As a longtime Lakewood resident, I have watched with pride as our community has grown by leaps and bounds, the kol Torah resonating louder and louder with every passing year. Finding ourselves as we are now in the midst of sefiras ha’omer, I am both mystified and pained by the news that a Lag B’Omer event for Lakewood-area children that was scheduled to be held at the FirstEnergy Park parking lot was banned based on what appears to be misinformation.
I personally have close ties to Beis Medrash Govoha and its esteemed roshei yeshiva and appreciate full well that the importance of our community’s long standing policies disallowing concerts or holding any events of any sort in the stadium.
But this Lag B’Omer event, organized jointly by several local Chabads and sponsored by respected local institutions and businesses, was constructed with all of those standards in mind. Scheduled to take place on Friday afternoon after school, this event is taking place in the parking lot, not within the stadium itself, with a program of Tehillim on behalf of acheinu Bnei Yisroel, a puppet show and a story teller.
And while yes, there will be some live zemiros with Benny Friedman, it is just one of several components of the program, making it difficult to even to classify this as a concert. Ironically, the program is quite similar to that of another event being held in the same location on Thursday night, one that for whatever reason, has been deemed as being in keeping with community standards.
I can only surmise that this beautiful celebration was incorrectly described to roshei yeshiva as a concert in the stadium, given the letter that was sent out to Lakewood parents urging them not to send their children. And it is exceedingly painful to hear that people masquerading as the event organizers have been making robocalls falsely suggesting that Chabad messaging will be at play here, when nothing could be farther from the truth.
The goal behind this event was very simple. In keeping with the time-honored tradition of celebrating Lag B’omer, why not create a program that all community children could enjoy, one that balances Torah with fun, while holding strong to the values and standards that define who we are? It is a sad day in Lakewood when there are those who are intentionally seeking to be divisive and are deliberately misrepresenting facts to our revered roshei yeshiva during a period when we should be focusing on achdus and Rabbi Akiva’s timeless message of v’ahavta l’reyacha kamocha.
I can only hope that this mistake will be rectified on behalf of our children, who should have the opportunity to celebrate Lag B’Omer with Torah-true simcha.
Sincerely,
Aryeh Weinstein
R Aryeh , great letter!
Many shuls are having tzniusdike events appropriate for the level of kedusha that the old lakewood is renowned for
Please join us there & love us too
Thank you Arye! A well written letter!
Agreed 100%
Sinas Chinam still rages….
From people I speak to (we’re talking about serious people who really want to follow da’as Torah and do the right thing) it seems that most are past the point of still taking these Kol Korehs seriously on any level, given the number of times they were retracted because of misrepresentation and sheker etc. What irks me about that is not the false agenda created by the instigators, but the lack of Kavod HaTorah that happens as a result. Very sad.
Beautiful letter!
tizku lmitzvos reb areyeh!
Thank you rabbi Weinstein, this speaking the truth and standing up to rabble rousers is VERY overdue.
Anyone who doesn’t want to go doesn’t have to. But lmaan Hashem… stop the sinaas chinam already.
what event is being thursday night?
I look at the events surrounding this concert or whatever you want to call it bearing your rose-colored glasses or dirt-covered glasses as the case may be and I find it highly ironic.
I find that ironic that there are certain people who had no problem going to a stadium about 475 days ago on a cold winter day or some 2711 days before that on a muggy August night, yet they have a problem with anyone going to a Jewish event at the local stadium. Let’s remember this is a stadium that BMG itself encouraged voters in Lakewood to vote for, knowing full well that there would be a minor league team placed in the stadium. They did this why, so that a nice track of land can become theirs at a very low price.
Investors at the time spent a lot of money to procure the rights for a stand in the stadium to sell kosher food. They lost their pants when the “schools” sent a letter to everyone proudly proclaiming that their children would not be accepted into any of the local schools if they attended any baseball games at the stadium. Again, despite being told to vote for it.
Unfortunately there are many people in Lakewood walking around with an attitude of everything is treif and they take it upon themselves to make sure the city is exactly what it was in the ’60s and ’70s. They fail to understand that many people have moved to the Lakewood, Jackson, toms River area who have zero to do with BMG and then all probability have never even seen it.
When you take away all the outlets for the kids, I guarantee you they will not go to sit in the Bais Medresh, they will go elsewhere to find them. When everything is treif and no “outlet” is acceptable, you are causing the kids to do worse, and that is exactly what has happened. People have their heads in the sand and there are thousands of kids in Lakewood who are OTD or on the verge of OTD.
By the way, do you think anyone looks at it differently of the fact that something is in the parking lot versus something in the stadium? Especially after this? The people who wanted the event out of the stadium look like a bunch of 2-year-olds and have lost respect that they never had from anyone.
I have no doubt after 120 these people will be answering for their misdeeds.
Kol yaldei Yisroel!
We need achdus in this town. I consider myself yeshivish, but, I don’t know or understand what is wrong with this event?
I consider myself yeshivish, but I don’t know or understand what is wrong with this event.
My children were so looking forward to this event