10 May SPEAK YOUR VUES WITH THE VUES MASTER
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.
FED UP
Dear Vues Master:
I’m Fed Up. I’ve had it. I’m fed up with the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict and with Palestinian terror. I’m fed
up with our leadership, with weak kneed Jews, with
cowards, I’m fed up with our inability to stop the Palestinians.
These past five weeks have seen tens of new
Israeli orphans, brutal killings of innocent people and
tens of attempts that aren’t even reported in the mainstream
media. Palestinian attackers have become animals,
using knives and axes to butcher their Jewish and
Arab victims. It’s possible to posit that murder is murder
and the methods don’t matter – but that isn’t true.
The brutal method employed in their attacks is meant
to terrorize and demoralize the Israeli people. The
methods matter. The Palestinians have given out candy
after each attack, their leadership has paid exorbitant
salaries to each terrorist, and the people are celebrating.
While individuals carry out the attacks, they are
supported by a cheering Palestinian people. The terrorists
aren’t aberrations from the Palestinian people.
2/3rds of Palestinians support stabbing attacks against
Jews, 93% of Palestinians maintain antisemitic views,
and Palestinians refuse peace with Israel. Claiming
these attacks are carried out by a small insignificant
portion of the Palestinians population falls somewhere
between naïve and intentionally blinding to reality out
of subservience to perverted values. I’m fed up with
our leadership. They have one responsibility above all
others – to keep us safe. They are failing. We are not
safe. Politics, division and fear is stopping our leaders
from taking the necessary steps to keep us safe. I’m
fed up with the national confusion that stems from our
inability to define the Palestinians as an enemy or a
law enforcement problem. Are we supposed to defeat
them or police the Palestinians? They act as enemies,
and we treat them like bank robbers. I’m fed up with
the lack of retribution for our enemies. Justice, deterrence
and national security demands we do more than
just arrest terrorists one by one as they hide behind a
bush. I’m not suggesting anything illicit, but Palestinians
must learn terrorism doesn’t pay. I’m fed up with
our people refusing to recognize this isn’t a law enforcement
issue where we need to track individual attackers.
We need to realize Palestinians have chosen to
be an enemy, and the only way we can keep ourselves
safe is by treating them as enemies. I’m fed up with
Palestinians being able to celebrate attacks, families
whose houses we knock down being given large payments
to rebuild them, as schools are named after their
martyred (sic) sons. It doesn’t need to stop, WE need
to stop them. I’m fed up with left wingers and progressives
who misplace mercy on the killers and indict the
victims of terror for where they live. Of all the perversions
we witness today, the distorted sense of mercy is
the worst. I’m fed up with the Americans, supposedly
the world leaders, too scared to admit the faith they’ve
put in Palestinians is misplaced and finally being able
to say we erred, the Palestinians support terror and we
will no longer help them. I’m fed up.
RUP
Vues Master’s Note:Would that mean you agree that
“Ein Lanu al mi Lehishoein ela al Avinu SheBashamyim?”
PRICES
Dear Vues Master:
Have you seen the price of leasing or buying a car lately?
It is insane. I’ve had a Honda Odyssey for the last 10
years, 3 different leases. Right now I am paying $400 a
month. I’ve been told by numerous people that if I want
to get a new Highlander when my lease is over in October
I should be prepared to spend over $800 a month.
That is crazy. I’m thinking that I have to finance the car
I have now. When is this inflation & chip business shortage
going to end?
TY
Vues Master’s Note: It will end as soon as we stop being
progressive and stop worrying about nutty environmental
control. The only thing democ”Rats” aim to do is
Mental Control!
COMPLAINTS
Dear Vues Master:
I just want to tell you again how much my family loves The Jewish Vues. Last week’s edition really touched on everything. Rabbi Wallerstein zt”l was loved by so many, Rav Nota Greenblatt zt”l, I honestly never knew but was amazed what a gadol he was. You had a few articles on Yom Haatzmaut & Rabbi Goldbergs article on Mothers day was very touching. We always love the jokes & the fun section. Keep up the great work!!!
DH
Vues Master’s Note:We appreciate the positive feedback. It keeps us going in the positive direction!
NAME
Dear Vues Master:
A Rosh Yeshiva who had a miserable wife, once said: “A wife is generally identified by her husband’s profession. Thus, the wife of a Rov is called a Rabbanit. The wife of a Sandlar (shoemaker) is called a Sandlarit. And since I’m a Rosh Yeshiva, my wife is called a Rishit.”
MB
Vues Master’s Note: The question is who comes first the Rishit or the Rosh Yeshiva? Is there a difference between the two? Just kidding!
KAHANE
Dear Vues Master:
I just read this open letter online from Rabbi Meir Kahane zt”l written in the mid 1970’s. It’s crazy how right he was & how what he wrote is still applicable today. Please share with your readers.
‘Dear World,
I have understood that you are angry with us here in Israel. It seems that you are very angry, even furious. It seems that you are getting angry with us every few years. Today, it is Gaza * and the “cruel suppression of the Palestinians” yesterday was Lebanon *, which was due to the bombing of the nuclear reactor in Iraq, the Yom Kippur war, the Sinai campaign. It therefore seems that Jews who overcome and continue to live make you extremely angry. But best world, long before Israel existed, you were already angry with our Jews. The Germans who chose Hitler became angry with us, and the Austrians who applauded his entry into Vienna were also angry with us. We made a whole row of Slavic lands angry: Slovaks, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Russians, Hungarians, Romans. Yes, we have a long history of the world’s anguish. We angered the Cossacks, who killed tens of thousands of us in 1648 and 1649. We made the Crusaders angry who were so angry with Jews during their liberation of the “holy land” that they killed innumerable of us. For centuries, we made the Roman Catholic Church angry, which made it best to point us in the right direction through inquisitions. We also made the archenemy of this church, Maarten Luther, angry, who, in his call to burn the synagogues with the Jews there, spread an admirable Christian ecumenical mind. Precisely because we were so off balance because we made you angry every time, best world, we decided to leave you in a way of speaking, and set up our own Jewish state. The reason is that living together with you in the different countries where you existed made you seemingly annoyed, angry and angry. So what was better than leaving you and keeping you like that so that you might also love us? So we decided to go home. Our home, where we were driven away by the Romans 1900 years earlier, which we apparently also had made angry However, it seems best world that you are hard to satisfy. After we had left you and your pogroms and inquisitions, crusades and holocaust and decided to live in our own small country, you are still angry with us. You got angry because we would suppress those poor Palestinians. You are terribly angry that we did not want to give up the land we conquered in 1967, because in your eyes it was the obstacle to peace in the Middle East. Moscow is angry, Washington is angry, the radical Muslims are angry and also the friendly Egyptian moderates are angry But dear world, put yourself in the shoes of an ordinary Jew from Israel. In 1920, 1921 and 1929, there were no “1967 territories” to bring peace between Jews and Arabs. There was not even a Jewish state at all, which could also make anyone angry. In spite of that, those same “oppressed Palestinians” slaughtered dozens of Jews in Jerusalem, Jaffah and Hebron. One day, 67 Jews were slaughtered in Hebron in 1929. Dear world, why did the Arabs, the Palestinians, do that in 1929? Could that be all their anguish about the Israeli ‘aggression’ in 1967? And why were 510 Jewish men, women and children slaughtered by Arabs between 1936 and 1939? Was that maybe because they were angry because of ‘1967’? And by the way, dear world, why did we hear your angry call then?The poor Palestinians, who have been killing Jews with explosives and bombs for years, are the same people who, when they had all the land they now need to set up their own state, tried to drive the Jewish state into the sea. The same deceitful faces, the same hate, the same cries, ‘Kill the Jews!’, Which are now shouting, what already is heard. Same people with the same dream: destroy Israel. What did not succeed yesterday is still their dream today – but we should not suppress them? Dear world, you watched during the Holocaust. You watched when in 1947 seven countries declared us war, the war that the Arab League proudly compares with the ‘Mango slaughterings’. You watched in 1967, when Nasser, cheered wildly by outraged masses in every Arab capital in the world, swore to drive the Jews into the sea. And tomorrow you’ll also be watching when Israel faces the threat of being eradicated. Because we know that the Arabs are dreaming of this eradication daily, we will do everything possible to stay alive in OUR COUNTRY! And the best world, if you sit there, think about all those times in the past that you crossed us. In any event, best world, if you disturb us, here is at least one Jew in Israel who doesn’t give a hoot what you think. “
RMK
Vues Master’s Note: No comment!
PAIN
Dear Vues Master:
Thank you for publishing this very sensitively-written article written by R. Goldberg. I understand that people wish me a happy Mother’s Day with good intentions; however, it’s also a very painful lack and neshama grief which goes deeper than an emotional wound. His words were beautifully written from the heart and going to the heart. I understand that it’s natural for women to talk about their children and grandkids when I attend a shiur or a ladies’ Tehillim group. Sometimes, I sit there and smile with them. Sometimes, I remind them that not everyone is so blessed and please be mindful. They look at me: OH! SORRY! Sometimes, I just leave quietly, full of pain, and wish them well. They’re members of a club I can’t relate to. Thank you, R. Goldberg, for sensitizing the readers that Mother’s Day is not a happy day for everyone. It is full of pain and longing for unfulfilled dreams for some people. It’s missing the women who were mothers to me and who are shepping a lot of nachas in Gan Eden. It’s about seeing what others have and feeling existentially deprived of a future: Who will inherit my great-grandmother’s Shabbat candlesticks? It’s also feeling grateful that maybe, by having no children, I was spared from having children who are sick, mentally ill, autistic, or rebellious children who are oppositional, addicted, and off the derech. It’s a real emuna challenge– although Hashem gave me a unique and special mission in this world to accomplish. Meanwhile, I keep praying for a miracle and do my best to be a good mother to myself. Especially at candle lighting time and daily, please join my prayers– and for all singles and childless couples and couples wanting more Yiddishe neshamot– and may Hashem bless you in turn!
Please share this with Rabbi Goldberg.
Sincerely,
SCBRD and BBN
PS If you know of any opportunities for adopting a healthy child or a doctor who will accept a much- older patient to do an embryo transplant or a surrogacy opportunity at an affordable rate, please write to lovingkosherhome@gmail.com or see lovingkosherhome.com. We are not interested in fostering and we contacted A Time already.
Vues Master’s Note: It is hard to tell people you can not celebrate! It must be very tough for people who are lacking but everyone has things which they lack and one needs to focus on what you don’t lack and in that zchus you will rejoice in the future with them!
45 KEDOSHIM IN MERON
Dear Vues Master:
It’s very hard to believe that it’s been an entire year since the 45 kedoshim from Meron left us. We should all take a few moments this week & try to do a mitzvah lzecher nishmas all of these sacred people.
JH
Vues Master’s Note: Hashem Yerachem!
MORE ANITSEMITISM
Dear Vues Master:
A group consisting of about 150 Orthodox Jews were traveling to Hungary on the evening of May 4 for the yahrtzeit of Reb Shayala of Kerestir and refused boarding on their connecting Lufthansa flight in Frankfurt. The reason why? “It’s Jews from JFK.” According to Dan’s Deals, Lufthansa informed “the group from NYC” that they were not permitted to board “due to operational reasons, coming from the flight from New York, for all passengers here we have to cancel you on this flight. You know why it was.” Agents cited noncompliance with the mask mandate – however, only one or two of the Jewish passengers had not worn masks; several non-Jewish passengers also did not obey the mandate on the flight to Frankfurt. This is insane. It’s starting to feel like we are back in Germany before WWII. It’s a very scary world right now. Antisemitism is everywhere. We must be on guard constantly. Hashem please help us!!
BT
Vues Master’s Note: We need Moshiach now!!!
DESTRUCTION
Dear Vues Master:
Governments and political leaders fluctuate throughout time. One leader gets in with a certain promise, the next gets in with a similar argument just in the reverse. Freedom and the right to choose our leaders and the way our nations are run are crucial to sustaining the rule of law and our national identities. Without them, nations wouldn’t be nations and freedom would be erased. The idea of living in a country or place that accords to a person’s values is so important for our inherent liberties. However, there are times even in democracies where the leaders of the nations try to undermine the fabric of society. There are many historical examples in world history, but with enough examples in contemporary times, to resort to history almost seems naive. Joe Biden was sworn in as President of the United States of America on January 20th, 2021. Whether he was legitimately elected or not is not the question, the fact remains he currently is the most powerful man on this earth. His aging has caught up with him and as a result error after error has ensued. Whether that be appointing the most unqualified human being to become Vice President or the consistent agreement with radical leftists. Currently, the state of the union is record inflation from groceries to cars, a supply chain crisis, a failing economy despite the end of Covid, and empowered dangerous world powers testing Joe Biden’s weaknesses. Three months ago, Russia invaded Ukraine. No one disagrees with the magnitude of the horrific news of what has ensued in terms of deaths, displacement, etc. The entire situation is tragic. No sane country in any way supports Vladimir Putin’s gruesome actions. However, the response to what has happened is also gruesome. Russia did not just invade Ukraine so simple as that was a simple sentence to write, it is much more complicated than that. Usually, when there is any conflict in a region, especially one in which the world potentially could be affected, the best diplomatic ways are treaties, and of course peace. One wouldn’t expect other countries to reject the offer for both sides to negotiate. However, that has happened for years. As an example, in December 2021, months before an invasion looked possible, Russia offered a peace treaty with Ukraine to finally resolve their differences about NATO, an organization that was formed because of the defunct Soviet Union. Not Ukraine, but the US and NATO rejected the peace negotiation. We have been hearing lectures from world leaders in the past few months that paying higher gas prices, and having less food because of economic sanctions which don’t seem to be doing anything significant, is good for the sake of defending Ukraine. Firstly, the USA should be focused on domestic issues including the unbelievable amount of illegal immigrants that are currently INVADING the US, but more importantly, this war would have not happened if not for war hawks whose motive the entire time has been regime change. These hawks do not care about peace, they care about starting a war that potentially could include nuclear weapons for the sake of their power. No one condones the horrific actions of Putin, but to act stupidly toward a man who has access to hypersonic and nuclear weapons seems foolish. If fighting for Ukraine is so black and white, then why do the elites always seem to be copying each other to “fight for Ukraine” while rejecting peace resolutions. Has there been a major world leader that has even uttered the word “peace” in the past few months? Not to my knowledge, but if we truly live in free societies that choose the way how our countries are run, shouldn’t the people get the final say in matters which has affected their lives? It is time for leaders like Joe Biden to instead of worrying about what their elitist club is rooting for, instead should be questioning the true motives of what’s going on. But as we all know, unfortunately, Joe Biden is part of this destructive club.
Sincerely,
DSG
Vues Master’s Note: It feels like Sodom and Amorah!!!
MUSIC
Dear Vues Master:
Anyone who thinks that acapella sounds just like music these days has no ear for music. Or maybe the standard for music has dropped to the point where most music sounds like acapella. Have you never felt the stirring sound of a violin enter through your ears and into your heart? Have you never felt your mind swimming to the rhythm of the saxophone? Oh, how I miss music! I avoid listening to acapella during sefirah, not because it’s too much like music, but because it reminds me too much of what I’m missing.
CS
Vues Master’s Note: The gemara in Eiruchin discusses whether “Ikar Shira bepeh or Ikkar shira Bichli.’’ According to some tanaaim a violin is just to help, not the main part of the music!
FATHERS
Dear Vues Master:
The Ibn Ezra in Vayikra 19:3 says: Our pasuk employs the word ish (man and not ish ish – people) because the Torah wants to be brief; however, scripture employs the plural verb tira’u (they shall fear) and not the singular verb (he shall fear) in order to teach those who observe the child have to teach him and force him to fear his parents. Rashi says ish is used because it is the man who has the means to do it, while the woman is under the control of her husband. Perhaps ish, according to Ibn Ezra, comes to include the father himself that he has to be careful to honor his father as children do as you do and not as you say. The best answer to give your child why you do something is because your father did it. This lesson can be learned from what Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky said when someone asked him if he stands or sits for kiddush and he answered he does like his father. According to this, the Ibn Ezra reads, when a father respects his father then others will make sure his children will do the same; however, when a father doesn’t respect his father or he’s mochel (forgives) his children for disrespecting him this discourages others from speaking up on his behalf. Today’s parents are more afraid of public opinion than to teach their children to be afraid. The Torah says (see Rashi, ibid), “What is implied in the term ארומ, fear? That one should not sit in the father’s seat, speak in his stead, nor contradict his words.” Today’s challenge is to gracefully accept and insist on the honor due to you, as father or mother, for the sake of your children even though it may feel awkward to do so.
DG
Vues Master’s Note: You never cease to amaze me with your one topic for your weekly letter!
TALMIDEI RABBI AKIVA
Dear Vues Master:
On this past Sunday’s daf (Yevamos 62) Rabbi Akiva had twelve thousand pairs of students in an area of land that stretched from Gevat to Antipatris in Judea, and they all died in one period of time, because they did not treat each other with respect. What can be extracted: If mutual respect among peers is important to God then how much more so is it by grown children. There is no guarantee that a great Rabbi will affect a talmid but a bad will not make things better. When choosing a yeshiva don’t look at the quantity of students (24,0000 students that perished) but at the quality of students (5 students that carried on). Having a good rabbi makes students accountable in this world and a bad rabbi makes a student accountable in the next world. G-d did chesed with them and Rabbi Akiva otherwise they could have corrupted many.
DG
Vues Master’s Note: Which would include showing respect to one’s children’s Rosh Yeshiva?
DIVORCED
Dear Vues Master:
A woman who was recently divorced was asked whether she was bitter about it. “No,” she said. “I’m not upset about my divorce. I’m upset that I’m not a widow.”
NB
Vues Master’s Note: “Matza or Motzo?”
CHARITY
Dear Vues Master:
Ezra had been sending money to an almana in Israel for several years. When he finally went to Israel himself, he decided to look her up. Ezra’s knock on her door was answered by a man. When Ezra asked for the woman, the man said “Can I help you? I’m her husband.” “Her husband?” Ezra screamed. “I thought she was an Almana.” “What’s bothering you,” the man replied, “that I’m alive?”
BN
Vues Master’s Note: They tell this story with the Satmar Rebbe who was excited that he gave an imposter money saying”At least his wife is not sick etc.”
MARRIAGE
Dear Vues Master
The solution to the shidduch crisis is not for boys to marry younger, but for girls to marry older. Not for financial reasons, but because of the way men and women mature. Women’s need for marriage is different from men’s need for marriage. It is more complex and less intense. Men mature later and only develop the ability to be good husbands at a later stage.
GH
Vues Master’s Note: Until the women or men are too mature and need a divorce!
ANTI SEMITISM
Dear Vues Master:
Did you hear what happened on the flight on Lufthanza? A group of Jews were left behind and were not allowed to board their connecting flights! Horrible!
NB
Vues Master’s Note: If the story would happen with Asians or African Americans or Hispanics there would be a National Outcry. But of course when it happens to Jews we all take it lying down. As a matter of fact you have some self hating Jews trying to say that the airline was right. Wow!
LOSS
Heartbroken. Our hearts are broken over the loss of Rabbi Walerstein. Very few mortals achieve greatness in their lifetime but Rabbi Wallerstein was that and much, much more. He was a supreme educator. He broke the mold. Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein, zt’l was a tzaddik gamor. A man who dedicated his life to saving an entire generation of Jewish youth at risk, those young people who were going off or had gone off the derech of HaShem. He did this so selflessly and with a tremendous amount of mesiras nefesh. He had an absolute love and compassion for every single human being. He was vocal about change and creating spaces where positive change happened. May we all take upon ourselves some part of the mission and continue Rabbi Wallerstein’s work. Rabbi Wallerstein, you will be missed. No one can take your place. May your family and friends be comforted.
RW
Vues Master’s Note: We will not come to fully see this great loss for a while as not everything he did was so obvious! We lost a great one!