KOLLEL-OPOLY

From the makers of the hit game Jewish Geography, comes the new game of Kollel-opoly. PB (Pollack Brothers) have come out with numerous games that represent the Jewish lifestyle, the game of life being one of them (includes the shidduch crisis and all). The Pollack Brothers were thought to have made a knock off of the original game monopoly, but they specifically said kollel-opoly had nothing to do with it.

How to play: There are up to 8 players, and 8 pieces; A black hat, a jacket, a no lace shoe, a white shirt, a yeshivishe car, one female (modestly dressed) and other such characters. Each player starts off at NU MOVE IT ALREADY (GO), where each player, as they go around the board, will collect their 200$ kollel paycheck for the month. Each player spins the dice, and whatever number it says on the dice, that's how many spaces you move. Don't worry, there is a mechitzah that lines the board to accommodate the one female player, so as to coincide with halachah.

Buying Yeshivos: To buy Yeshivos, for example: the highest priced yeshivah is Beis Medrash Gevoah or BMG (the equivalent to boardwalk) is priced at 400$. If you have a set of yeshivos in one area you can make the tuition higher for the yeshivos, just simply buy coffee rooms (houses), if you have bought 5 coffee rooms, you exchange it for a Dormitory (hotel), this increases the price of tuition in your yeshivos.

Kollel, Free parking, and go to kollel: Kollel (equivalent to Jail) you can make transactions through kollel (remember you have bluetooth and a blackberry). To get out of Kollel (chas v'shalom) you must pay a minimum fee of 50$ kinas, you may then leave next turn, you can stay in kollel up to three turns (you have to go home to your wife sometime, although not recommended). Free parking; lucky you, you don't live in Brooklyn, you cheap Jew always looking to find free parking. Go to Kollel; when you land on this space you must go directly to kollel and do not collect 200$ monthly kollel paycheck.

Children's tuition (equivalent to income tax): When you land on this space, you can either pay 200$ or you can pay 10% of your money to the yeshiva (of course you cant pay all the tuition, you're in kollel)

Wife Expenses (equivalent to luxury tax): When landing on this space you pay 75$ automatic to the bank.

Mazal and communities chest (that's right, take all the community funds for your kollel lifestyle): If you land on one of these spaces you pick up a card. Some may tell you "the community put pressure on you to learn and not work, go directly to kollel do not collect 200$ kollel paycheck" or "shvigger dies you inherit 100$" or "section 8 govt fund didn't come this month, pay for each yeshiva 100$ (remember yeshivos are in basements)" or "Rav gives you brachah you had children, pay 100$ hospital fee" or "tzedakah collector comes by and gives you sob story, pay 15$ (poor tax)".

Coffee works, Electric company, and Cities (equivalent to railroads): The cities are Kiryas yoel, Williamsburg, Lakewood and Bnei brak. The cities combine to make a big impact when together, same for coffee works ( to run your coffee rooms, obviously) and electric company (you aint paying the bill).

The object of the game is to live in a kollel lifestyle, and yet still manage to own the whole board. Have fun playing.

If you have any questions, any suggestions for a future game, or in need of more information visit us at PBJews.com

ANOTHER RANDOM COLLABORATION

Random thought #1.
According to the halachah that you don't have to return lost texting machines, what happens if: You are walking down the street, all of a sudden you see a nice blue blackberry, on the floor. You pick it up remember the halachah and are not going to return it. The someone comes by and asks, "did you find a black blueberry?" you answer "no", he moves on. Then someone comes over and asks, "did you find a blue blackberry?" you say "yes". The guy says "Well I lost it, it has my name on the back, see it says so and sostein (his name)". So the question is, do you not give it back, or do you chas v'shalom (g-d forbid) give back the tumah (impure) machine?

Rabbi Mike will now try to answer: Well in essence you are doing a mitzvah of hashavos aveidah, plus you might be in sakanos nefoshot ( threat of your life) if you dont. On the other hand, the mitzvah of hashavos aveidah maybe a mitzvah that comes through the aveirah of giving it back (it is wrong to do a mitzvah through an aveirah); also it might be worse to give it back, since he will surely kill himself by using the texting machine. Rabbi Mikes psak is a taiku (will find out when elijah the prophet comes).

Random thought #2.
Another useless invention invented by Kosher Innovations. The Machshavah shocker. Have you ever been sitting kollel, (not learning) or were in the outside world not protected by our inner sphere of influence, and have come across thinking of things not in Torah standards (e.g. buying a non-kosher cell phone). Now there is no need to worry, with the Machshavah shocker, if you think outside of Torah standards you will be immediately shocked with over 500 volts of electricity, enough to stop your heart............. from thinking of all these bad things !!!! fits under your hat. Order today! now with a 3 day guarantee, no refunds

Other posts related to this inventive topic: More great inventions, Introducing the latest in technology.

WHAT AM I? CHAMETZ!

Although the phrase is "what am I? chopped liver", but in the spirit of Pesach we can make some changes. So What am I? chametz! it seems like it from the Mishpacha magazine.

The articles in the Mishpacha, a very frum magazine, this past week have talked about Pesach cleaning. Each and every one of theses articles, from what I've heard, spoke about how the mother/wife of the family has to start picking up the pace to be ready for Pesach. They even gave all sorts of tips or de-stressers, to cope with the cleaning for Pesach. This leads me to believe that Mishapcha magazine is extremely frum.

How come they didn't say anything about the father/husband of the family helping out? I know that today I was scrubbing walls and floors, shaking everything to rid them of chametz. I worked hard, and no! I didn't need any "de-stressers". Does the Mishpacha magazine think that the male of the house doesn't help out? In fact the whole cleaning task is primarily on the male of the house, according to the Jewish law. Great rabbis of the past have done the cleaning without their wives help, for fear of them not doing a good enough job. This allows me to conclude that the Mishpacha magazine is really frum, because they think that they know better than rabbis from 2000 years ago who can bring back the dead. They must know that the husband is in kollel learning and too busy to help out; therefore, they only write the articles for the wife.

If you read Mishpacha (I dont), and you are wondering like me why they only talk about the wife, then you are not frum enough to read the Mishpacha. So yes I conclude, I am "chametz" according to the Mishpacha magazine.

THE LAZY WAY OUT

There you are, no not there, oy, look to your left, yes there you are learning with your chavrusa. You have been learning with this chavrusa for a very long time, ever since you came to this place many moons ago (no I am not getting sci-fi on you). You both have learned through most of shas, tanach, and shulchan aruch, including most of the mephorshim. You and your chavrusah, are not like most people in the kollel, you actually learn something. You can say that you and your friend are living the kollel dream.

Everyday your schedule is exactly the same: Daven, learn, break, learn, learn, lunch, learn, mincha, learn, learn and learn some more, maariv at 9:00, go home. You basically are in the kollel pumping your way through the pages of Torah all the time. Your chavrusah has the same schedule as you.

Today is no different from your daily schedule. You start out to daven shachris and then go to learn, break, and learn, learn. At one point you are reading a posuk in chumash, in parshas yisro "sheshes yomim tavod". You look up at your chavrusah and say "I don't remember this being in the chumash" Your chavrusah says "no we have had it many times". You ask " Then I don't understand what it means", your learning partner answers "It means 6 days man should work, its simple to understand". You say "I knew what it meant, I don't understand how g-d can say that MAN should work? women work". Your chavrusah is perplexed and claims he never thought about it.

You then proceed to the head of the Rosh Kollel to ask this question, he answers that we men just don't work. This question still bothers you, If g-d said man should work, its a commandment and we have to work, why don't we. You decide that the kollel life is not the right life to live. You tell your chavrusah that you are leaving and that he should join you. He says maybe kollel is work. You quickly ask "isn't it a halacha that a man shall provide food for his wife?" You then say "I am leaving to do g-ds will, I am on a holy mission, call it jihad". Your friend says "If you leave then I wont learn with you". You say "You cant do that, we have been learning together for ages". Your friend then says "Why are you leaving anyway, when you live the kollel life everything becomes so easy for you, your wife does everything". You reply with "your right, why should I leave, it is easy, and if I do leave everyone will think I modern, or not Jewish at all, I am staying".

you end up continuing this system for the rest of your life, day in and day out. You still live with the question why we don't work, but you suppress it with how easy it is to take the lazy way out.

This story may not happen on such a large scale, but there are people out there who take the lazy/easy way out, and they go through life with this philosophy everyday. Basically, many stay in kollel just to get paid for doing nothing and being lazy.

ITS KOSHER ALL DAY LONG

Being that we live in a society that is advancing in the most treife ways, the only thing that can possibly save us from this is, new ways to put hechshers on every item (Yay!). Its the only possible way to save us from any sort of treif out in the world. I will now predict the future of us as Jews:


The First thing to come out of the newly installed kosher market will be, people Hechshers; because many times you talk to people, and you just cant seem to tell who is up to your standards at that moment, maybe they are hiding something, and do you want to be influenced by someone treif, especially on a shidduch date? obviously not. So how can we possibly find a person who is kosher enough; therefore, we are going to introduce the human hechsher. At first there will only be Kosher and non kosher people, but somewhere along the way more hechsheirm will come through. Some people will have FFBTD (Frum From Birth Till Death) status, like OU parve, while others will will have a FFBBL (Frum From Birth But Lacking), sort of like OUDe (dairy equipment). Then others will be labeled with OTDCBAHS ( Off The Derech Coming Back on After High School) that's an OUD. Now its easier to keep yourself kosher with labels on everybody, you wont come in contact with someone you don't want to. Of course there will be mashgichim going all around checking up on people. This is an attempt to "fix" the shidduch crisis.


Everyone will be so into hechsherim, that every school will also have to have a hechsher on it. Schools will either be marked with Treif, Ba'adatz, or Kaf K. Treif being; anything that has a secular department. Ba'adatz being; learning non-stop to kollel, and Kaf K will be somewhere in between but frowned upon. If you send your children to the wrong yeshivah then you will be second class citizen.


The next thing to be hit, will be the communities themselves. Williamsburg is going to the dogs, to hipsters and bicycle lanes, this placed is deemed too treif, and that means anyone who lives there is not kosher enough. This doesn't say much for places out of the tristate area, they are for sure not kosher. Boro park and Midwood is borderline kosher, why you might ask? well its obvious, they don't have separate sides to walk on for men and women. Lakewood eer hakodesh and Bnei brak are kosher. New square, kiriyas Yoel, meah shearim, and any other sorts of towns like that are the kosherist (meah shearim is its own town, if kiriyas yoel is its own country) . Of course if you live in the wrong community you are an out cast and not Jewish.

I'll end it with this: I always thought the caste system in India was exaggerated, but now my thoughts are changing.

MAKE MONEY FAST SCHEMES

In this tough economy, people need ways to make money. Here are some ways to get back into the middle class fast.

Scheme #1: Design your own kashrus. Who doesn't want another hechsher on their overpriced food? Now you can help people get what they want. Tips include: oval or round shaped insignias with Hebrew words that can fool any American Jew. Hire a mashgiach from another company; he does the same job for the other guys, for you, at the same time. Charge a minimum fee, and make things that aren't kosher, become "kosher".

Scheme #2: A Ponzi scheme. Tips include: don't get caught!

Scheme #3: Join a Kollel ( meant fore the non kollel participant ). Tips include: Wearing a white shirt, hat and jacket, and anything else that seems religious, except Magen David, Hamsa, a cross, or any necklace.

Scheme #4: Start your own Kollel, for yourself, and collect tons of money. Tips include: Fake documents with Rabbi signatures, saying to give to you, and your Kollel.

Scheme #5: A little like #4, but you collect with no reason. Tips Include:Observing and taking notes on all the others who already do this. Since it seems popular among most people, it might not be a great idea.

Scheme #6: Design a useless product aimed at helping the Jewish community. Tips include: adding the word kosher in front of it.

Scheme #7: Tell People if they invest in you, you will become frum. Tips Include: Acting off the "D", and preying on the dumb.

Scheme #8: Create and sell a scheme list. Tips include: Listing the ones I mentioned above.

If you have any other things to add please do so, the list can only get better.

ARE YOU YESHIVISH?

What defines yeshivish? Is it the hat and jacket, or is it the way you think, or whatever you say you are even though you definitely aren't? I, personally, consider myself "modern orthodox machmir" (M in M is M 'O' M). What that literally means, is up to you.

Yeshivish Definition #1: The outer appearance is everything. You wear a hat and jacket, and a gartel everyday, or the gartel just on shabbos. Those Shabbos coats are a must, without one you just aren't yeshivish, you wear it even though it doesn't keep you warm. You went to a Yeshivish Yeshivah, can there be a yeshivah that isn't yeshivsh seems to be against possibility then again its a frummie version of English so it is possible ( E.G. Frummie:I stayed by their house. normal:I stayed at their house), then you went to learn in kollel. This definition of Yeshivish has nothing to do with your outlook on life, rather how you appear. You can fake your way through, if anybody asks are you yeshivish you can say "Don't you see my hat and jacket?" and they will be forced into agreeing, you are.

Yeshivsh definition #2: You believe that kollel is good for a year or two, secular education is needed, you like music that has a beat to it. You don't wear those "shabbos coats", they aren't warm enough, for you its a nice puffy coat. You put on the hat and jacket, no gartel. You went to a Yeshivah, be it out of town or in. You learn a little here and there. Your logic is, "Its how you think that makes you yeshivish". You have a Rabbi that you hold of, and you keep all halachos and strict kashrut. You never miss a minyan. Your basically Yeshivish, minus the whole look and kollel idea. You are Yeshivish, just there are people more yeshivish than you.


Yeshivish definition #3: It doesn't matter how you act, all you need to do is say you are and you are, with some of the look. You go to any black hat shul. The yeshivah you went to could have been MO, it doesn't matter. You wear a hat sometimes, and you hardly daven with a minyan. Like definition one, you fake your way through, but instead people notice. You are Yeshivish, just there are people more yeshivish than you.


Yeshivish Definition #4: You believe in kollel for life, and you went to the greatest and strictest yeshivot. The hat and jacket are worn everywhere. Anything lower than you is not considered yeshivish.

Are you Yeshivish, well to some maybe and to others no. I guess its like a rhetorical question.

MAGEN DAVID (spoof on pyramid)

Welcome to Magen David, the show where we evaluate shidduchim. Yeshivah bochur walks in. "Heeeeeres your host... Random Shadchan" Says the announcer. Rabbi guest walks in. Random Shadchan tells us what the winner will get "The winner of this; gets a shidduch date, with a girl who calls herself, not your typical bais yaakov girl". The crowd cheers. Yeshivah Bochur sits down in his seat, rabbi sits across from him. "Remember the rules" the shadchan says "There are five questions, rabbi you cant tell the bochur the actual answer, only hints. When you get it correct, you will hear a Ding! sound, okay.

You have 20 seconds on the clock. The topic is Life. start now! Rabbi doesn't understand how to work the computer. Bochur tells him "just read whats there". Rabbi understand now. 12 seconds left. Rabbi hints "Where you go after you are married". Bochur "Kollel!". Ding! Random Shadchan says "good job, you are now one step closer to the prize". We stop for commercial break, on the all Jewish network Shidduch Central.

Host Random Shadchan welcomes us back "Welcome back, and as you were gone, Yeshiva Bochur has passed to the third round. He answered a tough question, on the topic of yeshiva, with "White shirts only". Once again 20 seconds on the clock, Topic for this is, Not So Bad, and start". Rabbi to Bochur "I tell you something" Bochur to Rabbi "I listen, speak, daven? Rabbi back to bochur "A rosh yeshiva says don't do something for no apparent reason". 8 seconds left. Bochur back to rabbi "Listen no matter what" Ding! "Well done" Random Shadchan says "all you have to do is get these two questions left on the Magen david, correct, and you are an okay shidduch match". Crowd cheers.

"Okay 4rth round, Yichus is the topic, the clock begins now". Rabbi "Personal questions". Bochur "my childhood, my hashkafa, My mother learns, my looks?" Rabbi "heritage". Bochur " Yichus, My yichus?". 6 seconds left. Rabbi " to some is embarrassing but to you okay" Bochur " Your great uncle wasn't frum mine was!". Ding! Host " very close but you got through". All you have to do is answer this last question, and you have passed, this harsh shadchan question course".

"Last question, don't let the pressure get to you" Shadchan says "one last time 20 seconds, the topic is Useless questions from shadchanim, and here we go" Bochur looks nervous. Rabbi begins to stutter, thinking of what to say. "uh uh uh, You use it on shabbos." Bochur "shabbos coat, shabbos hat, shabbos lamp.... shabbos toilet paper?" 10 seconds left on the clock. Rabbi "Shabbos table, kiddush, stains". 5 seconds left. Bochur "Plastic table cloth?" 2 seconds left " uh uh uh uh". BZZZZT. "Times up" the host says "sorry, the answer was white shabbos table cloth, not to be confused with, the modern orthodox plastic table cloth. Don't worry for a backup prize, we give you the "out of the box" YU girl".

Thanks for joining us on this wonderful show. All guests will receive a 10$ gift certificate to Eichlers (fine print: 10$ in Eichlers cant buy you anything). See you next time on Magen David.

RANTING ABOUT BAIS FAIGA

You may already know, that the school, Bais Faiga, has closed its doors to 1800 students. The teachers, as you might have assumed, got late, or no pay at all. This school had a strict policy. You work and your children don't get in, you are in Kollel and they do. If the Kollel family, has no means to support themselves, how the hell do you think, they can support the school. Do you think they would pay full tuition? A normal Yeshiva can hardly stand, thats with people paying full tuition! Now you understand the tuition crisis.

The school was for sure teaching the kids to live a Kollel life. Then the merry-go-round continues, but this time, with even less money. Now the Yeshiva is going around collecting money, to keep up the same stupid rules, they had before. Albert Einstein said "insanity is trying the same thing, the same way, over and over again". This Yeshiva is INSANE!! And where do you think they are getting this, new found money from? Not someone in Kollel. They get it from the working class, the same ones they don't let into their school.

How could one institution say please give us money, and at the same time bash the ones giving them the money. Oxymoron's!!! It turns out, not only is this a problem for the girl school, the same is about to happen to the boys school. Did I mention this place is in Lakewood? G-d grant the people of Lakewood, some brains. The congregation answers. Amen.

WORLD OF CHUMROS

You wake up to your kosher alarm clock, playing only the most kosher radio. You hit the "I am not a visikin guy" button. A few minutes, later it plays a again, to the tune of Wake Up by Lipa, or is that not frum enough? You press the "I am up for shachris" button. You lean over to your mikveh, beside your bed, and wash your hands. You go to the kitchen, which has your own personal Mashgiach, to make sure all is glatt kosher. You open your refrigerator, and reach for a bottle of Lakewood Orange juice, which is made in Brazil and Florida, but you didn't know that. You step outside your house, walk to the correct part of the street, made just for men.


You notice a woman being beat for walking to her house, which is on the men's side of the street. You say to yourself "she deserves it". You go to your yeshivishe car, where the only thing that doesn't make noise, is the horn. You turn on the Kosher GPS, to guide you to the kollel. You close your eyes while you drive, for perhaps, you may see a woman on the street. You rely solely on your GPS, to tell you when to turn. You walk into the kollel, and put on your kosher tefillin (we hope its kosher).


You are done shachris. You begin to do, whatever it is you do in kollel, which is nothing. You pull out your kosher phone and start talking to people on it. You wonder, "Could you do anything else with a phone besides talk"? You think "surely not; otherwise, in our advanced society, it would be done". You go out to smoke. You pull out your box of Badaatz certified cigarettes, and enjoy this wonderful life you have.

A person comes over to you. He offers a shidduch, for your daughter. You ask all these weird questions. After you are finished, you decide he is a good match. You reasons to this are; He wants to be supported by me who can hardly support himself, and two, he is a complete copy. of all the other guys around, he must be good.


You are late for the afternoon Hock. You rush, as to not miss all the gossip. You hear in a distance "did you hear what happened to Baruch Chaim's wife? It turns out she got lynched, for being on the wrong side of the street". Next guy says, "That's a shame, its his second wife this week". You pipe in "Yep, well women have to know better". Then a guy says "Did you see what YWN wrote?" You all inquire about, what exactly YWN is. This guy tells you, "Do you have the net". You answer "A fishing net?" "No no no", says the guy "I mean the Internet". You then all learn all about the Internet.


All of a sudden, you are thrown into a vortex of thought. All the things you knew about your life, are flushed down the drain of reality. You ask this person to "hand you the net". He realizes you don't get what it really is. He shows you everything. You were shocked when you found out that, there are actually other civilizations, and not too far away.

You go home. You have a talk with your wife. She says she doesn't believe you. You begin to fight with yourself. "why did my community withhold this knowledge from me? Did they think they cant trust me?" and then "Well I like the fact that, my community cares about me". A bolt of insight hits you. Your phone really can do more than just talk, and why is it that you cant have more money? Also you want to choose your own lifestyle and not be born into one.

You decide, that's it, you are going off the derech. You leave you community (your wife and family didn't come along). You are driving out of town, Wait! there are no roads to out of town, or so says your GPS. You decide to look up when you drive now (a sin that in your old community deserved lynching). You are heading out of town. You find a new community that allows you to have choice. Back in your old place. Your wife and family, are being excluded from the community. If this family can produce such a heretic, then they all don't belong in the community.Oh, and that shidduch you made isn't going to work out.

You finally wake up, from this awful dream you had. You thank G-d that you live in a world, where you can choose the way you wish to serve g-d, and walk on any side of the street you want. You say "Thank g-d I am not (charedi) born into that.

THE RIGHT KOLLEL

I have heard from a respectful rabbi that Kollel system has its flaws. I was in a state of shock when I heard him say this. Could a real rabbi who learns in Kollel say there is something wrong with it? Well anyway he descibed these flaws. 1) Not everyone is meant for Kollel (many don't think that way). 2) You have to learn in Kollel (also many people don't think this way). 3) People use it as a way to fit in with the crowd and end up not learning for the sake of learning.

1) Yes not everyone is meant for Kollel. There are tons out there who would rather be working but they promised that they would sit and learn for X amount of years and X amount of children or they are placed under peer pressure and if they go against the system they face humiliation and children not being able to go to good schools. (kind of like that girl who was afraid to ask her teachers questions on Judaism).

2) You have to learn in kollel. For your average kollel guy its just a joke and every few minutes their out for a smoke or to talk and text on their phones. Maybe Schmoozing with a couple of guys but hardly ever learning. 3) they use it to fit in with the crowd as I mentioned before its peer pressure. Why do they learn (if they do) only to show off I learn or to not show off but prove they are meant for Kollel.

The rabbi obviously knew who/what he was talking to/about. I agree on all levels that he is right. He said that most should work instead of learn and waste their time. He said the System has changed from what it used to be 100 years ago. He explained that in the past you got married at 15 so by that time you had to set a life standard. They got married and if the man had leaned toward learning, he would be set off to learn and would be supported. If he leaned towards not learning he would set out to work. So now its a different system. If you are in a Yeshiva you must set off to learn in Kollel and expect to be supported. If you go to college you are set off to be single a loooong time.

The rabbi did say there are some Kollel's that the only way you can learn there is if someone promised to support you and that this is the right Kollel. Being that it was like Yissachar and Zevulin it is the ideal Kollel. May we all be Zocheh that we should live to see a time where all Kollels will be like this last one. Amen.

POINTLESS BANS

There are so many bans that just weren't worth making. It could have been avoided just by the fact that there was already a ban on something else or on the same thing in a different way. A good pointless ban would be if I would ban using any types of motor vehicles as a use of transportation and then I go and ban cars. Throughout all the bans most are just the same in a different form.

The first of many pointless is the ban of cell phone Internet. Now anyone with at least the brains of a bird will tell you that the Internet on the phone is the same as the one on the computer. More on the Internet ban, there was banned (what you are reading right now) A BLOG, that's after the Internet was banned. The reason for it is, Blogs are only a lashon hara source. Then came MY space, youtube, facebook and many like this which were also banned.

Cell Phones themselves were banned. So now you can only have the most kosher of phones The kosher phone (certified with an OU made in a parve factory, The phone chocolate is OUD). That means No texts, No camera phones (especially video ones), No Internet. Why is texting bad what makes it wrong. Is it the fact that people don't spell correctly while texting? The yesivos nevr had uh probleam with speling rong. Camera Phones once again whats wrong with it? Maybe you'll take a picture of a non tzniyos woman. Well you can do that with a regular camera too. This is an example of another pointless ban and if they wanted a kosher phone just take away the Internet keep the texts and camera.Also this ban is one that has not been excepted by the Jewish community I see people on there blackberry's every few minutes.

Then they're bans that just never made had a basis. Banning the bike lanes in Williamsburg is a foolish one. First what are you going to do about it? Two what is there to ban, banning non Jews? Next up is an Israeli one. In Israel if you go to Kollel (I did not write learn in kollel for a reason) you are not allowed to learn how to drive a car and if you already know how to gezunte hait. The reason for it being maybe you will drive to a place a Jew shouldn't be in. You could walk there or take the Eged bus (really not getting this one). The texting and camera phone problem also falls into this category of Baseless Bans.

The triple filtered water washing lettuce is not a Baseless Ban. Its not necessary since we don't make a Gezeira on a Gezeira. First Gezeira being wash them they have bugs. Second is use triple filtered water. Also a practice in halacha is that if it (something we might object to) wasn't stopped when it began then we cant stop it now. The strawberries are subject to this category.

Pointless, Baseless, Non Necessary bans are whats driving people to think that our rabbanim have lost it. I heard once why they do this. The rabbanim don't really know whats going on but their people who tell them about these things distort it. You know whats a big Question after they banned all these mentioned and more...... why did they not take act and join with Hikind?

YESHIVA HIGH SCHOOL DROP OUTS

In recent years there has beena plague of kids just not wanting to go through with the secular studies. They have become Yeshiva High School drop outs. Why would they like to drop is beyond any logic (real logic). Maybe its a knew kollel ad "Learn secular studies and forget about going to kollel". Or it could be "If you learn Secular studies you'll be so far from frum that you'll forget about kollel". Whatever it is, these guys/kids are dropping like flies (there are so many!!).

Soon there is going to be another question on the shidduch resume "Did you take secular studies in high school?". These guys/kids must know in advance that its coming, so I guess they are ready for it when the question comes around. After they pass the shidduch scene they will be moved to the kollel scene or part 2. How could you think that the people who drop out of secular studies be forced to work? (shame on you). They will be directly transferred to only the "best" kollel around where they wont last a while (being that they have 14 kids).

I was wondering what would you do if you don't even have a high school diploma?, and Chas V'shalom you have to stop the kollel business since you aren't making enough money and your wife isn't either making enough from her speech therapist job. What would you do? You wont be hired by anyone. If you try you may get to be a waiter at most or be the first Jewish taxi cab driver. One person gave me an answer that they can become a rebbi in a school, as if a rebbi makes so much money.

Many people are against this act of dropping out. I know the Yekis are very much against it. Then there are those people who are for it and don't allow their kids to get a secular education. I think its going too far, if you really want you can move back to your shtetle in poland.