Funny, the Rambam also thinks the Jews killed Jesus. 🙂 That doesn’t make it right, of course, but there is one prominent Jewish writer who pushes that fact, which I think is a dangerous thing.
R’ Aviner quotes an Israeli sefer that people purposely bought the Ma’aneh and destroyed all copies, then challenges that from R’ Ephraim Greenblatt shlit’a – Rav Moshe said ignore it and it will fade away, and that’s exactly what happened. (Classic Rav Moshe, עדיף חכם מנביא). (FWIW Rabbi Rakeffet says it quickly went out of print because no one wanted to buy it! Same idea.)
I think the American/Israeli cultural divide here is quite funny.
R. Eliyahu Fink, though, makes what I consider a huge blunder… Yahadus isn’t about shul! If you need to bring them to shul to keep your children engaged in Orthodoxy through their adolescence, you didn’t teach them what Judaism is.
Which is what breaks the symmetry between the old Mormon add (“The family that prays together, stays together”) and our community. If they don’t want to work on Xianity as a lifestyle rather than church worship, that’s their problem. But in our world, it’s talk of how great a life of holiness is while a walk that’s about gourmet glatt kosher, kvelling over the finest whiskey, spending more on clothing than subsidizing neighbors’ tuitions, all on money that the kids hear is earned by cutting corners (unreported income and the like), that turns kids away. Not that they sit with their friends in shul instead of bonding with their dads.
Second, mechitzah is all about the fact that prayer isn’t supposed to be a family endeavor. Yes, you should be teaching your children how to daven. But at some point, perhaps adolescence perhaps slightly before, that pales beyond their need to learn how to daven as an adult.
I think many boys daven better in a positive environment, perhaps a bachurei minyan or a Mod-O parallel, than being constrained to the same style shul that their father most relates to.
I think boys get better supervision davening with their father. He can know when they come, how much they skip, whether they seem bored, etc. I insist my teenage boys daven with me at least every other Shabbos so I know how their davening is doing.
I saw a frum microdonation website a few years ago and even spoke with the guy who runs it. I just can’t remember the name right now. It looked really impressive.
I grew up in a youth minyan (and ran it when I was in college) and I’m still a supporter. I thought then (and still think) that a very important role for youth minyanim is allowing the kids to run the minyan; they can learn and practice layning, davening for the amud, being a gabbai, having an aliyah/hagbah/gellilah etc. Doing that in the shul’s main minyan is a burden to older folks like me and also will often conflict with adult chiyuvim who want to daven or say the haftorah. My youth minyan used to take over the main minyan twice a year (once always on Vayechi), and we were able to do it well (including giving the sermon and making the announcements) because we knew what we were doing. And twice a year was just about enough for the adults in the main minyan.
Funny, the Rambam also thinks the Jews killed Jesus. 🙂 That doesn’t make it right, of course, but there is one prominent Jewish writer who pushes that fact, which I think is a dangerous thing.
R’ Aviner quotes an Israeli sefer that people purposely bought the Ma’aneh and destroyed all copies, then challenges that from R’ Ephraim Greenblatt shlit’a – Rav Moshe said ignore it and it will fade away, and that’s exactly what happened. (Classic Rav Moshe, עדיף חכם מנביא). (FWIW Rabbi Rakeffet says it quickly went out of print because no one wanted to buy it! Same idea.)
I think the American/Israeli cultural divide here is quite funny.
Rabbi Fink’s piece should be sent to all rabonim, shul presidents and youth directors.
R. Eliyahu Fink, though, makes what I consider a huge blunder… Yahadus isn’t about shul! If you need to bring them to shul to keep your children engaged in Orthodoxy through their adolescence, you didn’t teach them what Judaism is.
Which is what breaks the symmetry between the old Mormon add (“The family that prays together, stays together”) and our community. If they don’t want to work on Xianity as a lifestyle rather than church worship, that’s their problem. But in our world, it’s talk of how great a life of holiness is while a walk that’s about gourmet glatt kosher, kvelling over the finest whiskey, spending more on clothing than subsidizing neighbors’ tuitions, all on money that the kids hear is earned by cutting corners (unreported income and the like), that turns kids away. Not that they sit with their friends in shul instead of bonding with their dads.
Second, mechitzah is all about the fact that prayer isn’t supposed to be a family endeavor. Yes, you should be teaching your children how to daven. But at some point, perhaps adolescence perhaps slightly before, that pales beyond their need to learn how to daven as an adult.
I think many boys daven better in a positive environment, perhaps a bachurei minyan or a Mod-O parallel, than being constrained to the same style shul that their father most relates to.
I think boys get better supervision davening with their father. He can know when they come, how much they skip, whether they seem bored, etc. I insist my teenage boys daven with me at least every other Shabbos so I know how their davening is doing.
I’m a software developer, and an entrepreneur actually approached me regarding his microdonation idea ~6 months ago. Definitely would be a good thing.
I saw a frum microdonation website a few years ago and even spoke with the guy who runs it. I just can’t remember the name right now. It looked really impressive.
I grew up in a youth minyan (and ran it when I was in college) and I’m still a supporter. I thought then (and still think) that a very important role for youth minyanim is allowing the kids to run the minyan; they can learn and practice layning, davening for the amud, being a gabbai, having an aliyah/hagbah/gellilah etc. Doing that in the shul’s main minyan is a burden to older folks like me and also will often conflict with adult chiyuvim who want to daven or say the haftorah. My youth minyan used to take over the main minyan twice a year (once always on Vayechi), and we were able to do it well (including giving the sermon and making the announcements) because we knew what we were doing. And twice a year was just about enough for the adults in the main minyan.