Going Black - Smoking - Read The Box - Spread My Words Of Brilliance:-)

A note on "Charedi-ism". I wasn't raised "Charedi". I was raised to go to work, dress like a westerner [colored shirts!!:-)], and root for the Mets [I presently do none of the three. Although if I had a job, I could afford to buy tickets to Mets games and to buy new colored shirts]. I converted to the "black team" for various reasons. I don't regret my decision. All in all, I find them more committed to Jewish values than their more "modern" counterparts. That doesn't mean that they are perfect. Far from it. It also doesn't mean that people who are not wearing black and white are in any way inferior to people who do. Hashem judges on an individual basis and frankly - I will leave the judging to Him. I try to love everybody and if more people would let me hug them - I would, regardless of kippah color.....:-). But I decided to raise my family in this environment and try to see the benefits while not losing sight of the problems. One great benefit is that I never have to worry about having to choose what to wear or to match my clothing. Black and white go great together.

One huge problem - smoking. Not only is it assur according to many but it is absolutely forbidden to do so in public according to an explicit, uncontested gemara [Bava Basra 23b]. People either don't know or don't care. Many gedolim have come out against smoking and people either don't know or don't care [or are too hooked to stop - if that's an excuse]. Smoking is so prevalent and the worst part is seeing the young yeshiva boys smoking. Like, don't they read the cigarette box which has messages like "this will kill you"?!

So I wrote an article in Hebrew about the topic, discussing both smoking on Yom Tov and in general - here. Mitzva to spread it around.... I hope it helps.