One Frum Skeptic

Support...?!

2011-06-26T17:06:00.001-04:00

The following article is about 2 Chassidish Borough Park guys. They owned an auto collision shop and were purposely ruining the cars even more, by hammering them and so forth so they can get more money from the insurance companies.

They’ve been under investigation and were arrested.

If that isn’t enough of a chillul Hashem, over 100 idiot chassidim from Borough Park packed the courtroom to show their support…

Seriously, show your support for CRIMINALS? Why don’t you just have a Rav come out and openly SUPPORT insurance fraud.

Ohh… and btw, one of the guys was on “public assistance” and the authorities found $700,000 CASH in his house!

Shame on the chassidish community. They shoulda just allowed these morons to get arrested, but by “supporting” them they made it an even BIGGER chillul Hashem!

Sholom Aleichem

2011-06-22T20:57:00.001-04:00

The following was written by Sholom Aleichem. So funny how its applicable in today's society...

Frummy mishugas never changes!

But something happened: in the last forty or fifty years a ray of worldly light has stolen into our corner of the earth and has reached even into our very synagogues, even there where the impoverished lads sat with their tomes. There you found them secretly snatching their first taste of secular food, some rhetoric as an appetizer, then swallowing - or choking over - a Russian grammar, with maybe a few chapters of a novel for dessert. From studies like there, naturally, no Talmudic scholars or famous rabbis emerged. Instead. Jewish youths wandered off into the world and were ruined, became doctors, lawyers, writers of prose and verse, teachers - and plain non-believers. Not a single rabbi who was worth anything. That is, there were a number of rabbis. But what kind? Crown rabbis wished onto us by the czar, whether we wanted them or not. As if he had said, "Here is a loaded bomb; hold on to it." But let us proceed...

-Sholom Aleichem in The Lottery Ticket.

Jewpon Deals

2011-06-14T19:55:00.001-04:00

Check out the latest deals on Jewpon.com

Lakewood Pirkei Avos, Joke?

2011-06-12T20:29:00.001-04:00

I received this pic in an email from someone as a “joke”… and boy was I *not* laughing

I was completely freaking out.

I don’t find it funny that the community has stooped so low that men are completely useless specimen and women and their parents are forced to support them.

It’s an absolute disgrace that I actually got this joke originally from a girl whose husband is learning. This joke implies that apparently girls feel no guilt or shame about forcing on ridiculous requests to their parents for support while they “work”- at a crappy job, which if it weren't crappy they wouldn't need parental support.

It’s an absolute abomination that our community has sunk so low that this crap is “funny.” Who the hell is gonna support the grandchildren when the time comes??

The Problem with Frum Education

2011-05-11T20:23:00.001-04:00

Education is one of the most important things a person can have and unfortuantely a lot of frum people cannot fathom its importance. For example, the idiotic HS I went to had a fantastic reputation. One would assume that a fantastic reputation in regards to a school means a GOOD EDUCATION, but in the frum community, it doesn’t. When I joined the school in the 9^th grade, the vast majority of my grade has been in the school since Pre 1-A. When it came time to learn Shakespeare I rememeber one girl raised her hand and asked “who wrote the book Shakespaere or Caeser?” and another girl asked “Where was Shakespeare’s theater, London or England?”

Yes… 9^th graders asked this… This school has a FANTASTIC rep! 9^th graders should frikkin KNOW that Caeser came first, and they DEFINITLY should know LONDON IS IN ENGLAND!!!!!! I mean, REALLY?

Also one year, the school was very upset with the NYTimes for being anti-Israel and having a clear Pro-Arab bias in terms of their news coverage (I was in HS during the scary years of hightened terror attacks in Israel). One of the teachers (our Mechanechet to be exact) came in and told us all about how we should all go home and tell our parents as a sign of protest they should unsubscribe to the Times (Lucky me, my parents weren’t retarded enough to subscribe to it in the first place, given it’s a liberal newspaper and Jews really should know better). A few days later the VERY same teacher walks in with the times in her hand, and lo and behold, she explains “As a sign of protest we stopped subscribing, but we still need to read the news, so we get it from the newstand, they get their money from subscriptions anyway”… I remember thinking “Yes dumby, generally that’s true, but if they see a sudden surge in newsstand sales their advertisers wouldn’t mind as much!” … frikkin idiot was a teacher!!!!

A few years later and more dead-beat graduates, the school continues to have a fantastic reputation and clearly not for its spectactular education (as far as I know most of the teachers are the same)… why?:

Because the average frum person is an idiot. Yes, I said it. The average frum person sends their kid to a school not based on an education criteria (say going to 3 different schools and asking to see what they give their first graders for HW), but rather based on a “reputation”. The reputation, no one really knows what its based on. But it’s a reputation. I mean the girls come out normal? Umm… not from my experience… unless you consider traumatized for life (my case and the handful of other girls) vs. brainless spoiled idiot going for speech in a flooded market and getting married with huge debt to a guy that doesn’t work or has a crapa$$ job that won’t get him far… Really your daughter is screwed eitherway. I still can’t stress enough, the school has a FANTASTIC reputation.

So WHY does frum education suck so bad? Because the average frum person is an idiot.

2011-05-07T23:03:00.001-04:00

First they start with young innocent kids and molesting (don’t have a link). They commit an obscene amount of white collar crimes and then they go on a plane and you find out that a “woman had testified in Brooklyn federal court that she awoke to find the man's hand massaging her crotch and then her breasts.” The man? A rabbi?

Why is it that gd forbid a woman dresses untzniusly or eats a KOSHER cheeseburger (parve cheese or parve meat) and the entire frum community is in an uproar about our values being thrown out the window, but a freakin RABBI, father of 11, feels up a woman on a flight, and is it reported?

Nope.

I wonder if they’re defending him saying she was dressed untzniusly (I don’t know how she was dressed, it’s irrelevant) and he couldn’t help it. Like it was the woman’s own fault or something. What the heck?

Idiot Seminary Excuse

2011-04-27T20:16:00.000-04:00

When my sister was in the 12^th grade, her school really wanted her to apply for seminary. My sister really didn’t want to go to seminary so the school called my mother in an attempt to convince her that seminary was important.

I understand the frummy community wants to keep you in the system for that one extra year … that extra year is what turns many from just “programmed” to full on FRUMMY psycho. So while I think it’s none of the schools business, I understand their need to help the Rabbi’s control the population.

Any way… One would think that if you’re making a case to separate a child from their parent there should atleast be a DECENT argument involved… but of course, if you deal with frummies you get the following:

“You know Mrs. your child was in a sheltered Jewish environment, do you really think it’s a good idea to stick her straight into college? Its such a culture clash. Seminary is a great transition year!”

Ummm… ARE THESE PEOPLE HIGH? What would you think is easier? Transitioning from a year of public NYC transportation into a college environment, or switching straight from a year in Israel WHERE JUST ABOUT EVERYONE IS JEWISH AND YOUR ASSOCIATIONS IS MOSTLY WITH FRUM JEWS AS WELL?

This is why the Jew educational system is failing. You have idiots running the system

Holy blood

2010-11-11T20:42:00.002-05:00

Recently my boss had an appointment with a salesman who wanted our companies business. The guy walks in, and he’s all buff and he looks like someone who spent all his free time at the gym working out. He and my boss go over pricing of the items, and the guy starts talking about how he teases the main guy of the company that he should get some business because he has “holy blood.”

Another person at the office overheard this asked “holy blood? How?”

And the salesman says “I’m about 5 generations a descendent from the Vilna Goan.”

So we all kinda look at him like “WOW” ‘cause we definitely didn’t expect that. So anyway, the guy starts talking about how he goes to a reform synagogue and that he actually likes his rabbi

So my boss goes “Oh yea? How much do you pay your rabbi?”

Salesman says a number over 6 figures. So we all kinda look at him like “WOWWWWW”

My boss says “how much vacation does he get?”

Saleman goes “well, we’re a reform synagogue he’s always on vacation. But he gets housing and a car.”

Then he tells a story of how one of the kids he coaches (don’t remember the sport) also goes to his temple… The kid (I guess he was about 13) was freaking out worried because one of his games was going to fall out on yom kippur and he wasn’t sure if he should go to service on Yom Kippur and upset his teammates/friends who rely on him for the games, or forget service and do what he should for his team. So the kid went to the Rabbi with his problem, and the Rabbi said “play the game. Gd will forgive you, but your friends never will.”

I was trying SOOOOOOO hard not to laugh.

The other ladies husband is a REAL rabbi and she was like “I totally disagree, some things are just not negotiable.”

Its just so sad how someone who KNOWS he’s a decendent from such a man can have a pathetic excuse of a rabbi like that!

Excercising our right to vote, and the new ballot machine

2010-09-14T18:25:00.001-04:00

In order to exercise our right to vote, my hubby and I woke up a tad earlier than usual to make it to the ballot before work.

When we arrived at our voting place and were welcomed by a few old ladies who told us where our distract’s voting station was. Lo’ and behold the complications…

At first the lady could not find my name. She found my husbands and was confused why it was not *my* name. Another lady quickly ran over, started helping out as well… my husband was set up with a ballot, a little manila folder that said “Private” (or something like that on it) and off he was to vote. Lucky for him, he looked at his ballot and realized they gave him the ballot from the *other* party!

Hubby says “You gave me the wrong ballot.”

The two ladies “What do you mean wrong ballot?”

Quickly another lady ran over and explained that you have to WATCH for which party the voter is coming from, you can’t just give out all the ballots from the SAME stack!

Quickly they had to rewrite everything onto the right parties information card.

Finally when you can vote, you have to go into this privacy booth, you put your ballot down, and what you see brings you back to HS. It’s each candidates name with little ovals next to them and you have to color them in! MULTIPLE CHOICE EXAM FOR YOUR ELECTION!

When you’re done coloring in the little ovals next to your candidates name you put your ballot back into the manila folder (to maintain privacy) and then you stand in line to wait for the scanner, hoping your ballot doesn’t fall out and give out who you voted for!

Of all the stupid things, you have to scan your ballot face UP! Why? Where’s the privacy?

Anyway, I dislike this new voting machine. I liked the old one way better!

PUtting Kiruv on ICe

2010-09-05T13:41:00.003-04:00

I've been saying for years that commercial Kiruv is a complete and total waste of money. For years it was obvious that the frum community was in a huge "parnassa crisis" and the recession took it in for an even bigger economic down turn. And now, we have yeshiva's closing their doors (4 of them in Lakewood) and we have families who can barely afford to put food on the table.

While frum people are a bit slow in realizing *WHY* the community is in a crisis (if your men ain't working yet you're reproducing you shouldn't be surprised)... they're slowly coming up with ideas (mostly stupid ones) on how to keep money flowing... one of which is the kiruv thing... Well... ok... a letter writer on Matzav suggested that kiruv be put on ice for the time being.

The article suggests that no one really even knows if organization that do kiruv actually turn people frum.

:)

I'm personally on cloud 9. After all I've been saying for years YOU CANNOT MAKE SOMEONE FRUM. THE PERSON HAS TO BE OPEN TO IT. If the person is already open to it, you don't need to spend a ton of money on them, just INVITE THEM OVER TO YOUR HOUSE! IF they are *not* open to the idea of becoming frum, you can give them all the luxuries, they'll take advantage of them CUZ YOU'RE GIVING IT TO THEM FOR FREE, but they won't actually become frum from it.

Don't want it to rain, don't buy a raincoat!

2010-08-25T22:37:00.002-04:00

The following is a letter to the Editor. It was published in the Yated, in December I think (I randomly browse the paper). THe comments is from a friend of mine on the bottom:

Dear Editor,

Have you noticed that it has been raining every shabbos recently? Just a thought on the matter.

A story is told about a Rav Elazar Shach zt"l who was once asked if women should learn CPR so that they can respond and act in a situation in which a child would need it. Rav Shach said not to learn it, beacause Hashem does not put a person in a situation that he cannot deal with. If they were to know CPR, new situations would occur where they would, chas vashalom, have to administer it.

Ever since the invention of the new raincoat/garbage bag, we have noticed more and more rain over shabbos. In the past rain on Shabbos meant weekday hats, insufficiently warm raincoats, going to a shul close by, etc. Now all that has changed.

Perhaps, if we were to cut back on purchasing these deluxe rain slickers, the rain would slow down.

P.S. Enjoy the forecasted rain this Shabbos too!

Sincerely,

Drenched in Lakewood

Heres what I think:

According to this logic, Jews should no longer be doctors nor should they be searching for cures for cancer cuz then it'll just cause more illness- because Hashem wouldn't give us anything we couldn't handle. And of course there should be no jewish tzedaka organizations because if there's no way to provide for the poverty stricken then we'd never have to deal with poverty.

The reason we're supposed to learn is so we get closer to g-d and have more kedusha and to avoid falling to the temptation of our yetzer hara, but if we stop preparing ourselves for those situations then we'll never come in contact with tumah/sin.

My life just took a turn- im just gonna sit around and do nothing all day so that I have nothing to deal with!

Ahh- the flawless logic of Yated readers!

Something wise

2010-08-22T23:30:00.001-04:00

A coworker of mine happens to be a bit of a frummy. The other day we were talking and somehow or other we got into the conversation of shidduchim (nothing shocking). I was telling her random things like how my father is super into shidduchim and how he set up two couples and so forth. I told her that I try to set people up, and so far no successes, and she told me how she tried a couple of shidduchim and gave it up.

She explained that shidduchim is super complicated. She was going on and on about how you have to call everyone to get "information" on the person to make sure they're alright, and she said its just not worth it. Then after a pause she was like "And the questions sometimes are just so stupid."

TO which I said "I know right, I had a shidduch call about my friend, and the guy asked me if she's helpful in the house, as if I live with her and I know what she does when no on is observing!"

SO my coworker goes "Yea, and even so, its such a stupid question, its all a matter of who you marry anyway."

Then she said:

"I had a neighbor who was a complete slob. She had 9 kids and the house was always dirty and messy, and it was disgusting to go in there. Her oldest daughter never helped her. She was lazy and just didn't allow the dirt to bother her and she sat on the porch and sucked her thumb. Yet, she got married. Her sister, the second daughter, the same thing, a complete slob. Totally didn't care. It wasn't until the third daughter was 'in charge' as the oldest that anything ever got cleaned... A few years down the line, I bumped into that oldest daughter that was a slob, and she had many kids, yet, she was the biggest neat freak. She had everything clean and neat. The house was always nice and clean and her kids were taught to help... So you really never know. Its who you live with, and the circumstances. The neatest person can turn into a slob too."

To myself, I thought that this women was so wise. I mean, she was older than me, and age brought about so much wisdom. And I know, that from my own marriage, there are a lot of things I hadn't expected to be doing or not be doing in regards to cooking & cleaning.

Modern Tribe has some great Jewish Gifts for all occasions

Check out Modern Tribe for cool and hip Judaica

Are you looking for a unique Jewish Gift?

Chutzpah!

2010-07-26T23:39:00.001-04:00

I was speaking to an older person I know about how much kollel bothers me. I was telling her how much I found it irresponsible for someone who had no job to marry, and I told her even more so, how much it bothers me when they leech on the society from the get-go (have hachnoses kallah to pay for wedding for example).

The lady completely agreed with me, and told me the following story, which was just mind-boggling, but unfortunately super believable.

She used to live in Boro Park and one day she had a knock on her door, and it was a beggar. It was a frummy young guy, all dressed in his penguin-self, collecting money for his wedding.

My friend was not dressed tzniously (as she was conservative and not frum), but was dressed in a robe that was sleeveless.

The guy, asked for money, and then started explaining how my friend should not be dressed the way she was, and that she needed sleeves! Then he again, asked for money.

My friend was rightfully pissed off, and she said to him "I work hard, and I pay for things, on my own. if YOU are getting married, *you* should have a job and work too, I will not give you any money, because you're younger and able-bodied and perfectly capable of getting a job. If you can't pay for your wedding, you shouldn't be getting married. and if you're poor, you just shouldn't be having a wedding, only a chupah."

The guy was annoyed and left.

Chutzpah! Talking about tznius, being a lazy leech, while expecting others to pick up the tab!

saving neshamos?

2010-07-22T22:05:00.002-04:00

I was at shul on shabbos and actually stayed to listen to the speech - can’t figure out why Rabbi’s are allowed to speak! Priests/Reverands give sermons shouldn’t speeches be considered goyish now? - Anyway, the speech was about a whole bunch of things which only proved that Rabbi’s don’t understand what being an employee in corporate America is like… but I’m not going to get into that… What irritated me most, is what I’m here to write about… Kiruv (sorta).

During the speech the Rabbi was saying something about kiruv and how kiruv professionals “save” countless neshamos, but in the meantime their own kids are known to regularly go off the derech.

Now, I’d like to ask

1- What are these non-frum Jews being “saved” from by becoming frum?

*As Jews we don’t believe in hell in the way Christians do. We don’t believe in eternal damnation; nor do we believe in this huge red monster who will keep us in a huge hot fire cave

*As Jews we are taught to believe that Gd that is merciful and forgiving. When we pass away (@ 120) we’ll go through like a t'shuva process to cleanse ourselves for a few months and then we go to a good place.

*As Jews if we have any intellectual honesty, we know we’re *all* gonna end up in a form of gehenim anyway. Kosher or not… and even the worst man just ends up there for a little longer (except those who qualify for the “yimach shemom’ category)… so really, what are we saving them from? We’re not saving them from anything we’re not already *all* gonna be a part of.

*Religion is not for everyone. Some people can’t have their lives dictated by diets that are the “fad”. Nor can they live a life in which they have to worry about everything they serve in their house because someone else may not eat there. Some people just shouldn't be religious.

So really what are we saving them from other than their own ability to CHOOSE what they want, without it being bombarded down by BS crap?

2- If Kiruv-professional kids are known to be going off the derech, REGULARLY, why in the hell are we even DOING COMMERCIAL KIRUV?

- *Chessed* begins at home… so even if a frum persons neshama is somehow “safer” (still don’t know how) than a non-frum persons neshama, why are we risking the neshamos of those who are *already* frum? Isn’t there a thing that Gd only minimally punishes us if we’re unaware that we’re doing something wrong, whereas if we *know* we’re doing something wrong our punishment is that much worse? So why are we educating a public that doesn’t really know how much wrong they’re doing while allowing people who *know* perfectly well HOW MUCH WRONG they’re doing to still not do it? Why not just leave the non-frum Jews non-frum and allow the Frum Jews to REMAIN frum. If we allow that, there is minimul punishment amongst the Jews.

Pretty much, Rabbis go on and on and preach about how "chesed begins at home", they dont practice what they preach, and BAM, their own kids go OTD, and they validate it by claiming they "saved" neshamos!

YAY~!

2010-07-21T22:38:00.002-04:00

Online Doctoral Programs

-I dont even know how this works, but I guess THANK YOU to whoever nominated me, or voted for me, or whatever it took :)-

YAY!
and congrats to all the other winner :)

Yeshiva Hypocrisy

2010-07-02T17:53:00.001-04:00

The following is a guest post:

I don't usually like to complain or make waves, but a recent incident has made venting a necessity, as well as a need to let the public know of the admissions process of a very respected Yeshiva. Our son is supposed to go to Kindergarten in the fall, so we applied to several schools in October of 2009. One of the schools that we applied to was this respected yeshiva. We thought that we would have no problem in getting in as my husband is an alumnus and many of our friends' children go there. We were wrong. While we were contacted by and then accepted by several schools, this respected Yeshiva never bothered to reply to us. We didn't pay attention to this for awhile as we were considering other schools. However, in the end, we decided to focus on the respected yeshiva due to the high cost of tuition and after being made aware of certain incidents in the schools that we were accepted to, as well as the fact that we would have for a very expensive private bus for the first year. The respected yeshiva is the least expensive of the schools that we applied to and it is within a very easy walking distance from us. Due to the act that we never heard anything from them, we correctly assumed that we were rejected and asked our Rabbi to find out whether anything could be done for us to be admitted there. He tried and over the course of several months was told that there was simply no room. However, as I simply wasn't sure we were rejected in the first place, I finally called the Rabbi in charge of admissions and he explained the reason.:

He said that they first take all the children of their Kollel members and those with older siblings already in the school. I said that's fine, but then I pointed that after these children, we should have been one of the first to be contacted for an interview as my husband attended this school and that we applied as early as possible in October. His answer was that the list of alumni was sent to the board, who then decided who to interview based on their activity on behalf of the yeshiva and contributions to it. In other words, it didn't matter that my husband was an alumnus or that we were one of the first to apply, the reason that we were rejected is that we didn't give them enough money. Now, beside the fact that this should have nothing to do with admittance, we have contributed money to the yeshiva throughout the years and my mother in law contributes every year as well. Then to add insult to injury, this Rabbi said that there were no spaces already in January, when our Rabbi first started inquiring on our behalf. However, this is a lie as I know someone who was interviewed and accepted in January after someone spoke for them.

To say that I am angry about the entire incident is an understatement. It is time that everyone knew that these holier-than-thou types are complete hypocrites who claim and teach one thing, but really only care about money. Also, before anyone asks, we would have paid full tuition in this respected yeshiva, afterall the high tuition in the schools that we were accepted to combined with paying for an expensive private bus, would have required us to apply for scholarship which we didn't want to do.

It is also quite obvious that from now on we are not going to contribute another penny to this yeshiva."

SHIDDUCH book

2010-06-17T19:48:00.002-04:00

My Sister Is In 12Th Grade. Finally, She Is Putting An End To The Main Source Of The Insanity In Her Life, And She’s Getting *Far* Away From Her Hs!! In The Meantime, While She’S Anticipating Her Last Day Of Classes, Her Idiot Principal (And Other Prinicipals As Well, As I Remember These Things Happening At My Hs) Is Checking Out EVERY Single Yearbook Picture The Girls Put In.

If the girl has her hair to long… it has to be photoshopped short.

If the girl has her hair in front, and not in the back, her hair has to be photoshopped out.

*this* is what the insanity of the frum world has come to. Yearbook pictures.

I for one, am eternally greatful I was not in my school yearbook (or rather SHIDDUCHbook)

Tfillin

2010-05-25T00:05:00.003-04:00

True occurrence:

A super frummy, a friend and I were shmoozing when the conversation turned to Tfillin and how expensive it was.

Friend said looking at frummy "You know, a friend of mine just bought Tfillin for his Bar Mitzvah son and it cost $1200!"

Frummy said "that's nothing, My brother-in-law just paid $1800 for Tfillin for his son."

Friend and I were totally shocked, after all, we could understand a difference in $100-$200 for the tfillin, but $600 is huge... so I asked "What's so special about that Tfillin?"
She said "Well, its from a soifer with greater yiras shamayim"

Honestly, it took alot of strengh to keep from cracking up- not that friend and I were any nicer in our reaction- we both made funny looking faces which gave a clear explaination of our thoughts "WTH? HOw can you tell?"

Then, one of us (don't remember who first) said "what? How can you tell?" OUT LOUD and so frummy was like "Well, they... "

I couldn't fully understand what she said, but it was pretty obvious that the laymans terms version of it woulda been something like this "they have better handwriting"...

I was like "FOR REAL?!"

Why are people so frikkin stupid? I mean, I understand paying more money for BETTER QUALITY stuff, but lets face it, the writing will fade no matter who wrote up the tfillin. Eventually the Tfillin is going to need to be checked, so unless you fly the Tfillin back to Israel (where else would someone with greater Yiras Shamayim live?), it aint gonna be any different.

Then these bozo's complain about how expensive it is to be frum.

non-Jew coworker on Jewish men

2010-05-17T23:38:00.003-04:00

One non-Jewish lady at my office said to me "You know, back in the former Soviet Union, all of us wanted to marry Jewish guys. They were known to be the best. They worked, they didn't drink and they didn't have girlfriends... And if they did, their wife and child always came first if anything major happened."

I thought that was an amazing thing she said, and then I responded "they don't really work so much anymore."
She was like "WHAT!?"
I said "yea, its not in style for them to work, they don't work, they sit in yeshiva and learn all day, and get married, and continue to sit in yeshiva and learn all day"

She said "they can do that, but no one will want to marry them!"
I said "yea, umm... its in style for girls to want a guy like that and for her dad to provide for them"

To which my coworker responded "They're not Jewish then. Jewish men are actually hardworking." (She would know, she married a Jew)

I thought to myself "its a sad world when the non-Jew recognizes the insanity of our current culture."

On wearing a Hat

2010-05-05T15:47:00.002-04:00

The following qoute describes perfectly how I feel about hats:

A hat should be taken off when you greet a lady and left off for the rest of your life. Nothing looks more stupid than a hat. P. J. O'Rourke

Haknosses Kallah and why I'm against Obamacare

2010-04-26T08:41:00.002-04:00

By A guest post:

Chaknosot Kalah & why I am against ObamaCare

It must have started all innocently. A young couple wanted to get married, found an apartment, bought a couple of mattresses and borrowed a few pots and pans and dishes from friends and relatives. The wedding date was set and they were awaiting it anxiously. Their friends wanted to do something special for the newlyweds. They collected a few dollars here and there and bride and a groom had a cake, wine, sodas and challah.

At least that's how I see Chaknoset Kalah started out. Now in the name of every kalah (bride) deserves a beautiful wedding, various Chaknoset Kalah organizations throw huge weddings with food for the guests and gown for the bride. They buy for the newlyweds two twin beds with brand new linen and towels and pots and pans and dishes and even a washing machine. That's right, all one has to do is declare herself to be a poor bride and these organizations will not think twice about setting up their household. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's a private charity organization and if people want to donate their money to support two teens getting married without a job, education or any other conceivable way to support themselves besides living off the charity, it's their business. Who am I to judge them. Heck, when a poor friend got married we wrote a nice check to him, but at the same time when I get a phone call about Tova needing money because she is getting married and only wants to work part time as a kindergarten teacher's helper and her groom is not planning to work, ever if he can help it, I politely tell the caller that I do not support their cause. Yes, every bride deserves a perfect wedding, but I don't think it is necessary to provide a perfect wedding for every bride.

I do not believe in this charity and I don't support them. There are other charitable organizations that I do not support such as peta or global warming or various organizations that are of other religions'. No one is forcing me to donate to them and everyone is happy with the establishment.

Now we are talking about Obamacare. This is an all encompassing healthcare which takes my money to provide care to each and every American as they need it. Sounds fine, just like the original Chaknasot Kala organization, but then we have to look into what they are providing. They are saying that everyone deserves it. I remember about 20 years ago, government saw no problem with providing mattresses to patients on Medicaid as long as a doctor decided that the said patient needed one. (I'm not sure if this is still so today.) So, my hardworking money was stolen from me via taxation me to give brand new beds to poor people, while I had to scrape and save to get a new bed for myself. Had Medicaid been a charitable organization and I would have gotten a phone call from one of the organizations collecting money for new beds for poor people I would have been able to decided whether or not it's a worthwhile charity and donated or not according to that decision. But the government made that decision for me. Imagine if part of the ObamaCare was about Chaknasot Kalah. After all, every bride deserves a beautiful wedding, so why shouldn't it be part of our healthcare and let's make every hardworking American pay for that wedding.

Thomas Jefferson

2010-04-04T18:28:00.002-04:00

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretence of taking care of them.

-Thomas Jefferson

for real now...

2010-03-29T16:14:00.003-04:00

A few individual frum Jews are trying to argue that the new law (Obamacare) should be seen as a good thing by us. Why?

Well they say that since Jews are charitable people (and that, we are) we should view this as a step towards the greater good... blah blah.

well, here goes...

1- I *chose* to be frum. and choose to abide by the rules everyday (why, I'm not always sure).
2- How much I give to charity, is my business... and my husbands business (afterall, we are a team)
3- no one actually knows how much maaser I give, or dont give... or who I give to, or what my principles are behind who I choose to give etc... UNLESS I TELL THEM.
4- THere is *no* way anyone will ever know how much i give, because
a) my income is confidential
b) even if for whatever reason my income became public knowledge (worked for the govt), who I gave charity to, and how much, would remain confidential, and therefore, *no* one would know who i give too, or how much I give etc...

5-
*IF* a Rabbi were to suggest a charity, i would *not* have to give to it if I chose not to.
*IF* I chose *not* to give to the suggested charity, the Rabbi wouldn't hunt me down, and Gd wouldn't strike me with lightening and kill me as a form of punishment. Contrary to psycho frummy popular belief "midda kneged midda" is not so simple... So if I weren't giving maaser, the likelihood of a major tragedy occurring that otherwise wouldnt occur is slim.

Now-
Health care passes, and the government decides to "help" people ( I'm not even getting into the fact that all gold the government touches turns to sand).

- I *have* to give charity
- I have *no* choice who to give to, because the government chooses for me
-The government also chooses the amount, because it *knows* my income. I cannot hide it, unless I cheat (work off the books).
- If I cheat, I get fined, and then probably imprisonment if I cheated a lot.
- If I dont give at all get prison.

So umm... democraps (yes, thats what you are), while the healthcare system may be failing. I (and the VAST majority of the public) dont particular care for this bill... even if some of us happen to be part of a charitable nation.

Get it?

If not, well then... lets talk money...
WE HAVE NO FRIKKIN MONEY! THE COUNTRY IS BANKRUPT!
this healthcare bill is as effective in saving people, as it is attempting to save a drowning person by pouring more water on their head.

stupid liberals

2010-03-23T23:04:00.003-04:00

The liberals are running amok praising themselves for a "job-well done"...
they're comparing what they did for the country as similar to Medicare/Medicaid... proudly.

umm... DEMOCRAPS! Listen up ... THOSE SYSTEMS ARE FAILED. RUNNING OUT!!!!!!! UNFUNDED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING FROM THE NEW DEAL IS FAILING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! WHY ARE THESE PEOPLE ALLOWED TO VOTE, NVM BE IN POWER?!

2010-03-08T22:33:00.002-05:00

http://www.wpix.com/news/wpix-orthodox-rabbi-charged,0,7403437.story

Just another point to prove the antisemitism! This Rabbi is innocent! Only Hitler Lovers would convict him [note sarcasm]!

Parking Tickets, anti semitic?

2010-02-22T19:40:00.002-05:00

I was browsing vosisneias.com, when I found the following article: Brooklyn, NY - Council Candidates Fire Off Letter To NYC Officials To Stop Ticket Blitz Erev Shabbos.

The article said that:

New York City Council Candidates in the 44th District Joe Lazar, And David Greenfiled have fired off a letter to NYC officials, asking them to halt the mass parking ticket blitz that has been targeted unfairly in the Brooklyn Orthodox community Erev Shabbos.

The Parking meters throughout Boro Park and Brooklyn areas are in effect until 7pm on Friday, even though in the winter months, Shabbos goes into effect as early as 4pm. Once the 25 hour Shabbos goes into effect, observant drivers are prohibited by Jewish Law from feeding the meter. Even if they feed the meter at 5pm (the approximate current start of Shabbos), they are only allowed to pay for one hour, resulting in parking tickets that they are unable to prevent.

I’m curious how meters “unfairly” target the Brooklyn Orthodox Community? I don’t live in a super frummy neighborhood, and I see parking patrol cops *all* over the place, giving tickets to people who do *not* feed their meters… they’re *not* necessarily Jewish.

I also fail to see how the time that shabbos begins is a factor in parking regulation? My husband *knows* shabbos starts early, and therefore *doesn’t* park by a meter on a Friday, knowing full well he’ll be unable to feed it. So no matter what time shabbos starts, a meter still needs to be fed, and a FRUM person *knows* that, because it’s the LAW!

If anyone comes on the comments defending this wacko letter, claiming that cops target orthodox Jews in general when it comes to ticketing, I’ll just laugh. Think about the last time you drove on ave J or in Boro Park and you didn’t think you were going to die in a crash? SUPER FRUMMIES CAN’T DRIVE!!!!! They TRIPPLE PARK IN BORO PARK, and the U-TURN ON 13th ave!!!

THEY DESERVE THE TICKETS!!!!! Its *not* anti-Semitism!

buy it yourself

2010-01-21T13:01:00.001-05:00

“However, this does not mean that you should not buy your future daughter in law a ring that is possibly more than you would have wanted to spend. I don't mean exorbitantly, maybe another $1000.”

That quote is one I found in the comments of one of Orthonomics post about dependency of today’s couples on their parents…

I personally got completely agitated by that comment right there.

I understand a MIL, a sister, or a SIL asking to accompany a guy when he goes to purchase his girlfriend (dating partner) her ring, but for someone other than the chosson to pay for it? Seriously? Didn’t the guy ever work?

No, I forgot… guys these days are so holy that they don’t need to work!

I’m not on the madraga to constantly know that “Hashem provides” (by making parents/inlaws sick from overwork, and lack of retirement funds)

Seriously? Wtf?

Cursed

2010-01-07T23:10:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine emailed me the other day, clearly hysterical (we communicate via email *all* the time, so I can tell by the "tone") to say that a Rabbi (also happens to be the shadchan who made her shidduch) cursed her marraige.

That's right. The Rabbi CURSED her marriage.

At first I started cracking up hysterically, because, why the hell would a Rabbi curse a marraige, and even if he did, who really cares? Any man with the ability to give a "real" curse (if there even is one), wouldn't be an a$$ enough to actually do it.

Anyway, I asked her "so, whats this about?"

Here goes:
A few months before she and her chatan met, her chatan knew the Rabbi/shadchan very well and agreed to help him out with something. He (the chatan) spent hours researching information, free of charge. After a few months the Rabbi/Shadchan got what he needed, and said to chatan "thank you soooo very much, you're such a nice boy, I will now make it a big deal to find you a nice girl to marry"

A month or so later, my friend (Kallah) walked into the Rabbi's life, by joining a group he had, where he gave speeches and led discussions. He got to know my friend, and he realized that she would make a good match with the guy who helped him. He set them up... 2 months later, they're engaged!

During the engagment period, the chatan walked into the Rabbi/Shadchan's office, and handed him a shadchan gift of $500... Rabbi through the envelope back in chatan's face, and said "I charge $2000 from the grooms side and $1000 from the brides, what you gave me is pathetic. He who doesn't pay his shadchan is he who has a cursed marraige"

and so... my friend was totally flipping out, becuase seh was totally superstitious, and generally, as a soon-to-be married person, that's something completely unpleasant to hear.

I told my friend "the rabbi is an a$$, ignore him. He's a Rabbi not a magician"

And so...she see's a curse in everything now. The apt is roach infested, people keep declining the wedding and that up's the price per plate (yes, I know, she shouldn't have guaranteed so many people), and so many other things...

I can't help but think that this guy is such an a$$ to go and curse the couple. Even if he were upfront about the fee's (which he wasn't), and even if the chatan never helped him with anything, one has to be an a$$ of a Rabbi to throw money back at the couple and CURSE them as well...

Dumb Gemach

2010-01-05T11:43:00.000-05:00

I was looking through the Jewish Press Classifieds when I got up to the part about "Gemachs". Most of them are decent, but one was just laugh out-loud funny. Here goes:

Beautiful business-size cards with Kiruv websites on them, are available for free (o to give to not-yet Frum people).

Can anyone explain to me why frummies think their religion is so cheap that a few fluffed up websites (on a "beautiful" business card) is enough to turn someone frum?
Heck, why do frummies think EVERYONE is cut out for the frum lifestyle?

what the ad should say

2010-01-03T13:07:00.000-05:00

If anyone is ever bored, I highly recommend reading the classified's of the Torah Times... its ridiculously humurous (specifically the lost & found). But I'm not going into that...

I'm gonna make fun of the ads... I call it the
"What the ad's SHOULD say..." and then write the actual ad- as is- in the Times.

Should say:

Tzedaka

Emergency Campaign. Two-incapable "adults" getting married, with no job and lack of any practical job-related skills, as well as the lack of any life-skills. Please buy a raffle ticket for two to Florida.

What ad says:

Emergency Campaign. Hachnases Kallah Raffle, Ticket for 2 to Florida 1-for $5- 3 for $12- 5 for $18- Please mail to...

Should say:

Shadchan

Shidduch Organization looking to set your adult-child up. Please send us their height and weight, so we can update our database and begin to set people up!

What ad says:

Zivug4u Shidduch Organization is now updating our Data Base send email to request form.

Crazy hours

2009-12-30T12:54:00.003-05:00

I was speaking to someone I know who recently left Lakewood. She had been living there for about 9 years and has recently moved out.

She was telling me the typical day of the average kollel guy or Rabbi (her husband) in kollel community...
- Wakes up early, runs to catch minyan.
- comes home, has breakfast, runs to morning shuir.
- comes home for dinner time, stays for about an hour, and then goes for maariv and night shuir.
- comes home about 11 (depending on who he speaks with etc)

She gave me exact hours, but I'd be lying if I told you I remembered them (which is why I didnt post them). But I do remember that she pretty much just sees her husband that one hour for dinner, and then from 11 till they go to bed (which varies on the night of the week), and then fully on shabbos.

This lady who was telling me, has spent her entire married life, seeing her husband with these teeny amount of hours... meaning their first year of marraige.

I cannot fathom how a marraige can possibly function properly, if the couple sees each other soooo seldomly. Especially the first year of marraige... how in the hell can they possibly get to know each other, with hours like that? Can one even say they're living with each other, or just AROUND each other like roommates?

Normal Frummy

2009-12-17T18:49:00.000-05:00

I was given a ride home from a coworker of mine. He's a very nice, succesful frummy. He's your typical do-gooder (and I mean this in a good way).

In the car he was telling me about how his first year of marraige he was in kollel. He said he couldn't handle it. He was unable to bear the burden, knowing his (and her) parents were supporting him. He said he couldn't handle it for more than one year. He wasn't able to go out to eat, or buy a soda from a local bodega knowing that it was a luxury his parents had to work hard to provide for. So he didn't do things like that. He said rent he was able to accept because he told himself they were providing for the Torah Learning. But he couldn't bear anything other than that. He couldn't justify it to himself.

Imagine if all learners (and many non-full-time learners as well) had that kind of regard for other people's money... Maybe the economic crisis wouldn't have hit as hard as it did in the community...

The Fountainhead

2009-12-15T18:43:00.002-05:00

So far, after Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell- The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand is my favorite book of all time.

The Fountainhead was written by a woman who was so anti-communism, she became a liberatarian. Ayn Rand was like the Liberatarian. Her views on everything (in my opinion) are quite awesome, but so extreme that most of them cannot be feasable. (fun fact: Alan Greenspan was one of her friends/followers, attended her funeral and used her philosophy in alot of his work).

Anyway, the book is full of incredible quotes. The first "quote" is probably my favorite of all time, and describes the vast majority of frum people quite well- I'm going to copy the dialogue:

person 1- "...but I guess thats what the public wants."

person 2- "Why do you suppose they want it?"

person 1- "I don't know."

person 2- "Then why should you care what they want?"

person 1- "You've got to consider the public.:

person 2- "Don't you know that most people take most things because that's what's given them, and they have no opinion whatever? Do you wish to be guided by what they expect you to think they think or by your own judgment?"

If you're reading this and cannot fathom why I think person 1 is a typical frummy, while person 2 has a brain (and is not so typical), then you're probably just like person 1.

----

The following is a quote that I just adore, because it describes how I feel about frum people everytime I'm surrounded by to many of them (at various events or at shul and the women only talk about their hair, make-up and diets). As you read it, please substitute Peter for "Frummy" (I didnt wanna kill the quote so I left it original).

"You- Peter, you're everything I despise in the world and I don't want to remember how much I despise it. If I let myself remember- I'll return to it. this is not an insult to you, Peter. Try to understand that. You're not the worst of the world. You're its best. That's what's frightening."

Thanksgiving

2009-11-24T22:32:00.000-05:00

With Thanksgiving a few days away I decided to write a post dedicated to the Turkey day. I was having a discussion with a friend of mine who has a family member in a Jewish frummer B”Y type school; she was saying how the kids do arts n’ crafts for Mothers Day, Fathers Day & Thanksgiving even though they’re secular holidays and not everyone in the school keeps them.

This friend claimed that it causes jealousy amongst the students, because some have Mom’s & Dads who welcome the crafts, while others give a whole lecture against them. My view is that Kids will be Kids, and jealousy will come anyway. There is no reason why a teacher cannot use an excuse for arts n’crafts (it keeps the kids occupied). Also, if the teachers are smart they can turn secular holiday arts n’ crafts into a learning experience as well. Thanksgiving is a clear example. Have the kids cut out boat shapes and spell out the Mayflower on it… around Columbus day you can have them cut out similar boat shapes with Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria spelled out. Sure, Mothers and Fathers Day complicates the lecture, but if a teacher so chooses she can say “Many frum Jews don’t celebrate days specifically dedicated for Mom’s & Dad’s –and say why- but you can get great gifts, so sometimes taking advantage of the cheapness is the Jewish way too J…” Something, anything… Why is it that we have to completely screw around with such innocent holidays and allow “jealousy.”

Some kids hold by Cholov Yisroal and cannot experience the deliciousness of the Kit Kat or the Snickers bar, or DUNKIN DONUTS!!!.. how come they don’t complain about Cholov Yisroal ?

Why I dont give to Hachnosses Kallah

2009-11-08T13:02:00.000-05:00

I received an email the other day from an engaged person. I know she isn’t the wealthiest person, but between her and her fiance’s parents they’re managing to pay for quite an expensive wedding. I was happy for her that she was marrying someone who had a little bit more money to help out. Like for example, her fiance lives a luxury building (not the type where the word luxury is used loosely).

One might think that between his and her savings and wedding present money all should be well. Right? Well apparently not. Because she still felt that she needed some financial help, so she went and had her teacher from HS fill out a form for her to receive 2 sets of dishes, 2 sets of pots/pans, 2 sets of flatwear, sheets, towels and a huge amount of coupons to help pay for furniture (honestly I don’t consider coupons a big deal, but I’m just mentioning what she’s getting), a food processor, and other small random things that should, atleast in my opinion *not* be given out for free if the kallah is having an *expensive* wedding.

Now… Someone told me that I may not know the full situation so I shouldn’t judge and get all ticked off. But I thought about that, and here is what I *do* know
- She has over $10,000 in savings
- He has over $10,000 in savings
- While $20,000 doesn’t get a newly wed couple to far (btwn appliances, furniture, *rent* (in the NYC area will not hold that amount for long), bills etc). its still quite a number especially since one is working and the other is looking for a job (oh… and wedding money soon to come…)
- The wedding is *not* being paid for by a hachnosses kallah org, and since I've been to the hall she’s being married in (when I was looking for my own wedding) I *know* the place is *not* exactly cheap, because I know the cost per plate… Like I said, I know she’s not the richest person etc… I understand that some people need help starting a marriage… but she is having an EXPENSIVE wedding. If she’s dumb enough to either spend all the money on the wedding or go into debt over the wedding, she shouldn’t be qualified for the free stuff. Infact, Since she has enough money in savings and soon in wedding money to definitely get by for a about a year, there should be no reason she’s getting help *now* anyway… SPECIFICALLY because she’s having an expensive wedding. I don’t get this… why do Jews think its their RIGHT to irresponsibly spend money and still qualify for “help”?!

He's gonna make you

2009-09-30T01:29:00.002-04:00

This one guy at shul keeps on bothering my father. He keeps telling him that my fiance only says he won't make me cover my hair, but a few months into marriage, he'll make me!

I also have this friend, who is currently seeing a guy, who is slightly (literally, slightly) more religious than she is. Her family is freaking out (they don't like him because she's sephardi/he's ashkanazie), so they keep telling her that he'll *make* her cover her hair; he's only saying now that he doesn't care, because he just wants to get married [if he's that desperate, he needs a shrink, not a wife with a sheital].
***

Normally, I ignore people who are stupid, but in this case, since my friend is being bombarded with the same retardedness as my father is, I'm going to just write a ranting post about it.

Firstly (and I said this to my friend when she was complaining to me), I'd like to know how any man- even woman for that matter- could *make* someone cover their hair? Is there a crazy glue gemach that works with the sheital gemach... together with the consent of the husband, they raid the house in the middle of the night and crazy glue a sheital onto a woman's head?

Secondly, I don't know what goes on on shidduch dates, but my fiance and I (and my friend and the guy she's seeing) DISCUSSED hair covering. If he lied to me about where he stands on this issue to the extent that he'll *make* me cover my hair a few months into the marriage, what else is he lying about? I'll have bigger issues to worry about than whether or not my head is covered with a shmata or a bit of 3rd world hair!

Thirdly...well...I don't have a thirdly.. People are just stupid.
Does anyone know how someone can *make* a woman cover her hair?

My uncle's wedding

2009-09-15T23:51:00.005-04:00

So my uncle got married on Sunday... to a shiksa.

We didn't go to the wedding. It was in a church. My uncle asked us to please at least go to the reception, but really... what's a reception if you don't participate in the ceremony?

And so... we didn't go to the wedding. We didn't even really feel as if we missed much, after all, when we went to the fiance's shower we felt totally out of place.

I was browsing facebook earlier today. Lo and behold my uncle was tagged in a few of the photos in an album dedicated completely to his wedding. I went and looked through the photos.

1- the "church" wedding, was literally something that would've made me vomit had I been unaware and attended the ceremony. The "chupah" was held in the front of the church (that would be the alter?) right UNDER a *huge* cross, with, you guessed it, a Jesus hanging from it.

2- My uncle was standing there in a frikkin KIPPA!!
I mean really... REALLY!?! I'm all for open minded and all that nonsense, but even a reform person can't JUSTIFY standing under an IDOL performing a traditional ceremony with a man there in a KIPPA!

But NOOOOO... The "rabbi" was a dumba$$ who said that a Jew being in a church was ok as long as he was wearing a kippa.

3- The people at that wedding made me REALLLLLLLY happy I'm not very close with my new aunt's side. The way they dressed is not just immodest (which doesn't bother me much), but was literally indecent. IT was like beach dresses. I've been to nice non-religious weddings, where the girls wore nice chiffon teeny dresses or taffeta or silk. but at least the material was classy. At this wedding, it's like they threw s/t on that was in the dress category, and felt it was appropriate. They looked as if they were at the wedding in a beach cover-up outfit.

4- At her shower I met a reaaaaaallllllly distant relative. A relative that not only had I never met, but my mother had never met either. Anyway, my grandma has always been telling us that this relative (let's call her Devora) was frum. We knew exactly how "frum" she was when we were told she had THREE sets of dishes... 2 for kashrus purposes (1 meat, 1 dairy), and one for when she feels like eating traif.

At this shower my family was given kosher food, while Devora said she'll eat "dairy" at the place. Fine, no problem. Not everyone cares and I certainly don't. She just really bothered me because she kept talking about her own stupid family as if people she had just met really care that much!
Oh... and then of course, this same "frum" relative was found in the very SAME facebook photo album. Standing there in the VERY same picture in the church with the chupah under the idol was this "FRUM" relative!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You know ... eat what you want, dress how you want. But don't frikkin pretend to be frum and not even be remotely bothered by the fact that not only was he marrying a shiksa (one can claim to be open minded), but he was performing a pretty holy ceremony in front of an IDOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AN IDOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't fathom what a frikkin idiot this woman is. I'm trying to figure out who bothers me more in all this, Devora for attending the ceremony or the "rabbi" for approving it.

Humor wedding related stuff

2009-09-06T01:36:00.004-04:00

I'm very much in wedding mode lately. Everything in my life right now revolves around weddings; Between gown fittings, apartment viewings and hair consultations, I feel as if I've had a career change and become an event planner of some sort. The fact that my best friend just recently got married (mazel tov to her :)) didn't "help" the situation. All-in-all, the experience is good, just ridiculously hectic. Since everything in life- including wedding planning- involves dealing with people, much humor has come from my adventures (especially recently), that I'd like to share.

THe first story takes place after my best friends shabbos kallah:

My best friends shabbos kallah came to an end. Since she could not see her chosson (and because she happens to be nice), she drove me and another girl (mutual friend) home. The other girl was in the car and innocently asked me "Does it bother you that you got engaged first, yet you're getting married after her?"

My best friend was like "we're so not like that, its not a competition."
I said "yea, its not a competition, just because my fiance and I decided it were better to have a longer engagement, doesn't mean I want everyone around me to put their lives on hold."

I can't help but laugh at this, mostly becuase it's a pathetic question, and a pathetic outlook in life. When one gets engaged, its not about getting to the chupah first, its about the marraige itself. If someone gets married first, second, third or fourth, that doesn't mean their marriage will be better or worse. Yet, its quite common for frummies to focus on getting married ASAP so as not to turn into an "old maid" at the ripe "old" age of 21 (or is it 22 now?).

The second story took place at a sheva brachos:

A girl went over to the Rabbi and asked the following question "Is it true that if a kallah steps on someones foot during the dancing at a wedding, she's the next to get married?"

Due to the tone, I'm almost positive the question was not actually serious. But the response was so funny.

The Rabbi responded kinda confused "I've never heard of that, but don't go around spreading it, or else all the single girls will ask to be stomped on!"

How pathetically true is that? LOL. I was trying so hard not to laugh. :)

---
It's after 2 am, and so I cannot recall all the stories I meant to share. Maybe I"ll repost. :)

Text Message

2009-08-26T23:03:00.005-04:00

I received a text today which read:

Emergency. Please say tehillim for dov Yisroel mordechai ben chaya sara he is in trial now to get sentence to a terrible prison! Thank u"

I responded and asked "who is he and what was his crime"

She responded "I have no idea."

To which I said "and how do you know he isn't guilty and deserve it?" (and I gave her an example of the frummies arrested a few weeks ago)

And she goes "I feel bad for those people and I will pray for them. They tried to do good but it turned out bad. I'm not judging"

!??!?!

"they tried to do good but it turned out bad?"...

Since when was that in the story? I haven't heard anyone say the intentions were good.
I heard the Rabbi's were lied too. But not "tried to do good"

I don't fathom what it is about defending wrongdoers.

The FBI was on this investigation for about 10 years
The FBI is full of highly intelligent people.

I think its safe to conclude that the FBI is most definitely correct on this.

I don't even understand why we should feel for these people. If anything these people should be used as a life lesson (especially if one does not have a fear of Hashem)"hmm... if I steal, maybe the FBI will see me, and catch me, and then put me in jail."

Raffle Ticket

2009-08-19T19:09:00.004-04:00

My mother just recently remembered a story she heard from a Rabbi. Here is the story followed by my very humble (stubborn) opinion:

There once was a lady somewhere in frumville whose child got engaged. She had little money and was unable to afford to make a simcha. Since she was a proud women, she had no desire to ask for charity. Her friend wanted to help her, but she refused to accept charity even from her friends.

Her friend thought of a plan. She decided to sell "raffle tickets." She collected a lot of money. Then went and sold a raffle to her proud friend.

The proud friend "won" the money because she had the system rigged (by not actually having the raffle).

***

When the Rabbi was telling over this story, he said it with such pride over the frum community. He was saying how wonderful it was that a friend would go out of her way to create a raffle to RIG it, in order to enable her proud friend to throw her child a simcha.

Now...

Am I the only one who thinks what this lady did by inventing a raffle is a form of theft? I can't even fathom how a RABBI could introduce this subject into anything other than "theft 101" or "How to manipulate funds 101".. to PRAISE this woman is far from appropriate. I think it's disgusting.

I buy raffle tickets. I personally don't expect to win, I give the money as a form of tzedakah, but I like to know that I have a CHANCE of winning... not necessarily because I intend to win, but because I want to know that my money is going to a legit organization. If an organization is legit, they'd actually RAFFLE OFF tickets- and not just lie about the whole thing.

Am I the only one who thinks that frummy idiots should stop blaming all frum problems on the "lack of tznius" and start focusing on the THEFT in the community. For heavens sake, a Rabbi praised a woman who made up the raffle!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its no wonder we have minyanim (of frum men) in US prisons with KOSHER food!!

Democrat Balloonist

2009-08-18T01:26:00.001-04:00

A woman in a hot

> air balloon realized she was lost.

> She lowered her

> altitude and spotted a man in a boat below.

> She shouted to

> him, "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I

> would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I

> am." The man

> consulted his portable GPS and replied, "You're in

> a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground

> elevation of 2,346 feet above sea level. You are at 31

> degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09

> minutes west longitude. "She rolled

> her eyes and said, "You must be a Republican."

> "I

> am," replied the man. "How did

> you know?" "Well,"

> answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is

> technically correct. But I have no idea what to do with your

> information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not

> been much help to me." The man smiled

> and responded, "You must be an Obama Democrat."

> "I

> am," replied the balloonist. "How did

> you know?" "Well,"

> said the man, "you don't know where you are or

> where you are going. You've risen to where you are, due

> to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise you have

> no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your

> problem. You're in

> exactly the same position you were in before we met, but

> somehow, now it's my fault.

Guest Post by "Orthodox Zoro" on Fairness

2009-08-12T17:14:00.003-04:00

Due to the fact that I’ve been busy lately, the amount of time I spend blogging has decreased (as if that needed mentioning). Someone had asked me if they could guest post, and I decided that branching out was definitely a good idea. I was also thrilled that this particular person wanted to write about fairness, about

I’d like to welcome you to a guest post. Enjoy-

Fairness

If the Sisterhood of a shul has a luncheon or any type of fundraising event, all of its proceeds go to the shul.

If the shul itself has any sort of fundraising event like the Melava Malka, all the proceeds go to the shul.

If the Russian program has an event at the shul, all proceeds go to the Russian Program.

Is that fair?

Why is it that the Russian program gets away with lining its own pockets and only “donating” to the shul once a year in a form of a “Kiddush?”

-Orthodox Zoro

Cell phones in camp

2009-08-05T00:24:00.000-04:00

Since I tend to go to shul every shabbos, and it is the summer, I often find myself speaking to people who either have kids or siblings in camp.

I've learned that its a huge thing for camps to forbid cell phones.

I know frummies are nut jobs, but I imagined that some of the camps would
allow cellphones if they're kept off and are only used during break hours.

Nope. Of course I was wrong.

One of my friends explained to me that cell phones are not allowed because the camps have a "mixed" crowd. She said that while some boys are from families who allow cell phones other boys may come from families who do not allow them, so therefore the camp forbids the phones to avoid any potential conflict.

When I heard that reasoning I got really annoyed.

I honestly don't understand why there is such babying in the frummy community. I grew up in a public school, where everything was allowed. Over the years my parents refused to buy me plenty of things I wanted that "everyone else" had. Even in HS when I was one of the last girls in my program to get a cell phone; the only reason I finally received one was because my YOUNGER sister (who wasn't yet in HS), needed to travel to the city, and my overprotective parents decided to get a family plan.

I learned to live with having DIFFERENT sorts of friends. I learned over the years that I can't be like everyone else, and that while some things seemed awesome, they were either totally impractical and a complete waste of money, or just not the type of thing that fit in with my family.

That is called GROWING or MATURING. This is how NORMAL people teach their kids how the world works; they send them to school, and then refuse to buy their kids things their friends have but they don't need (hopefully with an explanation).

Parents don't always say no. Sometimes things friends have are actually reasonable. If the parents are smart, they'll help the kid start a new trend (I remember in kindergarten a few moments of class time for a few days were devoted to playing with random things my mom made out of paper).

Frummies cannot comprehend the concept of being DIFFERENT. They feel like everyone has to be the same. Gd forbid a child's feelings get hurt because his parents are "frummer".

WTH?!

How is a kid going to end up in the work force one day and realize that it's no longer just "machmir" it's the ENTIRE culture that differentiates him from his coworkers?

If school (and camp) is supposed to be a learning experience for the children, why the hell does the administration avoid potential life lessons to be revealed at home later on in the day, after camp?

Curruption bust

2009-07-23T17:26:00.002-04:00

I'm sure many (if not all) of you have heard what happened with the Rabbi's, a bunch of politicians and a successful FBI bust.

Once again, frummies have been caught in a white-collar crime... they've been laundering money...

What else is new?

Well, actually something is new- body parts. For the first time ever I've heard about frummies profiting off of organs!!!!!! BODY PART TRAFICKING!

I mean really?!

As if laundering money isn't bad enough, we gotta add ORGANS into the picture!

The worst part about this, was that I received an email to "pray for the Rabbis of the community"

hmmm...

They want me to PRAY for these people?! Why?? They did something illegal. They deserve to pay the consequences of it.

Aside from that, they once again allowed the title of "Rabbi" to be demeaned by their selfish acts.

Pray for them, I certainly will not.

I'm embarrassed.

So you want to boycott Israel?

2009-07-16T00:08:00.000-04:00

How to stay Safe in the World Today

2009-07-15T00:06:00.000-04:00

I received the following as an email from my dad! :)
Enjoy:

> *HOW TO STAY SAFE IN THE WORLD TODAY: *
>
> *Avoid riding in automobiles because they are
> responsible for **20 %** of all fatal accidents.
>
> Do not stay at home because **17 percent** of all
> accidents occur in the home. (that's 37% already)
>
> Avoid walking on streets or sidewalks because **14 percent** of all
> accidents occur to pedestrians.(now that's 51%)
>
> Avoid traveling by air, trains or buses, **16 percent** of accidents involve
> these forms of transportation. (that's 67%)
>
> Of the remaining 33 percent, **32 percent** of all
> deaths occur in hospitals. Above all else avoid hospitals.
>
> You will be pleased to learn that only
> **0.01 %** **of all deaths occur in a synagogue,**
> **and these are usually related to previous physical disorders.
>
> Therefore, logic tells us that the safest place for you to be at any
> given point in time is in Synagogue.
>
> Torah Study is even safer. The number of deaths
> during Torah Study is too small to register.
>
> For safety's sake, go to Shul as often as
> possible, and attend Torah Study.
> It could save your life!
>
> Author Unknown
>
> PS: You don't have to be Jewish to go to shul. You may
> not understand what the old guys are saying but sometimes they serve
> wine in paper cups.*

Eat meat!

2009-07-13T22:04:00.000-04:00

I'm currently [slowly] reading a book called "100 people who are screwing up America" by Bernard Goldberg. It's a countdown of people who in Bernie Goldberg's opinion are totally screwing up America (as if the title didn't give it away). So far, I find the book rather amusing. Some people I've never heard of, and there are some I've heard off. There are some I sort of agree with him about and some not really.

The book is a tad outdated like for example, Michael Jackson is on it, as # 90. For his reason as to why he has MJ on the list, he wrote "If I have to explain it to you, you shouldn't be reading this book!"
Aside from MJ, he also has Anna Nichole Smith on there (#53) ... so, yea, the book is a tad outdated. COnsidering both MJ and ANS are 6-feet-under (atleast the latter is), the outdated part is kinda obvious. Heck, there may even be other dead people. I'm only on # 49... which actually brings me to the purpose of this post.

#49 is Ingrid Newkirk, who is a PETA activist. I've always known that PETA people were extreme, but I always fail to fully see insanity until it smacks me right in the face.

Ingrid Newkirk is a real dumba$$,and I fully agree with Bernie as to why she's on this list. He dedicated 3 pages on why she, and people like her, are screwing up America. While he gave many examples, all of which were more than enough to convince me of her rightful place on this list, it wasn't until the following quote, that I really truly comprehended how totally screwed up these dumba$$es are. Here is the quote:

"Six million Jews died in concentration camps, but six billion broiler chickens will die this year in slaughterhouses." - Ingrid Newkirk, Washington Post 11/13/83

Honestly, I have a feeling the South Park episode in which they make fun of PETA is accurate. These morons probably do sleep with animals.

Ingrid is the same person who wrote a letter to Arafat after a suicide bombing in Israel, condemning him "because a donkey was used in the bombing." I've heard about that letter, but I never focused on the name of the person, or really ever looked into it.

I will enjoy eating meat even more now that I know exactly the type of people I'm ticking off in the process.

Eating meat is a mitzvah. It irritates people such as Ingrid Newkirk. During the 9 days, when we abstain from meat, we will be miserable, not only because we'll be mourning the terrible destruction of the temple, but because the 9 days of no meat, will prevent us from taking pleasure in spiting a particular PETA member.

Conspiracy Theories

2009-07-08T10:00:00.000-04:00

I signed onto the computer to check my email, and I of course got sidetracked with all the links, and I ended up on a "news" website for a UK newspaper the Telegraph.

Lately journalists have been pathetic. They're clearly super biased in terms of how they treated the entire Presidential campaign last year, and now they're idolizing the President, even though everything he's done so far has failed. And well, the journalists haven't stopped there. Now they're being stupid and they're focusing on the death of Michael Jackson, even though its already been OVER A WEEK AND A HALF after he died!

I understand journalists want to write about what gets their work read, but enough is enough! I understand a few days of mourning dedicated to a famous celebrity, the media does that; tabloids sell. But seriously, this is just overdone. I've had enough.

I'm very into the news. You know, actual news. Where they discuss important things like the economy, terrorism, war, and immigration. I don't care how old MJ was, or rather how young. I don't care that he was black before he paid a fortune to turn white, even though all the black-people claim him as one of their own.

I don't care.

I also certainly don't care about the idiots who are now claiming his death was a conspiracy (the article was dated about a day after his death, but its circulating now!), I just hope we don't get wacko-Jacko impersonators.

A week and a half is enough already. I don't want to hear about him anymore.

I know, I'm doing exactly what I'm complaining about. I'm talking about Michael Jackson. But I just can't help it. At work...omg...all day long, yesterday, they were talking about whether or not he was buried yet.

ENOUGH is ENOUGH!

It's like people have nothing worthwhile in their lives so they focus on the deaths of famous people.

Mike in Midwood wrote a post about this, here is the link :

http://mikeinmidwood.blogspot.com/2009/07/he-really-wasnt-liked-by-that-many.html

Money

2009-07-06T23:36:00.002-04:00

I'm sure everyone is aware that we are in an awful economic crisis. The unemployment rate is at 9.5% and is predicted to be above double digits by the end of the summer.

At a time of economic crisis people begin to worry and the coupon clip, and they try to put more money into savings. The national savings average went up to 5% from almost 0%.

Why am I talking about this? Well, mostly because I need to vent.

It bother's me that so many people have no understanding about what money is. They have little knowledge of how the economy works, and they certainly have no idea how to manage their own family budget without living in credit.

I use a credit card to pay for almost everything. I love credit cards. I get to buy stuff without worrying that I have too much or too little cash in my bag. I get the great rewards from the points I gain with every purchase, and I also have a very easy way to budget my finances. Every month, the credit card company sends me a list of all the purchases I made, and If I overspend (went over my budget), I'll know exactly what to cut out from the next month. I'll also know approximately how much I spent, because since I hardly ever use cash, my cc statement is a very accurate money-journal for me.

Unlike most people who use credit cards, I actually pay off my ENTIRE balance at the end of each month. I have a few credit cards (a main one, a jic one, and a specific store one), and if I used more than one, I pay them ALL off. Why? Because if I can't afford something I just don't buy it! If only more people spent like me.

Everytime I speak to one particular lady I know in my office about credit cards, she always says "you should never use a credit card for the rewards, because thats how they get you in. Use one without the rewards and you'll think twice before making any purchases, because you'll only get the interest rates out of it."

So I told her "I pay off my full balance, every month. The rewards are like free cash."
She goes "No one does that!"
And I go "umm, yea..."

People like this irritate me. This same woman runs around and complains how its hard for her to pay her mortgage. Both she and her husband work. Her kids are grown, both have jobs and are hardly ever home.

Every few days she receives a package from Overstock, or Gap, or Macy's...
She charges those purchases...
She orders take out about 3 times a week for lunch and a few times a week buys already made food for home.

I don't care if people spend money on themselves, and they splurge a little. We're all entitled to some luxury. But if you're pampering yourself at the expense of having to pay high interest on your credit card, "take it like a man" and don't wander around and complain you have no money.

also, another girl at my office. Granted she's single and lives at home, so her life is pretty good, she wastes sooo much money I just want to cry for her when she complains. I feel like making her keep a money journal in which she has to record every expense for a week, and then having her add it up.

Its like "LADY, DO YOU SEE WHAT YOU"RE DOING?!"

I can't help but be bothered by the fact that people waste so much money and then have the audacity to complain about it.

like I said, we're all entitled to luxuries (especially if we work and spending hard earned money on fun things is a relief), but if the luxuries are overdone, its a bit annoying when PEOPLE COMPLAIN!!!

Random frum nonsense

2009-07-02T00:10:00.000-04:00

Sometimes frummy educators try very hard to convince people of how the people in Jewish history were perfect little kollel angels, who never did anything wrong. Here is a list of random nonsense I heard from frummies over the years:

1- The RamBam learned to be a physician by learning the science in the Gemara. All the books he wrote pertaining to medicine, and all the science he learned were written/read in the bathroom. He never actually wasted time learning how to be a phsyician as a modern day residence would, he knew exactly what to do when the time came, without ever putting theory into practice.

2- Yehuda never actually thought Tamar was a hooker! He knew who she was, afterall, why would anyone other than Tamar sit covered outside the city wall on a beautiful day and entice men if thats how hookers were known to get clients in those days?

3- After the sea split, and the Jews made it across, Miriam and the ladies danced and sang behind a mechitza.

4- Pinchus went on a killing spree because the women weren't dressed tzniously [ nothing at all to do with the fact that people were fornicating infront of idols.]

That is the end of what I remember.
If any of you heard similar, I'd love to read about it in the comments :-D

A yated writer on why people go OTD

2009-06-29T23:50:00.001-04:00

Once again after reading the Yated, I have found a letter which I feel is worth sharing (for educational purposes, of course). Apparently, one of the letter writers is irritated by the concept of people seeking therapy for their "at risk" children, because, according to him, if people only followed in the way of Hashem, nobody would go OTD.

Here is a piece of the letter:

***
Our Chachonim discussed these topics. They said that boys can lose their yiras Shomayim by not wearing yarmulkas. They spoke about timtum halev, which comes from the wrong things going into one's mouth.

When a boy is small as his yarmulka falls off, how quickly do we run to put it back? Do we realize that this can spell difference between whether he will still be in yeshiva at age 17? When we allow our daughters to eat cholov stam chocolate bar, do we realize the ramifications down the line and where this can lead? When our toddlers have fever and we give them Tylenol gelcaps with treif in it, why do we wonder that so many of our youth are falling by wayside?

These things are not opinions or thoughts. These are facts, built into Creation since the first six days.
***

The letter continued a little bit. But not by much.

Aside from the fact that this guy clearly doesn't know the difference between a chumra and a halacha as well as doesn't know the fact that he doesn't realize toddlers aren't given gel caps for safety reasons; He also clearly doesn't realize that this world is filled with very few absolute truths and the "truths" he described are certainly not built into Creation. The OTD rate is high, and while we can speculate as to why this is, to refer to these things as "facts" is just mind-boggling.

I don't understand this concept of a scare tactic. If anything I'd say its ignorant people like this guy who turn people off the path. He clearly has no understanding of what a halacha is, as well is completely ignorant of the history of the Jews. It wasn't until recently that Jews had 100 different hechshers on a single item. And it wasn't until recently that the frummy community was able to boast about a huge BT rate. And lo and behold, many BT's have no reservations admitting they ate actual treif, not just a "linient" version of something kosher.

If anything, this day and age no one would be going off the derech because now we have X-ray lights to check our lettuce!

Silly government, Wal-Mart keeps us thinner

2009-06-16T20:59:00.000-04:00

I was reading an article in Forbes June 8, 2009 issue called "Wal-Mart's Weight Effect"

The article said the following:

...Our evidence is indirect, but we think it shows that price changes can have subtle and sometimes hard-to-detect consequences. Any change in price results in two phenomena. The first is the substitution effect: a change in consumption mix due to a change in relative prices. If a bag of salad is $2 and a bag of potato chips is $1, then the price of salad in terms of chips is two bags and the price of a bag of chips is half a bag of salad. If a Wal-Mart opens and reduces the price of salad to $1 a bag and the price of chips to 75 cents a bag, the "salad price" of chips has risen (from 1/2 bag to 3/4 bag) and the "chip price" of salad has fallen from 2 bags to 4/3 bags. In short, salad has become cheaper relative to chips.

The other effect from a change in prices is the income effect, which is a change in consumption due to a change in purchasing power. If Wal-Mart sells food at lower prices--even if our incomes don't change--every dollar can buy more. Therefore, we're richer.

I find this awesome. Because while the government is spending a fortune trying to figure out how to make poor people healthier; the CHEAP and easy answer is staring them right in the face!

As the great author (Art Carden) of the article said:

Do you want to make poor people healthier? Then restricting the growth of discount chains is the last thing you should do. Instead, repeal programs that distort incentives- like agricultural subsidies that make junk food made from corn and soybean derivatives artificially cheap. Next, cut payroll taxes. With more take-home pay in their pockets, lower-income workers can afford to buy foods that are better for their health.

This guy is suggesting the opposite of what the government is doing. I find that fascinating. As if liberals don't screw up enough, they now make it more expensive for NYC residents to stay thin, or lose weight.

School Control

2009-06-07T02:30:00.000-04:00

This post is dedicated to "remy," a commenter on my "Why I'm going to homeschool" post.
***

Here is one full letter from the Yated (Feb 20. issue-I'm behind), and a description and quote from another, followed by my humble POV. :-D:

Dear Editor,

As a longtime reader of the Yated who has always enjoyed your paper, I hope that perhaps my letter here will spurn some change in the way our children's schools give vacation. Our daughter is a preschool student in a Brooklyn girls' yeshiva and the amount of vacation that he school gives has baffled us.

You see, not more than six weeks removed from a long Chanukah vacation, it appears to be necessary to give off almost an entire week for mid-winter vacation. Two weeks later, President's Day is a mandatory holiday that we all must celebrate because the school gives off. Finally, three weeks after that, there is a three-day vacation to celebrate the Yom Tov of Purim which, the last time I checked, is only a one-day Yom Tov in Brooklyn. Of course, four weeks after that is the two-week Pesach vacation.

In today's environment, where for many children both sets of parents are working to make ends meet, the amount of vacation that our children's schools are giving is broering on inconsiderate. Asking aprents to make arrangements every few weeks for thier children so that they can go out and make a parnassah or to ask the same parents to stay home instead of going to work should be reconsidered.

I beleive the time has come to reasses whether it is beneficial for our children to be out of school as often as they are. We must find a good medium that works for students, parents and teachers.
Thank you.
L.B.
---

The second letter is about a guy whose son came back from a camp reunion, excited about going to camp the following summer. The father on the other hand was having financial difficulties. He had no clue how to tell his son that he wouldn't be able to go to camp, so he decided to speak to the kid's Rebbe in hopes of getting advice. The Rebbe said the following:

"camp is no longer a luxury, but more of a necessity in developing within them a cheshek for Torah and Yiddishkeit...the wonderful blend of ruchniyos and gashmiyus of Camp (fill in name here), and especially the experience of Shabbos Kodesh spent b'kedusha and in the presence of gedolim and bnei Torah, could not and should not be so easily discounted."

blah blah, the guy called the financial office of the camp and agreed on a payment plan for his kid.
***

So now, here are my opinions of the disturbing letters above:

While I see the point of parents being annoyed by the constant vacations, and the constant need to find babysitters, I find it truly disturbing how parents lack in creativity skills and lack in respect towards their children.

Finding a babysitter on the days that most schools are closed should not be so hard- find a neighbor who has older children who also have off, and work out a deal. Maybe have them watch your kids for free, and in exchange drive them to school. or drive them to weddings or set up some kind of an arrangement.

There is also the concept of getting a grandparent to watch the kids, or a retired aunt or uncle. That's what my parents did. Sometimes they had the babysitter do it. Schools have CALENDERS for a reason. It's not like they call the Friday before Presidents' Day to inform parents of school closing!

The truly disturbing part, is the last paragraph:
"I believe the time has come to reassess whether it is beneficial for our children to be out of school as often as they are. We must find a good medium that works for students, parents and teachers."

Parents seem to be expecting the school to be their kid's babysitter, not their kid's educator. Parents also seem to not care too much about the student's, because students, young and old, seem to LOVE the days off (at least I remember loving them,and I know my sister loves them, too).

In comparing this with the second letter on how camps are mandatory, we can logically conclude that schools expect camps to teach. Especially since there was a part in the letter that mentioned that the Rebbe the parent spoke to happened to also be a sleep-away camp Rebbe (not the same camp this letter was talking about), which only goes to show that school, pretty much is year round instotution in the frum community. Which brings me to the reason for dedicating this post to "remy":

Dear remy,

Many frum people lack in the creativity and maturity skills to be decent parents. They have children and expect society to be their babysitter. The few days, weeks & months off once in a while should not be a problem for any parent with an ounce of creativity.

1- kids can be sent to a relative to be watched
2- a babysitter can be hired.
3- parents can take turns taking days off w/ aunts & uncles, and just watch cousins and have "play-dates" on those days off.

To shamelessly write letters to the Yated complaining about too-many CALENDER days off, is pathetic. It shows that my "misinterpretation" of your schools "discussion" was not far off.

Remy,

Take a look at the facts. Frum people see no problem ridding their kids, and administrators are power-hungry. You think that camp is more necessary now than it was before? How so? Did our parents generation forget less when they were younger? Did they study more?

I do find this rather humorous. School is already year round, parents are open to financially sound options of preventing their kids from forgetting how to learn. And Remy is denying the intentions of the school.

Having parent-friendly schedules is one thing. But children aren't parents. They need more time off to be a kid and to learn about themselves.

Career Day

2009-06-03T21:16:00.002-04:00

My sister had career day in school today. My mom and sister were both in attendence.

One of the speaker's stories went like this:

-I graduated an all girls school. I wanted to marry a kollel guy. I went to seminary and then to touro college. I found myself a kollel guy. All was well and perfect. It was exactly how we wanted it. I was so happy. Everything was going smoothly. I had a job as a morah. What made me get a real job, was when one day we went to the store and we realized diapers cost money! and then another day we realized Steak costs money! so we realized we couldn't sustain ourselves anymore so we both decided to become lawyers..."-

***

Interesting story, no? The story points out 2 things:
1- school, especially the BY, does not, at all, teach students anything about the "real world."
They should've been taught that things cost money. And they should've been told that money runs out, especially if not budgeted properly (I'm assuming they had enough simcha money, which was why they didn't feel the burden so much until after the baby came).

2- School should not be year round, because it doesn't teach anything about what real-life brings anyway.

***
I do have to put the positive in ...
The lady and her hubby learned their lesson and they aren't the type to encourage kollel on their kids, because they know better. :-)

Kashrus

2009-06-02T00:02:00.001-04:00

Everyone keeps by their own level of kashrus. Some people eat only glatt, some eat only beit yosef; some eat/drink only cholov yisroal, while other people don't particularly care. The only two times it is relevant to care if someone is super strict is if the person is keeping unnecessary strictness while simultaneously living on charity (money can be better spent than supporting a zealots cholov yisroal habit) and the second is if a catering-like facility is not upholding by strict kashrus standards.

2 examples of the latter:

1- A catering facility is strictly certified kosher. The hall it is located in has a ton of hustle throughout the week. Then one day of the week, say every Friday, an organization that is local allows outside food to come in from people's homes. The kashering agency turns a blind-eye to it without fully examing where all of the food comes from. Would you eat there?

2- Imagine a scenario in which a catering facility is having a fleishig's meal. The kitchen is fleishigs. If ever there is a need for dairy, the entire kitchen gets covered by tablecloth. If anything needs to be put into the oven, it gets double wrapped to avoid treifing the oven. In the scenario you are imagining picture the facility is having fleishigs for that day. One of the mini-organizations that comes to that hall decides they don't want fleishigs but want milchigs, so they cover one area with the tablecloth- only a few inches away- from the uncovered area/fleishigs location, basically meaning, anything could happen. Would you eat there?

Now, if i told you both 1 and 2 were the same place, would you eat there?

Why I'm going to homeschool

2009-06-01T01:01:00.001-04:00

My parents received the following letter from my sisters school:

Dear Mr. and Mrs. _____,

We are no preparing our fourth quarter of (insert school publication name here), our parent-teacher newsletter, and we are eager to hear your voice in our Roundtable Discussion.

With final exams upon us, and the temperature outside rising ever higher, vacation time is indeed calling our names. Vacation is a good thing; we all need this respite to recharge, reflect, renew. And there is no question that our teachers and students have well-earned their break. As educators, though, we worry about closing the books for ten weeks- we worry about vacation's effect on students' memory retention and study habits. Moreover, we worry about vacation's effects on students' memory retention and study habits. Moreover, we worry about students' withdrawal from our koslei beis-medrash - we worry about the ever-penetrating outside messages which stealthily creep into our systems.

A question we often consider is which school calender would ultimately be more effective for our students' scholastic achievement and personal growth- the traditional calender, a September through June school year culminating in an eight-week summer break- or the balanced calender, year round school with scattered mini vacations throughout the school year?

What are your thoughts as you approach the ten-week summer break?

****

Honestly I don't even know where to begin, here goes

1- "we worry about the penetrating outside messages which stealthily creep into our systems."

if one were to look up the definition of parenting, they would open a dictionary and find that it says "the rearing of children";

If one were to look up rearing it would say "to take care of and support up to maturity."

if one were to look up schooling- the process of being taught in school;

Now, here is where I think frum people get a little bit confused... REARING is *not* in the definition of the word "schooling" rather it is in "parenting". Frum people should take a frikkin course in PARENTING before they allow or even consider allowing a school (or unfortunately in today's day, the federal government) to "rear" their children for them.

Any every-penetrating outside messages should be the sole responsibility of- guess who- the PARENTS to take care of! THIS INCLUDES THE TIME *DURING* THE SCHOOL YEAR, *NOT* JUST THE SUMMER BREAK!

2- Last year, I had a series of KGB vs. Yeshiva/frum community posts. I thought it was mostly funny how they had similarities- sad- yet slightly amusing. After this letter, I no longer find it amusing. As a frum people, we not only don't give a damn about our children (sending them to sunday school, allow them to marry strangers because they passed a checklist of appropriate schools) but we don't give a damn about Hashem, and the concept of Torah She'bal pe.
The written torah *does* say to be fruitful and multiple, but Gd never intended for mothers to just be surrogates and fathers to be sperm-donors all for a diverse STUDENT body for a principal to raise.

Holy crap... What is this world coming to??

If schools head onto this path, I'm homeschooling.

Frum people suck.

Flier

2009-05-31T15:21:00.005-04:00

Yesterday for Shabbos Shavuos when I got to shul, one of my best friends was there. She found a pile of the fliers (on your left) and she found the most interesting yom tov activity being advertised.

I circled it in red.

Balance

2009-05-25T12:18:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking a lot about the uselessness of kiruv lately and I came up with a theory about a life, here goes:

Hashem has made a set balance of good and bad, frum and not frum, light and dark etc, and so, the more kiruv you do, and the more people you "make" frum, it becomes equivalent to the amount of people who go off the derech.

This idea of a balance has come to me after a lot of observance and consideration of random nonsense I've heard at shuirim, so here goes:

1- I've mentioned this time and time again, the OTD rate is ridiculously high. All the Rebbeim are flipping out. I've heard that BT communities have more men (men become frummer at a higher rate than women do), and similarly, the men go OTD more often than woman do (one of the many reasons they kvetch about a "shidduch crisis").

Right there is a direct show of the "necessity" of kiruv- try to root new flowers, and in return you kill the ones already rooted...

2- Many shuirim and many tshuva speeches I attended (like before Rosh Hoshanah and Yom Kippur) I heard that if you want Hashem to bring moshiach, you yourself, and only yourself, have to change your actions to fulfill more mitzvahs, and spread goodness, because one cannot change the actions of others. The idea is if you do good deeds, not only are you bettering yourself, but you're setting an example for others to become good.

If these shuirim are in actuality preaching what hashem wants, then commercial kiruv (oorah, ncsy, l'man achai etc) is a complete waste of time. To create specific programs, exclusive to potential BT's, we are only defeating the purpose of the concept of "lead by example"

3- The purpose of kiruv, is often, to make others return to Judaism. One of the main ROOT reasons for doing this, is to bring moshiach quicker. Often commercial kiruv organizations use manipulative skills to turn people. They begin to twist works of literature to show how corrupted society is, while ignoring all the abuse and whore-like behavior in the bible. They also point to everything in the "outside world" and compare it to the goodness of the religious world. This once again defeats the purpose of "lead by example" that I mentioned in #2, and also defeats the entire concept of accepting people as individuals. Once the label "frum" is given to you, and you begin to dress and live-by the label (even in a modern sense), you must act in a certain way in public to avoid a chillul hashem, when you're not frum, you have the freedom to do as you choose, on the individual basis. Unfortunately for us, we have many frum people, who are full of crap, and many non-frum people who aren't (instead of it being vice-versa). If we judge by someone's "frumness" we're really overlooking the way they handle their man-to-man relationships and only focusing on their lack of substantial man-to-gd relationship (or what appears to be lack of, that is too private for us to judge).

I personally would trust more non-frum people with election ballots than I would frum ones. Frum people have agenda's for everything and are often backstabbing liars.

So, we have a balance of frum people who act like a$$es in their man -to-man relationships as well as non frum people who act like mentche's in their man-to-man.

The concept of kiruv kills any balance we have in this world. It's there for a reason. We'll always have people go off the derech, just like we'll always have people convert and turn BT, and that is because we have a balance in this world.

Mixed events

2009-05-23T22:03:00.000-04:00

My fiance and I went to my friends vort and he was bored out of his mind. The vort had separate sections for the men and women. It was divided by a table in the middle. Basically, there was no reason to have the separation at all. Everyone was able to see everything. The only dilemma was with speaking, because since the hall was very narrow, it would've been selfish to speak over the separation table.

The real issue isn't the speaking... the issue here is, why even bother with separate sections. What difference does it make? One lady there passed her baby to her husband. Another lady took her husbands drink from him (he didn't like it, so she finished it). Whats the point? Aside from that, shmorgasboards at the weddings tend to be fully mixed, not even with a table separation, so how is that different from a vort? Why can the shmorg be together, but not the vort?

I've been to multiple weddings with separate seating and dancing and what not. But the woman's section was almost always the section closest to the entrance (which makes sense, the couple has to run through those doors, and its easier for the girls with shtick). If the woman's section is the closest to the doors, that means the men have to pass the women to get to their seat, which totally and completely defeats the entire purpose. The guys see the woman anyway- the dancing and all that... whats the point?

Point of the story? Have mixed events, this way you're consistent and a potential shidduch could come from it.

Vegan

2009-05-15T00:06:00.001-04:00

Since my sisters class is done with the AP, they were discussing doing a cows-eye disection. So one girl started going "ewwwww, I can't stand to see animals cut up" (something like that).

So the teacher said "girls you do realize that when there was the Bais Hamikdash the Kohanim had to bring animals as a karbon and then eat it."

So then my sister (who is becomming like me, she's so awesome) goes "What if moshiach comes now and the Kohan is a vegan?"

And the teacher started cracking up, and said "there's always the trumah."

My sister sounds like I did in HS. hehe. :)

Seminary

2009-05-14T00:01:00.000-04:00

My sister was summoned into the schools guidance counselours office yesterday (she's in 11th grade, so they need to do post-HS guidance).

The counselour asked my teacher what her plans are for the year after HS, and my sister said which college she hopes to go to.
So the teacher said "What about seminary?"

My sister says I don't want to go to seminary.
Counselour: The school is going to pressure seminary, and I don't disagree with them.
Sister: Judging by the way I'm in HS I don't think I'd like it.
Counselour: Well you know, when you're going through shidduchim and they see a no for seminary, they'll want to know "why not?".
Sister: My sister didn't go to seminary.
Counselour: Is she married?
Sister: No, but she's going to be soon
Counselour: Oh, Mazel Tov.

Picky?

2009-05-13T00:31:00.000-04:00

Supposedly we are in the midst of a terrible shidduch crisis. If you're looking for an explaination as to why there is a "crisis" you have to ask multiple people, or else you won't get a good laugh out of it.

Some person had nothing better to do and he came up with a mathematical equation as to why there is a shidduch crisis. He came up with this entire concept of there being more frum girls than guys. He has many followers. They all firmly beleive in this numbers crisis. At one point these crazy nuts even created NASI (North American Shidduch Initiative). NASI is in organization that was formed to give incentive to shadchanim to set up couples in which the guy were either older, but very close in age to the girl, or a tad bit younger then her. If the couple got married, she got paid in accordance to the age difference. "Unfortunately" for these loonies, the fund to pay for this Initiative went dry... so now they have to do things on their own.

These crazies forget one thing, while their world supposedly has more girls other frum worlds have more guys! There is the "out-of-town" world, which is like the entire world grouped into one category, and then there is the "BT" world. BTs tend to have more guys than girls. For whatever reason there are more guys becomming frum than there are girls. But who the heck cares about this stuff anyway...its a crisis. Being picky is good stuff.

Picky I say?

The second reason you may hear as to why frum people have a shidduch crisis is because of pickiness. They claim that people focus too much on unimportant things, and then break up even though there is still a lot of potential for the relationship to work out.

So, I've got a story on pickiness.
Someone tried to set a girl I know up. She always said she wanted a guy who only learned. The guy they wanted to set her up with was in the process of becomming a Rabbi and he planned on being a Rabbi for a living. She rejected the date.

When I heard about that, I was extremely shocked, WTH is the difference between the two, except for the fact that a Rabbi may actually get a job at some time in their first few years of marriage, whereas the Kollel yungerbum will sit on his a$$ and be as useless to society as bicycles are to fish.

While mathematically in certain areas shidduchim may be complicated, and some people are overwhelmingly picky about stupid things, I don't think the overall problem with shidduchim is anything other than stupid indoctrination by the yeshiva/seminaries. Had these dumb schools not messed with people's heads, they'd be more practical and more mature, and therefore more able to have a well adjusted-normal dating experience, hopefully one with a positive outcome as well.

Secular Holidays

2009-05-10T02:00:00.000-04:00

Being Mothers Day, I decided I should write a post about it. When I browsed my previous posts I realized that I had already written a mothers day post last year.

So I decided I'll write about a recent things I heard about secular holidays, by the frummy people.

One person I was speaking to was telling me about how much better Jewish holidays are than the secular ones. She was saying that the Jewish holidays are "real" because they are on specific days. They fall out whenever they fall out, and they aren't done on Sundays, or on "convenient" days like the secular ones. She said "We don't make holidays to fall out for 3-day-weekends, we have them fall out when Gd wants them to!"

I have two major issues with this woman's ridiculous argument.

1- Holidays like Easter and Christmas fall out on the days [they believe] Gd wants it too. Then there is Independence Day (4th of July) which isn't necessarily on a convenient day.

2- What is the problem with a man-made holiday falling out on a convenient day? As I pointed out in #1 their religious holidays fall out when they are supposed, and July 4th as well. Holidays like Memorial Day and Labor Day represent many wars, which means celebrating them on a specific day is in-actuality unnecessary.

What do these retarded people have a problem with. Why is everything "secular" necessarily bad?

I mean "OMG, THE MAN-MADE HOLIDAY'S ARE ON DAYS THE PEOPLE ACTUALLY CAN OBSERVE THEM! OMG, THE HORROR, IT'S RESPECTFUL!"

*rollseyes*

Random

2009-05-06T20:01:00.000-04:00

When I'm bored at work, I have random thought's throughout the day.
I thought of a few things that made me laugh,

ACORN registered dead people to vote.

hahahahaha
It's funny. Only an athiest would be willing to cheat an election. Afterall, if someone truly feared Gd, wouldn't they fear what He'd think about their dishonesty?

***
Random signs from the Fort Lauderdale Tea Party Signs,

TEA= Taxed Enough Already

I Read More of the Bill Than My Senator Who Voted For It.

I Don't Want to Pay Your Mortgage

Give Me Liberty, Not Debt.

Stop the Fiscal Madness

Dont Tax Me, Bro!

Stop the Pirates In Congress

Free Markets! Not Freeloaders!

In Gd We Trust- Not In Government!

The Privilege to Vote

2009-05-04T20:36:00.001-04:00

If I had to describe my views on politics, I would probably just label myself as an ultra conservative (I'm kinda more of a libertarian in certain respects, but to be easy, I'll say conservative).

Anyway, I listen to the radio and watch the news all the time. I read the newspaper and random Internet news blogs. I also read various economic magazines and articles online. I'm pretty much very aware of the news.

The other day I was listening to Sean Hannity on the radio when he had his man on the street segment. And while it really shouldn't have come as a surprise, I was absolutely dumbfounded by the amount of stupid, ignorant people walking on the streets today. I mean, it's ridiculous. And I'm not one to judge people favorably as it is. I mean, I'm the type of person who meets people and assumes they're dumb until proven smart, and yet, I still find myself astonished by the world's stupidity.

Anyway anyway... I decided, that in honor of the United States of America, I will create an exam which should be simple enough for the average US citizen. Each person trying to register to vote will be required to take this test. If they pass, they are given the PRIVILEGE (I don't think it should be a right any longer, with all the stupid people) to vote, if they don't, they shouldn't be allowed to vote. Each voter will have to retake the exam prior to every major (senate, congress, president) election. If they cannot pass it, they cannot vote in that election.

The test will have two parts, the basic part (which will only have to be taken once), and the current events part (which will have to be taken prior to every election)... Here is an example of the basic part:

1- Who becomes President after the President dies?
2- Who is the VP?
3- Who becomes President if both the President and the VP die?
4- Who is your state governor?
5- Who are the two US senators of your state?
6- Who is the house representative/congressman that represents your district?
7- Who is the Senate Majority leader? Which party does s/he represent?
8- Who is the speaker of the house? Which party does s/he represent?
9- Who was the first president of the United States?
10- How many states are in the United States?
11- In what year was the Declaration of Independence signed?

Questions like that...

Ohh...there will be *NO* translations, if you can't freakin speak the language, you shouldn't be voting here!

The "Current Events" type exams will look like this-

1- Which country has a standard of living second to none?
2- What happens when a government forces banks to lend money to people who cannot afford to pay them back?
3- How much money did Barack Obama make from the corruption in Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac?
4- Which President spent more money in his 100 days in office than all 43 presidents before him (that should give it away) combined?
5- What's it say about a party that willingly uses a jackass to represent itself?

Yea, ok, the second questions are a bit biased, but they're fun!!!!! Here are the serious ones:

1- True or False: Former President George W. Bush made embryonic stem cell research illegal.
2- True or False: Pres. Barack Obama nominated a tax cheat to be the head of the IRS.
3- True or False: Muslim fundamentalists attacked the United States on 9/11/01?
4- True or False: A nuclear Iran is dangerous.
5- True or False: Rep. Nancy Pelosi agreed to allow water boarding, before she [recently] started speaking against it.
6- True or False: While preaching fiscal and eco responsibility, Barack Obama allowed Air Force One to leave a carbon-footprint over NYC for a photo-op that could've been easily be done using photo shop?
7- True or False: You give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a life-time.-
8- True or False: Communism failed everywhere it was tried.
9- True or False: The American founding fathers started the American revolution because they liked the idea of having a large government figure dictate how they should spend their money.
10. True or False: Guns have brains and kill people on a whim.

Can you earn the privilege to vote?

Kiruv School Student Essay

2009-04-28T00:02:00.001-04:00

One of my friends is currently a senior in a kiruv HS. One of the recent assignments was to write an essay, and the subject was to write about what angers you. Being a senior, she decided she's going to be brutally honest, so she wrote about how her school angered her. Here goes:

We all enjoy a good laugh, but should others pay the price? Should people who many admire or look up to act friendly in front of the “little ones”, but ruthless when the young ones leave? Is it right for the person who preaches “awareness of language and words” to discuss other peoples’ issues or the preachers negative opinions on those who wish to gain her strengths? I find it very often in religious circles that women can act exceedingly welcoming, but the second their acquaintances turn their backs, the women always find something degrading to say. These are some things that make me extremely angry.

In school, I know a few teachers who seem to be very nice people, but looks can be deceiving. These teachers are always polite, they try to make the day fun and exciting and they try to gain the students’ trust in order to help the students grow spiritually. Unfortunately, I have witnessed these same teachers stroll into the teachers’ office and discuss their students’ actions and struggles outside of school. They would snarl at their struggles, as though they were pathetic, and share their opinions on the students’ parents, relatives (of whom they had never met) and of course the students themselves. These teachers discuss the students’ actions, reactions and what they think the students can possibly accomplish. Many don’t get much praise, unless they are willing to surrender to the teachers’ methods or preachings.

These teachers discuss girls’ friendship troubles and pass judgment on several other aspects of the students’ lives. For example, I clearly remember a few weeks ago a classmate of mine, strolled into an empty room where only a few girls were sitting and having a discussion with a teacher. As the girl walked in the teacher immediately asked the girl if there was something wrong. The teacher had clearly mistaken the girl’s exhaustion with unhappiness, as it was before the first period of the day. The teacher continued to question the girl about her upsetting facial expression despite the girl’s lengthy explanation that she was very tired from the lack of sleep she had received the night before. Suddenly the teacher asked “Did your parents yell at you yesterday? Did you do something that angered them, is that why you are upset?” The girl quickly responded “No.” “Did your brother come home drunk again? Is that why you are upset?” asked the teacher. The girls sitting in the room were so shocked by the rudeness and conclusions this teacher had reached that they began to yell at her. The teacher had embarrassed the girl tremendously by insisting that her brother was a drunk and that he continuously came home drunk. This student, who clearly admired the teacher, was so appalled by the Educator’s conclusions that she just walked out. The teacher had openly insisted that the student’s brother was a drunk in front of a few girls who had not known the student well enough to know that her brother was a very different kind of man.

Nothing could stop the teacher as she was determined to find a distortion in the girl’s family life. Her questions were absolutely invasive and offensive. Witnessing this, I could not help but think that the teacher was not at all interested in the girl’s mood, rather she wanted to find proof in this girl’s family to confirm her assumptions that the student’s in my school came from distorted and extremely dysfunctional families. My classmate was so embarrassed by the teacher’s opinions of the girl’s family, as they were clear in the questions she asked the student, that she felt obligated to explain to the other girls who were in the room at the time of the incident how kind and very normal her family was. I have never heard anyone ask another human being such outrageous things in my life. This event was only one example of that teacher’s backstabbing behavior. I can honestly say I have seen this teacher throw many students under the bus for very little reason and as shocking as this incident was, I should have not expected more from such an incredibly cold hearted human being. All this got me thinking even more about the teachers hired by the school’s administration.

I have come to realize that our school, of what should be Jewish studies and strengthening of moralities, is somewhat of a hypocritical organization. Although I do give the administration the benefit of the doubt (maybe they are blind to the stupidity that spews before them), many paid teachers in our school enter with an agenda and a mindset that the attending students come from “poor”, religion deprived and distorted homes. Unfortunately, these agendas reach and significantly supersede the importance of the studies these students are promised, such as History and Psychology, in the teachers’ eyes and class time discussions.

Despite my difficulty to understand how many of the teachers in my school get hired with the mindsets and opinions that they hold, I cannot tolerate it when they try to impose their beliefs and lifestyles onto other people. I completely understand the significance of teaching religion, culture and history of the Jewish people to the students; nevertheless, I do not agree with the method in which the teachers choose to teach the Jewish “Religion.” If anyone is to raise their voice in opposition to their preaching, that voice is immediately an offset personality, someone who is sadly trapped in the “secular world” under the influence of modern culture, television and or boy/drugs. Of course, such “obscene” aspects of the world we live in are immediately publicized as Idol worship and servitude to society and thus a sin before G-d.

A girl cannot like fashion that is not in accordance to a teacher’s modesty code (mind I do not mean wear, but admire) because that would define the student as conflicted, a potential “Apikorais.” A student also may not skip one of her weekly “Night Out” class gatherings to care for her sick brother because “this program would help your spiritual growth and for that, according to the Torah, you are allowed to defy your parents’ wishes and requests.” (Might I add that these gatherings many times result in a large waste of time as the group constantly melts in size and significance in speech agendas?) Personally, I am left to ponder what the agenda of (Insert SCHOOL NAME HERE) truly is. The administration seem to want to teach immigrant children of their cultural and religious backgrounds, as teachers try to impose their mindsets onto the students, of what the world should look like and how to categorize people who act in certain ways.

As a graduating student I am proud to say that I will be parting with a clear understanding of the cesspool, that many call (INSERT SCHOOL NAME HERE). From the two-faced creatures many look up to and call teachers, to the goal of many educators in encouraging students to defy their parents for petty thrills, this school remains a hypocrite to the public message they choose to impress; which is that it is a school that preaches Judaism to immigrant Jews or first generation American Jews. The current students may not recognize the influence they are under, but I hope they soon will see things as clearly as I do now. Although, this school has done some very beneficially influential deeds in the past, today I stand before the school confused of what message, memory or impression I should take with me as I move on from my education of ten years.

Wedding planning

2009-04-26T00:00:00.001-04:00

So far so good... wedding plans are coming along...

We've booked a hall, photographer and band.

I've chosen my colors - Pink and Burgundy

I really like one dress at David's Bridal, which is awesome. But I'm going to check out two other places. Hopefully, I'll pick a gown within a few weeks.

Aside from that, everything is going smoothly. We've had the vort, which went very well. :)

After I get my gown, my mom, sister and future mom-in-law will go down to a mall in Long Island. :-)

My grandmother absolutely hates my colors. Her favorite color is blue. My parent's wedding color was blue. So my grandmother is trying her best to lose weight to fit into the exact same dress she wore then. When my mom saw that dress, she insisted that my grandma wear a different dress, and now my grandma is giving me a hard time.

On the work front, people are constantly asking me what's happening with the wedding plans. This one lady asked me today if I already have sheva brachos outfits... I was like "umm... The wedding is 6 months away!"

the non-frum or non-Jews keep asking me about where the honeymoon will be. And I have to explain to each of them, time and time again, that there can be no honeymoon until later on because after sheva brachos, it wouldn't be logical to take ANOTHER week off.

But generally... I'm always on my feet. lol. :-)

I haven't had such a full schedule in a really long time. So I'm really happy. :-)

Mice

2009-04-23T00:02:00.001-04:00

After reading Child ish Behavior's post about a Mouse I remembered a letter to the editor I saw in the April 16th Bay News.

I've gotta say, animal right's activists are generally nut-jobs. I'm not an animal person, but I totally believe in treating animals with respect and so forth, but sometimes, the PETA freaks go too far! In the previous week's Bay News, an opinion columnist Stanley Gershbein, wrote about PETA's dislike of glue-traps for rodents. PETA claimed those traps were inhumane ways to treat animals. Gershbein criticized PETA, for being well PETA, thinking that disease-carrying rodents deserved to be treated "fairly." So anyway, a reader responded in the "letters to the editor" section Here goes:

To The Editor:

Stanley Gershbein ["It's Only My Opinion"], in a recent column, you criticize PETA's demonstration against the use of glue the use of glue traps for mice.

First of all, no one said mice are more important than children.

You also mention that mice spread germs. People also spread germs! I have often seen people cough up phlegm and spit it out on the street!

In addition, any surface handled by the public, such as hand rails on buses and trains, public telephones, pens in banks and shopping cart handles, are all covered with germs.

If my memory serves me correctly, you made mention of this in a previous column. In addition I, recently, read in an article that a high percentage of people don't bother to wash their hands even after using the bathroom!

Ofcourse, no one wants to live with mice. But, dear reader, there is a humane method of evicting them from your home. You can use a humane trap, which once baited traps the mice alive- harmlessly [contact PETA...]. Then, you can release them in an empty lot, or wooded area away from houses.

The glue trap is an extremely cruel device. The mouse is stuck in it, unable to escape and will, either, slowly starve to death or, if callously tossed alive into the garbage, suffocate. Or maybe, even be crushed to death.

Mice are just small animals, and can feel pain and fear the same as a cat, or a dog, or a person. You can remove mice from your home, humanely. There is no excuse for torturing them.
***

Seriously, this woman is a nut job. A complete nut-job.

"...no one said mice are more important than children."

Well, fine. But from the tone of your letter, I think it's safe to assume this lady thinks we're "equal" to our rodent counterpart.

"People also spread germs"

No kidding!! I'm so greatful the lady mentioned this. However, I don't think the lady understands what she's talking.

While she is right that when humans come home, they're full of germs from the outside (no one is denying the existence of yucky people). However, if a person washes his/her hands -with soap- when they come home, they're not germy, and can easily eat or do whatever they so choose. Meaning, human spread germs, are semi-controllable.

However, mice are just simply yucky. While those who "cough up phlegm and spit it out on the street" are nasty, they do it IN THE STREET! A mouse, poops on the countertops, in people's livingrooms, in area's children may be playing in. Mice can just pop-up anywhere. No matter how clean a person may be, if they have dirty neighbors, the mice are in the vicinity.

A cougher and spitter of phlegm can be avoided by simply walking around them. Strangers don't walk into your home and spit on your counters, mice leave droppings and have way more potential to spread disease than do human beings who haven't been domesticated yet.

Chuck

2009-04-22T00:48:00.000-04:00

On Monday nights I watch the greatest TV show ever- Chuck. Which airs on NBC at 8 pm eastern time.

It is by far the greatest TV show.

Better than Boy Meets World- which is just one awesome show!

Basically the show revolves around this really awesome geeky guy- Chuck- who was an ordinary citizen working at the BUY MORE when one day he had government intelligence downloaded into his brain. He became an "asset" and the NSA and the CIA each sent a spy to protect him. Chuck and Sara (the CIA agent) pretty much had an instant connection. But due to the circumstance their relationship has to remain professional.

And so...next monday is the season finale :'(... whatever will I do on Monday nights over the summer?!

btw, if you want to watch the show online, you can see full episodes on NBC.com . I just don't think you'll catch any episodes from last season.

Yated Letter

2009-04-21T00:00:00.000-04:00

I'm a bit behind on my Yated reading, so this is a Readers Write letter from January 30. When I read it, I was initially speechless. In a few minutes, I had something to say. Here is the letter and my comments are underneath:

Dear Editor,

I am writing about a daughter of ours who had a very good job in a securities firm in New York while her husband was earnestly sitting and learning. She felt that the best way to raise her children was to take care of them herself and not through a babysitter, but she still wanted her husband to learn. If she stopped working in New York, she couldn't financially make it, so with much research, after 7 years of marriage and 5 beautiful children ka"h, they made aliyah.

She didn't move to Yerushalayim, where rent and food are more costly. Tuition is less than 10% of the cost in New York. Health insurance is free, but she upgrades it for a nominal fee. there is no need for a car, as buses travel everywhere, with fares less than a token here in New York, which eliminates the expense of insurance, gas, etc. Her children don't mind wearing hand-me-downs from others. Many women there wear snoods or tichels all the time and those who wear shaitlach do not spend thousands of dollars just for a hairpiece.

When one makes a simcha, the neighbors send in cut cake (sponge or chocolate) on a paper plate, not expensive cakes or miniatures. A fancy bar mitzvah consists of a challah roll, salads and dips at every table. The fancy part is the boreka served with mushroom sauce.

The children are happy and are able to go out on their own. Yiddishkeit is all over the streets. Shabbos arrives with simcha and peace. The streets are full of playful children as all thoroughfares are closed to traffic. People don't have much, yet they are happy.

My daughter is home raising her children and her husband is still earnestly learning. There is no "keeping up with the Joneses"so one doesn't need all the material items that seem to be a must here.

Needless to say, we are proud of our daughter and son-in-law for having the courage to give up the so-called luxuries here to have the true happiness there, even though we miss seeing our grandchildren as often as we would like.

We are also very proud of our children here in America who are bringing up their children to live in a temimusdike way.

May there be a shalom here and in Eretz Yisrel.

L.L and C.E.L

Very Proud Parents
***

Where to begin, Where to begin-

1- "After 7 years of marriage and 5 beautiful children"

It took FIVE children when it finally hit her she didn't want the babysitter? What the hell was in her head after kid 1? 2? 3? ...

2- "There is no need for a car, as buses travel everywhere, with fares less than a token here in New York, which eliminates the expense of insurance, gas, etc."

Okay, so even though NY bus fares are more expensive, that doesn't mean you *need* a car here anymore than you do there. My father hardly ever drives, maybe once a week... And even then its more convenience than necessity. If we had to, we'd be just fine without a car.

3- "Her children don't mind wearing hand-me-downs from other."

Umm...that's only in Israel? I wore plenty of hand-me-downs. But you know what, there comes a time when the kids become too big for hand me downs, and they wear out clothes, as opposed to just growing out of it, and that means the people giving the hand-me-downs will no longer give 'em. Unless she means a gemach, which is kinda stealing, because you're living on charity when you're perfectly able-bodied to GET A DAMN JOB!

4- "When someone makes a simcha..."

Ok, so really, I find it hard to believe that the neighborhood this daughter moved into is a "normal" regular neighborhood. The mere fact that there are PLENTY of wedding halls in Israel, I find it hard to believe that it's a norm to have a few cakes on paper plate, and fancy boreka's as a bar mitzvah meal. Sorry, I'm a bit of a non-believer. And if its just that neighborhood, than it must be one hellish environment of frummies who suck up the Israeli economy, and don't even have the courtesy to join the army or do some form of national service.

5- "Shabbos arrives with simchas and peace"

As opposed to what? Gun fire and violence here in the states...what's her point?

6- "My daughter is home raising her children and her husband is still earnestly learning"

WTF IS THEIR SOURCE OF INCOME!? OMG! THESE PEOPLE ARE SUCH GD DAMN GANOV'S!!! OMG! THIS IS NOTHING TO BE PROUD OF! IF SHE WANTS TO LIVE A SIMPLE LIFE, GOOD FOR HER, BUT DON"T DO IT AT OTHER PEOPLE'S EXPENSE, YOU'RE *NOT* OWED A FREE LIFESTYLE BECAUSE YOUR HUSBAND HAPPENS TO LEARN.

7- "...to have the true happiness there.."

WTH! True happiness there? Buy a farm in middle USA, shecht your own chicken, sew your own clothes, and your life will be simple too. Simpleness isn't a source of happiness, you find your own meaning of happy...oy vey.

8- "We are also very proud of our children here in America ..."

Ah yes, I'd say "good-save", but the parents signed anonymously, and their kids are Yated readers. I don't think they have any reason to talk about being proud of the other kids.

Just wrong

2009-04-19T00:03:00.000-04:00

While at shul on the last day of pesach, my fiance, my sister and a friend or two were standing in the lobby talking during yitzkor, when my friend's brother walked into shul with an unfamiliar very young boy.

The brother says "Some lady just asked me to take her son to his dad" and he walked away with the boy. He checked both of the minyanim we have in shul, and the boy's father was nowhere to be found. He even took the boy down to the kitchen"

My friends brother was like "what am I supposed to do now? I can't find his father! I don't even know who he is!"

The kid looked absolutely terrified (I'd say the poor thing was about 5). Everyone around was semi-joking that he was now stuck with a kid, because he was abandoned and left on his "door-step" like they do in Hospitals and police stations. Then the mother of the boy, opened the door, and called for her kid. He lit up, and ran out to her.

Why on earth would any decent parent leave their kid with a strange boy to wander around a shul, even if they did think their hubby was inside?

What on earth was this woman thinking?

No Learners?

2009-04-17T01:53:00.000-04:00

Apparently its a new thing for guys not to go into learning anymore. I heard it from a few people, so I'm bringing it up on the blog.

Considering I'm not so sure I believe it. I don't think that a set back in funds is enough to convince very stubborn religious zealots that they cannot continue on in their lifestyle. After all, Hashem provides, right? I mean, what is section 8, welfare, and medicaid for if not for Hashem's way to support the yeshivishe crowd!?

So the sake of this post I'm going to assume the trend is real:
Finally, FINALLY, the frummies had some sense knocked into them, and they realized that allowing leeches into the community is bad, and its time for new medicine --> jobs!

However, while the frummies may have finally had their breakthrough, and have seen the light, they still have a few years to fully recognize how screwed they really are.

1- Their boys (and for the most part girls as well) go to schools with AWFUL education, which not only makes it hard to find a decent job, but makes it nearly impossible in this economy.

2- If they're being "modern" and super practical about this entire breakthrough and they actually consider sending their kids to a post-HS educational facility (such as *gasp* college), then their kids just will NOT be able to handle it. After all, if they don't know anything aside from the stories about Avraham, Itzchak and Yaakov how in the world will they manage to make it in a place that at least had basics that were expected from them?

3- If a the financial system of the frum is dying NOW, how in the world will they manage to fix it? They plan on selling their debt to the Chinese, too?

Before frummies start cheering (the poorer ones who prayed their daughters wouldn't want a learner) that the trend is over, they should really sit back and think about how long it'll be before their non-learning son-in-law will be able to gain enough knowledge to accomplish anything anyway.

Public School

2009-04-14T00:02:00.000-04:00

In HS I learned that to be frum it means that one keep three specific mitzvohs

1- kashrus

2- shabbos

3- teharas hamishpacha

and that is all it takes.

Recently at work I had a conversation with a frummy about pesach seders. One guy mentioned how he is willing to listen to his children's divrei Torah, because since he pays so much for tuition, he feels he's owed the pages of "wisdom." The other guy, who has a young child (not yet of school age) said "HA, I'm so not into these seders, I'm going to send the kid to public school, why waste money on tuition?"

Granted the guy was just talking (after-all he is a frummy), but seriously, what would be wrong if he actually MEANT it?

Now is a time of economic difficulty. A lot of the main idiots who've been willing to be relied on for so long have lost all their money, and the tuition payers are either losing their jobs, or cutting back on expenses (which leaves little for donations to the schools). So, why NOT send the kids to public school?

Think about it:

cost of yeshiva for the many children that shoulda been avoided by the KOSHER pill- ALOT of $$$

cost of public school and then a rebbe tutor as an "after school activity" - WAY less.

Now, the problem with public school is the environment.

Assuming a person with half a brain doesn't really want their kid in a frummy environment, I've got an idea.

1- public schools (for elementary) are mostly based on zoning. So, since all frummies pretty much live on-top of each other, if they all send their kid to the local public school, they'd have the perfect mix. They'd have a lot of frummies YET they'd also have enough diversity to prevent either extreme from causing the kids to go to either extreme (kollel or druggy).

2- Public school is FREEEEEEE, and has better education than the average frummy school.

3- our OTD rate is kinda high, so really, how much worse could it be if we send our kids to Public School? Heck, the parents may actually be FORCED to parent if they do so. (hahaa, imagine parents NOT relying on the rebbeim for discipline and education, whatever will they do?)

hahahahahahha....frum parent's actually parenting and not relying on the mechanchim of the schools...hahahhahahhaa...the frum kids will end up undernurished and completely dysfunctional...hahaha...oh wait...they already are.

my grandma

2009-04-12T23:53:00.003-04:00

my grandmother met one of my frum friends and absolutely fell in love with her. Three weeks later, my grandma decides that my friend would be absolutely perfect for my non-frum cousin.

I tell my grandma "Um, he's not frum"

grandma- "so? he'll learn to eat kosher"

me- "Um, its not just kosher."

grandma- "for love he'll become frum"

me- "SHE wouldn't go out with him either"

grandma - "what, she's crazy like that?"

me - "its not crazy like that, they'd have nothing in common!"

grandma- "these days people are so picky"

Ok, my grandma, as well meaning as she is, really doesn't get it. You can't set people up like that. It's not like my cousin has any desire to even become frum. He's not even THINKING about it! What would the two of them talk about? How would they raise their kids? Its just insane, I don't get these older people.

I blame the Jews for the crisis

2009-03-30T23:29:00.002-04:00

Jews - if this economy is hurting you, good, I no longer give a damn.

There have recently been a lot of talks about raising taxes on the richest in NY. Mayor Bloomberg was very against it, insisting that since only the top 40,000 people sustain NY, taxing them even more would make them move to different states which would really cripple the city's economy.

I agree with Bloomberg and neither my family nor myself fall even nearly close to the top 40,000, yet we feel they shouldn't be burdened anymore. What is it that we feel should be done? Mass tax-cuts. It's what got us out of the recession during the Reagen era.

Regardless, allowing 40,000 out of 8 million to be the sole breadwinners in a city, is reckless. Only an idiot group of people would allow something like that, which leads me to my point. Only the government and the Jews could allow something like this.

what do I mean? well, I think my point on the government is clear. They have what is called progressive tax, which emphasises taxing a specific group of people (which leads to budget's relying on those few people).

So now, why are Jews stupid? because they emphasize on the few. The Torah forbids giving more than 20 percent of income towards ma'aser, yet the Rabbeim insist on some nonsense loophole, which now means that the Jewish institutions rely mostly on the top earners in the community. Now with the market crash and the Madoff Ponzi scheme, what do we have? Institutions going bankrupt- instead of rebbeim preventing the problem years ago by enforcing an actual halacha - a father must teach his son a trade- the Rebbeim allowed the system to rely on the few productive members of society. Now that a lot of the wealth is gone, the insignificants in their yeshivas cannot even help out, because they lack in any practical skills.

I learned in HS and my sister is learning now in HS, that the Jews are the microcosm of the world.

The 'gedolim' are at fault for the global crisis, because they caused a parnassa crisis in the frummy community, which stemmed to the global one. how fun!

Until our gedolim realize they're leading us on a path of economic crisis, and universal frummy poverty, our economy will not recover, afterall, they do teach us that the goyim follow in our path. It's no wonder their world is falling apart.

YAY!

2009-03-26T23:35:00.002-04:00

My best friend (the girl one, the general position was taken by the fiance) has recently gotten engaged!!!

She's so awesome, I'm so happy for her I can't even think straight. I was wandering around the office humming (more than usual- I hummed like crazy pre-engagment and right after) for the last few days. :-)

I mean, the timing couldn't be more perfect. we're both engaged!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm just hoping our fiances like each other so that we don't have to drag them out when we wanna see each other!

Anyway, I'm too out of it. Too much excitment for me. lol. I've been kinda avoiding the blog.

Maybe soon I'll read something that annoys me, or speak to a super frummy :)

But for now, I'm keeping with the good mood!

people aren't even THAT dumb!

2009-03-20T00:32:00.001-04:00

OMG OMG,

I just finished watching President Obama on the Tonight Show (w/ Jay Leno) - and boy, he thinks people are dumber than I do! that's just scary.

This guy (Obama) was comparing how toasters come with warnings because its the law but the credit cards and mortgages don't and so the consumers are being taken advantage off.

Well WTF Mr. President...lemme tell you something, even I don't think people are that dumb that they don't understand that a credit card can get them into trouble. I mean REALLY!?!

People who need the government to print warnings on credit cards to inform them that they are dangerous are fiscally irresponsible and they should be locked up. Seriously. Those people are hazardous to the health of the few smart people. They should be locked up somewhere, like a retards home.

OMG OMG.

And puh-leeze, those bozo's who were "conned" by the subprime mortgages need to get brain transplants.

They weren't conned. They wanted the easy way out, so they acted stupidly. How the hell is it not common-sense that paying a mortgage that isn't at a fixed rate bad?

WTF...these people aren't stupid. They're irresponsible.

Like my dad's friend said (his second house is on one of those subprime mortgages) "you only live once"

Yea yea... live once.

Some people shoulda never had the right to take out loans, Mr. Obama (who was the senator who received the most from the Freddie/Frannie scandal -$100,000).

WTF, WTF.

this president has GOT to go! Heck, what the hell is the PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES doing on a comedy show in the midst of a financial crisis orchestrated by himself and his buddies (Obama received $101,000 from the execs at AIG for his campaign)?

ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Get a new Rav

2009-03-17T20:01:00.001-04:00

My mom's friend lives in a pretty bad neighborhood because she cannot afford to live in a better one.

Not trying to sound racist here, but the general rule of "bad neighborhood" in NY means either it's shvartze-ville or hispanic-ville.

Anyway, so mom's friend isn't really frum, but she is very pro-Jewish so she has a family Rav.

One day when she was speaking to this Rav, he said to her "You should get out of that neighborhood before your daughter comes home with a shvartze"

Aside from that being just a general disturbing (and outright racist) statment, I find it stupid as well for the following reasons

1- the girl is quite young (under 10)

2- both her kids go to yeshiva.

3- she doesn't allow them to socialize with anyone in the neighborhood, and she's super over-protective.

HOW THE HELL IS THIS RABBI PROPOSING THIS GIRL WILL END UP WITH A SHVARTZE AND WHY THE HELL IS HE MENTIONING IT WHEN SHE IS SO YOUNG?

Anyway, so he made that woman cry.

I honestly don't think I would've cried. I would've found a new Rabbi.

Quality over Qauntity

2009-03-10T02:14:00.000-04:00

I told someone today "Some people aren't worth money, the frum community is better off if they remain outside, and not frum"

The person was like "they're all Hashem's children, you don't really believe that?"

I said "I honestly believe that, I don't give a cent of my maaser to kiruv organizations because I think their tactics are wrong. I believe quality over quantity"

He goes "you don't believe that"

Me - "Oh yes I do. If a person makes someone frum, its the same as like preventing poverty by just handing poor people money. It works in the beginning, but 5-10 years down the line, you're screwed. Heck, look at the economy. People don't become frum cuz of other people"

Convo continued. Will not share the rest.

Why am I sharing this? Because you, my dear readers, should know, that I don't think all people are created equal. Stupid people are on a lower level and they should be controlled.

If you wear a suit, wear it right!

2009-03-04T01:25:00.001-05:00

One of my biggest pet-peeves is the way frum people dress. The black hat thing bothers me but not as much as the suit-bearded-shlepper look. I just hate it. It's disgusting. The only positive to the shlepper look, is that it further proves that frum people are full of crap.

The whole thing works like this. Frummies claim the black/white penguin/oreo look is "Jewish", (that's just as "Jewish" as driving a Honda Odyssey -wait 10 years when that'll be the only 'kosher' car).

There always comes a time when a Rabbi is cornered and has no option but to admit that the "Jew" clothes is not in fact Jewish (but the style of European goyish nobility way back in the day). To save his a$$ the Rabbi automatically throws a defense and says "Would you greet the President of the United States or the Queen of England in your jeans? ...So then why would you daven or fulfill mitzvahs in them?"

I hate that question. It is such a stupid question. If any guy is dressed in jeans that fit him and an un-stained t-shirt he automatically looks WAY better than your typical average yeshivish guy with his tzitzit hanging out with his messy beard, visibly worn shirt and one-size-fits all suit.

I recently witnessed something that bothered me soooo much and so I'm sharing something with you:

Proper rules of etiquette - if a guy has his suit jacket buttoned while he is standing, as he takes a seat he is supposed to unbutton it. It's a social norm. It's something I view as common sense (and I'm not a male!). Why? Because when the guy sits if he does not unbutton himself the suit is likely to bulge in front of him (leaving him looking like a shlepper).

I recently saw one of those "proper dress while davening" guys not unbutton his button as he sat. This guy who supposedly serves Gd, looked like a complete shlemazzel, especially since he had his tzitzit untucked and one of the most unkept- beards ever. It's as if the invention of the razor was yet to be discovered.

If you're going to look down on people because they don't dress like a proper "ben-Torah" and they wear jeans, at least do yourselves a favor and wear your suit better than the jean-wearer pulls off his "casual" look. Don't forget to unbutton the button, keep yourself tucked in, and clean your beard. OMG it's not meant to be a crumb collector! If you can't do that, stop judging the guys who wear jeans, at least they look more hygienic than you do.

If you wear a suit, wear it right. If you can't do that. SHUT UP and find the commandment where it says "And thou shall not wear jeans" and then the commentary that reads "Even if the jean wearer is neater" Because believe me, the board of health and the CDC would much quicker allow the "modern orthodox jean-wearer" than your typical rebbe into the white house.

ITS ALL FACEBOOKS FAULT!

2009-02-25T00:05:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine was at a shuir and the Rabbi was being a total ignorant doofus, and he was talking about how facebook caused a Jewish girl to get engaged to an arab guy.

My friend was absolutely peeved by the accusation, and rightfully so.

The girl clearly didn't care who she was seeing, or who she was with. IF she did she would've stopped herself before anything occured in the relationship. Aside from that there are plenty of websites she coulda met this guy on, eharmony.com, match.com, myspace, or anything else.

These rabbi's need to get reality checks and stop blaming modern technology for their own brain-defects.

There is something VERY wrong in the frum world.

Dor Yeshorim

2009-02-23T18:04:00.000-05:00

Earlier today I was speaking with someone I know pretty well and she was telling me about her dor yeshorim results that she's compatible with the person she's been seeing.

According to her, the person on the phone said that they're compatible, and that neither one is a carrier.

Now, I'm curious if the person on the other end was new, or if Dor Yeshorim just lacks business sense and is full of crap.

From everything I heard about Dor Yeshorim it works like this:

1- You take a blood test and are given a number

2- You keep the number

3- You and a potential shidduch call in both numbers, to find out if you're compatible or not.

4- You act on the results (either break up, or go out)

Now, here's the thing, its supposed to be completely confidential. As in, you're given a number, so that NO ONE knows whether or not you're a carrier. You're just a number, and a match. No need to discover anything. Because if you discover if you're a carrier or not, it may upset you.

The person I was speaking with was told she's NOT a carrier, and that the guy wasn't either.

That lacks confidentiality. DY didn't know whether or not she was seriously seeing him, or waiting to see him for the first time only after the results were in. To give her a carrier status automatically limits the privacy control.

Aside from immoral, the concept of giving over carrier status is just bad business sense. Imagine if someone now knows they're not a carrier and they start seeing someone else. Comes time for them to discuss genetic disease testing, and one says "Oh, I know I'm not a carrier, don't bother testing yourself because it doesn't matter, we're compatible" If that were said, it would prevent that person from going out and getting tested on his own. Dor Yeshorim costs somewhere between $150-$200.

Aside from that, if both parties know they're not carriers, in the future there would be no need for their kids to be tested, which would take away future standing of the organization because they'll no longer be receiving as many costumers.

Seriously, frummies should not run things.

Aside from that, frum people should grow up, and go see their doctors, take blood tests whcih their insurances *will* most likely cover and discover on their own if they are carriers, and of which diseases. If they can't handle all that info and thats why they're such strong proponents of Dor Yeshorim, they're just not mature enough to get married.

My tired sister

2009-02-19T00:10:00.000-05:00

When my sister is tired, she says funny things.

She says things like "cheese cream" or she calls a kitchen a chicken, or something of the sort.

Just now, my sister walked down the stairs and into the living room. She stopped in the middle of the room and had this puzzled expression on her face. She turned to my mom and me and goes "Do you know why I came downstairs?"

lol...when my sister is tired, she is funny.

Governor Patterson

2009-02-18T00:06:00.000-05:00

About a month ago child ish behavior wrote a post about NY's Governor Patterson, asking if he were nuts, trying to raise taxes on soda while 70% of the people were against it.

Anyway, Patterson has been whining and crying about how much money the State needs, and what does he do? He raises his staff's pay by 17%!!!!!

Yup...when the state is losing money, he uses tax dollars to pay his staff more money. WHo the heck gets a 17% raise anyhow? 17%? At a time that unemployment is at a high, and NY is borrowing a crazy load of money from the Federal government, he RAISES his staffs pay. WHAT AN IDIOT! It's no wonder his approval ratings are going down...

WTH governor Patterson, WTH?

Softening Up

2009-02-17T20:13:00.002-05:00

Moshe wrote up a post entitled "Fairwell to Frum Skeptic" In that post he wrote about how I'm going to go all soft and stop blogging.

Well...Moshe is unfortunately not far off, I have gone soft.

Over shabbos, during shalosh suedos, my super frummy friend made a ridiculous comment about something frummy, and what did I do?

I shook my head, said "its not worth it" and that was that.

Then I paused a bit, looked at my mom, and was like "O MAN! I"VE GONE SOFT!"

my super frummy friend laughed.

Whatever will I do?

I know...I'll read the Yated. Nothing can annoy a rational human being more than that newspaper!

PMS Tea

2009-02-13T00:02:00.000-05:00

As I'm wandering down the aisles of a Key Food Supermarket I find myself strolling down the tea aisle. As I glance over the many different varieties of tea available, what do I see; A product called PMS Tea. Being the curios person that I am, I pick up the box (which btw has an OU on it) and read what it says.

Aside from the anti-bloating and water retention this box of tea promises to rid, it reads "Do not use if pregnant or breastfeeding"

Since when do pregnant women experience PMS? They may be bitchy, but not because of PMS!

Moron Uncle

2009-02-12T00:02:00.000-05:00

I have three uncles. Two of them are smart, and one of them isn't exactly the brightest crayon in the box if you know what I mean.

My mom called him up to inform him of my engagment, and he goes "wait, is she engaged or is she getting married?"

umm...is there a difference?

Then he began to give my mom a whole lecture about how its wrong that fiance and I will not be living together before we get married. So mom says "um, do you really think you are qualified to give marraige advice?" (He divorced after 6 months of marraige, and broke up with every girl he began living with after a few months); so my uncle responds "Marraige has nothing to do with divorce."

Its like, then what does it have to do with, mr. uncle? Please enlighten me!

Mom continued on speaking to him and he says (knowing fully well that fiance and I are orthodox) "Are they having a church wedding or are they doing it the Jewish way?"

WTH!?

this stuff really makes me put the concept of "family first" into perspective. It's like "does this include *all* family?

Halls

2009-02-11T00:01:00.000-05:00

My mom was making phone calls today looking for halls.

She called up one place, and they said they have no kosher food on Sunday's, but they have a kosher-like menu on Sunday's"

My mom was like "thank you, but not interested"

Does anyone have the slightest idea what that could mean? "kosher-like?"

wth!?

Kosher Paper Towels?

2009-02-10T00:04:00.001-05:00

I received an email from a friend of mine last week. She was on the phone with a friend of hers talking about how her grandmother makes chicken soup. Apparently her grandmother makes chicken soup with the skin, which is considered gross (dunno why, we do that, but we drain it twice before we eat it). Anyway, so my friend was telling her friend how gross that was, since its so fattening. She said the great thing to do to rid the fat, is to sift the soup through Bounty and there is no fat left (well, it is the quilted quicker picker upper!). So her friend ignored all the comments about health and fat, and says "Use Brawny, not Bounty"

So my friend says "Why?" thinking maybe its because Bounty is overpriced or something like that.

But no, her friend says that Bounty is not-kosher.

Yup, you heard that, Bounty is not-kosher. -A piece of paper is not kosher-

My friend was like "are you serious?"

and her friend replied "Yup."

My friend said "Well that has got to be the dumbest thing I've ever heard, a piece of paper being non-kosher and so I will davka use Bounty now just because I think its so stupid that this stuff spreads."

And her friend responded "well then Hashem will davka punish you if you do that."

***

I heard that Bounty had kitniyos on it, so they don't recommend using it for pesach. But ok, people go nuts on pesach, but dude...seriously, a frikkin paper towel, during the year? when its not pesach?! wth is wrong with people?

I'm NOT a softy !

2009-02-09T01:34:00.002-05:00

Just to prove to Moshe that I'm not going to turn into a softy now that I got my ring, I will write a post just to spite him! :-p

I woke up early this morning and I saw the ring on my finger! I looked at it and remembered the world was all nice and good. Who cares about the fact that Obama is president, who cares that he wants to put this country into an even bigger debt than FDR ever even imagined putting us into, the world is still good. Moshiach is so totally on his way, because we all know, frummies know what they're talking about, all the time. ;)

My Boston relatives suddenly appeared in Brooklyn, with just a phone call last night that they were coming. And what did I do? I happily made their beds, I helped my mom clean up, and I remained happy, all because of the ring on my finger. :). Who cares that they just randomly showed up.

AHHH...that ring doesn't make me happy! Come'n, I wrote this post to SPITE Moshe, how happy could I be?

hehe

I'm ENGAGED!!!!!

2009-02-05T23:29:00.002-05:00

K...So I wanted to write something a tad on the humorous side, but I had parents yell at me! lol

SO I"M ENGAGED!!!!!

YAY...MAZEL TOV!!

and instead of sticking to funny stuff like I wanted to, I'm going to describe how he proposed. lol

So we're at a restuarant, and he keeps asking me if I want to use the restroom. And I'm like "nea, not really" cuz I didn't have to...and well...even if I did..eww...public bathrooms!!!

So, we finish eating, and he pays the bill, and he goes "Do you need to use the bathroom?" And I'm like "are we going to one of the houses now?" and he goes "I don't know yet."

So I go "you know what, I'll go then just incase"

and so I come back, and I'm expecting him to just put his coat on, so we can leave.

Nope...

He has me sit down. So I was thinking "ok, he's probably trying to kill time since its cold and we don't know what else to do"

and then he takes my hands, and goes s/t like "you have rings on your fingers, but you're missing one right here" (pointing to the ring finger)

And I'm like "ooookk"

and he adds "well I have one for you"

And I'm like "na-ah! not now!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!" and its alll a blur from there. we don't even remember if he actually ever asked me to marry him. hehe. :-)

And he needed me to go to the bathroom so he could give the waiter the camera so that he can capture the moment.

and well ... OMG, I"M ENGAGED!!!!!!!!

Scandelous Wedding

2009-02-02T00:05:00.000-05:00

Lately at work I've been kinda stuck at my desk. While at my desk I listen to talk radio (the Joe Scarborro Show is my favorite) and then during commercials I randomly browse around FM radio.

Alot of the songs out these days would be perfect to play at the frum wedding especially if you have the intention of ticking off a few frummies. :)

During the shmorg to keep the people unsuspecting you keep to playing the typical lame classical style music. For the bedeken when the guy comes out, you blast the chorus of "Untouched" by The Veronicas, afterall, its been a week since the couple has seen each other, and there is alot of tension in the air between the two. What song could possibly be better? As the guy is leaving, instead of being sung away, the perfect song would be to blast "I can't wait to see you again" by Miley Cyrus - in about 10 minutes they'll be seeing each other again, under the chupah.

When the single brothers (if any and from either side) walk down, you blast Womanizer by Britney Spears. Afterall, if they're above bar mitvah, they should be married by now. Especially with the shidduch crisis!

When the single sisters walk down the aisle, you assume they're still in HS, or else why are they still single? So you play "Faded" by Cascada because well, even if she's unique, she's probably pretending to "fit in a perfect box."

Finally, it will be time for the groom to come down. If the couple has a sense of humor, the guy will be more than happy to walk down to "Livin la vida Loca" by Ricky Martin. That would bring a laugh amongst all the people, especially if the bride is not the typical B"Y type but actually likes to have fun.

And finally for the bride, she walks down to "Genie in a bottle" by Christina Aguilera. Afterall, she's been having sleepless nights waiting for someone to release her from her single state, ever since she saw her first Disney movie. ;-), or well, her first wedding if she doesn't have a "video machine."

Once the kallah is under the chupa, it is time for her to walk around the guy 7 times. Depends on who you ask you'll get a different answer on what the walk represents. The feminists insist that the walk represents that she makes his house. She is in control of his welfare, so for the feminist, the song that would be played would be "Circus" by Britney Spears. Afterall, she's like the "ring leader" and she "calls the shots." If she's not the feminist type, and she believes the 7 time walk represents that she is now responsible to cater to his needs, Britney has also provided us with the chorus to the perfect song "I was born to make you happy"

For when the couple is finally married, and they are walking out in their typical holding-hand move, they go romantic and play "A Moment like this" by Kelly Clarkson, which happens to be kosher (aside for kol isha).

If you're going modern, and the bride and groom dance the first dance together, the best song to tick off some frummies would be "Too Close" by Next. heck, that song would tick off anyone that is even remotely prudish, even if they aren't frum.

How many of you would have the guts to play these at your weddings? I don't think I would, I'd be afraid my parents would beat me after. :-)

Insane frummies

2009-02-01T12:13:00.003-05:00

Two six-year-old girls are running around.

One stops and says to the other "If you want to be tznius, you have to sit on the ladies table with me!"

The other little girl begins to look a bit confused.

I came over to my sister and go "I am so NOT sending any of my future daughters to that stupid school. They're six for heavens sake, who is oggling them at age six? Stupid school and stupid parents for encouraging such speak. They're six!"

And well, all I have to say is this, the frum community is one over-sexed psycho place. You can't have six year olds talk like that. I understand that they have no idea what they're talking about, but still, you don't teach that to SIX YEAR OLDS!

Do frum people believe in gd?

2009-01-25T01:11:00.000-05:00

It seems like a no brainer- do Orthodox Jewish people believe in Gd?

many would answer "duh!"

but do they really? Based on the actions of frum Jews, how many really beleive and fear Gd, and not just fear being ostracized by their community?

I'd say only about 1/2 of today's frummies believe in Gd.

How often is it all over the news that a frummy embezzeled money? Or how often do they lie and cheat the government (Section 8, welfare etc)? How often do they take shul politics and over dramatize them to the extent that literally half the shul gets pissed?

If people beleived in Gd they wouldn't do things that are such chillul hashem. They wouldn't allow themselves to vote for Hillary Clinton just because she promised to pardon four of their criminals. Bogus nonsense. You'd think people in New Square would have morals (as they dress like pious people), but they don't. They allow for criminal behavior.

Do they believe in Gd? Doubt it, they just beleive in the power of the community. If they believed in Gd, they wouldn't vote for bozo's in exchange for their criminals to be released.

Criminals belong in prison, I don't particularly care what religion (or if) they practice.

My friend recently told me a story of something that happened in her school. The school had a tehillim session. The teachers gave out tehillim sheets. When everyone was finished saying tehillim, the teacher went around to collect the sheets. One of the girls (who is very pro-zionist/Israel) was in the middle of saying some extra tehillim for the soldiers, and then the teacher, out of anger grabbed the tehillim out of her hands.

The girl was like "what are you doing? I'm saying tehillim for my sick friend." (she lied)

The teacher was like "Oh, sorry (she returned the tehillim sheet), I thought you were saying it for something else" (Implying the wounded soldiers)

Now, if this teacher beleived in Gd, wouldn't she beleive that Gd loves all his creatures regardless of their political views on Israel? Wouldn't she beleive that Gd (if He were anti-zionist) would atleast want his sons well, regardless of where they live? Wouldn't she believe it were up to Gd to not heal their wounds and take care of their "punishment" in shamayim?

Well, if she believed in Gd, she would. But she doesn't. She believes in the power of community. She fears that if she doesn't stick to it, she'll be shunned. She doesn't care about Gd, she doesn't care if Gd is with her, she only cares that she is with half a million other bozo's who blindly follow a Rav. She just simply doesn't beleive in Gd.

People who believe in Gd don't act like dumbasses. They don't allow themselves to be part of committees who exchange human dignity for scum bags, be it in votes, or not allowing the saying of tehillim due to political differences.

Gotta Love Bureaucracy

2009-01-23T00:37:00.000-05:00

I came home today and my mother was all excited to tell me this wonderful story, about my grandfather.

So, my grandfather is 65 and has applied for Medicare. When he received his card, it said "female" on it. So my grandfather went over to the medicare office, and was like "Umm... There's been a mistake, I'm male."

The great government bureaucrat said "There is no mistake, your SS# is filed as female, if you have a problem, you must go to the Social Security office."

My grandfather went on his merry way to the main SS office in Manhattan and was like "Dude, I'm male!"

The SS office looked him up and was like "Sir, there is no mistake it says you're female, and you're also not a legal resident of the United States."

My grandfather, who has been living here for almost 30 years, and has been a citizen for at least 20, showed them his Drivers License and his passport. He was like "I'm a citizen, how could I not be a legal resident?"

So they sent him to some other office, where everything was supposedly straightened out. In the meantime, they checked out my grandma, and she's legal, as well as female :-).

Btw...True Story.

In the meantime, I propose Gov. Patterson tax the stupid people. This way, either one of two things happen

1- People feel the burden of the tax and stop being stupid (which may not help the NY budget, but will help benefit society)

OR

2- NY will prosper, with a never-ending supply of money. Then other states will follow. Once we get hick states, that's it... the US will never have to worry about financial issues.

Obama's Inaugration

2009-01-21T00:13:00.000-05:00

Obama's inauguration was today, and what do we have to show for it?

170 million dollars in spending, with no crazy liberals complaining. When Bush took office and his spending was not even half this amount, all the crazy liberals went crazy, "It's a recession, how could you spend so much?" And now, we are supposedly in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and the liberals are in their private Jets, simultaneously crying about the crazy conservatives who drive SUV's who don't take their bikes to work.

What else? He is the first ever elected president with a political scandal before he even made it into office.

Yay for the country :-/.

Not saying *he* is responsible for anything that had anything to do with Blagojevich, but he definitely should've condemned the bozo, not been like "We have one president at a time" on like every issue ever presented.

But whatever, let's not lead this into a political discussion. I'd like to share random dumb things I've heard in reference to the Inauguration.

1- At a wedding one of my friends said "OMG, the country just elected a Muslim into the white house! Watch him get sworn in on a Quran" (I heard similar type from at least 3 other people since).

- I wonder if anyone was shocked that he didn't actually get sworn in on a Quran.

2- After the Inauguration, one lady started talking about how the stock market plummeted while Obama was speaking. So this other lady goes "I thought people liked him!"

No sweety, its the people who *don't* actually have anything to lose that like him.

Same lady goes "I'm sure it will get better, he has a lot of hope."

That's right...Hope!

Why don't you just sing the HaTikva. Seriously! HOPE can get us through anything *rollseyes*

That's right. I can hope for money, and then it will appear... why does this sound freakishly like a kollel nation? The few rich people will support everyone, while the system goes completely bankrupt?

And you know what, I would love this guy to succeed, I truly would. My success, depends a lot on the success of this country, and this country depends on Obama's success (kill me now!).

If he doesn't succeed, well then...it took a Carter to get a Reagan.

Pray people, pray.

P.S... isn't Moshiach supposed to come now?

What are geese?

2009-01-19T00:03:00.000-05:00

On Friday I was listening in on a conversation about the miracle plane landing on the Hudson River in NY.

One lady was saying how the whole thing happened because of birds getting into the engine.

Another lady at my office says "Really, it was birds? So it wasn't geese?"

I'm curious what she thinks geese are.

2009-01-18T15:06:00.000-05:00

The age old question goes "Can Gd create a boulder so big that He Himself cannot move it?"

It's supposed to be the question that stumps the believer, because if Gd is an omnipotent being, than He should never be challenged by anything, not even a huge boulder. Yet, if He cannot create a boulder then He *is* infact limited and no longer all powerful.

Here goes the modern day, post-Idiocracy question,

"Can Gd create a being so stupid, that Gd Himself cannot grasp it's stupidity"

And my belief is "yes, Gd can" simply because Gd is a good being and He supposedly allows people to have free choice.

If Gd exists (and I happen to beleive He does) then I really hope that Moshiach is seriously on his way, because I fear for the survival of normal frummy-hood (not that there is much left) if we continue on our path of reproducing in full-speed, while not-educating our kin in anything other than how to cheat the system in using Section-8, welfare, food stamps, WIC and so on.

Frum people are not here to survive on instinct, we're not animals, we're here to survive on intelligence and education, and a bit of tradition. "Cheating the system" implies that we only have one system, the problem is, us Jews are kicked out every few generations, and our system changes. We can't rely on cheating systems to survive, we need to learn and educate ourselves... yet we don't.

We're stupid. Instead of educating ourselves by investing in good yeshiva education (both "secular" -math/logic, sciences as well as "Jewish") we focus our efforts on turning people frum, who probably should just not be frum.

Think about it, if someone is born frum, their basis to remain frum is probably more solid than some hobo that became frum because they saw pretty silverwear on shabbos (come on! buy a set of silverwear and start friday night meals in a secular fashion! if that made you frum, you're fickle).

I just don't get it. We have a parnassa crisis which causes the tuition crisis. If instead of investing money towards turning people frum, we spent it to KEEP education we already have going (help the schools out, so the tuition crisis would no longer be a crisis), we'd have a more stable frum foundation, amongst the FFB's and the BT's who didn't have their emotions messed with to turn frum.

what is loshon hara?

2009-01-14T23:47:00.000-05:00

I never really delved into learning the halachos behind loshon hara, but I do remember a few things I learned in HS:

1. It is not loshon hara when it is about shidduchim.

2. It is not loshon hara if someone is telling on someone who is cheating/lying or can be damaging towards someone else's business, parnassa or community.

So... with the first one, I don't really have anything to say, because that makes sense, but with the second, there are many morons that just *don't* get this halacha. They're stupid and they judge people too favorably. Therefore, they continue to let the damaging person continue in his bad ways, because they don't seem to grasp that he is in fact harmful to them. One can go on and on telling them about how the said person is bad for them, and damaging, but they just won't listen to you.

There is a halacha that says "Don't stand idly by when the blood of your brother is being spilled"

But when you start saying "dude, he's about to stab you" and they don't want to hear it because it's "loshon hara" are you supposed to go on and on repeating yourself like a broken record? Or are you supposed to stand idly by, point the finger and be like "hahaha, jackass, I warned you!" (I'm so one to do that too :))

Well... by halacha, or my interpretation of everything I learned "YES! go on and on repeating yourself!"

In fact, it happened in the navi (can't remember which), someones was told "dude, they're gonna attack you" and they didn't believe him, because it was accepting "loshon hara" and they got attacked.

The problem is, a lot of people turn everything into personal matters. They think that when you complain about someone, then it's personal. It's *not* always personal. In fact, most of the time, the person really *is* a douche bag.

Many fellow people choose to ignore the obvious (douche bag's presence) just because they choose to consider it loshon hara, or are just blinded by warnings because of money/prestige insentive. But shouldn't you accept the "lashon hara" because it will harm you and being cautious is a form of u"shmar nafshecha" (watching after your life)?.

Things that should NOT be taught literally

2009-01-11T12:42:00.000-05:00

My sister goes to a B"Y wannabe school (meaning, they pretend to be all frum, but the students actually care to pursue higher education - college). One of the things the teachers do, is they give over information normal people would not take literally, but give it as literal. Even if one learns under the premise of Gd being an omnipotent being, some of the things they teach are just beyond any rationale.

The other day my sisters Yedeot Luach (a total waste of time, they learn the depth behind the Jewish calendar) teacher, brought in a medrash that said "That Avraham's kidney's acted as his two Rabbonim." She expanded on it, and said that it means that instinct comes from the kidney's.

Bravo!! Why is this lady allowed to teach? Maybe she'll say that the expression "Gut reaction" proves this midrash?

The same teacher last year taught my sister Jewish History and Parsha. In the Parsha class this teacher explained how everything in Torah is to be taken literally, so my sister under her breath mumbled how Parshas Haezinu was a poem, all simile and metaphor. Anyway, her point was to prove that when it says, Eretz Zvas Chalav U'Dvash, it literally means a land flowing with milk and honey. The teacher brought in a bunch of examples from the Gemorah about people who were knee deep in fig juice/honey.

I don't think I need a conclusion. I firmly beleive that I conveyed my message already. lol.