24 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.
RABBI JUNGREIS
Dear Vues Master:
I saw the ad in the Jewish Vues last week for Rabbi
Jungreis Lag Baomer lighting & I decided to take
my family. We never went to a Lag Baomer lighting
in Boro Park before. I was amazed at how many
people were there & how everyone loves Rabbi Jungreis
so much. Very few people alive share his ahavas
Yisrael. Klal Yisrael is very lucky to have this
special man.
YJ
Vues Master’s Note:Yes he is an unsung hero! Eh I
mean a sung hero as he is Tzaddik from his keppelah
to his fissela!.
CHINUCH
Dear Vues Master:
My son just informed me that he wants to stay in
Eretz Yisrael to learn for a third year. I’m having a
very hard time with that. I want him to go to college
& get a degree & move on with his life. I don’t think
he wants to go into chinuch & I’m pretty sure he’s
not learning in the Beis Medrash full time. What
should I do?
JN
Vues Master’s Note: Nothing! He probably
won’t listen to you. So let him figure it out!
INFLATION
Dear Vues Master:
Inflation is crazy these days. I just went to get a
haircut last week after Lag Baomer & my barber
raised his price from $15 to $24. Is that insane or
what? Milk is up, gas is up, poultry is up. Everywhere
you go these days, it seems like businesses
are raising their prices.
RHD
Vues Master’s Note: I heard the price of helium is
so high that the balloons are not within reach anymore!
Just wait for the shortages!
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
Dear Vues Master:
A thief jumped into a minivan at a Boro Park gas
station, sending the passengers fleeing before driving
away in the vehicle. The incident, captured on
grainy video footage tweeted by Boro Park Shomrim,
occurred at 11:40 p.m. this past Sunday night
at the gas station on the corner of 18th Avenue and
60th Street. The owner, after pumping the gas, goes
to the attendant to get his receipt. The thief then
enters the vehicle on the driver’s side. Three passengers
flee the vehicle through the front passenger
door. The owner then attempts to get back into the
vehicle through that passenger door, but the thief
drives. The vehicle is a 2022 Honda Odyssey with
New York plate AHS 3826. If any of your readers
have seen the car, please report it to the police right
away. Thanks for publicizing it!
SM
Vues Master’s Note: If you find the minivan You
won’t find the perpetrators! Good Luck! That’s
what we get with this moronic bail reform thanks
to our liberals!
MAKOM HAMIKDASH
Dear Vues Master:
The Temple Mount is a mountain in the center of
Yerushalayim’s Old City. According to Jewish tradition,
this same mountain hosted Kayin and Hevel
as they offered karbonos and fought, Noach’s ark
landed on it and Avraham brought Yitzchok up
to the mountain thinking he would sacrifice him.
Aside from Jewish tradition, it is a fact that Shlomo
Hamelch built the first Beis Hamikdash on
the mountain and the Jews who returned from the
exile in Babylonia built the second Beis Hamikdash
on it. The second Beis Hamikdash was destroyed
hundreds of years before Mohammad and
Islam was born. Jewish law maintains the Temple
Mount is 500 Amot (an amah is approximately the
length from one’s first to elbow) by 500 amot. This
is a small area which today covers the space surrounding
the Golden Dome. This space is sacred
according to Jewish law and Jews who are tamieh
(a legal status that applies to every Jew today) can
not enter that area. While the Second Beis Hamikdash stood (around 50 BCE) King Herod expanded the Temple Mount to the large space we see today. Jewish law does not maintain Herod’s extension has the same sanctity as the original 500 amot by 500 amot. Since it doesn’t have the same sanctity, it is permitted for Jews who follow a specific procedure to walk in that area. Jewish law maintains it is a mitzvah to go up and daven on the Temple Mount. Jewish law also maintains there is a mitzvah to rebuild the Temple on the Temple Mount and offer sacrifices as was done two thousand years ago. While these are considered mitzvot, there are no serious plans by any Jews or Jewish organizations to build the Temple or offer sacrifices. Although many Jews want it to happen, none are actively planning it. Anyone spreading rumors otherwise are just trying to upset people and provoke violence. Many Rabbis, unsure of where the original 500 amot by 500 amot are, caution and forbid Jews from going up to the Temple Mount today This is the position of the Israeli chief Rabbinate. Many other Rabbis disagree and maintain that with the work of archeologists and other technological breakthroughs we know definitively where the original 500 amot by 500 amot stand and can walk around them. These Rabbis maintain there is a mitzvah today for Jews to go up to the Temple Mount and pray. On a purely political level, many Palestinians, their advocates and even some Jews think Jewish people walking and/or praying on the Temple Mount is a needless provocation. Other Jews and their advocates find it a desecration of G-d’s name that the only prayer not occurring on the mountain Jews were given by G-d is Jewish prayer. They also find it absurd that a Democratic Israel would discriminate against any people from praying, and even more absurd that the one people the Jewish state discriminates against is the Jewish state. This explainer is a mere “drop in the ocean” of a complex topic but should clarify many of the erroneous posts and rumors being spread by dishonest provocateurs or ignoramuses about the Temple Mount. For those interested in understanding this topic I suggest setting aside a great deal of time studying. Spouting opinions on this topic without in-depth study is robbing yourself of true understanding and is dishonest to anyone listening. While everyone has a right to an opinion, intellectually honest people don’t form and publicize their opinions without sufficient study of the topic.
RUP
Vues Master’s Note: We might need the red cow first to purify us! Moshiach might help in this respect!
MISER
Dear Vues Master:
A wealthy miser died. As his son stood next to the bed on which his father lay, the son did not cry. As his father was taken from his home, the son did not cry. Even during the funeral, he didn’t cry. But when it was over and the gabaim were shaking the tzedaka boxes, the son burst into tears. “Now I know my father is really dead. They’re collecting tzedaka and he’s not running away.”
MB
Vues Master’s Note: I guess you could call this a dead issue. This joke stinks like a dead fish!
WEEKEND
Dear Vues Master:
Speaking at a Knesset committee via Zoom, South Africa’s Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein encouraged Israel to switch to a 4.5-day working week, arguing that this would enable Jews to do their leisure or shopping activities on Sunday and lessen friction between the secular and religious communities. Rav Goldstein said that the activities of the Shabbos Project in Israel proved that part of the country’s conflict over Shabbos is the difficulty of having a one-day weekend when “everyone’s fighting over the same time.” I think this is a brilliant idea. We have a longer weekend in America & most people don’t even care about Shabbos.
ET
Vues Master’s Note: How about just keeping Shabbos?
COPYRIGHT
Dear Vues Master:
A congregant approached an Am Haaretz Reform rabbi after he gave his Shabbos sermon and said he was surprised that the sermon was a word for word repetition of a speech that he read in a book. “You shouldn’t be surprised,” the rabbi told him. “After all, even King David in Tehillim copied psalms word for word right out of the Siddur.”
NB
Vues Master’s Note: Time to switch the siddur!
SHAVUOS
Dear Vues Master:
It is going to be a very difficult Shavuous for me. I have no idea how I’m going to handle a three day Yom Tov with 90 degree weather. On top of that, my in-laws are coming in from Florida. What should I do?
JK
Vues Master’s Note: Think positive & good things happen!
AD
Dear Vues Master:
I was astounded to see the “Chicken Soup isn’t enough” NYC Health ad in your paper this weekend. How could you accept such an ad? It is essentially stereotyping Jews. In such a PC environment no less. I sent a complaint to the NYC Health Department. But ultimately you share the blame for allowing it to print in your publication.
HW
Vues Master’s Note:This is proof that it is PC to hate Jews and Bash Eretz Yisroel! Twisted Liberals!
GREAT ARTICLE
Dear Vues Master:
Thank you for printing or writing this article about life between life, life review, and near-death experiences. I want to add to your information that there is an entire professional training for the method to accessing one’s unconscious mind called Life Between Life (LBL). It was started by the late Dr. Michael Newton, a psychologist. You can read more about him and the training to become or find an LBL therapist at https://www.newtoninstitute.org/. I had profound questions that no rabbi, counselor, nor mkubal could answer. So, upon the recommendation of a mentor, I had about 5-10 sessions of LBL. Having these sessions has helped me understand the challenges of my present life, given me deep insights into challenging relationships, and more. While in a hypnotic state, the patient in an LBL session explores where the soul has been in between gilgulim/incarnations and where it receives information about its previous incarnations such as the lessons and its mission for the next incarnation. The soul goes through tikunim/rectifications, and one may understand, perhaps, the reasons for even hard teachers and lessons. It comes from Hashem’s love to help us grow–although through painful at times. So, if a person is, chas v/shalom, having difficulty with shidduchim, having children, having nachas from your children, relationship issues, money issues, health issues, unusual and unresolvable fears and other issues, consider finding a practitioner of LBL and explore your soul’s history. Again, thank you, Rabbi Blech, for broaching this topic. It was thought provoking! After I read your article, I paused and reflected on my life: What would I be seeing in the movie of my life? What would I change? What are my regrets? I did a cheshbon hanefesh and made some significant decisions: to live more joyfully and let go of relatively-small annoyances that zap my energy! I apologized to my neshama for less-than-optimal choices that lead me to uncomfortable places and I apologized to the souls of others whom I hurt. I also came to the conclusion: I have had some very difficult challenges and I have done the best that I could with the tools that I had, continuously confronting them with sincerity and leading my life as an upright person. It is never too late to change one’s course by making amends and doing teshuva. That’s our unique, human quality and what makes us different than animals. Please share more information about this topic and the research studies at Hadassah Hospital.
Sincerely,
S A
Vues Master’s Note: Is that what they mean when they say to me, go get a life?
HYPNOSIS
Dear Vues Master:
I want to commend Jewish Vues and Rabbi Blech for his unique article about end of life and near death experience (NDE). Such an important and unexplored area! I would refer Rabbi Blech and readers to the work of Dr. Michael Newton, a PhD psychologist whose work has changed the landscape of this subject. Dr. Newton learned and started to do hypnosis in his practice. From using regressive hypnosis, he had a patient go into a past life. He wasn’t a believer in past lives or even soul, but gradually saw the benefit to his clients. One day, a client spontaneously went to what Newton recognized as a different dimension–what he came to call Life Between Lives, where souls go after leaving this life. This happened again some time later, and Newton realized he had been shown a totally different and vital area. The fact that the 2 clients were far separated and didn’t know each other, plus the similarity of their accounts under hypnosis, changed the direction of Newton’s work. He wrote his first book after working with and recording the sessions of over 7000 PEOPLE. It is called Journey of Souls. I asked a respected teacher of Kaballah that I know of about it, and he had that same book! When I asked him about it from the Torah perspective, he said “it’s exactly what we learn in Kaballah.” There are many fascinating things in Newton’s works but, to me, the most interesting is the planning of the soul for a new incarnation. I won’t ruin it for potential readers, except to say that the soul may choose to experience possible or probable challenges in order to elevate, correct or learn something it didn’t complete satisfactorily in a past life. This may bring comfort to good people who suffer. Again, thanks so much for opening this important topic for readers. It is a great service to those of us who cannot meaningfully access this information from our original source.
All the best,
SL
Vues Master’s Note: This letter is great, it is out of this world!
BENNET
Dear Vues Master:
I sit here listening to the NEWS. Several thoughts pop into my mind. 1. How could Lapid send an Arab/Israeli woman who is a Kineset member who is anti Israel to be a representative in China? Would this woman stand there silent as Israel’s National Anthem would be played? Could she in any way shape or form have Israel’s best interests at heart? 2. It occurs to me how absurd it is that Naftali Bennet’s neighbors have to put up with the fortress that he is spending millions and millions of shkalim to build. The regular “Joe” living in Bennet’s neighborhood has had his life turned upside down. As Jerusalem is the capitol of Israel (make no mistake about it) THAT is where Israel’s Prime Minister should live. Will Lapid be moving into the fortress once Bennet is out? And now that yet another member of the coalition has defected, ( specifically the women who was dispatched to China), there is actually no more need for all that protection Bennet has allowed himself to provide for himself and his family AT THE EXPENSE of the citizens he’s supposed to be protecting. Once He is out of office due to the downfall of his government, who will he need protection from? His neighbors? How could he even want to live in a community that hates him? For that matter…how can he live with himself? His betrayal to all of the ideals and principles he espoused is enough to keep him behind closed doors. 3. If and When Bennet’s administration ends (and it will end), I think that he has to pay back for all of the renovations done to his house. No one paid for me redo my kitchen or my two bathrooms. There is no reason why our taxes have to pay for Bennet’s whims and fancies.
KSK
Vues Master’s Note: Ah! Israeli politicians are known to be corrupt and they don’t even hide it!
24,000 TALMIDIM
Dear Vues Master:
“The Lord preserves the simple: I was brought low, and he saved me.” – Psalms 116:6. That is, although a particular behavior is inherently dangerous, the fact that the masses have carelessly adopted it compels G-d, as it were, to protect them from the harmful effects of their imprudent actions (Artscroll, Yevamos 72a). According to this, why did Rabbi Akiva’s 24,000 students die en masse? G-d protects the masses from the harmful effects of physical dangers but not spiritual dangers. Had I lived back then I would have sent my son to learn by Rabbi Akiva who actively tried to help his students overcome their flaws; however, I wouldn’t send my son to a yeshiva where the rabbi turns a blind eye to middos (character traits) even if the students are excellent. Rav Brevda says, in the name of rav yechezkel, that a flock of sheep do not think, they keep their head down eating. When they see the hind leg of their fellow move they follow behind and If they would ever look up they would see that the shepherd is leading one of the sheep by the neck. That is how you control sheep, not by sound or by waving a stick but by the stick or a carrot on a stick.
DG
Vues Master’s Note:This letter is tough and nothing to shake a stick at!
BAR KOCHVA
Dear Vues Master
I would like to suggest some reasons why Rabbi Akiva thought Bar Kochba was moshiach. It says, maasa avos siman lebanim (the actions of the forefathers are a sign for the children). Just like G-d redeemed the Jews after four fifths died and there was a collective bris milah so it will be in the future. The Zohar says the future redemption can have an even higher percentage like 1:50 or 1:500. Rabbi Akiva had 24,000 students die and he started again with 5 students which is already 1 in 5,000. Regarding the bris milah, Rashi (Yevamos 72a) says that Bar Kochba defeated the Romans, and then ruled as king of Israel for two and a half years. During that period the Jews circumcised themselves again. Lastly, just as Nadav and Avihu had to be taken, for the sake of the Mishkan, perhaps his students were the karbonos for the third Beis HaMikdash.
DG
Vues Master’s Note: Maybe!
HEFSEK
Dear Vues Master:
A simple but G-d fearing woman who was critically ill asked that the Rav of the town come so she can say viduy before him. After completing the viduy, she asked: “Rebbe, am I permitted to drink a little water or would that constitute a hefsek so I have to die now?”
BN
Vues Master’s Note: I heard the same line with a Brisker having made the bracha of kiddush Hashem chased the Arab nu! Hefsek!
INSPECTION
Dear Vues Master:
The New York State Senate passed legislation (S3687-A) sponsored by Senator Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn) that aims to help remind New Yorkers when their annual vehicle inspection is due and provide a five-day grace period for vehicle inspections. Currently, the DMV does not provide any written notice to motorists if their vehicle inspection is about to expire. Under this legislation, DMV would be required to notify motorists via postal mail thirty days before their vehicle inspection certificate is set to expire, unless they request to receive the notification by e-mail. The bill also creates a five-day grace period after the vehicle inspection expires before a ticket can be issued. “For many over-worked, busy New Yorkers, the last thing on their mind is getting their vehicle re-inspected. In fact, the first time they realize their vehicle inspection has expired is when they return to find a hefty ticket on their parked car,” said Senator Felder. “In today’s busy world, we can all use a little help remembering and this bill would simply require the State to help remind New Yorkers to get their vehicles inspected.” “New Yorkers continue to be overtaxed, over-ticketed and over-fined. By just giving drivers a fair warning, with a pinch of grace, we can help them get their vehicles inspected, without always reaching into their wallet first,” concluded Senator Felder.
ST
Vues Master’s Note: How about getting rid of inspection stickers and just get your car fixed every year so your brakes don’t fail. Nobody cares about emissions!
SEASON
Dear Vues Master:
When a government inspector came to check out a mental institution, he saw all kinds of fruitcakes. One fool dressed in red was rolling around like a ball. “What are you doing?” the inspector asked. “I’m an apple,” the fool answered. A second man dressed in yellow and bent over explained that he was a banana. A third one was an orange. However, one of the fools was calmly seated in a normal position. When the inspector asked him why he wasn’t interacting with the others, he responded: “I’m not in season now.”
KJ
Vues Master’s Note: When is the season for statues?