Apparently the folks over at Chaim Berlin really have their priorities in order.
If you only read one blog post (other than my own of course) this week, you must have a look over at Jacob Da Jew. I repost it here, in its entirety.
"Received from Mordy from The Knish. Too good.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dearest Readers:
Last year I shared with you the sad picture of an apikorus in the heilige Chaim Berlin Beis Medrash, easily spotted due to his blue shirt. You can see this tragic photo, chosen by Chaim Berlin to grace their 2009 calendar, here:
http://www.frumsatire.net/
I'm relieved to inform you that the nebach bochur has done teshuva!! I recently received the Chaim Berlin 2010 calendar and, as you can see in the attached scan, the previously-stained bochur is now wearing a white shirt!
Yes, the attached file really is an unedited scan of the 2010 calendar cover (except for the green commentary, of course). Yes, it really is the exact same shot as the 2009 calendar with one small difference. You can verify this with anyone who receives Chaim Berlin's fundraising material.In this time of public scandals and serious problems in our community it's good to know that someone at Chaim Berlin took the time to change a blue shirt to a white one. I'm speaking of course of the bochur, that inspiring role model who saw the error of his ways. How he got everyone to pose in the exact same way for the reshoot I don't know, but I'd guess it's because they were inspired by his teshuvah. Please forward this around and/or post it publicly so as to be mefarsem the bochur's inspiring change.
Mordechai"
10 comments:
To fully express my opinion of this nonsense, I refer you to the picture of yesterday's post. I of course will continue to wear colored shirts (and suits).
Jron -
LOL... it took me a while to figure out you meant the toilet.....
Please try to keep your food down.
Thanks for the link
I normally get upset at these things, but in this case the photoshop may really have had everything to do with aesthetics and nothing to do with an agenda.
I agree with Jron that yesterday's shark post and picture was very cute.
OK -
Let's say for a moment that it was for aesthetic purposes....
I refer you to the following story available here:
Nothing But the Truth
When Rabbi Aharon Kotler founded the yeshivah in Lakewood, New Jersey, he acquired for this purpose a small house. The walkway leading up to the door of the house was lined with trees, two on one side and three on the other. Receipt books were ordered for the yeshivah, and it was decided that a picture of the yeshivah building should be printed on top of the receipts. But the graphic artist who designed the receipts felt that the picture would look better if another tree were added to the walkway, so that there would be three trees on either side, and the extra tree was drawn into the picture.
When the receipts were delivered and shown to Rabbi Kotler , he was very disappointed with them, and exclaimed, "This is not a true likeness of the yeshivah building!" He ordered that the receipt books be discarded and new ones prepared.
"I am building a yeshivah based upon the foundation of the principle of truth," Rabbi Kotler explained. "I do not want even a small trace of misrepresentation or dishonesty to be involved in the foundation of this yeshivah!"
That was 60 years ago. Today, the same Lakewood yeshivah is the largest rabbinic school in America, with some 4,000 active students.
Chaim Berlin does not have a "white shirt only" rule, it is more de facto...
I agree it was done to make the picture clean and uniform- the story about R' Ahron Kotler and the tree is inspiring with a clear message, but Chaim Berlin does not hold by R' Ahron Kotler on more than one level (most significantly college after yeshiva)... I don't think they needed to put out an all-white front, it was just for the sake of aesthetics (and it's not necessarily misrepresentation like the addition of a tree to the picture since on most days I'd wager the bais medrash is fully white)
I still think Chaim Berlin is more sane than other places, and I agree with other posters, that it was just for a more uniform look.
Of course, I have a hard time with that whole concept, but hey, don't bash chaim berlin (see my new post about this idea)
Let me repeat a comment I made at Jacob's blog. I'll be l'chav z'chus that the yeshiva changed the blue to white for aethetic reasons rather than ideological ones. But this raises another very real problem. Thanks to electronic intervention tools, such as Photoshop, can we ever any more know if what we are seeing is "real," is as it happened, rather than having been changed for some purpose? When a photo has been manipulated, is it always for some benevolent purpose? Makes it hard to believe the evidence of your own eyes.
Apparently Chaim Berlin is in good company. Microsoft photoshopped the head of a white man onto a black man's body for distribution in Poland. They did not change the man's hand.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,542901,00.html
Microsoft apologized.
I wonder if Chaim Berlin will follow suit (or shirt ;) ...)
Post a Comment