Don’t Say ‘Ya’aleh Veyavo’ Out Loud
To remind others of “Ya’aleh Veyavo”, some say these words aloud as they reach them in their (otherwise) silent recitation. The Chazon Ish held this was disrespectful to prayer.
העורך Editor
Newspapers Are Useful After All
Did you know newspapers are good for wrapping avocados so they ripen in timely fashion?
Why do I bring this up? The “fish wrap” metaphor for newspapers no longer resonates with us. Most of us don’t do that. Time for a new metaphor.
Better uninformed (or internet) than misinformed!
Was Epicurus the First Apikores (Heretic)?!
Of course not.
But then we must ask: why is it specifically his name that is synonymous for heresy in Chazal: Apikores? Why wasn’t an earlier individual’s name chosen?
Also important in the history of atheism was Epicurus (c. 300 BCE). Drawing on the ideas of Democritus and the Atomists, he espoused a materialistic philosophy according to which the universe was governed by the laws of chance without the need for divine intervention (see scientific determinism). Although he stated that deities existed, he believed that they were uninterested in human existence. The aim of the Epicureans was to attain peace of mind and one important way of doing this was by exposing fear of divine wrath as irrational. The Epicureans also denied the existence of an afterlife and the need to fear divine punishment after death.
Now we understand. He was not the first deist, but the first to try and integrate it with everything else, to make it a “Shittah”.
Rabbi Shach Was Never a Disciple of the Chazon Ish!
Some Jews have pretended Rabbi Elazar Menachem Man Shach was a student of the Chazon Ish. To be clear, I don’t mind hearing the lie itself.
As it says in Proverbs 29:12:
משל מקשיב על דבר שקר כל משרתיו רשעים.
Their motivation is to elevate his stature by associating him with a known Torah scholar. Fine.
My problem with this is that it obscures the legacy of the great Chazon Ish by attributing to his surroundings people who were nothing like him in any way (even before his immense power went to his head). Rabbi Shach was always a Brisker (although he managed to alienate some of them in the Kotler/Feinstein episode) — and the two schools were and are mutually exclusive.
(The Chazon Ish wrote friendly letters to many young scholars and tried to honor and encourage them in countless ways. And when he wrote the word “Emes” (“אבל מעלת כבוד תורתו שליט”א, שהאמת אהוב לו מאוד, דנתי בזה לפניהם למען הגדיל תורה”), this refers to the Brisker idioglossic version of faux-exactitude, no more, just like he was being mostly polite when he wrote to a Breslover of כי באמת אין כל עצב בעולם למי שמכיר את אור האורות של האמת, ונשמת… תבינהו.)
So I write to fix the record.