FIrst Emaciated, Now Slouching?

Have you seen the new Lord & Taylor catalog?

I think slouching is now a new modeling technique, or style.

One of the models is slouching in almost every picture. Not really a slouch, more of a concave body arch, like the beginnings of a collapse due to bad cramps.

Her expression kind of goes with the whole contortion.

Hello, give your models Midol before snapping the picture.

She OBVIOUSLY doesn't have a good jewish mother who yelled at her every day before she went off to high school "Stand straight! You look nebbish! What are you cowering about? Your beautiful! Gorgeous! And you need every Inch!"

Maybe she screamed back at her mother, "Oh yeah?? When I grow up and get outta this one horse town I and my Slouch are going to be Famous!"


and so it is!

Good Boy, Good Home, Good Family

Who makes that decision about what or who is good?

Is it if there are no kids at risk, no relatives divorced, no sister that dresses too trendy, no siblings in any Out-Of-NY-Schools? Who decided that those things render a family "different" "off beat" or "not good"?

Or is it a "Good" family, home, boy, because they do everything like everyone else?
Nothing out of the ordinary?

Why are we so afraid of people and families who are a bit different?


It's like an unpredictable popularity game; even if the details all look the same, you never who is going to be "in" and who isn't.

I stray today from my usual lightheated complaints to open a discussion and see what you have to say about it.

yeshiva tuitions are strangling us. Even if a family has only three children, not very common in our Orthodox world, the tuition can be, at a minimum, $30,000. If you are sending to high school, seminary, or Yeshiva, the fees go up. So a family with 5-7 children, ranging from a pre-school to seminary, post high school yeshiva, or any college (Touro, community, four year), is drowning in tuitions.

What do we do?

There has been talk that educating our children should become a community responsibility. No one would disagree.

But I suggest, or humbly ask:
Do we need SO many kiruv organizations? Do we need SO many Hachnasas Kallah organizations? How many "unique, individualized, small" new boys' high schools do we need in the greater Tri-State area? Can't these various, very important, and successful organizations combine forces?
Ah, you say, then what will all those employees with children in Yeshiva do for Parnassa?

My answer? Something else. Not in the kiruv/chinuch field.

And combine the Chinese Auctions. Or have a percentage of each Chinese Auction go to support a school in the same community.

Let's face it, when the Orphanage in Israel sends you a pad of paper, or a Kiruv organization sends you a glossy brochure of five dollar tickets, which of them is getting your money?

Do you contribute to A big famous Chinese Auction for a Yeshiva you have no connection to?
or Do you contribute for a small box of candles from a Yeshiva that has been sending out candles for decades? Have only changed the size of their box? (actually, I give them a check: for the candles, the powdered Charoses, and the esrog jam).

So there must be some way the struggling Yeshivos can cash in on the money brought in to organizations for Chinese Auctions.

YES!! I mean NO!! oops! Sorry! Move on!

A boy gave us a yes to date one of my daughters in the parsha.

We didn't get back to them quickly enough, in their opinion, so they decided to "move on".

They gave a yes Friday afternoon- late- and changed their minds by Tuesday night.

Think maybe THIS contributes to the shidduch "crisis"? Saying yes, then saying "sorry, we waited long enough and in our opinion you should have already gathered all your info, so too bad! The next unmarried girl awaits the attention of my son! Tra la and good luck!"

my favorite: They consulted with Da'as Torah who told them it was okay to go on to the next girl.

deeeep breaths...

what do YOU think? Dear blog followers, be honest, even though you are my readers, tell me if you think we were wrong (I am not even discussing reasons or excuses, I think they are irrelevant).

Thou Shall Not Lie... in Bed Shabbos Morning

Is going to shul on Shabbos morning an "issue" in your house?

I think the females should go. They don't always agree.

Should Shabbos only be about sleeping late, getting up to eat, sleeping the afternoon away, and then rousing yourself to get dressed, do your face, and go out partying with friends?

Somehow there isn't much sanctity there.

Something nice about davening in shul, hearing laining, hearing a speech, saying a whole bunch of Amen's. Without a party.

what say you?

Another Shidduch Meeting

Took place in my home over the past few weeks. Twas a rather shattering experience.

A broken window pane in a door, and a broken pane in an indoor bedroom window. The pane of glass met with a well rounded individual, who was a bit too strong minded for our more delicate nature. We are trying to mend the relationship to the tune of $130.

Will my boys ever grow up? I am not even thinking of replacing the broken storm windows until they get married. Unless they come back with their own boys and say,
"hey, see those three windows over there? Think you can aim your baseball there and smash them really hard? Like I did every summer?"

Revising Jewish History

Maybe it isn't actually history, but revising the past to fit our current zealous over chumra'd lifestyle.

To clarify: A local Bais Yakov is putting on a play (more on this in my next post) and one scene has girls from an out of town high school performing in a talent show. Okay, it's possible! But the clothes they must wear for this scene? Uniforms!

Hello- which out of town high school on which continent-certainly not North America- wore uniforms TWENTY years ago? And this gets better: the girls playing the part were told to wear white knee socks.

I graduated high school, to be vague, between 20 and 25 years ago. I wore argyle socks, patterned socks, short socks, funky colored socks. But white? Hey, even back then white knee socks were kind of nebby. White knee socks were for chassidish men.

My issue with this is that we are trying to revise history. There was nothing wrong with NOT having a uniform for a Bais Yakov school back in the 1980's.

It's like people who refer to the alter zaidy whose name was Hymie as Zaidie Chaim, when no one except for the rabbi during an Aliya called him Chaim.

You know what's a shame? The principals, teachers, and people who decide on plays and content and costumes don't usually read blogs.

Or listen to opinionated parents, either. They just label those parents as "not supporting the beliefs of the school".

My stomach roils (is that even a word?)