Rosh Hashuneh

It is Rosh Hashuneh, and it has now been quite a few hours that I have been standing on my feet partaking in the regular rituals. Truth be told, on occasion I had been chatting with friends. Here and there, I stole a few moments to read the book I brought along. Yet still, here I am and, for the most part, I'm keeping with the program. I only had a small bite at noon, but the rest of the day I didn't eat at all.

I kept on doubting if what I'm doing is worth the time and effort. It got even worse when that little voice within started whispering his usual mantra to me. He pestered me by letting me know how he, and all those other skeptics, is right. "Come on," he says, "can you explain exactly what is the point of all this???" he asked appropriately. Shrugging my shoulders, I sighed. I didn't have a satisfying answer.

I turned to my left and to my right and I saw all these other people joyfully participating in the celebration. It was reassuring. "They couldn't all be wrong" was my lone argument to that mischief maker. That made it much easier for me.

Later in the day – only in theory – I conceded to the devil's arguments. However, I hung in there, staying the course.

It got a little closer to the end. I was already thinking of the food waiting at home and the big moment arrived. The big switch was turned on and the giant ball started to descend; the ball that was dropping ceremony in Times Square on New Year's. At that moment it hit me: “I'm standing here in Times Square with hundreds of thousands of people in the bitter cold. What in heaven's name is this tradition all about? What is the rationale behind this ritual?” But traditions are traditions; and thus it becomes a part of the culture that people embrace and enjoy without rationale.

It is in moments like these that reaffirm my fondness of my own culture. In this particular moment, I embraced the uniqueness and warmth that emanates from the Jewish New Year’s celebrations…

I completely wrap myself with my Tallis and the Baal Tokeah screams out loud,

Min Haameitzar… Kurusee Kuh…

Ahhhh Tekeeuh… Tooooooooo…
Shevoorim Tereeuh… Tooo Tooo Tooo, To To To To To To To To To

I accuse Hella Winston all over again…

I'm extremely busy and the thrill of blogging has subsided, as result I didn’t blog much.

In the past few months I have started to write blog entries but was not motivated enough to finish the article; heck this one might befall the same fortune.

I'm still lurking around, reading blogs and do find the time (mostly at night in the comfort of my bed) to listen to some hot-and-cold-lines. The topic on the forefront these days – perhaps maybe months – is child molestation and more specifically child molestation in the Chasidish community. Sadly Chasidisheh kids are as vulnerable as kids of the general population and indeed they too get molested. Unfortunately the perpetrators fit the same profile of child molesters from the general population, relatives, friends and yes even teachers – melamdim, outwardly healthy normal well balanced individuals. I try my best educating my children and I hope and pray.

Indeed what else can I do?

If any of my kids become a statistic, their molester wont... Ill be a model how parents need to defend their precious kids and fight back…

The latest news in the Chasidisher child molestation news room is a recent lawsuit filed against UTA by a former Satmer child. All the people involved in this particular drama, I pity. I pity the young man – the accuser. I pity the principal for either being wrongfully accused or perhaps if it is true for being infected with this demented disease. I pity the school and the administration for mishandling the entire episode.

HOWEVER, there is one person that is all too gleefully enjoying the entire tragedy, and unworthy of pity. This individual will never miss an opportunity to bash Chasidim. This person will molest Chasidisher victims all over again while riding on a mighty white horse…

I accuse Hella Winston all over again…

Upon reflection, I pity her as well…

A moment in history that should not remain silent.

This year at the Seder I expanded upon the verse of “shebchol dor vedor umdim ulieni lechalosinie”. I kept my children captivated with the story of the holocaust. I made use of my extensive knowledge I have gained on this topic through reading and research. I started with the history of Germany and world war one, the Weimar republic, the Hitler era and the Nazi regime and finally about the holocaust in particular.

To my distress, it was apparent that my kids had an obscure knowledge of the holocaust. How can I blame them? It is not their fault… I myself haven’t talked much to them about it, in school they didn’t learn about it – not that they didn’t pay attention to the teachers, it is simply not part of the curriculum.

To secular and Israeli Jews the holocaust is their Jewish identify. It strengthens their connection to everything Jewish. However, for us Chasidim and Frum Jews the holocaust morphed into a distant anecdote, one of many that decorates our history. Most of our grandparents didn’t dwell on the topic at all. How could they??? They had to build life from anew. They had to struggle with the culture of a new country, learn a new language, heal the tremendous wound of loosing entire chunks of their own flesh and blood in burning ovens and recover from a senseless war waged on the world by a megalomaniac. Later on, for Chasidim, the holocaust wasn’t needed to identify the new generation with Judaism or to justify a Jewish country, and thus it wasn’t introduced into the classroom. Furthermore the holocaust became problematic for Chasidim because it was a topic one has to grapple with in the context of God. Consequently the holocaust was left for our secular brethrens to claim all for themselves.

While I do understand our grandparents and parents for staying mum, this is no longer acceptable for us. The holocaust is part of ‘our’ history; in essence it is part of our own self. Chasidim have suffered in the holocaust and at the same time exhibited tremendous strength and preformed heroically. True, there are some books written in Yiddish about the holocaust, we know somewhat what happened, after all, every single one of us have zeidis and bubbes who were in the camps, but the overall majority is ignorant as to the details. Let alone going back and visiting all these locations or god forbid observe a moment of silence.

After an hour of talk my oldest asked me…

“Tati why isn’t there a taanes (fast day) like we have on tisheh bov (the day the holy temple was destroyed) for the victims of the holocaust???”

“It’s hard to explain” I answered…

But I explained as much as one can to children why the holocaust is not part of their-our life.

Yet this is wrong… We Chasidim should have a holocaust remembrance day and it should become an integral part of our life.

Until then ill observe a moment of silence on Yom Hashoah…



Watch this clip in its entirety. If you don’t understand Hebrew forward to 5:16 into the clip…



Warning!!! Kol Iesah in this clip till 1:55 minutes, after that should be ok…

Some rules should never ever be broken...

When I’m amongst my Chasidishe friends and family I will smoothly blend into the Chasidishe tapestry and behave in a typical Chasidisher manner. Some call this kind of behavior rude and obnoxious however we Chasidim call it heimish and briderlich – intimate and brotherly (– go fig… well never mind). However, this is not the case when I leave my little cocoon and travel outside Chasidishville. On those occasions I dress a bit sharper and I neatly tuck away some of my Chasidish attributes, physical and otherwise. NO! I don’t hide or shed completely my Chasidishe identity which I love and always will be proud of, but it is rather a tactical maneuver not to call much attention to myself. It makes going about the business at hand so much easier. I will be on the best of manners, extremely polite and always smile to people. I feel accomplished when I succeed to elicit affability from non-Jews I get to interact with, and even more so from people who had a different perception of us Chasidim. I tend to get mad when I encounter on my journeys Chasidim that don’t adhere to my set of rules. Hey, they make my work so much harder.

As with all rules, this little rule of mine was also meant to be broken – or so I thought so.

It was two weeks ago and I found myself amongst the thousands of Chasidim on a pilgrimage to the resting place (or so they say) of the holy Rebbi Reb Elimelech of Lizensk. The holy Tzadik is buried in a little town in the eastern part of Poland. His yurtziet was on a Friday. Our group got there in the wee hours of Thursday night. The emotions I exhibited, to my surprise, was no different then that of my fellow Chasidim. As soon as I entered the Ohel – mausoleum, an inner force prompted me to grab a Tehillimel and articulate my inner emotions with the beautiful words and songs of Duvid Hamailech O”H. The more I prayed the better I felt. The entire stay in Lizensk was an amazing experience; suffice it to say I strongly urge those who haven’t gone there yet to give it a try, (no refunds, though).

Shabbes came along, it has been almost thirty six hours since I have set foot on soil drenched with Jewish blood – Poland – and something started to crystallize, the Polacks didn’t like us. Actually I got a sense that they hate us. The kind of hate that is saturated with despise and viciousness. Between dodging scornful looks from old Polish women, disregarding screams of zidack raus and some other fine epithets from Polish youngsters and occasionally even ignoring a push or shove from some Polish punk or drunkard, walking the Polish streets became a craftsmanship. It was then that I started to enjoy the typical Chasidish behavior that the rest of the group was exhibiting. Furthermore I myself did the same and I became extremely vocal about it. I told my friends to present themselves as the most caricature of a Chussid as possible – donning the beksihe in all its glory, the woolen talis kuten protruding about as much as possible, on top of all this the tallis godel and boy was I glad that I brought along my old shtramel. I was not satisfied till I was able to gather a nice group of Chasidim and embark on my new mission – walking the streets of Poland with my shtramel held up high.

The entire time I was in Poland I was not ashamed when my Chasidisher friends created a scene. I was not even ashamed when a little quarrel broke out when it came to pay at the hotel, nor was I embarrassed when some were asking about a discount on top of the discount already given.

Ahh! The strange feeling of revenge.

On the flight back to New York I tossed away that persona, yet to my dismay some of my Chasidisheh friends who I have enjoyed their escapades in Poland, didn’t. It was then that I realized I had made a mistake…

Some rules should never ever be broken for you may not be able to fix them…

Sorry for not posting lately. It was the result of laziness I tend to exhibit from time to time combined with being trapped in the realty of life… I will resume posting more regularly.

Last night I was moved beyond words. It was the nightly talk I had with my wife before falling asleep; she was naming all the people on her mishloach munes list.

“And one I already gave, it was for the cleaning lady”

And she added,

“I could tell she was touched”

For a minute I was speechless. I told her how moved I was by that gesture, and I added,

“I do take credit, you know…”

To the long list of negative impacts that global warming/climate change has on mother earth, we can add one more item, which I discovered yesterday.

As a result of not snowing, people simply forgot how to drive even in a one inch, so called, snow storm. Remember the days when the term ‘snow storm’ was used to describe only one foot of snow and above???

Another amazing discovery by yours truly recently: you don’t have to remove your credit card ‘quickly’ at the gas pump. Not a single thing will happen to you, your credit card or your family if you go wild and leave the credit card in the slot for a minute or two… I’ll leave it for professional conspiracy theorists to uncover why these gas pumps insists on having the card removed quickly – not my expertise… sorry…

I personally witnessed the wild outbursts of New York Giants fans upon Eli Manning’s 32-yard pass to David Tyree and the ultimate touchdown by Burress. Their brawling celebration was in stark contrast to the eidel-refined joyous reaction of my fellow chasidisher Giants fans. At that moment I truly understood the Vehivdeeluni Min Hatoyim and the Atuh Bechartuni Mekol Huamim…

A holy table...

Attending a Tish – the shabbes meals Chasidim attend at their Rabbis house - for me is part of my lifestyle I fell in love in my very own way. Gone are the days which I loathed standing on the parentches – bleachers, participating in a ceremony I didn’t believe in. In its place came the quality experience of spending time with friends, munching on salty sunflower seeds, hopping on the bleachers from time to time and singing along with the olem. My kids enjoy it as well. It’s free kosher entertainment, so what the heck.

This week I was glad to be of help to a fellow yid…

A non-Chasidic all American Jew was standing next to me curiously observing the entire spectacle, and I was curiously observing his reaction.

The holy Rabbi made Kiddish, fervently sanctifying God’s name.
Then came his Hamotzie in a whispering tone. Evidently, he will be eating the meal only to fulfill God’s commandment. After all he barely has anything to do with earthly things. After the Rabbi cut himself a slice from the huge challos, the Gabbaim started handing out the rest of it – the sheerieyim – to the olem…

“Did everybody wash before the tish?” My non Chasidic friend I was eyeing, asked me in a hush voice.
“Yes” I replied.
“But I’m here since before the rabbi came in, I saw people coming in from the street straight to the tish without washing.”
“Ahh.” I exclaimed and understood his confusion. “We don’t bencth at home thus we continue the seeudeh here…”
Satisfied with my explanation he continued probing. “And the rabbi didn’t eat till now???”
“No”… I answered. In the past, this answer would’ve been a source of pride. Look how holy my Rabbi is, not anymore.
And I added. “It’s only nine o’clock. Quite often I don’t eat till well past nine o’clock myself.”
“Ahh” he exclaimed and I got that look yet again…

Hopefully one more person won’t stigmatize Chasidim…

Ger – Kosher Fest – and "Oh Nuts"…

Three weeks ago in Italy there was yet another sign of the natural and healthy cultural evolution of Chasidism.

The Gerer Chasidim arranged a unique presentation of their institution for philanthropists from all over the world. I’m sure by now most people reading my blog have read and seen the photos of the event. What captured my eye and I’m sure some didn’t make much of it was part of the event that validates my claim and overall assessment of Chasidism today.

The presentation started with the guests walking onto a movie-style-set-platform with the old Shtetel of Ger rebuilt in great detail. After walking through the little shtetel the visitors embarked on what seemed to be an old train. When they all sat down it appeared to be moving. Suddenly the train stopped and started to get bombarded with impression-like Nazi plains – electronically of course. As they got off the train they walked unto the ruins of the aftermath of WWII. The entire production was done with great detail and amazingly eerie as reported by those present.

At the end they all walked into an auditorium were a ceremony took place, a ceremony I would never imagine to be put together by Chasidim. It was more fitting and usually practiced by conservative/reform/secular Jews. The entire stage was lit up with small yurtziet lecht, six huge wax candles were positioned at the forefront of the stage representing the six million Jews who perished in the war. Then one of the big philanthropists was given the honor to light up those six candles.

Pictures taken from Mishpachah magazine...

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The second event that validates my claim was the kosher fest show on Sunday November 11… A show dedicated to the kosher consumer. Lots of Chasidisher people were there… and many more Chinese and Blacks…

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First Klein’s Real Kosher Ice Cream got Sachdis Hechser (CRC)

And now… Reisman’s bakery got a new label…

What’s next???

I guess times are truly changing…

Two compliments I received recently…

1.

After an intense and heated debate, in which I clearly had the upper hand, the Hemisher guy I was debating with flipped and said the following.

“You are a Maskil. Over the years Kelal Yisruel survived despite the existence of many Maskillim… Blah Blah Blah…

2.

At a faraway place, a place where they don’t know much about Chasidim, after a long conversation with the bookshop clerk I was asked the following.

“In which university are you a professor?”

Double back flipping...

It runs in the family – Mishpacha

Every so often I am reminded how wrong these whining-hasidic-blog-complainers are. They portray Chasidism as a culture that got wedged somewhere down on the second or third step in the rung of cultural evolution.

Oh!! How wrong they are…

Every time I’m reminded how incorrect they are it resurrects in me the burning urge to write an in-depth article - an essay if you will - that chronicles the natural evolution of Chasidic culture which coincidently is parallel to the natural evolution of every other culture and society. I envision this essay to be one that would once and for all either silence these professional complainers, or expose them to be characteristic grumblers that every society sprouts and are part of the human rainbow.

Numerous articles and little tidbits of information are neatly filed away and are collecting dust in my own little library. Every time I start writing I get discouraged by the vast amount of information I have accumulated over the years and the need for this exposé to be picture perfect.

This past Sucess I gave up (for the time being, at least) on my plans and decided that I will be posting regularly every time I notice something that gives credence to my claims, albeit not in the format of an in-depth article.

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Mishpacha is a weekly Chasidic magazine in Hebrew and in English. The magazine in and of itself is indicative how Chasidic culture has changed. The format of the magazine, articles, pictures, editorials and writers – male and female is testament of our cultural evolution.

Those who have read the Sucess Mishpacha were unquestionably intrigued by its feature article… The Grand Sqvere Rabbi was interviewed by one of their senior news reporters.

Never before (at least that I am aware, which is the last fifteen to twenty years) was a journalist given access to a rabbi in this format. I was pleased to see the topics discussed; the Iranian threat, kids at risk, how to interact with secular Jews, internet, blogs (nay, scratch that last one, I was just kidding) and many other interesting topics. Of course the Rabbi was not subjected to a Mike Wallace type of interview and the news article was not a sixty minutes investigative reporting. Furthermore, I was troubled with some of the facts the Rabbi was stating. It is clear that either the Rabbi somewhat distorted the facts or is not receptive to reality. At best it might be that the reporter airbrushed the article thereby making the rabbi look not acquainted with reality. Nonetheless the very fact that a Grand Chasidic Rabbi was broached by, and spoke to a news reporter is telling of a natural and healthy cultural evolution.

My fellow New Yorkers…

The Mets lost after being so close to get into the playoffs…

The Yankees just lost to the Indians…

Joe Torre might lose his job…

But hey, we still have Hillary…

Time for introspection, amending and repentance. Time to transcend, improve and commit.

My to do list of Eseres Yemei Teshuveh…

A. Alef Selicoues… Done at Carlebach Shul at 79th Street… One word WOW…

B. Rush Hashuneh… Done. The first two days were nice, however Shabbes some folks at shul were acting out. Do you blame them? After all it’s the third day… The Davening was ok. High time for new Chazunim in my Shul.

C. Tashlich… Didn’t do yet. It won’t take very long though… I believe I don’t have much what to toss away anyway and the little I had, was already forgiven…

D. Kapuress… Not yet, maybe today or Erev Yom Kipper.

E. Kittel… Freshly cleaned.

F. Yom Kipper… I didn’t decide where to Daven yet. The Machzer and some reading materials is prepared.

G. Esrog and Lulev set… Will buy Erev Success as usual, and it will be just as beautiful…

H. Building the Succah… Next week. Maybe Sunday… Kids have done some beautiful decorations over the summer. I’m excited just as much as they are…

Resolutions…

A. Go to the gym two times a week.

B. Enhance even more my relationship with my kids.

C. Stop procrastinating.

D. Pursue my projects more vigorously.

E. Get even more organized, German style…

F. Post on my blog more often.