Loyalty

How do you define loyalty?

Is it too lofty an ideal to use it for a basic concept?

There are many grocery stores here in Monsey.  Over the past few years they have expanded and spread out.  A few years ago, one store became a mega kosher grocery store. A candy isle twice the length of my house. A wall of dips and shmears** that dazzle the eyes.  A huge selection of meats and poultry, sometimes just cut up 6 different ways. Such as cutlets: cut thin, in strips, in chunks, in little stir fry strips, on skewers, spiced, breaded, etc.  Good for them that they can be so clever with their marketing  (or shame on us cooks that we'd pay extra per lb. to have a chicken cutlet cut into little strips.  Really, how much work is that??)

I do believe that the mega grocery store took away some business from other stores.  And even more than groceries, when the  large stores start to sell non-grocery items  (and I don't mean chanuka menorahs or paper goods), like sandwich makers, small electronic appliances, a huge selection of swimming gear, it has to have an effect on the other hardware/appliance stores.

Recently another new, modern grocery store opened.  And there is no question, IMHO, that it has severely affected the other grocery stores.  Places which had been packed on a Wednesday or Thursday are now less so.  Parking spaces abound.  Lines are shorter.

I admit, I have gone into the new store.  It is nice!  Actually, not my taste exactly, too dark, and it smells like sushi.  But it's modern, has an energy to it, and some clever shticky things, like zoom checkout and purple fingerling potatoes. 

Does the concept of Hasogas Hagvul have an application here? I don't know.

But I think loyalty does.  I think I should still shop at the grocery store near my home, Wesley Kosher.  I love them.  Their prices are ok, their meats a very reliable hechsher, and tasty, and they pretty much always have what I am looking for.  Staff that are helpful, and really know me.  Back when I was still using checks to pay for groceries, Luis would look at my check and say, "Hey, your husband was in here before!"

And they are undergoing some major cosmetic changes.  I am sad that they must do so to stay competitive, and that locals really need to have their fruit display look different, or their meat and chicken pre-cut and seasoned.  I wish they would know that there are many of us here in the extended Monsey community who have always liked their store the way it is. Familiar.
 But such is change. And competition.

And here at DIP, I think we shall remain loyal.

Amein

Bring Back the Title of Mr.

I'm back to complain.

I'm so disgusted. with things in our frum world.

the title of Mr. has become dishonorable, disgraceful, low, pick your adjective

Do not reference a Gvir, an Askan, as Rav _____ if they are not a Rabbi.

They are important, very important, to our frum world!

There is no disgrace in being a Mr. who supports Torah, organizations, families, tzedakas.

But please!  JUST WRITE MR. 

you take away the distinction between their importance in our world, and the importance of our bonafide Rabbonim, who are our spiritual guides.

Hypersensitive, or just looking to make a buck?

Um, Mr. Delgado? Get over it.
She was foolish, she made a mistake, and your girlfriend didn't burn to death.

talk shows, suing, we can see where this will go.

You got the help you needed, 911 dispatched  the help immediately, the dispatcher made an error which besides hurting your feelings did no damage whatsoever.

I wonder about people like this.  Do they ever watch videos in which people are horribly embarrassed? Do they ever look at scenes at crimes? Do they care then, when someone's privacy is exposed, errors show them to be fools, etc?

Like the Michael Jackson Family Grab Fund.  Now that the cash cow is dead, whom can we milk or blame or squeeze money out of???

Religious Disclaimers, or Look, I Really Am Very Very Frum!!

"he wanted to play tennis, so we got him a Male Instructor"

"she was desperate for a coffee, so she ran into the nearest dunkin donuts and got an unflavored black coffee"

"oh, that's where your son is? My son's rebbeim really wanted him to go there to Reb Avraham Yeshaya, but he chose someplace else. B'H, though, he's in the top shiur there. At the Mir."

"It was a yummy dessert! I don't bother with the whip, too many calories, just my washed-before-shabbos-hulled, strawberries,....."

"He's a very very ehrlicha boy, maybe you've heard of his great uncle, the Rosh Yeshiva of_____? Anyway, he found a good job, is responsible about parnoso, totally not bummy or anything...."



I think we all talk too much.

Is Yiddish So Holy?

Some schools insist on it, claiming it is the language of the alta heim, the gedolim, the real Torah world.  It is pure, heilig, separates us from the dangerous secular world.

You think Weberman spoke to his victims in English? Or Yiddish?

It's not about the language. It's about how you act

Women of the Wall

I think if everyone had ignored them, or let them continue to do what they've been doing for years,  we all would have been better off.

And we wouldn't have had to hear about it on CBS news.

What a shame.

July 4th

As a religious Jewish American: what does July 4th mean to you?