“Surely these shall come from afar; Look, those from the north and the west; And these from the land of Sinim.” (Isaiah 49: 12).

I’ll need to brush up on, ahem, Sinology to see if there’s any meat to this theory that Sinim refers to China. Some of the gentile concordances make this claim.

One factual point:

“His son, however, the Rosh Yeshiva of Ohr HaChaim, learned in Brisk.”

His son, like his father, learned in YU and got semikha from there (from the Rav). Neither were at all reticent to “admit” the fact.

[YA - others have also written to point this out. There was nothing nefarious intended, and no attempt to co-opt the younger R. Lander for the charedi world. The comment was merely born of my personal observation that once a Brisker, always a Brisker.]

[YA - 1) The Seforno may very well mean that hashgacha peratis that will allow for semi-miraculous manifestations like nega'im as a consequence of aveirah. He does not necessarily mean that HKBH micro-managing our lives in an unobtrusive way is reserved only for tzadikim. 2) Please show who "often" understands a deterministic universe as hashgacha peratis. Kelalis, perhaps. But I, for one, have no recollection of ever seeing the term used the way you are using it.]

If anything can improve the Micronesian economy, it is outsourcing of information processing of some kind. Distance doesn’t mean that much when you communicate using a satellite.

Thank you for writing. I was getting a bit annoyed with people psychoanalyzing someone they knew nothing about. You can’t force yourself to believe. I know; I tried. What you can do is practice Judaism. And meanwhile, I highly recommend reading Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen’s books “Permission to Believe” and “Permission to Receive” and Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb’s “Living Up to the Truth” (available on line at the ohr.edu website). Neither claims to prove the existence of God or the truth of the Torah. Both show that it’s rational to believe, and that atheism is, in fact, irrational. Just as we don’t have to have 100% certainty about other areas in life in order to take action, we don’t have to have 100% certainty about the existence of God to keep Shabbos, for instance.

There is no reason why a job seeker can not ask the “frum network” to get an unpaid internship (even in a “heimishe” company) in the area which he or she wants to go into.

I think that an internship in a heimishe company, while a step in the right direction, could serve to reinforce some of the un-beneficial behaviors listed above. In a heimishe environment, heimishe styles of behavior may be preferred over standard professional styles, and even if they’re not preferred, they’re likely to be tolerated. The intern then a) doesn’t learn how to behave professionally, and b) gets the impression that his current behavioral style is fine for the workplace.

It would probably be much more useful for people who need to be acclimated to the general workplace to start with an internship or even a menial job in a completely secular environment. Alternatively, frum business owners could provide a great service to the community by first maintaining a professional atmosphere in their businesses and then hiring interns and deliberately coaching them when their behavior wouldn’t cut it in a non-heimishe environment.

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Regarding shaking hands with the opposite gender:
I personally do shake hands, so this hasn’t been an issue for me. I have heard stories from multiple sources of people (usually prominent rabbis) who manage to refuse to shake hands with enough finesse to defuse any potential ill will. For job candidates who absolutely won’t shake hands, this may be something to shoot for with the following very important caveat:

As mentioned above, refusing to shake hands is an automatic negative. You will have to work very hard to make it neutral. This may sound silly, but you must develop a script and PRACTICE delivering it with a big smile while looking directly at the other person until people you practice it with agree that you’re incredibly natural and friendly. First, practice over and over in front of a mirror, then practice with a family member or other trusted observer of the opposite gender. To develop a script, get advice people who routinely pull off such a maneuver successfully (Rabbis who deal with outside entities or non-shaking professionals).

Recently I read an article written by Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks “Thank God for the courage to live with adversity”. It was beautiful and uplifting but he began with a comment about the recession and closed with a comment about the wake-up call, which is what the recession is.” He is right ! In the midst of a recession within a world overcome with greed and its consequences, God has softened our hearts toward the people of Haiti – strangers to most of us; He has brought us to our knees to pray for those suffering and for those who are trying to help; and in the midst of a great recession, He has opened our wallets and storehouses so that we can with joy and eagerness send what ever we can for the relief. I rejoice that both Christian and Jew can share Rabbi Sacks prayer published on this site.

If you believe God is Sovereign, you have to acknowledge that He is also an active participant in the course of human history and not a silent observer who sees from a great distance.

I appreciate your words spoken in honesty and concern. There is much truth in being careful to discern words of others who claim to know God’s purpose and plan.

I hope you start a trend in which people invest more in private personal development of the Bar/Bat Mitzva rather than the public celebration.

I would love it if you followed up this post with any instances of how you explained to Tehilla the elements of Israeli Chareidi society that we are all struggling to understand.

[YA - Yes, but that does not mean a point-to-point correspondence between a sin and the disaster. Maharal in particular opines that Chazal understood that there were natural explanations for disasters. Particular aveiros, however, are the reason why HKBH designed a world in which such disasters could occur. See Be'er HaGolah pgs 63-63 and Netzach Yisrael pgs.113-114. See also my essay "Earthquakes and the Fuzziness of Creation" in Be'er HaGolah (Artscroll) pgs. 122-132]

— maybe this is the crux of the issue— maybe non-haredim have to leave haredim the space to have *their* gdolim, but to be brave enough to say ‘those are not our leaders, we don’t look to them, and consequently have no ax to grind with them [ except maybe when they criticize other eidot]‘ if haredi rank-and-file are satisfied with their leadership, maybe it’s no one else’s business;
but of course non-haredi O jews have the space to reject leadership/gdolim/organizations that disagree/disavow/disparage them and theirs….

Ori: Does the Torah tell us of all the covenants G-d made with humanity, or only of those that are relevant to us? Does it say anywhere there can’t be other chosen people, possibly chosen for different jobs?

(Similarly, R. Soloveichik interpreteted a Rashi at the beginning of Vayera that Avraham was mechayev Sodom — Avraham was a tremendous baal chesed who lived in the same environment as Sodom, the most selfish, cruel society on earth. Avraham’s chesed sweeps away any excuse by the Sodomites that it is their situation or environment which caused them to be selfish and cruel.)

Le’atid lavo, when the nations of the world are called to account for their cruel, repeated, obsessive condemnations of Israel, they will render all kinds of excuses — they were weak, they were strong, they had financial interests, they went along with the crowd, etc. etc. Then HKBH can point to the United States — the strongest and wealthiest nation on earth — and Micronesia — one of the smallest and most obscure. Still, they stood with Israel. That is mechayev all the rest.

In this case, particularly, given the financial aid and largesse that was funneled through the individual in question, one would expect many not to investigate but recuse themselves.

We never can know why; that equates to knowing the ways of God. That, as Isaiah (55:) says so eloquently, is beyond our human comprehension. As the Rav ztl taught in the beginning of Kol Dodi Dofaik, we can only hope to react properly, not by understanding why but by acting with greater attention to our religious obligations.

Comment by Bob Miller — February 1, 2010 @ 9:22 am

I don’t think you realize how much disconnect there is between blogging about issues and real people’s lives and stories.
The people involved in the making ban do not have any posted information about the ban process for me to access and I am not the “hocker type” to track them down and interview them.

There has been much written suggesting that we are NOW in the ultimate times of chevlei Moshiach (birth pangs of Messiah). See, for example:

1) “Redemption Unfolding” (Feldheim) by Rabbi A. Mandelbaum, of Yeshivas Mir in Yerushalayim; or
2) “A Question of Redemption” (Kol Mevaser Publ.) by Rabbi Y.M. Bergman; or
3) “On Eagles Wings” (Targum/Feldheim) by Rabbi Hershel Brand of Yeshivas Ner Yaakov; or
4) “What’s Next: Doomsday and Redemption,” a fascinating shiur by Rabbi Eliyahu Kin of the Torah Ohr Center in Los Angeles (viewable on YouTube).

HaRav Simcha Wasserman zt”l (in “Reb Simcha Speaks”) and HaRav Aharon Feldman shlit”a, Rosh Yeshiva of Ner Yisrael (in “The Eye of the Storm”) address this issue of chevlei Moshiach in our day, as well.

So, if perchance we are there, we do have an inkling as to what to expect. Both Navi’im and Chazal have told us that during the time of chevlei Moshiach the world will experience many man-made and natural disasters, and that many people will perish. I am amazed at how many blog commenters on the issue of current natural disasters seem to be in denial of this, apparently for the sake of ‘political correctness.’

But how do we ignore an incredibly prescient Droshos HaRan (Hadrush Hashishi) where we find the following statement: “Sometimes events occur in faraway places and on faraway islands in order to stir Israel to do teshuva, with dread and fear, lest the same punishment come upon them. This is what the prophet said (Tzefanya 3:6-7): ‘I have destroyed nations, I have laid waste their towers, and I have turned their streets into desolate ruins, and left their cities devastated and uninhabited. I said simply: Fear Me and learn a lesson.’ When you do not suffer in response to the terrible tragedies of others, the punishment does not end; rather, it travels closer and closer to you. There is no doubt that these landmark events are truly warnings from Hashem.”