Libi BaMizrach

Modern Orthodox or Chareidi: Are those the only choices? Yehuda L. Oppenheimer     Introduction [1] Summer 2012.  Once again, Israel is in convulsions over the Chareidim.   Due to maximalist positions staked out by both sides, no compromise is in sight.  The secularists will accept nothing less than a total draft of all Chareidim.  The Chareidim are determined to fight any change in the status quo [2] .  And many of us – who want the Chareidim to contribute their fair share to the national burden, while simultaneously honoring the mission and heroism of those who devote their lives to Torah study and teaching – we strain our ears for that nuanced voice from the Chareidi leadership that will bring unity and sanity to this crisis . . . and are once again disappointed. The first draft of this article was written in December 2011, after grown men – in supposed religious zeal – spat at and taunted 8 yr. old schoolgirls who were not...

Vayetze Vayishlach Topic :   Why is it so hard to be a Yaakov ? Theme:   Good things are difficult to achieve, Hashem afflicts those who are close to Him to challenge them. (Could use the Charlie Harrary Yom Kippur video about Partner track) Quotes: משלי פרק ג, יא-יב   מוּסַר יְקֹוָק בְּנִי אַל תִּמְאָס וְאַל תָּקֹץ בְּתוֹכַחְתּוֹ:  כִּי אֶת אֲשֶׁר יֶאֱהַב יְקֹוָק יוֹכִיחַ וּכְאָב אֶת בֵּן יִרְצֶה "God knows our situation; He will not judge us as if we had no difficulties to overcome. What matters is the sincerity and perseverance of our will to overcome them."   Lewis, C.S.   "Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles that one has overcome while trying to succeed."    -- Booker T. Washington Opener ‘tis the season when politicians come calling.   We have to pay obeisance to them, and them to us, to some extent.  This is the accepted practice of the...