Yeshiva World News

Out Of The Mailbag: I Said No To Seminary!

Dear YWN, I am a Senior in a local mainstream high school, and i want to express a tremendous hacoras hatov to Yeshiva World News. This seems pathetic, but true: the discussions in the "out of the mailbag" brought problems into public, erasing the confusion associated with so many problems in today's world. I am talking specifically about Seminaries [see letters HERE & HERE]. I will be staying home next year I"H, in addition to a large portion of my friends. For me, that ...

Out Of The Mailbag: Reason For Meat Shortage

Dear YWN Editor,   We are all familiar with the current Glatt Kosher meat shortage situation that faces Frum Yidden. For me, it really hit home when I entered my local butcher shop this past Friday to purchase a piece of flanken for the cholent. Imagine my surprise when I found only a few pieces of meat in the meat refrigerator, and no flanken whatsoever. Without many options, I purchased a rib steak and continued making my Erev Shabbos purchases.   After I left the store and got into my ...

Out Of The Mailbag: Thank You President Bush

I predict that history and entire people of the USA (even those that voted for the current President-elect) will one day judge President George W. Bush very kindly. Today, my prediction might seem foolish, however that is only because of the current media bias. It is my belief that History will not contain those biases. The chutzpa of the press is mind boggling. Before the recent economic meltdown, what did we hear every day from the media?  Iraq. Iraq. Iraq. The good people of the ...

Out Of The Mailbag: Juicy Couture - D&G - Burberry - UGG - Hard Tails

For those of you that do not recognize these brand labels, consider yourself extremely fortunate. Having attended Shulamis High School years ago which was one of the only Brooklyn schools that did not have a school uniform, I always wondered why the Bais Yaakov’s all made their students wear school uniforms. Was it a look the schools were looking for?  Was it tzniut related? I understood that certain children would always be wearing nicer clothing than others because their parents had ...

Out Of The Mailbag: Upcoming Election & Growth of Lakewood

Dear YWN, I have seen little about the candidates for whom Lakewood residents will vote, and I would like to hear some honest opnions. I had occasion to go to Brick twice this week, along Route 70 and Brick Boulevard, and I found the traffic horrendous. Remember, most NJ residents don't want to live in NYC, but evidently the planners in Brick didn't think about this when they allowed the growth of shopping malls and developments. I really hope this does not happen to Lakewood, which ...

Out Of The Mailbag: Shoving at the Kosel?

Dear YWN Editors, I just got off the phone with my son. As you can see from the poem written below, he is a guard at the Kotel. I daven every day that he should come back to Hashem 'biteshuva sheleima' but I love him, as he is, with all my heart and soul. It is very distressing to me when he calls me and says "Ima, you should see what goes on here. There are people shoving other people to get to the Kotel so they wont "miss the Z'man". How could these people really think this is the ...

Out Of The Mailbag: Blackberry Crackberries

Dear YWN, I am a 40 year old businessman from Flatbush that has been financially successful beyond my wildest dreams. B’H I can say that much of what I have invested in over the past fifteen years has turned to gold and I have more money than I will ever be able to spend.  Chasdei Hashem! They say you can’t buy happiness and I recently began taking a look at my life to see if in fact I was falling into a trap that I would regret later on in life.  In addition to looking at my life, ...

Out Of The Mailbag: Living Within Our Means - A Quiet Revolution

Dear YWN Firstly, may I thank you and the contributors to this site for the tremendous service it offers to the charedi public. I would like to address a topic which is a theme running through the charedi world – most notably in chutz laaretz – and that is our spending culture. Whether it is chasunehs, sheitels, seminaries, cars, houses, vacations, camps, bungalows, hotels for yom tov or any other craze or fad which may tickle our fancy we have all gone way over the top. Many of ...

Out Of The Mailbag: Seminary Woes

Dear YWN Editor, I just completed the last payment for my daughter’s upcoming seminary year, and like so many other parents in my predicament, I feel a serious need to vent. Mindy is my second of four girls and is beaming with excitement at the opportunity to spend her post high school year learning and touring in Eretz Yisroel.  My wife and I are also very excited about the opportunity to let her be on her own and grow and mature into a young woman who will IY”H look to get married ...

Out Of The Mailbag: Jewish Kindness

Dear YWN,   I would like to share a personal story with you that highlights some of the best aspects of Klal Yisroel.   This past Sunday, I was driving to Toronto from Brooklyn with my wife and four children. All was going well and we were making good time, until approx 10:30 pm. We were a few miles out of the Clarence Rest Stop on the NYS Thruway, not far from Exit 50 (near Buffalo), when a tar-like smell began to creep into my nostrils. I looked down at the RPM gauge of my minivan, and ...

Out Of The Mailbag: (Do As I Do)

Dear YWN, It seems like so much time and effort is spent these days trying to dictate to others what, where and how they should live their lives or conduct themselves. Does anyone think dictating to others actually works? Stop and think for a second, when was the last time someone dictated something to you and you changed your behavior based on what they said? On the flip side, you can probably more easily remember an incident, situation or behavior that you observed, were moved by and now ...

Out Of The Mailbag: (Get Education!)

Please, Please, Please Get an Education! B”H, with much chessed from the Ribbono Shel Olam, I have the opportunity to work in the Human Resources department of a Fortune 500 company. In today’s unfortunate economic times, many businesses, including Frum owned businesses, are downsizing. I therefore have recently received a number of resumes from Frum people seeking jobs or on behalf of someone who is seeking a job. My company has openings so I eagerly open each resume hoping that I can ...

Out Of The Mailbag: (Who Are Our Camp Counselors?)

Dear YWN, As we sit in the midst of the summer, it pains me to watch what has now become of summer camps for teenage boys. In my eyes sleep away camp was an integral part of Chinuch; and a part of maturity for young staff members. As a person who went to camp for many years, was a waiter, JC, and counselor for a number of years, I can say first hand that being a staff member in camp as a teenager helped me deal with many things that take place later in life. Is it so horrible for young men to ...

Out Of The Mailbag: (Cautionary Story About Hotels)

Dear YWN readers,  This past Shabbos my wife, kids and I stayed at a hotel. This well-known hotel is located in the Catskills and was advertised in a popular Jewish newspaper. The caterer is someone we know slightly, and the mashgiach is well-known and respected in the hashgocho world. My wife called the hotel to do some additional research, including asking if the guests were a mixed crowd (in our experiences with frum hotels the crowd usually includes litvish, chasidish, modern, ...

Out Of The Mailbag: (Taking Issue With School Administration)

Dear Yeshiva World, I am a parent of two daughters that worked in schools this past year. I would like to share with you the way the heads of the schools of YOUR children deal with their staff. With one of my daughter’s, she was told she’d get paid by the hour. In the beginning of the year, the head of the school figured out the number of hours per week she’d work, multiplied it by four, and made that the set amount she’d get paid once a month.  However, we all know that there ...

Out Of The Mailbag: (To'eva Marriage Makes Me Fear For America)

Dear Yeshiva World,  The great celebration that has been going on in the media the past few days over the impending commencement of To'eva marriages in California has left me fearful for this beloved country. Every time I heard the news or clicked on main news items, there it was: "At five o'clock, Pacific time, the State of California will permit To'eva marriages, etc..." Each time I saw it or heard it was like the tolling of a bell, which reverberated deep in my heart setting off a slight ...

Out Of The Mailbag: (Why I Hate Graduations)

It’s that time of year again. The time when many of us are attending the graduation ceremonies of family and friends. Yes, I know. Graduation is supposed to be a climactic event. It’s supposed to be a celebration of achievements,  the start of bright new beginnings, a time to reflect on the past and look forward to the future. Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? So why do I hate to go?    At graduation, individual students are singled out for excellence. Awardees are named.  ...