11 Jan SPEAK YOUR VUES
SPEAK YOUR VUES WITH THE VUES MASTER
Please note that the author of Speak Your Vues is in no way affiliated with the publisher of this paper. The author of this column is an independent third party contributor. The views and opinions expressed by this author may not reflect the views and opinions of the publishers. If one has any issues with any of the views, please write a letter to the Vues Master.
SNOW
Dear Vues Master:
This past Friday was the first snowstorm of
the season in New York. My son had only two
hours of yeshiva & decided to shovel people’s
snow the rest of the day. My son together with
a friend made a nice amount of money shoveling
snow at neighbors and friends houses.
When I came home my wife told me that she
paid someone else to shovel our house’s snow.
Do you think a father should pay his own son
money to shovel the snow in front of his own
house? I pay for his yeshiva, give him a place
to sleep & put food in his stomach.
HA
Vues Master’s Note: IIt is good to teach our
children to earn money. Look at what is going
on these days. People are lazy and just expect
to live on government funding! I do believe
that a child should shovel the snow at his own
house first for no charge, before going to other
peoples homes for money, but to make some
money why not?
SHEITEL
Dear Vues Master:
This past weekend, I told my wife for a birthday
gift to get for herself a new shaitel. She
was very excited and went this past Sunday
to get a new one. It’s been many years since
she bought a new shaitel & I thought that a
nice shaitel would be around $1500. She came
back from three different stores telling me that
the cheapest shaitel was $2000 and she really
didn’t even like it. What should I do? I want
her to get a new sheitel but we really can’t afford
a shaited that’s $3000 or more that she
likes?
SM
Vues Master’s Note:Get used to it everything
is going up in price thanks to the environmentalists
who made us energy dependent on China
and Arab Countries. We just shot ourselves
in the foot!
KIDDUSH HASHEM
Dear Vues Master:
I just read last week’s Jewish Vues interview
with YU’s Ryan Turrel. It was a great interview.
I read it to my whole family and we
really enjoyed it. Ryan is definitely making a
big Kiddush Hashem. There is just one thing
that really bothers me. There are many players
on the team that have really long hair, some
with ponytails and a lot of them do not wear
yalmakas when they play. If the New York
Yankees can demand that players that play for
the Yankees cant have facial hair, why can’t
YU require that people that play on YU’s team
cut their hair & have to wear a yalmalka when
playing for YU? Is it too much to ask from a
Yeshiva?
YE
Vues Master’s Note:Let them grow in Yiddishkeit
without making it so hard. People need to
judge other people favorably.
PARSHAS HAMON
Dear Vues Master:
Saying פרשת†המן†on Tuesday Parshas בשלח†for
סגולת†פרנסה†, Is it ?כפירה
In Shulchan Aruch ( O.Ch 1: 23) it says: “It
is good to say ןמה†תשרפ†.(Levush) So that
you will believe, פרנסה†is השגחה†פרטית†“The
השלחן†ערוך†writes,” Our Minhag is not to say
פרשת†המן†. There is no mention of פרשת†המן
in Shas.
The פרישה†claims there is a ירושלמי†that speaks
about the סגולה†of פרשת†המן†.” The ערוך†השלחן
writes, He couldn’t find this ירושלמי†. (It has
not been found since)
The reasons why not to say ,פרשת†המן
a) “The Parsha mentions numerous times the
Bnai Yisroel’s complaints of not having food.
b) The complaints on the מן
c) The Midrash writes Hashem said “I don’t
need not your complaints (on the מן†)and not
your praises.” ע”כ†הערוך†השלחן
Perhaps, according to the Rambam*, If the
sole purpose of saying the Parsha, is to have
the סגולה†of Parnasah, it might be considered
כפירה†. “They make the Divrei Torah a
רפואת†הגוף†and it isn’t but a ”רפואת†הנפש
MF
Vues Master’s Note:You have nothing to lose.
You can’t go wrong reading a parsha in Chumash.
Just say it!
YESHIVA BREAK IN ERETZ YISRAEL
Dear Vues Master:
I’m†lost°†I†was†hoping†to†go†to†Eretz†Yisrael
for†yeshiva†break†&†now†I†don’t†know†what
to†doƆI†know†that†the†skies†are†open†&†one
can†go†to†Eretz†Yisrael†now¨†but†should†Iø
All†I†hear†is†that†Covid†&†the†flu†are†rampant
in†Eretz†Yisrael†now†and†I†don’t†want†to†test
positive†&†get†stuck†there†for†another†10†or†20†daysƆI†can’t†miss†work†&†my†kids†can’t†miss†yeshivaƆWhat†should†I†doø
Vues†Master’s†Note∫†A†lot†of†people†are†in†the†same†situation†as†youƆThe†situation†changes†everyday¨†so†it’s†a†tough†callƆI†would†still†go¨†because†you†don’t†know†if†the†country†will†shut†down†againÆ
BURN
Vues Master’s Note: A lot of people are in the same situation as you. The situation changes everyday, so it’s a tough call. I would still go, because you don’t know if the country will shut down again.
BURN
Dear Vues Master:
Reb Yonasan Ben Uziel’s Talmidim had a bad habit of telling him jokes he didn’t understand. They just loved seeing their jokes go up in flames when they went over his head…
RU
Vues Master’s Note: I would have been delighted with this joke but I knew you were just on fire so I was not going to pour cold water on you!
DRUNK
Dear Vues Master:
A†Rav†once†remarked†that†it’s†a†הוצמ†to†drink†רחשה†תולע†דע†on†םירופ†nightƆIn†מסכת†פסחים¨†we†learn
ןרגרג†הז†ירה†תחא†תבב†וסוכ†התושהƆBut†two†is†ץרא†ךרדƆTherefore¨†it’s†appropriate†to†divide†the†contents†of†the†כוס¨†so†that†there†be†יצח†in†one†סוכ†and†יצח†in†another†סוכƆAccordingly¨†as†the†first†משנה†in†ברכות†expressly†states∫
תוצח†דע†םימכח†ורמאש†המ†לכ
Æרחשה†דומע†הלעיש†דע†ןתוצמ
MB
Vues Master’s Note: Hey! I’ll drink to that!
DRUNK TWO
Dear Vues Master:
In an effort to better understand his Jewish constituents, the Gentile mayor reached out to a popular local rabbi. So the rabbi invited the mayor to spend Shabbat at his home. The rabbi made kiddush Friday night on a full cup of wine. Then, after the fish, he made a l’chaim on some fine scotch.
The main course came with Israeli wine. They said Grace After Meals with another cup of wine. The next day in shul, after services, they made kiddush on wine followed by herring, crackers and a few l’chaims on schnapps.They went home and the rabbi made kiddush for his family on another cup of wine, some l’chaim after the fish, a nice single malt scotch with the cholent, and some more wine with the Grace After Meals. And when it got dark, the rabbi made Havdalah on yet another cup of wine. Then, for melava malka, they enjoyed more wine and scotch whisky. The mayor said to the rabbi, “Thank you for sharing your Shabbat with me. I had a wonderful time. And while I still don’t understand why you can’t turn the lights on and off, I definitely understand why you cannot drive on Shabbat!”
ML
Vues Master’s Note: I believe that the letter writer must have been tipsy. Who drinks scotch with pizza for a Melave Malka?
SINKING
Dear Vues Master:
Posted a year ago today;
From Dave Ramsey:
“This morning, I realized that everything is about to change. No matter how I vote, no matter what I say, lives are never going to be the same.
I have been confused by the hostility of family and friends. I look at people I have known all my life so hate-filled that they agree with opinions they would never express as their own. I think that I may well have entered the Twilight Zone.
You can’t justify this insanity. We have become a nation that has lost its collective mind.
We see other countries going Socialist and collapsing, but it seems like a great plan to us.
Somehow it’s un-American for the census to count how many Americans
are in America.
People who say there is no such thing as gender are demanding a female President.
Universities that advocate equality, discriminate against Asian-Americans in favor of African-Americans.
Some people are held responsible for things that happened before they were born, and other people are not held responsible for what they are doing right now.
Criminals are caught-and-released to hurt more people, but stopping them is bad because it’s a violation of THEIR rights.
People who have never owned slaves should pay slavery reparations to people who have never been slaves.
After legislating gender, if a dude pretends to be a woman, you are required to pretend with him.
It was cool for Joe Biden to “blackmail” the President of Ukraine, but it’s an impeachable offense if Donald Trump inquiries about it.
People who have never been to college should pay the debts of college students who took out huge loans for their degrees.
Immigrants with tuberculosis and polio are welcome, but you’d better be able to prove your dog is vaccinated.
Irish doctors and German engineers who want to immigrate to the US must go through a rigorous vetting process, but any illiterate gang-bangers who jump the southern fence are welcomed.
$5 billion for border security is too expensive, but $1.5 trillion for“free” health care is not.
If you cheat to get into college you go to prison, but if you cheat to get into the country you go to college for free.
And, pointing out all this hypocrisy somehow makes us “racists”!
Nothing makes sense anymore, no values, no morals, no civility and people are dying of a Chinese virus, but it is racist to refer to it as Chinese even though it began in China.
We are clearly living in an upside-down world where right is wrong and
wrong is right, where moral is immoral and immoral is moral, where good is evil and evil is good, where killing murderers is wrong, but killing innocent babies is right.
Wake up America. The great unsinkable ship Titanic America has hit an iceberg, is taking on water and sinking fast.
FA
Vues Master’s Note: Amazing how things don’t change!
SERMON
Dear Vues Master:
When†Rav†Meir†Shapiro†was†asked†to†become†the†Rav†in†Galina¨†there†were†םיתב†ילעב†who†objected¨†even†though†they†recognized†that†he†was†a†הרותב†לודגƆBut†after†hearing†his†השרד¨†the†decision†to†appoint†him†was†unanimousƆThe†Rav†said†that†there†is†a†רמז†for†this†in†רתסא†תליגמÆWhen†יכדרמ†ידוהיה†was†םידוהיל†לודג¨†he†was†יוצר†only†to†רוב†אחיוƆBut†after†he†was†דורש†טוב†ומעל¨†he†was†וערז†לכל†םולש†רבודÆ
BM
Vues Master’s Note: I guess he put them to sleep?!
DOG
Dear Vues Master:
DID†YOU†KNOWø
According†to†The†ב”כ†םיליהת†שרדמ¨†During†ףוס†םי†תעירק¨†every†single†Yid†owned†a†dogÆ
FM
Vues Master’s Note:When did we develop such a fear of dogs?
ENOUGH
Dear Vues Master:
As the world enters 2022, it also marks another 2; the 2nd anniversary since the beginning of COVID-19. From all sides and aspects of
society, COVID affected it. However, we have come to a point where the pandemic is not about protecting oneself or family members, instead,
it is a refusal from most world governments from uprooting all COVID restrictions. The constant goalposts that are pushed at every stage
are an expression of world governments’ refusal to end their emergency powers. Millions of people were once told that vaccinations and therefore herd immunity would allow society to go back to normal. Most naively but at no fault of their own, complied to the wishes of their
governments. As a result, though, world governments in the USA, Israel, UK, Canada, Australia, Denmark, and others have taken this as
a sign of consent to continue unne essary and unscientific restrictions. The further continuance of masking policy or vaccine mandates is in no way supported by science. Study after study shows the uselessness of cloth masks, the mask used by 90% of people. Furthermore, those countries with vaccine passports and the like have in no way stopped COVID from spreading. Whether Israel with a new 30,000 daily caseload to New York City’s added 47,000 cases in a
single day, the science has clearly shown the policies that are being hashed out, are based on tyrannical tendencies and not on any scientific evidence.
The world was once told that the main difference between the yearly and deadly flu was that the death rate was higher, which was true, but
that is not true today. The Omicron variant is firstly according to stats by the UK Daily Mail, 100 times less deadly than the Delta variant but is now effectively the same as flu with a whopping low .15% chance of death. That is without even talking about vaccines, therapeutics, and the like which are now available to the world. The crazy reality that most of us continue to live in has absolutely
nothing to do with science, instead, it has to do with control. Governments do not care about you. Like one wouldn’t rely on the government to take care of one’s kids, one wouldn’t trust governments that continue to lie about a pandemic which in effect is over. There are still people with serious symptoms and situations, but there are now anti-viral COVID pills and other therapeutics that can take care of such situations.
Many hospitals have recently been filling up with COVID patients causing an increase in hospitalizations. However, health officials in at least Virginia are reporting many patients with asymptomatic or mild symptoms filling up hospital beds, likely due to fear mongering from our leaders. Furthermore, recent stats from the state of New York, which has the most added cases in the country in the USA currently, are reporting close to 50% of those that were considered hospitalized for COVID are there for another reason and happened to have tested for COVID. Deaths and hospitalizations have gone up slightly, but many are either not hospitalized because of COVID or have mild symptoms. The actual COVID deaths and hospitalizations, on the other hand, could be prevented if the Biden administration didn’t recently stop distributing COVID therapeutics to states.
Governments will continue this charade if people continue to allow them to. Democracies, irrespective of what others say, are fully governed by the principle of consent of the people. There have been devasand in no way should every life that was taken by this pandemic should be lessened of significance, but at the same time, people need to take back their lives. Shutting down schools, forcing children to wear a ridiculous face covering which severs speech development, forcing every human in existence to get a vaccine respective of individual situations and the continuation of closing down society is an abomination. This started as 15 days to slow the spread, now it has become an excuse for governments to rehash ridiculous policies on how people should live their lives. Enough is enough! Sincerely, D S G Vues Master’s Note:Time to vote these imbeciles out of office! THANKS FOR THE YOM TOV Dear Vues Master: At a Purim party one year, Rav Meir Shapiro said that it’s a mistake to say that Haman wanted to harm us. He was only looking to give us another holiday. He told שורושחא that םע לכמ תונוש םהיתדו…דחא םע ונשי. They are different because all of the holidays that they celebrate come םע לכמ, who decree תוריזג against them and in the end, after they overcome those seeking to harm them, they celebrate with a new holiday. They have חספ from הערפ; they have חנוכה from אנטיוכוס; and so on. But they don’t have a holiday from you, שורושחא. Therefore, ךלמה לע םא םדבאל בתכי בוט, and then when they survive, the Jews will celebrate a holiday from you. חמש םירופ גח. MS Vues Master’s Note:Yes! We love Purim! ARMY OF HASHEM Dear Vues Master: Tzivos Hashem- WE WANT לארשי ץרא NOW! The mefarshim ask why does the Torah repeat twice the leaving of the Bnai Yisroel out of םירצמ. Harav Yechezkel Abramsky Zt’l pointed out the differences between the two םיקוספ. a) The first קוספ says ואצי they left on their own. The second קוספ says ‘ה איצוה Hashem took them out. b) The 1st קוספ says the ‘ה איצוהleft מצרים. The 2nd פסוק says the בני ישראל were taken out of מצרים c) The 2nd קוספ says the לארשי ינב left םתאבצ לע. Rav Abramsky explained that there were two groups in םירצמ. The first ones were the ‘ה תואבצ They left immediately on their own as soon as they were allowed to leave. The rest of the לארשי ינב were not ready to leave until Hashem had to take them out םתאבצ לע to unite them with the ‘ה תואבצ Rav Abramsky suggested, we have a similar situation today. There are Yidden who were “ואצי” and left ץראל ץוח on their own to settle in לארשי ץרא. Then we have a group Yidden who are waiting for “ “ה איצוה’ Hashem to take them out of חוץ לארץ and bring them בורקב to settle in Eretz Yisrael. JD Vues Master’s Note: I was in Tzivos Hashem as a kid. I rose to be a General. How come they don’t do this anymore? BIRTHDAY Dear Vues Master: My son’s 27th birthday is coming up and the last time I took him out for his birthday was three years ago. He stopped seeing me because his Rosh Yeshiva said he doesn’t have to do kibbud av. I can go into detail, if you like, but the main reason for reaching out to you is so you can have a man to man talk with him. I already know what he’s going to say, he’s going to make conditions. He’s always making some kind of condition depending on the circumstance. His conditions are nonnegotiable and vague. All his conditions are detrimental to him and only serve the interest of the Rosh Yeshiva. For example, He won’t pick up the letters that his bubbie gave me for his birthday and Chanukah from two years ago. He won’t take anything from me and thinks he’s being a loyal servant to H’ by doing so. If you see my son or any child estranged from his parent(s) I think it would be an act of kindness to educate them. Thank you, DG Vues Master’s Note: Send him a check you know that money talks! OPEN COUNTRY Dear Vues Master: Controversy has arisen over the Israeli government’s recent decision to temporarily prevent non-Israelis from entering the country because of the ongoing Covid-19 crisis. American businessman Martin Oliner (writing in the Jerusalem Post on January 1) recalled that Theodor Herzl cited the “distress of the Jews” in explaining the need for a Jewish state in his 1896 book, Der Judenstaat. Today, according to Oliner, “Jews around the world are once again in distress,” this time because of the Israeli travel decision. It’s certainly unfortunate that many Diaspora Jews are temporarily unable to attend family events in Israel or complete business deals with their Israeli partners. But when one surveys the suffering that Jews were enduring in the 1890s, at the time Herzl was writing his book, is there really a basis for comparing it to the distress that some contemporary Diaspora Jews are experiencing? In Czarist Russia, discrimination and violence against Jews reached such levels that U.S. President Benjamin Harrison, in his annual message to Congress in 1891, denounced “the severe and oppressive civil restrictions… [and other] harsh measures now being enforced against the Hebrews in Russia,” as a result of which, he forecast,“over 1,000,000 [Jews] will be forced from Russia within a few years.” Konstantin Pobedonostsev, adviser to the Czar, reportedly remarked in 1894 that one-third of Russian Jews should leave the country, one-third should become Christians, and one-third should die. In The Russian Jew Under Tsars and Soviets, the eminent historian Salo Baron found that after the ascension to power of Czar Nicholas II, in 1894, “the old screws of legal and administrative discrimination [against Jews] were turned more tightly.” The quota on Jews admitted to Russian universities and colleges was lowered from 7 percent to 3 percent, and the number of Jewish paupers in Russia grew by 27 percent from 1894 to 1898. “In many communities fully 50 percent of the Jewish population depended on charity,” Baron wrote. Discriminatory legislation (the infamous May Laws) was partially extended to Russian-occupied Poland in 1891, deepening the misery of Polish Jewry. In Germany, there was a massive surge of antisemitism in the 1890s, ranging from a blood libel trial in 1891-1892 to a series of electoral victories for Jew-haters. The number of openly antisemitic deputies in the Reichstag increased from one to five in 1890, and then to sixteen in 1893, and the Conservative Party became the first major political party in modern Germany to embrace anti-Semitism, vowing to “fight the multifarious and obtrusive Jewish influence that decomposes our people’s life.” The rising tide of antisemitism prompted German Jews to create defense groups such as the Association for Defense Against Anti-Semitism (1890) and the Association for Defense Against Anti-Semitism (1892), as well as the more assimilationist Centralverein of German Citizens of Jewish Faith (1893), and, because of campus antisemitism, the Confederation of Jewish Fraternities (1896.) Herzl was particularly troubled by events in France, and in Austria, where he had lived since his teens. The Dreyfus Affair, which Herzl followed closely, began in 1894, culminating in mass anti-Jewish riots in Paris in 1898. In Austria, the openly antisemitic Karl Lueger became mayor of Vienna in 1895 and was repeatedly re-elected. Adolf Hitler later cited Lueger as a source of inspiration. This snapshot of the distress suffered by some major Diaspora communities in the 1890s is obviously quite different from what Jews in the Five Towns or Beverly Hills are experiencing today. This is not to minimize the unhappiness of those who have missed family celebrations or whose academic conferences have had to be conducted via Zoom. But the history of the Jewish people is filled with all too many instances of life-or-death distress. Careless historical comparisons contribute little to the public conversation concerning temporary travel restrictions to Israel. RM Vues Master’s Note: Oh come on! How many people were refused entry during WWII? SUICIDE Dear Vues Master: At the end of the 18th century, R. Shaul Berlin (Levin) published the שאר םימשב ת”וש“ רפס“, claiming to be תובושת of the ש”אר. Some תובושת in the רפס are outrageous and unlikely for the ש”ארto have written. Most Gedolim realized that R.S. Berlin who was a Maskil, stuck in his own תובושת (opinions) claiming them to be תובושת of the ש”אר. The רפוס םתח refers to the Sefer as “ש”ארה יבזכ” The forgeries of the ש”אר. Years later they reprinted the Sefer but removed those תובושת that sounded outrageous and were attributed to be written by RS Berlin. One of the תובושת that was removed is ה”מש הבושת where he writes, that the only time we consider and apply the הלכות of תעדל ומצע דבאמ is when one kills himself because he hates all of mankind & the world. Only he is considered a תעדל ומצע דבאמ. All others who are fed up with life regardless of their reason or their mental state is not to be considered a תעדל ומצע דבאמ. In other words the whole ה”מש ןמיס in ךורע ןחלוש should ח”ו be thrown away because there never was and never will be a תעדל ומצע דבאמ to whom these halachos would apply. GS Vues Master’s Note: Like we always say we may never know!