Saturday, December 18, 2010

Dont Ask Dont Tell - R.I.P

The Senate today, voted 63-33 to repeal the policy of Dont Ask Dont Tell regarding gays in the military. 8 Republicans and 2 Independents voted with Democrats for this historic vote. For more information on the vote check out Fox News HERE.

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Is it the right time to repeal the long standing policy and change the status quo? Will this make life any safer for homosexuals in the army? Regardless of what my religious stance is about homosexuality, I honestly dont feel that it is right to force this agenda in the public sphere at the expense of our brave soldiers.

I assume that MOST men in the army will be greatly uncomfortable around soldiers they know that are outwardly gay. The unit, a tight group of guys who spend a tremendous amount of time with each other, will most likely not appreciate having thoughts in the back of their heads that one of their unit members has the hots for him. I am not saying that gay men have feelings for every single guy they see, but for soldiers who live in barracks together it cannot possibly be a good environment. I worry for those soldiers who decide to be openly gay. They might be opening up many new troubles for themselves that they might not be anticipating. I pray that this does not hurt them even more.

It would be interesting for the army to keep statistics of how many people choose to "come out" in the army now because this policy is repealed and how many openly gay individuals will join in the future.


Monday, December 13, 2010

In Defense of Mendy and Heidy

In case you have been living under a rock the past week, there was a People's Court video that involved a frum couple and a ruined sheitel (wig). What ensued has become a major horrible disgusting chillul Hashem. The video can be found on this blog HERE.

About a week ago, an article appeared on Vos Iz Neias that investigated the entire story a step further. What really happened? Why did it happen? The article, written and investigated by Rabbi Yair Hoffman still left a bunch of questions. The article, if you havent seen it yet can be found HERE.

An interview with GEORGIE, owner of the wig shop, came out today. I believe Rabbi Yair Hoffman is the one speaking to her about the entire fiasco and this is what she had to say...



THOUGHTS? FEELINGS?

The consensus seems to be that there might be more to the story than what was edited to be showed on TV but regardless... THEY ARE COMPLETE IDIOTS for putting themselves out there for something like this to happen.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Rav Aharon Bina - Chanukah Message

Rosh Yeshiva of Netiv Aryeh wishes alumni and friends a Happy Chanukah with a beautiful holiday message.

Ever wonder who the famous Rav Bina is? What he looks/sounds like? Check out the video!

SEE THE VIDEO HERE



DRY CLEANING YOUR WIG - HORRIFIC CHILLUL HASHEM

A frum couple goes on People's Court to sue for $3000 for a dry cleaned wig that was put into the dry cleaning stuff by accident by their child. They complain that it was the dry cleaners fault for washing it since they should have realized not to.

SEE WHAT HAPPENS AT THE END...




There is a discussion going on now on Twitter about whether or not People's Court is staged at all or to what degree. What do you guys think?

Ad Matai Hashem? How do we make this horrible golus end? The darkness and bilbul of this galus leads people to concentrate on the wrong things in life, to have mixed up values and priorities. We should only get chizuk from these types of things that we are leading our lives in the correct way, doing what Hashem wants from us, and having a positive influence on those around us. We should always have in mind ways to counter these dark moments and show the world that Jews really stand out in a positive way and not in unfortunate ways like this.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

5 HOTTEST MACCABEATS

PLEASE CHRCK OUT THIS HYSTERICAL POST ABOUT THE YU MACCABEATS!

Don't know this person and not responsible for other content found on this site!

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:tcmNTayZrlgJ:gabydunn.com/post/2083903661/jewz+gaby+dunn+maccabeats&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

This is the cached version while the main site is down.


HAPPY HAPPY CHANUKAH

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Censorship at YU

An article, published at the Jewish Star, came out this week about Censorship at Yeshiva University http://thejewishstar.wordpress.com/2010/11/24/censorship-or-stewardship-at-yeshiva-university/

Students part of a group called Teiqu, an acronym for Torah Exploration of Ideas, Questions and Understandings, invited a controversial Rabbi who runs an egalitarian yeshiva called Machon Hador to speak at YU. The students running the event received an email from YU administrators that the Rabbi would not be allowed to speak on campus.

The email stated, “YU, as a matter of generally accepted policy and tradition, will not have a speaker come to campus who is outside the mainstream of Centrist Orthodox Judaism to discuss any matter relating to halacha or hashkafah."

Qoute from Article about the "Censorship Committee":
"The committee is composed of the upper echelon of Yeshiva University staff: YU President Richard Joel, Rabbi Kenneth Brander, dean of YU’s Center for the Jewish Future, Victor Schwartz, dean of Students for YU, and Karen Bacon, dean of Stern.
The result of what students have dubbed “censorship” and what administrators called general university policy have set off a heated conversation about the nature of what is and is not allowed in the university that considers itself the heart of Modern Orthodoxy."

Reaction by the left wing segment of YU can be summed up by the following:
“Its very existence demands that the concepts of free speech and open discourse necessary in a ‘university’ will always be forced to bow to the dictate of the ‘yeshiva,’” wrote Stern student Tali Adler in an opinion piece in the Observer.
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When I was president of Yeshiva Student Union, YU's central student body government, I had a lot of tough decisions to make. Our student council budget was by far the largest and we basically oversaw all the major clubs and their activities. All the activities were run past the Mashgiach's office. Rav Yosef Blau would guide us by telling us what he thought was appropriate and what was not. The Office of Student Life and the Deans give the students a lot of lee way in deciding what types of events to run, but in the end, they must give their general haskama.

I was approached by a club to run an event where the transgender professor at Stern would lead a panel discussion. After discussing with my board, we quickly shot down this very dangerous idea. The Office of Student Life, although not publicly, agreed very much with my decision, and I am sure would have knocked it down had it gotten that far anyways.

Is there censorship at YU? Absolutely. A makom torah, regardless of the university aspect, should not be trampled upon with all sorts of machshavos zaros under the banner of free speech and the ideology of open mindedness. People shout a lot that Yeshiva University is both a yeshiva AND a university but most forget what comes first in the name!
Candlelight - The Maccabeats

Brand new video out for Chanukah by the YU Maccabeats, Yeshiva University's A Cappella group. Video filmed and edited by Uri Westrich and song based on Taio Cruz's "Dynamite"