" Catch 22 "

 Two prominent American  roshei yeshiva, Harav Malkiel Kotler Shlit'a and Harav Elya Ber Wachtfogel Shlit'a were recently in Eretz Yisrael. While there, they  discussed several issues with gedolei yisroel. One particular issue was the so called Shidduch crisis and whether to enforce an age limit of 22 on yeshiva bochurim coming back from  learning in EY to Lakewood or other yeshivos. Currently most boys in the litvish circles on average get engaged at the age of  23 as they first go to EY at the age of 19-20. The effect it has on the Shidduch crisis  is the age gap. Since girls are entering shidduchim and getting engaged at the age of 18, add the population growth, and you have many more 18 year old's than 23 year old's.

However, even if the amount of boys and girls are equal in the same age bracket, the 23 year old boys are not all getting engaged to 23 year old girls. They are dating girls from the age of 18 and up resulting in many more single girls on the market. Recently many attempts, incentives and ideas came up on closing the gap. One idea was to have the girls start at 19. Noted speaker, Rabbi Paysach Krohn, has been advocating for boys to go out and date girls their own age or even a few years older than them, which would result in  bridging the gap.

 Having boys return from EY at an earlier age is another option to bridge the gap. It will force bochurim to start shidduchim at a younger age. It has not been implemented yet. Many questions remain as to the specifics. For example: what will happen if a bochur comes back at the age of 23, or will all this ever actually be implemented? Another issue is in regards to Pell grants. Students learning in Israel have recently been able to obtain the grant resulting in using it up much sooner, which would force yeshivos in America who are also using Pell grants to raise the tuition if students enroll with used up Pell grants. This idea  will obviously have an effect on the Israeli and American yeshivos, since the boys will not stay as long in EY or not go at all.

Yated Editorial, sad how some in the frum media reported on beit Shemesh.

  In its weekly editorial the Yated Ne'eman
courageously pointed out the sad fact how other frum media outlets reported on the events in beit Shemesh. We are all being tarred with the same filthy brush, even though the spin misters know its not true, that we've been led to believe by the media and apologists within our own camp.  we cant just condemn and disown the actions of the unruly, unscrupulous few, without casting doubt on the entire frum community. The editor quotes;

"We cannot give impostors and usurpers the power to induce us into believing fictitious bad things about ourselves. We cannot permit them to divide us or turn our backs on our birthright. By letting them set the agenda, we are party to the discrediting campaign. It was disturbing to see voices in our very own Torah media being taken in by the hype, rushing to believe the worst of our own, accepting at face value the conclusions of those driven by political and anti-Torah agendas."

 As mentioned here in a previous post many blogger's, and even the frum print media rushed to condemn the actions of a few, yet failed to point out that its only a few, and are more apologetic than showing the real beauty of charedim. We need more oversight even for the frum charedi publications.

The bad, the bad, and the ugly.

   So you have one website  taking shots at another frum website. One calling the other one as being anti Torah never missing an opportunity to besmirch frum yidden and spew hatred. The irony is that a website with anonymous names and no person or rabbinic authority  giving its approval is a total joke.  In reality,  there is nothing good amongst the frum news sites. Each one has its agenda and will post narishkeiten that the frum print media wont. There is no accountability at all, this may just  be a ratings war, over current and potential advertisers each one trying to woo more hits to their site.

   The website with the holier than though attitude has posted articles about a  frum yid who was involved in a scandal. They had since removed it, but,why was it posted in the first place ? It was pure Lashon hora and rechilus. So what makes one website better than the other? this site also has  a entertainment section with kosher videos. One, of a  Chasidish husband lying to his wife that he's in shul davening, while he is in  a hotel room watching TV. Is there a hashgacha on this too ? Is this the (self declared) online voice of Torah Jewry??

   There is no such thing as good website when it comes to frum news reporting , its only a matter of who is worse. Especialy online where there is no censorship and each anonymous owner (including this blog)  posts articles on their own discretion.
 What is needed is a Website with real people, real names backed up by  Rabbanim who are looked up to by the klal. rabbanim who became rabbanim in their respected positions not those that rise to fame on a website.