smerel

Unfortunately we are in a bad situation in the liberal run areas. If we fight back we will be blamed.

To be clear I do think we should fight back. In fact I remember back in the early 80s when the situation was worse than today there was a major fight in my Brooklyn neighborhood. A then (niftar long ago) member of the Moetzas Gedolay H’Torah told people afterwards that they should have called the JDL . On Shabbos. And despite that gadol’s personal general vehement opposition to the JDL. (Had the JDL limited itself exclusively to self defense he would not have opposed them) The Chaptzems were also a very effective crime fighter.

But that was then when the police were apathetic towards fighting crime but didn’t arrest those who did so themselves.

Today when guilt and punishments are determined by skin color, frum people are considered guilty until proven innocent it’s not so simple to fight back without making the situation worse.

It depends on the degree of hatred and personal gain people having from hating Trump.

The Lincoln Project is working very hard and making a lot of money off creating a Trump type McCarthyism where even long after he is gone they can still profit off keeping him around as a boogeyman. All Republican candidates are accused of being “Trumpists” that have to be liquidated.No matter What the Republicans do The Lincoln Project will insist they are fighting “Trumpism”

For people with less profit motive or less TDS it will depend on how successful Trump’s greater enemies are keeping him in the public sphere and as a focus of public attention.

It would be more accurate to say Corona Anti-Semitism (again)

No other would have the ethnicity of those who allegations are being made against so public.

(This is actually one of the oldest form of anti-Semitism all the way back to the Sar Hamaskin in last week’s Parsha וְשָׁ֨ם אִתָּ֜נוּ נַ֣עַר עִבְרִ֗י עֶ֚בֶד לְשַׂ֣ר הַטַּבָּחִ֔ים)

Sukkos time when corona numbers were high in Jewish neighborhoods the government was saying that we’re to blame, we’re spreading the virus, they targeted us for all sorts of harassments. etc.

Now that a vaccine is here they say how terrible it is that people of that color and other minority groups got so much corona, society is to blame and those groups (bit of course not us) deserve priority in getting the vaccine because of how much they suffered.

I’m guessing this is a troll post (and I am a Trump voter) but to clarify one thing Chazal did not “decree that Jewish babies should be named after Alexander the Great” because he was such a Ohev Yisroel.

The Gemora (Yoma 69A) which discusses the meeting of Shimon Hatzadik and Alexander the Great does say they made a Yom Tov after meeting him (because they prevailed upon him not to destroy the Beis HaMikdash) but makes no reference to any takona to name anyone after after him.

The earliest source for such a takana is Josephus who says they made that offer to him to avoid offending him when they refused to accept a golden sculpture of him that he wanted to donate to the Beis HaMikdash.

Whatever many faults Trump has, ruining the GOP is not among them.

The mainstream media can tell you Trump turned most Republican politicians into lying sycophants (in real life I never met anyone who uses the word sycophant)all they want but in real life there is little difference in the typical Republicans politicians behavior in 2015 and 2020.

As far as turning Republican voters into conspiracy theorists it was the Democrats who spent years on Russian collusion and other such conspiracy theories and indictments. (I do agree that many people have gone nuts with Trump Derangement Syndrome but for the most part they aren’t Republicans and it was the media, not Trump, who caused that syndrome)

As far as the general state of the GOP after Trump goes. Unlike twelve years ago when Obama first won noone is writing the obituary for the GOP after Biden won. No Republican presidential candidate in the past sixty years has gotten such a high percentage of minority voters. If anything Trump has shown that the predictions of the GOP demise due to the decreasing percentage of white voters is not true

The question cannot be answered with general terms and rules because it would depend on

(1)who and what are the current other options

and

(2)how much of his personal faults are being kept personal and how much of his personal faults and views is he trying to force on everyone else

In the memory of recently departed David Dinkins I will say that I would a prefer a corrupt and somewhat anti-semitic person who strongly values law and order over a nice guy like David Dinkins for mayor any day. The Crown Heights pogrom would not have happened had the former been mayor. It did happen with the latter.

If Joe Biden can run at 77 years why can’t Trump run at 78?

Dai L’boh min h’Din Lehious Kanodin

Randi Weingarten is a lot bigger threat to public school parents than Yeshivas.

With all her many faults when she headed the NYC UFT she didn’t pick fights with Yeshivas

She focused exclusively on lowering the quality of education in the public school system

This isn’t unique to the frum.

Pretty much all non-Islamic religious groups strongly support Trump nd the Republicans.

Even the Amish who don’t vote unless they feel threatened by a candidate supported Trump.

It’s not really Trump support as much as the recognition that the Democrats are becoming increasingly hostile to religion so it is of prime importance to have Republicans in office.

The Muslims are the exception because liberal beliefs require making an exception to their general view of religion and respecting Islam

The question of why do frum people support Trump with all his faults is hardly unique to the frum world. It is true of most non-Islamic religious groups

It’s not because anyone has illusions that he is some sort of saint. The reason they want him re-elected is that he is from the few things preventing the US from turning into quasi-socialist, anti-personal freedom, anti-religious, and even more anti-non-minority country.

Much as Trump makes fun of and insults politicians he disagrees with, he NEVER starts up with religious people, leaders, practice or belief. He also never tries to control the life of John Doe in the street who is looking to live his own life and mind his own business.

I live in the NYS area and work in NYC. Every time I turn around I read about the politicians competing to make more laws, more bans, more fees, more harassment of the working class who are not on entitlement programs and lower the quality of life.

With the exception, of course, made for illegal immigrants, criminals and LGBTs who receive obsessive government focus and concern.

And when it comes to religion and morals… To put it this way. It is a much bigger deal in the Democrat party that the governor of Virginia allegedly wore black face thirty years ago than his current support of infanticide.

Yes it would be wonderful if Trump had the personality of Ronald Reagan or even Obama. But Obama’s efforts to force Catholic employers to go against their religion providing certain employee benefits is a lot more of threat to freedom of religion than Trump’s personal failings.

Trump’s moral failings are personal. He makes no effort to force them on anyone else. The issues the frum world has with the Democrats are issues of ideology that the Democrats are actively looking to force on others.

What is Trump’s view on closing down shuls and Yeshiva in an ostensible effort to stop the spread the Covid and what are the Democrats views? Who is sending inspectors to fine CLOSED Yeshiva and Jewish (but of course not non-Jewish )owned businesses in the Red Zones.

That is why frum people vote Trump

I’m no major Trump supporter but even the most ardent frum Trump supporters I know of don’t consider him to be a tzadik. To put it mildly. No one is putting his picture on their walls.

On a more personal note to you Mr. Slimshim1, I suspect that your hatred for Trump isn’t really because Trump is evil personified but rather because the liberal media TOLD you that he is evil personified, Meaning that you are probably someone who ingested more than a healthy share of the what our enemies in the liberal media who are also enemies of Trump say about him.

The more frum crowd is simply less aware of the sordid parts of Trump. They don’t have social media accounts, they don’t follow him on Twitter , they have no idea about what the enemies of Torah who are also enemies of Trump are saying. Their new source is The Yated.

You probably be better off Chinuch wise following their example.

<i>though the Satmar Rav did say that if the Zionists went to the Nations saying they want out, then the Nations would find a way to figure that out while protecting our brethren there.</i>

This sounds like Motzey Shem Ra on the Satmar Rebbe. He couldn’t possibly have been so naive.

If the “Zionists” went to the Nations saying they want out, the Nations would not care about protecting our brethren there more that they did any other time in history.

Having read through some (not all) of the book I won’t debate the points and beliefs of the author despite my disagreement with most (not all) of them. Instead, I’ll share the general feeling the book left me with.

The Chazon Ish who he named the book after a conversation of his also said that you have to realize not to fight the wrong battle. (That was his reason for dropping the fight against the use of Modern Ivrit)

It is simply a shame that the author spent so much effort on it.

(One ironic haskific issue with the book is that the author engages in the same revisionist history that the militant atheistic anti religious crowd does in order to claim to Kochey V’Otzem Yodey was the reason for Israel’s military victories. Particularly in the six day war)

The book does not clearly define what “Zionism” is or who the “Zionists” are. As such one can be left with the impression that all of those who believe in the idea of a Jewish state or those who simply were born in Israel today to non-Charieidi parents are collectively responsible for the actions of a few people that were done without the knowledge of the majority.

Or that someone born in Israel today to none-Charieidi parents shares the same values, goals, motives, and beliefs as the people who fought for the Zionist movement before the state of Israel came into existence.

That simply isn’t true. There is an anti-religious element in Israel today (particularly in the media and court systems) but most of them aren’t motivated by Zionism but rather by the same beliefs that motivate the anti-religious secular Jews in the US. Most of them are actually post Zionist and anti-Zionist. (And some are motivated by the harassment they received from groups associated with Rabbi Shapiro’s viewpoint)

Rabbi Shapiro is a brilliant person with so much to offer the frum world. In times like today when Yiddishkeit is under attack from all sides, there is so much he could accomplish for the frum world and Torah.Had he written a 1300 page book against the CURRENT enemies of Torah and their ideologies he would be from the strongest spokesman for and defenders of Torah Judaism in our time. His former website, frumteens, was a lifesaver for some. Tragically he closed that website down and chose to use his talents and energy to fight people and ideals that are long dead.

Chaval Al davdon!

<i>If the Israelis come up with a peace plan that the Palestinian people support in a free election, the conflict with Hamas will disappear.</i>

This is about the same as saying had the Jews figured out a way to appease the Nazis the holocaust never would have happened. The holocaust was the result of their failure to do so

I used to be semi MO

I left for two reasons

(1) Difficulty in finding a shul or community that really lived up to some of the MO ideals I was looking for. Not saying they don’t exist. Just saying that I couldn’t find them in my area.

(2)They were on the wrong side of the Slifkin issue.

I’m not even debating the actual issue itself It is just that the incredible Emunah Peshuta towards what scientists say and the quick and easy dismissiveness towards what LeHavdil Chazal said, which is very prevalent in many segments of the MO, seems to be a major factor in their lack of ability to keep an enthusiasm for Torah. In my case it caused me to leave,

The question in itself shows an obvious bias.

There is no work requirement for any welfare recipient. Those who are in Kollel also benefit from that. And people in Kollel are technically students. More welfare loafers are not.

As a vehement opponent of programs, I see the Yad Hashem in this to encourage kollel. Why else (other than getting voters and supporters of course) would rational people support a system where working makes no sense, you can be better off financially as a loafer than a taxpayer?

Today, however, things have gone the other way. The systematic racism and discrimination is affirmative action which discriminates against white males.

There is plenty of institutionalized racism in the US but it isn’t directed against blacks. It is directed against white people

Sotomayer, that “wise Latina lady” who thinks her race makes her superior would not be on the Supreme Court if she were a white male making the equivalent comments about Latinos.

It would be unthinkable for a politician to talk about looking for a white male to fill a position . It is totally acceptably to express a preference for hiring a non-white.

Elizabeth Warren didn’t lie and claim to be a minority on her Harvard and job applications because whites have an equal shot in this country.

etc.

Because going out of town had many problems of it’s own that were only by those who went OOT themselves.

The parents thirty years hadn’t done so and were blissfully unaware of them

To give but two of the many (1)the difficulty of getting enough sleep in a dorm (2)having a vulnerable teenager in a situation of 24/7 peer pressure.

When I was in my early twenties in the late 90s I was at a large debate about OOT with about thirty bochurim present. The only ones who said they would send their children OOT were the ones who hadn’t gone OOT themselves. Some of those who I remember as the biggest talkers about how they would only go OOT thirty years ago are now some of the most vehement opponent of OOT

The name is Trotsky and he grew up secular in a secular farming community.
The story usually told is that he wanted to go to Cheder but they were unwilling to take him in. Based on his completely secular upbringing it is very unlikely to be true. I’m sure he spoke no Yiddish and that the ONLY language most frum people spoke back then so how could he have gone to a Yeshiva.

However, on a different note, Bernie Sanders went to a frum run Sunday school. He was completely uninterested, his mother was upset that his father insisted he attend and even his father only kept Yom Kippur and made a Seder with neighbors (apparently he and his mother didn’t attend)As such there was a next to no chance that the Sunday school he went could have had any influence on him. Even so, I still had only they realized who they were dealing with they would have made so much more effort to influence him. With any child, you never know who you are dealing with

Realistically speaking Flatbush like all frum neighborhoods (including Lakewood one day) will wither. That is just the way the world works. America always has changing demographics in all frum neighborhoods. In the 1970s when Boro Park and Flatbush was the new “in” neighborhoods and shuls and school building in the old neighborhoods were closing down and being abandoned people thought it would stay that way forever too.

In a place like Flatbush where there is no predominant Askenazi group that is determined to stay and keep their Kehila there, the factors causing people to move ultimately will have to prevail.

The question is how long will the process take.

Thirty years ago during the Dinkins days, I and everyone I knew, was sure there would be no significant frum community in Brooklyn today. We were also sure that neighborhoods like The Lower East Side or Washington Heights would be completely gone. We were clearly wrong.

Therefore I predict that Brooklyn will go the same way The Lower East Side did. Losing frum/Jewish population for almost a hundred years but still having people who are interested in staying.

Side note. In the 1970s when I went to the LES everyone seemed old back then. Presumably, those people are no longer alive. Yet the LES is still around.

Amir certainly shot Rabin.

There are conspiracy theorists that he was shot again by the police on the way to hospital but they are conspiracy theories.

Amir certainly did have Israeli secret police agents encouraging him to kill Rabin. There are plenty of witnesses to that.

There is a difference between Lieberman and Heschel as Lieberman was exclusively known as a scholar who wrote on Talmudics.(actually Tosefta) His personal views on Torah, Mesorah and Halacha were less well known and clear giving him more room for those looking to accept him.

But as Rav Ruderman once put it when he was in his eighties and Lieberman who knew him from Slabodka (according to some they were roommates) wanted to visit him in the hospital, “No! The Alter warned me to stay away from that Bochur!!!”

Herschel, on the other hand, is even less of an anything in the frum world. No one has a hava amina of taking him seriously. His sociological view of Torah with some Greek philosophy thrown in does not give him a reputation as having been a person that anyone in the frum world has a reason to take seriously.

Of course, those who want to push the envelope in the frum world are going to claim that Leiberman and Herschel were these great Talmidey Chachomim who actually were 100% frum with a wonderful approach to Yiddishkeit that we should all respect. Um… in the 1950s the proponents of JTS said the exact thing and look where it got them.

For a change, I’ll actually with those who want to push the envelope in the frum world and say “stop these hagriophies!!!”

Why should Rechnitz have spoken? Moshe Reichman z’l used to come to the Siyum HaShas too but there was never a hava amina that he would speak.

The Siyum Hashas is made to celebrate learning Torah and to encourage people to do so. The program and speakers are clearly designed with that in mind.

Rechnitz for all the many wonderful things he does is not the first name that comes to mind when looking for people to encourage others to be Kovaeh Itim. Secondly, there would be a tremendous in danger in having him speak. It would give all the haters an excuse to say that the Siyum HaShas is all about money and rich Baal HaBatim. Of course the organizers were uninterested.

<i>only rav miller zatzal felt that this was a policy worth making an issue over even if it meant losing clout, funding</i>

That is not true at all. Read some of the Jewish Observers articles on this issue. Particularly abortion.

Both of the predictions made back then came true

(1)that abortion would be more acceptable by frum people even in cases that are not life and death. Ditto for many other liberal anti-Torah ideas

(2)the pro-abortion crowd would not stop there and move on to things like infanticide and euthanasia
Even though those things were unquestionably wrong back then to supporters of abortion

Initially I questioned the wisdom of spending this money on Trump but figured “well anyone could spend money on whatever they want. Anyone who went made his own decision and spent his own money .There was no communal funds or pressure involved in this anyway…”

Thinking it over I appreciate this event

.Bottom line as the values of the United States keeps moving further away from Torah values the frum community is at a nadir of its political power. We no longer have (e.g.) a Rav Moshe Sherer who was in close contact with powerful government politicians. Secular politicians no longer attend frum political events in support like they once did. etc.

Therefore to have a large frum PAC which has someone as powerful as the president of the US attending is a wonderful development.