Everyone has One or Your Pesach or Mine?

This post is dedicated to Achdus. Maybe it's the books on Israel I've been reading, or the impending Birchas Hachamah, but what else but Yom Tovim really bring us together? Until... OK, you get married and your are sitting at the begining of the Seder. Now, it's not like Sukkos where you are outdoing someone else with your Lulav & Esrog. On Pesach every family has it's own mishagas. Here at the Seder all bets are off. Minhagim abound, and someones toes are going to get stepped on. How can you compromise? Obviously, your family minhagim go back many generations, (likely to Mt. Sinai) and it would be against G-d himself to change or abandon your sacred traditions. Let's face it, some of you would rather have bamboo shoved under your fingernails than eat Gebrochts. Well good luck to you. I am all about adopting and incorporating. For me, I always only had one issue with Mrs. LFD's Pesach family minhagim, and that is in her house, the parents hid the Afikomen, and in my house, the kids did. The compromise? Two seders, one minhag on each night. Each of us has a rational, but as I have other minhagim her family has adopted, I've become more tolerant, and hence have attained a greater degree of Achdus. The minhagim I do at my inlaws that are tolerated:

1. Having my own Seder plate rather than a communal one at the table.
2. Singing Kadesh Urchatz in the to the tune of Manamana.
3. Glaring at whever reads the "wicked son" as if they are evil incarnate.
4. Eating a potato for Karpas (they use celery, I sneak in a boiled potato. Mrs. LFD doesn't know this, but she will now).
5. Telling boring stories about my father having a "kosher for pesach" garbage can and vacuum cleaner.
6. My personal favorite- singin Adir Hu as the Mr. Potato Head song:
Adir Hu, you know it's true,
Mr. Potato Head I made you.
Eyes & ears & a button nose too,
Mr. Potato head I made you-
Kel Benai, Kel Benai, Beyamaynu Bikarov
Kel Benai, Kel Benai, Mr. Potato Head I love you!

Having a Mr. Potato Head as part of my in-laws seder, and knowing that it has spread to my sister in laws family gives me that warm Achdusy feeling. Ah, minhagim, would we be in Galus without them?

When It's Time To Put Them Out To Pasture

You know that tuition break you never seem to get? This is a part of what is bothering me about today's yeshivas in today's economy. I know that I have a obligation to be mechanech my child. I also know that I am putting my child in the hands of a Yeshiva to do this for me, so as opposed to hand picking a 1:1 rav for my son, he gets a "one size fits all" according to the yeshiva we choose to send him to, as well as having to accept (if not practice) the yeshiva's hashkafos. I know these facts going in, and I have to deal with it. But with all of the competition, especially in this economic situation I have to ask if it's a business.
Now I can hear you snickering, of course, you say, it's a business. So why do so many of us who pay full price accept poor service? Crappy English teachers have become the norm, and we accept it because, hey, it's yeshiva! Would you accept a ripped shirt from a store you just paid full price for? Of course not, but we (I) have been conditioned that this is the way it is, so just deal with it.
Now, the worst part. You are at PTA, shul, or other function and you say your kid is going into whatever grade. A few parents pipe up and give you condolences, while others shake their heads in sorrow. Oh, you're having Rabbi -----berg. Good luck. He's been doing this for 25 years and has no patience left. Or sorry, your having Rabbi----stein. He gives piles of homework and doesn't care about the kids, only his program. Oy,Vey Rabbi ----man! He called my son an idiot. Yes, you get Rabbeim who can't control their mouths. I was listening to my friends tell some horror stories the other night, and their kids are in a different yeshiva. than mine. We all have the same problem though. If we pipe up, we're afraid of being kicked out. There are many schools that would easily get rid of "trouble makers" at the expense of the kids, and tell the other yeshivos not to accept you. I saw this happen this year to a friend. Even after all the years of tuition paid in full. If this was a real business, the yeshivos would be investigated by the department of consumer affairs, and money would have to be refunded, and the incompetent employee fired (or as what usually happens, they get a promotion)!!. When a rebbe becomes burned out, or just plain stinks, I think we should do them and our children a kindness and put them out to pasture. To do any less is a betrayal of our children and ourselves, and boy have we been betrayed.

Mi Yehudi or Do "Goyim" know the difference

There were two items on vosizneias that caught my attention. The first was a story about the in gathering of Jews from galus. The story is basically how Israel has accepted some people believed to be the lost Tribe of Menashe. The full story can be read here. My main objection is to some of the more obnoxious comments, but I do like the fact that VIN doesn't edit people's thoughts. I guess I'm becoming more of a "Tzioni". I've been reading books like Dear Brothers, Eim Habonim Simaycha", and have come to the conclusion that we're in galus because
1. We want to be
2. Our Gedolim want us to be.
Of course, this is just my opinion. A certain Rov told me that his cousin did the english translation of Eim Habonim Simaycha, and he's now been ostracized and his fellow yeshiva crowd have branded him a Zionist. Crazy, if you even translate a book about the greatness of Israel, you are no longer one of them.

The other item was an article on Foxnews.com. It is a story about the Israeli Mafia, and a car bomb that killed the Kingpin of a crime family. You can read the whole story here. My question is, to the average "Goy" is there a difference bettween a Chasidishe Guy with long curly peyos, and an average non religious Israeli. Opinions anyone?

Why we're still in galus

It's things like this that push normal people away from being religious. I think it's so bad it speaks for itself. Gilmour thought it was funny to tape it to my front door!