Haimy

In my humble opinion, the leadership of chesed/tzedakah organizations are Gabboei Tzadakah who should be beholden to the klal & be relatively transparent about how the directors are compensated & what percentage of raised funds reached the intended recipients.. How genuine are the pleas of a rosh hamosad of chesed if he’s walking away with an overinflated salary? I don’t know what constitutes a fair salary but there’s got to be range that’s acceptable. The fact that these organizations are critical to the frum world doesn’t justify the taking of public funds for large personal compensation. A vaad of Rabbonim should be representing the Klal in analyzing the expenditures of the important mosdos.

My main intention was to rethink the original intention the originators of daf Yomi had. I don’t know why this aspect of torah learning has almost been forgotten from fine balei batim. Learning a piece of Gemarah with Rashi is a thrill not to be missed which no equivalent study aid can compare. I simply felt too guilty tuning the page without looking at one Rashi that I decided to try the Oraysoh Amud Yomi program. Rashi is Rabon Shel Yisroel!, how can we leave him out of our study of Gemara? Of course, all the study aids are relying on Rashi, but don’t you want to learn from our Rebbi first hand?.

What did Bilaam say to the Midianites? אמר להם אלהיהם של אלו שונא זימה, Sanhedrin. 106a. Hashem hates Zenus. Mishkav Zochor is one of the 7 Mitzvos given to Noach, each of those Mitzvos come with the death penalty when they are disobeyed. I think it is pretty well known that the Bible forbids this behavior. Even if you can claim that they are all innocent because they don’t know any better, it should definitely bother you that mankind is behaving in a way that’s contrary to Hashem’s will. LOshon Horah & cheating are also a serious chataim but there’s no capital punishment attached. If an srial cheater or baal loshon horah works in close proximity to you then you would feel uncomfortable by that, why not for a noef? Even if legally we need to tolerate sinners we should still feel bothered by their choices. People’s behaviors don’t just happen, they are intentional decisions that a person makes. You cannot separate a murderer from the murder he committed or a mezaneh from the znus he intentionally commits. It’s only after doing teshuvah that we can separate people from their behaviors because they now regret tho choices they made.

Kol Hakovod to anyone that commits himself to learning a Blatt Gemarah each day, with or without Rashi. I am grapling with this question myself as I want to embark on a set pace of learning for part of my day. The idea of going through shas without Rashi seems like a change from tradition & is not in the spirit of the Yeshiva mesorah. There is a special sweetness to figuring out a gemarah with Rashi at your side that no study aid can replicate.

I’m not detracting from Daf Yomi which is a spiritual lifeline to many frum Yidden.
The question is if Daf Yomi is now in general a Gemarah minus Rashi endeavor. I felt very uncomfortable turning the page without even taking a look at one Rashi. Artscroll or Mesivta now in the blanks & you’re ready to go without Rashi. I don’t see this type of learning as being anymore connected to other Yidden than the fact that we al daven from the same siddur each day.

I quoted a prestigious doctor stating that more people will die if we keep young people in isolation than if we allow them to come out & be productive. He is obviously going anti-establishment who believes everyone should be under lockdown. Think for yourself about what makes more sense. Those that feel comfortable thinking out of the box will likely agree with him. Those that are normally very trusting of doctors & politicians or are very frightened about Covid19 will likely disagree. There’s no clear answer either way. All we know for a certainty is that every day we prolong this state of isolation more people’s general health, livelihoods, education, illness diagnoses & treatment, & mental health is being lost. This we know for sure, al pi derech hateva R”L. May Hashem have rachmonus on us.

Think of the risk of millions of people losing their livelihood, millions of children missing their education, millions of people going undiagnosed with serious illnesses because of the shutdown. Will all this not ruin many lives? Hashem put us in a world that requires our active engagement for humanity to survive & thrive in. Let’s at least allow those with the lowest risk factors to reenter the world & be productive again. Many people will Ch”V suffer nervous breakdowns if we keep them quarantined much longer. Parents of young children are wondering how they’ll buy food & pay their mortgage next month. It’s time to allow the least vulnerable to reengage with life.

I’m not coming with an agenda, I honestly would like to know if KJ had proportionally fewer deaths per the population & how widespread Dr. Zelenkow’s protocol was used. This is especially significant since social isolation seems to be observed to a lesser degree in the Satmar Kehillos than in other communities. As widely reported on YWN. Less social distancing & a lower death rate should be an indicator that his treatment is working if it’s being commonly used in KJ.

Syag: How much longer do we assume people are carriers after being quarantined to 2 months with the same group of people?

This is something that should be considered. Maybe not a total cancellation, but a reduced vacation of 2 weeks would be fine. Yeshivos shouldn’t be pressured by the announcements from camps of their intention to open this summer.

I’m not here to tell anyone which Gadol to follow. I saw a video of Rav Shmuel Fuerst of Chicago (Who a talmid of Rav Shmuel Kaminetzky) stating that Rav Shmuel strongly encourages that we vote & that Rav Gershon said that Rav Shmuel is the final deiah in America. The political situation in E.Y is quite dangerous right now for the Chareidi tzibbur. My point is that there are enough senior manhigei yisroel like Rav Elya Brudny, Rav Shmuel, Rav Asher Weiss, supporting this that a sincerely Frum Yid can proudly take a stand & vote. My hope is that only good comes out of this campaign & that eventually even those opposed to voting will later agree it was right in hindsight. There’s only one day left to vote, please make up your mind either way & decide before it’s too late. Sitting back & doing nothing because your unsure who to follow while the yishuv is in a sakonah is not a responsible response. Ask you Rav or RH”Y & do what’s right for you.

I Actually requested YWN to remove this post after It went live because I realized that there are people that can feel hurt by my mentioning specific disorders. I ask mechilah of any person I may have hurt & request of YWN to either remove this post entirely or at least remove the sentence mentioning specific diagnoses. I acknowledge that there certainly are individuals who suffer from these & other disorders & who still maintain a stable home. My intention was about severely disabling situations.
I also know of people whose lives were ruined because they unknowingly entered a marriage with a mentally dysfunctional spouse & no one cared to warn them about it before.
At the divorce proceedings of one young woman (who nebach hasn’t remarried now 10 years later) the boy’s Rosh Hayeshiva berated her for rejecting his beloved dysfunctional talmid. This tragedy could have been avoided in my humble opinion if the right research had been done before the marriage.
Forget about trusting the references listed on a resume, they are the least reliable source of information. Use the references to find other unbiased people who will give you a true picture of the person. Roommates can provide invaluable information since they see the day to day interpersonal behavior of the person. I always ask the following question: Would you be comfortable with this person marrying a close relative of yours? the tone of the answer is very revealing. People aren’t offering bad information outright, we want to be positive about other Yidden & don’t want to hurt them. You need to ask the right questions to protect yourself.

I don’t know if we can bring a rayah from a personal story with Rav Moshe. It’s very possible that Rav Shlomo Zalmen davened privately for a refuah. His opinion was that public calls for tefilah when there is no possible derech hateva way to recover is not right because it weaken peoples emunah in the koach of tefilah. I can tell you that every time YWN issues a call for tefilah I sadly assume that this is a last minute thing & the person is more on the olom Haemes than on this world. Usually within 48 hours they are announcing the petirah R”L. I think this deserves a shealas rav whether this is appropriate. I know that there are people who feel discouraged from davening after seeing that it’s not working time & again.

We have a situation today where very wealthy frum Yidden develop pet projects where they invest millions of dollars in. These are icing on the cake endeavors that make a lot of buzz but are of negligeable benefit to the Torah community at large.
This is while critical needs of the klal like building new schools, supporting lomdei Torah respectably, lowering the costs of chasunahs, tutoring & mentoring programs, making post kollel job training affordable, etc. are falling behind.
This is an issue of bein Odom Lechavriro.
Chazal tell us that the people blessed with unusual wealth are Gisborim, caretakers for the Ribono Shel Olom to help out his children. Rav Ahron Leib Shteynman would obligate Gevirim to give up to 50% of their earnings to Tzedaka. Rav Moshe mentions this several time in Dorash Moshe That that really all the money in the world should be shared equally by society, Hashem decided to give it in an unequal way in order to be mezakeh the Ashirim in Tzedaka vochesed. He says thaey should look at themselves as mere trustees of the Klal.
It’s very possible that this overwhelming support of Trump puts us at risk of intimidating the many people who hate Trump in the local tristate area. Maybe it’s np coincidence that B&H was handed a law suit just a few days later.
Redifas Hakovod & lack of rabbinical guidance leads gevirim to foolishly squander their money when they can create so much good with it.
By society asking questions we can hopefully encourage the trustees of the Klall to put the funds to the most important needs we have.

The Siyum website clearly states that the reason for the many high priced seats is to ” Support further limud Hatorah after the siyum through theeir “Ki heim Chayeinu initiatives” Clearly not to cover the cost of the venue & not for their shtadlonus.
My humble opinion is that the way to support further limud Hatorah is to allow more middle-class Yidden attend & from that chizuk they will hopefully be inspired to learn more.( I personally don’t believe the Agudah will have much success from spending money in the future directly on limud Hatorah.) “As Chazal tell us M’bnei Aniyyim Teitzei Torah” Let the Anniyim feel good by being part of it.
Add in the cost of transportation roundtrip to the Siyum & you have a hefty bill.
I in no way mean to bash the Agudas Yisroel or their leadership, they are a critical organization for the success of the Torah world & are led by Gedolei Yisroel.

OK, the sacredness of the Siyum Hashas needs to be sacrificed in order to raise funds to spread more daf yomi among Klal Yisroel. I don’t know of any gadol or Rosh Hayeshiva who actually urges his talmidimg to join Daf Yomi anymore. Todays hectic work cycle makes it very difficult for a Yeshiva graduate to have a sipuk from daf yomi unless it’s done through Dirshu with it’s strong Chazarah & testing program.
How exactly will the funds generated create more lomdei Torah?
Every frum family gets a daf Yomi calendar in the mail each year from Agudah Torah commission which is promptly thrown in the garbage, A cute Sukkos poster with a daf ship riding the waves sent to every frum home?
More ads in the frum press & social media reminding us about how many days are left to the next mesechta?
Do they hire maggidei shiur? I don’t think so.
I don’t think the Agudah can increase Torah learning. This is the job of local rabbonim & rebbeim, not a national organization.
Before we know it, In 5 & 1/2 years this nonstop promotion machine will start all over again promoting the next siyum hashas. (before that we’ll experience a 2 year promotion from the Vaad Hashmitta)
I think Agudas Yisroel is a vital organization for the Klal but that the purity, innocence & inspiration of the Siyum is being compromised by all this hype & commercialization.

There is no way to prove a review is illegitimate on Amazon, Amazon always sides with the customer over the seller. Leaving fraudulent reviews is illegal on Amazon but there are ways to game the system. My point is that those who are gaming the system are also (possibly unknowingly) damaging the Parnassah of other Yidden. I hope people take this issue more seriously now that I’ve made this public.

If we’d turn back the economic clock 30 years & have 20,000 kollel graduates with 5-10 children & minimal secular education looking for a job we’d be in big trouble. Hashem created this tzinor as a yeshuah for the Chareidi tzibbur. So many former yungeleit are making a respectable parnossah using technology & internet we should make a brocha thanking Hashem for this nes. No one is benefiting more from the internet then the Olom Hachareidi.