The Epitome Of Perfection In Teenage Naivety.

.................

2007-08-19T14:08:00.000-07:00

There's a light
In the darkness
Though the night
There's a light
Burning bright
Showing me the way
But i know where i've been

There's a cry
In the distance
It's a voice
That comes from deep within
There's a cry
Asking why
I pray the answer's up ahead
'Cause i know where i've been

There's a road
We've been travelin'
Lost so many on the way
But the riches
Will be plenty
Worth the price we
Had to pay

There's a dream
In the future
There's a struggle
We have yet to win
And there's pride
In my heart
'Cause i know
Where i'm going
And i know where i've been

There's a road
We must travel
There's a promise

We have yet to win
Use that pride
In our hearts
To lift us up
To tomorrow

'Cause just to sit still
Would be a sin

I know it, i know it
I know where i'm going

And lord knows i know..
Where i've been

Oh! When we win,
I'll give thanks to my god
'Cause i know where i've been

From here

I don't preach you know that...

2007-07-21T22:55:00.000-07:00

But just remember:

The Beis Hamikdosh was NOT destroyed, because some ate strawberry's that may have contained bugs.
It was not destroyed because 'she' down the road wore a slit in her denim skirt and wasn't wearng 100 denier tights.
Nor was it destroyed because your daughters best friend in school oldest sister, made her own shidduch.
Would you believe it wasn't even destroyed because people inter married.

No

It was destroyed because,when you saw them eating strawberrys you told your wife, and deemed them unsuitable company.
It was destroyed because someone sent out paskevilin telling the whole town about 'her' down the road, with her name and address in bold across it.
We lost the Beish Hamakdosh because you told your daughter she may not go to that friends house any more.
It was destroyed because of Loshen Horah, the way we talk about people, and rumors we spread.

Remember that, and have an easy fast!

Chassidish Chic

2007-06-09T17:13:00.000-07:00

Zip it up a little on top, add some stockings, we have a full fledged housecoat, so popular with our chassidshe mamas.

Pull it forward a little, we have a 300 dollar kosher vyosher turban.

The Mtv Store in NY, notice the guys langer gekrazldicker payes.

Since when have we become so fashionable? Its mind boggling really!

Change..

2007-05-27T10:39:00.000-07:00

So.. strolling down the street on Shavous Afternoon, and they pass... Well you see I am not your typical Stamford hilly so I don't on principle stare. EVEN if i see someone wearing hot pink shoes. No I NEVER stare. But this was double takish.

She had a massive smile on her face, he was spaced out. They were holding hands. Oh.. did i mention? She was NOT wearing a sheitle. I could see my sister giving her the once over, mouth slightly open, then peering to the top of her head. Nope no wig. Skirt that covered her knees- check. high neck line-check. black and white for him-check. holding hands-check.

Now every thing has a one off once in while, but they weren't the only unmarrieds, definitely not engaged (yes little nosy me checked) strolling down the almost separate sides of Stamford hill streets this Shavous.

Is Stamford Hill really changing? The question that I have is how?
Is it a change of the teenagers literally not giving a damm and doing what they want, or perhaps a small perhaps are people taking notice and starting to actually open there mouth?

We need a new R'vad. I'm not quite sure why, and there is someone who wants to take his place. But no one has actually been appointed. Why? Because people are opening their mouths and dont want him? Is that for the better or for the worse? Will the Mikvah be renovated, if he comes to place? Or will he just need a bunch of extra Kavadim?

Do the good people of Stamford Hill not want him because they are scared of change? Or is it a deeper meaning? How about the scandal that is currently rocking Keddasia? Are we scared of doing the right thing in this case. Are we scared of the ever increasing price of meat? Are we scared of doing the right thing, a case of Aishas Ish, a clear Averiah in favor of getting cheaper meat?

One thing is for sure, there will be a bigger outcry over the few teenagers that dare to walk on the street with male acquaintances that that of a clear desecration of Halcha. But were used to that dear folks, aren't we? Or are one of you going to bravely stand up and make a fuss? No I didn't think so...

I leave you once again, disappointed and truly disturbed at my home town and society.

Break it up people, nothing to see here, No ring.. Break It up... Move along...

2007-05-08T15:59:00.000-07:00

Ohhh i can just see it.. Me spinstering along the passage of life.

HAH. I am sure there are plenty that would love to see me get depressed and all pent up with emotions... because yes because I am over 20 and wait for it,.... the shock is going to come,..... you ready? you sitting down?... I'm NOT engaged. (besides for one sweet reader, who e mailed me Mazel Tov wishes, really sweeti, thank you, but no that isn't me, oh and yes SHE is hot.)

Oh how much emphasis we put on a girl status.
Ok take this for example, this site, wont allow you to join there executive ranks if your not married. Now after all this is the internet and anyone can lie and click the I'm married button proudly, so they send you a bunch of questions by email that apparently, if your not married wont know the answers too. So for your amusement, my dear readers I will put them on the site.

1. In what jewish month is the festival of Shavous?
(erm is that the one that we sit in a hut for?)
2. What are 2 common side effects that a woman gets when she has her period?
(shes a bitch)
3. what is the Brocho a jewish woman says for the Mikvah?
(she osna isha, goddamit! )

Firstly my darling Mods at Imamother*, ANYONE and I mean anyone with half a brain can get the answers to these questions, and secondly, really will an unmarried girl not know the answers or at least manage to find them on the big bad web?

One would think that with all the F-ing stigmatizing that is given to unmarried girls, the internet- which is a place that a Zali can choose to be an Aroni and vice versa -would be free of them. But no, once again second class citizens. LOVELY!

Which irks me more I guess is that my friend who is about as naive as my 3 year old nephew is allowed to join up. Oh, did i mention she is 18.

Why?

You know why, cause she had stood under a canopy and worn a white dress. Lovely. Really, I mean, she has a album- no touching pictures- to prove it too. Oh and she knows the answers to the questions apparently.

Wow, these things piss me off. Oh and just by the way, if your desperate to know what they are hiding, they have a section on, oh whats the word they used, ah yes INTIMACY. Ha, the whole thing is laughable really...

* I'm confused (won't be the first time, won't be the last.....) Is it:
I'm a mother?
or
Ima mother?
or
Something else?

The Good Salesman.

2007-01-23T07:10:00.000-08:00

"In de icker iz eir zol learnen torah" And with that parting message the teacher left the classroom. That is the sentence that is the bottom of the page of so many Sem girls notes. One would think that in England especially when a girl is the finale years of the ALL the education she is going to receive, the parting words of Shiur should not be something slightly more substantial than that.

When will they see that girls of today need more of an education? That telling them that Torah is the be all and end all of it, is like denying them air to breath. They get married and when there husbands don’t go to Daven 3 times a day they panic? When will these girls realizes that there are some monsters in the world? When they are packed in a 1 bed room flat in the center of the hill?

I may be bitter… who knows. I may have seen my fair share of abuse and suffering. But does my daughter have to see it too. We can not protect our beautiful princess for ever. One day you have to cut of the apron strings and close the door of the house? But the question is, do we also have to close the doors of our heart?

Say what you may, we both know that the divorce rate is souring. In our small knit community, where everyone knows exactly what and where you go, we deny our daughters the right to know what marriage brings. If a 17 year old girl is getting engaged, does she not have the right to have some lessons before hand that boys are different to you? That among the fairy tale and glamour there is such a thing as a man hitting his wife?

Fine you’ve managed to put it into her head that this is the one for her and all the more laughable is that she has also chosen him….. Has she really?!!! It reminds me of the time the sale lady tried to sell me a sweater. First she laid it against me; she examined how beautiful the color looks against my skin. Then she went into the fine qualities of the store. How they only use the highest quality of wools for there products and so she went on.

So too YOU, first you showed your daughter how beautiful she will look in the white dress, with the Sheitle beautiful styled to perfection. Then you went into the fine qualities of the boy. How boys from that yeshiva or family are the finest. After all the Chinuch is impeccable, what else can go wrong?. And then we let her 'try' it on. In a 2 hour meeting? The question remains…. Do we ever look into that particular sweater? To see if that one perhaps has a few stitches out of place. A temper perhaps? Or a fondness for trips to Vages?

No. We are so over whelmed by the 'family' or the 'yeshiva'. Or in some cases the changes that the boy has supposing made, that we forget to look at the label too. Handel with care. Or if placed in the washing machine may shrink. How many of these boys will shrink under pressure?

What happens once you’ve passed the honey moon stage? Then what? When the true colors do come out? Are we girls really equipped for the 'shrinkage?

Tounge In Check.

2006-06-25T06:43:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: Authoring this article does not by any means, mean that I support either Zalman Leib or Aron.(of course, here, I am not speaking for my father….)

You know things have gotten really nasty, when the JC decides to report on them. After all a newspaper which reports about the latest female rabbi in Brighton, as well as reviews Naomi Aldermans "Disobedience" in the same Issue, really doesn’t have much interest in Politics which involve Zalis and Aronis?

Until of course it gets nasty and dirty enough for Martin and Sophie (named at there Bris and Kisddish respectively as Mordechai and Soroh) sitting in there home in Cockfosters on Friday night, to exclaim, "well just look at these Ultra orthodox Pigs, all they ever care about is Money…"

Something distinctively remarkable about the Article is the fact that no one in Williamsburg would really talk to the JC's reporter. After all a Frummer Yid, will always be a Frummer Yid and they barely ever do wash there dirty laundry in public.
The article really does not contain much more information that what one could have read in the Obituaries that followed in the days after Reb Moshes ZT"AL death in the New York post and such…

There is no smoke with out fire and when it comes to Chassidish Politic, there are no exceptions. After all if not for Chassidish politics, what would all of the men discus in the Mikvah on Friday afternoon? Victoria Beckhams, latest haircut or Christiania Agulirias latest Single. I think not. Joewish made a point about how he was shocked to here a chassidsh man inquiring about the score last week. If he would have asked "Nu… vosu haltz by Zalman leib…" or "view feil Chassidim hot ge vein by Aron tish shavous? Zalman Keib hot ge hat mere? Nein? " would he have still been shocked then? But honestly which one is worse?

If we wouldn’t have these politics, which I think I can safely say are the doings of the Chassidm in oppose to there Rebbes, what would most of our men folk do on a Thursday night or Friday afternoon? Maybe be watching one the latest games? Huh?

Would the JC still be reporting about that? Imagine the latest headlines… "Ultra Orthodox in Stamford Hill discus football over there Shabbat afternoon Cholent" I think not.
Of course in the eyes of the Vad discussing football is wy worse than discussing the fact that R' halberstam Bumped into his Nephews Kallah at Mitzvah Tanz last week.

But in the eyes of heaven, some how I think He above would prefer us discussing Beckhams latest haircut over Zalman Leibs latest Tish. Neither are L'shem Shomayim but do the one that won't get u the sin.

Groom Me No Groom!

2006-06-20T16:16:00.000-07:00

I am neither too ugly nor too beautiful. Neither too poor nor too rich. Neither too clever nor too stupid. Neither too Yichusidck nor too Non Yichusdick. I am average. I never expected to be the first girl of my class to be engaged, but neither did i expect to be the last. I expected to do what I do best - be average…

I now find myself further down from average…. I find myself at the bottom of the heap. One of the last, schlepping along from wedding to wedding, from hall to hall….
The subtitle of my Blog (teenage) no longer applies to me. In truth it probably only just about applied to me when I started this Blog. I now find myself with another birthday approaching and I sit back and think……………………………………..

I AM HAPPY! I am happy with where I'm up to in my life, with what I am doing . I AM IN NO RUSH!

Shocked? I have most certainly shocked myself.

The point here is that I wish people would stop thinking that marriage is a bed of roses, a solution, to get out the house. Or even free nookie…. None of these are reasons to get married. I would never say my life is 100% ideal, and I believe that I have plenty of things that I need to work on. But a person CAN NOT come into a marriage with problems, hoping that their spouse will solve them.

At the moment, I have no reason to get married.

The cynicism in me has always been prominent, and now is no different. I see so much unhappiness around me. She had a baby too soon; she had to wait so long. His wife wants him to stay in Kollel, his wife wants him to leave Kollel so she can go shopping all day. Or they just simply do not match.
There is no way that I can guarantee that my marriage will be perfect, in fact no marriage is. But I do believe that I should go into it being the best person that I can be. And a person that is desperate to say 'I do' to the next shmerel the shadchan suggests because of peer pressure, the big wedding, or even to escape her father, is in my personal opinion, an idiot and most definitely not the best person they can be or become.

You see in this case, I am not average. In fact if I may be so blunt, I think of myself at the top of the class. I love myself for thinking this way. I love myself for not submitting to the pressures of my peers….

But more than me, I LOVE one person, for making me realize it….

In The Spirit Of The Season...

2006-06-19T15:22:00.000-07:00

It's coming home…. It's coming home… It's coming……

Hear Say

2005-10-10T09:43:00.000-07:00

"Hello Mrs Gluck? Hi my name is Mrs Stern. Do you have a son called Moshe? Well I advise you to be very careful with him. What do you mean? Well you know how he goes to the Snooker Club down In Seven Sisters? Yeah well you know he hangs out with Girls there. And you know what else. Recently he has been seen in alleyways with Girls. So Mrs Gluck, if you don’t want your son to have a Mamzer very soon. I advise you not to let him out the house after 10.00 or at least check out some of his friends."

No; this is not a little story that I just made up. This story actually happened. And you know when? A few days before Rosh Hashonah. I bet this Mrs Stern thinks she is a real do-gooder. Is it not bad enough for a mother to know that her son does not have the best name because he didn’t stay in Yeshivah until he got married? Is it not bad enough for that mother that she is having a hard time with her son with Shidduchim because he hasn’t got the Best name? Instead she gets some so called “do-gooder” calling her up and telling her complete Junk about her son. (Believe me what they are saying about him isn’t true, I know this guy.)

Or how about this? A friend of mine was asking Shidduch information about a girl to one her closest friends who is now happily married. Do you know what this girl said about her friend? Yeah she now dresses like she is more up for it. It seems like now she will go out with a guy. It is a known fact that this girl was one of the top-graduating girls from her Sem class. Maybe the problem was that she started wearing her hair loose because she thought she looked better. Or maybe she started (gasp, shock) wearing a bit of lipstick?

In a community as close knit as ours, most of us will be able to very closely observe what is going on in our neighbours living room. We might not pretend to see what going on, but how many times have you seen a juicy piece of gossip, like the fact that your neighbour has a DVD player or something stupid like that, because when you went upstairs to fetch your washing as she was doing you a favour because your washing machine broke, you saw it. And have you not hesitated to think that by you telling your sister it’s an intrusion on her privacy?

And even if you don’t understand that its an intrusion on her privacy, then maybe its an intrusion on her name. Maybe the following week she will apply to get her son into a school and by not having Yicus or money, all she has is her good name, and now you have destroyed that small ally she had on her side?

I don’t feel that I am the one to give Mussar ever; I don’t even think I have the right to say anything in concern to high holidays that have been and are to come. But instead of being so brainwashed by the Rebetzeen about your Tznius or the fact that you should try and go to the Mikvah every morning. Maybe we should all try to work on our Sinus Chnium and Bein Odem Lechavarah. I understand that sometimes a person may not have the best name because he/she once did something very stupid that they surely regret now. But do you think it’s your place or business to actually let the world and its cleaner know about it. Or maybe think about it, and imagine if it would be your daughter or son they would be calling about? How would it make you feel, especially when you have not even checked your facts? Especially when its complete and utter nonsense?

Maybe all the So-called do-gooders should stop and think and say
“Are you really your brothers keeper?”