Opinion

About 15 years ago, the OU gave the hashgachah to the executive dining room of a very elegant bank in Manhattan. Everything about the room, the service, and the food was top notch, real class. But it was not a simple hashgachah, as the management was very demanding on many issues. This included their source of food and coping with very particular chefs.

It is said somewhere that when a talmid chacham passes, it is like the sun setting at mid-day. (See Yirmiyahu 15:9.) Rav Yaakov Ruderman zt”l, legendary founding Rosh HaYeshivah of the Ner Yisroel Rabbinical College, explained what the connection is between a premature sunset and the passing of a Torah scholar. When the sun unexpectedly sets in the middle of the day, said Rav Ruderman, people witness this unusual event and wonder with great trepidation what will be tomorrow. Will the sun rise again? How can we move on, following the departure of a Torah leader? What will the morrow bring?

The story was told by the great Magid of Yerushalayim, Rav Shalom Schwadron z”l, of his finding a child standing alone in an alleyway and crying to himself.

A few years ago, I wrote an article “How Crazy Are We?” In the article, I questioned those Jews on the liberal left for constantly battling Donald Trump by nastily protesting his immigration policies and just about everything else he stood for.

It’s one of those great Yiddish words that defy ordinary translation. A macher. What’s a macher? A macher is a busybody, often with a great sense of self-importance. The Jewish community has always had machers. It’s machers who get things done. It’s machers who have the political connections. It’s machers who have the pull to reach the right people at the right time.

Chareidi publications in recent years have become a class act. Although the fact that they print no pictures of women may be irksome to some, they nonetheless are written with the highest degree of professionalism. It’s not just their use of language that is superb, but their thoroughness in each article is truly special.