16 Jan SPEAK YOUR VUES WITH THE VUES MASTER

PAIN
Dear Vues Master:
A good friend of mine unexpectedly lost his wife. A couple
months later we were golfing together, chatting about
nothing. He asked what my dinner plans were and I told
him wifey wanted my homemade chili and cornbread, but I
didn’t feel like stopping at the store. We golfed a few more
minutes when he quietly said, “Make the chili.” It took me
a few minutes to realize we were no longer talking about
dinner. It was about going out of your way to do something
for someone you love because at any moment, they could
unexpectedly be taken from you. So today I’m sharing with
you that wisdom handed to me by my dear friend, that I’ve
thought of many times since that day. Next time someone
you love wants you to go for a walk or watch a football
game or play a board game or just put your phone down
and give them your undivided attention, just do it. “Make
the chili.”
RS
Vues Master’s Note: You never appreciate what you have
until you no longer have it!

COOKING
Dear Vues Master:
A Jew immigrated to America, went into business and
struck it rich. A boyhood friend met him and said: “I’m so
glad for you. What’s the best thing that’s happened from
having no financial worries?” He confessed: “My wife
stopped cooking.”
SD
Vues Master’s Note: Again we don’t appreciate what we
have until we no longer are able to have it!

CHESS
Dear Vues Master:
Many years ago I attended a chess match at a local chess
club. We were watching two grandmasters play for a big
money prize. I, along with all the other observers, were
mere chess buffs and were nowhere near the level of the
players we were observing. Suddenly, In the middle of
the match, one of the players made a surprising move
that elicited groans and looks of bewilderment from the
crowd. Even the analyst who was explaining the moves
seemed to be at a loss. It was incomprehensible and
seemed to be an egregious error that could cost him the
match. However, to our surprise, a mere three moves later
his opponent abruptly stood up, shook his hand and left!

We were all dumbfounded! After studying the board for a
few minutes our analyst suddenly nodded knowingly and
broke into a broad smile. He then explained the logic of the
perplexing move which caused his opponent to suddenly
resign. As he played out the rest of the game for us we
suddenly realized that what had seemed to be a foolish
and incomprehensible move suddenly became a stroke of
genius. In the aftermath of the horrific and unforgivable
Hamas massacre, inexplicable intelligence failures and
ongoing hostage crisis we are a nation reeling and struggling
to find meaning and answers to our existential questions.
The divine chessboard grows more complex and dangerous
daily, with many new pieces in play creating unforeseen,
new scenarios and moral dilemmas! Every move must be
carefully weighed, considered, and calculated. One misstep
can be catastrophic! Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Houties,
Syria not to mention the hate indoctrinated local terrorists
all joining forces to exterminate us while we attempt to rid
ourselves of our mortal enemies under the intense scrutiny
and pressure of the United States, the biased UN and the
antisemitic international community! Combined with a
crucial, controversial, upcoming American presidential
election, exploding worldwide antisemitism, crime, campus
violence, insane Woke liberalism, moral turpitude, the total
collapse of traditional American values and the complete
absence of common sense the future seems bleak indeed!
But wait! The good news is that we are not alone! Our moves
are not guided by our puny, human intellect alone! They
are preordained, divinely inscribed in our national destiny
and predicted by our prophets from time immemorial!
What we are witnessing and living through are nothing less
than the birth pangs of the coming of Moshiach! All the
almost surreal, irrational, nightmarish events are the long
prophesied precursors to the long awaited End of Days!
“Can’t you hear the sound of silent footsteps in the night –
he’s coming closer And can’t you hear the blare of distant
trumpets in the air – he’s coming closer! And can’t you
see society is crumbling they don’t know – he’s coming
closer! And praised is he who righteously is waiting for
that day – he’s coming closer!“ All of our Torah learning,
Maasim Tovim, Tefillos,Tzedaka and Mesiras Nefesh have
finally broken down the doors of Heaven! For those still
perplexed and troubled by the surprising, seeming illogical
and counterintuitive direction of current events… Let me
explain: “MY WAYS ARE NOT YOUR WAYS” saith the
Lord! Hashem’s plans and methods are inscrutable. The
road to Moshiach has from antiquity been cloaked and

hidden in mystery and intrigue. From Lot and
his daughters to Yehudah and Tamar and on
to Rus and Boaz the royal lineage of Malchus
Bais Dovid has defied easy comprehension.
We cannot fathom all the unknowable twists
and turns still to come in the incredible
journey of the royal soul of King David as
it wends its way through history to the End
of Days scenario. As we have seen, no one
can predict what the next moment holds let
alone the coming weeks and months. Trump
or Biden, it doesn’t matter! Hashem is the
ultimate grandmaster and as we watch his
dramatic moves on the global chessboard
we can only gaze in shock and awe as we
struggle to comprehend the Master plan. But
rest assured. Like our ancestors as they stood
trapped with the mighty sea before them and
the fearsome Egyptian army behind them, they
were suddenly saved by miraculous, divine
intervention as the sea split. So too today, as
we stand surrounded by enemies, threatened
by a raging, rising, virulent anti-Semitism,
rioting, lawlessness, immorality and the
imminent collapse of society we stand poised
and ready for Hashem’s master stroke. It’ll be
a move so dramatic and unforgettable that on
that day the entire world will shout in unison…
“HASHEM HU HUH-ELOKIM!” So while
the match is still being played it is futile to
try to understand every move. His ways are
not our ways! None of us are grandmasters
of the divine plan. Only when the game is
finally over will we be able to look back over
our entire history and see the genius in every
move. So continue your learning, Davening,
giving Tzedaka, saying Tehillim etc but all
the while keeping one eye on the match. We
may not understand the significance of every
move but we already know the pre-ordained
outcome. We know who’s going to win! May
we soon hear these words once more:
אל תיראו התעצבו וראו את ישועת הי….
הי ילחם לכם ואתם תחרשון
Chazak Chazak v’nisChazeik
Country Yossi Toiv
Vues Master’s Note: Let us be zoche to have
Moshiach soon!

IDF
Dear Vues Master:
We learn in the Talmud
means That” הבא להרגך, השכם להורגו”
that when someone is going to kill you, you
need to actively prevent him from doing so
even if it means by eliminating the threat.
Waiting for the killer to shoot the first bullet
or throw the first punch, that’s not moral. It’s
the opposite. Hamas and the rest of the radical
Islamic organizations have made it perfectly
clear what they want to do to Israel and every
Jew around the world. Israel shouldn’t wait
till they act. Israel should go on the offense
and remove the threats from its borders.
Waiting is what the presidents of MIT, Penn,

and Harvard said to do. Calling for genocide
of Jews is only bad when speech crosses over
into conduct. No, Jews don’t have to wait till
our enemies act. We should preempt them and
actively remove them from our borders. If
you don’t like it, if Jews actively defending
themselves offends you, well, guess what?
You have a Jew hating problem. On behalf of
all Jews worldwide, I refuse to apologize to
you for existing. Get over it. Israel Defense
Forces. It’s time we changed it to Israel
Offense Forces or Israel Proactive Forces. IPF
has a nice ring…
Hillel Fuld
Vues Master’s Note: Sounds good to me!

FAMILY
Dear Vues Master:
Yechezkel HaNavi was instructed to take
two sticks and inscribe the names Yehuda
and Yosef on them. He was then to place the
sticks near one another whereupon they fused
together into one, symbolizing the eventual
unification of the two Jewish kingdoms,
Malchus Yehuda and Malchus Yisroel. Why
was Malchus Yehuda referred to as “Bnei”
Yisroel while Malchus Yisroel was referred to
as “Bais” Yisroel? R’ Meir Simcha HaKohen
zt”l (Meshech Chochma) explains that “Bnei”
Yisroel denotes a male connotation, whereas
“Bais” Yisroel implies a female connotation.
Malchus Yehuda was called Bnei Yisroel
since it housed the Bais Hamikdash and was
considered the “main” kingdom in Eretz
Yisroel. Malchus Yehuda also merited that all
the Jews were Oleh Regel there on the three
Regalim. The mitzvah of Aliyah L’regel was
only required for men while the women stayed
home. On the other hand, Malchus Yisroel
was called Bais Yisroel, with its female
connotation marking a clear reference to the
women who stayed home and are considered
the “Ikeres HaBayis” – the mainstays of a
Jewish home. Men and women have different
roles in life. Hashem allowed both Jewish
kingdoms to exist since they were each meant
to serve a different purpose in life. Ultimately,
in the times of Mashiach, Hashem will fuse
the two kingdoms allowing those roles to be
served by one merged kingdom, similar to
the how men and women marry and utilize
their individual strengths and roles to create a
fused, wholesome Jewish home.
TT
Vues Master’s Note: I like the fusion drink!

COMPLIMENT
Dear Vues Master:
A bochur in the Mirrer Yeshiva was once a
guest in the home of R’ Chaim Shmulevitz,
for a Shabbos meal. After the first course, R’
Chaim quickly complimented his Rebbetzin
on how tasty the fish was. He paid her another
compliment after the soup was served, and
yet another each time a dish was served. Then

he commented to the bochur how delicious
everything was and how his rebbetzin did
such a good job preparing all of it. The bochur
was noticeably taken aback by the Rosh
Hayeshivah’s behavior. R’ Chaim explained
to the bochur “are you surprised at how I
emphasize something so trivial as food?” “I
can easily explain why I said what I did.”
“I expend a tremendous amount of effort
preparing each one of my shiurim. It takes
hours of concentration, time, and energy.
But when I repeat the shiur in Yeshivah and
I see the reaction of the bochrim, it gives
me tremendous nachas and I know that all
of my effort was worth it. For my wife, her
cooking and baking for our Shabbos meals
is like a shiur. She invests all of her time
energy and effort into each meal. Her work
should certainly not go unnoticed; therefore,
I compliment her and show my appreciation
Lekovoid Shabbos Koidesh.–
DW
Vues Master’s Note: I feel compelled to
compliment you on this beautiful letter!

INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE
Dear Vues Master:
Things only Israel would do/say because of
international diplomatic pressure: – Provide
employment to people from an enemy state,
despite the fact that countless terror attacks
have been carried out by said employees.
Including one an hour ago. – Send in
humanitarian aid to an enemy state despite
hard evidence that the aid is being stolen by
terrorists. – Declare day and night that they are
not at war with the Palestinians, even though
the Palestinians elected Hamas, celebrated
October 7th, took part in the massacre, and
proudly declared their ongoing support for
Hamas. I didn’t see anyone declaring in
WWII, “We are not at war with Germany,
only the Nazis.” – Drop pamphlets and send
SMS to Gazans (and by extension, to Hamas)
letting them know when and where they will
be attacking. Unheard of in war. – Justifying
to the world non-stop why they’re allowed
to defend themselves. – Prove over and over
again how the figures provided by an actual
terrorist organization are inaccurate. – Be
continuously blamed for civilian deaths even
though there is endless evidence that Hamas
uses those civilians as human shields and
benefits from their death. – Justify living in
its indigenous homeland after being attacked
over and over and winning over and over. No
one else is asked to return land it conquered
in a war. – Prove that so-called journalists
killed in war are actual terrorists even though
there are photos and tweets to prove it. –
Continuously argue that Hamas doesn’t want
land but dead Jews, despite the fact that they
say it proudly day and night and it’s spelled
out in their charter. The list just goes on
and on. It’s unbelievable to see the level of

hypocrisy surrounding Israel and the double
standard the world continues to apply to this
tiny little country, the only Jewish state in the
world. And the key to understanding it all, are
those last words, “The only Jewish state in the
world.” You do the math.
Hillel Fuld
Vues Master’s Note: It does not change world
opinion!

SHIDDUCHIM
Dear Vues Master:
A while ago there was a letter to the editor
about a Kallah who wrote that she sponsored
the Daf in a Kollel and very soon after, she
started dating her future chosson ang got
engaged. I decided to check out the website of
Kollel Zichron Naftali sponsor a daf program.
I signed up to sponsor Mesechtas Kiddushin
for a dollar a day. They partnered me with a
person in the Kollel who said out my name
every day before the learning. The amazing
thing is that over the past six weeks or so,
eight different people let me know that they

had Shidduch ideas for me. I am an out-of-
town girl who has been in Shidduchim for a

number of years already, and it is unbelievably
unusual for that to happen. I am very grateful
to your newspaper who directed me to the
kollel. It is pretty obvious to me that it is in the
merit of the Torah learning. Hashem should
continue to help with Shidduchim, and I and
whoever needs should find their bashert very
very soon.
S.M.
Vues Master’s Note: How inspiring! Was
hoping you would tell me you already found
your bashert!

LIVED
Dear Vues Master:
A lawyer asked a witness in court: “Have you
lived in this city all of your life?” The man
replied: “Not yet.”
MJ
Vues Master’s Note: Good thing he answered
that because I had in mind to kick him out of
town!

MACHLOKES
Dear Vues Master:
The Imrei Noam told the following mashal:
A lion said to a sheep, “Smell my breath, and
tell me how it is.” The sheep told him the
truth, “Your breath smells horrid.” “Where is
your respect for the king of all animals?” the
lion roared and devoured the sheep. Then the
lion went to the wolf, “How does my breath
smell?” The wolf saw what happened to the
sheep, so it knew that it shouldn’t tell the
truth. It said, “Your breath smells lovely, your
majesty.” “You’re lying!” roared the lion, and
the lion devoured the wolf. The king went to
the fox, “Smell my breath, and tell me how it
is?” The fox realized that whether he tells the

truth, or whether he lies, his life is in danger.
So he pointed to his nose, and said, “I have
a cold and my nose is stuffed. I can’t smell
anything.” In this manner, the fox was saved.
The Imrei Noam explains: When one is
involved in a machlokes, no matter what he
says, regardless of which side he takes, he’ll
be in trouble. The best counsel therefore, is
to avoid the machlokes and keep away.
WA
Vues Master’s Note: I can’t argue with this
letter!

FAT
Dear Vues Master:
R’ Shlomo Kluger once observed: “I’m
always surprised at how many fat goyim
there are. It’s understandable that there are
fat Jews. After all, חכמים תלמידי stuff
themselves withדתורא בשרא, the meat of
an ox, which is a reference to תורה. They
swallow up a תוספות or a slice of the
מהרש״א or a piece of the שיף מהר״ם, and
want more and more, so it’s understandable
that they continue to grow larger. But what
fattens a goy?”
DP
Vues Master’s Note: That is like the double
miracle every Shabbos! Whatever we eat
on Shabbos does not make us gain weight!
That is miracle number one and the second
miracle is that on Motzei Shabbos when you
get on the scale you see that your weight
went up!

RABBI VS DOG
Dear Vues Master:
An antisemite said to a Rav: “I heard that
Jews stand up for a Rav and sit down for a
dog. What do they do when they see them
together?” The Rav answered: “Let’s walk
down the street together and we’ll see how
people respond.”
WN
Vues Master’s Note: I guess the idiot was
barking up the wrong tree!

BBC CENSORED
Dear Vues Master:
“BBC Gags Zionist Rabbis In Speeches on
Palestine” read the headline in a New York
City newspaper. That was in 1944. But these
days, it sounds all too familiar. The BBC
last week censored parts of its interview with
Israeli president Isaac Herzog, cutting out
sections in which he cited uncomfortable
facts about British policy. Remarkably, he’s
not the first Herzog to be censored by the
BBC—one of those “Zionist rabbis” whom
the BBC “gagged” in 1944 was Herzog’s
grandfather. The Israeli president last week
was interviewed by the BBC for twenty-eight
minutes. But they aired only six. In a key
section that was omitted, the interviewer,
the BBC’s chief international correspondent,

Lyse Doucet, argued that “everyone is
suffering” in the Gaza conflict. President
Herzog responded: “There is a real culture
of atrocities, that is coming forward with
a whole army called ISIS-Hamas and Al
Qaeda. It was in 9/11. It’s beheading people in
Europe. It’s in torturing and what the Houtis
are doing down south. It’s all over the region.
Either we fight them, or not—exactly. It took
a long time until Winston Churchill took over,
after he threatened and alerted against the
Nazi regime.” Herzog was referring to the
fact that from the rise of Hitler in 1933 until
the invasion of Poland in 1939, the British
government pursued a policy of appeasing,
rather than confronting, the Nazis. Churchill’s
warnings about Hitler were ignored. Herzog
then referred to the consequences of Israel’s
previous policy of not defeating Hamas: “We
paid the price. We caved in. We enabled again
and again and again to have ceasefires, and
what happened? What happened? The highest
amount of Jews killed since World War II,
since the Holocaust, was on the seventh of
October, eight times more, in proportional
numbers, than 9/11. What else do you expect
us to do? How do we protect ourselves, as
a member of the family of nations? What’s
our right here? We don’t want to inflict pain.
We tell people to move out. But we have to
get these terrorists, and get them out.” The
president’s spokesperson, Naor Ihia, wrote on
X (Twitter): “Something about the way the
BBC conducted the interview made me think
I should have my own recording of what the
president says before someone tries to censor
or distort it….So here are the things the BBC
didn’t want the world to hear.” The BBC
has not given an explanation for its decision
to omit those portions of its interview with
President Herzog. Sixty-seven years ago,
the BBC did not provide any explanation
of its decision to censor his grandfather, the
Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of British Mandatory
Palestine, Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog. The
occasion was a conference of some 1,800
Orthodox Jewish rabbis, leaders and activists
at the Hotel Pennsylvania in Manhattan on
January 30 and 31, 1944. By that time,
millions of Jews had already been slaughtered
in Nazi death camps. The mass murder had
been verified by the Allies more than a year
earlier, and had been amply documented by
Jewish organizations. According to accounts
in the Yiddish press and the leftwing New
York City daily newspaper PM, the organizers
of the conference paid the required fees to the
BBC—as was the procedure at the time—to
broadcast the proceedings of the gathering.
They also submitted the text of the speeches
to the British censorship authorities in
advance. The two most prominent speakers
scheduled to take part were Chief Rabbi
Herzog and the Chief Rabbi of the United
Kingdom, Joseph Hertz. They intended to

speak about “the plight of European Jewry,
urging American Jews to support a program
to open the doors of Palestine to persecuted
refugees,” according to PM. Shortly before
the conference, the BBC informed the
organizers that the rabbis’ speeches could
not be broadcast because “transatlantic wires
were overcrowded.” The conference staff then
arranged with AT&T “to provide the wire
space,” and alerted the BBC accordingly.
But on the first day of the conference, the
British Embassy in Washington informed
conference officials that the broadcast would
not take place. No explanation was offered.
Conference chairman David Meckler, editor
of the Yiddish daily Morgen Zhurnal, decried
the censorship decision as part of the British
White Paper policy of appeasing Arab
extremists by keeping Jewish refugees out of
the Holy Land. He called the cancelation “an
attempt by the British government to silence
our demands for aid to refugees through the
opening of Palestine.” Obviously, today’s
BBC producers are not personally responsible
for what their predecessors did in 1944. But
the action by today’s BBC decision-makers
against another Jewish leader from the Herzog
family is more than a little ironic. It seems that
the gagging of Zionist leaders did not end in
the 1940s.
Rafael Medoff
Vues Master’s Note: Thanks for your history
lesson!

POSHUT PSHAT?
Dear Vues Master:
We see in parshas Va’yeiru that the Yidden
didn’t listen to Moshe Rabbeinu due to
“koitzer ruach va’avoiduh kusha”. It doesn’t
mean that they were short of breath due to
the hard work. There were two separate
reasons. Why were they short of breath?
Near the end of the parsha, we may have an
answer. It says “dever Covid meod”. It seems
that just as new Covid variants keep striking
nowadays, it was around in Mitzraim then
too. We also learn about the Mechashvim/
Chartumim – the magicians of Mitzraim
– who were able to duplicate the first few
makois with their black magic. How did
they operate? They had a “witches” brew
in a cauldron upon which they would utter
incantations. What was in the brew? They
would import coffee beans from Ethiopia
and brew them. We see that from the posuk
“be-Latte-hem kein”. The second mako was
the infestation of frogs. First it says that a
swarm of frogs would descend on Mitzraim.
Then, it says one frog. Finally, again it says
that a tremendous amount of frogs went all
over Mitzraim. What happened? Initially, all
the frogs left their habitat to attack Mitzraim.
When they got to Mitzraim, they coalesced
into one gigantic frog like Godzilla. When
the Mitzraim attacked the frog, it splintered

and went all over Mitzraim. It could be a
metaphor for the Yidden. The more they
were hit by the Mitzraim, the more they
multiplied. Where did the frogs come from?
Well, they weren’t Ashkeneizim; they were
tzSefardim. The next mako was the spread
of lice all over the Mitzriam. The Egyptian
magicians couldn’t replicate it and admitted
“etzba alokim hu”. Why “etzba” part of the
anatomy? Perhaps they had that on their mind
since they were busy scratching themselves
from the lice with their fingers. In a related
matter, when a child injures himself, it is
referenced sometimes as a boo-boo. Where
does that term come from? During the later
mako of Shchin, the Mitzriam were inflicted

with injuries described as “poireiach a-boo-
boo-ois” although those were major wounds.

Last, there is a chilukei deius if Jewish men
are required to wear beards. Both sides bring
raiyous from the time in Mitzraim. On one
side, it says “b’nureinu u’zakeneinu neilach”
– we will leave with our beards. The other
shituh quotes the posuk “asher shum bnei
Yisroel loi huyuh boord”.
DF
Vues Master’s Note: Hok nisht in Cheinik!

TRUMP WINS
Dear Vues Master
This past Monday night former President
Donald Trump won the Iowa Republican
caucuses by an unprecedented margin,
cementing his front-runner status in the GOP
primary field as he vies to be the party’s 2024
nominee and reclaim the White House. Trump
received 51% of the vote — despite battling
four indictments, including charges tied to
his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential
election. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis edged
out former South Carolina Gov. Nikki
Haley for a distant second-place finish with
just over 21% — although the nominating
contest now shifts to New Hampshire, where
polls show Haley in a much stronger position
in next week’s primary. Also on Monday,
entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who
finished fourth in the Iowa caucuses, ended
his campaign and immediately endorsed
former president Trump.
ALC
Vues Master’s Note: It’s time to take out the
popcorn. It’s about to get very entertaining.