Top Fashion Shiduch System (TFSS)

Source: The Crown Heights Chronicle - The Crown Heights shiduch system needs a little help. That's what many single people that I've interviewed said. That is why the top shadchunim (matchmakers) and community leaders joined in an emergency meeting last week. The urgency came after a census report revealed that there is a 27% hike of single "Caucasians" living in the community. This is since 1998. The report also shows a 17% growth of singles that are over 23.

"Why?" Asks Mrs. Adelman, a veteran Shadchun. "I don't think it's an inefficiency of [matchmakers]."

Others disagree. "I think they act like hard-to-get celebrities." Says Malka (a 27 year-old single girl who declined to give her last name). "They just put two names together and close their eyes without thinking of the emotional ride [they] put us on."

Most Shadchonim, though, realize that something has to change. "I think girls are more independent now... guys and girls are getting very specific in their taste.." A community leader, that attended the emergency shiduch meeting, told us. "What ever happened to the good old days where there is a guy and a girl and they just make it work?"

The outcome of the meeting was a start of "out of the box" ideas. The first one that they came up with is the Top Fashion Shiduch System.

The store on Kingston Ave. called Top Fashion agreed to join in on the matchmaking journey. The system is simple. Guys can come and meet with the store owner to tell her what kind of girl they are looking for. They also give a reseme describing themselves. The workers review all the résumés and requests weekly, and quietly scout out the girls that shop there. If they think that something would click, they set up a meeting with the girl to see if she's interested.

"I think we see a totally differant side of the girl [when they shop here]," says Mrs. Blizinsky, in a stale, Israeli accent. "We can really get to know the real girl while in her natural [habitat]."

And to the question of "are you offended" answered top shadchun Rochel Bryski: "No... A lot of girls think that people will look down on them if they go to a shadchun. It's kind of like the stigma of going to a shrink... even though they are both totally different.. although I do let my clients talk and take their time.. I guess you could call it a little therapeutic.. but that's beyond the point.. what was I saying.. oh, ya... with Top Fashion.. the staff there are able to meet a lot of girls that wouldn't come to me or any other shadchun.. it really widens the net.. and I guess gives them more business.. but no of course I'm not offended!"

Top Fashion reports that they have made three pending shiduchim so far and things are "going real well." Hey, does this dress come with a chosson?

With reporting by Yitzchok Wagshul.

The way of the future.. the way of the future.. the way of the future...

Anonymous said...
it's simple, the girl should be on a higher level, b/c she is the one raising your kids, or at least will be around them most of the time, if you happen to be on that level as well, great but if not, and youhave big plans for your kids, try to get something better, nto much other wise you wont be able to relate, and if thats the case, u have to start changing kid, the change doesnt start after marriage, it begins now. saying that you'll change later, is foolish. anyhow i know what you will say, a girl better than you wont want you, well i ask you, whAT does that mean anyway, what does she have over you? u watch movies, dude, once married, if she doesnt want it in her hosue, u wont be watching a whole lot, i mean naturaly ur not going todo stuff if she doesnt approve, so ultimately u will be on the same level

Being 24

Being 24 is the feeling you get if you ait only cold farina cereal every meal for 3 weeks.

Among other things, this year has been the best year of my life. It has been a year of perspective, foundation and friendship. I held on tight for a real wild ride. With intense speed, I feel I traveled the distants of at least 14 years. But yet I'm here. Happy. Alive. Living.

Motzei Shabbos we celebrate with Pizza, Pasta and Sushie.. Too bad I don't really eat dairy...

Crazy busy week.. learned a great sicha.. but no time to post.. I'MH next week!!

Have a greeeeat SHabbos!!

I'm Getting Divorced?

A good friend is like a model sibling.

That's how it is with a friend of mine on the way to the Ohel as I write this post. I am very happy for him. True happiness. Selfishly, I have a sinking feeling within. It's not like losing a friend, Gd forbid, but it's losing part of him.

A bad example - a husband encourages his wife to divorce him in order to find a more suitable man for herself.

I have a million emotions swelling and synchronizing from my heart to my brain. This is my first close friend to fall, or shall I say, get uplifted.

This is life. And I wish him only the best for a very holy marriage, filled with love, laughs and good health!

The following addition gratefully stolen from wandering:
Marriage is very weird and wonderful
One by one, they are slowly disappearing. As each one ties the knot with her soulmate, the rope that ties our own friendship together, slowly unravels and starts slipping away. As I dance at weddings, the joy is powerful and overwhelming. My feet are moving, my body is dancing in a boundless, unlimited, almost unnatural joy. The music throbs and I dance 'till my face is flushed, my hair is damp with sweat and my feet are aching in my too high heels. I am joined in a circle of shining faces and overjoyed hearts, but the ache is slowly spreading like a fungus to my throbbing heart. The emptiness widens like a yawning chasm, the hole that is missing from the pure and wholesome happiness that should be a part of me.I look at him and can't help but envy his luck, he has won the part of her heart that used to be mine.

Maybe.. Maybe Not.. Maybe..

Is it harder to commit to marriage the older you get? Once you start seeing the realities and responsibilities of marriage...

Ponder

Do I look for a girl based on who I want to be or who I am now?

No Sicha

Hey guys.. spin a real busy week.. Purim etc.. and my Chavrusa is out of town all week dating.. Women can really be a distraction sometimes.. Gd willing next week..

Have an awsome Shabbos!!

Why?

CLICK ON LINK OR COPY PASTE IT. http://www.rafflebuilder.com/Arutz7/
THE STORY IN A NUT SHELL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amona

Kol Tuv vs. Crown Heights

Crown Heights, N.Y. – Corporate America has finally hit hard in this small Hassidic neighborhood. It has hit in the form of Israeli’s. Yes, Israeli’s have introduced the American culture of one-stop-shops, that beat out the little stores, to the small “old ghetto” town.

“If I work hard, I want money,” said Itzik (who refused to give us his last name for fear of competition). “If you don’t continue to grow, you shrink or disappear.. that is the market these days,” he added, standing in front of his large grocery store called “Kol Tuv” on Kingston Ave. He bought over 8 stores on the block where he started the little grocery store, and he has continually chopped down walls to grow.

With stores such as the one mentioned above and “the Shuk” (owned by another Israeli) the “little guys” are getting scared.

“We never thought our isles were too narrow,” said competitor veteran grocer Rabbi Kahan (he denies any relation with the famed assassinated Zionist, Meir Kahan.) “Someone even told me that he found his Kallah (ritual Jewish bride) in one of my isles.. he had to ask her to move to get by.. that sparked things up..”

But love alone will not keep the customers coming. That is why Rabbi Kahan and 62 other store owners in Crown Heights hired one of the largest small business consulting firms in New York.

“The only way for them to survive is by joining forces.. grab your neighbor and move.” So says Bobbie Frank from Cohen, Goldberg, Frank and Associates. “The little guys must create that one-stop-shop among each other in order to compete.

The Crown Heights "small" stores are joining forces. To achieve this goal, construction has already started to destroy shared walls that divide neighboring stores.

The Raskin brothers have started selling the other ones goods at their stores. Raskin Fish now sells fresh vegetables. Raskin Fruits and Vegetables is in the process of changing their sign from “if it grows we have it” to “if it grows AND SWIMS we have it.”

“Some people want to come with their wife when they buy a hat.. he buys a hat and she buys some nice tights..” That is the marketing direction that Mr. Kesser from Kesser Hatters and neighbor, Crown Heights Hoisery, has taken.

“It's a woman’s dream to do creative shopping and eat chocolate cake all the while trying on an expensive dress,” said Mrs. Blizinsky from Top Fashion who has chopped down the walls to her two neighbors – Cel-A-Bration and Lowens Bakery (the “L” from the sign has been gone for 11 years.)

In the same spirit, the store formerly known as Auction mart has cut down the wall to the Mikvah next door. They are hoping that a large percentage of their customers would want to be in the Mikvah while “Toiveling” their vessels. The mikvah is a small pool of chlorine where Jews have traditionally purified themselves as well as their vessels.

“There are limits..” said the Matza Bakery owner on Albany Ave. “We are keeping our walls up until we can buy out the church next-door.” A Matza Bakery is a small, hot, place where old Russian woman roll doe for under minimum wage. The doe is later transformed into the famous Jewish cracker found in most Kosher Aisles.

Private Mechitzas

Reuters -- Rabbi Shwei of the Beth Din (Jewish Court) has come out with a new rulling this week.

In his ruling (which was circulated all over the community) he writes: "Any Shabbos table that has two genders present, must have a private Mechitza (Jewish gender separating shield)... I heard you can even buy them on the world wide web... They are small separators that you put down the center of the table..."

Rabbi Rubashkin, head of community affairs, has cut off all of the Beth Din's meat indefinitely. An inside source tells us that he will restore a wealth of fresh meat flow once the Rabbi reconsiders his ruling.

CLICK HERE for all the Purim "Something About Nothing" articles!

Orange is Back

Tel Aviv, Israel -- With Israeli parliamentary elections near, Israeli's are panicking. Nearly 50% of registered voters are still undecided. What does undecided mean?

Ask Aviva Forenhelstein from Quiriat Gat. "We are very much decided," she says. "We decided that non of these mainstream candidates are fit to serve the holy land!"

Maholi Crapovitch, a resident of Jerusalem, says the only "One I will vote for is G-d." And this is coming from an Orthodox Jew that's an atheist. Point being, Israeli's are desperate for another option.

That is why there was an emergency meeting last night with many of Israel's' top Rabbi's. After hours of speeches, debates and intense arguments they have released a statement.

"Orange is back!" That is the statement they gave. The Rabbis have joined forces in calling for everyone to wear and display the color orange. This time not for Gush Katif, but as a gesture for a complete and speedy recovery of Sharon.

"[Sharon] must have had some kind of overall plan. We must wake him to see what it is;" says Rabbi Green of Rosh Edom. He is also on the board for the RIDFCCS (Rabbi's In Discussion For Color Coded Systems.)

With Reporting by Amadijian Al Ziharjihal.

YOUR AD HERE

AP - Learning from Micheal Bloomberg's art of getting the city millions of extra dollars from companies advertising on remote city property, Rabbi Yudal Krinsky has follow suite.

With very expensive (pending) legal fees and gas prices high, Rabbi Krinsky has found a new place to sell advertising space and make more money.

The ironic thing is who is the first one to buy the ad space: The Beis Moshiach Magazine.

What is art?

What the hell makes this art? This is outragous!!!

Maybe if they kill and hang a Jew.. it's not murder.. it's art.. as long as you display the body on public property..

Where's the line?

(Click the headline for the link)

Be a u ti ful!!

I'm outside now.. On kingston ave. If you are in NY and reading this now.. Slap yourself and walk outside.. Summer has arrived!!

Sent Via Blackberry.

Ps. SCREW CALI - UPDATE:
It gives me great pleasure to copy what I'm reading on weather.com

72 degrees now in NY
49 degrees in Cali...
haha!

- There are no limits to what Gd can do!

SHMAIS is a Virgin

OK, I got your attention for this weeks Sicha.

My example on display today is Shmais’ Levi Chadokov. Case study number 476. I remember back in the day when people use to make fun of this “bored soul.” Why is he going around taking pictures? He should get a life!

But there is something about Levi that will make him successful in whatever he does. Devotion. Not only devotion but he lives whatever he does. He eats, drinks and dreams about Shmais.com. When he works in Camp Gan Yisroel in Parksville, you might not see him that often, but his devotion transforms him into Gan Yisroel. He is Gan Yisroel. That’s why on the last day of camp you’ll always see him with red eyes and endless tears. Whatever he does means more than work to him.

Now, people watch what they say in front of him. He turned himself into a respectable journalist with power. The power to get any message or news he’d like to thousands of homes, offices, and as we saw in his recent poll, libraries. Ya, a lot of people check him in the library. That was a shock for me. Because of him living SNS he turned it into a successful and often imitated enterprise.

In this weeks Sicha we learn about the oil that was used for the Menorah. Of the three kinds of oils we used the first drops of the olive – virgin oil.

As it is known that we all have a small Beis Hamikdash and Mishkan in us, what is the virgin oil within us?

In Torah there are three levels – water (revealed Torah), wine (concealed part of the Torah) and oil (the concealed of the concealed.) In each level there is also the above three sub-levels.

As we learned in smicha, the great distinction between oil and its counterparts is that oil is “Mifafaya” – it permeates everywhere.

There can be someone that learns the “wine” and “water” parts of Torah and then do the exact opposite that he learned with his actions. That’s because wine and water just takes up the space it’s in then and there. It has the ability to not seep in.

The virgin oil part of Torah, however, really gets inside of the person. It travels under the ego radar, thereby, letting the person internalize the learning. Even if it’s the water of the virgin oil, the water gets special “wings” that it would normally not have.

That’s why learning Chassidus can not only stimulate the mind, but change the individual for the better.

The only read way of success is by living what we do. We must learn with that same devotion and passion as Levi. We must live it… Some day, hopefully.

Where is the music?

For some reason, there is no more music left on New York radio stations. It's all talk now. I finally broke my "no goyesh music" a few months ago.. but they are really unhelpful.

I asked my friend in the music industry - why they are switching to talk instead of music. He said because they realized that they have more listeners from talk than with music.

Great.. that's like a fruit store owner switching the fruits and vegetables for socks because more people buy socks.. Open another store!!

BRING BACK THE MUSIC!!!!

Screw Cali..

I usually run away comes winter to Cali.. this winter we've been blessed with great weather right here in NY.. Get outside.. it's a beautiful day 2day!! And it's only getting better!!

I'm so sick..

Beauty Contest? What the hell are these guys thinking? Are they just looking for attention? Are the Arabs funding them?

Anti-Zionist Neturei Karta sect pays solidarity visit to Iran
Delegation head Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss "praised the 'enlightening' statements of Ahmadinejad about Holocaust."

PROOF: She went to Beis Rivka?

An Arab Making Sense?

http://switch5.castup.net/frames/20041020_MemriTV_Popup/video_480x360.asp?ai=214&ar=1050wmv&ak=null

FREE TICKETS FROM JETBLUE

After a stretch of time and some persistency I was just granted 1 round trip ticket anywhere they fly and a refund for the round trip flight that I complained about.. I'll post the longer version of the story when I could sit still...


http://allisonmunn0.tripod.com/jetblue.jpg

Abstract Sicha - Teruma

Classic: Only in 770 would you find Shampoo casually hanging out.

I started a new part time job this week. I must say, the hardest part about a job is getting though the first month. It's the time where the boss just takes me around and shows me what to do and what not to do. Often he will talk to me like I'm a complete idiot that doesn't know the basics of what I'm doing.

The important thing is that I'm learning new things. It might be a humbling experience showing vulnerable sides to me of lack of knowledge, but it's still important. Right now it's time for me to shut up and listen. Later I will have plenty of room to navigate. For now, however, I'm building the foundation for being successful in my work.

This weeks Sicha zooms in on the foundation. The foundation of the Mishkan and the foundation of our lives.

The Torah mentions the word Teruma 3 times. These represent the three kinds of taxation.

1) The Teruma for the foundation sockets of the Mishkan. This tax requires a half Shekel from every Jew. No more, no less.

2) The Teruma of the "Mizbayach". This tax also requires a half Shekel from every Jew. It was used for a Karban (Sacrifice) on behalf of the general public.

3) The Truma for the vessels and other things in the Mishkan. This is a unique tax for everyone may give however much they desire.

The big question is shouldn't Teruma 1 and 3 fit in the same category? Why the distinction between the sockets and the rest of the Mishkan? Why the set amount for the sockets but not for the rest?

The second Truma sounds justified to require the same amount from every Jew. Every Jew was effected by the golden calf. The Karban is to atone for everyone equally. The Jewish people as a whole.

As for the foundation sockets we must look into the spiritual side of things. In every Jew there is a part of the Mishkan and the Beis Hamikdash in them. I know you might not feel it, but it's there. The sockets represent our spiritual foundation, which is the low, socket-like, foundation of being humbled and nullified to Hashem. Without the foundation you can't have the beautiful curtains, wood, vessels etc..

That is why we must start our day with Modeh Ani. Humbling ourselves with the acknowledgement of where we come back from and giving thanks for that. Without that foundation of knowledge, understanding and nullification, we cannot properly take on the rest of the day. It can even lead to arrogance.

When it comes to this important foundation everyone is equal. Everyone comes from the same source. That is why everyone gives a half Shekel equally. But when it comes to other ways of serving Hashem, everyone must give "according to his ability". A rich man can't give a poor mans valued gift, but a poor can give more. We must use out our unique abilities to serve Hashem. We can't use out our neighbors abilities, but ours to the fullest. It says that spiritually rich and poor depends not on money but knowledge. We have to use ours to the fullest for the right reasons.

Without my biting of the bullets and learning new things at the beginning of my job, I would simply lack the foundation. That would make the rest of my job simply arrogant. I don't want to be arrogant.

Have an awesome Shabbos!