Interesting Posts and Articles #387

1) At Emes veEmunah, More Religious or Going off the Deep End? I find it interesting how the schools are effectively in charge of not just the student's dress, but that of the parents as well:

(T)he principal called me aside (and) said, ‘Mrs. Rosenberg, you are 98% of what we are looking for in a prospective parent. The 2% holding me back from full acceptance is a certain something about the way you look. If you would agree for me to take you shopping so that I can reevaluate your wardrobe and help you dress more to the manner that we find appropriate, I would be happy to allow your daughter into our nursery class.’ 

2) In the Forward, a Bukharian Rabbi fights to keep his post:

A ruling by five Ashkenazi rabbis of the Queens Beit Din, or rabbinical court, a few months earlier found that Yehoshua had violated laws related to conversions. This July, the same beit din issued a second ruling, distributed among the Bukharian community in a 12-page booklet printed in English and in Russian, cataloging the “tremendous lies and fabrications” Yehoshua is alleged to have committed in what the rabbis portrayed as an elaborate and “cunning” attempt to clear his name.

3) At Daat Torah, changes in marriage and the tragedy of the Seridei Aish. An excerpt from The Making of a Gadol by Rav Nosson Kaminetzky.

"Being young, I submitted to [their guidance], and by that, I ruined the course of my life [...]

4) Life In Israel notes that in a survey, (secular) Israelis don't want chareidim as neighbors, at only 28 percent. I don't think that this is racism, or the result of the media fanning the flames of conflict. I know chareidim in the US who aren't living in chareidi neighborhoods, presumably because they don't want chareidim as neighbors. If a secular Israeli does not currently have chareidim as neighbors, then the question is not interpreted necessarily about a specific, lone, nice chareidi person. In various neighborhoods, chareidim have moved in and then, quite publicly, imposed their own values upon the neighborhood. This question amounts to: do you want to have others shoving their religious values down your throats? Do you want your wife and daughter to be able to go out dressed as you normally would? Do you want to be able to have female performers perform in your neighborhood? The survey also didn't distinguish between different types of chareidim. Not all chareidim are the Sicarii of Bet Shemesh, but it was the survey, not the participants, which failed to make the distinction. It is surprising that only 28% said this.

5) DovBear with modesty, then and now. And whether Avraham had a daughter, named BaKol.

Not as well known* is that Yitzchok had a daughter, named Mikol; and Yaakov had a daughter, nicknamed Kol. This was Dinah, hidden in the box, but so as not to lie to Esav, Yaakov tells him וְכִי יֶשׁ-לִי-כֹל.

6) I know the election is over, but this campaign ad is to nice to pass up:


7) At Yediah, Variants In Talmud and RIF - RABH Disagrees With His Father. Check out also the first comment there.

8) Sheltering our children. Is that really our masorah? Somewhat related, see this parshablog post.

Footnotes:
* and for good reason :)