09 May SPEAK YOUR VUES WITH THE VUES MASTER

LAG BAOMER
Dear Vues Master
I just wanted to say that I think that there were

more Lag Baomer celebrations this year through-
out Brooklyn than ever before! It seemed that

every corner in Flatbush & Boro Park had some-
thing going on. They were all beautiful as well!

PB
Vues Masters Note: May the achdus bring the
geulah that much sooner!

LAG BAOMER ON LIVESTREAM
Dear Vues Master:
I was watching this past Monday afternoon the

livestream of the concerts in Meron in Eretz Yis-
rael. My son came into the room & asked me

how I can watch the livestream when it’s still
sefirah-day 32 for me in Chutz Laaretz. I didn’t
know what to say. Was it a problem for me to
watch it at 4pm New York time? It was on all the
Jewish websites?
TS
Vues Master’s Note: Really one can’t listen to
music till after Shacharis! I guess sefira has been

cut to two weeks. People get married till the sec-
ond day Rosh Chodesh and from Lag Baomer

and on. Sad!

PESACH SHEINI
Dear Vues Master:
Second Chance, Second Name We have recently
observed on the fourteenth day of Iyar, Pesach

Sheini, sometimes called Pesach Koton. I actu-
ally enjoy Pesach Sheini even more than its fa-
mous predecessor Pesach Rishon. It has none

of the hard work; yet it has all the rewards. One

doesn’t have to clean and scour the house to pre-
pare. Well, anyway, it’s not a mitzva to do so.

Yet, we enjoy the eating of Matzah and drink-
ing four koises of grape juice. I even eat Maror.

Well, only the green stuff – Romaine Lettuce;

not the more pungent white stuff. I warm up the
Matzah in the microwave to have Erev Pesach
Sheini baked matzas. I even eat some Pesach
cake as it says in the posuk, “Ugois Matzas” –
cake and Matzas. The Shabbos before is called
Shabbos Ha’Koton – the Shabbos before Pesach
Koton. I didn’t set aside the Afikomen but the
kid who stole the Afikomen during the Seder of
the Pesach Rishon gave it back to me on Pesach
Sheini. After I finish, I sing, “Chasal Siddur
Pesach Sheini ka’hilchusoi. The reason we have
Pesach Sheini is to accommodate the people
who are Tamei or are far away. As for Tamei,
we are considered Tamei now; so it should be
important. As for being far away, it could mean
physically far away. The people who lived in
China were very far away. In fact, the observed
it for a long time as Pesach Chiyni. The meaning
of far away could also mean in a spiritual sense.
Someone who was so far away spiritually that he

didn’t bring a Korban Pesach in Nissan. How-
ever, we don’t give up on him but offers another

opportunity to improve his avoda. As Avrohom
Rosenblum said during Hasc 27 concert, “we all
get another chance.” Another chance, a Second
chance. In case you were wondering, I have a
personal reason to emphasize all this observance.
See, my Second name is Pesach.
D PESACH
Vues Master’s Note: Don’t quit your day job!

CHURCH
Dear Vues Master:
This past Shabbos at the Coronation of King
Charles III, Chief Rabbi of England, Rabbi
Ephraim Mirvis went into a church. I thought
that was not allowed according to Jewish Law. Is
this an exception?
KL
Vues Master’s Note: I don’t know and I have yet
to hear a source for this!

EXTRACTION
Dear Vues Master:
A Rabbi went to the home of a
wealthy man to ask for tzedakah for
poor people. The man had a heart of
stone and the rebbie had to speak with
him for an hour before the man finally

coughed up a donation. When the reb-
be’s Chasidim heard that he actually

received money from this miser, they
exclaimed: “The power of our rebbie
is greater than the power of Moshe
Rabbeinu. He extracted water from
the stone; our rebbie extracted money
from the stone.”
MB
Vues Master’s Note: I bet you the guy
could extract his tooth!

DRAWING
Dear Vues Master:

A kindergarten teacher was walk-
ing around the classroom to see how

the children were doing with their

drawing. “Leah, what are you draw-
ing?” the Moreh asked. “I’m draw-
ing angels,” the little girl answered.

“But Leah,” the moreh said, “no one
knows what angels look like.” Leah
lifted her head from her drawing and
said: “Right, but they soon will.”
BM
Vues Master’s Note: Artisan Challah!

ORPHAN
Dear Vues Master:
A congregant complained to his Rav
that he’s within the year for his father
but the congregants won’t let him be
chazzan. When the Rav asked why, he
said that the congregants thought his
voice wasn’t good and that he took
too long. The Rav responded that

“All you are required to say is kad-
dish. Your father made you a yasom,

not a chazzan.”
NB
Vues Master’s Note: Sad but the truth.
Too many people fighting to daven for
the amud!

NETFLIX
Dear Vues Master:
It seems that wherever you go this
past week people are talking about

the new Jewish Matchmaker show
on Netflix. I can’t believe people
are enjoying this show. It’s mamush
shmutz. It’s reality TV at its worst &
it does not show a real representation
of what shadchanus looks like in the
frum world. I have no idea why the
shadchan participated in this show. It
really makes Klal Yisrael look like all
the other nations of the world. We are
not. We are the Am Hanivchar!!!
EH

Vues Master’s Note: It is interest-
ing where I live no one spoke about

it! This is the first time I am hearing
about it! Maybe it is time to find new
neighbors who don’t have a TV!

HEART
Dear Vues Master:
This is a letter from the heart surgeon

Dr. Eitan Keizman, who saved Maay-
an Domenovich’s heart block after

his death. “Dear Domenovich Family,
I don’t know you and you are not me.
My name is Eitan and I specialize in

pediatric heart surgery. Last Wednes-
day, on Israel’s Independence Day, I

heard along with the entire nation of

Israel the terrible news. I didn’t imag-
ine that in the evening I would get a

call from the transplant coordinator
asking me to meet Ma’ayan… She
asked if I would agree to save his dear
good innocent heart for the sake of a

drug donation. Despite the huge bur-
den I felt, I agreed to one and stood up

that night in the operating room to do

it (together with Alina Levy, respon-
sible for the donations of the heart

attack). Eila, Elia, the Domenovich
family, I have no words to describe
how beautiful and pure was from his
perfect eye and heart. I want to give
it to you so that I drive it gently to
no end. With dedication of soul. In an
endless ripple. I made sure that not
even a scar would remain. That night,
as a fresh father myself, Ma’ayan was
my dearest thing. And I want you to
know, Eila, that the deed you did is
indescribably sublime. The powers of
your soul no longer exist in our world.
Since Wednesday night I feel a little
different. I feel that Ma’ayin goes

with me everywhere, and I promise
you, Ma’ayin’s heart will save the
hearts of two babies that will need the

spring as air for breathing. I’m send-
ing recovery wishes to all of you. Not

a day goes by that I don’t think of you
and pray for your healing. I’ve been

privileged to help without a few chil-
dren. I feel in all my heart, that the

right to take care of the spring, is the
greatest I’ve ever had in my life. His
light walks with me… “
JL
Vues Master’s Note: Very nice! Mi
Kamcha Yisrael!

FDR
Dear Vues Master:
A recent New York Times feature
about a troubled World War II veteran
has inadvertently shed fresh light on

the Roosevelt administration’s re-
fusal to bomb the railways leading to

Auschwitz. The story also implicitly
undermines one of the major themes
of the recent Ken Burns documentary
about America’s response to the Nazi
genocide. According to the Times,
Brooklyn resident John Wenzel, who
will soon celebrate his 100th birthday,

had never wanted to discuss his war-
time service. But recently he began

suffering nightmares about it, prompt-
ing him and his daughters to examine

a long-unopened box of letters that he
wrote to his family during his time

in Europe. Wenzel was a fighter pi-
lot who flew bombing missions over

German-occupied northern Italy and
southern Austria in early 1945. His

targets, the Times article noted, in-
cluded “Axis railroad cars,” “a rail

line,” and “stalled enemy train cars.”
He was wounded—and subsequently
awarded two Purple Hearts—while
providing air support for soldiers
“pushing toward a rail hub.” Here’s
how Wenzel’s story intersects with the
Holocaust. Contemporary defenders
of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s
Holocaust record argue that there was
no point in bombing the railways to
Auschwitz—over which hundreds of
thousands of Jews were deported to
their deaths—because the Germans

sometimes were able to repair rail-
way lines fairly quickly. Ken Burns

promoted that claim in his recent
film, “The U.S. and the Holocaust.”

The reality, however, is that the Al-
lies constantly bombed railway lines

throughout Europe, despite the possi-
bility of the Germans repairing them.

Bombing railways, including the
bridges along their routes, consumed
no less than 32% of the bomb tonnage
utilized in the Allies’ entire strategic
air campaign in Europe. John Wenzel
was just one of more than 165,000
American pilots who graduated basic
flight training in World War II. Yet
the bombing of Axis railway targets
in Europe was so common that when

the New York Times picked one pi-
lot’s story to spotlight, sure enough

he was among those involved in the

railway attacks. When the Allies be-
gan preparing to invade Italy in 1943,

they carried out extensive bomb-
ing of enemy transportation routes

there. Likewise, during the months
before the crucial D-Day landings in

1944, American and British pilots at-
tacked railway targets across France,

Belgium, and western Germany. By

D-Day, France’s railways were func-
tioning at just 10% of their normal

capacity. The impact of these raids

was felt in many ways. The Ger-
mans were forced to divert tens of

thousands of laborers from military

construction in order to repair dam-
aged railroads. Trains carrying army

supplies were stranded for long pe-
riods of time, and some war materi-
als remained in warehouses for lack

of transportation to the front. Hitler’s
Ardennes offensive (the Battle of the

Bulge) was repeatedly postponed be-
cause damage to transportation routes

prevented resupplying German troops
there. Air strikes on rail marshaling

yards destroyed freight cars, locomo-
tives, and military goods awaiting

shipment. As a result, many German
army units went into battle without
adequate equipment or personnel. Of

the 2,100 tanks manufactured by Ger-
man factories in the autumn of 1944,

less than half reached German forces.

The quality of their weaponry also
was affected, because disruptions to
the rail lines interfered with testing
and modifying armaments. Army
morale was affected, too; military
leaves for many German soldiers
were suspended for lack of trains.
The pre-D-Day focus on railways

was so successful that the Allies de-
cided to move transportation systems

up to second on their priority list in
the strategic bombing campaign in

1944. These massive Allied air at-
tacks on railways and related targets

were taking place at the same time
that Jewish leaders were pleading
for the bombing of the railways and
bridges leading to Auschwitz. Later
that year, Allied air attacks targeted
and destroyed 20 rail centers, 113
bridges, and 28,000 railroad cars
in German’s Ruhr region, its major

source of coal. The result was a re-
duction in coal production by two-
thirds, and a significant depletion

of coal stockpiles—a major blow to
the German war effort. The ripple

effects included shutdowns in vari-
ous other industries. The Strategic

Bombing Survey, an internal analy-
sis conducted by U.S. government

experts, concluded that the target-
ing of transportation routes in Ruhr

and elsewhere in 1944 “was the most
important single cause of Germany’s
ultimate economic collapse.” Yet
when American Jewish organizations
asked the Roosevelt administration
to bomb a few specific railway lines
and bridges leading to Auschwitz,
U.S. officials claimed that would be
an unjustified “diversion” from the
war effort—even though German
troops and war material traveled on
those same routes, in addition to the

deported Jews. Was the administra-
tion’s refusal based on the possibility

that the Germans might try to repair
the railways? Obviously not. The
refusal was rooted in the Roosevelt
administration’s view that military
resources should never be used to

assist Jewish refugees, even if it in-
volved nothing more than targeting a

handful of railways and bridges—at

the very moment that Allied pilots
were constantly being sent to bomb
so many other railways, as the New
York Times feature on John Wenzel
reminds us.
Rafael Medoff
Vues Master’s Note: Thanks for the
history lesson!

RESPECT
Dear Vues Master:
You shall each revere his mother and
his father, and keep My Sabbaths: I
am the Lord your G-d. Kedoshim
19:3 And keep my Sabbaths —
Scripture places the commandment

of observing the Sabbath immedi-
ately after that of fearing one’s father

in order to suggest the following:

“Although I admonish you regard-
ing the fear due to your father, yet

if he bids you: “Desecrate the Sab-
bath”, do not listen to him” — and

the same is the case with any of the
other commandments. (Rashi) I am
the Lord your G-d — both you and

your father are equally bound to hon-
or Me! Do not therefore obey him

if it results in making My words of
no effect, — What is implied in the
term “revere”? That one should not
sit in his seat, nor speak in his stead,
nor contradict his words. And what
is implied in the term Honor? That
the child gives the parents to eat and
to drink, provides them with clothes
and shoes, leads them into the room
and out if they are infirm. I usually
hear this Rashi quoted in a way that
is limiting, that this is all you have
to do. However, this is not the case

because the rabbis say this is a dif-
ficult mitzvah. Only once I heard of

a father telling his son to do work on
Shabbos but that was an irreligious
father who didn’t think it was wrong.
It isn’t called going against the Torah
if a father disagrees with a rabbi. The
hava mina (the initial thought) from

the above verse is that one should lis-
ten to his father and the verse is com-
ing to give the father clout and not

diminish it.
DG

Vues Master’s Note: Once again you
are on a one track mission and you
are barking up the wrong tree!

FATHER
Dear Vues Master:
Knowledge is always in proportion
to the confusion that preceded it.

Meaning the more something is ab-
surd or seen as a contradiction the

greater the understanding when the
answer is found. If a person isn’t
bothered by the question, then there
is no enlightenment by the answer.
That is why the father tries to elicit
confusion by the seder so that the

children should appreciate the an-
swer. However, there is an opposing

concept that people are happy when
doubt is removed. People don’t like

to be in doubt or confusion. The par-
adox is that confusion is a prerequi-
site to learning but people don’t want

to be confused. Most confusion hap-
pens on a subconscious level. For in-
stance, a doctor might say things that

don’t make sense, but you don’t want
to entertain the thought that he might
be incompetent or malicious because
your best friend recommended him,
he is a relative or you waited months
to see him. So you assuage the
doubts with backwards logic. Oh, he

is probably tired, in a hurry, or hun-
gry. Only after the fact, do you won-
der how you didn’t see the red flags.

Here is a remedy if you suffer from
making the same mistakes over and
over again. Start by listening to your
father and don’t talk back to him. A
father is going to tell you what he
thinks because has nothing he wants
from you except to teach you. He is
bound to say things that are going to
upset you. Getting upset is a good
sign that means you aren’t totally
brainwashed. Don’t even show him

a sour face. Hold on to that uneasi-
ness or confusion as long as you can.

Eventually it will get easier to do so.
Soon you won’t be making decisions
from your amygdala but from your
frontal lobe where rational decisions

are made. Here is an important ca-
veat. If your mother tells you not to

listen to your father or grandparents,
don’t follow their instructions or tell
them what you think. In divorces

a child usually sides with the un-
healthy parent because they know

how to manipulate their children’s
emotions. An unhealthy parent
knows how to surreptitiously remove
doubt from their children and at the
same time make them think they
made an independent decision. So
they feel on top of the world and will
censor the other parent because they

don’t want to go into a state of confu-
sion. Here is an example of two di-
vorced parents. A normal father who

has custody: “I know you don’t want
to go swimming with your mother’s
date, but you will be honoring her by
going.” As opposed to the unhealthy
mother, “Don’t call your dad!” The
former the child has to deal with an
uneasy decision while the latter he
doesn’t have to think.
DG
Vues Master’s Note: Sad that you are
getting nowhere!

KOHEN
Dear Vues Master:
A Kohen may be מטמא to only his
seven* relatives. Harav Hagaon R.
Shlomo Miller Shlita said, There are
many Kohanim who are unaware that
if the relative who died was not Frum

& wasn’t a Tinok Shenishba; the Ko-
hen may not be Metame to them. ח

ג“שע ד“יו ’This can be very applica-
ble if the person went off the Derech.

one דאורייתא is טומאת כהנים Being
may not be lenient about it. (A Rav
should be consulted)
KL
Vues Master’s Note: We should not
have such Shailos!