29 Sep 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.
ANGER
Dear Vues Master:
When a newly married couple moved into their new
home, the husband told his wife that they should not
have secrets from one another, but that it would be
best if she does not open the tan suitcase that he placed
in the attic. For many years, she kept her promise not
to open the suitcase. This took great willpower. One
day, however, she couldn’t resist. She peeked into the
suitcase and was surprised to see five eggs and thousands
of dollars in cash. That evening, she apologized
to her husband for letting curiosity get the better of
her. “But can you explain why there are five eggs
there?” she asked. “Yes,” he answered, “Every time
I got angry at you, I put in one egg.” “Well, that’s not
bad,” she replied. “After so many years of marriage,
there are only five eggs. But what about all that cash?”
she asked. Looking straight at her, he explained: “Every
time I had a dozen eggs, I sold them.”
MB
Vues Master’s Note: I wonder if the wife started her
own collection of eggs right away?
MARRIAGE
Dear Vues Master:
Marriage is a three ring circus: The engagement ring,
the wedding ring, and the suffering.
JK
Vues Master’s Note: Sounds like your marriage is entertaining!
SINGING DURING DUCHANING
Dear Vues Master:
This past Rosh Hashana the entire shul sang the tune
along with the Kohanim when they were duchaning.
Is that allowed? I feel like it takes away from the Kohanims
job.
DH
Vues Master’s Note: I think that’s nice. It doesn’t
sound good when all the kohanim are singing different
tunes.
SLEEPING ON ROSH HASHANA
Dear Vues Master:
Is it true that you’re not supposed to sleep on Rosh
Hashana afternoon because you will have a sleepy
year? I like getting a nap on Rosh Hashana afternoon
because it gives me energy to daven better. People in
my family were giving me a hard time when I took a
nap.
MK
Vues Master’s Note: Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach
says that if you need a nap to daven better, then do it.
But (in a footnote) it says that he encouraged young
people not to nap and that he personally didn’t nap
until he was 40.
ALL IN THE NAME
Dear Vues Master:
A woman went into the cemetery office and confronted
the manager. “I looked all over the cemetery
and I couldn’t find my husband’s grave.” “What is the
name, please?” asked the manager.” “Fred Sachs,”
she replied. The manager looked through the files and
said: “There must be a mistake. All we have is a Roberta
Sachs.” “It’s no mistake,” responded the woman.
“It’s my husband all right. Everything is in my name.”
LO
Vues Master’s Note: Till death do us part!
EAT IT CORRECTLY
Dear Vues Master:
Please remember on the first night of Sukkos (and the
2nd night outside of Eretz Yisrael) to eat the kezayis
of challah after Hamotzee within 2 minutes, or at
most, 4 minutes. Mishnah Berurah 639:22; Dirshu 30.
Good Yom Tov!
DY
Vues Master’s Note: I think that every Shabbos you
need the same in order to be able to bentch! Thanks
for the PSA!
CELL PHONE
Dear Vues Master:
My 12 year old daughter is telling me that 20 out of 24
kids in her 7th grade class have cell phones & she wants
one as well. I’m still not ready for her to get her one. I
just heard that South Shore Yeshiva sent out a letter last
week saying that students are not allowed to have cell
phones anymore in yeshiva thru 8th grade. I like that
rule. I wish all yeshivas for boys & girls were like that.
DE
Vues Master’s Note: Tell her that it will be a hard sell.
She does not want to be chained in a Cell!
CHESSED
Dear Vues Master:
I love this time of year. Everyone is busy doing mitzvos & chesed. The streets are busy selling everything for yom tov.I wish that we all can be this way all year long!
KP
Vues Master’s Note: In my neighborhood it is like this every week L’Kovod Shabbos! It’s all the way you look at it!
KING
Dear Vues Master:
What a great story! Last Friday King Charles scheduled a multifaith meeting at Buckingham Palace but its scheduled time of after 6 p.m. was too late for Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis to attend and return home in time for Shabbos. King Charles was determined that Rabbi Mirvis would attend and had the palace change the schedule so the event could begin at 5:30 p.m. Rabbi Mirvis told the story on BBC on Sunday morning. “When the king entered, he first spoke, and then said: ‘Chief Rabbi, you can now leave,’” Rabbi Mirvis said. “But I said, no, no. I will respect protocol. I will only leave after His Majesty leaves.” “He said: ‘No, no, no you can go now. You have to go home for the Sabbath.’” “But I still stayed since the time was made earlier,” Rabbi Mirvis continued. “But this showed his deep concern for other faiths, his respect for other faiths. It’s great – he’s now the head of the church but at the same time, he’s the champion of other faiths.”
NK
Vues Master’s Note: That is a great story! Let’s hope King Charles remains pro-Jew.
BRACHA
Dear Vues Master:
I heard that a lot of Jewish people in England last week were going to see King Charles just so that they can make a special bracha on seeing a king. Should they be doing that & what bracha do you make when seeing a king?
MY
Vues Master’s Note: The same bracha upon seeing the President. It is printed in the Artscroll Siddur under brachos shonos!
CHAYALIM
Dear Vues Master:
On one of the Israeli army bases, they organized a Rosh Hashanah party for the soldiers. At the party, they made a raffle. There were 300 soldiers, and each put 50 shekel into the raffle, totaling 15,000 shekalim. A donor from the USA matched the amount collected, making the total raffle prize 30,000 shekalim. Everyone could feel the excitement in the room as the soldiers wrote their names on the cards to put into the raffle box. The winning ticket would receive the entire sum. One of the soldiers was debating what to write on his card. Although he would have liked to win, one of the soldiers in the battalion was recently seriously injured in an operational activity and was going through a difficult time. So he decided that even though the chances of winning was slim, he wrote the wounded soldier’s name instead of his own. Finally, the moment of truth arrived. A commander shuffled through the box of cards and pulled out one name. The soldier silently prayed that the winner would be the wounded soldier. Finally, the commander announced the name of the winner, and a miracle happened! The winner was the injured soldier. Applause broke out in the room, the wounded soldier had tears in his eyes, and was led in his wheelchair to the stage to receive the prize money. At the end of the party, the soldier who had written the wounded soldier’s name on the card was cleaning up the hall. He went to empty the box of name cards, and to his surprise, he noticed that the name of the wounded soldier was written on a card. He read another card, and again the name of the injured soldier appeared. One after the other, the soldiers had written the wounded soldier’s name on most of the cards. Mi KeAmcha Yisrael!
IN
Vues Master’s Note: The story is inspiring if it really happened!
SHAVING
Dear Vues Master:
I’ve been noticing a lot of frum men lately shaving their heads and just keeping their beards. Isn’t that neged halacha?
JM
Vues Master’s Note: They should speak to their Rav but it appears to be a problem!
BREAD
Dear Vues Master:
People like to throw bread in the water for tashlich. Most of the time the birds eat them & not the fish. Is there a source for throwing bread?
LN
Vues Master’s Note: You can’t go wrong by showing compassion to animals but this can not be done on Yom Tov!
NO PRUZBUL
Dear Vues Master:
I forgot to make a pruzbul. I went over to my friend that owes me money & he asked me if I made a pruzbul. I said no. He said he’s not paying me back. Now what?
NJ
Vues Master’s Note: No ticky no washy. No Pruzbul no Payment!
GIFT
Dear Vues Master:
I didn’t buy my wife a present Erev Rosh Hashana & now she won’t talk to me. What should I do?
YB
Vues Master’s Note: It’s not too late! Go buy something quick! Question? Did she buy you anything?
KOL KOREI
Dear Vues Master:
Reissuing a Rabbinic statement (Kol Korei) that was first published 15 years ago and that remains relevant today, Agudath Israel of America is calling upon the community to exercise care regarding the custom of kapporos before Yom Kippur. Given the size of the community, and the large volume of chickens that will be handled in the upcoming days, the practice of kapporos needs to be conducted in a manner that ensures that proper standards of kashrus, cleanliness, and humane treatment of animals, as defined by halacha, are met. This can be achieved by patronizing only those establishments that are under appropriate rabbinic supervision.
DF
Vues Master’s Note: Common sense now needs a kol koreh? Maybe a Kol koreh should come out to be honest in business etc!
SHORTAGE
Dear Vues Master:
Avian influenza is devastating egg and turkey operations in the heartland of the country again. If just one bird gets it, the entire flock is culled in order to stop the spread. Millions of hens and turkeys have been killed in recent weeks. As a result, prices for turkey hens are nearly 30% higher than a year ago and 80% above pre-pandemic costs. Just as concerning are inventories of whole turkeys, which are the lowest going into the U.S. winter holiday season since 2006. That means there will be little relief from inflation for the Yom Tovim. Food is getting so expensive. When you have a frum family it’s really hard on everyone. Please Hashem help us this coming year!
BK
Vues Master’s Note: That is why we say Mi yichye umi lo yichyeh !
KING
Dear Vues Master:
If on Rosh HaShana we proclaim G-d as King then what was He before this? He was our Father! We beseech G-d, during the ten days of repentance, as Avinu (our Father) Malkanu (our King) as this how we can relate to him in any meaningful way. We can feel towards Him as our Father or Master. We say Avinu before Malkanu to show that we want Him to treat us like a Father; however, there are times we have no choice but to Crown Him King like on Rosh Hashana. Prince Charles became King on the 14th of Elul when the moon will be full and Tishrei is being ushered in. Could it be that the institution of Father has fallen so low that G-d is sending a message that it is time to reign as King. When there is no son there is no father; if the Torah would leave it to me to decide what to do in our generation I would proclaim G-d as Father, on Rosh HaShana, before the word father is blown to oblivion.
DG
Vues Master’s Note: Only you can twist it this way. What does King Charles have to do with your son not honoring you!
FATHER
Dear Vues Master:
An important aspect of identity is that it shouldn’t be temperamental so that if the linchpin is moved he doesn’t fall. If his values are predicated on that fabricated by man like all the -isms or the old time pursuit of money and power he will easily fall into an identity crisis sometime in life unless he is able to distract himself really well. With that in mind it makes sense what he says that our identity comes from our father. It behooves us to go in our father’s good ways. It isn’t good practice to listen to others berate your father as it says in the Torah that a person isn’t believed to make himself into a rasha (wicked person) so a person shouldn’t believe that his father is one either. We live in a society that values individuality and self-expression but this comes at the cost of losing your identity. No matter how bad a father can be he inherently loves his children and the halacha is that if your father breaks into your home you are forbidden to hurt him as he doesn’t come to hurt you.
DG
Vues Master’s Note: A father could be the one who teaches one Torah the correct way! Look at Rashi on the children of Aharon also attributed to Moshe’s children!
MAZEL TOV
Dear Vues Master:
Mazel Tov It’s a Boy! My oldest daughter gave birth to a healthy baby boy with the bris on erev Rosh Hashana. She had gone into the hospital, but it was false labor. However, they discovered the baby was breached. My son in law asked his Rosh Hayeshiva who asked his Rav. The Rav told them to see if my son in law has any seforim in their house that are turned upside down? My einekel discovered that the cleaning lady turned nine seforim upside down. They straightened the seforim right side up, and the baby was B”H turned around! Chasdei Hashem Ki Lo Samnu Ki Lo Chalu Rachamav! My Mechutan says the word Einekel comes from the Sneh “Einenu Ukal”-the Doros keeps on going. It’s Einekel #18-Chai! Mazel Tov!
RMS
Vues Master’s Note: Great News! Lots of Mazel!
BEN GURION
Dear Vues Master:
Seventy-eight years ago this week, David Ben-Gurion rose before the Asefat Hanivcharim, Palestine Jewry’s elected assembly, and delivered an explosive “j’accuse” against the Allies for abandoning Europe’s Jews during the Holocaust. The words of the man who would soon be Israel’s first prime minister take on added significance in view of the upcoming release of Ken Burns’ three-part, six-hour PBS documentary “The U.S. and the Holocaust.” Its official website says the film “dispels” the “myth” that America “looked on with callous indifference” during the Holocaust. By contrast, Ben-Gurion told the gathering of Jewish community leaders in Jerusalem on Sept. 12, 1944: “As millions of Jews were taken to the slaughter — young and old, infant and newborn, mother and daughter — the world leaders, those who shout slogans about democracy and socialism, looked away from the bloodshed and did not undertake rescue action — they did not even try to rescue them.” Two months earlier, Ben-Gurion had spoken in similar terms at a ceremony on the 40th anniversary of the death of Theodor Herzl. Addressing himself to the Allies, he thundered: “What have you allowed to be perpetrated against a defenseless people while you stood aside and let them bleed to death, never lifting a finger to help?….Why do you profane our pain and wrath with empty expressions of sympathy which ring like mockery in the ears of millions who are being daily burnt and buried alive in the hell centers of Europe?” These words were not uttered after the fact. The Holocaust still raged as Ben-Gurion spoke. Trainloads of Jewish deportees were being sent to Auschwitz every day. On the day of the Herzl speech, July 10, three trainloads of Hungarian Jewish deportees arrived in Auschwitz. Over the course of four days that week, more than 30,000 Jews were gassed. For a few weeks earlier that summer, Ben-Gurion and his colleagues in the leadership of Palestine’s Jewish Agency had mistakenly believed that Auschwitz was a labor camp. But when they learned in late June that it was in fact a death camp, they lobbied Allied diplomats in Europe, the Middle East and the United States to bomb the railways and bridges leading to Auschwitz, or the gas chambers, or both. Future Israeli president Chaim Weizmann and future prime ministers Moshe Shertok (Sharett) and Golda Meyerson (Meir) were among those promoting the proposal in meetings with Allied officials. In early September, just before the aforementioned meeting of the Asefat Hanivcharim, Jewish Agency official Eliyahu Epstein (Elath) reported to Ben-Gurion about his unsuccessful efforts to persuade a Soviet diplomat in Cairo that the Allies should bomb the death camps. Roosevelt administration officials falsely asserted that the only way to strike the railways or the death camp would be to “divert” planes from distant battle zones, thus undermining the war effort. That claim is repeated in the Burns film as if it were a fact. In reality, American planes were already flying over Auschwitz, bombing the oil factories in the death camp’s industrial zone (where Elie Wiesel was among the slave laborers) — less than five miles from the gas chambers. One of those raids took place on Sept. 13, 1944, the day after Ben-Gurion’s speech to the Jerusalem assembly. In Ken Burns’ film, interviewees belittle the proposals to bomb the railways on the grounds that the Germans could have quickly repaired them. But that was true for all U.S. bombing attacks on railroads in Europe, yet it never deterred the Roosevelt administration and its allies from targeting them as part of the war effort. George McGovern, the future U.S. senator and 1972 Democratic presidential nominee, was one of the young pilots who undertook those raids (including bombing the oil factories at Auschwitz). In a 2004 interview, McGovern argued that even if the railway lines could have been repaired, the damage would have delayed the deportations and saved lives. “[I]t would have helped if we had bombed the railroad lines leading to Auschwitz. The purpose of those rail lines was to carry human beings to their death, and we might even have been able to use long-range fighter planes to get down right on the tracks and knock them out,” McGovern said. Regarding a junction through which trains passed on the way to Auschwitz, he said: “We should have hit that junction and disabled it. We should have hit the rail lines, even if we had to go back several times.” It is also important to remember that there were bridges along those routes, and bridges could not be quickly repaired. Some of the requests put forward by Jewish groups at the same time actually named bridges that should be targeted. Those pleas were no secret. On July 10, 1944, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that recent escapees from Auschwitz were urging the following: “The crematoria in Oswiecim [Auschwitz] and Birkenau, easily recognisable [sic] by their chimneys and watch-towers, as well as the main railway lines connecting Slovakia and Carpatho-Ruthenia with Poland, especially the bridge at Cop, should be bombed.” Debating the options for Allied action, a commentator in the Ken Burns film argues that bombing Auschwitz might have been a bad idea because some of the inmates could have been harmed. That argument is disingenuous for two reasons. First, the United States could have bombed the railway lines and bridges to Auschwitz without endangering inmates. Second, the presence of those prisoners was not the reason the Allies rejected the bombing requests; note that they bombed those oil factories in broad daylight, even though slave laborers were likely to be there. Likewise, the United States bombed a rocket factory in the Buchenwald concentration camp in daylight in August 1944, even though the workers would be there; many were indeed killed, but the Allies considered the attack to be justified despite that risk. Nahum Goldmann, who was the Jewish Agency’s representative in Washington as well as co-chairman of the World Jewish Congress, repeatedly asked U.S. officials to bomb Auschwitz as well as the railways, and heard their excuses about not wanting to “divert” planes from the war effort. Three days after Ben-Gurion’s speech in Jerusalem, Ernest Frischer of the Czech government-in-exile reported to Goldmann and the WJCongress that the Allies had been bombing “fuel factories…in Oswiecim and Birkenau,” not far from the “extermination installations.” Goldmann pointed out that fact to Allied officials, to no avail. They were, as Ben-Gurion put it, not willing to even “lift a finger” to rescue Jews. In a recent JTA interview, Burns asserted that President Roosevelt “could not wave a magic wand” but did his best to help the Jews during the Holocaust. Ben-Gurion, who actually lived through those days and was an eyewitness to Roosevelt’s abandonment of the Jews, understood the reality far more clearly.
RM
Vues Master’s Note: As usual, thank you for the latest Zionistic History Lesson!