Filed under - Exposing hypocrisy via sarcasm and hyperbole.
I’m shocked and surprised that we are allowing a new device called the iPad ArtScroll Shas to be sold to our frum olem. I know Artscroll invested about 5 million dollars into this app, but when it comes to the nishomos of Klal Yisroel money shouldn't be a part of the equation. Every iPad has Wi-Fi, and in the home I understand you can use J-net and Koshernet, but what happens when they take the device outside the house? All one needs to do is connect to any public Wi-Fi and rachmana litzlon the internet will grab our precious neshamos away!
How low have we fallen that we now have to copy the goyim with every shtus they make? We live in a time, where boruch hashem, torah is being learned in thousands of beis medrashim around the world and we have access to hundreds of seforim kidoshim that tzadikim of the past gave their life to preserve. Imagine their shame when they look down at us from shamayim and see this shtus being brought into our holy beis midrashim. Just think how fast our talmidim will be able to switch applications to some other app which will give them access to the Olem Hatumah. Don't we know ein apotropis li’arayis! What will happen when a child sees something he shouldnt and now becomes a teen at risk? What will happen if someone downloads a facebook app and goes off the derech? What will happen if a father comments on twitter and then marries a shiksa? Just think of the repercussions! We are heading toward a shidduch crisis never has never been seen in klal yisroel!
understand that ArtScroll invested a lot of money into this project. So what? People invested a lot of money into concerts and books and my Gedolim spoke out against it. I’m sure Hashem will repay them a hundredfold if they would heed my call. Where is my Daas Torah when I need them? Someone please wake them up and make them sign a ban on the ArtScroll iPad now before they start promoting it at the Siyum Hashas! Where is the Ichud hakehilos when we need them most?!
Please print my letter on pashkevillim to post in every shul and on every street in meah shearim!
Dovid Teitelbaum,
Signed by ALL THE GEDOLIM. (well, not all, but you get the drift)Please sign your anonymous names in the comment box below.
I am told that there are 20 new features that will be available in version 1.0. But has yidishkeit now become a feature? And since when do we have more than one version of the torah? Do we really need to know where every daf yomi shiur is taking place? Do we suddenly need to be able to look up every source in tanach? If the Gemara says something is there, then its there! When did we suddenly stop trusting our Tannaim and Amoraim?! Just imagine what Rava and Abaye would say if they would be here today!
I quote “Page Syncing, Place Tracking, Extra Hand, Page Fusion, Hybrid Page, Floating Translation, Quick Scroll, Integrated Notes, Page Mapping Color Coding, and much more”. Do you know how much time and bitul torah it's going to take yidden to learn all these new features. This is mamish geferlach! We never had them and we did just fine! Why can't they just pull a sefer off the shelf like they did in Europe. Just like tahara and tuma, technology and torah should not be merged.
I warned about ArtScroll when they came out with the first English edition in 1990. I even got my gedolim to sign letters against this new English translation. Nobody listened to me then, and now look what has happened. Do we not realize the dangers of modern technology? Have we not seen the terrible things that it has caused already? When will we wake up and start listening to my gedolim of the past that warned us of this!
Yes, Klal Yisrael is currently facing unprecedented tragedies. While we used to hear a scandalous story once every few years, that is no longer the case. Our homes have been broken in epidemic proportions. This can primarily be attributed to technology. The more advanced and specialized technology becomes, the more pronounced the yeridah is.” The iPhone and BlackBerry have not only destroyed the kedushah of Klal Yisrael, they have destroyed families, and texting has destroyed the Holy Shabbos. And it doesn’t only touch bachurim. There is no age discrimination; the yeitzer ha’ra attacks everyone across the board. We all have an obligation to do something. And so I say, Mi LaShem Eilai, who will join me and engage in this battle?Iunderstand that ArtScroll invested a lot of money into this project. So what? People invested a lot of money into concerts and books and my Gedolim spoke out against it. I’m sure Hashem will repay them a hundredfold if they would heed my call. Where is my Daas Torah when I need them? Someone please wake them up and make them sign a ban on the ArtScroll iPad now before they start promoting it at the Siyum Hashas! Where is the Ichud hakehilos when we need them most?!
Please print my letter on pashkevillim to post in every shul and on every street in meah shearim!
Signed by ALL THE GEDOLIM. (well, not all, but you get the drift)Please sign your anonymous names in the comment box below.
P.S. I ask everyone from Klal Yisroel to turn off their filters for a minute and watch this shmutztube video, promoting the new ArtScroll Digital Library Featuring the Schottenstein Talmud and take action at once.
“Sarcasm is the body's natural defense against stupidity”-
A wise man once said.
I understood your opinion on the modern day technology until I read your quote "sarcasm is the body's natural defense against stupidity”. Do you really feel like having the whole art scroll on a I-pad will affect those Jewish bachrim? I think Its a brilliants idea with the way technologies headed. You cant stop everyone from using blackberries, Iphones ETC, so you might as well become a part of the technological society and make something good out of it.
ReplyDeleteConsidering, the Rabbanim tried to ban the original Artscroll for fear that it may hinder a Bachur's ability to learn the old way and it would form a crutch... I am not sure all people will get your sarcasm, some deluded people may even think you are serious!
ReplyDeleteI misunderstood your opinion on the modern day technology until I read your quote "sarcasm is the body's natural defense against stupidity”. Do you really feel like having the whole art scroll on a I-pad will affect those Jewish bachrim? I think Its a brilliants idea with the way technologies headed. You cant stop everyone from using blackberries, Iphones ETC, so you might as well become a part of the technological society and make something good out of it.
ReplyDeleteI misunderstood your opinion on the modern day technology until I read your quote "sarcasm is the body's natural defense against stupidity”. Do you really feel like having the whole art scroll on a I-pad will affect those Jewish bachrim? I think Its a brilliants idea with the way technologies headed. You cant stop everyone from using blackberries, Iphones ETC, so you might as well become a part of the technological society and make something good out of it.
ReplyDeleteReally a perfect clash of backwardness (which we love) and progress. The artscroll ipad app will probably help the "eichus" of those learning daf yomi, and may also lead to more people learning during free time, but would necessarily force them to be exposed to unfiltered internet. This is almost as bad as the day Rebbi chose to put the Mishnah to paper.
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, you would make a great askan, to plead your case to someone who didn't understand the value of the new tech, who would gladly ban it and make them cancel this app for the kiddush hashem that always occurs when you force others to lose money/suffer due to your lack of knowledge of the situation and laziness to investigate yourself.
Finally, your true colors are showing thru. You're a letz just like most bloggers out there. If you were a sincere yirei shamayim truly concerned about klal yisroel, you wouldn't resort to such leitzanus
ReplyDeleteIts called sarcasm. Sorry if you don't appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteIf they wanted to, could ArtScroll hardwire filtering into a device like this containing their app?
ReplyDeletethe word is "learned"... learnt is neither yiddish nor english and when people use language that doesn't exist- it undermines any validity to your arguments because sound foolish. embarrassing!
ReplyDeleteIts irrelevant whether I appreciate it or not. The point is it a makes a statement about YOU and what YOU represent.
ReplyDeleteIf your goal is truly Lishmah and you really seek to rectify the problems of the frum world, then why would you write such a leitzanus filled post which they'll completely dismiss you as a letz?
Thanks, I made the correction. I was trying to write like somebody with a yeshivish education.
ReplyDeleteI dont really care what "they" think.
ReplyDeleteThats something I thought about. First, I dont think Apple will let Artscroll hard-wire anything. All they can do is make an App. I am sure there are filter apps that can be installed by parents. I know the iphone has password protection. But than again all one needs to do is....
ReplyDeleteI get the whole sarcasm thing but I wasnt sure based on your article if you were really against the English version in 1990 or you were also being sarcastic about that.
ReplyDeleteVery sarcastic. We were not allowed to have them in yeshiva. Then one day we caught our Rebbi in the Rebbis room looking something up in Artscroll. Good times.
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome. :)
ReplyDeleteExcellent article
ReplyDeleteDovid,
ReplyDeleteI see a sad pattern here beginning to emerge.
An eerrie similarity to the Natan Slifkin debacle.
He wrote books which were Leshem Shamayim.
Yet when the Gedolim took issue with him, instead of retracting problematic passages, he fought them.
In the initial phase he posted only "defense" articles on his website, then he let others post derogatory articles on his website, then he allowed others to post sarcasm on his website, ultimately publishing full-fledged attacks.
I knew your father well, and I appreciate that he knew how to harness technology to support Torah learning, fight ponzi schemers etc. but I never knew him to attack the Gedolim or disagree with them publicly.
I feel your pain that it is not easy to disagree with the Gedolim, but if we stop listening to them, we become a nation like all others, run by laymen.
As much as you might think that they are unable to relate to our youth and today's technology, I beg to differ. You are not in a position where fathers and mothers of broken children come crying to you that their children have been ruined by electronic devices.
And as much as you may want to preach that Love and Happiness will enable them to keep away from this stuff, the Yetzer Hara is somehow wiser than that.
Do you advocate leaving drugs around your children (whom I am sure are being given the 8 EEEEEEEEE's)?
It is a nice concept, but the reality is that everyone needs a Shomer when dealing with the Yetzer Hara and I would not want it on my shoulders that I opposed the Gedolim's call to an Asifa.
I'm sorry, but your comment itself is hypocritical. You say Im allowing derogatory comments about people and then you accuse Natan Slifkin of doing wrong. Why you would say loshon hara about someone else on my blog is beyond me. If you have a problem with him send him an email.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately we past the point of not listening to "your gedolim" when they past bans that know one listened to. I dont believe the Gedolim are behind this charade and huge chilul hashem to take place. Why some wont speak up is beyond me. You buy into the stories about fathers and mothers of broken children that come crying that their children have been ruined by electronic devices. Well, I have news for you. I know these children and I know these parents and thats not what they are complaining about. Read the blogs and see for yourself. Parents are not concerned with electronic devises, they are concerned about love and happiness which you dismiss as unimportant.You say you feel my pain but you dont. It pains me to see these lies being repeated and the real issues begin swept under the carpet, Im surprised in doesn't pain you.
I'm shocked you didn't mention the obvious chilul shabbos that will result from this! Whether mistaken, or as a rationalization ("at least I'm learning!") there's no excuse to allow this blatant, nay, FLAGRANT, michshol lifnei iver to exist!
ReplyDeleteKlal yisroel crumbles, while devils masquerade as rabbis wearing frocks selling torah an SHMUTZ PADS!!P.S. I only throw rocks at people with shmutz pads!
I'm shocked you didn't mention the obvious chilul shabbos that will result from this! Whether mistaken, or as a rationalization ("at least I'm learning!") there's no excuse to allow this blatant, nay, FLAGRANT, michshol lifnei iver to exist!
ReplyDeleteKlal yisroel crumbles, while devils masquerade as rabbis wearing frocks selling torah an SHMUTZ PADS!!P.S. I only throw rocks at people with shmutz pads!
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/learnt?s=t
ReplyDeleteThanks, for some reason I took his word for it and changed it.
ReplyDeleteActually, I did send him an email which he ignore. However, if you feel that my comment is loshin hura, please delete it. Todah.
ReplyDeleteI share with you a distaste for the sarcasm bordering on laytzanus contained within this post.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I must tell you that the comparison to Slifkin is 100% inaccurate. At no time did any of those who banned his books articulate in a coherent fashion exactly which passages they objected to, nor what their specific objections were. There was therefore nothing that Slifkin could do in order to achieve any kind of compromise or resolution.
I agree with you that there is some merit in the internet asifa. However, I disagree with you as regards to the Slifkin campaign, which -- in my opinion -- had no merit whatsoever.
I therefore think that it's best to not make the comparison, given that in the Slifkin case, the criticism leveled against the banning Rabbis was well-deserved and surprisingly restrained.
If by laytzanus you mean that I am making fun of this line of thought than hell ye, That was my point. How do you explain a convention held this year that blamed technology for all the problems of the day and all the other quotes i used above. And then approve of an Ipad Shas.?!
ReplyDeleteWhat are you smoking? Children are not ruined by electronic devices, no matter what their parents may like to think. Children whom you dismiss as "broken" merely use technology as an escape from a society that has failed to attract them to the values it mouths insincerely. It is often easier for parents and rabbis to blame technology than to face the sad reality that they have not shown these children the true beauty of Judaism (often because they don't feel it themselves).
ReplyDeleteWhen an argument has merit, it can be made on its own terms, without resort to sarcasm.
ReplyDeleteYour post does not make an argument; all it does is attack and mock certain types of people.
You have an argument to make, go ahead. Just do it without ridicule and mockery.
Sarcasm is not ridicule and mockery. Either way, my point is that there is a lot of hypocrisy attributed to the so called "Gedolim"
ReplyDeleteI agree, but I don't think that mocking them is effective. All it does is make you sound petty.
ReplyDelete"I dont believe the Gedolim are behind this charade and huge chilul hashem to take place."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.hamodia.com/mainstory.cfm
Believe it now?
"Unfortunately we past the point of not listening to "your gedolim" when they past bans that know one listened to"
ReplyDeleteHow do you know that NO ONE listened to? Did you call all 10,000 residents of Lakewood?
"Parents are not concerned with electronic devises, they are concerned about love and happiness which you dismiss as unimportant"
ReplyDeleteAs if there aren't any cases where there was plenty of love and hapiness, yet the electronic devices ruined pure yiddeshe neshomos. Teitelbaum, get a clue, you have no idea whats going on other than a handful of kids that you deal with yourself. Theres a big world out there that you don't know about, most of these parents DONT come to you, dont lie and claim you know them all
"You say Im allowing derogatory comments about people and then you accuse Natan Slifkin of doing wrong"
ReplyDeleteAgain with your stupid distorted logic, HE (ABC) wasnt accusing slifkin of anything, its public knowledge that the gedolim banned his books and slifkin allowed huge mockeries of gedolim to take place, whereas YOU are creating a platform for mockery of gedolim. YOU are accussing Rabbis Salomon, Kanievsky and dozens of other Gedolim of creating a *huge* chilul hashem and you're still in self denial that you refuse to believe they're for the asifa. Get off your high horse and have some humility that you're just a little half cracked peanut brain near these gedolei torah
How about actually calling artscroll and asking them? Did you consider that? or perhaps thats too much for your pea brain to process?
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean by "so called" Gedolim?
ReplyDeleteWhat are you smoking? Children are not ruined by electronic devices, no matter what their parents may like to think. Children whom you dismiss as "broken" merely use technology as an escape from a society that has failed to attract them to the values it mouths insincerely. It is often easier for parents and rabbis to blame technology than to face the sad reality that they have not shown these children the true beauty of Judaism (often because they don't feel it themselves).
ReplyDeleteWow Steve Jobs OB"M RIP Will now know the entire Torah shbaal peh, better than most Roshei Yeshivah. what a Zechus for his neshomah, is the Debut on the yahrtzeit or B4?Shame they don't make another DEATH { AKA asifa RASH"I by Yishmoel quotes a gemorah that Geviyah is by Tzadikim only, the Artscroll adds in asifa, I didn't cross check the Gemarah yet} on Steve's first Yahrtzeit.
ReplyDeleteBTW Dovid be careful or Sdeh Chemed will have no kids this year, all the schools will throw out Sdeh Chemed campers.
BTW registration picked up heavily since I started my blog. Just saying.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you stay to my Steve Jobbs idea? Will the next Artscroll edition be from the Steve Jobbs Foundation? I know he never gave charity, will his yorshim give?
ReplyDeleteDose somebody know what a BOLOND mean?! Go see Rabbi teitelbaum........
ReplyDeleteactually learnt is the British version of learned, just like burnt is the British version of the U.S. version burned. Q.E.D.
ReplyDeleteThis is what i hate about people like you (no offense)
ReplyDeleteall you do is coment on the negative side!
same with people at the asifah all they did was talk abou the bad, never the good things you can do on the internet.
You dont understand the amount of children and less clever people will be able to use this
you disgust me
I agree with you. It was a sarcastic post.
ReplyDeleteThis will be the greatest app ever. Technology has made me much more religious , I download shiurim , learn about holidays online , and search easily for things I don't understand.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the first version will have bugs and they will fix them.
ReplyDeleteIt was *just* over the top enough that I recognized the sarcasm.
ReplyDeleteHowever please bear in mind "Poe's law":
"Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of fundamentalism that someone won't mistake for the real thing."