REB SHNEUR, ZT"L
I went to be Menachem Avel last week in Queens, NY and heard a most unusual story told about the Niftar by someone who heard it from him first hand.
In the 1960's, as the Lakewood Yeshiva was rapidly growing, Reb Shneur Kotler, the Rosh Yeshiva, criss-crossed the country in an effort to raise desperately needed funds. At the end of one particularly difficult trip, the Rosh Yeshiva was $50,000 short of his goal, and he asked Reb Amos Bunim, who was traveling with him, where else they could go for the money. Mr. Bunim thought for a minute, and decided called the Niftar, a renowned Tomech Torah who lived in Memphis Tennessee. He explained how dire the Yeshiva's financial predicament was, and asked whether he had any ideas of how to raise the money.
Without hesitation, the Niftar invited the Rosh Yeshiva to Memphis, and promised to help him in any way he could. Within hours, the plane touched down in the deep South, where the Niftar met them at the airport and rushed them into a waiting car. From the time he got the call, the NIftar worked feverishly on several connections which he thought might be able to make a sizable donation. However, none of them panned out, and he was desperate. Without any other leads, and with time running out, he decided to call in the one favor he had been saving for years, a favor so great and so monumental that it was if it was waiting for this moment: he could call Elvis Presley and ask for an appointment.
As It turns out that the Niftar, a prominent mortgage banker, had done a favor for an up-and-coming singer named Elvis Presley by financing his first home at a time that every other bank had turned him down. And Elvis never forgot the kindness the Niftar showed to him, promising to return the favor any time he needed. And, without thinking of how he could have personally gained by using such as a chip for himself, the Niftar decided to give it all up for the sake of the Lakewood Yeshiva.
Within minutes, the car was winding up the majestic driveway of the Graceland mansion, carrying the Rosh Yeshiva, Mr. Bunim and the Niftar. As the car rolled to a stop, the Niftar got out and rang the bell at the front door. A tall and handsome Elvis Presley appeared at the door and led the Niftar into his home and into his personal office, where he was asked the Niftar what he could do to help him, remembering quite well what was done for him only several years before.
"I have outside in the car," the Niftar began, "the pre-eminent Jewish Rabbinical leader in the United States. He serves as the Dean of the most prominent Jewish College in the country, and he needs $50,000 in order to meet his annual budget and keep the doors of the college open. When we first met, you asked me to take a risk on you, and without hesitation, I agreed. I now need your help so that my Rabbi can continue his good work by teaching his many students the holy word of G-d."
Elvis was visibly moved, and replied, "I will write a check here and now for the full amount (equal to about $400,000 today) if the Rabbi gives me a blessing for success." His heart jumping with joy, the Niftar took leave of Elvis Presley and went back to the car with the fantastic news that the Rosh Yeshiva would be able to return to Lakewood with all the funds he needed to cover his expenses. All he needed to do, the Niftar told him, was give Elvis a blessing.
Incredulously, Reb Shneur looked at Mr. Bunim and then at the Niftar, and said, "I cannot, and I will not Bentch such a person. Please go back in and tell Mr. Presley that HaKodesh Baruch Hu's Brochos are not for sale."
Shocked and pale, the Niftar had no choice but to return to Elvis and explain that the Rabbi would not be able to extend a blessing to him, even if this meant that the donation would be withheld. Thinking for a moment, Elvis replied, "Such a man whose character and devotion to his faith is so great that he is willing to forgo a literal fortune rather than compromise himself, such a man is worthy of this donation." And with a stroke of pen, the Lakewood Yeshiva was $50,000 richer that day, in of all places, Memphis Tennessee.
May the memory of the Niftar be forever praised for the deed his did that day nearly fifty years ago.
P.S. This story was also confirmed by Mr. Bunim himself shortly before his death.
42 comments:
There should be a plaque for him in the Irvington Hotel.
Big Hunk O' Gelt.
Boruch Hashem, the politicians are for sale.
Someone did substantial work for BMG & asked for payment. They gave him the shock of his life, "a plaque in honor of his mother ob'm. "
I heard Oorah is going to Lady Gaga.
Where is the bais avel in Queens? C.S. wants to speak to the law firm representing the estate as he holds VHQ is owed a cut of the money.
http://www.aish.com/j/f/48945606.html
In 1998, The Wall Street Journal published an article titled, "All Shook Up in the Holy Land" exposing Elvis Presley's unlikely Jewish lineage. Apparently, Elvis' maternal great-great grandmother, Nancy Burdine, was a Jew. Her daughter gave birth to Doll Mansell who gave birth to Gladys Smith who gave birth to Elvis. Although it sounds improbable, according to Jewish law, which confers Jewish lineage by way of the mother, that makes Elvis Presley Jewish.
Furthermore, this fact was something that Elvis was apparently aware of and even sensitive to. For example, there is a famous picture of Elvis performing in Salt Lake City in 1972 wearing a Jewish "chai" symbol, and when Elvis' mother Gladys died in 1959 he made sure to put a Jewish Star of David on her headstone.
If Schwartz gets a cut from the estate, Elchonon Zohn promises not to let his shutef, Ohel treasurer David Jacobson, dig up Elvis's kever to resell to freya Russians like they do all over the Queens cemeteries.
If he wasn't an AKU"M I guess you could take tzedokah from him.
Maybe AK should honor him post parm, & invite all the stars talmidim & chasidim, & make some big money that he could add a few buildings to Komball Medical center.
Or maybe he could rename BMG University to Elvis Presley memorial leaning center, if it brings in enough money to support Torah & daas Torah allows it. Why not?
He may be able to pay yungerleit enough to live, and have enough for himself keeping everyone happy, and no machlokes.
Wow Elvis money may bring Moshiach?
Sorry !Was it a dream or nightmare?
If the baal davar was niftar already why can't you tell us his name? Helping the yeshiva is not a bad thing.
I don't see why R' Shneur would hold back a bracha. No one at that point knew Elvis was Jewish and his behavior was not unbecoming for a goy. He was not known as a menuval and even his death by accidental drug overdose came in the form of pills prescribed by a doctor that aggravated his heart.
Oorah & Lady Gaga would have a maaseh rav from the OU.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/05/where-kosher-beckons-the-cool-crowd/
The NY Times reports on the opening bash of OU certified Prime KO restaurant:
"Prime KO, a new Japanese steakhouse and sushi joint where kosher aspires to cool. At Tuesday’s opening night celebration, the dual-level restaurant, at West 85th Street and Broadway was a sea of crisp suits and towering stilettos, a rainbow of yarmulkes and a gathering for the most popular kids on the block."
The star of the party was "The It Girl: Jamie-Lynn Sigler, a star of “The Sopranos,” former Hebrew school attendee and alumna of Taglit-Birthright Israel".
(Missing from this context is that in her TV role she is the daughter of an Italianishe rotzeach in the mafia and that in her real life she married one of the goyishe producers of the show.)
"Wine flowed ... and Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance,” which blasted through the speakers. In a place where the glatt is the new hot, why couldn’t Gaga replace the hora?"
(Lady Gaga is a prusta woman. Ain lecha kol isha gedolah mizu which the OU couldn't care less about. The OU also has a "policy" which is rarely if ever enforced that no television is allowed except for news and sports. But in OU restaurants with tv screens, they watch whatever they want.
I had never heard that song from "Lady Gaga" baruch Hashem. I just looked up the words on the internet and it is much worse than shirei agavim even. It is very suggestive of things worse than that.
Will the OU not the draw the line at anything? No matter how sexually suggestive things are?
And they are playing these ugly words in a place where the wine is flowing so much that you would thing Haman Harasha was the master of drinks at Seudas Achashverosh. There is no guzma here. The NY Times used a metaphor to explain how the wine was flowing non-stop at this party.)
If Zohn & Jacobson do dig up Elvis's kever they would probably get away with it considering all the sightings of Elvis still being alive.
Maybe AK should honor him ... Or maybe he could rename BMG University to Elvis Presley memorial leaning center ... Wow Elvis money may bring Moshiach?
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Oh come on! Don't you know that Elly Kleinman is BIGGER than the King Of Rock music?
The only problem with this story is that Elvis lived in Graceland Mansion which is in Memphis .Even with current automobiles the trip takes takes 4 hours.
This is the Italian rabbi in Avi Weiss's shul that does cheeses with Star K
http://www.j-italy.org/?page_id=4108
Conversation with Rav Umberto Piperno
RUP: Artisanal wine is boiled with a technique that is less damaging. The difference is mainly economic. When boiling the must, the 1st element of vinification, all that's needed is one mashgiach to oversee it for 15 days. Then fermentation is activated with sugar, the so called “concentrated rectified must”. Regular wine technicians can do the rest of the work. If the boiling is done after natural fermentation & right before being bottled, an entire team of observant Jews is needed, over the course of 90 days, to handle the wine. In this case, especially if the temperature is immediately lowered after the thermal shock, the wine maintains many layers & flavors, although it no longer ages after that.
The idea of “cooked wine” is in the Mishna in relation to idolatry. We don't know extent of this law, as it hasn't been applied consistently over time.
CPL: Italian Jews have often been at the center of controversies over wine. It's said Rabbi Leon Da Modena (1571–1648) accepted regular wine in the absence of idolatry.
RUP: Not exactly, in his book The Customs of the Jews, Leon da Modena simply offers testimony to the practice of drinking stam yenam or non-kosher wine that was generally accepted among Italian Jews. In 1573, several rabbis signed a decree against the Venetian Jews. Of course there have always been internal differences, but we can say this was true until WWII.
The controversy went on for centuries & involved rabbis from Safed, Prague, Damasco, Constantinopoli & Salonica. Prominent Italian rabbis of different periods maintained that stam yenam was permissible. According to 16th century Rabbi Avtalion Di Consiglio, the practice was so ingrained among Italian Jews, and with no evident consequences, that it was considered to have overridden the rule. The strength of Di Consiglio’s argument is shown by this response of Rabbi Shmuel Aboaf: “10 measures of apostasy were given to the creation: nine went to the Jews of Italy & one to the rest of the Diaspora.” In fact, these ideas & safeguarding of independence for local communities were widespread.
CPL: In the old days wine was produced locally in communities. Today it's imported & exported all over the world. Who decides whether wine is kosher or mevushal?
RUP: In Judaism there's a general principle of credibility & being Shomer Shabbat is one of the determining elements.
In the US we have the OU & Star K. Generally they send an agent to the winery to guarantee that the local rabbi is trustworthy. This can go on for years, and sometimes a relationship is established with the local rabbi who no longer needs supervision. An agent can cost from $2,000 to $5,000, plus expenses.
CPL: How would you imagine a world that accepted mevushal wine?
RUP: It's difficult to say. As things stand now, it would be difficult to imagine a bottle of mevushal wine served with a corkscrew in Italy. For instance, in Rome, the Jewish school used to teach how to salt meat because many families did it at home. 100 years ago Jewish women in Piedmont killed & prepared geese like the shochet. They even had diplomas.
Today this freedom would not be possible because lack of knowledge creates suspicion. Among some Sephardim, traditions are still handed down from parents to children.
http://thejewishheritage.weebly.com/12/post/2010/09/the-intricacies-of-quail-rabbi-chaim-loike.html
Rabbi Chaim Loike
Most of the quail slaughtered in America were certified by Rabbi Shlomo Zweigenhaft ל’’ז. His family had slaughtered quail for various communities for the last one hundred and fifty years. In order to understand the scope of the tradition of permissibility, an OU delegation went to visit Rabbi Zweigenhaft with a dozen varieties of kosher and non-certified quail, and a film was made of the methods through which the kosher quail could be distinguished from the non-certified variety. Although the video was destroyed (due to a technical error) a letter from Rabbi Zweigenhaft was obtained by Rabbi Weinberger and republished in his work A Practical Guide to the Mitzvah of Shiluach Hakan. In the letter, Rabbi Zweigenhaft testifies that the European quail were consumed in Radzin, Radomsk and other parts of Poland. Among the quail breeds presented and accepted were the Japanese, Tibetan (also known as the Brown), Tuxedo, and Pharaoh quail. Despite the exotic names, all of these quails are varieties or regional variations of the common European quail. Rabbi Zweigenhaft explained that the quail could be identified by its body structure as well as the feathers on the top of its head, which are distinct from those of other species of quail which are not accepted as kosher. There are additional breeds of quail which are pure white (they are similar to the more common Texas AM) quail and blond (sometimes called Manchurian quail). These have been raised and observed by the OU. There is no doubt that these are color strains of the permitted common Europea
It says Memphis. The reader must have confused Opryland in Nashville with a preconceived notion by reading in a location vos shtait nisht.
The idea of “cooked wine” is in the Mishna in relation to idolatry. We don't know extent of this law, as it hasn't been applied consistently over time.
Why go all the way to Italy? Gedolay Chabad are producing mega-gallons of the stuff right here in America! See the amazing avodah they get up to when thousands of their shluchim get together in Manhatten:
http://www.identifyingchabad.org/kinus.html
"We don't know extent of this law, as it hasn't been applied consistently over time"
Does that mean he is a big maykel in mevushal like Ralbag and those guys that rely on yechidim among the Rishonim? I was scared to drink this guy's wines even before I read that. If I'm not mistaken I think even those Rishonim are maykel on some colors of wine and others not.
http://www.jerusalemkoshernews.com/2010/07/bashar-%E2%80%93-shuk-machane-yehuda/
Some Cantorel cheeses in France are made on a special production with hashgocho of Rav Alloun. The rest are made with treif meat rennet. Jerusalem Kosher News reported he caught a store that is buying the cheaper treif one and selling it as kosher
R' Yaakov Reisman's hashgocho on select stores that already have the Vaad is useless. He admits he does not check on them, he only gives them a list of what they can & can't buy and takes their word for it. Some of these people are lying to him and the public.
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/week-s-end/the-rising-stakes-of-kashrut-certification-1.349970
The three leading strictly kosher certifications are Eda Haredit Badatz, considered the most popular; Rabbi Moshe Yehuda Leib Landau's hekhsher from Chabad, which is accepted by a large part of the Haredi sector; and the certification of Rabbi Avraham Rubin of the Slonim Hasidic sect. However, because of the huge economic potential, in recent years, other religious bodies have been providing additional certifications.
"This could be a profitable business, but in fact it isn't, because there is crazy competition," relates kashrut authority Rabbi Yitzhak Dvoritz. "Everyone slanders everyone else and only the Eda Haredit keeps quiet. The big ones don't need to slander anyone, but the little ones are involved in intrigues all day long."
Thus, for example, kashrut certification from Rabbi Rubin prohibits his followers from purchasing Coca-Cola, which is certified by Rabbi Landau; over a year ago, Strauss went from Rabbi Landau's certification to Rabbi Rubin's. Furthermore, every Passover various certification bodies conduct "kashrut investigations," which are supposed to inform the Haredi public about improprieties. These are also an effective weapon against rival bodies who authorize kashrut.
Large companies among Badatz clients refused to be interviewed for this article. They also declined to reveal the sums paid to Badatz, for the simple reason that the rates are not fixed - they depend on the complexity of the work, the size of the production plant and the company owners' negotiating skills. Hecht relates that initially, he wanted to obtain Badatz certification for his products, but they demanded - in addition to a fee and salaries for the supervisors - a percentage of the profits.
In a report in the ultra-Orthodox magazine Mishpaha in June 2010, Badatz sources said their shmita project of the previous year had cost them $1 million. If necessary, inspectors will be sent abroad to examine the source of a food ingredient produced, for example, in Indonesia. An entire contingent of supervisors might be lodged there for many weeks, with the companies picking up the tab.
"Kashrut expenses are insane," explains Rabbi Dvoritz. "People travel from one end of the world to the other. To [produce] kosher tuna, for example, four people have to be in the tuna plant 24 hours a day. A supervisor arrives in China or Thailand on a Thursday. On Sunday he kashers the plant and begins production - and for 24 hours he sits and checks for worms and opens the tuna's belly to see whether non-kosher fish are mixed in there."
Last year, the ultra-Orthodox radio station Kol Berama demanded that Rabbi Landau, who grants kashrut lemehadrin certification to Coca-Cola, rescind his seal. The reason: Coca-Cola invites teens to stay at its holiday village, where they can lodge in co-ed rooms without separation or modesty. The campaign was not aimed at ultra-Orthodox youth, but the station feared that ultra-Orthodox youth could theoretically enter the village. Fortunately for Coke, Rabbi Landau's kashrut office refused to intervene.
In 2008 the state comptroller found serious flaws in the kashrut functioning of the Chief Rabbinate. Among other things, he criticized the fact that the supervisors receive their salaries from the businesses they supervise, which could lead to conflicts of interest, and also the fact that no official criteria have been established for supervision hours.
In practice, found the comptroller, supervision hours are set for every business individually by the local superintendent. The supervisors work at a number of businesses and were in fact not present at businesses during the hours they were supposed to be there. Rabbis gave jobs to their relatives and those in local rabbinates also worked at the Badatz, which created conflicts of interest.
The Executive Drecktor of the Queens Vaad sounds like Napoleon in more ways than one.
You can live in peace in Queens he says, as long as you agree to eat from Queens Vaad kashrus and don't ask any questions about Vaad corruption.
It's hard to acquiesce to the VHQ's Drecktor's wishes nor obber without violating major yesodos in Yiddishkeit: kashrus, kvod hamaiss, bris milah.
Twice, in 1806 and in 1807, Napoleon convened gatherings of prominent Jewish leaders to promote his platform for "saving" the Jews. Here are some excerpts from Napoleon's Instructions to the Assembly of Jewish Notables (July 29, 1806):
The wish of His Majesty is that you should be Frenchmen; it remains with you to accept the proffered title. You will hear the questions submitted to you, your duty is to answer the whole truth on every one of them. Can a Jewess marry a Christian, or a Jew a Christian women?. In the eyes of Jews are Frenchmen considered as brethren or as strangers? Do the Jews born in France, and treated by the law as French citizens consider France as their country. What kind of police-jurisdiction have the Rabbis among the Jews?
The focus of these questions is obvious. Napoleon was asking the Jews to answer the great question that came out of emancipation: What is your primary identity? Are you first and foremost Jews or Frenchmen?
These religious leaders were astonished by these questions. On the one hand, they wanted to cooperate with Napoleon and make life easier for the Jews of Europe. On the other hand, they could not possibly acquiesce to some of Napoleon's ideas which would have meant the destruction of Judaism. They answered him as diplomatically as possible, while sticking to `Jewish Law:
The only marriages expressly forbidden by the law, are those with the seven Canaanite nations, with Ammon and Moab, and with Egyptians... The prohibition in general applies only to nations in idolatry The Talmud declares formally that modern nations are not to be considered as such, since they worship, like us, the God of heaven and earth. And, accordingly, there have been, at several periods, intermarriage between Jew and Christians in France, in Spain, and in Germany ... but we cannot deny that the opinion of the Rabbis is against these marriages.
http://www.identifyingchabad.org/
Thank you Spotlight for writing that anti-Lubavitch website. Figures you would know azoy feel veggen nuch an avoida zura. You do everything. You tell the NY Times and Wall Street Journal which articles to do on kashrus scandals. You run all those blogs on food safety violations. Rabbeinu Chaim Schwartz has even come to the conclusion that there is no such person as Yudel Shain. You invented him to hide your identity on this very blog! And some way, somehow, you are doing everything with the end goal of undermining the Queens Vaad!
Does anyone know which kashrus agency is headed by the Rabbi Dvoritz from the Haaretz article? He used to make money off the Russians when they were coming in droves in the 1990s through an agency he headed called Yaaleh Veyavoh. I don't know exactly what his agency did, but about two thirds of the two million Russians are not Yidden.
"The Executive Drecktor of the Queens Vaad sounds like Napoleon in more ways than one ... You can live in peace in Queens he says, as long as you ... violating major yesodos in Yiddishkeit: kashrus, kvod hamaiss, bris milah."
He also sounds like the Sitra Achara in the mayseh that the Ramchal brings down that the S"A approached Rav Shamshon Ostropoli and offered a deal that he will hold back gezeiras Tach veTat if Klal Yisroel gives up Shabbos, Bris Milah & Limud Hatorah.
And with some of the disgusting, dirty tactics that C.S. and some of his overlords at the Queens Vaad employ against people, it's like they're a bunch of Cossacks.
I heard that the Lubav Kesser wines is really made by Kedem but gets a different label? What's the story there?
Elvis might be the King but not when it comes to kashrus.
Yerushalayim is also not for sale. I hope
President Romney doesn't hear this song.
I didn't want my wife to burn essential oils for aromatherapy anywhere near the kitchen because I was afraid of raychos of treif ingredients al yedai tzlee.
http://www.candlesbyconnie.com/essential_oils.html
I found that this brand is under the hashgocho of Rav Gettinger from South Bend.
Just sighted the niftar and reb shneur.
Spotlight will soon say toirah on this.
We hope it won't be chabatzker shtusim.
Spotlight first may have to refrain from Queens vaad food for 40 days until the 'avodah zorah' body is purified in gantzen.
"Yerushalayim is also not for sale"
Isn't that the MBD song that a lot of yeshivos assered the tape because the background music was by the shvartza rock group Manhattan Transfer?
Are there kashrus issues with the sticky backing of stickers? A restaurant owned by a chassidisher is being paid to advertise someone's business so he puts the ad sticker on the lids of his coffee cups. When you drink the hot coffee while moving around, some comes out the hole touching the sticker and goes back in the hole after being contaminated. What is the sticky stuff made from?
Problem is Rabbi Yisrael Gettinger now lives in Indianapolis, and not in South Bend. So is he still doing this Hashgocha, or not?
There is no longer a Rabbi Gettinger in South Bend. One (the former Rosh Yeshiva) is in Lakewood and the otehr (the former Rav) is in Indianapolis.
I always associated the Gettingers with South Bend. Did the yeshiva close? I see he is indeed the head of the IOBK hashgocho in the other Indiana city (Indianapolis Orthodox Board of Kashrus)
The sticker on top would be bottul beshishim, no?
check out hershels blog about gavriel finkels latest scandel with knopfler and kaweblum case
The S"A had to of met Spotlight and made some kind of deal because there not any new kashrus maysalach in Qveens these days.
Nu. Mootze meen es meenoy.
Spotlight also refused to make a deal with the S"A. Meanwhile the Queens Vaad is full steam ahead in continuing to cover up most of the kashrus scandals that Spotlight was mefarsem on. C.S. acts like he himself is the S"A, hu hu haYetzer Horah huhu Saro shel Edom and the Cossacken.
Maybe CS thinks he has to act out the part of the SA because according to Xtian tradition the SA who they call Lucifer has a red complexion. Hee hee, I have to tell this one to Jerry E.
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