Restoring us to our former grandeur

Anti -aish here. Welcome back to our blog. Proving that two heads are better than one, I've teamed up with the Assimilaishionist (Ass for short?) We've lost some content which I will try to restore shortly. The important thing is that due to the outpouring of our readers, we are ready to take the fight to Aish, and make them answer for their actions, and more damningly, for their inactions. Here are some of the previous posts we've saved for your perusal. Prepare to be Assimilaishionated!

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Toward a better Aish
Excellent question/point brought up by frum jew in recovery in his comment to my "headline: "Duh"" post, although on closer scrutiny, I am not sure exactly how valid it is. What I mean is, I don't hold myself out as a giant of the spirit. My experiences were painful, and when I tried to contact Aish in New York and in Jerusalem to alert them to what was going on (or not going on, as the case may be), it was made very clear to me that they couldn't care less, so long as the money keeps rolling in from the secular types who are trying to assuage their "Jewish guilt" with donations to an organization that promulgates an idealized version of their grandparents' Judaism.That said, a pet peeve of mine is those whose criticism lacks a constructive element. Thus, I will take a stab at my spiritual prescription, though I fear the results will be woefully inadequate.What I would like to see is Aish advocate a spiritual Judaism, one that is as open-minded as they claim to be. While I respect that as a halachic organization they are constrained to some extent in what they can do, I still think there exists much room for creativity. For instance, the Jewish calendar is replete with outreach opportunities. It seems that every other month along comes a holiday that lends itself to outreach. Thus, apple-picking for Rosh haShanna, costume parties for Purim, and ice cream socials for Shavuos spring to mind. I can only speak from my experience, but whenever ideas such as this were offered to Aish, they tended to be rejected as being too "Chabad-like," whatever that means. But people who sit in an office all day rarely get enthused about sitting in a class room for a lecture that evening, so is it any surprise that sometimes I would be the only person attending an Aish class? And further, is it any wonder that if I were one of only a few people at such events, I, and others like me, could go years languishing at Aish without meeting anyone suitable for marriage?
Posted by anti-aish at 7:05 PM 11 comments
Monday, August 13, 2007

Headline: "Duh"
Well, a St. Louis ultra-Orthodox rabbi gets quoted about inter-marriage! Is he from Aish? LOL! How about the Kollel? Nah, all of those "rabbis" are still hitting the ground running. He's Heshy Novack from Chabad. Man, I really hitched my Jewish horse to the wrong St. Louis wagon. Anyways, read it and weep.http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1186066407261Hat tip to the Toddster!
Posted by anti-aish at 9:26 AM 1 comments
Sunday, August 12, 2007

On Comments...
I try to print all comments, regardless of their point of view. Who knows. maybe someone who disagrees with me can convince me that I am wrong? That being said, I would ask that commentors refrain from using proper names of Aish "rabbis" and others in their posts. It is easy enough for those so inclined to figure out who does what at Aish. I am trying to focus on the institutional issues at the organization, and not get bogged down into petty personal disagreements.Remember, if we are trying to change Aish (and I have anecdotal evidence that suggests we already have gotten their attention!), we need to focus on the issues, and not the people. That is my opinion at least, and as always, I'd love to hear other wiews. Just please try to keep names out of it, as much as is pracical:)
Posted by anti-aish at 4:03 AM 3 comments
Thursday, August 9, 2007

Charity Navigator
Got a great comment from an anonymous out there. (Guys, can you pick a name so I can give credit?) He talks about one of the Aish "rabbis" bringing in a cool quarter mil for the year. He got that information from Charity Navigator, which awarded zero (count 'em, zero) stars to Aish's Jerusalem Fellowships. Your tzeddakah dollars at work, folks.In an only tangentially related matter, I linked this blog to Aish's wikipedia page twice, as did a friend. All three times, the link was quickly removed. But don't get discouraged, everyone. If they're trying to censor us like a Zoo Rabbi book, it must mean we're getting under their skin!
Posted by anti-aish at 3:05 PM 9 comments
Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Where oh where, art thou Speed Dating?
I've gotten a lot of great comments on this blog; please keep them coming! Eventually, I hope to reach out to more j-bloggers, in an effort to really shine a light on the issues that this blog deals with, but then can only happen with the great constructive criticism that I've been receiving.One comment I got really started me thinking. Basically, the guy asked, "what about speed dating?" Speed dating, indeed. The Aish creation that has caused more Aish rabbis to need rotator cuff surgery from trying to pat themselves on the back.The truth is I really don't know what ever became of the idea. The Kvetcher heard a rumor that certain big right-wing rabbis opposed the idea. At this point, I haven't been able to confirm that, but it makes sense that something happened to change the organization around so quickly. For instance, the latest article on Aish's web site http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/jewishsociety/Intermarriage_and_the_N.Y._Times.asp has 143 comments posted to it. (I am jealous!) Meantime, their Speed Dating web site lists all of one upcoming event! http://www.speeddating.com/ That's a disconnect too large for even Aish to ignore, so maybe the Kvetcher is right, or perhaps there just wasn't a lot of money in speed dating, which is after all the unifying motivator of that organization.
Posted by anti-aish at 7:50 AM 1 comments
Monday, August 6, 2007

Just so you don't think I am only anti-Aish...
I'm also anti-community kollel! Fortunately for both my bank account and myself, I didn't spend as much on them as I did on Aish. Nevertheless, when I went there seeking help, before realizing that most of Orthodox outreach consists of schnorrers reaching out to put their grubby hands in my wallet, the "rabbi" there promised to "hit the ground running" to solve the problem not just for me, but for the other men in the same situation. Apparently the ground hit back. Below is an e-mail correspondence to help illustrate my point. All names have been removed to protect the (not-so) innocent. Seriously, people, St. Louis needs help!Thank you for thinking of me during your fundraising drive. I must admit I was surprised to see your organization looking for hand outs, as I know one of your outreach rabbi, ### ####, recently vacationed for eight weeks during a four month period. I would have thought that if the Kollel needed funds it might have given him "only" a month's vacation, so that he could use the other four weeks for, um, oh I don't know, OUTREACH, as that, I think, would probably lead to fundraising opportunities. It seemed especially egregious when he took a full month off the day after he had a young professional's event at which four, count 'em four, people attended. Memo to ###: four people attending is not an event; it's lunch at a neighborhood diner. But i guess thats why you guys are the rabbis, and I'm just a poor working stiff.In any event, I will show your request the same consideration that ### showed me during our last conversation (when he hung up on me).Wishing the kollel a prosperous new year,####### ####Dear Friends,It would be difficult to imagine St. Louis without the Kollel. For the past twenty years our fabulous team of dynamic Rabbis has blessed us with their warmth, guidance, and knowledge. Over the past two years the Kollel has brought itself to a new level. We now have 17 staff members serving the community. Our programs and our popularity are constantly increasing. In order to continue in our great work we need your help! Once a year we turn to the broader community to assist us in our endeavors. Please read the attached flyer and respond generously so that we may continue to serve you for many years to come.Rabbi ######## ########Executive Director
Posted by anti-aish at 5:22 AM 9 comments

We have comments!
First off, Ahavah and Tsvi, welcome to my blog! I want to thank both of you for taking the time to visit. We are new, so any ideas you have to make it better would be greatly appreciated. Also, feel free to post our link on your blog, as we are trying to get the word out about us. And as you can hopefully tell, I try to be friendly to all, regardless of their opinions, so to everyone else out in the blogosphere, please feel free to join the discussion.Now, with the preliminaries out of the way, allow me to say I don't think I made myself entirely clear in the post. My problem isn't so much that the Aish rabbis didn't make their own daughters available, as it is that they viewed outreach as beneath them. Whenever we came up with ideas to attract new folks, they were denigrated as being too "Chabad-like." And I'm not talking about anything over the top, like proclaiming Reb Noach the messiah or anything. Just maybe a costume party on Purim, or anything to get new folks through the door.Without doing any outreach, there were no females for us to meet, and yet the rabbis were shocked when guys started inter-dating! What were we supposed to do? Most secular guys (and that is to whom outreach should be directed right?) aren't going to happily grow old and die alone, because that's G-d's will. We are going to proactively seek alternatives to address the situation.
Posted by anti-aish at 4:03 AM 2 comments