Monday, January 16, 2023

Compare and contrast

 Went to a ceremony at a Manalist yeshiva tonight. Rabbi stood up and talked about Rav El. Wasserman's trip to America, fundraising trip where he got the audience all worked up about his yeshiva. The shul president feared they'll give all the money to the yeshiva so he said whether you give a little or a lot what matters is your intent. They told him, because of that, less was given so you better asked the RY for mechilah. You don't want hakpados from him. He want to Rav Wasserman who give some words about Betzalel being the one zoche to build the calim while others weren't zocheh. 

So what do we have? Gemara, gelt, and guilt. The usual. That plus the baal habais not getting it. 

Then this rabbi talked about the struggles bochurim have with middos today because the world is so bad and because in yeshiva they get spoiled. So what do we have? The world is terrible and so are the bachurim. Only rabbis are good. That's the attitude. 

I find this all unpleasant. Could be for some it's productive. I don't see how but that's not your problem i if you like it. 

Earlier I was at a chassidish shul where a guy saw me looking at the timetable, which was very orderly by the way. He gently told me that a mincha was coming soon, seeming like a person who really wanted to do chesed. In the beis midrash, nobody stared at me. They looked for a moment. At the end of Mincha I wasn't quite sure when to start kaddish and a guy saw that and gently prompted me that now was the time. It was a pleasant experience. Very comfortable. 

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