×›×™ שבע יפול צדיק ×•×§× ×•×¨×©×¢×™× ×™×›×©×œ×• ברעה משלי כד:טז As a bochur in yeshiva I never put much thought into this posuk, ch’v, but as a married man, b’h, I have had occasion to wonder what’s pshat; is this…
Halacha states that one must turn away a ger or giyores a few times before we finally open up our arms and embrace them in the loving embrace the frum community is so famous for; after the geirus they get…
By Shmilka Bernstein I watched videos of Satmar children participating in make believe demonstrations against Israel. The English accents were excellent, even better than their teachers. Goyim and and so-called Moderner Othodox make fun of chasidisher yeshivos. But look at how…
Ed: Readers are encouraged to share their thoughts. Dear Shragi, I have been following your blog since my orthodox Jewish ex-boyfriend dated me, and with all the intentions to convert after reading on Judaism for months (i.e. I didnt want…
by Shmilka Bernstein I am upset by the decision of Yated Ne?eman to show the hand of Hillary Clinton. Where did their seichel go? Now there will be pressure on them to treat Trump the same way. We all know…
11:00-12:00 Shlep out meal as long as possible 12:00-12:05 Pre learning mussar 12:05-12:07 Set up shtender 12:07-12:10 Coffee 12:10-12:30 Chazar Babba Kama 12:30-12:35 Coffee 12:35-12:45 Break 12:45-1:00 Kuzari Beiyun 1:00-1:10 Coffee/bathroom 1:10-1:30 Tikkun liel Shavuos 1:30-1:33 Bathroom 1:33-1:40 Reb Chaim…
The good thing about the awesome dor yeshorim rap that came to light last week is that there’s no music, just beatboxing, so you can listen to it during sefirah. The problem is that it’s still kol isha. I’m not…
In honor of Pesach, a yom tov that brings anxiety and longing to frum and OTD alike, I present to you a vort from Mar Gavriel, the author of a fabulous haggada which, due to my blogger’s nature I didn’t…
All these klutzes and yentes rushing to NY for votes certainly have campaign staff doing Wikipedia research on Jews and how to get their vote. Thus we get Cruz baking matzah Hillary will probably visit New Square to pardon a…
I was never the rabbi type. When I’d listen to the tired old lessons drawn from the parsha, usually illustrated with the old king and prince trope, I’d wonder where the rabbi took his inspiration; did he really think this up…
After Shloime had fasted for 12 hours, put the half-shekel in the pushka, davened mincha, took a nap so they would have energy to dance all night, ran to the liquor store before it closed so they can get wasted,…
No one’s celebrating the FBI raids in Monsey, Kiryas Joel, Williamsburg and who-knows-where-next. No one with a heart, that is. The fact is that frum schools simply cannot survive on tuition alone, as the posuk says “lo al halechem l’vad yichyeh…
It’s curious but I’ve never heard anyone invoke that saying while touting the great things Jews do. Conversely, while the saying “don’t judge Judaism by the Jews” is being invoked to do away with a Jew’s bad behavior, you never…
Guest post by BJJgirl666 I was recently shmoozing with my chavrusa, Shmuli Grosshmeckel, and (unsurprisingly) we ended up complaining about our struggles in shidduchim. I was complaining to him about how nowadays, though the advanced state of technology is supposed…
The Klal Perspectives Jounal is always a treasure of ancient wisdom, repackaged, with its expiration date carefully erased and rewritten. The Fall 2015 issue is no exception. I find it funny that the editor found this issue to hot to…
A few weeks ago I wanted to do chazara on the sugya of mesirah, specifically in cases of frum child molesters, because it’s inyana d’yoima here in the Catskills; Elya Ber Wachtfogel is deep in the middle of trying to…
Like all frum communities, New Square assures the world that it takes crime seriously – if only there was any crime inside it’s borders, but there isn’t any, as is proven by the latest release of it’s latest prisoner. Normally…
It’s chol hamoed and the Agudah offices are closed, so Ignorant Avi has too much time on his hands. When Ignorant Avi has too much time on his hands does he read books? No. Does he do research? No. He…
Who is Ann Coulter? I never heard of her before, but she looks to me like the epitome of the self-hating liberal Jew West 68th Street. From her dyed blonde hair and fake shiksa nose down to her self-deprecating outburst…
(Ed. I originally wrote this 3 years ago here and the writing is fairly terrible, worse than it is now, I think. But don’t blame me, blame my yeshiva.) A few bochurim use some serious ingenuity and overcome crippling lethargy to do something…
Zvi Gluck’s organization, Amudim, put out a nice video urging parents to seek help when they find their kids have a drug problem. The best part? It doesn’t pretend girls live behind a Photoshop filter. The second best part? That it…
It’s been awhile since a new blog has moved into the block of the Jewish blogosphere. These days would-be bloggers burn up all their energy and angst posting on Facebook, arguing in the Yiddishkeit? group, the OTD group, the God…
The exciting news has been spreading like wildfire over the past few days: over 100 rabbis signed a paper that says that information about child (sex?) abuse should be reported directly to the civil authorities instead of asking a rabbi…
The gemarah says ayn chavish matir atzmo m’bais asurim, a prisoner cannot free themselves from prison. I couldn’t help but be reminded of this gemarah while reading this article in The Forward where Rachel Wizenfeld, who has no say in the matter,…
Increasing the cut of the bris is an ancient segulah for refuah sheleima. Normally the sick person would do it themselves like Avraham Avinu, but since this particular individual has done much so much for the klal, the Skulene Rebbe…
