Yaakov Yosef A

commonsaychel – This is actually one of a minority of threads on this website that sincerely asks a serious question and generates meaningful discussion. The trolls already have their hands full on the other threads…

AAQ – My town also doesn’t have any (pseudo or genuine) NK. Probably because there are only a few dozen worldwide. But the people who do live here experience many of the issues directly, as opposed to reading about them in the media. That does make a difference.

akuperma – לא נביא אנכי ולא בן נביא אנכי. I am also no fan of Zionism or the State. However, I am not afraid of your proposed scenario, simply because the overwhelming consensus of Gedolei Yisroel, including those affiliated with the Satmar Hashkafah, DO NOT in any way approve of the antics of the (fake) NK. Therefore I am not worried about a scenario in which the (pseudo) NK will be “right” and “the representatives of the Yishuv”. Not because the State will protect us, but because the Ribbono Shel Olam will protect us. None of this has to do with the many wrong things that were done in the past by the Zionist movement, but with the Hashgacha and Shemirah of the Ribbono Shel Olam on millions of Jews in the present. Since no Gedolei Yisroel I know of, including the biggest (normative) Kanoyim, even remotely suggest leaving Eretz Yisroel (for those already here), I am actually more concerned about the future of Jews in America that in Eretz Yisroel. There is also לכל הדעות ולכל השיטות a heightened Hashgacha Pratis here of תמיד עיני השם אלקיך בה above and beyond חוץ לארץ, and nothing the ערב רב or the Arabs etc. do can change that.

SQUARE_ROOT – You have more lines in your post starting “Every member of the NK” than they have members…

Haimy said – “Why don’t I email a Chabad house in a remote location & ask them how it affects their children? I don’t expect to get a realistic answer. They may not realize how they are affecting themselves & their children.”

Why not try? And if you don’t trust what a Lubavitcher says, so why did you invite “people within Chabad” to share their thoughts. What even is the point of starting this thread in the first place? Do you expect any of us to have better answers than they do?

לגופו של ענין, Shlichus has been going on for decades, including in isolated places. Many of the new Shluchim couples starting out are children or even grandchildren of Shluchim. So why do you assume that “they may not realize how they are affecting themselves & their children”? Collectively, they definitely have had time to see things in hindsight. As everyone knows, there is an annual convention of Shluchim, where they meet and discuss, among other things, how to deal with exactly these issues. There is also a less well known, but equally important “Shluchot” convention, where “home front” issues are even more central to the conversation.

Haimy – “I don’t know if the Rebba ever encouraged Chassidim to move to a desolate Non Jewish city & open a Krechma as in olden times.”

“” – “Should a Jew sacrifice living in a Frum community so that businessmen on a trip to the Far East shouldn’t need to live on tuna cans & the non religious Israeli visitor will put on Tefillin? I don’t understand that.”

Then you really don’t know a lot about Chabad in general, and Shlichus in particular. I heard a Shlichus story from my Rebbe (not Chabad). There was a Shaliach in Honolulu, Hawaii, already during the Rebbe’s lifetime. Not exactly a thriving Frum community. At a meeting with the Lubavitcher Rebbe the Shaliach expressed his frustration at the small number of people he was able to reach (back then) and the low “ROI” so to speak. The Rebbe told him “If you can offer a can of Cola to one Yid and get him to say a Bracha, that already is worth sitting there in Hawaii.”

The Rebbe also famously promised that he takes personal responsibility for the children of the Shluchim. (I.e., with regard to the issues you raised…) If you don’t believe in that, so fine, don’t be a Shaliach yourself… But they most definitely do believe. Since many of their kids, sometimes ALL their kids, themselves become Shluchim, it seems the recipe works. A few years ago I saw an article about an older Shliach who passed away, and some 11 (IIRC) kids flew in from all corners of the Earth (representing most of the World’s inhabited time zones) to sit Shiva together.

Lots of people do difficult things for things they believe in, which often seems to make no sense to people who don’t share those beliefs. This reminds me of the tongue-clucking posts every year about Chassidim who travel to Uman for Rosh Hashanah (or even just to be with a Rebbe in a different city) and the commenter feels so sorry for the “poor” wife who is “abandoned”. Forgetting, of course, that the wife (and daughters/small sons) left at home share the same beliefs and ideals of their husband/father, and are more than happy to share in the zechus. If you don’t get it, you don’t have to do it. But for those who do get it, the difficulties involved are part of the Avodas Hashem itself, whether in Shlichus, Chessed, travel to Tzadikkim, or anything else. For someone who doesn’t believe in what he’s doing, no difficulty is worth overcoming, to the extent that someone does believe, to that extent the difficulties don’t stop him.

AAQ said – “YYA, MAG is a good example: a quick check shows a poll SIX MONTHS AGO (emphasis added) – 41% for, 42% against, 17% unsure. Did this change by now? Maybe”

Some things have happened since then haven’t they? Some new information has come to light.

“how could Nixon win the election, I don’t (know) anybody who voted for him!”

I am at least better positioned than you geographically. My neighborhood is also quite mixed – Chareidi, RZ, Traditional Sephardic, and Chiloni Ashkenazi, all on one block. And we do talk to each other. I interact with different people and hear what they say. Is that scientific methodology? Not exactly. But it’s a better vantage point than most participants here have.

Reb SQUARE_ROOT, במחילה ממעלת כבודכם,

1. With regard to your first post directed at me, do you know what “imply” means? By using readily available second hand material to supposedly “prove” that current Gedolei Yisroel are wrong on major issues of Hashkafa and Hanhaga (even without saying so explicitly), you IMPLY that you know better than they do because – you know how to read an Artscroll biography?! I am criticizing the IMPLICATIONS of your posts, not their literal content.

2. WRT your second post, do you rely on Artscroll biographies for authoritative information on anything else, other than source material for new “coffee room” threads?

3. That being said, none of the quotes you mentioned are in any way Hashkafic “game changers”. One doesn’t need to curse Zionists or to not see any positive side to anything they ever did in order to be opposed to drafting Yeshiva bochurim etc.

ZSK – The personality disorder stuff was a reference to the (fake) NK clowns themselves. אין הכי נמי, it isn’t necessary to be עד כדי כך sick just to be a troll. But who you are a fan of does say a lot about who you are. מצרף לכסף וכור לזהב ואיש לפי מהללו

Non Political – “It’s very clear the RSRH did not consider his derech as something that had to be done “under the circumstances” akin to skiing, Rather he held that what he was advocating was the authentic Torah approach.”

It’s pretty well known that there actually was and is considerable debate among the ideological and even biological descendants of Rav Hirsch how much of his derech was לשעה and how much is לדורות. I can’t speak in his name, but it is hard to imagine that someone who spent most of his life and all of his energy battling Reform and Haskalah didn’t think Klal Yisroel wouldn’t have been better off if the whole thing wouldn’t have happened in the first place. It’s also clear that his derech isn’t how it was done in pre-Haskalah generations. One could say that “he held that what he was advocating was the authentic Torah approach” – to dealing with the new reality. There is no indication that RSRH ever intended to start a movement for Klal Yisroel and spread it far and wide.

This is really a whole sugya unto itself, which I wasn’t looking to go into. The point I was trying to make was that Rav Hirsch arrived on the scene after the fact as a “rescue worker”, when Haskalah in Germany was a fait accompli, as opposed to MMD, who did what he did when the Jewish world, even in Germany, was still largely innocent. Rav Hirsch was in fact “solving real problems”. MMD was spreading new problems to places where they didn’t exist yet.

Food for thought: It’s possible to fully agree with everything I wrote on this thread, and still be either a RSRH Jew, or a Religious Zionist, or a Satmar Chossid, or anything in between. I believe that everyone agrees in theory on the core issues I mentioned, the difference between those groups is where do you go from there moving forward.

SQUARE_ROOT – You’ll love this one:

BIZARRE BUT TRUE: J.D. Vance Convicted, Sentenced To Prison For Threatening To Kill President Trump

A fully accurate, in context quote…

David – “However, the belief in a divinely-ordained exile that can only be ended by the Messiah contradicts many foundational principles of Jewish faith no less.”

Isn’t that one of the 13 Ikkarim of the Rambam? Don’t we say ומפני חטאנו גלינו מארצנו? Who in your opinion ordained that? What “foundational principles” does that contradict?

By the way, even according to the most extreme interpretation of the concept of Galus (Satmar approach to שלש שבועות etc., which is not necessary implied by the looser wording “Divinely ordained exile”), there is no issur to live in Eretz Yisroel before Moshiach comes. (If that is what you meant?)

AAQ – Thanks for providing context to the quote. Things should be quoted in context. This raises a question about halochos of talmidei chachamim.

The Chazon Ish in question has nothing to do with Halachos of “Talmidei Chachamim”, or any policy WRT Yeshiva students. There is an apparent contradiction in the Gemara in the eighth Perek of Maseches Sotah WRT under what circumstances a Chosson can be “drafted” for military service in time of war. The Chazon Ish resolves the סתירה by explaining the two steps in the Gemara as referring to two different circumstances, and then qualifies under what conditions the פטור of שנה ראשונה would apply. No connection to the sensational nonsense SQUARE_ROOT or the YU professor are trying to prove.

Almost all of SQUARE_ROOT’s quotes, on all of his threads, are out of context, mainly because he never bothers to read them in their original sources, but only as excerpts in translation.

AAQ said – “I am suggesting finding common position with others that are close to you, not the furthest enemies. With non-charedi religious Jews; with traditional sephardim; with political centrists, who can be convinced with the argument that HCJ stiffles democracy; with Russians whose anti-religious views are shaped in several generations by their prosecutors .. and I am not talking necessarily about their leaders, as most politicians are driven by self-interest, but by the voters themselves – find positions that unite you all. They might require some compromises – not of the Torah as you suggest, but of politics.”

Reb AAQ, with all due respect, you again show how unfamiliar you are with the reality of Israeli society. Most of those groups despise the SC Deep State, for their own reasons. Many of them were at the forefront of the protests two and a half years ago in favor of judicial reform, to no avail. The Deep State Histadrut threatened to shut down the Israeli economy if the people continue to “threaten democracy”. Orwell would have been proud. Even the elected government could do nothing. As far as your pipe dreams about finding “positions that unite”, that isn’t possible on the national level. The Chareidi parties as a matter of principle don’t interfere in issues not related to Torah and Mitzvos. They didn’t even participate in the demonstrations for judicial reform, despite the obvious benefits such reform would bring the Chareidim. The only thing we want is to keep the Torah as interpreted and taught by our Torah leaders. If Stalin ימ״ש would have been OK with that, then we would have been OK with him. As it happens, he wasn’t… But there is no inherent “value added” from the Chareidi perspective to having a democracy, or even a “Jewish State”, except as a היכא תמצא to keep the Torah.

None of this has to do with the interpersonal level, or even the local level, where there is much positive interaction between Chareidim (individuals and organizations) with non-Chareidim of all sorts. But on the national level, you have a small but disproportionately powerful group who want to force their Progressive ideas on the majority, and they (correctly) see the growing Chareidi population as the biggest obstacle to their goals. They don’t fear or even care about public opinion, because they aren’t elected and can do as they please, up to and including shutting down the country and harassing the PM with endless lawfare to the point that he is afraid to do anything that might upset them. This isn’t about politics, and cannot be remedied through politics, we are way past that stage. והקדוש ברוך הוא מצילנו מידם

ujm – Is it possible to use bold or italics on this site? That would be easier to see. I did spell out in writing that I was quoting AAQ.

AAQ – Continued from previous post:

You seem to have a theory that all of the challenges to Yiddishkeit emerged out of nowhere as some sort of “sociological phenomenon”, and automatically you cluck your tongue at “those Rabbis” (היכי דמי אפיקורוס האומר ״הני רבנן״) who in your opinion “did nothing” or “didn’t come up with an alternative”. The reality is that throughout the generations the Rabbonim, Chachomim, Tzaddikim, Gedolei Hador worked their entire lives to strengthen Yiddishkeit, each in his own way according to the challenges they faced. In EVERY SINGLE GENERATION, from Moshe Rabbeinu on down, there were people who complained and thought the Gedolim “weren’t doing enough”, they didn’t like their solution, they had taanos on things they did etc. That is the job of the Yetzer Hara, to make sure people don’t listen to the Chachamim, and those people were the ones who were lost ר״ל. This world is a world of challenges, and you can’t always have your cake and eat it. Listening to Gedolei Yisroel helps overcome those challenges, but it doesn’t make them disappear.

chiefshmerel – If you read the whole piece from start to finish, the whole joke doesn’t even get started. Your ״קל וחומר״ is also not correct. The פטור of תלמידי חכמים is stronger than that of someone who planted a vineyard… In fact, תלמידי חכמים are even exempt from taxes to PAY for the army. If you want to kler about who is a Talmid Chacham, I think that the weakest yeshiva bochur has more shaychus to being a Talmid Chacham than the IDF has shaychus to the Real Jewish Army of Dovid Hamelech or Yehoshua… At any rate, SQUARE_ROOT, who by his own admission doesn’t even own a copy of Chazon Ish, doesn’t know more about the shittos of the Chazon Ish than the current Roshei Yeshiva do. They do have their own copy of the Sefer… A few of the older Roshei Yeshiva learned from the Chazon Ish himself when he was still alive, and most received a living Mesorah from his close talmidim, most of whom were still alive until not that long ago. No need for YU professors to teach them…

AAQ – Yya, I am glad that you criticized just one person on my list! Or maybe you are just starting..

I had no intention of criticizing the rest of your list, although I don’t think it’s derech eretz to mix together like that (not to mention without proper honorifics for anyone).

By the way, you may be surprised to find out, Rav Shamshon Refael Hirsch זצ״ל is highly respected by – Satmar… He was very tough on Reform, Maskilim, etc., his Austritt/separation policy had much in common with the Hungarian/Satmar approach to similar issues, and (although this is less known, and deliberately ignored by some of those who like to quote him) he was strongly opposed to Zionism…

the reason Mendelssohn is first on the list is because he was earlier.

He wasn’t. Learn some history. The Baal Shem Tov זי״ע was born 31 years earlier and was already active long before him. הקדוש ברוך הוא מקדים רפואה למכה. The rest of the list isn’t in chronological order either.

Is downfall of his generation his fault?

The consensus of Gedolei Yisroel then and now is yes. And it is considered HIS PERSONAL fault – על חטאות ירבעם אשר חטא ואשר החטיא את ישראל

Mendelssohn tried to offer something to respond to the situation the best way he knew. Those who did nothing didn’t really help more.

You keep on mixing up the chicken and the egg. Before addressing this upside down and backwards statement, it is necessary to lay down the facts of what was going on, and in what order.

You repeatedly portray Mendelssohn as “trying to solve a problem”. First of all, what “problem” was Mendelssohn trying to “solve”? When he came on the scene the vast majority of German Jewry was still loyal to Torah. There were individuals, mainly from the wealthy class in the big cities, who flirted with secular ideas and philosophies already then, but not in large numbers. That is not where MMD began his career, and he most certainly didn’t see such activity as a problem, because he himself took it to a far “higher” level. He was an ilui from a poor family who learned in the Yeshiva of the great gaon R’ Dovid Frankel זצ״ל, author of Korban Ha’edah on the Yerushalmi. When his Rebbe became Rov in Berlin he moved with him. The move to the great intellectual and cultural center that Berlin was (at the age of 14…) afforded him opportunities to “broaden his horizons” behind his Rebbe’s back, and he studied many fields of secular knowledge, eventually befriending many of the local intellectuals. (At some point in this process he left the Yeshiva. When exactly is not clear.) He ended up growing to become a very brilliant (both in Torah and secular wisdom, but unfortunately without putting a להבדיל in between…) scholar, who was “Orthoprax” in his behavior, but had very krum hashkafos. Unlike the ordinary assimilated Jews up to that point, who possessed little if any Torah knowledge and had little in common with the as-yet “Heimishe” (even in Germany) Yidden, MMD was a brilliant Lamdan who was fully versed in the world of the Beis Hamedrash and the Torah observant Jews, which is the world where he came from in the first place. He wasn’t content to keep his ideas to himself, and he thought of ways to “enlighten” his erstwhile brethren back in the Chadarim and Batei Midrashos he grew up in.

Stopping the narrative here, to give you a moment to pause and think. AT NO POINT EVER DID MENDELSSOHN DO ANYTHING TO BE “MEKAREV” THE ASSIMILATED JEWS OF BERLIN. That was never the point for him, and no one then or later, religious or secular, ever claimed that he was even trying to do anything of the sort. The whole idea that he was some sort of “Kiruv” figure is purely a figment of your imagination, because you seem to automatically conflate any figure “straddling two worlds” with other (later) figures who DID do that לשם שמים in order to be mekarev people.

So what was MMD actually up to? (This is agreed upon by all accounts, contemporary and later, religious and secular. The only debate between the religious and secular contemporaries and historians is whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.) HE WAS TRYING TO BE “MEKAREV” THE FRUM JEWS TO SECULAR KNOWLEDGE AND PHILOSOPHY. One of the projects he undertook In order to achieve that goal, was to translate the Chumash into German (transliterated into Hebrew letters…) That raised a huge furor. To your mind that sounds no less innocuous than ArtScroll, making Torah accessible to the masses etc. BUT THAT IS NOT WHAT WAS GOING ON THEN. The Jewish masses then, even in Germany, were perfectly capable of reading Chumash in the original, or with the help of Yiddish “Teitsh”. Assimilated Proper German speakers typically could read the secular alphabet. So who exactly needed a translation in Proper German using Hebrew letters? אלא מאי, the whole point was to TEACH THE SHTETL YIDDEN PROPER GERMAN, so they would eventually be able to read Goyish books on their own, which is how MMD himself began his own voyage of discovery to the “wonderful world of knowledge” he sought to share with his former brethren.

He also wrote a “Biur” on the aforementioned Chumash, where he cleverly blended together the classic Meforshim, while omitting those aspects of Emunah he didn’t quite feel comfortable with. For example, on those Pesukim that Rashi explains as referring to Moshiach and the Geulah, he switches to the Ibn Ezra. But where the Ibn Ezra learns is the source for Moshiach etc. in Chumash, he switches back to Rashi… So the reader can go through all of Chumash without seeing anything about the Final Redemption (one example, there are others), yet TECHNICALLY every comment in the book TAKEN BY ITSELF is word for word from Kosher sources… Sort of like SQUARE_ROOT writing a Yalkut of Chareidi Zionism… but far more clever. This was a whole new level of trickery, which MMD apparently held was a justifiable means to be “mezakeh” = mazik the “poor benighted masses”.

If there was any doubt during MMD’s lifetime as to just how bad an apple he really was, you can easily read about what happened to his family and followers within one generation… I will not pollute this site with the details. Much in common with Herzl’s family, except Herzl ימ״ש was an open atheist from the get-go, whereas MMD was ostensibly Shomer Mitzvos his entire life, which makes it more shocking. Actually, it would have been far better for Klal Yisroel if MMD had in fact “done nothing”, which unfortunately was not the case.

Maybe those rabbis who opposed him but didn’t offer better solutions are also at fault?

Again, MMD was NOT trying to “solve” the problem of assimilation or “confronting modernity” (which didn’t exist yet for 95% of German Jews). He was trying to SPREAD modernity and secular knowledge to Jews who still had no access to it. Thanks to him, within a generation it would become necessary to come up with “better solutions”. Some of the other names on your list did just that. You forgot the Chassam Sofer, born in Frankfurt, who was one of the biggest opponents to MMD and his projects, and built Yeshivos and taught Talmidim who revitalized Ashkenaz/Oiberland Jewry. So, yes, that was a “better solution”. Chassidus, which began to take off at that time, was a “better solution”. The Volozhin Yeshiva was a “better solution”.

So, I think then that the next part falls apart ממילא:

“Mendelssohn tried to offer something to respond to the situation the best way he knew. Those who did nothing didn’t really help more.”

The VERY BEST thing he could have done AT THAT POINT IN HISTORY would be to do nothing. He anyway did nothing to be Mekarev those few who were already assimilated, and his entire focus was on spreading “enlightenment” as an ideal, to people and places where it had not reached yet.

If you or I were there, we would not do better.

It’s hard to imagine how it would have been possible to do worse. If you mean his personal nisayon as a super-ilui who lost his father at a young age and found his own way in life, so yes, that’s a tough nisayon. Whether that somehow mitigates his matzav wherever he is now, is Hashem’s business. But I don’t think that’s what you are referring to.

Just try to put yourself into that situation without your current knowledge.

What you are actually doing is “projecting”, i.e. putting your “current knowledge” of a post-MMD world “into that situation” to create an imaginary anachronistic “problem” that MMD was כאילו “trying to solve”. You then try to tell me to “put myself into a situation” that didn’t exist at that point. Try to brush up on the actual history without injecting your current knowledge. It is actually a damning testimony to MMD’s “success” that so many people can’t imagine that there once was a world where the vast majority of Jews were Shomrei Mitzvos, and that is how it was for most of our history. Weaknesses and Yetzer Hara always existed. Individuals or even movements who went OTD always existed. But the bulk of Klal Yisroel remained loyal to the Torah. It’s hard to find any parallel to MMD since Yeravam ben Nevat, but the Ovdei Avodah Zarah back then kept the other Mitzvos, they just indulged in the Taavah of AZ which we no longer have, so it isn’t a full comparison either. We see from the Gemara that Achav’s kitchen was Glatt Kosher.

AAQ – Try to create a position that unites more people around it. That might mean changing yours a little bit.

What is נוגע to Yiddishkeit is not negotiable. As far as we’re concerned anything else is just a היכא תמצא how to keep the Yiddishkeit. If the SC would be FOR Yiddishkeit, we have no problem with the lack of democracy per se. The REALITY (a word Yankel Berel and I wish you would begin to understand) is that the SC/AG Junta are THE wedge dividing Israeli society, on all issues, and they will not relinquish power on their own. There is also no legal recourse to remove them from power because Israel has no constitution. You have to understand that Israel is currently a junta dictatorship. The ruling junta allows the elected government some freedom of action to maintain the charade of democracy, but they retain unchecked power to strike down any government decision they don’t agree with.

There is no need to go to the “Oaths” issue nowadays. לכל הדעות there is no prohibition for an individual to move here, then or now, and there is no chiyuv for the tzibbur to leave once they got here. There are also many reasons to be opposed to various aspects of the State and some of its institutions that have nothing to do with the oaths. So what is the point of the debate?

Thank you Yankel Berel. The real change began in the mid-90s when the Barak SC began forcing the IDF to adapt Progressive ideas of “gender integration”. There is zero connection between the situation the Chazon Ish was dealing with and the situation today. There were also other ways of avoiding IDF service then and now… The increase in “Torato Umanuto” exemptions after ’77 doesn’t mean that those people would have gone to the IDF, just they would have to be more creative… How do thousands of Eidah Yerushalmim etc. get out of the IDF, without even registering their Mosdos with the Medinah? That didn’t change at all, then or now. (Hint – the IDF aren’t stupid, but they really don’t want them…)

It is also very interesting when a MO professor, publishing through YU Press, all of a sudden is very interested in the Chazon Ish and his Shittos in Daas Torah. Don’t you think that is a little odd Reb SQUARE_ROOT?

Another question. If there is or ever was a real operational need for drafting Chareidim, why is it that the calls for doing so never come from the IDF leadership itself? Why is this primarily being spearheaded by the SC/AG and friends? (Hint – see above hint…)

It is an oft-repeated canard that masses of Chareidim who don’t actually learn benefit from the “Torato Umanuto” exemption. According to the Institute for Democracy in Israel, no friend of the Chareidim AT ALL, the real numbers are far lower. Within the age group expected (by Chareidi standards) to still be single, the numbers are over 90% (according to the IDI, a think tank hostile to Chareidim who analyzed the data to figure out better ways to hurt the Chareidim through sanctions…) From the age of marriage, the number goes down (what a shock.) In the last year before age 26 (when they will anyway be allowed to work legally within a year) up to 25% (again, according to hostile analysts with an explicit agenda to besmirch the Chareidim) do in fact work illegally. Which of course means that (at least) 75% are still actually learning full time even at that age. I suspect that the 25% who don’t probably married earlier like many Chassidim, and could already have several kids to support at age 26.

AAQ – I hear you, but do you think Avraham would send Eliezer if he were able to zoom in to Lavan and settle it himself?

That segues into the separate question of why Avraham didn’t go himself. There are different answers in the Meforshim. Zoom, or telephones for that matter, don’t add any input into the decision making process. They just make things technically easier. Ditto for AI self-driving cars, or regular cars (and planes), unless you have Kefitzas Haderech like Eliezer.

It is actually ironic – that Avraham leaves his elderly father in Suria [several meforshim explain why he has a right/obligation to listen to this tzivui despite a general mitzva of kibud av) and then has to send a shaliach to fetch a wife for his son from there. I don’t know what to do with this observation …

Terach wasn’t alive at this point anyway. We don’t find Avraham criticized for leaving him, and he apparently wasn’t happy with having to do that, which apparently was itself part of the nisayon of Lech Lecha – מבית אביך. We do find that Avraham held that his extended family were still better than the Canaanite local yokels.

By analogy – would you say that having Siyata Dishmaya for a trip requires a driver and a self-driving car will not lead to a successful trip? We do have such thinking in mezuza writing, etc

I think Shidduchim are closer to Mezuzah writing as opposed to simply a technical activity such as driving etc. We have to always remember that Hashem is so great that He can help us DESPITE our hishtadlus…

AAQ – but how is relying on an algorithm is different from relying on a shadchan?

I wrote already, but to repeat – a Tzelem Elokim with a Neshama who believes באמונה שלמה that Hashem is the real מזווג זווגים, and that he (the shadchan or whoever) is only doing some hishtadlus to be “yotzei gevein”, can be zocheh to Siyata Dishmaya from the Real Shadchan. (See this week’s Parshah…) Someone who relies on a clever algorithm or AI bot or whatever is just a more tech-savvy “matronita”.

ZSK – The point was that there is no connection between the present day NK and the different organization by the same name led decades ago by Rav Amram Blau. Not the ideology, not the causes being protested, not the methods used. Nothing.

Even the protests back then were in a different context altogether. Most of the people being protested against were not תינוקות שנשבו, to put it mildly, and fully understood what was going on. That is no longer true today. Many of those protests were against Chilul Shabbos and breaches of tzniyus in and around Chareidi areas of Yerushalayim, by people with an agenda to davka do those things there, not often the case today.