The most important thing

     Growing up the mantra always was that if you have a good Jewish education you are good to go. You will remain frum and that's the end of the story. But is that really true?
      Without a doubt it is important to have a solid Jewish education to be Torah true Jew. How else would one know what the mitvzvos entail? But is it the end of the story? Without a doubt it is not . In my opinion remaining frum is all about attitude, not about how strict one's Jewish education is or how strict one's parents are. Does the school give a kid a good feeling about being frum? Does a kid's parent make being observant seem like something that is positive instead of just a list of don't do this and don't do that? A family or school may not be so right wing but if they infuse a love of Torah and make a kid feel positive about it this can go a long way. Or I can tell you  if a kid only has very negative  experiences in school or at home in regards to living a Torah true life well, he/she will for sure go off the derech.
     We are fortunate enough to live in a country where Jewish people are treated well so staying Jewishly connected is not a given. However, just because being Jewishly connected is a choice instead of being kept in line as a Jew due to anti semitsm, it does not mean that people will opt out. It just means that Jewish education and parents need to be all they say they are and rely on the power of the positive  as opposed to the power of  the negative. We are observant because living a Torah observant life is the best way for a Jew to live as opposed to only being Torah Jews because being "goyish" is negative.

Rabbi paysach Krohn speaking in City Field @ kinus

very interesting. rabbi krohn wants to ban the comments sections in vos iz nais  (i know i spelled that wrong) because they may be lashon hara. oh and most probably because he doesn't agree with them.
what i most have a problem with is how he thinks he will put bloggers in charem when according to him no one should be blogging or reading blogs anyway so how would anyone know who the bloggers were to begin with to ban them? the other thing is that this kind of threat only has power if the person you are threatening respects the people banning them. personally i think that all these rabbis should forget about banning the internet and live exemplary lives and show how beautiful living a torah life is without having to badmouth technology. the  strength of the torah and a torah true life should be speak for itself.
anyway i think that its quite funny that all these rabbis dislike the  discussion about judaism that occurs on blogs. judaism is all about discussion , especially in halacha. there are lots of opinions and then there is what the halachah is . discussion about what is right and wrong about judaism is so integral . this is what separates us from the goyim. the fact that we CAN ask questions proves how true the torah is.

what are your intentions?

when i was a kid i was taught that when one does a mitzvah lo lishmah bah lishmah. when one does a mitzvah without the proper intention  you will eventually do it with the proper intention.  this is so profound. this means that hashem knows that people aren't always on the level to do the mitzvah totally lishmah and will give us points for a mitzvah even if it is done by rote. this also means that one should not look down on those who are religious but are shomer shabbos more because this is how they are than because they consciously made the decision to become religious. it also invalidates those who  won't do mitzvot because they don't believe in them even if they might get enjoyment  doing them lo lishmah.
a few years ago i went to a book reading that featured  shalom auslander of foreskin's lament fame. at the event he proudly shared that he specifically did not want his wife to light chanukkah candles if  she said any brachos when she lit them or if she assigned any religious meaning to them because he did not believe in any form of religion. he was just so frum about not being frum.
being an observant jew is not for everyone. i get that. i also think that its ok to be an observant jew without  ideologically agreeing with every aspect of the religion. i also think that its better to observe a little of the torah than nothing at all. i do not think that hashem expects everyone to be perfectly observant , i think he just wants us to do as much as we are able to at whatever level we are on.

out of love or out of fear

i never like it when i hear people disparage thing and say that such and such is bad because its goyish. why not stress the positive instead of a negative ?

i went to frum schools all my life and i went to touro college. i did not have to deal with the outside world and the world of the goyim until i got a job in a secular company. if i would have believed the frum cultural notion that everything goyish is the work of the devil i surely would have left the fold.  

there are good secular people and bad secular people . there are good goyim and there are bad goyim. we keep the torah because we are jewish and because the torah is true, not because everything else is "bad". 

keeping up with the times

 when i see old yiddish movies from the 1920s it always cracks me up . everyone is always dressed in the "hip"  "cool" clothes of the times. unfortunately what was "hip" and "cool" then was quite different from what is "hip" and "cool" then.
so often we try to keep up with the culture and be fashionable and then even just ten years later what was then cool is now uncool.
i am frum, but i also find secular culture enjoyable. secular culture changes while the torah stays the same.  for better or for worse, this truism cannot be seen more clearly than in an old yiddish movie

the value of a mitzvah.

do you think that there is value in each and every mitzvah a person does, or is it the sum total that is important?

i believe that every mitzvah a person does has value no matter how many or few.

i think that every mitzvah a person does scores "points" with the one above. some of us may do more mitzvos than others, but it does not mean that if someone does fewer mitzvos that those they perform do not count. in a way they count more because it may be more difficult for them to actually do those they actually do.

judaism is not all or nothing. the torah is broken down into 613 mitzvos instead of being just one chunk for a reason. i believe that it is because it would be too overwhelming to be tackled all in one shot . its much easier to achieve total observance bit by bit  (mitzvah by mitzvah).

the propensity to sin

as a kid it always seemed strange that some halachot have to be spelled out. don't kill. don' steal. isn't it obvious? as i have experienced more of life i have realized that there is a reason that these laws are spelled out. one never knows who could end up being a murderer or could steal. or commit adultery.  i haven't done any of these things, but i have met individuals who have. i would never have expected these people to have done these things, but they have. apparently its not as obvious as i once thought. this is why it has to be spelled out and drilled into peoples heads. it is in the hopes that no one will ever engage in such grievous sins.