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“Lowly mortal” — do you mean a worm, they are mortal and quite low
The mortals I hang out with are all created in the image of Ha-Shem, capable of things that melachim (“angels” as the goyim say) can only dream of, and are only mortal within the context of this world (which we know is a merely corridor to the real world (“this world” being similar to the “fake” world of the “Matrix” but with a much better real world).
The answer is that the US has a very fixed two party system, with free elections within each party to determine the nominee. Trump defeated the more traditional conservatives in the primary election in 2016. No elected president has been seriously challenged for renomination by his party, so the next opportunity for a traditional conservative is in 2024. In all fairness, it seems the conservative platform of small government and a muscular foreign policy seems somewhat out of favor at the moment.
In the election persons who dislike Trump, or Biden, have few choices as the American system makes it almost impossible for a “third party” to win (this happened only once, in 1860 when both parties fragmented, and the election triggered a civil war). Those unhappy with the presidential candidates can elect congressional candidate more to their choosing, and unlike most democracies, the American legislature is totally independent of, and in many ways more powerful, than the executive, and has a long tradition of annoying the elected chief executive.
Hats are a matter of style, not halacha. The halacha is to dress nicely for Shabbos. What defines Shabbos-dik is dependent on place and time, and is always relative. BTW, that is always true about clothing.
A dark conventional suit, with a fedora, will mark you as someone who wants to be seen as a scholar or even a fanatic if you wear it in a shul where everyone else has no jacket, wears a white shirt without a tie, and a kippah srugah. The very same outfit worn to a shul where the norm is a “long” suit (beckishe, kapote, etc.), and where formal hats (including homburgs, steimels, etc.) are the norm, will indicate that you want to be seen a “modern” person familiar with the ways of the outside world.
Under American law, the only time being pro-Nazi was illegal was when the United States was at war with Nazi Germany. Supporting the idea that the South should be given independence was never illegal even during the Civil War (persons arrested for supporting the South were not charged with a crime or prosecuted, though they were arrested under the suspension of habeas corpus, which was subsequently found to have been illegal).
One should also note that reconciliation with the defeated rebels was a key aspect of American policy, going back to Lincoln in 1865. In other countries the animosity over civil wars often lasted centuries (e.g. it was still controversial in 20th century Britain whether they could honor Oliver Cromwell, who was the “Jefferson Davis” of the British civil war). One should note (WOKE propaganda to the contrary) the even though the Germans in World War II presented strong racial arguments to American southerners including advocating a re-enslavement of Black Americans, they found no takers – the policy of reconciliation that is denounced may be a major reason why there was southern “third column” supporting the Nazis.
Police frequently beat up people. Even when their our four healthy, fairly young, cops, and one unarmed middle-aged person (who probably wasn’t going to be charged – passing one, and only one, fake $20 suggests he didn’t anything illegal and was probably annoyed to find our that the bill in his wallet was possibly fake). Police routinely beat up people of all races. This is illegal.
It shouldn’t be noted that police generally don’t beat up rich people. Police tend to be very polite to well dressed, well educated and apparently affluent people. It has to do with class. It is surprising that the self-proclaimed socialists haven’t caught on to this, since class distinctions are a core part of Marxist sociology.
Trump would be clever to explain he fully understands “Black lives matter” but that the lives of his supporters also matter and “Deplorables’ lives matter”, and that the solution is not to say that only Black lives matters but that the police should respect persons regardless of who or what they are. Of he said that, he would be a Libertarian (Rand Paul would be proud, the big government Republicans would be shocked).
Just like systematic/institutional anti-semitism is a myth. Actually if you live in Boro Park, work in Boro Park and have never left Boro Park, you might believe there is no discrimination against anyone in America (in Boro Park there is no discrimination against frum Yidden, and there aren’t enough goyim to discriminate against). You never applied for a job in which having beard and pe’os might hurt chances of getting hired. You never had to consider entering a field in which you were the only frum person. You never left out neighborhood. That method of avoid anti-semitism is similar to the reason many if not most Blacks in American prefer to live in Black neighborhoods and go to predominantly Black colleges.
You mean you never wondered if an African American professional you meet is truely qualified, or got the job only via affirmative action? You mean you never got nervous seeing a group of young, poor dressed, African American males walking towards you on a dark, uncrowded street? Did you ever feel uncomfortable traveling or shopping in an predominantly African American neighborhood?
Were the Nazis hypocrites for hating Jews? Are those who wish to be tyrants hypocrites for hating those whom they wish to enslave? Is a wolf a hypocrite for wanting to eat the sheep?
He could just establish that Israeli law applies to the existing settlements as if they were annexed. He might make it more secure by stating that the national government (not the settlement) would be fully liable if a future peace treaty requires paying the Palestinians for the lands, or relocating the settlement (insure the settlements against an unfavorable future peace treaty).
Israel has to remember that if the Republicans ever lose a national election in the United States, they will be, as the saying up, rowing up creek without a paddle.
Would we object to a statute of a Nazi who didn’t support the holocaust (especially if he ended up being executed by the Nazi government)? What if he was merely not involved with the holocaust.
Do we object to statutes in honor of former American enemies with whom we now wish to be friends (e.g. Sitting Bull, Nat Turner)?
An argument can be made the rebellion of the American South in 1861-1865 was not initially about slavery but about the objections of the southerners to a modern, industrial society. Only some of the states that still had slavery (most states having abolished slavery in the aftermath of the Revolution) joined the rebellion, and most southerners were not slaveowners. Before the Civil War most Americans had never seen a Black person, and no one demanded that the south give up slavery in 1861, and the pro-union slave states were exempted from the emancipation proclamation. By the end of the war the Union was anti-slavery, and by 1865 most non-southern Americans felt they had been abolitionists all along, just like most Americans and Brits couldn’t care less about anti-Semitism in 1939, but by 1945 felt they had opposed anti-Semitism all along. In both cases, discovering the barbarity of the enemy (of slavery, and of the holocaust), combined with the struggles of war, changed minds
At least they aren’t proposing funding the Palestinians or Al Queda, yet. Or more likely, banning Americans from donating money to Israel, and banning American companies from selling to Israel (that will come).
However there is no requirement, at least under Federal law, to fund private schools. Furthermore, most non-sectarian private schools are “prep” schools which by definition are not in need of public funds. It is surprising that the four Democrat judges all supported the Blaine amendment, considering that in the past it was the Democrats supporting ethnic and religious minorities, and Republicans supporting the Blaine amendment. The change in the Democratic position is bad for yeshivos, since in states with a Democratic majority, the legislature is unlikely for fund any non-public schools, which is still their option. If the refuse to fund the private schools for rich kids, they can also refuse to fund the religious schools serving poor kids.
YWN is an aggregator even though it has occasional original reports. Last spring the powers that be in the scientific world assumed that anyone who came down with Covid19 would get sick enough need to contact a doctor or go to a hospital, similar to the situation for other infamous epidemics, such as smallpox. influenza, typhus, bubonic, etc. They thus decided that most people who were infected would be come seriously ill, and 5% will die. That would mean around 15 to 20 millions deaths in the US alone. Most of the government (except for Trump), and most of the Rabbanim thought this was true and acted accordingly.
It turns out the experts were WRONG. Now that they can test for antibodies, it turns out that 90% of the people who “catch” COVID19 do not get sick enough to care about it. That the NORMAL for Covid19 is a cold symptom or less. In the EXCEPTIONAL cases, it causes serious illness, and perhaps 1 in 300 patients die of it (to but it in context, in the United States 1 in about 120 people die annually), It also turned out that the typical Covid19 patient for whom the disease is life threatening is someone already in per health. Based on the accurate numbers, confirmed in several countries, COVID19 was NEVER an “existential” threat to society, there never was a need for a massive shutdown, there was never a need to close the economy, there was never a need to give up davening and learning, and the experts were wrong. Note that realizing the truth, means concluding the most politicians, and many leading rabbanim, were misled by errors in the presenting the facts. While criticizing politicians and science experts if fair game, criticizing the leaders of our own community is halachically a problem. So YWN aggregates, and doesn’t try to get involved.
AviK — davening is not a business. Under Common Law (i.e.the law as it was before the Constitution), you could always reserve land for agricultural purposes. But you couldn’t ban people from praying in their house. That is why there were minyanim (and Catholic services) at a time when the only house of worship were those of the established church. If a right exists at common law, it can only be repealed by a specific statute (not by implication). So a traditional shtiebel (davening in someone’s home, no request for a tax write-off, or a parking lot, etc.) is covered.
Raising livestock was always regulated in cities While most people needed horses and cows, other livestock were a problem and were required to live on farms.
It’s not clear that zoning laws could ban a shtiebel. After all, back when it was illegal to build a synagogue in the United States (in some states until the Jacksonian era) people could still have a private minyan in their house (note: the same rule also applied to Roman Catholics when their churches were banned). The common law rule that everyman’s home is his castle at least covers what you do in your house. And this is without dealing with the discrimination issues addressed in federal and state constitutions and statutes.
A liability of a democracy (small “d”) is that the voters sometimes make bad choices. Note that in World War II, in which the losers entered into what turned out to be a hopeless suicidal war, the three Axis powers were all led by democratically elected leaders (and one continued to have free elections even during the war). The fact the most of New York is still standing indicates that De Blaso would be worse.
WolfishMusings: There is always the danger of a nuclear weapon being used (again). There is also a danger of an epidemic that will destroy civilization. There is also the danger of an asteroid hitting Earth or the Sun going Nova. There is also the danger of Earth being visited by hungry aliens who think we are non-sentient but with a good taste.
Science Fiction is an interesting genre, but you should realize that it is fiction. If you are really worried about the end of the world, stop posting on YWN and concentrate on spending your minutes on Torah and Mitsvos.
It is possible that Covid19 will seriously weaken the attraction of large cities. First, the biggest risk factor for Covid19, other than being old, is urban living. Second, the “lockdowns” demonstrate the advantages of teleworking and distance education, so we can expect more resources to be invested in industries that telework (and for sponsoring companies to move to states that do not tax non-resident teleworkers) which will seriously hurt big cities, and especially New York City, whose economy is based on industries that can easily go entirely online, thereby avoiding New York’s high taxes and high rents.
1. An EMP would be an act of war. It would have no impact on nuclear weapons on submarines which would retaliate. Given that China has a dense population (high concentration, unlike the US which is spread out), China would lose. It also should be noted that throughout its history, China has never engaged in suicidal behavior. Indeed, China has never engaged in a war except against/in countries bordering on China.
2.It is unlikely a country would launch an EMP strike without a complete follow-up to at least strike at the other side’s nuclear weapons. The resulting radiation would minimize the danger of starvation.
Next Purim, if a totally drunk Yid is making a fool of himself, resists a lawful arrest and grabs a taser (i.e. non-lethal weapon useless over distance) and then runs away – is it okay for the cop to shoot him in the back as he is running away.
Clearly not pre-meditated murder or felony murder, but probably manslaughter (and failing to follow orders, which is grounds for dismissal from the police force).
Actually the United States has an “oral law” system. It is very flexible. The ‘Common law”, like Halakah evolves by scholars and judges addressing situations as they change. The Romans had a written system reliant on the boss making rules whenever he felt like. If you tried to reinact living as we did 2000 years ago you would realize how are flexible oral system, like the American common law system, works in our benefit.
If you followed the original text of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, as an example, gun ownership would be dependent on willingness to serve in the militia and report regularly for training (and to fight war, and more often, suppress riots). The clear understanding when the Constitution was adopted was that non-Christians would have minimal rights under state law unless the state wanted them to (by the Jacksonian era, they all had). None of the civil rights that enable American Jews to be comfortably middle class would exist if the Constitution was interpreted as it was in 1789 (of the14th amendment at the time it was adopted).
Americans (and many in the world elsewhere) have been feeling that the “end is near” since at least the 1960s. You see it in literature, pop culture, etc. Messianic movements are strong in all religions, The cure to the feeling how awful it is, is to realize how good it is. How people today are better fed (the leading food issue is obesity, it used to be starvation), healthier (even with Covid19, the death rate is lower now than in the mid-20th century – back then no one would have suggested lockdowns to deal with Covid19), and more secure (there hasn’t been a world war in over 75 years – the last city to be destroyed in any sort of warfare was Hiroshima, or at worse some (then) small cities in Korea ). Ignorance of the past leads to not realizing how well off we are.
Just wait untijl the Democrats sweep the next election. To see whose next to get cancelled, just look in a mirror.
1. Ask about the experience of frum travellers crossing borders who are often suspected of smuggling.
2. Arguably police stereotyping is based on class. Police tend to be respectful of well dressed, well educated, polite persons regardless of race, and tend to beat up poorly dressed, ill educated and especially rude persons no matter what they look like. While this makes perfect sense to a sociologist, a lawyer will point out that under American law the police aren’t allowed to beat up people, even if society thinks they deserve. Stereotyping strangers is normal human behavior, even if it is illegal and unfair to the person be stereotyped.
Actually De Blasio has done an excellent job of getting all New Yorkers to finally agree on something. He has something to hate from every perspective, left wingers, right wingers and even hard core anarchists can all find something to dislike about him. Who would have ever thought he would be such a unifying figure?
Charging money for a gemara shiur? That is definitely a hidush, and not a good one.
Unless the shiur is set up so the visual component being broadcast is of the gemara, perhaps with the piece being discussed (of gemara, Rashi or Tosafos) highlighted, there isn’t much advantage of a gemera shiur being visual as opposed to pure audio. It also means everyone involved needs to dress up nicely and make sure the background of their seating is something you want strangers to see.
And how long did it take to figure this out?????????
The alternative to police is vigilantes. Just imagine Hatzalah with automatic weapons (remember no police, no gun control). And if you get rid of the police, you can save a huge amount of money by closing the courts and getting rid of the lawyers. From a taxpayer’s perspective, anarchy is cost efficient.
Does systematic anti-Semitism exist?
When you see a group of poorly dressed (apparently) African American young males walking down a dark street in your direction, do you get nervous?
Do you feel surprise on encountering an African American profession who seems to be highly competent?
Joseph:
Unless the US is bound by a treaty approved by 2/3 of the Senate, any Trump agreement ceases to be meaningful on Jan. 20. Note the Paris Climate Accords, NAFTA (which was a treaty), etc. Also, aid to Israel is approved annually. And Biden’s “base” sees Israel has a pirate state (similar to Apartheid era South Africa) so expect similar sanctions. Remember these are the guys who approve of vandalizing a shul in Los Angeles since a policeman in Minneapolis fatally beat up someone – bigots don’t need logic, and we should be wary.
We could ask the government to establish a program to provide for mosquito welfare.
Biden is likely to support a return to the pre-1967 borders, and at this point the likelihood is that next January, Biden will be president, with the Democrats controlling the Senate. The Israelis should try to get the best deal they can muster. The Palestinians know this, and have every reason to be supper stubborn, on the assumption that within a year Israel will be cut off from American aid and subject to sanctions for holding on to the West Bank.
It was learned with gemaras that by modern standards were poorly printed, usually without electric lights , and with no electronic options. And that’s how all Yidden were learning since before the Middle Ages. Originally much was oral, which at least made lighting less important, but that had ended by the time of the middle ages (period of the gaonim). And books were radically more expensive before modern printing was invented – when armies pillaged a city they carried off the books since they were among the most valuable, portable, objects around.
Admit it. We are spoiled. If we study was life was like even 100 years ago, we would realize how well off we are.
A lot of shuls skip it, so see what you get: Trump and Biden, Pelosi and De Blasio. As many shuls skip the prayer for the government, and we get fools running the government, does this not prove how important Klal Yisrael is (and why we should resume tefilah be-tzibbur before the world falls apart).
So what? Police are not supposed to murder, or even manslaughter (negligent homicide). They are not supposed to beat people up just because they feel like it. We would complain (and do complain) when police beat up a Yid, even if anti-semitism wasn’t a factor, and even if he “deserved it”. The major difference is we have enough control of the situation to prevent kids from going on a crime spree. And in all fairness, the idiot politicians (elected, so blame the electors) who feel that by encouraging looting and violence they will win votes will probably pay a price for it (remember David Dinkins’ distinguished three terms as mayor).
IF you don’t like Cuomo, vote him out of office. That’s what New Yorkers did to his father (the governor who refused to send the National Guard to Crown Heights).
Your request should be addressed to Governor Cuomo. The only condition under which a president could order the army to attack New York (deploy troops over the state’s objections) would be a finding that the state is in rebellion against the Federal constitution, or if need to enforce a federal law or protect federal property.
like “duh”
and it took you how long to figure that out?An alternative method, which probably requires a VPN, is to have the “censor” block any and all sites until the site in approved. When someone goes to a new site, the program (probably a human is required) looks at the site and according to know rules unblocks it. The first a user (anywhere in the system) looks at a site they get a note saying it is blocked, and asking if they want it unblocked, in which case there is a delay while the “censor” checks it out.
Is opposition to tyranny justified? Is it coincidence that the places with the strictest rules against businesses (especially small businesses) and against religion are rules by a political party that has become well known for its opposition to both free enterprise and religion? Once the government allows (de facto) gatherings for secular or commercial purposes, but specifically bans religious gathering, it transforms a legitimate (even if misguided) public health policy which falls under the scope of Dina Malchusa Dina, into a specifically anti-religious policy which we can ignore. Once the Democrats in New York moved from public health concerns to using Covid19 to implement broader social and economic policies, the respect owed the sovereign dissipates.
Was it wrong for American Americans, with much help from others, to have engaged in peaceful protests and civil disobedience against “Jim Crow”, rather than engaging in armed resistance (the only other alternative offered)? Would it have better if the zionists had engaged only in civil disobedience and peaceful protests against the British (as did the people in India), rather than in armed resistance (and at the time most gedolim were opposed to armed resistance against the British).
There are no reliable statistics, and since the matter has become highly political there is no way we will get reliable statistics. If you define someone as “having Covid19” based on antibody tests, you get such a high number that it throws into question whether the shutdowns were ever justified. If you base it on testing positive, you have a problem since they only tested people were were sick, or at least exposed even though it has always been clear that many (and according to antibody testing, most) people who are infected don’t get seriously ill. And mortality figures can, or can not, consider someone as having died from Covid19 if they had some other problem that might have killed them regardless.
How does Dina Malchusa Dina apply to civil disobedience. What happens if there is widespread civil disobedience against an unjust law? Do illegal acts of non-violent refusal to obey a law have a special status when it is part of a widespread movement?
No corporation is getting anything close to a trillion. In most cases there are loans, secured by the assets of the company (if they don’t repay, the government seizes the assets). Private citizens are receiving grants, not loans.
One should note that private persons derive their livelihood thanks to corporations and other forms of private business. From the tone of the post it appears the poster is someone depressed over their economic lot in life. I suggest they stop whining and get a job for a corporation so they too can be rich, since that will probably make the person happy.How about, I’m likely to catch it regardless of what I do, and the price of isolating is too high relative to the very small chance of death or serious illness.
If you consider the typical Yid gives up most of his income by deciding on being Shomer Shabbos, and then undertakes a frum lifestyle which takes up virtually all of his disposable income, and he does that not out of fear of a virus, but out of fear of Ha-Shem. And he probably believes that Torah and Mitsvos is not only his raison d’etre, but is the entire reason the universe was created, and is allowed to continuing in existence. So there is a chance of 100 in 100 that if he gives up Torah and Mitvos his world will disintegrate. And then try to scare him with a virus that apparently only makes people sick in 1 in 10 cases (based on antibody and ransom testing data), and only causes serious illness perhaps 1 in 20, and is fatal only 1 in 200, it just isn’t very scary.
Health and ubiquitin: Ten million people will die in the USA under’s Trump’s presidency. In Eretz israel around 40000 people will die this year. Annually, close to 100 Million people die throughout the world. It is sad, especially for those who die. But this is normal Based on the government’s figures, Covid19 will raise the annual death rate in the USA from around 8 per 1000, to perhaps 11 per 1000 – back tgo what it was in the mid-20th century. The “Blue” argument is that for what is basically a very bad flu, we should stop the economy and reduce everyone to poverty. That would be appropriate for a serious public health threat such as a renewed Smallpox or an anti-biotic resistant strain of Bubonic Plague. These are diseases what would see the death rate rise to serious levels (perhaps 500 per 1000). But Covid19 is not in that class. The government was wrong to throw much (perhaps most) of the population out of work and to destroy their life’s savings for a disease that threatened to reduce our lives to the “misery” of those dark ages of the 20th century. Human die. Humans get sick. If you don’t like it, take it up with Ha-Shem — but don’t go around destroying other people’s lives and property since you are paranoid about a virus that is would be more annoyance that disaster, if the government had freaked out and turned terrorist on its own population.
For the same reasons many people are increasingly angry at the government over Covid19. The antibody testing, and occasional attempts to randomly test people (rather than testing only those with serious symptoms) suggest that perhaps 90% of all people who “get” Cover19 do not get sick, and that among the small percentage of those getting symptoms who die, most are already very old or very ill. The two characteristics, that only a small number of those infected become ill, and that most deaths are among the elderly and unhealthy are RADICALLY unlike past epidemics such as smallpox or bubonic plague. The correct response would allow for voluntary social distancing and enhanced teleworking, and would encourage the sick and elderly to “cacoon” , but wold have avoided the unreasonable measures that have stripped billions of people (whose lives were never at risk) of their livelihoods and of their hard earned assets, not to mention suppressing Limud Torah and Shmerias Mitsvos (which unlike Covid19, does put our continued existence at risk).
In all situations, the term is “relative” and subject to constant change.
Trump never should have bought the media story about this being a dangerous plague. They had a panic over ventilators, then it turned out they are more likely to kill than heal. He bought the line that this is a hard to catch plague (meaning lockdowns would be effective), but one that was very bad if you caught it. Now they they can look for antibodies, it turns out to be easy to catch (meaning lockdowns won’t help much), but 90% of the “victims” don’t get sick enough to worry about testing (and meaning the death rate instead of being something similar to the Influenza of 1918 or Smallpox or Bubonic plague, is closer to the annual flu that kills thousands ever year. — Meanwhile he deliberately crashed the economy, robbed people of their savings, undermined their livelihood, and doomed many people (albeit not in the US) to a horrible death due to starvation caused by a breakdown in world trade. — In his defense, he did admit to be paranoid about germs (which explains his overreaction), and he is not as nuts as the Democrats who seem to consider destroying everyone’s economic means of existence to be a good thing. Trump may be a fool, but the Democrats are totalitarian wannabees.
To: anonymous Jew
It is interesting that Chabad pioneered in frum home schooling for far-flung Chabadniks. A leading producer of home schooling among the goyim (used by many Yidden who are home schooling as well), started out with a major audience being “missionaries” in far flung locations wanting an American education for their children.
Covid19 could result in facilitating Jews leaving New York City (apparently the world center of Covid19, probably because of the inherent problems of forcing so many people into such a small area).