Chillul Hashem Alert!
Every summer, Orthodox Jews descend upon quiet rural towns like an avalanche with over half a million people driving up to the Catskills and filling places like Monticello, Woodbourne, Fallsburg, Ellenville, Kiamesha, Swan Lake, and Hurleyville.
With the summer having begun, now is a good time to remind ourselves how grave the sin of chillul Hashem (desecrating Hashem’s Name in front of others) is. The Gemara says this aveirah is so heinous that even repentance, suffering, and Yom Kippur combined do not fully atone for it. Only death does.
They consulted with Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt”l. To their surprise, he told them they could not risk the chillul Hashem – even to prevent the loss of a Yiddishe neshama.
I know a family that was attacked in the newspaper over a nasty custody battle. The papers asked if they wanted to comment, but Rav Dovid Feinstein, shlit”a, ruled they couldn’t since it would create more of a chillul Hashem. It’s a lot to ask from a person – not to defend himself against public humiliation – but that’s how high the stakes are when it comes to chillul Hashem.
So let’s talk about how this subject applies to the many city folk who invade the peaceful mountains during the summer. First, we must eliminate honking. Many rural folk follow the rule of “early to bed and early to rise”; we have to be aware of their habits and, at night, avoid honking horns, slamming car doors, or just carrying on too loudly in a boisterous summer way.
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| DO NOT PUT YOUR WIFE IN THE SHOPPING CART NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENED AT THE BUNGALOW! |
Then there’s our behavior in the supermarkets. If you ever visit the Catskills in the winter, you’ll see how nicely the shelves are set up and how orderly the store looks. So if you’re shopping and decide not to take an item, put it back in its place – especially if it needs refrigeration. Try to bring your cart back to the store or its designated spot so all the carts are gathered neatly and not left helter-skelter all over the parking lot.
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| DO NOT USE SHOPPING CARTS AS ENTERTAINMENT FOR YOUR KIDS! |
And here’s something to really think about: Don’t go around tasting grapes or having your kids taste them in the supermarket. If there’s no sign posted that permits tasting fruit, doing so is theft. Even if some stores let you get away with sampling and won’t escort you out, it certainly is not the behavior of the Am Segula, a nation that is supposed to behave in a model fashion.
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| NO SPAM EVEN IF IT'S CHEAP |
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| CAN WE EAT LUNCH NOW QUICKLY? |
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| JEW ALERT! |
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| GENTILE ALERT! |
In the car, we shouldn’t drive like we’re playing a video game, and we should shut off our bright headlights so as not to blind oncoming traffic. Let’s also remember that the locals are very proud of their pristine unpolluted environment, so don’t open the car window and carelessly toss a leftover drink, a bag with a dirty diaper, or a candy wrapper.
I can give many more examples, but the main thing is to heighten our awareness of possibly causing a chillul Hashem.
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| DO NOT BRING YOUR CHAMETZ TO THE CATSKILLS! NO MITZVAH BURNING IT IN JULY! |
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| Smile at Your Neighbors - & Invite Them For Shabbat Lunch |
May Hashem bless us with the smarts to avoid chillul Hashem, and in that merit may we be blessed with long life, good health, and everything wonderful.
https://www.jewishpress.com/judaism/torah/chillul-hashem-alert/2019/06/27/?fbclid=IwAR29Vxh961lGPFpoD24KJpjaLBVOiaN7MBbW6HHs6kDQ92kKg9G95L3J4gQ
Derech eretz, what a concept!
ReplyDeleteThis column should be posted everywhere and be required reading.
Rabbi Ephraim Wachsman said this
ReplyDeleteat an Agudath Israel Convention:
“The Chillul HaShem alone would be reason enough to close the Pesach extravaganzas.
What does the staff at these hotels come to think of Frum Jews?
That they care only about eating and their holidays are nothing but feasts?
What impression does it make to see a group of pot-bellied men try to eat their money’s worth of food?”
SOURCE: Yonoson Rosenblum, Mishpacha Jewish Family Weekly, 2008 April 9, page 14
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“Anyone in Emergency Medical Services [EMS]
will tell you that Purim is just a night of
excessive inebriation [drunkenness]
and a huge Chillul HaShem,
said the Hatzalah paramedic.”
SOURCE: article titled:
Alcohol Emergencies Everywhere
by Michael Orbach, 2010 March 5 / 5770 Adar 20,
The Jewish Star, page 1, www.TheJewishStar.com
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Seeding the Right Cloud
by Rabbi Avi Shafran 2013/11/19:
“I picture a spiritual cloud of sorts, an amorphous mass of minor acts of Chillul HaShem, or “desecration of G_d’s name.”
Any time a visibly Jewish Jew blocks traffic by double parking, or is impatient with a clerk at a supermarket, or cuts corners while doing his taxes, a bit of malign moisture is added to that Chillul HaShem cloud.”
Moshe Meir Weiss is an idiot and a man who has created even more Chillul Hashem with his article on avoiding Chillul Hashem! He is another fake rabbi who claims to be a guru. Weiss basically says that Jews are social animals: Jews are always too loud, they are uncivilized shoppers, they steal food, drive wildly and pollute their surroundings. Yeah, they also do not vaccinate and never smile. Weiss assumes that that is a normal Jewish conduct, he even uses the words "our behavior." Shame on you, silly chief of Agudas Yisroel of Staten Island! By coming out with your harebrained public admonition you made the entire Orthodox Jewish community look like an animal kingdom!
ReplyDeleteDump out the whole salt shaker when Rabbi Weiss speaks who is not only an Agudah Fresser official but the personal rabbi of Avi Shafran.
ReplyDeleteThe Fressers have put their reputation & bank accounts ahead of Torah values since the 1980s.
I don't believe the R' Shlomo Zalman story for a second. The rasha who sent his son to a monastery was the one who already created the chilul Hashem.
As far as the custody battle it is wise to not speak to any anti-frum media regardless as they use you to further their agenda but there are other forums to publicize if you have been victimized which is your right under halacha. But the Fressers just want total silence because it makes their lives easier. And how did the sholom bayis disintegrate to begin with? Because some Fresser rabbi didn't do his job before it was the point of no return?
Effin' Waxman has no right to generalize but it's no surprise coming from him, the rabbi who went ape at the Fresser convention when he found out the 1923 teshuva from R' Shraga Feivel ztl was reproduced that pulls the rug out from under Agudah Fresser cover ups. While Waxman may have a point for gorgefests like Joey Allaham put on before absconding with everyone's money & the $50,000 per person Pesach vacations at Caribbean villas, there are many people who go away because they cannot make Pesach for various reasons or because they have nowhere to go. Why don't Waxman & his Fresser baal habos overlords extend invitations in the spirit of kol dichfin to those lonely souls instead of criticizing. Or better yet, why doesn't Waxman turn to direct the tayna at the Fresser baal habatim themselves who populate the more luxurious programs. There is a simple answer to that question! The last time a rabbi criticized the Fressers in their own backyard over bad behavior at the Fresser convention, they cut the mic & never let him return!
And Shafran has the nerve to pipe in about chilul Hashem? What about all his sick public statements & op-eds in support of molesters? That actually has the dual role of being not just chilul Hashem but also misgareh b'Umos!