yeshivitis in a nutshell

 

Midwest Agudath Israel Convention Begins

By Devorah Klein

Friday, January 6, 2017 at 2:03 am | ח' טבת תשע"ז

“MiK’amcha Yisrael : Reaching Heights, Rising Higher” is the theme of the Midwest Agudah Convention 2017, which began Thursday evening at the Renaissance Schaumberg Hotel in Schaumberg, Illinois.

At the Opening Plenary Keynote Session, the atmosphere was charged with excitement and anticipation, as hundreds of delegates from across the country gathered to hear divrei chizuk from Gedolim. And they were not disappointed. Harav Aharon Feldman, shlita, asserted that we must define Klal Yisrael’s success as success in limud haTorah, not success in our increased standards of gashmiyus.

Harav Yisroel Reisman, shlita, insisted that the future of Klal Yisrael is in Eretz Yisrael, as we are currently witnessing the shift of the center of limud haTorah and psak halachah to Eretz Yisrael, a phenomenon that has not existed since the times of Rav and Shmuel, 2,000 years ago. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to support the mosdos and citizens of Eretz Yisrael financially and emotionally, and give proper respect to those who come collecting from Eretz Yisrael.

Harav Avraham Schorr asserted that we must recognize our illustrious past, understand how previous generations lived with temimus, emunah, and submission to talmidei chachamim, and strive to follow in their footsteps.

Thursday night’s session certainly presented a taste of things to come throughout the weekend, when over 1,300 delegates, including hundreds of children, will continue to soak up the words of Gedolim and askanim, network with each other, and discuss initiatives to help Klal Yisrael continue to riser higher and higher.

-----------------------

That's the Agudah: piplul, submission, and zionism

How is an American baal habayis who is sitting in the audience who sponsored this event and all the airfare of the visiting speakers going to feel after hearing this? He isn't studying all day long. He doesn't live in Israel. And he's part of a disgusting materialistic generation not like that of his ancestors. This is what litvaks called chizuk. 

How does the speaker feel? He feels superior. He does limud hatorah all day long, not like the materialistic baal habayis. He doesn't live in Israel but he's needed in America to save the pathetic baal habatim. He doesn't have to submit. People submit to him. 

Muslim Turks

 

Homer Pavlos

@HomerPavlos

·

2h

In 1822, Muslim Turks captured two Greek Christian women in Naousa and attempted to force them to convert to Islam. They smeared them with honey on the head and tied them exposed, so as to receive the stings of wasps and of passersby. The first woman, wife of captain Zafeirakis, was then built into the wall up to the neck in the church of Hagia Sophia in Thessaloniki. She was left there for days for the entertainment of the wild mob that went there cursing and hitting her head with sticks as it protruded from the wall. She did not back down for a moment, strengthened until her last breath by prayer, and she never abandoned her Christian faith. Her martyrdom lasted five days. A passing gypsy woman, to hasten her end, threw a large stone at her, and thus the blessed one delivered her heroic soul into the hands of God, Whom she did not deny. The other woman, Maria, refused to change her faith, and for this Ebub Lubut enclosed her in a sack with deadly snakes, where she was martyred. The historian Eustathios Stougiannakis writes: "The acute venom diffused into the veins of the martyr from the bites, however, killed her in sweet lethargy, praying until the last moment for her executioners and invoking the Most High and the Virgin." And Pouqueville describes in the darkest colors to the civilized world the dramatic scenes he saw with his own eyes there: "Many women naked were put up to the neck in sacks with cats, snakes, and mice…" The lifeless bodies of these holy women were eventually thrown into the sea. These events took place during the Naousa massacre. 13 April 1822 409 Greeks killed and over 400 enslaved. Homer Pavlos

-William Butler Yeats

 “Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.”

-William Butler Yeats

great lakes

 

Chicago

Rippe🎯

@MichaelRippe

I moved to Chicago two weeks ago. Here are the highlights so far.

- Clean city

- Da Bears

- Great food

- West Loop is chiller version of NYC Soho/Meatpacking 

- No scaffolding on every other building like NYC

- September weather is elite

- Midwest nice (fake or not) is happening

- Golf courses everywhere

So far its 10/10 on the relocation. Ask me anything.

listen to rabbis?

Two months old. That morning she had her two-month vaccines: HepB, rotavirus, DTaP, Hib, PCV13 and polio. That night she was found unresponsive. She was declared dead just after 11pm.

The coroner ruled accidental asphyxiation while co-sleeping on the sofa. That is the official record. Families still look at the timing and ask why a well baby was gone the same day as a full load of shots.

7 December 2018 – 8 February 2019

----

Jenny McCarthy just opened up about her son’s MMR vaccine injury and autism regression. Her doctor ignored and ridiculed her concerns. She said she had a bad feeling about it. But after the shot, her 2-year old son went into cardiac arrest. Then, “he lost all of his language.” That’s when he officially got an autism diagnosis. Doctors told her he “might not ever speak.” “He won’t be able to make friends.” “He’ll never have a job.” “He was really hit by this shot.”

----

and hershel schachter kicks kids out of school for not getting vaccinated

and asher weiss condemns anyone who doesn't pump his kids with all the vaccines

and my rabbi said to do what most people do and get vaccines

you might start to wonder about this notion of having a rav and following the big rabbis

you might want to start thinking for yourself

I have a gut feeling

 https://x.com/SpectrumDads/status/2097750558816043271/video/1

This is heartbreaking. Jenny McCarthy just opened up about her son’s MMR vaccine injury and autism regression. Her doctor ignored and ridiculed her concerns. But after the shot, her 2-year old son went into cardiac arrest. Then, “he lost all of his language.” That’s when he officially got an autism diagnosis. Doctors told her he “might not ever speak.” “He won’t be able to make friends.” “He’ll never have a job.” “He was really hit by this shot.”

what you did not choose

 "Five minutes after birth, they decide your name, religion, nationality, and sect.

And you spend the rest of your life defending what you did not choose." — Nassim Nicholas Taleb

We

 

truth

 

Patriotism

 

who is the happiest

 

Neolog

 Neolog Judaism is a moderate, modernist branch of Judaism that emerged in 19th-century Hungary. It balanced traditional religious laws with social integration and secular education. The movement resembled Western Conservative Judaism by keeping core Hebrew prayers and rituals, while updating synagogue aesthetics and promoting Hungarian patriotism. [1, 2, 3]

History and Origins

• 19th Century: Started during the modernization of Hungary as urban Jews sought cultural integration.
• 1868 Schism: Divided from Orthodox factions during the Hungarian Jewish Congress.
• Mainstream Status: Became the largest and most influential movement among urban, middle-class Hungarian Jews. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Core Beliefs and Practices

• Tradition and Change: Kept dietary laws (kashrut) and Sabbath rules, unlike radical German Reform groups.
• Modern Worship: Used organs, choirs, and sermons spoken in the national language inside grand synagogues.
• Academic Focus: Encouraged higher secular education and founded the Rabbinical Seminary of Budapest. [1, 2]

• 

Neolog Judaism is a distinct middle-path movement that bridges the gap between traditional Jewish law and modern European culture. While it shares the "halakhic moderate" space with American Conservative Judaism, it developed independently in 19th-century Central Europe and has a different relationship with reform.

The table below compares how Neolog Judaism stacks up against the Conservative and Reform movements across key religious and cultural areas:

Feature	Neolog Judaism	Conservative Judaism	Reform Judaism
Origin	19th-century Hungary	19th-century Germany / 20th-century US	19th-century Germany
Jewish Law (Halakha)	Binding but adaptable in practice; favors preserving traditional codes.	Binding but evolving through formal rabbinic committees.	Non-binding; viewed as a personal ethical guide.
Liturgy & Prayer	Traditional Hebrew text; adds choirs, organs, and local-language sermons.	Mostly traditional Hebrew text; introduces gender-egalitarian language.	Highly modified; heavy use of local language and shorter prayers.
Gender Roles	Traditional; maintains separate seating (mechitzah) and male-only ordination.	Egalitarian; mixed seating, ordains women, counts women in minyan.	Egalitarian; fully egalitarian seating, ordination, and rituals.
Cultural Identity	Strong emphasis on local patriotism (Hungarian identity).	Focus on pluralism and integration into Western secular society.	High focus on universalism and social justice (Tikkun Olam).

Key Differences Defined

• The Gender Divide: The most visible difference between Neolog and American Conservative Judaism today is egalitarianism. Neolog synagogues generally maintain separate seating for men and women and do not ordain female rabbis. Conservative Judaism shifted to full egalitarianism in the late 20th century.
• Attitude Toward Change: Reform Judaism intentionally broke away from traditional Jewish law to modernize the faith. Neolog Judaism, by contrast, sought to modernize the aesthetic of worship (using architecture, organs, and formal dress) while keeping the core substance of the laws intact.
• Geographic Isolation: Unlike Reform and Conservative Judaism, which spread globally and flourished in North America, Neolog Judaism remained structurally and culturally confined to the lands of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.

If you want to dive deeper, let me know if I should look up:

• The history of the Dohány Street Synagogue (the ultimate example of Neolog style)
• The impact of the Holocaust and Communism on Neolog communities
• A practice multiple-choice quiz to test your knowledge on Jewish denominations

"The user is asking about the etymology of "Neolog" in Judaism. I found the answer in the search results.

Etymology of "Neolog":

The term comes from Hungarian "neológ," a 19th-century coinage from Ancient Greek:

• νεός (neós) = "new"
• λόγος (lógos) = "word; teaching, doctrine"

Literal meaning: "New teaching" or "new doctrine"

Context:
Neolog Judaism was a moderate reform movement that emerged in Hungary in the mid-19th century (following the Hungarian Jewish Congress of 1868). The name reflected its modernizing approach—adopting Hungarian language, integrating into society, and moderate religious reforms compared to strict Orthodoxy.

The movement was comparable to Conservative Judaism in the U.S. or Positive-Historical Judaism in Germany. The term distinguished it from the "Orthodox" (traditional) and "Status Quo" (middle) factions in Hungarian Jewry.