[Not] Agudah's Response

Rabbi Yakov Horowitz, a renowned educator and writer, has written an excellent piece on abuse in the frum community. His article has been linked to by many JBloggers, including good old DovBear. Now, DovBear had been very critical of Agudah in the past for not being at the forefront dealing with the issue. Considering that Rabbi Horowitz is the director of Project Y.E.S. which is a project of Agudath Israel of America and that this article appeared on [what appeared to be] Project Y.E.S.' website, I, along with another commenter, pointed out to DB that he should be crediting Agudah for publishing such a courageous article.

My impression of the site being an Agudah site was based on this graphic that appeared at the bottom of the page:


Well, apparently someone somewhere was not too happy about this insinuation. The bottom of the website has been modified sometime in the last 18 hours. It now reads:




Well, at least I tried.

A Chanukah Kler

This past Shabbos, my brother (Bro #2 of this post ) was kind enough to join us at our home. He arrived Friday afternoon and planned on departing for house (approx. a 1 1/2 hour drive) shortly after Shabbos ended. The question arose as to where he should kindle the Menorah on motzai shabbos.

Chazal instituted the requirement to light the menorah in one's home. The point that needs to be defined is what constitutes one's "home" for this discussion. All agree that a certain level of k'vius is needed. Many poskim hold that spending a single night somewhere is enough of a k'vius to enable one to light at that location. So for Friday night, obviously Bro #2 lit at my house. Motzai shabbbos however, was not so clear. The tzdadim were, should he light at his home because that is his real k'vius, or, should he light at my house because the fact that he spent the past 24 hours there constitutes a k'vius, and it would allow for the additional benefit of lighting at the preferred time, whereas waiting until he would get home would mean lighting at least 90 minutes later.

Bro objected to this last point. How, he asked, can we consider the benefit of lighting on time on motzai shabbos, when it is long after the preferred time of shortly after sunset? And since either way he will not be lighting at the zman, he felt he would be better off lighting at his home at a later time.

I responded with the following chakirah. Is the zman of hadlakas neiros always shortly after shkiyah, and on motzai shabbos, because we have no choice we are forced to light later, or, the regular zman is for all other days but on motzai shabbos chazal were never misaken a zman hadloka of shkiyah but rather a later zman.

I suspect that the second tzad is correct. Therefore it would follow that there would be a benefit of lighting right away on motzai shabbos as opposed to waitng until returning home.

As always consult with a competent halachic authority with any halachic questions. Certainly, before following something written on an anonymous blog.

Happy Channukah!

Candles in the Park

A rabbi out West
wants some reasons
why we aren't with the rest
this holiday season

So I wrote this little thing
not for him alone
but for all who might sing
ma'oz tzur on a megaphone

A six-foot menorah
in it's legal place
standing with the tinsel
is a disgrace

Candles in the park
as night takes over the day
might light up the dark
but it's not the Jewish way

Menorahs on a cake
and draidel-shaped pizza
might be fun to make
but it's not persumei nissa

Halacha tells us how
to give our lives meaning
it's not just about
a warm and fuzzy feeeling

Yivanim Nikbitzu Alai
that was back then
if we do what we should
it may not happen again

So let's do what is right
not just how we feel
and perhaps we just might
see Moshiach - for real!

More on Chabad Menorah Displays

For what it's worth, here's my take on the Seattle Chabad Rabbi and his Menorah display that Shtender discussed in this post.

With both sides playing the PR game it's very hard to know what really went on there. The Rabbi claims he didn't threaten a lawsuit, I suppose we should give him the benefit of the doubt. But regardless, I think Shtender's broader point still stands. There is no need for public displays of menorahs. Chazal were quite explicit regarding where persumei nissa should be performed, namely at one's home and in shul. Nowhere else. Rav Elyashiv in a printed teshuva says that, because of this there is no reason to light a menorah at a public chanukah gathering.

Rav Yaakov Kaminetsky reportedly was not pleased with people wearing their taleisim in the streets of NY. We don't have to flaunt our religion in the faces of the Christian majority. We can behave like proud Jews by keeping the Torah and Mitzvos, not by making unnecessary public displays of our religious symbols.

Do they need more reasons to hate us?

Must we give it to them?

Yes, I'm talking to you Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky.

Who, you ask?

Well, let me tell you.

He's a Chabad rabbi in Seattle who was so offended by the Christmas tree display in Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, that he hired a lawyer and threatened to sue if they did not add a huge menorah to the display.

So what did the airport staff do?

They removed everything. All the trees and ribbons.

In their words:
"We decided to take the trees down because we didn't want to be exclusive," said airport spokeswoman Terri-Ann Betancourt. "We're trying to be thoughtful and respectful, and will review policies after the first of the year."

Of course people are outraged at the rabbi, as they should be.

We live in galus. Do we really need this? Must we continue to draw unwanted attention to ourselves? Do we need to make it so easy for them to target us? Does a tree display really bother anyone so much? Let them put up their trees. It's their country, not ours. But instead of being thankful for this medina shel chessed, this idiot needs his 6-foot menorah.

Personally, a menorah in the airport might actually bother me more than the trees.

Some people say that the airport should've stood up to him. Smart move by the airport people, in my opinion. They made the rabbi look like the dolt that he is. I say the Seattle Jewish community should stand up to him and say that we don't really care if there are trees in the airport.

Sheesh.

I don't live in Seattle but I herby publicly state that this rabbi does not speak for me.

Read the story here.

Helfgot performs Cantorial Classics

An admittedly non-mavens review of Yitzchok Meir Helfgot's "Cantorial Classics" performance this past Sunday night, December 3rd, at The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.

1. Although I enjoyed the entire concert from beginning to end, I did find that the more familiar I was with Helfgot's rendition of a specific piece (from his CD's), the less I enjoyed it. This was even more pronounced in cases that I was previously familiar with Motti Sobol's arrangements (e.g., Hallilu , Brach dodi , V'chol hachayim). I would guess the reason is that digitally recorded studio music played at a high volume will always sound better than live music from a distance of 1/4 mile (roughly the distance between Family Circle, Row G, Seat 217 and the orchestra). Also, I was much more attuned to the slight variations in those pieces which was a little distracting.

2. Each piece was preceded by a short video introduction in which Sobol gave a brief history of the composer and the chazzan that popularized that piece. I enjoyed that format and there were some interesting tidbits in some of those clips. (Like Yossle Rosenblatt's fatal heart attack while being filmed for a movie in a boat in the middle of the Jordan river while he was singing "Hayam ra'ah vyanos hayarden tisov liachar"). However, I would urge all those that attend future concerts not to applaud during these clips. You see, IT'S PRERECORDED. The speaker will not wait for the clapping to die down. If you applaud for five seconds, you are going to miss five seconds of what he's saying. It would make more sense to wait until the end of the video and then to applaud. Even if he mentions the words "Boro Park". (For some reason every mention of BP elicited whoops and hollers).

3. In many chazzanus pieces, the climax of the entire piece is the ending. I therefore was perplexed and frustrated when the audience broke into applause and screams as Helfgot approached the last few notes of each piece thereby totally drowning out his voice.

4. I noticed a few members of my community who were trying to hide in the shadows. Apparently they wanted to be at this concert but they didn't want to be seen. Grow up.

5. I was a little uncomfortable when Rabbi Lau's thanks to Hakadsh Baruch Hu was met with thunderous applause. It could have been worse though,at least there were no chants of "Go G-d Go".

6. I overheard a few people commenting that it seemed like Helfgot was having a bit of an off night. Since I have never heard him perform live before, I have no benchmark to compare last night to. He seemed on top of his game to me although his voice did "phlegm up" two or three times during the evening, Interestingly, it never happened at the really high notes as far as I recall.

All in all, a very entertaining evening. Hopefully there will be many more of these in the future.