There has been an attempt to market to the general community a motorized scooter for use on Shabbos which was produced some time ago under the supervision of Machon Tsomet, a halachic research institute based in Alon Shvut under the direction of Rabbi Rosen. This scooter is marketed as being usable on Shabbos by many people because its operation incorporates the well-known gromo principle (i.e. indirect activation of the prohibited actions). This approach has been used in the past in halachic contexts, but this was a definite attempt to broaden its application to go well beyond the previous uses.

There is absolutely no such thing as an empty nest syndrome in our society. Having heard so much about this phenomenon over the years, I was duly anxious about the approach of the day when all or most of the children would have married and settled off somewhere on their own. Now that the time is here, I can reliably report that there is no such thing. Maybe in America children go off to far away cities or their jobs take them to distant places, but in Jerusalem the Golden and Bnei Brak the City of Torah, we find our children places in projects at a maximum distance of twenty minutes from the old nest. Mostly we choose from Beitar, Beit Shemesh and Kiryat Sefer. Some are beginning to brave Tel Zion or Elad and one may go as far as Ashdod. A forty minute drive to those of us who used to drive an hour to and from work in the old country doesn't seem too disturbing. None of my contemporaries can be found sitting home alone, depressed and rejected. In short, the little birds that flew out of the nest find their way back home with the greatest of ease and in the course of time, bring more baby birds to fill up the nest even more.

Several months ago, HaRav Yitzchok Zilberstein wrote a letter about the very painful problem of helping hundreds of older girls find suitable marriage partners. HaRav Zilberstein described the problem and suggested breaking the accepted conventions and considering alternatives for those who are having trouble finding a marriage partner. However, in his letter, Rav Zilberstein only suggested the general possibility but did not explain in detail how this should be done and what he has in mind.