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I will not engage “Cynical” in a back and forth, question and answer session. The reason? It really doesn’t matter what he thinks, and THAT is the ikar point.
“Conservatives” THINK that THEY can make their own decisions about what halachos are important or relevant, or to what degree they are relevant. It is what we call “cafeteria Judaism”, i.e. take a stroll through the Shulchan Aruch (not that most “conservative Jews” even know what a Shulchan Aruch IS) and as you stroll through, you say “Oh, Chanukah candles, OOOH, I like that, I’ll put that on my tray, but taharas hamishpacha… THOSE are antiquate laws that don’t interest me, so I’ll just pass those by, and uhh… Shabbas? – hmm… well, yeah I like my rabbi’s sermons Saturday mornings, but I enjoy going to the movies on Saturday afternoons, so I’m NOT gonna get FANATIC about Shabbas.” –And so the stroll goes.
“Conservative Judaism” is a diseased product of galus in general, and of American democracy in particular. American life teaches that every thing can be voted on, everything is up to YOU to decide.
HaSh-m’s mitzvot are just THAT – MITZVOT, commandments, NOT suggestions. Yes, we have free will, but along with that free will, come CONSEQUENCES! Reward for observing the mitzvot and PUNISHMENT for NOT observing them. It is NOT that HaSh-m is saying “you have free will – keep the mitzvot, don’t keep the mitzvot, either way is fine with me, – whatever you guys wanna do, I’m OK with it.” That is NOT the way it works. But in the “conservative” world, where the opinion of “rabbi Cynical” is just as valid as that of Rav Moshe zatz”l, or even the opinion of the average (Jewishly) uneducated baal ha’bayis is as valid as that of Rav Moshe, that IS the way it works.
And so, – we are on two completely different wavelengths, and debate is futile.
Do I hate “conservative” Jews? NOT AT ALL. I am terribly sad and sick over this galus disease that has claimed so many of our brothers and sisters, and will continue, HaSh-m yirachaiym, to claim many more as their intermarriage rates continue to soar. The only answer (in our human hands) is kiruv, – not debate.
To: Cynical…
You say that you are a “conservative rabbi” and that “No COnservative rabbi will tell you that the child of a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother is Jewish”.
Don’t you really mean they wont tell you that UNTIL your “Jewish law committee” or whatever name you call it by, with the passage of time, votes that the child of a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother IS Jewish, – just in the same way that it was decided that is OK to have mixed seating in shul, that it is OK to ordain women as “rabbis”, that it is OK to drive to shul on Shabbas, and numerous other “decisions” made by your “movement” that are contrary to Torah law?
“Cynical” – “conservative” conversions are NOT k’halacha. First of all, most “conservative” “rabbis” (let alone laymen) do not even accept the 13 ikarim, do not accept Torah mi’Sinai. That goes double for Torah she’baal peh. The Torah, they will tell you, was written by a bunch of “very wise men”.
Having THAT as a starting point… it goes down hill from there. Do you really think that any woman undergoing a “conservative conversion” accepts upon herself observance of mitzvos -observance of Shabbas, kashrus, taharas hamishpacha??? Most definitely not. Even the “rabbis” who convert them are not makpid about these things themselves.
So, to answer the original question… Of course if they are Jewish through maternal lineage, then of course they are Jewish. But if they are Jewish through a “conservative” (or “reform”) “conversion” -or the child of a mother from such a “conversion” – then clearly they are NOT Jewish.
I will go even further…
Not only do (many) people NOT return the seforim, they show no kavod ha’brios or K’vod bais ha’knesses by the following…
–They turn chairs around from the next table in the shul/bais medrash so they can face the person they are learning with (fine)-and then leave them that way (not fine)!
and…
–They take people’s personal table shtenders from other tables to use themselves (fine) but don’t put them back where they took them from, -so the owners have to go searching for their shtender (not fine!)
–They leave a pile of dirty tissues and/or dirty cups or food wrappers on the tables.
Question: How much is a person’s learning worth when he has no concept of respect for others?!?
I intend to procrastinate, but I never seem to get around to it!
All of you that talk about potato soup, leek soup, carrot soup, pumpkin soup on Shabbas Kodesh – SHAME ON YOU! Such apikorsus!!!
What would your great grandparents think of you?
What a boosha!!!
OY America America! Look what this guldena medina has done to us!!!
May we all do teshuva, may Mashiach come quickly and bring a return to the chicken soup with luchshen of our ancestors!
(and PLEASE don’t anyone tell me that they put the heilige kneidlach in carrot soup!)
I once took a cigarette out of a bachur’s hand.
He said “Hey, wadda ya think you’re doing?!?”
I said “If some thug attacked you and was about to stick a knife in you, wouldn’t you want someone to grab his hand and stop him?”
“Yeah”.
“Well, – YOU are sticking the knife in yourself!”
He didn’t have an answer.
A few months ago I started getting a leak in my “water blech” (kedaira al gabai kedairah) and instead of replacing it I got a “plata” (Israeli electric hot plate).
I place right on top of my stove top burners, so there is nothing under it that can burn. It does get very (evenly) hot.
According to the Rav I spoke to in Israel if one wants to place (only dry) food on this plata on Shabbas morning, to warm for lunch, one can do so IF you have an upside pan or tray on the plata, and put your food on top of that.
Personally, I put my old (leaky) water blech (without any water of course) on top of the plata before Shabbas (it covers the whole surface of the plata) and place my food on top of that…
This solves TWO problems –
1) My food still gets plenty hot, but does not burn or get dried out, and
2) I can put (dry) food on it Shabbas morning.
BTW… Very few frum Israelis use our American style blech, MOST frum Israelis use a hot plate, and this is the accepted way of doing so.
Here’s a thought…
We all know how Rachel Emainu wept bitterly seeing her children going into galus. HaSh-m heard her weeping and promised her that her children would return.
On the yahrtzeit of Mama Rachel perhaps it would be appropriate if we all just spent a few moments at least thinking about the possibility, just the POSSIBILITY of going back to Eretz Yisrael. Sure, I know well all the reasons why most of us feel we can’t (family, parnassa, etc., etc., etc.) BUT on this one day if we would at least try to feel that we wish we could overcome the obstacles, and we could go home, – well it might help dry a few of Mama Rachel’s tears.
G-d exists whether you believe in Him or not.
The question is – Does He believe in YOU?
If He doesn’t… Well… it is YOU that wont exist.
Do something today to strengthen HaSh-m’s faith in YOU.
Jay11691 – NO,- bitachon does not guarantee one food, – it guarantees the knowledge that whether you have food or you DON”T have food, it is HaSh-m in charge of the situation – always, and it is not “b’mikreh” not chance or “luck”.
A few months ago I started getting a leak in my “water blech” (kedaira al gabai kedairah) and instead of replacing it I got a “plata” (Israeli electric hot plate).
I place right on top of my stove top burners, so there is nothing under it that can burn. It does get very (evenly) hot.
According to the Rav I spoke to in Israel if one wants to place (only dry) food on this plata on Shabbas morning, to warm for lunch, one can do so IF you have an upside pan or tray on the plata, and put your food on top of that.
Personally, I put my old (leaky) water blech (without any water of course) on top of the plata before Shabbas (it covers the whole surface of the plata) and place my food on top of that…
This solves TWO problems –
1) My food still gets plenty hot, but does not burn or get dried out, and
2) I can put (dry) food on it Shabbas morning.
BTW… Very few frum Israelis use our American style blech, MOST frum Israelis use a hot plate, and this is the accepted way of doing so.
To “cofeefan” (and others) who said she acknowledges HaSh-m’s hand in something as mundane as finding a parking spot right in front of where you need to go.
I would take that one step further…
Even when you DON’T find a “good” spot, even when you have to circle the block 10 times, and then have to take a spot 2 blocks away from your destination, THAT is ALSO with HaSh-m’s hashgacha. For whatever His reason might be, a reason you will probably never know, He wanted you to circle the block, and He wanted you to walk those two blocks.
So, just as one should say Thank You HaSh-m when you find the close-by spot, one should say it also for the far away spot since in BOTH cases HaSh-m was looking out for your best interests, and only He knows what those best interests are.
This brings to mind the joke (not really SURE it’s a joke!) about why (although, yes, there ARE exceptions) mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law generally do not get along.
Why???
Because deep in her heart, the mother-in-law KNOWS how SHE treats her own husband, and so she has negative feelings toward her daughter-in-law whom she feels is probably her treating HER dear son the SAME way!!!
New York is horrible!
-Most of the year is uncomfortably hot or uncomfortably cold.
-The taxes (sales, income, real estate, etc. etc.) are CRAZY!
-Despite the bogus statistics, way too dangerous!
Yes, there ARE lots of yeshivas, shuls, and kosher food places in New York, but how many do you really need?
Why doesn’t the frum community get up in mass and move to a better location?!? Ideally, of course to Eretz Yisrael, but if not there, to a place like New Hampshire or another beautiful state with less taxes, less crime, and a better climate!
I really can NOT figure out why any non-Jew (who obviously does not need the shuls, yeshivos, etc.) would live here if he can find a job elsewhere. Home-wise you can get so much more for so much less in so many other states.
When we hear of, for example, a terrible car accident with it’s consequences, we think OY VAI, so horrible, so terrible, how, why did this happen?
BUT…
I think most of us have had major yeshuos that we don’t even acknowledge to ourselves. Haven’t we all had “close calls”? Maybe we realize that we went through a stop sign that we didn’t notice until we were half way through it, and B”H we got through Ok with nothing happening. OR… maybe we were just about to pull out of a parking spot and we “just happen to” to give one more quick glance in our mirror before giving it the gas to pull out – and see someone zooming down the block at 60 mph and we jam on the brakes.
When things like this happen, we just usually go “whew, close one” and continue on our merry way. Do we stop and think “Chasdai HaSh-m! I, or someone else, could’ve just been badly injured or even killed! – Thank you HaSh-m for watching over me!”
Want to know where HaSh-m is? HE’s right next to you.
To: Aishes Chayil
Licht is not a problem. I believe most poskim hold that in such a case you can use electric “licht”.
As far as hot food for Shabbas, what I have done is bring a small electric plata (hot plate), turn it ON before Shabbas, and set in on a timer to go OFF after the Shabbas lunch food has been warmed. I believe it is assur to set it to go ON on Shabbas morning.
I also do NOT let the hotel chambermaid in the room on Shabbas.
With all real respect for the concerns and aitzas expressed above, I think the main thing that has to be checked is CHILDREN.
I think that if we (could) know what started a very large percentage of Shabbas/YomTov fires, we would find that unattended children are often responsible.
By unattended children I mean such things as (but not limited to…) kids running around during the Shabbas night meal (while the adults are shmussen at the table) and knocking into the still burning candles, or banging into, or putting flammable materials near or under the blech in the kitchen.
Also kids may get up earlier on Shabbas morning than parents, and go to the kitchen for food or to play BY THEMSELVES!
Parents MUST be more diligent in watching their kids to prevent tragedy, EVEN IF it means interrupting your adult table conversations, and/or getting up earlier in the morning.
Most homes in New York are built largely of wood (even if covered with brick) and sheetrock, and can, chalila, go up in flames really quickly.
Another very important issue…
Make sure to have WORKING smoke-detectors on every level of the house, AND a working fire-extinguisher on every level of the house.
If you don’t have your home equipped already with these items, get them NOW, BEFORE NEXT SHABBAS.
SJS, yes they do HAVE Hebrew names but are not used to using, hearing, or responding to them.
So when a new friend or teacher is calling “Asher, Asher!” little Arnold probably won’t even turn around (at least not untill he’s been embarrassed enough times for not knowing his own name.)
Look at it from the OTHER side…
Any moment Mashiach is going to arrive, and we will all be heading for Eretz Yisrael.
Then the question will be…
What will your kids’ Ivrit speaking classmates do with names like Heather and Brittany and Bruce and Craig?
Want a great “segula” for an easy, healthy childbirth for mother and child???
More teshuva, more tefila, more tzedaka.
Those acts are more effective than any pitom, kamaiya, or red string.
The spray that was mentioned above by “squeak” will work for ants and other crawling bugs, but will NOT work for bees or wasps.
If YOU used it “squeak”, and did not have bees, – you must have davened well, – it was not because of the spray.
If it stops raining, go to the beach at Riis Park in Rockaway.
It’s only 20 minutes away from Flatbush, just over the bridge at the end of Flatbush Avenue (past Kings Plaza and Toys R Us.)
The parking lot is FREE because the beach season is over.
95% of the people there now are frum, and aside from the beach there is a nice little park for young kids, and a basketball court for the older ones and their fathers.
A great day for only the $2.75 bridge toll!!!
Go to the Aish website and watch the video about Roi Klein.
You will learn that there are modern day tzadik/heroes in Am Yisrael.
Many people DO lie about even serious issues and hope for the best.
MY advice – double check your information, – and – if people hesitate before giving their answers, then TRIPLE check the information.
R’Chaim shlit”a is a tzaddik!
Hidabroot is a wonderful, amazing organization headed by the incredible Rav Zamir Cohen shlit”a.
This campaign, with this promise, is probably unknown to both of them.
About 10 or 15 years ago there was a hurricane in New York with terrible hard rain and strong winds (I forget if it was just before Succos, or at the beginning of it).
Most people’s sukkahs got totally blown down.
I was so proud of myself because my home-made, hand-made sukkah was still fully standing!
I went over to inspect it, and when I just barely touched it,
THE WHOLE THING COLLAPSED!
SO MUCH FOR MY GAIYVAH!
A Rav told me that it IS fine to wonder about and ask these types of questions,
BUT…
Do NOT dwell on it TOO much or make knowing the answers a VERY important issue for yourself.
BECAUSE – if you DO, then HKB”H may say to you, “Since these questions are SO important for you to have answered, I will bring you “upstairs” to see the answers.”
Get it!?!
Another Warning!
Many people hang lights in the succah that were made to be used indoors, NOT outdoors, and they are NOT water-proof!
IF you ARE using indoor lights, be sure you have a good waterproof cover (shlak) to close the succah with in case of rain!
Water and electricity are NOT a good (or a safe) shidduch!!!
The Quinoa is also GREAT as a topping on salads, instead of, or in addition to, eating it as a side dish.
Eat a big portion of Quinoa (pronounced kin-wa)
Though you will probably find it in the isle with rice and other grains, it is technically NOT a grain. It is in the spinach family, though I personally think that what little taste it has on its own, is slightly like corn.
It looks like parakeet seed when raw, but cooks in boiling water like rice or couscous, and fluffs up. You can add whatever spices you like to flavor it up. Personally I like to add sauteed onions.
THE CHOCHMA OF IT IS THAT IT HAS AN E-X-T-R-E-M-E-L-Y LOW Glycemic index, which means IT RELEASES CARBS (I.E. ENERGY) INTO YOUR SYSTEM V-E-R-Y, V-E-R-Y SLOWLY! This means it is GREAT before a fast.
I highly recommend it!
By the way, it can also be eaten for breakfasts as a hot cereal, with fruit and/or sweetener of your choice added.
Very healthy, very tasty, very good before a fast or any time.
Es chata’ai ani mazkir hayom…
As a fourteen year old (45 years ago) on my first trip/tour to Eretz Yisrael, they took us into a mosgue in the Galil.
Now while i have never been accused of being anything other than a right-wing, fanatic, militant, R’Kahane lover, – nevertheless, while I would like to see all non-Jewish forms of worship OUT of Artzeinu Hakedosha, – I can not tell a lie…
There is NOTHING inside a mosque.
NO statues or avoda zara of any kind.
So… while islam as a religion, may or may not be considered avoda zara, mosques are just a big prayer rooms.
Capt.Roi Klein – who was killed al kidush HaSh-m in the second Lebanon War by jumping on a hezbollah grenade to save the lives of his chevra – while shouting Shema Yisrael.
BUT – I am inspired by him NOT just for this ultimate act of self-sacrifice…
I am inspired because he was, though in appearance, just a mild-mannered, kipa seruga, “regular guy”, he was, in fact, a TRUE tzadik.
His entire life was about learning Torah, LIVING Torah, doing chesed, loving Hash-m, loving Am Yisrael, loving Eretz Yisrael.
His final act was NOT an isolated one, but the culmination of all that he was, and what we should ALL aspire to be.
Yehi zichro baruch.
Hash-m yikom damo.
Blinky – you are correct.
Long, long ago, when these tests first started to be taken (I don’t think it was even called Dor Yesharim back then) they did tell the individual if they were carriers, but now they only tell you if the shidduch would be problematic.
Good Jokes above, BUT bed bugs ARE a serious problem all over New York (including B.P.!!!)
Going to the mikveh wont help.
They don’t live on your body, they live in/on your mattress (and can spread to infest rugs and other furniture), and come out to bite you at night and they live on your blood (like mosquitos).
If you have the problem, these bubba-maaiseh remedies will not work. You need professional help. Call a heimish exterminator and ask for some kind of warrantee or at least clarify what your fee is covering – because with this problem, there is a good chance you will need at least one re-treatment!
I have a lot of respect and appreciation for what Shomrim do. –
I think we need to ask a shaiyla.
As far as having Shomrim carrying guns? – That is NOT going to happen. Getting a carry permit in this city is almost impossible, and it requires not only serious training regarding the weapon itself, but psychological screening of the individual, and training regarding rules of engagement, i.e. WHEN it is legal and appropriate to draw and fire a weapon.
Without a doubt, it is from the 1969 Israel Song Festival album and entitled “Balada LaChovesh” – the ballad of the medic.
A good friend of mine who was a paratrooper and a veteran of many anti-terrorist raids and the Yom Kippur War (and was wounded in combat several times) still, to this day, cries when he hears this song.
If you understand Hebrew and you have a soul, you can NOT hear this song and not cry.
To: mw13…
You wrote “I have no idea what “is in their hearts”. However, it makes no difference: Freedom of Religion is Freedom of Religion, regardless of intent.”
If you are a reasonably intelligent Yid, which I will assume you are, you really DO know what is in their hearts, since they have expressed it HUNDREDS of times both here in the U.S. and in Eretz Yisrael. They want to destroy democracy, they want to destroy Israel, they want to destroy Judaism and xianity, they want to impose sharia law on the whole world. For them the hundreds of years between the Crusades and 9/11 was just a “cease-fire” in an on-going war with the “infidels”.
YES, Freedom of religion IS freedom of religion, BUT just as that freedom does NOT mean they can build a mosque in the middle of the Belt Parkway, it does NOT mean they can build it whereEVER they want. Intent DOES matter. If their intent is to study and pray, it does NOT have to DAVKA be done on the site where their co-religionists massacred thousands of innocent Americans and where it will cause anger and grief, AND if their intent is to honor and glorify the terror attack by building a mosque on the site, then CERTAINLY it must NOT be allowed to go forward.
I would never put a “witch” singer on my top 3 list!
I think witches should be burned at the stake!
Personally, I am a huge fan of Yosef Karduner and Adi Ran.
Wake up and get real people!
This isn’t about religious freedom! There are already dozens (or more) mosques in New York! This is about them making a political statement! Don’t compare this to (or worry about) OUR ability to build shuls. WE DIDN’T COMMIT A TERRORIST ATTACK HERE! (and – when they DO start banning shuls here, it wont matter that we didn’t).
Do you really think they want a mosque DAVKA near Ground Zero for the sake of peace and healing?!?!
They want it there to “twist the knife”!
What is in their hearts is “We attacked you, We killed thousands of you, NOW we will use YOUR own stupid political correctness to commemorate our victory by building a mosque on your graves!!!”
-Look at what is happening in France! It is OVERRUN with moslems and mosques. The French are running for their cultural (soon to be physical) lives! A huge percentage of french jews have gotten the wake-up call and are running to make aliyah.
If these pere-adam yishmaelim REALLY wanted healing and peace they wouldn’t push to build a mosque in the ONLY location that the vast majority of New Yorkers are wildly opposed to!
Bus drivers in Israel (and many other places – not NY of course) have managed for many decades to give change without it being a driving hazard.
More importantly (I think) is that Egged is now running busses to and from Hevron which are NOT armored, i.e. bullet-proof (some ARE, and some are NOT). Apparently they feel that since nothing major has happened LATELY it is safe to do so (and probably cheaper to run.)
The attitudes of our yishmaeli cousins toward us have NOT changed!
If there haven’t been any serious attacks LATELY, well – B”H!!!
Will Egged have to wait until, chalila, something bad DOES happen, to get back to ONLY armored buses!?!
To: BP Totty – a question like that about disposables or china deserves an answer like this…
B”H we are sufficiently well off that we dispose of our china after one use. It’s so annoying to our sleep-in housekeeper to have to make her wash it, and we enjoy always shopping for new designs.
As heart-breaking as the situation on Har HaBayit is, think what would be the case (with Mashiach having not yet arrived) if that stupid domed structure were NOT there.
At best, it would be a big tourist site, with thousands of people, Jews and goyim, tramping through every area of this makom kadosh with their cameras just like they do at the back of the Kotel plaza.
At worst, the Israeli government or the Jerusalem city government might turn it into a sports stadium or a shopping area.
HaSh-m had a reason for allowing that mosque to be built there and remain there – temporarily.
Gun control means holding your gun with two hands. – anonymous
There are two things that are infinite – the Universe, and human stupidity… but I’m not so sure about the Universe.
-Albert Einstein
I’m not sure if there’s an afterlife, but, I am bringing a change of underwear. – Woody Allen (I know, I know, I don’t like him either, but he does have some good lines.)
When you get to the fork in the road, – take it. -Yogi Bera
YW Moderator-42…
That is one of the things (mothers eating their children) I never could really understand from Eichah on Tisha b’Av.
Even during the horrors of the Holocaust I never heard of that happening. It seems hard to believe. I wonder if it is meant to be taken literally???
When I hear the term Kidush HaSh-m, I immediately think of Roi Klein ztzvk”l who both lived and died al Kidush HaSh-m.
Hopefully most of you remember this young soldier, who, during the Lebanon War 4 summers ago, to save the life of fellow soldiers in his group, threw himself on a hezbolla grenade, while shouting Shema Yisrael with his last breath.
Those of you who have been zoche to read the book or see the video about his life, know that this was not one isolated act, but the culmination of a life devoted to HaSh-m, His Torah, His People and His Land. Yehi zichro baruch.
I am not suggesting that these times we are living in, aren’t EXTREMELY hard financially for most people,
BUT…
Most of us ARE guilty of what I call the “haftahave” syndrome. We work to have money for a lot of things we THINK we have to have!
Do we REALLY NEED all those things???
Well, some of them we do, but I think MANY of them would have been considered LUXURIES just maybe 15-20 years ago.
Maybe we need to re-assess what we REALLY need to have, and what we are sacrificing to get it.
While I am at least as skeptical (to put it mildly) as everyone else here, I still don’t think we should make fun of this.
Why?
Because one day VERY soon, he WILL be here, and we DO have to get ready NOW!
Obviously there are some major differences in minhagim.
Whether or not these differences will pose significant problems, is entirely up to the personalities of the specific people involved (chatan, kallah, AND their parents).
It’s all a question of HOW it’s done.