Happy New Year - 2013!



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Hoax Letter Sent to Synagogue

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            (Beis Tefillah Synagogue, Ramat Beit Shemesh) The following hoax letter has been sent to members of the Beis Tefillah Synagogue board of management, as if it was written by Rabbi CM [ed. name respectfully withheld] who serves as their rabbi: I think that as long as David Morris sets policy for L.A [ed. Lema'an Achai ], and is their public face,  I will not allow L.A. to use the Shul for fundraising purposes. This will change if: 1)David M apologizes publicly for stating,and insinuating again and again(in many forums,but especially in his childish Tzedek Tzedek blog) that , as a group ,  "Rabbis" (of RBSA ) are guilty of aiding and abetting and enabling child molesters.(And that of course that leaves LA to come to the rescue of our children.) OR IF  2)LA  publicly , clearly,and unambiguously disavows such statements .They must say--we clearly,and unambiguously ,disavow  statements or...
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Marrying a Soloveitchik

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Mazaltov! My nephew, Gedaliah Kestenbaum married Devori Soloveitchik in Jerusalem last week. Gedaliah has married into rabbinical aristocracy .    Devori is the daughter of  Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik, and the grand-daughter of Rabbi  Meshulam Dovid (Reb Dovid) Soloveitchik , who is Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Brisk (one of the two) in Jerusalem . The Soloveitchik's are a rabbinical dynasty descended from Rabbi  Yosef Dov (HaLevi) Soloveitchik (The "Beis Halevi") and his son Rabbi  Chaim Soloveitchik ("Reb Chaim Brisker"). Rav Chaim's sons Rabbi  Yitzchak Zev (Reb Velvel) Soloveitchik ("The GRIZ" The Brisker Rov) and Rabbi  Moshe Soloveitchik seem to have gone in different hashkafik directions. Whereas Reb Velvel's descendents are predominantly right wing hareidim, Rav Moshe's branch are leaders in the Modern Orthodox/National Religious hashkafa – most notably Rav Joseph Ber Soloveitchik ("The Rav") ...
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Troubled on Purim - "Halacha" vs Honesty?

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A minor incident on Purim has troubled me. I collect on Purim day for Lema’an Achai. This year I teamed up for an hour on Purim with my friend Murray Shore from Toronto , and we went together door-to-door. A donor (we’ll call him Ploni) came up to us and proposed the following deal. Ploni offered to give Lema’an Achai 250 NIS, if Lema’an Achai will receipt him for 500 NIS . Ploni explained that he has given out at least 250 NIS in cash donations to individuals, who are not able to give tax receipts. So Ploni is giving 500 NIS total charity, and believes he’s entitled to a receipt for that full amount. Ploni further explained that Lema’an Achai loses nothing by this, as we doubtless have collected plenty of cash, which has not yet been receipted. At the moment, no-one gets tax benefit from this. And of course, we receive 250 NIS from Ploni, which he otherwise might not have donated. To finish off the proposal, Ploni named Rabbi X, an important community rabbi in town, who P...
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