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If it was similar to the Influenza of just over a century ago (and that was spread by a world war), it would have a serious economic impact for a few months, but the medical complications would be far less due to technological improvements. It would probably result in significant constraints on travel, but that is less of an issue since much business is done online today. If you are really worried, short the market and relax.
If one holds the using electricity is NOT a form of burning (which some people do, even though using electricity heats things and the material used is eventally consumed), it might be considered possible to make a computerized electric car that wold be usable on Shabbos but for the issue of “Shavus”.
Of course, one can always convert to being “Reform”, which solves the problem.
Note that if you allow an autonomous car are Shabbos, you are probably allowing any use of computers or smartphones and even electric lights.
A mechanically powered car violated laws of physics, since you need to have energy from some source, so presumably the question is on a mechanical car powered by some form of energy.
All humans everywhere have smartphones and are losing the ability to communicate like a human being, face to face. Don’t worry about climate change or a zombie apocalypse – smartphones are what are destroying humanity.
If you don’t plan on getting a student loan, or collegiate financial aid, it isn’t a big deal to register.
chash: both, bigots aren’t required to be consistent or logical
Richmond Braun: Agreed. There are thousands of parents who banned the things, which leaves billions (99%) who haven’t. Its a worldwide problem. The reliance on devices undermines reading skills, interpersonal communications and even health (affecting vision and causing the sorts of physical problems that wold get OSHA mad at an employer). And while many of our rabbanim were clever enough to object, it needs to be noted that this isn’t so much a “frum” problem (probably affecting only our community), but a global problem (affecting our entire species).
The people on the left who hate Jews, also hate Trump. They will hated Jews when even Boro Park voted Democrat. That is the nature of bigotry. Note how they believe that the typical frum Jew is an uneducated lazy bum, who also controls the banks and major corporations while hanging out in a Beis Medrash while living off welfare and living in a mansion.
If concern for safety is an issue, support the Republican efforts to make blue state respect Second Amendment rights.
There are perhaps a billion parents in the world with the same question.
1. “enlist” implies “volunteer”. Most Israel youth are “conscripted”. The only time someone enlists is when they are exempt, such as the case with most Arabs who serve in the IDF.
2. The real number that matters is the extent those conscripted volunteer for combat units (e.g. Golani, Air Force, etc.), rather than aspire to be “jobniks”. If conscription was abolished (as virtually ever major democracy has done), it is reasonable to assume that those who choose to be in combat units would still “enlist” (and presumbably would be paid serious wages to do so). Also, a volunteer army would be forced to offer accommodation to frum soldiers to get them to sign up, rather than doing so begrudgingly as is the case today.
3. Israel does not allow conscientious objection (if so, non-zionist hareidim would be exempt) leading to the charade of liberal yeshiva deferments. This is also a problem for non-religious Jews who are also conscientious objectors who jump through hoops to avoid military service. Switching to a western-style professional army would solve the problem.
While the probability of conviction is non-existent, Trump needs to use the trial to not merely prove is “innocence”, but to prove that the Democrats tolerate corruption when they were in power by not even being concerned about the Ukrainians offering a “job” to Biden’s son. This is probably Trump’s best chance to make a case in a way that won’t be filtered by the left wing media. He needs to not merely win on impeachment, he needs to cripple the Democrats’ strongest probable candidate and to cripple the party. If he merely is content to have the charges dismissed as a matter of law (since they clearly don’t constitute an impeachable offense), he is likely to at best be able to squeak in for re-election, and not have the Congressional majorities to pass his agenda (though so far he has managed to restrict immigration, improve employment for his “deplorables” base, and appoint judges somewhat to the right of Karl Marx).
There seems to be overwhelming evidence that Amir did the actual shooting. There is reason to suspect that the Israeli secret police were involved via an incompetent agent provacateur, but that wouldn’t make Amir any less guilty.
1. When the governments pays, it controls. Once you addicted to the “drug”, the pusher can start running your life.
2. He is talking about massive tax increases, particularly of consumption taxes (a VAT and carbon tax).
3. His agenda is otherwise mainstream Democratic, meaning he will continue to crack down on religious groups who don’t accept their agenda in sexual matters, and otherwise oppose cultural minorities who don’t have a politically correct life style.
RebbeDebbie: an alien is a non-citizen, and in modern usage, a non-human. Clearly those whom the call refer to as “Angels” qualify. There are also discussions of various sentient non-humans in our traditions. Its easy to see where the goyim wouldn’t have gotten the idea of “alien visitors” from. We aren’t allowed to learn kabbalah with them, so we’ll have to let them go around being confused and foolish. The same would go to discussing whether HaShem would have told us (or whether we would have understood) if sentients beings were created outside of our own planet (world, universe, etc.).
We’ve been fake pork from Morningstar for 45 years, so why are you asking a question? Their products were good enough that others wanted to get into the business.
The mishna in Shabbos mamkes clear that weapons of war are inherently not Shabbos’dik. And they probably had in mind someone wanting to wear fancy parade armor. Furthermore, if a terrorist can easily identify who has a weapon, they know who to target first. If it is necessary for civilians in their community to carry weapons on Shabbos, it is best to conceal them.
And I seriously question how many frum Jews have the sort of training to be able, in a crowded shul, to hit a moving target that is firing back at you, but that’s a different matter.
Any person untrained in using firearms in a combat situation (i.e. more than shooting at a target, or even an animal) is not likely to be of much use fighting a terrorist, and probably will injure himself (e.g. “shoot himself in the foot”) or others (i.e. “friendly fire”).
One might also argue that the derech of Yaakov is not to show off and display a gun on Shabbos (or any other time) but to keep it out of sight. Boasting publicly that one is ready to kill terrorists serves only to “dare” them. If one is authorized by the Rav (or President, or Gabbai, etc.) to have a gun in shul, it should be known only to them, and to anyone else with a gun – it shouldn’t be displayed. The Kol Yaakov in this case should not be discussing firearms (unless a terrorist shows up, in which case he may shoot him and go back to davening).
We have been using “fake” meat (e.g. Morningstar Farms) for a very long time, as well as “fake” pork products made from other types of meat (e.g. Lamb bacon, hot dogs made from beef, chicken and turkey). Even though Chinese cuisine is largely based on pork, kosher Chinese restaurants are very popular (usually substitute beef or foul for the treff foods ). The only real issue is whether we will regard parve fake meat as part of the fleshig cuisine (i.e. an alternative to buying real hamburgers or real hot dogs), or whether we will continue to see it as part of the mikig cuisine even if the new “fakes” aren’t dairy (and thus see them, as we now do, as alternatives to pizza or pasta).
If anyone was going to object to these “fake” meats, they would have objected back in the 20th century when they became very common. What is new at present is that such “fakes” are catching on among goyim in part since many goyim believe (rightly or wrongly) that they are healthier than real meat and that switching to fake meat will prevent global warming (since livestock, similar to humans, produce gases that they believe with a religious fervor cause global warming).
If one is willing to trust their life, literally, to the benevolence and competence of your local mayor, governor and president, you should support gun control, knowing it means that you are relying on police to protect you from harm. Anyone who has doubts about the greatness, abilities and love of Yidden on the part of Mayor De Blasio, Governor Cuomo and President Trump (any of them), probably should have second thoughts about proposals that would in effect ban most frum Jews from owning guns.
Declarations of war are done by the Congress. They have a lot of baggage which is why they have disappeared since the mid-20th century.
Killing on Iranian general, in Iraq, where he was organizing terrorist activities directed against the US, is not a big deal. It is interesting note that those objecting to Trump’s latest action, were previously complaining that he wasn’t helping the rebels fight the Iranian-supported regime in Syria.
If the Democrats were to switch back to their former selves (think of presidents such as John Kennedy or Harry Truman), it would change things. However many of their positions are now considered politically incorrect. As long as the conservative Republicans are blocked by the populists, and the Democrats have apparently adopted positions of militant opposition to religion (in general), capitalism and free enterprise, white privilege (a thinly veiled framework for encouraging anti-Jewish violence), and the military (needed in particular to keep us safe, as America’s primary enemies make it clear that they especially don’t like us), there isn’t much choice but to support Trump in 2020.
Note to CTLawyer above: What “Muslim ban”? That was campaign rhetoric that was never acted on. Unlike professional politicians who think before they speak and plan their lies carefully, Trump lets his mouth run and doesn’t take his rhetoric seriously UNTIL he actually has to do something. Trump banned people (not just Muslims) from countries whose governments weren’t willing or able to cooperate with the US in checking with immigrants (or tourists for that matter) were hostile to the US. None of the countries with large Muslim populations (Egypt, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, not to mention Saudi Arabia) were included. The claim of a “Muslim Ban” is an example of a “Big lie” from the Democrats, and you fell for it.
Given that the Democrats include significant leaders who are openly anti-Semitic, and the party is increasingly anti-Israel, and supports many policies that would seriously hurt the frum community, there isn’t much choice. If the Democrats returned to the leaders in the mold of John Kennedy, Skip Jackson, Joseph Lieberman, Harry Truman and Hubert Humphrey, it wold be different. But the Democrats have “evolved”, which is why many Republicans (e.g. Ronold Reagan, Donald Trump, et al,) are former Democrats.
Based on public information, it is clear that Trump was justified in demanding the Ukranians investigate corruption that took place during the Obama administration, which accepted bribes from Ukraine. It also appears that the Democrats colluded with Russian intelligence to spread “fake news” defaming Trump, and lied about it in order to get the a federal court to authorize otherwise illegal political espionage directed against the Trump campaign. In other words, so far the evidence is that Obama was guilty of high crimes.
The language is evolving, as is true of all living languages. In 100 years “Boro” will be only possible spelling, and “Borough” will be marked in dictionaries as archaic.
The rising divorce rates, among both Jews and goyim, have been taking place over a long time. A strong argument can be made that the cause is the use of antibiotics in general, and improved obstetric care in particular. In the good old days, few marriages lasted all that long since one (of both) of the spouses would die. It used to be very rare for a marriage to last 25 years. An unfortunate side effect of marriages lasting so long is that leaves time for the couple to “grow apart”, which leads to divorce.
There are many other reasons to leave New York City, such as a government that increasingly believes that frumkeit is a backwards and extrememly political incorrect indeology that needs to be surpressed. Even if New York City was affordable, there would be good reasons to relocate to “red” states. While a century ago there was a problem with Christian anti-semitism, today the problem of anti-semitism is a function of the left-wing “woke” politically correct crowd.
The families always have the option of staying together in their homeland, but are choosing to separate in order to enter the US. Often the adults have engaged in criminal activities. One should note that most of the people involved are coming from democratic countries where their chief complain is about corruption and incompetent law enforcement, not persecution or even horrible living conditions. They should elect honest and competent governments.
Reb Eliezer: The rich can also hire a hit man to kill people they dislike, whereas the poor have to risk getting caught and do it themselves. So should we decriminalize murder? Until the government, led by a bunch of religious fanatics put a stop to it, the rich could buy slaves and do whatever they wanted to with them, so are you arguing for repeal of the 13th amendment? The Democrats made a clear policy choice to allow (and insome cases, encourage) the murder of the weakest and most helpless persons in society. A Yid who owes his primary allegiance to HaShem should no more consider joining the Democrats thanone in the 1930 coudl have supported the National Socialists in Germany. If you decide that some lives aren’t worth living, how long before someone decides that our lives aren’t worth living (and do say it won’t happen, because there are still people old enough to remember when a major democracy voted to kills their “untermenchen” as they saw them.
One can not be Democrat unless one supports abortion on demand, without restrictions. It would be like wanting to join the Nazi party (in Germany, during the Third Reich) but opposing persecution of Jews, or like join the Communist Party of the Soviet Union but favoring private property.
In all fairness, other cultures have allowed murder of children, such as the toleration of infanticide for a variety of reasons (e.g. birth defects), and in Rome a head of the family could order the execution of any descendant at any age. The American left feels that mothers should be able to kill their babies at least until birth, and some argue longer. If this boths you, become a Republican.
Why would a non-Orthodox “shul” rent space to a frum school if they could find someone else to rent to. We are mortal enemies, aren’t we. From the City’s perspective this is a “win win” situation, since they will also be getting political conservatives to come out against “charter schools”.
Giving gifts on or about Dec. 25 is the avodah the Christians do in honor of the birth of their “diety”. The issue is discussed in the gemara, and it is clear that this constitutes avodah zarah. Anyone who thinks otherwise is ignorant.
Iy is not the goyim’s minhag to place live plants in their houses. THEY PUT DEAD TREES in their houses. I don’t know of any fum Yidden with dead fir trees in their houses.
just like Avraham Aveinu (and that seemed to have worked out)
Humans were designed to want to have children. It is the first mitsva. Even according to secular science, “reproductive success” is the only success that matters. Over the few centuries two things have happened: 1) the age of puberty has fallen; 2) the economy evolved such that young people are forced to spend more time as children being educated before they can establish themselves. This is quite unnatural. Among the goyim all sorts of deviant behavior results. Among the Yidden, we mainly have a lot of whining. Unless we want to reintroduce famine and plagues (to result in delayed puberty), and somehow revert to a pre-industrial economy (as if anyone today could survive without antibiotics, indoor plumbing, reliable food supplies, the internet, etc.), we’ll just have to live with it. Baruch ha-Shem that at least at present, mothers rarely die in childbirth, children almost always survive to adulthood, so we have more time to have children in spite of a late start (and given that our schools are overcrowded, we seem to being doing well).
The Eidah grew out of the leadership of the pre-zionist Ashkenazi community in Israel, and tooks its current from under R. Sonnenfeld’s leadership after the rest of the community (e.g. Agudah) became zionist.
In all fairness when the “greatest generation” turned over the world to the boomers, around 1992, they had achieved peace and prosperity. If you compare the world then, to the world today, it does not reflect well on the “boomers”.
“Rabbi” is poorly defined. Arguably is acts more as a courtesy title such as “Mister” in English, or “Monsieur” in French (both of which once indicated the you were addressing person higher up on the feudal ladder than a mere peasant). Academically, it seems to indicate you can teach older children (meaning it is similar to a Bachelor’s degree, or in modern times with watering down of credential, a Master’s).
“Admor” (literally, My Lord and Teacher and Rabbi”, and “Lord” is in the fedual English meaning showing respect to someone whom you acknowledge outranks you substantially) implies you are accepting the person as a leader.
As to whether it is inherited, one should note that in most traditional cultures, our’s included, positions of leadership will tend to stay in a family, with flexibility to get rid of the unworthy and raise up the worthy. An OTD from an hashuvah (“important”, though “noble” is a better translation) family is seen as having died a horrible death and ignored, and a BT who distinguishes himself gets to be the distinguished ancestor from whom people are proud to trace descent (so in many ways we are more like the Americans, than the English in such matters, even though we are still a very non-republican (small “r”) culture).
Note that among Americans, names such as Brown of California, Cuomo of New York, Kennedy, Bush, etc., appear to end up in positions important based on inheriting from their parents (so while the son of a leader isn’t necessarily a leader, it sure helps).
If there were only 500 printed, I suspect a complete set would be quite valuable (suggesting a yeshiva might be better selling it and using the money to further Torah education today).
Bloomie is a traditional Republican (think Bush, Reagan, Eisenhower) on issues such a free trade, immigration, foreign policy and national defense. Unlike the other Democrats who are at least paying lip service to the “woke” (radical socialist, somewhat bolshevik, agenda), he would appeal to many of the “Country Club” (“Wall Street”) Republicans and the NeoCons, who can’t stand Trump but are terrified of what the Democrats are offereing (e.g. Trump may be an isolationist, but most Democrats are surrender monkeys, Trump is undermining world trade but the Democrats will destroy the American economy, Trump may be making a mockery of the Constitution but the Democrats threaten to tear it up). Remember that Bloomie is running against a Democrat field that has apparently turned Marxist (though occasionally they get confused and follow Groucho rather than Karl).
If you love Trump, Bloomie is your biggest threat. If you hate Trump, Bloomie is your best hope.
1. Paying politicians help the Jewish community is a well established tradition. In many countries these were mere “gifts” (what today is called a bribe). In America, they take the form of political contributions (giving a politician money for living expenses would probably be a bribe).
2. Given that many of the Democratic candidates have positions that would probably be very detrimental to the frum community, it isn’t hard to understand why many frum Yidden would support Trump.
3. If one considers this money could be spent a lavish simachas, expensive houses, or fancy vacations, it seems it is a reasonable expense. Paying off friendly politicians is a worthy cause. Of course supporting full time Torah scholars and supporting the poor in our own community (often the same) is probably a better defense against hostile government policies, but what can’t expect everyoneto be on a high enough madreiga (level) to undertand that.
Many 12 step programs are steeped in Christian culture, and many secular programs work with basic assumptions that are alien to the Torah world. There are often frum equivalents.
Doesn’t “worst” depend on what is “good”. For example, if you favor enslaving Blacks, Lincoln was a disaster. If you believe either in “Freedom from religion”, or in having a government support religious establishment, or in not allowing religious minorities (e.g. Jews) to vote than Washington was bad news. If you favor a dull government based on boring hyper-intellectualism, Trump is horrible.
The only way one can do that is to buy on Friday, and pay extra money for Shabbos delivery. Outside of New York (or Israel), one can be reasonably sure that you aren’t paying a Jew to do work for you on Shabbos (though there are occasional non-frum Jewish blue collar employees elsewhere as well). Perhaps it would be better to save money and not pay for next-day delivery when you order on Friday.
Can a robot convert? What about an extraterristial?
My complements to Connecticut, though for a “sin” tax that is a low rate.
The Medinah can rest assured about the United States honoring commitments, Just consider how the US stood by Ukraine when Russia invaded and occupied several of its provinces. Remember how the US stood up for pro-democracy revolutions in Hungary and Czechoslovakia in the Soviet era. Remember how the US stood by South Vietnam when the Communists broke the peace agreement and launched a full scale invasion, sending massive numbers of Vietnamese fleeing the country. If the Zionists actually believe the USA would go to war to save their state, they are dumber than even the most fanatical hareidim could imagine.
The idea of a tariff, unlike a tax, is not to reduce consumption but to shift consumption to an American brand, e.g. instead of Scottish Whiskey, buy American Bourbon.
“Sin taxes” may be a good idea, but no one found a way to tax lawyers.
There are some excellent alcohols from other countries with a proper hecksher, and in an event unless Scotland leaves the UK and stays in the EU, Scottish whiskey won’t be covered by an EU tariff post-Brexit.
1. President Pence would be good. He could appeal to the traditional Republicans as well as the “basket of deplorables” who put Trump in office.
2. To remove Trump from office would require much Republican support, which would alienate the Trump-base and result in Warren or Sanders getting elected. To win a national election the traditional Republicans (“Country club” or “Wall Street” or “Chamber of Commerce” flavor) need the populist base. Anything that alienated the “deplorables” costs the Republicans.
From the point of view of Jewish survival, a Jew vanishing from Klal Yisrael due to assimilation is no different than being murdered by the goyim. The reality is that non-Orthodox Jews “disappear” within a few generations. There is a “line” based on observance of Torah and Mitsvos, and once you cross it, it become statistically likely that the grandchildren will not identify as Jews.
Non-Orthodox Jews tend to assimilate. So what’s the hiddush?
Writers write what readers want to read, and what readers want is indicated by sales.
By way of contrast, in socialist systems (consider places such as North Korea), “Big brother” or “Fearless leader” tell authors what to write and tell readers what to read. In a capitalistic system, professional writers make a living by writingwhat readers want to buy.