Bais HaLevee

Haven't heard of any yiden killed or injured by Katrina. That doesn't mean there aren't any, and there are certainly irreplaceable treasures of Jewish history in this city Judah Touro (of Touro synagogue fame) resided in and benefitted so much. New Orleans is a repository of the Sephardic heritage of the first Jews to reach these shores.

Note that much of the news and relief effort is being directed and coordinated via the internet and more specifically via blogs.

Another argument to not hide our collective heads in the sand regarding these important advances.

Let's be mispalel for our brethren in Louisiana, Mississipi and Alabama as the situation worsens when it should be getting better.

Stalking Horse or Deciphering the Code

Note: I've already posted on this subject, but since a blogger I highly respect felt it wasn't clear, I'm approaching the subject from a somewhat new angle.

In wars of the past, a device known as a 'stalking horse' was employed. This strategy involved sending an unfortunate horse towards enemy lines. When the horses' approach was detected, of course the opposing army would fire upon it, thereby exposing their positions for future attack.

The 'Bobov Maasehs' (hat tip to 'frummer') are serving as a stalking horse for other chasidusen and other krysen.

How so? When one sits down at a chasena or sheva brochos and the shmuz turns to R' Ben Tzion vs R. Mordechai Dovid, and the two respective shmuzers have about the same connection with either of them that Ayman Zawahiri does with Arik Sharon, they are probably using this machlokes as a stalking horse for their own krys. Especially if one of the shmuzers adamantly maintains regarding Bobov that 'things can't continue like this'.

Unfortunately, in our generation so orphaned even in comparison to the post war generation (or perhaps 'even' should be replaced by 'especially') many krysen can only look forward to apparently mediocre leadership in the current or the next generation. The Rebbe's or RY's children may not have what it takes. Maybe another member of the family or krys does have what it takes, or at least more of what it takes.

Now the 'revolutionaries' in the shmuzer's krys are pitted against the hard line conservatives. The revolutionaries shout "Meritocracy!"(see previous post by Circle). The conservatives rejoin "Never! A son must inherit the leadership". But neither side can afford to say what they mean, because both have to marry off their children. So Bobov becomes the 'stalking horse' for the future of _____________ (fill in the blank).

Why Bobov specifically? Because the race is tighter there. R' Ben Tzion is a son who looks like his father, was groomed by his father, and occupies his father's clerical real estate. Therefore, R' Mord'che Dovid shouldn't have had a chance.

Yet R' Mord'che Dovid is running neck-and-neck. This is a threat to the status quo which casts a long shadow beyond Bobov.

The world is watching.

Settlers, Indeed

One egregious example of the cancer of political correctness is the very term settlers, a phrase which conjures up toothless shotgun totin' squatters swigging moonshine.

Regardless of the security calculus, people who have invested almost thirty years building homes, families, very creative and beneficial businesses, and most importantly a civil refuge in a part of the world known for extreme cruelty, planted amidst a jungle which will be remembered by history for homicidal manipulation of women and children deserve better than the term 'settlers'.

In fact, the settlers deserve a heck of a lot of credit even from those exemplars of moral enlightenment who say they should by rights leave.

(As another politically incorrect aside, the current human tragedy unfolding in Zimbabwe is largely a result of other highly beneficial 'settlers' being forced out.)

The 'settlers' are making the true sacrifice for peace, if peace there is to be. How about a little recognition, at least by calling them 'residents'?

Mincha

Soldiers and protester daven mincha together in Gaza.

Bobov - The Shape of Things to Come (?)

I'm posting this in raw form since I am traveling overseas and my computer time is limited. I intend to edit and improve it piecemeal.

In my overseas chasana pregrination, I've discovered an amazing phenomenon. Chareidim of all stripes are using the apparent rise of R' Mordechai Dovid Unger to 'tish' parity with R' Ben Tzion Halberstam as a paradigm for the future of many other kreisen with less than stellar leaders or mediocre heir apparents.

And within these various groups, the argument about Bobov rights and wrongs is really a surrogate argument about the future direction of each respective group.

Status quo advocates are still predicting R' MD's demise as a Rebbe and saying the situation cannot hold even as his following blooms and blossoms.

Revolutionary types are rooting for him all the way.

This reminds me of the historical role of the Spanish Civil War as a stalking horse for WWII.

On 7/10, I posted a piece on meritocracy vs aristocracy. It's a healthy thing for the Jewish people that this debate continue, in some form at least.