20 Jun SPEAK YOUR VUES WITH THE VUES MASTER
REBBE
Dear Vues Master:
It’s so sad that we lost another gadol last week.
The Bostoner rebbe from Flatbush was loved by
all. He was a tremendous talmud chacham & was
always very nice to my son & I. We have been do-
ing Kaparos on the corner there for many years.
May his neshama have an aliyah!
JF
Vues Master’s Note: We are lacking gedolim!
FIRES UPSTATE
Dear Vues Master
Over the last few years there were three major
fres in the town of South Fallsburg. The restaurant
called The Venetian Cafe burned down three sum-
mers ago, T-Spoons burned down in the middle of
last summer & Boosar burned down this past Octo-
ber. There are three empty holes in the ground right
now in the town of South Fallsburg. First of all I
would like to warn people to be careful around fre.
It obviously is life threatening. I would also like to
thank the great fre departments we have upstate.
They have a lot of work over the summer months
& they risk their life for the public.
Vues Master’s Note: Stopping by a local fre station
with baked goods is a great way to show appre-
ciation to frefghters. Also donating money is also
a good way to say thank you to frefghters. Every
summer the local fremen take out their buckets
and collect by the four corners, be kind & give a
generous donation.
CAMP
Dear Vues Master:
My daughter just left to camp this past Tuesday &
next Sunday is visiting day. Isn’t that a little crazy?
I love my kid but I can’t believe I need to shlep four
hours to visit her when she just left. Why so soon?
LB
Vues Master’s Note: I never understood camps that
did that!
SUPERMARKET
Dear Vues Master:
I can’t get over how beautiful the new Mountain
Food grocery is in Monticello. It’s amazing that a
business that is open only ten weeks a year can af-
ford such a beautiful store! May they have much
bracha & mazel!
LP
Vues Master’s Note: We defnitely can use more
groceries upstate!
SUPERMARKET
Dear Vues Master:
Another year and Gourmet Glatt is not ready to be
open in Kiamesha. What is taking so long? Why do
businesses take so long to open upstate?
LG
Vues Master’s Note: There’s always an issue up-
state!
SOUTH FALLSBURG
Dear Vues Master:
Why does South Fallsburg have no parking? It’s
so hard to patronize businesses in South Fallsburg.
You have to park by Landaus & walk up the moun-
tain. It’s not easy for elderly people to do that.
JT
Vues Master’s Note: I heard there is an airport
shuttle going to transport all people to get their
pizza! Just kidding!
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Dear Vues Master:
A student once asked his rebbie: “Everything was
taken from איוב, his wealth, his home, his sons, and
his daughters. Why didn’t השם also take his wife?”
The rebbie answered: “As you know, איוב was to
receive double of everything that was taken from
him. Therefore,
“.ריחמו עליו מן השמים ולא לקחו ממניו את אשתו
MB
Vues Master’s Note: I always thought he would not
be able to survive two shviggers.
WARNING
Dear Vues Master:
The number of accidents with people
riding scooters has skyrocketed. Hat-
zolah members in all neighborhoods
have been responding to incidents in-
volving scooters every day. Many of
those incidents resulted in serious and
critical head injuries. As the summer
gets underway, I am pleading with all
parents to make sure your children are
wearing helmets, and are driving safely.
The same goes for adults. Don’t think
you are immune to injury. Just ask your
local Hatzolah member about the latest
horror story.
KL
Vues Master’s Note: Thanks for the re-
minder. This is a very serious issue!
TEVILLAS KAILIM
Dear Vues Master:
A lot of people use Kiamesha lake to
toivel their dishes & make a big mess
on the side of the lake. I just wanted
to let people know that it’s a big chi-
lul Hashem to do that & people should
clean up after themselves. By doing
a mitzvah & making a chilul Hashem
it doesn’t seem right to me. Please be
aware & clean up after yourselves.
RBT
Vues Master’s Note: Although I’m sure
some of the mess comes from people
that picnic there illegally, people should
always remember to make a kiddush
hashem & not chas v’shalom a chilul
hashem. The extra two minutes it takes
to clean up will make a very big differ-
ence in the way outsiders look at us.
MONTICELLO
Dear Vues Master:
Monticello appears to have received a
nice facelift this past winter. I like the
sidewalk on Broadway & all the new
stores. I hope traffc isn’t going to be
crazy this summer.
FY
Vues Master’s Note: As long as there
are no traffc camera tickets you will
be ok!
MARRIAGE
Dear Vues Master:
Who were the frst tourists in the
world? In Parshas Shelach, Moshe Ra-
beinu sent a group of people “la’tour es
ha’urtez” – to tour the land. Possibly
the word tour comes from that word
in the Torah. However, Rashi uses the
word “me’ragel” which means to spy
and that’s generally how we interpret
it. So what was the mission to tour or
to spy? There are several answers to
that question but for the person who is
familiar with spy stories the answer is
quite simple. How does a spy succeed
in his mission? He has to have a cover
identity and façade. These anushim
were sent to spy but they had to portray
themselves as tourists. They wore loud
clothing and were constantly taking
pictures (or the equivalent in that era).
They were quite good at it and were
never caught even after going through
the whole land for forty days. In fact,
the whole mission was meticulously
planned out. Each one of the spies had
a particular part in the military team.
Reuven’s representative Shamuo ben
Zakir was in charge of eavesdropping
and records. Shimon’s representative
Shafat ben Choiri handled legal mat-
ters and freed captured soldiers if they
were caught. Caleiv ben Yefuna from
Yehuda took care of the canine squad.
Yigal ben Yoseif could also call in re-
inforcements to free detainees. Hoishea
ben Nun captained an underwater craft
shaped like a fsh. Palti ben Ruf headed
the medical team to treat any potential
casualties. Amiel ben Gmali provided
the camels which carried all the sup-
plies for the mission. Sesur ben Mi-
choel set up the demolition explosives
to be used to prevent pursuit by the Ca-
naanim. Nachbi ben Vuvsi brought the
Vufen or ammunition that would have
been needed in case of actual confict.
Ge’uel ben Muchi made sure to erase
all evidence of their incursion from the
enemy. To understand the last two, one
would have to be familiar with Ameri-
can history during World War II. In or-
der to fght the Nazis who were trying
to sabotage the US ports, the govern-
ment enlisted the aid of the Mafa who
also had Jewish members. This proved
to be very helpful. The Mafa actually
started a long time ago. One of the
meraglim was Gotti ben Susi who pro-
vided the equine transportation for the
people on the mission. He also intimi-
dated the enemy by placing the heads of
horses in their beds. The last one was
Gottiel ben Soidi; he was another g-
dfather who developed encryption rou-
tines to ensure secret communications
between the meraglim. So they were
very accomplished spies; how did they
go wrong? Well, the problem is they
had poor self esteem. For instance,
when Gotti was growing up other kids
called him a ben Sissy. So he along
with most of the meraglim thought of
themselves as grasshoppers. This was
true even though the Canaanim feared
them and called them the Dirty Dozen.
Finally, this is for those old timers who
are familiar with the work of the Jewish
comedians – the three Stooges. Their
mentors could have been mentioned in
Parshas Shelach. They lived in Chevron
where the meraglim met them – Achi-
man, Sheishai, and Salmai – the Neflim
since they used pratfalls as part of their
act. They were best known however as
the bnei a-nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. Soitenly!
DF
Vues Master’s Note: Dos heist gelerent
mit yenem taam! You should write a
book with your letters and then it will
get banned and you will sell millions of
copies!
PALESTINE
Dear Vues Master
Why do we get so worked up about
a fight attendant calling Israel Pal-
estine? Israel is a successful coun-
try, it’s older than half the countries
in the world, it has a top ten military,
economy, and its people are the fourth
happiest in the world. An Italian fight
attendant says something stupid and
we get all worked up. Why? If this
plane was approaching America and
the fight attendant had said “We
are now approaching Native Indi-
an land,” would anyone get upset?
Would it make the news? Of course
not. Who cares? It’s not going to af-
fect Israel one bit. We need to stop
worrying about what inconsequential
people say about Israel. We need to
build national self-esteem to ignore
foolish people.
RUP
Vues Master’s Note: Couldn’t agree
more!
MARRIAGE
Dear Vues Master:
Rachel and Steven got into a terrible
shouting match. “You’ll be sorry. I’m
going to leave you,” she screamed.
“Well it can’t be both,” he replied.
“Make up your mind and pick one or
the other.”
LK
Vues Master’s Note: Which one did he
pick?
DIVORCE
Dear Vues Master:
Reuven and Shimon met for lunch. Re-
uven thanked Shimon for joining him
and disclosed that he wanted to see
him to personally tell him that he was
getting divorced. “I’m stunned,” said
Shimon. “Your wife seems like such a
kind, generous woman.” Reuven point-
ed to his shoes. “You see my shoes,”
he said. “They look great, don’t they?”
Shimon agreed that they did. “But what
does that have to do with getting a di-
vorce?” he asked. “Well,” said Reuven,
“I’m with them the whole day and I
know how worn out they are, how they
pinch my toes and the pain they give
me each day.”
IU
Vues Master’s Note: I was waiting for
the other shoe to drop!
VETTING
Dear Vues Master:
Question: I heard a very prominent
Rav and Rosh Yeshiva in Monsey say
he doesn’t open a girls’ school because
there is no shortage of them and he
doesn’t want to become a cult. With that
said, should I date a boy in a yeshiva that
has a girls’ school? I feel if I get married
to him I will always be a stranger and
the odd girl out. However, the school
is hamish as all the rabbis are related in
some way and there is a wedding practi-
cally every week; therefore, I will have
an easy time marrying off my children.
Also, It is a mussar yeshiva and the rab-
bis say their students have the best mid-
dos (character). Answer: That kind of
yeshiva most likely has a vetting process
to weed out any independent minded
women. I wouldn’t be surprised if the
Rosh Yeshiva or his close confdence
have a hazing process for outsiders. As
far as good middos are concerned the
Meraglim (spies in Bamidbar 13:32)
said, “men of middos” so be careful
who is telling you who has good mid-
dos. Also, don’t get fooled by a stoic
personality, it doesn’t equate to having
good middos. Before you warm up to
a comatose husband, one who will put
the Rosh Yeshiva before you and the
family, I suggest you ask your father
what he thinks. In case the person is coy
and avoids answering where he went to
yeshiva here are some questions to fnd
out. Ask about his relationship with
both his parents. Ask him if he thinks
living at home is a red fag? If he tries to
sidestep the questions, looks uneasy or
gives outright disturbing answers like
I haven’t eaten Shabbos by my dad in
four years or thinks anyone living with
their parents must be a nebuch. I would
run for your life.
DG
Vues Master’s Note: Once again you
come through bashing your son’s ye-
shiva and Rosh Yeshiva!
COACH
Dear Vues Master:
Modern parenting fails. It fails at pro-
ducing caring, giving, self-sacrifcing
human beings — the kind of human
beings the world depends upon for
working on great causes and moving
us forward. Hard work, duty, obliga-
tion — these words do not exist in the
modern vocabulary. Indeed they rep-
resent the antithesis of current values,
which stress fun, self-fulfllment, and
instant gratifcation. Today’s children
know how to get what they want. What
they don’t know is how to give others
what they need. And it is our fault. We
have misled them. From the time they
were infants, we worked hard to give
them everything, to gratify their every
need and wish. Past toddlerhood, when
the frst stirrings of independent striv-
ings occurred, we did for them and did
some more. Into the school years and
into the teen years, our only concern
was to make them happy and provide
them with every opportunity, gift, and
service that would enable them to
fourish and prosper. Not that it was so
wrong of us to give in this way. What
was wrong was that we did not, in our
process of diligent giving, teach them
to give back nor even to show grati-
tude! The result is the “me” generation
or, in heimish circles, the “es kumt
mir” generation. This is a generation
of children who feel that they are en-
titled to every good thing. When de-
nied, their self-righteous anger knows
no bounds. As young adults they are
still demanding of their parents: “You
owe me. Your money is mine. Buy
me. Give me.” Where did children
ever learn the idea that the world ex-
ists for them? From their parents. We
taught them this by our endless giving,
never asking for anything in return,
never teaching them that, in fact, it is
we who are owed and not they. Yes,
children owe their parents. They owe
them gratitude for bringing them into
this world and for providing for them,
taking care of them, educating them,
and raising them to adulthood. They
owe them honor and respect for being
their teachers and leaders, their spiritu-
al, emotional, and physical protectors,
defenders and guides. They owe them
service in return for all the service that
was provided. And if children can’t
recognize that they do, in fact, owe all
of this to their parents — and more —
then how will they recognize the good
that anyone does for them, even Hash-
em? How will they develop the feeling
of wanting to give in return? Indeed,
instead of wanting to do for their chil-
dren what their parents did for them,
children like these are more likely to
see their own offspring as impedi-
ments to their freedom and enjoyment
of life! People who have been taught
only to take and never to give fnd it
diffcult and cumbersome to give, give
up, or to put themselves out. Are these
the children who will gladly bring
their aging parents into their homes to
return the caring and giving they once
received? No. These children know lit-
tle about serving Hashem, with putting
their own interests aside. These chil-
dren, used to having it all their way,
cannot extend themselves beyond their
comfort zones. – Avi Shuman who was
my frst life coach.
SD
Vues Master’s Note: Oy! You are so
negative!
REMOVE A CURSE
Dear Vues Master:
Moshe went to a well-known rav and
asked him whether he could remove a
curse that he has been living with for
more than 30 years. The rav replied:
“Its possible, but I need to know the
exact words that were said when the
curse was placed on you.” Moshe re-
sponded: “I now pronounce you man
and wife.”
WE
Vues Master’s Note: Oy! The perfect
marriage!
TELLING
Dear Vues Master:
Last week Israel notifed the Biden ad-
ministration that later this month it will
announce plans for thousands of new
homes in Judea and Samaria. Three Is-
raeli and U.S. offcials confrmed that
Jerusalem had informed Washington of
the pending move, which will include
at least 4,000 housing units in several
existing communities. Why does Israel
need to do that? Why do we have to
tell America anything? The American
left will condemn Israel either way.
FT
Vues Master’s Note: I think they were
hoping that the USA would tell them
that they would give them more aid if
you didn’t build it!
MITNAGDIM
Dear Vues Master:
Last month’s page 10 reprint of Spring
2014’s OU/Jewish Action “Rabbi Ma-
tis Greenblatt: A Dedicated Editor Re-
tires” used the ancient phrase “Chassi-
dism or Mitnagdism.” A Rav/Yeshiva
Rebbe Z”L after whom another grand-
son was recently named, once put
down his pencil beside the legal-size
pad on which he was writing Divrei
Torah, stood up, and calmly responded
to my having used the word “MisNag-
Dim” by saying: that battle is over, and
Torah won. He couldn’t see how any-
one, then (or presumably now) could
use the word.
(signed) No More MitNagDim/Mis-
NagDim
Vues Master’s Note: I oppose this let-
ter! I am not a chossid of this letter!
MISSOURI SCHOOLS MUST
NOW OBSERVE HOLOCAUST
WEEK
Dear Vues Master
In the next three years, all Missouri
school districts must have a plan in
place to annually instruct students
about the Holocaust. They must also
designate the second week in April
as “Holocaust Education Week” for
grades 6-12. I believe that the inten-
tion of Holocaust Education Week is
to educate students on its history but
also to inspire in students a sense of
responsibility to recognize and up-
hold human value and to prevent fu-
ture atrocities. I was raised in Kansas
CITY, Missouri and feel this is a valu-
able tool in the teaching of the Shoah,
the Holocaust. I am passionate about
preserving the memory of the Holo-
caust — but not in the way it’s been
done in the past. “The Holocaust can
no longer be only about the brutality,
the murder of 6 million, the murder
of 1.5 million children, all the horrors
that go along with it, It also needs to
be about what these brave souls went
through, what we can learn from it.
We need to charter that into education
about love, about caring. If we take
from it only the horrors and the mur-
ders, that will destroy the relevance of
the Holocaust.” The younger genera-
tion of Jews does not wish to become
mired in the pain of the past. We want
to take these lessons and apply them
to a more positive, generous future
of Jewish being. When the personal
touch of survivors dies out, the em-
phasis on courage and faith in the face
of death, not the affiction of being
singled out for being Jewish, is the
lesson that needs to be passed on.
Rabbi Dr. Bernhard Rosenberg
Vues Masters Note: Why only Mis-
souri? They should do this everywhere.