones and it is like looking in the mirror. While this is a great inspirational teaching for someone who is doing teshuva, I want to pose the following questions about this teaching to see if anyone can answer them for me.

If I am sitting in shul and someone starts talking and disturbing my davening how am I seeing a reflection of myself? If I don't talk in shul I cannot understand this.

If I hear someone cursing and think they have a filthy mouth, how is that a reflection of me? I never curse or say dirty words.

There are plenty of things that I know I do and I see those faults in other people as well which I can recognize but the two things I posted are two things that I cannot figure out. Our goal in life is to constantly work on ourselves and try to come closer to Hashem so I am hoping I can figure these things out so I can continue to work on myself and only see good reflections in others.

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.