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‘encouraged doctors to see Medicare patients thru malpractice reform’
While I support malpractice reform, (1) Texas’ reforms are mainly attributable to Bush, not Perry, and (2) they didn’t produce the desired result. While malpractice premiums dropped, it did not result in an increase in the supply of medical providers. Perry’s cuts to Medicaid seem to have more than offset the reduction in malpractice premiums, and Texans are now going to Mexico in record numbers for medical care.
I’m horrified that this can be written on a Jewish site. Gavra, by that logic Hadrian’s genocide after the Bar Kochba revolt was justified. Ditto Nebuzaradan’s murder of three million of our fellows.
Ditto Amalek and Haman. Aren’t we commanded to wipe them out? It is only self defense on their part!
righteous Gentiles who saved Jews during WWII
“Aren’t we commanded to wipe them out? “
Descendents of Haman taught Torah in Bnei Brak. Would you have rushed up to the Rosh Yeshiva and stabbed him to death?
Nelson Mandela had KGB and Soviet communist ties. Because of him, whites were the subjects of bloodshed, murder, and in many cases forced exile away from their country. I know many South African Jews who had to flee due to the rampaging hoardes of protesters.
I also find it interesting that charliehall likes the Founding Fathers. The Founding Fathers were conservatives/Classical Liberals, committed to less government intrusion in our lives, individual liberty, opposed to the welfare state, and supported a noninterventionist foreign policy, gun rights, opposed taxes, etc. The Founding Fathers, if they were around today, would be loathed by the left, as the left does not believe in natural rights, but instead believed in Second and Third Generation “rights” such as “freedom from want,” the right to leisure, the right to health care, education, etc., all things that stem from the mind of Woodrow Wilson and FDR, as opposed to the founding fathers. Liberal foreign policy is also not noninterventionist, but is Wilsonian and seeks global government, as opposed to national sovereignty.
I would have thought that you would have identified as your goyishe inspirations Engels (not Marx, becuase Marx was of Jewish stock), Robespierre, John Maynard Keynes, Woodrow Wilson, Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayres, Bernardine Dohrn, the Cuban Five, Rachel Corrie, Pete Stark, Lynne Stewart, the FALN bombers, etc.
The Irish were among the most anti-semitic people.
When Rabbi Jacob Jospeh’s levaya was being held, Irish hoodlums threw rocks at the funeral procession and the Irish cops encouraged this behavior.
Eamon De Valera was a Nazi sympathizer, Eoin O’Duffy led the Limerick Blue Shirts, who were a Nazi movement that terrorized Jews. Of course, populist Father Coughlin was Irish, and Dublin is home to Europe’s only Nazi memorial, dedicated to Sean Russell. See here: http://www.victims.org.uk/nazi.html
In addition, the IRA (Sinn Fein) has a long history of collusion with the Soviet Union and Islamic terrorists in Libya and the PLO.
I believe that all of our men and women in battle, our police, firemen, and EMTs/paramedics are an isnpiration (I am studying to be an EMT, en route to a medical career).
charliehall
“Aren’t we commanded to wipe them out? “
Descendents of Haman taught Torah in Bnei Brak. Would you have rushed up to the Rosh Yeshiva and stabbed him to death?
charliehall, do you have any objections to the Torah’s commandment to wipe them out?
“Aren’t we commanded to wipe them out? “
Descendents of Haman taught Torah in Bnei Brak. Would you have rushed up to the Rosh Yeshiva and stabbed him to death?
And had the Jews during Bar Kochba worshiped Jupiter, they also would have not been wiped out. Not sure of your point.
Cromwell had a job, and he very possibly did it sustaining the fewest overall casualties. Assuming that you can agree with the cause (overthrow of the monarchy), then he may have done the right thing. If you disagree with the cause, and think the Irish were right in suppoting the monarchy, then no justification can be made.
It just depends on which side you are sitting when you look at it.
did anyone else ever read ‘Letter to the Hebrew Congregation at Newport’, written by George Washington in Aug., 1790?
“The Founding Fathers were conservatives/Classical Liberals, committed to less government intrusion in our lives,”
You obviously have never studied the economic policies of Washington or Hamilton.
” individual liberty, opposed to the welfare state,”
George Washington personally distributed welfare funds under Virginia’s version of the Elizabethan Poor Law. Washington and Hamilton were huge supporters of Corporate Welfare, getting the federal government to invest in the First Bank of the United States. Madison, who had opposed this, finally realized the desirability of a Central Bank and approved the Second Bank of the United States. Adams signed a law requiring individuals to buy health insurance.
” and supported a noninterventionist foreign policy,”
George Washington couldn’t intervene anywhere because the US didn’t have a Navy. (We paid bribes and tribute instead. But he did authorize a Navy which Adams, Jefferson, and Madison used to intervene.) Adams got us into an undeclared war with France. Jefferson started the First Barbary War. Madison started the War of 1812 and invaded Canada!
” gun rights,”
Washington and Hamilton put down the Whiskey Rebellion and disarmed all the rebels they could find.
“opposed taxes, etc.”
Washington and Hamilton raised an army that was larger than the one they had had at Yorktown to put down the Whiskey Rebellion and maintain their high tax policies — which were due in part to the bailout of nearly bankrupt state governments by the Federal Government.
The truth is, our founding fathers were quite comfortable with intrusive government — as long as it was an intrusive *American* government.
Cromwell had a job, and he very possibly did it sustaining the fewest overall casualties. Assuming that you can agree with the cause (overthrow of the monarchy), then he may have done the right thing. If you disagree with the cause, and think the Irish were right in suppoting the monarchy, then no justification can be made.
I think Cromwell was a friend of the Jews. Nevertheless, from a Jewish legalistic perspective, how can overthrowing a monarch be justified in this case (or in general)?
Joseph?:
I think Cromwell was a friend of the Jews. Nevertheless, from a Jewish legalistic perspective, how can overthrowing a monarch be justified in this case (or in general)?
I think that calls for a new thread.
Dr. Hall, I await your response.
“Dr. Hall, I await your response. “
I submitted one but the moderators have not accepted it as of yet.
I also submitted one regarding the motzi shem ra against Eamon De Valera (who suppressed the Blueshirts and the IRA, cooperated with the Brits against the Nazis, and in 1937 inserted a provision into the Irish Constitution that protected Jews) but that has also not been accepted by the moderators as of yet.
Harry Potter
“Would you mind explaining to us “
I submitted an explanation but it has not as of yet been accepted by the moderators.
No one. No one inspires me.
The Wolf
Benazir Bhutto
Curtis Sliwa
Rene Descartes
Andrew Jackson (despite the trail of tears)
Benjamin Franklin
Henry Thoreau
Robert Louis Stevenson
Thomas Moore
Charles Babbage
Bertrand Russel
Just throwing out a few more. There are many non-Jews who inspire me. It’s a very interesting question.
charliehall: Whether Cromwell actually committed genocide is hotly debated by historians to this day. For a brief introduction check out the wikipedia article. For some more detail see the books listed in footnotes 48-9 of that article. (They’re the only ones I know anything about.)
Fred Phelps (the Moshe Ber Beck of notzrus), i don’t think this belongs on ywn…
BSD
You’re right. Comparing Phelps to Beck is a bit of a stretch. Helbrans is more like it.
The name that really does not belong on YWN is Mandela yemach shemo. He is a garden variety anti-Semite of the new politically correct anti-Zionist breed. Phelps was on my GAG list for Peerim; no Jew with any amount of knowledge should even say or write the name Mandela without a YMS. (Phelps is too much of a clown to merit a YMS).
He and Tutu have a haisse gehennom waiting for them.
Tino Martinez
The guy who played Superman until he became paralyzed and became a big philanthropist
James Joyce
Arthur Conan Doyle
“did anyone else ever read ‘Letter to the Hebrew Congregation at Newport’, written by George Washington in Aug., 1790? “
It continues to inspire even today. There had not been as favorable statement towards Jews by a Christian head of state at any previous point in history.
There are a large number of people who are alive right now who would be dead if Nelson Mandela did not exist. If you disagree, you can feel free to look at how well Zimbabwe’s done and wonder if he can’t be a lot of the difference.
Mandela is not an anti-Zionist in the sense I think you mean it (meaning someone opposed to the continued existence of the current state of Israel in its form as a Jewish State, as opposed to someone who is not in favor the concept of a Jewish homeland or is broadly sympathetic to the Arab population between the Jordan and the Mediterranean), let alone an anti-Semite. (Again compare the trajectory of the Jewish population of South Africa to that of Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, it’s not close.) There’s no possible justification for putting a YMS after his name.
“Whether Cromwell actually committed genocide is hotly debated by historians to this day.”
There are “historians” who debate the existence of the holocaust, too.
A more direct comparison would be to Chmielnicki Y”S who was murdering Jews at almost exactly the same time as Cromwell was murdering Irish, with almost exactly the same rationale. And yes, you can find historians who don’t pay attention to Chmielnicki’s genocide (particularly in Ukraine). The fact that Cromwell was in fact very good to Jews should not blind us the fact that in almost every other respect the man was a total rasha.
Regarding Franklin Roosevelt and WW2: Roosevelt did not make operational decisions for his military. He left that up to the theater commanders who in the case of the European Air War were Gens. Eisenhower and Arnold. The same criticism of Roosevelt could be made against Churchill; British bombers had just as long a range as US bombers for most of the war. And Churchill himself ordered the bombing of Dresden, which had no military significance.
I consider both Roosevelt and Churchill to be heroes. They saw the evil of fascism before anyone else did. And they worked together — illegally, before the war — to put it out of business. And B”H they succeeded. Yes, the railroads should have been bombed. But think of what would have happened had Lord Halifax become PM in 1940 — or had Robert Taft been elected President the same year. Halifax was an appeaser worse than Chamberlain and had more support within the Conservative Party, but fortunately he yielded to Churchill. Taft was a die hard isolationist and fortunately they masses of the Republican Party masses outvoted their party leaders and nominated the outspoken internationalist Wendell Willkie so US foreign policy was not an issue in the 1940 election.
BS”D
Charlie, the difference between your historical revisionism and my outlandish posts is that, while both are firmly in the Peerim tradition, I do not even pretend that what I am writing is true.
In addition, my outlandish satire may get a few laughs. Your historical accounts may make some people shed a few tears, though I know better than to treat them as anything but the ramblings of someone who is brainwashed by jaded, discredited 1960’s leftism.
Just as I will not leave local 5 hryvnia notes in my home overnight as they bear the picture of the tzoirer Chmelnitzki YMS, so, too, do I leave (now worthless) nickels which bear the likeness of FDR on the counter or put them in a pushka whenever I visit the US. The difference is that I can quickly spend the 5 UAH notes and get a bottle of water or a small soda, whereas the worthless nickel, which might as well be wooden, is a fitting tribute to the economic policies of FDR.
As for his war record, it really is unclear. However, he was no hero. At best he was indifferent to the plight of Yidden and just listened to Dreckinridge Long and Steven Wiseguy, and at worst he was indeed a rosho merusho.
The bombing the tracks idea may also not have been feasible; this I don’t know.
You do know FDR is on the dime right?
Comparing debating Cromwell’s actions in Ireland to Holocaust denial is a pretty egregious example of Godwin’s law. Drogheda and Wexford were nothing like the Chmielnicki massacres. For one thing, Chmielnicki never negotiated with towns for surrender nor did he abide by the accepted rules of war of the time, both of which Cromwell did. He may have been a total rasha in many regards, but you cannot pretend that he was an out and out barbarian unless, of course your ancestors came from Wexford or Drogheda in which case you are entitled to your cultural conditioning.
I am admiring the Japanese technicians who are reentering the damaged nuclear power plants in Japan, risking their own lives in order to try save the lives of others.
Helen Keller and the fictional Pollyanna
BS”D
LOL YES!!! I am gone from the US for 4 years now, and before that I was just there for 2 years after 13 years abroad.
I think the last time I saw a dime was in 1992, between using my card for anything over about $5 and the way prices are set up now (2 bottles of water or soda at 89 cents plus tax each is about my usual cash purchase when I go to the US).
“did anyone else ever read ‘Letter to the Hebrew Congregation at Newport’, written by George Washington in Aug., 1790? “
I read it and post it online every year on thanksgiving.
is this a joke? helloooo? justin beiber? the pope?
I happen to be a william shakespear and robert frosr fan. (geeky, i know)
Gerald Ford
Joe Strummer
Harry Truman
Louis Armstrong
John Grisham
Ronald Regan
Ron Paul
Justin Bieber (snort)
Kinda weird seing the 600 Kilo Bear posts here
Adam
Noach
Iyov
In true inspiration, Benjamin Franklin’s work has been incorporated into mussar sefarim. when he wrote his ideas, he even stated that other religions should incorporate them to fit their needs.
I’m gonna echo the thoughts of the clsed thread. the gemara in avoda zara clearly says it is ossur for them to find favor in your eyes. Rashi learns it means to appreciate their beauty. the Rambam in yud, daled, hilchos AZ says it refers to more things. In S”A the heter brought down is if you say “look at that beautiful briyah Hashem created”, thereby attributing the gadlus to Hashem. Stam commenting on them finding favor in your eyes is pashtus an issur di’oraysah. I dont care if you think its extreme, its literally a mifurahe halachah.
Stam commenting on them finding favor in your eyes is pashtus an issur di’oraysah.
If you think is an Issur D’Oraysa to think a woman named Irina Sendler who smuggled 2000 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto was eventually caught by the Nazis, Was tortured (including having both feet broken) was sentenced to death (Only to be saved by a bribery before the firing squad) and had to be on the run during the rest of the war because the Nazis were looking for her doesnt deserve our Admiration, then I think your posek is wrong on this one
ill look into the actual shaylah, but your comment is a dangerous one. being emotionally involved and feeling strongly about something doesnt make it true or correct from a torah standpoint. halachah has rules and guidelines, and psak isnt toluy on emotions. feeliong strongly about a woman wearing a tallis at the kosel doesnt mean a thing, and its silly for you to ascribe worth to your feelings in regard to halachah.
Toi- didn’t the Rambam look up to Aristotle? I thought the Rambam said that Aristotle was one level below nevuah.
Gratitude is not a silly emotion. If you are ungrateful to this woman who risked so much (BTW she walked with a limp the rest of her life because of the torture she received when they broke her feet).
You very well might find a Rabbi who say you shouldnt be inspired by the woman, but you will also find those who ARE inspired and think we should put “righteous gentiles” (People who risked their lives to save jews during the holocaust) on another level and should honor them., and its more than proper to do so.
While normally I would not say to shop for a psak, I think in THIS case you should shop for a Posek who thinks its proper to honor righteous gentiles.
zahavasdad
Member
Gratitude is not a silly emotion. If you are ungrateful to this woman who risked so much (BTW she walked with a limp the rest of her life because of the torture she received when they broke her feet).
You very well might find a Rabbi who say you shouldnt be inspired by the woman, but you will also find those who ARE inspired and think we should put “righteous gentiles” (People who risked their lives to save jews during the holocaust) on another level and should honor them., and its more than proper to do so.
While normally I would not say to shop for a psak, I think in THIS case you should shop for a Posek who thinks its proper to honor righteous gentiles.
While I never heard of this halacha, and don’t know to what extent it goes, gratitude and inspiration are two different things. We can and should be VERY grateful for what she did. That doesn’t mean we should be inspired to do the same because she did it.
TS,
Would you care to let us know some examples?
BTW
What I say about Irina Sender, also applies to Wallenberg , Sugihara, Schindler members of Zegota and anyone else who saved even one jew at great personal risk.
Irina Sender had a long life and lived to 99 and almost nobody had heard of her until recently and I bet almost nobody has heard of Zegota (many of its members were tortured and killed for trying to save jews)
ZD,
Halacha is not driven by emotions. It is silly to think so.
Gratitude as an emotion is not hakoras hatov.
It is possible to have hakoras hatov and still consider the ramifications and implications of the issur of “lo seichoneim”
Wallenberg, President Reagan, Sean Hannity to name a few.
zdad- i didnt say your emotional reaction was silly. i said that to think that your emotional reaction should be an influencing force in deciding a halachic shaylah is silly. i already stated i would check into the inyan of a righteous gentile and the application of the term in this halachah.
I tried to find a 100% kosher link, mods please let this through:
http://www.torah.org/advanced/haaros/5758/out2-43.html
If the link doesn’t work, you can google “Benjamin Franklin Mussar Movement”
Basically, he developed a program where you work on one middah at a time, and slowly growing and moving on to the next middah. This was incorporated into an early mussar sefer, and eventually into R’ Yisrael Salanter’s sefer. So, one can argue that not only is BF a Founding Father of the US, he’s also a FF of the Mussar Movement.
Which is interesting because he was extremely famous for being not the most “moral” person in certain issues.
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