19 Sep SPEAK YOUR VUES WITH THE VUES MASTER

DEDI
Dear Vues Master:
Last week was the passing of popular singer Dedi
Graucher. He was always so alive and so energetic.
When he came on stage, you knew you were in for a lot
of fun. And he knew how to involve the crowd better
than anyone else. Some of my Dedi favorites are “zoche”
“yehi ratzon” “ki va moed” and of course, “kulanu”!
Always putting smiles on people’s faces. (Aside from
maybe learning Torah), what could be better?
JMN
Vues Master’s Note: A great loss! Nice person.

POZNA RAV ARTICLE
Dear Vues Master
Just wanted to tell you how much the entire Pozna shul
enjoyed last week’s Rabbi Eisen interview in The Jewish
Vues. The paper was all over the shul & everyone was
talking about it all yom tov! It was a great article! The
fact that Shas Yidden is coming to Brooklyn is a huge
announcement. Rabbi Eisen is a true tzaddik!
Vues Master’s Note: It was an honor & privilege to have
Rabbi Eisen interviewed for The Jewish Vues.

ASSUMPTIONS
Dear Vues Master
I am often shocked, although by now I shouldn’t be,
when laypeople, non-experts, make assumptions about

areas that require expertise. These include: * Non-
doctors who make assumptions about illnesses and

health. * Non-pharmacists who make assumptions
about medicine. * Non-lawyers who make assumptions
about the law. I am often upset by laypeople who
aren’t experts in Halacha, yet make assumptions about
practical Halacha. I am baffled how someone with
little knowledge of the Halachik system can take one
or two bits of information and assume they can now
decide areas of Halacha. I used to say would these
people making these assumptions about Halacha make
the same assumptions about health, medicine, or the
law? Today, I can’t voice that complaint because the
answer is yes, they do. I believe with the advent of
the Information Age, where every person can Google
any question and receive information came a level of
unprecedented arrogance. Formally, people without

access to information would remain humble because
there were entire areas they knew nothing about and
absent years of schooling, had no access to acquire
information. Today, along with widespread information,
comes widespread arrogance. I’ll offer an example of
assumptions people make about Halacha and without
an expert level of familiarity with the Halachic system,
including shimush (which most of these people have
never heard of let alone have done) can’t get right.
Every Pesach people complain about kitniyot and Yom
Tov Sheni (second day of Yom Tov outside of Israel).
They’ve heard or maybe even read a little about it and
assume both shouldn’t apply today. Unfamiliar with
how Halacha operates they can’t formulate a coherent
argument, but feel like they make a good case because
they know more than they did yesterday. I’ve become
even more upset by a phenomenon I’ve known has
existed for centuries but I’ve only recently become
personally familiar with myself. I believe that Torah
scholars – Rabbis – have an incredible intellect and
wide breadth of knowledge. Obviously, a spectrum
applies here, but some Rabbis are intelligent enough to
understand areas they don’t have formal training in, but
have widely read up on. This is because their Talmudic
training has given them a methodology that allows them
to analyze mass amounts of information quicker than
an untrained person. Yet, there are Rabbis who can’t
understand other areas, and even the smartest and most
knowledgeable Rabbis don’t understand all areas and
some areas are beyond their reach. It disappoints me
and actually hurts when I encounter Rabbis who assume
knowledge and abilities in areas they aren’t sufficiently
familiar to offer ideas and conclusions. Rabbis aren’t
therapists, psychologists, doctors, pharmacists, lawyers
or detectives. They shouldn’t assume they can offer
intelligent suggestions in areas they have no training in.
Just as Rabbis get annoyed when lay people offer their
suggestions on Halacha they should restrain themselves
from offering ideas in areas they aren’t expertise in.
RUP
Vues Master’s Note: These days, I believe most local
rabbis are asked more questions for a therapist or
psychologists than to halacha. It’s something they
should probably be trained in.

ROSH HASHANA THAT FALLS
OUT ON SHABBOS
Dear Vues Master
Last week, in a special sichah that HaRav
Shternbuch gave over to his talmidim, he
talked at length about “Rosh Hashanah that
falls on Shabbos,’ and brought the words of
the Chasam Sofer that in the year that the
shofar is not blown on the first day of Rosh
Hashanah, we need the zechus of Shabbos
in order to protect Am Yisrael instead of the
shofar. Afterward, the Posek HaDor quoted
the frightening words of the Aruch L’Ner,
saying: “The Ba’al Aruch L’Ner calculated
a scary matter that in the years that Rosh
Hashanah falls out on Shabbos, Klal Yisrael
had either a very good year, like the year
that the Cheit Ha’egel was forgiven and the
Mishkan was established and they entered
Eretz Yisrael, or chas v’shalom the opposite
like the two Churbanos Beis Hamikdash
h’Rishon vSheini which occurred in years
when Rosh Hashanah fell out on Shabbos.”
“And the Aruch L’Ner brought that due to the
fact that during these years, there is no tekiyas
shofar and we need the zechus Shabbos in
place of the shofar, the matter is dependent
on Kla Yisrael, for in the years they were
Shomer Shabbos properly, the Shabbos
vouched for Yisrael, but if chas v’chalilah,
they weren’t Shomer Shabbos properly,
they weren’t zocheh to this and the accusers
weren’t silenced.” HaRav Shtenbuch added
that in the year the Chazon Ish passed away,
Rosh Hashanah fell out on Shabbos and his
talmidim connected his petirah to the fact that
Rosh Hashanah fell out on Shabbos and there
were no tekiyos to settle the Midas HaDin,
and in accordance with the words of the
Aruch L’Ner that the year that Rosh Hashanah
falls out on Shabbos is a very dangerous year.
HaRav Shternbuch concluded: “Therefore
this year it is appropriate to accept a kabbalah
tovah on Rosh Hashanah in a matter related
to Kavod Shabbos such as learning hilchos
Shabbos throughout the year on a regular
basis or to dedicate more time to learning
Torah on Shabbos or to be mezakeh harabbim
in inspiring others to learn hilchos Shabbos
and to become proficient in them and this
will help that the kedushas ha’Shabbos will
protect us to quiet the accusers.”
Vues Master’s Note: Always a good idea to
learn hilchos Shabbos!

DISILLUSIONED
Dear Vues Master:
A former State Department official who was
deeply involved in U.S. Mideast policy for
decades is feeling a little unsettled over the
recent speech in which Palestinian Authority
chairman Mahmoud Abbas justified the
Holocaust. “I have been despairing about
how to respond to [Abbas’s] profoundly
anti-Semitic diatribe,” Martin Indyk,

former assistant Secretary of State and ex-
ambassador to Israel, wrote on X (Twitter).

“How could someone who has treated me
as a personal friend for three decades at the
same time harbor such hateful views of my
people?” Jewish disillusionment over the
behavior of Palestinian Arab leaders is not a
new phenomenon. A notable example was the
wave of mea culpas in the American Jewish
community in late 2000 and early 2001, after
Yasir Arafat launched the terror campaign
known as the Second Intifada. On the
op-ed page of the Washington Post, Labor
Zionist Alliance president Menachem Z.
Rosensaft confessed: “I was wrong, so many
of us were wrong…for allowing ourselves to
be convinced that Yasser Arafat ever actually
wanted peace with Israel.” Likewise,
Leonard Fein, founder of Americans for
Peace Now, wrote in The Forward: “Our
mistake was to allow ourselves to be so
carried away by the prospect of peace that
we chose to close our eyes to the persistent
Palestinian violations of the Oslo accords—
and to what those violations implied about
Palestinian intentions.” The American

Jewish Congress, for its part, placed a full-
page ad in the New York Times under the

headline, “It Takes a Big Organization to
Admit it Was Wrong. We Think We Were
Wrong About You, Chairman Arafat.”
Going further back in history, Martin Indyk’s
tweet brings to mind the disillusionment that a
few American Jewish leaders expressed after
World War II, regarding President Franklin
D. Roosevelt’s abandonment of European
Jewry. Nahum Goldmann, for example. In
the 1930s and 1940s, he co-chaired the World
Jewish Congress alongside Rabbi Stephen S.
Wise. In 1975, Goldmann was interviewed
by the historian Melvin I. Urofsky, who was
writing a biography of Wise. Concerning
FDR, Goldmann said: “There is something
[to the argument] that Rabbi Wise was too
close to Roosevelt to be effective….Wise
exaggerated his appreciation of Roosevelt.
The accusations against Roosevelt [regarding
the Holocaust] are partly justified…I never
had full trust in Roosevelt.” Goldmann said
he was also convinced that “Roosevelt would
never agree to a Jewish state.” During the
Holocaust years, Goldmann was occasionally
critical of FDR, but only behind the scenes.
Briefing David Ben-Gurion and other Jewish
Agency officials in Jerusalem in 1944,
Goldmann complained that on the rare
occasion an American Jewish leader was
granted an audience with the president, it
would be “for thirty minutes, ten of which are
spent by him telling anecdotes, after which
he expects to hear you tell him anecdotes,
and then there are only ten minutes left for a
serious conversation…” Many years later,
Goldmann felt remorse over the fact that he
and his colleagues were not more outspoken
at the time. In his autobiography, published in
1969, Goldmann expressed regret that despite
their awareness of the mass murder, “Jewish
leaders and organizations lacked the courage,

vision and resolution to risk a radical and
drastic move….All of us who spoke for
the Jewish people in those days—and I
emphatically include myself—bear a share
of the guilt…” It took Goldmann twenty
years to admit that much, far too late to make
practical difference. It has taken Martin Indyk
thirty years even to express “despair” over
Mahmoud Abbas’s antisemitic speeches. Will
that despair translate into something more
concrete, before it is too late to have any
impact?
RM
Vues Master’s Note: Thanks for the history
lesson!

SONG
Dear Vues Master:
משה קליערס visiting was אמרי אמת The
ר׳ in טבריה, when in the middle of their
conversation they heard the sound of a
woman singing to herself. Rav Moshe was
very upset at hearing אשה קול. The אמת אמרי
said “Isn’t singing חיותם כל “?Quoting from
today’s דף, he said:
מנין שהאשה חייבת במזוזה דכתיב
וכתבתם על מזוזות…למען ירבו ימיכם,
. גברא בעי חיי נשי לא בעי חיי
Now, can the גמרא possibly be saying that
women don’t need life? Of course not.
Rather, the ניגון of the גמרא is תמיה בלשון,
.כל חיותם הוא מניגון that demonstrating
HW
Vues Master’s Note: This letter sounds like
music to my ears!

FOOL
Dear Vues Master:
During the Pesach seder, a guest asked “Why
are the חכם and the רשע placed opposite
each other? Wouldn’t it have been more
appropriate for the counterpart of the חכם
to be the שוטה “?The הבית בעל replied:
“It’s because the חכם said I’m okay standing
opposite a רשע. Just don’t place me opposite
“.שוטה a
FG
Vues Master’s Note: I find this pretty smart!

DADDY
Dear Vues Master:
יִשְׁתַּבַּח שִׁמְךָ לָעַד מַלְכֵּנו.ּ הָקל
May .הַמֶּֽלֶךְ הַגָּדוֹל וְהַקָּדוֹשׁ בַּשָּׁמַֽיִם וּבָאָֽרֶץ
Your Name be praised forever – our King,
the G-d, the great and holy King – in heaven
and on earth. – the beginning of Yishtabach as
translated by ArtScroll. It appears to me that
the word hagadol (the great) and hakodesh
(the holy) is not modifying the word haMelech
(the King) as Artscroll translates, “the great
and holy King” but are separate titles to
describe G-d. The reason is each word has
the definite article hei (the) and there is a vov
(and) at the end binding them; therefore, the
parallel structure shows they are titles and not
adjectives. Furthermore, the last line before
Aleinu leshabeach is “The Lord desires His

[servant’s] vindication,That he may magnify
and glorify [His] teaching.” Which means all
texts in the Torah should be interpreted in the
best way possible that brings glory to G-d;
therefore, four titles, not two, brings glory.
For example, someone who is a “doctor’s
lawyer” is not as impressive as someone who
is a “doctor and lawyer.” Therefore, I would
translate it as follows: “The G-d, the King,
the Great and the Holy…” Where “Great”
hints to G-d as our Father, merciful. While
“Holy” hints to G-d as Master. The reason
these two titles, Father and Master, are hinted
to is because it is not befitting to mention
them alongside G-d and King. G-d manifests
Himself in this world so we can model Him
and not everyone can be Kingly or g-dly
but everyone can strive to be a master over
himself and a father to his children.
DG
Vues Master’s Note: Unless of course the
children don’t want to deal with their father!

HONOR
Dear Vues Master:
The beginning of success starts with being
a master over oneself because the order of
G-d’s titles are Master, Father, King and G-d.
It is impossible to skip over one to reach the
other; for example, someone who becomes
a master cannot jump over the father to the
king. Also, a person must subjugate himself
to the quality that is next in line; therefore, a
master is someone who subjugates himself to
his father. This can help explain an anomaly
in Kiddushin 22a, “It is necessary for the
servant, who wants to stay longer, to say: I
love my master, my wife and my children.”
Why does he mention “master” before his
“wife and children?” because a man must be
or have a master over himself to keep from
falling. That is falling from being a man
to being a woman? As the medrash says,
“Shlomo HaMelech once had a conversation
with a bird, who insisted that there are more
women in the world than men. The king
disagreed and after acknowledging that
the bird was right, the bird explained that
although physically there might not be more
women than men, when a woman rules over
a man telling him exactly what to do and how
to do it, the man becomes akin to a woman
and is thus counted as one.” When the
Torah is kept properly it guards a man from
becoming a woman as it says in Proverbs 1:8,
“Hear my son the instruction of your father,
and do not forsake the Torah of your mother.”
Why does it say “the Torah of your mother”
as the father is commanded to learn Torah,
not the mother? Also, how do you know if
what your mother is saying is Toras Moshe
or Toras mishugas (craziness)? Lastly, if
listening to your mother will make you into
a woman, how can the Torah sanction this?
The answer is the father instructs his son
when to listen or not to listen to his mother;
therefore, listening to your mother is really

listening to your father. Here is an example
of how this plays out in practice, when a son
goes to a yeshiva because of his mother he
will become a woman if he isn’t already. We
say in the morning blessing: “Blessed are
you … King of the universe, for not having
made me a woman.” If you are saying this
blessing and listening to your mother (I.e.,
not listening to your father) then you need
to do teshuva (repentance) and start to listen
to your dad. As it says in Proverbs 10:1, “A
wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish
son is the grief of his mother.” Malbim
comments, “A father is seen by his son as the
source of discipline and moral instruction:
if the son lives virtuously, then the credit
goes to the father; that is the “gladness.”
The mother, on the other hand, expresses
the grief of feeling personal responsibility
and blame if the son chooses a life of vice,
for evidently her loving relationship with
him has served to protect her son from the
discipline and wholesome rigors of the
father’s education.” In conclusion, how are
we coronate G-d as King this Rosh HaShana
if we are disconnected to our father and
not a master over ourselves? We say Avinu
Malkeinu but how can we say Malkeinu (our
King) if we don’t have Avinu (our Father)?
As is says in Kiddushin 31a, “When a person
causes his father and mother suffering, the
Holy One, Blessed be He, says: I did well
in not dwelling among them, for if I had
dwelled among them they would have
caused Me suffering as well.” It says further,
“When the Holy One, Blessed be He, said: “I
am the Lord your G-d” (1st commandment,
Exodus 20:2), and, in the same verse: “You
shall have no other g-ds before Me (2nd
commandment),” the nations of the world
said: He teaches this for His own honor,
as both statements entail respect for G-d.
Once He said: “Honor your father and
your mother” (5th Commandment, Exodus
20:11), they returned and conceded the truth
of the first statements.” Artscroll quotes the
Pnei Yehoshua, “They reasoned that if one
must honor one’s father and mother, all the
more so must one honor G-d.”
DG
Vues Master’s Note: You have a one track
mind!

FOREGO
Dear Vues Master:
A famous rav was visiting a city when he
took ill. Many people came to visit him, but
the rav of the city did not. The sick visiting
rav knew the reputation of the local rav. He
knew that the local rav would say Divrei
Torah of others in his own name. When he
recovered from his illness and the kehillah
members came to see him off, he thanked
them for their חולים ביקור and hospitality
and told them that he does not hold a grudge
against their רב for failing to visit him. “We
learn in קידושין, “he said,

reason The .הרב שמחל על כבודו, כבודו מחול”
for that is because the תורה that he learns is
his and therefore he has the right to be מוחל
on his כבוד. But your רב, whose תורה is not
his, does not have the right to be מוחל on
its כבוד. Therefore, he acted properly in not
coming to see me.”
MB
Vues Master’s Note: Very sharp!

EDUCATION
Dear Vues Master:
Last week’s daf said ,שואל הבן וכאן
nonstandard The . ואם אין דעת בבן אביו מלמדו
reading of the גמרא is that if the son doesn’t
have תורה דעת it’s because מלמדו אביו. His
father didn’t want to spend the money on a
ישיבה education and instead tried to teach
him himself.
-AB
Vues Master’s Note: Sometimes cheap is
expensive!

UKRAINE
Dear Vues Master:
There are some issues that are black and white,
right and wrong, clear and understandable.
The Ukrainian-Russian war is one of those
issues. Even if you’ll claim Russia had cause
to worry about Ukraine joining NATO and
Russia has claims on some of the lands in
Ukraine, there’s no justification for Russia to
use military force to settle those claims. After
World War II, the nations of the world acted
to stop the tens of millions of people that
were dying in wars. They set up international
laws governing warfare and specifically
when it is justifiable to go to war. Russia’s
military campaign against Ukraine violates
those agreements and puts the world at risk
of reversing its peaceful trend. Ukraine did
nothing to provoke this attack. To keep the
world order, save lives, keep justice in the
world, all freedom loving people must stand
up for Ukraine. Nations of the world must
come together to punish Russia, and at some
point, military action must be considered
to stop Russian aggression. The world
dilly-dallied as Germany killed millions
before finally stepping in to stop German
aggression. The world shouldn’t have to wait
until Ukrainians die en masse before stopping
Russia. While the issue is as black and white
as an issue can get, there are other factors to
discuss to have a comprehensive intellectual
discussion about the issue. I prefer a
nuanced conversations that covers all sides
of an issue, if you do as well, keep reading.
The topic of generational antisemitism is
fraught with controversy. Jewish history
has taught us antisemitism doesn’t stop with
one generation, children pass their hate to
their children, who pass it to their children.
This doesn’t mean that grandchildren of
antisemites are doomed to the same hate as
their parents and grandparents, the Talmud
taught that Haman’s grandchildren converted

to Judaism and studied in the same Beit
Medrash as Rebbe Akiva. It is indisputable
that Ukraine has been the location of some
of the worst antisemitism in Jewish history
and it is one of the world’s largest population
centers of neo-Nazis today. These Ukrainian
Nazis aren’t small in number and shouldn’t be
easily dismissed. It is also important to note
Ukraine has never taken steps to investigate,
renounce or apologize for their long history
of antisemitism. Having a Jewish President
doesn’t erase their history and present
antisemitism. The Ukrainian history of and
present antisemitism doesn’t justify a Russian
attack or mean the Jewish community should
stand by while innocent Ukrainians are
targeted by Russian missiles; it does require
us to recognize that the “arc of the moral
universe is long and bends towards justice.” I
believe when Dr. King talked about the moral
arc he was referring to the cause and effect of
the world. When generations ago Ukrainians
brought war, attacks and hate into the world,
they doomed their descendants to live in a
more violent world. Today Ukrainians are
victims of the same attacks and hate their
ancestors perpetuated on others, and while
today’s Ukrainians aren’t responsible for the
attacks against them, they are experiencing
the effects of their ancestor’s violence. The
world is pointing at Israel and vilifying it for
not condemning Russia in a strong enough
way, not sending military help to Ukraine
and not accepting enough Ukrainian refugees
into Israel. Setting aside the facts that Israel
has condemned Russia in statements and the
UN vote, has advised Ukraine on military
tactics and accepted more refugees than any
other country per capita, Israel’s hesitancy
of being as vocal as other countries isn’t
borne of love of Russia but of the very real
calculations of Russia’s role in stopping
Iranian precision guided missiles from
reaching Hezbollah and standing at Israel’s
borders and Israel being the lead mediator
between Ukraine and Russia, and needing an
unbiased country to stop the fighting. Neither
of these calculations should be quickly
dismissed. Lastly, the Ukrainian President
is quick to point to Israel as a nation that
should be taking the lead in helping Ukraine.
He frequently makes reference to the Jewish
people’s long victimhood. Again, this
wouldn’t justify Israel’s turning a blind eye
to Ukrainian suffering – and it’s not – but it’s

important to note Ukraine’s consistent anti-
Israel position at the United Nations. Ukraine

frequently participates or abstains in anti-
Israel votes at the United Nations; they are not

a reliable ally of Israel. It takes a whole lot of
chutzpah to consistently allow Israel to stand
alone for years and then vilify Israel for doing
the same to Ukraine. I have no problem with
President Zelensky asking Israel for help, but
don’t make it seem that he’s been Israel’s ally
all along. Let’s be clear; Ukraine is the victim
of Russian aggression in this war. It deserves

the world’s support and Russia deserves to be
sanctioned and similarly attacked to make up
for its aggression. All freedom loving people
MUST – without reservation- stand up for
Ukraine and stand against Russia.
RUP
Vues Master’s Note: To quote my grandfather
“they should both be matzliach!”

CHAIM YANKEL & THE
MERCHANT
Dear Vues Master
A wealthy Polish merchant was riding on
a train with a simple Jew – Chaim Yankel
from Chelm. The merchant leans over to
him and asks if he would like to play a fun
game. Chaim Yankel just wants to take a
nap, so he politely declines and rolls over
to the window to catch a few winks. The
merchant persists and explains that the game
is really easy and a lot of fun. He explains,
“I ask you a question, and if you don’t know
the answer, you pay me $5, and vice-versa.”
Again, Chaim Yankel politely declines and
tries to get some sleep. The merchant, now
somewhat agitated, says, “Okay, if you don’t
know the answer you pay me $5, and if I
don’t know the answer, I will pay you $500,”
figuring that since Chaim Yankel is from
Chelm that he will easily win the match.
This catches Chaim Yankel’s attention and,
figuring that there will be no end to this
torment unless he plays, he agrees to the
game. The merchant asks the first question.
“What’s the distance from the earth to the
moon?” Chaim Yankel doesn’t say a word,
reaches into his purse, pulls out a five dollar
bill and hands it to the merchant. Now, it’s
Chaim Yankel’s turn. He asks the merchant:
“What goes up a hill with three legs, and
comes down with four?” The merchant
looks at her with a puzzled look. He thinks
for a few minutes. Then he asks every single
person on the train for help and no one
knows After over an hour, he wakes Chaim
Yankel and hands him $500. Chaim Yankel
politely takes the $500 and turns away to get
back to sleep. The merchant, who is more
than a little miffed, wakes Chaim Yankel
and asks, “Well, so what IS the answer!?”
Without a word, Chaim Yankel reaches into
his wallet, hands the merchant $5, and goes
back to sleep!
Vues Master’s Note: Very clever!