SCHOOL BOARD BUDGET

[Thank you "the yated" for today's post. To all readers - please comment on any topic, your comment might be tomorrow's post - KollelVeib]

The new school board voted down the budget by $60,000. And all the Lakewood rags are saying how great that is. Isn't that pathetic? A budget of 63 MILLION was only reduced by $60,000? Bid deal. Maybe that will save me $2.00 in property taxes. Why is every body so excited over it?

RABBI GETS 5 YEARS FOR THEFT OF $86G

Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 05/5/07

KAREN SUDOL
FREEHOLD BUREAU

FREEHOLD — He was supposed to be a teacher, mentor and beacon of hope for the Marlboro
Jewish Center. Instead, Peter Light, the center's former rabbi, disappointed and betrayed the trust of congregants by stealing $86,000 from the center starting a month after his June 2004 hire.

"The trust they placed in him has been weakened and shattered by his conduct," Assistant Prosecutor John Loughrey told a judge.

On Friday, Light, 48, was ordered by Superior Court Judge Ira E. Kreizman to serve five years in prison and make restitution to the center.

Light, wearing jeans and a white shirt, declined to speak when offered the opportunity by Kreizman.

"The wounds you have inflicted have left, and will leave, real scars" on the community of Congregation Ohev Shalom, the Marlboro Jewish Center, Kreizman said.

. . .

In January, Light pleaded guilty to second-degree theft by deception. From July 2004 through July 2006, he pilfered $86,000 from the temple's discretionary fund — donations collected and used for congregants who face unexpected crises and request assistance.

The money was used for items such as a $5,000 ring for his mistress, her family's expenses, private school tuition for one of his children and trips to Israel, members have said.

. . .

Light, who is separated from his wife and currently works as a car salesman, is remorseful and has accepted responsibility, said his lawyer, David Glassman. Light plans to fully reimburse the center, Glassman said.

[READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE]

BIKSHU RACHAMIM

[Thank you "anonymous" for today's post. To all readers - please comment on any topic, your comment might be tomorrow's post - KollelVeib]

Please be Mispallel for "Mordechai Leib ben Ita" Dr. Mordy Golub of Pediatric Affiliates. He has been diagnosed with a serious illness and needs our tefilos and much rachmei shamayim.

GIVE KOLLEL WIVES THE BEST SECULAR EDUCATION

[Thank you "DavidIsUpset" for today's post. To all readers - please comment on any topic, your comment might be tomorrow's post - KollelVeib]

Returning to the topic of women, I would like to make two distinct points. One is related to women who desire to marry a man engaged in the profession of Torah study and the other is related to women who wish to marry a man with a career. Not all women want to be speech therapists, even women who marry husbands in Kollel. Not all women are suited to such a profession. The best way to keep the Kollel system alive is to give women the best secular education that they can so that they are able to choose the proper career from a wider range of options and be able to lead fulfilling and economically rewarding lives.

WHAT CRISIS?

[Thank you "Nechama" for today's post. To all readers - please comment on any topic, your comment might be tomorrow's post - KollelVeib]

I would like to let you in on a little secret with regard to the so-called "Shidduch Crisis".

THERE IS NONE!

Or I should say: no more than there is a "Shalom Bayis Crisis" or a "School Children Getting Bad Grades Crisis".

In other words, these problems exist, and they always have. And they are painful to those who are going through them. But these silly claims of major demographic trends which are supposedly getting worse and worse, resulting in embarassingly absurd suggestions by "experts" such as boys needing to marry older girls, etc. - PuhLease!

Now before someone jumps down my throat for this, let me repeat what I said above: Problems do exist, and the situation can be very painful for someone going through it. But honestly, even though there are alot of single 22 year old women, there are far less (although sadly still too many) 28 year olds, and even less 35 year olds. And I can bet the average person out there can count on one hand the number of 50 year olds who never got married with whom they are acquainted.

So ultimately, yes Shidduchim is a shvere parsha (as it has ALWAYS been in the frum world - even in the "alte heim") but at the end of the day, some sooner, some later, almost all women born in our community who do not have a major medical or psychological problem DO get married.

TEACH THEM TO BE A TRUE BAS YISROEL

[Thank you "anonymous" for today's post. To all readers - please comment on any topic, your comment might be tomorrow's post - KollelVeib]

I have a comment to make about girls' high schools in general. They don't have to learn so much, and they are not learning things that they should be learning. In the long run, all the stuff they are filling our daughters' heads with, won't make them better wives and mothers, which is what our goal for our girls really should be.

Sora Schenirer didn't want the girls to be lost to haskala, so she started Bais Yaakov, but, it was a far cry from the Bais Yaakovs of today.

The girls should be taught more about what it means to be a true Bas Yisroel and learn homemaking skills etc. When they get married do you think they'll need all the math, science, English literature, global studies etc. to help them raise their families? Even all the Limudei Kodesh they are learning isn't that practical either. Even when they are in the job market they don't need all that stuff. You can sell real estate without knowing algebra and you can be a dental assistant without knowing any science. You can be a speech therapist without knowing Shakespeare etc. The schools are just trying to outdo each other in how much they are cramming into our poor girls heads. It is time to open a NORMAL school, normal for the true goal for Bnos Yisroel.

BEIN HAZMANIM

New posts after Pesach . . .