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Varius games (board games, cards, dice – and sports) have been around since ancient times. The proof is there are books complaining about the resulting the bitul Torah. The younger generation did not invent Bitul Torah.
If they go to prison, and they want kosher food, so we send them some? If they get fired for not working on Shabbos, do we give them assistance in suing? Do they insist on living in walking distance of a shul since they don’t drive on Shabbos? When they apply to colleges, do they limit themselves to ones with kosher food and a minyan, and pass on athletic scholarships and ROTC (which are the two largest “merit” based scholarship programs)? Do they dress or act in ways that makes them part of a discriminated against minority, rather than part of the American mainstream?
Most of us have learned to ignore the many forms of discrimination that have a serious impact on our lives in America. Having to live near a shul rules out most of the country, and probably most of the job opportunities – we have adjusted to live with those limits. Non-Orthodox Jews’ manner of observing Shabbos and Kashrus means they avoid almost all that discrimination. If a Jew is following halacha enough to be giving up many of the economic advantages of living in America, they are “one of us.”
1. Ivanhoe was a novel – a work of fiction. It tells much about the 18th century, but little about the 13th.
2. Most Jews were urban and would not have been dealing with the Anglo-Saxon peasantry. A city merchant would not have needed to learn Anglo-Saxon. A professional Ben Torah (rav, teacher, sofer, etc.) would definitely not have needed Anglo-Saxon. A merchant dealing with wholesale or foreign trade would not have needed Anglo-Saxon. A housewife probably expect the servants to learn enough French to communicate. There is also strong evidence that English Jews tagged along with the Normans, and were French speakers. As was the case of the Anglo-Normans, fluency in English was not common unless needed for a vocational reason.
What makes something a “Lakewood” is that it is reasonably close to major Jewish centers, and not expensive – and attrats a community of Bnei Torah. The “not expensive” part rules out downstate New York and New Jersey. There are some possibilities elsewhere. Baltimore is cheap, and increasingly the community within the city limits is become haredi (it helped that someone just planted an hasidic kollel) while the modern prefer the suburbs or Washington. There are places in upstate New York and Pennsylvania that could manage. There are many possibilities in the “sunbelt” (blue states, tending to lack the ultra-secular bigotry that often is a problem in blue states). While the frum community isn’t into central planning, all it takes is some people with money to “plant” a yeshiva in some place affordable but still in a day trip of a major community.
Walking is very low intensity. Several forms of aerobic exercise are better (swiming, which requires special facilities – as well as biking and running). Strength training is important, and that can best be done with special equipment.
Probably very little. Documents from the time suggest their primary language was (similar to Rashi’s) French which they wrote with Hebrew letters. At the time the upper and middle classes in England used French, and the switch to English came after Jews were expelled. An individual dealing with peasants would have picked up some English, but for the most Jews it was unlikely. Remember that more than a century after the explusion, an English king was able to put down a peasants rebellion by addressing the peasants in English, which so amazed them that they obeyed and went home. As for reading and writing English, during the period Jews were in England, English was not written all that much; before the Norman question there was much writing of English (Old English, Anglo-Saxon) but there wasn’t much written in English again until well after the expulsion (by which time it was “Middle English”). Some Jews probably knew Latin as well, since that was the language of law (meaning contracts, legalese, courts, etc.) and non-Jewish scholarship (serious books at the time were rarely written in the local vernaculars – Christians wrote serious literature in Latin, Jews in Hebrew – vernacular was for things such as romances, poetry, etc.
Actually most women dress much better on the street than in a gym. If you believe otherwise, perhaps you should worry that when you go “outside” you are hading to places where people are especially disreputable.
It would be good if a frum entrepreneur could make a go of single gender gyms, and related videos. Books are less of a problem.
I’m not sure if the rules on underdressed females apply if the pictures show them not only without clothes, but also without skin (in some exercise books this is done to illustrate the muscles).
Serious crisis, compared to what. Compared to tuition (okay not really). Compared to medical conditions related to being overweight (probably affect most people by middle age). On the other hand, drugs are probably a bigger problem for American Jews than fear of pogroms, anti-Semitism, people starving due to lack of food, and all sorts of problems that were once a big concern of Jews. It is a measure of our high quality of life that abuse of prescription drugs is now a problem. Our ancestors (for whom pain relief was limited to alcohol) would envy us and same somthing like “you should have such a problem?”.
If you worked outdoors (construction, agriculture) you would appreciate the extra daylight hours at times that the rest of society think it is normal to be working.
What the future will hold for paralegals is unclear. There is a surplus of lawyers, many willing to work for wages that in the past would have attracted only a paralegal. Computerization has eliminated many clerical functions. A junior associate with good computer skills can do the work formerly done by a junior associate and a paralegal together.
Note that many paralegal skills are transferable. If you can set up a database to process documents, that skill can transfer to other areas. Ability to understand legalese and filling out forms leads to jobs in many related areas in finance, real estate, etc. A liability for paralegals is that are limited in the ability to go “solo” (they can offer their services to lawyers, but not the public since that would be practicing law without being a member of the bar, which is quite illegal).
If you want safety, avoid risk. If you want high returns, you risk getting wiped out.
Or you can invest in Torah and Mitsvos, which is risk free and offer good long term returns.
1. We are in a period of low inflation (though tuition and medical costs are an exception). Getting minimal interest in a low inflation period is better than getting much interest in a high inflation period (e.g. money market accounts paid 9% but inflation was 15%). Eretz Yisrael often had inflation so high that it wiped out the currency’s value (that’s why 10000 of current shekels are equal to one lira, which in 1948 was worth several American dollars). Be happy to be in a period of price stability (cf. Pirke Avos on how is rich)l.
2. The more you want to risk, the more higher the return. Right now Venezuelan and Puerto Rican bonds give a very high rate of return, along with high risk they will default and you will lost your money.
Fox on the right is equivalent to CNN and MSNBC on the left. The only news source that still exemplifies old fashioned objectivity and neutrality is the Wall Street Journal, and then if you ignore any of its opinion articles
People trick or treating want candy, not an arrest record. Leave the porch light off so they won’t come. If you live in an area with many frum Jews, the goyim know who not to waste time with.
Abusing prescription drugs requires a great deal of stupidity. If it was only among hasidim, one could suggest the need for more medical personnel who spoke Yiddish and wrote the instruction in Yiddish. If it was only in the frum community, we could blame it on poor secular education. It appears that the problem is common among most Americans, at least most whites, including affluent well-educated ones, so it seems the great secular education that some Yidden envy is quite flawed. One doesn’t need to be a Talmud Chacham, or a graduate of an Ivy League college, to realize that if you can only get a drug by prescription, there is a reason for it being restricted, and you should follow the instructions on the bottle.
While the Seven Years War is a reasonable starting date, it is wrong to leave out the Dutch. Much of New York’s character related to the fact that it started as a Dutch colony, as that led to a much greater degree of religious and ethnic diversity (or rather toleration of religious and ethnic diversity) than the other colonies. It also leave the Indians who had a big impact on 18th century history in New York.
One can only under “why” if you know what happened, and if you know “what” you’ll know why. The issue is whether there will be “right” answers to many subjective questions, as that gets to be a “hot” issue the closer you get to the present.
Wearing a yarmulke in public (kal-ve-homer a tallis katan, beard and pe’os, or for a woman a modest outfit and a hair covering) exposes one to significant discrimination (and in some places, though not the US, exposes one to potentially lethal violence). Many people who are somewhat observant (and sometimes, actually frum) are afraid to express their Jewishness in public.
“Rings” have always been worn by men.
The picture is of a wedding/engagement ring. Among Christians, women give men a ring as part of their sacrament of marriage, so for a Jewish man to wear such a ring would be a question of “avodah zarah.” The response is most goyim no longer see marriage as having anything to do with religion, but it would still arguably be the “dust” of “avodah zarah.” When asking a shailoh, make sure the person answering is aware of the religions significance of marriage rings among the Christians.
If you look in OCLC (the largest cagtalogue of library materials) there are multiple works with the title “The Purim story”, most apparently are childen’s books from frum publishers.
Note the the question did not ask about “Megillas Esther”, attributed to Esther and Mordechai, though I suspect they probably outsourced to a professional writer (a “ghosy writer” in American parlance), since most people with big government jobs don’t have time to actually write their own books.
RebYidd63: Tell that to Microsoft. They pushed for adoption on unicode. Here on Earth people write at least 70 languages. Anyone who knows only one language is probably bit intellectually challenged (most frum Jews know at least pieces of several, though some of the goyim are less clever and are only monolingual).
One has to get used to the idea of regularly checking the script toggle. It is easy to make it display prominently on the screen. A useful feature might be to have some aspect of the desktop change color to reflect script (so if the background and toolbars are all grey/black/white for English, they switch to blue and gold for Hebrew).
“militia”, by definition, consisted of all FREE (as opposed to slaves, serfs, indentured servants, Jews and in some years other religious dissenters) MALES, who could be called to defend the kingdom, put down rebellions, etc. The right to bear arms goes along with being FREE. Those who couldn’t bear arms, were un-free.
One could argue that the 2nd amendment protects the rights of all citizens to be in the militia (cf. the Asher Levy case), butr that issue has never been litigated
Under the previous laws, enacted by Parliament to make sure the militia wouldn’t self-mobilize and overthrow the government (as had happened relatively recently, and which the powers that be didn’t want to happen again), only those trusted politically could bear arms. And distrusted group was disarmed. Having the right to bare arms meant you were truely FREE and not a second class citizen.
The experience of the previous 100 years it what motivated the Congress in 1791 to create a right to bear arms.
If the “CT” in your user name refers to Connecticut, you probably know that in New England, and much of country (outside of one colony, Pennsylvania, which was owned by a Quaker) Quakers were regarded as quasi-criminals and could be expelled, or worse (and that most of what is now the United States was officially Judenrein.) To understand the American constitution you need to understand the laws governing this country for the 170 years prior to the revolution, . American legal history did not being in 1776.
The original language, back in 1775, was that all free Protestants belong to the state church and loyal to the king were allowed to bear arms, and could be called upon to defend the king and country when necessary. Everyone else was subject to gun control, the better to know their place in society. Owning firearms was a privilege for the “right people”. People like us had to whine and sue (and in fact the first civil rights case in what is now the United States involve a Jew wanting the right to bear arms).
When some fool wants to tamper with the Bill of Rights, you should see what life was like before they were enacted.
A private entity (landlord, tenants association) is a matter of contract law, so “dina malchusa dina” is not an issue (not for that matter, is the First Amendment).
At one time it referred to someone who believed that “white” was a distinct sub-species (rather than a pigmentation) consisting of European whites but excluding non-European whites (e.g. Jews, Arabs, East Asians etc.) and who also believe that the “white race” was superior to any other. A variant of this was the Nazi movement which tried to link the Indo-European (Aryan) language family to a purported “white race”. Note that many ethnic groups have “white” skin but were excluded for cultural or political reasons.
Among Democrats, it means anyone who disagrees with them.
Has any such case been litigated in the United States? It seems to me that under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, which is applicable to state and local governments under the supremacy clause of the Federal constitution, it is unlikely a local law or regulation banning a sukkah would be upheld, at least as long as the sukkah was built on private property.
One moves to the suburbs because one prefers suburban life to urban life. The are frum neighborhoods in both the cities and the suburbs (at least in New York, and some other cities). Since frum neighborhoods tend to be a bit more expensive (and sometimes much more expensive) , there is always the option of moving to an urban area with less frumkeit.
Re: Yichus
Gerim (converts) are “בן אברהם אבינו”. Can’t get better yichus than that.
Though as I said before, frum Jews (no matter how much they see yichus matters) place greater value on how frum a person is. Plenty of Reform Jews have great yichus, but that counts for nothing among bnei-Torah.
I would suspect the “frumer” the better. The less frum a Jew is, the more he/she sees being Jewish as a function of ethnicity, whereas the more frum a Jew is, the more he/she sees being Jewish as a function of Torah and Mitsvos. In blunt terms, for someone for whom Yiddishkeit is about Shabbos and Kashrus, looking “non-Jewish” is less of an issue. For someone from whom being Jewish is about bagels, country clubs, political correctness and support left wing social issues, looking “jewish” is part of the definition.
No earlier than the earlist zman for davening, and no later than the last time to daven b’zman.
ubiquitin: If the government is so good and perfect and protective and benevolent, and the police are people one can always trust — then why are there so many protests by left wingers against the police and the government,and why do so many left winger make a point of saying how much they distrust and feat the the police. It ca’t be both ways: either BLM and their friends (which includes most of the Democratic party) are bunch of criminal and terrorists who belong in prison OR there is truely a need for citizens to have a right to own guns for self-defense.
Frum kids tend to know little about actual firearms, at least in the United States. Most goyim learn about guns by learning to hunt, but of course we never do since that would treff the animal. There are only a handful of frum Boy Scout troops, which is another place to learn about guns. Few frum Jews serve in the military outside of Israel which reduces interest in firearms. Target shooting is not a popular sport in urban areas. Obviously frum Jews frequently see guns in the USA since the police routinely carry firearms.
Chess
1. They already are illegal. Is it semi-automatic weapons you want to ban? Perhaps breech-loading weapons?
2. One reason for private gun ownership is to allow self-defense against the government, and the government has fully automatic weapons (of you say the government is a bunch of saints you don’t need to protected against – perhaps you should the super-blues protesting at football games )
Gadolhador: Roman Hruska lived in a different era. Back then the Democratic party’s backbone were the “deplorables”. That was the era when Joseph Lieberman was a well known Democrat (they eventually kicked him out the party). And one should note that while Cardozo was a largely OTD who supported some Orthodox institutions, the other two justices you mention were Reform Jews who were not know for any sympathy for Orthodox Jews. What matter to us is people who will not oppose our existence, and that means conservatives. Secular liberals believe that frum Jews should have the exact same rights as religious Christians – which is no rights at all.
You are confusing “style” with “halacha”, though a strong halachic argument can be made for dressing to conform to the community you associate with. If you view Hareidi clothing over time, you realize they evolve just like all fashions but largely independently of what the local population does .
Both are prohibitively expensive. In pre-modern times the insane were cared for by their families or left to die on the street, and people were rarely imprisoned (typical punishments usually involved death, exile or in some countries slavery). The invention of prisons and mental asylums was considered a great step forward in terms of being more humane than the previous systems.
1. Until relatively recently, frum Jews didn’t date. Restaurants (kosher or otherwise) are a 19th century invention. “Courting” (as it was called in the English language) traditionally was done at home, with watchful parents present. Going to restaurants or other public places is not a custom based on halacha.
2. In western cultures, the man is demonstrating his ability to support the girl in the style to which she is accustomed. Traditionally the boy would probably find a way to show off his Torah learning in front of her family (which would demonstrate ability to earn a living, traditionally). If she is living at home (as was the case traditionally) she would want to demonstrate her skills.
3. If a man is looking for a “modern” girl who believes in “equality”, he expects her to offer to pay for things and would drop her if she doesn’t.
1. ” a tzelem in all public buildings” would offend Protestants
2. The “Christian Right” has not be our enemy in this country in modern times, if it ever was. Unlike their cousins across the pond, American Christians (go back to Roger Williams in the 17th century) have generally supported Jewish civil rights. Now that Christians are a minority, and sometimes a persecuted minority, we have no reason not be encouraged by their electoral successes.
3. Non-frum Jews, who dream of a universe “free from religion” will be outraged. Frankly, I would prefer a universe free from the secular fanatics who reject those of us who still “cling to religion” as they say. Senator Moore is as deplorable as they come, and its time that the deplorables (which includes us, like it or not) have a representative in the Congress.
The NFL owners would be free to fire the players, however the NFL owners are supporting the players. It is clearly the right of the owners to express their political opinions. Note, that is why the owners could fire Alejandro Villanueva for not joining the owner-endorsed protests. Earlier protests were tolerated by the owners, the one’s this week were endorsed by (and in come cases, directed) by the owners.
And of course it is perfectly legal for fans to refuse to buy tickets or watch the games on television for the same reason – or to buy an Alejandro Villanueva jersey . The unknown in the equation is to what extent football fans are “blue” or “red”, and how that affects the teams’ bottom lines.
I myself prefer baseball, a game involving more intellects, more skill and less brute force — and in which almost half the players on American teams are from foreign countries (and with less overrepresentation of African Americans, which is also a factor in the protests), but if my favorite baseball team started protesting against my country, I would stop going to their games.
People were tired of the typical lawyers, generals, and career politicians that pretty much describe ALL previous presidents. So the people elected a reality TV star. Even Reagan (who was an actor, typically playing scripted “good guy” roles) also had plenty of political experience as a union president and a state governor. Those people who love reality TV shows are probably delighted with Trump, or at least entertained by him.
Freedom of Speech applies even to rich athletes (and team owners). They have the right to express opposition to the government. And fans have the right to not go to their games or to refrain from watch broadcasts of their games. If someone can’t live with all this freedom of expression, perhaps they should move to Cuba or North Korea, where no such nonsense is allowed and athletes who opposed the regime see their careers terminated (with “extreme prejudice”).
1. Bibi staged a putsch, and declared himself absolute monarch????????????
2. In practice, owning an Jewish slave was not a good deal economically, especially if the person came with a family (who needed to be supported but didn’t have to work).
3. Goyish slavery was only profitable if one could afford to work slaves to death and cheaply acquire new ones, plus various things involving female slaves that Jews are not allowed to do.
4. Perhaps the original question came from someone whose post-fast meal was largely alcoholic, and thinks it is purim.
While I didn’t vote for Trump (I’m big on rule of law, civil liberties and fiscal responsibility), I’m curious what horrible things he’s done, other than speaking a lot of loshon ho’ra (or more typically “tweeting”) – but since Trump is a 100% goy he isn’t covered by the halachos of lashon ho’ra. He is standing up to tyrants such as Putin and Kim and to the various “radical” Muslims who seek to schecht us – unlike Obama and Clinton who wanted to avoid confrontations with dictators. On issues such as “due process” or “civil forfeiture” he’s no worse than Obama. He is no worse than his predecessors of the last century in ignoring the constitutional restrictions on the president (only Gary Johnson would have been better). Whereas the Democrats are supporting the terrorist “Antifa” groups, he is standing up to them. He is spending public money without any regard to the long term solvency of the country, but that seems to be the “minhag ha-makom” inside the Washington beltway. It would be nice if the president was more mentschlicht in his public comments, but we Yidden don’t look to the goyish rulers for lessons in midos, and since he has been “good for the Jews”, we shouldn’t complain.
to chiefshmerel: The harm clearly done by fossil fuels is various forms of pollution, and they took steps to fix it once it was realized what the cause of (that’s why we no longer have people dropping dead in the streets for toxic smog, which was often the case a century ago). Whether fossil fuels significantly cause temperatures to rise a debateable, along with whether a rising temperature is such a bad thing (e.g. growing seasons, less snow and ice, etc.). One should also remember that without fossil fuels we would be cold in winter, hot in summer, unable to travel long distances, commuting would again be done by walking, and our choice of goods would be sharply limited. Like it or not, fossil fuels is why our quality of life is higher than it was as recently as two centuries ago and if the price to pay is giving up March and November snowfalls, that seems reasonable.
Not to mention, would it be parve?
However most if not all poskim are not “into” science fiction, or at least do not write halacha books on inventions that have yet to be invented. So we’ll have to wait untiil lab grown meat is commercially available before getting an answer.
Because people moved to an island in a place that they knew was prone to be hit by hurricanes, and they prefer to live their. For similar reasons Californians suffer from earthquakes, and people in upstate New York get punished with large snowfalls.
Now if a gigantic hurricane or blizzard hit Los Angeles or Tel Aviv, then you could ask questions.
Lab grown meat could in theory be a lot cheaper. Presumably if grown from a kosher (with good hecksher) source it would be kosher. Some might argue that isn’t necessary. At present, it is neither cheaper not better than meat produced by raising and slaughtering the animals.