Quote of the Day

From R' Slifkin's blog:

One yeshivah guy who came collecting was dressed as the famous chassidic legend "Chayah Suri," although he didn't have a schvimgleide.

It's amazing that that has gone so far.

Pita and Taxes

Serach went to buy pita for dinner from a local establishment. She asked the person behind the counter, who's Chassidish, if they took the Lander discount card (a card issued to Lander students, kollel members, alumni, and their spouses), to which the man replied "I remember the guy came in here... you know what, yes, I'll take it." He promptly took off 10%, leaving the bill at about $3. Serach then asked about paying using a debit card, to which he replied "Why not?" When she asked if there were a minimum, he noted simply "No, that's illegal."

This is in stark contrast to another establishment which was happy to take the card... but only if you paid cash. As the owner told Serach, "If I take credit then I have to pay taxes on it!" Serach replied that he has to pay taxes either way, and left.

The best way of putting it: A family friend of my in-laws (IIRC) tells customers who ask about tax, "I don't charge tax. I just collect it."

Vus iz Dus??

I have NO IDEA what to say about this.... so check it out and add your response to the comment sections....

http://www.vimeo.com/3805691
password: hollywood

Chanukah Video #3 - I Am A Good Boy

Elianna keeps informing me that I am a "good boy", whether it is for blowing on my soup as ordered or responding to her "Boker Tov" (though it's dark out) as ordered. And "that's better" when I let her help me make a line on a piece of paper as opposed to trying it myself.

Tonight's videos for your enjoyment on this third night of Chanukah:

• RafiG has three videos, but I like the first one best;
• Dave has a somewhat funny clip on the second candle;
• and I get sent things sometimes in the hopes that I'll write about them. I was sent "Songs in the Key of Hanukkah", which looks pretty interesting and far better than most of what I get, but I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet. From what I have heard of it, I'm betting that people who like the styles of music in general will love it, while others simply won't be interested except for a song or two. It was certainly put together really well (by Ali G/Sasha Baron Cohen's brother Erran Baron Cohen, interestingly, who is in the video below), and includes people like Idan Raichel (remember "Bo-i"?), Y-Love, Jules Brookes, and Yasmin Levy. Now, if someone can explain why every video uses Chassidim, I'd love to hear it - meanwhile, this is pretty entertaining:
  
  

Enjoy!

Feel Like Crying?...

...you picked a good day.

In addition to the tragedy that was the deaths of two Israeli IDF soldiers as part of a "prisoner swap"...

Take a gander at another truly tragic situation and its various levels of media coverage.

New York Magazine

Escape From the Holy Shtetl:
Gitty Grunwald fled the pious world of her mother to return to the secular city of her grandparents. There’s only one problem: The Satmars kept her daughter. A family saga of four generations of American Jews.

Vos Iz Neias?(Yiddish for What's News?)

Yet another hate-filled, biased and anti-religious article appeared in the New York media this week— under the headline 'Escape From the Holy Shtetl' one that for obvious reasons was not reprinted by VIN News but which stoked a firestorm of controversy. A young woman still finding her place in the world tears her beautiful daughter between father and mother and the stable and shifting lives they respectively live

(source:The Wolf)

--So much sadness, in so many ways, on so many levels, from so many places.

The Black Chasid From Nebraska

(Hat tip: Rea) This article is pretty interesting...

Moments before Yosef Abrahamson, 16, accepted an award for the essay he’d written in a competition sponsored by the Police Athletic League, an officer approached him to complain about his fedora. The hat, an essential wardrobe item for Hasidic men, was gaudy, the policeman told him, and what’s with all these kids today and their nose rings and their attitudes. A second police officer, overhearing the conversation, came over to steer away the first one, who reappeared a few minutes later to apologize. He’d never seen a Hasidic Jew, he told Yosef.

A policeman working in New York who’d never seen a Hasidic Jew? What he probably meant, Yosef theorized, was “that he’d never seen a Hasidic Jew of color. I think he was probably making some assumptions there.”

Feds Raid Postville AgriProcessors Complex

(Hat tip: ND)

Up to 700 arrests were made as federal authorities surrounded and raided Agriprocessors' (Rubashkin's) complex in Postville, Iowa. They were looking for illegal immigrants.

The ICE agents entered the Postville plant to execute a criminal search warrant for evidence relating to aggravated identity theft, fraudulent use of Social Security numbers and other crimes, said Tim Counts, a Midwest ICE spokesman. Agents are also executing a civil search warrant for people illegally in the United States, he said.

Immigration officials told aides to U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley that they expect 600 to 700 arrests. About 1,000 to 1,050 people work at the plant, according to Iowa Workforce Development.

Chuck Larson, a truck driver for Agriprocessing, was in the plant when the agents arrived. “There has to be 100 of them,” he said of the agents.

Larson said the agents told workers to stay in place then separated them by asking those with identification to stand to the right and those with other papers, to stand to the left.

“There was plenty of hollering,” Larson said. “You couldn’t go anywhere.” When asked who was separated, Larson said those standing in the group with other papers were all Hispanic.

Guess we'll see what this means.

Just Read It

This. As G put it: "...not perfect but that would be nitpicking".

For Serach...

Ok, you were buggin' me on Thanksgiving to do it... so here it is, thanks to my good buddy Heshman over at FrumSatire.net (he was the camera man). Enjoy folks!

[Currently going through my head: OMG, what's wrong with me? I can't believe I'm about to make the biggest fool of myself. Well, here goes nothing...]

My First Tish

This is the story, of my very first tish this past friday night.

When I went to shul this past friday I saw something quite amazing in my shul. Something you don't often see in my part of town let along Los Angeles. Chassidim! Four of them. And they weren't your boring Lubavither chassidim, these were chassidim with huge shtreimels and the socks up to the knees. It was really weird. And not just for me, but for many people at shul that night. It was like seeing a very rare speciman of an animal at a zoo. Seriously. Kids were staring at them in amazement. Anyhoo, on the seats there was a flyer informing us of a tish for that night. I had a friend with me and I was like "No way." He persisted a bit telling me its lots of fun with plenty of singing. So I figured, why not. Its an experience, right? Might as well see what its all about.

After shabbat meal at my place we head out. After the recent hold ups in the neighborhood I am constintly looking over my shoulder. We arrive at the home where the tish is going to be held on time. 8:30. Outside, I notice a woman waiting with some men. A woman? HA! Fat chance she is going to be invited in I thought to myself. We are finally let in. Its a huge house and we are escorted some windy steps downstairs into some large waiting room with a big table. And the woman? Well, she was told its only for men, and I think she was delegated to wash some dishes (or she chatted with some other women there, I forget which one it was). So we wait and wait and wait. Finally, the rebbe shows up only about 45 minutes late. At the table, the Rebbe preceded with some sort of prayer. It sounded like 'Shalom Alecheim,' but I couldn't exactly make it out. Kodesh Boirech hee?????? Elohainee??? Anyways, from the start, till he finally made the blessing over the grape juice was about 40 minutes. OY. Now, everyone had plates, but only the rabbi was being served the food. To tell you the truth, it looked odd. The chassidim he had with him were serving him like he was a king. Nobody got anything till he ate first. The first course was this huge fish on a platter put right infront of him. Then, he dug into it. Literally. He used his hands and simply started taking bits out of that fish and eating. After a bit of that, I guess they finally decided that they should feed the poor serfs that came as well. So half the time someone finally brought a fork and placed some fish on the plate, while the other times, he simply used his hands to cut the fish and plop the piece on somebody's plate. Not sure why, but I skipped that cource. Then came a bit of singing and some Dvar Torah. It was mumbled half in Yiddish and half in Hebrew. I diden't understand a word, till the other chassid interpreted it for us, in which I realized I was better off NOT understanding the dvar torah. God! It was so empty. Nothing inspiring whatsoever. He was basically saying we have to be holy. That our Avot were holy and therefore, we have to be holy. Thanks. I've only heard this about a million times. Then came more food....for the Rebbe. It was a big bowl of soup for him in which he ate most of it, then passed it down the table. We kind of looked at each other wondering if he expected us to eat it. Someone had the sechel to just take it to the kitchen. Then, they brought him a whole chicken. So he did with the hands again and dug in to eat some pieces. By then, it was late and we only sang two songs. My friend and I decided it was time to leave.

In the end, I was quite disappointed. No drunken chassidim. No food. Crappy songs and a stupid Dvar Torah. I expected much more. But what can you do. Maybe LA needs to do some sort of campaign to bring more chassidim to our lovely city. Then we can have a real tish.