Agudah's bogus war

Well spotted by OrthoMom:

CONVENTION 2006
GET THE ANSWER TO THESE AND OTHER COMPELLING QUESTIONS
...Have bloggers declared open season on Torah Authority?

[an ad for the Aguda Convention from Hamodia]

Let me see if I have this straight. Instead of talking about Kolko, or the Mikva accusations floating around like so much scum on a pond, the august annual Agudas Yisroel assembly is going to dedicate itself to discussing blogs. Smashing news. Our outstanding faith has been hijacked and subverted by fraudulently pious men who wish only to aquire cash and kovod. Our children are ignorant and insecure, and certain that any other expression of Judaism is illigitimate. Our wives have been browbeaten into the kitchen and taught that meaningful employment is "not for them." But, rather then talk about any of this Agudah, the self-proclaimed leader of yahadus, wishes to roast the bloggers for not bowing deeply enough whenever the name of a great Rabbi is mentioned.

I'm sure the monsters and misbehaviors in our community are overjoyed to learn that our self-appointed leaders have once again missed the bus.

On the chance that Avi Shafran is the sort of person who compulsivly Googles his own name let me see if I can capture his attention and set the record straight:

Avi Shafran Avi Shafran Avi Shafran Avi Shafran Avi Shafran Avi Shafran Avi Shafran Avi Shafran Avi Shafran Avi Shafran Avi Shafran Avi Shafran Avi Shafran Avi Shafran Avi Shafran Avi Shafran Avi Shafran Avi Shafran Avi Shafran Avi Shafran Avi Shafran Avi Shafran Avi Shafran Avi Shafran

The bloggers aren't at war with Torah Authority. In fact, I can't think of a single one who has any real beef with any of the legitimate gedolim. I know I don't.

What I, and so many other bloggers, simply will not tolerate is the fact that superficial stupidities have become the Orthodox Jewish community's dominant concern.

For example: Rather then take action against Lippy Margolis, the man who protected a child molester for 25 years, many medium level leaders and rabbis, including the disgraceful Jewish Press, prefered to make angry noises about the method the bloggers used to finally make the case against Kolko stick. We didn't use proper channels. We didn't respect Lippy Margolis's status and position. We leveled out accusations anonymously. etc. etc. etc.

What sick irony. Because if men like you, Avi Shafran, hadn't been napping, the bloggers wouldn't have had to do your job for you. If you'd concerned yourself with the children, instead of Lippy's honor no one would have ever heard of UOJ.

Update: Readers, rather than declare war on the blogsphere, what other issues do you think should be discussed at the next Aguda Convention? My thoughts:

1 - The practice of expelling students who can' t be made to fit into the ever-shrinking box at most Yeshivot.

2 - The mikva scandal currently bubbeling to the surface of this and other blogs.

3 - The fact that the average Yeshiva graduate can't add, speak English or find a job at a company owned by someone other than one of his relatives.

4 - The shidduch crisis, by which I mean the fact that many wonderful young women wish to marry torah scholars but can't because the torah scholars have been conditioned to believe that only wealthy wives are worth having.

5 - The role of the kanaoim in the ban on Nosson Slifkin. Just how much power do the loud mouthed zalots actually have, and how can this be ameliorated?

6 - The role of kanaus in general. Why are so many thoughtful and practical initiatives abandoned simply because some loud mouth has threatened to paper the streets of Brooklyn, Monsey, Lakewood or Jerusalem with angry denouncments. Who's really pulling the strings?

7 - The Orthodox Jew's animosity toward science and critical thinking. As I've said many times, anything the evidence can't support is, by definiton, foreign to Jewish. Why does institutional Judaism insist on clinging to things that have been roundly defeated by the evidence, and how can this be fixed?

Anything else?