A student of Rav Pam z"tl came to his home for a bracha with his new kallah. Obviously, this was the first time he was at his rebbe's house; he was taken aback by the old and sparse furnishings. After receiving a bracha ("a birchat hedyot I'm certain my rebbe interjected"), he asked our rebbe if there was anything he can purchase for the house. With the rebbe and the rebbetzin standing at the door; "everything we need and want we have, anything we don't have, we don't need or want."
For the first time in my life, I desired to experience first-hand a Black Friday shopping day. Not because I wanted to purchase some junk for a $20 savings, I wanted to experience what the rest of the world does with their time and money. So on Friday I braved the 75 degrees weather, donned my short sleeve shirt, and went to take a look.
I waited some 35 minutes to find a parking space, and entered the Best Buy store. There must have been a thousand or so people in this mega store...2 scuffels by customers that security had to breakup, peoples' faces were ugly with determination to buy something, anything, but they were not going to leave the store empty handed, whether they needed it or not.
I had enough; I could only imagine (besides what I saw on the news) what transpired at midnight prior, where some people got into brawls, and I read one woman actually maced a competitor for a cheap TV.
I can tell my readers, among the happiest moments in my life, by far, were the times my family danced around the Chanukah menorah...singing Yevanim, Yevanim nikbatzu alei... and on Shabbos mornings walking with my kinderlach to shul....when their tiny hentelach grasped mine...and I firmly, by securely grasping theirs, let them know I'll always be there for them.
As we celebrate Chanukah, let's not lose sight that Consumerism is fleeting happiness...only leading one to want more; your children and their children are forever....Please let's keep them safe.
A Freilechen and Lichtegen Chanukah.
B'ahavat Yisroel,
UOJ
Chanukah Thoughts for President Obama
http://www.youtube.com/embed/8VwZPCORLJg?rel=0
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/19/4133461/satmar-grand-rabbi-in-fiery-speech.html
ReplyDeleteThe real reason my brother is ripping Obama critics is because you Litvisher elected Bob Turner for being pro-Israel and because Obama gives more welfare money to Satmar.
Archie Bunker has left a new comment on your post "Chanukah Thoughts":
ReplyDeleteRabboysei,
You may remember me as one of the characters who Shmarya prevents from posting on his blog because I make him sweat.
*
"Archie" - You know I'm not gonna post a rant like that!
UOJ
Why not? We have been filled in on all dirt with other family patriarchs even if they just left a trail of IOUs. A mafia don doesn't reach the threshold? And surely there is something to be said about that sorry little man attacking everyone else as an escape from reality. Obviously I never liked him but he has now proven himself to be the pinnacle of hypocrisy and someone who shouldn't talk.
ReplyDeleteArchie:
ReplyDeleteDon't read him if you don't like what he says --- or open a Blog yourself, it's free and you can hopefully with your smarts do some good.
UOJ
As I have stated before, he is different than the other bloggers. He is not interested in fixing a broken system. He calculatingly pretends to care so that he can destroy whatever vestige is left.
ReplyDeleteNow that a couple of blowhard newspaper publishers (Gary Rosenblatt and JJ Goldberg) have given him a degree of legitimacy, his poison agenda has a far reach. I'm just doing my part to expose him for the fraud that he is.
The blogs serve a purpose of keeping the corrupt establishment orgs in check. The problem is that his poison is what is being read in Washington & Albany today, not the constructive message that this and other blogs have to offer. He is the damaging blog that Chaskel Bennett went running back to report to the fressers at 42 Broadway is being read in the Beltway. He has a captive audience because of his dysfunctional lifestyle to blog day & night even when others with a modicum of humanity would take a break because of a loss in the family.
Look, I know a lot of personal dirt about other bloggers out there which I keep to myself. I have good reason why I don't hold back with this guy. Among other things I think he is also undermining to some extent what the mission of this blog is. I don't need to patronize you as there are plenty of blogs that would allow me to attack both of you if I so choose.
I once thought to open my own blog but it's too risky. Do you have any idea how many really angry people have tried to learn my identity? A number of people have been accused of being I, including one of R' Malkiel Kotler's brothers. Shmarya himself who is well equipped with the proper IT tools tried for a long time to unmask me. When it didn't work he tried to sucker me into emailing him my electronic signature on a silver platter.
Archie,
ReplyDeleteYou have every right to your opinions, I will gladly validate many of them.
But, while you have issues with Shmarya, it does not in any way undermine what I'm doing or writing about.
The so-called Establishment read him and UOJ among others. They tried taking me down in more than one way, and guess what, I'm more powerful than ever. Not because I want to be but because of who they are or rather who they are not!
Shmarya calls attention to very many important issues that frankly I choose not to and don't have the time to.
If you disagreed with his writings rather than resort to name-calling, I'm fairly certain he'd let you disagree with him on his blog.
Try it - tell him I sent you!
Let me know if I can be of help.
Best,
UOJ
Bichvod rav,
ReplyDeleteIf you would follow the FM comments on a regular basis, you would see it is Shmarya who immediately jumps to call names and insult anyone who questions him.
And G-d forbid that anyone should be smart enough to outdebate him. He then finds a phony excuse to pull the plug on you. Sometimes he has blocked IPs of his opponents without even bothering to announce they are banned.
In my case he wrote a comment stating his conditions to allow me back on his blog. Included is that I must provide my real name from the email account I use regularly. The fact that he has never done this to anyone else shows how threatened he feels from what I write. He actually loves it when frumma attack him personally because most of them don't last more than 5 minutes arguing with him. He has also written that personal attacks are not allowed against anyone except him, that he will not monn his own kovod. It was after he attacked me that I came up with the image that stuck about him blogging in his underwear. About a month ago, his friend Kelsey hosted a party at an East Village bar. Shmarya finally lightened up and said the first patron to tell the bouncer that Shmarya is fat blogger in his underwear writing from his mother's basement, gets free admission.
Archie:
ReplyDeleteI would certainly consider giving you a forum here if your post is "tzum zach" and not a Shmarya-hating rant.
I would only have the right to edit-out, not edit-in. Do it, let's get you guys talking to each other again - you're bright, and a well thought out post by you would be read by tens of thousands of Jews across the religious spectrum.
Let the readers decide who is being unreasonable.
Go for it!
UOJ
"The so-called Establishment read him and UOJ among others"
ReplyDeleteIn case it escaped you, the person who got up at the fresser convention to complain about what Bennett was told in D.C. has his own personal motive too.
His father, a long time Agudah hack, has a criminal record which has been noted on this blog. And the family owns an empire that requires help from politicians.
Avremel Schorr treated the audience to the kind of ranting & raving that is to be expected. Let's see if the big talkers who promised him millions $$ for data centers will cough up. It will be a flop if they do.
You have to hand it to Rav Elya Brudny of Mirrer Yeshiva. When the Agudah fressers asked him to speak about internet & blogs they must have assumed he would attack ol' UOJ. What he did instead was present a very reasonable explanation of how blogs can be detrimental and only gave examples that are completely secular like the comments section of the NY Times, a newspaper that has morphed into a platform for advocating "alternative" lifestyles. His point was that being in such a forum exposes you to every menuval & meshugenna spouting his krumkeiten.
I need to catch Shmarya on his next big gaffe. Until then, let's see how the readers react to the findings of Ben Atlas P.C., without my personal opinion mixed in.
ReplyDeleteBoy Archie (from an impartial observer):
ReplyDelete1) You are too cowardly to reveal your identity.
2) You are incredibly weak minded and have NEVER out debated Shmarya.
3) It's you who "attack" like a rabid dog when your "dignity" is insulted. This constant invective that you seem powerless to stop (because of your weak emotional state) is of absolutely NO interest to anyone besides yourself. The entire "underwear clad, sitting in Mommy's basement" picture that you've attempted to smear Shmarya does not impress anyone.
Now, UOJ, back to my original question... Did Rabbi Pam actually live in such a simple lifestyle? I was a student in Chaim Berlin under Rav Hutner and Aaron Shechter, and they lived in exceptional "comfort".
As a childhood friend of Rav Pam's youngest son, and later as a student of Rav Pam - I was in his homes in East Flatbush (Remsen av.) and in Flatbush proper.
ReplyDeleteIf you can imagine how the Chofetz Chaim lived, not at all wanting for anything, and b'simcha all the time, that's how I would describe how Rav Pam lived.
Everything was spotless, and in my eyes absolutely beautiful.
Well if it aint Robert Wisler, one of Shmarya's most vulgar and turbo-charged yes-men on the blog.
ReplyDeleteYou are a complete and utter liar as you were around when I was still allowed to debate Shmarya.
You are a bitter and childish heretic like your guru who will stoop to anything to silence arguments for the faith.
http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2011/12/2-pm-today-matisyahu-to-talk-beard-on-wnyc-radio-show-456.html
Maybe he finally realized that Judaism is all made up, has nothing to do with the giving of Torah at Sinai ...
Posted by: Robert Wisler | December 14, 2011 at 11:42 AM
Here you have it folks! Robert Wisler is a shining example of civilized discourse & debate. Here is what he had to say yesterday morning on FM to offer his opinion of Rav Elyashev:
"your dirty, sour-faced old "sage"
That lovely comment was made at 6 am
When Robert started getting hungry before lunch he lashed out that Rav Elyashev is a "jackass"
This is what happens when you challenge Shmarya and his friends. You get yelled at, insulted, banned from the blog and then the revisionist history that it never happened.
"Impartial" observer? What gall!
ReplyDeleteWisler is jumping up on FM as Shmarya's echo like a fly is attracted to a shtik dreck.
As an aside to all of you "thousands of the best guys in Lakewood"...I saw Rav Pam wash and dry the dishes and would not permit his wife to help him, clean off the table after eating, vacuum clean his home, take out the garbage and unpack the groceries...
ReplyDeleteThere was a jerk in kollel whose "full support" shver fell on hard times and lost his business. The jerk pounded on his table that "full support means full support" and forced his wife to take a job that required about 4 hours of commuting each day.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments on Rabbi Pam. I didn't see any of those admirable characteristics of simplicity and decency in Aaron Shechter or even in Rav Hutner during my tenure at Chaim Berlin. It was always a "greeting royalty" situation there (kind of like Kim Jong Il's recent le'vay'ah).
ReplyDeleteNow, onto Archie Bunker...
You seem to be obsessed with "winning" against Shmarya. That's truly sick and is a waste of time. Every post that you make on our host's (UOJ) website is to try to degrade and belittle Shmarya. As I said the last time, the "wearing underwear in his mother's basement" shtick is the whining product of a juvenile mind.
Perhaps getting an honest job and occupying yourself with other matters than Shmarya Rosenberg would help you. UOJ also made an excellent suggestion -- start your own blog and bash whomsoever your wish -- see how many readers you have.
What's juvenile is that Shmarya does not allow debate unless the his opponent has a lower IQ than him so that he can make mincemeat out of him.
ReplyDeleteYou talk about "sick"? The vast majority of people are ready to vomit from your hostile, potty mouth commentary on FM.
I must have really hit a raw nerve after coining the expression about Shmarya blogging in his underwear from his mother's basement. The image is probable enough that it caught on like wildfire and most of the dissenters butting heads with him have invoked it.