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    SPEAK YOUR VUES WITH THE VUES MASTER

    BDE RAV GERSHON EDELSTEIN ZT”L
    Dear Vues Master

    I feel bad for the students and followers of Rav Edel-
    stein זצ״ל and recognize the loss to the Jewish people

    today. I feel even worse for those who never learned
    his Torah lessons and don’t recognize our
    people’s loss.
    RUP
    Vues Masters Note: Yehi Zichro Baruch!

    BDE RAV GERSHON EDELSTEIN ZT”L
    Dear Vues Master

    From the head of Machon Shilo, Rabbi David Bar-
    Hayim: “Rabbeinu HaGaon HaRav Gershon Edel-
    stein ztz”l has been summoned to the Yeshiva Shel

    the say should One .בא“י אמ“ה דיין האמת .alah’Ma
    bracha with Shem Umalchut.”
    RDBH
    Vues Masters Note: Yehi Zichro Baruch!

    ANSWER
    Dear Vues Master:
    Wow! That’s all I can say! Rabbi Feiners answer to
    the fun question in last week’s Jewish Vues was so
    raw & emotional. It was real. Everywhere I went over

    Yom Tov people were talking about it. Numerous rab-
    bis throughout Flatbush included it in their Shavos

    drashas. Kol Hakavod!
    JA
    Vues Master’s Note: It was a very powerful answer!

    ANSWER II
    Dear Vues Master:
    Just wanted to let Ari Hirsch know that Rabbi Wolf
    from the Young Israel of Woodmere discussed the
    Rabbi Feiner interview over Shavuous. The answer
    that Rabbi Feiner gave to the chevrusa question was

    very emotional . Rabbi & Rebbetzin Feiner are mala-
    chim & we only wish them & their son the best!

    AC
    Vues Master’s Note: Again we always want what we

    can’t have. How many fathers who have healthy chil-
    dren need to hire a tutor because they end up fighting

    and killing the kid if they learn with him!

    RABBI FEINER
    Dear Vues Master:
    I have been in awe of Rabbi Feiner for years. I truly
    can’t fathom how he has such strength and emunah.
    The chevrusa answer to the Ari Hirsch interview was
    one of the most powerful statements I have ever read.
    Thank you so much for your interviews. My family
    loves the Jewish Vues!
    PT
    Vues Master’s Note: Seems to be the theme this week!

    INTERVIEW
    Dear Vues Master:
    The Rabbi Feiner interview in last week’s edition was

    simply beyond. I needed to read it many times to ab-
    sorb it. So powerful!

    JG
    Vues Master’s Note: Thanks for sharing!

    RABBI FEINER INTERVIEW
    Dear Vues Master:

    I’m crying. Wow. I needed to read that Rabbi Fein-
    er interview. As a parent of an only child in a place

    where so many people have four or more, sometimes
    I don’t focus on the fact that I too am blessed. Rabbi
    Feiner has always been my role model in this matter.
    DH
    Vues Master’s Note: We all know that Rabbi and
    Rebbetzin Feiner are extremely special people.

    CHANGE
    Dear Vues Master:
    Abe told his friend that he was getting divorced.
    “Ever since we got married she’s worked to change
    me. She got me to stop smoking and drinking. She
    taught me how to dress well. She even taught me how

    to invest in the stock market.” “It sounds like you re-
    ally resent her having changed you so drastically,” his

    friend remarked. “No, I’m not resentful,” Abe said.
    “It’s just that now that I’m so improved, she’s not
    good enough for me.”
    MB
    Vues Master’s Note: I think she changed also! For
    the worse!

    FATHER
    Dear Vues Master:
    In the morning we say the brachos
    over the Torah: And may (1,2) we
    and (3) our descendants and the (4)
    descendants of our descendants and
    the (5) descendants of Your people
    the House of Israel, all know Your
    Name and be students of Your Torah
    for its own sake. Similarly, after the

    blessing of Shema we say the fol-
    lowing: For (1) our fathers and for

    (2) us, for (3) our children and for
    (4) our generations, and (5) for all
    generations of the seed of Israel,
    Your servants. Learn from here that

    a father is responsible for four peo-
    ple, his immediate family and for

    his neighbor. The immediate family
    is (1) his father, (2) himself, (3) his
    children, and (4) his grandchildren.
    For (5) other peoples’ children as
    the Ibn Ezra says in Vayikra 19:3:1
    “Scripture employs the plural tira’u
    (ye shall fear) because those who
    observe another person’s child have
    to teach him and force him to fear
    his parents.” In the morning we say
    the blessing over the Torah: And

    may (1,2) we and (3) our descen-
    dants and the (4) descendants of

    our descendants and the (5) descen-
    dants of Your people the House of

    Israel, all know Your Name and be
    students of Your Torah for its own
    sake. Similarly, after the blessing of
    Shema we say the following: For (1)
    our fathers and for (2) us, for (3) our
    children and for (4) our generations,
    and (5) for all generations of the
    seed of Israel, Your servants. Learn

    from here that a father is responsi-
    ble for four people, his immediate

    family and for his neighbor. The im-
    mediate family is (1) his father, (2)

    himself, (3) his children, and (4) his

    grandchildren. For (5) other peo-
    ples’ children as the Ibn Ezra says

    on Leviticus 19:3:1 “Scripture em-
    ploys the plural tira’u (ye shall fear)

    because those who observe another
    person’s child have to teach him and
    force him to fear his parents.”
    DG

    Vues Master’s Note: And right on top-
    ic here comes DG

    THE WEALTH OF TORAH
    Dear Vues Master:
    My father Z”l was driving his Rosh
    Hayeshiva, Moreinu Horav Yisroel
    Zev Gustman ZTL, Rosh Hayeshiva
    Netzach Yisroel Kuntras Hashuirim,

    past the World Trade Center build-
    ings. He commented; “if Yidden

    would only know the Ashiris-wealth
    that’s in this small tosphos that I’m
    learning now, they would run from the
    binyanim-buildings to go learn Torah

    “! He once told me; “Save the poli-
    tics for the old men on the street cor-
    ner”! Wow!The Chofetz Chaim stood

    up for Rav Gustman even though he
    was very young at the age of 21 when
    he served on Rav Chaim Ozer’s Beis
    din in Ramayles Vilna. He was Rav
    Chaim Schmulevits chavrusa and
    learned with Rav Shmuel Rozovsky

    by Rav Shimon Shkap. Yhei Zichro-
    num Bruchim.

    RMS
    Vues Master’s Note: Nice to hear from
    our Gedolim! Thanks for sharing!

    JUDGES
    Dear Vues Master:
    The Divine Presence that dwells
    among judges leaves if they judge
    improperly. From the time when
    those who are referred to in the verse:

    “Their heart goes after their covetous-
    ness” (Ezekiel 33:31), proliferated,

    “Those who say to evil good, and to
    good evil” (Isaiah 5:20) proliferated,
    i.e., those who treat wicked people as

    though they were righteous proliferat-
    ed as a result. From the time when the

    fulfillment of the verse: “Those who
    say to evil good, and to good evil,”
    proliferated, the cry of: Woe, woe,
    proliferated in the world. There was
    an increase in troubles that caused
    people to cry out. Because people

    praise evildoers, mankind will even-
    tually cry out “woe” in despair. When

    evildoers are praised, people seek to

    emulate them. This causes misfor-
    tune to descend on the world, as the

    Gemara states, punishment comes to
    the world on account of the wicked.
    Is my son the product of the above or
    below (here): Torah scholars became
    concerned with ease and comfort,

    they did not invest the time and ef-
    fort necessary to properly analyze the

    court cases and questions of halacha
    that were brought before them. As a
    result, the decisions they issued were

    often poorly thought-out and incor-
    rect. Thus, justice was perverted, and

    the deeds of the public who relied on
    their halachic rulings suffered. – Sota
    47b ArtScroll
    Vues Master’s Note: Seems to me that
    you are not eligible to judge as you
    are biased against the Yeshiva system
    and your es-wife!

    IT’S A REBBE’S LIFE
    Dear Vues Master:

    Below is a letter that I saw on ye-
    shivaworld.com that I thought your

    readership would appreciate.
    To whom it may concern.
    I am a longtime Rebbi in a Brooklyn
    Yeshiva. I never in a million years
    thought I would have to be writing
    such a letter, but I am left without a
    choice. A few weeks ago, hundreds

    of Rabbeiyim and Morah’s were in-
    formed – via a letter on YWN – that

    our summer vacations would be short-
    ened, and that the Yeshivas would be

    starting earlier than it had been for the
    past 60 years. The letter was released
    by Torah Umesorah, and signed by
    the Vaad Roshei Yeshiva, all of whom
    I have the utmost Kavod for. Yeshivos
    and Bais Yaakovs in Brooklyn have

    reached an unprecedented “consen-
    sus” to begin the 2023-2024 school

    year around the start of Elul, rather

    than with the secular start date of La-
    bor Day. I thought it was only myself

    who was troubled by this decision, but
    after talking to dozens upon dozens of
    Rabbeiyim and teachers, I found that
    I was far from the only one perplexed.
    To begin with, every single one of
    them was highly insulted. Not one
    of us was consulted with before this
    massive decision was made. Now, to

    be very clear, we all know that Gedo-
    lei Olam can make decisions as they

    see fit, but at the very least the Rab-
    beyim and teachers should have had a

    say in the matter — especially if the
    driving force behind this decision was
    one or two Baalei Batim. If they are
    going to listen to Baalei Batim, then

    there is no reason why we – the Me-
    chanchim – should not have a voice.

    The list is very long. The reasons are

    many. And we should have been giv-
    en a voice at the table. Here are just a

    few thoughts to ponder: Is the Yeshi-
    va I am employed in going to increase

    my salary for an extra week of work?
    We have yet to be told anything of the

    sort. Will yeshivas increase the tu-
    ition for parents due to an extra week

    and a half of Yeshiva? Do these Baa-
    lei batim who have never in their lives

    driven a child to Yeshiva knows that
    there is no bussing for most schools,
    since it is before Labor Day? That
    means that working parents (which is
    around 99.5% of all parents) will have
    to drive their children to school and
    be late for work. Was this taken into
    consideration? Do the people who
    made this decision understand that
    nearly every single one of us work all
    summer both days and night to make
    ends meet, and we literally had this

    week and a half between camp end-
    ing and yeshiva starting to get our-
    selves together so we don’t walk into

    a classroom looking and feeling like

    a “Shmata”? This was our only vaca-
    tion to rest up and be able to walk into

    a classroom refreshed. We didn’t sit
    in the swimming pool all summer. We
    ran from camp to camp, bungalow
    colony to bungalow colony, house to
    house, teaching, tutoring, and doing
    everything we could to pay our bills.
    Don’t you think our employers should
    have the decency to talk to us first?

    Finally, it should be noted that the let-
    ter was sent out before every Brook-
    lyn girls school was on board even

    though the letter says that they are on
    board and this was a “consensus”. In
    fact, as of right now, not all schools
    have agreed. For the sake of honesty,
    this should be stated publicly. I hope
    that this decision is reconsidered, and
    rabbeyim and teachers are treated

    with the dignity and respect we de-
    serve. We dedicated our lives to be-
    ing mechanech tens of thousands of

    children with good hashkafos, meso-
    rah, and solid torah education. If you

    trust us to protect and watch over our
    diamonds, we should at the very least
    be given an opportunity to voice our
    opinions when it comes to a decision

    of this magnitude.
    Name withheld upon request (due to
    fears of losing my job in 12 seconds).

    Vues Master’s Note: Well you Reb-
    beim get paid top dollar and on time

    who are you to complain? Just kid-
    ding, we know the Rebbeim and Mo-
    ros are underpaid and a loan is taken

    on their backs all the time hence they
    don’t get paid on time!

    CHEESY
    Dear Vues Master:
    The Yom Tov of Shavous doesn’t
    have many halachos unique to it. But
    it does have many minhagim. Most
    of you are familiar with the more
    prevalent ones. However, there are
    some minhagim and ha’orus that are
    less known. So why is the Yom Tov
    called Shavous? One answer is that
    it references Shiva Shavous – the
    weeks preceding it where we count
    the Omer and prepare for kabulous
    ha’Torah. Another is the swearing
    of Shavuos where we take upon
    ourselves to increase our learning.
    A lesser known answer is that we

    engage in ameilous b’Torah. Espe-
    cially in this time of the year where

    it could get hot and steamy (although
    not this year), it leads to working up
    a sweat or Sh’veis. So what do we
    drink to cool off and wash down the
    cheese cake? We have a minhag to

    drink Mountain Dew. This is a ref-
    erence to Naaseh V’nishma. We will

    Dew and listen near the Mountain.
    Those who can’t get Mountain Dew
    could drink Half and Half since it’s

    a remez to chatzi la’shem and chat-
    zi la’chem. This brings up a ques-
    tion someone asked me. We have a

    minhag to stay up all night, usually
    the first night of Shavuous in Chutz
    la’aretz, and learn. If some one can’t
    stay up the whole night, can he stay
    up half the night the first night and
    half the night the second night. Are
    we mitztaref chatzi Laila Rishon and
    chatzi Laila Sheinu? As they might
    also say in Japan, Teiku. I read that
    there is a big inyan making a bris for

    one’s child on the first day of Shevu-
    ous. You make the bris right before

    Krias Ha’torah. When the baby be-
    gins his life, he undergoes the bris

    milah. It gives another meaning to
    the words Akdumous Milin. I saw

    this and other factoids about Akdu-
    mus – the translation and the history

    behind it – in a book that came out
    many years ago when there were
    many of these self-study books that
    made subjects simple. It was called
    Akdumus for Dummies. The second
    day of Shevuous, there is a minhag
    to lein Megilas Ruth. Her name is
    sometimes spelled Rut, Ruth, Ris
    and Rus. Well, some shules do. Ours
    doesn’t. People call us Ruthless but
    we’re used to it. We may not have
    Ris, but we say Rin (see haftorah for
    that day). Initially, in Moab, she was
    in rut but later became Ruth. When
    she reported what occurred when she
    met Boaz to Naomi, Naomi replied,
    “Boaz will be Boaz.” Near the end
    of the megillah, we read about Ploni
    Almoni who is really Toiv . From
    this we learn that being merely good
    is not good enough. Rus gives birth

    to a son that was called Oved. How-
    ever, when he was a baby the other

    women called him Babe Ruth. Later
    on in life, she traveled to a land that
    was named after her – Ruslaand.
    There she found plentiful grain in a
    land called Ugrain. That was a long
    time ago before they went to war.
    But about the war, that… is a whole
    nother story.
    DF
    Vues Master’s Note: Sounds like sour
    milk and is a cheesy letter! I guess
    you milked it for all it’s worth. I
    won’t cry over spilled milk!

    MARRIAGE
    Dear Vues Master:
    A husband in an unhappy marriage
    remarked: Marriage is a three ring
    circus – The engagement ring. The
    wedding ring. And the suffering.
    BN
    Vues Master’s Note: As one said 100
    percent of divorces started with a
    wedding cake!

    TRAINING
    Dear Vues Master:
    When a man brought a friend home
    without first telling his wife, she
    shouted: “Are you nuts? Why didn’t

    you call before bringing someone
    to the house? The house is a mess.
    There are dishes in the sink. I haven’t
    cooked anything. And I’m sure not
    going to do it now, without notice.
    Why did you bring him over?” The
    husband calmly explained: “He’s
    thinking of getting married. I wanted
    him to know what to expect.”
    FA
    Vues Master’s Note: Wow! As one
    said, you don’t have shalom bayis
    until you have your first fight!

    DIET
    Dear Vues Master:
    Mr. Lee was terribly overweight, so
    his doctor put him on a diet. “I want
    you to eat regularly for 2 days, then
    skip a day, and repeat this procedure
    for 2 weeks. The next time I see you,
    you’ll have lost at least 5 pounds.”
    When Mr. Lee returned, he shocked
    the doctor by losing nearly 20 pounds.
    “Why, that’s amazing!” the doctor

    said, “Did you follow my instruc-
    tions?” Mr. Lee nodded. “I’ll tell you

    though; I thought I was going to drop
    dead that 3rd day.” “From hunger,
    you mean?” asked the doctor. “No,”
    replied Mr. Lee, “from skipping.”
    WE
    Vues Master’s Note: This reminds me
    of the joke about jump rope… eh…
    I’ll skip it!

    TAMEI
    Dear Vues Master:
    The wife of a Rav was very מחמירה
    in all of the particulars of
    nevertheless but מצוות בין אדם למקום
    constantly picked on and harassed
    her husband. Once, during a nasty
    argument, the Rav said to her: “You
    know, a man who is במצוות מדקדק
    is called a Chassid. A woman who is
    במצוות מדקדק is called a חסידה ;yet,
    no matter how מדקדק a חסידה is, she
    is still tameh.”
    BN
    Vues Master’s Note: She must’ve had
    a bird brain.

    YICHUS
    Dear Vues Master:
    A not particularly bright or learned
    man appeared before מאיר׳ל רבי of

    פרמישלן, boasting of his יחוס and his
    holy ancestors. The רבי said let me
    tell you a story. “A wealthy man had
    a dog who had faithfully served his
    master for many years but had now
    grown old. The man decided to rid
    himself of the dog by sending him to
    the forest. But in recognition of the
    dog’s service and loyalty over the

    years, he felt an obligation to pro-
    tect him from the wild animals in

    the forest. Thus, he clothed the dog
    with the hides of a lion, a bear, and
    a wolf before sending him away.
    Soon, the lion heard that there was
    a very strange animal in the forest
    and ordered that it be brought to him.
    Looking at it, the lion asked “Who
    are you?” “My great grandfather was
    a lion” the dog said. “That’s nice,”
    the lion responded, “but who are
    you?” “My grandfather was a bear,”
    the dog answered. “Great,” the lion
    said, “but who are you?” “My father
    was a wolf,” said the dog. “None of
    that answers my question” the lion

    said with a roar. “Who are you?” Fi-
    nally, hanging his head in shame, he

    admitted “I’m just a dog.”
    RMP
    Vues Master’s Note: Or as Rav Gifter
    told his mother the Yichus will begin
    with me!

    POOR
    Dear Vues Master:

    A very wealthy man had serious fi-
    nancial reverses, went bankrupt and

    lost everything, including all of his
    “friends.” He said: “This is a ראיה
    לא היה ולא נברא אלא משל היה that
    איוב. Because how is it possible that
    a person who lost all of his wealth,
    still remained with three friends?”
    FD
    Vues Master’s Note: Nice to hear

    from our Gedolim! Thanks for shar-
    ing!