San Francisco is gay

by Heshy Fried on February 8, 2010 · 11 comments

I have come to realize that the gay community at large is a curiosity to me. No, I am not gay nor do I have any interest in being gay, but just like the Chassidic community intrigues me so does the gay community. It may have something to do with the fact that I will never actually be a part of either community as a full fledged member, or the fact that their looks and practices hold some sort of mystique. Whatever it may be, San Francisco is very gay, in a good way. [click to continue…]

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Jewish Ethics and the Internet: This Thursday at Twitter headquarters

by Heshy Fried on February 8, 2010 · 6 comments

Jewish Ethics and the Internet: How the Internet is Changing Human Relationships
When: Thurs. February 11,  6 PM
795 Folsom Street suite #600, San Francisco [map]
I stayed in San Francisco for shabbos last week and toward the end of my stay I learned that there was going to be a conference relating to Jews and the internet coming up. I also learned that it involved getting a chance to visit Twitter headquarters and get a good dinner; then the light bulb came on in my head and I finagled my way into the panel discussion. So yours truly will be a panelist with a bunch of other internet gurus, and you all should show up.

Now, I know that many of you reading this aren’t going to be anywhere near San Francisco this Thursday night, but if you do know someone that will be, maybe you can pass on the information below to someone you know in the area that may interested. [click to continue…]

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Derech, schmerech. Pass the shrimps.

by schwartzie on February 6, 2010 · 161 comments

I heard there’s a lot of hullabaloo around here about why people “go off the derech”, and anger, and backgrounds, and all kinds of naarishkeit.

Fine. Do what you’ve got to do.

Now, normally, I’d stay out of this kind of thing- but I was talking to Heshy the other day, trying to convince him that he needs me to cooperate with him on a certain project, and he asked me if I wanted to write a piece about why I went off the derech. So of course I said yes. [click to continue…]

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Srugim: Imagine a Jewish Sex and the City

February 5, 2010

Srugim was a really popular show in Israel that was about the modern orthodox singles scene of Jerusalem, and now you can watch it on the Jewish Channel – it looks super interesting and very funny, albeit a bit complicated. Finally someone is starting to realize that hava nagila and manishevetz just won’t cut it [...]

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Lipa Schmeltzer concert causes Haiti Earthquake

February 3, 2010

Until the recent press release from Rabbi Yehuda Levin announcing that the gays were the cause of the Haiti Earthquake, no one had heard of him or his organization the Rabbinical Alliance of America. In response to RAA and Agudath Israel getting all the media attention for announcing the reasons for the recent earthquake in [...]

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Presenting Rabbi Yehuda Levin

February 3, 2010

Rabbi Yehuda Levin made this video to get attention and it’s working, it is also a huge Chillul Hashem. Rabbi Yehuda Levin is not the first to claim that homosexuality has lead God to destroy random innocent people. Some of you may remember some Rabbis claiming that Hurricane Katrina was caused because of Immoral behavior.

In [...]

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The Mission Minyan: If Orthodox and Egalitarian were possible

February 2, 2010

We walked in during pisukei d’zimra and there was already a large crowd of people gathered. I took a seat all the way to the right of the room and looked around. A few people said “Good Shabbos“, asked me if I was a cohen or levi and then left me alone to observe.
I was [...]

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In response to those who try to judge me

February 1, 2010

There is a little discussion going on over at Off The Derech’s blog about me and who I am. The author of the blog is mad that I referred to off the derech folks as angry (I indicated that I find that many of them are angry at the system – hence, one of the [...]

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Shidduch dating poses problems when it comes to attraction

February 1, 2010

One of my biggest problems with shidduch dating is the issue of attraction. Guys who go on shidduch dates tend to reject girls after one or two dates because they aren’t attracted to the girl, IE they didn’t find them hot enough to think about marrying. I have heard many guys say that the only [...]

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