this is my objection not only to every BT hack but to the Judaism in General. You can't promote an enterprise who's faults you refuse to see or feel no moral obligation to correct and improve.
Tzemach | Homepage | 07.18.08 - 6:52 am | #

Tzemach, as Jews you can't seriously expect us to drop Judaism from our lives, so that while you have every right to criticize and analyse every last aspect and ask for and expect improvements across the board, there is yet great value in Yiddishkeit.

As my Galitzianer grandmother used to say: "Don't throw out the dirty water until you are sure that you have clean water"! Or as the English saying goes: "Don't throw out the baby with the (dirty) bathwater"!

Anyhow, back to Mrs. Heller, if you take a look at the link to "her" website, and by the way it NOT "her" website, but it is her employers at Neve Yerushalayim (http://www.nevey.org/) who created it for her to further their aims of kiruv for young women and luring them into the Haredi world they know nothing about but which Mrs. Heller has the God-given gifts of somehow or other casting the spell of seduction upon many young women to commit to, somewhat like nuns, and in many cases it is known that she advises single Jewish women to live out their lives like nuns if the guys do not match up to the "Ben Torah" image that is demaned of real Neve alumna to marry.

Anyhow, just looking at "her" site at http://www.tziporahheller.com/ that you link to here, and by gosh it has a photo of her that is so unappealing, she almost looks like Dr. Zira of "Planet of the Apes" fame, see that right off the bat, it plays with the visitor's mind: On top there is a quote from Jeremiah 31:16 "..and the sons will return to their boundaries" ("veshavu banim ligvulam") and then the heading: "Tziporah Heller.com Where are your boundaries?" and just see how dishonest, inaccurate and shalowly manipulative the headings alone are because (a) "veshavu banim ligvulam" is in the MASCULINE form and the word "ligvulam" has always been translated as "borders" and not "boundaries" even though it could mean "boundaries" too but that is a far lesser used and utilized option for the word that has "g'vul" in its shoresh. (b) Somehow the usage of "Tziporah Heller.com" in the title is meant to assuage the reader to feel comfortable with the next "leap of faith" to (c) with the pseudo-question based as it is indeed on psychobabble: "Where are your boundaries?" which has NOTHING to do with the quote from Jeremiah who was predicting a day when the Jewish people would return to Zion in the physical sense primarily and not about making Jewish chicks who have overdosed on too many guys feel better that finally Mrs. Heller is here to put her foot down on their behalf and preach about the need for "boundaries" which in the modern day world as understood by most young women is about how guys take advantage of them sexually, and they in turn practice the art of "Sex and the City" no less and above and beyond all this as the recruiting arm of Neve Yerushalyim spins its webs to both lure in as well as retain a hold upon alumna of Neve as they foist misconceptions and lies in place of saying it like it is.

It is complicated.
Zeitgeist | 07.18.08 - 6:54 pm | #

What's with the victim mentality?

People can and should think for themselves and make their own decisions ... if someone is prone to cult-like behavior, they're just as likely to join the Hari Krishnas or J4J as they are to join a frum cult. In that case, I'd rather they join "one of ours".
altira | 07.20.08 - 3:23 am | #