To Whom It May Concern,
I know the TLS briefly mentioned this in the comments section yesterday, but I want to address something I feel is very important.
Whenever a tragedy, R”L, strikes, there are always people who quickly start pointing fingers as to what they believe the cause of the tragedy was and use the forums to push their personal agendas – whether it be about sheitels or some other nonsense which does not belong in a thread about a tragedy.
This is NOT what the families need to be seeing when they’re sitting shiva or getting up from shiva. It’s extremely insensitive to start blaming their loved ones’ deaths on whatever it is you’re trying to push. If you have nothing smart to say, such as a message of nichum aveilim, then just don’t say it. Keep those thoughts to yourself and do some introspection to see what YOU need to fix. But don’t take this opportunity to push your agendas to the whole community.
Thank you.
TLS welcomes your letters by submitting them to [email protected]
Agreed !!! 💯
Yes. Agreed!
Oh I wanted to sell everyone that it’s cuz of the shidduch crisis
Very cute and stupid! I can’t believe the moderator approved your comment. Exactly what chazal call letzanus
Practically in order for this to be so the @tls needs to close the comment section.
If the comment section is not closed then people will comment that is just the reality.
No reason to shut out the majority of those looking to comment respectfully and responsibly because of the few who can’t do the same.
I humbly disagree. If one family member is hurt by a comment made by an insensitive person during such a tragedy, a devastating tragedy, then it’s worth closing the comment section.
I disagree, see the comment below, it’s not worth the pain to the families
its too risky. either really be on top of the screening or just close the comments. the point of comments i would think is to get peoples opinions. the opinions in this situation is clearly the same, a terrible tragedy and a heart breaking event where four young nishamos lost their lives with a whole life to live. why the need for opinions on that matter. if the ask is to just leave a comment of nichama then all the opinions would look the same with just different verbiage. so why take the chance and leave the door open for an insensitive post??
Absolutely close the comments during a tragedy. Usually ppl just post “BDE” which is not comforting to someone in so much pain. It’s so generic to see 27 of them. Or they post stupidity. Also painful.
If someone is close enough to the nifter they will be Menachem avel, or call the family or send them a private text.
The hurtful comments outweigh the BDE’s no matter how thoughtful they portrayed.
Agreed. Sometimes they close the comment section. Maybe they should start doing that in these types of situations
Duh
My question is why is there a comment section at all. As a news reporting site, let it be just that. What do we need everyone to spill all their kishkes out??
Because that’s part of getting ratings. There were many times I ignored an article when it was posted because it looked boring or uninteresting, but when I saw there were comments I clicked on the article in order to read what other people wrote about what I thought was a really uninteresting topic.
that’s just how the cookie crumbles 🤷🏻♀️
Clicks
Couldn’t agree more!
It’s almost as-if some people are looking for a shock factor to push their personal agenda.
Also, I never understood how people think they know why these horrible tragedies happen.
I fully agree! just saying… I dont think the families are running to TLS right away to see everyones comments…
Don’t be so sure. When a close relative of mine passed away I checked to see what people were writing on the shiva post. Many times those sitting shiva need a distraction, and TLS certainly provides it.
thankfully the comments were actually nice, and I appreciated those who posted about my close family member and actually wished more people had written nice things. It made me feel better.
Facts.
Does the Lakewood Scoop approve comments before posting them? If so, why are they allowing negative comments?
Notice how the comment sections are not even there for obviously paid posts. So it should be for these kind of posts as well. No comments.
My question also. I suspect they don’t even though they claim to.
What is the definition of a “negative” comment versus a “positive” one? Thankfully, we have a Torah that guides us what is correct versus incorrect. It may seem paradoxical to those highly resistant to any positive critique. But, learning and more importantly internalizing sifrei Mussur actually brings deep and lasting inner self fulfillment and happiness. It’s not the objective but a simple by product apparent to anybody who has set 20 minutes a day aside exclusively for the above. Doing so will restructure one’s sense of what is positive versus negative. It’s the difference between defining “right” based solely on one’s way of life versus rising above towards a true Torah lifestyle.
Hear! Hear! Let those that point fingers be busy with their own “Frumkeit”
Spot on!! Thank you for this! Lakewood needs to hear this! As someone who went through a loss, unfortunately I can relate.
May we only share in good news.
So sad. האומרים לרע טוב, ולטוב רע….
Writing BDE while feeling indifferent enough to make absolutely no personal changes is being indifferent to the suffering of our fellow Yidden. The resistance to any form of questioning of our lifestyle is so intense that the slightest hint of being inspired to make meaningful change is met with hate. Improved standards for the sake of these PURE NESHOMOS would be an expression of AHAVAS YISROEL and AHAVAS HASHEM……..
The problem is it’s taught.
Whoever wrote this letter is a little ignorant. No one ever suggests that these issues cause tragedies. chazal say say we don’t no why people from age 13-20 are pass away, as one is only liable in shamyim after age 20. These bochiurim were obviously tzadikkim However. we do assum, the fact that this happened in a tragic way is meant to inspire us to improve in some area. Anyone who takes offense is just simply misguided. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
Of course- see Rambam Hilchos Taanis, Perek 1, halochos 1-3. We must do TSHUVA and improve OUR ways!
My comment yesterday to please close the comment section had over 150 “likes” and yet @tls did nothing with it. Certain things are too sensitive to allow for people to voice their opinion. If the comments help build your website, let it be the comments on another topic, letter, etc. not on someone else’s very personal tragedy. @tls you can do better, don’t let us down.
“and yet @tls did nothing with it” – False.
We actually removed numerous comments. However, as mentioned earlier, we didn’t feel a need to close the comments to all because of a select few.
There will always be people who lack common sense posting on the internet. You can’t prevent silly people from saying silly things. It is the job of TLS to monitor their own comments section before allowing things to be posted.
To everyone here that is pushing teshuva in some way I obviously agree 100%. However I have one question for you people to consider. The fact that the issue facing Klal Yisroel that people come up with as the issue that a particular tragedy is supposed to teach us just so happens to be they’re pet peeve that they’ve been pushing for years is that a coincidence? Or I’d rather say they’re just being dishonest. If everything that ever happens is automatically their issue it means they’re not analyzing a situation honestly. So bottom line is don’t play god. Don’t come as a teshuva guy and really just using an opportunity to push your agenda. This is the letter writer point and he’s 100% correct.
Your comment is contradictory. The unfortunate reality is that the majority of people are “off base”. Study Jewish history- we are all descendants of the minuscule minority that held strong- every century the majority of our people drift away. It is happening before our eyes. Make strong decisions to be a Yid.
What in the world does that have anything to do with what I said?
I have a suggestion for @tls.
Can we please enforce that people put their real full names on the comments?
I think that will filter out a lot of the insensitive comments.
Perhaps in order to comment, you would need a login with First Name and Last Name which would appear on your comment.
I really feel that people will think twice before commenting.
So you’re says TLS should end the comments section?
If someone is not willing to stand behind their comment by using their real name, then the comment should not be posted
While no one knows why a tragedy happens and in general it’s probably best for comments to be closed for multiple reasons, referring to the situation with the wigs today as “nonsense” and “an agenda” is also wrong- and harmful.
The sheitels are a major breach of modesty and it’s not right to mock a serious issue that angers Hashem just as much (if not more so) than other serious issues today (such as loshen hora, talking in shul etc…)
While people might not like to hear facts, it does state straight out in the Torah (devarim) that when there is immorality and immodesty the shechina leaves and we lose our protection. There is a reason why many Gedolim (including Rav Dan Segal shlita) publicly blamed breaches in tznius (including the modern wigs) for tragedies.
im not saying the forum for posting this info is in the comments section right after a tragedy is posted, but this letter writer also shouldnt be mocking the seriousness of a real breach in tznius either. To refer to the sheitel issue as some sort of nonsense and personal agenda is very wrong and going against the words of many Gedolim. He is using a tragedy to mock a very serious problem that needs to be fixed.
the author should have written the letter without specifically mentioning the wigs and calling it nonsense. He could have just requested that no specific issue be publicly stated as the cause of a tragedy, instead of using this letter to belittle a real problem that does need to be addressed in a different venue.