12 Mar SPEAK YOUR VUES WITH THE VUES MASTER
CORRECTION
VUES MASTER’S NOTE: WE WOULD LIKE TO SHOW APPRECIATION
TO OUR ESTEEMED READERSHIP. THERE WAS A MISTAKE IN LAST
WEEK’S KASHRUTH ARTICLE BY RABBI MOSHE ELEFANT ABOUT
KOSHERING LIVER. THE ARTICLE SAID THAT LIVER NEEDS TO BE
BOILED! WHEN IT WAS SUPPOSED TO SAY LIVER NEEDS TO
BE BROILED!
IT IS NICE TO SEE THAT OUR READERSHIP KNOWS HALACHA! WE
ALSO APPRECIATE HOW MUCH OUR ARTICLES ARE READ AND
CRITIQUED! THANKS & SORRY FOR THE MISTAKE!
WE WILL ONLY PUBLISH A COUPLE OF THE LETTERS DESPITE
THE FACT THAT WE RECEIVED AN UNLIMITED AMOUNT OF
CORRESPONDENCE TO CORRECT THIS MISTAKE!
AS DOVID HAMELECH WROTE, SHGIYOS MI YOVIN!!!
LAWSUIT
Dear Vues Master:
Rabbi Abraham Lunger, an Orthodox Jew from New
York, is suing JetBlue in a controversial incident that has
sparked allegations of antisemitism. The lawsuit stemmed
from an event where Lunger was removed from a flight
from Palm Springs to New York after he requested a
seat change to avoid sitting next to a woman, citing his
religious beliefs. The confrontation began when a flight
attendant, followed by the pilot, demanded he return to his
original seat, eventually removing him from the aircraft.
JetBlue, the American airline at the center of this dispute,
found itself accused of religious discrimination. Lunger’s
ordeal took place on Erev Rosh Hashana. Lunger asserted
that he did not expect JetBlue to compel anyone to switch
seats. Instead, when he realized a woman would be seated
beside him, he politely inquired with fellow passengers
if someone would be willing to exchange seats. A male
passenger agreed to the swap, yet a flight attendant
intervened, loudly instructing Lunger to revert to his
assigned seat. Following the altercation with the flight
attendant, the pilot intervened, citing potential weight
and balance issues as a reason why seat swapping was not
permissible. Lunger’s refusal led to the pilot’s decision
to eject him from the flight. Subsequently, JetBlue left
Lunger and his daughters stranded in Palm Springs
without assistance, even going so far as to withhold their
luggage to prevent flight delays. I hear both sides to this
lawsuit. On the one hand Rabbi Lunger had someone
interested in swapping seats with him and on the other
hand how accommodating should all airlines be to every
customer? Unfortunately antisemitism is everywhere &
Jet Blue has a history of being anti semitic.
JD
Vues Master’s Note: Anything to make a buck!
PURIM
Dear Vues Master:
As we get closer to Purim, the parshiois have random
remuzim to the Yom Tov. Last week’s Parsha, Parshas
Va’yakheil starts off with the Yidden gathering to hear
the hichois Shabbos. In Megillas Esther, it also talks
about “nikhalu ha’yehudim be’ureiham…l’shloiach yad
b’vakshi reusom”. A gathering to honor the Shabbos
down the line led to a gathering to save klal Yisroel.
Targum Onkelos in the section on creating the Menorah
mentions Shushan. But times change. In fact, we just
changed the clock. Things have changed over the years.
Someone told me about the time he went to visit his friend
in prison. It was a minimum security facility where there
were unfortunately too many Jewish inmates. His friend
was incarcerated for crimes involving arson for insurance
gain. He asked the inmate how he could do such a thing.
The inmate responded that it says in parshas Va’yakhel
“Loi Se’vaaru Aish be’chol Moishvoiseichem be’yom
Hashabbos”. One is not allowed to light houses on fire on
Shabbos. The rest of the week it’s OK. The inmate told
him about the time there was a riot at the prison. Extra
police were called in to quell the riot. We’re accustomed
to hearing about riots at other prisons where there are hard
core prisoners. This was the only time there was a riot
at this facility. He asked him, “what was the reason for
it?” The inmate answered, “There was a fight over which
of two choshava people would get Shishi on Shabbos”.
However, not all is bad. In contrast, nowadays it would
be highly unlikely there would be a problem with Yidden
chv”s creating an Eigel. There are three reasons. One is
that the Rebbe almost always comes down late. In fact,
if he would come on time, the chassidim would think
there is a problem. Second, if something would chav”sh
be wrong with the Rebbe, his son would right away
take over. Third, they wouldn’t have any gold. They
would have given it away to the Rebbe as
pidyonim. There is still a problem with
Eirov Rav although now they are called
illegals or migrants. There is another
current event that we could learn from the
parsha. The Chochumin came to Moshe
and told him that the Yiden were bringing
more material than was necessary for the
Mishkan. So he blew the Trumpet to tell
the people to stop bringing material. Then
the posuk says that there was just enough
material for all the work. Then it adds
“and extra” seemingly contradicting itself.
There are different teruzim that answer this
question. But perhaps we can answer it with
one of the punitive cases brought against
President Trump. His documents showed a
certain value to his assets but the Democratic
prosecutor said that it was “va’hoiser”. It
was extra. So we see it depends who looks at
the value of the materials involved. Value is
in the eye of the beholder. The penalty was
definitely va’hoiser. Hopefully, Trump will
iy’h have “va’hoiser” when they count the
votes in November.
DF
Vues Master’s Note: Age is just a number!
And prison is just a room!
RABBI YOSEF
Dear Vues Master:
Israel’s Chief Rabbi HaGaon HaRav
Yitzchak Yosef delivered a sharp message
to Israel’s political leadership on Motzei
Shabbos regarding the public debate on
drafting yeshiva bochurim. The Rav’s
statements were made on the background
of the Supreme Court’s decision to force
the government to explain why Chareidim
shouldn’t be drafted to the IDF and the
resulting political debate on the matter.
Speaking at his weekly shiur, the Rav
said: “Shevet Levi is exempt from the
army – they won’t take them no matter
what happens. If they force us to enlist –
we’ll buy tickets and all travel abroad.”
“They need to understand this – the
secular people who don’t understand.
They need to understand that without
Torah, without kollelim, without yeshivos
– the army wouldn’t be successful. The
army is only successful in the zechus of
Bnei Torah, the soldiers are successful
in the zechus of Bnei Torah.” “Rabbosai,
everyone needs to say this with pride –
oisek re’we ,yes’ – ויגבה לבו בדרכי ה’
b’Torah, the Torah is what protects us.”
I’m having a hard time understanding what
the Rav said “If they force us to enlist –
we’ll buy tickets and all travel abroad.”. I
understand why he is opposed to bochrim
serving in the army, but to say that we are
willing to leave Eretz Yisrael instead?
PD
Vues Master’s Note: Yes, the land of Eretz
Yisroel will not tolerate a bunch of sinners!
DAF
Dear Vues Master:
The Talmud of course was written, organized,
and compiled in a different era, but many of
its lessons are timeless. Many of its examples
may seem inapplicable to most of us, but so
many of the concepts hit home to most of us
despite these differences in time and milieu.
An example is a discussion in the Talmud
about a stolen field full of produce. Most of
the readers of this paper almost never get to
see a field, with or without produce, but the
two wars that are raging as this article goes
to print are certainly impacting people in
cities as well as farms. The Talmud (at page
14 of Baba Metzia) discusses a field full of
produce that was stolen — not ravaged by
war — but the effect is the same. Not only
was the produce consumed, in the Talmud’s
scenario, but the property was also rendered
unfit for its purposes, much as Ukraine will
not be the same after the War will end. The
Ukrainians are fighting for their homeland,
but their homes and their land will not
be recognizable, if livable, for many of
the soldiers and refugees (many of whom
are Jewish) upon their return, if ever. In
Gaza, the picture is just as poignant, if not
more so. When the Jews disengaged from
Gaza almost 20 years ago, they left behind
magnificent produce-producing greenhouses
that weren’t consumed for the benefit of
the new inhabitants, but were intentionally
torched to the ground by the Gazans, so
the greenhouses could never be used by the
people who took over the property or retaken
and put to use as before. Then, in October
of this year, not only were buildings burned
in Israel by Hamas invaders from Gaza, but
with people inside of them (in addition to
the other atrocities committed). And because
Hamas operated in and launched weapons
from civilian houses and hospitals, the
devastation was not as limited as it would
be when fighting is confined to purely
military targets, so that the devastation was
far greater than it had to be. But returning to
the section of the Talmud excerpted above,
there is more to the quotation. The actual
language indicates that the produce was not
only consumed, but the robber “dug pits,
ditches, and caves in the field” rendering it
unfit for its previous agricultural use. But the
language is haunting, “dug pits, ditches, and
caves.” Sound familiar? It sounds awfully
close to tunnels. The inhabitants of the fields
in the days of the Talmud couldn’t have
imagined the sophisticated tunnels built in
the course of the past few years in Gaza,
but pits, ditches, and especially caves sure
sounds eerily close, with basically the same
result – causing the area to no longer be fit
for its previous use, though in the case of the
Gaza war, the tunnels didn’t directly lead
to devastation, but their existence caused
the devastation to be far greater than it
would have been in the absence of tunnels.
In the Talmud, the discussion that follows
focuses on how the victims could be made
whole, whether from the return of the value
of the property before the robbery from the
robber’s liened property or from unsold
property. We are far from at the point where
the Ukrainians (including many Jews), the
Gazans, or the displaced and injured Israelis
and their families will be made whole, if ever,
but everyone should learn a lesson from the
Israelis’ attempts to pinpoint military targets
and to avoid needless loss of property,
which has always been the modus operandi
until the current war, where their hands and
weapons were forced to wreak more havoc,
though only for the reason articulated above.
Israelis have traditionally been the victims of
genocide, not G-d forbid the perpetuators of
genocide. One of the tragedies of the current
war in Gaza – as if there aren’t enough
tragedies – is the false accusation that the
Israelis are causing genocide. May tragic
losses stop, and especially unnecessary
purposeful aggravation and distortions of the
tragedies, bimhayrah beyamaynu, speedily
and in our times.
Aaron Reichel
Vues Master’s Note: We had the question in
Bava Kama about David saving himself with
the Plishtim fields!
HELP
Dear Vues Master:
Want to do something that will help the
soldiers and the people of Israel? How about
something that will help them as well as
your own family for the rest of their days?
Strengthen your Shabbos and familiarize
yourself with all its laws. It’s not just a
suggestion but also an obligation on every
man and woman. The blessing that will come
out of that learning will be noticed after just
one week in your life. Baruch Hashem there
is a special group of like-minded individuals
that have made the process super easy for
you to fulfill and will only take 2 minutes
of your time to have your first book shipped
free to your home. Visit www.shabbosdaily.
org and simply choose the book and put in
your shipping info and it will be on its way. I
suggest getting the Shabbos kitchen one first
because the most rules and melacha involve
food prep and serving. After that you can get
The Shabbos Home when you are finished
as well as some other titles. The book is free
on condition that you make a pledge that
you are going to make effort and complete
it. They are very clear English halachic
guidebooks that are approved by the leading
gedolim of our time. There are many that
might think they already know all there is to
know but the truth is that is usually not the
case, and a time gap in study can easily lead
to something being forgotten. The simplest
thing like putting away a pile of mixed
books or putting a broken toilet seat back
on can easily jeopardize your Shabbos if
you are not equipped to handle what comes
your way . Join the revolution as many of my
friends have. Ignore the depressing news and
let shmiras shabbos light up your life.
RK
Vues Master’s Note: Or read the Vues fun
Pages
HAPPINESS
Dear Vues Master:
There is a fascinating story with Reb
Yonason Eibshitz. When he was a young
boy in yeshiva he made a lot of noise in
class during the month of Adar. His rebbi
couldn’t stop him so he had no choice but
to go to Reb Yonason’s father who was the
Rav of the town. His father came to Cheder
and Reb Yonason was quiet. He asked his
son why he was all jumpy and loud. Reb
Yonason responded. Mishanichas Adar
Marbim B’simcha. I have a chiyuv of simcha
. Divrei HaRav veDivrei HaTalmid my
mitzvah comes before the rebbe. The father
asked why are you quiet now. Reb Yonason
. משנכנס אב ממעטין בשמחה answered
MB
Vues Master’s Note: You think his father
laughed or he gave him a smack?
CORRECTION
Dear Vues Master:
The March 6-12, 2024 Kashruth Questions
column (p. 79) has the following regarding
liver, “salting is inadequate and the liver
needs boiling.” Instead of “boiling” should
it not read “broiling”? (And if anyone still
wants to Kasher liver at home, instructions
of how to do it might be in order.) Thank
you!
JL
Vues Master’s Note: Please see the first
editor’s note!
FLYING BUSINESS
Dear Vues Master:
Boarding a flight to Florida, Saul saw
his wealthy friend sitting in coach. “I’m
surprised to see you sitting here,” Saul said.
“I’ve met your son on a number of flights
and he always travels business.” “Sure,”
the friend responded, “He has a wealthy
father.”
MN
Vues Master’s Note: I guess the son would
not fly in the back!
TZEDAKA
Dear Vues Master:
There’s a beautiful brand new sefer on the
parsha called Vayilaket Yosef. It’s a short
Divrei Torah on the parsha from the words
of Chazal. He brings a very fascinating
idea. In last week’s parsha we read,
Vayikolei Haam Me’havi, but the nation
stopped giving. They stopped bringing
for the Mishkan. There is one other time
that the term Vayikolei appears in the
Torah. That is when the rain stopped by
the Mabul, Vayikolei hageshem. He says
the following. People make the mistake,
and they think that since Vayikolei
hageshem, since the rain stops, so then
Vayikolei haam mehovi, then people stop
giving. Because the money’s not coming
in, so therefore they’re not going to give
the tzedaka. If only we’d realize that
it’s just the opposite. It’s the giving of
tzedaka got you to the point where you
had money in the first place, so therefore,
as difficult as it seems, and now we have
tough times, many people have come face
to face with very, very difficult financial
circumstances. And because of that,
they’re not able to give so much tzedaka.
You have to try to push yourself to give as
much as possible, because when you give
more, you get more. It’s not that when
you get more, you give more. It’s just
the opposite. So then, by Vayikolei haam
me’havi, when the people stop giving, it’s
the wrong idea. They first have to give,
and then they’ll be able to get more, and
more Gashmiyus. May everybody be
zoche iy”H that they should have a shefa
of gashmi, and their Parnassa should
explode iy”H, and they should be able
to realize that the only reason why that
happened is because they gave more and
more Tzedaka.
HR
Vues Master’s Note: That was the first
and last charity campaign that was so
successful that we had to stop the donations
from coming in!
CORRECTION
Dear Vues Master:
An error in last week’s Kashrus Questions
and Answers reminds us of the importance
of a single letter. A “boiled” liver isn’t
kosher; they must be “broiled”.
YK
Vues Master’s Note: Please see the first
editor’s note!
DANGEROUS FIREWORKS
Dear Vues Master:
I recently saw that a local house caught
on fire a few weeks ago due to fireworks
thrown in an alley next to it. B”H the
whole house wasn’t burned down, but a
very dangerous situation was created. The
building was damaged, the fire department
responded, etc. That is only one potential
danger from fireworks. Other hazards are
children that have been seriously injured,
such as losing fingers, getting serious
burns, loss of hearing, and worse, as well
as people, esp. vulnerable senior citizens
and youngsters, who have been scared by
them, which can have serious consequences
for their health and safety, may Hashem
help us. Rabbis in Eretz Yisrael have come
out strongly against firecracker use, as
multiple violations of Torah and halacha
are involved. Therefore, no one should use
such things or give them to children. Let us
act Jewish and stay away from such foreign,
dangerous pastimes. Purim especially is a
time when we need to act in a holy, Jewish
manner, not otherwise.
A concerned reader
Vues Master’s Note: Very good point.
Thanks for sharing!
ARABS
Dear Vues Master:
Palestinian Arab leaders can’t seem to
make up their minds about the Holocaust.
Sometimes they say it never happened.
Sometimes they say it did happen, but
Israel’s behavior is even worse. And
sometimes—such as last week—they say the
Jews themselves provoked the Holocaust.
Yasser Abu Sido, a senior official of the
Palestinian Authority’s ruling party, Fatah,
said on an Egyptian television program
on February 23 that “Hitler had obvious
reasons” for perpetrating the Holocaust.
The Jews’ own provocative behavior was
the reason, according to Abu Sido. “They
planned to take control of Germany. They
started to bring down Germany in terms of
the economy and moral values.” That was
why “Hitler reacted by making the Jews go
on the streets and lick the sidewalks. They
know this very well.” Abu Sido’s blame-
the-Jews approach to the Holocaust echoes
words spoken repeatedly by PA chairman
Mahmoud Abbas. In an April 30, 2018
speech to the Palestinian National Council,
Abbas explained the “reasons” why Jews
were massacred throughout history, from
the pogroms of the Middle Ages to the
Holocaust. He began by dismissing the
idea that antisemitism had anything to
do with it. “Why did this happen? They
say ‘it is because we are Jews’,” but that
must be false, Abbas said, because “there
were Jews in Arab countries. Why wasn’t
there ever one incident against Jews [there]
because they’re Jews? Not even once.” (An
obvious falsehood.) The real reason for
the Holocaust, Abbas said, was the Jews’
own “social behavior, [charging] interest,
and financial matters.” Those Jewish
actions are what provoked the Nazis, he
claimed. Just last year, the PA chairman
repeated that perspective in a speech to
Fatah’s Revolutionary Council (on August
24, 2023). “They say that Hitler killed
the Jews because they were Jews and that
Europe hated the Jews because they were
Jews. Not true,” Abbas asserted. “[The
Nazis] fought [the Jews] because of their
social role, and not their religion….The
[Nazis] fought against these people because
of their role in society, which had to do
with usury, money and so on and so forth.”
Somehow, that train of thought coexists
peacefully in Abbas’s mind alongside the
view he articulated in his infamous Ph.D
dissertation-turned-book, The Other Side:
The Secret Relationship Between Nazism
and Zionism, published in 1984. There he
argued that fewer than one million Jews
were killed by the Nazis, and they were
the victims of a secret partnership between
David Ben-Gurion and Adolf Hitler. Asked
about the book by a Lebanese television
interviewer in 2013, Abbas insisted that
he stands by what he wrote, and even has
written “seventy more books that I still
haven’t published” on the topic. It’s
bad enough that mainstream Palestinian
Authority leaders such as Abbas and Abu
Sido believe such crazy things. But what
is at stake is more than just a grotesque
distortion of history; their rhetoric can help
set the stage for further atrocities—because
the logic behind the Holocaust comments
by Abbas and Abu Sido is remarkably
similar to the position that they and their PA
colleagues have taken regarding the October
7 pogrom. Abbas and other PA leaders have
characterized October 7 as a “response to
the occupation.” They have said the attack
“did not happen in a vacuum.” They have
portrayed Gaza as a “prison” from which
Hamas was trying to “break free.” Every
such justification is another way of saying
that Israel’s own behavior was to blame
for provoking the attack. In a sense, Abbas
is being consistent: The Jews provoked
the pogroms of the Middle Ages. The
Jews provoked the Holocaust. And the
Jews provoked the murders, gang-rapes
and beheadings of October 7. That’s the
common thread in all of his thinking on
these subjects. Blaming the Jews for their
persecutors’ actions is not just adding insult
to the injuries that the pogromists inflicted.
It incites further violence by justifying
whatever Arab terrorists will do to Jews in
the future. Such an extreme and irrational
perspective—which is promulgated by PA
leaders, disseminated by the PA-controlled
media, and taught in the PA’s schools—may
be the single greatest threat to hopes for
Arab-Israeli peace.
Rafael Medoff
Vues Master’s Note: Anti Semitism!
RADIO
Dear Vues Master:
A Yerushalmi called the radio station and
said to the disc jockey: “I found a wallet on
the street today and it had 100,000 shekel.
I went through the wallet and saw that it
belongs to Yakov Gross.” The DJ said:
“That’s some find! What do you want me to
do?” The Yerushalmi responded: “Play him
a sad song.”
DF
Vues Master’s Note: Sounds like a losing
proposition!
RAV SCHACTER INTERVIEW
Dear Vues Master
I just want to give Ari Hirsch & the Jewish
Vues staff a big yasher koach on the Rav
Schachter article last week. As a talmud of
Rav Shachter, I very much enjoyed all the
different parts of the interview. The article
was very informative & enjoyable. My
family especially enjoyed the minhagim
pages. We went out this past weekend and
purchased all 3 of the books you mentioned
in the article. Keep up the good work!
HS
Vues Masters Note: We always appreciate
compliments. Thank you. I know that Ari
Hirsch worked very hard on it & it was
definitely a tremendous zechus.