MAILBAG: Who Represents Lakewood?

I write this with a heavy heart, and I am not signing my name because my position in the community is irrelevant. What I have to say is something that I believe should deeply disturb all of us.

On Sunday night, over 20,000 people attended the incredible Adirei Hatorah event in Philadelphia. For hours, thousands upon thousands of people joined together celebrating an incredible achievement – the partnership of baalebatim and yungeleit in BMG. From the moment it began to the minute it ended, the historic nature of this event was on full display. The kavod hatorah exhibited was exceptional and a sight to behold.

Not everyone was able to make it to the event. Many weren’t able to get tickets, and thousands upon thousands of wives stayed home, hoping to watch from afar. To your credit, you posted a lot of content on the event. But – and I don’t mean this to disparage you – there is a bigger player in town, another media outlet that isn’t as new as you and has claimed for years to be the standard bearer of Jewish journalism. As far as I can tell, they didn’t post a single picture or video from the event. Not one! And I strongly feel that we need to be mocheh against this.

For the record, I reached out to the outlet in question and asked them to please post about the event. I got no response, and I’m only turning to you now.

It just befuddles my brain to understand how the largest and most influential frum media outlet – which claims to represent “the heartbeat” of the frum community – can utterly ignore the largest event probably in the history of BMG – the very yeshiva that built what is now known around the world as the Ihr Hatorah from the ground up!

I am of the understanding that this outlet has a personal vendetta against BMG, but there’s a time and place for personal fights. That time is not when 20,000 people from the community are joining together to celebrate what makes us special – the Torah.

I believe this willful boycott of the historic Adirei Hatorah event to be perhaps the greatest bizayon hatorah, and frankly chilul hashem, that I have ever seen in my 30 years of being a Lakewood resident. I don’t even mean this as an attack on that outlet; it’s their website and their problem. But I have to say my piece as a machaa – we cannot sit idly by and watch quietly as the loudest voice in the room goes silent, squelching the beautiful sounds of unity and simchas hatorah that we saw on Sunday night at the Wells Fargo Center.

When we see something so worrying, we have to ask ourselves: who really represents Lakewood?

Sincerely,

A Troubled Lakewood Resident

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27 COMMENTS

      • You’re a bunch of leidegerers which are full of sinas chinam to an outlet you’re trying hard to compete with. I do not believe that this purported letter writer ever reached out in a respectful manner to Lakewood’s most prominent media outlet. I’m told that they were asked by BMG not to post the event yet for a good reason. It’s people like you who seek more machloikes amongst yidden and force us all wait for moshiach even longer. You and your kind should be spit out of the community.

  1. Being a resident of Philadelphia I felt such pride for this event taking place in my hometown. I am sad to read what this letter says and every form of media that had the opportunity to write up and follow this great event
    ,absolutely should have.

  2. Stop trying to make problems, you Kamtzen. Try to bring Jews together. Not divide. It’s because of anonymous tips like yours that we’re still in galus.

    • Strongly disagree with you. Someone starts a website and hijacks a name which sounds like Yeshiva or Lakewood and is agenda driven or simply has a sinna to Beni Torah, that’ is something everyone should be aware of and be cautious of and stop trusting these websites. You wouldn’t eat in a restaurant without a hashgacha why would you trust a news site if it proves itself to have zero Kovod for Torah values?

  3. They were obviously given instructions not to cover this event for what ever reason as all mainstream jewish media didn’t cover any of the event

  4. So, until you know the full background story as to why nothing was posted on “they’re” website why are you posting this? Do you enjoy making fights between yidden? Let’s put it this way, I know the backstory and if only you knew what it was which I’m not at liberty to discuss you would be ashamed of yourselves for posting this.

    • So explain this….. This “secret info” is so serious that it was okay for this news outlet to take the BMG ad money, but it wasn’t okay to post pictures of the event?

      • This website is for all those seeking to make up gossip and rumors.. What a moishav leitzim this place is. It’s disgusting and I’m leaving!

  5. Lakewood alerts loves bashing TLS. It’s gross. I also wonder why most places barely posted about event but why go bashing without finding out why.

  6. The Rabbanim of Lakewood asked that smartphones not be used at the event.. TLS respected this request, hence the lack of coverage. LA and other news outlets did not, hence the self-righteous coverage.

  7. This site keeps knocking its competitors and it’s really pathetic !! I actually think the reason they did NOT report was because of the request to not have smart phones at the event…. Apparently ur reporters didn’t listen and THAT perhaps is a greater bizayon! Also , they letter is so poorly written that I think the editor himself wrote it just to spark controversy.

    • There is no need to have a smartphone at the event to post about it. Pictures and videos can easily be taken with a camera and articles can be typed on a computer. You think when there is a major sporting event L’havdil, the crews videoing the games use their phones?? They use expensive high quality cameras which can easily have been used here as well. There is obviously an agenda here. Maybe they wanted Yeshiva to use their billboards to advertise the event and they were rejected so they are taking revenge. Does not make much sense and sounds extremely petty and babyish but why else??

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