philosopher

Qwerty, it is really inspirational the way you turned yourself around. This what we are here for, to grow into better and greater ovdei Hashem.

The fact is that the Lubavitchers have accepted Manis’s hashkafas because there is a spiritual black hole in Chabad’s entire identity which is doing kiruv. The Jews who were assimilated for a few generations weren’t becoming frum anymore so what would they sell to them? Their new selling pount is “just do one mitzvah, Hashem needs you to give Him a few crumbs of mitzvos and you’re good”. Well, if they only expected assimilated Jews to do some cultural mitzvos here and there, then the Lubavitchers too, only need to “try their best” and if they keep on sinking lower and disregarding more and more halachas from Shulchan Aruch, so what, they are not going to gehinom anyway, whatever they “do for Hashem” is a bonus… As I say again and again, the Lubavitchers are not being mekarev anybody these days, the secular world is merav them.

Talking about Chabad “kiruv”, it is a joke. I am following a Chabad rabbi who travels to interesting “Jewish communities” (these communities generally barely have a minyan of old people) within Russia. He just posted a video of a Chabad Purim event in Russia. For th production they are putting on the actresses are both men and women. They have women dancers. The male and female guests are sitting together… what kiruv are they doing? This is “cultural kiruv”. Real baalie teshuvas who adhere to Shulchan Aruch they cant get, so they cater to those who will accept their cultural identity. I have no doubt that mixed in the crowd are plenty of non-Jewish spouses of their Jewish guests.

There is absolutely no heter to disregard halachos for “kiruv”. But that is what they are doing. What they are doing is spinning their wheels in their mitzva tanks. They are going nowhere just getting more and more stuck in the mud.

Anyway, everyone should have a freilichen Purim and Hashem should bring the geulah before we lose total sight of right and wrong.

Qwerty, i guarantee you Chabad maybe made a half a baal teshuva who adheres to the shulchan aruch in the last 5 years with their college programs. As I said, they are not mekarev the secular, the secular world are mekarev them.

The college campus “kiruv” scene is the same as you describe of kiruv in the boondocks. The “Jewish youth” on colleges and universities are products from assimilated homes that are mostly not Jewish, they just had a Jewish grandma somewhere. Or their parent “converted” through Reform…they are ok with attending Chabad programs because they demand nothing of them besides singing Jewish songs, eating the food Chabad provides, and sometimes putting on teffillin…

I believe Chabad has some success stories with Israeli vacationers in countries like India. That is because Israelis most often don’t come from assimilated households and have some familiarity with Judaism.

Where Yiddishkeit needs to be instilled is within the frum world where the frum youth don’t know much what it means to be a Yid, what belief in Hashem means ( if they would know they wouldn’t drive around with “Hashem needs every Yid” bumper stickers), how previous life is and that there is a reason why they are in this world ( that would help prevent rising suicide rates in the frum community) and how important it is to follow Torah Shebaal peh (Shulchan Aruch)because they always say these days that “it doesn’t say in the Torah”…

Always Ask, losing your spirituality and your children’s spirituality for the sake of TRYING to do kiruv is totally insane, period. Throughout the generations many Jews have left the fold, never has there been this concept of trying to reel them back into Yiddishkeit because not only doesn’t it work in most cases, it destroys the hashkafas of the people trying to do the kiruv. And many, many off these people they are trying to be mekarev are not even Jewish.

Qwerty613, yes that sums is up. They can be lax in basic halachas because they are “culturally frum” so they if they put on tefillin and eat kosher they did their daily duty to Hashem that He “needs from them”…

I say that Chabad aren’t mekarev the secular, the secular world is mekarev them.

Doing kiruv today doesnt work. Secular Jews can watch the lighting of the menorah by a Chabad rabbi, let themselves be wrapped in teffilin, even attend a Shabbaton, and it won’t make a dent in their lifestyle. Maybe, they’ll even buy a Magen David necklace after being “mekarev” by Chabad, but that’s about it. Meanwhile, all this “kiruv” is causing the Lubavitchers to sink lower and lower spiritually.

“Ruchnios is for goyim”… That just about sums up the krumkeit of many outwardly frum but empty souls. And that is how one can convince themselves that waist-length wigs are kosher because “the hair is covered”. Never mind that that those wigs are exceptionally immodest and totally not what rabbonim in previous generations had in mind when paskening that peah nochri is a valid head covering according to halacha. It is absolutely pathetic how women wearing these exceptionally immodest wigs are claiming to be dressed modestly… it is pathetic and delusional.

I have to disagree with the op on the price of wigs though. Any wig under $3,200 is generally processed hair and looks terrible within a year. If one knows what to look for, $3500 is a good price for unprocessed hair that could last years. Maybe the OPs wives and daughters are constantly buying new wigs, but I buy for myself and my daughters infrequently because the wigs I buy lasts for years. Paying for wigs more than $3500 is overpaying… people spend, $5000-$20,000 on wigs. That is insanity

I’m jumping in on this thread again because I see Manis Friedman mentioned. Manis Freidman IS a kofer. I’ve heard him say that according to Judaism there’s no gehinom even for one who sins and that Hashem created us because He needs us. Hashem is perfection, He needs nothing from humans. He created us because He wants us to benefit from having a relationship with Him.

I voted before I knew anyone, besides for the Satmer (and netirei karta) are against it. I voted because they promised a 30 minute Bardak video for voting… but after voting they informed me that the video is not available yet and now I’m skeptical if the video will ever become available. I want my $5 registration fee back!

Dr. Pepper, thank you for being respectful as well despite our differences in opinions regarding this topic.

We do indeed both agree regarding government waste. Where we disagree is whether individuals must pay taxes that cause them financial hardship and whether the government has a right to levy any tax amount on its citizens. Or if you agree with me on these two things, perhaps we differ only whether we believe citizens are “cheating” if they don’t pay heavy taxes that will cause them financial hardship. As we already discussed, I don’t agree not paying these taxes is cheating as I believe no government has a right to levy taxes on individuals to the point that it causes them harm, the governmenthas no right to that money.

I totally agree with you on Social Security. As almost all other programs, it is not run well. Because the government is too big and because there’s the printing money without gold backing and raising taxes with no restraint, money is not being spent responsibly and trillions is being wasted. The individuals running the US government don’t care much if the SS program crashes- the majority of elected officials are rich to begin with and most often get even richer in office so it doesn’t concern them personally. I am super-impressed with Trump and Elon Musk trying to make some order and i hope they will get to do that with Social Security program as well. I am wary though how it will all pan out long-term and what will be with future administrations.

Dr. Pepper, you wrote “At this point I think we’re just going to have to agree to disagree.” I agree on that.

Talking about social security, I’m really wondering if the Trump administration can save it. I am skeptical that future presidents/administrations will try to continue fixing the mess the us gov is in. The way social security was run till now places it on the brink, the program will almost certainly crash in the near future, imo. The system is unsustainable.

anonymous Jew, you write “It seems like, using your logic, I can refuse to pay shul dues because they are excessive, unfair and are robbing me of hard earned income. ”

If your shul dues are causing you such extreme financial hardship that effects you and your family severely, then i urge you to contact the many frum charity organizations who will help you out in your dire situation.

Dr. Pepper, you write “By the way- I did respond to your question about “ illegal activities” against the British king- I told you that you can fight for your independence.” Are you suggesting i take up arms against the US gov and stop paying taxes like the colonists did against the British monarchy? Please explain your comment how i can “fight for my independence ” from the US gov.

Always ask, I’m not talking about myself and my citizenship and my taxes. I’m talking about MILLIONS of Americans who cannot, and therefore do not, pay whatever the government deems to rob them of. You are living in a bubble if you think this issue is all about a few thousand Jews. MILLIONS of Americans whose lives are being affected by unfair taxes levied upon them have a RIGHT TO LIVE FREELY and to be taxed fairly. The US government has absolutely no right to overtax its citizens, period.

Dr. Pepper, here’s a relevation of a tiny portion of the US government’s ridiculous spending:

LEFT FLIPS OUT: Trump Shuts USAID Agency; The Shocking Waste Of Money Starts Being Exposed

I’m very impressed with the Trump administration trying to clean this up, but i doubt after the Trump administration the next administration will continue down this path. The fact is that the government is corrupt, they are cleaning up now, let’s see what the future brings…But at this time talking about following every law of a corrupt government that would cause severe hardship to many individuals is like condemning the black market trade under the communist rule where people had no choice but to do certain “illegal” things to survive. To tell people to give up their rights to American citizenship is ridiculous, they dont have to give up their rights just because the government is abusing the rights of US citizens. When the government cleans up their act, stop their overspending and borrowing money they cannot ever repay and enact fair tax laws for every single class of citizens, particularly the middle class that can get crushed, then every US citizen would need to step up to the plate and follow every single tax law. Until then, these individuals, who are simply trying to survive financially, cannot be judged.

Happy new year, I dont believe you are an IRS agent, and neither do I believe that you have a Jewish heart. Many, perhaps even most, of these people barely make ends meet and you are worried about the coffers of the criminal US government that spends billions on gender-mutilating “programs” for kids, medical help for illegals and education for their children, and on thousands of other non-sensical and non-essential programs with money the government steals from the middle class and also prints with no backing. The US government is at this point a criminal entity that is robbing hardworking Americans of their money.

CS,

You write:
“1. Do you believe the rebbe runs the world? As in instead of Hashem? No cvs. Perek Beis Tanya from the Baal HaTanya can explain further”

Why do you speaking ask ” As in instead of Hashem?”? That seems to be subterfuge to direct away from the question which should have a simple yes or no answer. Because you can believe the rebbe runs the world “with Hashem” too. I will rephrase my question. Do you believe the rebbe runs the world in any way?

I have read chapter beis of the Tanya and I see no reference to the topic of “rebbes running the world” . The chaper speaks about the souls of Jews, how we connect to Hashem, and that “lowly Jews” can connect to Hashem through tzaddikim OF THEIR GENERATION. Which actually begs the question of how Chabad can ignore the teachings of their holy rebbe to connect to a tzaddik of THEIR GENERATION. This is one of the reasons why Chabad needs their rebbe to be physically alive in this generation which they claim he is…

CS, my questions are not deep. The answers are either yes or no. But you, like the other Lubavitchers on NEVER answer my simple questions because it brings to light that you are avodah zora worshippers.

Arso wrote “I think a correction is needed. I was not taught in cheder that Gemoro or that Rashi, and I doubt that Neville or Shmei were either. We were, however, taught how to approach and learn a piece of Gemoro and Rashi, and based on that we came to the conclusion that Rashi holds that Yaakov is literally alive.”

Thank you Arso for saying the truth here. “The emes shvimt aroif” (the truth swims to the surface) as the Yiddish saying goes.

I retract my apology now. I personally didnt insult anyone for believing Yaacov Avinu is physically alive, but made light of the idea that Yaacov Avinu is physically alive in his kever, so I didn’t need to apologize for “insulting people” in any case. It is only later after I was personally attacked that I started defending myself and it got personal. Not only was i attacked, meforshim were misinterpreted and i was led to believe that “Yaacov being alive is the classic interpretation” of klal Yisroel. So who exactly is doing these “classic interpretations”? Some individuals in the cofferoom? None of the rabbonim and talmidei chachomim ive heard talking about Yaacov lo mes said that Yaacov is physically alive.

Anyway, as I’ve said earlier, it’s irrelevent to the discussion of Lubavitche ideology whether Yaacov Avinu is alive in his kever or not. So let’s get back to the point of this thread.