20 Feb SPEAK YOUR VUES WITH THE VUES MASTER
EMUNAH
Dear Vues Master:
There’s a famous vort from the Riminover, and he says that
the Gemara in Shabbos tells us that at the end of our lives,
we’re going to be asked, Nasasa V’nasata Bemuna? Were you
honest in business? That’s the simple explanation. Emunah
over there means, were you honest? But the Riminover says,
Nasasa v’nasata Bemuna is a question we are asked. Did you
handle in your emuna in the same manner that you handled
in your business? When there’s a business deal on the table,
it consumes you. And every moment of the day you’re thinking
about it. You might not even be able to sleep at night. Did
you think about Hashem, and think about your emuna in the
same manner that you think about your business? Recently I
heard a beautiful postscript to that idea. Imagine a person has
a glass of water. As long as the glass is moving, even if the
glass is in freezing temperatures, the glass of water will not
freeze. It doesn’t make a difference how cold it is outside,
because if it’s moving, then it won’t get frozen. The same is
true with your emuna. If you let your emunah sit, and you
don’t handle with it, and you don’t think about it, and you
don’t move it around, then it’s going to become frozen. But
if a person, every moment of every day, is able to try to think,
and reconnect himself constantly in his thought process
about his emuna, and is in his thoughts about Hashem, then
it will always stay warm. The truth is, that this generation
has excelled in that manner. The increase of learning about
Emunah and Bitachon in our generation is something that did
not happen when I was a child. Maybe I took it for granted
because the generation before us lived through challenges in
Emuna that we could never fathom. I think we were lulled to
sleep for many years, a false sense of security, and especially
over the last number of years with COVID, and tragedies,
one after another. Emuna is something that we’re handling
every day. Every person should realize that you’re keeping
it warm, and when you keep it warm, you’re fulfilling your
duty to the Ribono Shel Olam. You’re keeping yourself
connected to Him constantly, and ultimately, there’s nothing
that will bring more happiness.
EF
Vues Master’s Note: Wow! A great letter!
PRICE OF EGGS
Dear Vues Master
After falling for months, egg prices are rising again and could
continue that way in 2024 as farmers grapple with another
outbreak of bird flu. The average cost of a dozen Grade A
large eggs was $2.52 in January, up slightly from $2.51 in
December, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics. The latest Consumer Price Index, or CPI, shows
that the price of eggs rose 3.4% from December to January.
Why does this keep happening?
RE
Vues Master’s Note: I guess the birds aren’t taking their flu
shot. I hope the price stabilizes before Pesach.
LETTER FROM A SOLDIER
Dear Vues Master:
Hi All.
By now you may have heard that I’m back for a brief period
(heading back in for another, much quicker stint in a couple
of days). Really, really relieved to be typing in this chat right
now.
I don’t really know what to say after the last 24 days on the
front lines other than thank you. The miracles that we have
witnessed in blind sight that enabled all of us to come home
safely is nothing short of G-d’s hand at work and I credit all
of you for your prayers and thoughts that have influenced
the direction of where their RPGs hit us across several
ambushes, and redirect their bullets flying over our heads
and next to our ears as we try to regroup and neutralize the
threat before us.
I say with absolute certainty, not as a preacher, but if you
didn’t believe in G-d before, I don’t know what else to tell
you because not a single person on my team can explain how
we all came out alive virtually unscathed considering the
circumstances we underwent. I’m not talking close calls, I’m
talking death guiding us blindfolded on a tightrope between
two mountains. God is good. So thank you all for your
prayers, they really work and we still need them.
Important to note that the job isn’t finished. There is still
work to do, we still have a very big little bit coming up and
as we speak soldiers are encountering what we encountered
constantly. Many give their lives so that we can live
peacefully. The heroic sacrifice can’t be understated. I know
it sounds like just a number of soldiers killed, but each of
these people are me. Are you? Are we? Family, friends,
eagerly awaiting to see their loved ones again and they never
.יהי זכרם ברוך .will
As a first hand account, we witnessed what we all already
knew – Hamas uses children, schools, hospitals as launch
points for terror. We found tunnels in a school. We found
RPGs and ammo in a hospital that we took over. We even
saw terrorists using 3 of the hostages as human shields as a
lure to bait us into a shoot out. The inhumanity is outrageous.
These people have waited a decade(s) for this moment and
are certainly ready to die for their cause. But I tell you with
great certainty: Our people have waited millennia to have
peace against far greater odds, and peace will
be had by any means necessary. Like we say
every Pesach (Passover) at the seder: “והיא
שעמדה לאבותינו ולנו שלא אחד בלבד עמד עלינו
לכלותינו אלא שבכל דור ודור עומדים עלינו לכלותינו
the (this And” (“והקדוש ברוך הוא מצילינו מידם
Torah) is what kept our fathers and what keeps
us surviving. Not only one arose and tried to
destroy us, rather in every generation someone
rose and tries to destroy us, but G-d saves us
from their hands.”). It’s just that simple.
I urge all of you to please appreciate your
lives, your loved ones, your ability to turn
on a light at night time, your ability to go to
a bathroom, to shower, to switch your socks,
to not hear a boom every 30 seconds, to not
jolt at the thought of another ambush, to not
smell the horrible smell of burning bodies, of
not being shot at, to never ever have to hear
the scream of an RPG approaching and then
exploding feet front you and have the second
of panic not knowing which way will be more
safe (to the right or to the left) as the bullets
start flying to you dive to the ground. To not
shoot at someone shooting at you. To never
see this type of devastation. Most of all enjoy
tranquility because we are fighting so that you
can all live and enjoy life. Celebrate that life.
Go out. Have fun. Have a drink. Eat well. Hug
someone. Kiss someone. Be successful. Hate
sparingly and love endlessly. Live. Give.
Daven. Dream. Be proud. Love. Everything we
are doing is in vain if our lives pause.
I don’t want you all to get the wrong idea. As
close as we all are to death, we couldn’t be
farther. Our spirits are HIGH. The fighting Jew
has sustained so many difficulties and the
fighting Jew cannot be broken. We are not
scared. We are warriors. We are not deterred by
some terrorists living under the ground, we are
lions who will hunt them down and will find
our prey in order to survive. We want our honor
back and honor we be restored. And through all
the terrorists that we have killed with the help
of G-d, we stand to answer the call to protect
Jews and all of humanity. I don’t think there
could be a more special or worthy cause than
this one and I am humbled to be answering this
call in such fashion. I hope that my grandfather
Eli, who stormed the beaches of Normandy to
restore humanity from the Nazis, is looking
down and smiling at what his only grandson is
accomplishing in his attempt to stand in his
giant shadow and the shadow of all of the
fighting Jews in history.
Do not stop davening. We need to continue.
We will continue. Not because we want to,
but because we have to. I love you all and
appreciate you all in my life. Genuinely. You
have all made me who I am today and your
strength enables me to do what I am doing.
As always – stay strong. Stay united. Perhaps
if my chapter here will be over soon, I daven
to Hashem that I will never forget this feeling
of pride in being a fighting Jew, to be a part of
the history of our people that actually can fight.
I do this for all of you. All of your families. All
of our ancestors. I do this most of all for peace,
because we all deserve that fundamental
human right.
Sending my love and genuine, continued
appreciation to all of you and your families/
friends who are davening on our behalf.
Am Yisrael Chai!
Your Paratrooper,
Simcha “Sam”
Vues Master’s Note: Bravo! What a letter!
RESTRICTING ACCESS TO HAR
HABAYIS
Dear Vues Master
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sided this
past Sunday with National Security Minister
Itamar Ben Gvir, endorsing restrictions on
Arab Israelis’ access to Al-Aqsa Mosque on
Jerusalem’s Temple Mount during Ramadan.
Ben Gvir seeks to only allow worshipers over
the age of 70 onto the Temple Mount. The
criteria will likely end up allowing men over
60 and children up to the age of 10 to enter the
complex.
Vues Master’s Note: Until Hamas returns the
hostages, they shouldn’t be allowed near Har
Habayis ever. Not just during Ramadan.
PRESIDENT CUSSING
Dear Vues Master:
President Joe Biden is reported to have used
profanity in two recent outbursts against
Israel’s prime minister. Sadly, such eruptions
are nothing new. Going all the way back to the
1940s, presidents or other senior U.S. officials
occasionally have said some ugly things about
Israel or Jews.
In 1943, Samuel Rosenman, the chief
speechwriter for President Franklin D.
Roosevelt, confided to a colleague that the
president was “much displeased” to learn that
four hundred rabbis were planning to march
to the White House to plead for the rescue of
Jewish refugees. Rosenman said FDR was
so upset that he “used language that morning
while breakfasting which would have pleased
Hitler himself.”
Syndicated newspaper columnist Drew Pearson
reported in early 1948 that President Harry
Truman privately railed against American Jews
who were urging him to support the creation of
a Jewish state: “Pounding his desk, [Truman]
used words that can’t be repeated about ‘the
(blank) New York Jews.’ ‘They’re disloyal
to their country. Disloyal!’ he cried.” Truman
denied the story, but Pearson’s source, New
York Post publisher Ted Thackery, did not back
down.
The White House tapes released by the Richard
Nixon Presidential Library revealed some ugly
remarks in the Oval Office in the early
1970s. In one, the president could be heard
becoming angry at his attorney, Leonard
Garment, and shouting, “Goddamn his Jewish
soul!”
In another, Nixon angrily complained to
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger about
American Jews urging him to press the Soviet
Union on Jewish emigration. Referring to the
possibility of Jewish demonstrations ouside
a forthcoming U.S.-Soviet summit, Nixon
thundered: “Let me say, Henry, it’s gonna
be the worst thing that happened to Jews in
American history. If they torpedo this summit-
-and it might go down for other reasons–I’m
gonna put the blame on them, and I’m going
to do it publicly at 9 o’clock at night before 80
million people. They put the Jewish interest
above America’s interest, and it’s about
goddamn time that the Jew in America realizes
he’s an American first and a Jew second!”
Kissinger used vulgar language in describing
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and his cabinet
in 1975. The incident took place during a
round of shuttle diplomacy that Kissinger
was conducting between Israel and Egypt.
According to Prof. Gil Troy’s book, Moynihan’s
Moment, Kissinger at one point became
frustrated that Rabin was not making enough
concessions to Egypt, and complained to
President Gerald Ford that Israel’s leaders were
“the world’s worst s—ts.”
Not that Americans have a monopoly on
such ugliness. There also have been several
incidents along these lines involving European
diplomats.
In 2001, the French ambassador to Great
Britain, Daniel Bernard, launched into an
obscenity-laced rant against Israel and its prime
minister, Ariel Sharon. At a dinner party,
Bernard told Conrad Black of the Daily
Telegraph that “All the current troubles in the
world are because of that s——y little country,
Israel.” Despite an international uproar,
Ambassador Bernard refused to apologize,
claiming his remark
had been distorted.
In 2009, a senior official in the British Foreign
Office, Rowan Laxton, unleashed a profane
tirade against the Israeli government headed
by Ehud Olmert. During a workout in a
London gym, Laxton shouted about the “f—-
ing Israelis, f—-ing Jews,” and declared that
the Israelis should be “wiped off the face of
the earth,” according to staff members at the
gym. During his trial on charges of racial
harassment, Laxton’s defense was, “We are all
human. I erred. I don’t normally swear.”
Perhaps the best known contemporary example
of a government official cursing the Jews
involved Secretary of State James A. Baker, in
1992. His cabinet colleague, House and Urban
Development secretary Jack Kemp, leaked to
the media that when Baker was told of Jewish
concerns about U.S. policy toward Israel, he
replied, “F—- the Jews, they don’t vote for
us anyway.” Baker’s spokeswoman called
the report “garbage,” but New York Times
columnist William Safire, after investigating
the episode, wrote: “I can confirm that Baker
did say that, with the same vulgarism that made
it so memorable, to two high officials on two
different occasions.”
Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The
Atlantic, reported in October 2014 that “a
senior Obama administration official” derided
Israel’s prime minister as “chickens—t” for not
making more concessions to the Palestinian
Authority. No U.S. official publicly took
responsibility for the remark; but nobody in
Washington seemed to
doubt the accuracy of Goldberg’s account.
In a 2021 interview, Donald Trump used
profanity in denouncing Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump said he was
angry that Netanyahu congratulated Joe Biden
on winning the 2020 election.
Whether the president has been a Democrat or
a Republican, and regardless of who happened
to be Israel’s prime minister, the phenomenon
of a rage-filled or obscenity-laced outburst
against Israel or Jews is a recurring feature in
the political world. So perhaps Israelis should
not take the latest reported vulgarity to heart. It
wasn’t the first, it probably won’t be the last,
and it reflects more on the speaker than the
target.
Rafael Medoff
Vue Master’s Note: What do you expect from a
senile Biden!
MISSING IN ACTION
Dear Vues Master:
A Rav approached one of his מתפללים in shul
and said “Reb Chaim, you’re one of our few
Cohanim and I haven’t seen you for a few
months.” Chaim answered: “Rav I was very
sick. In fact, I was hospitalized for almost three
months.” The Rav shouted “Boruch Hashem!
I thought you had decided to daven in another
shul.”
A Rav approached one of his מתפללים in shul
and said “Reb Chaim, you’re one of our few
Cohanim and I haven’t seen you for a few
months.” Chaim answered: “Rav, I was very
sick. In fact, I was hospitalized for almost three
months.” The Rav shouted “Boruch Hashem!
I thought you had decided to daven in another
shul.”
MB
Vues Master’s Note: This Rabbi should lose his
job why did he not go visit him?
YEARNING
Dear Vues Master:
I once heard a beautiful story. A very well-
known rabbi left the United States and moved
to Israel. He made Aliya. One day his student
came over to him and asked him, “Rabbi, what
do you miss most from America?” The rabbi
looked at him and said “I miss the longing for
Israel.” Jews have longed for and davened for
Zion (Israel) for thousands of years. In our
daily davening, Zion, Jerusalem is mentioned
hundreds of times. In the Torah, we are
commanded to go to the temple in Jerusalem on
all of our major Yom Tovim. Jews around the
world have faced Jerusalem as they prayed for
thousands of years. There was never a single
day in history on which there were no Jews in
the land of Israel. Many Jews, myself and my
family included, upon moving to Israel, got
off the plane, then got down on all fours, and
kissed the ground while thanking Hashem that
we are finally home. But please, tell me more
about how you’re only anti Zionist but not
anti Jewish. Zion/Israel/Jerusalem is as core to
Judaism as Yushka is to Christianity or Mecca
is to Islam. If you oppose the Jews returning
to their eternal homeland, Zion, if you think
a tiny basically invisible dot on a map full of
Muslim and Arab countries is just too much
for the Jews to have, don’t look now, but
there’s an antisemite walking around in your
shoes.
Hillel Fuld
PARNASSAH
Dear Vues Master:
There was a Baal Habos who owned a
company that sold goods to retail stores. He
himself was also the head salesman. He was
very makpid to learn before davening and to
be home by 6:30 in the evening to spend time
with his family. One day as he was discussing
his day with a friend the friend said, “the
reason you’re not making enough money is
because you aren’t travelling as much as you
should be.” The major retail chains would
buy from you if you got face time in their
headquarters.” The baal habos argued that
“the Abishter is controlling my Parnasah. If he
wants, he can make them come to me. I am
doing what I can, but He will do the rest.”
One day this man’s nephew called him and
explained that he had a friend who was
working with him who was not very happy.
He had several connections with many of
the big retailers in the industry “and I’m sure
if you offer him a nice salary, he will come
work for you.” The Baal habos did just that,
and this young salesman came over. Within a
few weeks he arranged several meetings with
the likes of Kmart and JC Penny. As an added
bonus, the venue chosen for a conference that
hosted many of the top retailers was none
other than the city this Baal Habos lived in.
He was able to attend the conference and pitch
many of the stores that have headquarters
across the country. We have to do what we can
to bring in our parnassah. We have to put in
our hishtadlus, but the Abishter lies waiting to
bring it to our doorstep.
HY
Vues Master’s Note: Great Story!
CALM
Dear Vues Master:
Reb Efraim Margolios zt”l, author of several
renowned halachic sefarim (Matteh Efraim,
Yad Efraim, and others) was also very wealthy
(he owned a bank). Once, an expensive vase
broke in his home. His wife was very upset
about this, but he remained calm. She asked
him, “How can you be so calm? Do you realize
how expensive it was?” He said, “Ask me this
question in a year from now, and then I’ll
explain.” She didn’t forget. She remembered
the date that the vase broke, and exactly a year
later, she asked him for an explanation. He
asked her, “Are you still upset about the vase
that broke?” She said that it doesn’t bother her
anymore. He replied, “Your father chose me
to be his son-in-law because he said that I am
an iluy (genius) and I grasp matters quickly.
When the vase broke, I immediately grasped
how I would feel today, a year later, and that’s
why I didn’t let it bother me then.”
PK
Vues Master’s Note: I believe that in a year
from now if I re-read your letter it will still
have an impact!
MISTAKES
Dear Vues Master:
A government employee was mistakenly
paid double his salary one week. He said
nothing and deposited his paycheck. The
following week his paycheck was zero. When
he complained, he was told that he had been
paid double the week before. “I was willing to
overlook one mistake,” he said, “but not two.”
KJ
Vues Master’s Note: Funny!!
DEFENSE
Dear Vues Master:
“When we were led into the gas chamber,
YOU said nothing. When we were forcibly
converted, YOU said nothing. When we
were thrown out of a country just for being
Jews, YOU said nothing. When we now
defend ourselves all of a sudden, YOU have
something to say. How did we take our revenge
on the Germans for their Final Solution? How
did we take revenge on the Spanish for their
Inquisition? How did we take revenge on
Islam for being Dhimmis? How did we take
revenge on the lies of the Protocols of Zion?
We studied our Torah
We innovated in medicine
We innovated in defense systems
We innovated in technology
We innovated in agriculture
We made music
We wrote poetry
We made the desert bloom
We won Nobel prizes
We founded the movie industry
We financed democracy
We fulfilled the word of Hashem by becoming
a light unto the Nations of the Earth.
So World, when you criticize us for defending
our heritage and our ancestral homeland, we
the Jews of the world do exactly what you did,
we ignore you. You have proven to us for the
last 2,000 years that when the chips are down,
you don’t care. Now leave us alone and go sort
out your own backyard whilst we continue our
5784-year-old mission, enhancing the world
we share.”
– HK
Vues Master’s Note: Well said!
APOLOGIZING
Dear Vues Master
I am so sick of Jews apologizing for existing.
I am so sick of Jews apologizing for defending
themselves. I am so sick of Jews apologizing
for the optics of doing what’s right. I am so
sick of Jews apologizing for coming back to
their eternal homeland. I am so sick of Jews
apologizing for fighting back and defeating a
cruel terrorist organization. I am so sick of
Jews apologizing for winning wars. I am so
sick of Jews apologizing for the (tragic but
inevitable) innocent people who die in a war
that Israel didn’t start and didn’t want. I am
so sick of Jews apologizing for speaking up
against antisemitism. I am so sick of Jews
apologizing for stating the hard, but unpopular
fact that Israel is fighting a society that is
deeply indoctrinated and rotten to the core.
I am so done apologizing.
I am NOT sorry for existing, for defending
myself, for the optics of this war, for coming
home to my homeland, for waging a war
against a cruel terrorist organization, for
winning wars, for the innocent people that
Hamas is using as human shields in order to
maximize civilian deaths (I am sad about it, I
truly am, but every one of those people is on
Hamas, not Israel.), for speaking up against
antisemitism, and for unequivocally stating
that Gaza and the general Palestinian society
is deeply indoctrinated and rotten to the core
(of course there are some innocent people but
those innocent people are silent and therefore
irrelevant. Besides, thousands of those so-
called innocent people took part in October
7th, gave out candies to celebrate Jewish
deaths, and/or voted for Hamas. That’s not
what I call innocent.)
Israel, contrary to what you were told, has the
most moral army in the world. The lengths
that the IDF goes to in order to minimize
civilian deaths in Gaza are unprecedented
and unparalleled. The ratio between terrorists
and “innocent” Gazan killed by Israel is
unprecedented and unparalleled.
Dropping pamphlets to let the enemy know
where the IDF will attack and when is
unprecedented and unparalleled. Israel and
the Jewish people have nothing to apologize
for. The Jewish people have been nothing but
a source of light in this world.
Between the Nobel prizes won by Jews,
Israel’s position as a leading technology
superpower (look down at whatever device
you are reading this on, and chances are
at least part of it was developed in Israel),
breakthroughs in medicine, cutting edge
cancer treatments and research, rescue
efforts across the world, and countless other
achievements, the Jewish people have always
been a source of bright light.
Sometimes when a light is too bright, if not
prepared, it can blind you. The Jews are done
apologizing for their light, and if you don’t
like it, either get sunglasses or be prepared
to be blinded. Our light will never go out,
no matter how much darkness our enemies
bring.
The era of the apologetic Jew who is led to
the gas chambers with shaking knees, are
over. Sorry, but we are no longer sorry!
“If we have to choose between being dead
and pitied, and being alive with a bad image,
we’d rather be alive and have the bad image.”
– Golda Meir
Hillel Fuld
Vues Masters Note: Another brilliant post by
Hillel Fuld
GREAT STORY
Dear Vues Master:
A bochur from a religious family who years
ago dropped all levels of observance shared his
story. To support himself, he became a driver
and photographer, driving wealthy visitors
from New York to gedolim in Eretz Yisroel.
He had 3 American gvirim in his car shortly
before Rosh Hashana, who came specifically
to secure a bracha from Rav Chaim Feinstein
of Bnei Brak for a shana tovah. As the gvirim
were leaving, Rav Feinstein, the rosh yeshiva
at Yeshivas Ateres Shlomo, turned to the
driver and asked, “Don’t you also need a
shana tovah? He then stopped and thought,
saying that a bracha with nothing to stand on
will not be effective. “Accept upon yourself
to keep Shabbos for the month of Tishrei,” he
asked. The bochur became filled with emotion
and accepted. A couple of weekends ago, the
boy traveled to Israel’s south to participate
in a Rave, a music festival in the desert. On
Friday afternoon, he realized that he would
not be able to keep Shabbos there, so he bid
his friends farewell and departed. The next
day, the boy was among the millions of people
who heard about the savage butchery that
happened at the rave, and that his friends were
among those killed. It was the small kabbalah
he undertook – to keep just four Shabbosos –
and it saved his life.
YD
SELF SERVE TIPPING
Dear Vues Master
I am typically a generous tipper when I go out
to eat in a restaurant. According to a recent
report in the Wall Street Journal, numerous
companies – including airports, bakeries,
coffee shops and sports stadiums – have
introduced self-serve tipping options, despite
patrons having zero interactions with an
employee. The tip is of course optional, but as
anyone who has encountered them can attest,
they leave you feeling guilty if you choose
not to tip. Isn’t that chutzpa? Everything is
so expensive these days. Now they want us to
give a tip when no one did anything for you.
What is this world coming to?
EK
Vues Master’s Note: Businesses are struggling
these days & are trying to get anything they
can off the consumer. It’s sad!