Goodbye. Read More »

Due to time constraints, I couldn’t do a new rant on this subject, so I’m just going to refer y’all to this old one- those of you who have time to be reading blogs Erev Pesach, anyway. Here it is, from last year: http: //yeshivaguy. Read More »

Isolated. Insular. Intolerant.   The chareidi and yeshivish community is often been described as such. It may very well be that we are those things. After all, the average bochur in a mainstream yeshiva doesn’t know what the most recent behala on the blogosphere is. The average Bais Yaakov girl doesn’t know what the latest in haute couture is. Read More »

“Itzter is a tzeit fun preidah”. (Now is a time of leave-taking). -Yeshivishe Goodbye Saying I write as I fly away from Yerushalayim, my home of two years. As I fly away from the Shechinah HaKedoshah . At approximately five hundred mph, I am likely out of Eretz Yisroel’s airspace already. Read More »

Yerushalayim is host to hundreds of different yeshivos . The “ yeshivish ” appellation would be an apropos tag for many or most.There are a few diras that belong to MO or non Orthodox institutions that for whatever reason wish to define themselves a yeshiva . Fine. This post does not apply to them. Read More »

I can’t take my eyes off of them. Their simple movements, so deep, so awkward, so graceful. Their actions, so completely without guile, are not performances, like so much of what the rest of us do. Their eyes mirror the merry of their shadows, their spirits sunning the room with carefree joy. It is Friday night, and it is magical. Read More »

Nowadays, we’ve got many Rabbis without semicha . We even have some semichas without the Rabbis.   The below audio is an excerpt of Shlomo telling over the story of how got semichah from HaRav Hutner ZTZ”L at the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s insistence. Classic matzav . Direct download link here . Read More »

“As if you could kill time without injuring eternity”. -Henry David Thoreau News, in its pure form as a medium of delivering information, has always been a wonderful idea. Indeed, the musag of having a grasp of the events that shape the world around us was, to various degrees, was encouraged by our sages. Read More »

For years I couldn’t figure this out. Anytime anyone would happen across me garbed in the traditional costume of yeshiva bochurim (namely: black hat, jacket, white shirt) anywhere from Dan to Beersheva, people with even the most peripheral shaychis with yeshivaleit would assume they know which yeshiva I’m in. The Mir. Read More »

I look up at the precious face of the precocious yingeleh before me. Framed not by dangling waxed  peyos , nor crowned by the familiar sheen of velvet ebony, his azure blue eyes match the navy blue needlepoint on the sruga . Read More »

(Hi Resolution image on my Flickr stream ). Read More »

The other night, deep into the Yerushalmi dark, far after the last guy in the dira has finished his pre- shluf cigarette, just after the cats finished their nightly screeching at no one, I lay awake wondering. Thinking about what it would be like. How I would deal with it. If I would deal with it. Read More »

and here I saw a hunchback…so broken, so broken, so broken…sweeping the floor, sweeping the street. Read More »

“Let them get jobs! Let them learn a trade, like I did. Years of labor, hard work, building up a business. It wasn’t easy. Why should I support them? Lazy good for nothings! It’s a new fad, coming to America, and I won’t stand for it.” This last is punctuated with a fist thump on the table.” I refuse to do it any longer. Read More »

I am copying and pasting the ingredients and instructions almost exactly as I have received them. This cholent is one of the best cholents I have ever tasted, bar Deitsch’s, of course . The chef calls this the “Most Incredible Cholent”. I concur.All credit goes to him. Read More »

Transportation. We all need it, we all use it. Different forms, different fashions. Mobility is a commodity that has not been made obsolete by the passage of time. Read More »

There are two kinds of Yidden in the world. Well, really three. Those who live in Yerushalayim, those who want to live in Yerushalayim, and those who couldn’t care less. The reason I only count two is because the latter Yid is be’etzem nichlall in one of the first two, only he hasn’t touched the magic yet. Read More »

Full version on my Flickr stream . Share this on Facebook Tweet This! Subscribe to the comments for this post? Share this on Tumblr Share this on del.icio. Read More »

“ You know friends, the older you get, the less stories you tell, have you ever noticed, people don’t tell stories any more… You know for me, a young person is somebody who is telling stories, an old man is somebody who stopped telling stories long Read More »

The former Rosh Yeshivah of the Mir, HaRav Chaim Shmulevitz, was no kalta litvak . Although b’derech klall Mirrers are not known for being farhegisht , R’ Chaim was an exception. Indeed, in atypical Litvish fashion, he made it his business to be mispallel at mekomos hakdoshim , and was a regular at Kever Rochel. Read More »