26 Dec SPEAK YOUR VUES WITH THE VUES MASTER

TRIP TO ISRAEL
Dear Vues Master:
I heard over the weekend that someone asked Rav
Hershel Schachter shlita whether they can use their
maaser kesafim for a chizuk trip to Eretz Yisrael. Rav
Schechter answered that if the person usually goes to
Eretz Yisrael twice a year and now wants to say that one
of his trips is a chizuk trip then no you can’t. But if you
usually go twice a year & now you are going a third time
specifically for a chizuk trip then you can. Wow!
JM
Vues Master’s Note: Ok, have a safe trip!

YESHIVA BREAK
Dear Vues Master:
I don’t know how anyone can go away this year during
Yeshiva break to an exotic vacation. There is a war
going on in Eretz Yisrael & people are burying their
loved ones every day. The chayalim are fighting hard for
Klal Yisrael. How can we go to Puerto Rico Or Florida
when a major war is going on?
HY
Vues Master’s Note: Olam Keminhago holech!

RESPONSE TO HOSTAGE POSTERS
Dear Vues Master:
Our organization Bring them Home and Kidnapped
From Israel which is all over the world, were repulsed
to see last week’s letter from Yeshiva World regarding
women placing hostage posters in the Midwood vicinity.
Quite a few serious allegations were made and I would
like to address them one by one. Firstly the photographs
of the hostages and the basic information on them are
there to do two things 1. Spread awareness about the
issue – We have our precious brothers and sisters stolen
from their beds and are being held in terrible conditions
by Hamas. Detailed pictures always spread awareness
as who does not now remember the adorable faces of
the small children being held hostage including Kfir and
Ariel Bibas, and the Elderly Shlomo Mansour 85, Aryeh
Zalmovich 85 BDE. 2. These posters are for us. As you
put your children on the school bus or walk on the ave,
take a moment to look and remember that the families
in these kibbutzim do not have the pleasure to do the
mundane things we do . A picture is a thousand words,

so yes we need pictures! When you pass those photos
and your heart twists please say a Perek of Tehillim and
daven for those hostages. These pictures should invoke
feelings for tefillah over our hostages. The letter written
by the gentleman “Yeshiva World” said that posters
were put up on properties without permission. That is
not the case , the owner of the construction site as well
as the homeowners and Rabbi were asked permission
before the posters were placed there. We actually had
it recorded on video when these people were asked for
legal reasons. Nothing and I repeat nothing was hung
up without permission. To address the allegations that
it brings anti-semitism to this area. Unfortunately, we
are living in tough times. Since October 7th there has
been an open outpouring of Jewish hatred. We are in
Golus. If you follow Social media you are aware that
there are awful videos and clips full of hate and the
fire has spread. Their professors and teachers have
fed the average non-Jewish college and high school
student many lies about Israel occupying Gaza and its
apartheid rules. This has a direct impact on the uptick in
antisemitic crimes. All Jewish neighborhoods have been
targeted. If you see that the posters are slashed, that is
because they found something tangible to do. Thank G-d
they are slashing posters and not our people. There is no
correlation between the posters and Jews being attacked.
Unfortunately, Jews are being attacked everywhere,
whether there are posters or not. The letter mentioned
that perhaps the people hanging up the posters should
join the IDF. Should you “Yeshiva World” be willing to
pay for our tickets to Israel? Those of us without small
children would be happy to join some sort of mission
to help cook/join the war effort. In the future should
you be so bothered about something it’s always best
to address the person or group before sending a letter
which has enough information for community members
to know exactly who you are speaking about. We all
have different perspectives and that is ok, but at the end
of the day, we need to be kind to one another. May this
war end, may the hostages return, and may we all greet
the coming of Moshiach. Thank you for your time,
Your Favorite Hostage Poster Hanger
Vues Master’s Note: I did not respond to last week’s
letter so I won’t respond to this one either!

WOMEN TZNIUS
Dear Vues Master:
Thank you so much for printing that letter
about women’s Tznius. I wanted to add that
women and girls in the audience need to take
care not to sing and dance where they can
be heard and seen by men(for example, at a
concert with mixed seating and/or with male
performers), no matter how great the music
is.
Sincerely, NM
Vues Master’s Note: Maybe men should
refrain from going to these places! Mixed
seating is problematic even at a funeral!

ANTI SEMITE WALKS INTO A
BAR JOKE
Dear Vues Master
An antisemite walks into a bar and takes a
seat. Pretty quickly, he notices a Jew across
the room and he thinks to himself “I’m gonna
show him!” He calls the bartender over and
says “Give everyone a beer on me except that
Jew over there!” The bartender does exactly
that. As soon as everyone gets their beer,
they look at the antisemite, lift their cups and
say cheers. The antisemite looks at the Jew
who then also lifts his cup and says cheers to
the antisemite. He is very confused. Why is
the Jew doing that after I bought everyone
a beer except him? So he ups his game. He
calls over the bartender and says to give out
a very nice shot of whiskey to everyone but
that Jew. The bartender does exactly that.
They all lift their cups to the antisemite
as does the Jew. Again, the antisemite is
confused and frustrated. He calls over the
bartender again and says “Give everyone
your most expensive drink on me but don’t
give it to that Jew!” And so he does. Again,
the Jew lifts his cup and says cheers to the
antisemite. At this point, the antisemite
is fuming. He calls over the bartender and
asks “Why does that Jew keep thanking me
for buying everyone drinks even though I
didn’t buy him one?” The bartender looks at
the antisemite confused and says “Him? He
owns the bar!”
Hillel Fuld
Vues Master’s Note: Good one!

DAF YOMI HARVARD AND THE
DUMB OX DEFENSE
Dear Vues Master:
Background for those whose heads have
been in the sand, recently, or who will read
this well into the future after the sands of
time will have settled: Student organizations
at Harvard have publicly held Israel solely
responsible for the barbarism of Hamas
this past Simchat Torah, as evidenced by
witnesses and videos, and then the president
of Harvard testified that advocating genocide
of Jews (not just of Israelis) can be defended
in context. Even before the Simchat Torah
War, many people noted that Harvard
no longer represents the highest level of

excellence and sophistication, considering
the percentage of its students who are there
because of the color of their blood (“blue
blood” aristocrats), not to mention the color
of their skin (based on the well-intended and
most admirable goals of diversity, equity,
and inclusion), let alone the color of the
money that helped get them in there (green
dollars for the Americans, and petrodollars
for whatever the color of oil is for Middle
Eastern holders of student visas). Without
even getting into the Congressional testimony
of Harvard’s president on genocide against
Jews or her scholarship or lack of it (against
the scholarship of scholars she allegedly
plagiarized), this article will focus on the
remaining students at Harvard who may still
be among the best and the brightest. Every
human life is priceless, and every avoidable
or unnecessary human death is defenseless,
regardless of religion or nationality. But
many students – and even professors and
Board members — at Harvard naively (to
give them the benefit of the doubt) believe
or pretend that the only numbers that count
are the number of civilian Israelis murdered
in peacetime against the number of human
shields and victims of counter attacks aimed
at terrorists who died in wartime. Even
these numbers are very misleading because
they fail to take into account the number
of deadly missiles launched by Hamas into
major densely occupied Israeli cities (and an
estimate of the number of Israeli civilians
targeted by Hamas) as well as the number of
miracles we have witnessed in that the iron
dome has been so effective. The members of
the Harvard community fail to ever mention
all of these numbers and facts or to put all
of them into context, a lesson their president
infamously theoretically advocates. The
daf yomi that was studied around the world
on or near the day this newspaper went to
press (Baba Kama 54) deals with people
and animals who fell into pits that were
presumably built with the best of intentions,
as contrasted with tunnels built with the
worst of intentions. The victims are divided
into categories – humans versus animals;
and victims with common sense (including
some animals) and those without common
sense (including some humans). It would
take a good part of the mesechta to discuss
all the variations – and it does – but some
of the commentators take pains to articulate
one distinction between humans and animals
who fall into different categories before
falling into pits. Oxen walk with their heads
slightly lowered, and therefore, unless they
are defined as dumb oxen, they are more
likely to notice the pits in front of them (and
to walk around them) than are humans who
walk upright, looking straight ahead, on
eye level (Tosfos) while thinking a variety
of thoughts (Me’iri), whether good or bad,
and whether cloudy or in the clouds. The
bottom line is that some humans would

do well to learn from some animals, even
if none of them went to Harvard. In the
mesechta of Eruvin (100), Rabbi Yochanan
is noted and quoted to have said: “Even if
the Torah had not been given, we would still
have learned modesty from the cat [which
covers its bodily eliminations]; [not to] steal,
from the ant [which does not take grain
from another ant]; [not to participate in]
forbidden relations, from the dove [which is
faithful to its partner]; and proper [“dating”
or pre-mating] relationships from the rooster
[which takes pains to impress the hen so that
the hen will go into a relationship with the
rooster willingly] before the rooster mates
with the object of its desires. Even animals
that walk with their faces closer to – and
angled closer to — the ground than humans
can be classified into various categories –
smart and dumb. The “smart” ones have no
excuse for falling into pits in the daytime.
Humans have an excuse, according to some
commentators, as discussed above. But that
doesn’t excuse them from at least taking
precautions, wearing glasses, using walking
or hiking sticks or poles, where appropriate,
not texting while walking, and looking
where they are going. All oxen except the
“dumb” ones are generally presumed to keep
their eyes on the ground, see what is ahead
of them, and act with reasonable caution,
before moving ahead. The students at our
elite institutions, and even the “dumb” people
who don’t get into Harvard (quotation marks
intended), must take the trouble to see what
is to be seen before forging ahead. Seeing
what is to be seen means to see the context
of whether violence is aimed at civilians
or to protect civilians, whether people are
being used as human shields to protect
offensive missiles or whether the iron dome
and military maneuvers are used to protect
civilians. Once there is a clear delineation
between terrorism and defense, then one can
come to conclusions as to whether there is
any context in which intentional barbarism,
mutilation, murder, and hostage-taking in
peace time (without cooperating with the
Red Cross) of Jews and even of some of
their neutral innocent employees (who were
not released from captivity immediately
as soon as their origins were ascertained)
can be defended “in context.” The whole
concept of placing facts in context has been
mutilated by the president of Harvard, and
further mutilated by the fact that there is no
context in which her defense of the defense
of her plagiarized dissertation and of her
condoning anti-Semitism (short of direct
and immediate violence) can be condoned.
Even if the Israeli response to the barbarism
of October 7th (by attempting to eliminate
Hamas without any acts of barbarism,
mutilation, or rape, etc.) can be defined as
genocide of the people of Gaza (which of
course it cannot), advocating the genocide
of ALL JEWS everywhere in the world,

regardless of their location, views or level
of support of Zionism or opposition to it,
cannot possibly be defended in any context.
Even an ox in the days of the Talmud would
not be so stupid. Rabbi Reichel is now proud
to say he never attended Harvard , although
in addition to obtaining 4 degrees at Yeshiva
University and 2 of its affiliated schools and
attending a 5th, he did attend the Hebrew
University, which was once reputedly proud
to refer to itself as “the Harvard of the
Middle East.”
Rabbi Aaron I. Reichel, Esq.
Vues Master’s Note: Thanks for sharing!

RITCHIE
Dear Vues Master:
When, oh when, will you be introducing
the ‘Where’s Ritchie?’ section in the picture
pages? This would greatly assist us fans in
getting our Ritchie fix of the week.
All the best, S.I.F.
Vues Master’s Note: The question is not
if the Inspector is in the picture pages, but
how many times each week. We don’t want to
make it easy for you!

DECIDE SIDE
Dear Vues Master:
This is an important reminder: If you don’t
stand unequivocally with the state of Israel,
a beacon of democratic light in a dark region
called the Middle East, then you side with
Hamas. There is no option C. It’s a very
simple question. Do the Jews deserve to have
one country for them to call home or is that
tiny microscopic dot on the map is too much
for you to handle among the totally Muslim
dominated region? If you don’t stand with
Israel, and that includes not remaining silent,
just know that you are choosing a side of a
barbaric organization the likes of which we
haven’t seen in a very very long time. You
are siding with child abusers. You are siding
with rapists. You are siding with pedophiles.
You are siding with serial killers. You are
siding with war criminals. You are siding
with genocidal psychopaths. You are siding
with people who can’t differentiate between
you and me because to them, we all look
like. If that sits well with you, I’m truly sorry
for you; for your soul, and for the knowledge
that you will one day have to be held
accountable for your current stance. You’ll
have to tell your kids and grandkids that
those horrible atrocities they heard about?
Yea; “Your grandpa stood by them and
supported them.” Sooner or later, the world
will understand what Hamas is. They can’t
keep ignoring what the IDF is uncovering
day after day, nursery after nursery, hospital
after hospital. Hamas terrorists were born
without a conscience. Actually that’s not
true. They were born like the rest of us, in the
image of God but they chose, as a society,
to kill their image and to transform into a
nation of horrible violence and terror. This

starts for them right when a baby is born.
Immediate indoctrination. By the time their
kids are 7, they know that all Jews are pigs,
and that they all need to die. On top of that,
they learn how to implement that plan and
go through training on how to fire automatic
weapons. At 7. What’s your 7 year old
learning how to do? Ride a bike? Again,
these are the people you are siding with.
The whole ‘Poor Palestinians’ narrative is
over. It ended at 6:30 AM on October 7th.
Whoever you are and whatever you do, no
one is asking you to stop living. But I am
asking you to dig deep into your heart and
realize this is a moral issue so significant,
remaining silent is not an option, at least not
a moral one. Speak up. Stand with Israel.
Free Gaza from their oppressors, Hamas,
and put international pressure on Hamas to
surrender and return all the hostages. Then,
and only then will this war end and you’ll
go to the grave knowing you stood on the
right side of history.
Hillel Fuld
Vues Master’s Note: I am besides myself!

BELIEVE IT OR SEE IT
Dear Vues Master:
A man once boasted that a wealthy
industrialist was prepared to pay $100,000
just to see his face. When pressed, he
explained that the industrialist was blind.
MB Vues Master’s Note: I see the point in
it! HACHOO Dear Vues Master:
חזקוני The הנה אביך חולה בראשית מ“ח א’
quotes a אליעזר‘ דר פרקי ” From the day of
creation, people used to die suddenly after
sneezing. Yakov Avinu davened for this to
end and asked that one should have some
advance notice of his death by becoming
sick. In Chazal & Halacha, we find to say
for this reason
.אסותה- מרפא-חיים – לישועתך קויתי ה
Interestingly, even Goyim say Gezundheit –
Bless you, etc. The דוד צמח ספר
the In “writes -תלמידו של הרמ“א ומהר“ל
year 590 (ן“ש (There was a pandemic in
almost the entire world. People sneezed and
immediately dropped to the ground dead.
Yaqoub Eisenberg wrote that from then
on all nations adopted the Minhag to say
Gesundheit, etc. when sneezing.
MF
Vues Master’s Note: This is important and
is nothing to sneeze at!

KOFUY TOVA
Dear Vues Master:
Talk about biting the hand that feeds you!
The pro-Hamas students at Manhattan’s
New School who recently blocked the
entrance to campus trampled the memory
of the Zionist scholar who co-founded
the university, and of the refugees from
Nazi genocide who served as its core
faculty for decades. For several hours

on December 4, dozens of extremists
physically prevented fellow-students
from entering, waved Palestinian flags,
and falsely accused Israel of committing

genocide. One student walking by the pro-
Hamas protesters told reporters that they

encircled her and shouted accusations
about her being a “colonizer.” The protest
was organized by the campus branch of
Students for Justice in Palestine, which has
praised the October 7 pogrom by Hamas
in southern Israel, in which over 1200
Israelis were massacred, tortured, raped, or
beheaded, with hundreds more abducted.
Before ditching class and picking up their
bullhorns, the students should have taken
a few minutes to read up on the history
of their own school. I wonder if they
know, for example, that the university was
co-founded by the philosopher Horace M.
Kallen, who was one of the earliest leaders
of the American Zionist movement.
Kallen lectured and wrote tirelessly in
support of creating a Jewish state in the
Holy Land. The New School’s Jewish
roots don’t end there. In the 1930s, when
many American universities refused to
help German Jewish scholars who were
trying to flee the Nazis, the New School
stepped up. It created a new division,
the University in Exile, for the specific
purpose of rescuing fugitive professors.
Unlike today’s protesters, who hurl the
term “genocide” at anybody they dislike,
the refugee scholars who taught at the New
School knew from first-hand experience
what it’s like to be persecuted by a
genuinely genocidal regime. Although
few Jewish refugees were permitted by
the Roosevelt administration to enter the
United States, a clause in the immigration
law admitted foreign scholars outside the
strict quota system. The New School used
that provision to save 184 of the world’s
most brilliant intellectuals. And they, in
turn, vastly enriched the university—
and the country—with their knowledge
and experience. The refugee faculty
included some of the world’s most famous
economists, legal scholars, psychologists
(such as Gestalt pioneer Max Wertheimer),
sociologists (including the founders of the
authoritative journal Social Research),
and political scientists. Some of them had
served in earlier German governments
and lent their expertise to the Roosevelt
administration’s New Deal initiatives and,
later, America’s war effort. Refugee
Hans Simons began his association with
the New School in 1935 as a professor
of political science. He went to become
dean of its School of Politics, Director of
International Studies and finally, in 1950,
president of the university. At the time,
the New School had 5,000 students and
just a single building. In the decade
he was president, Dr. Simons initiated an

expansion effort that saw the student body
grow to 8,000, along with the construction
of two new buildings—both named after
Jewish philanthropists who generously
funded them. I wonder how many of the
pro-Hamas students who make use of the
Jacob M. Kaplan Building or the Albert A.
List Building each day know about Kaplan
and List, sons of the immigrant generation
who had to drop out of school as teenagers
to support their families. Their sweat and
toil made it possible for today’s students
to enjoy a comfortable campus life.
Probably few, if any, of the pro-Hamas
students know how the New School came
to adopt the phrase “To the Living Spirit”
as its official motto. The backstory is that a
building at the University of Heidelberg, in
pre-Hitler Germany, bore a plaque urging
students to “be the Living Spirit.” When
the Nazis rose to power, they tore down
the sign. They also purged Jewish faculty
members and instituted a completely
Nazified curriculum. As a demonstration
that the New School’s University in Exile
would represent the very opposite of the
totalitarianism to which Heidelberg had
succumbed, the school adopted the old
Heidelberg slogan as its own. Despite
protests by New School faculty members,
prominent U.S. universities, including
Harvard, Columbia and Yale, sent
delegates to take part in celebrations at the
University of Heidelberg in 1936. It was
part of the broader tragedy of Ivy League
schools cultivating friendly relations with
Nazi Germany. As for Zionism and
Israel, New School co-founder Kallen
was far from the only Zionist in the New
School’s illustrious history. Stella Adler, a
strong supporter of Israel, chaired its drama
department, and among her students was
Marlon Brando, an equally ardent Zionist.
Brando later recalled how the refugee
scholars “enriched the city’s intellectual
life with an intensity that has probably
never been equaled anywhere during a
comparable period of time.” New School
drama alumni Ben Gazzara and Shelley
Winters were active in a pro-Israel group
in Hollywood; a statement they and other
entertainers drafted—back in 1976—
warned that Israel was “the target of total
planned destruction” by its Arab enemies.
Another alum, Walter Matthau, famously
clashed with Vanessa Redgrave over her
film supporting Palestinian terrorists. In
short, American Zionists and European
Jewish refugees made the New School
what it is today. They must be spinning in
their graves at the spectacle of New School
students cheering on the mass murderers
of Israeli Jews and slandering the Jewish
state.
Rafael Medoff
Vues Master’s Note: As always you are spot
on

HYPOCRISY
Dear Vues Master:
“I will probably regret this later, but here
goes. A close friend of mine grew up in
the same city as me. We went to the same
elementary school. Same high school.
Same beis medrash. We both took the
LSATs (he did better). When we each got
married, both of us were encouraged to stay
in learning. The difference? He listened, I
didn’t. I wanted to make a living and went
to law school. He wanted more out of
life and wanted to teach Torah to the next
generation. So he stayed in Yeshiva. Fast
forward a bunch of years. I am a lawyer
living in the Five Towns. He had climbed
the ranks in Chinuch and is inspiring
hundreds. Now he applies to get his son
into camp. Rejected. I apply to the same
camp. Accepted. *There were no other
factors involved in this decision, and yes,
he agreed to pay in full just like I had.
Why? Well, because of his desire to teach
Torah he ended up in a community, and his
kid ended up in a school, that apparently
doesn’t rank as high as my community/

school on the Yeshivish-enough-for-our-
camp’s-reputation scorecard. Sure, his kid

will wear the same hat my kid will wear at
his Bar Mitzvah. His wife wears the same
sheitel my wife wears. But even those
superficialities are not enough. Because
heaven forbid we risk our reputation
by accepting a kid from THAT school/
community. So I ask, years from now, when
this kid is told by his rebbeim that he has
the skills and knowledge to be marbitz
torah, what do you think he will decide?”
AA
Vues Master’s Note: SAD but perfect
example of daas baal haBayis hepech daas
Torah!

MECHANIC
Dear Vues Master:
An Israeli driver took his car to the mechanic
to have his brakes repaired. The mechanic
examined the car and told him it would cost
6,000 shekel. The driver thought about it
for a moment and responded: “Forget the
brakes. Just fix the horn.”
DE
Vues Master’s Note: It happened here in
NYC too! The Mechanic responded “Ich
feiff dich ahn!”