Reemember my big list of crazy bans and chumras– well here you have it boys and girls- the charedim in Israel are banning frummy concerts.
(IsraelNN.com) Hassidic music stars Avraham Fried and Yaakov Shwekey are to perform in Jerusalem before over 10,000 Thursday night – but Rabbi Elyashiv, the Gerrer Rebbe and others say it’s forbidden to participate or attend events of that nature. Read the article
Other recent crazy chumra news
Just as a side note- I personally think the strawberry bans announced a few weeks ago are some sort of conspiracy. We will see, but I think that all fruits and veggies that are banned will eventually be grown “superfrum bug free” by some greenhouse owned by charedim. I will continue to eat my strawberries grown in the dirt, thank you very much.
I read on SemGirl, that women in one of these towns like Lakewood or Bnei Brak are being asked not to swing their arms when they walk- a natural function of the body mind you. I talked about this in my crazy chumra list- I mentioned that women should be prohibited from walking since their skirts tighten up and reveal the curves of the body. They should be able to walk up stairs or sit down on low chairs for the same reason.
What I am curious about is this, why do these Rabbis continue to concentrate on such trivial things within tznius? Swinging you arms? Why dont they focus their attention on something realistic. It seems and I think it is Tyrannical and Crazy in fact, they just make themselves ore insular and cause more people to leave the fold and seek out other ways of being orthodox or not being. When did the charedim lose their spirit? You know that ritual aint worth shit when you dont got your spirit.
first of all dont mix chumreh with real halocha problems, if strawberies are found to be infested by the biggest experts in the field that’s a real problem,.
versus the woman swinging hands….. etc. those are the chidushim not of the Rabbis (who most of them really work hard tp serve the community) but of some ‘askonim” knackers, that have their head into that stuff, and they dray the kup of the rabbis and ‘hock’ every one in ‘cheinik’, and support the printers with their ‘pashkevils’ and ads in the heimish papers against this and against that, sometimes valid things and other times just ‘cheinik hocking’….
so i wouldn’t mix those 2 togather
Hey Hesh,
“read the article” link does not work.
Hesh:
What we are witnessing is the beggining of a break within UO Judiasm. No singing? No swinging your arms(!) when walking? Seriously, how far away are we from Talibanesque restrictions? It is little wonder ortho’s leave the fold and even BT’s have buyers remorse.
Sorry Hesh, but there seems to be little future for your brand of Judiasm in the chareidi dominated future…
Hey frum satire
if you have a chance, can you please find out the source for this “no swinging your arms” thing.
its hilarious
fix the link!!!
lix the fink!!!
Amen to the thing about spirits…I think I’ll have meself a strawberry dacqurie right about now.
Can i get a “hell yeah!” anybody…?
Great post. I think we are going to see a spit soon within the FRUM community. Soon we will have Ultra Ultra Orthodox.
Somethings gonna give.
… as far as the strawberries. I have spoken to quite a few people who are very knowledgeable in this and they all say this is nonsense. This is just something new. The same issues could be applied to half the vegetables we eat on a daily basis.
They don’t want us to eat vegetables. They don’t want us to get exercise (no hiking) they don’t want us to listen to music or be creative. They want us fat, stupid and lazy.
I WANT MY STRAWBERRY SMOOTHIES AGAIN, PLEASE LIFT THE BAN!! lol
I dont know why they give a fuck about rivkie swinging her arms while she walks.
Maybe they are worried that she might bump in to some frum guy and the deprived shmendrick will get turned on.
All we need is a bunch of chaims and mendys running the streets with there exitement poking out of there bekeshes…chas vishulem.
Or mayby the rabonim behind the swinging arms madness haven’t heard of Crown heights yet ????
Surely if he did he would be paskening that
alle di frume yidin un nuch beser di gantze klal yisroel ken nisht gain tzu Crown heights ! ven a yid is gain tzu crown heights di lubavtch shtick dreck vil chap dain neshumeh un gebin di yid a vildeh yetzer horah. un ven a bucher , epes a yungerman is gain tzu crown Hell di lubavich zoinah’s un pruste meidlach mit klaine Louie V begodim, iz mamesh a groise taiveh un a shanda!
UN DU KEN NISHT GAIN TZU CROWN HEIGHTS ! farshteist ?
Or maybe it was the Rav of Chelm ?
Heres the link:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/123256
It looks lime the time is coming for you to start moderating the comments before some nutcase hijacks your blog with his nonsense
It’s like a child that throws tantrums. Eventually you just start ignoring them.
What craziness…I don’t make any claims about this particular event or situation, but someone I know and trust spoke to some of these rabbeim in person regarding a personal situation that they were dealing with due to shtuss in the community, and basically they said that people often say that they said things they didn’t say, and will even go so far as to put it in writing. Meanwhile they know that when they go against these false claims, people cover it up and outshout them.
That seems feasible to me. OR they have been given misinformation about the events they are making comments on. There are morons walking around out there.
Hello, Rav Kelemen’s book was banned because someone mis-translated it in an article, saying he claimed that G-d’s non-existence could be proven, or something stupid like that.
FrumFunky,
I’ve been hearing that as a defense. But I’m concerned that these Gedolim aren’t more outraged it if is in fact true that people are signing their names without permission. Thats seems like more of a controversy then some silly concert.
I mean … people are either misleading these Rabonim or lying about them and no one is doing anything? I think they have a responsiblity to know what they are signing their name too or find out who is signing it without their permission.
According to this blog post Rabbi Forcheimer advised about the arm swinging.
http://semgirl.blogspot.com/2006/12/tznius-cd.html
http://rebelwithacause.wordpress.com/2007/08/02/the-next-takanah-and-the-nah-nah-nah/
please ,please- do not mock the honest and holy words of the brilliant torah leaders of our time-i am of course one of these. the evil strawberry threat has been minimized, as well as oogling the holy jewish women across the aisle, as i assume they will be seperate at a concert of this nature. i have also commanded my disciples to throw bleach on the holy seminary students if they feel their attire is too unholy for their bodies. exceptions will be made for black on black as even i do not know if this can ever be considered unholy, unstylish and dull as it is. with the interests of the holiness of the jewish people and the reverence of god, as well as the interests of the bastards who fill my ear all day with LIES and SLANDER about issues that do not exist so i look foolish and issue proclamations that are always ridiculous,
Joe Torah Leader, Shlita
I am all for Tznuit. Long Skirts, Long sleeves, hair covering — fine. I’ve even started to wear knee highs – but this arm swinging thing is crazy.
Don’t men have just a little bit of responsibility to control their yetzer hora? Or maybe we should just confine women to their homes.
It’s crazy. It’s scary and it makes me wonder what I have gotten myself into…
Does this mean they’ll start building those electronic walkways that you see in airports?
ALL male & female flights to Israel to avoid socializing? Pre checked rugs for shatnes. kosher socks and underwear no fruit of the loom or Hanes? No more Coca-cola it has a red bottle.
See, it’s these sorts of things that turn me off from frum Judaism. Which sucks, cuz I love being frum.
I don’t understand the need for chumras, and why some people choose to follow chumras as halacha and then get all hot and bothered when others don’t do the same.
I find it a tad bit hypocritical, but whatever. It’s not in my place to say if they’re right or wrong. Hashem’ll be the judge…
Who made these people gedolim? Consensus? Popularity? Was it the amount of learning they do or the number of chumras they issue?
As for the strawberry ban- how about rebuilding Gush Katif and its bug-free farms.? Just a thought.
I hope that the concert goers ignore this chumra and continue to promote good Jewish music. We need something to cheer and dance about, considering all the misfortunes that surround us.
i don’t know about the other humrot, but here’s my take on the concerts: in the litvish world, talmud torah is the measure of greatness and as such the gedolim are the superstars. these musicians, who enjoy a wide mass appeal based on something other than talmud torah, pose a challenge to the accepted mode of determining leadership.
personally i’m not a fan of jewish music, so this is one “humra” i don’t mind following. now if they come out with a takanah against going to ac/dc ccncerts, then i’ll have a problem.
Anyone know of any rational, contemporary jewish scholars? (I know they must be out there…) Ruling against strawberries, arm swinging and live music? So ridiculous, so sad. Are these really our intellectuals? Can’t we do better than this kind of mediocre crap. If I spent all my days studying, I really hope I could come up with something more unplifting and inspiring than a ban on arm swinging or banana clips! So pathetic. Why would any thinking person EVER ascribe to these rulings??? What kind of god do they imagine behind them?
If banning arm swinging will get us moving walkways, I am all fot it. I love those things!
if ur a bt don’t let the arm swinging things turn u off, no ones doin it anyway
if youre a bt (or even if youre not) use your brain and dont take these posts and especially these comments too seriously..
this is the equivalent of the enquirer’s big story on angelina’s two headed alien baby…
entertaining but sensationalist
Sorry about the link mess ups I put up the post in a rush and walked out the door, without my laptop- so there is my excuse for no comment response. Its called kayaking in the Thousand Island for two days.
In Toronto right now on a mac-BLAH.
Thank you for all the comments, when I get back I will review and respond.
unfortunately the swinging arms is not a new thing; I remember being told by my fifth grade teacher not to swing our arms when we walked in public and that was a good ten years ago. The idea is not to strut; you don’t want to call too much attention to yourself just walking down the street.
Miri did you go to school in Afghanistan?
15000 people ignore the ban on concerts!
http://rebelwithacause.wordpress.com/2007/08/04/15000-people-ignore-the-ban-on-concerts/
I honestly dont listen to any of these banns or chumras. I eat strawberrys when I want, I walk and talk however I want in the street, I go and come where I like and how I like and thats too bad on anyone else. Thank g-d I dont belong to any “group” so I could do as I please. I decide how to be a good g-d fearing jew and listen to Hashem and not any old am ha’aretz. Ok, these gedolim are not am ha’aretz’s but I still dont have to listen to them.
Some may argue that like the Rabonim of past generations these are the people who are our poskim and therefore we should listen to what they say.
i gotta first stop usin a razor eating traif and being michalel shabbos before i can worry bout strawberries, shweky, and the women swingin their arms
i get the feelling theres other areas of improvement like dignity,jewish pride, and howcome the rebbes get to embarrass the kids in class? i never got that one
But these days it is very hard to know who is the real deal and who is not. It is also really hard to listen to or even more so to respect the “gedolim” who they call our leaders. Some are fudeing and making a HUGE chillul hashem, some come up with rediculous chumras that make our lives more complicated and boring ect ect. No one agrees with eachother and are against everyone else who is not like them. Plus they all demand the biggest most expensive shuls and kos shel eliyahus for pesach. I am sorry but I think spending a half a million dollars for a kos shel eliyahu for the rebba is insane and completely unessasary!! Everyone these days is a rebba of some sort and all demand respect, shuls and money. Yes there are real gedolim out there but they are slipping through our fingers because of all this nonsense that is going on in the charedi world and I dont see a change of wind anytime soon!
>But these days it is very hard to know who is the real deal and who is not.
Yes indeed, for arrogant ignorant I-know-it-all putzes, its hard to know.
>It is also really hard to listen to or even more so to respect the ?gedolim? who they call our leaders. Some are fudeing and making a HUGE chillul hashem,
Ah yes. Like the assasinine rantings of some teenage hothead are not a Chilul Hashem.
>some come up with rediculous chumras that make our lives more complicated and boring ect ect.
Welcome to Judaism. Its been like that for thousands of years. For example, Kitniyos? Ever heard of that?
>No one agrees with eachother and are against everyone else who is not like them. Plus they all demand the biggest most expensive shuls and kos shel eliyahus for pesach. I am sorry but I think spending a half a million dollars for a kos shel eliyahu for the rebba is insane and completely unessasary!!
You’re mixing up some local NY Rebbes with the Gedolei Torah of Eretz Yisroel. More proof of your astounding ingnorance.
>Yes there are real gedolim out there but they are slipping through our fingers because of all this nonsense that is going on in the charedi world
You’re clueless. R Elyashiv, R Shteinman etc are only slipping through the fingers of this Dor Chutzpa, the arrogant and anti-Torah Korach bloggers of todays generation.
>and I dont see a change of wind anytime soon!
Take off your blinders, dude!
>I am all for Tznuit. Long Skirts, Long sleeves, hair covering ? fine. I?ve even started to wear knee highs – but this arm swinging thing is crazy.
The arm swinging thing was never addressed to the worldwide public at large. It was addressed to the Torah True Yirei Shamayim of Lakewood. Why can’t you freaking bloggers stop sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong? I tell ya, you putzes are like pigs digging their noses in the dirt for fodder. Shame on you all.
>See, it?s these sorts of things that turn me off from frum Judaism. Which sucks, cuz I love being frum.
>I don?t understand the need for chumras, and why some people choose to follow chumras as halacha and then get all hot and bothered when others don?t do the same.
If only you’d actually study Judaism and not get all your misinformation from blogs, you’d understand.
Do you really expect to understand Judaism from reading a blog who gleefully describes how when he goes to shul, he looks for a seat where he can best oggle the women? Or from reading his dirty jokes? Or from reading all his dirty expressions that he writes? (like how he enjoys to look at tight panted hoes)
Ed thank you for your return- I do miss your comments
Hey Ed I enjoy looking at the women who wear red, swing their arms, and eat strawberries.
Let me ask you something, are you one of those pious Jews who lives in one of the ultra orthodox neighborhoods, but launders money, looks for frum gangbangs on craigslist, supports the cover up of child molestation by Rabbis, hires ilegal immigrants and pays them under minimum wage, goes to shul and talk about stocks over the bima= but you somehow call yourself orthodox because although people in your community do such things- you look and speak like orthodox Jews and like to bash DIFFERENT opinions on how Judaism is practiced.
You know whats great about the blogs, they allow dissenting opinions to be dispersed because for too many years Jews had to put up with the one sided crap of ultra orthodoxy.
If one must follow the huge gadol who may or may not know it all, who is going to question if they do make mistakes.
Would you not say that issuing a ban on something and having 15,000 of your own followers- I saw the pics, the concert was all charedim. Go and undermine your ban.
Judaism is about different opinions as well, and we bloggers have a right to call ourselves frum and have different opinions.
Now tell me ed- WHAT EXACTLY DOES FRUM MEAN TO YOU???
ed – even if you have valid points, the hate and arrogance with which you speak causes you to lose any validity watsoever..
if you truly beleive that bloggers (we, them, whoever) are wrong, then even more so reason to have compassion and speak with dignity.
do you think anyone EVER changed their views or got closer to G-d (yes that IS what judaism is about) by being called a pig digging their nose in the dirt??
the torah you speak of might be true, but you are not a result of that true torah – true torah breeds love and understanding and positive speech and compassion and manners..
if you really are from one of the “Torah True Yirei Shamayim ” communities, then you are an embarassement to them.
frumhiker – are there only two kinds of orthodox jews – those who blog and badmouth gedolim and those who ” launders money, looks for frum gangbangs on craigslist, supports the cover up of child molestation by Rabbis, hires ilegal immigrants and pays them under minimum wage, goes to shul and talk about stocks over the bima..”?
sure there are different ways of practicing judaism, but i dont think you OR ed are representative of what any type of true torah judaism is..
im not questionning anyone’s commitment to torah (cuz obviously its not my place and anyone who cares enough to blog and comment about it must be committed 🙂 but i am questionning the rude arrogance and baseless hatred spewing out of some of these comments..
>Hey Ed I enjoy looking at the women who wear red, swing their arms, and eat strawberries.
That’s fine. You’re a human being afterall. But hearing a Baal Taavoh like you criticize Gedolei Yisroel whose entire lives have been immersed in Torah and Tzorchai Tzibbur is really pathetic. Like a pack of hounds growling for a bone to chew on.
>Let me ask you something, are you one of those pious Jews
At least that’s my goal.
>who lives in one of the ultra orthodox neighborhoods,
Yes.
>but launders money, looks for frum gangbangs on craigslist, supports the cover up of child molestation by Rabbis,
No and no and no.
>hires ilegal immigrants
Yes.
>and pays them under minimum wage,
No.
>goes to shul and talk about stocks over the bima
No.
>but you somehow call yourself orthodox because although people in your community do such things- you look and speak like orthodox Jews and like to bash DIFFERENT opinions on how Judaism is practiced.
Whose doing all the bashing, huh? The UO’s, or the anti-charedi hotheads?
>You know whats great about the blogs, they allow dissenting opinions to be dispersed because for too many years Jews had to put up with the one sided crap of ultra orthodoxy.
Exactly what Korach said. Need I remind you of the results?
>If one must follow the huge gadol who may or may not know it all, who is going to question if they do make mistakes.
Certainly not a girl oggler.
>Judaism is about different opinions as well, and we bloggers have a right to call ourselves frum and have different opinions.
You’re entitled to live the way you like. But what entitles you to bash others? And with comments like “oggling tight panted hoes”, you seriously consider yourself frum?!
>Now tell me ed- WHAT EXACTLY DOES FRUM MEAN TO YOU???
One who constantly and in every aspect of his life seeks to be closer to God.
>Would you not say that issuing a ban on something and having 15,000 of your own followers- I saw the pics, the concert was all charedim. Go and undermine your ban.
I need more time to formulate a proper response. In the meantime, see:
http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2007/08/05/of-concerts-and-bans/
I wonder if strawberries were really banned because their flavor, texture and color all beam sexual thoughts into our heads. I for one think that strawberries are a sexual fruit.
The gedolim are of course holy men-but their willingness to make ridiculous takkanos is a chillul shem shamaim. I heard from a reliable source (read: very respected israeli rosh yeshiva) that depressed jobless people (wait; are there any such chareidim in eretz yisroel?) surround these gedolim and badger them with lies until one cracks and issues a takkanah; then the rest kind of fold under the pressure and swing along. Also, remember that although every chassid has a rebbe, not every rebbe has chassidim. This is a very legitimate and sad issue; there is no two sides to it only an unhappy reality.
WHOEVER WROTE THIS: “If only you’d actually study Judaism and not get all your misinformation from blogs, you’d understand.
Do you really expect to understand Judaism from reading a blog who gleefully describes how when he goes to shul, he looks for a seat where he can best oggle the women? Or from reading his dirty jokes? Or from reading all his dirty expressions that he writes? (like how he enjoys to look at tight panted hoes)”
Whoever wrote that, you really shouldn’t judge me without knowing anything about me.
I learn from everything, but I do go to a Beis Yaakov seminary, so stfu. I come here for humor and for a different view on the things I get in either black or white at school. So take a chill pill, dude. You don’t like the site? Then get lost.
U tell him aliza…
we love you
What is up Aliza- but its ed we are talking about- his goal is to piss people off and he does a great job. I kind of like his condescending, I haven’t slept with my wife in 4 years since the last child was born attitude. It helps spurn good comments from everyone everyone else.
Please stay ed we need your negativity.
hey anyone hear about barbies being bad nowadays??? now that one really got my blood boiling
K, I wrote this on the old blog so here it is again for the new blog:
First of all, I have the utmost respect for R’Elyashiv and R’ Shteinberg. (he was my fathers rosh hayeshiva) I was not talking about them. But the ones I was talking about are not only in NY, they exist in EY too!
Ed, these gedolim are tzadikim and chashuv pple, and its their followers who feud and argue ect ect-but these gedolim let it happen. They dont stop the tyranny and say its enough. They let families tear each other apart and make a huge machlokes just because one brother feels he should get the power and not the other. They allow for it to happen and therefore it is hard for me to listen to them. Aharon Hacohen was about making peace, not fighting who should be the next rebbe. I see you must be one of such followers who continue to make headlines of the New York Times for fighting with your brother cuz he accidentally davened in the 48th street shull and not the 45th street. THAT is a huge chillul hashem! For a goyish newspaper to talk about 2 feuding brother in laws who cause such havoc over who should be the next rebba! I am sure that they are chashuve pple, but the fact that they let such things go on is disgraceful.
I am in complete and utter shock right now after going through this website. I am a 17 year old teenage girl who is fffaaarrr from perfect and I literally cant believe what I am reading. You talk about the gedolim of our times so carelessly and with such disrespect. You voice yur opinion on things you do not understand and you are using your simple immaturity of these matters as a suitable explanation why it is ok to mock these issues.
We have the whle world fighting against us; the Jews, trying to kill us and stray us from the path and you take the time to make a website and support it, a website which goes against the basis of Judaism, mocking your own religion, mocking your own people and in theory mocking yourselves. I hate to break it to you but the whole world does not care what you think about some chumras or different points of Judaism. You broadcast your racist yes racist! opinions on the internet where people have unlimited access of it. You are performing the biggest chilul Hashem I have ever come across and I mean that! Read the posts, some from balei teshuvas who are having doubts, come from regular frum people who are being drawn in by your malicious writings.
You know what they say: every person will have to account for their every action one day and you will too! Whether it is to explain what prompted you to create this and make people doubt their faith and believe or whether to explain what made you the person to correct the gedolim of your generation! Maybe you should think about this…
And yes it does make people doubt becuase when I started reading I kept reading and that is a bad sign! I should not have to read such things and nobody else should. Ok so you have the right of free speech; you can talk all you can when you are confronted about this enormous chilul hashem one day!
I will comment after my my bike ride, but lets just say that you are half right. The problem is that people SHOULD doubt their faith- that IS the only way to reach some sort of truth. If we continue to follow whatever someone with a grey beard and a stack of well used shulchan aruch sets says- without looking into things ourseleves- I am sorry to say we may end up like the Muslims- following their imams aimlessly to declare Jihad aghainst wharever they say.
I will comment more when I get to own computer-
just by the way, I myself saw one of those bugs on a strawbarry and not with a
magnifying glass but with my bare eyes.
you really have to wash them and check them before you eat one.
the bug looks like a miniture inch worm.
it’s white and walks around like an inch worm too.
well … if you want to eat bugs by all means go ahead. Our Rabbis job is to inform us of these problems, no one is going to twist your arm to do a darn thing. The biggest problem I see is that people THINK these Rabbis are judging … THEY aren’t but it seems they are being judged for doing their job. Thank you HaShem for our Rabbis !! and Thank you HaShem for my fellow jews to question what they are told. I will never follow blindly… but I will listen – Klal Yisroel Chai!!
shmuly r, don’t be swayed by these people who make fun and bash people who know much more than they do and are better people than they are, washing the strawberries, as far as I know, are NOT okay even if washed. You may think you are getting rid of all the bugs, but you are apparantly incorrect. I would have agreed with you, but tests have been done and bugs remain even after washing.
elisheva miriam- Until we are in a position to make decisions on our own (until we are knowledgeable enough) we must blindly rely on our rabanim even if we do not understand and totally disagree with their reasons. They have a basis for a decision and we don’t. (We certainly should try to best understand them, of course, but at the end of the day we must trust them. That’s “emunas chachamim.” 😉
disgusted-Be strong, don’t listen to these people. You must distance yourself from these people as much as possible. There is an idea that peopel are affected by that and those which they associate themselves with.
You mentioned that the whole world is out to kill and destroy the Jews. These jews are the ones who many times make this worse. I actually am in a class right now and the more modern jewsih students, who consider themselves frum, are the ones making an unbelievable chilul hashem. I’ve never seen anything like it before. It disgusts me, but I can’t say anything b/c it’ll just make things worse. I make sure, though, never to show any signs of agreeing with their actions.