The LIPA Affair (not that kind of affair)

I LOVE LIPA. (not that way)

I think he's very talented. and he is fresh stuff, after all the old, typical Jewish songs (low part, low part, high part, high part, some fancy music, yay, its a song!)
He's FUN! and Geshmak! and you have to smile when you see him in action on his little videos. He is full of lebidigness and Simchas Hachaim, something we can all use.
In addition every single one of his songs has a POSITIVE message and if you listen to the lyrics, they are full of yiras shomayim and beauty of yiddishkeit.

I have two teenage sons, and believe me, with all the stuff out there (even in the Judaic stores) I am very happy when they listen to Lipa.

The article about the concert ban, and Lipa pulling out, on yeshivaworld.com garnered 330 comments last I checked. most praising him for backing out. I respect him, but tuchis oifen tish - what kind of choice did he have? If he didnt his career would be ruined, he'd be an oisvarf.
Despite being strongarmed and basically blackmailed, he was very gracious about it in the message he gave on that website.

And what do people have against him, and what was the reason for the ban? I still havent heard one good one, and I read thru alot of the comments and articles.
This upsets me. Not because I am personally affected, cuz I cant afford these concerts, so I never go anyway.
1- people think he's a little over the top, and to that I say - GO LIPA! and everyone else take a chill pill. Its time to stop taking ourselves so seriously.

2- people have a problem with him using goyish tunes.
so, why hit on him? this is nothing new. MBD has done it, and Country Yossie- all his songs were originally goyish songs.and many others as well. ABI MELEIBT is great - and it's a really old song that was pretty kosher when it started out, not like one of today's trashy songs. So why hassle HIM?
Show me one kid whose yidishkeit has been damaged by Lipa. I dont think that kid exists.

I think that banning a concert so close to the date,without even trying to negotiate with the organizers ( who, according to what I read, were trying to make it a very kosher event - sep. seating only, no intermission, etc.)
sounds really fishy. According to what I read they didnt know about the ban until it was published in the paper, when everyone else found out. It sounds as though they were judged without having a chance to present their side of the story- which is just WRONG.

I dont know who signed this ban, cuz I never saw it.

All I can say, is that I hope that there is some reason that they have for doing this that they are privy to, that I dont know about. Because the reasons I mentioned above seem very flimsy for such drastic action.

Maybe (hopefully) there are some rabbanim out there who listen to both sides of the story before making a psak, and maybe (hopefully) there are some rabanim who look into the story themselves and are not making a psak based on the rantings of some fanatic with an agenda, or some warped rebetzin with misinformation.

Finally, there is the issue of banning stuff constantly, and taking away kosher outlets for kids. Eventually, there will be nothing left for kids to do,and they will be forced to hang out in the woods of the Catskills, drugging and doing who knows what with Bais Yakov girls.

before I get on to the megapixel plan, I just wanted to put down some further cute stuff from my kids. before I forget them. (some of these stories are old, so it may sound like I have more kids than I really do)

my six year old son:
Ma, could we have ice cream?
perhaps later.
Oh, GOOD, cuz PERHAPS means MAYBE and MAYBE means YES!!
(well, not really, but I dont feel like going into it right now.)

my five and seven year old boys were watching my car's flat tire being fixed at the mechanic.
seven y.o. --Hey, see that curly thing behind the tire? ya know what that is? It's called shocks and when the car goes over a bump, it makes the car not shake so much.
five y.o.-- Wow! I always wondered what that was, and now I know, thanks to my big brother!!

coming soon:
the megapixel plan!

This lady I know recently married off two kids. The older one, the son, is obviously very chassidish and farfrumt but I just heard something pretty shocking about him.

Apparently, he does not call his wife by her first name. EVER!

So I know there are different minhagim, and so on. But this sounds completely bizarre so I have some questions.

I mean - does this make you a better, more holy Jew?
Is this something average people should look up to, and say, one day I want to be like THEM?

Isnt this a tad demeaning to the woman?

Sheesh! Every time I think I've heard everthing, I hear something like this and am shocked all over again.

Hey, tomorrow, Monday is my birthday.

This year they made it into a national holiday...

I had a little debate with my son's (8th grade) teacher at PTA.

He puts way more emphasis on Math, and History is a side thing.

So my son did okay in math, and got a 65% on a history test (aagh) but he was like, well he passed, and it's not as important as math, and he did okay there, so I'm happy.

I think Math is important, but in a way I think History is more important for these yeshiva kids to learn.here's my reasoning:

a- knowledge of history makes you more of a well rounded person.
b- Everything in life has a different meaning when looked at in the perspective of history, and if you have no knowledge of history, you just have a different perspective on things which is not as clear.
c- Math - lets face it, there's calculators.
d- whatever my son ends up doing, that is, if he is not the next gadol hador, he'll learn what math he needs at that point. And what he learns now in eight grade is not going to help him for that future need.

SO that is my opinion. Although maybe perhaps slightly tainted by the fact that I always hated math and loved history.

I wonder if most people agree with me or not?

I am totally not into football, but over the past few years, the people around me have been more and more involved so I am more aware than I used to be.

It seems that superbowl sunday is almost like a national holiday already.

Anyway, I do like watching the commercials the day after- online. So there was this one commercial which cracked me up - and I'll tell you why.

A really ugly geeky weirdly dressed girl is walking around, and wherever she goes, guys are looking twice at her and smiling at her and trying to get her attention...
at the end, you see her opening a box of planters peanuts and smearing some peanuts on her wrist and neck, like perfume ( which explains that the guys were all attracted to her smell - peanuts.)

This once happened to me. I was working with this (frum) guy for several years and one day I was talking to him about something and he tells me "you smell good". I was totally freaked out, cuz there was no way this person could have just said that to me, yet he did! and I was thinking to myself "is he flirting with me? after four years of working together? and he is married with six kids and I am married with two. what am I supposed to say to him?
so I just looked confused and said "what did you say?"
and he said, "I said you smell good - did you just eat peanut butter?"
AAAHHHHH

Esther was out in the evening for her usual power walk, pretty much the only time of day that she had all to herself. She walked her two mile walk through a frum neighborhood for safety reasons. It was new construction, and there was always something to look at - new houses being built. Watching the progress of a house going up from the bottom up was quite interesting - the shape, size, finishing touches, then finally, landscaping. Most of the houses were typical, very large with stucco or brick, and siding. There was one house that was very different - the color and details the owner chose was very different from the others, in an interesting way. Esther wondered about the people who moved in - they must be very creative and daring. Also, quite well to do, to judge by the house, the cars in the driveway, even the toys on the lawn and the stroller that was usually left out. It sure must be nice, she thought, trying very hard not to feel jealous as she headed back toward her own little house. One morning Esther and her husband both managed to take a lunch break from work at the same time, so they arranged to meet for lunch at the pizza shop. As they sat together at the little table and enjoyed the lunch and each other's company, Esther and her husband noticed the woman of that unique house sitting at a table across the room. They waved a hello at her (they had met through shul) and she called out "I'm so jealous! I never get to see my husband during the week, never mind eat lunch with him!"