Video: More Than 1,000 Bags Of Shaimot Left On Lakewood Roadside

Rabbi Chaim Abadi, ordered by a judge to remove illegally buried bags of shaimot, dug up the bags – but left them laying by the side of a Lakewood, New Jersey road. By law, shaimot – old, damaged prayerbooks and other damaged Jewish texts and other religious items – must be buried.

 

Comments

[Office of the Chief Rabbi]

Littering? Send him to the Group W bench.

[dapper danny]

You know how some folks from an "appalachian" background are ashamed of Honey Boo Boo and all of the other stereotypical depictions on TV...

I get that same feeling from this video.

[Edge man]

Wow from Shaimos to shame us.

[Nigritude Ultramarine]

א שאַנדע

[Steven]

From what I understand, Torah without yudkayvovkay is NOT shaimos. Ask you Rabbi and save the landfill.

[John Nagle, Silicon Valley, CA]

There's a commercial service for this: "http://www.bethgenizah.com". It's a branch of Beth Genizah Olam cemetery. Costs $18 per large bag, but there are probably volume discounts.

[Ross]

"shaimot – old, damaged prayerbooks and other damaged Jewish texts and other religious items – must be buried."

... and it was.

[David]

Another frumma chillul Hashem. When they say he got "permission", was it in writing? If it was, then there would not be a problem would there?

And why are they so disrespectful of these holy texts that they won't collect them? The Rabbi can store them in his yard until an appropriate place is found for them.

[BeenThereDoneThat]

Ah, shaimot, the detritus of religious life.

In the last 10 years production has increased by a factor of over 1000.

You would think that god would have thought of recycling, but of course, it didn't.

Another bit of proof that while god may exist, religion is man made.

[S M L]

I suppose one might ask why each of the individuals who brought a bag of this material to the Rabbi couldn't be expected to go pick up one bag's worth from this pile, take it home, dig a hole and bury that single bag's worth in his own yard. How did this all get buried in the first place? With a backhoe? Bulldozer?

[Yochanan Lavie]

They did it for St. Patrick's Day. They thought it was spelled Seamus (see the Hull Veet bakery).

[S M L]

"....They did it for St. Patrick's Day. They thought it was spelled Seamus (see the Hull Veet bakery).
Posted by: Yochanan Lavie | March 17, 2013 at 07:37 AM ....."

Seems it came with free raping. Maybe these are misdirected parcels from that Haredi bookstore there was a post about here recently.

[AE]

Someone in a leadership position within the Lakewood community (if such a thing as leadership exists) needs to tell Abadi to make this go away and make it go away fast. This embarressment has been going on way too long.

[Yochanan Lavie]

SML: You're probably correct. The disappointed readers won't be able to enjoy their sephorim while they munch their Hull Veet matzohs.

[seymour]

Someone in a leadership position within the Lakewood community (if such a thing as leadership exists) needs to tell Abadi to make this go away and make it go away fast. This embarressment has been going on way too long.

Posted by: AE | March 17, 2013 at 08:40 AM

why would they all they care about it the technicality was it buried or not

[Alter Kocker]

What, there's no congregant with a tract of land somewhere? Instead this is done "for free" on public land? The free burial was over and so they just leave the stuff out there? How frummer than thou are they now?

[Sarek]

He buried them as God intended. God overrides local zoning laws and anti-dumping laws. He had prior approval from Official Mr. X.

If the informer hadn't squealed, everything would have been fine.

OK, I'm out of excuses.

[Rocky]

Another example of freedom of religion taken to its extreme. What would the fine be if a building contractor did this with leftover scrap from a building site?

[Jacob Mendlovic]

Many of the Shaimos all acrosss North America are Sefarim still in good condition. What a shame to throw out Siddurim , Gemaras, etc. in good condition?

[Honesty]

Shmarya on my hierarchy you never stood high!. In spite of that I would still turn to you for facts. That's until now! when you post something with facts further from the truth than you are to lubavitch!!

[Pearl of Wisdom]

What I do not understand is how is it possible to have this much stuff to bury. Did it accumulate over 50 years?

[Uzi Weingarten]

I do not think that these have to be buried. Only one of the 7 names of God (listed in Rambam, Yesodei Hatorah 6), *when written by a Jew with intention to create a sacred name*, need to be buried.

The term 'shaimos' itself makes this clear--the term means 'names', and refers to names of God written with intent to make them sacred.

So books that are printed have no name of Hashem that was so written and sanctified, and thus no need to bury them.

Of course, they should be disposed of in a respectful manner, but they are not 'shaimos'.

[Account Deleted]

sell them on e-bay or craigs list

[JoeEmes]

AK, check your facts. It is on PRIVATE property, but the town's approval was overridden by the enviros. Overkill and a misdirected hatred towards one of the truly good people out there. It's a mess, but he shouldn't be the one left holding the bag (pun INTENDED