Are the latest Takanos of banning Jewish Music and Hiking the straw that will finally break the camel's back? One would have to be kidding themselves to think that there is no DIRECT correlation between the "kids at risk" issue now being dealt with on many of the bloggs b/c of the Woodburn phenomena and the never ending list of bans and takanos coming out of the "gedolim" (or the goons who claim to speak for them). Frum Satire is a very funny website meant to make people laugh (will that be banned soon too?). Recently someone commented on one of his posts ripping into him for some of his recent posts. In the comment section someone made the following comment: “rabbis have daas torah which makes it unlikely that they’d err and in the case that they do hashem makes their mistake the right thing.” Are you kidding me- Rabbis don’t err? I have yet to know a rabbi who hasn’t erred. From Rabbis who run cancer organizations smoking in front of the cancer patients to other rabbis covering up child molestation. It is because people think that they do not err that they continue to abuse their power. Giving Rabbonim unlimited power is dangerous. Daas Torah is dead in this generation. Certain “gedolim” in Eretz Yisrael will sign any silly ban and piece of paper that is put in front of them. There needs to be a system of checks and balances. Call it yeridas hadoros or whatever you want but we are not producing “gedolim” of the caliber of previous generations. We are going to be in big trouble when Rav Elyashiv and Co. pass on to the next world and a group of kooks take over. Riots in Bet Shemesh will only be the beginning. I fear we will end up looking the Taliban. It’s time to stop and take a look at the bigger picture.

One of my big pet peeves is cleaning the house before the cleaning lady gets there. Since I was little I was always told that the cleaning lady comes to the house to dust and my bedroom needed to be clean before she got there. Needless to say we went through quite a few cleaning ladies in my youth. Now that I won my house and I pay for the lady to come and clean the house it makes even less sense to me. Here I am shelling out $70 or so (obviously cash, figure about $117 after taxes) and I have to clean up the house before she gets there. I can dust the house for half of that. As a business man I recognize the importance of getting the most for my money so I say track mud through the house in the morning. But obviously I lost (and continue to loose) this argument to my wife every time the woman comes over to clean the house. As a male I know that I am not alone in this thought. Perhaps instead of bringing in a cleaning lady I can find a service that has "dusters" maybe they will be cheaper.

ONE MORE REASON THAT I HATE BROOKLYN.....Yesterday I took my family on a field trip to Brooklyn (my first mistake). After a failed mission at our first stop we decided that it was time for lunch. So we went to the Bagel Hole on Coney Island Avenue. Now, being that I grew up in Brooklyn (I hope G-d forgives me) the Bagel Hole was always a staple. So I order 3 sandwiches and 1 plain bagel. When I was going to pay I asked the guy helping me to cut the bagel to which he replied that they do not cut plain bagels. Thinking that he was joking I said, "OK, just cut it so I can get out of here". At which point he informs me that the store policy is not to cut plain bagels and if I wanted the bagel cut it would cost me another dollar. So I ask for a manager, and I am beginning to get a bit pissed. The manager (I think it is the owner) walks out and tells me that it is the store policy not to cut bagels because "it is a labor intensive business and if they start cutting my bagel everyone would want their bagels cut and it is too TIME CONSUMING". I was in total shock, I mumbled something under my breath about how it is the craziest thing I ever heard and how much I hate Brooklyn and walked out of the store in a state of bewilderment. What about customer service? What about common courtesy? I have never in my life heard of a bagel store that does not cut bagels in half at the request of the customer. I am still in a state of shock. I urge everyone reading this blog to either boycott that Bagel Hole or go in there and order cut bagels.