Clarification

It has come to the attention of this author that the previous post may have sounded a bit harsh. Please let me clarify.

It is admirable that people are willing and wanting to constantly better themselves. I am a strong believer that such a pursuit is a life-long and constant activity, and if one does not continuously strive to improve on a daily basis, they will slip. There is no such thing as "staying in place".

However, realism and honesty to oneself should also play an important part. Someone who wants a learning boy just because that is what is expected is not being honest with themselves. Boys that are learning just so they can meet these girls are also not honest with themselves. In my experience, someone doing something they don't really want to just to keep up appearances is usually not happy. And not being happy is no way to start a life together.

If the lifestyle is really one that someone wants, that is good and admirable and should be pursued. But there are happy mediums.

What is the Standard?

What is it that these girls really want? You raise your son to be a Torah true Jew, but with the ability to earn a living, and all of a sudden he is the greatest pariah in the world. I knew that the seminaries were filling the girl's heads with visions of roshei yeshiva and talmedei chachamim, but who is supposed to pay for all of that? Are these girls really willing to live with mis-matched dishes and used furniture? I wonder.

Mazal Tov! (No, not us)

I see that writing in the blogsphere can have good results  . Mazal Tov to my fellow bloggers over at GWCTD. I guess they now know who is coming to dinner! So I willhold out hope that my trials and tribulations as expressed here will have good results as well. Amen.

It Happened

I always thought (hoped) that I would sail through this wonderful Marriage Mart with nary a scratch, spending my time (un)wisely pontificating and advising all those around me as to the right way to go about the process.

Some of the best advice I received along the way was to just shut up, since that way you do not have to remove your feet from your mouth, as i clearly knew NOTHING.

Well, it has come to pass. Son 1 is officially "in the parsha", and it isn't fun at all. In taking a page from Daughters in the Parsha, I shall chronicle (vent) here as to all the ups and downs we face as we go through this process that will hopefully yield a wonderful young lady at the other end.