Reply To: Porush (NOT) for Mayor

Dear “Citizenofberlin”,

I enclose a copy of my answer to you on the “General News”:

As usual, dear “citizen of Berlin”, you attempt to sway the discussion to subjects convenient to you and to ignore the thrust of the points.

1) From my experience anyone who tries to accuse anyone else on this YWN site of nazism (using Der Sturmer etc., “antisemitic” etc.) has admitted that they have no valid answers to the points raised. Well you have validated my theory yet again!

2) Whilst I too do not dress too western myself and I am proud of it, I can fully understand a chiloni who considers it strange and a little crazy. When I visit chutz lo’oretz I cringe at some of the clothing, hairstyles and even shoes that I see people there wearing and I certainly wouldnt vote for a President/Mayor/Congressman or anything, someone dressed like that because I consider the gentleman a weirdo even if he was supposed to be a brilliant leader. Can you imagine Obama standing a chance if he were to dress like a regular teenaged afro-american? Why is it antisemitic to understand that chassidic clothing looks strange and weird to outsiders?

3) I have absolutely no problem with a chassidish dressed mayor personally but I am realistic enough to appreciate that his chances are considerably lower (if at all) of being elected if he so dressed. All Porush’s recent attempts to call to the chiloni voters by asking them not to be afraid of him has boommerangged badly. If you ask people enough times not to be scared of you, they begin to get scared… and run to vote for Barkat!

4) Concerning the agreement… Firstly, who do you think you are to question Gedolim on their “honesty”? How can you turn around with such chutzpa and say “why should I ever accept a godol’s word if he…..”? Perhaps try to understand instead of attacking and looking for excuses to disregard Rabbonim and to follow the dictates of your evil heart. Now you have a valid reason to do what you want because the Rabbis are ….. The reasoning is simple to someone who is open to try. Is there any point in following an agreement blindly to cause loss for BOTH parties? If you and I would have signed an agreement with each other last year to jointly invest in Lehmann Bros for a year, and if we would have known in time that things were turning sour, should we have continued blindly and lost our money because of the agreement or should we have pulled out? In the same way, the whole point of the agreement in Yerushalayim was to ensure a chareidi mayor for the foreseeable future. Is there any point to continue with Porush just to lose to Barkat? What does Porush stand to gain by losing? Believe me, if Aguda would have chosen a popular candidate in a similar way to Lupoliansky who would have stood a reasonable chance of winning then everyone would have continued the agreement without a fuss (See Bnei Brak, after Rabbi Karelitz successfully completed his term, he stood down for the Aguda candidate who now is standing down for the Degel candidate etc.). According to all the polls (and I agree that they are not totally reliable but have you got a better method of checking??) Barkat will win against Porush whilst Lupoliansky will beat Barkat so why follow an agreement to everyones detriment just to satisfy Porush’s need for attention? If you can honestly say that you think you would prefer to lose money in a failing deal together with your partner with all sides losing just to keep an agreement (with noone gaining) then I suggest you see a psychiatrist.

Finally, what does “pro-Rav Eliashiv faction” mean if not following the instructions of Rav Eliashiv and obeying his rulings? By calling on this faction as anti-Porush/pro Rav Eliashiv is equivalent of saying anti-Obama/pro McCain i.e. equating them as two equal candidates. Were you to have said anti Porush/pro Deri I can understand but Rav Eliashiv, please!!! But your continuation proves your attitude as I explained earlier…

Have a good Yomtov.

PS Concerning a meshulach’s cut, in this case we are talking way above the 49% maximum allowed in Halocho!!!