Future of the Internet for Orthodox Jews

Worth Reading

2011-08-23T22:10:00.001-04:00

http://arikahn.blogspot.com/

Maybe We Can Lease It in BP?

2011-05-30T17:20:00.002-04:00

Censorship Inc.

Iran Vows to Unplug Internet

By CHRISTOPHER RHOADS and FARNAZ FASSIHI

Andres Gonzalez for The Wall Street Journal

An Iranian engineer who helped design and run the country's Internet filters says he subtly undermined some censorship until fleeing into exile

Iran is taking steps toward an aggressive new form of censorship: a so-called national Internet that could, in effect, disconnect Iranian cyberspace from the rest of the world.

The leadership in Iran sees the project as a way to end the fight for control of the Internet, according to observers of Iranian policy inside and outside the country. Iran, already among the most sophisticated nations in online censoring, also promotes its national Internet as a cost-saving measure for consumers and as a way to uphold Islamic moral codes.

In February, as pro-democracy protests spread rapidly across the Middle East and North Africa, Reza Bagheri Asl, director of the telecommunication ministry's research institute, told an Iranian news agency that soon 60% of the nation's homes and businesses would be on the new, internal network. Within two years it would extend to the entire country, he said.

The unusual initiative appears part of a broader effort to confront what the regime now considers a major threat: an online invasion of Western ideas, culture and influence, primarily originating from the U.S. In recent speeches, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top officials have called this emerging conflict the "soft war."

On Friday, new reports emerged in the local press that Iran also intends to roll out its own computer operating system in coming months to replace Microsoft Corp.'s Windows. The development, which couldn't be independently confirmed, was attributed to Reza Taghipour, Iran's communication minister.

Iran's national Internet will be "a genuinely halal network, aimed at Muslims on an ethical and moral level," Ali Aghamohammadi, Iran's head of economic affairs, said recently according to a state-run news service. Halal means compliant with Islamic law.

Mr. Aghamohammadi said the new network would at first operate in parallel to the normal Internet—banks, government ministries and large companies would continue to have access to the regular Internet. Eventually, he said, the national network could replace the global Internet in Iran, as well as in other Muslim countries.

A spokesman for Iran's mission to the United Nations declined to comment further, saying the matter is a "technical question about the scientific progress of the country."

There are many obstacles. Even for a country isolated economically from the West by sanctions, the Internet is an important business tool. Limiting access could hinder investment from Russia, China and other trading partners. There's also the matter of having the expertise and resources for creating Iranian equivalents of popular search engines and websites, like Google.

Few think that Iran could completely cut its links to the wider Internet. But it could move toward a dual-Internet structure used in a few other countries with repressive regimes.

Myanmar said last October that public Internet connections would run through a separate system controlled and monitored by a new government company, accessing theoretically just Myanmar content. It's introducing alternatives to popular websites including an email service, called Ymail, as a replacement for Google Inc.'s Gmail.

Cuba, too, has what amounts to two Internets—one that connects to the outside world for tourists and government officials, and the other a closed and monitored network, with limited access, for public use. North Korea is taking its first tentative steps into cyberspace with a similar dual network, though with far fewer people on a much more rudimentary system.

Iran has a developed Internet culture, and blogs play a prominent role—even President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has one.

Though estimates vary, about 11 of every 100 Iranians are online, according to the International Telecommunication Union, among the highest percentages among comparable countries in the region. Because of this, during the protests following 2009's controversial presidential election, the world was able to follow events on the ground nearly live, through video and images circulated on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere.

"It might not be possible to cut off Iran and put it in a box," said Fred Petrossian, who fled Iran in the 1990s and is now online editor of Radio Farda, which is Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Iranian news service. "But it's what they're working on."

The discovery last year of the sophisticated "Stuxnet" computer worm that apparently disrupted Iran's nuclear program has added urgency to the Internet initiative, Iran watchers say. Iran believes the Stuxnet attack was orchestrated by Israel and the U.S.

"The regime no longer fears a physical attack from the West," said Mahmood Enayat, director of the Iran media program at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School of Communications. "It still thinks the West wants to take over Iran, but through the Internet."

The U.S. State Department's funding of tools to circumvent Internet censorship, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent speeches advocating Internet freedom, have reinforced Iran's perceptions, these people said.

Iran got connected to the Internet in the early 1990s, making it the first Muslim nation in the Middle East online, and the second in the region behind Israel. Young, educated and largely centered in cities, Iranians embraced the new technology.

Authorities first encouraged Internet use, seeing it as a way to spread Islamic and revolutionary ideology and to support science and technology research. Hundreds of private Internet service providers emerged. Nearly all of them connected through Data Communications Iran, or DCI, the Internet arm of the state telecommunications monopoly.

The mood changed in the late 1990s, when Islamic hardliners pushed back against the more open policies of then-president Mohammad Khatami. The subsequent shuttering of dozens of so-called reformist newspapers had the unintended effect of triggering the explosion of the Iranian blogosphere. Journalists who had lost their jobs went online. Readers followed.

Authorities struck back. In 2003, officials announced plans to block more than 15,000 websites, according to a report by the OpenNet Initiative, a collaboration of several Western universities. The regime began arresting bloggers.

Iran tried to shore up its cyber defenses in other ways, including upgrading its filtering system, for the first time using only Iranian technology. Until around 2007, the country had relied on filtering gear from U.S. companies, obtained through third countries and sometimes involving pirated versions, including Secure Computing Corp.'s SmartFilter, as well as products from Juniper Networks Inc. and Fortinet Inc., according to Iranian engineers familiar with with the filtering.

Such products are designed primarily to combat malware and viruses, but can be used to block other things, such as websites. Iranian officials several years ago designed their own filtering system—based on what they learned from the illegally obtained U.S. products—so they could service and upgrade it on their own, according to the Iranian engineers.

A Fortinet spokesman said he was unaware of any company products in Iran, adding that the company doesn't sell to embargoed countries, nor do its resellers. McAfee Inc., which owns Secure Computing, said no contract or support was provided to Iran. Intel Corp. recently bought McAfee, which added that it can now disable its technology obtained by embargoed countries. A Juniper spokesman said the company has a "strict policy of compliance with U.S. export law," and hasn't sold products to Iran.

The notion of an Iran-only Internet emerged in 2005 when Mr. Ahmadinejad became president. Officials experimented with pilot programs using a closed network serving more than 3,000 Iranian public schools as well as 400 local offices of the education ministry.

The government in 2008 allocated $1 billion to continue building the needed infrastructure. "The national Internet will not limit access for users," Abdolmajid Riazi, then-deputy director of communication technology in the ministry of telecommunications, said of the project that year. "It will instead empower Iran and protect its society from cultural invasion and threats."

Iran's government has also argued that an Iranian Internet would be cheaper for users. Replacing international data traffic with domestic traffic could cut down on hefty international telecom costs.

The widespread violence following Iran's deeply divisive presidential election in June 2009 exposed the limits of Iran's Internet control—strengthening the case for replacing the normal Internet with a closed, domestic version. In one of the most dramatic moments of the crisis, video showing the apparent shooting death of a female student, Neda Agha-Soltan, circulated globally and nearly in real time.

More Censorship Inc.

U.S. Products Help Block Mideast Web (03/28/2011)

Some of the holes in Iran's Internet security blanket were punched by sympathetic people working within it. According to one former engineer at DCI, the government Internet company, during the 2009 protests he would block some prohibited websites only partially—letting traffic through to the outside world.

Since the 2009 protests, the government has ratcheted up its online repression. "Countering the soft war is the main priority for us today," Mr. Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, said November 2009 in a speech to members of the Basij, a pro-government paramilitary volunteer group. "In a soft war the enemy tries to make use of advanced and cultural and communication tools to spread lies and rumors."

The Revolutionary Guard, a powerful branch of the Iranian security forces, has taken the lead in the virtual fight. In late 2009, the Guard acquired a majority stake of the state telecom monopoly that owns DCI. That put all of Iran's communications networks under Revolutionary Guard control.

The Guard has created a "Cyber Army" as part of an effort to train more than 250,000 computer hackers. It recently took credit for attacks on Western sites including Voice of America, the U.S. government-funded international broadcasting service. And at the telecom ministry, work has begun on a national search engine called "Ya Hagh," or "Oh, Justice," as a possible alternative to popular search engines like Google and Yahoo.

Et Tu, Hamodia?

2009-03-12T10:35:00.000-04:00

March 12, 2009

As Cities Go From Two Papers to One, Talk of Zero

By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA

The history of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer stretches back more than two decades before Washington became a state, but after 146 years of publishing, the paper is expected to print its last issue next week, perhaps surviving only in a much smaller online version.

And it is not alone. The Rocky Mountain News shut down two weeks ago, and The Tucson Citizen is expected to fold next week.

At least Denver, Seattle and Tucson still have daily papers. But now, some economists and newspaper executives say it is only a matter of time — and probably not much time at that — before some major American city is left with no prominent local newspaper at all.

“In 2009 and 2010, all the two-newspaper markets will become one-newspaper markets, and you will start to see one-newspaper markets become no-newspaper markets,” said Mike Simonton, a senior director at Fitch Ratings, who analyzes the industry.

Many critics and competitors of newspapers — including online start-ups that have been hailed as the future of journalism — say that no one should welcome their demise.

“It would be a terrible thing for any city for the dominant paper to go under, because that’s who does the bulk of the serious reporting,” said Joel Kramer, former editor and publisher of The Star Tribune and now the editor and chief executive of MinnPost .com, an online news organization in Minneapolis.

“Places like us would spring up,” he said, “but they wouldn’t be nearly as big. We can tweak the papers and compete with them, but we can’t replace them.”

No one knows which will be the first big city without a large paper, but there are candidates all across the country. The Hearst Corporation, which owns The Post-Intelligencer, has also threatened to close The San Francisco Chronicle, which lost more than $1 million a week last year, unless it can wring significant savings from the operation.

In a tentative deal reached Tuesday night, the California Media Workers Guild agreed to less vacation time, longer workweeks and more flexibility for The Chronicle to make layoffs without regard to seniority. Union officials say they have been told to expect the elimination of at least 150 guild jobs, almost one-third of the total, and management is still trying to negotiate concessions from the Teamsters union.

Advance Publications said last fall that it might shut down The Star-Ledger, the dominant paper in New Jersey, but a set of cutbacks and union concessions kept the paper alive in much-downsized form.

The top papers in many markets, like The Star Tribune in Minneapolis, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The New Haven Register, belong to companies that have gone into bankruptcy in the last three months.

The owners insist they have no intention of closing publications, but the management making those assurances may not be in charge when the companies emerge from reorganization.

Other publishers, like the Seattle Times Company and MediaNews Group, owner of The Denver Post, The San Jose Mercury News and The Detroit News, are seen as being at risk of bankruptcy. Many newspapers — from The Miami Herald to The Chicago Sun-Times — have been put up for sale, with no buyers on the horizon.

Ad revenue, the industry’s lifeblood, has dropped about 25 percent in the last two years (by comparison, automotive revenue for Detroit’s Big Three fell about 15 percent during the same period, although it has accelerated recently), and that slide, accelerated by the recession, shows no sign of leveling off in 2009.

Web sites like Craigslist have been to classified ads what the internal combustion engine was to horse-drawn buggies. The stock prices of most newspaper publishers have dropped more than 90 percent from their peaks.

And magnifying the problem, for many chains, is a heavy burden of debt that they took on, mostly in a spree of buying other newspapers from 2005 to 2007, just before the bottom dropped out of the business.

The Tribune Company, for instance, owner of The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times and other papers, filed for bankruptcy in December, largely because of its debt load. The reality is that even though the economic climate is hard for newspapers, without their debt payments the publishers in bankruptcy would still make money, as do most newspapers around the country.

But profits are shrinking fast; taken together, major chains had an operating profit margin of about 10 percent in 2008, down from more than 20 percent as recently as 2004, according to research by John Morton, an independent analyst.

The recent closures and threatened closures point to an ominous new trend. For The Chronicle, The Rocky, The Star-Ledger, The Citizen and others, debt was never the problem and they belonged to solvent companies, but still they have been losing money.

Analysts say that many other major papers have also slid into red ink recently, including The Washington Post and The Boston Globe (which is owned by The New York Times Company).

The steady trickle of downsizing that sapped American papers for almost a decade has become a flood in the last few years. The Los Angeles Times still has one of the largest news staffs in the country, about 600 people, but it was twice as big in the late 1990s. The Washington Post had a newsroom of more than 900 six years ago, and has fewer than 700 now. The Gannett Company, the largest newspaper publisher in the country, eliminated more than 8,300 jobs in 2007 and 2008, or 22 percent of the total.

On Wednesday, The Miami Herald, once the celebrated flagship of the Knight Ridder chain, said it would trim an additional 19 percent of its already diminished staff.

Nearly every large paper in the country prints fewer pages and fewer articles, and many have eliminated entire sections. Bureaus in foreign capitals and even Washington have closed, and papers have jettisoned film criticism, book reviews and coverage of local news outside their home markets.

Many papers are sharing coverage with former competitors in an effort to save money. (The New York Times has also suffered from declining revenue, but has been able to avoid serious newsroom cuts so far.)

For more than two centuries, newspapers have been the indispensable source of public information and a check on the abuses of government and other powerful interests. And they still reach a vast and growing audience. Daily print circulation has dropped from a peak of 62 million two decades ago to around 49 million, and online readership has risen faster, to almost 75 million Americans and 3.7 billion page views in January, according to Nielsen Online.

But no one yet has unlocked the puzzle of supporting a large newsroom purely on digital revenue, a fact that may presage an era of news organizations that are smaller, weaker and less able to fulfill their traditional function as the nation’s watchdog.

“I can’t imagine what civil society would be like,” said Buzz Woolley, a wealthy San Diego businessman who has been a vocal critic of the paper there, The Union-Tribune, and the primary backer of an Internet news site, VoiceofSanDiego.org. “I don’t want to imagine it. A huge amount of information would just never get out.”

Not everyone agrees. The death of a newspaper should result in an explosion of much smaller news sources online, producing at least as much coverage as the paper did, says Jeff Jarvis, director of interactive journalism at the City University of New York’s graduate journalism school. Those sources might be less polished, Mr. Jarvis said, but they would be competitive, ending the monopolies many newspapers have long enjoyed.

A number of money-losing papers should “have the guts to shut down print and go online,” he said. “It will have to be a much smaller product, but that’s where we’re headed anyway.”

Industry executives who once scoffed at the idea of an Internet-only product now concede that they are probably headed in that direction, but the consensus is that newspapers going all digital would become drastically smaller news sources for the foreseeable future.

Until then, papers have turned to measures that would have been unthinkable just a year or two ago, including many that are weighing whether to begin charging readers for online access, as The Wall Street Journal does.

Starting March 30, the major Detroit papers, The Free Press and The News, will deliver to subscribers only three days a week, to save money on printing and trucking. The Christian Science Monitor will print its last daily edition on March 27, becoming primarily an online operation, with a printed weekly paper.

“It’s not so much that everyone has a great plan,” said John Yemma, editor of The Monitor. Rather, he said, “everybody is so desperate, they’re looking at every possibility.”

Bishvil Pikuach Nefesh

2009-02-17T12:23:00.002-05:00

Overlooked in all the chatter about the danger of the 'net, IM's, etc, is the Pikuach Nefesh aspect:

Did MySpace save lives?

February 16, 2009 by Valerie Helmbreck

If you hear that health officials are managing a bacteria outbreak using social networks and cringe, you’re officially a geezer.

You’re certified as a person who’s not thinking outside the box.

Ultimately, that’s when using social networks is most effective: When it’s used for a purpose that probably wasn’t intended or even intuitive, but it works.

I have to admit, that when I first read that government officials had used social networks to try and rein in the damage being done by peanuts contaminated with salmonella, I thought it sounded just a little dirty.

I mean, really, managing infections with social networking? I always thought that’s how bacteria was spread!

But the truth is, Federal health agencies relied heavily on “social media” to get the word out about the recent salmonella outbreak.

They’re even hinting that they possibly reduced the number of deaths and injuries caused by the illness with this approach.

Officials with Health and Human Services Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said social media helped them spread the word about the peanut butter recall.

The agencies used widgets, blogs, Twitter, podcasts, mobile alerts and online videos to warn the public that peanut butter manufactured by Peanut Corp. of America might be tainted with salmonella. (To date, eight people have died and 50 have gotten sick from the contamination.)

When officials at the FDA and CDC figured out that the common food in cases of illness from the salmonella was peanuts, they got together to brainstorm about how they’d get the word out about a recall of peanut products.

The FDA created a database of recalled products, which the public could search either by product name or category such as cookies, chips and crackers. The agency then worked with CDC to spread the word of the pending peanut butter recall because FDA did not yet have the IT infrastructure to inform the public as quickly as CDC.

According to Nextgov.com, which follows IT and how the government is using it, here’s a sketch of the plan they came up with:

“Health and Human Services and CDC took the Food and Drug Administration’s recall database and created a widget, a small online application that can be posted on other Web sites, many of which were run by other government agencies and private organizations. The widget allowed users to search FDA’s database of recalled products from Web site operated by state and local health agencies and other organizations.

“FDA also launched a subject-specific blog on its Web site, which informed readers about the latest news and updates on the outbreak. Blog posts included those from health professionals, CDC officials and featured video on how to avoid tainted products.”

Also, at this time, the FDA was doing a video on the anatomy of an outbreak, which they put on hold to do on using a leader at the FDG to talk about how consumers could protect against getting sick.

Health and Human Services and the CDC also posted he video on their Web sites and on the commercial video-sharing site YouTube.

They also set up a Twitter account to let folks know when an item was added to the peanut recall list. “Followers” got instant updates (which was a good thing for institutional food managers to keep on top of, wouldn’t you think?)

The CDC used its MySpace and Second Life accounts to stay in touch with health bloggers, who helped spread the word about the outbreak. CDC has a presence on two of the most prominent social networking sites, MySpace and Second Life. For the peanut butter outbreak and other issues, the agency has reached out to prominent health bloggers to help spread its message.

They also used it to include the “mommy bloggers” who’d be anxious about what to avoid with this kid-popular food.

The popularity of the videos, podcasts and blog entries surprised the agencies. Example: FDA’s recall widget was used 1.4 million times in nine days.

The power and reach of social networking is vast and fast. Using it to help your business or organization often takes thinking outside the normal box of communication tools. But putting social networking back in the box isn’t going to happen soon.

What’s your firm done to use these tools to promote or manage its affairs?

Ban Chrysler Cars!!!

2008-06-26T11:00:00.003-04:00

"Detroit, MI - People who buy Chrysler LLC vehicles next year will have the option of turning their cars and trucks into wireless Internet hotspots.

(Officals) said people will be able to use laptop computers in their cars and trucks just as if they were in an office or home.

(Officals) said the wireless system will work while vehicles are moving so they can be used by passengers."

Postermania XIII - Or Addressing Scourges of the Past Century Now

2008-05-26T11:56:00.004-04:00

Free translation of above:
"Unfortunately, we are close to perceiving that the nesuyon (temptation) of this generation is the computer with the internet (internet phone). The haskala (Enlightenment), Zionism, and Communism rolled into one do not approach the level of of abandonment of faith and the destruction which this bitter device can effectuate. This is the cause of shmad (leaving our traditions) of the current generation, not to be wished on us or on you..."

(Harav HaGaon Rav Berel Katz - Av Bais Din of Bais Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky)

Lebanon War Over High Tech

2008-05-23T16:54:00.003-04:00

According to a Wall Street Journal May 22 feature (here or here) the entire mini war in Beirut two weeks ago was over a high tech fiber optic communications network.

A rudimentary version of this network was what enabled Hezbollah to make such a good showing against Israel in 2006.

So now we can add to the causes of war such as land, oil, and prejudice, high tech.

Something we Torah True Jews should have no knowledge of or connection with.

Pray Station

2008-01-08T22:41:00.000-05:00

Here's how a producer at CNN entertainment reacted to a mincha minyon at the CES show: http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/blogs/marquee/2008/01/pray-station.html

Huh???

2008-01-08T17:12:00.000-05:00

The clueless at AP inserted the following sentence in the obituary for R' Shmuel Berenbam, reprinted in the NYT which should know better:

Describing the Mir: "In contrast with other Orthodox and Hasidic traditions, it shuns all music, song and dance in the belief that secular learning is useful only for earning a living."

Now Leapa may dance when studying secular topics - but he knows he's an odd duck.

Or maybe the only secular knowledge the NYT recognizes is opera and ballet?

Sheesh!

Net Penetration Among Chareidim

2007-12-31T17:43:00.000-05:00

Bezek: 19 Percent Of Meah Shearim Residents Connected To Internet

December 31, 2007 According to a report Monday by “Globes”, the number of Chareidim who have Internet is rising. Their report is based on information given to them by BEZEk.

Meah Shearim: 19%
Bnei Brak: 17%

Israeli Filtered Internet

2007-12-23T12:01:00.000-05:00

The leading chareidishe communities in Israel are apparently on the verge of backing a new filtered internet access system which works through existing service providers.

It will be a whitelist system based upon a personal or professional profile, and software and ISP based.

Mishpocha

2007-08-06T20:55:00.000-04:00

Mishpacha has bitten the bullet and written a truly well rounded article on chareidim and the 'net. (Here)
Rabbi Moshe Grylak's 'Point of View' at the beginning of the issue also makes a lot of sense.

The only problem is, none of what he says correlates with the public statements attributed to the Gedolim and the Kol Korahs.

Entitlements and Oil

2007-06-17T20:45:00.000-04:00

Thomas Friedman of the NYT writes a perceptive column about Israeli productivity and innovation entitled "Israel Discovers Oil" (available here for non-subscribers).

In it, Mr. Friedman, no lover of Israel, waxes about young Israelis committed to innovation and expanding Israel's economy, a source of riches that does not wane.

He quotes Israel's leading venture capitalist: “Today, every Israeli Jewish mother wants her son to be a dropout and go create a start-up”.

What do our chareidi Jewish mothers (and fathers) want?

Do they want our children to make a creative contribution to Israel, our Orthodox community, and the world and expand wealth?
Do they want the Agudah & Co to keep pressing for added entitlements to the point where the Israeli economy is hobbled?
Do they want those not destined to be a Chazon Ish to have only the option of melimdus or safrus?

What indeed?

Calendar

2007-06-12T09:17:00.000-04:00

The source of the previous post is a 'community calendar' posted every Thurs-Fri all over Boro Park. At left is a scan (torn off, I'm sorry) with contact phone numbers.

Can I make this stuff up ??

On another note, if the sponsor was seeking a zchus for the niftar, would not a supervised internet cafe or even sponsoring filters or a filtered ISP connection for a few 'yingerleit' accomplish more for yiddishkeit and the niftar? Or a kosher cellphone? Perhaps he should ask the Rabbonim who are occupied with Gittin, or a few yiden who are in the supposed unfortunate 80% what would be a more concrete help to them ?

Postermania XII

2007-06-10T23:12:00.000-04:00

Posted Erev Shabbos Shelach, June 8 (Translated from Yiddish):

The fact is: Eighty percent (80%) of Gitin (Jewish Divorces) .... are products of a computer at home, or a cellphone or i-pod in a pocket.

This is the dry fact. It is attested to by all Rabbonim which do Gitin.

Dear Young Person (Yingerman): If you do not want this device to throw you out of your house, throw it out first!!!

Leapa is checking with some heimishe divorce lawyers to see if the 'dry fact' is that their business has increased by a factor of four in recent years.

Ban Avis Rent-A-Car

2007-05-25T13:00:00.000-04:00

Avis is now offering WiFi in their rental car fleet. (Here)
Hansom cab, anyone?

Bad Blogger

2007-05-20T13:42:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately, a busy blogger is a bad blogger. I'll try to catch up with you all soon, including my (emotional) reaction to the Boro Park internet asifa.

Meantime, the Center for the Jewish Future at RIETS has released a 'learning packet' for Shavuos night which looks interesting for that point past midnight where the Yevomos combinations and permutations are no longer as captivating and entrancing as they should be.

Here it is: http://www.yutorah.org/showShiurLite.cfm?shiurID=718421

And in case I can't get back to you so fast, Good Yom Tov!

Exercises in Role Playing

2007-05-09T10:53:00.000-04:00

At a Tuesday night meeting of Vaad Hanholo (National Officers) of Agudath Israel, NY City Councilman Simcha Felder recommended that the distinguished assembled read an article on him available on the internet.

He said, dryly, "I know that the internet is forbidden . . . but if you have a friend . . ."

Later in the same meeting, Rabbi Avi Shafran explained the various components of his job. One small part: "We check countless sites . . . I mean, publications . . ."

BP Asifa

2007-04-30T23:41:00.000-04:00

This Thursday and next there are major meetings for parents sponsored by "Mosdos HaChinuch" on the subject of the internet.

The speakers at this week's meeting for women are Rabbi Ephraim Wachsman and Rabbi Avrohom Chaim Feuer.

Mishpocha Seems to Share Our Values

2007-04-26T12:25:00.000-04:00

Here is a piece in Foreign Policy Magazine about, of all things, Mishpacha Magazine and how it is an enlightened Chareidi publication.

And speaking of Mishpacha Magazine, they actually have a functioning web site here , with real articles.

Well, Mishpacha's articles are sometimes sappy. But their heads are screwed on straight.

Post From the Holy Land

2007-04-23T14:44:00.000-04:00

In an effort to maintain the holiness of the Holy Land, a chassidic leader who took the lead in the implementation and mandation of the 'kosher phone' in Israel now has a team working on a 'white list' filter.

The implementation will be neither hardware nor software based. All parents of students in mosdos hachinuch (educational institutions) will be required to provide proof from the phone company that either (1) their home has no ISP attached to its phone line, or (2) the one allowed 'white list' ISP is the only one attached.

Chareidi Pressure Cooker

2007-04-12T23:00:00.000-04:00

I. Preface
Many years ago, when the internet (and yours truly) were relatively young, I felt that this useful development (the 'net) would help us chareidim more easily separate the wheat from the chaff of today's world.
For example, one could read articles (sometimes using print mode) without viewing the provocative advertisements.
One could even check out something relevant or urgent in a paper like the NY Post (which I do not recommend) without being forced to flip through the Page 6 entertainment section , which is never appropriate. One could watch the 5% (or 1%) of television that most intelligent people agree is worthwhile without being ground down by the lowering of standards in the secular universe.
I was therefore surprised and disappointed at the movement to prohibit the net in our community which started about 9 or 10 years ago, but gained momentum about 5 years ago, and I've been talking (or bloviating, depending on your perspective) about it ever since.
I am now taking 'pen' in hand, however, due an accelerating phenomenon which shows a serious defect in our educational system. Moreover, this phenomenon will injure us and our children in our ability to utilize the internet and still raise our families with the chinuch we prefer.
The phenomenon is the (largely chassidic) proliferation of blogs expressing attempting to discredit Torah and Halacha, and simultaneously detailing the blogger's flagrant violations of Jewish law.

II. History
By and large, our chinuch system in the chareidi world germinated from the shock and tragedy of the Second World War. Moreover, I think in our heart, we all realize that our chinuch has created a frum 'Fiddler on the Roof' version of European Ashkenazic Jewish history which is factually incorrect.
Judging by the photographs I have seen, my own family, farbrente chassidim who sacrificed to spend Yom Tovim bei der Rebbe (an elderly aunt once confessed to me that until my uncle became weak in his 90's, she had never spent a Shavuos with him and didn't know what menu to cook on Shavuos) nevertheless were mostly clean shaven. Statistically, Jewish election results in prewar Europe certainly do not show the predominance of religious parties that the 90%+ of shomrei shabbos would suggest. Everyone understood that progress is good for the Jews and for Judaism.

However, after the terrible destruction and tragedy of World War II, Daas Torah, from Litvishe right through Hungarian Jewry, compensated for the loss, each hewing to his own view of what was the most important principle, and then driving that principle ahead pedal to the metal to try and reconstitute what was lost.
Rav Aharon Kotler and the Chazon Ish stressed sacrificing all involvement in the world for Torah. The Satmar Ruv stressed the evil of Zionism, and not sacrificing the clothing and customs of der heim. The Lubavitcher Rebbe attempted to roll back 100 years of assimilation in the new home(s) of the Jews, and the Bais Yisroel looked into the future and preempted the temptations of today's world.

III. Results
In retrospect, it is clear that Hashem sent us very special individuals, most of whom had few or no children, to aid the Jewish People in recovering from the trauma of WWII.
However, in our generation, lacking perhaps the type of leadership, or the historical clean slate which enables leaders to set a new course, we are basically reinforcing, reinforcing, and re-reinvorcing what the last generation emphasized - sometimes without rhyme or reason. It stands to reason, and there are hints from that first generation of leaders as well, that the course on which they placed us was not to be followed either ad infinitum or ad nauseam.
The result of this misplaced emphasis is that our generations become punching bags - being constantly instilled with mantras and ideologies which, unlike our Torah itself which is eternal, were ad hoc remedies for specific historical contexts.
This leads to an inner conviction that, rather than the educational milieu being misplaced, the Torah and yiddishkeit which the education claims to represent is untrue. A tragedy.
And the tragedy deepens. When people are taught ideologies which they don't believe but must obey, an inner pressure borne of frustration and cognitive dissonance seeks release.
The pressure eventually becomes unbearable, and blows up .

IV. Blogosphere
Now we have reached a point where every week there are one or two new blogs from Williamsburg, Kiryas Joel, Stamford Hill, and the like. These blogs are well written, the writers intelligent, but they are almost boring because the posts pretty much fall into two categories:

1. The superstitious nature of the Jewish people, and the lack of scientific validity for Chazol and Torah Sh'biksav, not to mention minhagim.
2. The exciting (and comical) adventures of eating bacon, going to nightclubs, and conversation with goyim and goytas.

First of all, both chazal and common sense dictate that there is a deep logic to the fact that the theological and experiential are pinned together. Logic would indicate that point 1 leads to point 2, but experience as well as Chazal would indicate that point 2 is the ignition for point 1.

But why now?

Why are all these free spirited shtreimel heretics deciding to vent all at once - especially since some excellent blogs espousing the same points have been around for years, and newbies can post on them whenever?

Leapa's take is that the boiling point has been reached, and the whistle is starting to blow.

The more philosphically minded might feel that spiritual development has peaked, in line with the historical paradigm of the Or Someach summarized here. There may be some truth to that.

But a repressive education plus a repressive community in a permissive society is a balloon in a vacuum.

What has changed in the last ten to twenty years?

1. The 'vacuum' has increased (society is more permissive in an 'in-your-face' way) leading to more feeling of deprivation

2. Our society has built much higher walls to try to shut out the outside world (just look at the rule list for your child's cheder), again leading to a feeling of repression and deprivation.

3. Our success and the nature of our leadership has obviated the postwar drive to rebuild and create.

V. Suggestions

1. Chinuch is more than information, and certainly more than prohibitions. Even though the last sixty years of success involved building higher and higher walls against the outside world, the at-risk youth phenomenon and what we see on the internet indicate that we have reached the point of diminishing returns with wall building.
Now the time has come to teach and delineate how to cope with, and if necessary battle with, the yetzer hora, and not just deny it or try to tiptoe around it. The fact is that most if not all young adults will encounter goyim and/or newspapers, and increasingly the internet. Not giving our children the tools to deal with it is a cop-out and a scam.
For those who pin the cause of the holocaust on declining levels of observance in pre-war Europe, this argument for saving America's (and Israel's) youth should hold even more water.
2. Melamdim can not just teach. In fact, they can not just take responsibility for what they consider the ruchnius of the talmid without dealing with the interface of the student and the outside world. Melamdim incapable of dealing with this should either bring themselves up to speed by familiarizing themselves with the future world of their students, or retreat back to kolel.
3. Melamdim should also be responsible for teaching the rudiments of science which seemingly contradict Judaism and our answer to science without poking fun at science. (Hat tip to R' Hershel Fried)

If we are as committed to continuity as the previous generation, this is the true route to preserving the legacy of our fathers and earlier Gedolim and following the trail they blazed to protecting and rebuilding yiddishkeit.

Note: Due to Yom Tov I am posting this as a first draft so that those who have internet access at work can view it, and I may still change it or add to it.

Sell Chomez Online

2007-04-01T14:05:00.000-04:00

If you're in a last minute jam, or tight for money, this may help:

http://www.chabad.org/holidays/passover/sell_chometz.asp

Chag Kosher V'Someach !!!

(another useful internet service for yiddishkeit)

Without Comment

2007-03-20T16:05:00.000-04:00

Below is a quote from a Cross-Currents piece by Rabbi Yaakov Menken on kiruv:

While within any group you will find people with outlandish ideas, it is very clear that the Orthodox leadership would have none of it. Ahavas Yisrael, love of all Jews, is the order of the day. If you can, in fact, find someone who thinks otherwise, he or she is merely evidence that the charedim don’t follow their leaders as readily as the media insists we do.

This was brought home by an email and personal account that both came to me today.
The email arrived from a writer for HaModia, which is—as you probably know—as “ultra” Orthodox as a journal can be. By contrast to the Yated Ne’eman, HaModia has stronger ties to the Chassidic community, which should make it still more insular. Yet this writer’s “beat” is the world of Kiruv. To be sure, he can’t cover Project Genesis (as that would entail conceding that the Internet has a positive side), but he still talks about the world of Jewish outreach on a weekly basis.

Yideoz

2007-03-18T10:30:00.000-04:00

Last October I posted on our reliance on the immodest 'Youtube' for haimishe videos since the prohibition of the internet discouraged us from making our own 'Youtube'.

Well, two enterprising Jews, Jonathan and Bridgette Raven (probably not from the communities most 'concerned' with tznius) have made a 'kosher' video sharing site called Yideoz.

Kol Hakovod!

Let's support them.

Worth Noting

2007-03-14T11:25:00.000-04:00

Rabbi Aharon H. Fried has an incisive 30 page article on secular education in our community here.

And Torahweb has a video from a frum Rockland County Sheriff's Department cyber officer here. (Warning: the preceding video is graphic, and primarily relevant to parents of children over 10 years old.)

Worth Pondering

2007-03-12T17:17:00.000-04:00

3 years and one day ago, Spain was attacked immediately before an election by Islamic terror, subsequently deciding to elect a government which immediately pulled out of Iraq. That should have solved their problem, right?

"Spanish officials and experts say the country is potentially in more danger now than ever before as extremist groups reorganize just beyond Spain's southern coast.
...senior officials say radicals in Morocco and other parts of northern Africa, many with ties to Spain, increasingly take their cues from Al Qaeda. . . .
Maghreb-based networks remain the most serious threat to Spain in terms of Islamic extremism, law enforcement officials said this week. They said militants had begun to set up a centralized command and a string of training camps in southern Algeria and northern Mali, and have launched recruiting efforts targeting their brethren who live in Spain.
"We are seeing the Al Qaeda-ization of the Maghreb militants, and that is the evolution that most worries us," a senior counter-terrorism official in the Spanish Interior Ministry said in an interview.

So, despite the bungling of the war, and the attractiveness of pulling out, it sort of confirms the logic of 'fight them there, not here', huh?

Hat tip: James Taranto

Hope This Never Sounds Familiar

2007-03-11T14:00:00.000-04:00

In Chaotic Gaza, the Internet Is a Target - (Bloomberg/Chicago Daily Herald)
Soon after a firebomb exploded at 3 a.m. and destroyed four computers in the Al-Shawa Online Internet Cafe in Gaza, owner Alaa al-Shawa clicked onto his e-mail at an undamaged machine.
The first message was from the bombers, explaining that establishments such as his were keeping Muslims away from prayer and providing pornography. That's why it was hit.
"This just shows how confused these fanatics are," said Al-Shawa, 27. "Even they use the Internet to circulate their statements."
About 45 Internet outlets have been bombed since Dec. 1, according to Gaza police.

Syria Appoints Jewish Acting President

2007-02-27T14:45:00.000-05:00

(LNN*) [Damascus ] [I2-26-07] In response to Israel appointing Druze Majali Wahabe Acting President of Israel, Syrian President Bashar Assad is appointing currently unemployed former Israeli President Moshe Katzav as Acting President of Syria. Current Israeli Acting President Dalia Itzik is leaving Israel for a week long visit to the US. Mr. Assad is leaving Syria to further pursue his medical studies in London.

President Assad's secretive Alawite sect is considered similar to the Druse religion.

The state run Syrian Arab News Service (SANS) announced:

"The Syrian Arab Republic believes in peace and reciprocity. If Israel can appoint a Druze as Head of State, Syria will appoint a Jew."

"Mr. Katzav speaks a fluent Arabic, and has presidential experience, as well as experience making way for successors in an orderly fashion on short notice. This will prove useful when President Assad returns from his healing pursuits. Moreover, the press treatment of President Katzav in Israel may indicate that he will adjust well to the historical behavior patterns of the Assad family dynasty."

Further details to be announced on Sunday.

(*Leapa News Network)

Rabbonim Challenge

2007-02-26T14:17:00.000-05:00

At a recent simcha, I guardedly verbalized my own position on the internet after listening to someone (who is on the net all day) expound on how terrible the internet is. I said the problem is that we're not facing the 'net with reality glasses.

He challenged me: "Tell your Rebbe* or your Bais Din what you are telling me".

I demurred, saying the Bais Din is not always free to say what they please (because in our community many Bais Dins serve at the sufferance of a Rebbe).

He then challenged again: "Ask any Bais Din, then. Or ask Rav Rosenbloom, or whomever - any Yiras Shomayim Bais Din"

Schon!

I have heard that the Stoliner Rebbe and R' Chaim Kohn, formerly of Machon HaHoyroa and KAJ have realistic views of the internet. Jnet also has a secret Bais Din who presumably have some acquaintance with the subject.

Who else?

*(My Rebbe, if indeed I have one, is over the ocean, and not the shmoozy type, at least to me. Further, Rebbes do not have the same obligation to answer that Rabbonim do.)

One Idea For Averting Apocalypse

2007-02-22T14:34:00.000-05:00

We are seemingly faced with no win situation in Iran, aggravated and emasculated by our bungled and/or mistaken commitment in Iraq (and I am pro Bush). Moreover, the erstwhile world acceptance of the existence of Israel as a 'given' is now a 'maybe' to almost every country except America.

Natan (nee Anatoly) Scharansky has a possible solution in a JPost column named "Mobilize Now, Save The World" (unfortunately now in archives for which the Jerusalem Post charges).

Scharansky has been somewhat of a hero of mine ever since the Soviet Jewry movement, and my subsequent reading of his great book "Fear No Evil".

His proposal involves two parts forming a pincer: (1) Giving Iran the "Soviet Treatment". This means:

No Iranian mission (including sports and cultural delegations) should be able to travel without being "accosted by protests and hostile questions". Scharansky admits this will not in/of itself change behavior, but it is 'critical' to creating a balanced climate in the eyes of Westerners.
Public pressure should be put on governments and companies that provide Iran with refined oil, huge trade deals and military and nuclear assistance to end their complicity with a regime that is "racing to genocide".
Pension funds should divest of all companies trading with or investing in Iran
All parties to the Genocide Convention, and Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (significantly funded and staffed by Jews) should seek the indictment of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for incitement to genocide.

(2) At the same time, support for Israel should constitute the second half of the pincer, by boycotting universities providing podiums for Holocaust deniers, and large demonstrations, a la the Soviet Jewry ones, for Israel.

Scharansky admits that changing Iran's course may seem a hopelessly difficult task, but he points out the internal sensitivity of the externally brutal USSR to bad PR, as well as the case where one individual women, a student, took on Harvard University for accepting a $10,000,000 'gift' from a Saudi Sheik. Harvard backed down, showing that "moral clarity, unapologetically and passionately expressed, can change seemingly unassailable ideas".
Sharansky concludes that morality, and Israel have friends who do not yet know they are friends, but "if we build it (a movement) they will come".

Of course for us chareidim, there are two problems with all of this:
The first is the tznius aspect of public demonstrations. It seems, however, at the recent demonstration at Ahmadinejad's UN appearance that the Gedolim have found a solution in the form of a separate section for chareidim, segregated by sex.

The second is that during the Soviet Jewry movement, many Gedolim, with the influential éminence grise of the Lubavitcher Rebbe zt"l , held that public demonstrations could be counterproductive by damaging Jews trapped behind the Iron Curtain.

In retrospect documents and accounts indicate this pressure, together with Helsinki Watch and the like, was useful in hemming in and pressuring the former Soviet Union which needed Western good will, aid and technology. At the same time, the absence of chareidim from the public forum may have given them some degree of leverage behind closed doors.

At any rate, there are not millions of Jews trapped inside Iran as there were in the former USSR, and though there are some thousands of Jews living there, the stakes for Jews worldwide are higher now than in the sixties and seventies. We are no longer talking about 'do gooding' but about possible or even likely pikuach nefesh mamesh.

The Court's Findings Will Be Interesting

2007-02-14T14:17:00.000-05:00

News article excerpt:

The extent to which the Web has penetrated even the strictest haredi circles is demonstrated by a current Tel Aviv District Court case. 'I. A.'(ed), a well-known Gerer Hassid, sued "ploni almoni" (John Doe), the nickname of a chat room participant on the Chatzrot Hassidim (Hassidic courts) forum.

'A' said ploni almoni slandered him by reporting on the forum that he had brutally attacked another man. 'A' is demanding compensation for damages caused by ploni almoni's posts. The success of 'A's case depends on proving the popularity of the Internet among his fellow Gerer Hassidim.

Due to the context of the quote, and the mention of a name, I am not providing a link.

Quote of 1975

2007-02-13T18:02:00.000-05:00

Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut, supporter, then opponent of the Iraq war, in 1975:

"The greatest gift our country can give the Cambodian people is not guns but peace. And the best way to accomplish that goal is by ending military aid now."

DithPran.org reminds us of what happened the following month:
On April 17th, 1975 the Khmer Rouge, a communist guerrilla group led by Pol Pot, took power in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. They forced all city dwellers into the countryside and to labor camps. During their rule, it is estimated that 2 million Cambodians died by starvation, torture or execution. 2 million Cambodians represented approximately 30% of the Cambodian population during that time.

Hat Tip: James Taranto

Boruch Dayan Emes.

2007-02-08T13:22:00.000-05:00

Levaya @ Shomrei Hachomos 2:30pm.

Na L'Hispalel

2007-02-07T10:01:00.000-05:00

I know this isn't what you come here for, but please take a brief time now to be mispalel (pray) or say a kapital for Yisroel ben Ita Frimet, a 29 year old chasid with a wife and 3 small children in a Manhattan oncology center who needs our prayers immediately.

Now, That'll Solve Their Problem

2007-02-05T15:13:00.000-05:00

The NYT reports that Williamsburg has a problem with boys in Oorah billboard ads appearing without peyos, and kosher food delivery services sporting web addresses.

They're right. Judging by the blogosphere and elsewhere, Oorah should be quite busy being m'karav Williamsburg youth, such as those in the billboard pictures, to Yiddishkeit.

The slippery slope:

Seeing a billboard of a boy without peyos
Ordering food
Sheol Tachtis?

The sad outcome is blatant (particularly before Shacharis)

Hat Tip: Orthomom

Quote of the Week

2007-02-03T20:45:00.000-05:00

Rabbi Yakov Horowitz of Project Yes, a division of Agudath Israel:

Let’s face it. Blogging is here to stay and people will respond to my columns in one way or another. On my website or on someone else’s. If anything, the exponential advances in technology will only add to this phenomenon of instant polling and interactive discussions in ways we cannot even imagine at this time.

I think that I am best off following the sage advice of Dovid Hamelech (Kind David), who, sadly, knew a thing or two about discord and adversity. “Be’komim alay me’reim tish’mana aznei (Tehilim 92:8)– When my adversaries rise against me, my ears should hear [their words].” There is a Chassidic interpretation that Dovid prayed to Hashem that he maintain the moral strength to carefully listen to the rebuke of the people who were criticizing him, rather than ignore their words as those of ‘enemies.’ I ought not get defensive or reactionary, but rather reflect on the criticism of those who took the time to post the comments – and hopefully grow from reviewing them.

Quote of the Week

2007-02-02T11:12:00.000-05:00

Rabbi Berel Wein:

The past three centuries, especially in the world of Ashkenazic Jewry, has produced a dazzling variety of movements, ideals and solutions to the age- old “Jewish problem.” The Haskala came to “civilize” us; the Marxists arose to create a utopia for us; the Zionists came to make us secure and cure anti-Semitism once and for all; Reform came to make us acceptable to non-Jewish society and to integrate us with humanistic goals; secularism came to free us from the burdens of tradition and mitzvoth. None of these movements achieved their stated goals.

The Holocaust made mockery of integration in the general humanistic world; Zionism created the State of Israel but has provided it with no sense of security and certainly has only exacerbated the problem of anti-Semitism; Stalin cured us of Marxism; the Haskala apparently did not sufficiently civilize us; and secularism has to constantly attempt to prove that it is not an empty wagon. Thus there is a great feeling of apathy and emptiness in the Jewish world today.

In the realm of traditional Jewry, much of Religious Zionism has lost its steam; Chasidut has pretty much frozen and atrophied and become insular; the yeshiva world has become a place of narrow focus and elitism; the Mussar movement no longer exists; and modern Orthodoxy has not found its voice and parameters.

Therefore we are witness to the end of an era. The old is going and the new has not yet arrived. Hence the apathy and ennui, and the seeming lack of leadership that grips the Jewish world today. It is at such moments in Jewish history that a renewal of faith and idealism has always occurred.

Shevach Meats Redux

2007-01-24T09:46:00.000-05:00

My local kosher fish store, under the hashgocha of a Gur Chassidishe Ruv has a website !!!!

Now . . . if the Ruv becomes aware of the website and supervises what is sold through the website, the Hashgocha is good, but the Ruv is kein yiras shomayim nisht (not G-d fearing).

On the other hand, if the Ruv is unaware of the web site, then he is a G-d fearer, but his hashgocha is worthless because Mr. Fish Monger can sell trayfe fish by outsourcing his web sales to a goy (and maybe he will).

Hmmm.

Two Brief Articles About The Politics And Blogging

2007-01-23T16:47:00.000-05:00

Candidates Face New Test:Winning Netroots Primary

By AMY SCHATZJanuary 22, 2007; Page A4
WASHINGTON -- Soon after Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton announced her bid for the presidency on the Internet, her campaign was boasting of its success in one of the most important new presidential battlefields: the Netroots Primary.
Within hours of launching her bid Saturday, her campaign Web site had attracted 10,000 messages of support, 2,200 submissions for its blog contest and had signed up people to its email list at the rate of 100 a minute, the campaign said.
1 ROAD TO 2008

Who will throw their hats into the ring? A look at who's in the race2, who's out and who's somewhere in the middle for the 2008 presidential election.
Mrs. Clinton's decision to enter the presidential race online and conduct a "national conversation" in live video Internet chats before heading to campaign isn't the conventional route taken by presidential hopefuls. This year, however, candidates are making extra efforts to win the favor -- and money -- of keepers of Web logs, or bloggers, and other Internet activists.
Mrs. Clinton's embrace of the Internet shows how seriously candidates are taking the power of the online activist community. Bloggers and other Netroots activists didn't get Howard Dean elected in 2004 or Joseph Lieberman unelected in 2006, but they certainly played a big, vocal role in both races. Unlike other early primary contests, there is no set date to decide which candidate wins or loses the Netroots primary, but early support by the Internet community this year, at least for Democratic candidates, could help decide which candidate wins the party's nomination.
"It's a fact that in Democratic politics, [the Internet has] grown increasingly important and it's par for the course for candidates to pay attention and to communicate to this community," said Peter Daou, the Clinton campaign's Internet director and former head of blog outreach for the Kerry-Edwards 2004 presidential campaign.

Inhofe, IMHO

Pundits do it. Scientists do it. Even Donald Trump does it. So why shouldn't Congress blog too?
As the former Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Republican Jim Inhofe was a coruscating critic of climate change alarmism. Now in the minority, he plans to make sure his voice is heard over the din of the media-savvy environmental groups through a new blog. His team even intends to make a bit of Congressional history by conducting the first-ever live Senate blog during the president's State of the Union Address tonight. Watch out, National Review Online.
This is the latest in Senator Inhofe's strategy of trying to shout louder than his many opponents in the environmental community. His media team is somewhat notorious in Washington for their "facts of the day" and "weekly closer" emails that attempt to get out another side of the story. And their new blog is already making waves, not to mention causing some congressional tech malfunctioning.
Last week the minority blog issued a scathing indictment of Heidi Cullen, host of the Weather Channel's weekly global warming program "The Climate Code." Ms. Cullen had called for the American Meteorological Society to decertify any TV weatherperson who exhibits undue skepticism about climate warming. The widely-read Drudge Report linked to the Inhofe site's critique of Ms. Cullen, generating so much traffic that the Senate's web servers shut down. A subsequent email update from the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms said the link had been bringing "30-50,000 queries per hour to senate.gov."
No word yet as to when Senator Inhofe himself might roll up his sleeves and post a few items. Let's hope the Senate can get its still-sluggish servers up to speed by then. The blog can be found at http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?

I Guess She Just Lost Our Vote

2007-01-22T01:12:00.000-05:00

Hillary Clinton today chose to be the first to announce her candidacy for President on the internet. (Here)

This automatically stakes out her position against "Shabbos, Kashrus and Taharas HaMishpocha" (see here).

She is also going to initiate an on-line 'conversation' with the American people this week, from which we chareidim should be ineluctably excluded.

Therefore, all chareidim will vote Republican if she is nominated. (Right, mosdos?)

Not a bad strategy, Karl!

Page Views On A Small Blog

2007-01-21T14:00:00.000-05:00

I am sometimes asked who reads 'small' blogs.

Well, this is one.

30,300 page views to date, averaging 112 per day.

Ban Alert

2007-01-20T20:30:00.000-05:00

Jewish Press:

The Internet And The Observant Community

More than 120 rabbis, dayanim, heads of yeshivos and principals of girls schools in Boro Park and Flatbush, met on Sunday, Asarah B’Teves, December 31, to implement a takanah to counteract the sakanah (danger) of the Internet. The meeting was called for by Rabbi Yosef Rosenbloom, Rosh Yeshiva, Shaarei Yosher; Rabbi Yechezkel Roth, Karlsburger Rav; Rabbi Yaakov Perlow, Novominsker Rebbe; and Rabbi Moshe Wolfson, Mashgiach, Yeshiva Torah Vodaath.

The attendees were advised of the steps the observant communities of Lakewood, Monsey, and Skver (Spring Valley) have successfully taken to stem the influence of the Internet. Rabbi Moshe Greenfeld, chairman of the Monsey effort, described the unity of Monsey’s Torah institutions in their campaign.

Rabbi Yitzchok Mermelstein, menahel of Yeshiva Imrei Chaim Vishnitz, shared that the parents of the more than 2,000 pupils in the yeshiva have committed themselves to be part of the shield of protection guarding the community against the Internet.

The Karlsburger Rav reviewed the 60-page directives that were distributed to the meeting’s participants. The Rav elaborated on several of the key steps that are being taken and must be strengthened.

The Novominsker Rebbe recalled that American Jewish history was replete with battles to protect Shabbos, kashrus, Taharas HaMishpachah, all of which are proudly adhered to in observant Jewish America today. However, the Rebbe stressed, the threat of the Internet is greater than all the previous perils combined.

Rabbi Moshe Green, Rosh Yeshiva in Monsey, described the Internet as destroying the religious character of those who trespass there. Rabbi Nochum Gotlieb, menahel, Yeshiva Bais HaTorah in Lakewood, described the necessity of always being on guard. Any child, he reported, can purchase an Internet access device for a mere few dollars and connect any computer to the Internet within seconds. Lakewood, as a yeshivish community, has achieved the greatest success to date, in the battle against the Internet.

Internet Usage Within The Community

Several meetings of rabbis have been called throughout the years to review the threat of the Internet and its inroads into the observant community. At an Agudah meeting of rabbis in September 2003, a report of Internet usage within observant communities was given. Surprisingly, in Boro Park, Flatbush, and Williamsburg, more than 90 percent of the homes in each community had Internet access.

Rabbi Yoel Steinberg of Boro Park notes that usage trends can be tracked. For instance, Google automatically compiles request usages and their origins. For example, should one wish to see how many people are searching for information regarding Satmar, a popular chassidic topic, Google will have that information instantly available at http://www.google.com/trends?q=satmar.

Presumably in response to general news coverage, spikes of interest regarding Satmar are found in 2005 and 2006. Not surprisingly, a large number of those inquiries were registered in New York City. However, most startlingly, the greatest spike was found to have come from Monroe, home of Kiryas Yoel.

The third largest spike came from the Petach Tikva area in Israel, where Bnei Brak is located. These are just small indicators of the widespread use (but not necessarily abuse) of the Internet within observant communities worldwide.

Hat Tip: Hirhurim

Two notes:

1. "Lakewood, as a yeshivish community, has achieved the greatest success to date, in the battle against the Internet". I submit success should be measured by Noshrim (at risk) statistics. Lakewood has the worst.

2. Hyperbole Alert?

60 pages
"the threat of the Internet is greater than all the previous perils (Shabbos, kashrus, Taharas HaMishpachah) combined"

Let's Fight Fire With Fire

2007-01-17T17:06:00.000-05:00

Note to Hamodia, Yated, Mishpacha, Agudath Israel et al:

(Dow Jones News Service)

The number of visitors to the blog pages of the top 10 online newspapers grew 210% in the past year, far outpacing growth to the parent sites. Nielsen/NetRatings (NTRT) found that while the unique audience to online newspapers grew 9% from December 2005 to December 2006, the number of visitors to blog pages at the top newspapers skyrocketed and accounted for 13% of the parent sites' total traffic.
Here are the most popular online newspaper blogs and their estimated December audiences:
USATODAY.com blogs, 1.239 million
The New York Times' blogs, 1.173 million
SFGate blogs, 515,000
Washingtonpost.com blogs, 433,000
Boston.com blogs, 388,000

Yes, there is much garbage on blogs. What is our answer?

Double Standard

2007-01-17T15:43:00.000-05:00

Gedalia Litke, esq., notes the difference in treatment in our own circles of Moshe Finkel and Yisroel Dovid Weiss here.

Ouch.

Speaking of Secular Education . . . Gilui Daas

2007-01-17T09:08:00.000-05:00

When you're worried about the World to Come, I guess you don't have to worry about tomorrow!

Folks - let's go with the flow!

Who Ate Our Lunch?

2007-01-16T10:00:00.000-05:00

I was speaking with a friend recently, an erstwhile successful diamond dealer/broker, and he told me that his declining family business will probably suffice to marry off his children, but unfortunately it will no longer be a business his kids can actually go into. He said one thing he hopes his kids come to realize is that in business you have to be alert and change with the times.

Another friend from the same industry, also quite successful in diamonds in the past, is already 'out' of 47th Street, but he's not yet 'in' to another business.
He whiles away the time getting on his wife's nerves at home.

I met yet a third friend, from the jewelry business, in kosher gym in the middle of a business day. He was recently laid off, and cannot find anything else after spending his entire career in jewelry.

For generations, jewelry and precious stones have been uniquely Jewish businesses. Historians speculate that Jews always needed to be able to leave their venue fast, and take their fortune with them. Moreover, in medieval times, Jew were prohibited from crafts and landowning.

Twenty five years ago the predecessor to a B & H job was "schleifing", and the first thing a typical kolel alumnus learned was diamond cutting. It was a good career, and also a good preparation for related businesses.

So why is a Stanford MBA with no diamond or jewelry background running a company (Blue Nile - see NYT article here or here) that ranks only behind Tiffany and Company in diamond sales . . . a company that has largely bypassed 47th Street and is based in Seattle . . . a company that sold a dozen $50,000 diamond pieces and thousands of smaller ones last month alone . . . a company that has all but bankrupted the 'Main Street jewelers' who were the mainstay of 47th Street and its former army of traveling dealers, brokers, and salesman?

Mark Vadon, chairman of Blue Nile, did something that many on 47th Street could have done, as Martin Rappaport ( a shomer shabbos) did three decades back when he rationalized the diamond trade and market prices in the 1970's.

So why did Mark Vadon, MBA bring diamonds into the 21st century rather than Itche Sender Hasenczenik?

Simple.

The internet is osur.

(And parenthetically, why don't Hamodia and their ilk cover important and useful business news for our community such as this and leave it to the NYT?

Covering the internet is osur.)

Leapa Gets Into the Old Media!

2007-01-11T20:20:00.000-05:00

Well, orthomom gets all the credit, but the "Why I Am Anonymous" post has made into a front page article in the Five Towns Jewish Times, a real live print newspaper, here.

Quote of the Day

2007-01-10T20:02:00.000-05:00

Over 20 years ago, during the politics of then, Rav Pam spoke out about the issues. At the time, shots across the bow of what was and what was not Daas Torah were being freely exchanged between various groups.
In addition, there was hot debate on who was, and who was not, Daas Torah.

Rav Pam prefaced his statements with (paraphrased):

"These are the opinions of Avrohom Pam. Who among us is big enough to speak for the Torah?"

Contrast

2007-01-10T20:01:00.000-05:00

An article covering Lubavitch and Satmar on the internet here.

Gedolim and Experience

2007-01-08T12:00:00.000-05:00

Anyone writing a blog like this struggles with the problem of supposed pronouncements of Gedolim versus our own experience and the vision before our eyes.

Now, we don't disrespect gedolim around here. I respect and I long to respect gedolim.

But for some reason, some aren't seeing what I'm seeing.

There are some chareidi Jews whose philosophy of life vis-a-vis is the Groucho Marx approach of "who are you going to believe - me or your lying eyes?" .

That approach is not really tailored for all yiden and for all times (krias yam suf excepted). And it is problematic to suppose that ignoring reality is what the Torah demands. (Yes, I know about Nachshon and the various chazals which can be interpreted to take the 'Groucho approach'. But all of us adults know that most of the time, emuna is to be combined with sechel. If not, spending time and effort for Hatzolos nefoshos or attempting to safeguard toddlers would be oxymoronic.)

Now, Rabbi Without A Cause struggles with the same problem and says of this of his dissonance between what we see and what we get vis-a-vis claimed public pronouncements of Daas Torah, at least regarding the internet:

"Black and White don’t necessarily make Gray".

Our interpretation: One must strive to respect gedolim, their self sacrifice, lifestyle and accomplishments and yet at the same time not be Groucho Marx. Otherwise one's avoda and Torah run the risk of dilution.

And yes, it may be a challenge.

Black and white don't necessarily make gray.

Perhaps not a permanent solution, but an interim attitude.

Our dissonant sentiments, exactly.

Progress

2007-01-05T11:35:00.000-05:00

Two Quotes (2 Days) for Thought

2007-01-05T10:59:00.000-05:00

The subway hero Wesley Autry, who rescued a total stranger who fell onto the track with a siezure by pushing him into the trough under the tracks and laying on top of him as the train bore down:
“I don’t feel like I did something spectacular; I just saw someone who needed help,” Mr. Autrey said. “I did what I felt was right.”
Hmmm. Hashkafically interesting.

NYT Columnist Thomas Friedman, on the uncivilized tenor of the Saddam execution:
"As Saddam’s hanging underscored, Iraqis are doing things their way. So maybe it’s time to get out of their way."

Why I Am Anonymous

2007-01-02T12:17:00.000-05:00

In the various speeches at the blogosium, as well as comments here and elsewhere, the subject of blogger anonymity was attacked, essentially condemning a 'lack of courage' on the part of the anonymous by those who draw a paycheck, and kudos, for being onymous.

OK.

I'm a chicken.

Now that we've cleared that up, here's why:

In a society which all too clearly punishes children for the sins of fathers, I want my children to have the best chance I can give them. I certainly don't want them to zip through that all-to-small window of time without doing a shidduch because thir father is so imprudent as to have a respectful, though differing, opinion.
In a society where conformity is so prized that we entirely forget that the father of our religion and of us all earned his stripes alone, and by being different, I refuse to subject my wife to social ostracism and/or pity by conformists by me being publicly more different than I already am.
In a society where we are expected to jettison chazal and even Torah Shebeksav in favor of following the pronouncement du jour from the dais du jour I refuse to abandon my minyon, my chevrusas, and my chevra by publicizing nonconformist views. Indeed, these are the only means to exposing the error of my ways if indeed my ways are in error.
I can take the heat if necessary, and perhaps do so (even now) more than necessary. But I always try to reckon the collateral damage before speaking out what I view as the truth in person. If any of the 'courageous and conforming' will take the responsibility for preventing damage to my significant others, I'll come out.
There are those who know who I am, including at least one 'dais sitter'. If they advise me to come out, I'll take it under serious consideration.

Now - if any readers think I'm wrong to be anonymous and say what I think, rather than being onymous and considered part of a silent majority, let's hear exactly what my contribution would be in the latter circumstance.

Soldier

2007-01-01T21:22:00.000-05:00

I know, I've been AWOL for a while.

More work may make a more responsible father, but a worse blogger.
I have some posts in draft that I just can't seem to crank out.
(I also need a stair machine I can post from!)

Meantime, for all of us who consider ourselves intellectually or morally superior to those in uniform, I commend the following article from the NY Times.

Official Spokesman of Aguda Airs Thoughts on Secular Education

2006-12-08T11:41:00.000-05:00

Here the esteemed spokesman of AM Echad and the American Agudah in Israel opines that it's not so terrible if our kids know the three R's.

But at the Aguda convention it could have been viewed as poison in milk - unless it was only rhetoric.

To the Seekers Among Us

2006-12-08T11:18:00.000-05:00

Nothing is coincidence, though we can't always explain why.

The following, coincidence, however, I think I can explain. I need to post the clarification in red below, and I am.

A Rabbi in kiruv hitched a ride with me recently, and I had the Agudah blogosium CD playing in the car.

He mentioned that he had a person who he was working on drawing closer to yiddishkeit, until this individual discovered the Orthodox blogs ( I presume the expose' ones) and decided that it's no better here than anywhere else.

Let me inform this individual or anyone else looking into our world from the outside.

All Orthodox bloggers are firmly committed to normative orthodoxy. The question of whether a small percentage, probably far less than 1%, of Rabbis or Orthodox Jews did or did not commit wrongs does not push any blogger, or his children or his/her readers from our community, away from Sabbath Observance and adherence to halacha.

This is because the selfsame bloggers who criticize also know that it's far better here than elsewhere.

Bloggers are highly idealistic individuals volunteering their time to air issues, teach, learn and discuss. They are bothered by possible perceived issues around the edges of our community, not by the central themes of Judaism. The statistics bear out that our community is far above the norm in marital fidelity, honesty, and self fulfillment. Our children are more idealistic and serious than their peers outside. But even one problem is a problem we must confront in the view of bloggers. These possible issues do not, however, reflect on a community head and shoulders above all others in every important measure.

Yes, we have much work to do, and we discuss it. But there is also much work we do not have to do.

Please, for your own sake, don't miss the forest for the trees.

Quote of the Day

2006-12-07T14:00:00.000-05:00

Great Contributions to Civilization Department:

The Secretary of Fatah in Gaza, Ahmed Hales Abu Maher, told PA TV on Nov. 14:

"This is a nation that gives an example every day that is imitated across the world. We gave the world the children of the RPG [rocket-propelled grenades], we gave the world the children stone [-throwers], and we gave the world the male and female martyrdom-seekers [suicide bombers]."

Rabbi Zwiebel at the Blogosium

2006-12-07T13:15:00.000-05:00

Preface: We all realize the vital and self-sacrificing work Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel does for Agudas Yisroel and for all of us. The comments below are directed to his remarks at the blogging session, not to his sterling midos or his important accomplishments.

Rabbi Zwiebel laid out a cogent case for respect for chachamim and the difference between our halachos and libel and slander laws, etc.
One of his most telling points was the stark difference between secular law and Halacha. Secular law endorses character assassination when it is true, and, in the case of a public figure, even when it is not true but the writer could not have known it was not true.
Halacha, on the other hand, categorically prohibits true fact based character assassination - in fact this is specifically what loshon hora is.

Point well made.

Rabbi Zwiebel additionally noted that the 'best and the brightest' in his Torah Vodaath class, those with many more lucrative choices, became the Rebbeim, and he demanded (paraphrased) 'how dare we malign these idealistic and dedicated disseminators of Torah?'

I have a problem with this, and the problem is fact based. In Rabbi Zwiebel's time in Torah Vodaath there were options and choices. A decent Regents college prep program provided the opportunity, as he states, to become doctors and lawyers. Even Rabbi Wachsman took away from the Mesivta an excellent vocabulary and some secular interests. The yeshiva effectively provided the option of 'defying' Daas Torah by getting a post high school education and yet still serve klal yisroel and yiddishkeit. Those same alumni Rebbeim Rabbi Zwiebel refers to - many of them to be found in Emunas Yisroel, in Eretz Yisroel, and among the various chassidic and yeshivishe communities - do not generally provide their children with the range of options they themselves had.

Many of these children make do with an inferior 8th grade education at most (I have an urge to describe how very inferior, but I'll squelch my urge). Then after a few years in kolel, the poor fellow is forced accept a melamed position whether or not he's interested in teaching other peoples' children, and whether or not he can teach, because he is not qualified to do or learn anything else to support his family. Some are indeed interested in harbotzas haTorah, but after a few years they burn out, but are again trapped, frequently now struggling to support a family of twelve. Rabbi Zwiebel, this is a far cry from your fellow MTV alumni who chose chinuch over olom hazeh, and these misplaced or burnt out 'trapped' careers are not a rarity.

Is this not a breeding environment for frustration?

In his remarks, Rabbi Zwiebel quoted only one 'comment' (not even a posting) from a blog stating that 'the best part of blogging is the anonymity. You can shake a Rosh Yeshiva's hand by day, and then bash him by night'. He then commented acidly 'courageous souls'. Good example of the dedicated and knowledgeable blogging community, Rabbi Zwiebel? I think not.

Rabbi Zwiebel - since much of the session was dedicated to the evil of blog based character assassination, is it not self evident that the Lakewood, Satmar, Bobover, and legitimately questioning bloggers and commenters can and should remain anonymous - if not for themselves, then for their parents, spouses and children? Causing harm to these innocent bystanders is no different than causing harm to the innocent bystanders that Rabbi Solomon and the rest the Torah community strive so mightily to protect in other situations.

I would like to note at this point that although I continue to be anonymous, many of the 'best and brightest bloggers, such as Rabbi Gil Student, no longer are. They probably would have not begun to make what turned out to be a valuable contribution to the klal without the veil of anonymity. Moreover, many seforim in the past were also published with no name or a non de plume (including, if I recall accurately, Sefer Chofetz Chaim).

Since the issue of anonymity has arisen, I will dedicate a separate post to this subject in the future.

Rabbi Wachsman

2006-12-04T14:48:00.000-05:00

Well, I must admit that I am impressed.

I do not know whether Rabbi Wachsman read my letter to him, or the other blog comments about him, but his tone was universally recognized to be drastically different from what we have seen from him in the past.

His speech, in my prior words, was 'tightly reasoned' in its logic (not necessarily saying I can at this point agree with all of it), which still leaves me somewhat awed at the change in style when contrasted with his past appearances.

I also sincerely want to compliment Mesivta Torah Vodaath for teaching Rav Wachman an excellent English, and imbuing him with the desire to (his own words) read about Einstein in the Bais Hakovod. Kein Yirbu.

Here are some points made at the convention by Rabbi Wachsman:

We do not properly appreciate Gedolei Yisroel
We are incapable of directly learning the Torah of previous generations without a contemporary interpreter, in other mesorah ( A rishon without mesorah is 'irrelevant')
We cannot use an individual Godol's opinion to overturn the mass of opinions of Gedolei Yisroel
Anyone can make himself look like a Talmid Chacham on a blog, but it takes a Talmid Chacham , and only a Talmid Chacham, to know one

Some of these opinions are obviously controversial (particularly the middle two). The manner in which they were expressed was also unbending. They were all at one end of the spectrum of opinion, not the middle. (Example: Rav Wachsman stated Gedolim are possessed of "flawless logic"(sic), for example. I didn't think that sort of phraseology applied to mortal man.) Nevertheless, they were made with intent to persuade, and persuade they did.

Rabbi Wachsman used the famous Sherut L'umi issue of the 1950's to illustrate necessary obeisance to Gedolim (paraphrased):

After what was viewed as a historic compromise allowing community service for girls in place of army service, the Chazon Ish torpedoed the compromise by paskening 'yeharog v'lo ya'avur' to Sherut L'umi. When asked by a Rov where it says that a person should let himself be killed for something which is apparently not one of the three cardinal sins, the Chazon Ish opened his over-garment, exposing the shirt over his heart and said "(it says it) here".

Okay, it's strong stuff. But Rav Wachsman was obviously attempting to explicate and explain, not bulldoze, a change in tone for him. And we free wheeling bloggers and readers should be able to handle logic even when it is not what we want to hear, right?

So what's Leapa's take?

Yes, it is halachically required to respect everyone, even more so Rabbonim, Talmidei Chachamim, and Gedolim. I, for one, will try harder.
While mesora is undoubtedly important, I cannot accept, that we cannot learn Rambam, for example, directly without it being filtered through Reb Chaim Brisker and Rav Aharon Kotler and Rav Aharon's einiklach. Rav Wachsman, you said we cannot understand and emulate a Godol of 60 or 70 years ago. Well, Rav Aharon, your prime example of a contemporary godol, is almost there !! Moreover, your proof from Choni Hamagil, that he asked for his life to be taken because he could not communicate with the third generation downstream, seems a tzurich iyun. Your conclusion will certainly lead to less Torah learned, if we cannot learn a blatt gemora or a Rishon without learning it through R Boruch Ber on the sugya. And Rav Wachsman, not everyone has the opportunity in life for a Rebbe Muvhak. Moreover, you know that there are contemporary Gedolim familiar with the same proofs you bring who have completely abolished shiurim for older bochurim, in the belief that they will have more success on their own.
Much of klal yisroel follows individual Gedolim and not the majority, and almost everyone does sometimes. We are not a religion or a people which takes polls to follow a majority, even of Gedolim. Do you feel all these yiden (almost none of whom are bloggers) are wrong? Furthermore, you propose that klal Yisroel has always followed the Gedolim 'elected' by other Gedolim. Is that historically accurate? How about the Baal Shem Tov, for example?
You are right about technology enabling one to look better than he is in Torah, but some talmidei chachamim have also grown in isolation from Gedolim for many years of their careers. Maybe even most. (The Chazon Ish is not a bad example.) Maybe a blogger (to my sorrow, not me) will be the next Godol to appear. As the NY Lottery ad says, you never know.

It seemed to me that the examples of Piskei Gedolim Rabbi Wachsman selected were all taken from periods of eis laasos, during or after historic upheavals when there was not time or opportunity to reason, or where the situation dictated urgent action.

Overall, I echo Hirhurim in my compliments to Agudath Israel of America for airing an important and controversial topic. I feel it could have been handled more positively, with concrete proposals.

Nevertheless, I feel it was an honest effort.

My comments on Rabbi Zwiebel and Rav Solomon to follow.

To hear R' Wachsman's speech: Call (718)906-6400 press 1 for english, 8 for Special Topics, 5 for Agudas Yisroel, 1 for convention, and 7 for Rabbi Wachsman.

Attention Hamodia & Yated!

2006-12-04T06:26:00.000-05:00

The Wall Street Journal (subscription may be required):

"Various straws on the breeze . . . whisper that the day may soon be upon us when a significant newspaper abandons newsprint altogether, except perhaps for a commuter edition providing an abbreviated sample of the main product, to be found online."

Paysach Krohn and the Novominsker

2006-12-03T14:44:00.000-05:00

I have heard that R' Paysach Krohn commented at the Agudah convention on the inevitability of internet penetration into our community and the necessity to make a positive, not a negative out of internet.

I also heard that the Novominsker Rebbe rebuked this notion sharply, and that R' Krohn apologized to him.

Has anyone heard either part (or both) of the this discussion?

Where Are We?

2006-11-28T19:40:00.000-05:00

Two posts back Evanston Jew asked me about what I cryptically referred to as "Reb Mayer Simcha's repetitive timeline of Jewish history" in Rabbi Shmuel Bloom's well received remarks.

I am writing this during travel, without access to a Meshech Chochma, and so I apologize if I approximate from memory, and please forgive me if I mess up. The alternative is perhaps a week's delay, which in the blogosphere is pretty much unforgivable.

Rabbi Blooms' thought:

In Parshas B'Chukosai R' Mayer Simcha says that Jewish history follows a repetitive pattern. Jews are driven out of a land, and forced into a new land. The first generation, without benefit of education due to their oppression, struggles to establish themselves materially and spiritually. The next generation, benefitting from the income and institutions of the first generation, blossoms in Torah and becomes more established in the host country. The next generation continues to become Talmidei Chachamim, and even more comfortable in the host country.

By the fourth generation, the youth realizes they will no longer be able to surmount the Torah level of the their predecessors, and they then seek other avenues of fulfillment - money, art, politics, entertainment. At this point, they begin to lose zechusim, and in another generation or two, Hashem causes them to be persecuted and driven out to a new land, starting the cycle anew.

Rabbi Bloom remarked that we have a mesora (from R. Chaim Volzhiner??) that America will be the final way station of Torah. Orthodox Judaism in America has been strong and growing since World War II. Per Rabbi Bloom we have to bear in mind that our choice will be whether we leave America under Moshiach heads held high and with song and dance, or whether our repetition of the old cycle means we are driven out with pogroms and persecution.

Leapa's reaction? Scary. Look at the situation of Jews in Europe today. Is that us tomorrow?

Thank you Rabbi Bloom.

I'll be posting about the convention, and my reaction to it, but the CD's are defective, slowing things up.

A Reaction

2006-11-27T14:05:00.000-05:00

I have a relative which most would consider an extremist, even a kanai, when it comes to Daas Torah and following directives of Rebbes, even 'blindly'.
He was also a victim of abuse in yeshiva and/or camp many, many years ago, and was aware back then of some of the names which have since become infamous on the blogosphere.

I repeated to him in an approving tone the comments of Rav Solomon about 'sweeping under the carpet the firm actions we have taken against abusers' (see below) and I thought that I ruined his Shabbos.

He told me, "Leapa - no one gets kovod or satisfaction from exposing themselves as an abuse victim. If someone claims it's true - it's true.
When we tried to ring the alarms there was no one there".

Blogosium Update

2006-11-26T15:34:00.000-05:00

Well, after the Bar Mitzva I went to a hook-up site and saw the last twenty to thirty minutes of Rav Solomon's speech at the Agudah Convention. The tenor was measured and sombre.

He made one point which leaves me wondering, as I'm sure it will you. It has nothing to do with the internet. It was a mushul from Rav Shmuel Greineman, z'l, who compared a tiny bit of secular knowledge in a Talmid Chacham to a tiny bit of poison in a glass of milk. (!)

(I guess this shows Rav Solomon's been keeping up with the news - see below.)

Rav Solomon nicely addressed the issue of blogs 'outing' purported child abusers in our community. He made a neat rhetorical spin on the charge that these charges are 'swept under the carpet'.
He said (paraphrased) "Yes, we do sweep these things under the carpet! We sweep under the carpet the many cases we take firm action on to protect the families of these (abusers) as we get them out of chinuch. And we cannot be faulted if a few cases slip through our fingers!"

Afterwards he made a plea to show respect for Talmidei Chachamim when we get together with our families, which I believe all can agree with. This point was echoed by the Novominsker Rebbe Motzai Shabbos when he stated (again paraphrased) "we cannot shake hands with a Talmid Chacham at a public gathering, and then go home and smear him".

Continuing with Motzai Shabbos, Rav Shmuel Bloom made an unexpectedly brilliant and heartfelt speech, placing Aguda and our generation on Reb Mayer Simcha's repetitive timeline of Jewish history. He concluded (parapahrased) "We know that America will be the last stop of Torah. But we want to leave America with singing and dancing, not pogroms, persecution and fear". This was linked in to the machlokess theme later developed masterfully by Rav Yissachar Frand.

I will return to this subject for a follow up to Rav Solomon's spirited defense of the action taken against abusers, and again as I review the recordings of the blogosium.

File: agudah, agudath, blog, agudah convention

Political Assassination Returns

2006-11-25T19:36:00.000-05:00

Alexander Litvinenko, who appears to have been a very brave human being, is dead. This confirms a Russian pattern of assassination which started in its current iteration with courageous journalist Anna Politkovskaya.

Meantime, five anti Syrian members of the Lebanese cabinet have been assassinated thus far.

If you are looking for a growth industry for the younger generation, assassination appears to have potential.

Remember to give Leapa his cut for the idea.

AAARGH!

2006-11-23T14:00:00.000-05:00

A friend, a melamed, just invited me to a Bar Mitzva seuda at then exact same time as the blogosium. He says I'll only be one of 5 or 6 non family there (so no cheating on attendance).

I always knew popularity has its price.
Or maybe the fix is in?

I'll see if I can at least nosh around the beginning and/or ending edges of the blogosium, since it's being simulcast at 9th Ave Aguda @ 7:45pm.

For some reason it's not being webcast (???).

Anyone with a wifi laptop want to live blog it?

Something Positive

2006-11-20T14:38:00.000-05:00

Now that we're just a few days ahead of the Agudah 'blogosium', perhaps there's someone out there who thinks "that Leapa - all he does is criticize! If he doesn't want Rabbi Wachsman & Co to ban blogs, let him think of a positive solution . . . "

OK. These ideas won't be popular among my fellow bloggers - but they sure are a good litmus test for our community's willingness to move forward and encounter the future in some way, shape or form.

Solution #

A vaad of bloggers, perhaps with Rov at their head, to approve halachically and hashkafically kosher blogs with a seal (yeah, fellow bloggers, I said you wouldn't like this, and you may like the next ones even less - but let's show we are reasonable and committed to yiddishkeit).
A kosher, supervised version of Blogger.
A signed undertaking by all agreeing bloggers to meet certain requirements, and edit their comments meeting a certain standard.
An index of 'kosher' blogs.
Agreeing blogs will give a Rov their password for editing, again with a seal. (Yes, having personal experience with mindless editing in 'kosher' print in the past, this is a particularly rough one for me).
For Hamodia, JO, or Yated to start or sponsor a blog or group of blogs.

Readers, if you have any more ideas, please be my guest and I'll put them in.

The gauntlet is down.

File:
Agudah,
Agudath Israel

Quote of the Day

2006-11-17T07:28:00.000-05:00

"....the problem is, Orthodoxy doesn't learn from its mistakes. Judaism of the Napoleanic era suffered such losses of observant Jews because the derech of the time was self-directed and not geared to address the "grievances" of those who strayed. At a time when the attraction to stray is so strong, a relevant position must be presented to counter the argument.

Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch demonstrated this concept, very successfully. In fact, the Agudah is principled, or at least was, on the worldview of RSRH.

The mistake Orthodoxy is making, once again, is to assume that doing nothing is doing something. . . .

When someone taps Orthodoxy on its shoulder and says, "Hi, I'm Joe Blog and I think your tires are a bit low," the Orthodox mainstream goes [ballistic] and refuses to acknowledge that anything is wrong. "It's the bloggers' fault!"

To cover their tracks, they're dedicating an entire forum to bash Jeremiah! "

From a blogger who shall remain anonymous - edited and not necessarily expressed in the respectful manner the management here prefers, but nevertheless making a point to be considered.

Bar Mitzvah Speech

2006-11-16T22:40:00.000-05:00

Soon I will be making a Bar Mitzva, IY"H. And of course, there has to be a speech. Here's a speech I would like to be made in the presence of my bochur and his friends, preferably by the menahel.

Dear Feivish ben Leapa,

This is a day and an occasion which you will undoubtedly remember for the rest of your life. We have spent nine years educating you, but please realize that watching your father and mother is a big part of your education, and by far the largest part of your education is the course you will set for yourself through your thoughts and your interests, and the thoughts and interests you are disciplined enough to block out.

Hashem went to a lot of trouble to create a big, complex, and breathtakingly beautiful world. He certainly did not intend for the beauty and unexplored order of his universe to be ignored. He did not mean for us to create a tiny corner within his big world, and then shut out so much that He Himself has no space there.

At the same time, He created nisyonos, and we need to work all through our years on strenghtening the discipline to withstand these nisyonos. Yes, these nisyonos include the 'street' that the mashgichim have warned you about. But, as the Sfas Emes says, knowledge is also Torah. The nisyonos in our generation do not include science, the mountains, and the oceans. There are and always have been talmidei chachamim who know science, and even news, and were more knowledgeable in Torah than those who were and are secular ignoramuses.

Just as you should look beneath the surface of the world around you, you should look beneath the appearances of those you meet. You already know that not every shtreimel covers a tzadik. Know as well that not every kipa sruga covers a shaigetz or an am haaretz. And remember that a frum appearance cannot ever correct a deficient pnimios.

A balanced human being needs recreation. If you don't develop healthy forms of recreation, your recreation will be spiritually and physically unhealthy. Gossip and shushk'd conversation about other people is unhealthy recreation. Mountain climbing, basketball, and chess are healthy. Rav S. R. Hirsch hiked through the Alps in his last years. When asked why he spent time doing this, he answered "Soon I will be called upstairs. For most of what I did throughout my life I can answer that I did the best I could. But what if the Eibishter asks me 'Shamshon - did you see my Alps? I have to be able to answer that question as well!"

Sooner than you think you will make a choice between learning long term and going out and working. No matter what anyone tells you, an honest dollar is a kovod, even compared to a dishonest dollar that keeps someone learning. We will never in this world know why work has to take up so much of our lives. But we do know that the Torah respects an honest garbage collector more than a dishonest Rov. This misunderstanding of the Torah's values is itself an example of the mistakes people make from lack of learning. Of course, we hope that you can learn for many years, and we would be gratified if you become a Rav or Rosh Yeshiva, Feivish. But remember as well, that the Chofetz Chaim was not a Rov for most of his life, and never intended to be, and even Rav Moshe Feinstein was prepared to take a job if necessary upon his arrival in America.

Feivish, we hope that you will carry these words with you, and no matter where life carries you, we hope to meet you in the future as a 'Shomer Pirkei Avos' and a knowledgeable Jew as well as a knowledgeable and menschlich human being being mekadesh sheim shomayim.

I also bless you with being able to teach us a thing or two when we meet you in years to come.

Thank you all for your time.

Kiddush Hashem Department

2006-11-15T14:24:00.000-05:00

Here's what the locals think of KJ's voting:

I'm so very proud.

File: kiryas joel
kiryas joel

Wall Street Journal

2006-11-15T12:32:00.000-05:00

The Wall Street Journal has just converted its influential Market Beat column to blog format. (Subscription may be necessary.)

Blogs are just for what ???

Tammany Hall - Monrovia Branch

2006-11-15T11:55:00.000-05:00

According to some pundits the unified vote from Kiryas Joel, that idealistic enclave of Yiras Shomayim in Rockland County, gave the election to John Hall (D) over current Congresswomen Sue Kelly (R) in last week's election.

So how will Congressman Hall advance the agenda of this Torah community? Here's a sample:

"American women need better access to health care, contraception, and reproductive education. I will fight to secure those and to protect and defend a woman's right to choose . . . access to contraception, legal abortion and sex education "

Is it possible Mr. Hall, former backup musician for the late free-and-easy rock singer Janis Joplin, understands better than fur hat bedecked Cyrk what anshei shlomeini really need?

I guess the KJ schools curriculum is in for a shake up, as their representative proceeds to make America more secure through strengthening our moral fibre, simultaenously amassing zechusim for our host country.

Quote of the Day

2006-11-15T11:32:00.000-05:00

"I've told my Democratic partners it's time for them to buy some suits.
I went out and bought two new fishing rods and looked into yoga classes."

-Republican Lobbyist

Nature of Danger

2006-11-15T10:21:00.000-05:00

According to an AP article, about 1% of the websites indexed by Google and Microsoft are explicit.
In a study of random Web sites by Philip B. Stark, a statistics professor at University of California, Berkeley, the conclusion was that "Filters are more than 90 percent effective."
Filters blocked 87 percent to 98 percent of the explicit results from the most popular searches on the Web, Stark found.

Frummer Makes A Point

2006-11-13T18:23:00.000-05:00

Frummer, one of the most impressive examples of the positive effects of the internet, has made a point which I haven't (believe it or not) in my series on the blogosium.
Here.

Dear Rabbi Zwiebel

2006-11-13T12:24:00.000-05:00

Dear Rabbi Zwiebel,

It is my understanding that you will be speaking on the subject of blogs at the upcoming Agudah convention.

I have high hopes for you in this endeavor.

Permit me to relate a fable:
I know of talmid of Mesivta Torah Vodaath of a bit more than 30 years ago who decided to go to law school, to the sorrow of his own Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Gedalia Schorr, zt'l, who felt this talmid was Rosh Yeshiva material. He went to college and continued to law school although Daas Torah then and now did not smile upon college in general, and for him specifically.

And after some time in the private sector, our mythical hero went to work for a national Jewish organization and dedicated himself to forwarding Daas Torah and providing many benefits for Klal Yisroel.

The moral - there can be several, but one I would submit is the klal of im lo neviim haim, b'nai neviim haim. This individual did something which seemed to contravene Daas Torah, but in the end forwarded Daas Torah.

Klal Yisroel has already spoken out on the internet, and appears to be in the process of speaking out on blogs. And the verdict seems to be to permit them.

Our job is to ensure klal yisroel's safety. Our challenge is how to do this.

Please review the letters to your co-speakers which precede this one, and help us light a candle in the darkness.

Sincerely,

A blogger and internet user who still wants to be a yiras shomayim, as do most of my fellows.

File: Rabbi Dovid Zwiebel,
Agudah,
Agudath Israel

Dear Rabbi Solomon

2006-11-09T16:29:00.000-05:00

In the spirit of 'eish es ray'ayhu ya'azoru', here is a letter to Rav Matisyahu Solomon, Shlit"a, upcoming speaker on 'blogs' at this year's Agudah Convention. If anyone knows of an e-mail or other means to get this to him, or can give it to him, I will be grateful.

Dear Rabbi Solomon,

For over 23 years I have listened to your droshas with interest and with enjoyment. While I truthfully cannot remember in detail the content of your speeches at those early Agudah conventions more than 20 years ago (I'm sorry), the content of your Brooklyn speech about five years ago at the Asifas Hisorerus still affects the quality of my tefila today, and I have benefited from your thoughts and emotions on other occasions as well.

I understand you are speaking at a convention session dedicated to the subject of 'blogs' on Thursday night of the upcoming Aguda convention. If people are showing you isolated excerpts of blogs, I can appreciate your concern about this phenomenon.

As you know, anyone can put anything on a blog. Some of what is written, and some is false. Some is indeed osur.

However, over time, blogs are self editing, and faster and more efficiently than verbal or print media. This has been proven time again in the secular media, and irresponsible blogs have simply lost the bulk of their readership.

Prohibiting blogs without a sophisticated system of deciding what is mutar and what osur cannot succeed, because like the internet itself there is simply too much reason to go there. Professional information, neighborhood news, Torah and chizuk, all are to be found there. My difficulties in Daf Yomi are answered there, at a time of my convenience.

Min Hashomayim it was apparently decreed, just as Torah Sh'Baal Peh needed to be committed to writing at a certain point in history, printing (with all the loshon hora and motzai shem ra and pritzus which is printed) was decreed at a later point, and automobiles and other forms of transportation with their physical and spiritual dangers were even later decreed to appear on our historical scene, that our generation would have internet and its derivations.

Do you feel we can stop it?
Do you feel it is like television, a useless diversion?
Do you feel that all the yunger leit who feel forced to use the internet and its toldos, first for parnosa, and later for convenience, for chizuk (theshmuz, for example, a true lifesaver for many), and for Torah (see prior posts) have their emunas chachamim enhanced knowing that what they are doing is prohibited or strongly discouraged?
And do you feel that the yunger leit who muche for parnosa and faithfully refuse to sit down in front of a computer screen have their emunas chachamim enhanced as they become more and more embittered and helpless?

Rav Solomon, I know that you are far more sophisticated. And our approach to this very real danger must also be.

The time is not far off when blogs, or something similar, will replace newspapers!

As a 'fan' of yours, I am counting on you to help us all out with an enlightened and Jewish proposal. One which will cause us to sit up and say 'Who has such enlightened and caring leaders as your people, Yisroel!'.

Signed,

A Sincere Blogger and Internet User

File:Rabbi Matisyahu Solomon, Agudath Israel, Agudah

The Blogosphere

2006-11-09T12:54:00.000-05:00

Before I post my next letter (to Rabbi Dovid Zwiebel), let's just review some recent statistics made apparent by Election Day and night on November 7.

The major blog search engine (Technorati) crashed, brought down by the thirst of citizens for fresh, accurate and local information.

Technorati is now tracking 57 million blogs, 100,000 new ones every day. 55% are fairly current. Every major media source now operates one or more blogs, most operate several. (Hamodia and Yated please take note.) More important, only 40% of total blogs are in English (Farsi has just cracked the top 10 languages, replacing Dutch).

So blogs are a good tool for those in repressive societies.

And more importantly, they are a big portion of news gathering today, the watchdog of both politicians and media, keeping both honest.

Precisely the goal of the Founding Fathers in enshrining a free press.

Is a free press good for the Jews?

Well, how good for the Jews are those countries which don't allow a free press?

(Incidentally, why do The Jewish Observer, Hamodia, and Yated have 'Letters to the Editor'? )

Quandary

2006-11-07T15:19:00.000-05:00

I was at a meeting last night a portion of which pertained to the march about to be held in Yerushalayim.

I had no opinion, or rather, I had two.

When I started to think (1) "I don't want to explain to my kids (or have explained to similar kids in Yerushalayim) who these people are, and what they do, and anyway, why dignify events we normally ignore?", then (2) the chazal quoted by Rashi in Parshas Noach "androlumusia bo leolom" (perversion brings destruction to the world which kills and does not distinguish between good and bad) kept coming to mind.

But then I went back (1) again. And then (2).

E-Mail From Agudah re Voting

2006-11-07T14:58:00.000-05:00

Without Comment

2006-11-07T13:08:00.000-05:00

At a meeting of the Vaad Hanholo of Agudath Israel last (Monday) night, two senior staff members working with youth programs noted separately that they are seeing and hearing from menahelim and mechanchim that younger teens and children are learning less today than their age peers of several years back. A Rosh Yeshiva was quoted as saying 'my younger children learn so much less than my older children did'.

Whereupon an older businessmen of German Jewish derivation exclaimed excitedly "it's because of the internet!"

Dear Rabbi Wachsman . . .

2006-11-06T11:21:00.000-05:00

In the spirit of 'eish es ray'ayhu ya'azoru', here is a letter to Rabbi Ephraim Wachsman, upcoming speaker on 'blogs' at this year's Agudah Convention. If anyone knows of an e-mail or other means to get this to him, or can give it to him, I will be grateful.

Dear Rabbi Wachsman,

Over the past several years I have heard your name more and more as a speaker at various asifos and events.

The only time I heard you speak, to my knowledge, was at the last Siyum Hashas. The Siyyum proved to be an important event for me. A haphazard Daf learner before, I strengthened my chevrusas (with siyata d'shmaya) and am reasonable current with the Daf now, with some effort.

Occasionally I have a shverkeit in Daf Yomi, and when I do, the blog dafnotes is available, and staffed by a talmid chacham eager to help, as well as the Israeli daf yomi kolel answering questions by e-mail, and the video shiurim and Q & A from Sochatchov, the OU, and YU.

Please forgive me, but while R' Yissocher Frand's speech at the siyyum was really my inspiration to strengthen my sedorim, I felt discomfited about your drasha. At the time, I felt the tone to be one of an outsider yelling at me, and I feel there is only one person who can occasionally do that (and you are not her).

In addition, I felt you were bashing yiden without offering constructive suggestions, and felt the same way when I read reports of your address to the Monsey Internet Asifa.

There is, undoubtedly, danger on the 'net, and in blogs. Perhaps Rabbonim/Mechanchim in your position see the worst, and don't realize what a small percentage of all internet users these horrific cases are. It would be worthwhile to do a survey, and have the facts.

Similarly, the history of blogs in the outside world illustrates that the truth comes out in the end. It is much easier to show a blogger the errors of his ways, then to answer the fellow in Bais Medrash who makes a base allegation about a Rov bein govro l'govro.

Respect for Gedolei Torah is not increased when one feels they have no connection with what we view as the 'real world'. Like the secular smears that have appeared on the internet, the supposed smears of Gedolim on blogs probably will be self correcting, and those bloggers will lose readership. Klal Yisroel survived rags like Panim Chadashos, and will survive these blog rags, too.

I, for one, am open to a tightly reasoned, practical suggestion which will improve my internet safety. But there is no emotional or 'scare' argument here.

Rov Wachsman, please do not assist the spread of the 'all-forbidding' forms of yiddishkeit. The mikva I happen to frequent is owned by one of these groups, and I do not observe that this approach contributes to respect for gedolim and/or Daas Torah. The reality is that all-forbidding works out in the end to all-permitting, because it is an untenable position.

Meantime, there is much useful about blogs in the business, news and yiddishkeit areas. We should develop ways and means to control ourselves, an area where you may be able to assist, and crowd out the bad with good.

Signed,

A Sincere Blogger and Internet User

File:rabbi ephraim wachsman, Agudath Israel, Agudah

Proof Carry's Write

2006-11-05T15:55:00.000-05:00

File:kerry

Agudah Deals With Blogs

2006-11-03T12:20:00.000-05:00

Announcement of Thursday night at the Agudath Israel of America Convention:

"In recent years, though," the Agudah leader (Rabbi C. D. Zwiebel ) observes, "due to a variety of factors, the authority of daas Torah has been significantly undermined, even within our own chareidi circles. Most troubling has been the proliferation of Internet 'blogs' where misguided individuals feel free to spread every bit of rechilus and loshon hora about rabbonim and roshei yeshiva, all with the intended effect of undermining any semblance of Torah authority in our community. It is most appropriate for an organization like Agudath Israel, whose very essence was built on the recognition of the authority of Torah leaders, to address this issue head on, and formulate concrete plans to reinvigorate public awareness of this essential element of the Torah way of life."

Could it be that blogs were empowered because we failed to formulate a sophisticated and technological approach to the internet and instead tried to scream down progress?

It would make more sense to have Gedolim on a blog than to 'raise our voices' (we have too much of that) in a useless and self deprecating protest. The status of Torah leadership has not been enhanced by the handling of this issue.

Addressing this issue 'head on' means technology and chinuch. 'Public awareness', however, will increase blog readership.

There is something of an inferiority complex in the implied belief that, paraphrasing the immortal words of Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld, Torah will not win in the open marketplace of ideas.

The approach of prohibition is generally used by those who are afraid their ideas will not survive the light of day.

Not the Orthodox Jews, which are constantly succeeding in the face of modernity.

File: agudah, agudath, blog

Quotes of the Day(s)

2006-11-01T19:45:00.000-05:00

"Education -- if you make the most of it and you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well,If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq." -John Kerry, (who incidentally served in the US Navy in Viet-Nam for four months)

(John Kerry after the above pronouncement attracts a firestorm of criticism for implying American fighting men don't 'make an effort to be smart'): "This is a textbook Republican campaign strategy: Try to change the topic"

(JK after demands for an apology to America's fighting men and women:) -"Let me make it crystal clear, as crystal clear as I know how: I apologize to no one for my criticism of the president and of his broken policy"

John, doesn't look you're much of a slouch at changing the topic yourself - from a needed apology to the troops fighting for your freedom, to an equally needed (but not for this particular quote) apology to President Bush.

Postscript: After posting the above, I came across the following press release pertaining to the above remark, which clarifies everything ( sorta reminds you of Scrappleface, huh?):

Statement of John Kerry Responding to Republican Distortions, Pathetic Tony Snow Diversions and Distractions

Washington--Senator John Kerry issued the following statement in response to White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, assorted right wing nut-jobs, and right wing talk show hosts desperately distorting Kerry's comments about President Bush to divert attention from their disastrous record:

"If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq and not the president who got us stuck there, they're crazy. This is the classic G.O.P. playbook. I'm sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did.

I'm not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium, or doughy Rush Limbaugh, who no doubt today will take a break from belittling Michael J. Fox's Parkinson's disease to start lying about me just as they have lied about Iraq. It disgusts me that these Republican hacks, who have never worn the uniform of our country lie and distort so blatantly and carelessly about those who have.

The people who owe our troops an apology are George W. Bush and Dick Cheney who misled America into war and have given us a Katrina foreign policy that has betrayed our ideals, killed and maimed our soldiers, and widened the terrorist threat instead of defeating it. These Republicans are afraid to debate veterans who live and breathe the concerns of our troops, not the empty slogans of an Administration that sent our brave troops to war without body armor.

Bottom line, these Republicans want to debate straw men because they're afraid to debate real men. And this time it won't work because we're going to stay in their face with the truth and deny them even a sliver of light for their distortions. No Democrat will be bullied by an administration that has a cut and run policy in Afghanistan and a stand still and lose strategy in Iraq."

File:kerry

Throwing My Bread Upon the Waters

2006-11-01T10:13:00.000-05:00

My chevrusa challenged me to post the following question, which is not in sync with the calendar, but is apropos the current and next month's Daf Yomi.

1. Why is Rosh Hoshana on the first and second day of Tishrei, rather than on the 30th of Elul and the first of Tishrei?

2. Why is Rosh Hoshana 2 days in Israel?

"File: Daf Yomi"

Yet Another Reason to Hate Technology

2006-10-24T11:30:00.000-04:00



	SMS	Get Minyanim Through Text Messaging and Email

Introduction

It is now possible to find upcoming minyanim through SMS (text messaging) and through email! This means that if you have text message or email capabilities on your cell phone or PDA (or have friends who do) you can almost instantly -- usually within 30 seconds -- get local shul minyan information even when you are on the go and away from your computer.

Current areas of coverage

This service is currently available in the following areas that MinyanMaps has extensive coverage:

Manhattan
Queens
Far Rockaway
Five Towns
Tri-state Metro Area Mincha
Edison, NJ
Teaneck, NJ

As additional areas attain greater minyan coverage the service will be rolled out to those areas. We rely greatly on the assistance of users like you to enter in minyan information so that shortly this system will work for anywhere in the world.

Therefore, before attempting to use the SMS feature in other areas, please check MinyanMaps on the web to ensure that your area has complete minyan coverage

How

Your cell phone must first of all be capable of sending emails. Many cell phones can send text messages and emails. A good way to check is to see if, in the area where you phone asks whom you are sending the message, it gives an option to type using letters instead of just numbers. Consult your phone's manual.

The address to send the message to is minyanim@minyanmaps.com. The body of the message can either be a zip code, or a city and state in the format city, state (eg., Kew Gardens Hills, NY). There is no need to enter an email subject. You may optionally enter in a start time (if you don't the assumed time is the current one), and the number of results you would like to receive (default is 5). The time must be entered in the format of Hours:MinutesAM/PM (eg., 8:45AM; 12:40PM). To change the number of results type '#' followed by the number. Finally, you must put a space between all search words.

Here are some examples:

	How do I get...	Send this message...
	Upcoming 5 minyanim in Far Rockaway	Far Rockaway, NY
	Upcoming 10 minyanim in Forest Hills, NY	Forest Hills, NY #10
	Upcoming 5 minyanim in Lawrence, NY starting 3:45PM or later	Lawrence, NY 3:45PM
	Upcoming 5 minyanim in zip code 11367	11367
	Upcoming 15 minyanim in zip code 11516 starting 1:30PM or later	11516 1:30PM #15

Since there is a limit of 160 characters per SMS message, only two or three minyanim can fit in a single message. Therefore, if you request more than you may receive multiple messages that contain the MinyanMaps response.

Additionally, due to these space constraints, the response is abbrievated. Here is a sample response that you might receive:

Min Shaarei Teshuv 4:00 14435 71nd Rd
Min Cong Toras Eme CL+5 [~4:47] 7815 Parsons Blvd.
Min Sephardim CL+5 [~4:47] 15062 78th Road

The first three letters represents Mincha, a tefillah type (Shachris, Mincha or Maariv). Then, comes the abbreviated shul name. The time for minyan follows. In this case, CL+5 indicates that the minyan will take place 5 minutes after candle lighting, followed by the calculated time for that minyan. Finally comes the address of the minyan.

The service is very exacting. If you do not follow the instructions correctly, you may not receive a response. We appreciate all feedback for this most useful service.

Havenoidea

2006-10-18T13:30:00.000-04:00

Hamodia, the chareidi newspaper the internet must be protected from, has a particularly egregious editorial in the Wednesday edition.

However, most of us will not realize why.

Under the heading 'The New York Times Declares War" Hamodia decries a series in the Times portraying religious institutions as the beneficiaries of priviliges and largesse that other American organizations cannot aspire to. It makes no less than 8 mentions of The New York Times in a quarter page.

As those of us who have written for Hamodia, or attempted to, are well aware, the mere mention of any other media whatsoever is brutally edited by the same invidual who writes the editorials.

Is it time for Hamodia itself to have the same standards it applies to its writers? Is this inconsistency, as well as invidious, artless, and sometimes embarassing and brutal editing why Hamodia has lost most of its outside talent?

Hamodia is a great service to the chareidi community, and maintains an acceptable standard. However, inbred opinions and overly cautious but uneven editing have led to it not fulfilling its full potential and providing what it can to our community. In addition, their position on 'electronic media' is glaringly inconsistent with what one observes in their office.

May we propose an editorial board for the Hamodia editorial page (and perhaps for its Board of Censors as well)?

Et Tube, Breinde'?

2006-10-16T22:25:00.000-04:00

I've known about YouTube for a year or more now, 'cause I'm a geek. I've consciously avoided it because modesty is not among its virtues.

So imagine my surprise when I come in one day find my very frum ezer kenagdo watching YouTube. No, she wasn't watching the newest campus amateur video. She was watching her (and my) einiklach in E. Yisroel play. My equally 'frum' daughter-in-law, wife of my kolel son, posted (privately) videos of the kids so we could enjoy them.

Since I highly doubt that my daughter-in-law discovered YouTube by herself, I presume that lots of 'learning' children' in E. Yisroel are doing this, to give their parents nachas.

Of course, ads for other YouTube videos are running down the right side of the screen, including movie trailers and plain amateur crud.

Since the internet is prohibited, we don't have our own YouTube, so the thousands of impressionable chareidim are exposed to some of the best 'features' of 2006 popular culture.

Score this unnecesary exposure to prostkeit as one more success for the anti internet kanoyim!

Quote of the Day

2006-10-11T08:53:00.000-04:00

In an appreciation of R' Shlomo Freifeld in the Succos English issue of Mishpocha Magazine:

'He [Rabbi Freifeld] once discussed an attempt to assur, to forbid, a certain pursuit.
"If the only way that we can sell Torah is by rendering everything else forbidden, then we are bankrupt!" '

What Am I Missing Here?

2006-10-09T11:31:00.000-04:00

Recently I was eavesdropping in shul on a story about an eminent Rosh Yeshiva / Mashgiach.
This is the type of person who speaks for and to hundreds, maybe thousands.
The type of gavra who is invited to speak in Lakewood. A talmid of one of the great builders of Torah in America who also has a large chassidishe following.

So, R' Plony, Shlita needed a car service right before Shabbos. And he was rightfully concerned that the car service driver (I presume a yid) might be mechalel Shabbos on the return trip.
At a red light, R' Plony became consternated, and asked why the driver was stopping. A fellow passenger answered that there was a red light.

R' Plony answered "gehinnom is worse than a red light"!

1. Am I missing something here, or should the type of driving we (too frequently?) see before shabbos actually be encouraged?

2. Is there a point of chilul hashem here in defying laws (especially safety laws), and does chilul hashem also involve gehinnom, or only chilul Shabbos?

No Takers

2006-09-27T10:07:00.000-04:00

In my last post I asked for anyone having ways and means (eitzas) to deal with nisyunos on the internet to share them with us.

No reponse.

Do we (1) not have nisyonos, or (2) not deal with them?

Ksiva V'Chasima Tova

2006-09-21T14:00:00.000-04:00

I'm reprinting, with slight edits and an added afterward, what I wrote last year at this time:

As the New Year dawns, let's remember what counts.

The quality of our argument in favor of the internet is secondary to the quality of our Torah, mitzvos and avodas hashem.

The way to prove the internet is good is by protecting ourselves and our families from negative influences and not letting it injure our or their yiddishkeit.

Let me especially wish those of us not in klei kodesh honorable and halachic parnosas, and those of us in klei kodesh to be in klei kodesh because you want to be there, not because you were not given the tools to do anything else.
May those in chinuch successfully prepare their charges for all the possible routes life can take, and all of the tests they will find themselves in.
And note that a little secular knowledge is a wonderful thing for yiddishkeit.
May we all successfully negotiate the tests of the New Year.

Ksiva V'chasima Tova, simcha, nachas v'hatzlacha.

PS: I am asking any readers who have succesfully found ways and means to avoid or to overcome the temptations of the internet to use this space to post and publicize them.
I would consider it a zchus in these days of din and rachamim for you and for us.

Oriana Fallaci

2006-09-20T12:58:00.000-04:00

Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein has an excellent piece on her in Cross Currents.

Rav Breslauer and Internet

2006-09-20T12:40:00.000-04:00

Does anyone know whether Rav Breslauer ossured the internet, or spoke out against the 'net?

Thanks, Moshe Finkel

2006-09-20T12:38:00.000-04:00

For making it clear that the internet is a (the?) major source of information for our community, even in Lakewood.

Quote of the Day

2006-09-20T11:32:00.000-04:00

Michael Thomas, body collector for Wayne County (Detroit, Michigan):

“My theory?” Mr. Thomas offered. “White people kill themselves. Black people kill each other. Chinese people don’t die.”

Quote of the Day

2006-09-19T14:25:00.000-04:00

A spokeswoman for the Musharraf dispensation in Pakistan observed that

"Anyone who describes Islam as a religion as intolerant encourages violence."

Why Isn't He a Hero to Us?

2006-07-19T20:47:00.000-04:00

This post is long overdue. The 2005 Nobel Prize in Economics was co-won by Robert (Yisrael) Aumann, a shomer torah and mitzvos and a talmid chacham. He has written extensively on Chazal's understanding of economic theory, and shown proficiency in both iyyun and bekius though not a Rav or a Rosh Yeshiva.

Moreover, he is an example of kiddush Hashem in the manner in which he accepted the Nobel Prize while scrupulously adhering to Shabbos, and in his speech, which was dedicated to praising Hashem for the opportunities he gave him and for his family, and even in checking his tuxedo for shatnes.

One son died in the service of Israel, and to my knowledge he has not voiced a bitter word. He gives every male grandchild a Shas at Bar Mitzvah to emphasize the primacy of Torah.

And he certainly has preserved a Jewish appearance (even sans shtreimel) in a very unwelcoming secular environment.

So I've got an eensy beensy little question. It is:

Why aren't our (chareidi) children hearing his name and accomplishments as an example and a role model???