Here I Spew Again: A Confessional

Most of you reading this editorial are under the presumption that I, Adam Moses, am pompous and pretentious. Allow me to let you in on a little secret. You are correct. But it goes much deeper than that. I am not a shallow person. I have been criticized for some of my columns and I would like an opportunity to clear my name.

I admit that I am pompous, but at least I am also wordy. Read my articles closely. They contain almost no monosyllabic words. They make use of overly complex words where simpler ones would suffice. You have no idea what half the words I use mean...and still you read. I just figured, correctly I might add, that lascivious metaphors and random vitriol will make you read everything I write in its entirety.

Over the past three years I have written on controversial issues such as shidduch dating, Haredi ideas, and Susan Jacobs. I chose these topics because they had to be dealt with.

The shidduch-dating article was a no-brainer. Each YU student does two things at the beginning of his senior year. He starts semikha and shidduch dating. Since semikha doesn't sell ads, I chose to write about dating. Ordinarily, dating is not a controversial topic, but for YU and Stern students it is. It is almost worthless. Each date is less a date and more an interview for a lifetime position. Why date? Why not just conduct interviews? I know I will when I am ready to get married. It is much easier to weed out the ugly, stupid ones this way. And it saves a lot of money, which I can spend on myself instead.

I admit I went a little overboard with the Haredi article. But Haredis look down on me for my long, sun-kissed hair and fashionable clothes. Clothes? Look in the mirror. These people needed a good talking to, and I appointed myself to do it. I feel the outcry against my column by the Haredi community was justified, but I'd like to add that I was secretly thanked by many high ranking YU officials for "doing something that was long overdue."

In my last column, I wrote about my esteemed colleague over at The Observer, Susan Jacobs. Once again I have been criticized for this. But that article is between Ms. Jacobs and myself. Granted I published it in a public forum, but I did not have access to Ms. Jacobs's e-mail address at the time and I wanted to write something while the ideas were still fresh in my mind. I apologize if this article was taken the wrong way.

Finally, I would like to question the existence of editor's columns in the first place. I do not enjoy reading The Observer (Official Motto: "2nd Rate News by Third Rate Columnists") editorials and I suspect that the editors of The Observer don't enjoy mine. And do you really care what I or the president of YCSC thinks about anything? I didn't think so. But I would like to leave you with one last thought. Have a happy Purim.

And Moses spoke unto his people...