Presence

I buy the K'far Darom pickles (Chamutzim) - they are by far the best and not too pricey (like $1.49 a can).

Anne noticed that they were back in production the day that Ariel Sharon had his second stroke.

I suppose you could count a portion of your purchase as charity/ma'aser

Do you know where the money goes? The owner of the outfit might be a millionaire. A veritable lettuce magnate, for all we know.

The point is, he didn't blame anyone for the loss of his veges; some Palestinian in Gaza took them from him, but he went out and achieved anyway!

I can't solve your problems, sir, only you can.

After reading your blogs it seems to me that you consider yourself a posek and someone that has knowledge of the inner workings of the entire Baltimore community. Before you post suggestions such as using some of your lettuce $$ as masser and before you publicize stories about TA and Rambam, maybe you should work on gathering your FACTS first. While a blog should not be held to the same accountability as mainstream journalism, the fact that you voice more than just your uninformed opinion on matters that are of extreme sensitivity and importance shows an extreme lack of responsibility. I apologize for being so harsh; especially considering I don't know you, but I do believe you should reconsider your reckless approach to this blog.

Anon- if you criticize Greg, perhaps you should have the guts not to post anonymously. I know Greg, and trust me, he does not even come close to considering himself a posek. Lack of responsibility? I believe Greg made it quite clear that anything he was saying was speculative, and that he didn't know all the facts, and therefore we shouldn't jump to conclusions. Why don't you read all the posts and the comments before jumping to conclusions?

Anonymous:

I put my full name on everything I write. If that isn't enough to convince anyone with half a brain that I'm not a posek, well, sorry. I've never once claimed to be an authoritative source on anything (other than The Big Lebowski). I do have opinions, and I offer them all the time, to people I talk to, and on my blog. If you think I'm wrong, that's why there are comments. I'm not controlling the conversation, you can offer your opinion as to why you think Gush Katif lettuce shouldn't be ma'aser. Hopefully you'll do it in a rational way, devoid of ad hominem attacks, but that might be too much to hope for.

The same goes for fact vs. opinion. If I get something wrong, please, by all means, correct me. That being said, I've posted nothing on this site that is a baseless rumor. All the Rambam stuff, I've experienced first hand, as well as all the TA stuff, except for the initial news about R. Teichman, which I heard from a person whom R. Teichman told himself, and confirmed afterwards. There's a bunch of stuff I haven't posted as well, stuff that has been sent to me, that I've thought too speculative to post. But you wouldn't know that, because, as you said, you don't know me.

Do you question my right to a personal opinion as to what a school should do, or how I want to educate my child? If you don't like what I have to say, go read some other blog or learn Torah or whatever. But, please, don't waste my time with your silly little criticisms of my sense of responsibility.

If you'd at least left your real name, or email, even just for me to see, I would have a bit of respect for you. I was afraid anonymous commenting would lead to this kind of immaturity.

One minute....

You're not comparing reading your blog to learning Torah now, are you?

as for Mr. Anonymous, --
While it's true that my good friend greg's hashkafic outlook could benefit from a crash course in Maharal with a smidgen of Rav Dessler, there is really no reason to think that he assumes to be a posek or loshen hara mongrel.
I can personally attest to Greg's moral fiber as being of the highest caliber. He has an impeccable record of attempting to place his yiras shamayim before his mundane pursuits. And even though he uses latin phrases and big words that most of us non-YU'ers (anti-YU'ers?) don't know without the aid of Google, I can promise you he is no posek.

With that overloquacient soliloquy behind us, I would like to request from mr anonymous, in the name of those of us who read Greg's blog more often than we read the Bible, to please get a life.

If you're going to come into my home, expect to hear my opinion. If you don't like my opinions, feel free to discuss them at my table over a cup of coffee. If you don't wish to discuss, but rather berate me for my thoughts, don't come over; it'll make it easier for us to get along.

That's kinda the way blogs are.

Only without the coffee.

Without gainsaying SGKVS's articulate defense of blogging in general, and Presence in particular, I would just suggest that the fact that Rav Dessler's teachings are popular in that component of the yeshiva world that survived the Holocaust does not make them absolute. And while I (unlike our host, interestingly enough) am too constricted by rationalism to have developed an appreciation for the Maharal, if we had more Ralbagians around, perhaps our educatio-economic problems would largely resolve themselves.

In affectionate yeesh-hood,

- Moishe Potemkin

OK, you guys are going to have to elaborate on what the heck you are talking about. Otherwise, I'm going to spend all night reading Wikipedia articles on the philosophies of Rabbis Lowey, Dessler and Ben Gerson. And God knows I've got better things to do with my time.

On a related note, I learned a new word last week: lapsarian.

At the risk of oversimplifying grossly, Rabbis Dessler and Leowy were fans of the "we are all brains in a jar" school of existence. If I understand him correctly (Hah!), Ralbag was purely an empiricist who had little conviction in detailed perpetual divine intervention. My last silly little putrid point was that Rabbi Dessler's philosophy was consistent with the currently widespread practice of self-justified limited effort expended towards earning a livelihood, while Ralbag would essentially say that the reason tuitions are so high is because many people don't earn enough money.

It's not Dave, by the way.

At the risk of oversimplifying grossly, Rabbis Dessler and Leowy were fans of the "we are all brains in a jar" school of existence. If I understand him correctly (Hah!), Ralbag was purely an empiricist who had little conviction in detailed perpetual divine intervention. My last silly little putrid point was that Rabbi Dessler's philosophy was consistent with the currently widespread practice of self-justified limited effort expended towards earning a livelihood, while Ralbag would essentially say that the reason tuitions are so high is because many people don't earn enough money.

It's not Dave, by the way.

At the risk of oversimplifying grossly, Rabbis Dessler and Leowy were fans of the "we are all brains in a jar" school of existence. If I understand him correctly (Hah!), Ralbag was purely an empiricist who had little conviction in detailed perpetual divine intervention. My last silly little putrid point was that Rabbi Dessler's philosophy was consistent with the currently widespread practice of self-justified limited effort expended towards earning a livelihood, while Ralbag would essentially say that the reason tuitions are so high is because many people don't earn enough money.

It's not Dave, by the way.