24 Jan

MODERN WORLD

Dear Editor:

Someone shared the following story with me and I thought it would be appropriate to share with all of you.

A teacher comes home before suppertime; her husband is sitting by the computer. After supper she sits down with her work marking essays her pupils wrote that day. When reading the last one she burst into tears.

Her husband noticed and asked, “Why are you crying, what happened?” His wife replied, “Yesterday I gave the children an assignment to write an essay. The topic of the essay was, “What Would You Like to be in This Modern World?” “Okay, that’s a good topic for an essay, but why are you crying?” asked the husband.

The wife said: “Here, let me read to you what a pupil wrote.” “I would like turn into a smartphone. My parents love their smartphones so much and are so busy with them that they forget I exist at times. My father comes home from work tired and he turns to his smartphone and not to me. If my parents have important work they will still answer their smartphones on the first ring, but I can cry and beg for a long time to help me when I need them before they notice. They are busy surfing on their smartphones. That’s why I want to turn into a smartphone!”

The husband’s feelings for this boy were aroused. He asked his wife, “and who is this student?’ She answered, “He is our son”.

Ari Waldman         

Editor’s Note: I hope you are not reading this letter on a smart phone.

BAND FOR WEDDING

Dear Editor:

I am making a Chasuna and I am so confused concerning which band and which singer we should hire for the big night. What do I do? My son wants one thing and my husband another. I don’t even know if we can afford it

Shaindy G

Editor’s Note: This is a very complicated issue, and I don’t think I can advise you properly. But I can say, that there are very nice affordable options today that you should be able to handle. Have your son ask around and you’ll see it will work out for the best!

INAUGURATION

Dear Editor:

I heard that Ivanka got a heter to be driven home from the inauguration. I think the fact that this was made public will bring a tremendous chillul Shabbos. There is a rule that you don’t pasken based on a teshuva as we don’t know all the details that went into paskening the shaailoh. We should be circumspect about these heterim.

Berel Schwartz

Editor’s Note: You are right. Way too often we pasken on isolated teshuvos when we do not have the full picture.

TRUMP ON THE JOB

Dear Editor: 

What exactly did Trump do already? I think he grew into his job of being a politician which by definition means to promise loads of things and then do nothing.

Chaim Hassenfeld

Editor’s Note: Patience, patience! Rome wasn’t built in a day. Trumponomics wasn’t built in a day either. Come check in after the first 100 days and then we’ll see if he did nothing or he did something.

JURY DUTY REVISITED

Dear Editor:

In response to the letter written last week by Moshe Markowitz about jury duty and whether it is a right or a requirement, Mr. Markowitz, it is a civic duty to serve on a jury. If you were “G-d forbid arrested for committing a crime, or accused of committing a crime, wouldn’t you want to have a jury to hear your case? It’s something that is very important for a person to do. Of course, in certain cases a person is exempt from jury duty, for example if they are taking care of children, but in general it is a civic duty and should not be shirked. It should be taken seriously. Thank you.

Editor’s Note: There is a famous joke out there: “I do not want to be tried by a jury who was not smart enough to get out of jury duty.”

TEFILLIN K’HALACHA

Dear Editor:

In response to your article about Tefillin K’Halacha,I would like to point out a few halachos that perhaps people are not aware of. One, is that it is very important for a person to wear his tefillin above his hairline. If a person wears his tefillin on his forehead he is not yotzei according to any opinion. Also, it is not proper for a person to be removing or folding up his tallis during kriyas ha Torah, during Kaddish, or Chazaras HaShatz. In addition, it is improper for a person to be changing from Rashi Tefillin into Rabbeinu Tam Tefillin during Chazaras HaShatz. It says in the Kitzuer Shulchan Aruch that this minhag people have of changing from the one to the other during Chazaras HaShatz is shelo k’din. Hopefully, in the zechus of properly observing the mitzvah of tefillin, we should be zoche to greet Moshiach Tzidkeinu, bimihara biyameinu. Amen

Editor’s Note: Thanks for pointing out these halachos.